STF

Bridge - Vendetta! - Main Sim

Posted July 11, 2021, 12:43 a.m. by Lieutenant Celina Rodriguez (Chief Tactical Officer) (Kate O'Neill)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Bridge - Vendetta! - Main Sim

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Bridge - Vendetta! - Main Sim

Posted by Commander Ardashir “Jack” Creed (Executive Officer / CIO) in Bridge - Vendetta! - Main Sim
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻

The Manhattan was cruising in an otherwise uncharted sector of space in the Delta quadrant. The mission? Chart the region of space and keep a virtual eye out for any indications of Vaadwaur presence. Clues from other star farers had hinted that that region had been where a Vaadwaur colony had once been bringing to mind the possibility of one of their subspace corridors, commonly named there the ‘Underspace’.

As of three weeks into the cruise all that was noted was that space was pretty empty in this and the adjacent sector. As it was there was a lot of space and not much for systems of spatial phenomenon. However, about mid day ship time, a chirp came to both the sensor/science and tactical displays.

Science: Energy spike coming from a ‘system’ composed of what appeared to be one planet in the vicinity of a twin system of white dwarf stars. The system looked to be the only one perhaps within the adjacent sector.
Tactical/Security: Energy readings narrow down to being energy weapons fire - the count of the energy spikes showing multiple vessels involved - or one big honking one with lots of guns.

Wookiee

Cochrane sat in the command chair and heard the alerts chirp, especially from the tactical console. Looking back at both officers, he said “Well that is certainly new. Report, please.”

Cochrane, CO

“I am reading an energy spike coming from a twin system of white darf stars, Captain,” Naim replied immediately. “It seems to be located close to the one planet within the system.” There was a small crease between her eyebrows as she studied the readings in front of her closely. Entering a few commands, she tried to get a more detailed reading; both of the system as a whole, the planet and of course the energy spike.

~Lt. Cmdr. Naim, CSO

“Systems show the energy readings are weapons fire. Unknow if it multiple vessels or one ship with a helluva honkin’ space howizter,” Celina reported. Her finger moved over the console trying to isolate more information about what was coming at them.

The system itself was quite simple. From this distance the sensors could detect it was a twin system of two stars, both white dwarf stars. Size wise they were, compared to the Earth, .93 of Earth and 1.13 of Earth size. Each had a small, thin, dense atmosphere. The maturity of the stars were such that they still retained some heat and luminosity but it was small, more a pale glow in space than a burning star. Surrounding the stars was a kind of dust cloud containing fine dust, rocks and asteroid like planetoids. Each, however, had a system of rings - think Saturn - that were at different planes from one another, though, with the gravity wells associated with the white dwarf’s there was a pull on the rings causing them to curve toward the other and create a kind of stellar tunnel in between.

There was a single planet in the system. It was large, some ten times the diameter of Earth. Thermal imagery showed that it was an unstable world with considerable volcanic activity and surface temperature was at best 150 centigrade. The atmosphere held a layer of soot; initial spectroscopic scans showed the world was metal rich not unlike Janus IV, though that was a much more stable world. Orbital projections showed that this planet would make a figure 8 rotation around the binary system. It’s current path had it just entering the area of space at the tunnel between the two rings.

For the most part the rings and dust field would not inhibit standard navigation.

Focusing on the energy spikes showed that they were artificial, weapons fire.
- Wookiee

“Raising shields,” Celina announced. She hoped the helmsman could maneuver them out of the path of the incoming weapons but if they didn’t get out of the way, the shields hopefully would protect them from impact. Looking at the sensors, Celina announced more of what she discovered. “Sir, energy spikes are registering as artificial. Best guess based on initial scans of the area is that they are possibly holograms…” she let her voice trail off as she ran more scans of the beam. The signature was what her uncle called hinky. It was just far enough away from the norm of what was expect to make someone say…hold up…wait a minute....something’s not right here.

Celina

The Manhattan was still some time away and could assess the situation before the helm would have to do any more than a straight line course for the system. As Celina watched, the weapons fire increased in intensity.

“Helm, bring us around on an intercept course. Comms scan for any distress calls or communications. Commander Naim, try and isolate any scan data to try and identify vessels and types of weapons. Lieutenant Rodriguez, take us to yellow alert. Shields up, weapons on standby.” Cochrane activated the ship wide comms and said =/\= Yellow Alert. All hands to battle stations. Command staff to posts. =/\=

Cochrane, CO

Scans were somewhat fuzzy with individual ships coming up at this range due in part by the dust cloud and the positioning of the battle that was obscured in part by one of the dwarf stars, however the scans could identify at least a dozen vessels involved in this conflict, with a 70% probability of more. Sensors eventually narrowed down the weapon signatures that were, while similar, different enough to note that they came out to be:
35% of Trabe Signature of phasers and plasma torpedoes
65% of Kazon Signature of disruptor, phaser, photonic charges and photon torpedoes.

This would, by association, infer that the ship classes were likely Kazon raiders for the most part and, possibly, Predator class. Note that the Kazon typically utilized Trabe vessels, the sensors were discerning what was previously identified as ‘Trabe’ and ‘not quite Trabe’ and hence likely Kazon.
Wookiee

Jack entered the bridge as he began to take in the crew as he looked around. “What’s the status report sir?” Jack asked as he looked over at Cochrane before glancing over and nodding at Celina. His question was open ended for anyone as he stood, bending down as he began to take readings from his console at his command station.

Creed, XO

“Bringing shields to yellow alert,” Celina confirmed the command. “I am also detecting that weapons fire is increasing in intensity.”

Celina Rodriguez CTO

“Mr. Creed.” Cochrane said as he looked over the data. “Armed conflict in an unknown and unexplored system. Could be Trabe versus Kazon. One side is pretty heavily outnumbered. Problem is we have no authority to intervene here. Course is set to the system, but I’m not sure what we will be able to do. Thoughts, Mr. Creed?”

Cochrane, CO

“We can always monitor systems and comm traffic, but if this is a political dispute… we may not be able to do much. We can help allies, but internal affairs become… tricky.” Creed said, he hated tricky. He also didn’t know enough to decide who should win. “We could mediate, disable both parties and find out the truth… more of a strong-arm approach.”

As the vessel drew inexorably closer to the system there became a somewhat better picture of the battle, if still fuzzy. The battle appeared to be highly outnumbered, with upwards to 15 or more vessels - at least assumed due to their movement patterns - of Kazon affiliation. This was against two that were stationary in orbit, though were much larger. As sensors bore in more a flare of energy could be noted on one of the two probable Trabe vessels - an explosion! That being said, two of the Kazon vessels winked out of existence from fire from the ships.
- Wookiee

Cochrane glared and then hit the comms. =/\= Diplomat McKenzie to the bridge immediately. =/\= He looked at Creed and said “If we’re stick our nose into other people’s business, best we have the right person interpreting said business.”

Cochrane, CO

Revna was in her office staying out of the way when the captain’s first ship wide com went out. She was studying about species she hadn’t met yet when the second com sounded. =^=On my way Captain.=^= Short minutes later the lift doors opened and Revna walked onto the bridge, and down the side staying out of the way of the moving crew. Her gaze settling on the view screen and the obvious conflict there. She turned her focus briefly to Cochrane and Creed. “Captain, Commander.”
McKenzie, DA

It was then that Faye stepped in and slipped over to a auxiliary console. Entering her higher security code, she was able to pull all the sensor data and pair it with what she could pull from the Intelligence files on the species involved. For the moment she just read, analyzed and pondered.

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intel

Thanks to the sensor focus from Naim, Faye was able to physically identify three vessels that were in the Federation database where Voyager had had previous contact. Provided that the Majes were the same as previous, they would be, from the vessels:

Jal Minnis of the Kazon-Pommar
Jal Culluh of the Kazon-Nistrim
Jal Surat of the Kazon-Mostral

There were markings suggesting a fourth Sect present which was not in the database.

“Mrs. McKenzie, we have apparently a Trabe-Kazon conflict. The Trabe are outnumbered and not long for the fight. Before we go charging in and try to help, I need to know what you-” and he looked back at Faye “- and you, Lieutenant Calloway - can tell us about this dispute and how we can try and pacify the situation.”

Cochrane, CO

“The Trabe and the Kazon are very old enemies. Basically, each would like to exterminate the other. But it’s important to know that the Trabe enslaved the Kazon and the Kazon’s hatred of the Trabe is not… unexpected. We have info from Voyager’s encounters, but I’m tapping into the chatter to see if I can pinpoint which of the Kazon sects we might be dealing with here. Some are less friendly with us than others,” Faye said as she tapped keys with her right hand and covered her ear with her ringed left hand to allow her to filter out the bridge noise as she listened with the small comm unit in her ear. It wasn’t really necessary for her to cover it but it helped her mentally focus on a potential onslaught of noise she had to decipher.

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intel

As they approached the system, Naim’s gazes was glued to the data from the sensors. She tried to enhance then bandwidth and all to get as detailed readings as possible, wondering if the position of those ships was a mere coincidence or if maybe there was something on that lone planet that they wanted and thus were fighting over. So her focus remained split between the vessels and the planet.

~Lt. Cmdr. Naim, CSO

As they drew closer the battle grew more intense. They were able to bring up a better resolution on the sensors. It was not crystal clear and the dust in the region obscured things, however they could see three more Kazon vessels succumb to the Trabe fire. And, ultimately that there were only two Trabe vessels, though they were large – similar to Predator class but modified. The Trabe vessel that had been damaged earlier, Naim could focus on, suddenly erupted in a series of explosions caused by a strafing burst of torpedoes.

Naim could also assess that the two Trabe ships were
1. Uninhabited, and,
2. Showing to be more an orbital defense than maneuvering

The surviving Trabe vessel let loose with all it had dotting the space with bursts of energy. It itself showed damage with its shields low. At that point, there was a distress call sent out – its origin was on the surface of the planet.

“The Trabe were considered a highly cultured species before their enslavement of the Kazon was discovered. The Kazon united briefly to win their freedom and forced the Trabe to flee their home world. The Kazon are now back to fighting amongst themselves, except in their effort to stop the Trabe from finding a new home world. The Kazon are militaristic but what you see is what you get. The Trabe are comfortable in misdirection and deception. Their leader Mabus helped organize a peace talk with Voyager, the Kazon leaders, and the Trabe and then attempted to assassinate all the Kazon leaders. The Kazon are divided into eighteen different sects all controlling different natural resources. The two most powerful sects are Ogla and Relora. Their leaders are referred to by the title ‘maje’ and the head of a sect is ‘First Maje.’ They are also fiercely patriarchal and are not likely to respond well to female authorities.” Looking back at the screen and the two larger vessels in orbit around the planet, but being attacked by the smaller but larger fleet… “It is possible this conflict is about that.”

She pulled a micro padd out of the pocket of her vest and started a search for any current information that might have crossed the news feeds or diplomatic coms that might shed light on what was going on here.
McKenzie, DA

Current intelligence on the Kazon was not voluminous and their raids were more sporadic and internal conflicts limited. Intel suggested that the Kazon were simply running out of logistical support and vessels; most of what they originally had was Trabe in origin and that was declining through attrition. Furthermore while the Kazon sects were in control of certain resources which they traded between one another and others, they were finding resource based trading to not keep up with their ship building needs. In short, it appeared that they were starting to realize that they couldn’t all be the bad boys on the block and needed to adapt. Intel also suggested that this was not universally accepted amongst the Kazon.

“Current reports are thin. Their fleet is from what they took from the Trabe. They are running out of ships because of the conflicts they are involved in. It appears that they are starting to realize that their individual control of single resources is not enough to help keep them in working ships. Some of the sects have realized that they can’t continue to just fight and simply fight and trade only one resource: they need a better way, but not all the sects agree on this.” Revna tapped a button on her PaDD and the information she was able to get was sent to stations across the bridge for everyone to see an access.

“We’ve got positive ID’s on thee Kazon sects, plus an unknown fourth. Data could be out of date, but we know the Majes of those three sects as they were at llast known contact,” Calloway added.

Jack mulled over this for a moment as he brought the information to his console. “Do we know if they have been fighting more recently? I was aware of the Kazon more as clan-like, with different sects all over the quadrant… could this be a renewed vigor of vegence? Or wrong place wrong time?

Creed, XO/CIO

Wookiee

McKenzie, DA

“Sir, I am detecting a distress call from the surviving Trabe vessel. It is directed at the planet’s surface but I am not detecting a reply yet. Its shields are down and it has suffered a lot of damage,” Celina reported. Her hand moved towards the transporter button as she cast a glance at Creed and Cochrane. Jack’s comment about non-interference could not apply to beaming out survivors regardless of who was having a fist a cuff right now. While they did not have a dog in this fight it wasn’t like they should just sit back and watch it happen either. “Transporters set to beam out suriviors of Trabe ship to the surface on your mark,” she reported.

Celina CTO

Cochrane looked at the data and said “Belay that, Lieutenant. The signal is coming from the planet surface.” He took a breath and then said “Open comms to all vessels.” The comms officer tapped some commands and then nodded at Cochrane.

=/\= Attention Kazon vessels. This Captain Alexander Cochrane of the Federation starship Manhattan. We are picking up a distress call. We will be arriving to assess the situation and lend aid. Please stand down. If you do not, please know that we will defend ourselves from any hostile act. =/\=

Cochrane, CO

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intelligence

“What do we know about the location of the survivors? How many life signs? Location of crew and wreckage? Did they get out with escape pods… really anything would be helpful.” Jack said as he looked over at Celina. He knew she didn’t always like his approach but right now they needed information. He could all predict an away team would be forming soon, and he wanted details before the Captain ordered that.

Creed, XO

“Both Trabe vessels appear, or in the case of the destroyed one appeared, to be uninhabited. From what I can tell they are supposed to be more of an orbital defence system then anything else, Sir,” Naim replied without taking her eyes off the data in front of her.

~Lt. Cmdr. Naim, CSO

“Understood.” Cochrane replied.

“Attempting to narrow down the source of the distress call,” Walker said from back by the Ops console. He had slipped in and relieved the duty officer just a bit ago, but he was rapidly catching up.

Adjusting the Manhattan’s main sensors towards the planet, Walker started working to narrow down the location of the distress call. From there it would hopefully be pretty quick to assess how many potential survivors there were.

CWO Darach - COO

bumping for GM

Darach was able to narrow the distress call. It was coming from a location on the surface of the planet that was routed to the existing vessel in orbit and relayed out from there. While there were no life signs on the orbiting vessel there were several thousand on the planet’s surface.

Tactical would note that the orbiting Trabe vessel was battling more on AI automatics with some remote input. The general tactical skill of the AI was quite good; the remote input less so.

There were no ‘Trabe’ escape pods launched at least not that the sensors could detect. There was a great deal of wreckage in this general area confusing things. However, that said, there were several small powered transmitters that denoted escape pods with a Kazon comms signature.

The communication from the Manhattan was answered, from a vessel that had the markings of the Kazon-Nistrim. The face appeared on screen. It was obscured by smoke in the bridge area and a small fire could be seen burning to one side that another was spraying to extinguish. The face, copper-skinned, flat nosed, with prominent forehead ripples which were dwarfed by the chunky, almost fungal like hair settled like a headdress, filled the screen. =^= You mean that the Trabe cowards are almost finished. Good. It will be said that Jal-Kulnah will go down in history for eliminating our blood foes. =^=

  • Wookiee

Cochrane motioned for comms to mute the channel and they nodded that it was complete.

Walker cocked his head to the side as he looked at the returned sensor readings. That was not exactly what he had been expecting, but it would probably make things easier.

“Captain, I’ve been able to trace the distress call to the surface of the planet, and I’m reading several thousand life signs. Interesting enough, there are no life signs on the Trabe ship. I think it might be automated.”

CWO Darach - COO

“I agree with Darach,” Celina said looking at her readings on the console. “The Trabe vessel’s fighting seemes more indicative of AI manuevers however I am not sure if this is from a remote input or simply the ships onboard AI. Either way, the general tactical skill of the AI is quite good.”

“Well, thats one good thing.”

“Can we disable the Kazon? I don’t want them destroyed but we are not going to get anywhere if they keep firing at the Trabe.” Creed asked Rodriguez as he looked over at her. “We need to have a plan if they push our hand.”

Another Kazon vessel went up in a brilliant cloud of fire and debris. Two others fired past the Trabe vessel targeting the planet, or perhaps the facility below. It was hard to tell precisely. The number of ships were declining quickly. The remaining Trabe vessel was showing signs of wear with three areas of its hull that had been penetrated with plasma leaks gouting out into space. Communications were getting cluttered between talk between ships and from the escape pods either in communication or were automatic transmitters.
- Wookiee

Cochrane looked at Creed and said “Let’s see how much they want to do just that, Mr. Creed. Red Alert! Helm, drop us out of warp thirty five thousand kilometers from the Kazon and between them and the Trabe platform. Tactical, weapons lock on the Kazon and load the burst-fire launcher but do not fire until ordered. Comms, open the channel.” When the comms officer nodded again Cochrane stood up and looked at the Kazon. =/\= Jal-Kulnah, I am Captain Alexander Cochrane of the Federation Starship Manhattan. We are responding to a distress call and we will be arriving at your coordinates in less than a minute. I am asking you to cease your attack temporarily. Do so, and perhaps we can strike a deal to cease hostilities going forward. Do not, and we will be forced to assist those asking for help and you will have no chance at further negotiations with us at any time. Your people do very well trading with us. In that vein, I look forward to negotiations, sir. As your people know, we have no affiliation with the Trabe, so we are a neutral party. Attacking us for responding to a distress call would not serve your sect’s interests going forward. I trust you will make the wisest choice for you and your people. Cochrane out. =/\= and he motioned for the comms to be cut. Taking a seat, he looked at Creed again. “Let’s see if we can at least get whomever is on that planet some breathing room until we figure out what exactly is going on. And if the Kazon attack us, well… they had an opportunity to talk first.”

“Weapons locked on the Kazon vessel,” Celina verbally confirmed Cochrane’s order with her finger poised above the launch button ready for his command to fire.

Celina Rodriguez CTO

Just then he had an idea. Looking over his shoulder, he said “Calloway… how’d you like to hack a Kazon ship?”

Cochrane, CO

Faye turned to Alex and grinned. “Is that full permission to do my thing? Because if it is, you’ve just made my day.”

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intelligence


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