Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in Changing Times - Bridge Main Sim

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in Changing Times - Bridge Main Sim

Posted by Gamemaster Wookius Furrius (Senior Gamemaster) in Changing Times - Bridge Main Sim
Something was bothering Shedda. Being a trained archeologist she was used to encountering different cultures ways of marking the calendar, but something that Zerul said bothered her. “He said that this was the 3,603rd year of the Emperor Marakis, and then said ‘Great Emperor Marakis, may he live forever’ destroyed the Yeleth home world a century ago. Are we looking at some really old El-Aurian or Q or something that has extreme longevity? Or…perhaps it is similar to the ancient Egyptians of Earth, that believed their pharaohs were the direct descendent of their gods on Earth.”

Mal’athar, XO

“Clones perhaps?” Walker threw out. It could be just as likely of an idea.

A blip came up on sensors. Two large vessels, similar in size to a Mythology class ship had appeared on short range sensors. Tactical might suggest a cloaking device was employed. They were solid looking ships, almost tank like, beetle-like in appearance, the front of the vessels having four mandible like projections jutting out around an insectoid like maw. Their hulls were shaped like overlapping plates, or scales, their rear ‘legs’ were nacelles tucked in against the lower hull.

Zerul noted it too and gasped. =^= Marauders of Marakis. Gods protect us! =^= he said, then closed the channel. His small freighter could be seen turning away and going to warp.

Shedda stood where she had been but her brows raised. That didn’t sound like anything that might herald good luck on their part. “Helm track his course in case we need to follow. Also plot course to Harelem-Jamar, the hub Zerul mentioned. Have both courses on stand by.”

“Yes ma’am.” Aevin replied, and he set the courses indicated, but held off taking a direction just yet.

The course was confusing for Aevin. Unless Zerul adjusted course somewhere he was heading nowhere. There was no destination system that Aevin could see that was within a dozen light years of them – or more. Unless there was a station out in the middle of nowhere or rendezvous, Zerul was heading to empty space.

The Manhattan could be seen to be a) scanned and b) hailed.

Wookiee

“I have a feeling that we are about to find out what exactly we are up against. As they are scanning us…

“And that’s them hailing us Captain.”

Looking up from the console, Walker looked over at Cochrane, waiting to see what he wanted to do.

CWO Darach - COO

While Cochrane decided how he wanted to proceed, Shedda turned to tactical and engineering, “Lt Creed, Cmdr Wynter what can you tell us about those ships? Let’s hear the hail, Mr Darach, without opening frequencies.”

Mal’athar, XO

-Helm

The ships showed to have a hull that had a duranium component but the alloy contained a metallic structure that was non standard for any of the known races in Federation database. Principally they had forward weapons on each ‘mandible’ that sensors suggested a plasma style of weapon. The ‘maw’ may be a shuttle bay or it may be a larger weapon. It was somewhat more difficult to penetrate far into the ship. Propulsion was keyed to being warp-like, possibly trans-warp in nature. Impulse drives suggested with the mass of their ships to not being as quick as the Manhattan on sublight. Crew complements were uncertain but could house upwards to over a thousand.

The hail opened. =^= Unidentified intruding ship. You are within the third buoy line of Hegemony Space and are unregistered and have not responded with a transit pass or patronship. Identify your patronship or present your transit pass or be destroyed. =^=

Wookiee

Aggressive. Zerul had asked if they were there at the behest of the Hegemony and was rather paranoid acting. Oh well, hindsight and all that. Before answering she turned to the rest of the bridge crew. “Suggestions?” They were experts in their respective positions and had been out here in the Delta a lot longer than she had. She valued their experience and know-how.

Mal’athar, XO

Shedda stepped toward the helm. “Mr Aevin, keep an eye on them. Let’s avoid getting hit if they get aggressive. Lt Dean let’s give a silent alert status to the ship. We don’t want them to think we’re nervous, but get the crew ready. Argimeau, any where close by we can hide if needs be? Cmdr Wynter what’s the ship’s status? Lt Creed tell me you’ve spotted a weakness” Now normally they would have Calloway hack the ship. Shedda didn’t know Haygen’s particular skill set, time to find out. She turned to one of the extra stations, “Lt Haygen, anything you can do to give us an advantage here?”

Apart from the ship still flagging those thousands of overdue maintenance checks, the Manhattan was sound and all systems were good to fair, though the latter could very well be a sulky computer system feeling ignored.

Locally there was that system that they could maneuver about in. Their vessels tactically had less maneuverability which in close quarters could be an advantage. They had yet not shown shields to discern their strength. Scans suggested their hulls to be resistant to energy weapons inasmuch, perhaps greater than their duranium hull. That, too, would need to be tested.

The Manhattan’s advantage right now was their speed. Everything else was up in the air as their hull, weapons, shields and such were mostly a mystery.

Cochrane was the tactical expert, but Shedda took a breath deciding to give this ship the same response Cochrane had given Zerul, “Mr Darach, open the channel.”

=/\=Hegemony ship. I am Cmdr Shedda Mal’athar of the Manhattan. We are explorers, and we have seemed to have lost our way. We were pulled through some kind of anomaly and wound up here. Please, can you tell us where we are… and what the current stardate is?=/\=

Mal’athar, XO

The reply came back quickly. =^= Manhattan. What Empire are you of? Surely you must be aware of the Hegemony. Have you brought tribute to the Great Emperor Marakis? Or is ‘explorer’ another name for spy? =^=
- Wookiee