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Main Sim [Bridge]: The Kestrel and the Shrike

Posted Aug. 22, 2021, 7:26 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) (Hjortur Ingi)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Kohr (Executive Officer) in Main Sim [Bridge]: The Kestrel and the Shrike

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Captain) in Main Sim [Bridge]: The Kestrel and the Shrike

Posted by Lieutenant Kalika Darz (Security Officer) in Main Sim [Bridge]: The Kestrel and the Shrike
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

[SNIP]

Kohr nodded, stepped politely away from the captain before tapping his comm badge. =^=Kohr to Korczak. Lieutenant, please inform your host that the Viking is standing by to render assistance in the repair of his vessel should he require it. Extend an invitation to join us should he and a delegation from his ship wish a respite from their present accommodations while we consider their request for anti-matter. Once the away team completes their survey and determines there is no danger to the vessel and crew, return to the Viking.=^=

After a pause for consideration, the Klingon tapped his comm badge again to mute his end of the connection. That was simple enough. The alien’s reply to their offer of assistance and benevolent invitation could give them more clues as to their objective here in this section of space. Assuming the return of the away team was not interrupted, the Viking still held the advantage. He trusted in Lieutenant Korczak’s ability to interpret his meaning, smooth over any rough edges between species. Kohr tended to be more… direct than diplomacy would wish sometimes.

“Lieutenant Pearson,” he called back to the tactical officer, “what is the status of our tactical assessment of the alien vessel?”

The woman tapped furiously at her console, gave him a frustrated shake of the head. “I’m sorry, sir, I’m having trouble with some of these readings. I’ll have it sorted soon.”

The ship was tactically inferior. Even if fully powered it was about 50 years, give or take, less advanced than the federation ship. It materially was more sturdy, but at current levels of tech, shields, weapons, and engines were more relevant factor than superstructure strength… not to mention, the ship was virtually at zero power… they probably could lock a tractor beam on it right now and drag them about until their power drained down if they didn’t find a power source. The only other factor that remained was the ship was considerably larger… that would balance the fight slightly… but still the Viking should win safely.

The Klingon nodded, then turned back to the viewscreen. Your move, he thought bleakly.
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

Kalika had remained silent at her security station while the excitement happened around her. She pulled information from everywhere she could as she tried to ascertain if the ship was an exploration vessel or a machine of war and domination. She idea of a small crew gave her a bit of a relief. If it was a war ship, surely there would be others. But in the back of her mind, she always thought the worst. We don’t know what’s in the rest of the vessel. It’s been power dark this whole time.

She used that mantra to try and read the ship as it slowly powered up a small section, the the alien. She had the readouts from the current cryo tubes and was using the readings from that section of the ship to see if any other section of the ship showed similar readings. Nothing like several pods, or even a hundred or more, powering up to make one take notice. She just hoped their lack of power was real and not a ploy.

The cryo tubes were taking in surprising little power, but now there were only three that appeared to be active. There was no other section that was drawing even this small amount of power. Every deck seemed to have two or three power sources that were no greater than a light bulb… in fact they could be ‘flash lights’ as the power level seemed similar to a low level battery.

She kept a secondary screen up to help with the maintaining of the transporter lock. And she watched the XO move like a caged beast across the floor from the corner of her eye. He was one she was curious about getting to know. Such knowledge and combat experience were not things to be ignored. She wondered if he would spar with her sometime. She could use a good beat down to remind her how out of shape she had gotten since returning to a Viking that wasn’t in a war zone.

Drawing her mind back to the present, she smiled at Sharvi as he worked at his console not too far from her own. “Are you getting anything new? I want to see if we can somehow map the ship according to power levels, from here.” She knew it was a long shot, given they were dead in the water, so to speak. But it gave her something to do besides thinking of fighting.

Kalika
Security

The power levels were still near zero.

GM
“Sir!”

Kohr’s attention turned to the tactical officer, a brief moment of feral curiosity crossing his features before he noticed her relaxed posture. Pearson’s face held a mixture of concern and frustration as she looked up at him. There was something behind her eyes that vibrated in the intervening space between them. Turning from the view screen, the Klingon marched to her station and peered over her shoulder.

“Is there a problem, Lieutenant?” His tone was plain, his voice pitched for her ears alone.

Pearson made a vexed sound, pointed to the scans. “She’s not a threat to us, which is good because she’s got us on size. Given her hull density and design, she looks built to take a beating rather than dish one out. She’s not like anything on Starfleet records, so I’m going to guess it’s not the same vessel the captain was worried about. Besides, her output is almost nil. Far as I can tell, she’s barely got enough juice to keep the lights on.”

The Klingon took a moment to review the records for himself, more for the sake of thoroughness than a doubt of the woman’s skill. The Viking certainly appeared to have the tactical advantage were it to come to a firefight, so why would the knot in his skull not ease? For all intents and purposes, the alien vessel was distressed and this was no more than any other rescue mission.

“What has me worries is this,” Pearson added in a conspiratorial voice, queuing up the power readings where the away team was stationed. “Only this section is receiving any real power; the rest of the deck is either completely dead or so shielded that our sensors can’t pick it up. Unless there’s an independent power source in that section, something’s hinky.”

Kohr nodded, raising his eyes and his voice to Rende. “Captain, with the alien vessel in a critical situation perhaps it would be best to recall the away team and take it in-tow. Perhaps an engineering team could prepare a small infusion of antimatter—just enough to stabilize their life support and base systems—while we learn more of this… lord and his people.”

He turned then to Kalika, his brow drawn in thought. “Lieutenant Darz, perhaps it would be prudent to assemble a detail befitting our intended guest. Remind them that this is a first contact situation and each should conduct themselves honorably. If you have concerns or recommendations, I would hear them now.”
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

Rende listened to the chatter, the ideas and processing them. “I like that idea Cmdr Kohr. Let’s get engineering up here so we can set up a power transfer.” She turned back to science and tactical, “Do you we know where Lt Cmdr Sigmundsson is with the shuttle?”

=/\=Rende to Korczak. We are aware of the ship’s need for power, we do not currently have the amount of anti-matter being requested. Get the engineering officer to find out what they can about the power needs and configuration of the ship and we will set up a power transfer beam. That should give them enough to at least activate life support and basic functions.=/\=

=/\=Rende to Engineering.=/\= Her voice barked out. She’d requested Lt Stone several minutes ago with no answer. =/\=Is everything alright? Lt Stone is needed on the bridge, post haste=/\=

Rende, CO
GM

=^=Sigmundsson to Viking, we have docked with the Alien Vessel, starting preliminary scans to see if it’s safe for entry=^=

CIO

Kohr tapped his comm badge, keying his voice low. =^=Understood, stand by. We are preparing a power transfer to the alien ship and will be taking her in-tow. If all goes well, the away team will be returning to the Viking shortly.=^=

The Klingon turned to the helmsman. “Bring us to within ten thousand kilometers off the alien ship’s bow, then prepare a course to the nearest starbase.”

The response from the shuttle came only moments later =^=Copy that, We’ll secure this egress and wait on your word. Sigmundsson out=^= The gruff voice of the Intelligence Chief said before closing the channel.

“Aye, sir,” came the reply.

“Lieutenant, once we are in position lock on to the vessel with a tractor beam,” he called back to Pearson. “I want a small security detail ready at Transporter Room Two should our guest accept our hospitality, and alert both science and medical teams in case they are needed.”

Turning to Rende, the Klingon stared at her for a hard moment. “They do not appear to be hostile, Captain.” He did not attempt to keep the edge from his tone. It was not his way. “However, I find the unusual readings from their vessel… disquieting, and recommend we maintain yellow alert until we learn more about them.”
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

Kalika agreed with the XO. Sure, they seemed to be under minimal power… Sure, they seemed to be kind, or at least not hostile… and Sure, they hadn’t shown any aggression. But still, like the XO, her hackles were on edge as she rose after sending requests to security and medical channels requesting accompanyment to Transporter Room One for guest receiving. As she turned to the XO and stood up, she shook her head. “No, Sir. No current concerns. Though I think rather than parading them through the ship, perhaps taking them to the Officer’s Lounge on Deck 2 so there is minimal wanderings once he is here?” She knew it wasn’t a spectacular place to accept guests, but the small lounge should be sufficient for the single guest and the view was just as nice as any ready room. And it was close enough to the transporter room that there wouldn’t be any long walks either.

Kalika
Security

“I agree, Cmdr.,” Rende responded still staring at the vessel. “Let’s not engage the tractor beam until we’ve informed our…them. We don’t want to provoke them. So let’s see if one of our engineering officers can get us the information we need to get that going, and then Lt Asam can come back and determine if and how much antimatter we might spare.”

=/\=Cpt Asam to Lt Asam or En. O’Larria. We are prepared to provide a power transfer but we need to know the frequency the vessel requires in order to begin the transfer beam.=/\=

Then, =/\= Asam to Korczak. Please inform the ship’s commander we know the power transfer won’t solve all their power problems, but we can tow them to the nearest starbase to complete repairs.=/\=

Rende, CO

Kohr stood unmoving before the viewscreen, watching as the helmsman moved the Viking into position just ahead of the alien vessel. It gave him a chance to get a better visual inspection as they passed along its dorsal axis. Were I a crewman aboard such a behemoth, he mused to himself, I would not have allowed it to slumber as deathly quiet so very far from home. It certainly seemed strange to him, filled his mind with more questions than answers. The chief of these was how a vessel with sophisticated and automated systems enough to provide stable atmosphere for guests had allowed itself—and its crew, even the few they were being led to believe still survived—to become so depleted.

For all their scans, the alien vessel appeared largely undamaged and functional. It was true that he was not familiar with the rigors of a journey such as theirs, but knowing what he did about space travel it had fared better than one would expect. No signs of structural damage or weapons fire mottled her hull, no variation or excess radiation in her emission trail. Had he not known the truth of its origin, it could have been any vessel known to the Federation drifting lazily in the void beside the Viking and not a metal-plated mystery. The Klingon frowned, only deepening the furrows in his cranial ridge.

Remain calm, he reminded himself. The away team had been gone less than an hour and would surely return soon. First, stabilize their life support. Next, answers. Nothing beyond that, not until we know who they are and what their mission is.
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

CIO


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