STF

Main Sim [Bridge]: Dividing the House

Posted Nov. 17, 2021, 3:10 p.m. by Gamemaster Deus Ex Machina (Gamemaster) (Luke Hung)

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Captain) in Main Sim [Bridge]: Dividing the House

Posted by Gamemaster Deus Ex Machina (Gamemaster) in Main Sim [Bridge]: Dividing the House

Kohr stepped onto the bridge and nearly glared at the viewscreen. Slashes of brilliance rushed at him from beyond the projection, hinting nothing at their position. Faces similar to when he’d joined Rende were at their posts; some gave him a brief acknowledgement before returning to their duties, others were intent on their work and oblivious to his presence. Lieutenant Yorba sat in the captain’s chair with one leg perched on the other, PaDD in hand and looking very seriously at its screen. Feeling the Klingon’s stare, the man blinked up at him, nodded, and went back to his work.

Keeping a tight rein on his seething anger, Kohr moved carefully over to the helm. He hated the fact that the situation had forced him to second-guess every action of every member of the crew. He had come to have faith in those that served beneath him, men and women of honor, and now Hab’rabi had forced him to test that trust. Worse, the alien had allowed, if not forced, Darz and Sigmundsson to betray the faith of Starfleet and their peers. Now they were forced to play a game of chess with the alien and his remnants in order to learn the truth. Kohr’s mind hungrily chewed on each move and countermove as he went about his own tasks.

His only regret was not knowing what the enemy was capable of, which put them all at an extreme disadvantage. But perhaps he could level the playing field a bit.

“Sir?”

The concerned voice of the helmsman snapped him from his fugue. Clenching his jaw to keep himself from snarling, Kohr looked over the woman’s shoulder. Good, he thought, we are still on-course. Let us hope that they have yet to infiltrate the bridge.

“What is the closest uninhabited star system, Lieutenant?” To his credit, Kohr managed to keep his voice even. Some would say it was downright conversational, at least for him.

The helmsman tapped a few commands into her console, consulted the displayed results. “The Bantaris Cluster, sir. It’s a stellar gas cloud and about half a dozen small planetoids orbiting an M-Type star. We’re about to pass it, relatively speaking.”

Kohr nodded. “Set a course and await my command.”

“Aye, sir.”

The Klingon turned as Yorba stood, stepped closer with a playful smile on his face. “Change of plans, Commander?”

“Indeed.” Kohr pulled the other man aside and painted their situation in only the broadest of strokes. He knew that he would need men like Yorba to be prepared for what was to come. It was also the perfect opportunity to test the man’s response. Thankfully, the Klingon was not disappointed.

“A contaminant that messes with your head? Gosh, you’d think that with all our advancements in medical technology we’d have picked it up.” Yorba shook his head, his face screwing up in thought. “Sneaky little bug, too. We haven’t had a peep from sickbay. What’s the plan?”

Kohr nodded towards the tactical station. “You are to engage containment protocols before going to yellow alert. All non-essential personnel are to be confined to quarters, and only authorized movement is to be allowed between decks. No one is to be allowed back on the bridge unless they have passed a neurological scan. Coordinate with sickbay and security to compose three-man teams—one medical officer, two security—to sweep the ship deck-by-deck, starting with critical stations such as engineering. Once they have been cleared, keep them locked down until the alien influence has been removed from the Viking. Understood?”

“Yessir.”

Kohr gave an emphatic nod. “Good. Make ready and await my command.”

As Yorba moved off, the Klingon sat down in the captain’s chair. He entered a few commands into the console mounted on its arm, pulling up his monitoring program still underway. He cursed mentally when he noticed that Lieutenant Darz was on the move, did a quick check to make sure there weren’t any other unusual crew movements. A few quick entries later, a containment field was queued up around her position; one stood ready around the holosuites as well. Finally, he suspended their authorization codes from the main computer.

“Helm?”

“Ready, sir,” came the reply.

“Yorba?” After a moment, he received a stressed assent.

Kohr readied his own hand, and he found himself hoping to find honor and forgiveness once this was all over. As his finger fell to execute, he snarled, “Maqcha!

The running lights aboard the bridge went from blue to yellow just as the Viking dropped out of warp and swung around to correct her course. The computer at his elbow chirped and displayed containment fields engaging ship-wide, as well as blockading the section where Lieutenant Darz was. Likewise, the holosuite where Commander Sigmundsson was located showed employed. Once the stars steadied, Kohr leaned forward and gripped his knees in his hands.

“Increase speed to full impulse.”

“Full impulse, aye.”

“Disengage tractor beam and raise shields.” There was only the briefest hesitation before his commands were confirmed. “Come about and set course zero-three-two mark one-one-eight. Once we have cleared the alien ship, go to Warp Two.”

The helmsman turned to him, confused. “Sir, I feel obligated to mention that unless the alien ship comes back under its own power or we assist it, it will collide with the star in three days.”

“I am aware. Proceed as instructed.” Kohr’s voice was almost soft in that moment. A part of him felt honorbound to explain his reasoning to the crew, but to their credit they trusted that it was sound. The Viking had been an honorable and honest ship—forthright, even—until now. A strained sigh wafted between clenched teeth. “Keep an eye on it and report any changes.”

Kohr stood then and moved to the turbolift, nodding his appreciation to Yorba as he passed. As the doors slid open, he turned at a thought. “As an added precaution, I want all systems that utilize gelpacs put on stand-by and switched to auxiliary systems until our engineering teams can clear them. The last thing I want is for us to be stranded because an infected system collapses. Good luck.”

Yorba nodded, then disappeared beyond the closed doors. Only when the lift was quiet did Kohr allow his anger to slip free of his grasp. A pale dent in an access panel was a small price to pay for the quvha’ seething in his chest. He snarled, wrestled it back under control. It took ten breaths before he felt composed.

Deck 7.”
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

OOC: I know there hasn’t been a post from them for a while, but there was an away team on the ship you just cut loose.

Gm

OOC: Last I looked everyone we sent over returned with the shuttle because Rende and Kohr ordered them to return with our guest.....who is still there?
-Jenn

OOC: I thought you had left a couple of people to watch over the stasis chambers… I looked to find the thread, but I can’t so if you don’t remember that then it fine…

Luke

Rende entered the bridge just as Kohr was about to leave. “Cmdr.” Her voice was not overly loud but it carried across the bridge and to the other senior staff exiting the conference room. “Today is not a good day to die.” Rende took the time to speak with each of the bridge officers. Obviously they knew something was wrong, but how did you run a ship when you didn’t know who had been compromised or not. She made her way into her ready room…how did she know that she herself was not compromised. Centuries of gut feelings, intuition, and near escapes screamed at her as she stood the room, hands on hips and breathed deeply. The ship was only at yellow alert…

With purpose and a distance eating stride, Rende exited her ready room and took the nearest turbolift to deck 14. BAH! She hated this, she was not meant to ‘protect’ herself. She boarded the Captain’s yacht and locked the door. It wouldn’t keep the floating lights out, but it would keep out any crew who were compromised. “Computer download all security feeds and sensor data from shuttle and USS Viking since the away team and alien identified as Hab’rabi arrived. Security clearance Asam, Cpt Rende Alpha 2 Zeta.”

Then sitting at the console Rende began to watch, specifically the floating lights, keeping track of number and who they may have passed through, how long they stayed and where they went afterwards. They may not be able to track them easily from the computer, but her eyes still worked.

Rende, CO

=^=Medical emergency… I think I just shot our visitor…=^=

Ensign Sacco
GM


Posts on USS Viking

In topic

Posted since


© 1991-2024 STF. Terms of Service

Version 1.15.9