Lilliputian's End Game
Episode Name: Lilliputian's End Game Written By: Belgarath Cast: Belgarath, Ghorev, Laco, Nevaren and P'Trell. Produced By: Starfleet Directed By: Belgarath Aired On: Wed Aug 21 04:17:44 2002 Stardate: 52574.3
Time: Tue Aug 20 21:13:44 2002
Stardate: 52573.6
Ghorev settles into the command chair and checks flight clearance on the chair's arm console.
Nevaren sits at the engineering station, sighing as he goes over yet another diagnostic on the mainscreen and reading from the ship's technical specs on another.. trying to get used to this ship's systems.
P'Trell heads to Mission Ops, sits down and does a pre-flight diagnostic. His antennae twitch a bit as he makes sure his station is operating properly.
Laco takes a seat at the sciences console.
Several hours ago, the station received a message from a Federation civilian science vessel in the Irdosian System. The message stated that they were conducting the annual survey of the pre-warp Irdosian civilization when they detected a fleet of Teirian ships coming into the system and a fleet of Rynkan ships appearing out of nowhere to greet the Teirians, totaling over five hundred ships in all. A battle ensued, and the Thomas Paine was sent to handle the matter.
As the Thomas Paine enters the systems, the active viewscreen shows a battlefield of death. There are a few lifeless ships that remain more or less intact, but it looks as if nearly all of the ships involved in the fight have been blown to pieces as chunks of debris floated across a large area of space. The Federation civilian science vessel promptly hails the Thomas Paine.
Ghorev motions to P'Trell. "Put that on-screen."
Nevaren turns in his seat to stare at the main viewer, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Prophets preserve me..."
P'Trell taps his console and puts the vessel's bridge on screen.
Laco begins to work his console.
Nevaren returns to his duties, letting Ghorev handle this one.
A man with a wrinkled face and gray hair appears on the viewscreen, his face looking grave. "I tried to tell them to stop, but this science ship couldn't do much," the man tried to explain without introductions. "We pulled a couple of ships away from Irdosia II, but two of their fighters got past us and went down to the planet. You must help me to retrieve them; we can't allow them to contaminate the Irdosian civilization down there!"
Ghorev nods to the image. "That was, in fact, to be my first question -- whether any of the debris fell planetwards. Have you accurate coordinates?"
P'Trell shakes his head in irritation at this insipid war and the damage it's causing.
Nevaren shakes his head, listening. He brings up a new window with the Deflector systems control on it and studies them, thinking to himself.
Laco says, "Lt, I'm picking up some debris heading for the planet. Do we want to tractor it away?"
The old man nods, "The sensors can read them just fine. It looks like they both crashed after attacking each other. It's near the Kakklatan Peaks in the southern hemisphere. But I can't get a transporter lock to beam them off the planet - there seems to be too much dicosilium interference in that valley. Transporters seem to work at the higher elevation at the adjacent hill, though."
Ghorev holds up a hand to the gentleman on screen and says, "With all due respect to Ensign Harmon at Tactical, I think I'd like a senior officer, riding on this one." He gestures. "Prythra P'Trell, target that debris and reel it out of the planetary gravity well, if you please." Then back to the screen. "Apologies. We're actually rather well acquainted with the Dicosilium-related phenomena on Irdosia, yes."
P'Trell nods to Ghorev and with a simple "aye," he proceeds to lock the tractor beam onto the debris in orbit and tried to haul it out. "Akeen Ghorev, these people are pre-warp but how technologically far from it are they? It won't do us any good to sneak this out of here if they can see us."
Nevaren shunts his deflector schematics aside and brings up tractor control. "Tractor beam power is steady," he calls out.
"I'll leave it to Starfleet then," the old man agrees. "I'm sure you understand the implications of what it means to expose a pre-warp civilization to aliens. We also detected an Irdosian village not far from that valley. Please hurry, and good luck."
Ghorev says, "We'll keep you posted if anything requiring extended scientific resources is called for. Thank you. Thomas Paine out." He signals for the signal to be cut, and as soon as it is, answers P'Trell's question. "Last we were here, they were a small, tribal people still using spears and believing in demons, actually." Then, a side thought: "Mister Laco, do you remember our last damage control efforts here?"
P'Trell nods seemingly relieved.
Laco nods, "I do, didn't a member of an away team try to attack the villagers, or something similar?"
The tractor beams drag aside any debris that are headed in the direction of Irdosia II without trouble as the ship approaches the planet with the science vessel in orbit.
Ghorev says, "The other way arond, Lieutenant. The tachyon emitters of our reconnaissance suits reacted to the dicosilium in the planet's eco-system." He rises from his seat, eyeing the rest of the bridge. "Since the natives' own bodies are saturated with the stuff, they could feel our presence, and so we were denounced as 'demons' by their shaman and attacked. That's when the real horrors started. Which is why last time we had to keep tardion pulses at the ready to counter any chain reaction. Lieutenant Nevaren, just in case, prepare our deflector dishes to do likewise this time. I don't want to go through *that* again."
Nevaren nods at that, bringing his deflector control screen back to the front. "Aye, Sir. Uploading Tardion Pulse Protocols now..... And they are on standby. They can be initiated from My console, or Tactical's at your order, sir."
Ghorev nods. "Alright, as you all know, we can't go down there in recon suits. Even if Starfleet Command hadn't ordered them dismantled as unreliable in general, this planet doesn't care for them at all ... it reacts, badly. We'll need to rely on old fashioned stealth. Mission Ops, Science -- I need *detailed* scans of the area where that debris landed from both of you. Mister Nevaren, keep an eye on the rest of the debris field."
P'Trell says, "Initiating scan now. How far away is the village from where the ships crashed?"
GAME: P'Trell spends a courage point.
Nevaren acknowledges Ghorev's order, rerouting general scans of the debris
field, keeping an eye out for anything out of the usual while P'Trell and Laco
make their more comprehensive scans.
Laco scans away.
Ghorev lets the moments tick by. When sufficient time has passed, he asks,
"Well, gentlemen?"
P'Trell says, "Alright, we've got no survivors from the looks of things,
the good news is the ships are pretty close to one another in that little valley
and they're each 1 man fighters. Bad news is we've a village approximately 2km's
north of the crash site. Laco do you have anything on the village?"
Laco says, "About twenty people, some dogs. I'm not picking up any
Irdosians near the crash site."
Ghorev approaches Nevaren's station. "I need a quick simulation. All the
data you can glean from the sensor data on those ships ... how long will it take
to carve it into pieces small enough to be beamed into our cargo bay?"
P'Trell says, "I thought they said that transporting was problematic due
to the interference."
Nevaren frowns, going over his simulations as they scrawl across the screen.
"I don't know. There are too many variables at this moment for me to get a
good answer."
Ghorev says, "They are. That's what pattern enhancers are for. It's
either that or demolitions charges powerful enough to destroy all that debris
without being noticeable by the villagers. Unless someone can give me a better
suggestion in five minutes or less." He looks around the bridge.
"Floor is now open to suggestions, Gentlemen."
P'Trell thinks for a moment. "If we recalibrate the pattern enhancers to
account for the dicosilium in the area, convince them that the dicosilium is
part of the item's make-up then we could weed out the dicosilium molecules in
transit and hopefully get the ships offworld. We have the advantage of not
having to worry about survivors or having the vessels look pretty post
beaming."
Nevaren leans back, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Too bad we can't
just fit pattern enhancers into torpedo casings and FIRE them into position...
then self destruct the casings with small charges and scuttling them."
Laco says, "The crash site is only 2 kilometers away from the village,
anything we launched down there would be well within the range of visual
spotting, they already probably saw the two fighters crash..."
Ghorev says, "Which is why time is of the extreme essence, I agree.
Unless ....... What's the *mass* of those ships?"
P'Trell checks his sensor readings again for the answer.
Nevaren looks up... "Better yet.. what are they primarily made of?"
Ghorev says, "Where are you going with that line of thought?" to
Nevaren. "Or are you speculating idly?"
P'Trell says, "To answer each of your questions, we're looking at mostly
steel, titanium and what looks to be a little titanium sillicarbide to the tune
of about 200 tons apiece."
Nevaren says, "Well.. we know that lasers can affect these ships...
That's what their primary weapons are. And we need a way to get rid of these
ships without being seen. I was thinking... Why not use an infrared laser, very
high intensity and very confined, to MELT them into molten metal? And since IR
is beyond the normal visible spectrum..." he trails off.
Laco says, "Sir, those fighters use anti-matter cores and nuclear
reactors, I can't help but think that melting them would be bad, spreading
radioactive particles about at the very least."
Ghorev nods at Laco's assessment. "Besides, that much heat would be
dangerous to the area, and still leave far-too-advanced molten metal. Let me
consult some readouts. In the meanwhile, start assembling the equipment for Plan
A: enhancers and high-yield phasers."
Nevaren says, "Aye sir." The albino returns to his screen and
starts making a list of items they will require. "Pattern Enhancers....
Type III-C phaser rifles with additional backmounted powerpacks... Demolition
charges...""
Ghorev settles back into his chair, frowning a frown of concentration,
working quickly on an idea.
P'Trell says, "What's on your mind Akeen Ghorev?"
Nevaren swivels around in his chair. "I have everything ready,
sir."
Ghorev looks up. "Nanites. In three batches -- one programmed for steel,
one for titanium, one for the alloy. We go down there, vaporize everything they
won't eat, set the nanine charges, and flee back here. We'd need to set up a
camouflaged perimeter to avoid detection while they work, since the amounts we
can generate aren't much. I'm sending the specifics to you, Mister Nevaren,
since my console is limited for this sort of thing. How long would the amount of
nanites we can produce for each batch take to work, in your estimation? If it's
not a manageable amount of time, we'll call it a wash and go down with Plan
A."
Nevaren hmmms and turns to his console. He deftly brings up a numnber of new
screens, fingers flying over the console as they define and tweak parameters
according to the preliminary scans of the debris. He frowns and shakes his head
as the results come out. "With our limited replicating abilities it would
take non-self-replicating nanites three months to eat up the tougher parts of
the ships. I think Plan 'A' is a go, in that case.
Laco shakes his head, "And anyway, as the Nanites worked, would the
integrity of the nuclear and anti-matter cores be maintained? I mean, there is
anti-matter down there in ships that slammed into a planet. If we don't hurry,
the containment system might just degrade on its own, and while I don't know how
much anti-matter one of those fighters carry, I bet it would be enough to
obliterate the village."
The surrounding land is mostly foothills at the base of a mountain range.
From the view on top of one of these hills is a vast rolling landscape with deep
troughs. The Kakklatan Peaks soar high into the sky to the south, piercing with
their snowy, pointed mountaintops toward the heavens. To the north, the land
flattens out. There, dwellings have been erected, and a really sharp eye can
make out movements from that area.
And so, going with Plan A, the away team gathers up phasers and pattern
enhancers for the sections of the ships that the phasers cannot be used on. When
the four personnel materialize, the sun is nowhere to be seen. The stars are
twinkling, and two moons provide light. Down in the valley below, the shadows
are so deep that nothing can be made out of it visually. Several fires burn away
a couple of kilometers to the north.
Nevaren reveals his Tricorder.
Ghorev says, "Alright," as the arrival completes. "I'll set up
the Pattern Enhancers. Mister Laco, keep that Tricorder scanning for any
dangerous activity from these fighters that we might have to contain. I'll keep
my antennae alert for locals and do the perimeter watch." He gestures to
Nevaren and P'Trell. "Begin surgery. Call quietly if you need my
input."
Prythra sets out with Nevaren to butcher the ships and says "Quick,
quiet and relatively painless, it's the P'Trell keth's code."
Nevaren nods. "Aye sir. And what about the atomics and the anti-matter
cores? I have plasma charges we can use on the nuclear material.. They will
render it pretty much harmless.. just fuzed glass. I still don't know what to do
with the anti-matter, though... It's no fun transporting it under NORMAL
conditions in these quantities..
The team makes it way down into the dark valley to where the ships are
supposed to be located. Going downhill is easy, and in a short amount time, the
away team makes it to the bottom without much trouble. The two ships are a
wreck, about a hundred meters apart. Some debris is spread across the area.
Ghorev begins, as previously arranged in the tactical discussion at
beam-down, setting out the enhancers.
Nevaren frowns as he walks along with the group, his pale eyes picking up
something that bothers him. He sees arrows littered about the wreckage, almost
invisible in the dark, as well as footprints and furroed turf, not deep enough
to be from debris... Almost as if someone had been fighting on the ground.. The
wet blood is a pretty telltale sign. "Oh.. Oh no.." he whispers.
"Uhm.. Sir.. Someone has been here.." The albino bends over to pick up
an arrow, stained with blood. "And for all their backwardsness.. The
Rynkans do use something a bit more advanced than this."
P'Trell spits a Graalen curse under his breath. "Lovely. Any idea if
they were fighting Rynkan or Teirian survivors or, hopefully something less
contaminating?"
There is a slight breeze in the air, but aside from the insect songs from the
surrounding brush, there seems to be no animals in the valley.
Ghorev says, "Scan the blood, Mister Laco," quietly. And peers
about, looking, listening. "We may not be alone."
P'Trell says, "Not to make a bad situation worse but we should look for
the bodies or what's left of them post haste. It's not likely but the crash
might not have killed them. If they were discovered alive, they may still be
among the living. If I believed i a soldier, Nevaren. Fighting a bloody war they
wouldn't explain to us, or let us help with. He knew the risks." He shakes
his head. "I'd save him if we could do so without breaching the Prime
Directive, but right now, anything we do is just smoke and mirrors. We may have
to settle for incinerating his body when he dies." He sounds as grim as
that deserves. "I'm open to contrary suggestions."
Nevaren says, "Everything I can think of is just MORE smoke and mirrors.
I wish I could just beam a smoke bomb into his tent along with a pattern
enhancer."
Ghorev says, seriously, "I'd bash you a good one before I let you do
that. If we'd had more time, I'd have been willing to pull some fancy physics
tricks with phasers and deflector dish to generate a local thunderstorm, but
he'd be dead before anything we could whip up would occur."
Nevaren says, "Then this is it. We watch him die."
Ghorev says, "Nevaren."
Nevaren holds up his hand. "No.. I am not pining or blaming. Just
stating a fact. You are right.. He is a Soldier. So are we."
Ghorev shakes his head. "We need to find TWO dead bodies pretty
soon." He looks up. "We never found the other, and are getting no
lifesigns. See if you can find the second one's communicator.
Nevaren nods and sits back down. He brings up teh sensors and starts to scan
for the communicator in question.
Nevaren shakes his head. "Nothing. I can't find anything."
Ghorev says, "Damn. First things first, then. The dying one. Keep an eye
on the villagers. If we *can* get a last-second opportunity when their backs are
turned, we're taking it."
Nevaren nods. "Aye sir. I am initiating a full lock on him now. And
keeping an eye on the sensors for ANY opportunity."
Ghorev says, "Good. I'll take over that search, then. He's got to be
down there somewhere."
GAME: Ghorev spends a courage point.
Nevaren blinks... slapping his forehead. "The infrared laser I thought
about earlier.. Damnit. Why don't we use it to start fire to an uninhabited tent
off to the side. When they go to save it we beam him out."
Ghorev says, "If you can find a tent that qualifies, that isn't so close
other tents will catch fire, do so...I'm searching."
Nevaren nods and brings up HIS sensors.. trying to find a match. All while
reconfiguring the phaser emitters on a separate screen.
Nevaren hoots in joy. "I have one, sir. A bunch of them actually. Wind
looks good too."
Ghorev says, "Do it. Now. The dead Teirian is in the same cabin, so I'll
try to take them both at once."
The sensors indicate a rush of movement among the natives. The two people in
the cabin with the Rynkan step out briefly to see what is going on, leaving the
Rynkan alone.
"Aye Aye, *sir*, It's done..." the albino says, smiling. "The
guards are gone. Commence transport?"
GAME: Ghorev spends a courage point.
GAME: Ghorev spends a courage point.
Ghorev says, "Rynkan beamed directly to sickbay ... dammit, I can't get
the Teirian. I may need to .... Nevaren, grab that console and give me a second
ACB .. we're going to need to do everything possible!"
Nevaren nods and brings up transporter defaults, tweaking their protocols and
locking on. "I have a second Annular Confinement Beam running hot.
Rerouting power from the phasers and attempting secondary transport..."
GAME: Nevaren spends a courage point.
Nevaren blinks, his hands resting on the console... he is quiet a moment,
then sets his forehead down against the screen. "Got him," he says,
eyes closed, breathing a sigh of relief.
The sensors show the two Irdosians returning to the cabin.
Ghorev says, "Reel him in. And keep an eye on those fires until they die
down. I want to see what we can find out about this battle. I'll be on the
bridge."
Nevaren nods. "Aye sir." and with that he leans back in his chair
to watch the screen. "Damn.. That was close."
