By Cover of Darkness
Episode Name: By Cover of Darkness Written By: Starfleet Cast: Alarcon, Darax, Duncan, Foster, Isole, Magret, Malloy, Medes, Poole,
Starfleet, Stewart and Tyler. Produced By: Starfleet Directed By: Starfleet Aired On: Sat Mar 22 13:08:41 2003 Stardate: 53086.5
Time: Fri Mar 21 22:53:36 2003
Stardate: 53085.1
The USS Aegis is preparing for departure on one of the rare occasions that she leaves the station. The mission is a simple one of surveillance - to find out what the Ferengi are up to over Rynka. They've recently started building up a sizeable force around Rynka, and the Aegis is going to check it out. Overseeing the final details of departure is Captain Poole, acting captain of the USS Aegis. At her side is Lt. JG Wendy Tyler, acting as Poole's executive officer as part of her line evaluations. She double-checks something on a PADD and hands it to Poole for confirmation and approval, then turns to survey the crew.
Alarcon is seated at the Science station, waiting for orders to proceed. "Sciences--ready, awaiting orders, sir," she smiles. She looks pressed, clean, alert, and ready to go.
Medes, already completely familiar with what an Engineering console looks like, taps a few times at said console, bringing everything online and mumbling to herself every so often as she does so. Mumble. Her brow crinkles up slightly, and she tilts her head to one side. "Computer core's not /supposed/ to suck up /that/ much power... "
Medes doesn't observe this loudly, mind, just mumbles it to herself as she continues to tap her console.
Poole reviews the padd for a moment before she looks up and over at Wendy with a perked brow. Nodding, she settles back in her seat, looking expectantly to Lt. Tyler. "Feel up to handling our departure, Mister Tyler?"
Foster runs his hands over the CONN, on one of the now rarer occasions he handles he helm. He states for the Acting Captain, "Docking clamps currently engaged, sir."
Stewart is in an unusual role for him, at Tactical. But this is part of his security training, and so he's not too out of sorts there. "Weapons and shields are at one hundred percent. All indicators are green."
Darax sits a tad stiffly in his seat, hands tapping along his console. He gets to a point pauses, double checks it and calls over his shoulder, "Power levels are balanced, sir." He pauses for a moment before adding, "Computer core seems to be drawing a lot of power, though."
Poole adds, to Darax and Medes, "The Aegis has some quirks. Consider current power usage normal for the Computer Core." Her tone has that air of 'Don't ask any more questions about that' to it, but without the heavy ominous overtones it /could/ have.
The Turbolift doors open and out walks Malloy, hypospray in hand and a rather determined look on his face. With a smile, he walks over to Poole. "Captain, I'd need to give you and the rest of the crew a shot, bridge crew is the only part not yet innoculated. It's to protect you from high doses of chroniton radiation."
"Aye, sir," Tyler replies to Poole with a brief nod. She looks back to Medes, then Darax. She nods as Poole explains, and says to the Bolian, "Make sure the core remains at that power level, Ensign." She stands up from the chairs and moves behind Ops and the Conn. "Mr. Foster, prime the impulse engines and prepare for one quarter impulse on my mark. Mr. Darax, release the umbilical assembly retract the docking clamps."
Foster runs his fingers up and along the console, nodding to Tyler as she gives the orders. "Impulse engines prepped. One quarter impulse set. Waiting for your mark, sir."
Darax's mama didn't raise no dummies. The report is given, the captain replies and he says not a thing more about it. "Aye, sir," he replies to Tyler hand moving back over his console again. After a moment or two, he turns calls out, "Assembly released." There is a pause as his hands continue to slide "And the docking clamps retracted, sir."
Alarcon simply remains at her station, watching the exchanges between crew and command, keeping an eye on her monitors and sensors and little bitty blinking lights.
Medes raises her eyebrows just a bit, but rather visibly places the Aegis's computer core in the Nothing Wrong With It Active Denial bin, simply nodding and continuing to tap at her console. Tap. Tappatap.
Stewart just sits at the ready at his console, watching his monitors. Nothing to worry about at tactical, yet. And so with a somewhat bored expression, he sits and rechecks status every few minutes.
Poole keeps watching Tyler carefully as she guides the crew through the departure process... occassionally she helps with a tidbit here or there.
"Go ahead, Mister Malloy," Poole replies to Malloy, standing and offering her arm. "Me first, if you please."
There is a soft clunk felt through the the ship as the she is released from the station. "Mr. Darax, inform Station 419 flight control that we have departed." After a few moments as the ship 'falls' to clear the docking assembly, Tyler says to Foster, "Conn, come about 90 degrees to port and ease into one quarter impulse. Set course to Dulcais Prime. Keep the anomaly no closer than twenty-thousand kilometers." She smiles to herself slightly and regards the viewscreen before turning to regard her Captain. The smile instantly fades. "We're clear of the station, sir."
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Course layed in. Moving out at one quarter impulse."
"Flight Control," the Bolian says after doing all of the necessary hand movements over flashing things. "This is Ensign Darax aboard the Aegis. We have departed Station 419"
Medes tappity. Taptap. On her controls. Not tapdancing. Tapdancing at Engineering would be odd even for Medes.
Malloy mmhmmms, then administers the first shot to Poole, the hissing sound of the hypo rather obvious. Nodding to the Captain, he then turns to the XO to treat her the same. Moving across the bridge, he administers the shots necessary, then looks around, furrowing his brow....then takes a seat on the other side of Poole. No. He doesn't feel any presence, sorry, no Troi moment here.
Alarcon gets her hypospray, shooting Malloy a look of much gratitude. Turning back to her consoles, she idly goes through the standard look-over she's done so many times before... though not on the Aegis.
Malloy sits down at Command.
Medes offers Malloy her right arm without looking up at him. She's very busy, here at Engineering. There's a lot of Looking Busy to do.
Darax mutters a quiet "Thanks" and offers Malloy after the hypospray is administered to him. Once that is taken care of, he turns his attention back to his station.
When Malloy approaches with the hypo, Stewart offers his arm absent-mindedly. After it is administered, he returns to his routine of system checks.
Foster doesn't take the time to look away as the hypo is administered. After all, he's piloting a very big ship. Best not to crash it.
Tyler accepts her hypospray with a smile to Malloy. "Thanks doc," she says quietly to him.
"Excellent Lieutenant," Poole says to Tyler, a small knowing smile on her face having caught Wendy's instant smile fade. She glances to Medes and says, "Verify one more time that the power plants are working at green levels... and bring the warp drive online." Then, to the helm, she says, "Helm, once we are far enough from the station and the Anomaly, get ready to go to warp five on my mark."
. o O Malloy thinks "Dumm-dumm-dumm-dumm-dumm-dumm-dumm-dumm Pop goes the weasel. Soooo...this is the bridge. And those chairs feel comfy. Dumm Dumm Dumm. So...career medical officer after all, all of a sudden? Bleargh."
"Power plants are functioning at green levels." Taptap. Medes continues on, sliding her hands over her console adeptly. "Warp drives... " Tappity. "... are online."
Foster mans his console dutifully, nodding as the orders are given. "We will be far enough from said objects in four... two.. now. We're free. Waiting on your mark, sir. Warp five laid in."
Poole pauses for dramatic effect, then says, "Engage."
. o O Malloy thinks "Oh. Hey. Wait a minute. I. Am. Back. On a ship! Good-bye, four one niner, I get a break and am back where I belong. Look....MOVING stars!!!"
Foster hits the 'engage' button on the LCARS panel before him, entering the ship into warp five.
Tyler straightens up at the warp lines on the screen and she smiles to herself again. Wendy then sits in the first officer's chair and pushes a button on the arm rest. The bosun's whistle sounds. "Attention all hands," Tyler says. "For the duration of this mission, the Aegis will employ experimental technology to hide itself from sensors. What you see and experience is considered classified by Starfleet Command at level 7. You are ordered to not discuss the technology or its effects in any manner."
Alarcon turns back to her consoles. Seems routine enough so far... nothing too terribly exciting happening here at the Science station. But what with the way missions she's been on tend to go, she seems pretty content with that/
.
Malloy leans back in his seat, oddly relaxed and calm, a rather satisfied smile flickering over his lips when the ship hits Warp. A light smirk passes over his face at the mentioning of the classification. Must be nice to sit there and watch the show, no LCARS to tend to. Pity they don't serve Cocktails.
Darax pauses briefly in his tapping and sliding and looking and tapping to listen. Oooh, his first mission and already he's run into two things he can't talk about. Just one more for the hat trick.
Medes raises her eyebrows and nods her head slightly, looking down at her panel as she listens to Tyler speak. Tap.
Par for the course, and Stewart just listens to the announcement, nods briefly, and goes back to the panel. Oooh, weapons down to 99. And there they go, back up to 100.
Alarcon arches the shadow of an eyebrow, but says nothing at all, just eyeing her own displays and readings and aforementioned blinking monitor-type sciency stuff.
Foster remains quiet as well. He stiffles a slight yawn before tapping the ship into auto pilot for the moment.
Poole smiles Tyler's way, that girl and her wonderful toys. Time to grip her chair, then give out orders, "It's time to dive then.... Mr. Foster, once Alarcon gives her word she's ready, I want you to drop from warp to impulse. Once we are hidden from sensors, you will change our course to Rynka and re-engage warp five." To Alarcon, "Once we drop from warp and are at impulse, start the program to begin submersion." Or, put more simply. Dive, dive, dive.
Alarcon is going through the information available at her console, and eyes something with -both- eyebrows raised, now. "Yes, sir--" A couple of little taps. "Ready, sir." Her expression is bright and engaged--she's clearly delighted to have a new program with which to play!
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Readying drop to impulse." Well. That was a brief respite from piloting. "Ready on this end, sir."
Foster says, "Dropping to impulse."
"Submerge, Lt. Alarcon," Tyler says, watching the viewscreen.
Medes observes, now with added watching goodness. Also, tap. Tappity.
Darax also looks up, expecting something to happen, even if he doesn't know what it is. Neat.
GAME: Alarcon spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Computer skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Alarcon taps at a few things. Frowns in her particularly sciency way. Slides one slim index finger down part of her LCARS, slowly, lights dimming out on the display beneath her finger as it goes. "...submerging, sir. She is now... submerged," she relays, and looks up.
A ball of white light begins to coalesce in front of the Aegis, starting as small as a distant a star. Blue-white spears of light shoot from it, similar to the larger ball of light off of Station 419. The little anomaly grows rapidly, and the optical illusion on the viewscreen is presented so that it seems like the Aegis is racing towards it at nightmarish speeds. And in a flash of blinding white light, the ship enters into the field. There is a sudden tingling feeling that starts to slowly fade away. The colors of everything is muted and washed out, as if saturation had been turned down dramatically. Only the sharpest, most intense colors stand out. The lights on the bridge have dimmed as part of the program. Tyler shivers in her chair.
Alarcon, blinking, looks up from her console at the viewscreen. Her eyes are wide, but she quickly goes back to what she was doing, burying herself in the details of her comfortingly familiar (mostly) station. Her skin crawls, goosebumps running along her skin even if she -does- have a slight idea of how this -could- be working. Kind of.
The Bolian is....dumbstruck. Completely. For a moment or two he simply stares forward towards the viewscreen, watching it and gripping at the sides of his chair. It seems like an eternity for him, sitting there, until something catches his attention. Barely. Turning back to his station, he takes a look at his sensors and reports, "Power needs have for the core have gone up," a brief pause while he confirms, "50 percent." Just a general announcement. This must be normal... But probably worth mentioning.
"Well. That was... fun," Poole says, blonde hair dulled... almost so that it looks platinum. "Interesting." Shrugging off that 'creepy vibe,' she looks to Tyler. "Is that level of power consumption normal?"... On to Foster, "If you would, set course for Rynka, Mr. Foster and engage warp five...." Shiver. "Let's get this over and done with... this place is giving me the wiggins."
"/Prophets... /" whispers Medes, her eyes opening wide... wider... widest as she /stares/ at the viewscreen. She shudders, once and rather profoundly, at the end of the process, before reaching up to tug on her left ear. "Test." Tug again. "Test." Well. You just never know, do you? Satisfied that whatever this is has not screwed up her hearing devices -- and probably forcefully diverting her attention from whatever it was that just happened -- she turns her eyes back to her console. Pretty pretty LCARS. "I'm reading that as well, Ops."
GAME: Alarcon spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Physical Sciences (Physics) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Stewart looks up at the shifts, frowning slightly. He takes a brief moment to adjust his display settings on his terminal until he's sure he'll be able to effectively respond and not confuse ''All Systems Nominal'' with ''Everything is on fire and we're all going to die''. Because that would be embarassing. Once that's done, he leaves off watching the terminal to just stare out at the screen as if this was the most interesting thing ever.
Foster just. Doesn't look. He doesn't want to be preoccupied by the flashy light dullers. He /likes/ his LCARS panel all shiny. Now it's dull. Sadness. He nods. "Aye, sir. Setting course for Rynka. Warp five. Engaged."
Malloy has no fancy terminal to distract him, so he gives the viewscreen his undivided attention. One hundred percent of concentrated Malloy. Something notmany people get.
The captain is the first to speak. And the words fall acoustically flat - no echo at all. Tyler replies to the captain, "Aye, sir. Power consumption rises with use." She turns her attention to Darax. "Steady on, Ops."
The sound business seems to freak Medes out most of all. "Is anyone... else... experiencing sound distortion?" She shifts nervously in her seat, discomfort showing clearly in the tension of her shoulders.
Darax nods without saying anything else. Now would also be a good time to make a few adjustments to make sure he can see everything properly. Failing that, he'll...let his eyes.. adjust. "I am." If it is possible for someone to not like the sound of his own voice, the Bolian does.
Poole nods over to Medes, "Steady Thea... It's alright... just for a little while, yea?" She smiles to her friend before adopting a more business like expression.
Station 419 slips further and further behind as the Aegis races toward Rynka at warp five, slicing invisibly through subspace as she goes. The eeriness of the submersion effect has lessened as the ship drops into a routine.
<CONTEST> Stewart (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
"Sensors, Mister Alarcon... what are you seeing ahead of us?" Poole asks, shifting in her seat. Yeah, this ain't so bad... no colors. It's kind of like Kansas.
Alarcon dutifully taps, checks the washed-out LCARS display. "We're about two minutes outside the sensor net's range, sir," she replies, after a moment, never removing her eyes from their cautious scrutiny of the monitors.
Medes, her shoulders hunched, looks down at her panel, keeping herself firmly distracted from the weirdness of submersion. When in doubt? Work!
Poole purses her lips and nods, "Begin scanning of the inner system once we are in range. Specifically, look for the Ferengi relay station..." Then she looks to Tyler and asks, "Recommendations, Lieutenant?"
Stewart chimes in after a moment, saying, "Sir, I'm picking up a pair of targets at extreme long range, both Ferengi. One a Marauder, the other a Trader cargo freighter. Both are in close proximity to each other. Escort duty, most likely."
Foster just flies the ship. Zoomy zoom.
Darax pretty much has the same plan as Medes. Sure, it isn't as wierd as it was. But it is sill wierd. Nose to the LCARS. Occasionally literally.
Tyler looks back at Poole and says, "Their sensor nets are no match for the Aegis when submerged. Nor the Ferengi vessel's sensors. We should maintain a low profile and continue with our mission, sir."
Malloy has his PADD out,browsing through it. He's not really busy doing anything particular interesting or useful, so having the choice of doing another inventory of the infirmary to find out if they are short on band-aids or not, or studying his PADD a bit, he takes the easier, and more comfortable, approach.
GAME: Darax spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Poole nods and hands out more instructions, "Note the position of the vessel... we're continuing onward to the system.... Helm, alter course for the Ferengi Relay Station, once you have it on sensors. Drop out of warp once we're in range and go to quarter impulse."
Stewart calls out, "Correction, sir. I'm picking up more Ferengi vessels. Total of seven Marauders as of this moment, two Traders, and ten smaller support vessels. We've got a fleet massing out there."
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Course plotted and laid in. Preparing to drop out of warp, one quarter impulse set for afterwards." He raises a brow curiousl after Stewart brings that new information to the table."
Medes tappy. Tappity tap. She turns her head slightly and glances across at her cousin, her mouth set in a line briefly as he relays his newest findings.
Malloy frowns, then starts tapping on his PADD. Ferengi. Marauders. There have to be specs.
Foster says, "Sir. The station is in orbit of one of the system's gas giants."
Poole frowns and looks over her shoulder at Stewart. "/Seven/? Where? I want an exact location of this amassing... and as much information on those vessels as you can give me." Grrr. She looks to Foster now and nods, "Make sure to drop out of warp nice and early then... So as to not put a whole lot of stress on our inertial dampeners and structural integrity fields."
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Calculating changes to earliar drop-out. Dropping out of warp in three.. one.. now. Switching to one quarter impulse."
"Wow," says Darax looking over his controls, unable to hold it back. "Sirs," he starts, "I have absolutely no loss of clarity on the system's communication's traffic." There is a slight pause while he reads a monitor, "Alot of it encrypted, but I'm recieving it."
At Darax's words, Medes looks up from her console and across the way. If it's at all possible, she's actually got almost a hungry kind of look on her face. Hungry like the Wolf joke goes... here. Regardless, her eyebrows rise slowly. Zero loss? Encryyyyypted?
Alarcon frowns down at her console. "Sir, I'm seeing similar acuity from ship's sensors. Essentially... they're performing beyond their normal ranges." Her fingers flit deftly across the surface of her displays. "Receiving planetary data at this distance," she notes with some surprise.
"Mister Medes, care to take a crack at those encryptions?" Poole asks, looking over at the dimunitive bald engineer. In a uniform and not a dress. To Darax, she says, "Record everything you can, Mr. Darax..." She pauses for a moment, pondering, before she looks to Tyler. "So many ships... They are preparing for war. Ferengi. At war." That's one heck of a hard to make jump in logic.
Malloy pats the armrest of his seat. Ah, the Aegis. Good ship. Nice ship. SHIP. Not station. That's good, and it has moving stars.
A tactical display pops up on the viewscreen, showing the planet, the sensor buoy net around it, and the Aegis slipping into the net. There are fourteen marauders in total. Fifteen support vessels, and fifteen Trader class cargo carriers. All of the marauders are on patrol but the five at the relay station. The support vessels are gathered mostly there, too. But one marauder and one Trader have broken off from the pack, and are sitting still along the edge of the net. Nothing flinches as the Aegis coasts into their sensor ranges.
"And five more near the relay station. Marauders, I mean." Stewart taps away further on the console, saying, "For all the activity I'm seeing, we might as well be parked outside of Ferenginar."
Malloy gets up from his seat. "With your permission, Captain, I guess I'll take a look around the Infirmary. I...hmmm. Just a hunch."
"Permission granted, Mr. Malloy..." Poole says, rubbing her chin. More pondering.
Malloy touches the pad beside the turbolift door.
Malloy summons the turbolift.
The turbolift doors slide open with a hiss.
Malloy boards the turbolift as the double doors slide open.
Malloy has left.
Darax jumps to.. well, sits to when he is given the command by Poole, "Aye, aye, sir." Blip. Beep. His fingers slide along the LCARS to set the controls to start recording, then pauses. "Sir?" He hesitates, "Shall I try to pick up the comms to and from the ships? There is just....so much.."
The turbolift doors slide closed.
"I want the marauders and the station more than the others... the station in particular," Poole says, clarifying her previous order... and she adds, "The planet isn't swampy enough to be Ferenginar."
Foster says, "If you like, sir, I can put her on auto pilot and help Mister Darax with the communications for the time being."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Espionage (Cryptography) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
"Stay at the helm, Foster..." Poole says. "No telling if we might have to beat a hasty retreat... and I'd rather have our pilot at the controls." She, then, looks to Medes and then to Darax. "What have you got?"
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Maintaining present course and speed."
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Computer skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
The communiques that the Bolian officer is attempting to intercept are elusive at best. He finally takes a stab at a set of them, and the intercepts are passed from his terminal to the Engineering terminal, where Medes takes a shot at preliminary decryption and analysis. The results on her screen are less than encouraging.
Tyler looks over towards Poole and slips a lock of hair behind her ear. "We should record everything we can get our sensors across," Tyler says. "O'Rielly's people might have better luck at analysis."
Medes shakes her head frustratedly, even as her fingers fly over the LCARS in front of her. "Nothing, yet. This is... it's different from what I've worked with before." Still, she doesn't appear discouraged by her failure this far: rather, she continues onward. "I'm going to keep at it, sir, unless you've got something else for me. I might be able to whip something up."
"Make it so number one," Poole says to Tyler with a gentle smile. Looking over Medes' way she says, "Have at it, Thea.... Mister Stewart... continued tactical analysis? I'd like to know as much about the ships in this system as we can find out. Placement, patrol routes, ... the number of scratches on each marauder's hull armor." Looking over to Alarcon, she asks, "What can you tell me about the planet, Mister Alarcon? Anything of interest?" One last order, "Mr. Foster, full stop. Keep us out of the paths of any ships."
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Making sure not to bump into anything."
"I've passed along what I could grab," offers Darax with just a little trepidation in his voice. "But," he shakes his head slowly as he looks over his intrumentation, "There is an awful lot here.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Computer skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Stewart (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
"Sir," says Alarcon, suddenly, in the process of getting her planetary data, "I have a ship on sensors... coming in at Warp 3 from the Teirra system. Making a run." Tap, tap.
Stewart continues tapping away at his console, eventually looking up to say, "Sir, I have two marauders on intercept with the apparently Teirran vessel."
"Nothing particularly interesting coming in as pertains to the planet... I'm receiving a lot of planetary data, however. Anything you'd especially like to see, sir?" Alarcon adds this after a few more frowns down at her displays.
"Not in particular... just... record what you find..." Poole turns to Foster now and says, "Bring us in a bit closer to the Teirran vessel..." She looks to Darax now, "If there's com traffic between those marauders and that teirran vessel I'd like to hear it."
"I'm still sending what I can along," says Darax after a breath or two. His eyes are locked on his consoles and his hands moving as rapidly as he can manage. At the new order, he pauses for just a second to regroup and goes about the newest command, "Aye, sir."
Alarcon nods in reply to Poole's directions, seems completely engrossed in her work, logging all the planetary data the enhanced sensors are receiving.
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Shifting the ship to be on the tail of the Marauders. I think I should bring it up that given the.. current environment we are moving.. quite well. I'd say, probably better than usual. It's as if the course adjusts before I even have it finished."
"Wait. Sir, I have it... well, one of the 'its,' anyway," Medes notes, tapping at her console a couple of times. "Putting it on speakers."
Tyler turns to regard Poole. "We should try out some maneuvers while we're out here. I don't think the Aegis has been pushed while submerged."
Poole nods, smiling slightly. She leans forward and looks to Foster, "Alright Mr. Foster... let her loose. Just keep us in range of that Teirran ship.... and watch how close you get to any particular ship."
Foster smirks slightly to himself as he brings the ship about under the two Marauders, and then breaking off to the side of the further right. He then brings the ship over the right side of said ship, over the top and down under below the leftmost vessel, arcing over it's left side and over it's top and back to the center - making a pretty little infinity sign. How symbolic.
<CONTEST> Foster (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
The speakers crackle to life of the decrypted message. "Cousin. I was able to pick up that subspace transceiver you were looking for, and it won't cost you much over wholesale. Daimon Kog has us working twice as hard getting the relay station working. These Rynkans are going to be easy to fleece and it'll be the good old days all over again! Hee hee hee hee! Take care of your accounts, cousin Gak. Snerk out." The message ends.
The ship responds quite well to Foster's skillful hot dogging, and he easily takes the Aegis through some challenging maneuvers that put a little strain on the inertial dampeners.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
GAME: Poole spends a courage point.
Poole grips the sides of her chair, but it's hard to tell if it's because of the manuevering... or that NAME. Her face becomes stern, lips a thin line. "/Gak/," she hisses. If the bridge were in full technicolor, her face would be PALE. As is, it looks sorta the same.
Tyler blinks a few times and looks over at Captain Ahab. Er, Poole. She pushes herself up from her chair, and, asks Darax, "Any luck on pinpointing the transmissions, Ensign?"
Foster, truly, is amazed by how fluid the vessel moves under his commands he enters into the LCARS console before him. "So fluid.. it's remarkable. I wonder what she could do, pushed to the limit." However, now is not the time. And he doubts he'll get the chance, but he keeps the vessel near the three vessels incase anymore comm chatter comes in.
Blink. Blinkblink. "Gwen... " Medes says quietly from her chair at Engineering. "Whatever you're thinking, you probably shouldn't do it right now." Gutsy move, maybe. Taptap.
. o O Poole thinks "Redrum. Redrum. Redrum... err... Happy... kitties... babies... frolicking deer..."
Alarcon just keeps tapping away. Studies her consoles. Tries to bend her mind around the submersion technology she's working with. As for the exchange between Medes and Poole... well, it gets a glance, but she doesn't even raise a shadow of an eyebrow. She's buried in her work at her science station. Tap, tap.
The message is played. If it was possible for a Bolian to blush, one could imagine that he would turn an even deeper shade of blue. Perhaps even a little purple as the blood rushes to his face. I am sure this is what Darax would look like if he were blushing. Which he isn't, so the crew may never know. Plus, there is the whole color wash thing. So there is no lavender Bolian here. Especially when he gets to report, "I can't get a lock on their communications, sir. It might be all the other transmissions we are picking up. I'll see if I can't try to bleed out some of them to try and get a lock. Maybe that'll work."
. o O Medes thinks "Holy <expletive>... what's gotten into her?"
Stewart calls out, "The Marauders have two minutes to intercept on the Teirian vessel. Awaiting orders as to response, sir. If any, of course." Right now, he just sits in front of the console, fingertips at the ready to begin action.
Poole grits her teeth and pushes up from her seat. She nods sharply to Medes and says, "/Right./" Right. Forget the hissing 'gak' that happened a minute ago. "We have a job to do." Was that reassurance for herself? A way to get back on track? "I want to know which vessel this 'Gak' is on." Pause. "Keep recording as many transmissions to and from the marauders as you can..." Then she turns, rubbing her cheek a moment.
Tyler remains over Darax's shoulder a moment longer, then turns back to Poole. "Sir, who is Gak?" she asks her Captain, since she obviously has an interest in this name.
. o O Poole thinks "One torpedo... /One/. But it... it would mean my career."
"A worthless... slime of a Ferengi..." Poole answers, forcing her anger away. Tossing water on the fire of her hatred. "He ruined my life," she says. "He took something pure and... and..." Gritting her teeth, she shakes her head. "Nevermind... I don't want to /know/ where he is. Let's just get this done with."
Foster says, "Keeping course with the vessels, sir. Preparing to dodge fire incase of conflict."
"Still recording all the data I can, sir," murmurs Alarcon, hard at work at her LCARS, keeping an eye on several things at once, and looking thoroughly at home with it all, tucked away in her sciency corner.
Tyler watches Poole as she explains. The nods once in response. Excellent. There won't have to be a mutiny after all - and endangering this mission for some personal revenge would certainly call for talks about it. She looks back to Stewart. "Status report on the Tieran ship?"
. o O Poole thinks "He isn't worth it."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
"And I'm still recording all of the incoming messages that I can manage, sir," Darax calls out, still hard at work, not seeming at all bothered by the fact that someone is standing over his shoulder. It is actually forcing him to calm down a little bit so that he can get this done properly. "But I can't intercept the transmissions from the two marauders or the Teirran ship."
Stewart checks his screen, noting, "Teiran ship is being ground into paste by the Marauders. I don't give it long before it's dust. We might want to move clear of the radius of any blast if they decide to do something like self-destruct or eject the core."
"Move us away from the Teiran vessel, Mr. Foster..." Poole says with a sigh. "Unfortunately... we can't help them." She makes her way back over to the big command chair and sits. "Assist Mr. Darax in intercepting those messages, Medes.... I /really/ want to know what they're saying to each other."
Foster says, "Aye, sir. Getting the hell out of dodge."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
"Mr. Darax, I think if we... " Medes taps at her communications terminal for a moment, and then hmms. "Follow my lead. You should see in a moment what I'm doing." She slides her hands over the LCARS in front of her, and bends her head over the display. "Okay. See? I think that might do it." A long pause. "/Yes./"
Darax follows along with Medes from his own terminal. "I think I see what you are doing. Yes, I see now." He begins to move his own hands over the LCARS a little more capably, looking occasionally up to into one of the displays. "I hadn't thought of that." Then there is a pause of his own and, just a moment after Medes, he exclaims, triumphantly, "Got it!"
The speaker comes to life a second time. This time, the message is more important. "How much longer before the relay is online Daimon?" "Five more days." "How can I have your assurances that you won't cut the Rynkans out?" "Look, Mr. President," the title is said with attitude, "I told you that my word is as good as Latinum. We'll be sure to share everything we get, fifty-fifty. I promise. And you can trust me, Mr. President." "The Grand Nagus - perhaps I should speak with him...." "NO! The Grand Nagus cannot be... Uh... Disturbed with these trivialities. We will talk soon, Mr. President." The transmission ends.
Alarcon looks up. Blinks a good deal. Turns reluctantly back to her own work without comment, though her almost-eyebrows do remain raised, eyes wide.
"They are setting up that relay without the knowledge of the Grand Nagus," Poole states, just to clarify things further. "How nice of them..." She says, "Make note of the source of that Daimon's transmission... The name of the ship and such. O'Rielly and his people can cross reference them." She peers over Tyler's way, "What are your thoughts on that conversation... given what we've seen in the system?"
"It sounds like exploitation. But it also doesn't sound like our business," Tyler says in response to the question from Poole. "Since it falls under the prime directive, sir."
Stewart furrows his brow slightly, saying, "I hope the plan wasn't to provide the recording to the Nagus... because otherwise we'll have to explain exactly how we got this recording, won't we?" Stewart just shrugs slightly, and then goes back to his console.
"Got it, sir, It was from the Mogul, which is captained by Daimon Ek," Darax says again after a few more taps and slides on the terminal. "I'm storing it, along with the transmission and seperate from the other communications that have been recorded."
Medes continues to work with Darax on collecting as many signals as she can, working her hands over the controls until she collapses from exhaustion or is ordered away from her console, whichever comes first. It's not as much fun as decrypting stuff, but she just /loves/ scanning for messages! She does not, however, sing a little song about it. She is silent, and concentrates.
"It's going to be a long couple hours..." Poole muses outloud to Tyler, settling back in the big chair. Not thinking about Gak. Thinking about other Ferengis. Like Lux. And thinking about her husband and what she's going to tell him. "... some honeymoon..." she murmurs softly, shrugging her shoulders.
The Aegis remains close to Rynka for some twelve hours, intercepting vast numbers of local messages and beginning the process of decoding them. After sufficient time spying on the Rynkan and Ferengi people, the ship is ordered to return to the nest, and she makes her way back home to Station 419 once again.
