Search and Seizure
Episode Name: Search and Seizure
Written By: Grey
Cast: Caeli, Dakin, Fitzpatrick, Grey, Nash, Orion Pirate, Patton, Pierce, Pirate Vessel and Valentine.
Produced By: Starfleet
Directed By: Grey
Aired On: Wed Jan 19 03:37:54 2005
Stardate: 54691.2
Time: Tue Jan 18 20:16:38 2005
Stardate: 54690.4
The Thomas Paine speeds away from Station 419. The bridge crew was assembled on a moment's notice, hails summoning the officers to the Thomas Paine. As soon as the crew finished boarding the Paine undocked and set off, laying in a course given by Dakin as everyone assembles on the bridge.
Nash , since he really doesn't have a bridge station, stands to one side of the door. See Logan stand. See Logan watch.
Dakin, seated in the command chair, addresses the assembled bridge crew. "Apologies for the short notice, but here's the sit-rep at present. Long range scans detected a modified merchant ship entering the sector. Closer scans counta complement of over a hundred, but all but five of them are crammed into a single compartment like a tin of Numaenian sardines." He lets that sink in a bit before continuing. "The station sent cease-and-desist orders, which were ignored. We're to intercept the vessel and investigate."
Caeli stands off near Nash, hands loosely clasped at the small of his back, waiting for the same thing as the younger man. Contraband means boarding. The Bolian pipes up from his place near the wall, "You thinking slavers, Rann?" Always one to state the obvious, Zip is.
Valentine glances over her shoulder as she arranges her console screens the way she likes them from the default, her brow creasing slightly. "Entering from where, sir?"
"It's what it sounds like," agrees Pierce as he makes his way onto the bridge, furrowing his brows as he takes up a post at the science station. He wipes his brow from his rather brisk walk from the infirmary. He mutters, to himself, "Well, it beats pre-duty physicals."
Fitzpatrick is seated at Tactical, poised, listening, waiting. She's relaxed and focused, doing much the same as Valentine.
. o O Valentine can't forget about all those Klingon refugees.
Nash just stands next to the door, looking all security-ish and purty in his pressed uniform and shiny boots. He glances from person to person as they speak, but doesn't offer any input.
Patton doesn't seem to be paying attention to the banter going on. He's mainly just doing his job of getting the Paine to that ship.
Dakin nods grimly to Caeli, then looks the helm's direction. "Mr. Patton, can you plot a likely entry trajectory for the vessel? Make a guess at where it came from?"
Caeli wrinkles up his forehead and lower scalp, evidently thinking. "Five crew... I'd like three or four just to be safe, but if you think Logan and I can handle it, I'm sure we can take the ship. The hard part will be crowd control once we pop the container."
GAME: Patton spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Patton (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Astrogation) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
"Maybe they'll greet us with open arms and welcome us as liberators of the people, as well move in a single file line towards the exit in an orderly fashion?" suggests Pierce, though it is with a wry tinge in his voice.
Valentine turns her gaze toward Patton, her eyes questioning, though her fingers never stop moving on her touchpads.
Patton nods while still looking at his console. He works over the helm for a moment before saying, "Their course seems to be taking them from Acamar, passing through Dulcais, heading to..." he pauses for just a second, pressing another button, "Khitomer."
Nash glances over at the Bolian when he speaks, brows creasing a bit, but again, stays silent.
The dry humor's not lost on the Bajoran in the center seat. "We should be so fortunate, Doctor," Dakin responds. Looking now to Pierce, "Have a bio-scan ready to go once we're in tighter sensor range. I'd like to find out sooner than later if these people are sick or injured." At Patton's report, Dakin frowns. "Acamar would suggest the Gatherers, assuming the treaty wasn't in effect, but why Khitomer..?" The question is asked to no one in particular.
Pierce nods his head once, looking back towards his console. "Coming up when we're in range," promises the medical officer, turning back towards his console.
Fitzpatrick settles back in her seat, fingers playing over her screens for a moment as she rearranges something more to her satisfaction. Even though she's watching the screen, her attention is clearly on Dakin and the others.
Caeli is silent over by the wall, looking between the other officers. Finally, he asks, "Are we close enough to get a deck plan on the ship?" Might as well start planning.
Valentine lifts an eyebrow, saying nothing for the nonce, and turns back to settle in comfortably at her station.
Dakin, at Zip's suggestion, he looks to Fitzpatrick at Tactical. "How about it, Lieutenant?"
. o O Valentine thinks, "I can understand preparing for the worst, but I can think of a zillion reasons other than slavers for a situation like that. Ah well, we'll see."
Fitzpatrick taps at her screen for a moment, then shakes her head. "Still out of range, Sir," she tells Dakin. "I'll keep checking as we get closer."
. o O Nash thinks, "Yeah, let's go in there phasers blazin', hero. I'm sure that 2 to 1 odds won't be a problem once things get ugly."
Patton says, "Captain, I can increase our speed to maximum until we get close to being within sensor range, and then ease her into range so that we could still possibly keep some element of surprise."
"I'm sure they have no idea we might send someone out to check," says Pierce, still thinking, though. "I can't think why Khitomer, though, unless they're just stopping there before moving on elsewhere."
Dakin shakes his head. "There's a such thing as overkill, Mr. Patton. Maintain present speed. We'll easily overtake them at this rate."
Dakin says, "...but the second part of your plan I like. Stand by to implement once we're in sensor range."
Patton nods as he continues to pilot the ship. "Aye sir."
Caeli quirks a cerulean brow. "Rann, are you going to give them the benefit of the doubt, or do we go in guns blazing?"
Dakin looks to Caeli. "The former for the moment, Zip. We don't know anything at this point aside from our sensor results and the lack of communication. Too many variables at present."
"Perhaps just one hundred people made a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom and ended up in the bulkhead," suggests Pierce from where he stands. "Do we know the ship's registry?"
. o O Caeli thinks, "The doc's got a point. We can be in and out of there, with the hostages never seeing a shot fired."
Valentine blinks at Pierce's quip, though she doesn't look away from her work. She just shakes her head, bemused.
<CONTEST> Pierce contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Fails!
As the Thomas Paine continues to hurtle through space, it slowly closes on the unknown vessel. Soon enough the Paine is close enough to start trying to investigate with long range scans.
Caeli patiently stands, and waits. He and his team - such as it is - can't do much until they've got schematics to look over.
Fitzpatrick mutters something under her breath, something that sounds suspiciously like "Panama. Pina coladas will be served on the Lido deck." She's grinning, however, eyes back to her screens.
"They're wedged too tight and we're too far out for me to pick up anything on the sensors," reports Pierce, more seriously, furrowing his brow at his console. "Maybe if we're closer, but I've got nothing now."
Patton says, "Sir, we should just be entering the long range sensor threshhold."
Dakin shakes his head to Pierce, then looks out to the shape on the viewscreen. "Magnify, Fitzpatrick, and get started on the schematic. Everyone run your scans please. We've got range now."
Patton adds, "Shall I go ahead and start easing back for the moment sir?"
Dakin nods once to Patton. "Please do, Ensign."
GAME: Fitzpatrick spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Fitzpatrick's head tilts as she works, focused on the screen. "Nothing yet, sir," she calls quietly.
Patton looks back to Fitzpatrick for just a moment, "Decreasing speed gradually," he starts to press buttons as the ship slows just a little bit, "speed decreased to warp 7.5 pending successful sensor scan."
Still the Paine closes on the slower vessel, moving on a steady intercept course.
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Dakin looks over to Pierce. "Bio-scan, Doctor?"
GAME: Pierce spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Pierce (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
"I still can't get a fix on the condition of the people inside," says Pierce, shaking his head as the Paine draws closer. "They're just too cramped to make out individual lifeform conditions. I can try to get a better fix on how many people we're dealing with, though. That'll be easier."
GAME: Valentine spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Valentine (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Fitzpatrick smiles, suddenly. "Three decks, sir," she calls quietly. "Deck 1 is the bridge, deck 2 is cargo, deck 3 is engineering. Weapons array comprised of two phaser arrays, one forward, one lateral. Weaker than ours, but she'll still bite."
Upon report of at least one successful sensor scan Patton says,"Reducing speed to warp 7 until positive bio-scans." And the ship slows down a little bit more.
Dakin straightens in his chair. "Well, let's hope we don't have to knock out a few of their teeth. Open hailing frequencies, Lieutenant."
Caeli shakes his head, trying to call up the layout on a wall console. "Internal. Need an internal threat assessment... Doctor, have you pinned down the lifesigns? How are the five crewmen distributed?" His queries are made quietly, so as not to interfere with Dakin's hail, but it's obvious he expects the worst to come of diplomacy.
"What do you want me to do about the bio-scans?" asks Pierce, looking over at Dakin, raising his brow slightly. "Should I try to make out general conditions?"
Valentine gives the nearest bulkhead a reassuring look at Fitzpatrick's report, as her fingers rebusy themselves again. Whatever she sees on her screens earns itself an annoyed look, but she doesn't offer a comment.
Dakin looks to Pierce, saying briefly, "General conditions, yes."
"That's harder, but I'll keep at it," Pierce promises, then looking back at his console. "You better work, or else I'm going to give you quite the talking to when we get back to dock..."
Even as the Thomas Paine slows more, she stills gains steadily on the other vessel, which is growing little by little larger. Other than increasing in size on the view screen, nothing changes with the other ship.
<CONTEST> Pierce (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Valentine (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Caeli, getting frustrated, starts looking over the schematic of the ship, sans life-forms, and working out a plan of attack in his head.
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
. o O Caeli thinks, "Probably two or three on the bridge, one in engineering. Maybe one in the cargo hold. Can't give them the bridge, can't give them engineering, can't give them the hostages. Need to take all three decks relatively quickly, or they'll force us into a stalemate."
"I'm still not getting anything on the general conditions," Pierce says, trying to keep down the general about of frustration in his voice, even as his fingers fall harder on the console, as if jabbing at it will make the scan work better.
Fitzpatrick bites her lip, then grins broadly. "Sorry sir, got 'em. Two on the bridge, one in engineering, two outside the cargo hold, and 104 inside the hold. They're all Orion." Fingers fly. "Opening hailing...Now."
Valentine's fingers suddenly stop their movement, and an eyebrow rises as she considers a sensor reading. "They're loaded for bear," she mutters, and starts to say more, only to pause as Fitzpatrick starts to hail.
Dakin nods once to Fitzpatrick, then raises his voice to 'wrath of the Prophets' tone. "Unidentified vessel, this is the Federation starship Thomas Paine, Lt. Commander Dakin Rann commanding. You are hereby ordered to power down all propulsion systems and prepare for boarding and official inspection. Failure to comply will be met with force. You have fifteen seconds to decelerate and hold position."
Caeli snaps his fingers at Fitzpatrick's report and Dakin's hail. "That's it. Logan, let's gear up." The Bolian taps his compin. "Caeli to boarding party, arm yourselves and assemble in transporter room 1." With that, he makes for the turbolift himself.
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Valentine contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Pierce (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
The hailing frequency remains quiet, no response coming. The vessel maintains course and speed.
Nash follows the Bolian as he exits the room toward the turbolift. Let the good times roll.
<CONTEST> Pierce (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Dakin frowns. "Ignorant, aren't they?" He exhales once before his next order. "All hands, yellow alert. Fitzpatrick, shields up, charge phasers, fire a warning shot across her portside bow. Stand by to lower shields once Caeli's team is set for drop-in."
<PROVE> Patton has the merit of Alertness at 2.
"Our presumptive slaves are alive, healthy, but they're not getting fed too well, or hydrated," reports Pierce, finally, as he looks towards the officer at the Conn. "The crew, as you might imagine, doesn't have those problems. I take it I should join the boarding party?"
Patton starts to speed the ship up a little bit again as the yellow alert order is given. Once he sees that weapons and shields are powered, he starts entering several commands into his console, pre-loading them if need be.
Dakin nods sharply to Pierce. "Get going, and put sickbay on standby."
Valentine continues the comment she was going to share earlier. "They've added those weapon arrays and increased shielding..." A yellow light begins to blink at her, and she looks over toward its accompanying screen. "Both of which just powered up, sir."
From the transporter room, Caeli's voice comes over the ship's comm. "Caeli to Dakin; We're ready to go, sir. Chief Hawthorne is taking one team to the bridge; I'll be leading the strike on the cargo hold, and we'll let them hole up in engineering for the time being. Sound good?"
Pierce begins to make his way after the boarding party, heading towards the transporter room, pausing only to pick up the medical kit he brought along for this purpose on the way to the teleporter. He taps his comm badge as well. "Pierce to Station Infirmary."
Fitzpatrick nods to Dakin and starts the set-up to follow that order.
Dakin says over the comm to Caeli. "Negative, Lieutenant. The hostile just raised shields and powered weapons. Stand by."
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
. o O Caeli thinks, "Shouldn't have wasted time on the comm. Could have had them neutralized by now."
"...Tell Doctor Park we're going to need every medical corpsman, nurse, and medic we've got on station to evaluate the wounded," Pierce is saying as he takes the turbolift down, stepping off at the transporter room. "It seems like nothing serious, but we're going to need to process a lot of patients. We'll handle the most critical here aboard the Paine." These are orders. "Pierce out." Tap.
Fitzpatrick taps a few things and shoots. A bit of space dust, somewhere over their portside bow, a bit of space dust is vaporized.
Patton calls out to Valentine without looking back, "Can you project to the helm their possible firing arcs. It'd be nice if we could stay out of range of those extra weapons."
<CONTEST> Pirate Vessel contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Down in the transporter room, Caeli finishes checking his own weaponry, takes up a spare Type II and hands it to Pierce. "Strap up, doc. Something tells me we'll be going in hot."
Pierce looks at the phaser and then looks to his medical kit, shaking his head. "Oh, no," he says to Caeli. "I'm not carrying one of those things. I only passed marksmanship at the Academy on the third try with my eyes closed because I memorized where the targets were. I'll maintain my neutrality, thank you."
As the Paine moves in and fires across their bow, the pirate vessel banks away. Its sluggish and slow, just like a cargo ship would be. It tries to return fire with the rear phaser array but the shot misses.
Dakin growls. "So much for diplomacy. All hands, upgrade to red alert. Mr. Patton, evasive maneuvers once you get Valentine's firing arcs. Fitzpatrick, target engines and weapons. I want that ship disabled. Fire at will." His eyes narrow at their fleeing quarry.
Caeli quirks a brow towards Pierce. "I trust your intentions are all the best, Doctor, but we've got limited personnel going over there. Once the crew is out of the way you can get to your patients safely, but unless you've got a moral or religious objection, I'd prefer the extra hand on our side."
GAME: Fitzpatrick spends a courage point.
"When I signed up, I got a deal," says Pierce, shaking his head at Caeli. "You carry the phasers, I patch up the people you shoot that with the phasers." He looks at the Type II. "Besides, with my marksmanship, I'm far more likely to rip a hole in the hull than hit anything useful."
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
"Might make them duck.", Nash comments from where he stands near a wall.
Valentine's fingers fly. "One array fore, one aft, looks like a 180 degree arc on each. Stay fore or aft, and they can only aim with one; go alongside and they'll broadside with both. The good news- those phasers are pretty old. Simple stuff. Unless they've got somebody like me on board, I wouldn't be surprised if the bloody things break down."
<CONTEST> Pirate Vessel contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
. o O Valentine is /so/ modest. Not.
Both the Paine and the pirate vessel exchance phaser blasts, both going wide. The Paine is far nimbler and that's giving an edge for now.
Caeli mutters something under his breath in Bolian, and clips the spare phaser to his open hip. Might have to double-fist it; one never knows. "Alright, change of plans; Crewman Jorep, you'll move from the bridge team with us to the cargo bay. That makes it three and three, plus the doctor, unless we get reinforced."
. o O Valentine is a little puzzled. "For Orion slavers, these guys sure seem like amateurs. Lousy weaponry, lousy handling of the cargo. Odd..."
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
GAME: Patton spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Patton (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Pirate Vessel contests his Shipboard Systems skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Pirate Vessel contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Patton follows Valentines advice and tries to move in behind the pirate vessel. For some reason though, he doesn't seem to be able to get the trajectory quite right, that, and with trying to evade the vessel, it causes him all sorts of problems.
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
<CONTEST> Caeli contests his Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Patton contests his Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Dakin contests his Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Pierce contests his Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Nash contests his Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Valentine contests her Coordination skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick contests her Fitness (Vitality) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!
Again the Paine fires on the pirate vessel and misses. The pirates and the Paine try and jockey for position but neither can get an edge. The pirates return fire and hit the Paine, which shudders from the hit.
Even though she's seemed pretty stable, Fits ends up going over. There's a loud *pop* as her left hip hits the floor and she barely manages to bite off a cry of pain. Two seconds down and she's already trying to get up, clearly favoring that hip.
Valentine grabs for her console and manages to stay upright, though she winces on behalf of her poor ship. Even as she holds on, her other hand darts to bring up damage reports. "Fore shields down twenty percent," she calls off toward Dakin.
. o O Caeli thinks, "Come on, stop wasting time. Just get us in there."
Dakin leaps out of his chair and goes over to help Fitzpatrick up. "Keep us out of their phaser range, Mr. Patton..! Lieutenant, can you stand?" He glances over to the unmanned tactical board, keeping as best an eye he can afford on things as he sees to Fitzpatrick.
Caeli keys up the comm system via a nearby console, right after he's thrown against it. "Rann! Can you or someone up there find their shield variance and slip us in? Might be easier than battering down their shields."
GAME: Fitzpatrick spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Patton (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Fitzpatrick (claiming advantage) contests her Fitness (Vitality) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Pierce keeps his footing as well when the ship is rocked by the blast, taking a deep breath and looking back towards the turbolift. "Come on," he murmurs.
Patton does as he is ordered by Dakin. Not happy that he wasn't able to get in right the last time, he slows the ship down now as he gets into position, taking the Paine just out of the cargo ship's weapons range... but not out of the Paine's. "We're out of their range sir."
<CONTEST> Pirate Vessel contests his Shipboard Systems skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Fitzpatrick tries to pull herself up, teeth gritted, and shakes her head. Sweat starts to pop on her forehead. "Just...leave me," she grinds out. "Or get me up, Sir. Get me back to the panel?"
Valentine catches the request from Caeli amidst the chaos and gets to work. "Checking out the shield variances, sir."
The doctor, of course, has no idea what's going on at the bridge, simply keeping himself down in the transporter room. "What's taking them?" he murmurs, clearly antsy.
As the Paine slows the pirate tries to respond but it simply can't match the Paine and the distance grows between the two ships. Its fires but its out of range and misses.
Dakin tabs the commline open on the tactical board. "Stand by, Mr. Caeli, Fitzpatrick's down... Valentine, track their shield harmonics and relay their window to the transporter room." He looks to Fitzpatrick and shakes his head. "You're relieved, Lieutenant. You did good." He logs himself into the tactical console and tabs open another commline. "Dakin to sickbay, medical team to the bridge." Once that's done, he begins the task of targeting their assailant.
Caeli looks over Pierce's way. "They can't beam us in through the freighter's shields. So the Commander is trying to take down their shields. If they can find the exact frequency of the enemy shields, we can set our phasers or transporters to match, and it'll be as if they weren't there. Or we can sit here and throw punches till their shields fail, and beam in that way." As the call comes over for the medical team, Caeli raises an eyebrow.
Pierce taps his comm badge. "On my way." He turns to the transporter chief. "If we're ready to beam, beam me straight from the bridge," orders Pierce as he grabs his med kit, taking for the turbolift. "Faster, faster," he encourages the whooshing doors as he waits to come up to the bridge.
Nash is still holding on to the part of the bulkhead he grabbed when the ship was hit, looking more like a statue by the minute.
GAME: Dakin spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Dakin (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Caeli is doing a fair bit of standing around himself, shaking his head slowly as he watches Pierce leave. "Three and three again. When we go in, drop whoever doesn't freeze with a light stun, and we'll sort it out later. Not looking for any casualties today. Everyone good?" He looks from Nash to the NCOs, looking for confirmation.
Pierce is on the bridge as fast, or, if you prefer, as slowly, as the turbolift will carry him, and then takes his tricorder from his medikit, kneeling down by the former occupant of tactical. "All right," he tells her. "Where does it hurt?" He goes through his A-B-C's, making sure quickly, there is an airway, breathing, and circulation, on pure impulse.
Nash just nods. "Right as rain, LT.", he replies.
<CONTEST> Patton (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Pirate Vessel contests his Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Fitzpatrick doesn't even make a face at being relieved of duty. Her obedience is immediate and she starts scooting back and away from the consoles, each movement agony, though she doesn't make a sound. It takes a few scoots, but she eventually finds a defensible position, back to a wall, where she can hold on to things bolted down - that would be Sciences station, for the moment. She's out of commission and out of the way.
<CONTEST> Valentine contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Valentine shakes her head a bit after a moment of working. "Still working on our shield harmonics. They're out of sensor range now though, so no way to get theirs."
Fitzpatrick gestures to her left hip which is, clearly, not where it should be. She says nothing to Pierce, however.
Still the Paine and the pirate vessel do the dance of battling vessels. Neither can get the edge on the other. Dakin's shots both miss the other vessel and it again fires from out of range.
<CONTEST> Dakin (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
Caeli starts checking his phaser rifle yet again. Better than standing idle, really.
Dakin grits his teeth as he sends another volley towards the hostile ship. Over the commline to Caeli, "Stand by, Zip, we're having some trouble getting those harmonics up here." He nods to Valentine to keep at it.
Caeli keys up the comm back to the bridge. "It's not like they're going anywhere. Just let us know when." He offers a shrug up to the rest of the security team.
<CONTEST> Patton (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Pierce contests his Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Valentine catches the nod in a glance and keeps busily working, her expression one of grim determination.
Both of Dakin's shots find their target, knocking out the pirate vessel's engines and weapons in one fell swoop. The damage knocks the shields offline too. The vessel coasts to a stop and all Patton's fancy flying isn't needed. The Paine can safely get up close and personal now.
Pierce places his hand gently on the side of Fitzpatrick's hip. "Can you feel that?" he asks, keeping his tricorder focused on the side of her body, looking at her and then his read-out, then looking at her. "Does that hurt?"
Dakin smiles confidently then enters the command to lower the Paine's shields. "Dakin to Transporter Room One. Hostile vessel is unarmed and not moving. Shields are down, you're green for transport."
Caeli responds briefly, "Aye, sir. Going over in twenty." To his team, he re-iterates, "Hawthorne, you've got Dorsai and Rocco. Take the bridge and secure it. Nash and Jorep, you're with me; we're going for the prisoners. Anything comes out of the turbolift, stun it; it's probably the Orion from engineering." He steps up on the pad, and waits for the team to follow suit.
When Dakin's shots are fired and hit, Patton yells out, "HA!" then realizes he needed to slow the vessel down to match with the cargo ship, and does so.
Valentine lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Nice shootin', Commander." She keeps an eye on the sensors of the other ship once it's in range again.
Does that hurt? The look Fitz gives Pierce has enough heat behind it to melt bone. Lips thin until they're bone white. "Yes, Doctor," Fitzpatrick says quietly. "That hurts." Given her expression, hurt is an understatement.
Nash pushes off the wall and pulls his phaser out of the holster. After a quick check of the settings, he takes his place on the pad.
"That's good," says Pierce. "If it didn't hurt, I'd be worried." With the report that the team is ready to beam, Pierce realizes he needs to be in two places at once. "All right. I'll get you something for the pain, and have you transported to sickbay. You have a dislocated hip, so you'll be fine to just rest until we can pop it back into place." Taking his hypo from his kit, he injects into her neck, even as he speaks into his comm badge at the same time. "Okay, Chief, I need to be on that group beaming over to the merchant, and I need Lieutenant Fitzpatrick beamed directly to sickbay, if you can work some magic for me." He tells the officer on the ground. "This'll take the edge off."
Patton remains diligent at his post, "We are holding steady, but I am ready just in case the vessel tries to start up again sir."
. o O Patton thinks, "Come on Timothy, you know you can fly better than you just did."
Dakin gives Fitzpatrick an affirming nod before securing tactical and making his way back to the command chair. "Maintain present position, Mr. Patton. Valentine, maintain constant sensor sweep on the ship. I don't want any surprises."
Four transporters line form on the rusted deck of the pirate vessel. A moment later Caeli, Nash and Pierce find themselves staring down a hallway that is mostly abandoned, except for two green men a ways down the hall. One is standing still while the other is yelling into what appears to be a communications box on the wall. "Evanginor is going to strip our hides if we don't get away. Get us back online now!"
Caeli nestles his rifle into his shoulder, drops into a half crouch, and trains his rifle on the one yelling. The Bolian's voice is positively booming, trying to drown out the shouting. "Starfleet Security! Both of you freeze, right now! Hands on your heads!"
Nash moves against the wall, croutching down as well to provide a smaller target. His phaser is brought up immediately and trained on the men, watching carefully for any sign of aggressive movement.
On the other hand, Pierce just gets down, seeing as he doesn't have a phaser, crouching down behind the two armed security officers, his medical kit in hand, just watching to see what comes next.
Orion Pirates who don't bother to stop fleeing when trailed by a bigger, faster, meaner Starfleet vessel probably aren't going to surrender. Doubly so for these two. Both start and glance down the hall towards the Starfleet officers, and then reach for their holstered disruptors.
As soon as he figures out they're not going to idly twirl their hair, Caeli lets off a shot - set to stun, of course - at his chosen target.
"Guess not.", Nash comments idly as he squeezes off a shot.
<CONTEST> Caeli contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
GAME: Nash spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Nash (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Orion Pirate contests his Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
<CONTEST> Orion Pirate contests his Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Down goes one pirate, down goes the second, both before either could draw their weapons. They slump against the walls motionless. Down the hall behind them is one door, the entrance to the cargo hold. Caeli's badge chirps, reporting equal success for the bridge action.
Behind them is the entrance to the Lift, closed currently.
"Not bad," says Pierce as he stands up, making his way forward with the security officers, bending down to check on the two pirates, to make sure they are simply stunned for now.
Caeli taps his badge, acknowledges, taps it off, even as he moves down the hall towards the bodies. He doesn't let Pierce near them yet, instead taking the disruptors from the holsters and kicking them across the deck, the alien weapons clattering to a stop. "Nash, cover the lift. There's one more down in engineering." Finally satisfied with the situation, he taps his compin. "Caeli to Hawthorne; tag the pirates for transport back to the ship, then beam into Engineering and secure that hostile. Boarding Party to Thomas Paine. Cargo and Bridge decks secured; we're going to check on the container."
Dakin tabs the commline on his armrest console. "Acknowledged, away team. Maintaining position."
Nash just shifts positions to cover the lift.
Pierce makes his way towards the cargo container, looking to open it, turning towards Caeli. "Can I go ahead and take first dibs that this? I'd rather have them see a doctor then a phaser rifle."
Just like a bad action movie, no sooner does the coast seem clear than the Lift doors open. Out comes the last remaining pirate, disruptor drawn though not quite ready.
Nash waits for the doors to fully open to get the best chance of taking the target out, and to prevent him from taking any cover. At the bell, he fires.
Caeli hears the phaser blast, and turns, bringing up his rifle and training it on the Orion, yet holding his fire.
<CONTEST> Nash (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Pierce reaches out for the cargo container door, but then ducks when he hears more phaser blasts, dropping to his knees and keeping his head down. Hard being a non-combatant in the middle of a combat zone.
<CONTEST> Orion Pirate contests his Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Apparently someone forgot to tell the bad pirates to show up, since the last goes down as easily as the other two.
Caeli taps his compin once more after the last Orion drops. "Boarding Party to Thomas Paine. Threat neutralized. Moving on." Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he draws his Type II, using the newly freed hand to try the cargo container door. "Nash, back me up. Pierce in the rear."
Nash takes up a position that he can get some fire into the container while keeping Caeli as far out of his firing arc as possible. He nods to the Bolian when he's in position.
The doors are apparently locked from the inside and not the outside. The doors open with a scrapping sound, revealing the cargo hold full of desolute looking Orions. So desolute in fact, their reaction is really just one of quiet, resigned surprise.
Pierce sighs as he gets back up off of his knees. "Need to watch out for those Orion slaves," he comments as he moves to the rear, and then moves forward, taking the flashlight out of his kit and then shining it into the hold. "I'm Doctor Pierce with Starfleet," he finally says, looking over the faces. "We're here to help you."
. o O Caeli thinks, "Yes. Yes, you do, when there might be guards mixed in with them."
Caeli keeps his phaser out, but lowered, looking over the Orions. "I'm Lieutenant Caeli, of the Federation Starship Thomas Paine. Everything's going to be alright." He steps back, then, tapping his compin once more. "Away Team to Thomas Paine. We've made contact with the... prisoners. Dr. Pierce is having a look at them now; do you want us to set up triage here or beam them over to the Paine?"
. o O Caeli feels like he's taking care of a four year old, escorting Pierce into combat.
Dakin responds, "The Paine wouldn't be an improvement, Lieutenant. Have Dr. Pierce coordinate with sickbay and set up triage at your location. We'll tractor the vessel back to the station in the meantime."
Caeli nods, as if Dakin can somehow see the gesture. "Aye, sir. We'll be tagging the ship's crew for transport to the Paine's brig. Send over another few officers, if you can spare them? I want to make sure this ship hasn't got any more surprises. Caeli out." Caeli holsters his phaser, finally. "Have at them, Doctor. Anything seems out of place, get one of us to take a look. Alright?"
The slaves for their part remain rather quiet and resigned, only a quiet murmur greeting the officers.
Nash holsters his phaser once he sees that the slaves aren't going to do anything beyond sit still. "Looks a little cramped in there.", he comments.
"I'm glad someone actually asked the medical officer on the scene what he preferred," says Pierce, turning around and looking at Caeli. "I'd prefer to start moving these folks back to the Paine. At the very least, we'll get them out of a cargo hold and into surroundings that are going to help them feel better about their situation." Grumping, he makes a gesture for them to come on out. "Come on out, folks. We don't bite. We're going to get you something to eat and drink" He turns towards Caeli. "I want blankets, bland food, and potable water. Make it happen." He turns back to his mass of patients. "I want to take a look at you folks. You'll look better in the light out here." He smiles, trying to put them at sort of ease.
Dakin nods and looks over to the Engineering position. "Valentine, put together a team from Engineering and transport over. I want that ship inspected bow to stern for any thing harmful to those aboard."
Caeli quirks a bemused brow. He says in Bolian, "As the Doctor clears them, I suppose we can let them out of the container into the hold. I'll call over for the supplies, Doctor, but until we're sure they're all really prisoners? They're not going onto our ship. Commander's orders." Switching back to Federation Standard, he taps his compin once more. 'Away Team to Bridge; send over a medical team as well. Blankets, E-rations, drinking water, maybe some portable lights. Doc's orders.'
Dakin nods. "Acknowledged, away team. Bridge to sickbay, you're green for transport to the Orion vessel. Check out supplies of blankets, rations, drinking water, and portable lights from the quartermaster beforehand. Mr. Patton, lock a tractor beam onto the vessel and prepare to get us underway."
Nash keeps a close eye on the container and those coming out of it, just in case.
Valentine rubs her hands together in anticipation. "You betcha, Commander!" She's quick about calling together her team, keys for a relief, and heads for the lift.
Patton nods, "Aye sir." He gets to getting that tractor beam activated.
Slowly the slaves begin to move, some of them just stretching while others shuffle out into the hallway. Valentine and her team beam over and begin looking over the ship, and soon enough the medical team is there too. Blankets, food and water are passed out to the slaves and the ship is secured. The tractor beam is locked on and the Paine turns for home.
