Thread the Needle (Part 3 of 7)

Posted on 25 Mar 2017 @ 6:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Aren Ban & Lieutenant Min Zhao & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Ensign Miraj Derani & Ensign Mimi & Senior Chief Petty Officer Martin Caine (KIA) & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin
Edited on on 25 Mar 2017 @ 7:00pm

2,060 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - Statecraft
Location: IKS DuJa'Q, Sector 040 Grid 3705
Timeline: MD 06 - 0514 hrs

Previously, on Thread the Needle (Part 2)...

Varro sighed and held out his hands. Eviess began to treat them. The burns were not bad so she was able to just run the dermal regenerator on them while T'Lin and Allyndra explained the process.

Allyndra continued with the hurt Klingons leaving the rest in Varro's and T'Lin's hands at this point.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 3, Command Hull - Bridge

Aren turned his attention to the Admiral. "General, Commander Warraquim suggests that we come to a complete stop and wait the ship out. We are hidden from most senors, but as we move we are emitting gravitational waves. I think she is thinking something akin to something from Earth's history. In one of there world wars, submarines who were being tracked by destroyers would hide in the thermal layer of the ocean in order to evade detection from destroyers using SONAR." Aren looked at the scanners. "There seems to be two places with sufficient mass or gravitational interference in order to mask any gravitational waves we are emitting." Aren said as he highlighted the areas and sent them both to helm and to Lirha's informational console.

Gravitational waves, anti-protons, pondered the Orion general. She was not quite as convinced by the prospect of gravimetric sensors detecting them as she was that there was a leak currently underway within her vessel. But, and if Engineering and Science couldn't put a halt to their emissions, their only course of action would be to attempt Ban's proposal. "Noted, commander," she said in reply. "Plot a course to the nearest interference just in case, but hold our current heading. Reduce speed to warp 5."

Aren nodded. He moved back to the secondary tactical console, and input a few commands. He quickly set up a plot to the nearest gravitational interference. It was small area of space that housed several gravitational anomalies, one of which was a binary star system with a rather well known gravitational anomaly. Normally it would have been dangerous to navigate that area however, these anomalies had been extensively mapped years prior. That meant it was easy to navigate, and would disguise any gravitational emissions. "Ensign Derani, I am sending coordinates and my plot to your console, refine it as necessary and at your discretion. You will need to be at least at 1/2 impulse 200,000 kilometers from the anomalies." He cautioned. Aren knew she would ask if she needed help with any of the Klingon.

Miraj looked at the random string of squiggles streaming past on her helm. It took her a long moment to translate them into ones she understood, and less time to translate the co-ordinates into the mental map of the galaxy she carried round. It pointed to an uninhabited system, a binary star from the designation and left it at that. She didn't want to play with it until they got closer, in case she pressed the wrong button in a hurry and sent them straight at the approaching craft.

She knew which button sent course corrections into the stack, ready to be actioned and she tapped, recognising the symbols more like a pictogram, rather than understanding the word itself. More Klingon symbols flashed up, accepting the data, she assumed. "Course laid and ready, sir."

"Time to intercept?" Lirha asked, knowing her battlecruiser was running short on time for evasive maneuvers.

Amaranai heard the question and checked the sensors again.

"Approximately seven minutes, general," she said.

Amaranai started prepping herself for the inevitable, in case she had to be ready.

Mimi cocked her head to the side a little when the Ops console beeped and a stream of Klingon words appeared, after waiting a few seconds for the translation matrix to kick in she read the display. "The Sentinel is sending out a message on a wide frequency."

The Orion general bit the side of her cheek and clenched a gloved fist. If a transmission was being put out on wide-band frequencies, that could only mean one thing -- the Starfleet vessel was aware of the presence and attempting to communicate. "Play it on audio," Lirha ordered.

"One moment." Mimi started to tune the comm system in on the frquency.

"Unknown vessel, this is Captain Matis of the Federation starship Sentinel," came the sound of a gruff European-accented man. "We are tracking your movements under cloak. You are in violation of Federation space. Disengage your engines and cloaking device immediately or we will be forced to prosecute you."

Lirha gave a half-chop of her hand across her throat to indicate for Ops to cut off the transmission. She stared at the tactical display in front of her while a multitude of scenarios began to play through her head. Clearly they had been discovered, and subterfuge was no longer an option -- with the Akira-class tracking their movements and with superior speed, hiding wasn't a valid option anymore. She turned to Commander Ban and began to explain her next set of orders.

"We cannot hide in the gravitational field. Our location has been compromised and Sentinel has no doubt reported our position to other ships in the area. If we attempt to remain in a stationary position, it will only be a matter of time before we are surrounded. However...we may be able to use it to momentarily disrupt their tracking abilities and plot an escape vector," she said. "Our best course of escape will be to the Neutral Zone, but we must first evade this starship."

Aren studied the senor data for a moment before nodding in agreement. "True enough sir. If we can't fool them, then we should make a break for the neutral zone." Aren moved from around the console and moved towards the general. "Do you have any ideas sir?"

"Yes. This new course you plotted...it will take us into a binary system with two suns," she began. "We can't outrun Sentinel...they are a larger and faster class of starship. But if we can enter this system under cloak and briefly engage them -- cripple their engines and sensors, then we might be able to perform a slingshot at high warp through the longitude of periapsis between the two stars." The Orion general began to tap several sequences into her console in order to brig up the system view on the main viewscreen.

"If we make our final approach on the correct trajectory, the combined gravitation forces of the two stars will allow us to boost out of the system and towards the Neutral Zone while still under cloak. Any passive tracking of our emissions would be eliminated by the intensity of the solar radiation," she finished. There was little time to waste which forced her to begin the plan.

"Change course to the new plotted vector and increase to maximum warp," Lirha ordered. "Tactical, set torpedoes on standby. I do not wish to damage their vessel any more than necessary." A photon torpedo impact against a starship's unprotected hull could potentially cripple key systems and kill many of the crew, which was something Lirha wanted to avoid. "Ensign Mimi, acquire Starfleet subspace communications frequency Bravo-Delta-one-one-nine and transfer the data uplinks to my console."

"Helm, course change to pre-plotted maneuver, that is the Beta Tauri system, maximum warp, execute." Aren said relaying Lirha's orders.

A second later, Derani had executed the plotted course and the DuJa'Q shifted almost imperceptibly, and roared forward, going from Warp Five to all but double, the old engines jumping to Warp 9.1 in a flash, literally.

Amaranai had not been expected to use the weapons systems on the old Klingon ship, but she was glad that she had taken some time to not only acquaint herself with the systems, but also to run diagnostics on the weapons themselves.

Hearing the order, Amaranai began to bring the disruptors online and to arm the torpedoes. She wondered if Starfleet would consider her a traitor for firing upon a Starfleet vessel but they didn't know there were Starfleet officers aboard the Klingon ship. A beep came from the console.

"Weapons online and ready, general," she said.

It took longer than usual thanks to the Klingon computers but Mimi gradually tuned in on the subspace frequency Lirha had requested. "I have it general, on your console."


Deck 6, Engineering Hull - Main Engineering

=^=Bridge, this is T'Lin. We have the leak contained to the point that no is being affected. We still need to shed the excess, we have an idea.=^=

"Good work. Go ahead," came Saalm's reply over the comm. The report of sealed anti-proton leak was fortunate, but the Orion general feared it was a little too late to maintain their advantage of stealth.

=^=Sir, while the leak has been sealed we are still carrying a charge. What we think we can do is discharge the remainder as a small beam along with some probability matching of the other ship's shields that would allow a fair amount to leak through. It should blind their sensors for quite some time.=^=

"How long, exactly?" Maybe this could be used to their advantage, Saalm pondered. Getting through the Federation vessel's shields wouldn't be a problem, she knew, therefore the only question was the delivery system and the results of the exposure.

=^=I would estimate no more than fourteen minutes, 58 seconds general.=^=

Fifteen minutes was a lenient estimate. The general was familiar with the short-range sensor systems aboard most classes of Starfleet vessels, and also knew they employed the help of proficient officers and NCOs who could adapt and reconfigure the systems in a short amount of time. Nevertheless, it could hopefully provide them with a window to perform their escape.

"We will have to channel the particles to the forward deflector array in order to discharge them," Lirha added over the comm. "Make preparations in main engineering. I will send Mister Caine and Lieutenant Zhao to the navigational sensor bay and inform you when they are ready."

=^=Aye=^= T'Lin did not need to add anything more. She turned to the doctor and said, "If they are sufficiently treated I could use your skilled hands to start preparations."


Deck 6, Command Hull - Navigational Sensor Array Bay

The Orion general's summons over the personal comm system chirped for two of Galileo's former crew. "Mister Caine, Lieutenant Zhao, report to the navigational sensor bay at once. Deck 6, forward section," Lirha said before briefly explaining. "We had an anti-proton leak and have locked it down, but we will still need to discharge the remaining charged particles from the main deflector."

"See Lieutenant Galan, told you at some stage they would need us." Martin said as he was leaving the armoury. =^=On my way General Saalm.=^= he responded on his way to the nearest ramp. Easier to go up one deck by the ramps and along the neck than wait for a turbo lift for a single deck transfer.

=^=On my way.=^= Min remarked, closing her combadge. ~Time to make some money~ she thought to herself. The time on the planetoid had been one of what felt like busy work, spinning her wheels with no real way to get home to her family. After this misadventure, she planned to request re-assignment to Earth. Close to family, close to her daughter.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

GEN Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

SCPO Martin Caine
Chief of the Boat (CoB)
IKS DuJa'Q

Ambassador Soral Varro
Chief Diplomatic Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Lt. JG Eelim Galan
Security/Tactical Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Petty Officer Eviess
Medical Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Second Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Counselor
IKS Duja'Q

Petra Varelli
Forensic Anthropologist
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Sandoval]

Lieutenant JG Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security / Tactical
IKS Duja'Q

Commander Aren Ban
Executive Officer
IKS Duja'Q

ENS Mimi
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

LT Min Zhao
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

LTJG Stephanie Fraiser
Chief Research Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

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