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[[USS Discovery-B - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]]

"Lab 1 to Lieutenant Ramort.  I'll call in the Beta shift to assist and send them up to you."

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck 1 - Main Bridge] [10:40]

Rayek, overhearing the call to Ensign Rajagopalan from Lieutenant Ramort, had a thought.

"tr'Lhoell to Ramort.  While you are at shuttle, send direct to me the communication logs.  I want to know how the station contacted the Captain."

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Shuttle Bay]

Continuing his scans, Ramort slowly worked his way around the entire Shuttle. Keeping note of each scar in the Plating. As he approached the entry hatch he paused his work for a few minutes to enter the shuttle. The air in the cabine still smelled a bit stale. He was unsure if it was only a trick of his mind, the staleness symbolising the uncertain fate of their crewmates, or if it was a legit side effect of whatever had happened here.

Sitting down at the Shuttles main console, he quickly established contact with the Shuttles Computer core and synchronised its memory bank to the one of Discovery. This would include all logs and system files that might have documented the last minutes of normal operations before the Team vanished into the Station.

After the Upload finished he quickly called out for the Commander:

"Ramort to Commander th'Loehll, I uploaded all primary files of the Shuttle to the Computer Core. This should include the message logs and the adjacent technical data, in case there was something embeded into the signal we might have missed."

Then he left the Shuttle to greet the incoming Team. Many of them looked a big sleepy still, having been called to duty prematurely. This sadly was not the time to take care of the health of their sleeping cycles, though. Their crewmates were missing and a puzzling riddle presented them here. Just the thing to get them started. He also noticed two of them were carrying a box each. Pulled from the Labs storage area he recognised them. They held the equipment they would need to get this operation fully set up.

"I know normally it would not yet be your shift but we are a bit short in hands right now and I need all our combined expertise to get to the bottom of a mystery that presents itself before us. Somehow a Transport was initiated targeting the crewmembers onboard it. The transport was initiated from within the shielded station you might have seen through the windows. Our own sensors are completely unable to penetrate its shielding. If we want to get back into contact with our missing colleagues, let alone being able to transport them, should be need arise. We will split up into two teams. Team one will analyse the material structure of the Shuttles Hull for any traces of the Transporter Beam and its modulation as well as potential modifications that were made to it. Team two will focus on anaylsing the technical logs and sensors of the Shuttle to see if they recoded anything. We will contrast it to Discoveries data and scan the Shuttle for residual energy signatures. Anything that could still remain and tell us how they breached their own shielding without us knowing."

Following his explanation of their task he divided the Beta Shift into the teams according to their individual skills, now he was very thankful he had taken such a close look at their individual skillsets to assign them to prepare for the previous bio war-game. Then he set out to help them set up the large scale scanners and test their function before the analysis itself could commence. 

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[...]
Rayek, overhearing the call to Ensign Rajagopalan from Lieutenant Ramort, had a thought.

"tr'Lhoell to Ramort.  While you are at shuttle, send direct to me the communication logs.  I want to know how the station contacted the Captain."

[...]

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | -> Shuttle Bay]

On the way to the Shuttle Bay he stopped at a nearby equipment locker and took out a Tricorder. While not the most complete of scanning instrument at his disposal, it would serve perfectly to give him an initial overview of the Shuttle while not having to rely on its own potentially compromised or the ships potentially damaged sensors.

Arriving in the Shuttle Bay, the Allegheny was already surrounded by multiple engineers in golden uniforms. Pathing his way through their ranks he began his scan of the Shuttle. Focusing on the Plating and looking for any traces of irregular or high power energy deformations that could hint at how the Transporter Beam might have been able to breach past the Station's inherent dispelling capabilities.

After several minutes and after his initial scans turned out only inconclusive data, he finally yielded and called the Labs:

"Ramort to Lab 1, please send me three pairs of helping hands to the Shuttle Bay. Also please instruct them to bring the material analysis kid and the high sensitivity radioation and energy scanner!"=/\=

[[USS Discovery - Deck One - XO's Office]]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - XO's Office]

Rayek nodded.  "Exactly, in this circumstance, I am waiving off regular conventions to allow for a more open and relaxed discussion between you and I.  This is not a review of your work; not a reprimand, nor a reward.  This is me attempting to learn about you person to person, so that you are more than just a name on a roster to me." Rayek had found that those type of connections were important for him to make. It prevented him from assigning personnel to dangerous missions uncaring, and thoughtlessly.  If each member had a story, then he would work harder to ensure they were kept safe and secure.

That he might also use the information gained to assign personnel to tasks better suited to their skills and interest was a bonus.

Rayek help up his drink, and head-nodded towards the replicator in a last offer to Ramort.

"In that case I would like to take a tea, if that is alright."

Tea always had a calming effect on him. It reminded him of cups of tea in self heating containers, drunken under a star lit sky, while hunting for the launches of Ships from the nearby spaceports. A fine smell of the essential oils released by decomposing pine needles nearby. Their dark figures casting long shadows before the endless sea of stars. Lots of happy memories. He still needed to find a spot on the ship that featured a great enough view of the star all around them to take a good cup of tea there.

Taking the cup of tea from the Replicator, he returned to the seat and pondered for a second if asking the commander for a recommended spot would be advised, but since he had invited a more informal setting the question just might not be out of bounds.

"Forgive me asking but if I might ask for your far greater knowledge of the Discovery, what might be a good spot to catch a cup of tea one day while looking out on space around us? I sometimes miss the great view I was offered back home but imagine from within Space itself it can only be even more magnificent."

[USS Discovery | Deck 6 | Battle Bridge | Science Station]

Somehow they had survived the onslaught. All their measures, actions taken by all three hulls, had ensured the shuttle had had enough time, enough time to reach transporter distance. At least that is what Ramort hoped. The far grimmer possibility was that of a Transporter Trap in one of the Buoys, but surely Starfleet Intelligence would not send them into such a thing without warning.
If the Station had managed to breach the Shuttles Hull though and log into its targets and move them onto the station. The very same station they had no way to scan themselves... this was a riddle.

He continued to think about this as the ship's hulls began to move into their default positions and the blue lights that had illuminated the room be turned off to allow the standard illumination of the yellow alert to be enabled again. Once they redocked and the Discovery was whole once again the Officers on their Station began to lock the entire secondary Bridge down. All Consoles were turned off and chairs turned into default positions again. He was the last to exit the bridge, taking a short second to take a look back at the Seats, designed for battle.

[USS Discovery | Deck 6 | Battle Bridge | Science Station]

While on the elevator to the Main bridge it finally hit him. The Station had beamed the Away Team from the Shuttle. So their Transporter beam not only punched through the shuttles hull, but also found a way to penetrate the Stations Armour. Since they hadn't opened any obvious port holes to allow this the beam itself needed to have passed through the Platting. If it left some kind of trace on the Shuttle he might be able to reconstruct the way this was achieved and allow their sensors to penetrate the stations hull.

"Computer, redirect to the Shuttle Bay!"

"Ensign Rajagopalan, please remain on your Station at the Main Bridge for now, I have to head to the Shuttle. Please also advise whomever is in the Lab currently that I might need their help in the Shuttlebay.

"Acknowledged!"

[Holodeck 3 | RÁ¶tenbach Village | Main Square]

"Very much so, I guess we will soon be greeted by the Inhabitants, we are close to midday after all."

The sun in fact had moved nearly to its apex, sitting high atop the sky and casting only short shadows over the surrounding houses. Under the Tilia though, a large and promisingly calm spot invited every bystander to fleet the suns heat and seek shelter in its embrace. Now that their eyes began to adjust to the changed light situation under it, they could also make out some wooden benches and stools. The Tilia seemingly served as the village's community nexus too.

Deciding to move into one of the more sitting areas, Ramort went ahead, hoping the rest of the Group would follow him. Under one of the larger branches, a large bench cut from a wooden stem had been placed. On it, Ramort sat down, making sure not to accidentally hurt himself with the Messer.

Shortly after the Village began to spring to live. Many humans carrying farm tools arriving from the fields around the Village filling the dirt paths between the homes. Taking a look at the stream of people for a minute, he found whom he had been looking for. A larger older man wearing a finer set of cloths than the surrounding workers, yet still clearly garbs meant to be worn while working the surrounding fields. It had to be one of the larger and thus more influential farmers. Stopping him in his path to his house.

"Dear Foreman, we come to seek to speak to those in your village that hold its council. My fellows and I have been sent to help you with the... situation."

While talking, he pointed at the rest of the Group and their horses. The other member's weapons and armour clearly visible in the illuminated opening. This clearly elicited a response from the Villager. He looked around for some other person, not finding them, seemingly, then pointing towards the largest house at the square.

"Follow me inside and join me for a bite to eat, this is not something we should discuss in the bright daylight.", striding forwards he forced them to follow them into the house.

[The Battle-Situation Part III]

The Battle-Situation Part III

Twenty micro-torpedoes sped towards the Alpha hull as it turned in a sharp arc to the right.  Another twenty tracked the Gamma hull veering to the left.  All while forty micro-torpedoes were headed towards the Beta hull.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. Alpha hull did a short-warp jump causing the 20 torpedoes giving chase turn about as well right into the path of Beta's intercepting torpedoes, as well as their own.  This brought the total oncoming to 25 - Alpha and Beta.  Then the appearance of the probes new warp signatures had 5 torpedoes each side of the Beta Hull veer off to intercept leaving 15 still intent on their targets, 5 on Alpha, 10 on Beta.

Gamma's tactical had managed to cut down the number of torpedoes down by close to half but that still left eleven that began their assault.

The first explosions rocked the hulls, bringing down the shield strength for Alpha and Gamma Hulls to critical levels.  Beta fared better being protected by Alpha.  Then as swift as it began the assault stopped. The remaining torpedoes seemed to self-detonate prior to impact.

[Battle Bridge - Beta Hull - USS Discovery]

Lek watched the viewscreen intently as their counter measures hacked into the wave of torpedoes while doing the calculations in his head. He sighed as he figured it would be close, but the torpedoes would win, their defenses could not stop so much firepower.

"At least the damage won't be too bad. No need to make an offering to the Blessed Exchequer yet."

He thought, but then the torpedoes sheered off and self destructed. This left him very confused as he tried to make sense of what his eyes were telling him.

"Well, damn."

He muttered before the call from the Captain came in. He then called to the officer at Ops, another person he didn't know by name.

"Ops, tractor the Allegheny! Bring her into the shuttlebay."

Lek had to resist the urge to head to the shuttlebay as he wanted to what could have possibly happened to the runabout's life support system. However, he was stuck in the command chair and was forced to tap his combadge.

"Lek to Lieutenant Flanagan, I want a team to meet the Allegheny, tear her apart and find out why her life support failed!"

He growled with frustration that he couldn't find out himself.

"Tactical, keep an eye on those platforms, kill them if the fire again. Helm hold us at 60,000 kilometers from the station, stay ready for evasive maneuvers if necessary."

Now, all Lek could do was wait for answers.

[USS Discovery - Beta Hull | Deck 6 | Battle Bridge | Science Station]

It felt like a welcome brief moment of relieve, the Torpedoes having been diverted from their Hull, just in the nick of time.

He allowed himself to relax into his chair for a second. His view still fixed to the screens infront of him. The Computer was still eagerly monitoring the Buoys. All of them now shutting down their weapon systems.

This was a baffeling change in their situation. If the assault had kept up the preassure it would have resulted in the severe damaging or even destruction of the Ship. Realizing how close this had been he felt a cold shiver running down his spine. From the center of the Bridge he heard the Ferengis exclemation and answered it silently for himself:

"Damn indeed!"

Then he got back to work. As Ops was busy pulling back the ALLegheny he filled in one the needed preliminary damange report.

"We received damage to the Shields and the Thrusters. I am registering reports of damage from the Secondary Computer Core and there were multiple injured people reported in the Cargo Bay at impact.indeed!"

The Computer listed a long list of minor systems errors still but with none of them were mission critical and needed not be reported. He had a hunch though the Commander as an Engineer himself would take a look at the list too. ALso with the Computer damaged in the Attack it was reasonable to assume not all reports from tertiary system, systems with limited redundancy, were entierely correct.

Looking over posts for nominations for January's Post of the Month/Mission,
I realized I neglected to recognize who our recipient was for November - December /Vox Populai.   So I will announce the recipient now.

Back in early January the crew voted for amongst 5 favorite posts..  Our recipient is for Post of the Mission is:

Ensign Novi

(OOC my apologies at the premature 'promotion' I was mixing up Challenger's  Neva with our Novi..  though I have no doubt Ensign Novi will be due a promotion very shortly.)

Congratulations on the award for the great post!!

[Battle Bridge - Beta Hull - USS Discovery]

Lek blanched at the wave of torpedoes heading their way as he could easily see that it was impossible for Beta hull to absorb that much firepower and not take serious damage.

"Tactical. All phasers to full defensive mode. Refuse Quantums for proximity burst and fire full spread directly into the path of that torpedo wave. All hands, brace for impact."

When the science officer spoke up, Lek had to admit, he didn't even know the man's name, any chance to reduce the number of torpedoes tracking Beta was a good plan in Lek's mind.

"Do it!"

[USS Discovery - Beta Hull | Deck 6 | Battle Bridge | Science Station]

Without wasting a second he turned around and began preparing the launch of the two probes. Drawing the Away Teams Flight plan from the Computer he set them off onto perpendicular trajectories, their flight computers instructed to engage their Warp Drives at Warp Factor 1 once they arrived at preset coordinates and stall all movement.

This part made the safety protocols kick in. The probes might get damaged or even fall lost by this action, and the Computer had been programmed to resist such action. Manual Overwrite was needed. The codes for that had been part of his briefing as assistant chief scientist. They were part of a long list of things he had had to memorise and wrapped into a long list of applying regulations and orders to not use them without prior authorisation, he was only a young deputy after all. But with the Captain legally no longer on board he was the most senior Science Officer left on Discovery, and he had received the blessing of Commander Lek, his current directly superior officer. Also he hadn't much time to worry about crossing some red tape. If all of these torpedoes reached them, there might not be enough of Discovery left afterwards that he would have to worry about a disciplinary hearing.
Applying the codes, the Computer yielded and launched the Probes into the coldness of space, now partially heated by beams of charged Nadion Particles and the waves of heat unleashed by exploding torpedo's.

Among the barrage of Topedos unleashed by Tactical, his Probes nearly went invisible. Unimportant flakes of metal dust trapped in the great dance of ingenious engineering and sheer physical forces that found their expression in the great parts of the Space Station hanging in space and Discoveries split up parts moving ever towards it as well as the great discharges of energy caused by the Buoys. Against this backdrop, the Probes energy signatures were barely noticeable, until suddenly they were.
Arriving at their pre-set locations, their warp drives engaged, causing their plasma pipes to shimmer blue, excited by the plasma flowing through it. But no movement followed their activation. The Warp Field, usually meant to move the fabric of space itself around its core now folded back into itself. This then caused subspace to get excited, not usually concentrated like this but now dragged along the fabric of normal space and convulsing into a vortex clearly visible by every sensor on board Discoveries Beta Hull and hopefully also noticed by the Station.
A bright beacon speaking of a desperate attempt, an attempt to save the ship and create a diversion, a short moment of relief offered to the Allegheny for it to make the jump from the Beta Hull to the Station, potentially leading into even more danger but necessary still.

"I think some of them are retargeting, this might just work!"

It now was no longer up to him, hopefully the Torpedoes he had drawn away to the Probes would suffice to create the relief to their Shields the Discovery so clearly needed.

As Lilly, a skilled Ranger, walked into the room, everyone's attention was immediately drawn to her. She looked confident and ready for anything, with a Cloak that covered most of her body and a Bow strung across her back. A Sleath filled with arrows of various types, including Barbed Arrows, Simple Arrows, and even 4 premade fire arrows, was hanging by her side. Her black stallion horse was also equipped with extra armaments, such as an additional sleuth of bows.

Ranger Hilly addressed the group in a calm and reassuring tone, "You have my protection if needed. What are these strange happenings you speak of?" Lilly, who seemed to be well-informed, spoke up and replied to Hilly, "I have been hearing about strange events happening all over the North part of the Providence, and it seems to be getting worse." As they walked into the village, Lillian kept a watchful eye out for any potential threats, ready to act if needed.

[Holodeck 3 | Outside the Village]

"Welcome, glad you could join us!"

Their group now assembled outside the Village the smoke emitted from the burning fires that heated the Villagers houses now formed large pillars towering over them in the sky.

[Holodeck 3 | RÁ¶tenbach Village]

The Outside of the Village integrated itself nearly seemless into the surrounding landscape. There were not large fences or walls clearly depicting a border at which the wild ended and the cultivated began. The Trees grew more sparse with every passing meter and instead were replaced by large bushes and younger trees. Notable were also that a lot of them were common beeches.

Far of sounds indicated the presence of a herd of pigs that were herded between the beeches. Feeding on wild fungi growing on the forests floor and beechnuts that had fallen to the ground from the trees above. A cheap but rich diet for the important animals.

The Animals the next encountered were cattle, grassing on large pastures, broken up by ditches to manage their water levels and preventing this stretch of land humans had rung from the soil beneath them to turn into a large swamp.

Following this were fields of grains and flax. Important crops and plants to guarantee the production of societies most important goods in this time. Fibre and food.

Then the first houses began to crop up. Not aligned to any kind of grid but rather positioned along naturally formed lines dictated by the landscape. Where hills began to slope, houses would dig into the landscape, while where the land was more flat they could afford to broaden their base. Each house was framed by its gardens. Small fields in their own right that were home to a plethora of vegetables. A constant level of noise generated by small animals like chickens and rabbits also began to fill the air. This was clearly a space created to feed humans.

In the centre of the Village the houses grew more ornate. These were the homes of the Farmers, the one actually in charge of the land. Among the culture dependency in the Village they were the ones with the greatest status as the ones having been awarded the right to draw from among their land while most villagers mostly worked for these farmers on land not their own. While not nobility, they formed a clear upper class in this small but close-knit community.

The Village had not central space or place in the usual sense but before the house of the richest of the Farmers there was more space. It was filled out by a great Tilia, its crown so large extended from its log that it had been stabilised by artificial frames of wood. The Tree clearly serving as a central icon of the Village and its center point in one.

"Welcome to RÁ¶tenbach everyone, how do you like it?"

[[USS Discovery - Deck One - XO's Office]]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - XO's Office]

At Ramort's apology, Rayek held up a hand and shook his head to wave off the continuation of such comments.   "You have nothing to apologize for.  I wanted to know more about you.  Your home and the planets you've lived on are a part of that, much like Romulus and Meridian will forever be a part of me - and as for the holodeck files, I'm am happy to have this opportunity to share these files with someone who might enjoy them."

He reached for his chai, then paused.  "Are you certain you wouldn't care to get yourself something?"

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | XO's Office]

"To be entirely honest, Commander, I am not sure if it would be appropriate for me to casually take a drink. I am only a Lieutenant Junior Grade after all."

Although he felt like some of the cold and rigid structure of Protocol had been broken up by their reciprocal sharing of past histories, he still dared not to presume to relax his position within the confines of Starfleet Regulations. Despite all sharing of personal details there still was a barrier in the room, established by the chains of command strung all throughout the ship and deeply instilled into his head as part of his training.

"Unless of course the regular conventions of procedure among the Crew can be seen as lenient in these circumstances."

Not sure as to if the lessons he had to take at the academy might have missed the actual practice onboard a ship he extended a careful query as to what the commander actually expected as an answer from him.

[The Battle-Situation Part II]

The Battle-Situation Part II

With the first salvo of 60 micro photon torpedoes completed, the defensive system decided that this intruder was more formidable than its data-banks had expected.
The station's super powerful computer core controlling Firechain calculated a new defensive strategy based on millions of variables and computations, faster than any organic being could imagine.

The Firechain system reloaded their torpedo bays with quantum micro-torpedoes, calibrating each warhead to its maximum yield of 50 isotons, more than double the power of their previous payload.
Rather than mostly ignore Beta Hull, the system decided that this vessel was now the primary target. Of the 28 remaining buoys, 5 engaged Alpha and Gamma hulls respectively, with 18 targeting Beta.
Dozens of white quantum warheads were then launched towards their targets lighting up the blackness of space in an incredible and deadly display of fire power.

20 quantum micro-torpedoes were on their way to Alpha. With 20 more to Gamma. Beta hull, under the command of the ship's chief engineer had the delight of 40 angry quantum wasps of doom heading their way.
Not only that, but the buoys continued to engage each hull with their phaser arrays designed to keep pressure up on intruder's shields whilst the torpedoes did the real damage.

[Battle Bridge - Beta Hull - USS Discovery]

Lek gritted his teeth as Ensign Karen Malloy at the helm pitched, rolled, and banked wildly in a mostly successful attempt to avoid the web of fire spewing from all directions at them.
However, despite Malloy's best efforts, Beta hull rocked repeatedly from the nearly continuous fire from the station's automated defenses.

Lek looked at the command chair's display and saw shields were at 93% which was very good considering the volume of fire they were taking. He knew their task was to get the Allegheny as close to the station as possible,
but it didn't seem like the runabout could survive based on the power of the defenses. It was at this point, Lek made a decision.

"Tactical. Enough with this disabling nonsense. It's time to burn those platforms down, full yield quantums. Weapons free, make a hole and make it wide!"

Lek tapped his combadge.

"Stand by Allegheny, we're about to open the door."

[USS Discovery - Beta Hull | Deck 6 | Battle Bridge | Tactical Station]
[As Lieutenant Raquel Ruiz]

"Affirmative Sir, firing now!"

Lieutenant Ruiz began inputting a long firing sequence into the Phaser Control Computer, making use of all available Phaser Banks and taking aim at all available Buoys, starting with the nearest ones. Once done, she initiated the sequence, having got the confirmed order to open fire already.

[USS Discovery - Beta Hull | Deck 6 | Battle Bridge | Science Station]
[As "Lieutenant Junior Grade James Ramort]

The Computer produced a lot of warnings. The sensors were lighting up with dozens of indicators, all targeting their Hull. It took Ramort only a second to find out what had tripped then sensors, and he was sure tactical was seeing it as well. The Defensive Grind had no real capability to hide its intended targets.
The Buoys did not possess suffice ablative shielding or even cloaking components to hide their internal workings from the Split Discoveries Sensors. And now their internal mechanisms were hard at work at turning their launch tubes at Beta Hull.

"Tactical, are you seeing this.. this is bad"

"I have it on my sensors as well, I am counting around 40 targeting Beta at least."

Faced with such a serious situation Ramort no longer hesitated, his plan might not even work but with this serious a barrage heading their way it was the best way out he could see to buy them a little bit of time.

Turning towards the Commander in the Bridge's central chair he formulated his proposal:

"Sir I might have a suggestion how to draw away some of their fire. If we launch 2 Type 4 Probes and set them to initiate their Drives at Warp 1 into an empty run at positions some hundred thousands kilometres away from the Discoveries Segments, we might foul the Perimeter in retargeting at least some of their fire at the added Warp Signatures. Since they won't move much in an empty running order their subspace signature will ramp up, making them look like bigger ships and potential threats. Its not guaranteed to work but if we draw just 5 Torpedoes from the next wave it could be just the breathing room we need. Do I have permission to launch?"

Thanks a lot and lets keep growing the Fleet!