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["I don't see any issues here commander. I have been keeping a close eye on the navigation systems."]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Almost as if on cue, the sensors went off after picking up energy readings.  High energy readings. And they were emanating around the 2nd planet of the system. The Captain looked up and raised an eyebrow. After hearing the confirmation of the sensor readings, he frowned.

"Mr Reyak... the long-range sensors said this system was uninhabited.  What would create high energy readings?" he asked, partly as a question and partly as a rhetorical statement.  With a sign, he turned to Alex at the helm.

"Helm, adjust course for the second planet in the system. Mr. Ramort, run a level 4 diagnostic on all sensors; lets make sure we aren't chasing ghosts."

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"I don't see any issues here commander. I have been keeping a close eye on the navigation systems." He was prepared to do scans so that Lieutenant Commander Grippen could focus on piloting the ship. He was quite curious on what they would find from the high energy readings.

[USS Discovery-bridge]

Alexander agreed with the captain's statement as since space was so big and vast there were probably parts that haven't been explored yet. He hoped that this mission wouldn't be too chaotic. He was doing a diagnostic of the flight systems to make sure everything was operational. If he saw any issues then he would attend to them and get them fixed as quickly as he could. He assumed that since the chief flight control officer was there he would be at a different station for the mission.

Pre-Occupied

[USS Discovery-Bridge]

Alexander followed the others towards the transporter pad. The situation while it seemed to be dire he held out hope that a solution could be worked out to prevent any further destruction. He didn't want to risk losing anyone on the crew. He didn't plan on dying. If there was anything that he could do to help then he would have offered to help out.

[USS Discovery-bridge]

Things weren't looking good and Alex was trying not to panic on the outside like he was on the inside. He gave a slight nod as he understood Lieutenant Broadshire's orders. It was important that they could eventually go to somewhere safe for now. In the meantime he was prepared to take a defensive stance in case something went wrong like a breach. He hoped that it was only a matter of time before Betaika's team arrived.

[[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge] (11:38)

No sooner had Ramort's shuttle update concluded than the Captain finally gave his opinion on Rayek's suggestion regarding the buoys.   It wasn't what the Romulan wanted to hear.

Rayek fought to keep from grimacing as the Captain's order basically equated to 'sit on your hands and do nothing.  Wait for my orders.'   A valid command but not one the Romulan was at all pleased to hear.

"Acknowledged, Captain.  Glohhaasi' mnekha" he responded back just before the comm closed.

Rayek looked around the Bridge. Lek had said nothing during all this - which meant the engineer wasn't on board with Rayek's plan which was disheartening to the Romulan, as he valued the Ferengi's opinion.  Hansen's comment mattered little to the Romulan as yet he didn't really know her or trust her.  For a moment, he considered scrapping the entire idea, but he knew they need options ready should the Away Team need assistance.

"Lek, seek a volunteer from among your engineers to be ready if called on.  This will be a back-up plan.  Hansen, run simulation drills on tactical.  Work on maneuvers that disable.  Contrary to popular belief the Fleet's resources are not unlimited." Especially after Frontier Day.   "Helm. Maintain our distance from the buoys.  Broadshire, you have con.  I'm going to work on editing the buoy's standard programming - just in case."  - and check on his family while he took a much needed break.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
NPC Fvienn tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck 3 - Executive Officer's quarters] (11:38)

Fvienn was puzzled by Eneh's friend's words.  Refrain... Confirm.. Adult..  They were not words he knew yet.  Even so, Fvienn could sense that they were words of correction - that he'd done something inappropriate as Eneh would say.  Fvienn had learned early that 'inappropriate' meant 'bad'.

The Romulan boy did understand the main part of the man's next words though.  'Grapes were not safe'

That Fvienn had fed them to Thrafv meant he'd caused the ferret to be sick.  Fvienn felt terrible - like he was the one sick from the grapes.

He lowered his head, just like how his father did when Eneh was apologizing to his mother.  "I sorwy.  I no do again." He shook his head emphasizing his last words.

Fvienn then crouched down to gently stroke Thrafv's furry.  "Sorwy." he repeated to the family pet so that Thrafv would know how he terrible he felt for what harm he'd caused.

The Romulan boy looked up again to meet the eyes of Thrafv's savior and nodded in answer to his offer to stay.   "Eneh's friend stay. Pwease."

The young boy continued to pet the ferret on the floor for several moments before carefully picking up the rodent bundled in the towel and carrying him over to the sofa where he laid Thrafv down gently, creating a nest around the ferret out of the sofa's throw-blanket.  He then clambered up onto the sofa himself.

After a moment, Fvienn looked to Eneh's friend and patted the space on the sofa beside him.  An offer to sit there.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
translation:
Eneh - Father
Glohhaasi' mnekha  - Good hunting (literal)/Good luck

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œI'm on it commander." Alex got straight to work on maintaining distance with the buoys. There was no way that he was going to risk any mistake with the distance. He was prepared to make any adjustments on the off chance that any adjustments needed to be made.

[USS Discovery-bridge]

Alex checked the flight control station to see if there was significant damage that would have prevented him from piloting the ship if they needed to make a quick getaway. He was going to do a thorough investigation so that he wouldn't miss anything. He was hoping that he wouldn't find anything that would cause him to panic. It probably wouldn't have been a good idea to panic in the situation. He hoped that they were able to figure out the contact situation.

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge] (0830)

Rayek was fully aware of just how 'non-standard' the equipment was.  The Romulan had seen the schematics for the Fire Chain defense buoys Saxon had  designed for Solluk back when Rayek was still XO of Katra.   He wasn't saying it would be easy, but every program had some weakness.  They just had to find it!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Alpha Hull - Deck 1 - Main Bridge] (10:35)

Rayek knew the buoys had little in the way of shielding - purposefully made that way in order to encourage attacks on the buoys rather than the station they were designed to protect.   They were strong mostly by numbers.  It had been his hope that by blowing up the approaching torpedoes, dodging the phaser fire and precise targeting a handful of buoys at a time disabling them that the Alpha and Gamma hulls would keep the buoys distracted and would eventually win the battle.   However, he had underestimated the tactical genius that had designed and programmed the original Fire Chain.

Rayek could see from the tactical sensors that the buoys were adjusting position to retarget... with the bulk now aimed towards Beta Hull.   "Fvadt!  Helm hard about!  I want a microwarp jump  to coordinates... 188, 17 mark 23.  Put us right over top of the Beta Hull.  Ops extend our shields to cover them." This would give Beta the advantage of having additional coverage... the unfortunate part was that it would weaken Alpha's shields but at the moment they weren't the target - Beta was.   Rayek was risking that in mid-flight the buoys wouldn't attempt to retarget on Alpha.  "Tactical - I want a full spread of torpedoes fore and aft with directional explosion outward to block the oncoming ordnance."

[USS Discovery-B-Alpha Hull-bridge]

"œI'm on it commander." Alex made sure that they were able to go to the coordinates 188, 17 mark 23 with a microwarp jump. He was sure that it would put them above the beta hull. It was going to get rather interesting but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle as a pilot. Hopefully this could help them in this situation.

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge] (0830)

With their presence noted by the buoy's long range scans, he knew from experience that the buoys would automatically reposition themselves in a more defensive net wall from the vector of approach.  This meant that instead of encountering just a handful of buoys, the ship would be faced with dealing with them 'en masse'.

His thoughts on how to counter this were interrupted by Lieutenant Lorut's query regarding the comms personnel.   Comms were technically under his role of Operations Chief but since he was also going to be command of the ship during whatever attempt they made (since the Captain would be on the Away Team), he figured that having someone cover Lorut's position on the bridge would be the best.   "Yes, Lieutenant.  Do so."

"To my recollection, the 'friendly' designation is something that has to come from the station. However with no contact with the station, it is unlikely we will have that as an option.  But I suppose once nearer... it maybe possible to scan for what frequencies they are using between one another and attempt to falsify that signal."  Rayek mused.  He looked to the Captain.  "I don't see any harm in the attempt."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Hour prior to arrival]
Rayek looked over the lists from Science and Engineering as Lorut gave her verbal report."Excellent work, Lieutenant.  No further orders at this time.  Take a break.  You'll be called on soon enough to board the shuttle in readiness."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Alpha Hull - Deck 1 - Main Bridge] (10:35)
While the new Ensign immediately engaged the first two buoys, Rayek called on Ops.  "Shields to full power."  Alerts sounded as multiple micro-torpedoes were detected on course for their position.  "Tactical, single torpedo to intercept the highest concentration.  Maximum spread!  Helm, evasive pattern Alpha-Four."

Despite this, he knew they would never get them all.  "Incoming! Brace for impact!" Rayek announced Alpha hull wide as he sat himself further back into the Command Chair rather than at it's edge and activated the chair's seatbelt system just in time for the onslaught.

Thanks to the evasive maneuvering of the Alpha Hull pilot even fewer micro-torpedoes made contact but still it was impossible to lose them all.  The ship shuttered hard with the impacts.  Normally the Point of Impact shielding was a blessing prioritizing power where the impact point was calculated to be; however when faced with this many contacts the system was definitely not as effective.  Shields were down to 87% after just the first volley.

"tr'Lhoell to Broadshire.  Have your Tactical focus on clearing the main path.  Then veer left while continuing use phasers to try and draw them away from Beta's path. I'll go right.  This should ensure they focus fire on us and not the Beta Hull."   He was of course just reiterating the plan already decided on  but given how tense Broadshire had appeared to be (at least to Rayek's impression) in that planning meeting, the Romulan felt it best to remind the man now in the midst of battle.

[USS Discovery-B-Alpha Hull-main bridge]

"œUnderstood Commander." Alex didn't waste any time as he did the evasive patter Alpha four. He made sure that the seat belt system was good to go so that he could be prepared for the oncoming onslaught. He thought that whatever happened next he would react accordingly. He wanted to be ready for anything unexpected that may come their way.

[[USS Discovery, Deck I, Bridge, Helm]]

[USS Discovery, Deck I, Bridge, Helm]

Malik smiled at Lorut's joke, it was all good Helm-Ops related banter. Like Data and Wesley, or Mitchell and Ortegas, there were plenty of legendary examples of the pairing of these two stations. "Unfortunately I've never visited Bajor, though I've always wanted to go and visit the Cliffs of Undalar and do some rock climbing. Are there any beaches you'd recommend with good surfing?" Malik, like all Risans, enjoyed a good surf in tropical waters. It was said a Risan child learned to surf before they could walk.

"Aye, commander."

"Bridge to Sickbay, please submit your department readiness report to the First Officer as a priority."

As the captain appeared and they were pretty much ready, Malik checked his terminal for Alex's diagnostic report on their navigation system

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œSending the report to you now Lieutenant Commander Grippen." Alex sent the report of the diagnostic that he did. He hoped that the report reached the flight control chief in a timely manor. He didn't find anything in the diagnostic that seemed to be wrong or out of place. If there was something that he might have missed then he would have taken responsibility for it and apologized.

[[USS Discovery, Deck I, Bridge]]

[USS Discovery, Deck I, Bridge]

Malik was happy to see the return of Alex, who he hadn't seen since the events of Frontier Day eight months ago. "Mr Graham, a pleasure to see you again. Kindly assume the project station and begin running 1 diagnostics on our navigation systems. It will be good to identify any issues prior to our departure." Not that he didn't have faith in the repair crews, but a ship's crew knew their ship better than anyone.

Malik sat at the helm seat and was glad to find his fixed hip behaved itself, it was surreal being back here. The Risan glanced to the captain's chair for a moment, remembering when he was thrown against it like sack of potatoes by the droned ship's doctor. But at least the helm terminal had been replaced with a shinier new one.

"Aye commander. And thank you. We'll make sure she's ready for flight soon as the captain needs it. As for any social mixers, you know a Risan lives for such things."

Malik brought up the current duty roster and was glad to see that Alvarez, Novi and Ramort were still here. They had all fought and suffered together on the Spacedock. It was then time to get the bridge crew ready for departure as per the first officer's order. Lorut was already here for Ops, so that just left tactical, science and engineering.

"Bridge to Alpha Shift. Please report to the bridge and prepare for departure."

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œOk understood Lieutenant Commander I will get that diagnostic done shortly. If any issues or problems arise after it is done I'll let you know." Alexander agreed with the Lieutenant Commander that it would be good to catch any problems early. There was probably things that a ship's crew would be able to notice that maybe repair crews might miss. He prefers that those details even if they were minor get attended to. He ran the diagnostics at the project station and paid attention to what would appear as the result. He didn't mind attending a social mixer and getting to know the other crewmates.

[USS Discovery-Bridge]

Alex spent some time in his quarters before reporting to the bridge for duty. He was concerned and wondered if the flight control chief was going to be okay. He hoped that this mission wasn't going to be as chaotic as the last but there was no way to know for certain. He left his quarters and reported to the bridge. He looked at Lieutenant Commander Grippen with a slight nod as he said "œHello Lieutenant Commander glad to see you are doing well. Chief Petty Officer Graham reporting for duty." He was excited to be working alongside the chief even if he wasn't at the pilot seat.

Alexander will be preoccupied

[[Beta Bridge]]

[Beta Bridge]

The relief was immediate as the pain sedatives worked their magic, 25th century medicine truly was a marvel. Malik rubbed his eyes clear and straightened back his hair trying to compose himself. "Ensign Ramort, isn't it? You have my thanks. Things aren't usually this bad by the way..." alluding to their current desperate situation.

Malik stood back to his feet still covered in blood most of which was his own, he must have appeared quite the spectacle as he listened to the captain. Malik couldn't help but feel they were giving up to easily, surely they had to take the fight to the Borg in some way and abandoning ship just felt wrong. But if they needed to escape via shuttle's, then they were going to need a couple of good unassimilated-pilots.

He nodded to Alex, "If we're flying out of here, lets do it. We just need to make it to the shuttlebay in one piece and give us time to power up and pre-flight whatever shuttles are currently functional. Assuming the damn Borg haven't infected them to." Flying through an enemy armada to a besieged space dock wasn't going to be easy, but Malik felt he and Alex were up to the task.

[Beta bridge]

"œUnderstood Lieutenant I believe that we should get out of here as soon as possible. Let's hope that the shuttles haven't been infected by the borg." He knew that there was a possibility that the borg could have infected the shuttle. He was up to the challenge of flying through an enemy armada to get to the space dock. He was confident in their abilities and didn't think there was any reason to worry.

[USS Discovery-bridge-CPO Alexander Graham]
Things seem to be getting rather worse for them. He seemed to be panicking on the inside with everything that was going on. The sound that he heard was loud but he didn't seem to be affected. Since the consoles had a greenish tinge he was for the time being out of a job. He had no idea what could be causing it he just knew it wasn't good.

[USS Discovery-bridge-Ensign T'prith]
T'prith had no idea what was going on however when she heard the loud sound she tried to block the sound with her hands. She mumbled softly as she said "œwell this ain't good." She focused on her breathing even though she felt a sense of panic. Her initial thought was that it was going to affect how she did her job. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to like what would happen next.