SubAccount: Susan Venator

[[Main Bridge - USS Discovery]]

[Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

Can't hide anything from you can I, ja'lat?!  Quick version.  I know, she's stood right beside me, or well less than 5ft away working with Lt. Venator on modifying the sensor array.  The Dosi... blood-crazed killers.  Basically they are laying claim to Meridian, as in the planet.  The Meridians are disputing this claim... remember the request for you to dig into your star map archives for the ancient stuff for this area... it was to prove or otherwise their claim to the planet.  I think they believe if they take the station, they won't have any opposition to taking the planet.  In the meantime, may I remind you that you are in direct violation of WONO!  Hrafn answered, leaving the channel open in case Nevir had any further questions.

"Basically we need do this..." she said repeating what she'd told Ruthie. "...modify the sensor array to align spatially-inverted tetryon particles to establish a gateway between here and the station.  Whomever is on transporter duty will have to transport down that 'beam' for want of something better to call it. We need to restrict the rupture from growing by establishing a subspace containment field, however, we need the emanating nucleonic interferences either side of our path which will make obtaining a positive transporter lock impossible for them, they won't see us.  We could send a full army in there and they wouldn't see us. Also with us using their tetryons to make this rupture... they'll be more vulnerable."

Hrafn paused, wondering how far the Ops Chief would follow, not everyone could get their head around Scientific stuff.

"Once we've done what we need to do we'll close it up by bombarding it with a coherent graviton pulse, which will  neutralise the tetryon emissions.  But if you have any simpler ideas... feel free!"

Bridge

Suzie's head spun. While she understood the principles of what the scientist was saying, she did not understand how it would work. But she did not need to know that, as a problem had arisen.

"Good luck with that." She remarked. "We can modify the main deflector to do one or other of those but not both. And the time it would take to complete the modifications would lose us the window in which to act. Instead of manually restricting the nucleonic interferences, wouldn't it be easier to just use one of the secondary deflectors on ether the Beta or Gamma hulls to put out a massive dampening field. Yes it will prevent us from transporting, but the Dosi will be just as stuck as us. We use the main deflector to align the tetryons and modify the cargo transporters for the transport to work. We should test it before sending any personnel as the consequences of not getting it right will be, unpleasant!" She replied, working through the points raised.

["You can assist Lieutenant Falleg of Katra. She is attemptin' ta shut down the Dosi tetryon field so that we may assist the captain rescue the hostages."]

[Bridge - USS Discovery

Ian welcomed Susan back to the bridge with a warm smile as he indicated Hrafn.

"You can assist Lieutenant Falleg of Katra. She is attemptin' ta shut down the Dosi tetryon field so that we may assist the captain rescue the hostages."

Ian turned towards the sound of the turbolift opening and while he didn't know the man's name, that he was one of the fighter pilots was patently obvious.

"Welcome aboard Discovery Ensign, as a flight officer myself, I'm always happy ta have a fellow pilot on the bridge. We are currently in the middle of a hostage rescue situation. Unfortunately, that means there's bloody nothing ta do but what ta see if'n they succeed. You are welcome ta join us wait."

Bridge

Suzie nodded and headed over to where the familiar Lieutenant was standing.

"Lieutenant." She said, with a nod in greeting. "Are you attempting to overload the field to shut it down, or bypass it?" She asked.

[Bridge]

Bridge

Suzie took a deep breath and stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge. She had been out of action since the attack with a mild case of a Betazoid Migraine. It had been brought on by a combination of weakened neural defences and the over abundance of emotions due to the conflict.

Luckily she had plenty of experience in dealing with the symptoms had had been cleared to return to duty. She went straight over to Galloway who was sitting in the command chair.

"Reporting back on duty Commander." She said, looking at the XO. "Where do you need me?" She added, not really knowing what was going on.

[Bridge]

[Bridge - Deck 1 - USS Discovery]

As soon as the screen went black, Nevir leaned forward, holding his chin in his hand.  He expected that.  She wanted him to drop his shields.

His comm officer Ensign was silent as well, and then spoke up.  "Sir?  That has to be a trap."

"I am aware, Ensign.... but the longer we wait, the worst Katra gets."  he said, pushing himself up and out of his seat.

"Susan, send the Dosi cruiser our coordinates for the transporter room.  If Ian's message got through, this is a redundant command... but all hands prepare for Condition 1." he said, taking a few steps towards the viewscreen, where only the ship was shown.  He looked at it for a moment, and then turned to the crew.

Of course his First Officer would be the voice of reason.  Honestly the smartest thing would be to go in guns blazing in their tactical advantage.  But that was their only true advantage;  if Katra Station and the ships protecting here were being overwhelmed, then it stood to reason that the Dosi could really put up a fight.  One that would take far, far too long.

"Open comms to the battle bridges.. path both of them through." he stated, crossing his arms.

"I completely agree with you, Ian.  But I have a plan.  Why can the Romulans defeat the Klingons?  They don't rush into the fight." he stated, hoping that Ian would get the hint of what he was going to do.  However, this was a case where he couldn't let his First officer... or any officer, question him.  He needed to be resolute and firm.. or they would be in trouble.

"Listen closely.  I'm about to attempt a very risky maneuver.  We haven't had a fight tough enough to sink our teeth into for a long while, and for some of you, this will be your first.  I have confidence in all of you.  Because of that, if any of you have any objections to my plans, I will note it in my log, but my orders are final." 

Nevir crossed the bridge, swinging around to take his seat in the big chair.  He took a deep breath before speaking, giving a small prayer to the Prophets.

"The Prophets smile on the bold and the just."  he said, softly, before speaking.

"Engineering, send all auxiliary power to the ablative armor, push it past it's normal boundaries if you have to.  Tactical, silent charge to the phase banks and canons.  Do NOT arm them yet.   Ready but don't arm photon torpedoes.  Then.... drop our shields." 

He expected a cry of shock from the Bridge, but he stated that his orders were final.  The Dosi would attack as soon as the shields go down.  He won't start the fight... but Prophets willing he will end it.

Bridge

Suzie transmitted the details of their transporter room to the Dosi as requested. When she heard the plan, she understood that it was bold and it would take that to come out victorious in this situation. She said nothing as now was not the time to argue. She just waited for orders.

Dosi Cruiser 'Rage' - Command Deck

"They've lowered shields!"

The moment had come.  The moment that would decide everything.  Starfleet was showing itself to be a clockwork fool, mechanically reproducing gullibility on a reliable schedule.

"Fire all missiles," Valla ordered, "Raise Shields, and then open up with all antiproton batteries.  Tear their ship apart!"

The transparent tech panels that lined the forward part of the bridge showed a projected, magnified view as the missiles lurched out towards their target, followed close behind by massive antiproton pulses.  It would be enough to break the back of most unshielded ships.  Enough to win a battle in a single blow.

But Valla did not know the legend of Prometheus, who had been clever enough to steal the fire of the Gods.

She did not know the legend of Discovery, whose namesake had stood boldly against a Klingon horde.

She did not know the legend of Tekin Nevir, whose people had relentlessly repelled genocidal overlords from their world.

She knew none of these legends.

Not yet...

She picked up the Dosi change first.

"They've raised shields and have fired missiles that have an Anti-Proton signature." She said, looking at the readouts from the various sensors.

[Meanwhile, coming across the subspace com antenna...]

Meanwhile, coming across the subspace com antenna...

The signal which had previously stopped, suddenly came on again, at a slightly higher power level.  Still, it remained weak, and hard to make out.

This is Captain Solluk to all personnel aboard Katra Station and throughout the system.  Be advised: We are being boarded.   Repeat: We are being boarded.  Starfleet has pledged to defend the Trialus system.  The Dosi are intent on seizing it.

There was a pause, then:

Make Them Pay For It.

[/size]

Bridge

Suzie noticed the signal appear again, this time with more power behind it. She detected the two single lines of text. She was about to let the Captain know, when a message popped up.

[Bridge - USS Discovery]

Message - Tekin to Venator:

That signal from Katra.  Enemies here. They scan us. We scan them.  Stop their tongues.

Giving a smile, she forwarded the message from Katra in  full to the Captain before performing every scan she could think of at maximum power. While the Discovery did not have the advanced sensor suite of the Athena, her sensors were still formidable. And with the power she was putting behind them, it would mess with all the Dosi systems. Effectively getting them lost in 'white noise'!

[Bridge]

Bridge

Suzie had been dissecting the transmission and soon confirmed that, not only had it originated from Katra Station, but that it had been sent by the CO himself.

Since the Dosi had now responded, she had to swallow a snigger when they identified the Discovery as a science vessel. They would be in for a shock when she bared her teeth! Not wanting to let on to the Dosi that they had identified the transmission, she sent a message to the command console.

Captain. The transmission has originated from Katra Station and was sent by Captain Sollok, the station's CO. While most of it is badly garbled, it included a general distress code alongside the command codes. I have searched the database for previous instances and I have found one where radiation interfered with a signal. It matches some of the degradation on the transmission, indicating that it is the cause of the interference. The signal has now stopped transmitting. I recommend we investigate the situation. Venator.

[Bridge]

[Bridge]

"Yes, sir," T'Ra added, her fingers dancing across her screen as she worked in conjunction with Lieutenant Venator, who stood at Ops. Scans pertaining to the long range scanners were minimized, as the cause of the garbled message was much more likely to be close at hand, though if she couldn't find anything, she would begin to search farther out.

"I'm not detecting any spatial anomalies that would interfere with the signal," she reported, "so whatever is disrupting the signal either has to be on our end or theirs..."-- whoever they were-- she added, with an arched brow and and expression directed at Venator that was meant to ask how their systems fared.

Bridge

At T'Ra's comment, Suzie immediately began a diagnostic of their signal receivers. It came back clear, so she ran it again as a precaution. The second check also came back clear.

"Our transceiver array is working well above the standard threshold." She replied to the unasked question. "Whatever the issue is, it is not with us. Either there is a problem with whoever is transmitting it, or the signal is being jammed in some way." She paused and took another look at the signal. "There is no sign of incomplete blocks that would indicate degradation at the point of transmission so the evidence that we have would indicate that there is a jamming signal between the transmitter and us." She paused again and re-checked the signal bearing. "From the direction of the transmission, it appears to have come either from Katra Station itself or at least from the same system." She finished.

She then began to run IFF protocols on the signal. While it was on a common communication frequency, there were no initial Starfleet or Federation markers. However, if it was sent by a Federation communications system, there would be a buried code within the message that would confirm where it was sent from. If she could find it, they would know who sent it. Even if none of the message was recoverable.

[Bridge]

[Captain's Quarters - Deck 2]

The system they were headed to was very intriquing, and it was something he was looking forward to.  He would have to try and convince Hrafn to head down there.  He glanced out the window at the streaking stars... both anxious and pleased to have pulled this surprise off.  The perfect gift for the one who had been literally on the other side of the galaxy.

Captain Tekin to the Bridge! 

The call from one of his bridge officers was serious... very serious.  Something must have been up.  With a sigh he stood up, walking to his door where the comm panel was.

"Bridge this the Captai-" he started, when his screen flashed with the ambient light by the door.  A yellow alert.

"Never mind, I'm on my way." he said, letting go of the button and leaving his room, straightening his uniform.

[Bridge - Deck 1]

He was barely out of the turbolift when he spoke.

"Report!" he called, the jovinity he held now abscent.  He crossed over to the big chair, where Susan had just given a hail.

"Sir, unknown vessel detected.  It was cloaked and is on an intercept course.  It... it was trying to give off a Federation signal." stated Ensign Syrim, mostly due to the urgency and being the one with the most access to the information.

"Lieutenant, I appreciate your caution, but be mindful of how we look.  We are guests in their quadrant.  However, good call.  I'll take it from here.  Helm, drop us out of warp.  Tactical, I want a readout on that ship.  Let's get an idea of what we're dealing with." he said, even though he knew Susan had just hailed.

"This is Captain Tekin Nevir, please respond." 

"Captain... now that we dropped out of warp, there is a faint signal coming through.  To jarbled to make out."

"From the ship?"

"No, sir.  Farther away.  Too regular to be natural."

"Venator, Jones, clean up that signal... in silence please.  See what you can make of it."

"In the meantime... now we wait."

Bridge

As the Captain stepped onto the Bridge, she was beaten to reporting by the over eager Ensign. Not taking the matter personally, she stepped aside at once to let Tekin take over.

Heading to the secondary Ops panel, she gave a nod in response to the order to clear up the signal.

"Aye Captain." She replied before pulling up the signal that they were only now receiving.

[Bridge]

NPC Ensign Syrim

[Bridge]

Syrim sat at tactical station and internally questioned the logic of the order to maintain continuous scans. When the First Officer originally ordered them, checking to make sure the local area was free of threat, but the fact that order turned into frequent full spectrum scans was a waste of time in Syrim's opinion. The sensors could have been put to better use in gathering data on the Gamma Quadrant, which was still largely unexplored by the Federation. If it had been up to him he'd-

"Artificial object detected matching search parameters."

The computer interrupted Syrim's musings.

"Specify."

"Cloaked vessel of unknown configuration."

Syrim for all his vaunted Vulcan control blinked, blinked again, and then immediately re-gathered his focus to report.

"Sir. Vessel uncloaking eight million kilometers bearing 247 mark 29."

He reported dispassionately as was only proper for a Vulcan.

[Bridge]

"Yeah." Solen reply, as he check the scan of the ship as they came in.  Solen a shock of cold made sir straight in his seat.

"Sir there warp core signature  appears to be federation. Solen said.

Bridge

Suzie reacted to the report of a vessel decloaking nearby. She was about to request more information when the Warp signature was identified as Federation.

"Unlikely." She replied. "Starfleet does not use cloaking devices. Yellow Alert. Raise shields, call the Captain to the Bridge and open a channel, lets hope they want to talk." She ordered.

The Bridge lighting immediately turned yellow.

"Shields up, channel open and the Captain has been called." The tactical officer replied.

This is Lieutenant Venator of the Federation Starship Discovery hailing unidentified vessel. Please respond.

[6 days later, ETA 1.5 days to Katra Station...]

6 days later, ETA 1.5 days to Katra Station...

[Deck 2 - Captain's Quarters]

A Captain never really had a shift.  Sure, he was technically Alpha shift, if one could put him on a shift, but like all command officers, he was always on call.  Luckily, calm trips like this one left him with the free time to actually relax, and after spending some time with others, he was laying on the couch, looking over the latest astrometrics data.  So many interesting systems.

"Computer, current ETA to Katra Station?"

Approximately 37 hours and 20 minutes to Katra Station.

"Thank you." he stated, acknowledging the response.  So far... so good....

Bridge

Suzie was technically Officer of the Watch. That meant, that although Commander Jones was on the Bridge, she had the Command Chair and was responsible for the ships operations until either the Captain or the XO arrived. In reality it was often a long period of nothing happening.

The Discovery was on course for Katra station. It was just under 37 1/2 hours away and there was nothing on sensors. They were too far away to detect the station, they had a lock on the system, but nothing inside it. As always when she had the Watch, she kept one eye on the viewscreen and one eye on the master systems display. She also knew that if there was trouble, the Discovery cold do more than just take care of herself.

Sitting back in the chair, she flicked the screen over to some signal traffic that she had been looking at. It helped pass the time until either something happened or she got off shift.

["Aye Sir, I have the bridge. Enjoy your walkabout Captain. We'll mind the store."]

[Bridge]

Ian stood from the Mission Operations station and replied.

"Aye Sir, I have the bridge. Enjoy your walkabout Captain. We'll mind the store."

Ian moved to the center seat and again felt the thrill of being in command. Once the captain had left, he reveled at the sensation for a few moments before returning to business.

"Science, full scans ta maximum range, we are in uncertain territory and I'm not above ta be caught arse out. Full spectrum scans if'n you please Commander, one can nae know when an unseemly sorts are about."

Ian didn't expect to find anything, but he'd found surprises by ordering full spectrum scans before and doing so again was an engrained part of him sitting center seat now.

Bridge

Siuzie was on duty at Ops and while Ian had only ordered science to scan, she decided to conduct her own. They were after all in at best neutral, if not hostile territory and it was wise to be cautious.

[[USS Discovery - Mess Hall]]

[USS Discovery - Mess Hall]

Juraan nodded in acknowledgement of her name while he chewed and then was asked a question in return. He swallowed, looking down on the table between them as his response came out quite hesitant. "No ... I stayed on DS9", he said vaguely. There were reasons he didn't visit Bajor, but he would have liked to discuss here now. While he pondered about if he should add something else to make it sound less curt, another person stepped up to them.

Juraan looked up and noticed the young man who had been down in the mine with him. "No, it's vacant. Please, have a seat, Crewman." He gestured to the seat next to him.

"We just had been talking about what we did during the time off." He looked to Evandav and then back at Suzie, promptin either or both of them to share what they had been doing.

Mess Hall

Suzie nodded, she could see he was feeling awkward and she could feel the conflicting emotions rolling off of him. She decided not to push him.

"I stayed on the station too." She replied. "I visited the promenade a few times but apart from that, I stayed on the Discovery." She added.

[[USS Discovery - Mess Hall]]

[USS Discovery - Mess Hall]

Giving a brief smile as thanks he put his food down before pulling the chair back to sit down. "To be honest I would have been surprised if you would have known my name", he said in his low calm voice, his face showing the usual light stubble. "I'm Juraan. One of the new faces in the medbay."

It was a bit different with Bajoran names than in other cultures. The first name mentioned was usually the surname and the given name following. Juraan though was used to be called by his surname which was why he just offered that as a reply.

He picked up his sandwich. "And yours?", he returned the question back to her before taking a bite.

Mess Hall

Suzie took a bite of her sandwich, chewed and swallowed it before answering.

"I'm Suzie Venator. New, or relatively new Chief of Ops." She replied. "Please to meet you Jurann. Did you manage to see much of Bajor while we were at DS9?" She asked, figuring the Bajoran would have wanted to visit his home planet.

[[USS Discovery - Mess Hall]]

[USS Discovery - Mess Hall]

Juraan picked up his grilled cheese sandwich and carried it along with a glass of juice in front of himself. It seemed like everyone had the same idea, taking a meal right now. He barely spotted an available place to sit.

Walking over to a young Lieutenant who was just about to eat a sandwich, he stopped next to the table, giving a weak smile. "Would you mind if I join you, Lieutenant?"

Mess Hall

Suzie looked up at the voice and saw the Bajoran in teal standing next to the table. She recognised him, but not having spoken to him before, she was not sure of his name.

"Of course Ensign." She replied, indicating the vacant seat across from her. "Please sit. I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know your name." She added, not wanting to extend any awkwardness.

[Mess Hall.]

Mess Hall.

Suzie had enjoyed the couple of days on Earth, she had managed to see her Foster Mother and meet up with a couple of old friends. Then they had headed directly to DS9, where she had spent some time exploring the distinct station. Now they were under way again, she knew where they were headed but had asked to keep it under her hat until the Captain said so.

Having finished her morning workout, she headed for breakfast. Today she had gone for a pile of bacon sandwiches with some lemonade to wash it down with. Looking at the clock, she saw that she still had time before she was due on the Bridge, She sat back and enjoyed her meal.