S:5 E:12 - Dominion Rising

[Zavrol Gohun]

Gohun sat and listened to the Andoran story. With Gohuns empathic ability he could tell that the story was completely made up but that was ok it was a fun story to hear. Gohun was still unsure of operation Wile E. Coyote would work but then he got the call and teleported back to the Discovery.

[Nira Said]

A hail from the Discovery... on screen to show the bridge of the Prometheus class and Captain Nevir in the big chair...

"Captain Galloway, Discovery is standing by for transwarp.  Just waiting on you."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian replied immediately to the call from Captain Tekin.

"Given you're the engine and we're just the bloody caboose in this affair, we're ready for the ride whenever you are Captain."

[Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Bridge | Deck One | USS Legacy NCC-75001-B]

Three...two...one....the countdown was completed, and Gillespie ordered a hail to the rest of the fleet.

"All ships, prepare for slipstream on my mark...Mark!"

The Legacy had its slipstream portal opened and proceeded inside with the Intrepid and the Eagle in its wake. The Scott proceeded in with the Carlson following.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira, like everybody else on the bridge, braced themselves for the transwarp journey. Naturally, as the Discovery opened its slipstream portal and pulled them in, she could feel the occasional shaking and slight creaks like a galleon was plunging along a forty-degree waterfall.

For the whole of sixteen minutes, everybody was riveted to the viewscreen, at least everybody in the bridge. Of course, Nira was very sure she was feeling exhiliration from as much of the crew below the bridge as well as within as much as she could detect.

Nobody's used to slipstream like I am, thought Nira to herself. Then again, they're more used to this old ship and not the latest technology.

A moment later, the order came from Gillespie to drop out of slipstream and the compliance came when the merged ships dropped into regular space. And there they were.

AR-558. The site of a major battle...no, make that siege. In light of the end of the war, the planet, barren as it was, looked relatively peaceful.

A moment later, Gillespie called in the fleet.

"Well done, everybody," he said. "We made it. We'll be holding here for a couple of hours while we give the slipstreams a chance to rest. Meantime, we'll be waiting for more ships to join us to Deep Space Nine. But for now, take a breather."

Once the call ended, Nira breathed as well. "Well, let's see how all departments are doing with our trip through slipstream..."

Just then, Ops called out something: A distress signal. Put on speakers, it sounded garbled, but the callers were in a panic.

"This...trade fleet...kalia Triang...under attack...can't expl...how...daschian pirates...I repeat..."

The signal became cut off, but Nira was sure what it was saying. It was somebody from a trade fleet operating the shipping route between Tarkalia, Denobula and Vega, hence the name: Tarkalia Triangle, although it often headed along past the triangle's route to other places, like to Trill and to Bajor. As for the pirates, Nira was sure the signal was crapping out, getting slurred sounding, but it sounded like they were attacked by Cardassian pirates.

"Cardassian pirates?" said Nira to the Captain. "Funny, if the Tarkalia Triangle were to be attacked...well, the closest known border is the Tzenkethi Collective either in one direction...second closest wound be the Breen, but it's a lot farther away..."

The distress call, certainly picked up by the rest of the fleet, was sent to Admiral Gillespie, who called the ships...though particularly the Discovery and the Challenger.

"Cardassian pirates," he said with a scowl. "It's been a while since the Tarkalia Triangle had been raided. And it was mostly by Tzenkethi. They've mostly been discouraged away since that trading fleet had security beefed up. On the other hand...it's disturbingly similar to what transpired...that little job I had Miss Sherem infiltrate...but the Klingons were way on the other side, in an entirely different neighboring quadrant, and it's taken them how the hell long to get all the way to unclaimed space in proximity to Tzenkethi territory...?"

He pursed his lips in a worrying expression...Nira knew that look very well, she's made that expression when she's suspecting something.

"Tekin, Galloway," the admiral ordered, "yeh two head over to their position and help them. Help any other starships escorting that fleet to drive away the pirates. Take the Intrepid with yeh to back yeh up."

[Ian Galloway]

[Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Bridge | Deck One | USS Legacy NCC-75001-B]

Three...two...one....the countdown was completed, and Gillespie ordered a hail to the rest of the fleet.

"All ships, prepare for slipstream on my mark...Mark!"

The Legacy had its slipstream portal opened and proceeded inside with the Intrepid and the Eagle in its wake. The Scott proceeded in with the Carlson following.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira, like everybody else on the bridge, braced themselves for the transwarp journey. Naturally, as the Discovery opened its slipstream portal and pulled them in, she could feel the occasional shaking and slight creaks like a galleon was plunging along a forty-degree waterfall.

For the whole of sixteen minutes, everybody was riveted to the viewscreen, at least everybody in the bridge. Of course, Nira was very sure she was feeling exhiliration from as much of the crew below the bridge as well as within as much as she could detect.

Nobody's used to slipstream like I am, thought Nira to herself. Then again, they're more used to this old ship and not the latest technology.

A moment later, the order came from Gillespie to drop out of slipstream and the compliance came when the merged ships dropped into regular space. And there they were.

AR-558. The site of a major battle...no, make that siege. In light of the end of the war, the planet, barren as it was, looked relatively peaceful.

A moment later, Gillespie called in the fleet.

"Well done, everybody," he said. "We made it. We'll be holding here for a couple of hours while we give the slipstreams a chance to rest. Meantime, we'll be waiting for more ships to join us to Deep Space Nine. But for now, take a breather."

Once the call ended, Nira breathed as well. "Well, let's see how all departments are doing with our trip through slipstream..."

Just then, Ops called out something: A distress signal. Put on speakers, it sounded garbled, but the callers were in a panic.

"This...trade fleet...kalia Triang...under attack...can't expl...how...daschian pirates...I repeat..."

The signal became cut off, but Nira was sure what it was saying. It was somebody from a trade fleet operating the shipping route between Tarkalia, Denobula and Vega, hence the name: Tarkalia Triangle, although it often headed along past the triangle's route to other places, like to Trill and to Bajor. As for the pirates, Nira was sure the signal was crapping out, getting slurred sounding, but it sounded like they were attacked by Cardassian pirates.

"Cardassian pirates?" said Nira to the Captain. "Funny, if the Tarkalia Triangle were to be attacked...well, the closest known border is the Tzenkethi Collective either in one direction...second closest wound be the Breen, but it's a lot farther away..."

The distress call, certainly picked up by the rest of the fleet, was sent to Admiral Gillespie, who called the ships...though particularly the Discovery and the Challenger.

"Cardassian pirates," he said with a scowl. "It's been a while since the Tarkalia Triangle had been raided. And it was mostly by Tzenkethi. They've mostly been discouraged away since that trading fleet had security beefed up. On the other hand...it's disturbingly similar to what transpired...that little job I had Miss Sherem infiltrate...but the Klingons were way on the other side, in an entirely different neighboring quadrant, and it's taken them how the hell long to get all the way to unclaimed space in proximity to Tzenkethi territory...?"

He pursed his lips in a worrying expression...Nira knew that look very well, she's made that expression when she's suspecting something.

"Tekin, Galloway," the admiral ordered, "yeh two head over to their position and help them. Help any other starships escorting that fleet to drive away the pirates. Take the Intrepid with yeh to back yeh up."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian cringed when Gillespie ordered Discovery and Challenger to respond, as it pointed out a very glaring flaw in Lek's otherwise brilliant plan. With the two ships physically connected, they were configured for optimal slipstream travel, they were in an abysmal configuration for a fight. After having T'Kel reply to Gillespie that they would respond, he then ordered her to open a channel to the Discovery.

"Captain, we are royally buggered if'n we have ta fight. It will take at least half an hour ta separate our ships. My best response for our situation is for you ta Multi-Vector and send Alpha and Gamma hulls ta deal with the problem. Challenger and Beta hull will have ta follow at best speed after you."

[Buck McNair]

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira, like everybody else on the bridge, braced themselves for the transwarp journey. Naturally, as the Discovery opened its slipstream portal and pulled them in, she could feel the occasional shaking and slight creaks like a galleon was plunging along a forty-degree waterfall.

For the whole of sixteen minutes, everybody was riveted to the viewscreen, at least everybody in the bridge. Of course, Nira was very sure she was feeling exhiliration from as much of the crew below the bridge as well as within as much as she could detect.

Nobody's used to slipstream like I am, thought Nira to herself. Then again, they're more used to this old ship and not the latest technology.

A moment later, the order came from Gillespie to drop out of slipstream and the compliance came when the merged ships dropped into regular space. And there they were.

AR-558. The site of a major battle...no, make that siege. In light of the end of the war, the planet, barren as it was, looked relatively peaceful.

A moment later, Gillespie called in the fleet.

"Well done, everybody," he said. "We made it. We'll be holding here for a couple of hours while we give the slipstreams a chance to rest. Meantime, we'll be waiting for more ships to join us to Deep Space Nine. But for now, take a breather."

Once the call ended, Nira breathed as well. "Well, let's see how all departments are doing with our trip through slipstream..."

Just then, Ops called out something: A distress signal. Put on speakers, it sounded garbled, but the callers were in a panic.

"This...trade fleet...kalia Triang...under attack...can't expl...how...daschian pirates...I repeat..."

The signal became cut off, but Nira was sure what it was saying. It was somebody from a trade fleet operating the shipping route between Tarkalia, Denobula and Vega, hence the name: Tarkalia Triangle, although it often headed along past the triangle's route to other places, like to Trill and to Bajor. As for the pirates, Nira was sure the signal was crapping out, getting slurred sounding, but it sounded like they were attacked by Cardassian pirates.

"Cardassian pirates?" said Nira to the Captain. "Funny, if the Tarkalia Triangle were to be attacked...well, the closest known border is the Tzenkethi Collective either in one direction...second closest wound be the Breen, but it's a lot farther away..."

The distress call, certainly picked up by the rest of the fleet, was sent to Admiral Gillespie, who called the ships...though particularly the Discovery and the Challenger.

"Cardassian pirates," he said with a scowl. "It's been a while since the Tarkalia Triangle had been raided. And it was mostly by Tzenkethi. They've mostly been discouraged away since that trading fleet had security beefed up. On the other hand...it's disturbingly similar to what transpired...that little job I had Miss Sherem infiltrate...but the Klingons were way on the other side, in an entirely different neighboring quadrant, and it's taken them how the hell long to get all the way to unclaimed space in proximity to Tzenkethi territory...?"

He pursed his lips in a worrying expression...Nira knew that look very well, she's made that expression when she's suspecting something.

"Tekin, Galloway," the admiral ordered, "yeh two head over to their position and help them. Help any other starships escorting that fleet to drive away the pirates. Take the Intrepid with yeh to back yeh up."

[Bridge | USS Challenger]

Buck took a firm grip of his station as the ship hit the slipstream, feeling the vibrations and the creaking as they traveled as a singular unit. He was no engineer but there had to have been something easier on the bones as they watched through the view screen. It was exciting, it was exhilarating to watch as space passed by at such great speeds, and to be part of it. Buck took the time to wonder whether his mother and father had such an experience, and that he probably would tell them whenever they caught back up at their house for a family meal.

They had just about dropped out of slipstream when they had received a transmission at their station. "Got a distress signal!"

Buck went about patching it through, the sound was not great; very garbled but enough to make out the panic in their tone and their need for urgent assistance. His brows furrowed as he looked over to the captain and commander to see if they could make sense of the message - hoping for a translation.

Cardassian pirates.

Crap.

Were they in any state to combat pirates when they were sharing their ablative shielding?

Of course, though the Admiral would send them.

The Challenger, Discovery and the Intrepid, each one with their roles and needing to accompany each other to stave off the pirate menace. Buck looked towards the captain as he explained that it was better if they sent Challenger with the Beta Hull whilst Alpha and Gamma dealt with the issue. He fidgeted as he looked at his supervisor and then to T'Prith. "Uh, not to play devil's advocate, how much of this could be a potential threat to lure us into a trap?" It was a voiced concern, and probably one that he was thinking way above his pay grade about.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Bridge]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian cringed when Gillespie ordered Discovery and Challenger to respond, as it pointed out a very glaring flaw in Lek's otherwise brilliant plan. With the two ships physically connected, they were configured for optimal slipstream travel, they were in an abysmal configuration for a fight. After having T'Kel reply to Gillespie that they would respond, he then ordered her to open a channel to the Discovery.

"Captain, we are royally buggered if'n we have ta fight. It will take at least half an hour ta separate our ships. My best response for our situation is for you ta Multi-Vector and send Alpha and Gamma hulls ta deal with the problem. Challenger and Beta hull will have ta follow at best speed after you."

"That's probably why the prick ordered our two ships to respond.  Prophets..." he responded, shaking his head. He turned to his science officer.

"Bring up the current ship layout on screen." he ordered, as the image of Galloway was replaced with a schematic of Discovery, highlighting the points of contact between her and the Challenger.

"We lucked out... if the lower arms were one deck lower, Gamma would be out of commission.  Inform the Challenger that we will separate and go on ahead.  We'll keep Lek on the upper engineering deck and see if he can figure out how to quickly disconnect the Beta hull and reattach it.. or if we should return to the Admiral's plan.  I will take Gamma remotely with us, and then Mr. Broadshire, you will be assuming command of Gamma.  Rayek, you will take Beta once it arrives."

"Bridge to Engineering.  Lek, we've discovered a flaw in your plan, and we've been ordered to respond to a distress signal.  I'm separating Alpha and Gamma hulls to go on ahead with the Intrepid.  Beta and the Challenger will have to act as one until we can disconnect the ships. I want you to stay on Beta and work on a solution.  Bridge out." 

"Well, Mr th'Lhoell, Mr Broadshire.  You get to see a close up of the Prometheus class's claim to fame." he stated, standing up.

Given the potential for pirates Rayek would have preferred to have all hulls present, to deal with them, but as the separation process left the ship vulnerable, he could understand the need to separate before arriving.

"Aye, sir!"  he said standing up from his chair.  "Lt Addams, site to site transport please. Beam me to the Beta Hull battle bridge.  And send over the it's MVA bridge team."  As he waited for the Grazerite to acknowledge and enact his orders, the Romulan glanced over to the likely overwhelmed Doctor.    "Glohhaasi' mnekha" he said, which translated to good hunting or good luck.

A moment later Torra had him caught up in a transporter beam.

"Computer, activate multi-vector assault mode.  Begin separation sequence.  Automate Gamma hull.  Voiceprint authorization Captain Tekin Nevir."

The computer chimed its acknowledgment and the lights on the ship dimmed to a blue hue.

Multi-vector Mode has been enabled.  Initiating decoupling sequence. Auto separation in ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Separation sequence in progress.

The ship shook as it separated, with both the top and bottom sections moving away from the center.  The Ops station showed the sequence as complete and was able to confirm that Gamma Hull was remotely taking orders from the Main Bridge. The Captain turned back and took his seat.

"Helm, set a course for the source of the distress system.  Maximum warp." he stated, as both Alpha and Gamma hulls turned in unison and activated their own different warp engines.

[Beta Hull - Deck 6  - Battle Bridge]
Rayek was the first to arrive on the Battle bridge.   A short moment later this bridge began to arrive.  Some were beamed over from positions on hulls, others arrived on foot having already been on the Beta Hull.

The countdown for separation was displayed in large numbers at the bottom corner of his viewscreen, then he felt the impressively smooth detachment of the Arrowhead shaped Alpha Hull and the less aesthetic Gamma Hull.  The Romulan watched as the other hulls moved further from them and then an instant later they were at warp.

He looked to his team:

Lt JG Bok-Char at Helm
Lieutenant Raquel Ruiz at Tactical
Ensign Zavrol Gohun at Engineering, though Lek was in Upper Engineering hopefully devising a way to decouple them swiftly.
Chief of Operations, Lieutenant Banan Leon sat at Ops
and, of course the obligatory Vulcan, Ensign Savel.

"Mr. Banan open a channel to Engineering and to Challenger. "

"Captain Galloway as you know we need a way to uncouple Challenger from Discovery's Beta hull swiftly.   I'd like our two crews to brainstorm ideas together.  Are there any ideas at all short of cutting the cables? And if not, how long will it take to cut through the cables?"

[T’prith]

[Bridge | USS Challenger]

Buck took a firm grip of his station as the ship hit the slipstream, feeling the vibrations and the creaking as they traveled as a singular unit. He was no engineer but there had to have been something easier on the bones as they watched through the view screen. It was exciting, it was exhilarating to watch as space passed by at such great speeds, and to be part of it. Buck took the time to wonder whether his mother and father had such an experience, and that he probably would tell them whenever they caught back up at their house for a family meal.

They had just about dropped out of slipstream when they had received a transmission at their station. "Got a distress signal!"

Buck went about patching it through, the sound was not great; very garbled but enough to make out the panic in their tone and their need for urgent assistance. His brows furrowed as he looked over to the captain and commander to see if they could make sense of the message - hoping for a translation.

Cardassian pirates.

Crap.

Were they in any state to combat pirates when they were sharing their ablative shielding?

Of course, though the Admiral would send them.

The Challenger, Discovery and the Intrepid, each one with their roles and needing to accompany each other to stave off the pirate menace. Buck looked towards the captain as he explained that it was better if they sent Challenger with the Beta Hull whilst Alpha and Gamma dealt with the issue. He fidgeted as he looked at his supervisor and then to T'Prith. "Uh, not to play devil's advocate, how much of this could be a potential threat to lure us into a trap?" It was a voiced concern, and probably one that he was thinking way above his pay grade about.

[USS Challenger-bridge]

"œFrom what I can tell there is a chance that this could be a potential threat to lure us into a trap." She looked over at the statistics and what she was looking at as she didn't want to give Buck a wrong estimate. She had a strange feeling about this but she needed factual proof and not just go by a gut feeling that she had. T'prith didn't want to overly judge as the distress signal could be someone actually needing their help. She also had a feeling that this could go horribly wrong.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 5 - Airlock]

Word came down from Tharn that the welding teams now had uncouple the two ships... or rather uncouple Challenger from what remained of Discovery.  How exactly the higher ups wanted this done was still in question but the teams needed to be in position ready to do whatever it was that they wanted.

"Yes, ma'am" the Andorian acknowledged the order, before locking his helmet into place and heading out with the rest of the engineers on the 'clean up crew'.   

[Buck McNair]

[USS Challenger-bridge]

"œFrom what I can tell there is a chance that this could be a potential threat to lure us into a trap." She looked over at the statistics and what she was looking at as she didn't want to give Buck a wrong estimate. She had a strange feeling about this but she needed factual proof and not just go by a gut feeling that she had. T'prith didn't want to overly judge as the distress signal could be someone actually needing their help. She also had a feeling that this could go horribly wrong.

[Bridge | USS Challenger]

Whilst he nodded at the response, Buck knew that thinking over the 'what ifs' was somewhat of a waste of time with the information which they recieved as he focused on trying to locate the origin of the distress signal. "Right, well, let's get the party started." He tapped in a few buttons and honed in on the signal itself. "Ah, got it. Signal's comin' couple light years from Denobula." He glanced over at T'Prith. "Goin' to send these over to Lieutenant Litt now."

McNair to Litt, got some coordinates comin' your way, honed it to a couple light years out from Denobula, working on trying to narrow down to an exact. 

[Ian Galloway]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell

[Beta Hull - Deck 6  - Battle Bridge]
Rayek was the first to arrive on the Battle bridge.   A short moment later this bridge began to arrive.  Some were beamed over from positions on hulls, others arrived on foot having already been on the Beta Hull.

The countdown for separation was displayed in large numbers at the bottom corner of his viewscreen, then he felt the impressively smooth detachment of the Arrowhead shaped Alpha Hull and the less aesthetic Gamma Hull.  The Romulan watched as the other hulls moved further from them and then an instant later they were at warp.

"Mr. Banan open a channel to Engineering and to Challenger. "

"Captain Galloway as you know we need a way to uncouple Challenger from Discovery's Beta hull swiftly.   I'd like our two crews to brainstorm ideas together.  Are there any ideas at all short of cutting the cables? And if not, how long will it take to cut through the cables?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The flow of information was like a roller coaster and Ian was struggling to keep up with the data that was hitting him from all sides.

"Life was so much easier when all I had ta do was drive."

He thought as the Romulan contacted him about separating the ships. He replied.

"My engineerin' team is on it, will contact you when they have a solution. Challenger out."

As he knew Tharn was on the call, when he closed the connection to the Discovery, he then spoke directly to the chief engineer.

"Tell me you have a plan Dashlish."

"I do, but you won't like it. We made those connections to the Discovery rock solid. It's going to take at least twenty minutes to cut all the cables with fusion torches. We're stuck at impulse until that's complete."

"Go ahead and get started."

Sighing, Ian thought.

"Gillespie did this on purpose."

[Lek]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"Very well Captain.  Stand by." the Captain stated, as all systems were ready to go.

"Alright, activate the quantum slipstream.  Let's ride." he stated, giving his order for the ships to go to slipstream.  Almost immedaitely he noticed how difficult this thing was.  The ride to Ferenginar was steady, peaceful... this one was not.  It was back to their testing phase.  He had to grip his chair.  But to his amazement, the journey was thankfully fast and both ships exited the stream.

"I want a complete systems check while the fleet recharges.  The Admiral is probably wai-" he didn't get to finish the sentence as Ops noted a distress signal.. followed by the Admiral hailing them.  Of course he wanted the two of them to investigate.  He was sure he was on the Admiral's shit hit list right now.  But the Admiral's order opened a giant glaring issue with Lek's plan, one that Nevir realized about the same time as Galloway did.

"That's probably why the prick ordered our two ships to respond.  Prophets..." he responded, shaking his head. He turned to his science officer.

"Bring up the current ship layout on screen." he ordered, as the image of Galloway was replaced with a schematic of Discovery, highlighting the points of contact between her and the Challenger.

"We lucked out... if the lower arms were one deck lower, Gamma would be out of commission.  Inform the Challenger that we will separate and go on ahead.  We'll keep Lek on the upper engineering deck and see if he can figure out how to quickly disconnect the Beta hull and reattach it.. or if we should return to the Admiral's plan.  I will take Gamma remotely with us, and then Mr. Broadshire, you will be assuming command of Gamma.  Rayek, you will take Beta once it arrives."

"Bridge to Engineering.  Lek, we've discovered a flaw in your plan, and we've been ordered to respond to a distress signal.  I'm separating Alpha and Gamma hulls to go on ahead with the Intrepid.  Beta and the Challenger will have to act as one until we can disconnect the ships. I want you to stay on Beta and work on a solution.  Bridge out." 

"Well, Mr th'Lhoell, Mr Broadshire.  You get to see a close up of the Prometheus class's claim to fame." he stated, standing up.

"Computer, activate multi-vector assault mode.  Begin separation sequence.  Automate Gamma hull.  Voiceprint authorization Captain Tekin Nevir."

The computer chimed its acknowledgment and the lights on the ship dimmed to a blue hue.

Multi-vector Mode has been enabled.  Initiating decoupling sequence. Auto separation in ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Separation sequence in progress.

The ship shook as it separated, with both the top and bottom sections moving away from the center.  The Ops station showed the sequence as complete and was able to confirm that Gamma Hull was remotely taking orders from the Main Bridge. The Captain turned back and took his seat.

"Helm, set a course for the source of the distress system.  Maximum warp." he stated, as both Alpha and Gamma hulls turned in unison and activated their own different warp engines.

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Bridge]

"Mr. Banan open a channel to Engineering and to Challenger. "

"Captain Galloway as you know we need a way to uncouple Challenger from Discovery's Beta hull swiftly.   I'd like our two crews to brainstorm ideas together.  Are there any ideas at all short of cutting the cables? And if not, how long will it take to cut through the cables?"

[Engineering - USS Discovery]

When the captain spoke of a flaw in his plan, it was like a lash across his back as he was right. The current coupling method for the ships was designed for the most efficient use of the slipstream, not for battle. It embarrassed him that he'd not accounted for needing to separate the ships quickly. He could take some solace in that if there had been a more extensive briefing or more time, he might have included emergency separation, but there had been neither, now he had to come up with a new plan, again on the fly, with no time.

He wracked his brain to think of a quick way to separate the ships, but they'd been hooked together with strength in mind, not with a breakaway capacity. It was simple to create such a mechanism, but they didn't have time for that.

"It would be better if we could just stay connected....wait...."

He grabbed his PADD again and did some quick calculations and hit his combadge.

"Commander, Lek here. Separating the ships will take no less than twenty minutes in their current configuration and can't be done at warp. It would then take at least as long to reconnect the ships once this encounter is over and I don't think the admiral will give us that sort of time. I can have quick release connectors replicated, but then we'd have to install them on both ships, which would take at least an hour. As I know that is unacceptable, I have proposal.

"The Challenger has two warp core. I suggest she bring the second core online and put the entire output of that second core into our combined structural integrity field. That much power will actually exceed the tensile strength of both ships beyond their individual rating. It will make us solid enough not only for warp travel, but some pretty decent impulse maneuverability. We can implement this plan with no delay and bring the hybrid Discoverenger into action immediately."

[Richard James Litt]

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Once the comm was off, Nira looked up at Lieutenant Litt, who was positioned at the helm, and said, "Lieutenant Litt, move the Challenger to behind the Discovery. Directly behind, and then hold position."

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

Once he was at the helm and managed to do all the flight systems checks and verify that everything was ready Litt received a new order from Lieutenant Commander Nira so that he could put the ship behind the Challenger, he gave a small smile as if he had been there for a long time. time waiting for an order to fly. "œAye ma'am!" He simply said and did as he was ordered by her.
"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦

[Bridge | USS Challenger]

McNair to Litt, got some coordinates comin' your way, honed it to a couple light years out from Denobula, working on trying to narrow down to an exact. 

Once the coordinates were received, Litt responded to the message.

"œPerfect"¦ I'm getting everything over here"¦"

While the coordinates were being received Litt began to program the course while waiting for some order on what to do next.

[Ian Galloway]

[Engineering - USS Discovery]

When the captain spoke of a flaw in his plan, it was like a lash across his back as he was right. The current coupling method for the ships was designed for the most efficient use of the slipstream, not for battle. It embarrassed him that he'd not accounted for needing to separate the ships quickly. He could take some solace in that if there had been a more extensive briefing or more time, he might have included emergency separation, but there had been neither, now he had to come up with a new plan, again on the fly, with no time.

He wracked his brain to think of a quick way to separate the ships, but they'd been hooked together with strength in mind, not with a breakaway capacity. It was simple to create such a mechanism, but they didn't have time for that.

"It would be better if we could just stay connected....wait...."

He grabbed his PADD again and did some quick calculations and hit his combadge.

"Commander, Lek here. Separating the ships will take no less than twenty minutes in their current configuration and can't be done at warp. It would then take at least as long to reconnect the ships once this encounter is over and I don't think the admiral will give us that sort of time. I can have quick release connectors replicated, but then we'd have to install them on both ships, which would take at least an hour. As I know that is unacceptable, I have proposal.

"The Challenger has two warp core. I suggest she bring the second core online and put the entire output of that second core into our combined structural integrity field. That much power will actually exceed the tensile strength of both ships beyond their individual rating. It will make us solid enough not only for warp travel, but some pretty decent impulse maneuverability. We can implement this plan with no delay and bring the hybrid Discoverenger into action immediately."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian blinked at the Ferengi's suggestion and quickly went over the information he sent via a data file. After confirming the figures, he whistled in amazement.

"Bloody hell, this is Captain Scott level engineerin'.

Still shaking his head as he replied.

"This is brilliant work Commander. I approve this plan. Captain Tekin?"

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta Hull - Battle Bridge]

[Engineering - USS Discovery]

When the captain spoke of a flaw in his plan, it was like a lash across his back as he was right. The current coupling method for the ships was designed for the most efficient use of the slipstream, not for battle. It embarrassed him that he'd not accounted for needing to separate the ships quickly. He could take some solace in that if there had been a more extensive briefing or more time, he might have included emergency separation, but there had been neither, now he had to come up with a new plan, again on the fly, with no time.

He wracked his brain to think of a quick way to separate the ships, but they'd been hooked together with strength in mind, not with a breakaway capacity. It was simple to create such a mechanism, but they didn't have time for that.

"It would be better if we could just stay connected....wait...."

He grabbed his PADD again and did some quick calculations and hit his combadge.

"Commander, Lek here. Separating the ships will take no less than twenty minutes in their current configuration and can't be done at warp. It would then take at least as long to reconnect the ships once this encounter is over and I don't think the admiral will give us that sort of time. I can have quick release connectors replicated, but then we'd have to install them on both ships, which would take at least an hour. As I know that is unacceptable, I have proposal.

"The Challenger has two warp core. I suggest she bring the second core online and put the entire output of that second core into our combined structural integrity field. That much power will actually exceed the tensile strength of both ships beyond their individual rating. It will make us solid enough not only for warp travel, but some pretty decent impulse maneuverability. We can implement this plan with no delay and bring the hybrid Discoverenger into action immediately."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian blinked at the Ferengi's suggestion and quickly went over the information he sent via a data file. After confirming the figures, he whistled in amazement.

"Bloody hell, this is Captain Scott level engineerin'.

Still shaking his head as he replied.

"This is brilliant work Commander. I approve this plan. Captain Tekin?"

"Commander tr'Lhoell actually.  I have command of the Beta Hull," the Romulan pointed out to the Challenger's Captain.  "I also approve of the plan.  Commander Lek, coordinate with the Commander Tharn."

[Ian Galloway]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Bridge]

"Commander tr'Lhoell actually.  I have command of the Beta Hull," the Romulan pointed out to the Challenger's Captain.  "I also approve of the plan.  Commander Lek, coordinate with the Commander Tharn."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian waited less than a minute before he could feel the deckplates humming as the extra power flooded the ship. It took about another minute for Tharn, Lek, CatalÁ¡n, and the Beta hull Ops officer to balance the power load. It was one more minute before the four were satisfied with the structural integrity field and Tharn growled.

"Ready Captain."

Ian looked at the ship's readouts on his command chair and did a double take at the combined hull strength he was seeing.

"I bet the the yard apes at Utopia Planetia that built this old girl would never believe these readin's." He activated the comm.  "Commander, we are showin' ready for warp. Given your engines are available, we have full emergency speed available, warp 9.88 whenever you give the order."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 5 - Airlock]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian waited less than a minute before he could feel the deckplates humming as the extra power flooded the ship. It took about another minute for Tharn, Lek, CatalÁ¡n, and the Beta hull Ops officer to balance the power load. It was one more minute before the four were satisfied with the structural integrity field and Tharn growled.

"Ready Captain."

Ian looked at the ship's readouts on his command chair and did a double take at the combined hull strength he was seeing.

"I bet the the yard apes at Utopia Planetia that built this old girl would never believe these readin's." He activated the comm.  "Commander, we are showin' ready for warp. Given your engines are available, we have full emergency speed available, warp 9.88 whenever you give the order."

Lahr and the welding team had just arrived at the tie-points, when Lahr's antennae quivered in his suit from the vibration of the hull plating under his feet.   What the... !?

It was then that someone bothered to inform the engineering team to head back in because the decision was made to jump to warp still connected.

"Roozh!  What idiot came up with that plan?!  They're gonna get us all killed!" the Andorian complained but turned about and hurried him and his team back to the 'safety' of the ship.