S4: E8 - Stop the MADness

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

Delta Flyer Class Runabout 'Mjolnir'

Mondo had been monitoring the communications, and his eyes went wide when he learned the planetary powers had no way to cancel their missile launches.   They were locked into an inescapable mutually assured destruction.

Or were they?

"Sir," he turned to Ruth, "a destruct or cancel code may not be required, if both powers wish to stop this war.  These missiles will have guidance systems, primitive by our standards.  We may be able to fool these systems, causing the missiles to change course.  Perhaps we may even encourage them to move away from the orbital paths they are on, back into interplanetary space.  In order to do this, we need to know exactly how these missiles operate so that we can spoof them successfully."

Mondo had mediocre technical skill.  Engineering and Sciences had been his worst subjects at the Technical Services Academy.  But he understood the principles by which weapons systems operated.  Security and Weapons systems and procedures had been the primary thrust of his training.  Perhaps that would be enough, today.

[Delta Flyer - Mjolnir]

"Mondo, you might just have saved the lives of millions, I will personally get you a medal if it works." Ruth said, pulling a face that was indicative of her mind now working so much you could practically see the cogs moving as much as if she really had a clockwork mind and someone had removed a panel on her skull.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Mjolnir]

Despite the fine targeting by Mondo and the other tactical officers on the other shuttles, there were just too many outside of their limited scope.   The casualties on both planets would be immense.   His antenna hung low as he acknowledged Mondo's remark stating this.  Even the Hupyrian's and Ruth's recognition of his 'artwork' couldn't lift his antenna.

Lahr's call to Challenger was put to queue while the Captain spoke to both the Nelvari leaders.  The Andorian, being nosy, listened in and played it openly in the shuttle.

Lahr winced at obvious fury First One Greshak of Locean displayed in his tone when he asked about the image.   Oops..  that backfired.

Lahr gasped in surprise and his antenna hung to their lowest point yet.  "There's no ability to cancel?  Roohz.. how stupid is that?"

But as Mondo spoke... all might not be lost...

Lahr looked over to Mondo at his statement his antenna partially lifting in hope, he then looked to Ruth.  "Permission to contact the Locean and Trellion governments to obtain missile schematics, ma'am?"

As he waited for Ruth to decide yes or no, Lahr's call was finally answered by Grelek.

He informed the Vulcan that they'd finished with all missiles in the 50 000 km radius and that the shuttles were awaiting further orders.

"And let the Captain know that Nari might have an idea on how to redirect the missile via their guidance systems if we can get our hands on the information on how they operate."

Grelek passes on this info to Commander Kyle and the Captain.

"I agree, stupid, my dear... but they're not all brilliant Andorians or Hupyrians.  Yes contact them, it might be our only chance then we play decoy.  Risky but ... if we can manage to do it then we could have half of our little flotilla pull one lot one way, one the other, maybe have them fly at each other in open space if we can manage to get ourselves out of the way in time or set them to fly at one another.... we can work out logistics once we have plans for the missiles."

[Ian Galloway]

Delta Flyer Class Runabout 'Mjolnir'

Mondo had been monitoring the communications, and his eyes went wide when he learned the planetary powers had no way to cancel their missile launches.   They were locked into an inescapable mutually assured destruction.

Or were they?

"Sir," he turned to Ruth, "a destruct or cancel code may not be required, if both powers wish to stop this war.  These missiles will have guidance systems, primitive by our standards.  We may be able to fool these systems, causing the missiles to change course.  Perhaps we may even encourage them to move away from the orbital paths they are on, back into interplanetary space.  In order to do this, we need to know exactly how these missiles operate so that we can spoof them successfully."

Mondo had mediocre technical skill.  Engineering and Sciences had been his worst subjects at the Technical Services Academy.  But he understood the principles by which weapons systems operated.  Security and Weapons systems and procedures had been the primary thrust of his training.  Perhaps that would be enough, today.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Mjolnir]

Despite the fine targeting by Mondo and the other tactical officers on the other shuttles, there were just too many outside of their limited scope.   The casualties on both planets would be immense.   His antenna hung low as he acknowledged Mondo's remark stating this.  Even the Hupyrian's and Ruth's recognition of his 'artwork' couldn't lift his antenna.

Lahr's call to Challenger was put to queue while the Captain spoke to both the Nelvari leaders.  The Andorian, being nosy, listened in and played it openly in the shuttle.

Lahr winced at obvious fury First One Greshak of Locean displayed in his tone when he asked about the image.   Oops..  that backfired.

Lahr gasped in surprise and his antenna hung to their lowest point yet.  "There's no ability to cancel?  Roohz.. how stupid is that?"

But as Mondo spoke... all might not be lost...

Lahr looked over to Mondo at his statement his antenna partially lifting in hope, he then looked to Ruth.  "Permission to contact the Locean and Trellion governments to obtain missile schematics, ma'am?"

As he waited for Ruth to decide yes or no, Lahr's call was finally answered by Grelek.

He informed the Vulcan that they'd finished with all missiles in the 50 000 km radius and that the shuttles were awaiting further orders.

"And let the Captain know that Nari might have an idea on how to redirect the missile via their guidance systems if we can get our hands on the information on how they operate."

Grelek passed on this info to Commander Kyle and the Captain.

[Delta Flyer - Mjolnir]

"Mondo, you might just have saved the lives of millions, I will personally get you a medal if it works." Ruth said, pulling a face that was indicative of her mind now working so much you could practically see the cogs moving as much as if she really had a clockwork mind and someone had removed a panel on her skull.

"I agree, stupid, my dear... but they're not all brilliant Andorians or Hupyrians.  Yes contact them, it might be our only chance then we play decoy.  Risky but ... if we can manage to do it then we could have half of our little flotilla pull one lot one way, one the other, maybe have them fly at each other in open space if we can manage to get ourselves out of the way in time or set them to fly at one another.... we can work out logistics once we have plans for the missiles."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Grelek filtered the information from the Mjolnir into text form and Ian was able to read the options available to him, but none of them would matter if Greshak and Thebos failed to grant him permission to assist them.

"Gentlemen, we are rapidly running out of time to be able to assist you. Do I have your leave to take action?"

Ian asked, his heart in in throat as the seconds ticked by in excruciating slowness.

"Merciful Creator of us all, what have I done?" Greshak finally replied. "In the name of all that I am, please Captain Galloway, save my people!"

Ian turned to Thebos, who didn't have the same expression of horror that Greshak wore, his was more calculating and he folded his arms across his chest.

"If a Locean speaks, he lies." He seemed to be quoting. "I do not trust you Galloway and I certainly do not trust Greshak. I will recall my forces to defend Trellion and we will defeat your attack on our own."

Before Ian could say another word, Thebos closed the link, leaving just Greshak on the screen.

"No beast of burden has a stiffer neck than a Trellion." He replied with some anger, before he re-engaged with Ian. "What do you need me to do?"

"Since Thebos will not give us access to his missiles, we have to stop them the hard way. I do have a question for you. Will you provide us your schematics to stop the attack on Trellion?"

Greshak thought long and hard before he replied.

"Doing so will end me as First One, if not end my life as I will be branded a traitor."

Ian reply was as gentle as he could make it, given the circumstances.

"First One, if it comes to that, I can, on my personal authority as a Starfleet captain, ensure you and your family are escorted to safety where you can ask the Federation for asylum. Please, do the right thing. I believe only the strongest of the strong can make the right choice in the face of certain adversity, I beg you, be strong."

"I will have my technical advisor send you all the information on our missiles we have. May the Creator forgive me."

"Thank you First One. I've already received options from my crew on how to defeat the swarms. Since I have your permission, the Challenger is going to move closer to Locea to assist in the defense of your planet. I will link in with your Admiral Carwell to coordinate the defense. Thank you again First One. Galloway out."

It was at that moment that Ian took the time to breath again and to take in the tactical situation. When he did, he blanched at the task before him. Each side had launched 1,500 missiles and per the information provided, each missile mounted six warheads!

"Maker! that's 9,000 nuclear bombs headin' for each planet and that doesn't even include the 180 missiles that survived from the Trellion asteroid launchers. What have I committed ta doin?"

Dissecting the missiles' flight path, 500 hundred were tracking above the galactic plane, 500 below it and 500 were taking the most direct path through the asteroid belt. That last group had taken extensive damage from colliding with asteroids, the Trellion Navy, as well as from the Challenger and the shuttles.

"Only 36% of the straight line missiles have survived, that still leaves 180, but that's still more than 1,300 missiles headin' for Locea."

Ian switched to the missile track heading for Trellion and winced.

"Looks like blind luck was kind ta the Locean missiles, 44% of the straight line swarm survived, that leaves more than 1,200 missiles in bound ta Trellion. I think Thebos has taken on more than he can bloody handle."

Ian knew that between the Challenger and the shuttles, the could acquit themselves very well in the defense of Locea, but the true problem was doing anything useful to save Trellion. Knowing he wasn't going to come up with an answer on his own, he activated the comm system on the command chair to speak to Ruth.

"Commander. It's time ta put on your boffin hat and come with summat ta save the Trellions from Thebos. We need tetryon particles, a subspace tachyon wave, hell, even total protonic reversal, anything that can stop those Locean missiles!"

Ian then switched channels to speak 'fleet' wide.

"All sub-craft, you are weapons free ta destroy any missiles that pass in range. Engage!"

Shutting down the comm system, Ian began issuing orders to the bridge.

"Helm, take us ta high orbit of Locea, 30,000 kilometers. Mister T'Kel, you are also weapons free. Let's see if'n we can use photons as mines ta destroy the rest of the straight line swarm, you have permission ta use as many as you see fit for the task, beam them into position if'n you think that will help spread the minefield faster."

Rubbing his hand on his chin, Ian added.

"And if'n anyone else has any other ideas, I don't care how harebrained it might be, I want ta hear it!"

[Jettis Jyur]

[USS Challenger - Deck 3]

"You swear to be safe?"

The words were spoken hastily, gripping his daughter firmly, but gently on the shoulders. Meeting her eyes, he tried to communicate the importance - that she didn't just run off and get herself into trouble.
"Yes, daddy," she answered solemnly, appearing to understand the gravity of the situation. Jettis met her eyes for a few more moments, before kissing her forehead. Pulling her into a tight hug, he allowed himself those few moment. Every emergency sent the both of them to high alert, and being separated was definitely not ideal. But, as he was told, Science was shortstaffed, so he couldn't cop out on this one.

"I'll be back soon, I promise. Go find a teacher or counsellor, and stay together." Gently releasing his grip, he shoed her towards the Daycare. Watching until she had stepped into the room, he anxiously turned on his heel, marching towards the turbolift. Stepping in, he growled a low 'Bridge', clasping his hands in front of him.

Shutting down the comm system, Ian began issuing orders to the bridge.

"Helm, take us ta high orbit of Locea, 30,000 kilometers. Mister T'Kel, you are also weapons free. Let's see if'n we can use photons as mines ta destroy the rest of the straight line swarm, you have permission ta use as many as you see fit for the task, beam them into position if'n you think that will help spread the minefield faster."

Rubbing his hand on his chin, Ian added.

"And if'n anyone else has any other ideas, I don't care how harebrained it might be, I want ta hear it!"

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Stepping off the turbolift, Jettis caught the Captain's last statement, glancing over towards the presumably empty Science station. Stepping towards the center chair, he waited in order to not interrupt anybody with crucial information, before standing to attention to report in.

"Lieutenant Jettis Jyur, reporting sir." His eyes did another, subtle sweep of the bridge, an assessment of their current situation and staffing. "Wherever you need me, sir."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Mjolnir]

[Delta Flyer - Mjolnir]

"Mondo, you might just have saved the lives of millions, I will personally get you a medal if it works." Ruth said, pulling a face that was indicative of her mind now working so much you could practically see the cogs moving as much as if she really had a clockwork mind and someone had removed a panel on her skull.

"I agree, stupid, my dear... but they're not all brilliant Andorians or Hupyrians.  Yes contact them, it might be our only chance then we play decoy.  Risky but ... if we can manage to do it then we could have half of our little flotilla pull one lot one way, one the other, maybe have them fly at each other in open space if we can manage to get ourselves out of the way in time or set them to fly at one another.... we can work out logistics once we have plans for the missiles."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Grelek filtered the information from the Mjolnir into text form and Ian was able to read the options available to him, but none of them would matter if Greshak and Thebos failed to grant him permission to assist them.

"Gentlemen, we are rapidly running out of time to be able to assist you. Do I have your leave to take action?"

...
"Since Thebos will not give us access to his missiles, we have to stop them the hard way. I do have a question for you. Will you provide us your schematics to stop the attack on Trellion?"

Greshak thought long and hard before he replied.

"Doing so will end me as First One, if not end my life as I will be branded a traitor."

Ian reply was as gentle as he could make it, given the circumstances.

"First One, if it comes to that, I can, on my personal authority as a Starfleet captain, ensure you and your family are escorted to safety where you can ask the Federation for asylum. Please, do the right thing. I believe only the strongest of the strong can make the right choice in the face of certain adversity, I beg you, be strong."

"I will have my technical advisor send you all the information on our missiles we have. May the Creator forgive me."

"Thank you First One. I've already received options from my crew on how to defeat the swarms. Since I have your permission, the Challenger is going to move closer to Locea to assist in the defense of your planet. I will link in with your Admiral Carwell to coordinate the defense. Thank you again First One. Galloway out."

It was at that moment that Ian took the time to breath again and to take in the tactical situation. When he did, he blanched at the task before him. Each side had launched 1,500 missiles and per the information provided, each missile mounted six warheads!

"Maker! that's 9,000 nuclear bombs headin' for each planet and that doesn't even include the 180 missiles that survived from the Trellion asteroid launchers. What have I committed ta doin?"

Dissecting the missiles' flight path, 500 hundred were tracking above the galactic plane, 500 below it and 500 were taking the most direct path through the asteroid belt. That last group had taken extensive damage from colliding with asteroids, the Trellion Navy, as well as from the Challenger and the shuttles.

"Only 36% of the straight line missiles have survived, that still leaves 180, but that's still more than 1,300 missiles headin' for Locea."

Ian switched to the missile track heading for Trellion and winced.

"Looks like blind luck was kind ta the Locean missiles, 44% of the straight line swarm survived, that leaves more than 1,200 missiles in bound ta Trellion. I think Thebos has taken on more than he can bloody handle."

Ian knew that between the Challenger and the shuttles, the could acquit themselves very well in the defense of Locea, but the true problem was doing anything useful to save Trellion. Knowing he wasn't going to come up with an answer on his own, he activated the comm system on the command chair to speak to Ruth.

"Commander. It's time ta put on your boffin hat and come with summat ta save the Trellions from Thebos. We need tetryon particles, a subspace tachyon wave, hell, even total protonic reversal, anything that can stop those Locean missiles!"

Ian then switched channels to speak 'fleet' wide.

"All sub-craft, you are weapons free ta destroy any missiles that pass in range. Engage!"

Shutting down the comm system, Ian began issuing orders to the bridge.

"Helm, take us ta high orbit of Locea, 30,000 kilometers. Mister T'Kel, you are also weapons free. Let's see if'n we can use photons as mines ta destroy the rest of the straight line swarm, you have permission ta use as many as you see fit for the task, beam them into position if'n you think that will help spread the minefield faster."

Rubbing his hand on his chin, Ian added.

"And if'n anyone else has any other ideas, I don't care how harebrained it might be, I want ta hear it!"

With Ruth's go ahead Lahr began to send out a hail to the two Nelvari governments but Challenger - and the Captain specifically - already in contact with Locean's and Trellion, had the situation well in hand.  Lahr paused his efforts to listen in.

The Andorian wanted to cheer when one of the two leaders seemed to realize the horror of what he'd done.  'That's one down, one to go.'  But the other was being stubborn jackass.

Soon info on the Locean missiles were incoming and Lahr quickly passed this on to Mondo.  "See what you can do with this."

Lahr then turned to Ruth. "Challenger is moving closer to the Locean homeworld and we've been cleared to intercept any missiles within range - no others limits this time."

[Bianca Lightoller]

[USS Challenger, Deck 3, Daycare]

The ship seemed to be on the move so someone from operations stopped her from unpacking because she was to report to daycare immediately. Officers dropped children off in long hurried lines so they could head for their stations, so instead of a small block of children for the day it was practically all of them. Bianca made little care to smooth out her new uniform that was now stained with a bit of paint and a squirming toddler she plucked from the sea of fussy infants.

"Now, now," she tutted, wiping the paint off his fingers. Once he was sufficiently clean, she put him back in the playpen. "You may express yourself creatively, but not on poor Benji."

More children arrived in various sizes and ages. There were three qualified educators and a handful of teenage volunteers to help out, but so many children to take care of. "Right," she decided aloud. "Let's prioritize the learning modules, shall we?" After five minutes, they finally had a plan to split the children by age and put them in four separate rooms for appropriate studies (aside from the toddler area, which had the most fun room).

"You swear to be safe?"

The words were spoken hastily, gripping his daughter firmly, but gently on the shoulders. Meeting her eyes, he tried to communicate the importance - that she didn't just run off and get herself into trouble.
"Yes, daddy," she answered solemnly, appearing to understand the gravity of the situation. Jettis met her eyes for a few more moments, before kissing her forehead. Pulling her into a tight hug, he allowed himself those few moment. Every emergency sent the both of them to high alert, and being separated was definitely not ideal. But, as he was told, Science was shortstaffed, so he couldn't cop out on this one.

"I'll be back soon, I promise. Go find a teacher or counsellor, and stay together." Gently releasing his grip, he shoed her towards the Daycare. Watching until she had stepped into the room, he anxiously turned on his heel, marching towards the turbolift. Stepping in, he growled a low 'Bridge', clasping his hands in front of him.

As entry finally thinned, there was only a lone girl left to admit to a learning module. Bianca smiled reassuringly at the little girl and offered her hand. "It's alright, darling. Come, we're watching a holovid in your quadrant and then we'll have a snack break afterwards."

[Mondo'li Nari]

Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir

Mondo pulled up the schematics that had been given over to the Challenger.  Some of the components were unknown to him, and he had to request that the computer label them for his ease of understanding.  Others were more familiar.  With form following function, they had similar appearance to weapons components he was familiar with.

Of particular interest to Mondo was the sensor and guidance suite.

"Captain," he said to Ruth, her command of the Runabout giving her right to the title in his eyes.  "It looks like their guidance system relies on stellar mass detection, using gravitic waves to locate the position of planets and planetoids.

We might have trouble simply shooting entire swarms of missiles down.  But if we, and our fellow craft, were to sweep wide swaths of space with our tractor beams... I wonder if the gravitons emitted would be enough to confuse the guidance systems and send the missiles off-course?"

He knew Ruth was a proper officer and scientist.   She would have the necessary training to determine the likelihood of success of such a plan.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Grelek filtered the information from the Mjolnir into text form and Ian was able to read the options available to him, but none of them would matter if Greshak and Thebos failed to grant him permission to assist them.

"Gentlemen, we are rapidly running out of time to be able to assist you. Do I have your leave to take action?"

Ian asked, his heart in in throat as the seconds ticked by in excruciating slowness.

"Merciful Creator of us all, what have I done?" Greshak finally replied. "In the name of all that I am, please Captain Galloway, save my people!"

Ian turned to Thebos, who didn't have the same expression of horror that Greshak wore, his was more calculating and he folded his arms across his chest.

"If a Locean speaks, he lies." He seemed to be quoting. "I do not trust you Galloway and I certainly do not trust Greshak. I will recall my forces to defend Trellion and we will defeat your attack on our own."

Before Ian could say another word, Thebos closed the link, leaving just Greshak on the screen.

"No beast of burden has a stiffer neck than a Trellion." He replied with some anger, before he re-engaged with Ian. "What do you need me to do?"

"Since Thebos will not give us access to his missiles, we have to stop them the hard way. I do have a question for you. Will you provide us your schematics to stop the attack on Trellion?"

Greshak thought long and hard before he replied.

"Doing so will end me as First One, if not end my life as I will be branded a traitor."

Ian reply was as gentle as he could make it, given the circumstances.

"First One, if it comes to that, I can, on my personal authority as a Starfleet captain, ensure you and your family are escorted to safety where you can ask the Federation for asylum. Please, do the right thing. I believe only the strongest of the strong can make the right choice in the face of certain adversity, I beg you, be strong."

"I will have my technical advisor send you all the information on our missiles we have. May the Creator forgive me."

"Thank you First One. I've already received options from my crew on how to defeat the swarms. Since I have your permission, the Challenger is going to move closer to Locea to assist in the defense of your planet. I will link in with your Admiral Carwell to coordinate the defense. Thank you again First One. Galloway out."

It was at that moment that Ian took the time to breath again and to take in the tactical situation. When he did, he blanched at the task before him. Each side had launched 1,500 missiles and per the information provided, each missile mounted six warheads!

"Maker! that's 9,000 nuclear bombs headin' for each planet and that doesn't even include the 180 missiles that survived from the Trellion asteroid launchers. What have I committed ta doin?"

Dissecting the missiles' flight path, 500 hundred were tracking above the galactic plane, 500 below it and 500 were taking the most direct path through the asteroid belt. That last group had taken extensive damage from colliding with asteroids, the Trellion Navy, as well as from the Challenger and the shuttles.

"Only 36% of the straight line missiles have survived, that still leaves 180, but that's still more than 1,300 missiles headin' for Locea."

Ian switched to the missile track heading for Trellion and winced.

"Looks like blind luck was kind ta the Locean missiles, 44% of the straight line swarm survived, that leaves more than 1,200 missiles in bound ta Trellion. I think Thebos has taken on more than he can bloody handle."

Ian knew that between the Challenger and the shuttles, the could acquit themselves very well in the defense of Locea, but the true problem was doing anything useful to save Trellion. Knowing he wasn't going to come up with an answer on his own, he activated the comm system on the command chair to speak to Ruth.

"Commander. It's time ta put on your boffin hat and come with summat ta save the Trellions from Thebos. We need tetryon particles, a subspace tachyon wave, hell, even total protonic reversal, anything that can stop those Locean missiles!"

Ian then switched channels to speak 'fleet' wide.

"All sub-craft, you are weapons free ta destroy any missiles that pass in range. Engage!"

Shutting down the comm system, Ian began issuing orders to the bridge.

"Helm, take us ta high orbit of Locea, 30,000 kilometers. Mister T'Kel, you are also weapons free. Let's see if'n we can use photons as mines ta destroy the rest of the straight line swarm, you have permission ta use as many as you see fit for the task, beam them into position if'n you think that will help spread the minefield faster."

Rubbing his hand on his chin, Ian added.

"And if'n anyone else has any other ideas, I don't care how harebrained it might be, I want ta hear it!"

[Delta Flyer - Mjolnir]

Boffin hat on Captain, I'll get back to you on that in a minute.  Tell the Minion Boffins to be looking out for large chunks of Space Junk anywhere reachable or stellar bodies that are currently uninhabited except maybe by non-endangered space bugs...

Ruth had the start of an idea, which with things coming in from Lahr and Mondo she was starting to streamline.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Mjolnir]

With Ruth's go ahead Lahr began to send out a hail to the two Nelvari governments but Challenger - and the Captain specifically - already in contact with Locean's and Trellion, had the situation well in hand.  Lahr paused his efforts to listen in.

The Andorian wanted to cheer when one of the two leaders seemed to realize the horror of what he'd done.  'That's one down, one to go.'  But the other was being stubborn jackass.

Soon info on the Locean missiles were incoming and Lahr quickly passed this on to Mondo.  "See what you can do with this."

Lahr then turned to Ruth. "Challenger is moving closer to the Locean homeworld and we've been cleared to intercept any missiles within range - no others limits this time."

Being able to multi-task was definitely an advantage for Ruth, indeed being in a battle actually made her brain work faster as the adrenaline was pumping.

"Tally-ho!" she said turning the Mjolnir towards a few missiles to give them better firing solutions.

Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir

Mondo pulled up the schematics that had been given over to the Challenger.  Some of the components were unknown to him, and he had to request that the computer label them for his ease of understanding.  Others were more familiar.  With form following function, they had similar appearance to weapons components he was familiar with.

Of particular interest to Mondo was the sensor and guidance suite.

"Captain," he said to Ruth, her command of the Runabout giving her right to the title in his eyes.  "It looks like their guidance system relies on stellar mass detection, using gravitic waves to locate the position of planets and planetoids.

We might have trouble simply shooting entire swarms of missiles down.  But if we, and our fellow craft, were to sweep wide swaths of space with our tractor beams... I wonder if the gravitons emitted would be enough to confuse the guidance systems and send the missiles off-course?"

He knew Ruth was a proper officer and scientist.   She would have the necessary training to determine the likelihood of success of such a plan.

"Mondo, have I told you lately that I love you?! If you're not familiar with the writings of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle look them up, specifically the Sherlock Holmes books.  You are, in this case, Watson to my Holmes, and as the detective once said to his partner in solving crimes, 'Thank you, Watson, for not allowing me to commit the cardinal error - Overlooking the obvious!' " Ruth grinned, perking up a little more at being called 'Captain' again, even if it was only of her 'baby' the Mjolnir.

Mojlnir to Challenger, we have an idea, if it works we might manage to save everyone with just a few stray missiles that we need to finish off, Challenger has the big ... in this case tractor beam... tho.  And I'd like to co-ordinate efforts.  Mr. Nari has the schematics and it seems that the guidance systems might be confused by gravitons emitted by our tractor beams, we could get them into open space and blow them to Kingdom Come, a lot might turn on themselves and pretty much kill themselves, and if Mr. Jyur can find some space junk we can hopefully trick the missiles we can't pull off course into thinking the random space junk, dead planet... anything like that is what they were going for in the first place. I have my hands a little full at the moment... 7, .. 8.... We're going to pull as many as we can away from the planets now...

She was counting the missiles she saw explode away from the planets.  Opening a fleetwide channel she smiled hoping that this would work, it was better than they'd had before and her brain was starting to work.

Mjolnir to Shuttle fleet, use your tractor beams and form up on me, once we know the missiles are locking on to the gravitons in our tractor beams, form up on me on my mark. We'll take as many as we can.  Keep a fleet wide channel open to get updates from Science on Challenger too, Mr. Jyur, when you find anything with suitable mass, specifically uninhabited, let me know, If we pull the missiles off course they will hopefully lock on to the next largest mass, so not the Challenger or either of the planets in question.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger - Deck 3]

"You swear to be safe?"

The words were spoken hastily, gripping his daughter firmly, but gently on the shoulders. Meeting her eyes, he tried to communicate the importance - that she didn't just run off and get herself into trouble.
"Yes, daddy," she answered solemnly, appearing to understand the gravity of the situation. Jettis met her eyes for a few more moments, before kissing her forehead. Pulling her into a tight hug, he allowed himself those few moment. Every emergency sent the both of them to high alert, and being separated was definitely not ideal. But, as he was told, Science was shortstaffed, so he couldn't cop out on this one.

"I'll be back soon, I promise. Go find a teacher or counsellor, and stay together." Gently releasing his grip, he shoed her towards the Daycare. Watching until she had stepped into the room, he anxiously turned on his heel, marching towards the turbolift. Stepping in, he growled a low 'Bridge', clasping his hands in front of him.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Stepping off the turbolift, Jettis caught the Captain's last statement, glancing over towards the presumably empty Science station. Stepping towards the center chair, he waited in order to not interrupt anybody with crucial information, before standing to attention to report in.

"Lieutenant Jettis Jyur, reporting sir." His eyes did another, subtle sweep of the bridge, an assessment of their current situation and staffing. "Wherever you need me, sir."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian looked at the new arrival and spoke without preamble.

"You picked a good time ta report Lieutenant as I happen ta be in need of all the Boffins I can get at the moment. Short story is lots of missiles, little time, need ta figure out how ta spoof the bloody things. Get your station and coordinate with the Chief Science Officer on the Mjolnir."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Nelvarish System]

As the ship took up its assigned position and her full complement of missiles lanced out, the direct flight missile swarm began to die in droves, especially from the photons. Supplemented by Locean Navy and the shuttles, even with the supplemental missiles launched from the asteroids, the direct flight swarm is soon completely destroyed. However, that still left 1,000 missiles, carrying 6,000 warheads, in two groups of 500 closing on Locea.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the asteroid belt, the Trellion Navy fought with unrestrained fury at the direct flight from Locea and were making decent progress, but decent was not overwhelming and despite the Navy's best efforts, some of the missiles of that swarm were going to get get through to test the quality of the planetary defenses. And also left a thousand missiles closing in with nothing to stop them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir

Mondo pulled up the schematics that had been given over to the Challenger.  Some of the components were unknown to him, and he had to request that the computer label them for his ease of understanding.  Others were more familiar.  With form following function, they had similar appearance to weapons components he was familiar with.

Of particular interest to Mondo was the sensor and guidance suite.

"Captain," he said to Ruth, her command of the Runabout giving her right to the title in his eyes.  "It looks like their guidance system relies on stellar mass detection, using gravitic waves to locate the position of planets and planetoids.

We might have trouble simply shooting entire swarms of missiles down.  But if we, and our fellow craft, were to sweep wide swaths of space with our tractor beams... I wonder if the gravitons emitted would be enough to confuse the guidance systems and send the missiles off-course?"

He knew Ruth was a proper officer and scientist.   She would have the necessary training to determine the likelihood of success of such a plan.

[Delta Flyer - Mjolnir]

Boffin hat on Captain, I'll get back to you on that in a minute.  Tell the Minion Boffins to be looking out for large chunks of Space Junk anywhere reachable or stellar bodies that are currently uninhabited except maybe by non-endangered space bugs...

Ruth had the start of an idea, which with things coming in from Lahr and Mondo she was starting to streamline.

Being able to multi-task was definitely an advantage for Ruth, indeed being in a battle actually made her brain work faster as the adrenaline was pumping.

"Tally-ho!" she said turning the Mjolnir towards a few missiles to give them better firing solutions.

"Mondo, have I told you lately that I love you?! If you're not familiar with the writings of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle look them up, specifically the Sherlock Holmes books.  You are, in this case, Watson to my Holmes, and as the detective once said to his partner in solving crimes, 'Thank you, Watson, for not allowing me to commit the cardinal error - Overlooking the obvious!' " Ruth grinned, perking up a little more at being called 'Captain' again, even if it was only of her 'baby' the Mjolnir.

Mojlnir to Challenger, we have an idea, if it works we might manage to save everyone with just a few stray missiles that we need to finish off, Challenger has the big ... in this case tractor beam... tho.  And I'd like to co-ordinate efforts.  Mr. Nari has the schematics and it seems that the guidance systems might be confused by gravitons emitted by our tractor beams, we could get them into open space and blow them to Kingdom Come, a lot might turn on themselves and pretty much kill themselves, and if Mr. Jyur can find some space junk we can hopefully trick the missiles we can't pull off course into thinking the random space junk, dead planet... anything like that is what they were going for in the first place. I have my hands a little full at the moment... 7, .. 8.... We're going to pull as many as we can away from the planets now...

She was counting the missiles she saw explode away from the planets.  Opening a fleetwide channel she smiled hoping that this would work, it was better than they'd had before and her brain was starting to work.

Mjolnir to Shuttle fleet, use your tractor beams and form up on me, once we know the missiles are locking on to the gravitons in our tractor beams, form up on me on my mark. We'll take as many as we can.  Keep a fleet wide channel open to get updates from Science on Challenger too, Mr. Jyur, when you find anything with suitable mass, specifically uninhabited, let me know, If we pull the missiles off course they will hopefully lock on to the next largest mass, so not the Challenger or either of the planets in question.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian began to have hope that they might be able to make a difference, at least in saving Locea, he preferred not to think about Trellion.

"Excellent idea! We can have the Locean Navy and the shuttles move above the galactic plane ta engage that swarm with direct fire an your tractors, while the Challenger will intercept the swarm below the plane. You are free ta maneuver and fire at will, just stop those missiles."

As the Challenger moved into her new position, Ian had a dreadful thought and activated the comm system.

"Commander, while the tractor beam idea is brilliant, it doesn't have the range ta do anything ta help Trellion. You've got ta come up with another miracle ta save them too!"

Just as Ian was speaking to Ruth, Grelek notified him that he was receiving an urgent call from Thebos of Trellion.

"Come up with summat Ruth, we're runnin' out of time!"

He switched channels to bring a panicked Thebos up on the main viewscreen.

"Captain Galloway! There are too many missiles approaching Thebos! I beg you for you assistance!"

Thebos' entire demeanor had changed in the face of near certain annihilation and he was no longer arrogant or demanding, he was now a scared little man who now realized the folly of his decisions. Ian's stomach dropped as he was close to fully engaged with saving Locea and was doubtful there was much he could do as he replied in a strained tone.

"I will do what I can Primus. Galloway out."

Ian rubbed his chin again and asked.

"Does anyone have any ideas? Otherwise, Trellion has..." He glanced at the chronometer. "Eighteen minutes to live."

[Kyle Briggs]

Kyle had been standing back at tactical, listening and distributing information and orders as the situation unraveled. He had some of the crew working on gathering up expendable items that they could use for the "debris distraction" idea the shuttle had mentioned. While doing so, his mind was also attempting to think of some way to destroy the remaining missiles.

"What we need is some sort of percussion missile." he muttered aloud but more to himself as it was just a speck in his brain.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Mjolnir]

Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir

Mondo pulled up the schematics that had been given over to the Challenger.  Some of the components were unknown to him, and he had to request that the computer label them for his ease of understanding.  Others were more familiar.  With form following function, they had similar appearance to weapons components he was familiar with.

Of particular interest to Mondo was the sensor and guidance suite.

"Captain," he said to Ruth, her command of the Runabout giving her right to the title in his eyes.  "It looks like their guidance system relies on stellar mass detection, using gravitic waves to locate the position of planets and planetoids.

We might have trouble simply shooting entire swarms of missiles down.  But if we, and our fellow craft, were to sweep wide swaths of space with our tractor beams... I wonder if the gravitons emitted would be enough to confuse the guidance systems and send the missiles off-course?"

He knew Ruth was a proper officer and scientist.   She would have the necessary training to determine the likelihood of success of such a plan.

Lahr glanced over his shoulder towards the Hupyrian as the man put forward his suggestion.   The man was a ingenious.  He'd heard rumor of how Mondo hadn't passed the Academy... but moments like now had Lahr thinking that the exam probably wasn't a decent measure of the man's capabilities.

[Delta Flyer - Mjolnir]

Boffin hat on Captain, I'll get back to you on that in a minute.  Tell the Minion Boffins to be looking out for large chunks of Space Junk anywhere reachable or stellar bodies that are currently uninhabited except maybe by non-endangered space bugs...

Ruth had the start of an idea, which with things coming in from Lahr and Mondo she was starting to streamline.

Being able to multi-task was definitely an advantage for Ruth, indeed being in a battle actually made her brain work faster as the adrenaline was pumping.

"Tally-ho!" she said turning the Mjolnir towards a few missiles to give them better firing solutions.

"Mondo, have I told you lately that I love you?! If you're not familiar with the writings of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle look them up, specifically the Sherlock Holmes books.  You are, in this case, Watson to my Holmes, and as the detective once said to his partner in solving crimes, 'Thank you, Watson, for not allowing me to commit the cardinal error - Overlooking the obvious!' " Ruth grinned, perking up a little more at being called 'Captain' again, even if it was only of her 'baby' the Mjolnir.

Mojlnir to Challenger, we have an idea, if it works we might manage to save everyone with just a few stray missiles that we need to finish off, Challenger has the big ... in this case tractor beam... tho.  And I'd like to co-ordinate efforts.  Mr. Nari has the schematics and it seems that the guidance systems might be confused by gravitons emitted by our tractor beams, we could get them into open space and blow them to Kingdom Come, a lot might turn on themselves and pretty much kill themselves, and if Mr. Jyur can find some space junk we can hopefully trick the missiles we can't pull off course into thinking the random space junk, dead planet... anything like that is what they were going for in the first place. I have my hands a little full at the moment... 7, .. 8.... We're going to pull as many as we can away from the planets now...

She was counting the missiles she saw explode away from the planets.  Opening a fleetwide channel she smiled hoping that this would work, it was better than they'd had before and her brain was starting to work.

Mjolnir to Shuttle fleet, use your tractor beams and form up on me, once we know the missiles are locking on to the gravitons in our tractor beams, form up on me on my mark. We'll take as many as we can.  Keep a fleet wide channel open to get updates from Science on Challenger too, Mr. Jyur, when you find anything with suitable mass, specifically uninhabited, let me know, If we pull the missiles off course they will hopefully lock on to the next largest mass, so not the Challenger or either of the planets in question.

Though when Ruth commented on how she loved Mondo, Lahr shot a glance between the two.  "Hey, boyfriend right here.." he groused teasingly... but Ruth of course continued on saying how the two made such a great team like some pair of famous detectives.

Lahr tried to follow the gist of Ruth's plan but his science background was rather sketchy.
What he got out of the entire conversation was that he was supposed to use his tractor beam, sweep it along the area in front of the missiles and hope that the gravitons in the beam, knocked the missiles off their trajectory and away from the planets.

He had his doubts that such a thing was possible in the scale that was needed to make a difference.  But he tried anyways.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian looked at the new arrival and spoke without preamble.

"You picked a good time ta report Lieutenant as I happen ta be in need of all the Boffins I can get at the moment. Short story is lots of missiles, little time, need ta figure out how ta spoof the bloody things. Get your station and coordinate with the Chief Science Officer on the Mjolnir."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Nelvarish System]

As the ship took up its assigned position and her full complement of missiles lanced out, the direct flight missile swarm began to die in droves, especially from the photons. Supplemented by Locean Navy and the shuttles, even with the supplemental missiles launched from the asteroids, the direct flight swarm is soon completely destroyed. However, that still left 1,000 missiles, carrying 6,000 warheads, in two groups of 500 closing on Locea.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the asteroid belt, the Trellion Navy fought with unrestrained fury at the direct flight from Locea and were making decent progress, but decent was not overwhelming and despite the Navy's best efforts, some of the missiles of that swarm were going to get get through to test the quality of the planetary defenses. And also left a thousand missiles closing in with nothing to stop them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian began to have hope that they might be able to make a difference, at least in saving Locea, he preferred not to think about Trellion.

"Excellent idea! We can have the Locean Navy and the shuttles move above the galactic plane ta engage that swarm with direct fire an your tractors, while the Challenger will intercept the swarm below the plane. You are free ta maneuver and fire at will, just stop those missiles."

As the Challenger moved into her new position, Ian had a dreadful thought and activated the comm system.

"Commander, while the tractor beam idea is brilliant, it doesn't have the range ta do anything ta help Trellion. You've got ta come up with another miracle ta save them too!"

Captain Galloway's words to Ruth, set Lahr's antenna to quivering, that's how pissed off he felt suddenly as the obligation to save an entire planet fell to Ruth.  What a weight to bare.

Just as Ian was speaking to Ruth, Grelek notified him that he was receiving an urgent call from Thebos of Trellion.

"Come up with summat Ruth, we're runnin' out of time!"

He switched channels to bring a panicked Thebos up on the main viewscreen.

"Captain Galloway! There are too many missiles approaching Thebos! I beg you for you assistance!"

Thebos' entire demeanor had changed in the face of near certain annihilation and he was no longer arrogant or demanding, he was now a scared little man who now realized the folly of his decisions. Ian's stomach dropped as he was close to fully engaged with saving Locea and was doubtful there was much he could do as he replied in a strained tone.

"I will do what I can Primus. Galloway out."

Ian rubbed his chin again and asked.

"Does anyone have any ideas? Otherwise, Trellion has..." He glanced at the chronometer. "Eighteen minutes to live."

"Anyone got a time machine to so we can simply jump back in the past to secretly interfere with the manufacturing of the missiles adding in our own self-destruct feature?"  He paused a moment half hoping reality mirrored sci-fi comedy fiction... but this was no Bill & Ted's Adventure where by simple speaking an action made it happen in the past.  Besides which they neither had a time-traveling phone booth or police box.  Damn it.  Oh well - it was worth a try.

Lahr wracked his brain trying to think of something useful while he set up the tractor beam as directed by Ruth.

"Barring that...  I have Mjolnir's tractor beam set to the widest dispersal  angle."

[Paul Wessex]

Challenger - Bridge>

Things were progressing faster than Paul could keep up with - not due to some deficiency in comprehension or indecision, but that the Challenger crew were clearly as streamlined as a Yalariian Racing Yacht. He had also noted with interest that the ship's First Officer, Commander Briggs, had worked with T'Kel at the Tactical Station, largely making his own input redundant at this time. The lament of the new boy, he reasoned. That said, he listened with interest at the developments regarding throwing the missiles' guidance system off kilter. It was, he thought, pretty smart and worthy of Starfleet - yet again proving why the space-faring cousin to the Federation Naval Patrol was justifiably more known than the planet-bound oceanic agency of his prior career. But a guidance-free warhead was often more dangerous than one carefully aimed. From the depths of his experience in similar matters (exotic subsurface environments sometimes played havoc with hostile - and more rarely, yet not unheard of, NavPat -ordnance that required creative means with which to disarm rogue torpedoes). Reviewing the schematics gleaned from the shuttle investigations, he pondered the problem at pace. And a solution came far sooner than he expected.

Time being of the essence, Paul decided to break with protocol and turned to Lt T'Kel, with a projected voice that was not shy. "Leftentant" he spoke briskly with his soft, well-spoken tone, "If I may. The schematics of the warheads indicate a generally basic ignition mechanic - a duotronic quasi-lattice trigger which drives the initial fissile collision."

He looked away towards Briggs and then Captain Galloway, to display an expression of earnest confidence. "The material is vulnerable to low-frequency vibration. Back in the NavPat, we disarmed similar warheads with an acoustic pulse of around 19Hz; with an ACB jacket to propagate through the vacuum, generated from the main deflector for the range, and with the Challenger rotating on its axis to cover as much sky as possible, we could achieve much the same result; it won't stop the distribution of radioactive material on any landfall - especially Trellion - but it should prevent primary detonation.". More importantly it shouldn't, and technically couldn't, be mistaken or categorised as a weapon even if the Locean and Trellion sensors detected the harmonic stream, satisfying even the most stringent of Directive interpretations.

So, they - and their ecosystem- die slowly of radiation poisoning rather than instantly from the horrific inferno of nuclear fire, Paul thought grimly.  What a choice.

But then, you had a better chance to cure a poison than to resurrect bodies from ash.

[Jettis Jyur]

As entry finally thinned, there was only a lone girl left to admit to a learning module. Bianca smiled reassuringly at the little girl and offered her hand. "It's alright, darling. Come, we're watching a holovid in your quadrant and then we'll have a snack break afterwards."

[USS Challenger - Deck 3 - NPC Theresa]

Theresa had scarcely stepped in the door, before froze, clutching her chest. This wasn't the first, and it was far from the last time her father would have to rush off to help, but every single time was terrifying. She had talked to half a dozen counsellors, but she had yet to overcome her fear so far.

So when one walked up to her and offered her hand, Theresa didn't even bother listening to the words she spoke. Terrified eyes turning up towards the counsellor, she stood still for a moment, still paralyzed. After seconds in passing, she slowly reached out her hand as well, muttering a quiet "okay," before following her blindly.

Ian looked at the new arrival and spoke without preamble.

"You picked a good time ta report Lieutenant as I happen ta be in need of all the Boffins I can get at the moment. Short story is lots of missiles, little time, need ta figure out how ta spoof the bloody things. Get your station and coordinate with the Chief Science Officer on the Mjolnir."

=/\=Mojlnir to Challenger, we have an idea, if it works we might manage to save everyone with just a few stray missiles that we need to finish off, Challenger has the big ... in this case tractor beam... tho.  And I'd like to co-ordinate efforts.  Mr. Nari has the schematics and it seems that the guidance systems might be confused by gravitons emitted by our tractor beams, we could get them into open space and blow them to Kingdom Come, a lot might turn on themselves and pretty much kill themselves, and if Mr. Jyur can find some space junk we can hopefully trick the missiles we can't pull off course into thinking the random space junk, dead planet... anything like that is what they were going for in the first place. I have my hands a little full at the moment... 7, .. 8.... We're going to pull as many as we can away from the planets now...

She was counting the missiles she saw explode away from the planets.  Opening a fleetwide channel she smiled hoping that this would work, it was better than they'd had before and her brain was starting to work.

Mjolnir to Shuttle fleet, use your tractor beams and form up on me, once we know the missiles are locking on to the gravitons in our tractor beams, form up on me on my mark. We'll take as many as we can.  Keep a fleet wide channel open to get updates from Science on Challenger too, Mr. Jyur, when you find anything with suitable mass, specifically uninhabited, let me know, If we pull the missiles off course they will hopefully lock on to the next largest mass, so not the Challenger or either of the planets in question.

"Excellent idea! We can have the Locean Navy and the shuttles move above the galactic plane ta engage that swarm with direct fire an your tractors, while the Challenger will intercept the swarm below the plane. You are free ta maneuver and fire at will, just stop those missiles."

As the Challenger moved into her new position, Ian had a dreadful thought and activated the comm system.

"Commander, while the tractor beam idea is brilliant, it doesn't have the range ta do anything ta help Trellion. You've got ta come up with another miracle ta save them too!"

[USS Challenger - Bridge - back to Jettis Jyur]

Jettis was acknowledged moments after reporting in. Nodding mutely, he took his station, and listened to all the frantic reports and ideas coming in. Absolute, utter, organized chaos. Their plan worked, but the Challenger simply did not have the necessary distance to save everybody. It would be trading lives for lives. So that was scrapped.

Time being of the essence, Paul decided to break with protocol and turned to Lt T'Kel, with a projected voice that was not shy. "Leftentant" he spoke briskly with his soft, well-spoken tone, "If I may. The schematics of the warheads indicate a generally basic ignition mechanic - a duotronic quasi-lattice trigger which drives the initial fissile collision."

He looked away towards Briggs and then Captain Galloway, to display an expression of earnest confidence. "The material is vulnerable to low-frequency vibration. Back in the NavPat, we disarmed similar warheads with an acoustic pulse of around 19Hz; with an ACB jacket to propagate through the vacuum, generated from the main deflector for the range, and with the Challenger rotating on its axis to cover as much sky as possible, we could achieve much the same result; it won't stop the distribution of radioactive material on any landfall - especially Trellion - but it should prevent primary detonation.". More importantly it shouldn't, and technically couldn't, be mistaken or categorised as a weapon even if the Locean and Trellion sensors detected the harmonic stream, satisfying even the most stringent of Directive interpretations.

Eyes flitting briefly over to the security officer, speaking with a volume unwarranted. He felt a surge of annoyance at the suggestion, but it was quickly quelled by realizing that to an extent - he was right. Radiation poison was treatable - incineration however was not. However there were things that needed distinct adjustment.

"That would cause a devastating amount of radiation, that would likely kill everything regardless," he hummed, interjected on the interraction unabashedly. "The few that we saved - which we would have to decide which planet deserved saving more - would be refugees. The only way we could carry out that plan is if we could successfully turn around the projectiles." Pausing after that statement, he furrowed his brow, suddenly turning away from Paul to look at this station. Pulling up a few things, he moved to contact Sigurdsdottir.
"Commander, do we have any idea what the radius is? How strong does the field have to be, how far away will they attract it from?" He waited for any response, before proceeding with his thought. "The next planet over is a Class H planet, uninhabited. If by some miracle the range is juuuust low enough, we could put a graviton emitter in a fleet of empty torpedos, fire them at the uninhabited planet. If we get the pathing right, almost all of the missiles pointed at Trellion will be caught up in the graviton field. They'll harmlessly detonate, likely in empty space."

It was just a  suggestion - perhaps the Commander would tell him the tractor had to be extremely close, or that they simply didn't have a strong enough one to strap to a torpedo. But even if it didn't get the torpedos far away, atleast they wouldn't detonate at landfall. Shooting another glance over at Wessex, he nodded to him for getting the ball rolling, though initially he disproved vehemently with the idea.

[Ian Galloway]

Challenger - Bridge>

Things were progressing faster than Paul could keep up with - not due to some deficiency in comprehension or indecision, but that the Challenger crew were clearly as streamlined as a Yalariian Racing Yacht. He had also noted with interest that the ship's First Officer, Commander Briggs, had worked with T'Kel at the Tactical Station, largely making his own input redundant at this time. The lament of the new boy, he reasoned. That said, he listened with interest at the developments regarding throwing the missiles' guidance system off kilter. It was, he thought, pretty smart and worthy of Starfleet - yet again proving why the space-faring cousin to the Federation Naval Patrol was justifiably more known than the planet-bound oceanic agency of his prior career. But a guidance-free warhead was often more dangerous than one carefully aimed. From the depths of his experience in similar matters (exotic subsurface environments sometimes played havoc with hostile - and more rarely, yet not unheard of, NavPat -ordnance that required creative means with which to disarm rogue torpedoes). Reviewing the schematics gleaned from the shuttle investigations, he pondered the problem at pace. And a solution came far sooner than he expected.

Time being of the essence, Paul decided to break with protocol and turned to Lt T'Kel, with a projected voice that was not shy. "Leftentant" he spoke briskly with his soft, well-spoken tone, "If I may. The schematics of the warheads indicate a generally basic ignition mechanic - a duotronic quasi-lattice trigger which drives the initial fissile collision."

He looked away towards Briggs and then Captain Galloway, to display an expression of earnest confidence. "The material is vulnerable to low-frequency vibration. Back in the NavPat, we disarmed similar warheads with an acoustic pulse of around 19Hz; with an ACB jacket to propagate through the vacuum, generated from the main deflector for the range, and with the Challenger rotating on its axis to cover as much sky as possible, we could achieve much the same result; it won't stop the distribution of radioactive material on any landfall - especially Trellion - but it should prevent primary detonation.". More importantly it shouldn't, and technically couldn't, be mistaken or categorised as a weapon even if the Locean and Trellion sensors detected the harmonic stream, satisfying even the most stringent of Directive interpretations.

So, they - and their ecosystem- die slowly of radiation poisoning rather than instantly from the horrific inferno of nuclear fire, Paul thought grimly.  What a choice.

But then, you had a better chance to cure a poison than to resurrect bodies from ash.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The new security officer's suggestion gave Ian an idea and he immediately began issuing orders.

"All shuttles and the Locean Navy will move ta intercept the upper swarm. Hammer as many missiles as you can with your tractors, per Mister Nari's suggestion. Any missiles that maintain track will be destroyed by weapons fire.

"Helm, drop us below the galactic plane and we will engage the lower swarm. Mister T'Kel, how many photons do we have left?"

"Fifty-Seven."

The Vulcan replied without hesitation.

Ian nodded as he recalled that the Challenger carried 80 photons and 40 quantums, which meant it was likely the various plans had a chance to work.

"Helm, once we're in position, your course is 149 mark 130, turnin' ta 78 mark 29. Mister T'kel, you are ta expend every photon we have left in as wide a minefield as you can deploy. Helm, once the torpedoes have done all that they can do, we will then make a single pass through the swarm firin' every phaser we have."

The course Ian had laid out would send the Challenger in a half circle across a wide path in front of the incoming lower swarm. The idea was to destroy as many missiles as possible before the Challenger charged with phasers blazing. It was the only way they had any hope of reaching Trellion before the Locean missiles. The down side of the plan was that it couldn't guaranty the absolute destruction of the entire lower swarm, but it should decimate them enough that the planetary defenses could finish off the survivors.

"Helm. After we've made our attack pass on the lower swarm, we're goin' ta have ta risk a micro-warp jump ta reach Trellion in time. We'll only get one pass at the missiles of their lower swarm, but we'll expend every quantum we have on them. Whatever survives, we'll hit with them with Mister Wessex' acoustic pulse. The idea of allowin' a thousand dirty bombs makes my skin crawl, but I like the idea of lettin' a thousand mushrooms clouds far less."

While there seemed to be an effective plan to defeat the swarms heading for Locea, due to Thebos' delay, there was a gaping hole in the plan to save Trellion and that was the upper swarm. The Trellion Navy was doing a good job in intercepting the direct flight swarm and the Challenger was going to take on the lower swarm, but that left no one to engage the upper swarm. As thing stood, 500 missiles with six warheads each could only be intercepted by the planet's laser defenses. In just fifteen minutes, they would begin to detonate all across Trellion.

[USS Challenger - Bridge - back to Jettis Jyur]

Jettis was acknowledged moments after reporting in. Nodding mutely, he took his station, and listened to all the frantic reports and ideas coming in. Absolute, utter, organized chaos. Their plan worked, but the Challenger simply did not have the necessary distance to save everybody. It would be trading lives for lives. So that was scrapped.

Eyes flitting briefly over to the security officer, speaking with a volume unwarranted. He felt a surge of annoyance at the suggestion, but it was quickly quelled by realizing that to an extent - he was right. Radiation poison was treatable - incineration however was not. However there were things that needed distinct adjustment.

"That would cause a devastating amount of radiation, that would likely kill everything regardless," he hummed, interjected on the interraction unabashedly. "The few that we saved - which we would have to decide which planet deserved saving more - would be refugees. The only way we could carry out that plan is if we could successfully turn around the projectiles." Pausing after that statement, he furrowed his brow, suddenly turning away from Paul to look at this station. Pulling up a few things, he moved to contact Sigurdsdottir.
"Commander, do we have any idea what the radius is? How strong does the field have to be, how far away will they attract it from?" He waited for any response, before proceeding with his thought. "The next planet over is a Class H planet, uninhabited. If by some miracle the range is juuuust low enough, we could put a graviton emitter in a fleet of empty torpedos, fire them at the uninhabited planet. If we get the pathing right, almost all of the missiles pointed at Trellion will be caught up in the graviton field. They'll harmlessly detonate, likely in empty space."

It was just a  suggestion - perhaps the Commander would tell him the tractor had to be extremely close, or that they simply didn't have a strong enough one to strap to a torpedo. But even if it didn't get the torpedos far away, atleast they wouldn't detonate at landfall. Shooting another glance over at Wessex, he nodded to him for getting the ball rolling, though initially he disproved vehemently with the idea.

Ian considered the new science officer's idea, which had merit, but there was one critical flaw, there simply wasn't enough time to fit forty graviton emitters to their remaining stock of photon casings. That meant Wessex' plan would have to be used on the upper swarm. This in turn would mean, that despite their best efforts, somewhere between twenty to forty percent of the upper swarm was going to get through. The delay caused by Thebos' pride had simply cost Trellion too much time.

Even if everything went flawlessly, in, now fourteen minutes, over a thousand nuclear weapons and fifteen hundred dirty bombs were about to wrack Trellion. Just the thought of that made Ian sick to his stomach, but they were out of the most relentless commodity of all... time.

Ian steeled himself and issued new orders.

"Helm, execute! Mister T'Kel, your orders remain the same. Mister Grelek, once we've hit the lower swarm as hard as we can, you are ta send out Mister Wessex' acoustical pulse. May the Maker have mercy on us for nae bein' able ta do enough."

Ian was now just a spectator in a slow moving disaster and all he could do was ride the wave until it was over.

[Bianca Lightoller]

[USS Challenger - Deck 3 - NPC Theresa]

Theresa had scarcely stepped in the door, before froze, clutching her chest. This wasn't the first, and it was far from the last time her father would have to rush off to help, but every single time was terrifying. She had talked to half a dozen counsellors, but she had yet to overcome her fear so far.

So when one walked up to her and offered her hand, Theresa didn't even bother listening to the words she spoke. Terrified eyes turning up towards the counsellor, she stood still for a moment, still paralyzed. After seconds in passing, she slowly reached out her hand as well, muttering a quiet "okay," before following her blindly.

[USS Challenger - Deck 3]

It wasn't odd to take in a terrified child, but most of the children she's seen so far were pretty much accustomed to sudden emergency alerts. Her sense of urgency dampened, Bianca patiently waited until the young girl reached her hand. Her grip was gentle, but firm enough to give the child some grounding as she led her to her demographic. Most of them chose to take shelter under the table and play with their PADDs, blissful and quiet while their parents kept the ship itself from disaster.

There was a small opening under the table near a couple other girls, so Bianca led Theresa there and knelt down to reach eye level. "They're playing a game," she explained gently. "It's called Brace Yourself. Whenever you feel the ship shake, just hug the floor. It'll make the ship feel better."

One of the boys nearby decided to be cheeky, "Dad says hugs don't stop photon torpedoes."

"No they don't, but you'll be a much smaller target if any flies by, won't you Jordan?" Bianca deadpanned, then turned back to the girl. "Never mind him. Would you like a PADD as well? Or do you want something else to keep you busy until your father comes back?"

A little Orion girl to Bianca's left raised her hand. "I don't know her name, Ms. Lightoller. What's her name?"

"That's an excellent question, but let her breathe a bit," Bianca said warmly to Jyur's daughter. "You can introduce yourself at any time."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Mjolnir]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The new security officer's suggestion gave Ian an idea and he immediately began issuing orders.

"All shuttles and the Locean Navy will move ta intercept the upper swarm. Hammer as many missiles as you can with your tractors, per Mister Nari's suggestion. Any missiles that maintain track will be destroyed by weapons fire.

With his orders clearly given, Lahr readied the Mjolnir's tractor beam and began sweeping the upper swarm of the Locean-bound missiles.  Between Mjolnir and the  other shuttles efforts at flooding the area with gravitons, Lahr hoped to see some noticeable reaction in the trajectories of the missiles.