S4:E12 - Trapped in Amber

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian then tapped his combadge.

"All transporter chiefs, standby for a very small window of opportunity ta beam security teams to the freighter. Standby for my mark."

Aboard the Challenger, as the ship swung about far more sharply than something that size had any right to do, the hull shivered with stress, only contained by the enhanced structural integrity field. In the six transporter rooms, only two of the operators were able to exploit the 'small window of opportunity' the captain mentioned and successfully send a dozen more security officers to the Heidi Schwebach, one of those teams was the one led by Chief Petty Officer Rhymus Cleroux with both teams appearing midship of the freighter.

[S.S. Heidi Schwebach, Unknown Cargo Bay]

There was a flash of light, and in the blink of an eye, Rhymus and his team were aboard the Schwebach. Immediately they entered a crouch, scanning tall stacks of shipping containers and faraway gantries for hostiles. The brief moment they had had to acquire a transporter lock had not allowed the crew to place the team somewhere tactically significant. Instead, they were in a dead-end space meant to allow the inspection of cargo.

Upon confirming their initial surroundings as clear, Rhymus lead the team down the pathway between containers. The bay was dimly lit and all but silent, the soft tap of boots against steel echoing up the walls and out across the ceiling. Despite the sheer immensity of the room, it felt claustrophobic. Walls of shipping containers stacked one upon another towered over the team. The passageways between them were thin, barely wide enough to allow them to travel two abreast. Rhymus kept an eye on the team's direction of travel, working with a Vulcan junior Petty Officer. Behind them, two more officers watched the left and right of the formation, and behind them, the final two watched the rear.

The pace they made was painstakingly slow. Each intersection had to be cleared, scouted, and deliberated upon to decide their route out of the massive room. Unfortunately, ship schematics were useless in the confines of the cargo bay, each freighter crew loaded their cargo in different styles, creating different paths and hideaways between the tall cargo containers. This meant, in effect, the security team was walking blindly towards some unknown destination. What was worse, on several occasions it seemed that some paths that were meant to be open were blocked by large containers. Almost as if the security team was being herded towards something.

An ambush.

The thought came to Rhymus just as his team entered a large open space within the maze of containers. Suddenly two cargo cranes, concealed from view by the large containers they carried on the ceiling of the bay, dropped their loads. The massive containers fell like bricks and slammed into the deck with a crash, spilling smaller crates across the open space and blocking any escape from the kill zone. The crates themselves provided blessed little cover as a hail of a disruptor fire suddenly tore through the air, cutting through the open space to impact against the deck and debris of the field, and forcing the security team to dive for safety. One Starfleet crewmen, a Bolian, was too slow. A volley of accurate disruptor fire cut them down, overloading their shield and leaving their body a smoking wreck on the floor. Above the trapped security team, a dozen pirates revealed themselves, jeering at the Starfleet officers and firing wildly into the deathtrap below, all but impervious to the pathetic return fire that leapt up to meet them.

Rhymus looked back at the fallen Bolian, instantly regretting the decision as a disruptor shot sheared through the surface of the crate next to his face and showered his eyes in sparks. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he analyzed their situation. Outnumbered two-to-one or more, trapped deep within the bowels of who-knows-where. The security team around him didn't take their situation passively, however, and phaser beams leapt towards their attackers when such an opportunity presented itself. Rhymus followed suit, taking a lull in the shooting around him to sight in on a pirate above him. He pulled the trigger, cursing as the beam clipped the corner of the container wall and missed his target entirely.

"˜Well damn it all.' He thought to himself. "˜So much for good impressions with the crew.'

"œThis is Chief Cleroux!" He shouted into his combadge, his voice fighting against the sound of disruptor fire to be heard. "œThey have us trapped in a cargo bay; clever bastards caught us in an ambush! Casualties have been sustained, so we could use some help getting out of this deathtrap!" 

[Ian Galloway]

Silver instinctively rushed over to Grints side, pulling him to cover, all the while shooting blindly where the enemy fire was coming from.  "Seph, you ok?" Silver said over the hubbub of fire.

He then took out a concussion grenade and threw it into the midst of enemy fire, he figured he found a soft spot since they were being hit so damn hard.

[Corridor - SS Heidi Schwebach]

The grenade detonated with a whump and the fire from whoever was attacking slacked off markedly with only a few dulsatory shots before the corridor went quiet. However, the lull only lasted for a few moments before a gravelly voice snarled.

"Okay Starfleet, here's the deal, you drop your weapons and walk out in the open or I start shooting crew!"

[S.S. Heidi Schwebach, Unknown Cargo Bay]

There was a flash of light, and in the blink of an eye, Rhymus and his team were aboard the Schwebach. Immediately they entered a crouch, scanning tall stacks of shipping containers and faraway gantries for hostiles. The brief moment they had had to acquire a transporter lock had not allowed the crew to place the team somewhere tactically significant. Instead, they were in a dead-end space meant to allow the inspection of cargo.

Upon confirming their initial surroundings as clear, Rhymus lead the team down the pathway between containers. The bay was dimly lit and all but silent, the soft tap of boots against steel echoing up the walls and out across the ceiling. Despite the sheer immensity of the room, it felt claustrophobic. Walls of shipping containers stacked one upon another towered over the team. The passageways between them were thin, barely wide enough to allow them to travel two abreast. Rhymus kept an eye on the team's direction of travel, working with a Vulcan junior Petty Officer. Behind them, two more officers watched the left and right of the formation, and behind them, the final two watched the rear.

The pace they made was painstakingly slow. Each intersection had to be cleared, scouted, and deliberated upon to decide their route out of the massive room. Unfortunately, ship schematics were useless in the confines of the cargo bay, each freighter crew loaded their cargo in different styles, creating different paths and hideaways between the tall cargo containers. This meant, in effect, the security team was walking blindly towards some unknown destination. What was worse, on several occasions it seemed that some paths that were meant to be open were blocked by large containers. Almost as if the security team was being herded towards something.

An ambush.

The thought came to Rhymus just as his team entered a large open space within the maze of containers. Suddenly two cargo cranes, concealed from view by the large containers they carried on the ceiling of the bay, dropped their loads. The massive containers fell like bricks and slammed into the deck with a crash, spilling smaller crates across the open space and blocking any escape from the kill zone. The crates themselves provided blessed little cover as a hail of a disruptor fire suddenly tore through the air, cutting through the open space to impact against the deck and debris of the field, and forcing the security team to dive for safety. One Starfleet crewmen, a Bolian, was too slow. A volley of accurate disruptor fire cut them down, overloading their shield and leaving their body a smoking wreck on the floor. Above the trapped security team, a dozen pirates revealed themselves, jeering at the Starfleet officers and firing wildly into the deathtrap below, all but impervious to the pathetic return fire that leapt up to meet them.

Rhymus looked back at the fallen Bolian, instantly regretting the decision as a disruptor shot sheared through the surface of the crate next to his face and showered his eyes in sparks. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he analyzed their situation. Outnumbered two-to-one or more, trapped deep within the bowels of who-knows-where. The security team around him didn't take their situation passively, however, and phaser beams leapt towards their attackers when such an opportunity presented itself. Rhymus followed suit, taking a lull in the shooting around him to sight in on a pirate above him. He pulled the trigger, cursing as the beam clipped the corner of the container wall and missed his target entirely.

"˜Well damn it all.' He thought to himself. "˜So much for good impressions with the crew.'

"œThis is Chief Cleroux!" He shouted into his combadge, his voice fighting against the sound of disruptor fire to be heard. "œThey have us trapped in a cargo bay; clever bastards caught us in an ambush! Casualties have been sustained, so we could use some help getting out of this deathtrap!" 

[Cargo Bay - SS Heidi Schwebach]

Knowing they had Cleroux's team trapped, the attackers stopped spraying them with fire and began to only take deliberate aimed shots. These accurate blasts kept the team pinned down behind flickering personal shield as each one scored a hit. Fortunately, as the team was in cover, the hits were only grazes, but even grazes served to weaken the shields.

However, just as the team began to despair, there was a sudden and violent burst of fire above them. As that happened, there were no more shots at them as the attackers had to redirect their fire to Petty Officer First Class Jason Fisk's team took them in the flank. After what seemed like an eternity of shooting, a lone voice called out.

"Chief, you okay?"

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

[Asteroid Field]

The surviving raider came to the conclusion that fighting the Challenger one on one was a very poor return on investment and began a game of cat and mouse between the asteroids, peeking out only long enough to snipe at the larger ship before dodging back into cover.

"This is a slippery bugger."

Ian growled as Ricky pursued the smaller ship.

"We may need more of those advanced tactics of yours ta bag this little shyte Mister Litt."

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

Lieutenant jg Lagar
[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

"The crew appears to be in a state of unconsciousness, but there are no signs of distress. This suggests we could safely move them, Sir." Lagar reported, before his eyes fluctuated, focusing on the text of his latest scan more closely. "Koroz, look at the range of our sensor ability here." he said, gesturing with a twisted tendril at several lines of text on his screen.

The Klingon moved over to Lagar's console, placing two fists knuckle-down on the edge of the surface like a gorilla. "We can see much further now, but I... don't know what I am looking at, Sir." He looked at Lagar's 'face', and the plant-creature shook its head, revealing its own lack of understanding of the additional data. Both them were at the limits of their understanding of this kind of stellar phenomena. "Let's send it to the Lieu-ten-ant." Koroz suggested, and he and Lagar turned toward Jettis, both speaking at once for a halting moment, then pausing to look at each other before Koroz gestured for the officer, Lagar, to continue. "Lieutenant Jyur, we have sensor readings that can dive further into the depths of the anomaly. We're routing this data to your console. Petty Officer Koroz and I are equally unsure what to make of it at the moment."

[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

As Lagar and Koroz worked through the scans, T'Roth stood quietly to one side, deep in thought. After several minutes, she announced.

"I believe I have an answer. It is not without it's drawbacks."

[Silverback]

[Corridor - SS Heidi Schwebach]

The grenade detonated with a whump and the fire from whoever was attacking slacked off markedly with only a few desultory shots before the corridor went quiet. However, the lull only lasted for a few moments before a gravelly voice snarled.

"Okay Starfleet, here's the deal, you drop your weapons and walk out in the open or I start shooting crew!"

"I dont think so.  You attacked a Civilian craft, boarded her illegally, held the crew hostage and now after you lost half your strike team your telling us to drop our weapons and walk out?, care to figure the logic in that?.  How about this.  You give up, I am guessing you have what? just yourself willing to continue this fire fight?.  I can easily rush your position and take you out.  But I am not going to do that.  So you have a choice.  You have your crew or you talk to the captain of your group to lay down there weapons, release the crew of the ship, surrender yourselves to Starfleet judgement and you get to live.  If not, well, I havent eaten in awhile.  I hear humanoids taste good.  Bit like chicken to be honest.  I really want to see if they taste like it." Silver called out to the pirates as he worked on jamming there comm signals with his tricorder.

[Ian Galloway]

"I dont think so.  You attacked a Civilian craft, boarded her illegally, held the crew hostage and now after you lost half your strike team your telling us to drop our weapons and walk out?, care to figure the logic in that?.  How about this.  You give up, I am guessing you have what? just yourself willing to continue this fire fight?.  I can easily rush your position and take you out.  But I am not going to do that.  So you have a choice.  You have your crew or you talk to the captain of your group to lay down there weapons, release the crew of the ship, surrender yourselves to Starfleet judgement and you get to live.  If not, well, I havent eaten in awhile.  I hear humanoids taste good.  Bit like chicken to be honest.  I really want to see if they taste like it." Silver called out to the pirates as he worked on jamming there comm signals with his tricorder.

[Corridor - SS Heidi Schwebach]

The gravelly voice barked a short laugh at Silverback's reply. There was a short pause, which ended with scream of a female voice begging "No! No! No! Please no!" that ended with the whine of a disruptor. This was followed by a wet thump and when Crewman zh'Tianihr peeked around the corner, she hissed.

"There is a dead woman in the corridor."

The speaker then added.

"Now that you know I'm not kidding, I suggest you surrender, because I have a lot of hostages and the stomach to kill them all. Do you have the stomach to listen to them all die?"

[Silverback]

[Corridor - SS Heidi Schwebach]

The gravelly voice barked a short laugh at Silverback's reply. There was a short pause, which ended with scream of a female voice begging "No! No! No! Please no!" that ended with the whine of a disruptor. This was followed by a wet thump and when Crewman zh'Tianihr peeked around the corner, she hissed.

"There is a dead woman in the corridor."

The speaker then added.

"Now that you know I'm not kidding, I suggest you surrender, because I have a lot of hostages and the stomach to kill them all. Do you have the stomach to listen to them all die?"

'Damn it' he thought to himself.  Tapping his combadge.  "Anyone on the ship near portside aft of the vessel?.  Cmon anywhere there?" he said with a hushed tone so his voice didnt carry.  "If there is, I need you to get to portside aft of the cargo vessel.  Come in quietly.  We got a pirate trying to negotiate after committing cold blooded murder.  Hit him from the other side and we can pincer him.  Non lethal grenades." Silver quietly saying into his badge.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

The feeling on the bridge was not the best, given the moment the ship was passing, Litt went to the helm, swapping posts with Lieutenant Espana and looked at his friend Lahr.

"œI'll do my best not to, Mr. ch'Verret". He said, smiling at him. "Sammy sends you a hug." She said at last, this time turning her full attention to the helm.

"I missed you too, girl." He said quietly running his hand over the dashboard and mentally preparing himself so he could put all his new knowledge on that new flight.

As the coordinates were being passed, Litt wrote them down on the dashboard to look in the direction that he should follow. This would be manual flying and Richard would use all his training to do his best. The captain's order came and Litt nodded to him.

"Yes sir! Here we go!" He said firing the ship's engines to start entering the asteroid field.

Lahr wagged his antenna in acknowledgement of the pilots' reply.    That Sammy thought to 'send a hug' put a little self-satisfied smirk on the Andorian's face.   Yeah, prior to Ruth (and Chloe) he'd been a bit of a ladies-man.  A favorite among all the ship's eligible bachelors (or at least that's what his impression of himself was.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Carefully easing through the asteroids, the Challenger eventually broke into an area clear enough for a direct visual of the Heidi Schwebach. The freighter was stationary, but she was not alone. A smaller ship was docked on one of the dorsal cargo loading bays and two other, even smaller, sleek vessels were hovering nearby. The two sleek ships began maneuvering as soon as the Challenger was visible, opening fire without hesitation. The attackers had armaments far out of proportion to their size and they might have done significant damage if the Challenger didn't have her shields up.

As the two shark-like ships concentrated on the Challenger, the Jarvis and the Resnik went undetected and were able to dock with the Schwebach. The shuttles obtained a positive seal on the freighter's airlocks and the boarding parties were clear to enter.

"Fire at will T'Kel!"

Ian barked as the Challenger rocked from incoming fire despite Litt's best efforts to avoid being hit, the attackers were simply too maneuverable for them to miss such a large target. Complicating matters, that same maneuverability was preventing T'Kel from scoring any significant hits of her own.

One thing was patently obvious to Ian, the attackers knew they couldn't do any real damage to the Starfleet ship, so they were doing what all good screens do, they were providing a distraction to allow the ship docked with the Schwebach time to complete whatever they were doing and to escape. The only question was, could the boarding parties from the shuttles could prevent that from happening.

The aerial battle while in the midst of an asteroid field was nerve-racking.  The Andorian kept alternating his glance between his console, and the main viewscreen trying to keep track of the action but it was difficult.

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

Litt continued to pilot the Challenger, trying his best to avoid collisions with asteroids and avoiding being shot by enemy ships. With the computers up and running this would be an easy task, but flying manually things were a little more complicated.

While flying he was trying to come up with some idea that could help in that situation when he suddenly seemed to have found something.

"œSir, we can try to make a kind of bulldozer with the ship"¦" He paused for a moment as if he was still formulating the best idea. "œWe can try to focus all the shields on just one part of the ship, maybe in front or on one side, then we go around some of the bigger asteroids and use that shield to try to sweep the asteroids towards the enemies while we clean the way to approach the security teams more safely." He finished without taking his eyes off the flight he was taking at that moment.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When it came to most flying maneuvers, Ian was rarely surprised as he'd studied, and practiced, so many of them personally, but he had to admit, Ricky's idea was a surprise. He chuckled as he replied.

"I guess they call it advanced tactical school for a bloody good reason Mister Litt. I like your idea of a Space Bulldozer, but I think that it's possible ta refine it a wee bit. Mister Lahr, bring the second core online, we're goin' ta be pushin' the envelop on this move. Once the backup core is online, reinforce the forward shields with fifty percent of the core's output, I want the rest available for a tractor beam.

"Mister Litt, find us an asteroid bigger than the Challenger between us and the Schwebach, then make your way toward it, swing in close enough ta leave paint samples. As we pass, Mister Lahr, tractor the asteroid and Mister Litt, fire the appropriate thrusters ta slingshot us around the asteroid.

"Mister T'Kel, five seconds before we execute the slingshot, I want ta fire a full spread of quantums set a maximum yield, but not targeted on the little buggers firin' on us. The idea is for the torpedoes ta react with the Jakmantite of the field and create an even denser sensor scatterin' zone. Once we come about, with any luck, our maneuver will surprise at least one of the ship's pursuin' us and give you a good shot at them."

Ian then tapped his combadge.

"All transporter chiefs, standby for a very small window of opportunity ta beam security teams to the freighter. Standby for my mark."

Lahr hearing Litt's idea thought the Captain would laugh outright!  Instead, the Captain praised the pilot and a plan was born!

"Aye sir!"  Blue fingers played over his console, calling up the second core and bringing it's power online.   He then split core's output - putting half towards the forward shields and holding the other for the tractor beam.  Within moments it was done.  "Core's online and power has been assigned as ordered."

His own part of the plan - tractor onto the large asteroid Litt would decide one - was ridiculously easy, but without it, Lahr liked to think, the rest wouldn't have worked.  He was an important part of the team after all.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Turning to face the bridge crew, Lahr, Ricky, and T'Kel all indicated they were ready and Ian gave the order.

"Fire quantums! Hard to port! Engage tractor!"

To the two shark-like ships peppering the Challenger with near continuous disruptor fire, the appearance of the quantum torpedoes were of little concern as their maneuverability would allow them to avoid being hit, just as they'd avoided the others fired at them. It was only when the warheads detonated and they lost weapons lock in the sea of interference they created did the pursuers begin to realize something unusual was occurring.

Having lost track of the Starfleet ship when their sensors and even their viewscreens went opaque, they didn't see the Challenger plow through several large asteroids and harmlessly deflect them out of her path. Nor did they see the scintillating beam of a tractor lance out to snare an asteroid as the big ship's forward starboard and aft port thrusters blazed to life. The next time the pursuers could see the Challenger, she was directly in front them, having almost magically appeared there from the wall of interference that had caused them to lose sight of her.

One of the pursuers was agile enough to pivot away from the larger ship, but the second one was either more surprised or hesitated a second longer than the other just long enough for T'Kel to obtain a firm target lock. The hunter became the hunted before it could react and staggered from multiple hammer blows delivered by the Vulcan. The shark-like hull was scored in multiple places by multiple phaser hits and tumbled out of control from the punishing salvo. The small ship's helmsman, was unable to stop her momentum and the ship slammed into one of the asteroids to disappear in a soundless flash.

Aboard the Challenger, as the ship swung about far more sharply than something that size had any right to do, the hull shivered with stress, only contained by the enhanced structural integrity field. In the six transporter rooms, only two of the operators were able to exploit the 'small window of opportunity' the captain mentioned and successfully send a dozen more security officers to the Heidi Schwebach, one of those teams was the one led by Chief Petty Officer Rhymus Cleroux with both teams appearing midship of the freighter.

Lahr winced seeing the one small ship slam into the asteroid after T'Kel's attack.  What a way to go!  At least it was fast.

Lahr then reported out the successful beam in of their security teams onto the Heidi Schwebach.  The Andorian Ops petty officer kept track of what few radio signals he could pick up given all the interference.

[Asteroid Field]

The surviving raider came to the conclusion that fighting the Challenger one on one was a very poor return on investment and began a game of cat and mouse between the asteroids, peeking out only long enough to snipe at the larger ship before dodging back into cover.

"This is a slippery bugger."

Ian growled as Ricky pursued the smaller ship.

"We may need more of those advanced tactics of yours ta bag this little shyte Mister Litt."

[S.S. Heidi Schwebach, Unknown Cargo Bay]
"œThis is Chief Cleroux!" He shouted into his combadge, his voice fighting against the sound of disruptor fire to be heard. "œThey have us trapped in a cargo bay; clever bastards caught us in an ambush! Casualties have been sustained, so we could use some help getting out of this deathtrap!" 

'Damn it' he thought to himself.  Tapping his combadge.  "Anyone on the ship near portside aft of the vessel?.  Cmon anywhere there?" he said with a hushed tone so his voice didnt carry.  "If there is, I need you to get to portside aft of the cargo vessel.  Come in quietly.  We got a pirate trying to negotiate after committing cold blooded murder.  Hit him from the other side and we can pincer him.  Non lethal grenades." Silver quietly saying into his badge.

Lahr's antenna laid back hearing Cleroux's call over the comm's.  There was nothing Challenger could do.  It was up to those already on the freighter.  Though it seemed from the message heard next from Ensign Silverback that his team was needing help themselves.

"Cleroux's boarding team has sustained casualties in an apparent ambush - they've called on the others for assistance."  It bothered Lahr that those in transporter room had picked so poor a beam in site.  Had his schematics been off?  Sure, without proper sensors there had been no way to know where the freighers crew was going to be but... to send them into an ambush.   Lahr felt slightly nauseaous, but swallowed it down to continue his report.   "And it sounds like Silverback's team has a hostage situation - he's also called on the other teams for assistance"

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Cargo Bay - SS Heidi Schwebach]

Knowing they had Cleroux's team trapped, the attackers stopped spraying them with fire and began to only take deliberate aimed shots. These accurate blasts kept the team pinned down behind flickering personal shield as each one scored a hit. Fortunately, as the team was in cover, the hits were only grazes, but even grazes served to weaken the shields.

However, just as the team began to despair, there was a sudden and violent burst of fire above them. As that happened, there were no more shots at them as the attackers had to redirect their fire to Petty Officer First Class Jason Fisk's team took them in the flank. After what seemed like an eternity of shooting, a lone voice called out.

"Chief, you okay?"

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

[S.S. Heidi Schwebach, Unknown Cargo Bay]

Rhymus finished stabilizing the wounded Vulcan Petty Officer before looking up the imposing wall at his saviours. Petty Officer Fisk's team had transported aboard with Cleroux's using the second Transporter room, but neither hide nor hair had been seen since then. Fortunately, the pirates had expected one team, but no more than that.

"Fisk! Damn me but you're a sight for sore eyes! How did you get up there!? Don't answer that, get us out of this hole before more of them come!"

Over the next few minutes, one of the cargo cranes would be appropriated, and the container blocking their path removed. In the meantime, however, Rhymus split his team. Of the four remaining, two would remain with the casualties to protect them, while Rhymus and his partner joined Fisk in continuing their investigation.

The metal of the cargo container whined ominously as it was being lifted while Rhymus tapped his combadge.

"œChallenger, this is Cleroux. Casualties on emergency transponder, status critical. They need emergency site-to-site transport to sickbay. Continuing investigation." 

With the way open and the wounded handled to the best of their ability, Rhymus regrouped with Fisk and exited the cargo bay. According to their schematics data, they were located pretty much smack bang in the middle of the ship. Two more teams were operating towards the aft of the ship, as far as anyone knew, the bow was still undiscovered country.

"We can't keep stumbling around from one ambush to another. We have neither the numbers nor the time for such an endeavor... Find a console, something we can get into. Maybe we can open up the ship for Ops to get us sensors and cameras in here. Once we know where to find our foe, we can strike."

The team nodded in agreement when another call arose from the communicator.

'Damn it' he thought to himself.  Tapping his combadge.  "Anyone on the ship near portside aft of the vessel?.  Cmon anywhere there?" he said with a hushed tone so his voice didnt carry.  "If there is, I need you to get to portside aft of the cargo vessel.  Come in quietly.  We got a pirate trying to negotiate after committing cold blooded murder.  Hit him from the other side and we can pincer him.  Non lethal grenades." Silver quietly saying into his badge.

Rhymus and Fisk checked their schematics, debating tactics before shaking their heads. Rhymus activated his own combadge.

"Cleroux here, your plan is flawed. There's only one way in or out of that bay. We'd be charging into a slaughter, both for us and the hostages. Keep them distracted, Fisk and I are working up a plan to give us the upper hand." 

Rhymus then switched channels to communicate with Challenger.

"Ops, Cleroux here. If we open up a backdoor here on the ship, are you able to get us internal scans of the freighter? Sensors, cameras, anything to tell us where we should be going and what to expect when we get there?" 

[Silverback]

Rhymus and Fisk checked their schematics, debating tactics before shaking their heads. Rhymus activated his own combadge.

"Cleroux here, your plan is flawed. There's only one way in or out of that bay. We'd be charging into a slaughter, both for us and the hostages. Keep them distracted, Fisk and I are working up a plan to give us the upper hand." 

"You better get here, or you get to explain why you intentionally allowed an entire security team and the hostages to be wiped out because you decided to play it safe.  Too bad ill be dead when you tell the captain that." Silver said as he himself knew the pirate would not wait to long before killing another hostage.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian pulled his eyes from the viewscreen when Ruth handed him her PADD and after a quick scan, he replied.

"Askin' you ta talk ta people Commander is like askin' a fish ta swim. I believe this Mister Yaho Traittel may end up with a case of 'be careful what you wish for' once you're actually there, but you certainly have my permission. You can even take the Mjolnir, assumin' Mister Jyur manages ta bring the thing back in one piece.

"As for a snooker match, I'm in, but ye better nae be cryin' in your bitters when I mop the floor with ye."

Ian then returned to staring intently at the viewscreen, his hands tapping the armrests as he unconsciously made the inputs he would have made at the helm if he were sitting there.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Ruth chuckled, not offended by either thing that the Captain had said. "Oh I don't doubt you're right Captain!... .in both cases, but you should know me better than to think I would cry over a snooker match.  Only time I did that was when someone decided they didn't like it that I won and broke a snooker cue then stabbed me in the arm with it in a bar in Reno, Nevada some time I was visiting there.  He was laughing on the other side of his face when 3 nights later I landed the million credit jackpot on the one armed bandits!  And thank you, you may be right about poor Mr. Yaho!"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The Challenger shuddered as Espana swerved to avoid an asteroid and it took him several seconds to smooth out their line of flight. Ian looked up and saw the fatigue on the helmsman's face, which in turn led him to stand and move next to Espana.

"I'm callin' in a replacement Lad, you look knackered."

"I'm okay Sir." Espana replied easily, but the fatigue in his voice was readily apparent.

"I know you think you are, but we both ken you're not. Everyone reaches a point where it's too much. The kind of flyin' you're doin' is rare these days and bloody hard. You've done yeoman work today, concentrate on that."

Ian stepped back and tapped his combadge.

"Lieutenant Litt ta the bridge."

Ruth knew that the Captain was right.  Then almost gave herself whiplash when she heard a name she recognised pass through his lips.  She knew they'd taken on new crew at the last Starbase but she never expected it to be Richard Litt!

"You know, Captain... If you weren't getting Richard Litt to replace Espana, who I also commend, I was going to offer myself.  We are blessed with a fair few very competent helmsmen.... yourself included, Sir! But oh I am glad to have Litt back!  Sorry, a little biased but Challenger is living up to her rep of having one of the best crews in the Fleet!!"

He continued on his way until he reached the bridge.

"Litt reporting for Duty, sir."

He took a quick look at all the people and waited to take his post at the helm.

"Welcome back Mr. Litt,.." Ruth said with a grin.  "Betcha thought you were shot of the crazy Viking!" she said with a chuckle.

[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

T'Roth turned from where she was speaking to Rodwell with an arched eyebrow, so common among Vulcans, and replied.

"Certainly Sir, we have already linked with the Planitia Deriedi systems to obtain the enhanced sensor data. It is now a trivial matter to enter her command code and take control."

She then tapped a few keys on one of the bridge consoles of the Chatham before continuing.

"Command code accepted, powering up systems now... Shields, sensors, and transporters are operational. Sir, based on these readings, although the collier's engines are fully operational, the anomaly is absorbing both the continuum displacement field from her warp engines, and any inertial differential from her sublight engines making movement impossible. Internal scans show that the ship is leaking deuterium. Furthermore, and more importantly, the warp core has suffered considerable shock damage with all signs indicating that the core will breach in the next thirty minutes unless it is shut down."

T'Roth paused to let Jettis process that information before adding.

"As I have access to internal sensors, I can give you a visual inside the Planitia Diriedi should you desire Sir."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

T'Kel received the message from the Resnik and replied in her usual cool, measured tone.

"Ensign, the Heidi Schwebach is an Overfield-Class freighter of 109,465 metric tons. The ship has a complement of 86 crew and is carrying 500,000 metric tons of general cargo. This class of freighter has four airlocks on both sides of the ship on the lower surface of the forward hull for docking cargo shuttles. The ship also has multiple large elevators and conveyors to move material to the inside the vessel. The ship is 327.9 meters long with a beam of 195.9 meters and is 37.2 meters high. I am certain you are aware 'magic', technical or otherwise does not exist."

[Shuttlecraft Jarvis - Asteroid Field]

Ensign Norann banked around yet another asteroid, but this time his eyes widened in surprise and he brought the shuttle to an immediate stop. Firing the forward thrusters, she backed the Jarvis behind the asteroid and activated the comm system.

"Jarvis to Challenger. I have visual on the freighter. She is 40,000 kilometers from your current position on a heading of.... 146 Mark 29. What are your orders?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian sat up and suppressed the urge to shout 'tally ho' as he began mapping out the current positions of the two shuttles in relationship to the Challenger. Once he was certain of his calculations, hit send and the courses he wanted the shuttles to take appeared on their consoles.

"Helm, our course is 145 Mark 30 as best as you can through the field. The shuttles will come in from above and below. Mister T'Kel, take us ta red alert. As we have no idea what is goin' on over there, so be prepared for a wide range of tactical options. We have ta assume this is a hostage situation as well. I want security teams in each transporter room fully armed and armored."

"Understood Sir."

Ian then tapped his combadge.

"Captain ta Sickbay, standby for casualties, perhaps heavy casualties."

Taking a deep breath, Ian added.

"Okay Mister Litt, slow and steady. Take us in."

Ruth sucked in a sharp breath when Ian said 'standby for casualties'.  She really hoped that they weren't going to have a repeat of the last away mission where they'd nearly lost one of the crew.  Calming herself she put on her stoic face and smiled over at Lahr, who's antennae had been telegraphing interest in what she'd been showing the Captain.  She quickly sent the invitation, along with a note, encrypted, to the Andorian.

'Fancy a small bit of leave?  Can see if I can wrangle it that you accompany, you have served in Security so you could be my um... BODY guard **wink wink**'

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

The feeling on the bridge was not the best, given the moment the ship was passing, Litt went to the helm, swapping posts with Lieutenant Espana and looked at his friend Lahr.

"œI'll do my best not to, Mr. ch"Verret". He said, smiling at him. "Sammy sends you a hug." She said at last, this time turning her full attention to the helm.

"I missed you too, girl." He said quietly running his hand over the dashboard and mentally preparing himself so he could put all his new knowledge on that new flight.

As the coordinates were being passed, Litt wrote them down on the dashboard to look in the direction that he should follow. This would be manual flying and Richard would use all his training to do his best. The captain's order came and Litt nodded to him.

"Yes sir! Here we go!" He said firing the ship's engines to start entering the asteroid field.

Ruth smiled indulgently when Richard started talking to the Challenger... '...yep, he's a true pilot...' she thought to herself.  She did the same to her deHavilland Beaver back home, especially when she'd been away for a bit, or the Mjolnir (which she was thrilled that the Captain was letting her borrow, assuming it came back in one piece) which she thought of as her own personal shuttlecraft... heck it's registry number was her birthday!

"By the way Captain, thanks for letting me take Mjolnir, you know she's special to me... I was wondering about taking a second person... someone that could act as Security, Ops, Navigator..." she made a pointed look at Lahr, hoping that Ian would pick up on it.  Lahr had been working very hard lately, he'd been prompt and she knew if Ian was inviting the Andorian to play Flying Tigers with him, then the friction between them previously was over.  Ian bore grudges only when he needed to.

[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

T'Roth flipped a few switches, the Chatham was an old ship and didn't have all touch screens that modern ships had, and the viewscreen came to life showing the bridge of the Planitia Deriedi. As she scrolled from bridge to engineering to the mess hall and every other option available, in each case, the crew of the collier were slumped at their posts or crumpled where they fell. The ship was bathed in the dim lighting of red alert which only served to give the images an ominous air.

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Carefully easing through the asteroids, the Challenger eventually broke into an area clear enough for a direct visual of the Heidi Schwebach. The freighter was stationary, but she was not alone. A smaller ship was docked on one of the dorsal cargo loading bays and two other, even smaller, sleek vessels were hovering nearby. The two sleek ships began maneuvering as soon as the Challenger was visible, opening fire without hesitation. The attackers had armaments far out of proportion to their size and they might have done significant damage if the Challenger didn't have her shields up.

As the two shark-like ships concentrated on the Challenger, the Jarvis and the Resnik went undetected and were able to dock with the Schwebach. The shuttles obtained a positive seal on the freighter's airlocks and the boarding parties were clear to enter.

"Fire at will T'Kel!"

Ian barked as the Challenger rocked from incoming fire despite Litt's best efforts to avoid being hit, the attackers were simply too maneuverable for them to miss such a large target. Complicating matters, that same maneuverability was preventing T'Kel from scoring any significant hits of her own.

One thing was patently obvious to Ian, the attackers knew they couldn't do any real damage to the Starfleet ship, so they were doing what all good screens do, they were providing a distraction to allow the ship docked with the Schwebach time to complete whatever they were doing and to escape. The only question was, could the boarding parties from the shuttles could prevent that from happening.

"I knew there was a reason I hated sharks...they look like sharks, Sir... are they Romulan vessels or independent pirates??"

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

Litt continued to pilot the Challenger, trying his best to avoid collisions with asteroids and avoiding being shot by enemy ships. With the computers up and running this would be an easy task, but flying manually things were a little more complicated.

While flying he was trying to come up with some idea that could help in that situation when he suddenly seemed to have found something.

"œSir, we can try to make a kind of bulldozer with the ship"¦" He paused for a moment as if he was still formulating the best idea. "œWe can try to focus all the shields on just one part of the ship, maybe in front or on one side, then we go around some of the bigger asteroids and use that shield to try to sweep the asteroids towards the enemies while we clean the way to approach the security teams more safely." He finished without taking his eyes off the flight he was taking at that moment.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When it came to most flying maneuvers, Ian was rarely surprised as he'd studied, and practiced, so many of them personally, but he had to admit, Ricky's idea was a surprise. He chuckled as he replied.

"I guess they call it advanced tactical school for a bloody good reason Mister Litt. I like your idea of a Space Bulldozer, but I think that it's possible ta refine it a wee bit. Mister Lahr, bring the second core online, we're goin' ta be pushin' the envelop on this move. Once the backup core is online, reinforce the forward shields with fifty percent of the core's output, I want the rest available for a tractor beam.

"Mister Litt, find us an asteroid bigger than the Challenger between us and the Schwebach, then make your way toward it, swing in close enough ta leave paint samples. As we pass, Mister Lahr, tractor the asteroid and Mister Litt, fire the appropriate thrusters ta slingshot us around the asteroid.

"Mister T'Kel, five seconds before we execute the slingshot, I want ta fire a full spread of quantums set a maximum yield, but not targeted on the little buggers firin' on us. The idea is for the torpedoes ta react with the Jakmantite of the field and create an even denser sensor scatterin' zone. Once we come about, with any luck, our maneuver will surprise at least one of the ship's pursuin' us and give you a good shot at them."

Ian then tapped his combadge.

"All transporter chiefs, standby for a very small window of opportunity ta beam security teams to the freighter. Standby for my mark."

Turning to face the bridge crew, Lahr, Ricky, and T'Kel all indicated they were ready and Ian gave the order.

"Fire quantums! Hard to port! Engage tractor!"

To the two shark-like ships peppering the Challenger with near continuous disruptor fire, the appearance of the quantum torpedoes were of little concern as their maneuverability would allow them to avoid being hit, just as they'd avoided the others fired at them. It was only when the warheads detonated and they lost weapons lock in the sea of interference they created did the pursuers begin to realize something unusual was occurring.

Having lost track of the Starfleet ship when their sensors and even their viewscreens went opaque, they didn't see the Challenger plow through several large asteroids and harmlessly deflect them out of her path. Nor did they see the scintillating beam of a tractor lance out to snare an asteroid as the big ship's forward starboard and aft port thrusters blazed to life. The next time the pursuers could see the Challenger, she was directly in front them, having almost magically appeared there from the wall of interference that had caused them to lose sight of her.

One of the pursuers was agile enough to pivot away from the larger ship, but the second one was either more surprised or hesitated a second longer than the other just long enough for T'Kel to obtain a firm target lock. The hunter became the hunted before it could react and staggered from multiple hammer blows delivered by the Vulcan. The shark-like hull was scored in multiple places by multiple phaser hits and tumbled out of control from the punishing salvo. The small ship's helmsman, was unable to stop her momentum and the ship slammed into one of the asteroids to disappear in a soundless flash.

Aboard the Challenger, as the ship swung about far more sharply than something that size had any right to do, the hull shivered with stress, only contained by the enhanced structural integrity field. In the six transporter rooms, only two of the operators were able to exploit the 'small window of opportunity' the captain mentioned and successfully send a dozen more security officers to the Heidi Schwebach, one of those teams was the one led by Chief Petty Officer Rhymus Cleroux with both teams appearing midship of the freighter.

Ruth blinked, but the idea was a bloody good one.  She made sure that her seatbelt was fastened as this could get hairy and she had no wish to add to the casualties that Sickbay had to deal with.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

Lahr wagged his antenna in acknowledgement of the pilots' reply.    That Sammy thought to 'send a hug' put a little self-satisfied smirk on the Andorian's face.   Yeah, prior to Ruth (and Chloe) he'd been a bit of a ladies-man.  A favorite among all the ship's eligible bachelors (or at least that's what his impression of himself was.

The aerial battle while in the midst of an asteroid field was nerve-racking.  The Andorian kept alternating his glance between his console, and the main viewscreen trying to keep track of the action but it was difficult.

Lahr hearing Litt's idea thought the Captain would laugh outright!  Instead, the Captain praised the pilot and a plan was born!

"Aye sir!"  Blue fingers played over his console, calling up the second core and bringing it's power online.   He then split core's output - putting half towards the forward shields and holding the other for the tractor beam.  Within moments it was done.  "Core's online and power has been assigned as ordered."

His own part of the plan - tractor onto the large asteroid Litt would decide one - was ridiculously easy, but without it, Lahr liked to think, the rest wouldn't have worked.  He was an important part of the team after all.

Lahr winced seeing the one small ship slam into the asteroid after T'Kel's attack.  What a way to go!  At least it was fast.

Lahr then reported out the successful beam in of their security teams onto the Heidi Schwebach.  The Andorian Ops petty officer kept track of what few radio signals he could pick up given all the interference.

Lahr's antenna laid back hearing Cleroux's call over the comm's.  There was nothing Challenger could do.  It was up to those already on the freighter.  Though it seemed from the message heard next from Ensign Silverback that his team was needing help themselves.

"Cleroux's boarding team has sustained casualties in an apparent ambush - they've called on the others for assistance."  It bothered Lahr that those in transporter room had picked so poor a beam in site.  Had his schematics been off?  Sure, without proper sensors there had been no way to know where the freighers crew was going to be but... to send them into an ambush.   Lahr felt slightly nauseaous, but swallowed it down to continue his report.   "And it sounds like Silverback's team has a hostage situation - he's also called on the other teams for assistance"

"I'm loathe to send more teams in, but we might need to..." Ruth said pondering.  "Could we potentially beam them all into our Cargo Hold and stun everyone then sort them out afterwards.  I mean it's not the most ethical but it's quick, and no one else gets killed."

[Jettis Jyur]

Lieutenant jg Lagar
[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

"The crew appears to be in a state of unconsciousness, but there are no signs of distress. This suggests we could safely move them, Sir." Lagar reported, before his eyes fluctuated, focusing on the text of his latest scan more closely. "Koroz, look at the range of our sensor ability here." he said, gesturing with a twisted tendril at several lines of text on his screen.

The Klingon moved over to Lagar's console, placing two fists knuckle-down on the edge of the surface like a gorilla. "We can see much further now, but I... don't know what I am looking at, Sir." He looked at Lagar's 'face', and the plant-creature shook its head, revealing its own lack of understanding of the additional data. Both them were at the limits of their understanding of this kind of stellar phenomena. "Let's send it to the Lieu-ten-ant." Koroz suggested, and he and Lagar turned toward Jettis, both speaking at once for a halting moment, then pausing to look at each other before Koroz gestured for the officer, Lagar, to continue. "Lieutenant Jyur, we have sensor readings that can dive further into the depths of the anomaly. We're routing this data to your console. Petty Officer Koroz and I are equally unsure what to make of it at the moment."

[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

As Lagar and Koroz worked through the scans, T'Roth stood quietly to one side, deep in thought. After several minutes, she announced.

"I believe I have an answer. It is not without it's drawbacks."

[Natalie Chatham - Bridge]

Jettis was busy, as usual, being deep in thought and pouring over the scans. Glancing up as the two officers approached him, he stood for a moment, glancing between the two. "It reaches further into the anomaly? Excellent. I'll try to get a scan of it in a moment to see if we can decipher what it is."

He paused for a moment, before continuing. "Perhaps, if we can extend the sensor range, we can boost the transporter signal? Will it reach the collier?"

As soon as he finished his sentence, T'Roth spoke. He nodded to her, in a 'go ahead' manner for her to explain her idea.

[Ian Galloway]

'Damn it' he thought to himself.  Tapping his combadge.  "Anyone on the ship near portside aft of the vessel?.  Cmon anywhere there?" he said with a hushed tone so his voice didnt carry.  "If there is, I need you to get to portside aft of the cargo vessel.  Come in quietly.  We got a pirate trying to negotiate after committing cold blooded murder.  Hit him from the other side and we can pincer him.  Non lethal grenades." Silver quietly saying into his badge.

[S.S. Heidi Schwebach, Unknown Cargo Bay]

Rhymus finished stabilizing the wounded Vulcan Petty Officer before looking up the imposing wall at his saviours. Petty Officer Fisk's team had transported aboard with Cleroux's using the second Transporter room, but neither hide nor hair had been seen since then. Fortunately, the pirates had expected one team, but no more than that.

"Fisk! Damn me but you're a sight for sore eyes! How did you get up there!? Don't answer that, get us out of this hole before more of them come!"

Over the next few minutes, one of the cargo cranes would be appropriated, and the container blocking their path removed. In the meantime, however, Rhymus split his team. Of the four remaining, two would remain with the casualties to protect them, while Rhymus and his partner joined Fisk in continuing their investigation.

The metal of the cargo container whined ominously as it was being lifted while Rhymus tapped his combadge.

"œChallenger, this is Cleroux. Casualties on emergency transponder, status critical. They need emergency site-to-site transport to sickbay. Continuing investigation." 

With the way open and the wounded handled to the best of their ability, Rhymus regrouped with Fisk and exited the cargo bay. According to their schematics data, they were located pretty much smack bang in the middle of the ship. Two more teams were operating towards the aft of the ship, as far as anyone knew, the bow was still undiscovered country.

"We can't keep stumbling around from one ambush to another. We have neither the numbers nor the time for such an endeavor... Find a console, something we can get into. Maybe we can open up the ship for Ops to get us sensors and cameras in here. Once we know where to find our foe, we can strike."

The team nodded in agreement when another call arose from the communicator.

Rhymus and Fisk checked their schematics, debating tactics before shaking their heads. Rhymus activated his own combadge.

"Cleroux here, your plan is flawed. There's only one way in or out of that bay. We'd be charging into a slaughter, both for us and the hostages. Keep them distracted, Fisk and I are working up a plan to give us the upper hand." 

Rhymus then switched channels to communicate with Challenger.

"Ops, Cleroux here. If we open up a backdoor here on the ship, are you able to get us internal scans of the freighter? Sensors, cameras, anything to tell us where we should be going and what to expect when we get there?" 

"You better get here, or you get to explain why you intentionally allowed an entire security team and the hostages to be wiped out because you decided to play it safe.  Too bad ill be dead when you tell the captain that." Silver said as he himself knew the pirate would not wait to long before killing another hostage.

[Central Cargo Bay - SS Heidi Schwebach]

Fisk gave Cleroux a look that said 'is he for real?' and shrugged his shoulders.

"Sounds like the Ensign has lost perspective. All four teams were scattered by how we arrived. It's not like we're slackers given I was busy backing you up. We better leg it portside aft and see what we can do because it looks like the situation is deteriorating quickly."

As Fisk and Cleroux made their way aftwards, they could hear Blackfeather report in.

"Blackfeather to Ensign Silverback, we reached engineering. No one is here. I've left two men to keep it secure and are on our way to you, we will come up from opposite side of your position."

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

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"I knew there was a reason I hated sharks...they look like sharks, Sir... are they Romulan vessels or independent pirates??"

Ruth blinked, but the idea was a bloody good one.  She made sure that her seatbelt was fastened as this could get hairy and she had no wish to add to the casualties that Sickbay had to deal with.

"I'm loathe to send more teams in, but we might need to..." Ruth said pondering.  "Could we potentially beam them all into our Cargo Hold and stun everyone then sort them out afterwards.  I mean it's not the most ethical but it's quick, and no one else gets killed."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian huffed as he watched the surviving attack slip behind yet another asteroid before growling new orders.

"Helm, never mind this little shyte. Sounds like the situation on the Schwebach is goin' ta hell in a handbasket. Hard about, best speed back ta the freighter."

Ian tapped his combadge.

"Challenger ta Silverback, Fisk, Blackfeather, and Cleroux, we are en route ta your position and we're comin' in hot. Reinforcements are on the way."

Switching channels, Ian added.

"Bridge ta Sickbay, prepare ta receive casualties."

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

[Natalie Chatham - Bridge]

Jettis was busy, as usual, being deep in thought and pouring over the scans. Glancing up as the two officers approached him, he stood for a moment, glancing between the two. "It reaches further into the anomaly? Excellent. I'll try to get a scan of it in a moment to see if we can decipher what it is."

He paused for a moment, before continuing. "Perhaps, if we can extend the sensor range, we can boost the transporter signal? Will it reach the collier?"

As soon as he finished his sentence, T'Roth spoke. He nodded to her, in a 'go ahead' manner for her to explain her idea.

[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

T'Roth nodded once when given permission to explain her plan and continued.

"As you have just stated Sir, the solid connection we have through the relay you ordered, the signal strength is now strong enough that we can link the Chatham's transporter with that of the Planitia Deriedi's and rescue her crew. Unfortunately, based on the sensor readings, there is nothing we can do to stop the motion absorbing quality of the anomaly. Whether we shut the collier's engines down and wait for the storm to collapse the anomaly or if we just leave the engines running until the warp core breaches, I do not envision a path that will allow us to save the Planitia Deriedi."

[Rhymus Cleroux]

"You better get here, or you get to explain why you intentionally allowed an entire security team and the hostages to be wiped out because you decided to play it safe.  Too bad ill be dead when you tell the captain that." Silver said as he himself knew the pirate would not wait to long before killing another hostage.

[Central Cargo Bay - SS Heidi Schwebach]

Fisk gave Cleroux a look that said 'is he for real?' and shrugged his shoulders.

"Sounds like the Ensign has lost perspective. All four teams were scattered by how we arrived. It's not like we're slackers given I was busy backing you up. We better leg it portside aft and see what we can do because it looks like the situation is deteriorating quickly."

As Fisk and Cleroux made their way aftwards, they could hear Blackfeather report in.

"Blackfeather to Ensign Silverback, we reached engineering. No one is here. I've left two men to keep it secure and are on our way to you, we will come up from opposite side of your position."

[S.S. Heidi Schwebach, Amidships, Corridors]

Rhymus sighed and shook his head. The Ensign's plan was suicide, that much was clear to everyone. They'd have to devise a new plan on the fly if they were to save the hostages. How such a hothead could come to such a position was- A thought for another time. There was still a mission to complete, and complaining about the"¦ leading officer's lack of tact would get them nowhere. Instead, Rhymus began planning their next move.

"œDon't worry, Fisk. We won't be conscripting this whole detachment for a long, and not to mention costly, siege. Cooler heads will prevail here, no matter what a madman with pips has to say about it."

As the next few moments passed, Rhymus and Fisk made their way aftward. Approaching the siege, Rhymus spoke first.

"œWhat do we know about the foe we face here?"

[Jettis Jyur]

[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

T'Roth nodded once when given permission to explain her plan and continued.

"As you have just stated Sir, the solid connection we have through the relay you ordered, the signal strength is now strong enough that we can link the Chatham's transporter with that of the Planitia Deriedi's and rescue her crew. Unfortunately, based on the sensor readings, there is nothing we can do to stop the motion absorbing quality of the anomaly. Whether we shut the collier's engines down and wait for the storm to collapse the anomaly or if we just leave the engines running until the warp core breaches, I do not envision a path that will allow us to save the Planitia Deriedi."

[Natali Chatham - Bridge]

Jettis rubbed his jaw is T'Roth spoke. His brow crinkled further and further as she explained the situation, sucking in a long breath.
"Well the choice is a no brainer - we are here to save lives, the ship is second priority." He blew out an equally long breath, pausing. "I will have to break the news to the Captain. He won't be pleased, I'm sure - neither will his client. But we have our orders and our oath to Starfleet. I'm sure he'll understand."

He paused for another long minute, before glancing back at his screen, pulling up the sensor data. After a moment of reading, he piped up, "We don't have long to retrieve them and leave, we don't know what will happen once the anomaly implodes. Is there any chance or time to beam over at least some of their cargo? They won't leave empty handed at least, and still have time to vacate the area."

He turned to Lagar, "You thoroughly assessed the ship's capabilities - how fast can the Natali Chatham travel at top speed? For safety I want a considerable distance between us and the collier."

[Silverback]

Portside Aft - SS Heidi Schwebach

Glad to have reinforcements heading there way but he knew they might night arrive in time and time was against them.  One hostage shot and his subordinates disobeying orders.  He knew they would be poor diversion anyways as they preferred to be safe over protecting the innocents.  So he decided not to wait any longer.  There was only one person there for sure and so he acted under this assumption.

"Alright, I surrender." Silver said as he played like he was putting his weapon down and then two things happened if it in unison.  Another grenade came flying over the barricades into the trenches of the murderers and it exploded.  Then the pirate found himself impaled in the torso by the charging Mugato.  Silvers horn now covered in blood and the shock of the pirate clear on his face as he soon found himself being picked up as if weighing nothing and thrown across the corridor hitting the opposite wall with a loud thud and probably passing his reinforcements.  Then he turned and went after anyone else who was a threat always keeping the civilians safe.

[Lagar]

[Natali Chatham - Bridge]

Jettis rubbed his jaw is T'Roth spoke. His brow crinkled further and further as she explained the situation, sucking in a long breath.
"Well the choice is a no brainer - we are here to save lives, the ship is second priority." He blew out an equally long breath, pausing. "I will have to break the news to the Captain. He won't be pleased, I'm sure - neither will his client. But we have our orders and our oath to Starfleet. I'm sure he'll understand."

He paused for another long minute, before glancing back at his screen, pulling up the sensor data. After a moment of reading, he piped up, "We don't have long to retrieve them and leave, we don't know what will happen once the anomaly implodes. Is there any chance or time to beam over at least some of their cargo? They won't leave empty handed at least, and still have time to vacate the area."

He turned to Lagar, "You thoroughly assessed the ship's capabilities - how fast can the Natali Chatham travel at top speed? For safety I want a considerable distance between us and the collier."

Lieutenant jg Lagar
[Bridge - SS Natalie Chatham]

"This vessel's cruising speed while under load is Warp 4 Sir, emergency speed is warp 5." Lagar's tricorder was brought to bear, running a few calculations. "Captain Rybeck's transporters are in fantastic working order. If we all coordinate our efforts, we should be able to beam over the crew in good time. Once they are safe, it may be possible to make further attempts to save the vessel itself; I believe there still remain rescue methods we can consider."