S3:E7 Predator and Prey

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 6 - Holodeck 1 - just after briefing]

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek's expression soured even more at Lahr's input and he sighed in irritation as he replied.

"I think the station idea came from briefing, but that part is immaterial. If we aren't going after a single target, then our task goes from difficult to impossible. We might figure out how to pull off a rescue from a single location, we do not have the means to beam 500 hostages from multiple mobile targets."

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek typically didn't like to be interrupted, but Helga was an exception to just about every rule he'd ever had. He listened to her request, but his reply was grim based on what he now knew.

"You can replicate whatever you feel is necessary, but it seems our task is now so difficult, all the logical preparations may be in vain as I have serious doubts we can do what we came here to do. Regardless, go ahead with getting the cargo bays ready in case we manage to figure something out."

Lahr sighed and rolled his eyes, his antenna flicking in annoyance.  "You shouldn't be so quick to give up there, Lek" the Andorian chastised.   "I could be entirely wrong.  Maybe there is a station. We don't know. But we should have plans prepared for different circumstances, since we don't know."

Lahr considered... "If they are on a station and not under a shield then hadn't the XO suggested warping in ridiculously close.. dropping out of warp basically on their doorstep... extending our shields out to encompass the station ... or ship ... and then beaming them off while within out shields.   That would need huge amounts of power but with our twin cores that shouldn't be a problem, right?" The Andorian looked to Lek for confirmation of this.

"Problem with this is if the station ... or ship...  has time to raise shields or already has them up.  How can we counter that?"

Helga looked to Lek and then to Lahr, before returning to regard Lek once more.  "You'll figure it out." Helga stated with confidence.  Though it might have come across as more commanding because of her tone.  "There's more to that head of yours than just great lobes."  She chuckled with a grin, lightening the mood a bit before realizing she should get back to her own task. "Thanks for the use of the replicators.  I'll leave you to your planning."

Lahr watched Helga leave then nudged the Ferengi when the man returned to converse with them.  "Great lobes huh? And you doubted my matchmaking skills!"   

[Lek]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 6 - Holodeck 1 - just after briefing]

Lahr sighed and rolled his eyes, his antenna flicking in annoyance.  "You shouldn't be so quick to give up there, Lek" the Andorian chastised.   "I could be entirely wrong.  Maybe there is a station. We don't know. But we should have plans prepared for different circumstances, since we don't know."

Lahr considered... "If they are on a station and not under a shield then hadn't the XO suggested warping in ridiculously close.. dropping out of warp basically on their doorstep... extending our shields out to encompass the station ... or ship ... and then beaming them off while within out shields.   That would need huge amounts of power but with our twin cores that shouldn't be a problem, right?" The Andorian looked to Lek for confirmation of this.

"Problem with this is if the station ... or ship...  has time to raise shields or already has them up.  How can we counter that?"

Helga looked to Lek and then to Lahr, before returning to regard Lek once more.  "You'll figure it out." Helga stated with confidence.  Though it might have come across as more commanding because of her tone.  "There's more to that head of yours than just great lobes."  She chuckled with a grin, lightening the mood a bit before realizing she should get back to her own task. "Thanks for the use of the replicators.  I'll leave you to your planning."

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek nodded to Helga as he knew that with others about, he'd never hear the end of him being anything but professional with her at this moment.

"You are very welcome crewman, good thinking to be prepared."

Lahr watched Helga leave then nudged the Ferengi when the man returned to converse with them.  "Great lobes huh? And you doubted my matchmaking skills!"

Lek gave the Andorian an irritated look and growled.

"Oh do shut up Lahr, we have an impossible task and not enough information to even do proper planning. All of the options mentioned so far could work if we actually knew which one to use. The commander's idea is the least suicidal for the most amount of people, but without knowing if our target is a station, a ship, or multiple ships, there is no real way to be certain of how to make extending the shields work as we won't know the power needed until we are there.

"And yes, we do have find a way of dealing with their shields, even if we drop out of warp close enough to immediately extend our shields, unless Leyton's personnel are idiots, they will almost certainly detect us in time to raise their own shields. The prefix code would be the simple solution, but again, I flat refuse to believe Leyton hasn't changed the codes on every ship in his command. That means having to shoot their shields down and as they would be inside our shields, we'd have no protection from back blast or their weapons."

Lek began pacing in frustration and pressing the sides of his head as if he had to hold in all the thoughts racing through his mind. There were simply too many variables to come up with a viable plan and knowing that the captain was looking to him to devise a successful option was making his head hurt.

"We need more information if we are going to solve this. Is it possible to stop outside of sensor range and launch a stealthed probe or one of the shuttles for recon purposes?"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm] Before

Right after setting the coordinates to the destination, Litt stayed at the Helm waiting until the captain confirm that everyone was on board and they were good to go.

Once the Captain gave the order Litt takes the ship out and started to fly until they were at a good distance from the DS4.

"Entering warp in 3... 2... 1..." And he entered at warp 4 as ordered.

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

Now

The flight was really good, and the ship was responding very well... After a few hours, they were almost at their destination.

Litt took a quick look at his panel and looked at the Captain.

"The ETA is about 1-hour Ma'am!" He said with conviction and then kept flying.

[Bridge]

"Aye ma'am" Will said with a nod as he watched her depart the Bridge for her Ready Room. Will took his seat, careful to avoid any feline obstructions that may have found its way to his chair. All the things Ruth had mentioned, the transportation issue, tactical issues, and a feline solution all were issues that were currently under consideration of the various departments. The first two were under the consideration of their respective departments but the third was a topic of thought he could ponder as they closed the distance. Honestly, it was a relatively simple solution that could be solved with a stripped-down commbadge. Get rid of the long-range transceiver and strip out some of the auxiliary parts and you'd have yourself a nice little collar decoration that doubled as a tracker and 'permission slip' by which they could limit the feline's access to various parts of the ship. Now if he could be in a workshop he could create a working device....

[Bridge > Ready Room]

"Thank you Mr. Litt, drop to Warp 3.  While I want to be there as soon as possible, we also need time to prepare.  It's a little like a recipe.  We know what we want the end result to be, say a cake or in this case finding what Leyton is potentially hiding here, and working back the cooking time - or preparation for us, from that.  First up, meeting with my lovely Science Boffins here!" The Captain said with a smile.  Giving Will another smile she went to the smaller room.

[USS Challenger - Ready room]

Jasper came onto the bridge and was asked to join the Captain to the ready room. He saw the cat was still on the bridge. As he entered the Ready Room. He stood ready at attention.

As he was standing their he had the crimson nebula in his head. The two red clouds which seem to be together was just nagging at his little brilliant brain. He was not sure why?

Ready Room

"At ease Ensign before you break something.  Replicator is right there, might want to grab a drink and a bite while you have the opportunity... things are gonna get really busy soon.  Right people what we got?  Anything interesting?" Ruth said with a small smile.  "Talk quickly, even dropping down to Warp 3 we haven't got long to---"

Ensign Winsdor to Captain Sigurdsdottir, I have something interesting on the longer range scans, I have a probe ready for further investigation should you order it.  The nebula seems to have a lot of large chunks of asteroid inside it, I thought it worth mentioning since these might be hazardous to navigation.

"...or large enough to hide large quantities of people on."  Ruth murmured to herself just loud enough for Evie and Jasper to hear.

Launch the probe Ensign, and good work. Have the telemetry sent both to Ops, Lt. Cmdr. Wardropper and Ensign Meltem as well as my PADD please. Captain out. 

Out on the Bridge Alexandria launched the probe with a small smile on her face glad that the Captain approved of her forward thinking.

"Right as I was saying talk fast, I want the pair of you on the Bridge for this.  Mr. Meltem what do you have on the device?"

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

[Meanwhile on the USS Poseidon]

[AS NPC Captain Roger Carstairs and Admiral Alexander D'Arth]

Somewhere between Zhargosia and GSC 88932, south of the Crimson Nebula an Akira Class ship - the USS Poseidon, registered 'missing' some 20 odd months ago, was patrolling.

Captain Roger Carstairs, now a Leyton man through and through, and not one who had been 'turned', just someone that saw Leyton's 'vision', turned to Admiral d'Arth, who had been his guest since they left the Redav at the wormhole, and smiled.

"Well it looks like your 'friend' Little Miss Mischief from Innominatum and the Challenger are trying to cause problems for Leyton.  Our little boobie trap put paid to them finding the brain washing device though... it's not the end for that, we still have blueprints, we can make more.  They don't know where the cadets are though.  They were headed for DS4 when last seen, licking her wounds?" Carstairs chuckled obviously thinking he had the upper hand.

"I don't know,.." Alexander d'Arth replied, puffing up his cheeks and blowing them out.  He was pretty sure that his wife and kids that were kidnapped were amongst those that might be held with the cadets and he was going to do anything he could to help get them safe.  "Capt. Sigurdsdottir isn't exactly a pushover.  I think, and you being a Captain yourself, Roger.."

Alex dropped in the friendly first name as if they were the best of friends.  "...you know you put into the stations for many reasons.  She may have been picking up or dropping of staff, injured or ill personnel that their medical staff couldn't cope with, taking on supplies, repairs, R&R any number of things.   But just because she's a woman doesn't mean she's going to roll over and die.  Look at Admiral Janeway!"

"True, but we'll be waiting for her if she happens to come our way..."

"Sir... The USS Falcon has just sent word that they saw the USS Challenger between Alsori-Nethyr and Starbase 301, looks like she might be heading to DS3 potentially."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Carstairs answered.  "Or she could be heading for the nebula, well we'll be waiting for her.  Unless she knows about the caves in the central asteroid however she'll never find them, we took their commbadges and they'll have to do a lot of Scientific jiggery-pokery to get sensors through the asteroid to do a body count, that's if they even get past us.  We're an Akira.... mighty.  What's she an Excelsior class?!"

"Trailblazer modification, I didn't have a chance to get to grips with what that might mean in terms of performance, and she has a gutsy crew.  I don't know who they've got in to replace Sukal, but if I know the man he will have left to be with his family after they were attacked.  If she got Crewman Nari back that guys a tactical wizard. But that's Tactical, Sukal was Ops, they have ch'Verret and he was Security first I believe, and he's good, and Lt. Taray... she's fierce that one.  Never assume you'll have an easy time with the Challenger." d'Arth pointed out.

"Rubbish, we'll wipe them out.  Look what we did to the Redav!" the Captain of the Poseidon said with a raised eyebrow.  "And makes me wonder just how they got into that base.  You're a little too eager to sing the praises of that she-cat that commands the Challenger, has she got a little mole on the inside here?!" he said a note of suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Nope, I'd say the same if you were facing a medical ship.  Never underestimate the enemy, you don't know what tricks they have up their jeffries tubes!" Alex said with a chuckle that belied his inner nervousness.  He had to find a way to get information to the Challenger.  They might be going to rescue his wife and kids, even if he died in the effort, saving their lives would be worth it.

[Don Damien Addams]

[Bridge > Ready Room]

"Thank you Mr. Litt, drop to Warp 3.  While I want to be there as soon as possible, we also need time to prepare.  It's a little like a recipe.  We know what we want the end result to be, say a cake or in this case finding what Leyton is potentially hiding here, and working back the cooking time - or preparation for us, from that.  First up, meeting with my lovely Science Boffins here!" The Captain said with a smile.  Giving Will another smile she went to the smaller room.

Ready Room

"At ease Ensign before you break something.  Replicator is right there, might want to grab a drink and a bite while you have the opportunity... things are gonna get really busy soon.  Right people what we got?  Anything interesting?" Ruth said with a small smile.  "Talk quickly, even dropping down to Warp 3 we haven't got long to---"

Ensign Winsdor to Captain Sigurdsdottir, I have something interesting on the longer range scans, I have a probe ready for further investigation should you order it.  The nebula seems to have a lot of large chunks of asteroid inside it, I thought it worth mentioning since these might be hazardous to navigation.

"...or large enough to hide large quantities of people on."  Ruth murmured to herself just loud enough for Evie and Jasper to hear.

Launch the probe Ensign, and good work. Have the telemetry sent both to Ops, Lt. Cmdr. Wardropper and Ensign Meltem as well as my PADD please. Captain out. 

Out on the Bridge Alexandria launched the probe with a small smile on her face glad that the Captain approved of her forward thinking.

"Right as I was saying talk fast, I want the pair of you on the Bridge for this.  Mr. Meltem what do you have on the device?"

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

[Meanwhile on the USS Poseidon]

[AS NPC Captain Roger Carstairs and Admiral Alexander D'Arth]

Somewhere between Zhargosia and GSC 88932, south of the Crimson Nebula an Akira Class ship - the USS Poseidon, registered 'missing' some 20 odd months ago, was patrolling.

Captain Roger Carstairs, now a Leyton man through and through, and not one who had been 'turned', just someone that saw Leyton's 'vision', turned to Admiral d'Arth, who had been his guest since they left the Redav at the wormhole, and smiled.

"Well it looks like your 'friend' Little Miss Mischief from Innominatum and the Challenger are trying to cause problems for Leyton.  Our little boobie trap put paid to them finding the brain washing device though... it's not the end for that, we still have blueprints, we can make more.  They don't know where the cadets are though.  They were headed for DS4 when last seen, licking her wounds?" Carstairs chuckled obviously thinking he had the upper hand.

"I don't know,.." Alexander d'Arth replied, puffing up his cheeks and blowing them out.  He was pretty sure that his wife and kids that were kidnapped were amongst those that might be held with the cadets and he was going to do anything he could to help get them safe.  "Capt. Sigurdsdottir isn't exactly a pushover.  I think, and you being a Captain yourself, Roger.."

Alex dropped in the friendly first name as if they were the best of friends.  "...you know you put into the stations for many reasons.  She may have been picking up or dropping of staff, injured or ill personnel that their medical staff couldn't cope with, taking on supplies, repairs, R&R any number of things.   But just because she's a woman doesn't mean she's going to roll over and die.  Look at Admiral Janeway!"

"True, but we'll be waiting for her if she happens to come our way..."

"Sir... The USS Falcon has just sent word that they saw the USS Challenger between Alsori-Nethyr and Starbase 301, looks like she might be heading to DS3 potentially."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Carstairs answered.  "Or she could be heading for the nebula, well we'll be waiting for her.  Unless she knows about the caves in the central asteroid however she'll never find them, we took their commbadges and they'll have to do a lot of Scientific jiggery-pokery to get sensors through the asteroid to do a body count, that's if they even get past us.  We're an Akira.... mighty.  What's she an Excelsior class?!"

"Trailblazer modification, I didn't have a chance to get to grips with what that might mean in terms of performance, and she has a gutsy crew.  I don't know who they've got in to replace Sukal, but if I know the man he will have left to be with his family after they were attacked.  If she got Crewman Nari back that guys a tactical wizard. But that's Tactical, Sukal was Ops, they have ch'Verret and he was Security first I believe, and he's good, and Lt. Taray... she's fierce that one.  Never assume you'll have an easy time with the Challenger." d'Arth pointed out.

"Rubbish, we'll wipe them out.  Look what we did to the Redav!" the Captain of the Poseidon said with a raised eyebrow.  "And makes me wonder just how they got into that base.  You're a little too eager to sing the praises of that she-cat that commands the Challenger, has she got a little mole on the inside here?!" he said a note of suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Nope, I'd say the same if you were facing a medical ship.  Never underestimate the enemy, you don't know what tricks they have up their jeffries tubes!" Alex said with a chuckle that belied his inner nervousness.  He had to find a way to get information to the Challenger.  They might be going to rescue his wife and kids, even if he died in the effort, saving their lives would be worth it.

[USS Challenger -Ready Room]

There was no time to hit the replicator. Captain had wanted him to speak fast. Which was hard when there was interruption. When the proper little silence snake in he would let his mouth do its work.

"Working with medical we will be able to reverse the brain washing technique. For the crimson nebula we possible wondering the making it red, but the asteroids you had mentioned would possible where the victims will be," his eyebrows shot up. "The clouds over lap could be where the victims cause I got a nagging feeling from that.." snapped his fingers. "Damn, we can use the brain washing machine to hone on the victims. We use the information—-" he paused as someone spoke up. "I refuse to be interrupted, a little more Captain!" He ordered her. Not proper for someone his rank but he was speaking. "Where was I? Sensors hone on them." He stood up proud. Then he turned his head to the replicator. "There. Now I am can drink and eat fast."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 6 - Holodeck 1 - after briefing]

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek nodded to Helga as he knew that with others about, he'd never hear the end of him being anything but professional with her at this moment.

"You are very welcome crewman, good thinking to be prepared."

Lek gave the Andorian an irritated look and growled.

"Oh do shut up Lahr, we have an impossible task and not enough information to even do proper planning. All of the options mentioned so far could work if we actually knew which one to use. The commander's idea is the least suicidal for the most amount of people, but without knowing if our target is a station, a ship, or multiple ships, there is no real way to be certain of how to make extending the shields work as we won't know the power needed until we are there.

"And yes, we do have find a way of dealing with their shields, even if we drop out of warp close enough to immediately extend our shields, unless Leyton's personnel are idiots, they will almost certainly detect us in time to raise their own shields. The prefix code would be the simple solution, but again, I flat refuse to believe Leyton hasn't changed the codes on every ship in his command. That means having to shoot their shields down and as they would be inside our shields, we'd have no protection from back blast or their weapons."

Lek began pacing in frustration and pressing the sides of his head as if he had to hold in all the thoughts racing through his mind. There were simply too many variables to come up with a viable plan and knowing that the captain was looking to him to devise a successful option was making his head hurt.

"We need more information if we are going to solve this. Is it possible to stop outside of sensor range and launch a stealthed probe or one of the shuttles for recon purposes?"

Lahr wasn't fooled one bit by Lek's 'professionalism' as the Ferengi answered Helga. But it seemed like when the Ferengi was stressed was a bad time to tease him about this 'great lobes'.

After Helga left, Lahr was subjected to the Ferengi's rant for a bit.  At Lek's question about a stealthed probe or shuttle.

"Us?  Not a chance. We lack that technology. But according to the Captain...Hecate is an 'ally'. Maybe we can ask her and her Romulan vessel to maybe sneak in closer take a look around and report back?  Or maybe allow a officer or two on her ship to take a few reading - figure out where these hostages are being held."

Lahr looked between Kyle and Lek. If they did go this route it was best the request was put forward by one of them.

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

[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - Ops]

Lahr sat at his station as Litt slowed the ship to Warp 3.  Lahr automatically messaged this to the Tal'Bath.   He was curious as to what decision Hecate had eventually come to when asked to be Challenger's 'steathed' eyes and ears - in order to search ahead for what exactly they were dealing with. 

[Lek]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 6 - Holodeck 1 - after briefing]

Lahr wasn't fooled one bit by Lek's 'professionalism' as the Ferengi answered Helga. But it seemed like when the Ferengi was stressed was a bad time to tease him about this 'great lobes'.

After Helga left, Lahr was subjected to the Ferengi's rant for a bit.  At Lek's question about a stealthed probe or shuttle.

"Us?  Not a chance. We lack that technology. But according to the Captain...Hecate is an 'ally'. Maybe we can ask her and her Romulan vessel to maybe sneak in closer take a look around and report back?  Or maybe allow a officer or two on her ship to take a few reading - figure out where these hostages are being held."

Lahr looked between Kyle and Lek. If they did go this route it was best the request was put forward by one of them.

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek blinked, then blinked again and finally managed to reply.

"That is a surprisingly good idea. I'd forgotten about the Romulan. I will contact the captain immediately."

Lek then put deed to word and tapped his commbadge.

"Lek to Captain. We've run into a wall regarding how to rescue the hostages as we need more information. Do you know if Hecate would be willing to scout ahead of us so we know what to plan for?"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[USS Challenger -Ready Room]

There was no time to hit the replicator. Captain had wanted him to speak fast. Which was hard when there was interruption. When the proper little silence snake in he would let his mouth do its work.

"Working with medical we will be able to reverse the brain washing technique. For the crimson nebula we possible wondering the making it red, but the asteroids you had mentioned would possible where the victims will be," his eyebrows shot up. "The clouds over lap could be where the victims cause I got a nagging feeling from that.." snapped his fingers. "Damn, we can use the brain washing machine to hone on the victims. We use the information—-" he paused as someone spoke up. "I refuse to be interrupted, a little more Captain!" He ordered her. Not proper for someone his rank but he was speaking. "Where was I? Sensors hone on them." He stood up proud. Then he turned his head to the replicator. "There. Now I am can drink and eat fast."

[Ready Room - USS Challenger]

"Breathe Mr. Meltem.  I know I said speak fast but that's a little too fast. OK go get your drink and then let's approach this a little more clearly." The Captain said trying to process what Jasper had said.

The CSO opened her mouth to reprimand him speaking out of rank to the Captain and Ruth waved her down with a small shake of her head.

"So what do we have..." Ruth said speaking slowly.  "You feel that where the clouds overlap is where the asteroids that Ensign Winsdor found are.  Right that's point 1, and you feel you can use the device to hone in on these people... how exactly? I don't want that on any head of my crew.  I hope you aren't confusing it with a device I saw once in an old Sci-Fi Fantasy series where people had super powers.  Although I admit it looks similar.  However, if you wish to work with Medical on that, good, I have them setting up an evacuee station in the Cargo Bay."

She shook her head and then the hail came thru from Lek.

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek blinked, then blinked again and finally managed to reply.

"That is a surprisingly good idea. I'd forgotten about the Romulan. I will contact the captain immediately."

Lek then put deed to word and tapped his commbadge.

"Lek to Captain. We've run into a wall regarding how to rescue the hostages as we need more information. Do you know if Hecate would be willing to scout ahead of us so we know what to plan for?"

Quite likely Mr. Lek, I'll send a message.  She can get in close with cloaking and report back.  I did already ask if she knew of this location and she knows as much as us, which is not much although she's more familiar with the main planet Zhargosia.  We have a probe out there now and Ensign Winsdor has found some large asteroids... it is possible that the hostages are in these asteroids.  I'll keep you updated.

The CO held up a finger apologising.  "Two secs please, enjoy your drink a moment.  I need to get a message to Captain Hecate and see what we can do."

Captain Sigurdsdottir to Tal'Bath we have run into a snag would it be possible to speak with Captain Hecate?

Over on the Tal'Bath...

"On Screen!" Hecate ordered and gave Ruth a smile.

Right here, Captain Sigurdsdottir, do you require total Captain to Captain privacy or can you speak here? 

Here is fine, you have cloaking, we have no information about this nebula.  We wondered if you'd go in cloaked, have a look, see if you can find anything and report back to us.  We are picking up asteroids inside the nebula, but we have no further information.  We need to find where the hostages are and find a way to get them out based on this.  Ruth asked hopefully.

Definitely sounds like a job for us, maintain your speed, we'll go to Warp 8 scout around cloaked and rendezvous with you this side of Zhargosia.  If you enter synchronous orbit with that planet we'll meet you there in...   Hecate looked to her helmsman for confirmation.  Luckily he was on the ball and was already working out stuff in his brain.

"Will take us about 40 mins at warp 8 ma'am to reach the nebula, I'm not fully aware of how large the nebula is but if we could have say an hour to scout around, and then 30 mins back to Zhargosia since we aren't coming all the way back..."

Hecate nodded, then turned back to the viewscreen.

Shall we say 2 hours.  I know you're eager to get this done and dusted, but there's an Earthen saying that goes something like 'Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance' or something like that.  I'm unsure what urinating has to do with it but...
The Romulan shrugged smiling.    We'll get the information you need, coupled with your probe, should be able to plan more effectively.  See you in 2 hours, Captain Siggy!

Ruth laughed, it was a name that she had allowed Hecate to use since Sigurdsdottir was a mouthful, and it was a sign of their friendship.

Two hours Hecate, Capt. Siggy out!

Back in the Ready Room the Captain turned back to Meltem and Wardropper.  "Looks like you have a little more time to figure this out but I want you liaising with the Bridge too... I want as much information on the composition of these nebula clouds, if we need to go in, will an away team need EV suits, is there any risk of radiation, anything that will interfere with transportation... I want all that information and I want it in 2 hours...or as much as you can get at distance and with the probe.  When Hecate rendezvous with us we can get some more information.  Let me get myself a sandwich and answer Mr. Lek and then you can tell me all about how you intend to use this device to hone in on the hostages."

Mr. Lek?  Captain Hecate was more than happy to oblige and she will go in, scout around and RV with us at Zhargosia in 2 hours.  In the meantime, please liaise with Ensign Winsdor on the Bridge she has launched a probe to see if we can get any further information before we get in the thick of it.

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

[Meanwhile on the USS Poseidon]

[AS NPC Admiral Alexander D'Arth]

Alexander had excused himself and went down to Engineering.  He wasn't sure that the terminals weren't tapped in his quarters.

Using a code to enter the console that he'd got off a cadet when watching over their shoulder he logged in.

He knew he didn't have long. But he needed to give Ruth and the Challenger as much of a fighting chance as he could.

Alex typed quickly and sent.

GSC88932DNAQ'RANA NOTYEL
NEPTUNE, KESTREL, SEMI GENGISKHAN
LA CHASSE EST LANCÉE
SELOH SDIORETSA

He hoped they'd get it and that no one that might intercept would understand what he was going on about.  If anyone got in the wrong for it they'd see it came from a Cadet Richardson, not Admiral D'Arth.  However this was one of the cadets who was missing so that in itself would be a clue.

Hitting send he prayed that it would get to the Challenger and it would help the way that the codes did for the Science station.

[Ready Room - Challenger]

Ruth's console beeped.

She opened the message from 'Cadet Richardson' whomever that was, and read the message which was full of code.

"Either of you speak French?  We've got another coded message!"

Tapping her commbadge she knew what she had to do.   Captain to all senior staff, Emergency meeting 5 mins in the Conference Room.  Mr. ch'Verret, Ensign Winsdor, Counseller Ryder.  I'd like you in there too please. Captain out.

"We'll adjourn this for now you can take your snack with you I'm fine with that, this is intriguing.  Someone is trying to help us, from Leyton's side but why, and who, and can we trust it.  Let's move to the Conference Room, I'm sorry Mr. Meltem, but perhaps you can put your ideas to the entire faculty?!"

She stood and moved to the door to go to the Conference Room.  In her mind this was getting more and more difficult a puzzle as they went on but with Hecate and the probe and now this message they might get some information.

Striding out into the Bridge she smiled to see Lahr at his console.  "Mr. ch'Verret can I use your know how please, or you and Mr. Waring.  I need a conference link set up with Captain Hecate in the Conference Room she needs paged in on this.  Make it encrypted and secure.  Thank you. Gentlemen, grab yourself refreshments on the way in this could get interesting."

[Lek]

She shook her head and then the hail came thru from Lek.

Quite likely Mr. Lek, I'll send a message.  She can get in close with cloaking and report back.  I did already ask if she knew of this location and she knows as much as us, which is not much although she's more familiar with the main planet Zhargosia.  We have a probe out there now and Ensign Winsdor has found some large asteroids... it is possible that the hostages are in these asteroids.  I'll keep you updated.

[ then you can tell me all about how you intend to use this device to hone in on the hostages."[/color]

Mr. Lek?  Captain Hecate was more than happy to oblige and she will go in, scout around and RV with us at Zhargosia in 2 hours.  In the meantime, please liaise with Ensign Winsdor on the Bridge she has launched a probe to see if we can get any further information before we get in the thick of it.

Tapping her commbadge she knew what she had to do.   Captain to all senior staff, Emergency meeting 5 mins in the Conference Room.  Mr. ch'Verret, Ensign Winsdor, Counseller Ryder.  I'd like you in there too please. Captain out.

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek sighed in relief to hear they had options, but before he could reply came the call for a meeting and he consolidated his response.

"Aye Ma'am, on my way."

Lek immediately headed for the turbolift and hoped there was new and useful information to be had.

[Don Damien Addams]

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek sighed in relief to hear they had options, but before he could reply came the call for a meeting and he consolidated his response.

"Aye Ma'am, on my way."

Lek immediately headed for the turbolift and hoped there was new and useful information to be had.

[USS Challenger - Ready Room]

Before anyone else came into the room. Jasper was going to say something but he shook it off. He took his replicated tuna fish and cup of water to the table. He sat down. The tunafish sandwich was not all great cause it was replicated.

What he was going to share to the meeting was that they are going to have information about the victims from the machine. Which there would be electrodes of their brain patterns. He was hoping they could put that information in sensors dish of the Challenger to ping for the victims who were on an asteroid.

However, he had to wait until the meeting had started.

[Richard James Litt]

[Bridge > Ready Room]

"Thank you Mr. Litt, drop to Warp 3.  While I want to be there as soon as possible, we also need time to prepare.  It's a little like a recipe.  We know what we want the end result to be, say a cake or in this case finding what Leyton is potentially hiding here, and working back the cooking time - or preparation for us, from that.  First up, meeting with my lovely Science Boffins here!" The Captain said with a smile.  Giving Will another smile she went to the smaller room.

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]
As Litt

"Aye, ma'am, dropping to warp 3." After the change of the velocity, Litt did some calculations and realized that the ETA changed to approximately 2.5h.

After that, he just kept flying the vessel.

Tapping her commbadge she knew what she had to do.   Captain to all senior staff, Emergency meeting 5 mins in the Conference Room.  Mr. ch'Verret, Ensign Winsdor, Counseller Ryder.  I'd like you in there too please. Captain out.

[USS Challenger · Messhall]
As Dradis

Chief Dradis was in the Messhall eating some sandwiches when the Captain called all the senior staffs to a meeting. Then, he just dropped his snacks and touched his commbadge.

"Aye ma'am, I'm on my way."

He answered and then went straight to the conference room as soon as he could.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 6 - Holodeck 1 - Just after briefing]

[Ready Room - USS Challenger]
She shook her head and then the hail came thru from Lek.

Quite likely Mr. Lek, I'll send a message.  She can get in close with cloaking and report back.  I did already ask if she knew of this location and she knows as much as us, which is not much although she's more familiar with the main planet Zhargosia.  We have a probe out there now and Ensign Winsdor has found some large asteroids... it is possible that the hostages are in these asteroids.  I'll keep you updated.

Lahr gave a shrug towards the Ferengi.  "Let's just brainstorm ideas for each of the various scenarios we can think of and then once we know what we are actually dealing with we can narrow down to a plan."

Less than a five minutes later, the Captain got back to them.

Mr. Lek?  Captain Hecate was more than happy to oblige and she will go in, scout around and RV with us at Zhargosia in 2 hours.  In the meantime, please liaise with Ensign Winsdor on the Bridge she has launched a probe to see if we can get any further information before we get in the thick of it.

Lahr grinned to Lek and Kyle hearing the Captain.  "Seems you've got to go.  Lt Briggs and I can continue with this for a bit more, right Sir?". Lahr looked over to Kyle and offered a smile.  Since finding that list of Leytonites and having both Briggs NOT on it... had made a world of difference to the Andorian.

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

[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - An hour later]

Tapping her commbadge she knew what she had to do.   Captain to all senior staff, Emergency meeting 5 mins in the Conference Room.  Mr. ch'Verret, Ensign Winsdor, Counseller Ryder.  I'd like you in there too please. Captain out.

An hour had passed since the Tal'Bath had gone on ahead.  When the Captain unexpectedly called an emergency meeting.  Lahr at Ops scrambled to be sure the Conference Room was not in use by any other staff...  booking it for next hour and then called in a replacement for him on the Bridge so that he could attend as ordered.  While he waited for his replacement, Grelek, the Captain emerged from her ready room.

She stood and moved to the door to go to the Conference Room.  In her mind this was getting more and more difficult a puzzle as they went on but with Hecate and the probe and now this message they might get some information.

Striding out into the Bridge she smiled to see Lahr at his console.  "Mr. ch'Verret can I use your know how please, or you and Mr. Waring.  I need a conference link set up with Captain Hecate in the Conference Room she needs paged in on this.  Make it encrypted and secure.  Thank you. Gentlemen, grab yourself refreshments on the way in this could get interesting."

Lahr frowned.  "Setting up a conference link is easily done ma'am - in normal circumstances.  However given the Tal'Bath is cloaked and attempting to avoid detection.. even encrypted - connecting to our conference link would be like aiming a spotlight right at them.  Do you still need it done?"

[William Waring]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 6 - Holodeck 1 - Just after briefing]

Lahr gave a shrug towards the Ferengi.  "Let's just brainstorm ideas for each of the various scenarios we can think of and then once we know what we are actually dealing with we can narrow down to a plan."

Less than a five minutes later, the Captain got back to them.

Lahr grinned to Lek and Kyle hearing the Captain.  "Seems you've got to go.  Lt Briggs and I can continue with this for a bit more, right Sir?". Lahr looked over to Kyle and offered a smile.  Since finding that list of Leytonites and having both Briggs NOT on it... had made a world of difference to the Andorian.

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

[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - An hour later]
An hour had passed since the Tal'Bath had gone on ahead.  When the Captain unexpectedly called an emergency meeting.  Lahr at Ops scrambled to be sure the Conference Room was not in use by any other staff...  booking it for next hour and then called in a replacement for him on the Bridge so that he could attend as ordered.  While he waited for his replacement, Grelek, the Captain emerged from her ready room.

Lahr frowned.  "Setting up a conference link is easily done ma'am - in normal circumstances.  However given the Tal'Bath is cloaked and attempting to avoid detection.. even encrypted - connecting to our conference link would be like aiming a spotlight right at them.  Do you still need it done?"

[Bridge]

Will had been watching over the Bridge in Ruth's absence and found himself more involved in the solution to the feline fiasco then he had wanted. He severely doubted that his ideas would be ones that the Captain would write off on and he had to admit it was more to keep himself engaged rather than ask for status reports every five minutes.

It wasn't until Ruth asked for the data link to the Tal'Bath. "ch'Verret is correct ma'am. Given the fact that we would be unable to locate the Tal'Bath via conventional means, it will be extraordinarily difficult to find there location." he said, getting up from his chair to make his way to the conference room only to stop part way "What if use it like testing a reciever? We encrypt the signal on our end and cover relative location. We know their course and speed so we dial back the power and expand the range to encompass the most amount of space before the signal begins to degrade. We wait for a bounce back that confirms that it's the Tal'Bath and bam, we got our signal lock!"

[Olivia Briggs]

[Ready Room - USS Challenger]

Tapping her commbadge she knew what she had to do.   Captain to all senior staff, Emergency meeting 5 mins in the Conference Room.  Mr. ch'Verret, Ensign Winsdor, Counseller Ryder.  I'd like you in there too please. Captain out.

[Sickbay - Challenger]

Liv and the remaining staff in Sickbay had almost finished preparing for rescue mission, when the call came through from Ruth, regarding a emergency meeting in the conference room. With Maggie still in the cargo bay, the Assistant Chief, figured that she would probably meet her there, although understood if she didn't appear since she was taking the lead on this. Of course she was curious as to what was happening, so she quickly tapped her badge twice to acknowledge the comm, before leaving Sickbay, knowing that they were as prepared as they could be, for their arrival at the nebula.

The medical officer then entered a waiting lift, which took her to her destination within minutes.

[Conference Room - Challenger]

Exiting the lift, Liv then made her way to the conference room, stopping just in front of the door, as she then went through the steps to gain access. Once the door slid open, Liv went inside and promptly took her seat as she waited for the others to arrive.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge- Ops - An hour after briefing]

Lahr, who was still waiting on the arrival of his replacement, glanced over to his new Operations Chief - not to mention XO of the ship.  The Andorian's antenna perked at the man's suggestion as he considered.

"That would certainly hide them better.  But I don't know.... us just sending out a signal into the nebula.. to be would raise my suspicions if I were a Leytonite seeing it.  Yeah the Tal'Bath is cloaked... didn't prevent us from finding her.  Just sayin'..."  Lahr gave a bit of a shrug.

"Not sure what this emergency meeting is about - but unless it's life and death crucial... I'd recommend to just wait an hour to inform the Tal'Bath when we meet at the rendezvous rather than putting them at unnecessary risk.  But I'll get the system set up to include them on a secure comm link if you still think it needs to be done," he said to the Captain, trusting her judgement.

Grelek arrived then and Lahr stood up to follow Will and the Captain to the Conference Room.

[USS Challenger-A - Conference Room]

It took Lahr all of a minute to get the system ready should the Captain opt to make the call to include Hecate and the Tal'Bath in this meeting.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[USS Challenger - Ready Room]

Before anyone else came into the room. Jasper was going to say something but he shook it off. He took his replicated tuna fish and cup of water to the table. He sat down. The tunafish sandwich was not all great cause it was replicated.

What he was going to share to the meeting was that they are going to have information about the victims from the machine. Which there would be electrodes of their brain patterns. He was hoping they could put that information in sensors dish of the Challenger to ping for the victims who were on an asteroid.

However, he had to wait until the meeting had started.

[Holodeck One - USS Challenger]

Lek sighed in relief to hear they had options, but before he could reply came the call for a meeting and he consolidated his response.

"Aye Ma'am, on my way."

Lek immediately headed for the turbolift and hoped there was new and useful information to be had.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret

[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - An hour later]
An hour had passed since the Tal'Bath had gone on ahead.  When the Captain unexpectedly called an emergency meeting.  Lahr at Ops scrambled to be sure the Conference Room was not in use by any other staff...  booking it for next hour and then called in a replacement for him on the Bridge so that he could attend as ordered.  While he waited for his replacement, Grelek, the Captain emerged from her ready room.

Lahr frowned.  "Setting up a conference link is easily done ma'am - in normal circumstances.  However given the Tal'Bath is cloaked and attempting to avoid detection.. even encrypted - connecting to our conference link would be like aiming a spotlight right at them.  Do you still need it done?"

[Bridge]

Will had been watching over the Bridge in Ruth's absence and found himself more involved in the solution to the feline fiasco then he had wanted. He severely doubted that his ideas would be ones that the Captain would write off on and he had to admit it was more to keep himself engaged rather than ask for status reports every five minutes.

It wasn't until Ruth asked for the data link to the Tal'Bath. "ch'Verret is correct ma'am. Given the fact that we would be unable to locate the Tal'Bath via conventional means, it will be extraordinarily difficult to find there location." he said, getting up from his chair to make his way to the conference room only to stop part way "What if use it like testing a reciever? We encrypt the signal on our end and cover relative location. We know their course and speed so we dial back the power and expand the range to encompass the most amount of space before the signal begins to degrade. We wait for a bounce back that confirms that it's the Tal'Bath and bam, we got our signal lock!"

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge- Ops - An hour after briefing]

Lahr, who was still waiting on the arrival of his replacement, glanced over to his new Operations Chief - not to mention XO of the ship.  The Andorian's antenna perked at the man's suggestion as he considered.

"That would certainly hide them better.  But I don't know.... us just sending out a signal into the nebula.. to be would raise my suspicions if I were a Leytonite seeing it.  Yeah the Tal'Bath is cloaked... didn't prevent us from finding her.  Just sayin'..."  Lahr gave a bit of a shrug.

"Not sure what this emergency meeting is about - but unless it's life and death crucial... I'd recommend to just wait an hour to inform the Tal'Bath when we meet at the rendezvous rather than putting them at unnecessary risk.  But I'll get the system set up to include them on a secure comm link if you still think it needs to be done," he said to the Captain, trusting her judgement.

Grelek arrived then and Lahr stood up to follow Will and the Captain to the Conference Room.

[USS Challenger-A - Conference Room]

It took Lahr all of a minute to get the system ready should the Captain opt to make the call to include Hecate and the Tal'Bath in this meeting.

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

The Captain was pleased to see how quickly her senior staff rose to the summons to come to a meeting. She nodded and smiled at each of them, and, when Lahr pointed out the logistical problem, and Will countered it, she considered carefully.

"I'm no Ops expert guys but, no, it can wait I hope.  Or least let me explain why what and so on in this meeting then I'll take all opinions on when to patch her in.  At the moment hopefully Leyton still thinks she's on his side so if she gets spotted then she can bluff it out, I don't particularly want to blow her cover when she's doing us a favour."

Turning to Will she said "It could be life and death as Lahr asked is it a life or death situation, and could we wait.  Well it could be if we drop her in it! and he's right, mind you I don't know how many Science boffins and kick-ass Andorian and Human Ops Experts they have on their team!" the Captain said with a wink to two of her favourite crew.  She didn't really play 'favourites' but there were some crew that she relied on a little more than others and she'd be lost without them.

"It's this..." she said showing the PADD she had the message on:

GSC88932DNAQ'RANA NOTYEL
NEPTUNE, KESTREL, SEMI GENGISKHAN
LA CHASSE EST LANCÉE
SELOH SDIORETSA

"We got another message and I'm gonna need opinions, decoding and so on.  Someone is out there and trying to help us and I don't know who it is.  But while you're welcome to start working on it, please let's wait for Mr. Briggs and Maggie at least before we start putting out ideas, I don't want to be repeating myself too much.  You're welcome to be back tracing that too if you like Lahr, you're good at that!"