S3:E7 Predator and Prey

[Kyle Briggs]

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Kyle sat at the table and rubbed his temples. He had gotten a headache while trying to figure out their tactics for getting the hostages out. He was really hoping they got some valuable intel back from the Romulans. Now it was the waiting game again. He looked across the table at his wife and discreetly pointed to his head. He knew she'd get the message and help him out as soon as she could.

[Don Damien Addams]

[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!"

[Uss Challenger]

"I recognize one. KESTREL. It's earth bird breed a falcon," he shared. "Neptune is he not a God on earth? Sea. Neptune for sea. KESTREL For air? And...is that two names in one GENGISKHAN as Genghis Khan? And that CHASSE is like a dance...French name...I don't know...god of water, bird falcon of air, a warmonger and dance?" He looked puzzled.  He rubbed his temple. Then he was tapping his right index finger thinking.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Conference room]

[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!"

[Uss Challenger]

"I recognize one. KESTREL. It's earth bird breed a falcon," he shared. "Neptune is he not a God on earth? Sea. Neptune for sea. KESTREL For air? And...is that two names in one GENGISKHAN as Genghis Khan? And that CHASSE is like a dance...French name...I don't know...god of water, bird falcon of air, a warmonger and dance?" He looked puzzled.  He rubbed his temple. Then he was tapping his right index finger thinking.

When the PADD was handed to him to look over Lahr sent a copy to himself and passed on the PADD.  Before nodding to the Captain at her request to trace back the message. As he ran that info down.. the Andorian looked over the message, figuring he might as well pass it through a translation program.  The program came back with several hits.  Lahr offered these up to the room, reading from his PADD.

"Still working on the trace-back ... but a translation program confirms the Ensign's assessment of Kestral and Neptune and Gengis Khan.  Semi in English means... an old 20th century vehicle, or slang for... Lahr paused and glanced about uncomfortably after reading it's meaning.  He swallowed, his antenna were writhing something fierce.

"Slang for a partial erection.  Sorry ma'am." He continued on quickly. "But if spelt with a hyphen it is a numerical prefix meaning 'half'.   The third line comes back as French for: The hunt is launched."

Lahr looked back to the message.  "And if I'm not mistaken... NOTYEL is just Leyton spelt backwards.  Still trying to figure out the beginning letter-number sequence.  I see DNA in there and maybe an acronym of GSC for something Starfleet Command? or the scientific 'grams, of force, per square centimetre'." Lahr was just brainstorming thought.
"Or not... anyways the last line could be an anagram or an encryption. I'll run the letters through the computer but given there's at least two Earth languages it could be using... I'm not sure how useful it will be."

[Olivia Briggs]

[Conference Room - Challenger]

The reason for the emergency meeting was soon revealed as Ruth and some of the others arrived, listening as they discussed Hecate, before Ruth then showed them the message. Seeing it, immediately had Liv's brain working as she enjoyed anagrams and puzzles, when she had the time, so saw it as that. Of course she hoped to be of some help in deciphering it, if possible and was sure that together, they could work it out and determine who had sent it.

However as she was about to look at it, Liv caught Kyle looking in her direction and the subtle way he pointed at his head, which of course she understood, without the need to draw attention to him. Acknowledging him with a look and as soon as the meeting had ended, would immediately treat him for the headache.

Her focus then shifted to Meltem and Lahr as they began to pick out words and decipher the message, looking at it once more as she too saw them, before her attention shifted to two other words that stood out to her, even though they were back to front.

" The last two words in the message, once I turned them round spell out Asteroid Holes, I wonder if that's where Leyton is or where he's hiding the Cadets".

Of course she might be completely wrong but those key words must of been put there for a reason.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Kyle sat at the table and rubbed his temples. He had gotten a headache while trying to figure out their tactics for getting the hostages out. He was really hoping they got some valuable intel back from the Romulans. Now it was the waiting game again. He looked across the table at his wife and discreetly pointed to his head. He knew she'd get the message and help him out as soon as she could.

[Uss Challenger]

"I recognize one. KESTREL. It's earth bird breed a falcon," he shared. "Neptune is he not a God on earth? Sea. Neptune for sea. KESTREL For air? And...is that two names in one GENGISKHAN as Genghis Khan? And that CHASSE is like a dance...French name...I don't know...god of water, bird falcon of air, a warmonger and dance?" He looked puzzled.  He rubbed his temple. Then he was tapping his right index finger thinking.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Conference room]

When the PADD was handed to him to look over Lahr sent a copy to himself and passed on the PADD.  Before nodding to the Captain at her request to trace back the message. As he ran that info down.. the Andorian looked over the message, figuring he might as well pass it through a translation program.  The program came back with several hits.  Lahr offered these up to the room, reading from his PADD.

"Still working on the trace-back ... but a translation program confirms the Ensign's assessment of Kestral and Neptune and Gengis Khan.  Semi in English means... an old 20th century vehicle, or slang for... Lahr paused and glanced about uncomfortably after reading it's meaning.  He swallowed, his antenna were writhing something fierce.

"Slang for a partial erection.  Sorry ma'am." He continued on quickly. "But if spelt with a hyphen it is a numerical prefix meaning 'half'.   The third line comes back as French for: The hunt is launched."

Lahr looked back to the message.  "And if I'm not mistaken... NOTYEL is just Leyton spelt backwards.  Still trying to figure out the beginning letter-number sequence.  I see DNA in there and maybe an acronym of GSC for something Starfleet Command? or the scientific 'grams, of force, per square centimetre'." Lahr was just brainstorming thought.
"Or not... anyways the last line could be an anagram or an encryption. I'll run the letters through the computer but given there's at least two Earth languages it could be using... I'm not sure how useful it will be."

[Conference Room - Challenger]

The reason for the emergency meeting was soon revealed as Ruth and some of the others arrived, listening as they discussed Hecate, before Ruth then showed them the message. Seeing it, immediately had Liv's brain working as she enjoyed anagrams and puzzles, when she had the time, so saw it as that. Of course she hoped to be of some help in deciphering it, if possible and was sure that together, they could work it out and determine who had sent it.

However as she was about to look at it, Liv caught Kyle looking in her direction and the subtle way he pointed at his head, which of course she understood, without the need to draw attention to him. Acknowledging him with a look and as soon as the meeting had ended, would immediately treat him for the headache.

Her focus then shifted to Meltem and Lahr as they began to pick out words and decipher the message, looking at it once more as she too saw them, before her attention shifted to two other words that stood out to her, even though they were back to front.

" The last two words in the message, once I turned them round spell out Asteroid Holes, I wonder if that's where Leyton is or where he's hiding the Cadets".

Of course she might be completely wrong but those key words must of been put there for a reason.

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Ruth chuckled and beamed at her crew.  "Ah well yeah there was this message and I thought we should call a meeting..." she said on a bit of a laugh.

"And this is why I love this crew.  The fact that we gel together so well.  As Mr. Meltem said, God of the Sea, Falcon, and half of Ghengis Khan... that one's puzzling me but also nagging my brain.  Not because of the um... colloquial slang either!" she grinned at Lahr. "Lahr what were the names of those ships we got the signatures of when we blew the Redav.. actually Lahr's working on the trace-back.  Will, it'll be in our logs.  I'm almost certain that Falcon was one of them."

The Captain's brain was working at full capacity.

"GSC 88932,..." she tried turning the other letters around "DNAQ'RANA becomes Anar'qand, Oh!" Ruth exclaimed.  "I'm sure they are places close to the Crimson Nebula... check that out, whomever sent this could be trying to lead us to the Crimson Nebula, which checks out with what we found on the cat, and warn us that Leyton's ships are in the area.  By the way I think the colloquial term would be 'The Hunt is On'... i.e. Leyton is looking for us, in the general area, but there is something in the.. Asteroid Holes... well done Liv... that we should be looking at.  Now if Will can get the names of those ships, and Lahr can get the trace back... I have a feeling who I think might be sending these messages especially since the French is in there.  And some of you met him.  I have a feeling it's Admiral D'Arth, he has French heritage."

She took a breath and smiled "Well it would make sense.  He's a family man and I don't doubt that his wife and children are amongst the hostages there. While he may be working for Leyton outwardly, that could just be to stop him harming his family. The ship names once we have that we will have something for Mr. Briggs to work on regarding tactics to use against them, and Dradis you can get onto Litt for evasive manoeuvers to use once we have the types of ships we are to be facing.  Liaise with Mr. Briggs in Tactical for that.  Now that we are likely to be facing extraction from inside an asteroid by the looks of it, I need Science to find out what the composition of that is and anything that might hinder transportation.  Hopefully, Captain Hecate can get us some information to that too.  Check with her Science personnel when we rendezvous there.  Right people we have some things to be going on with, but that's what we've got so far and it's a lot more than we had 30 mins ago.  Any questions, otherwise... Dismiss.  I'll be on the Bridge."

Ruth caught Liv as they moved out of the Conference Room "How go preparations in the Cargo Bay?"

[Lek]

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Lek hated puzzles and let the others figure out what the message was supposed to mean, the possibility that the hostages were inside an asteroid concerned him.

"If this message is valid and the hostages are inside an asteroid, it could very well result in an insurmountable problem depending on the size of the asteroid. If we are talking akin to Sol system's Ceres, an asteroid that size is simply too large for our shields to cover."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Conference Room]

[Conference Room - Challenger]
" The last two words in the message, once I turned them round spell out Asteroid Holes, I wonder if that's where Leyton is or where he's hiding the Cadets".

Of course she might be completely wrong but those key words must of been put there for a reason.

Lahr glanced back to his copy of the message, his antenna weaving about in confusion.  How had he missed that?  He turned back to the doc and gave a nod towards her.  Asteroid holes... interesting.

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Ruth chuckled and beamed at her crew.  "Ah well yeah there was this message and I thought we should call a meeting..." she said on a bit of a laugh.

"And this is why I love this crew.  The fact that we gel together so well.  As Mr. Meltem said, God of the Sea, Falcon, and half of Ghengis Khan... that one's puzzling me but also nagging my brain.  Not because of the um... colloquial slang either!" she grinned at Lahr. "Lahr what were the names of those ships we got the signatures of when we blew the Redav.. actually Lahr's working on the trace-back.  Will, it'll be in our logs.  I'm almost certain that Falcon was one of them."

She may have called on Will but Lahr knew those ship names like the back of his hand now. "They were the Poseidon, the Falcon and the Gol...  as in half of Genghis Khan who was a Mongol. Those must be the three ships that are guarding the cadets." Lahr stated.

The Captain's brain was working at full capacity.

"GSC 88932,..." she tried turning the other letters around "DNAQ'RANA becomes Anar'qand, Oh!" Ruth exclaimed.  "I'm sure they are places close to the Crimson Nebula... check that out, whomever sent this could be trying to lead us to the Crimson Nebula, which checks out with what we found on the cat, and warn us that Leyton's ships are in the area.  By the way I think the colloquial term would be 'The Hunt is On'... i.e. Leyton is looking for us, in the general area, but there is something in the.. Asteroid Holes... well done Liv... that we should be looking at.  Now if Will can get the names of those ships, and Lahr can get the trace back... I have a feeling who I think might be sending these messages especially since the French is in there.  And some of you met him.  I have a feeling it's Admiral D'Arth, he has French heritage."

She took a breath and smiled "Well it would make sense.  He's a family man and I don't doubt that his wife and children are amongst the hostages there. While he may be working for Leyton outwardly, that could just be to stop him harming his family. The ship names once we have that we will have something for Mr. Briggs to work on regarding tactics to use against them, and Dradis you can get onto Litt for evasive manoeuvers to use once we have the types of ships we are to be facing.  Liaise with Mr. Briggs in Tactical for that.  Now that we are likely to be facing extraction from inside an asteroid by the looks of it, I need Science to find out what the composition of that is and anything that might hinder transportation.  Hopefully, Captain Hecate can get us some information to that too.  Check with her Science personnel when we rendezvous there.  Right people we have some things to be going on with, but that's what we've got so far and it's a lot more than we had 30 mins ago.  Any questions, otherwise... Dismiss.  I'll be on the Bridge."

Ruth caught Liv as they moved out of the Conference Room "How go preparations in the Cargo Bay?"

As the Captain continued to work through the message on her own, Lahr worked on finishing up that trace-back from his PADD.  "Yes! Ma'am I found it! The message was sent by a Cadet Richardson. Hold one moment," Lahr cross reference the Cadets name with the master list of Leytonites. "He's on the list ma'am."

Lahr then checked the message's transmission ID.  As he did this he explained. "In case you were ever wondering... ship and computer serial tags are routinely inbedded into the transmission data packet when sent out by any Starfleet vessel.... this one appears to have the ship ID of ... the Poseidon and if I dig further... oh ma'am I need your authorization to delve further."

He waited until the authorization was provided then continued on orating his search.  "I now can call up the Poseidon's last computer inventory... and voilà - that's French by the way. The computer used was in the Engineering section.  Computer 157CB873FF2."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Lek hated puzzles and let the others figure out what the message was supposed to mean, the possibility that the hostages were inside an asteroid concerned him.

"If this message is valid and the hostages are inside an asteroid, it could very well result in an insurmountable problem depending on the size of the asteroid. If we are talking akin to Sol system's Ceres, an asteroid that size is simply too large for our shields to cover."

[Conference Room - Earlier]

"For that we're going to have to wait for our rendezvous with Captain Hecate, Mr. Lek.  That and our Science scans, but we'll let you know as soon as we can.  What's the plan if it is a huge asteroid, what are our options?" the Captain said, concerned.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Conference Room]

Lahr glanced back to his copy of the message, his antenna weaving about in confusion.  How had he missed that?  He turned back to the doc and gave a nod towards her.  Asteroid holes... interesting.

She may have called on Will but Lahr knew those ship names like the back of his hand now. "They were the Poseidon, the Falcon and the Gol...  as in half of Genghis Khan who was a Mongol. Those must be the three ships that are guarding the cadets." Lahr stated.

As the Captain continued to work through the message on her own, Lahr worked on finishing up that trace-back from his PADD.  "Yes! Ma'am I found it! The message was sent by a Cadet Richardson. Hold one moment," Lahr cross reference the Cadets name with the master list of Leytonites. "He's on the list ma'am."

Lahr then checked the message's transmission ID.  As he did this he explained. "In case you were ever wondering... ship and computer serial tags are routinely inbedded into the transmission data packet when sent out by any Starfleet vessel.... this one appears to have the ship ID of ... the Poseidon and if I dig further... oh ma'am I need your authorization to delve further."

He waited until the authorization was provided then continued on orating his search.  "I now can call up the Poseidon's last computer inventory... and voilà - that's French by the way. The computer used was in the Engineering section.  Computer 157CB873FF2."

Pointing at Lahr almost mockingly it would seem to some but it was in a joking way to Will "See... that's why I say that Lahr should be Assistant Chief of Ops.  While he was good in Sec/Tac and I'm sure Mr. Briggs could make use of his skills in a Tactical Assault from the Bridge or in a tricky situation and he would acquit himself with honours, he really excels in Ops.  He may even rival you, dear!" Ruth teased.

"Great work Lahr, and I'm kicking myself.  Of course.  Ghengis Khan was a MONGOL... that's Earthen history, I should've known that.  Oh you are good!  You know I sometimes think of you as the joker in my pack but there are card games where the joker can stand to be any card and in this case it's the Ace in the deck!  I don't suppose you could get into the records of crew rotation for Poseidon, or log ins for that computer?  I'm curious cuz if Cadet Richardson logged off say at a time that would be indicative of a shift end, but then this computer was accessed say 10 mins later... someone else using his log in?  Either way we have the info.  Forward whatever information we have on the ships over to Mssrs. Briggs, Dradis and Litt so they can start prepping against the enemy ships."

[Bridge]

"About 30 mins to Zhargosia Mr. Litt?" the Captain said smiling but with a note of enquiry in her voice.

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

[Also on the Bridge a little later]

[As Ensign Winsdor and CSO Lt. Cmdr. Evie Wardropper]

"Ma'am..." Alex said with a note of enquiry towards the CSO.

"Yes, Ensign?" the CSO answered walking towards the Science station.

"Telemetry coming through from our probe, it appears that there is some interference from nucleonic radiation, and large clouds of what appears to be dust, large component of... iron that's I-R-O-N Ma'am not the other kind." Alex said making sure that she ennunciatied and spelled 'iron' out to avoid mix up with 'ion'.

"Commander Waring, nucleonic radiation, in sufficient levels to interfere with transporters I think, want to check?!" the CSO reported.

"Mr Meltem, would you check the composition of those ferrous clouds please anything that could harm this ship or crew and also anything we could use to say, hide in or indeed the enemy could hide in.  Mr. Litt I think we're just about at Zhargosia come into synchronous orbit around the planet.  We'll wait until we have Captain Hecate contact us rather than blow her cover." the Captain ordered.

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

[Outside Conference Room - Earlier

[As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

Having come straight back from the Cargo Bay to the Conference Room and hearing that there could be 3 ships out there, Maggie was re-evaluating in her head what was going on.

Turning to Liv she said "You thinking what I'm thinking... if we're potentially going up against 3 ships there is potentially going to be casualties, I hope not of course but 3 against 1 is not good odds, of our own crew.  I'm not liking this much but we're going to have our work cut out here."

Stuffing her hands which where balled into fists to quell the worry shakes, into her lab coat she shrugged.  "Well, no rest for the wicked, we'd better get on I suppose."

[Lek]

[Conference Room - Earlier]

"For that we're going to have to wait for our rendezvous with Captain Hecate, Mr. Lek.  That and our Science scans, but we'll let you know as soon as we can.  What's the plan if it is a huge asteroid, what are our options?" the Captain said, concerned.

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Lek grimaced as captains were notorious for not liking reality and the answer he had was far too realistic.

"If the asteroid is large and shielded, there is the 'through the shields' plan, but I've already pointed out how suicidal that will be for the hostages. If that fails, then you are talking main force storming of the facility, which will almost certainly be suicidal for us."

[Don Damien Addams]

[Conference Room - Earlier]

"For that we're going to have to wait for our rendezvous with Captain Hecate, Mr. Lek.  That and our Science scans, but we'll let you know as soon as we can.  What's the plan if it is a huge asteroid, what are our options?" the Captain said, concerned.

Pointing at Lahr almost mockingly it would seem to some but it was in a joking way to Will "See... that's why I say that Lahr should be Assistant Chief of Ops.  While he was good in Sec/Tac and I'm sure Mr. Briggs could make use of his skills in a Tactical Assault from the Bridge or in a tricky situation and he would acquit himself with honours, he really excels in Ops.  He may even rival you, dear!" Ruth teased.

"Great work Lahr, and I'm kicking myself.  Of course.  Ghengis Khan was a MONGOL... that's Earthen history, I should've known that.  Oh you are good!  You know I sometimes think of you as the joker in my pack but there are card games where the joker can stand to be any card and in this case it's the Ace in the deck!  I don't suppose you could get into the records of crew rotation for Poseidon, or log ins for that computer?  I'm curious cuz if Cadet Richardson logged off say at a time that would be indicative of a shift end, but then this computer was accessed say 10 mins later... someone else using his log in?  Either way we have the info.  Forward whatever information we have on the ships over to Mssrs. Briggs, Dradis and Litt so they can start prepping against the enemy ships."

[Bridge]

"About 30 mins to Zhargosia Mr. Litt?" the Captain said smiling but with a note of enquiry in her voice.

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

[Also on the Bridge a little later]

[As Ensign Winsdor and CSO Lt. Cmdr. Evie Wardropper]

"Ma'am..." Alex said with a note of enquiry towards the CSO.

"Yes, Ensign?" the CSO answered walking towards the Science station.

"Telemetry coming through from our probe, it appears that there is some interference from nucleonic radiation, and large clouds of what appears to be dust, large component of... iron that's I-R-O-N Ma'am not the other kind." Alex said making sure that she ennunciatied and spelled 'iron' out to avoid mix up with 'ion'.

"Commander Waring, nucleonic radiation, in sufficient levels to interfere with transporters I think, want to check?!" the CSO reported.

"Mr Meltem, would you check the composition of those ferrous clouds please anything that could harm this ship or crew and also anything we could use to say, hide in or indeed the enemy could hide in.  Mr. Litt I think we're just about at Zhargosia come into synchronous orbit around the planet.  We'll wait until we have Captain Hecate contact us rather than blow her cover." the Captain ordered.

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

[Outside Conference Room - Earlier

[As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

Having come straight back from the Cargo Bay to the Conference Room and hearing that there could be 3 ships out there, Maggie was re-evaluating in her head what was going on.

Turning to Liv she said "You thinking what I'm thinking... if we're potentially going up against 3 ships there is potentially going to be casualties, I hope not of course but 3 against 1 is not good odds, of our own crew.  I'm not liking this much but we're going to have our work cut out here."

Stuffing her hands which where balled into fists to quell the worry shakes, into her lab coat she shrugged.  "Well, no rest for the wicked, we'd better get on I suppose."

[USS Challenger]

Before they got to the Bridge, Meltem mentioned Poseidon connected to Neptune. He mentioned that was fascinating.

The man was at the science station scoping with the sensor to find any situation which would cause the Challenger haul or power to have problems.

"We have high levels of gamma radiation with mercueen in depth of 12.4 level which possible damage dilithium crystals," he mentioned. "Perfkaux tafixin levels are low which could be a bad reaction with the mercueen levels."

[Olivia Briggs]

[Outside Conference Room - Earlier]

[As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

Having come straight back from the Cargo Bay to the Conference Room and hearing that there could be 3 ships out there, Maggie was re-evaluating in her head what was going on.

Turning to Liv she said "You thinking what I'm thinking... if we're potentially going up against 3 ships there is potentially going to be casualties, I hope not of course but 3 against 1 is not good odds, of our own crew.  I'm not liking this much but we're going to have our work cut out here."

Stuffing her hands which where balled into fists to quell the worry shakes, into her lab coat she shrugged.  "Well, no rest for the wicked, we'd better get on I suppose."

[Outside Conference Room]

With the meeting now over after gaining as much information as possible from the message that had been sent to them, including who had sent it and a plan made, on how to utilise it all. Liv was able to fill Ruth in about the cargo bay, at least what had been done, before she spoke with Kyle discreetly about getting an headache cure, then caught up with Maggie outside.

Listening as the CMO spoke, agreeing with the potential possibilities that came with having Challenger go up against three ships and could only hope that they had prepared enough for multiple casualties.
" I agree, its not good odds at all and we can only hope that the preparations we've already made are enough, I don't like this either, but I think its a good idea, if we call in all off duty staff now, rather than later, just in case".

Seeing Maggie then stuff her hands into her labcoat, made Liv sympathise with her colleague and friend, as it was taking all of her resolve not to panic and allow the nerves to win.

" Yes, I think we should and lets go straight to the Cargo Bay, that's where we'll both need to be intially and we can oversee if everything is ready to go".

[William Waring]

[Conference Room - Earlier]

"For that we're going to have to wait for our rendezvous with Captain Hecate, Mr. Lek.  That and our Science scans, but we'll let you know as soon as we can.  What's the plan if it is a huge asteroid, what are our options?" the Captain said, concerned.

Pointing at Lahr almost mockingly it would seem to some but it was in a joking way to Will "See... that's why I say that Lahr should be Assistant Chief of Ops.  While he was good in Sec/Tac and I'm sure Mr. Briggs could make use of his skills in a Tactical Assault from the Bridge or in a tricky situation and he would acquit himself with honours, he really excels in Ops.  He may even rival you, dear!" Ruth teased.

"Great work Lahr, and I'm kicking myself.  Of course.  Ghengis Khan was a MONGOL... that's Earthen history, I should've known that.  Oh you are good!  You know I sometimes think of you as the joker in my pack but there are card games where the joker can stand to be any card and in this case it's the Ace in the deck!  I don't suppose you could get into the records of crew rotation for Poseidon, or log ins for that computer?  I'm curious cuz if Cadet Richardson logged off say at a time that would be indicative of a shift end, but then this computer was accessed say 10 mins later... someone else using his log in?  Either way we have the info.  Forward whatever information we have on the ships over to Mssrs. Briggs, Dradis and Litt so they can start prepping against the enemy ships."

[Bridge]

"About 30 mins to Zhargosia Mr. Litt?" the Captain said smiling but with a note of enquiry in her voice.

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

[Also on the Bridge a little later]

[As Ensign Winsdor and CSO Lt. Cmdr. Evie Wardropper]

"Ma'am..." Alex said with a note of enquiry towards the CSO.

"Yes, Ensign?" the CSO answered walking towards the Science station.

"Telemetry coming through from our probe, it appears that there is some interference from nucleonic radiation, and large clouds of what appears to be dust, large component of... iron that's I-R-O-N Ma'am not the other kind." Alex said making sure that she ennunciatied and spelled 'iron' out to avoid mix up with 'ion'.

"Commander Waring, nucleonic radiation, in sufficient levels to interfere with transporters I think, want to check?!" the CSO reported.

"Mr Meltem, would you check the composition of those ferrous clouds please anything that could harm this ship or crew and also anything we could use to say, hide in or indeed the enemy could hide in.  Mr. Litt I think we're just about at Zhargosia come into synchronous orbit around the planet.  We'll wait until we have Captain Hecate contact us rather than blow her cover." the Captain ordered.

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

[Outside Conference Room - Earlier

[As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

Having come straight back from the Cargo Bay to the Conference Room and hearing that there could be 3 ships out there, Maggie was re-evaluating in her head what was going on.

Turning to Liv she said "You thinking what I'm thinking... if we're potentially going up against 3 ships there is potentially going to be casualties, I hope not of course but 3 against 1 is not good odds, of our own crew.  I'm not liking this much but we're going to have our work cut out here."

Stuffing her hands which where balled into fists to quell the worry shakes, into her lab coat she shrugged.  "Well, no rest for the wicked, we'd better get on I suppose."

[Conference Room]

Will did his best to follow along but he couldn't help but feel like a Cadet who forgot to study for his Astrometric's Final. The crew obviously knew much more about the situation as they were living it while he had clothes left unpacked from his transfer.

He didn't doubt that he would be fully knowledgeable on every facet of this operation, but for the time being he would have to do his damndest to recall all the information he was provided. In the meantime, he figured it best to keep his mouth shut when possible.

[Bridge - After Meeting]

Will was in his own thoughts again when he was snapped out of it by the mention of his name. He took a moment to actually process what had been said to him "Oh...yeah. One moment" he said, moving to where the CSO was and looking at the readings. "That will complicate our plans..." he said, crossing his arms "That will make getting stable lock a nightmare and even then, I wouldn't attempt biological transport. The radiation and the metal concentration aren't exactly the most friendly to transporter operations..." he let out a small sigh before turning back to the Captain.

"Cap'n, we might encounter some issues regarding our area of operation. As I'm sure you just heard, Science received the probe's reading. Nucleonic Radiation and a sizable quantity of metals, iron. Transporters would be sketchy at best, unless you can work some miracles. I would also recommend that Medical be directed to be on standby for if the radiation affects the crew. My estimates are that the chances are minimal, but it's better to have it and not need it."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Conference Room - USS Challenger]

Lek grimaced as captains were notorious for not liking reality and the answer he had was far too realistic.

"If the asteroid is large and shielded, there is the 'through the shields' plan, but I've already pointed out how suicidal that will be for the hostages. If that fails, then you are talking main force storming of the facility, which will almost certainly be suicidal for us."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ruth had been bracing herself for the answer, knowing that Lek was alway honest and blunt but she needed the truth here.

"So it's looking pretty grim whichever way we look at it. And potentially with 3 ships out there after us too, even with Hecate having our back its still not good odds. Stick around Chief, I don't doubt we'll be hailed by Captain Hecate soon, so once we get her report my 3 Wise Men... aka yourself, Mr. Briggs and Mr. Waring can put your heads together."

[USS Challenger]

Before they got to the Bridge, Meltem mentioned Poseidon connected to Neptune. He mentioned that was fascinating.

The man was at the science station scoping with the sensor to find any situation which would cause the Challenger haul or power to have problems.

"We have high levels of gamma radiation with mercueen in depth of 12.4 level which possible damage dilithium crystals," he mentioned. "Perfkaux tafixin levels are low which could be a bad reaction with the mercueen levels."

"Gamma radiation?" the Captain queried.  "Is this between us and the asteroid or from the asteroid itself.  If so I don't know how they're keeping 500 plus people in there and alive.  I'd like to know exactly the position and distance of this gamma radiation.  This is worrying."

[Conference Room]

Will did his best to follow along but he couldn't help but feel like a Cadet who forgot to study for his Astrometric's Final. The crew obviously knew much more about the situation as they were living it while he had clothes left unpacked from his transfer.

He didn't doubt that he would be fully knowledgeable on every facet of this operation, but for the time being he would have to do his damndest to recall all the information he was provided. In the meantime, he figured it best to keep his mouth shut when possible.

[Bridge - After Meeting]

Will was in his own thoughts again when he was snapped out of it by the mention of his name. He took a moment to actually process what had been said to him "Oh...yeah. One moment" he said, moving to where the CSO was and looking at the readings. "That will complicate our plans..." he said, crossing his arms "That will make getting stable lock a nightmare and even then, I wouldn't attempt biological transport. The radiation and the metal concentration aren't exactly the most friendly to transporter operations..." he let out a small sigh before turning back to the Captain.

"Cap'n, we might encounter some issues regarding our area of operation. As I'm sure you just heard, Science received the probe's reading. Nucleonic Radiation and a sizable quantity of metals, iron. Transporters would be sketchy at best, unless you can work some miracles. I would also recommend that Medical be directed to be on standby for if the radiation affects the crew. My estimates are that the chances are minimal, but it's better to have it and not need it."

"Thank you Number One.  We are a crew of miracle workers but let's see what Captain Hecate has for us and we'll work from there.  I have a feeling that we're going to be shuttling in and out, which is gonna be difficult if we have 3 ships firing at us..."

The Ops console bleeped with an incoming message from the Tal'Bath requesting an open, secure channel.

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

[Outside Conference Room]

With the meeting now over after gaining as much information as possible from the message that had been sent to them, including who had sent it and a plan made, on how to utilise it all. Liv was able to fill Ruth in about the cargo bay, at least what had been done, before she spoke with Kyle discreetly about getting an headache cure, then caught up with Maggie outside.

Listening as the CMO spoke, agreeing with the potential possibilities that came with having Challenger go up against three ships and could only hope that they had prepared enough for multiple casualties.
" I agree, its not good odds at all and we can only hope that the preparations we've already made are enough, I don't like this either, but I think its a good idea, if we call in all off duty staff now, rather than later, just in case".

Seeing Maggie then stuff her hands into her labcoat, made Liv sympathise with her colleague and friend, as it was taking all of her resolve not to panic and allow the nerves to win.

" Yes, I think we should and lets go straight to the Cargo Bay, that's where we'll both need to be intially and we can oversee if everything is ready to go".

[Conference Room > Turbolift > Cargo Bay]
[As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

"To the Cargo Bay it is then!" Maggie said with a brief smile. "Oh I wish I were back on Innominatum, but I wouldn't desert Ruth or the crew in this hour of need. But... Well you're married.  You know when you've had a hard day and you just want a cuddle, and only one from Kyle will do?  That."

She took a couple of deep breaths and sniffed back a tear.  "We have a job to do.  I wonder if those other two Security have shown up.  I remember Cadet Gohun was supposed to be coming down, I wonder if he got pulled off somewhere for other duties?"

[Lek]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ruth had been bracing herself for the answer, knowing that Lek was alway honest and blunt but she needed the truth here.

"So it's looking pretty grim whichever way we look at it. And potentially with 3 ships out there after us too, even with Hecate having our back its still not good odds. Stick around Chief, I don't doubt we'll be hailed by Captain Hecate soon, so once we get her report my 3 Wise Men... aka yourself, Mr. Briggs and Mr. Waring can put your heads together."

"Gamma radiation?" the Captain queried.  "Is this between us and the asteroid or from the asteroid itself.  If so I don't know how they're keeping 500 plus people in there and alive.  I'd like to know exactly the position and distance of this gamma radiation.  This is worrying."

"Thank you Number One.  We are a crew of miracle workers but let's see what Captain Hecate has for us and we'll work from there.  I have a feeling that we're going to be shuttling in and out, which is gonna be difficult if we have 3 ships firing at us..."

The Ops console bleeped with an incoming message from the Tal'Bath requesting an open, secure channel.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"Aye Ma'am."

Lek replied absently as he took in the additional information that make their task even more complex. Excessive iron deposits and gamma radiation, transporters were now completely off the table. That left nice slow and fragile shuttles for Leyton's butchers to pick off at will.

"There has to be a way." He thought furiously to come up with a viable option and an idea did pop into his head, but he dismissed it as ridiculous. "No, that's insane, Doctor York will have me committed."

He paced absently at the rear of the bridge as he worked through the details.

"Leyton has to be able to move prisoners into this facility and he's well aware transporters aren't an option. That means shuttles or docking, either way, there must be a bay or an airlock. That means we have a door!"

Lek kept his plan to himself for the moment, he wanted to hear what this Romulan had to say first.

[Kyle Briggs]

[Bridge, After meeting]

Liv had been able to help Kyle with his headache and he was feeling much better. Of course, the brain storming for the evac wasn't going too hot in Kyle's opinion. It seemed like every time they took a step forward with a valid idea, something pushed them two steps back. It was starting to look like they were going to have to go with the shuttle plan and it really wasn't one he cared for. They really needed the info from the Romulan. With his head clear, he was at least getting ideas. He threw out there for everyone on the Bridge.

"Question." he started. "Depending on the information we get from Hecate, instead of sending shuttles back and forth during a battle, what if we sent down just one with a full security detail to take over the asteroid and secure the Cadets until we take out the opposition?"

[USS Falcon - CO Ready Room]

Nothing much had happened since Martin had reported seeing the Challenger between Alsori-Nethyr and Starbase 301. He had gone to his Ready Room for a drink. He had only been in there for a few minutes when his door chimed.

"Come." he called out.

The doors parted and Commander Debra Marchetti, his First Officer, entered the Room and came to attention at the front of Martin's desk.

"Captain Tennant. Permission to speak freely, Sir?" she asked.

"Of course, Number One....." he replied with a sigh.

These "conversations" had become more frequent ever since the Miranda Class ship was last seen eighteen months ago.

"But if this has to do with your opinion of Leyton again, you can save your breath. We've been over it again and again." he said.

"Captain. Martin. We're tracking other Federation ships. This can't be right. You have to be able to see this." she pleaded.

He just stood and walked over to the port hole and watched the passing stars.