The Big Snake of the Night Sky

[Kirok]

[Katra Station | Engineering]

"It can't be that simple... Can it?"

Serena King stood and arched her back for a few seconds, stretching her arms, then letting them fall to the sides, the tension slowly draining. When her eyes opened, she looked somewhat similar to a predator, ready to pounce. "Don't focus on their problems, focus on our limitations." Her hands flew over the console as she brought up technical manuals and readouts at a rapid rate, then bolted for the exit.

[Katra Station | OCC]

Serena strode into the OCC with a purpose. Although she spotted Gideon out of the corner of her eye, she ignored him for the moment as she approached Kirok and Kyle. Nodding affably, she stood at attention in her standard gold utility uniform. "Sirs, I believe I have figured out their shields and transporter trick. Without empirical evidence, I can't back up my findings nor test it, but I have a fair degree of confidence in my findings."

[OCC]

Kirok offered Kyle a nod as the man entered the room.  Though he did not express it, the Vulcan agreed with the XO.  The enemy's demand was illogical.

Kirok had turned back to the view screen and prepared for the open hale to the leader of the group who had arrived over night.  But Ms. King interrupted him.  Pleasantly, though, with some good new.

"Procced" he said to Serena.  "But first end the klaxon for the yellow alert.  Mr Jimric, if you please?" he added.

[Eli Ferris]

Lt. Eli Ferris|Katra Station|Personal Quarters

The Yellow Alert was a rude awakening as Eli rolled over and groaned. it felt like he had just gone to sleep, eyes had barely closed until he was so rudely awakened. He stood, turning on water in his sink to splash on his face and get himself oriented. Brown hair smoothed in to place, and he pulled on his uniform.

"Back in to action," he stated and hurried off to the OCC.

**OCC**

Eli was not surprised that much of the staff had arrived, and step to an available station. He was glad they were finally bringing all the auxiliary craft back up to speed and he wanted them ready to launch as soon as possible.

But, for the moment, he simply stood by, and waited for the captain to size up the situation.

[Don Damien Addams]

[Katra - OCC]

Just as Eli stepped onto the OCC Kal shut off the yellow klaxon. Kal does not have that sense humor to say. You have power to shut off alerts. Kal would say, but he was not that type of wise guy.

[Serena King]

[OCC]

Kirok offered Kyle a nod as the man entered the room.  Though he did not express it, the Vulcan agreed with the XO.  The enemy's demand was illogical.

Kirok had turned back to the view screen and prepared for the open hale to the leader of the group who had arrived over night.  But Ms. King interrupted him.  Pleasantly, though, with some good new.

"Procced" he said to Serena.  "But first end the klaxon for the yellow alert.  Mr Jimric, if you please?" he added.

[Katra Station | OCC]

Serena took a shaky breath, aware that she was now the centre of attention. She walked the Captain and the XO over to one of the wall consoles, as that had a larger display. "You'll have to forgive me, sirs, this is a bit off the cuff here. Three segments. First, background and breaking it down to my favourite First Principles. Second, potential countermeasures and our responses. Third, political and command considerations."

"The answer is Gravitons." She straightened and started tapping at the console for diagrams, missing some of the interested looks. "Some background. Space, if you'll excuse the term, is empty space. For anything to exist, it has to have some substance, or be supported by something. Even a Starship's warp field is nothing but constantly pushing subspace fields, similar to a person swimming in water." A diagram of Katra, their new ship Seleya and the Drai vessels appeared. With a few more taps, she brought up a picture of a shield generator.

"Deflector shields are energy fields, but it can't exist in space in the broadest sense. So we use graviton generators to form a bubble around the station, with the deflector energy sitting on or wrapping around it." She paused to show the familiar ovoid shapes on the diagrams. "As you all know, when something impacts the shield. Phasers, disruptors, torpedoes, transporter beams or whichever, they turn visible. This is the first piece of the puzzle."

She paused to tap out a few commands, showing a wave spreading from the Drai. "I theorize that they generate an antigraviton field. Since it's not energy or physical, it doesn't impact the shields in the classic sense and nothing registers. Also, there is no recorded drop in shield integrity or strength. The effect is effectively two sine waves cancelling each other out. By changing shield frequencies, we also restore the graviton bubble, thereby restoring shields that were never really gone in the first place."

She paused to tap some more, showing the station's shields effectively disappearing, but the Seleya's shields were generally unaffected. "This is hypothesis with no data to back it up so far, but a starship technically has an advantage. The navigational deflectors actively generate gravitons themselves to push aside objects. It's entirely possible the Drai's trick only works on stations. We're immobile, we have no need for navigational deflectors but it's possible to create a graviton beam (or field) to counter their effect, or indeed, turn their own advantage on them."

Serena took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's entirely possible I'm wrong, but unlikely. One, deflector technology is founded on the same principles for every civilization we've encountered, even the Borg, but they do more interesting things on theirs. Second, if they use something more exotic, it would effectively violate the laws of physics. But three, absolute power corrupts absolutely. If they had something exotic that could bypass shields, they'd likely build battleships to conquer everyone. Remember that the Drai only use this trick for transporters, but there is no reason why phasers, disruptors or anything else a starship is armed with can't be used to penetrate shielding."

She took another deep breath. "I mentioned at the start, political and command considerations. Although the Drai have transmitted hostile intent, they have so far taken only passive measures, as have we. An active graviton beam could be argued as our initiating hostilities. Sirs."

[Hrafn Falleg]

[OOC - skipping quotes but it'll be obvious to whom I'm responding]

[Katra Station - Operations Centre - 0630hrs]

"Morning to you too, Kyan. Those are Hunters...or Drai, not to be underestimated.  Grab a coffee, you look like I feel so probably had a rough night and we have to get through the day shift.  Might be an idea to ping Medical and see if they can give us something akin to ProPlus too!" she said with a kindly smile.  "If this is anything like previous visitations we've had from unannounced persons, Prophets know when we might get our next 40 winks!  As for them saying anything..."

She crossed to the logs and played back the message.

"Station, this is Alpha Adrai.  You must move away from this path.  Or we will destroy you"

"Friendly bunch, I'm sure we'll get along famously!...not! Now, medical..." she offered.

Falleg to Medical, could you send someone up with something for staff who are pulling double shifts, we have coffees most of us, or similar... but with the current situation we aren't sure when we'll next see a bed...

When Kyle walked in she smiled at him.

"This is very much needed..." she said indicating the coffee with her own mug waved at his.

"As for our 'friends' out there, very for real.  You know Ruth Sigurdsdottir... think of them as a less friendly version of her, times 3, not as good looking and her at her absolute most pissed-off-ed-ness... or something!  Assume however they very definitely aren't one of our more friendly neighbours!" the CSO offered with a quick rueful smile.

She nodded at EQ as he entered.  She preferred to be referred to as 'Ma'am' but she knew that the XB was a man of few words and thus since it was respectful she didn't pull him up about it.  Now was neither the time nor the place. She smiled too as Kal and Eli made up the numbers.  "When shall we...ah several...meet again..." she whispered to Kyle with a wink to make him grin.

Hrafn gave a grateful look when the klaxxon was turned off, having not had much sleep, she was on a short fuse, and it took all of her motherly skills, gleaned from having to sit up all night with children then pull a day shift when no-one but Mammy - however skilled Crista was - was able to be substituted, and the power of caffeine to keep her civil.

The Trill redhead turned to Serena when she mentioned about her findings.

"Ensign, when it comes to Engineering, I have to trust you.  Other than where that discipline bumps against Science I'm clueless...However, I don't believe you would lead us astray and besides, Cmdr. Briggs could spot any major flaws that I couldn't, but in situations like these it wouldn't be the first, I doubt it will be the last, time that untested theories get tested in alert or if it comes to it, battle situations."

She then listened to Serena's explanation and her smile widened.

"Well... as far as the scientific side of that goes... I'm behind that 100% and the only way to find out is to put it into practice!" Hrafn said with a small shrug.

[Kirok]

[OCC]

"Thank you" Kirok said to Kal when the blaring noise stopped.  Then he turned his full attention to Ms. King as she gave an impressive overview of not only how to possible prevent the Hunters from boarding them, but also the possible implications of the solutions she suggested.

He nodded after Ms. Falleg spoke.  "We will continue modulating the shields, but I think it was to move ahead with development of the an active gravitational beam just in case we need it.  Please proceed" he said to the scientists.

Then he turned back to the viewscreen and activated the channel.  "This is Captain Kirok.  I have just been brought up to speed as to the current situation.  Moving the station is no easy task and can not be done quickly.  But you have not fired upon us, so I am hopeful that a diplomatic solution can be reached between us.  Would you be interested in sitting down with us to discuss the motivation for your request?" he said over an audio visual line.

[Rinaya Riss]

[engineering]

Ensign Rinaya Riss yawned and stretched, woken by the yellow alert klaxon just a few hours before her scheduled shift. Perks of being new to the crew; getting the least desirable shifts that nobody else wanted. Well, no time like the present to get going with her new assignment. Might as well report in and see where she might be able to lend a hand. The Caitian padded to engineering, quietly shadowing the other officers and checking readings before she saw one of the other engineers stride off with a purpose.

Green-gold eyes flashing, She practically pounced at the console the other officer abandoned, quickly skimming the information there. Her ears pricked forward as she saw that Ensign King ""the name finally came back to her still somewhat sleep-addled mind""had an interesting proposed solution to the problem that was presented by the small ships that were apparently asking the station to move, of all things, but it would be a grapple of energy output to see who would win"¦ The station would have to be able to put out a stronger graviton beam than the antigraviton field could negate, and significantly stronger at that, in order for this to work.

Clawed fingers dancing over the console, Rinaya started to run a few calculations of her own. It was risky, and the radiation could cause some less-than-pleasant effects, but it might just do the trick"¦ Satisfied with the results, she tapped her combadge. "œEnsign Riss to Ops." She said, as steadily as she could, "œDepending on how things are going up there, I have another idea that could prove useful."

[Serena King]

[OCC]

"Thank you" Kirok said to Kal when the blaring noise stopped.  Then he turned his full attention to Ms. King as she gave an impressive overview of not only how to possible prevent the Hunters from boarding them, but also the possible implications of the solutions she suggested.

He nodded after Ms. Falleg spoke.  "We will continue modulating the shields, but I think it was to move ahead with development of the an active gravitational beam just in case we need it.  Please proceed" he said to the scientists.

Then he turned back to the viewscreen and activated the channel.  "This is Captain Kirok.  I have just been brought up to speed as to the current situation.  Moving the station is no easy task and can not be done quickly.  But you have not fired upon us, so I am hopeful that a diplomatic solution can be reached between us.  Would you be interested in sitting down with us to discuss the motivation for your request?" he said over an audio visual line.

[OOC - skipping quotes but it'll be obvious to whom I'm responding]

[Katra Station - Operations Centre - 0630hrs]

The Trill redhead turned to Serena when she mentioned about her findings.

"Ensign, when it comes to Engineering, I have to trust you.  Other than where that discipline bumps against Science I'm clueless...However, I don't believe you would lead us astray and besides, Cmdr. Briggs could spot any major flaws that I couldn't, but in situations like these it wouldn't be the first, I doubt it will be the last, time that untested theories get tested in alert or if it comes to it, battle situations."

She then listened to Serena's explanation and her smile widened.

"Well... as far as the scientific side of that goes... I'm behind that 100% and the only way to find out is to put it into practice!" Hrafn said with a small shrug.

[engineering]

Ensign Rinaya Riss yawned and stretched, woken by the yellow alert klaxon just a few hours before her scheduled shift. Perks of being new to the crew; getting the least desirable shifts that nobody else wanted. Well, no time like the present to get going with her new assignment. Might as well report in and see where she might be able to lend a hand. The Caitian padded to engineering, quietly shadowing the other officers and checking readings before she saw one of the other engineers stride off with a purpose.

Green-gold eyes flashing, She practically pounced at the console the other officer abandoned, quickly skimming the information there. Her ears pricked forward as she saw that Ensign King ""the name finally came back to her still somewhat sleep-addled mind""had an interesting proposed solution to the problem that was presented by the small ships that were apparently asking the station to move, of all things, but it would be a grapple of energy output to see who would win"¦ The station would have to be able to put out a stronger graviton beam than the antigraviton field could negate, and significantly stronger at that, in order for this to work.

Clawed fingers dancing over the console, Rinaya started to run a few calculations of her own. It was risky, and the radiation could cause some less-than-pleasant effects, but it might just do the trick"¦ Satisfied with the results, she tapped her combadge. "œEnsign Riss to Ops." She said, as steadily as she could, "œDepending on how things are going up there, I have another idea that could prove useful."

[Katra Station | OCC]

"Thank you, Captain."

Serena bowed at the Captain and was grateful. By all accounts, she should have gone through the chain of command (Commander Briggs), who was both the XO and Chief Engineer, with a detailed report instead of bursting into the OCC. She felt a moment of humility at being treated with dignity and respect from a Vulcan. The XO didn't say anything, his face unreadable as Serena turned away.

With a smile, she listened to Hrafn with some mixed feelings. The two women had gotten on quite well together, though Serena often felt like the older sister, mainly due to the Trill's, well, vibrant personality. She was also got on well with Tidu, who was clearly a gifted Engineer, though duty and restraint would be needed if he was to succeed as a Starfleet Officer. Then again, the kid is only six! The other children were friendly enough, but perhaps a little standoffish. With some reflection, she realised her thoughts were being coloured by the fact she didn't have children of her own. With a sidelong glance at Gideon... Maybe someday.

Shaking her head, she focused. "Me too. I'd have to do some fancy hardware tinkering though. Our systems aren't really set up at present anyway."

On queue, the comm chirped  "Ensign Riss to Ops. Depending on how things are going up there, I have another idea that could prove useful. 

Serena looked up. "I'll go back down there. I'll keep you informed, Lieutenant."

[Katra Station | Engineering]

Serena strode back into Engineering, sketching a small bow to Rinaya. The two hadn't had much interaction, but seemed to respect each others' abilities. After seeing the console she was at, she suspected the Caitian had figured it out. Tilting her head to the side, she got an idea: "Ensign. One, poke holes in my idea. Two, what idea have you come up with yourself? Three, what would you like me to do to help you?"

[Rinaya Riss]

[Katra Station | Engineering]

Serena strode back into Engineering, sketching a small bow to Rinaya. The two hadn't had much interaction, but seemed to respect each others' abilities. After seeing the console she was at, she suspected the Caitian had figured it out. Tilting her head to the side, she got an idea: "Ensign. One, poke holes in my idea. Two, what idea have you come up with yourself? Three, what would you like me to do to help you?"

[engineering]

Rinaya offered a courteous dip of her chin in return, gesturing to the console. Her brow quirked at the other officer's requests. She appreciated that the woman was so open and willing, a mark of a good officer. But it wasn't often that she'd been asked to pick apart others' work. She shrugged and turned to the display, pulling up Serena's work from before.

"Your thoughts with gravitons are good, but rely significantly on the unknown odds of being able to outmuscle their antigraviton generator." She shot an impressed look at the woman before continuing, though. "œWhich seems most likely to be what they're using, good deduction."

A few more taps brought up a diagram, and she entered a command to run some numbers. "œSee, we'd have to not only match, but exceed their antigraviton output with our graviton field""beam?"  One large ear twitched as she considered, narrowing her eyes briefly at Serena before dismissing the detail, but noting it for reference later. A beam could be just the thing"¦ "œWe only know that their field is powerful enough to negate a standard shield generator's graviton output, but we don't know what that upper limit is. It could be three times what the station is able to produce, and sustaining an excessive amount of power for a graviton field could blow our generators."

Rinaya tapped out a few more commands and brought up another set of data, watching the other ensign carefully as she stepped aside to allow Serena access to the console. "œWhat about tetryons? if the shields could be modified to piggyback on a low-level tetryon field instead, that would remove the need for gravitons entirely, and render their antigraviton field useless. We'd need to amplify a subspace field around the station to stabilize them, and we couldn't keep it up for long or we'd risk tetryon radiation. But that might be a way to go until they decide whether they're going to open fire." She offered a small shrug.

"œThey'd see a graviton field or beam coming, and they haven't exactly opened fire yet. A subspace field is hardly malicious, and tetryons are barely detectable on sensors unless you're actively looking for them. Then, if things go south, a burst on a high intensity graviton beam could be used to disable their field generator, if we don't need to worry about being diplomatic. Thoughts? Poke holes in it?"

Her expression was somewhere between a smile and a grimace as she waited for the other ensign's thoughts.

[Kirok]

[OCC - NPC Alpha Adrai]

Alpha could be seen in the viewscreen.  He looked confused by the half Vulcan's request.  The Hunter had apparently not expected an invitation to 'come to dinner.'

A female Tosk stood off to one side.  She appeared to be with child.  She kept her eyes pointed down.  Four other Hunter's were seen worked at various stations.

"I am Lead Hunter Alpha Adrai.  I am not opposed to sitting down with you.  We have more ships on the way, bigger ships, and we are serious about your need to move your station.  If our conversation does not result in our desired outcome the consequences will be grave" he said.

Kirok offered the man a small bow.  "We will open a window in our shields.  Then I will meet you at the docking ring.  We were just preparing to launch our ship, so please give us a few minutes so that we can coordinate both events at once.  Agreed?" he repled.

"That will work for us" Alpha replied.  Then the view screen went blank.  Kiork then turned to Kyle.

"We had talked about testing the capabilities of the Seleya.  Now seems like an opportune time to stretchy her wings.  As a bonus, our new friends can get a closer look at the most tactically able ship in the fleet" Kiork suggested.

[Kyle Briggs]

[Katra - OCC]

Kyle listened with fond memories of his own young days when Ensign King came in. She was definitely a smart one. He'd have to keep an eye on her. He turned his attention to the viewscreen when their visitors appeared and agreed to the Captain's proposal. Once the connection was closed, Kirok asked Kyle about the moment he had been waiting for.

"I'd be more than happy to take her out, Sir." he said.

He had wanted to take the new ship out ever since its arrival. Now he was getting the chance. He sent out message for the crew that would be joining him.

Flight - Lt Ser Conley
Sec/Tac - Ensign Jimrec
Eng - Ensign Riss
Science - Lt Falleg
Med - Doctor Xiiv
Ops - Crewman Kimball

"I'll take care of her." he added as he headed for the lift once more. He made his way to the docking ring and boarded the Seleya. He looked around as he made his way to the Bridge. When the lift dropped him at the Bridge, the first thing he noticed was the single seat in the center.

"As you were." he said as he stepped out when he an officer near the lift snap to attention as if he were about to announce Kyle.

"Mister Conley. As soon as all departments report ready, take us out." he said as he sat down.

[Kirok]

[Katra - OCC]

Kirok offered Kyle a nod.  He knew the man had been itching to take a ship out for a spin.  Him and several others, no doubt.

After some of the staff departed, he looked to see who remained.  Then considered what needed to be done before the guests arrived.  What their needs may be.

"Mr. McKenzie.  Can you tell us how many people I should expect to see when the lead ship arrives?  Mr. Ferris, I'll need an escort to the docking ring.  Will you come along or will it be Mr. Drake?" he asked.

Finally he tapped his badge.  -//-OCC to Diplomatic Officer Zex.  You are needed on the bridge-\\- he said.

[Don Damien Addams]

[Katra OCC to Seleya]

Kal saw he was hand picked to be sec/tac on the Seleya. A new ship. That was going to be interesting for sure.

He sent a message to Kylan. Sir, I was requested to be Tactical on the Seleya.

Kal had left and stepped on Seleya and got to the bridge. He walked to the Security/Tac station. He checked it was in working order. He scanned to be sure systems was up and running properly. He saw the torpedoes was all full and ready. She was ready to go. There was a pride smile on him.

Then he thought of Zex for a second to believe she was going to be safe. Why was he having such thoughts. Was that joking about marriage started a spark. He shook the thought away.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

:: Katra Station OOC ::

He'd been exhausted before being roused by the yellow alert and dragging himself to the OOC. So to put all the blame on Serena's engineering spiel would be an exaggeration but... not much of one. To be honest, Kyan had never had much use for tech-speak. He wasn't an engineer, and didn't plan on becoming one any time soon. Maybe in a few hundred years if tactical ever got too easy... which he didn't think it would After all if he was always thinking up new and inventive ways to shove folks off the mortal coil... surely the bad guys would be too right?

So when all the grups got to talking about graviton beams and warp fields and how they could use the deflector array to do whatever... Kyan deposited himself in the chair at the tactical station. While he waited for the computer to run a scan of the enemy flotilla, he laid his head on the console and listened to the conversation around him, which amounted to background noise at this point. It all started to run together and the Onlie's eyelids got heavier and heavier until finally he relented and shut them.

He was out instantly.

[OCC - NPC Alpha Adrai]

Alpha could be seen in the viewscreen.  He looked confused by the half Vulcan's request.  The Hunter had apparently not expected an invitation to 'come to dinner.'

A female Tosk stood off to one side.  She appeared to be with child.  She kept her eyes pointed down.  Four other Hunter's were seen worked at various stations.

"I am Lead Hunter Alpha Adrai.  I am not opposed to sitting down with you.  We have more ships on the way, bigger ships, and we are serious about your need to move your station.  If our conversation does not result in our desired outcome the consequences will be grave" he said.

:: Dreamland ::

Kyan was having fun!

There was just something about combat that he loved. Maybe it was pitting himself against someone else in a clash of wills or the adrenaline rush that always came with armed confrontation. Or it might be the artistry of out maneuvering an opponent in a game where the stakes were as high as they could be, Kyan didn't know and frankly didn't care.

He lived for this. Every time he came out of a fight still breathing, it was as if he were mocking Arawn, the god of Death himself. But in this dream, Arawn wasn't playing around. It brought a smile to the ancient boy's face as he plyed his console and cast blue beams of death at his enemies and pelted them with torpedos.

"Not today Arawn, ya ole pig headed bastard!" he rasped as another shuttle ship bloomed into a small cloud of fire.

The Drai Armada had broken off into attack wings and began firing on the station whe Kirok told them what they could do to themselves and the metaphorical horses that had carried them here. Apparently that wasn't what they wanted to hear.

Acrid smoke from a blown console stung his nose  and the frantic shouts of those around him filled his ears. Between himself and Kal, they had already knocked out a score or more of the little ships but would never be enough. They were going to run out of torpedos, and the enemy was going to eventually drain the shields. And then...

"Intruder Alert!" the computer informed them in it's neutral voice, as though it were just a piece of mundane information and not heralding the arrival of people with bad intentions.

Kirok looked back at him and jerked his head toward the door when their eyes met. Kirok's were like looking into a calm pond, betraying no feeling on the matter one way or the other. Kyan's lit up like he'd just caught the Jolly Elf himself  descending his chimney with the sack on his back and all. He nearly leapt out of his chair and ran for the lift, brandishing his phaser in one hand and a Karambit in the other.

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

The lift ride was an eternity. When the doors opened, they revealed dire circumstances. There were Drai everywhere, fight with and overcoming those who stood in their way. Kyan saw the Alpha at the end of the corridor, plunging a wicked looking blade into the heaving chest of some crewman in a red shirt. Then the Alpha looked back at him and bared his teeth in a wicked smile.

Beaten, why for
Can't take much more
(Here we go, here we go, here we go now)

They both started toward each other at the same time, cutting and shooting a path that would eventually lead them to one another.

One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me

Kyan deftly ducked a swinging arm with a knife in it's hand and slid between the hunter's legs, stabbing up as he did so. The dull, wet smack sound coupled with the scream gave him all the information he needed and he jumped to his feet, firing his phaser at the next hunter.

One, something's got to give
Two, something's got to give
Three, something's got to give now

Adrai deflected a phaser shot from a Starfleet crewman with his forearm shield and fired his phaser bolt crossbow thing at another, taking him full in the face and sending him slamming into the bulkhead.

Let the bodies hit the floor

Finally the last obstacle, in the form of a hulking hunter stood between Kyan and his quarry. The boy saw the next few seconds as if he were seated at a chessboard. He tapped the heel of his left foot against the bulkhead and a four inch blade flipped out from the toe of his boot. The hunter charged him. He ducked a fist that would certainly had caved in the side of his skull and jumped up, kicking off the wall. He then whipped that foot around in a kick aimed for the back of the intruder's head. The blade sank all the way to the rubber on his sole in the hunter, who fell to the deck, taking Kyan with him. His own head smacked the deck and a million stars exploded in front of his eyes. He squeezed his eyed shut and shook his head to clear his vision as he pulled his leg back to free the blade. When it cane free, he scrambled to his feet and looked up at Adrai, who was standing a few feet away, ready for him.

They each struck at once.

Skin against skin, blood and bone
You're all by yourself but you're not alone
You wanted in and now you're here
Driven by hate, consumed by fear

[Katra - OCC]

"Mr. McKenzie.  Can you tell us how many people I should expect to see when the lead ship arrives?  Mr. Ferris, I'll need an escort to the docking ring.  Will you come along or will it be Mr. Drake?" he asked.

Finally he tapped his badge.  -//-OCC to Diplomatic Officer Zex.  You are needed on the bridge-\\- he said.

:: Back in the real world ::

The tendrils of consciousness grasped at him until his eyes opened and he jumped up from the seat he's been sitting in. He'd heard Kirok say his name, which was the catalyst that brought him back to wakefulness but it was several seconds before his brain could make sens of the words and formulate a coherent reply, which as it turned out, was  a little less coherent than he wanted the first time around. "Sure we can launch torpedoes." he mumbled as his brain was still processing. Then when it finally had... "Erhm.. What I meant tae be sayin was.. umm... alot?"

[Serena King]

[engineering]

Rinaya offered a courteous dip of her chin in return, gesturing to the console. Her brow quirked at the other officer's requests. She appreciated that the woman was so open and willing, a mark of a good officer. But it wasn't often that she'd been asked to pick apart others' work. She shrugged and turned to the display, pulling up Serena's work from before.

"Your thoughts with gravitons are good, but rely significantly on the unknown odds of being able to outmuscle their antigraviton generator." She shot an impressed look at the woman before continuing, though. "œWhich seems most likely to be what they're using, good deduction."

A few more taps brought up a diagram, and she entered a command to run some numbers. "œSee, we'd have to not only match, but exceed their antigraviton output with our graviton field""beam?"  One large ear twitched as she considered, narrowing her eyes briefly at Serena before dismissing the detail, but noting it for reference later. A beam could be just the thing"¦ "œWe only know that their field is powerful enough to negate a standard shield generator's graviton output, but we don't know what that upper limit is. It could be three times what the station is able to produce, and sustaining an excessive amount of power for a graviton field could blow our generators."

Rinaya tapped out a few more commands and brought up another set of data, watching the other ensign carefully as she stepped aside to allow Serena access to the console. "œWhat about tetryons? if the shields could be modified to piggyback on a low-level tetryon field instead, that would remove the need for gravitons entirely, and render their antigraviton field useless. We'd need to amplify a subspace field around the station to stabilize them, and we couldn't keep it up for long or we'd risk tetryon radiation. But that might be a way to go until they decide whether they're going to open fire." She offered a small shrug.

"œThey'd see a graviton field or beam coming, and they haven't exactly opened fire yet. A subspace field is hardly malicious, and tetryons are barely detectable on sensors unless you're actively looking for them. Then, if things go south, a burst on a high intensity graviton beam could be used to disable their field generator, if we don't need to worry about being diplomatic. Thoughts? Poke holes in it?"

Her expression was somewhere between a smile and a grimace as she waited for the other ensign's thoughts.

[Katra Station | Engineering]

"And this concern stems entirely from the description of a rock?"

Serena chuckled at the inside joke and waved her hand, before reassuming her professional air. "What you're proposing will work, quite well. The problem is, a passive field... It's conversion efficiency." She paused to tap a few equations into the console. "To get the strength and density, we'd have sharply diminishing returns. You can drop a stone into the pond, but the ripple-wave it forms is going to spread out so far it'll just stop. It's very much a workable concept, though as you mentioned, they're going to brute force us and we're going to have to brute force back."

She looked thoughtful. "It's a neat trick though, I didn't think the way you did. I'd say start with your concept first. If they get past that, we can always throw a graviton beam at them. We technically don't need to stop them cold, only disrupt any Transporter's Annular Confinement Beam enough. Hmm. We've got to get together to challenge ourselves when it's not a crisis."