Posted by Captain Orvos Legen (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim - Start

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Serena Stone (Executive Officer) in Main Sim - Start

Posted by Gamemaster Fossa (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Start
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻
All was quiet on the Athena bridge. The ship sailed along on a routine patrol. A transmission came in from Starfleet Command, marked as urgent. Whatever break they had gotten since their last misadventure- it was over.

-GM

As soon as the notice came in Stone was on her feet. The steady thrum of the deck plates, and the quiet chirps and beeps from the various stations, the quiet conversation around the bridge, all forgotten. Life adrift in the black void was long stretches of boredom, but then something always showed up. While the CO of any ship was master and commander, it was the XO position that tended to run most things most of the time, handling the day to day operation and command. “On screen.”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

The screen filled with the image of an admiral, a Bajoran woman in the throes of middle age who clearly had not seen sleep in several days. She did not hesitate before launching into orders. “USS Athena, this is Admiral Karel. You are being redirected immediately to coordinates being transmitted to you now.” The ship did receive coordinates. Square in the middle of nowhere. “We have a problem. Cargo ships are being targeted as they pass through this area. Doesn’t matter what the cargo is or how it is secured. A crew we cannot identify strikes and seizes the cargo at that point.”

-GM

Serena’s blood froze “Admiral Karal,” she nodded in greeting. “We’ll get right on that.”

Liam had settled into one of the bridge’s science stations. He hoped the peace might last longer as an incoming message came. After popping the message finished, he frowned and turned to the coordinates.

“Commander, these coordinates led to the middle of nowhere.”

-CSO, Liam J. Madison, Sci.

At the back of the bridge NE Smith glanced around made several notes and sent a message to the parthenon. Looks like today’s quiet was over.

-NE Smith

Meadows was at the helm, receiving the coordinates. “Laying in the course Commander. On your word, we can go to warp.” he said, seeming comfortable with the first officer as his hands flitted over the controls.

-Lt. Matthias Meadows, Helm

“Step on it.”

Shock received an automatic computer-generated message. Important matters for his eyes were filtered through by the computer so he could regularly receive updates needing his attention. This was no exception.

He was already making the necessary preparations. Calling in off-duty officers and crewmen in security. Going over Red Alert protocols. And so on…

He did not report his readiness, but counted on everyone else to know he was.

– Lt Shock (COS)

“Admiral, do we have any other intelligence on that sector? Sightings, How many ships over how long a period? Any discernible patterns?” It was hard to keep the internal tactical and security officer in check. But at least she’d need that data fed to Captain Orvos, Calloway, Shock, and herself. “Are there any survivors, or have all hands been lost?”

“Three month period, twelve ships. One a week. Different destinations, but certain stations and colonies need supplies on a regular basis and the optimal route takes ships through this area. Other routes have different dangers of their own and we used to consider passing through this area the safe option. Not all the ships were Starfleet commissioned, but all of them were routed to Starfleet facilities. All crews are a mix of missing and dead, the ships were set on an autopilot to the nearest station. Ship logs show they were fired upon until the shields failed, at which point a boarding party came aboard.” Admiral Karel answered Stone’s question.

It already smelled, but whether it was piracy or worse, she wasn’t sure. Cardassian activity had been on the rise lately and this seemed like it might be another escalation.

Pausing, she turned to Liam. “Mister Madison, please make sure we have the latest updates for the region from Stellar Cartography. See if you can find any hiding places in the area. Let’s just hope it’s good old-fashioned hide and seek, and not somebody with a cloak.”

Madison would find that the region was generally empty, bordered on one side by an asteroid field.

“The region is generally empty, bordered on one side by an asteroid field.” Liam replied, relaying everything he found. Part of him wondered if they were using the floating rocks as cover for their attacks.

-CSO, Liam J. Madison, Sci.

Serena nodded. “Distance to that sector?” Not only would that give them the time it would take to get there, but if it was in high resolution sensor range they might be abl eot get a jump on investigating the area early, or some likely candidates to check out.

=^=Bridge to Orvos.=^=

=^=We’ve received a change in orders from Command. We’re changing course and getting the particulars but it looks like we’re going hunting.=^=

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

-GM

There was a brief pause before Orvos replied. =/\=Understood. I’m on my way.=/\= So much for the time away. He quietly got dressed and left his quarters to make for the bridge.

After roughly five minutes, the lift to the bridge opened and out stepped Orvos Legen. “So, new orders to go on a hunt, hmm? For what exactly?” he said as he made his way to the center seat.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

-bump-

Stone gestured toward the main viewer where Admiral Karal was still on display. “It seems we’ve had a dozen supply ships go missing near an asteroid belt in the last three months, roughly one per week. The area was considered relatively safe compared to some other options, but the uptick in ships lost is changing that perception rapidly.”

The look on her face was grim as her mind turned over the possibilities, but she pressed on with her report. “The ships we’ve been able to find show signs of a firefight until their shields collapsed. They were then boarded. All ships we’ve found show the crew are all dead or missing. There have been no survivors that we’ve been able to recover.”

She turned back to the Admiral. “Uh, point of clarification, Admiral. How many ships have we recovered? Or found wreckage from? Have more gone missing or not made it to their ports, but these are the vessels we’ve been able to locate? And do we have the manifests from these ships? And ports of call?” Maybe it was an overstep to ask direct questions now that Orvos was present, but without eyes on the files herself, her natural instinct to interview and build information was showing. One of the merits and perhaps a flaw of being a career Security officer and investigator.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

The Admiral responded “Five ships so far have been discovered. We suspect that one more has been taken. That latest ship, though no wreckage or final transmission has been discovered yet, never arrived at port and its transponder went dead shortly after it entered the area where the other ships went missing. The evidence may be circumstantial but it’s too much to ignore.”

-GM

Orvos took a seat as he mulled over the information Commander Stone had presented him with. And she seemed to be on the same track of thought as he was. He leaned back with a contented look at the viewscreen, clearly allowing his first officer to ask what questions came to her mind. He enjoyed observing things and assessing afterwards. And she was already off to a stellar start in his mind. Best for him to see how the Admiral responded, along with the crew as she took the lead.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO