Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - Start

Posted by Civilian Marishka (Lounge Host) in Main Sim - Start

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Serena Stone (Executive Officer) in Main Sim - Start
Posted by… suppressed (25) 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

The redhead nodded, glancing back at Captain Legen to see if he had anything to add. So far he’d been quiet, but with a race of “Listeners” what else could she expect. But that he seemed content to do so for how, she interpreted as a good sign or at least decent.

At this point, Shock entered the Bridge. He was usually not on the Bridge, but the data he got from his Pad suggested he should be present.

He went to the tactical station, where a junior officer, a Tellarite female ensign by the name of Tegoren, stood. He signalled to her to remain at her station, while Shock would remain next to her to answer any security-related question, and provide his advice as necessary.

– Lt Shock (COS)

She shifted her gaze to tactical, giving the Lieutenant a nod of acknowledgement, then turned back to the viewscreen. Five ships missing. Possibly more. Reviewing the details provided so far, her expression turned mostly neutral, but one wouldn’t miss the hard edge to them now, or the subtle straightening of her posture, her shoulders squaring up, a little more tension in her neck.

Sure it cold be nothing. Even with as civilized as Federation space was, it was still the wild west. Help was often hours away. Anything could happen, but this was too much to be coincidence. And probably not some anomaly. Sure it was possible, but it didn’t smell like it.

“Any other intelligence or data your office can send us would be appreciated. Is there anything else you can tell us directly, Admiral?”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, XO

The Admiral nodded. “The burns on the hulls of the ships recovered are consistent with Breen weaponry. On the inside of the ships however, all weapon discharge was determined to be Federation phasers. They have disabled the ship’s internal sensors before coming aboard so the available record of who they actually are is nonexistent. The ship seems to be a cargo vessel, but whether that’s a sensor spoof or an accurate reading… we have no way to tell. The attacks are short. Never more than 10 minutes. Our guess is that at least one person involved with this is familiar with the class of ships they’re hitting.”

-GM

At the back station she currently occupied, NE Smith wondered if these types of attacks were consistent with how the Breen operated.

• NE Smith

Orvos was still seated taking in everything. The Admiral’s information made the situation turn quite sketchy. Ship disappearing within the presence of a supposed cargo ship able to fire breen weapons. And presuming the crew was boarded, only phasers were fired. “Admiral have there been any bodies found on these ships? Any survivors at all? What happened to these crews?” he stated aloud, his eyes intent on the viewscreen.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

Breen. The word sent a chill down her spine. The Boogeyman if there ever was one. The Vorta were a little creepy perhaps. The Jem’hadar… she couldn’t harbor them too much ill will, at least intellectually. They were good soldiers, fierce, tough, with a job to do back then. But the Breen made it to Earth during the Dominion War. Even before the war they’d casually wiped out Klingon fleets without even a squeak.

Granted, that war was over long before she’d joined Starfleet, but it had been one of her big reasons to serve. Why she was the officer she was now. She’d studied it a lot, especially during her Academy training. “What type of Breen weaponry,” she interjected. “They were packing crazy firepower even before the Dominion War, and continue to advance in weapons tech, I would assume.”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, XO

Orvos watched as his first officer’s questions came bursting forth. She was thinking and taking the situation as seriously as she should. The breen were not easy to deal with. They were one of the more war-like factions in the alpha quadrant, and Orvos found them to be quite annoying. It was very hard to trust them. But that didn’t necessarily mean the Breen were behind these attacks. Was it possible? Sure. But the jury was still out until the Athena got their to investigate.

Noting those present on the bridge, he tapped the internal comms. =/\=Commander Calloway to the bridge please.=/\= was all Orvos said while the Admiral replied.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

=/\=On my way, Calloway out.=/\= Disentangling herself from one of her many projects, Faye shut down the system and left her office, heading for the Bridge.

~Faye Calloway, CIO

Serena’s thoughts mirrored the Captain’s. Breen weaponry didn’t mean that it was the Breen, or even that it was even a Breen ship. But their weaponry was present, which meant a connection. And depending on what kind of firepower they had, it shifted tactical factors and how they might approach things. From what the Admiral had provided so far, it was likely a hauler of some kind with Breen guns strapped on it. Probably a pirate job of some kind. It smelled like piracy, at least. But still, the more they could glean now, the better the picture they would have going out into the black.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, XO

The XO’s comm chirped that it received a text message from Engineering. =/\= Warp jump wasn’t scheduled for another two hours. Everything okay? =/\= asked the Chief Engineer.

Hammor, CE

“New orders from Command, Mister Hammor. It seems we’re going hunting,” Serena replied. “Getting the details now.”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Smith made a mental note that the CIO was coming to the bridge. Her other boss would be very interested in this fact. Things were definitely getting intense up here.

• NE Smith (Marishka’s ears on the bridge.)

Speaking of the wayward storm of a CIO, Calloway stepped on to the bridge and took in the Admiral on the screen and made her way over to the Captain and XO. She stayed silent but gave them a You rang? look, knowing they’d fill her in as soon as they were able.

~Faye Calloway, CIO

(bump)