Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall (Chief of Security) in Main Sim-Deep Space Nine-Meeting of Mystery

Posted by Captain Freja Andreassen (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim-Deep Space Nine-Meeting of Mystery

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall (Chief of Security) in Main Sim-Deep Space Nine-Meeting of Mystery
Posted by… suppressed (23) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<Snip>

The Klingon crews all slowly began to prepare for combat. While their weapons were secured, a Klingon warrior did not need a blade or disruptor to be deadly. The Romulans also became more guarded, glaring at the Changeling and Vorta. The Cardassian representative spoke up for the first time, his voice filled with contempt.

“Admiral, what is this?” he demanded. “You call my government and ask them to send a representative, only to bring the faces of the Dominion? They did great harm not only to my people but to the peoples of both the Alpha and Beta quadrants!”

“Gul Daras,” the admiral responded, “I understand the pain more than you could know. The reason you have been invited is that this could lead to better relations for all involved if we handle this right. I want to be clear that the Federation is not going to do anything that would be counter to relations with any of you. Now, let’s get this meeting started. This is Founder Shara and her Vorta assistant, Erisa. She will be briefing you on the situation.”

The admiral stepped aside as the Changeling, who appeared very similar to past representations of her species with slicked-back hair and rough, simple features, moved forward. Meanwhile, the Vorta, who had long black hair that mostly reached down to the small of her back and was styled with twin looping braids starting at the front of her head and sweeping around her ears, stepped to the console on the back wall.

“Good afternoon,” Shara began. “First, I would like to ask that all questions be held until the end of our presentation. Seven standard days ago, the Dominion began testing a new form of faster-than-light travel. This new technology is designed to punch a temporary hole in subspace using a quantum waveform generator, creating a temporary wormhole. Once the ship enters subspace, it can travel upwards of 150 light-years per minute.”

On the console screen, footage of a Dominion battleship appeared. The ship projected a small blue energy beam from its deflector, opening a hexagonal rift in space. Swirling blue and purple waves filled the geometric energy portal, which then moved toward the ship that had created it. The battleship disappeared inside, and a new feed showed a similar portal opening up and moving again in the same manner, with the battleship emerging from it.

“When the ship wishes to return to normal space, it punches a new temporary wormhole and exits. Early tests showed no ill effects or issues. That footage is from one of those early tests,” Shara explained.

Bob nearly laughed out loud. 150 light-years a minute! He thought. It couldn’t be done. Everyone knew that the maximum warp speed was warp 9.9. The speeds that they were talking about would be revolutionary. His interest was definitely piqued now. He listened more intently.

“So, we proceeded to a longer test. The test ship was another battleship-class vessel, as they are currently the only ones with the power output to operate the drive. It was to make a jump from the Founder homeworld, 300 light-years away, and then reemerge. A support fleet of fourteen ships was sent ahead to provide assistance in case of any issues. When the battleship emerged, everything seemed fine at first. We were receiving reports one moment, then all of a sudden, there was silence. The last normal message indicated that something was wrong on the test ship and that the support fleet was moving to assist. Then we received this.”

A Dominion logo appeared on the screen, followed by audio filled with static, digital artifacts, clanking metal, and electrical arcs. A multitude of voices spoke simultaneously, but every word was audible: “WeeeeEEEEEeeee LiiiIIIIiiVeeeee…. NeeeeEeeEEEEdddDDDdd… MoooorrRRRE… PaRRTtttzzzzZZZZZ.”

After the audio finished playing, Shara spoke again. “We sent a recovery fleet of fifteen more ships to investigate. To date, we have lost contact with three Founders and forty-five Vorta. The Vorta lines involved had to be permanently boxed. This is what happened when one of them emerged from its cloning chamber.”

New footage appeared on the screen, showing pods opening amid blaring alarms. Vorta were screaming in terror and madness. Some were attempting to be violent, obviously failing against the Jem’Hadar, while other Vorta who were sane were desperately trying to help the screaming Vorta or operate the computer consoles. to stop the chaos pod after pod of clones were opening one after another cascading down the line each time as if the system registered the broken mind as death and automatically started the next clone which became insane as well

“There was no saving any of them. It was a cascading failure of each line, all forty-five Vorta clone lines are halted until we can figure out a way to erase whatever corrupting and traumatic force is behind it” Erisa said sadly.

((Again, character thoughts can go here.))

Bob raised an eyebrow. Now that’s alarming! We live. Need more parts? Hmm. He thought to himself wandering what that could mean. The madness alarmed him more. He waited for Shara to press on with the presentation.

“Founder Odo, with great difficulty, managed to convince the Great Link to give the Federation a chance. Admiral Rivers suggested involving the Federation’s allies as a courtesy to the Treaty of Bajor. In exchange for assistance, the Dominion is willing to offer limited exploration of the Gamma Quadrant to the powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. No more than six ships will be allowed at a time, and each must have a Dominion representative aboard to ensure that no one accidentally wanders into restricted areas of Dominion space,” Shara explained.

The Cardassian representative, Gul Daras, stood up. “Who will decide which ships get to go, for how long, and when?”

Admiral Rivers stepped forward. “The Federation and the Klingon Empire will hold these passes and will provide them as they become available. We will also discuss constructing a new station on the Gamma Quadrant side of the wormhole. This station will be considered neutral space, providing a place for ships to dock and wait their turn.”

Gul Daras rolled his eyes. “Of course, the mighty Federation and Klingon Empire get to decide. How fair is that? Both will likely reserve these passes for their ships,” he complained.

“Gul Daras, if the Cardassians are so eager to stick their necks out, you can always tag along on one of our ships!” Kromak growled, eliciting a laugh from the rest of the Klingons. This seemed to hush him up.

Admiral Rivers resumed speaking. “The mission for this task force is as follows: Enter the Gamma Quadrant and link up with the Dominion Fourth Fleet, led by Changeling Shara. Then, seek out the lost fleets, determine what happened to them, and assess any potential threats. The Klingon contingent was in the area and is not currently ordered to participate. You are free to refuse this mission, though I have received word from the Klingon High Command that Captain Kromak is given full authority to make the decision herself. Everything will rest on your shoulders regarding the ships and crews of the Empire,” Admiral Rivers said, looking at Kromak.

Kromak stood and declared in a booming, proud voice, “We will not let the Federation and Romulans hog all the glory and honor!” Her words brought a cheer from the Klingons in the room. Admiral Rivers nodded before continuing.

“To represent the Bajoran people, Commander Aria has been appointed. For the Romulan people, we have Starfleet officer Lieutenant A’zna T’arn.” The Starfleet Romulan stood and nodded. “I will be leading from the RRS Vornoth. However, the Romulan people—what’s left of us—and my own support will be given to the fullest on this mission,” A’zna said very simply. then Admiral Rivers continued “And as you’ve all heard from him twice now, Gul Marak Daras will represent the Cardassian Union,”

After ensuring everyone knew each other’s names, Admiral Rivers spoke again, “I am assigning the lead ships of this task force to be the IKS Gorkon and the USS Chimera, with Commander Kromak and Captain Andreassen in joint overall command. All other ships will report to these two. Gul Daras and Commander Aria are free to choose whichever ship they wish to observe from. I will leave you all to work out any questions and finer details. The task force is to set out in two days to give the USS Cthulhu a chance to finish swapping her diplomatic module for a combat module.”

“Work is almost done, actually. We may only need one of those days!” Captain Roth reported.

The admiral nodded and turned to leave. Shara also turned to leave, while Vorta Erisa stayed behind. “Founder Shara will be returning to the Fourth Fleet to prepare. I will, of course, be joining one of the Alpha Quadrant ships until I can be returned to my Founder’s ship,” she said with a smile. “I am free to answer any questions you may have, though any classified information will need to remain classified.”

GMT Phoenix

Lunan slid up to Andreassen to ask, ‘What do you know about Commander Aria?’

“Nothing off the top of my head,” Freja replied.

-Lt. Commander Lunan Farrah: XO-

Keitah stood quietly, hands clasped behind her back, absorbing every detail. The Dominion’s new technology was fascinating, even if the implications were terrifying. A ship traveling at such speeds, disappearing into subspace her mind couldn’t comprehend it in that moment. What could have gone wrong? And what had happened to the crews of the lost ships? The thought of facing something unknown, something that had driven even the Vorta to madness was unsettling.
Keitah had never interacted with a Founder before, and though she had heard countless stories of the Dominion War, this was her first real encounter with the former enemies of the Federation.

Lieutenant Naisyr
(Counselor)

“We live, need more parts. What does that mean?” Bob said aloud to no one in particular, he was deep in thought.

Lt. Bob Jeffers (CE)

“Something sinister, sounds like,” Freja remarked quietly, then speaking louder for the benefit of the founder, “Is there anything pertinent to note about the areas of space we will be traversing? Things that could effect our ship systems or navigation would be good things to keep aware of as we progress on the mission.”

~Freja Andreassen~

Shara had already left with the Admiral Erisa however smiled and first answered Lieutenant Jeffers Comment “We have no idea We analyzed the recording but what you hear is it all the artifacts and other noises the collection of voices all of it that was the transmission at its clearest” she said “Almost as if it has a Hive mind mentality” she added Then she turned to Captain Adreassen “We have been tracking the movement because strangely the tracking becons are still active and they are pinging as friendly though we are not trusting that after the disappearance of the third fleet They are moving strangely closer to the Wormhole at the moment however we have a feeling that their first target will actually be the Founders homeworld after they acquire whatever these parts are! Be aware there is a Nebula close to their last known location this Nebula is off-limits to Dominion ships and the Dominion would like to Strongly request at no time do any ships enter However Founder Odo has given permission in a dire enough situation to use the outermost edge of the nebula and that being said the Nebula is not Technically Dominon space and is not a classified system so The Alpha and Beta quadrant ships can do whatever they want in that case. we also have been picking up distress calls from other ships We have warned all other merchant vessels into safe harbors for the time being but the stragglers who were too far out…” she added grimly

Kromak then spoke “Captain Adreassen How would you like to organize our little taskfoce?” she asked Clearly interested in seeing how aggressive the Captain was going to be in this situation

GMT Phoenix

OOC Everyone feel free to ask any more questions you need to

“We need to fill in the knowledge gap, first of all,” Freja replied, “If we want to mount of a defense of our allies and protect other assets from whatever this is, we need to understand what parts it needs, if only to prevent those parts from being provided and then how to neutralize it. If we go in guns blazing, for all we know right now maybe those guns are the ‘parts’ they need and we’ll wind up missing too.”

“Could we potentially receive whatever data the founders have on this nebula, such as it’s composition?” Freja asked Erisa, “Just in case we do need to skirt it, maybe even use it to mask our approach if it’s got gases that might be condusive to that. If its not classified, I’d also like whatever details you can give us on the missing ships.”

~Freja Andreassen~

Keitah shifted slightly, her eyes narrowing as she processed the information being exchanged. The talk of missing ships, distress calls, and the looming nebula created unease in her stomach. The Dominion’s vagueness was unsettling, especially when lives were at stake.
The idea of a “hive mind mentality” brought concern to her. It wasn’t a new concept, but the thought of facing something that coordinated, something that consumed entire fleets, was terrifying. It reminded her of the Borg and she wondered what it would be like to face an enemy that shared one mind, one goal, relentless and unyielding.

As Captain Andreassen spoke about filling in the knowledge gap, Keitah found herself agreeing.
“Captain Andreassen is right,” Keitah said, breaking her silence. “We need more information before we make any moves. Going in without understanding what we’re up against would be reckless, especially with the stakes this high. We’ve faced many threats before, but this… this feels different. The unknown factor here is too great to ignore.”
She glanced around the room, meeting the eyes of her fellow officers. “We can’t afford to be caught off guard. If we don’t know what these ‘parts’ are, or what this new technology is capable of, we could end up walking right into a trap. We need to fill in the gaps, piece together whatever information we can, and figure out what we’re really dealing with.”

Bob listened intently, he waited for the response eager to know if there was anything he would need to do to prepare the ship in the off chance they would need to enter the nebula.

Lt. Bob Jeffers (CE)

Lieutenant Hall also stood there listening inventively. She had to figure out what she had to do for security so she stood there and listened to what might have to come. The chance that there might be an enemy attack or something is something she must get ready for.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall
U.S.S. Chimera
Chief of Security

“The nebula Blocks scans from the outside Shields are severely weakened while inside and Sensors are limited to the most minimal short-range capabilities other than that we don’t know much about it at least not that I can share…I am afraid there is one classified secret with it But in full transparency Its something the Dominion has to deal with and wont be relevant to our current mission…I hope…” she said looking a little nervous “The best thing will be to use only the most bare minimum of the Nebula should things go really far south with whatever this is as for the missing ships we have lost three battleships 7 Battle Cruisers and 20 Attack ships and there have been distress calls from your general Civilian freighter” she said

GMT

Lunan spoke up, “Could we triangulate our scanners across multiple ships to try and get a read?”

-Lt. Commander Lunan Farrah: XO-

Keitah’s thoughts turned practical. She wondered if there was anything she could do to help, any way to prepare the team for what might lie ahead. The mention of weakened shields and limited sensors in the nebula made her uneasy. If they had to go in, they would be nearly blind an easy target.
The nebula could be their salvation or their doom, depending on how they used it. She had never been one to shy away from a challenge, but this… this was different. The stakes were higher than ever, and the uncertainty gnawed at her.

Lieutenant Naisyr
(Counselor)

Bob stood deep in thought. They did need more information, especially about the new drive that was being tested.
“Can we get a copy of the files on the new drive? I’d like to know what has been going on, we need more information as to what may have caused this and it starts with that drive of yours.” He stated to Erisa.

Lt. Bob Jeffers (CE)

While Hall stood there listening to Lieutenant Jeffers. She had then spoken up. “What about for security. Is there anything I have to get my department set and be prepared for?” She asked.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall
U.S.S. Chimera
Chief of Security

“I think we need to prepare for anything, which sounds a bit abstract,” Freja paused, “Would we have access to a timeline of what occurred when with the missing ships, or at least what is known on our end. Did they report anything out of the ordinary before their disappearance for example?”

Sometimes even just an innocuous event that seemed unrelated could point to a series of events to watch for as they ventured into the wormhole.

~Freja Andreassen~

OOC Captain Kromak’s plan and break down is simply a suggestion feel free to ignore it :P

I am afraid that details on the Jump drive are strictly confidential but as we had not seen anything like this with the 300 smaller tests I believe we can rule out the Drive as being the problem we are also pretty confident that the Drive was destroyed when whatever happened, happened the Crew of that ship had stringent orders that if the drive were thought to be in danger of falling out of control of the dominion they were to destroy it. it had its own miniature self-destruction capability from what our Long-range Sensors have told us the Quantum Waveform that was used to create the temporary wormholes and which was noted to be in constant presence around any ship with the drive installed has vanished” Erisa explained to Bob

Bob sighed, a little frustrated at the lack of willingness to provide the information on the drive. But his hands were tied. He REALLY, wanted to take at look at that drive. It was a fascinating prospect. Maybe at some point I’ll be able to sneak a look. He thought to himself.

turning to Lunan “I only mentioned the Nebula in the event we need to use it as a hiding spot and we wont be going that far in so we won’t need to worry about triangulating anything” she added

turning back to Captain Andreassen she took a breath and said we don’t know anything other than the lead of the Support fleet we sent ahead of the test reported something seemed wrong with the test ship and that the fleet was moving in to assist then we get the message “We live Need more Parts” and that was it normally if something happens to my Kind we are able to bring back what happened with our next clone however in this case because the clones have gone mad they can not or will not tell us anything and the ships also have a Black box they are supposed to eject and transmit data upon destruction however that has not happened either so all ships appear at the moment to be fully operational however they are ignoring all attempts at communication” she explained

Kromak interjected again “I say its pretty clear that whatever happened this fleet of ships is now a threat of some kind Captain Andreassen I recommend we pair off ships and no ship venture alone when we head to the Gamma Quadrant to Investigate I recommend that the pairings Y’Tang and the Pickett Gorkon and Chimera Kharg and Nightengale Koraga and Chtullu leaving the Tribute and the Oak Ridge to be a pair as The K’voras and Chargh’ka captains are twins and do not like to be split apart I also recommend that the Nightengale and the Kharg be kept at the rear of our formation as they are clearly our support ships the Romulan ships I would put in the center of the formation with our ships as there are so few” the Klingon capptain said clearly get the show on the road moving to the console she brought up a suggested formation showing that the Pickett/Y’tang were on point with the K’voras Chargh’ka Tribute and Oak Ridge forming a Delta formation The Chimera Gorkon Cthullu were second in a line abrest formation and the three Romulan ships in a Reverse Delta behind that.

one of the Romulan captains rolled his eyes “Just like a Klingon to want to jump into something without all the information…” he said

Kromak actually seemed to ignore the comment A’zna spoke in romulan to the captin before addressing Kromak “That looks like a strong formation as long as Captain Andreassen has no objections too it I am good with it”

GMT Phoneix

“I haven’t any objections myself,” Freja replied, “As I said, we need more information, but by the same token sitting here at Deep Space 9 won’t get us the information we need. We need to know exactly what this fleet is doing, likely right now they are searching for these ‘more parts’, we aren’t going to figure that out until we get out there to observe them, so yes, we should move forward with Captain Kromak’s proposal, we can amend on the go.”

Turning back to Erisa, “Have you downloaded the information that you can share with us into our databases or have you left that with Admiral Rivers? We’ll take whatever declassified nuggets we can get, if only to start to formulate the series of events that led us to this point.”

~Freja Andreassen~

Bob listened as the Captain spoke. He had nothing to add really he was just eager to get underway.

Lt. Bob Jeffers (CE)

OOC: After a conversation with Kirt, it makes sense Jasper would be involved here!

OOC: This meeting was meant for all senior staff meaning all of the department heads.

Jasper was sat at the back of the room, listening in.

He’d been drafted from his nameless station to Deep Space 9 in order to transfer onto the USS Chimera but no-one had informed him that his first act upon the vessel wouldn’t even be on the vessel. No-one informed him that it would instead be a meeting with a lot of people involved and lots of important information being shared that he was actually expected to listen to.

Of course, he doubted anyone else in the room would know who he was so he doubted anyone would even notice if he fell asleep instead of paying attention. He knew that wasn’t very professional however, and probably wouldn’t go down well if his first act as the newest Chief Science Officer of the USS Chimera was to fall asleep during an extremely important meeting.

So he focused and actually listened. For once.

There was a lot to take in, experimental warping that went faster than theoretically possible and some disturbing videos. Of all the first missions to come aboard for, this was definitely one that he would rather have skipped. He wasn’t one for the unknown, he was scared of the dark never mind an unknown voice which stated that it lived and needed more parts.

It was going to be a long mission.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Edwards - Chief Science Officer - USS Chimera

Melanie still stood there wondering what all this was about. However, not getting all the full details that was needed to understand everything. “Listen I feel like as Chief of Security on the Chimera. And as the captain stated we should know the specs of the engine. I mean if we don’t know the specs it’s going to be very difficult for our engineering team and science team to analyze the data you’ve already collected on it and every single details that might still being withheld from us.” She stated.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall
U.S.S. Chimera
Chief of Security

OOC And he is the new Chief Science officer…

“As i said I am sorry but details of the drive are classified What i can tell you is that its not going to be a factor or at least it should not be if the crew of the test ship did their duty before whatever happened happened!” she said getting a little defensive now “The Drive I can tell you is a Seperate modual with its own ejection and Self Destruction capability if the crew did their job the moment something anything seemed wrong they were to eject and detonate we have two other test cores of the same design so the loss of one is not critical but still I feel that continued discussion is not going to get us anywhere I would like to request that I be allowed passage on the USS Cthullu until we meet up with Founder Shara’s Fleet” she asked

GMT Phoenix

“Of course,” Freja nodded, “A reminder to my officers, we aren’t in any position to make demands of our guest. If and that is a big if, the engine specs become required knowledge for our mission, I’m certain Erisa will discuss with her people the possibility of allowing us access to the necessary information we would need to complete our mission tasks. At no point did I demand the specs, I merely asked if the information deemed necessary for the mission was made available in our database or would be made available shortly, I apologize if my earlier wording was confusing.”

She made a mental note to have a general discussion with her senior staff about basic diplomacy and not pissing off guests.

“Think about it, we often rescue other ships without any knowledge of what is going on within the hull, we can’t just assume that we need to know about an experiemental engine,” Freja explained, trying to deflect her COS’ rather undiplomatic statements, “I’ve rescued people off damaged ships without any knowledge of what types of experiments they were or were not conducting and clearly I’ve lived to tell the tale.”

“If there are no further questions for Erisa, I suggest we adjourn and get ready to depart DS9, executing the plan Captain Kromak has tabled,” she finished.

~Freja Andreassen~

“I’ll get other departments prepped to get underway back on board Captain,” Lunan said, rising.

-Lt. Commander Lunan Farrah: XO-

Jasper cast his eyes around the room.

It appeared that everyone was getting ready to leave the meeting. There appeared to be a plan and now it was time to execute the plan. His first official voyage upon the USS Chimera and he wasn’t entirely sure what he was getting himself into. He got to his feet, ready to join the Chimera for the first time.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Edwards - Chief Science Officer - USS Chimera

Keitah shifted uneasily in her seat as the meeting dragged on. The talk of classified drives and uncooperative black boxes only heightened her anxiety. This mission felt like a puzzle with missing pieces, and she hated puzzles.
Her thoughts raced, focusing on what she could control. The shield weakening in the nebula weighed on her mind. What would they do if they were ambushed? Could the Chimera’s systems hold under pressure? Keitah had always trusted the ship, but this felt different. They were stepping into the unknown, and no amount of preparation could guarantee success.
The Klingon captain’s suggestion of a formation was strategic, but Keitah knew that no formation could protect them from what they couldn’t see. Blind in the nebula, even a strong formation wouldn’t help if they were hit by something unexpected.
Keitah’s hands itched for action. We can’t just rely on the formation,” she thought. There has to be more we can do. We need to run diagnostics, tighten up security protocols, maybe even prepare the transporters in case we need to beam people out quickly.

Lieutenant Naisyr
(Counselor)

“I already have Lieutenant Jeffers’ team conducting top to bottom diagnostics on the Chimera, I suggest everyone stress to your JOs to speak up if they see something that isn’t normal happening,” Freja added as an extra caution, “All of us here are senior staff, we unfortunately can’t be everywhere, but that’s where our crew come in.”

~Freja Andreassen~

“So you’re saying is to fill out junior officers in on what’s going on when we get back on board. That’s easier said then done.” She stated.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall
U.S.S. Chimera
Chief of Security

“Lieutenant,” Freja spoke harshly, “Meet me in my ready room when we return to the ship.” She wasn’t about to dress down an officer in the presence of others, but frankly her COS’ attitude about the mission was starting to border on insubordination and her demands on Erisa who was not a member of Starfleet was definitely over the line.

“Are there any other questions?” She changed the subject.

~Freja Andreassen~

“No. Sorry captain.” She said. She didn’t want to overstep but she accidentally did.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Hall
U.S.S. Chimera
Chief of Security

Once most of the officers had left the room, Lunan turned to his CO, “If you need to focus on the mission, I can speak to Lieutenant Hall?”

-Lt. Commander Lunan Farrah: XO-