Posted by Lieutenant Sapeth (Chief Engineer) in CIC - Arrival at Scallax

Posted by Captain Freja Andreassen (Commanding Officer) in CIC - Arrival at Scallax

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Finn Grady (First Officer) in CIC - Arrival at Scallax
Posted by… suppressed (20) by the Post Ghost! 👻
OOC: If anyone is in the process of still researching anything related to the mission, feel free to continue to play that thread out, I’m choosing to move ahead just to keep us in some momentum.

IC:

Freja sat in her chair, having planned to be in the CIC at least twenty minutes prior to their arrival into Scallax.

“Let’s keep our sensors on the system,” Freja ordered, “If someone is coming out to meet us, I want some warning.”

~Freja Andreassen~

Ensign Shau nodded at the Captain’s comment but said nothing. He wasn’t at the tactical console; instead, he was manning one of the redundant stations along the outer wall. The Chief wanted the department to be prepared, and extra manpower was one of the surest ways to improve short-term performance.

MJ ran through the tactical suite again, refamiliarizing himself with its options before checking the threat-detection systems. Not only did they contain a nearly exhaustive catalog of known combatant ships and other armed vessels, but they could also identify the power signatures associated with a wide range of weapon systems.

In a way… that could be the most important feature during our mission in the Scallax System. There could be newly armed civilian vessels that weren’t in the database.

The Risian rolled his shoulders to ease the tension building in them and reminded himself that they were not there to fight. Our goal is to assess and de-escalate. If things devolve into violence, it’s because something went wrong.

They needed to remain alert for signs of danger without misinterpreting the actions of the locals.

The fact that the Chimera was a warship might actually be a liability right now. It could be construed by the Scallax government as a threat, putting the Captain at a disadvantage before negotiations had even begun.

Ensign MJ Shau - Security Officer - USS Chimera

Nathan sat at the helm, his hands resting lightly on the flight controls as the Chimera continued on her approach to the Scallax system. The steady hum of the engines resonated beneath the deck, a familiar reminder that thousands of tonnes of starship answered to the slightest touch of his fingertips.

As the Captain’s order came across the bridge, he acknowledged it with a crisp nod.

“Aye, Captain.”

His eyes swept over the navigational display. The approach vector remained stable, but he made a few subtle adjustments, easing the Chimera onto a course that would allow maximum manoeuvring room should circumstances change unexpectedly.

“Maintaining approach at one-quarter impulse. I’ve adjusted our vector to give us clear departure lanes in all directions while keeping a respectful distance from the system’s primary traffic corridors.”

Nathan paused for a moment, studying the growing collection of contacts appearing on his display.

“No unusual gravimetric distortions or navigational hazards within our immediate flight path. If we receive visitors, we’ll have plenty of room to manoeuvre without appearing aggressive.”

His hands settled once more on the controls. Flying a starship wasn’t simply about getting from one point to another; every course and every adjustment conveyed intent. In situations where diplomacy came first, even the way a vessel approached another world could speak volumes.

For now, all they could do was wait and see who would greet them.

Lt(j.g) Nathan Hawthorne
Chief Helm/Ops
Uss Chimera

The tactical display began to spit a read out on the Scallaxian system.

The system contained the following celestial bodies.

At the edge of the system was two dwarf planetoids in a binary orbit around one another. The database identified them as Scalla and Scilla and estimated that the planetoids had orbit around the Scallaxian sun had a planar variance of approx 15.2 degrees and an orbital period of 302 sol standard years.

Next was a micro planet designated “The Wanderer”, based on it’s orbital apogee and declination, it was offset 67.5 degrees to the standard orbital plane and had a orbital period of 267 sol standard years

Next was the gas giant Onus, with an orbital period of 190 Sol standard years, orbital variance of just 1.2 degrees and a single satellite named Triton. In orbit around Triton was where the deactivated sub spatial relay was located.

After Onus was the gas giant Cetera, this gas giant had several rings and satellites. A orbital period of 164 sol years and a planar variance of 9.3 degrees. The database listed the moons as “Gray, Brown, Green, Cian and Chartruse”.

Palaria was approximately 9/10ths the size of Saturn in size and similar to Saturn it also had extensive rings around it. Palaria was tidally locked to the Scallaxian sun and had a 0.1 degree planar variance. With an orbital period of 132.5 years. It also had a plethora of moons. Jonaa, Heros, Una, Rodasia, Gulgo, Salus, Metarius and Victus.

The Federation armoury was located in a complex deep within the largest Palarian moon of Una.

Turus was the largest stellar body in the Scalalxian system and marked the end of the outer planets. It had an orbital period of exactly 99 sol standard years, a orbital variance of a modest 3 percent and a bevy of satellites each large enough to be worlds in their own right. Onecury and Thuophetia were dwarf planets while Tingao and Unzonra were approximately equal to Scallax in size.

Federation records indicate that there was significant mining concerns based around Turus before the secession. From Hydrogen and Helium3 extraction to precious, rare earth and heavy minerals.

Scallax itself has an orbital period of 7 standard sol years. For a normal G-sequence star, Scallax would be far outside the standard habitbal zone with but the Scallaxian sun is a yellow giant which shifts the habitbal zone to put Scallax just within the outer edge of the range. Scallax itself has no moon, only artifical satellites and an Orbital Transfer Station.

The sensors indicated that there were two more dwarf worlds racing very close to Scallax Prime, however there are no entries about them in the data base.

There were a multitude of sensor ghosts and dead zones in the read out. On the one had, the sensors insisted that there was an entire fleet on patrol in Scallax. As well as several interference zones.

– GM Amadeus
USS Chimera

Finn surveyed the information on the display before glancing over at the captain, “Well, it seems they haven’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat for us. I’m not sure if that’s more good or more bad.”

He turned and called over to the communications officer, “Send an encrypted message to the Favereau to let them know we’ve arrived in system. Have them take up position outside and wait for further signal. And do your best to mask that message as some kind of stellar radiation. If they don’t actually know we are here yet, I’d think we should keep a low profile.”

Lieutenant Commander Grady - XO

=^=Captain, this is Lt. Reid, in the shuttle bay. The modified runabout is ready to go when you give us the green light.=^+

Lt. Conner Reid
Chief of Security-USS Chimera

“Indeed.” Sapeth said stepping onto the bridge and moving over to stand behind the Engineering watch officer. With everything calm at the moment, he was using the moment to observe how well they performed on the bridge.

“Engineering Teams completed the necessary adjustments to the runabout’s systems in order to camouflage it from most known means of detection.”

Lt Sapeth - Chief Engineer

“Open general hailing frequencies,” Freja ordered, standing from her seat, when she received the nod that they were open, =^=Scallax system, this is Captain Freja Andreassen of the USS Chimera. Starfleet has sent us here to start the complex process of severing your ties to the Federation in hopes that you wish to do so peacefully. We are also here to offer passage back to the Federation for anyone who wishes to remain a Federation citizen. We’d like to discuss those two objectives with your chosen representatives at your leisure. We are only two ships, to be joined later by a third, of which I will warn you in ample time of their arrival, our mission is to gather facts and offer an option for you to offload anyone who is not loyal to your cause. Please Acknowledge.=^= She made a cutting motion with her hand to her Ops officer.

“Continue to broadcast that message on all frequencies until we get a response,” she said, “Let’s keep the runabout plan in our pockets for now. We can always drop her off in a dead zone en route to our talks if needed. Assuming I get any sort of a response.”

~Freja Andreassen~

Nathan acknowledged the Captain’s order with a quick nod as his fingers moved across the Operations interface integrated into the helm station.

“Aye, Captain. Your message will continue to broadcast on all standard and emergency frequencies.”

He watched as the transmission cycled through the communications array before splitting a portion of his display between navigational telemetry and the sensor feed. The interference patterns scattered throughout the system were impossible to ignore.

“I’m also logging the sensor anomalies we’re detecting throughout the system. Several of the dead zones appear persistent rather than random. If they’re naturally occurring, they could complicate both long-range scans and communications. If they’re artificial…” He allowed the thought to hang for a moment before continuing. “…someone may be deliberately obscuring activity within the system.”

Nathan adjusted the ship’s position by a fraction, keeping the Chimera steady while maintaining the Captain’s non-threatening posture.

“Helm is holding station at one-quarter impulse with full manoeuvring capability. We can respond immediately if we’re approached, while avoiding any movement that could be interpreted as aggressive.”

His attention returned to the sensor display.

“I’m configuring Operations to compare the interference patterns against known natural phenomena and recorded electronic countermeasures. If there’s a signature we recognise, we may be able to determine whether these dead zones are environmental…or engineered.”

For the moment, there was nothing more to do but wait. The first move had been made. Whether the Scallaxians chose diplomacy or silence would determine what came next.

OOC: If i’m stepping on any toes with this post, please let me know :-)

Lt(j.g) Nathan Hawthorne
Helm/Ops
Uss Chimera

“Good work, Lieutenant. Let us know what you find on those scans. Let’s hope whoever is out there listening is not ready to jump right into a fight with us. I’m hoping we can escape without any black eyes here,” Finn said as he worked to keep his composure. He glanced at the captain and was reassured by her experience, trusting that she would be able to get them through whatever this turned out to be.

Lieutenant Commander Grady - XO

“I’m increasing power to the sensors, we should see an extra 10% increase in sensor resolution.”

Lt Sapeth - Chief Engineer

The increased sensor range yielded not much more but at least one of the dead zones appeared to be a Thoron field.

After standing at the edge of the system for 2 hours a response a small patrol vessel slid out of one of the nearest dead zones and approached to within visual range of the Chimera. Their shields were up and their weapons were powered but they had not established a weapons lock.

The Chimera received a audio only transmission.

“Federation ship, this is the SM-Recondia. Since all Federation infrastructure has been disabled you will stand by at your current position and await a communication relay with the Council. Any attempt to enter the Scallaxian system will be seen as a hostile act and will be responded to with deadly force without warning. We will contact you again in 30 minutes.

Recondia out.”

The Recondia had not been part of the intelligence briefing.

– GM Amadeus
USS Chimera

Nathan’s attention shifted toward the incoming transmission as the unfamiliar vessel came within visual range. He kept his hands resting lightly on the helm controls, resisting the instinct to make any sudden course correction. The Chimera had been given a clear warning, and for now, holding position was the safest course of action.

Once the transmission ended, Nathan glanced over the information displayed at his station.

“Well, that’s certainly a warmer welcome than I was hoping for.”

The comment was delivered quietly, more observation than complaint.

He began working through the sensor data, keeping the patrol vessel under observation without actively targeting it.

“Operations is tracking the Recondia. I’m not seeing a weapons lock from them, but their shields and weapons are definitely powered.”

Nathan paused, his brow furrowing slightly as he cross-referenced the vessel’s configuration against the available database.

“She’s not appearing in our intelligence briefing either.”

His fingers moved across the console as he began recording the vessel’s power signature, shield configuration, communications characteristics and engine emissions.

“I’m preserving a complete sensor profile while we have the opportunity. If this ship is new to our intelligence, I’d rather we leave Scallax with a much better picture of what we’re dealing with than we arrived with.”

He looked briefly toward the command area.

“And I’ll keep us exactly where they asked us to remain. No sense giving them an excuse to interpret a navigation adjustment as a hostile act.”

Nathan returned his attention to the helm display, maintaining their current position and remaining ready to respond should the situation change.

For now, patience seemed to be the most useful thing he could offer.

Lt(j.g) Nathan Hawthorne
Helm/Ops
Uss Chimera

“Send a standard acknowledgement,” Freja ordered, nodding to Lt. Hawthorne, “Good thinking Lieutenant,” she replied.

“I guess now we wait,” she replied, “Continue passive scans, see what we can turn up without raising too many alarm bells from our....potential hosts.”

~Freja Andreassen~

OOC: I’m back sort of, I’ll still bit a bit hit and miss for posting. Still not back in my house yet, but we’re closer to that as they are staging re-entry (the whole town was told to leave immediately so we can’t all go home at once now or it’d be chaos, much like our evacuation....). I’ll keep my LOA up in any case.

Nathan gave a brief nod at the Captain’s acknowledgement, his attention returning to the helm and Operations displays.

“Aye, Captain. Standard acknowledgement transmitted.”

He adjusted the sensor controls, shifting Operations into a passive monitoring configuration rather than anything that could be interpreted as an active scan. The Chimera had been told to wait, and Nathan had no intention of giving their hosts any reason to believe they were ignoring that instruction.

“I’ll keep the passive scan running across the patrol vessel and the surrounding system. We should still be able to collect their emissions, communications traffic and general activity without actively probing them.”

His eyes flicked briefly toward the unfamiliar vessel on the display.

“And given that the Recondia wasn’t in our intelligence briefing, I’d like to build as complete a profile as we can while they’re still within sensor range.”

Nathan settled back into his station, one hand resting lightly on the helm controls.

“Hopefully they appreciate our patience as much as we’ll appreciate theirs.”

Lt(j.g) Nathan Hawthorne
Helm/Ops
Uss Chimera

“Rotate the ship 77 degrees to port along the central axis so the dorsal sensor array is aimed directly at the Recondia. I will divert power from all secondary sensor arrays to the primary array.” Sapeth said as he moved over to the engineering console. Once the watch engineer vacated, he started transferring power to the primary dorsal sensor array in the attempt to get a clearer image of the Recondia.

The atmosphere on the bridge was tense, it felt like the moment before the storm broke. All too soon the chronometer hit 30 minutes and almost to the second the Recondia was hailing them.

– GM Amadeus
USS Chimera

“Let’s hear what they have to say,” Freja nodded, standing up.

~Freja Andreassen~

OOC: I am now back home, but still on Evacuation alert, I should be able to drop my LOA in a few days, but I’ll keep you all informed. House is all good, little stale inside after 10 days gone, but easily fixed.

OOC: Glad you’re home and safe!! I’d say open the windows to get some fresh air in there, but considering what the situation i, that might be a bit detrimental. . .

Lt. Conner Reid
Chief of Security-USS Chimera

Lt Sapeth - Chief Engineer
Nathan glanced across at the engineering console as Sapeth gave the order, then returned his attention to the helm.

“Aye, Lieutenant.”

His fingers moved across the controls, bringing up the manoeuvring display. Rather than making the rotation abruptly, Nathan began the turn smoothly, keeping the ship’s movement controlled and deliberate.

“Rotating seventy-seven degrees to port along the central axis.”

The Chimera slowly began to pivot, her orientation changing without altering her position within the system.

Nathan watched the flight telemetry as the dorsal sensor array came into alignment with the Recondia.

“Seventy degrees… seventy-five… and seventy-seven.”

He eased the manoeuvring thrusters back to idle.

“Rotation complete. Dorsal array is aligned with the Recondia.”

His eyes briefly flicked toward the communications and sensor displays.

“She’s going to notice we’ve changed orientation, though. We’re still holding our position and haven’t raised shields or weapons, so hopefully it won’t be interpreted as anything more than a sensor adjustment.”

Nathan then returned his attention to the Operations display, monitoring the ship’s power distribution as Engineering began diverting power toward the primary array.

“I’ll keep an eye on our other systems while you’re drawing the power. Let me know if you need the ship repositioned any further.”

Lt(j.g) Nathan Hawthorne
Helm/Ops
Uss Chimera

“Thank you, Lieutenant Hawthorne. Lieutenant Sapeth let’s make sure that scan doesn’t feel too aggressive to them. Keep it as passive as you can with the extra power. And if we get any kind of reaction from them stop the scan immediately. We still want to keep this as cordial as possible for as long as possible,” Finn ordered as he watched the image on the viewscreen. After another moment of consideration he said, “Let’s do a database search and see what we can find about any ships named Recondia.”

Lieutenant Commander Grady - XO

“Hopefully they aren’t gunning for us straight out of the gate,” Freja remarked, nodding as her XO issued the orders.

~Freja Andreassen~

Sapeth dipped his head slightly. “Commander, I would be amiss if I didn’t point out that a single active sensor pulse would allow us to get a much more detailed view of the Recondia.”

Lt Sapeth - Chief Engineer

Finn nodded, “I hear you lieutenant, but we are walking a fine line here. Right now we seem to be a tolerated and likely expected arrival.”

He turned to the captain, “What do you think ma’am? Worth a one time ping to see who we are dealing with?”

Lieutenant Commander Grady - XO