Posted by Lieutenant Commander Kastarak (First Officer / Navigation Officer) in Crossing the Klingon Border – Bridge

Posted by Commander William B. Grey (Chief Science Officer / 2nd Officer) in Crossing the Klingon Border – Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Symar (Chief Medical Officer) in Crossing the Klingon Border – Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
As the USS Chernov silently glided across the Klingon border, Kastarak stood at his station on the bridge, his eyes fixed on the navigation console. The ship’s Romulan cloaking enveloped them in an invisible shroud that defied detection. Kastarak’s mind raced with conflicting emotions. On one hand, he marvelled at the efficiency of the Romulan technology, appreciating its ability to render them completely undetectable. On the other, he felt a deep-seated unease at relying on equipment created by a species and culture he harboured an aversion towards. He pushed these thoughts aside, focusing on maintaining their course through Klingon space.

Suddenly, a sharp beep cut through the silence. Kastarak’s eyebrows rose in surprise as he realized it was an incoming hail. His logical mind immediately began analysing the impossibility of the situation. How could they receive a hail while cloaked? It defied all known principles of cloaking technology.

Kastarak’s fingers flew over his console, attempting to trace the source of the mysterious transmission. His mind raced through possible explanations – a malfunction in the cloaking device, an unknown Klingon detection method, or perhaps something even more sinister.

“Report! How is this possible?” Kastarak ordered, his voice a little quicker and a little louder than usual, perhaps a hint of stress. “By all logical reasoning, we should be undetectable.”

As he worked, Kastarak couldn’t help but wonder if their reliance on Romulan technology had somehow compromised their mission. The irony of potentially being undone by the very device meant to protect them was not lost on him.

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Chris was in his own trance smiling at the clever deception that they had made while going over into Klingon space. But the hail bright him out of his revelry. “Maybe we’re not as clever as I thought.”. He mattered to himself. While his First officer was handling the situation he pressed his own com channel up.

[O] Lieutenant Symar report to the bridge at once and on the double! [O]

Looking over towards Kastarak. “I need to get something out of my office real quick. I thought about this occurrence but not this soon. I’ll be right back.”.

He ran into his office and came out a minute later holding up a Romulan Commanders uniform and a box. “Have Symar put this on as soon as he comes in. He’ll be on the bridge for that. The others can still wear their Starfleet uniforms. But have them put these on.”. Her handed the box to Kastarak. Inside was plastic Romulan ears that will go over their own ears.

“I know. I don’t want to offend you all but this has to be done. You can answer the hail but not put it on viewer until I am back into my office. They will recognize me. Depending on who they are but the Klingons will. Ok. Answer the hail.”

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

William groaned at the ears as he put them on, he’d been hoping his days of putting on a Romulan disguise were over. He quickly put them on and used a small device to fit them together with his skin seamlessly. Once that was over he ran a check on the hail to see if he could identify it. “It would be logical to assume that Romulans can track or at least contact their own through cloaks, this will likely be an unsecured channel”

CSO, 2O

Dawson had been on edge the entire time they moved across the border. He couldn’t help being reminded of the stealth and ambush training sessions, not to mention a few missions when he had had to rely on the hope that he was properly concealed. Everytime he felt like a child hiding under the covers, hoping the monster couldn’t see them.

Then the hail came in.

Dawson was at tactical and immediately readying for a fight. This was not meant to be happening. How could something hail an invisible ship? When Taggart came about with the ears, Dawson raised an eyebrow but attached the prosthetics. He had a vague idea of what the captain was planning but was worried about how they would pull it off.

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

For Kastarak, the whole situation of cosplaying Romulans on the ship was unwanted. He understood the logic of it, however, but he did not wish for this to happen in any situation. While the others might see the fun in it – Kastarak did not . Even if he hadn’t been Vulcan, the pain of the loss of his homeplanet made any feeling of the Romulans bad to him. As a “good” Vulcan, he did his best to repress it, but the unwanted memories and feelings flaired up again, intrusively. While zoning out for a while, someone answered the hail “on screen” (Kastarak wasn’t sure who), and Taggart’s decision to cosplay had been a good one, for lo and behold, a native Romulan in flesh and blood (or as much as you might see on a screen, with a Romulan bridge behind them), was there.

The voice of the male figure on the ship, along with his visage on the screen, proclaimed:

“This is the Imperial Romulan Ship Vorta Vor. I am commander Vartiek. Identify yourselves.”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Kastarak had donned the Romulan uniform. He recognized it, perhaps they had salvaged it from the Romulan ship they used to traverse into Klingon territory the last time. It was still a stiff, uncomfortable uniform.

He grinned, attempting a smile of pride, as he answered the hail.

“I am Darak, commander of the former Federation sharship Chernov. I have named it Rovarran. My crew took hold of it a few weeks ago, when the Chernov swerved into the neutral zone. The Federation crew are prisoners of war. We are travelling in Klingon space to map it. What are you doing here?”

The answer was swift.

“Impressive, Darak. We too are on orders mapping Klingon space. Let’s tailgate one another, yes? And dinner. I’d like to see your nice trophy of a Federation ship.”

Kastarak did not like the idea of twinning with the Romulan ship for the rest of the route. He did not also like the idea of being boarded by Vartiek and his people. However, he was not actually the commanding officer, so needed a way to get out of the conversation without it appearing suspicious to the Vorta Vor.

“I should like that very much,” Kastarak said, smiled widely again, considering he had no other option. His creativity had already taken a bad turn. There was no more creative energy left in his neural veins… He really needed the call to fail. He could not find a logical way out of this situation.

Symar sat at his conosle, keeping a stern face, names flashing through his mind as if to see if this Vartiek character seemed familiar.

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

Dawson tensed. They had barely crossed into Klingon space and were already hitting unforeseen hurdles. What is a Romulan Ship doing out here? Dawson kept his head down and focused on tactical, seeing if he could trace the hail to where the romulan ship was hiding. Clearly, they could find them, so he should be able to do the same, otherwise, they’d be at a severe disadvantage if the captain’s plan didn’t work.

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

Dawson’s thoughts went in the right place. Since the Vorta Vor could track the cloaking tech on the Chernov, it was entirely logical that the Chernov could do the same. If Dawson adjusted the spectral analysis of the Chernov’s own gravitational lensing by accounting for warp bubble – as well – as the energy distortions caused by cloak, he’d be able to cross-reference the similar data to find the Vorta Vor on the map. Knowing that it’s close enough to be communicated with without making use of subspace signals, and seeing little lag on the communication, it would mean the ships would be less than 0.05 AU from another.

William put on his most neutral expression, he’d already done this once before, he assumed since Symar was given a uniform that he’d be the one to speak unless Kastarak would take that role.

CSO, 2O

Pawl kept quiet as he worked at the engineering station, going through everything to ensure the cloak and all the other systems were working properly. And not giving them away. He still hasn’t seen any problems.

[[Lt_Jg ]] [[Pawl Batario]]
[[Chief_Engineer]] [[Uss_Chernov]]

Kastarak tried reaching Pawl’s thoughts. Pawl, please do something to kill the call. Make it seem like a malfunction. We can’t keep this going. Please Pawl…

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Pawl stopped and froze felt like an eternity. Some familiar thoughts started coming from Kasarak to him. As he felt the urgency of the officer wanting a distraction or cover as to kill the communications channel. Pawl started to create interference as the signal and popping noises now could be heard on the communications channel. As Pawl continued to create issues to help cut the channel looking as if it was a malfunction possibly a natural phenomenon. Pawl did what he could do to cut the channel and the channel finally cut out. Pawl was going to speak but avoided the temptation. As he communicated back to Kasarak ~All done sir!~ As he did not turn to face the viewer or Kasarak at that time. But He would no he got the message.

[[Lt_Jg ]] [[Pawl Batario]]
[[Chief_Engineer]] [[Uss_Chernov]]

“I can’t say I know anything about this Vartiek person,” Symar said regretfully, not really paying attention to what was going on around him.

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

Dawson continued to search for the Romulan vessel. He adjusted the spectral analysis, using the Chernov’s gravitational lensing and energy distortions caused by the cloak to cross-reference similar data to find the Vorta Vor. Sure enough, there it was, just .04 AU off of their starboard side.

When the communications went down, Dawson shot a look over to Pawl, thinking the engineer must have caused some interference and the looked to Kastarak, waiting for permission to speak. He had an idea, and it was a bold one. Dawson sent a quick private message to Pawl across consoles.

Pawl, are our shields still up?

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

Pawl looked at the incoming message from another station on the bridge. As he looked it over. He typed. = All systems are Normal and functioning. The com channel was turned off so it looked like a communication problem but there is none. = As he sent it off to the officer.

[[Lt_Jg ]] [[Pawl Batario]]
[[Chief_Engineer]] [[Uss_Chernov]]

Indeed it was.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Kastarak said succinctly, losing the Romulan uniform. “How can we fly away from here and at the same avoid getting tracked by the Romulan ship? Suggestions, gentlemen?”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Lt. Valharra sat at tactical with CWO Dawson. “Um, can the shuttles be cloaked? If so, could we deploy two and then we go in three directions, so the trail wll be distorted, they won’t know which ship to truly follow, and then we could rendezvous at a different location after we are sure we lost them.” LT Valharra suggested. He thought it might be crazy, but it might be crazy enough to work.
Lt., j.g. Valharra, Security Officer

“Negative, Mr Valharra,” Kastarak replied quickly. “Cloak only works within our own warp bubble, so the shuttles would only be covered while within a hundred metres or so from our ship.” It was a good thought, though. He made a mental note to let Valharra know that once the danger was over.

“More suggestions?”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

“I can try and build a small version of the cloaking device for the shuttles, Sir?” PAwl offered. But it would take time.” I might be able to adjust the cloaking and shield harmonics of the cloaking device so that it passes through us to make us appear that we have left or moved on.” Pawl also offered.

[[Lt_Jg ]] [[Pawl Batario]]
[[Chief_Engineer]] [[Uss_Chernov]]

Dawson stood, his face resolute. He knew Kastarak may not want to hear this plan, but it might be the only option they had.
“Sir,” Dawson started, “I don’t think we’ll be able to make a clean escape. From what I see, we have one advantage over the Romulans. We can fire and use our shields while cloaked. They can’t. They won’t be expecting an attack from a cloaked ship. I have located where the ship is, and am pretty confident that there should only be one, but I will widen the scans to be sure there aren’t more Romulan vessels. If it is just the one, sir, I suggest hitting it and hitting it hard. An extensive attack with photon torpedoes and phasers should destroy the ship entirely, all while keeping us fully cloaked. The Romulans won’t have time to warn the Empire, and they can’t admit to being found in Klingon space any more than we can. The Klingons may detect the fight, but by the time they arrive, we should be far from here, leaving them to find the remains of a Romulan ship in their space. This serves a duel purpose of also distracting the Klingon patrols by giving them a mystery to solve while we continue to traverse undetected.”

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

It was a radical solution that Dawson proposed. Not necessarily a bad one, it reminded Kastarak of the Vulcan hello of not too long ago, when Vulcans and Klingons established relations. Moreover, the Romulan–Federation cold (sometimes hot) war since over a century back would also make this solution legitimate. Kastarak hoped though that the crew could come up with a better, less violent solution. But both Valharra’s and Batario’s solutions were unreasonable given the necessity of fast-paced action. If the Vorta Vor figured out who they were, they could be under attack any second now.

“Thank you, Mssrs Dawson, Batario,” Kastarak said succintly. Dawson’s proposal required the captain’s consent. Kastarak turned his head to the captain, “Sir?”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Symar waited, eager to see where things went from here.

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

William frowned, beyond the riskiness of the move it went squarely against his morals, the objective of the mission, Federation law and their rules of engagement. He busied himself with trying to find whatever it was that sent out the signal to the Romulan ship.

CSO, 2O

Before letting the captain answer, Kastarak noticed a shift in Mr Grey.

“Mr Grey, your suggestions and understanding of the situation, please?”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

William’s head swung up and looked at Kastarak, damn the man he’d learned quickly how to function as a good XO. “I don’t have a suggestion as of yet beyond discovering how we were tracked. However I am wholeheartedly against any hostile action without cause, Starfleet does not and should not commit blatant acts of murder.”

CSO, 2O