Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim [Cargo Bay Two]: Shell Game

Posted by Commander Kohr (Executive Officer) in Main Sim [Cargo Bay Two]: Shell Game

Posted by Kvasir (Story Teller) in Main Sim [Cargo Bay Two]: Shell Game
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Issac moved through the corridors at a half-jog, wondering what he would find in the cargo bay. Hopefully, the Captain was having success in her meeting with Kohr - and he found himself wishing he knew both of them better. One couldn’t really judge if someone was acting ‘out of character’ if they didn’t know what ‘in character’ was, after all. All he had to go on was generalizations and bits and pieces of what he knew. And stereotypes… He shook his head, not wanting to categorize Commander Kohr as ‘Klingon, Bog-Standard’, but he simply didn’t know the man well enough to get much past surface-level knowledge. Something that I damn well need ta rectify after all this is sorted out!

Finally, the large bay door loomed in front of him; and he paused to catch his breath (and steady his nerves; much as he would’ve rather not admitted to himself) before keying open the hatch and stepping inside. Clearing the door, he quickly scanned the bay; taking in it’s contents.

Forgrave, CoS

Ensign Walker gave Lieutenant Forgrave a respectful nod as the man entered the cargo bay. The security officer had positioned himself in an out-of-the-way spot near some of the larger cargo containers to watch the door without being in the way, phaser rifle couched in the crook of his elbow and eyes alert. Lieutenant Watanabe did not so much as glance up from her work; the small oriental woman was modifying a kind of containment cage near the cargo bay door around the canisters of what Forgrave assumed was the antimatter. Lieutenant Bradshaw gave the security chief a half-wave as she directed a pair of ensigns moving cargo away from the containment grid.

The chief returned the greetings as he moved further into the bay; carefully keeping his face in a neutral expression as his eyes darted about, taking in the busy scene. What’s going on? Antimatter’s supposedly here.... maybe in that containment? Void knows Engineering’d have a field day with Watanabe if anything goes south - assuming anything’s left!

“Come to give our trap a look-over, chief?” Baker melted from between more cargo crates with a PaDD in one hand and a grin on his face. His free hand hovered over the PaDD’s surface, fingers moving against one another, as if eager to return to whatever data he’d been entering. “We’re almost done. The integrity field around the cargo bay has been bolstered by thirty percent with random harmonic resonance to keep the bastards guessing. The lieutenant—” he nodded at Watanabe, still deep in her work “—should be ready with the graviton induction field. We’re hoping it’ll make it harder for anyone to reach the antimatter canisters, give our sensors more time to detect anything hinky. Those have been set to read the energy matrices logged by the crew so far.”

“Something like that, Baker!” Issac smiled and kept his tone jovial; though alarm bells starting ringing in his head at mention of the ‘trap’. “Sounds like y’all’ve put serious thought into all this; though I can’t say I’ve seen any signs of a move on engineering; or here, for that matter. Reckon that ain’t a complaint though! And Walker, I sure hope that phaser’s on stun, fer all our sakes.” Issac delivered the warning with a smile, taking some of the sting out of it.

The entrance to the cargo bay growled open to admit Ensign Linch. The woman smiled brightly at Lieutenant Forgrave, gave a cheerful wave. Her gesture was so exuberant that she nearly dropped her tricorder, managed to recover it with an embarrassed chuckle. “If I could borrow you for one second, sir. Orders are to clear anyone who comes into the bay.”

Before Forgrave could respond, her tricorder wand was in-hand and moving about. A few heartbeats later, Linch smiled and nodded to Ensign Baker. “He’s clear. Carry on, sir.”
—Jas—

“Uh; glad ta hear I’m clear, Ma’am.” He’d been caught off-guard by the sudden scan; but he wasn’t offended. He was curious as to why they weren’t accepting the armband readouts, but then he supposed that could be easily faked. “So, I gotta ask, what prompted all this?’ Issac asked, gesturing towards the trap. “This don’t seem like a spur of the moment thing, and as much as I don’t want ta fault initiative… this is damned elaborate, ta say the least…”

Forgrave, CoS

Baker nodded, fingers pausing to jerk a thumb over his shoulder. “You’ll have to thank Commander Kohr for this, sir. We’re mostly just following orders. But here, I’ll show you around.”

“We’ve moved as much of our essential cargo over here as possible to give us more room to work, and to keep it secure in case there’s a scuffle.” The security officer gestured to the tight stacks of cargo containers against the interior half of the cargo bay. “As I said, we’ve boosted structural integrity and security fields along the outer walls, the deck above and the deck below. The only way in or out of here is through the main door or the cargo door itself—and we’re kinda hoping the aliens don’t like space any more than we do.”

The ensign moved a little closer to where Lieutenant Watanabe, nodding to her work. “We’re setting up containment here in-line with what Engineering whipped up, but we’ve added a nucleonic charge for a bit of spice. That’s… about as much as I understand, sir. You’d have to ask Miss Ayako here about the technical stuff, but you’d want to clear your schedule first. She’s, uh… thorough.”

Watanabe shot him a dirty look, and he threw up his hands defensively.

“A-Anyhow, Commander Kohr reasoned that since Hab’rabi was so intent on securing the antimatter—and since he’s been a squirrely bastard about it all—his motes might come looking for it while we’re playing Twenty Questions. And since the motes haven’t been playing too friendly with our systems, the commander was concerned that if they did make a play for the antimatter it might be best to keep things that explode away from what we don’t want exploded… like the warp core.”

Baker made an encompassing gesture with his free hand. “Since the cargo bays are built to handle explosive decompression and have emergency containment field emitters that can handle an explosion, it seemed the most reasonable and secure place to set this all up. If Hab’rabi turns out to be the up-and-up sort, well, we’re only out a bit of time and elbow grease; it also puts it closer to the transporters or shuttles if the captain decides to help the aliens out. But if the commander’s instincts are right and someone’s going to make a play for the antimatter, we’re ready for them.”

“Bait,” he chuckled, stabbing a finger at the canisters of antimatter. Then he made another expansive gesture to indicate the cargo bay. “Trap. Now all that’s left is to see if there’s a rat.”
—Jas—

Issac nodded along to Baker’s walk-through; and he found himself quite impressed by the thoroughness of the preparations - sure, it suggested paranoia.... but that was a damn sight better than laxity. And of course, he wasn’t one to point fingers when it came to paranoia…

Kohr stepped into the cargo bay and gave a satisfied nod at the progress being made. A small silver medical case was tucked under his leather-bound arm. The Klingon turned his attention to Ensign Linch as she scanned him with her tricorder, then showed him the results. He took the device and studied it for a few moments before handing it back to her and nodding her off. Noticing Baker conferring with Forgrave, he strode over with an intent look on his face.

“Lieutenant, I did not expect to see you here,” he rumbled placidly. “I would be pleased by your thoughts on our readiness in this endeavor, though I am sad to say it may no longer be necessary.”

Baker raised a brow, fingers moving anxiously against one another. “Change of plans, sir?”

“Of a kind,” Kohr nodded. “The captain has ordered half a liter of antimatter to be taken to the alien vessel in order to stabilize their power crisis. Recent scans show that the remaining crew in stasis may be in jeopardy, and we are to render assistance until Captain Rende decides what to do next. I will be taking an away team over there via shuttle to assess the situation, and to oversee repairs to their damaged warp reactor.”

The Klingon held the medical case out to the security officer. “These are to be dispensed to the rest of the team. The case contains monitoring armbands similar to mine and will continually scan us for signs of influence by the alien beings. I have linked them with the Muninn’s computer so that anyone compromised will be immediately transported to the Viking for containment. When you are finished, join me there.”

Baker nodded, taking the case carefully before moving off. Kohr turned to Forgrave and bared his teeth in a thin line that looked almost painful. His smile, it seemed, still needed work.

“I am heartened to see that you are still yourself, Lieutenant.” Kohr nodded at Forgrave’s armband. “I have asked Ensign Linch to continue observing containment protocols until we can determine whether or not the static warp field is effective against the energy beings. While I would like to believe our measures are fool-proof, I am not one to risk further incident should we be mistaken in any way. I am most certain you will agree that the more data we have to work with, the more successful the mission.”

“I agree with that in all accounts in that regard; believe you me! Glad to see you up and about as well; I thought I’d heard you had your own encounter with the energy things.” He couldn’t quite keep the question out of his voice, but he found he wasn’t too concerned about it.

Kohr tucked a finger behind his collar and drew out a small slip of paper. Leaning closer to Isaac, he murmured, “Do you have any ideas about what this might be for?”
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

Issac let out a long, low sigh. He had recognized the paper immediately; and it occured to him that there might have been more than just the stated reason for sending Baker off. “Damn well wish I knew, Kohr. Gist of it is that Hab’Rabi spat out what I think can only be a code sequence at me, and made it damn clear he thought it important. So I wrote it down, and kicked it up the chain as fast as I could.” He pulled a face at the last comment of his; clearly not happy with how it had come out. “Not that I was trying ta shirk responsibility, a’course - but code phrases that long don’t exist ta flush tha fraggin’ toilets, yeah?”

He fell silent for a long moment, looking off to the side as he thought, trying to remember the context around the ‘handoff’. “If I had ta guess… Hab’rabi passed tha phrase on, askin’ me, or us collectively, I suppose, ta protect his people and the Yur - whatever that is. So one thought is well… equivalent of blowing the warp core; denial of the enemy and all that. Can’t lose anything if there’s nothing left. But with the idea of ‘protect’… well, that just don’t quite line up, yeah? But I can’t imagine it’s not a damned drastic thing, whatever it does. Seems like they’ve had some trouble going on for a while yet before they met with us - or at least, that’s the impression I got. So why didn’t they do whatever this does before now? So best I can figure, it’s either a wicked double-edged sword.... or this is the most damned convoluted scheme to take our ship that could exist. And frankly, I can’t put too much weight behind the latter; but I can only speak from what I think I know.”

As if emerging from shadows, the hulking form of Peter Sigmundson appeared close to Kohr and Forgrave. He’d entered the Cargo Bay just after Kohr did and, out of a sense of drama, decided to walk a longer route through the darker areas and slowly and silently walked up to the two officers, he eyed Kohr critically but didn’t interrupt the conversation or step close enough to listen in.

CIO

-Forgrave, CoS