Task Force: Gamma

uvek · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:32 am Post subject:

The Romulan had moved to the tactical station after presenting his report, immediately upon hearing the call from Lt. Calodan. He relieved Ensign Phell and reset his console to personal preferences.

Uvek looked to the captain, "No response, sir! Shields are up, but fluctuations in the atmosphere are going to interefere with their full operation. We need to clear it in order to be one hundred percent."

He pushed phasers to full ready, and primed the forward torpedo tubes. "Armaments standing by. However, I cannot ensure phaser lock!"

The ship shuddered again. Hnaev! Cursed Uvek, How are we going to fight like this?
"Captain, I recommend at the very least, we rotate the ship bow to, in order to present a smaller target to the approaching vessel, and ensure our weapons have full effect."

Marek · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:47 am Post subject:

Croft shifted course again, avoiding an air pocket.

"Captain, I can pull us clear of the atmosphere in thirty seconds," Croft said, not turning from his console, "these storms are only getting worse, either we have the worst luck in the galaxy or something is artificially disrupting the atmosphere." A particularly large shudder runs throw the ship, Croft swears in Klingon.
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ArjimCalodan · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 5:51 pm Post subject:

"Captain, I may be able to buy the Away Team a little time if our visitors decide to take hostile action. Right now, they won't be able to see the runabout on their sensors because of the interference and the Hartington being inbetween their ship and the surface. "

He paused to take a breath and to try another modulation on the comms to contact the surface.

"If we were to temporarily open the plasma vents and then excite the plasma with a nadion burst from the bussard collectors, it would increase the sensor interference by a factor of 10. There is no way that the runabout could be found. This would unfortunately have the effect of completely cutting off our chances of communicating with the away team."
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uvek · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:52 pm Post subject:

"If we do that, sir," interjected Uvek, "may I suggest that would be a great opportunity to move the ship?" He ran calculations again. "It would be possible to reroute us to a good firing position 10,000 meters outside the atmosphere within seconds and use our own counter electronics to jam their sensors and communications for once."

Captain David Brennon · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:17 pm Post subject:

The Captain took a breath, calming his nerves. This was not Brennon's first hostile scenario and by god it would not be his last.

"Lieutenant Calodan, implement your plan. Mr. Croft, once the interference shield is up enough to completely mask the Columbia's approach I'd like you to maneuver us to the optimal tactical position, determined by Lieutenant Uvek."

He paused and looked towards Rolen for a moment before looking back towards his Tactical Officer.

"As for you, Lieutenant... Once we're in position, open a channel. Broadband subspace. I don't care if they respond at this point, I just want to be heard."
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ArjimCalodan · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:54 pm Post subject:

Calodan quickly reconfigured the deflector to emit the nadion beam required to put his plan into effect. He used the time it took to make a last ditch effort at communication with the away team.

"Hartington to Columbia. We have company in orbit and are moving to intercept. We're masking your takeoff with a nadion cloud. Comms will be down until you clear the atmosphere."

When the computer signaled his nadion burst was ready, he activated the commline to Engineering.

"Lieutenant Calodan to Engineering. Lt. Ghan, are you ready to vent the drive plasma according to the plan?" The gruff engineer responded "Yes Lieutenant, ready to vent the drive plasma. Hope your plan works, opening these vents in an atmosphere means that someone is going to have to scrub the filters out manually. I'm relaying the controls to Ops now."

Calodan quickly activate the controls to vent the plasma in the atmosphere. 5 seconds later, the vents were closed again and the plasma was dissipating.

"Alright Lt Croft, our distraction is in place. I'll energize the plasma field as soon as you pull us away a bit." The young Lieutenant at the helm deftly maneuvered the ship away from the dissipating plasma cloud.

"He is very good," Calodan though watching Croft work, "he pilots the ship like she is a much smaller and more nimble vessel."

As soon as the ship has enough distance not to be damaged by the nadion beam, he fires it off into the plasma. The viewer shows a thin purple beam firing from the ship and then the cloud flashing with a violent flash of purple.

"Nadion cloud dispersing as planned Captain. The Columbia will be disguised until she breaks free of the upper atmosphere."
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uvek · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject:

Uvek passed the tactical detail to Lt. Croft, and readied the communications. The moment the Hartington was clear of the interference, the hailing frequencies would be open and ready. "Standing by Captain." he reported.

His fingers hovered near the phaser lock. With the ship clear, he'd be able to push a full round of energy into the threat. The shields would also immediately clear.

He watched his screens closely, and waited for the captain to make his move.

Liam McTavish · Task Force Crewman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 286

Stardate: 53772.5
Location: Science Station, Uss Hartington

McTavish managed to switch the narrow sensor beam from the Columbia's landing area to a broad band view of the cloud of plasma the Hartington had just released. McTavish watched as the Nadion Beam was fired and ignited the cloud. The purple cloud was actually very pretty. But as the cloud was dispersing McTavish could see the out line of something solid.

"Captain! Our distraction has just revealed another ship hiding in the atmospheric disturbances. What little I was able to see before the plasma cloud disappeared, The ship was about 3 times the size of one of our Runabouts. There is no way to know how long it may have been under us. Or how close it may have gotten. I am scanning the hull for any breaches."

McTavish sent a copy of what he had seen to Operations and Tactical. To the Tactical report he red flagged a possibility of hull breaches.

uvek · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:03 pm Post subject:

Uvek punched the red alert. The knowledge of a ship sitting that close to the Hartington made his green blood run cold. It was those things that often compromised a mission. He tapped a command into his console, sending the standing security teams onto high alert, and dispatching others to the unsecured areas of the ship. While it was unlikely anyone could board the ship with the shields up, they were intermittent during contact with the atmosphere. As the ship cleared the atmosphere he cancelled the audible alert, and opened the channel for the captain.

Liam McTavish · Task Force Crewman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 286

Stardate: 53772.5
Location: Science Station, Uss Hartington

"Chief Boats, McTavish."
"Yes Ensign?"
"Chief, Are the Cadets still working on the damage report from the Willamette? And have either of you started on the dorsal or aft end?"
"Aye sir they are still going over the inside. Ive got a couple petty officers doing some preliminary work on the outside."
"Chief. Drop everything and check out the aft end. I need to know if any of that damage could have been from some kind of attack or something like a cutting laser."
"Ummm alright sir. We are on it. Shuttlebay out."

Liam McTavish · Task Force Crewman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 286

Stardate: 53772.5
Location: Science Station, Uss Hartington

Relying on Lt Uvek and his security teams to make the interior of the ship safe. McTavish began a bottom to top scan of the exterior of the ships hull to make sure nothing was hitching a ride.
McTavish wasnt sure which was going to drive him batty first. His palm itched for the feel of his d'k tahg and the tightness in his spine telling him to watch his back.

Marek · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:10 am Post subject:

Croft maneuvers the ship according to the flight path Uvek sent to his control panel.

"Captain! Our distraction has just revealed another ship hiding in the atmospheric disturbances. What little I was able to see before the plasma cloud disappeared, The ship was about 3 times the size of one of our Runabouts. There is no way to know how long it may have been under us. Or how close it may have gotten. I am scanning the hull for any breaches."

Croft curses inwardly, should have seen that one he preloads several evasive maneuvers.

"Captain, we are in firing position,"
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uvek · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:56 am Post subject:

A red light flashes on the tactical board, accompanied by a now familiar chirp. "Captain, we now have phaser lock, shields at 100%!" Called out the tactical chief. "Hailing frequencies open, full spectrum."

He poised to fire and waited the captain's command.

ArjimCalodan · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:52 pm Post subject:

Calodan was monitoring the situation very carefully. Being caught between two unknown ships was not his idea of a safe place to be. He had the computer running through options on how to reveal the sensor ghost in the atmosphere without acting in a hostile manner. "Nothing," he muttered to himself. "Come on computer, give me something."

A blinking blue light in the upper corner of his console reminded him of the atmospheric probes they still had in the atmosphere. He quickly ran a status check and found them a bit worse for the wear, but still functional. A small course correction in the four probes closest to the sensor glitch that Ensign McTavish had reported.

As the first probe started to transmit back data, it went off line. One by one, all four probes, that had to this point weathered the atmosphere with little complaint, stopped transmitting. Calodan quickly collated the bit of data he had gotten from them.

"Captain, that sensor ghost that Ensign McTavish saw just destroyed our atmospheric probes. The computer is analyzing the sensor data they managed to transmit before but my preliminary analysis shows there is definitely a ship there."

He turned in his chair to face McTavish at the Auxiliary Science Station. "Ensign, you might contact the shuttle bay and tell them to examine the runabout for evidence of damage from a compressed tetryon beam. Sensor readings from the second probe show a pulse of tetryon radiaton right as the first probe was destroyed. "
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Liam McTavish · Task Force Crewman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 286

Stardate: 53772.5
Location: Science Station, Uss Hartington

"Aye Sir, Compressed Tetryon Beam."

"Chief Boats, McTavish."
"One moment Ensign." The sounds of someone making a report could be barely heard.
"Ensign? It looks from our initial scans that the, Blast it! Get that man to Sickbay! Sorry Sir, the Willamette is crawling with Tetryon Radiation. What the hell were you doing out there?"
"Thank you Chief, thats all we needed to know. Bridge out."

McTavish caught LT Calodan's eye and nodded, "Compressed Tetryon Beam indeed."
A light began blinking. McTavish's stomach dropped as he read the results of his scan of the hull. McTavish dumped the info to Operations and Tactical.
"Captain, We have 8 objects attached to the hull. These objects are just over 2 meters long and just over a meter wide. Im not picking up any energy readings or life signs at the moment so im not sure if they are weapons or transports of some kind. Im barely picking them up at all.
The 8 object are on the hull outside Decks: 7, one object. 13, three objects. 10, two objects. 25, two objects."
"Im not reading any hull breachs. It looks like they are just sitting there at the moment."