Task Force: Gamma

Mehvra-Kuplo · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:05 pm Post subject:

USS Guardian - Engineering
Lt Mehvra-Kuplo

Upon dropping out of warp, Mehv made his way quickly to Engineering. Roe was being escorted out just as Mehv arrived, and Roe glanced at him just before moving around a corner. The glance showed no remorse, no indication of what was going on in his head; it was as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

From one of the main consoles, Mehv was able to access most of the shipboard systems immediately. Tapping his badge, while continuing to verify the data presented, he says, "Captain, whatever Lt Roe was up to, it doesn't seem intended to harm us or the ship. All damage seems trivial. I believe I can get main systems up in 5 minutes and the remaining repairs done in a few hours."
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Marek · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject:

Marek tapped his console, "Make it so, Lt." He turned back towards ops and navigation, "Any idea how far we have traveled yet."

Tanaka was tapping frantically at her console, "I think sensors must be malfunctioning sir, we can't have traveled that far."

Lenara was tapping away at her console simultaneously, she turned to Marek, "Captain, it appears I did not give Roe enough credit. As hard is it may be to believe, we are nearly 500 light years from our former position. We are at the very edge of a star system deep in Tal'Harton territory. The system has eight planets, one of which is class M. I read life signs and evidence of technology, but no vessels are detected. At this range I can determine nothing further."

Marek stood, pacing the bridge slowly as he spoke, "Lt Tanaka, as soon as we can manage set a course for the class M planet, 1/4 impulse. Lenara, continue to scan the area, any new information or sign of any vessel report it immediately. Tactical, yellow alert status, as soon as we have weapons back on line keep them armed." Marek began walking towards the turbolift, "I am heading to the brig."
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Marek · Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:22 am Post subject:

Marek stood outside the containment field in the brig, watching the Efrosian engineer. Dylan Roe sat with his arms folded, humming a tune. Marek pondered how to proceed, as Roe appeared to have no remorse for what he had done.
"Chief Roe, would you explain to me what just happened in Engineering?"

Roe stopped humming, stroking his beard for a moment, "I am sorry Captain, but I was following orders."

A brief flash of anger touched Marek, although outwardly nothing changed, "Who on this ship could give you an order that you would commandeer a Starfleet vessel for some dangerous experiment?"

Roe smiled enigmatically, "It was not someone on the ship, Captain." He leaned back, resting his head against the bulkhead, "Although there were some issues, my transwarp drive appears to work in principal. With some study and time, I am confident I can overcome the system issues, although I may need to go with a prototype vessel, I don't believe the Guardian will hold up to much more testing."

Marek watched the Efrosian, his face calm, inside was another matter, "Who gave you an order to keep your Captain uninformed of your experiment? Who told you to bypass Starfleet Security protocols?" Marek was quite sure of the answer, and although it was illogical, humans often behaved that way.

Roe smiled again, "My orders come from Starfleet Command, Captain. They are very interested in this technology." He stands, walking towards the containment field, "Imagine, the furthest distances of the galaxy within reach. Our most distant outposts would be safer than ever if we could travel the distance in hours instead of weeks." As Roe spoke, his words came faster, his voice increasing in pitch, "My work will change Starfleet forever! My work will be the crowning achievement of the Starfleet Design Corps!"

Marek watched the display without any visible reaction, "Who specifically gave you the orders, I require a name."

Roe was breathing heavily, his eyes and mind focused somewhere else, "Admiral Croft of course, who else would give orders on a Gamma Quadrant related mission." Roe walked back over to his bunk, sitting and returning to his previous humming.

Marek watched the Efrosian for another moment, then turned away. He nodded to the security officer, then left the security office. As he strode purposefully down the corridor, he pondered the meaning of this development. It was becoming increasingly clear that Admiral Croft was giving orders contrary to Starfleet regulations. Marek only hoped he had no one else on his ship that had orders to break the chain of command and conduct an even more dangerous experiment with the Guardian or it's crew. Marek was hoping for positive news at the meeting with his Senior staff as well, it would be unfortunate indeed if they were ten weeks away from their previous position, deep in "enemy territory" as his human comrades might say. Marek left the turbolift, crossing the bridge and entering the staffroom. He took a seat at the head of the table and waited for his staff to arrive.
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Marek · Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 8:21 am Post subject:

The young nurse continued nervously, obviously not used to addressing any gathering of Command officers, "Commander Adams suffered serious head trauma and internal injuries, Currently Doctor Uroki is performing emergency surgery. She says that the prognosis is good if they can stop the bleeding quickly. Lt. VanQuax suffered plasma burns from an exploding console, Dr. Malen is working on her. Best case scenario both officers will be restricted to sickbay for the next 48 hours." The nurse looked down at the table, wringing her hands.

Marek nods to the nurse, speaking softly, "Thank you for your time, Ensign, you may return to your duties." As the nurse stood quickly and left, Ensign Lenara entered the room.

"Captain, Lt. Kuplo will be here shortly, I have notified the junior security officer of his requirement to attend this meeting, he said he will need ten minutes to quote, 'Get his ducks in a row.'"

Marek nodded, then stood to get himself some tea. *My crew just keeps getting younger, fascinating*
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Mehvra-Kuplo · Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:01 pm Post subject:

USS Guardian - Staff Room
Lt Mehvra-Kuplo

Mehv enters the room quickly and seeing the attention turned to him, speaks immediately. "I apologize for the delay sir, I wanted to record all the configuration changes Roe made to the warp system, just in case we need to use his modifications to leave quickly. This, however, ended up being a waste of time as most of his changes were already put back by the time I got there. The whole process was automated to a large extent. If we are to use that technology again, we would have to rely on him as I don't know how he did it."

"Aside from that, all ship functions have been restored and repaired, so even though we may not know why we were brought here, we can at least defend ourselves."
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Marek · Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:53 pm Post subject:

Marek nodded to Kuplo, "It appears that the heading was picked at random, the gathering of data and the testing of the drive system was the ultimate goal." Marek glanced at Lenara, "What of the star system can you tell us from this distance?"

Lenara shifted slightly in her seat as she spoke, "Long range sensors can detect life signs and signs of technology on the M class planet, but we will have to get closer to give any more detail than that. I detect no vessels within sensor range."

Lt. Jaden Corr entered just as Lenara finished speaking, he quickly took a seat at random, adjusting his uniform as he sat. He was a human, with dark hair and hazel eyes. He had a dusky complexion, and was tall and wide, built almost like a linebacker, although he had little fat. He took a deep breath, then spoke, "Sorry sir, there was an inordinate amount of injuries to the security team as we were running drills when the event occurred. Most are minor, but it took some sorting out. The ship is secure and all stations are manned. Tactical is at 100%."

Marek nods as the Lt. finishes his report, "Unless there are any objections, I would like to survey the planet. Perhaps we can open a dialogue with the inhabitants."
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Mehvra-Kuplo · Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject:

USS Guardian- Staff Room
Lt Mehvra-Kuplo

Shrugging his shoulders, "We're here; we might as well take a look around. Although, given that we're so far from home, let's try and keep our head down. Captain, do you mind if I talk to Lt. Roe, maybe I can get some information from him about how he did it."
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Marek · Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 5:40 pm Post subject:

Marek ponders for a moment, "That would be acceptable." Nodding to the others, He stands and exits the conference room. He takes the command chair and brings up some reports on his console he needed to read over. Addressing the helmswoman, he speaks, "Lt. take set a course for the M class planet, 1/4 impulse."
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Marek · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:34 am Post subject:

ACTION

As the ship approaches the planet, several things become clear. The planet is most definitely occupied by the Tal'Harton, and it once was home to billions of beings, even though it is occupied by only a few hundred million sentients now.

Marek stood next to the science station, addressing both Lt. Harper and Lenara, who was occupying the auxiliary station next to it, "Is there any evidence of previous invasion? Is it possible the Tal'Harton invaded the planet and wiped out or enslaved the previous occupants?"

Lenara continued to type as she spoke, "The empty cities and facilities seem to be abandoned. There is no evidence of particle weapons, no traces of any known biological agents, no signs of tectonic instability. Also, the architecture is similar in design to the report the Hartington's officers gave of their incarceration." Lenara turned to Marek, "I would hypothesize that the Tal'Harton may have some medical reason for the population decline."

Harper turned to the others, "That may explain this fanatical need to convert other species to their religious beliefs. If their population is dwindling, they may feel they have no recourse."

Marek ponders for a moment, "Your logic is sound, although at this juncture it is merely conjecture. More evidence will be required to make any definitive determinations."

"Captain, we are being hailed by the planet, audio only."

Marek approaches the tactical station, "Patch it through."

"Alien vessel, you will stop your incursion into this system at once! You will deactivate your defensive systems and prepare to be boarded!"

"Captain, I am detecting several vessels launching from the surface. They will make orbit in ten minutes."
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Mehvra-Kuplo · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 12:59 pm Post subject:

USS Guardian - Brig
Lt Mehvra-Kuplo

As the Guardian started exploring their current location, Mehv walked down to the brig, trying to think of what to say to Lt Roe. When he walked in the control area, nothing had come to him, so he just stood there looking at Roe for a while. Mehv's face didn't show disapproval, or anger, just thoughtfulness, although he wasn't attempting to emote anything specific to Roe.

After a moment, he approached the force-field. It was not his place to reprimand at this point, so he just started from where he was comfortable. "Although I don't understand or approve of how this was done, it is still a pretty impressive feat. I didn't know you were so far along in your research."

Roe was about to begin a response, then fell silent again.

Mehv spoke up as if no response was required. "It is clear to me that you didn't mean the ship or the crew any harm, so you'll be happy to know that only minor repairs were needed to fix some overloaded power grids and to recalibrate the anti-matter injectors. I tried to see what kind of modifications you made before repairs began, but my curiosity was thwarted by your automated program that returned most of the configuration back to normal."

Mehv paused thoughtfully, "I just don't understand how you got around the transwarp field stability issue with our field coils..."
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Marek · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:38 pm Post subject:

USS Guardian
Brig
Chief Petty Officer Dylan Roe

Roe answered despite himself,

"I almost didn't, hence the bumpy ride..."

He stops, then looks at Kuplo thoughtfully,

"Admiral Croft gives me orders to prepare for this test, then leaves me with a Vulcan Captain? How am I supposed to convince a Vulcan to risk a full crew on an untested drive design?"

Roe shook his head,

"I said as much to Croft and he just said 'Figure it out.' I figured it out all right. Who needs a career when you are going to be immortalized."

Roe stood pacing his cell,

"This was just the data I needed. With a few adjustments here, a redesign there, this could be a viable design. Too bad the Guardian won't be the first working prototype..."

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Marek · Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:27 am Post subject:

USS Guardian
Bridge
Captain Marek

Marek sat, pondering the options for almost two minutes, the bridge crew getting a little nervous as they approached the planet and it's two vessels leaving the atmosphere. Finally, he stood, approaching the helm,

"Lt., reverse course, one half impulse. I want maximum warp as soon as we are clear of the system."

He turns to the tactical officer,

"Send the planet a subspace message on all known frequencies, tell them we did not intend to trespass on their space, and we are leaving immediately."

Marek turned to the viewscreen,

"Bridge to Security, bring Roe to the bridge."

As his crew calls out acknowledgments, Marek watches as the planet disappears from the viewscreen and the deck plating below his feet begins vibrating at a slightly different frequency as the impulse engines increase their energy output. *Roe better be able to repeat his experiment or this mission may end quickly*
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Mehvra-Kuplo · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:09 am Post subject:

USS Guardian - Brig
Lt Mehvra-Kuplo

OOC: I apologize for the story delay; was out of town longer than expected.

Marek · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:29 pm Post subject:

Enroute to Bridge
Chief Roe

Roe just shrugs as Mehvra warns him of the Captain's likely intent,

"The prototype drive should be good for at least two more jumps, after that it will be completely deteriorated. The ship could be ready within the hour."

As they approach the turbolift doors, the deck plating beneath their feet begins to vibrate at a different pitch, indicating to both engineers that the ship had just jumped to warp.

Bridge
Captain Marek

Marek watched the sensor feed on his console as the two ships closed on the Guardian.

"Engineering, we require more power to the warp engines if we are to outrun our pursuers."

"Captain, we are running the core at 108% already. Despite what Roe did, I still think we should keep some semblance of sanity when it comes to the warp core, it could still be overloaded."

"It will be necessary to reach at least warp 9.96 in the next three minutes to maintain distance from the alien vessels."

"I'll see what I can do sir."

Lenara turned to Marek,

"Captain, I would like to go to Main Engineering, I believe I can be of assistance there."

Marek just nods, sending her on her way. He watches as the ships speed bumps up to warp 9.92 with a slight shudder, buying them a few minutes, if that.
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Marek · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:21 am Post subject:

Marek stood as Roe entered the bridge, flanked by several security guards and followed by Kuplo. Marek pointed to the viewscreen, where two Tal'Harton vessels could be seen from the aft view, pursuing the Guardian at warp.

"These two vessels are acting in defense of their space, which we intruded upon under your control. It would be most unfortunate if we have to fire upon them after violating their space."

Marek approaches Roe, a stern look on his face,

"Are you able to repeat your experiment? Can you return us to the Julant Expanse?"

Roe watches impassively, a slightly smug look on his face.

"Of course, just let me go to engineering and I'll get us back in minutes."

He began humming again.

Marek just nods, motioning for the security officers to follow him.

"Mehvra, you and Lenara keep an eye on him, I do not trust him completely."
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