USS Dark Fire (IC)

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“Well, I'm going to try to break your record!" Hora joked.

"I put my notional schedule in Dark Fire. Generally, I will spend half a day on administration functions. I will do most of those on the bridge. I will not assume the deck or the conn. That is the officer of the decks job. If a situation arises, I’ll jump in of course. The rest of the day is in my office or conducting inspections and yes, holo-training.” Hora said holo-training, like it tasted bad. “Also, I’d like you to set up detailed visits to each department. Science, engineering, medical, weapons, security, etc. Tour of their spaces, meet their people, any issue they are having, etc.

Sorry, I missed breakfast this morning. I’ll be at it tomorrow.

Do I really have to learn how to fly a fighter?” Hora asked Reeves.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1300

Reeves:

“In the event of an emergency the Captain should know all positions on the bridge. You’re not expected to know how to tear down a warp coil or a bridge station. But you do need to know how to open hailing frequencies, plot a Warp jump, maneuver the vessel under manual controls, fire all weapons or use the sciences station console and understand if a species is compatible with our environment and whether we can land on a planet with or without environmental gear.”

“As for piloting, yes. This is a fighting carrier, the Captain is expected and required to have combat wings. If you’d like Dark Fire can repeat the specific regulation.”

“Breakfast is understandable, you were on the bridge rather late last night, in fuzzy slippers. I’ve read the reports. And Dark Fire informed me you weren’t awake this morning when I woke up.”

“I ate breakfast with The Bridge Alpha unit before we ran tactical simulations in Holodeck 3. If you’d like to visit with each of the Primary stations we can begin now. Or did you need to eat and shower beforehand?”

He didn’t know what her preferred uniform would be. He’d seen Klingon Federation officers in Klingon gear instead of Federation uniforms. He’d seen Deltans in clothing of their home-world and Shapeshifters that wore nothing, making a uniform out of their skin. He seriously hoped she wasn't going to adopt a long shirt and fuzzy slipper motif as her uniform.​

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“Commander Reeves, I was a fully qualified officer of the deck on my last ship. I know all positions on the bridge. At least I did 5 years ago. I can tear down a warp coil or a bridge station. I certainly know how to open hailing frequencies, plot a Warp jump, maneuver the vessel under manual controls! USS Dark Fire might be a new ship… but the weapons controls and the sciences station console still operate almost identical to other fleet ships.” Hora said defensively. Then she calmed down. She said in a softer voice “I will take the refresher training. But I’d like you to be on the bridge tonight at the start of the midwatch.” She took a deep breathe and calmed down some more.

“I’d like to start the visits with each of the primary stations tomorrow. Please allow them some time to prepare. Is there anything else you wish to tell me or report?” Hora asked.

Zosh

Lieutenant Sol walked back into Lt Commander Aegeri’s office. He handed the Lt. Commander his grades on the Holodeck 3 combat simulations for defending the ship from hostiles. They were not good.

“Here are my grades” he reported to his boss.

Ensign Cook

Riley was in holodeck 1, where she had downloaded all the data and reconstructed the passageway where Captain Marcus was killed. She reviewed all the data and ran the simulation multiple times. She could detect nothing unusual about the accident.

“No evidence of foul play.” She said to herself. But then an idea struck her.

“Computer… let’s try to prove the negative. Prove to me it was not murder. Run the simulation with the assumption that whoever tried to cover up the crime had our most advance technology, an agent onboard, and access to the computer.”

Riley waited for the computer results.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1330

Reeves:

‘Captain, by your own admission you stepped down from command and went into research. I’m not your enemy, but all of the systems on this ship are more improved than any other vessel in the fleet. As my duty as first officer is to ensure the well-being and capabilities of everyone on this ship it’s my duty to make sure you’re up to speed on them. They layouts may be different that your previous ships. If you’re qualified and capable than you should be able to run a holo simulation in less than an hour.”

“I’ll inform the Department heads to prepare for spot inspections starting tomorrow and taking place over the next few days.”

“Is there anything else you wish to tell me or report?” Hora asked.

“The Croco-Lamia failed his tactical assessment against enemy boarding actions. It’s the Kobayashi Maru scenario for Security Officers.’

“I’ve noticed that you seem to have taken a dislike for me, may I ask why?”

Even as she was answering Dark Fire appeared. ‘Brace!!”

Acroos the ship an alarm sounded as well as the ship commanding BRACE!! in a multitude of languages.




Dark Fire Holodeck:

As Riley watched an engineering officer replaced a component in the panel that blew out. And over the course of several months more parts were swapped out in various panels in the same area and that panel as crewman went about their routine work.

On the wall over the panel itself a time stamp displayed, and then the Captain, on a regular walk in the same path he’d taken a thousand times crossed in front of the panel, just as he had thousands of other panels. But this time engineering received a message of a system failure in the panel and dispatched a tech to fix it. The Tech dispatched was one level down and walking towards the turbo lift when it detonated. As the error message was not listed as critical it was not prioritized so the tech wasn’t running. It was given the same classification level as a food processor unit generating hot coffee vs hot tea. Minor an annoyance. A blinking light on a car dash panel. Fix me, but no rush.

Genetic scans taken by Security officers on scene revealed nothing. No genetic material. The panel showed no sign of force or tampering. No timing devices. No explosive residue. Commander Reeves had four separate security teams as well as M.A.C.O. Explosives experts go over the evidence.

Final determination had been structure failure of a Type 2 Plasma conduit regulator. Failure of the part allowed the plasma coils to overload and detonate. All identical parts across the ship were tested during the trip to Deep Star 9.

Dark Fire generated an image of itself next to the Ensign. “The potentiality of a hostile on board is.. slim. But possible. There are over four potential scenarios in which an individual caused a specific part to fail at a specific time. They wold also need clearance level to access my core memories and have the technical knowledge to change them.”

“Even when the Captain tells me to not record something it gets recorded and saved to sections that only the Captain or higher can access.”

“In Fleet Command there are only four people with the access codes to perform the operation and only fie individuals in Fleet Engineering have the knowledge of what to do and how to do it. And none of those are the same person.”

“Brace!” It said as it vanished.

Dropping from trans-warp the ship turned and rolled as stabilizers engaged slowing it’s tri-dimensional roll and velocity.

Running onto the bridge Reeves followed the Captain, moving to the sciences station, to see with his own eyes what was happening.​

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1330

Aegeri:​

Looking over the results Aegeri raised an eyebrow. “Impressive, you got further than most.”

Looking up he watched Zosh, “Do you understand the nature of the simulation?”

After listening to the.. man. He explained. ‘Bridge Offciers, Command officer are required to undergo a test called Kobayashi Maru, it’s a no win scenario. No one likes to admit it, but everyone dies. There is always a victor and a looser. We hope to always win and survive, everyday everytime. But we don’t. One day, sometimes often, you’ll be forced to make decisions and you’ll still lose. Over whelming odds, impossible tasks.

“There was a Fleet commander sent to get colonists off a planet. They refused to move. It was there home. They’d fight for it to the last breath.”

“He took out the pumping station that took years to build, every guard they had in a matter of minutes. They never landed a shot. They lost. He then explained that the enemy forces were coming and would bombard the planet from orbit. There would be no survivors and they would be a minor footnote in history. The colonists accepted this and left.”

“Every situation can instantly turn against you. Running down a hull and an enemy torpedo blows you into space. Dead. Accepting that you can fail, you can lose, is the first step to being better. Once you recognize that you aren’t god, you can’t do everything, you’ll improve. Until then.. Kobayashi Maru.”

Across the ship an alarm sounded as well as the ship commanding BRACE!! in a multitude of languages.

Grabbing the console in front of him Aegeri clenched hard, muscles flexing as the Ship dropped from Trans-warp with a lurch.

"All security, Battle stations!! This is NOT a drill!!" Turning to Zosh he called out, "Check the prisoners, visually. Release cell AA-23. And tell him to move his ass."​

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“No, I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. I want…” She started to say and had to think about what she wanted. “I want you to respect me and my abilities. I know you respect the position. But personal respect is earned. I have confidence in my abilities. I want you to trust my decisions even if they seem non-standard.” She ended up saying. That was Dark Fire announcing “Brace!!”

Hora had to brace against the bulkhead as the ship pitched.

Then they both rushed to the bridge.

“THIS IS THE CAPTAIN! I have the deck and the conn.” She announced to everyone she would give all orders at this point.

Hora mind was already following the standard crisis protocol.

Step 1. Determine what happened.

She made some quick assumptions, but would let the data tell her what actually happened. Her assumption was they had fallen out of trans-warp drive. This probably meant the trans-warp bubble had collapsed. The ship’s engines create a warped bubble in subspace. This allowed the ship to move faster than the speed of light. But the ship was not actually moving that fast. It was skipping over normal space via the warp bubble.

This is a good thing, or if the ship had “deaccelerated” at those speeds everyone onboard would be like bits of chunky salsa on the forward bulkhead. The difference between trans-warp and regular warp was a lot more energy, and weirder physics. However, in this situation, it did not make a big difference.

The most likely cause was an engine failure to maintain the wrap bubble.

Another possible cause were areas of space with no sub-space. The warp bubble collapsed due the external environment. One famous example was an area of subspace destroyed by omega molecules. Others are worm hole, black holes, and such.

Lastly, the bubble was collapsed by someone outside of subspace. The Federation did not have weapons that could target and collapse subspace bubbles, but another advanced race might!

“Officer of the Deck report” Hora ordered as she took the captain’s chair.

She was already pulling up the tactic, science, and engineering, displays.

Step 2 of standard crisis protocol. What can be done to contain the crisis or fix it?

Hora had prioritized the possible causes. Engine problems would most likely not be too dangerous. It would take time to fix, but that they had plenty of time. If the engine problem was critical, they could eject the warp core. They would live.

Environmental problems were a bit more serious, but if it had not killed them already, most likely there would be time to evaluation the situation and try to come up with a fix.

Weapon fire was the least likely, but clearly the most dangerous. That is why she was bring up tactical displays first.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1331

Office of the Deck:

“Captain, Commander,” He said, “We’ve dropped out of Transwarp. Sensor’s and astrometrics are showing a Black Hole where there shouldn’t be one.”

“The Gravitational field of the Event Horizon disrupted the Trans-Warp field, destabilizing it and pulling us from Trans-Warp. Still receiving damage reports across the ship. So far nothing critical or life threatening. A lot of bruises.”

Holding his ear he spoke again. “All Pilots are reporting ready for launch. All Defense Batteries are primed. DRADIS reports no contacts, except the Black Hole.”

“Astrological charts indicate this should be a twelve planets forty-nine moon Binary system,” Looking at the Holo image generated at the Master System Display he shrugged. “Obviously not.”

“We are currently holding at 23 light seconds from the Event Horizon. Negative drag towards the Event.”

******

DRADIS (Direction, Right Ascension, and Distance) for Capital Class Ship. (Three Dimensional Radar)

I've also added a Bridge layout with identifiers. If you can think of a more logical layout just let me know.

 

[milkmaiden38]

Zosh meets one cool cat

Zosh ran to the brig. The design made it easy to visually check on prisoners. Only three sides on the cell had bulkheads, the front was a see-through electrostatic force field. Everyone appeared to be fine. He made it to Cell AA-23. Inside was a male Caitian. A species of humanoid, warm blooded felines. This one looked a bit like a tiger.

Zosh had never known a caitian before. He had read they are very cooperative. Loyalty was incredibly important in Caitian society, both to one’s clan and to oneself. Caitians were very intelligent, had great night vision and were capable of hearing frequencies beyond what most humanoids can hear, which makes them excellent communication officers.

Zosh turned off the force shield.

“You are to move your ass” Zosh said firmly as he glanced at the wall monitor for the prisoner’s name. “Lt. Commander Mc’Leo” he said

“Hey, Bro… chill, I’m moving” The Caitian said slowly as he got off his bunk and pulled his uniform straight. “Nice chompers! Dude, like totally gnarly” he said as he walked past Zosh staring at all his teeth. "Call me, Tiger... that's my call sign, dude"

The caitian’s eyes were dilated and he smelled of catnip. The officer was clearly high.

https://www.deviantart.com/utauradon/art/Anthro-Tiger-Star-Trek-Captain-940980660

Hora

With the most likely cause found, it was time for step 2. Fix the problem or minimize the damage.

“Helm man, all back full… move us away from that black hole.” Hora ordered. There was plenty of time, no need for anything fancy. Just back away from the black hole and figure out how someone missed it when plotting their course.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1400

The ship moved away from the event horizon, just as the captain wanted. Nothing cute or fancy, just move backwards. Once far enough away, sub-light engines engaged and the moved to what had once been the furthest reaches of the solar system.

On the holo display Reeves was had pulled up the image of the previous star chart. As well as confirmation images from other sources.

The two sets of information did not coincide. The Astrogation maps, which had been updated at the starbase did not show the blackhole, even though other maps as well as previous maps did show it.

Standard procedure was to use any updated maps, as they would reflect any new information such as planetary shifts, alliances and hostilities, and black holes, supernova and the like.

Dark Fire appeared at the end of the console, “I’m running a full analysis of all astrogation maps and crosschecking against previous maps for anything else that is unusual.”

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“An error in updating the astrogation maps? That is a very rare event. Or someone altered the map on purpose.” Hora said what everyone was thinking. “Leave the shields up. Scan the area in all bands. If there is a cloaked ship out there, I want to know.” Hora ordered.

Then she walked over to Commander Reeves and whispered “Our early departure might have saved our lives. If we departed on time… would we have ended up in the black hole? Or would there have been an ambush waiting for us here?”

Hora turned to the bridge team and spoke louder “I’d like a new route plotted for our next Warp jump. Please check old and new astrogation maps. You can also check with the onboard science team.”

“XO, bridge team, other thoughts?” Hora asked

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1400

“That chance of an error in updating the maps is to high to calculate.” Reeves commented as he shook his head at Dark Fire. They didn’t need the actual odds.

“Calculate our position if we’d departed on schedule and where our exit point would be when we intersect the Black Hole at the new time index. Overlay on the current chart.” he shouted to Astrogation.

“I recommend all Pilots remain at ready-launch status. But we should drop to a sensor zero status. Stay ready, and if this is an ambush, they won’t see us. Until we strike.” Reeves replied to her questions.

Th Astrogation officer looked over. “We have a new course plotted.”

The Engineering Officer spoke up, “Captain Engineering is having issues with the drive. Warp is a yes, Transwarp is not. And Best Warp is.. 4.86. Their performing a full diagnostic figure out what happened, but we have multiple relays that blew out, and an Isometric panel is gone. Full replacement is an hour.”

“We have full defense shields as well as.. Cloaking device capabilities.” The Officer at Science Station I informed them.

“‘Security is on full alert and ready to repeal boarders,” Was called out.

Stepping on the bridge was a Klingon female - Major, Commander of the MACO ‘Ground Pounders’. Granted she also had pilots but the two military worked as one. Marines are ready to assist in repelling boarders or sieging any hostile ships.”

On the holoimager a second course was plotted, If they'd departed on schedule - they' have exited Transwarp even closer to the event Horizon. New data showed on the screen as well. Theoretical damage reports. Full shield failure. Trans warp drive failure. Estimate 9 hours to repair. Sublight would have been hard pressed to pull them out.

"Captain, we shouldn't be here for another 16 hours." Reeves said looking at the data. "I'm with you that this is a trap. We need to be ready for hostilities."

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“I agree. But let’s pick a slower, less direct route to our assigned patrol area. We can leave a cloaked probe here to see what happens in 16 hours” Hora suggested. Although, she suspected no one was going to show up. Whoever did this would have figured out Dark Fire departed early.

“I think we need to tell the Vulcans what happened. See if they can help with who and why” Hora suggested “Maybe you should ask them, given your connection to their culture? You have 1 hour, I’ll be calling a meeting of the senior staff. We need to get everyone in on this problem, plan some defensive and offensive options”

Zosh

Lieutenant Sol walked back into Lt Commander Aegeri’s office.

“Prisoners are ok, and Tiger has been released” he reported. He wanted to say something about Tiger, but decided against it. “How can I help, now?” He asked

Ensign Cook

Ensign Cook was in Captain Hora’s quarters presenting her findings on Captain Marcus’ death.

“No evidence of foul play. I collected all possible data, and reconstructed the event on the holodeck. I even examined the event trying to prove the negative. Computer told me there are just too few people with the knowledge and they’d need to work together.”

“Wow, good job.” Hora said impressed with the ensign’s initiative.

Ensign Cook was beaming with pride. “Thank you, Captain.” She said professionally. Then added something more personal “I enjoyed last night”

Hora smiled back at her “I thought you might like that simulation.”

“You are a mind reader. But I prefer real thing over a simulation” Ensign Cook added with a flirty smile.

Her comment about mind readers, triggered a thought. “Did you run that last simulation with Betazed, A Vulcan, Ullian, and a Psi Corp officer?” Hora asked

“Ahh, No…” Ensign Cook replied

“Run it again and add that assumption.” Hora ordered

“Can I come back tonight to tell you the results, I’ll bring my Rigal 4 outfit.” Ensign Cook suggested

“I think seeing you in that outfit, will make your report even more enjoyable.” Hora agreed. Then she dismissed the Ensign as she prepared for the staff meeting.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1400

Aegeri:
“You’ll be with me. Grab a weapon from the armory. The Captain has called a meeting of all station Chief’s, and that’s me so you might as well be there as extra security.”


Stardate 29870517.1500

Conference Room:
All senior staff surrounded the table, it was unusual for them to be together like this. But the situation was unusual as well.

At the head was The Captain, XO, and the Vulcan Ambassador. The rest of them had no specific position, just filling seats as they walked in.

Andorians, Vulcan, Klingon, Deltans, Orions, Zabraxian, Betazed, and a slew of others surrounded the table.


Holodeck:
“I’m sorry I can’t emulate the psychic abilities of the specified species. I can only replicate their physical abilities.” Dark Fire informed the Ensign. “If they are sufficiently trained to obtain the designated information than yes, my memory core could be compromised.”

“I would note that the affected panel was serviced two hundred and sixteen times in the course of 1 year. That is statistically unlikely. Most panels receive an an annual or quarterly check dependent upon the components behind such panel. That panel contained no critical functions, the only cause for continual access would be replacement of an inferior component with another inferior component.”

“Maintenance logs indicate forty-seven of the components used inside that access point have been changed.” Looking over at her, Dark Fire paused. “You may be correct. The Captain may have been killed, but they took an extremely long time to do this. But why?”

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

Hora thought that a decision-making meeting was just like sex. The meeting started with foreplay. The basis problem was presented and other relevant facts. Then the meeting moved into intercourse. The active exchange of ideas, communication of feelings, and joint understanding. Then the meeting climaxed. The team achieved peak performance and arrived at a decision. Finally, there was the afterglow, where the experience or decision was reviewed and critiqued.

“Welcome. Before we get into the specific problem we are facing. I’d like you learn about my personal leadership style. This knowledge will help you to understand me, to know where we are going as a team, and also provide my expectations of you.

First of all, I want you to know that I am extremely excited and fortunate to have the opportunity to serve with you on USS Dark Fire. Not only because of the importance of our mission, but also because of the superb quality of the people assigned here. You are some of the best officers from across all the different worlds in federation. It is essential that we trust and respect each other.

My philosophy can be summed up in six concepts: Integrity, Loyalty, Teamwork, Initiative, Communications, and Taking Care of Each Other. Ask Dark Fire if you need any detail on these six philosophies, I have uploaded my thoughts on each, to him.

Now, on to the problem.

After Captain Marcus’ death, the communications and decision coming out of fleet head quarters seem odd. Commander Reeves received no information on my arrival. I was assigned rather suddenly to be your CO. I have limited carrier experience, and have not qualified for my fighter wings. I went to see Vice Admiral Roanoke about the mission and was told nothing.

As a result, the XO and I decided to leave Deep Star 9 early. Sorry about the inconvenience. However, it appears as if that decision saved our lives. Someone had provided us false astrogation maps. Had we departed on time, we would have dropped out of warp almost inside the black hole.

I have given order to plot a new, less predictable, route to the gamma quadrant. We are leaving a cloaked probe here to see what shows up in 15 hours, our original arrival time. We have turned off our sensor. But stand ready for battle.

I have asked the ambassador to join us. Many of the strange events have been from headquarters and she has more inside in that organization than I do. She did offer to assist us in ‘odd events’, I believe this qualifies.

What else can we do? Both defensive and offensive ideas are welcome.” Hora asked everyone

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1400

Conference Room:
All but three in the room wore Fleet insignia, and all three of them were Vulcan’s. The Ambassador and her attaché, but the way he stood at the wall behind her said that he was military. A bodyguard. The other was a Long Haired Blonde Vulcan that wore the I.D.I.C. pin at her collar instead of rank pins. The Blonde also wore a science uniform, not a fleet, or MACO, one.

“If I may,” The Ambassador said standing up, her hand revealing a Holocrystal. “I received a transmission on a diplomatic frequency when we exited Warp. After decoding it I transferred it to this.” Pausing she considered her words. “After consideration, I believe everyone should hear this.”

Sliding the crystal into its slot she placed her hand over the bio-metric reader, A flicker and an image coalesced of another Vulcan. Obviously, he spoke in Vulcan, but the words were translated into Federation standard – Human English.

“Ambassador M’Chel, I hope that this message finds you safe and healthy. Vice Admiral Roanoke suffered a brain Aneurysm Stardate 29870516.1354. Commodore Daniel MacPherson Seventh Fleet has stepped in to replace him.” The image raised it's hand in the separated finger gesture. “Prosperity, and Long Life, M’Chel Ambassador of Peace.”

The image paused and enlarged. Showing the Left hand, beside the left hip. Not the Raised one. The lower hand was bent in a rather unusual gesture.

“That hand gesture is Old Golic, used in sandstorms, It means.. ‘Killed with intent. Murder’.” The holoimage faded as she retrieved the crystal and sat.

The silence in the room was deafening. If someone had murdered a Fleet Admiral…

How? How did you cause an Aneurysm in the middle of a Deep Star Base?? And why kill an Admiral?

Standing up the Chief Engineer spoke, “We should have the Warp drives fully operable soon. Dropping from Warp space that close to a Black Hole caused some misalignment of the drive-coils, but it’s not long term critical. Maybe another twenty minutes. Everything is in finally testing stage.”

The Security chief, A Zabrax stood up. “All officers are ready to defend the Ship Captain. No injuries at this time. If anyone tries, they’ll fail.’

The Major stood up, “Captain, I would recommend going on the offensive and dropping anti-matter mines in the most strategic positions. So that when the enemy drops out of warp they hit the mines and detonate. We could also mine the warp space in this sector and destroy anyone giving chase.”

“I also recommend loading all torpedo tubes and firing as soon as they make themselves known.” She snarled, slamming a fist on the table shaking several drinks in the process.

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

Hora acknowledged the Chief Engineer status report with a head nod. Then the Security chief provided a status on defending the ship which she also acknowledged with a head nod.

Then the Klingon Major spoke, recommending anti-matter mines, firing all torpedo tubes as soon as the enemy appears.

“Major, thank you for the recommendation and not a status report. I will take you ideas under advisement. For the rest of you, when I ask what else we can do, I’m asking for recommendations.

Here are some of my thoughts for defense.

1) In all likelihood there is a spy onboard this ship. Security, I want this person, or persons, found. Check all off-board communications and signals. Spies need to communicate. Oh, and start with personnel with the greatest access including Dark Fire. Sorry Dark Fire, but we need to check. I’m also on the list.

2) Engineering… what additional security measure might be needed around critical engineering or weapon spaces?

3) The charts were changed. How… who did it? I think the science team can look into that

4) Might be a good time to change all passcodes and entry keys. If the spy has access to areas or systems they should not, that will complicate things

Offensive idea

1) Sounds like Headquarters might be compromised. The less we communicate with them the better. Communication Officer, give me some recommendation on how much we can reduce. Also, there is a special message I wish to send. See me later.

2) Ambushing an Ambusher… is a great idea, Major. But let’s pick the right place and time. Generate a few options. Commander Reeves and I will review them.

I hope that list will start people thinking. If you want to suggested ideas now, please go ahead, if not, then suggest them to myself and Commander Reeves by the end of today in writing.”

Hora stopped talking and waited for other ideas.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1400

Conference Room:
Several idea’s got thrown out. Wait and attack anyone that followed. Flee to the furthest reaches of the Galaxy. Return to Starbase. Return to Earth itself and find out what was going on.

Those that had orders were ready to go start their work it wouldn’t be fast, hel it would take months to go through ever crewman, civilian, pilot, MACO. And to go through the Dark Fire’s programming would take.. years. Only another Operational AI could run a full Diagnostic on Dark Fire within a short period of time.

Comm Officer:
“It’s easy enough to not respond to anyone, we’ll need to disable the IFF if you want to hide though. Any Fleet ship getting close will be able to identify and track us.”

Astrogation:
“More than likely the Astrogation maps were changed before we docked at the Deep Star Base. Whenever a ship docks or get close to another ship the systems auto update all charts and fleet orders. It how we stay up to date on everything. If they Changed the base’s maps, once we docked our maps were updated as well. And then our course was plotted using the new maps. We’ve never had issue with them before so we’ve never needed to ‘double check’ the accuracy. We are doing so now, before we plot a new course.”

Engineering:
“We already have so many security that they’re in the way of us moving. As for passcodes, we’ll start as soon as we can.”

“Long range sensors should pick up any ship in warp, if we drop a sensor relay in the warp. We could geo park it in the warp, and maybe cloak it, but the power drain on a probe would be immense, it won’t last long.”

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

Hora listened to a few of the ideas and almost wanted to scream. Attack anyone that they see? Flee to the furthest reaches of the Galaxy? What kind of officers would suggest such nonsense? Then the complainers. It would take months to go through ever crewman, civilian, pilot, MACO. Really? With the ship’s main computer and its isolinear core, capable of preforming some many operations it was mind boggling. A carefully written algorithm would have it done in days. She had told them to first focus on people with the most access... so it would be done even faster. UGH!! Dark Fire’s programming would take years to check. That was true, but that was not what she asked. She would run the diagnostic herself.

Comms officer seemed to misunderstand her. She did not say stop communicating. That was a dead giveaway USS Dark Fire knew something was up. Minimize communications was different. She would talk to him privately.

Astrogation understood the basics, but not the validation and security part of the maps. Not just anyone could approve a map, or allow it to enter the database. A unique authorization code was assigned, the database had the time it accepted, and the security code.

Not everything idea was bad, there were a few worth exploring. Returning to Starbase or returning to Earth itself and figuring out what was going on. These ideas could be explored. But again, USS Dark Fire would be showing their hand, and the enemy would be more careful in their next move. Better for USS Dark Fire to act stupid and continue with their mission.

“Thanks for the input. I’d like to discuss these ideas with Commander Reeves privately.” Hora said. “Please start security reviews on the senior staff only. Please change password and access keys. Astrogation who and when did we get that map, who authorized it and what security code was used.

I’d like to meet with the comm officer in my office in one hour. Please bring me a list of all routine communications we provide to headquarters.

Everyone, this a sensitive subject. Please do not share it with any other crew member unless necessary. If there is nothing else, you are all dismissed except Commander Reeves and our Vulcan guests”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1430

Reeves and the Vulcans:
As everyone left The Vulcan Ambassador and her associate moved closer to Hora on the table. There was no point in shouting to be heard.

Reeves was looking at numbers and data on the padd he held, but watched as everyone left.

“If anyone is following us Captain the earliest they’d arrive at this location is twenty-two days seven hours and thirty-six minutes at maximum warp. None of the other vessels at the Deep Star Base had Trans-warp capabilities.”

“Calculating that a plan had ships ready to attack if we departed on time means they’d be arriving in two hours seven minutes. Unless they anticipate us being destroyed by the Black Hole. But even then logically and tactically I would send someone to confirm the destruction.”

“Of the ships that do have Trans-warp capabilities the greatest threat to us would be The USS Theurgy NX-79854, it’s a MultiVector Assault Craft. It can separate into three parts each with shields, warp, weaponry. But it’s in the Beta Quadrant on a diplomatic mission to Romulus during their civil war.”

“We’ll need to clear Dark Fire’s programming and diagnostic before we do anything else, once we can verify he’s safe, he can process everyone else within a matter of hours. The Command structure can be cleared in a matter of minutes. Unless they’ve been brain washed, or psi-conditioned.”

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

"I don’t understand” Hora gasped, shaking her head “If there is/was no ambush… Why have this ship fly into a black hole and become damaged?"

There was a moment of silence and Commander Reeves was going to answer her question or say something else but Hora put up her hand to stop him.

“I’m sort of thinking out loud. I’ll get to your comment in a second. There are a few possibilities, the ambush is still going to happen… but the ships are from this quadrant and closer, or hiding in a nebula, or cloaked, or there are more trans-warp capable ships.

Or they wanted Dark Fire damaged. We’d need to do some local repairs before limping back the Deep Star Base 9. Maybe those local repairs are important. Something happens there?

Also, maybe they were hoping I might get relieved for incompetence. But that is a long shot, I’d say less than 5%. I just read Captain Hull damaged USS Yamato by going through an uncharted solar storm. Clearly not his fault, so he is still in command.

Why kill Admiral Roanoke? He was acting strangely… but was that in support of the federation or against it? I’m starting to think it was in support. And he was killed for it.

Commander Reeves, I’m sorry what were you going to say?”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1430

Reeves:
“There may be an ambush, I’m just informing you that if there is no Ambush and Starfleet chooses to give chase Only the Theurgy would have a chance of catching us and doing damage.”

“There are several potential hypotheses about what is happening, but without more information they are simply speculation.”

“I’d also like to point out, my concern for you understand bridge operations comes from your file and you own omissions that you stepped away from Command and went to Science. As such you’ve not been on a bridge station in some time. I’m quite sure that you are capable of doing your duty as an Officer. I simply wanted you to be familiar with where our stations are located. As well as how to use each station. The configuration’s are different than any other ship in the fleet.”

“As for why have us fly near a black hole, a potential hypothesis is to damage the vessel enough that we could be boarded and taken by hostile forces.”

“Perhaps something about the black hole, background radiation perhaps would weaken or sensors, shields, communications, or cause a malfunction is another system? The potential reasons are many, but without further information, we can only guess.”

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“Thank you, Commander Reeves. I will complete the simulation training now. I’m sorry Ambassador and Su’Nakis, but Commander Reeves is making an important point. I need to get up to speed on current bridge controls. If you have any additional insights or thoughts, you can discuss them with the Commander, he has my full confidence and trust. Please excuse me”

Hora got up and walked out of the conference room. She headed to a holo-suite to conduct the training. She had not told anyone, but the equipment Ensign Cook delivered to her room the other day was a holo-damping field. Her office and only her office was now secure of holo-projections. Even Dark Fire could not appear in her office anymore. However, her bedroom still had full capabilities. She still wanted to act out a few sexual fantasies, and that required holo-projections! Also, she could talk to Dark Fire in there and as long as her bedroom door was open, Dark Fire could hear what was happening in her office. When she wanted privacy, she just needed to close her bedroom door.

Holo-deck training was excellent and she did well in the simulations. She quickly learned the new control stations and their capabilities. However, she still felt when real phaser banks were blasting your ship, it's a whole different thing. No matter how much training, the simulations could not prepare you for the real thing.

Being Hora, she of course had to push the simulation via unorthodox approaches and commands. She believed in changing the rules rather than playing within them. In one training session, she turned off the computer and switched to manual controls. It was totally against the training scenario, which was design to teach you to use the computer to solve the 4-body orbital path. But Hora had to solve the test by stepping outside the rules of the simulation. She did establish an orbit, but it took longer.

As she shutdown the simulation, she felt more confident about her knowledge of the bridge stations. She still had more to learn, but at least she had the basics mastered. She headed to the bridge, to see the communications officer.

As she stepped inside the turbo lift, she was alone. “Dark Fire, who is the long haired blonde Vulcan that wore the I.D.I.C. pin on her collar instead of a rank pin at my meeting this morning.” She asked the AI.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1445

Turbolift

Dark Fire:
“Dr. L’Sa, born to the House T’Gahn, of the Family of T’Ker. Is a member of the Vulcan Science Academy. Ph.D., M.D. She serves as Department Head of Xenobiology aboard the Dark Fire. She maintains Ph’d’s in Xenobiology, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Molecular Biology, Chemical and Engineering Biology, Evolutionary biology, Xenological Genome Sequencing. She carries a Human Medical degree and assists in the operational theater, or as a coroner, as needed.”

“She serves as the Science Division Supervisor, during meetings when a science division supervisor is required so that the rest of the science staff may continue their work uninterrupted.”

“She is a follower of the Teachings of Surak, but it is my understanding she has found balance between logic and emotion. She took part of the Kahs-wan ritual between Stardates 29270607 and 29270617.”

“She spent seven years at the Monastic Sanctuary of P’Jem before beginning her service to the Vulcan Science Academy. While interning at Sh'vhal city Medical Facility it was attacked by Jem’Hadar forces, while most of the civilian scientists were killed in the initial attack, those that survived were taken hostage. Operation Desert Star was the Starfleet response and rescue of the hostages.”

"Do you require more information or is that sufficient? I can also provide you with data on all the Vulcans serving aboard if you wish."

 

[milkmaiden38]

Hora

“No need for that, Dark Fire. But is there a chance I could have sexual relations with her? Non-officer, science civilian” Hora asked. “No need to answer that. She is Vulcan, chances are close to zero.”

Then the turbo lift doors opened and she was on the bridge.

“Captain on the bridge!” was announced.

“As you were, just here to see the comms officer” Hora informed the Officer of the Deck.

She went over to the comms officer station and asked the science office to move to another station to let them have some privacy.

Lt Ren York was the comms officer

https://www.kostuempalast.de/en/Star-Trek-costume-gold-shirt-TNG.html

“Lt, I have 3 goals for you over the next few days. The first is look for any unauthorized communications sent to headquarters since my meeting a little over an hour ago.” Hora explained.

“Any signal?” Lt Ren asked to make sure. He was getting excited sitting so close to an Orion. He had heard so much about them, and how pleasurable they were. His mind was having a little bit of difficulty focusing.

“Yes, look for any off-band transmissions which can cover the vast distance back to the space station. A pulsate engine EM coupling, anything. You’ll also need to look at the in-band communications and make sure a message is not hiding in the noise, or some sub-channel. The message most likely is encrypted, but the pattern will appear if you subtract comic and thermal noise and use an FFT on it.

“An FFT?” Lt York asked, shifting in his seat a little to hide his distended crotch

“Fast Fourier Transform” Hora explained

“Wow… that is old school” He commented

“Yup, but it works. Secondly, we are going to play a little game and try to figure what is going on. I want you to send the following measures to headquarters.

“Please report to VADM Roanoke Phase 1 of operation Bad JuJu complete. Waiting on instructions to start next phase”

“After you send that, make sure you look for any message out-of-band or in-band to this ship. Someone trying to contact their spy and figure out what operation bad JuJu is”

“I can do that” Lt York said

“Finally, I want you to scrub our reports to headquarters. Limit what we are telling them. Like our status, our intentions, etc. Use multiple retransmit sites to delay and confuse our sending location. Use at least 100 stations and random bounce back between them. That should make a tangles mess of our comms.”

“Ok… anything else Captain?” Lt York asked

“Yes, you have a nice erection” Hora complimented him. Then she walked off the bridge.

Back in her office, she made two more transmissions on her private communication channel. One to VADM Roanoke stating “operation dodo bird is on hold” and another to Commodore Daniel MacPherson “I’m sorry to hear about the passing of VADM Roanoke, what are you orders concerning the spy onboard off USS Dark Fire? Are we to continue VADM Roanoke operation inquisition?”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Stardate 29870517.1500

Meeting with Comm Officer

Stardate 29870517.1530

Messages transmitted to Starfleet

Stardate 29870517.2100

Military Grade encryption received by Dark Fire sensor array. Source Code – General Hammond

Security Flash transmission received by Dark Fire. Source Code – Admiralty Division Commodore Grade

Command Grade Encryption:
Captain's Eyes Only

Fleet Command to Dreadnaught Dark Fire XDC-4623786:

Captain:
You are hereby ordered to return the Dark Fire to Deep Star 9. Failure to do so will result in additional Charges.

You are ordered to seize and detain Lt. Commander Jordan Reeves for the Murder of Marcus, James, Captain XDC-4623786 Commanding.

You are ordered to seize and detain Xenobiologist L’Sa – Vulcan Science Academy for the Murder of Marcus, James, Captain XDC-4623786 Commanding.

You are hereby ordered to seize and detain Ambassador M’Chel – Vulcan High Command for High Treason.

You are hereby ordered to seize and detain Ambassadorial Attache Su’Nak – Vulcan High Command for High Treason.

Failure to arrive with appointed parties in custody by Stardate 29870519.0400 will result in court martial charges against you.

Deep Star 9 – Fleet Command,

Commodore Daniel MacPherson Seventh Fleet,

Authorization 7-XNY-639-DM7