Delta Quadrant Trip-USS Essex

Posted on Tue Dec 19th, 2017 @ 1:51pm by Major Patrick McMichaels & Admiral Deela T'Lar & Lieutenant General Jewel 'M'lara' Dartt & Brigadier General David Hurd Sr & Captain R'nard Lokran & Captain Jack Solomon & Commander Hades,MD & Lieutenant Zhao Quan & Lieutenant JG Ilan Rol & Sogh Varn Son of M'ron & Lieutenant Ariel Gilmore
Edited on on Sun Jan 7th, 2018 @ 10:42pm

4,243 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 95 - Helping Old Friends
Location: USS Essex
Timeline: MD2, 1000 HRS

Essex Bridge

Deela seemed happier since she got back from her dinner date. She was ready for the next slipstream. She looked around at her bridge crew, "Prepare for slipstream." She tapped the commlink, "T'Lar to Solomon."

Jack heard the comm chime for attention in Main Engineering and moved to the nearest console to answer it. "Solomon here, what can I do for you, Admiral?"

She smiled, then caught herself. She cleared her throat, "Report. Is it a go on the slipstream?"

Jack made a final check of readings and power flow from the Slipstream Core before confirming he was happy with the information. "We're good to go, the Core looks ready for the next jump."

"Very good." She closes the link, "Begin slipstreaming." The engines purred like they were supposed to. The ship entered slipstream and it was going very well...until...

The engines seemed to shudder, making loud noises and then, the ship went out of slipstream and abruptly came to a halt. Deela sat forward in her seat. She hit the comm again, "Bridge to Engineering, what is happening?"

Chloe sat at her Station and began to go to slipstream.

Essex Main Engineering

After seeing the Slipstream console suddenly light up with errors and issues Jack held on as best he could as the Intrepid Class vessel suddenly dropped out of Slipstream velocity and back into normal space.

Jack slammed his combadge as he picked himself up off the floor. "Engineering to Bridge, that's a bloody good question and one I intend to find out an answer for straight away," he responded before heading over to the Core and pulling out a tricorder to take readings.

"Get on it. As soon as you find out, report back to me immediately." She sighed as she looked around her bridge crew once more. She then turned back to the viewscreen. A proximity alert started going off and in the distance, a ship could be seen. She had never seen one like that.

Deela looked over to CPO White for answers, "Scan that ship. I want to know what weapons abilities they have and anything else you can find out about them." This was not going very well.

Deela made her next comment to the whole bridge crew, "Answers people...I need answers."

White's hands began moving in a blur of motion across his control panels having the ship's sensors scan the vessel ahead. "I am scanning her now Admiral but somehow, they were able to fool our sensors until they decided to show themselves." He continued modulating the sensors to scan for any known form of weapon energy and configuration.

Standing in the back, General Hurd said, in a gruff but respectful tone, "Admiral, I strongly advise you to go to red alert and bring weapons and shields online".

Essex Sickbay

Hades always kept an open channel to the bridge as he worked. He was in his office finishing forms when the hubbub started. He was glad he was sitting down when the ship dropped out of slipstream. His gladness was short lived when the nurse called him to the main bay. There were others who were not so lucky. The sudden lurch of the ship had caused a few bumps bruises and a broken arm.

Treating them as fast and efficiently as he could he couldn't wait to get back to the bridge. His bad feeling, the one he had had since the ship left the station had now gotten worse.

Essex Bridge

"I am in agreement with the General," said R'nard. "We should have shields up and go to at least yellow alert until we find out what their intentions are."

The tactical display finished its scan of the unknown vessel. "Admiral, our sensors cannot penetrate their hull and there are no known weapon configurations on outside of the ship. I will try varied modulations of our sensors to try and pierce their hull but in the meantime, I recommend we go to Yellow Alert and charge phasers." The chief awaited the admiral's orders as he continued to adjust the sensors trying to find a way to scan the ship.

Deela nodded, "I also concur. Go to yellow alert, charge weapons." She waited for a moment, observing the ship in the viewscreen, then over at COP White, "Open hailing frequency."

The control panels began making music as White's hands powered up the shields and charged the weapons systems. The room began to blink Yellow as lights and alerts sounded throughout the ship. Joseph clicked on the communications before answering the admiral, "Channel open ma'am."

Deela inhaled and exhaled, "Unidentified ship, this is Admiral Deela T'Lar of the USS Essex. Please identify yourself." She didn't get a response. Instead, they started scanning the Essex.

"Admiral, I have put your greeting through the language protocol and I'm relaying it on all frequencies and known languages. I am also re-modulating the transport deflectors around the sensitive areas of the ship. It should prevent their scanners from getting much of anything." He inputted his commands into his console then began studying the ship. Something about it was familiar, vaguely but familiar none the less. His mind began racing, sorting through countless bits of memory and data trying to determine who they were dealing with.

"Thank you." Deela was feeling a bit annoyed with the alien ship, "Unidentified ship, this is Admiral Deela T'Lar of the USS Essex. Please respond."

Finally, a response. A human male in his late twenties appeared on screen, "My name is...Drant, I mean, Grant. Forgive me. You startled me with your sudden appearance. I will be on my way."

The link ended. Being Betazoid, Deela wasn't fooled. He was nervous, scared, and hiding something. She turned to Lokran, "I am not getting a good feeling about him. He is scared or something. And who does not know their own name? What are your thoughts?"

"His body language betrrays him," said R'nard. "He is hiding something and I don't trrust him. I urge caution."

Jewel looked at Deela, "I might not be telepathic here but I am even skeptic of him, he seems like he is definitely hiding something. I say we don't let our guards down." Jewel replied as she looked at her not liking this feeling.

Deela nodded, "Looks like we all agree."

After the Captain responded, General Hurd said, "I reccomend putting my men on black alert, sending them over, and taking over control of that ship Ma'am"

Before Deela could respond she glanced at her husband, “that he really unnecessary right now until we know what their intentions are. They are not threatening to us at this time.” Jewel replied as she knew Deela would agree as she’s know Deela for a very long time and have worked together over the years. She can sense what she would say or do most of the time. “Going straight on head first without due cause will cause unnecessary consequences.” Jewel replied calmly to David then looking at Deela.

"Threats rarely come head on, and furthermore consequences always happen, regardless of what choices we make". Taking a deep breath, David continued, "And there is the fact of both the man who just spoke and that ship". "The man was jittery, acting strange, and to be honest I truly believe he is hiding something and as such can not be trusted." "His ship, I do not like because we have no idea of its combat capability, its shielding, nor the amount of crew aboard. Taking another breath and counting slowly to 10, and finished by saying, "I strongly suggest you proceed with my proposed action plan, but nonetheless I'll follow whatever decision is made either way".

Jewel was right. They weren't threatening...yet. Deela addressed David, "Right now, they are not showing any hostility towards us nor are they raising weapons. Keep a close eye on them. If they do anything that can be construed as dangerous, then I will consider your advice."

Hurd said, stifftly, sternly, redfaced, radiating anger but with respect, "Yes Ma'am".

Deela didn't react to him. He would eventually calm down

Jewel just nodded as she sat their listening to Deela and David.

Essex Main Engineering

As he compared his readings from the Slipstream Core with the errors being thrown up by the Main Systems involved with Slipstream travel, Jack was starting to think something was amiss.

He went over to both Sullivan and Quan, walking past Engineers who were running systems checks and making repairs to conduits and power flow regulators that had blown.

"Gentlemen I'm stumped, I've checked the Core Slipstream systems and backups several times and I can't find an issue that explains why we dropped out of Slipstream," he explained, pulling up his data on a screen. "Could we have been pulled out of Slipstream by an external force?"

Quan swung away from the console he was working on and moved towards an open panel. "It could be, Sir. There is nothing I can find that would produce this sort of overload. It is as though the drive suddenly went into full reverse." He stopped working for second and turned towards Jack, "To be honest, Sir. I'm surprised we are still in one piece, and it is a testament to the Essex systems that we actually survived dropping out of slipstream in that manner.

Jack patted Quan on the shoulder. "A good starship stays in one piece because of the talented crew that looks after her... And the Essex has a very talented crew on board," he explained before taking a further look at the readings.

"I really dont like how this happened. We need to investigate the source of how this happened to make sure we can counter it if it happens again" Jack added before seeing the external sensors had picked up another ship. "Hello... We've got company..."

Quan looked over at the display, "Oh S!"£. Best we get the power back up PDQ." He looked back at the CEO, "Please tell the boss not to use slipstream or warp until we find out why we got dumped back into normal space." With that he closed up the panel he was working on and started work by-passing blown circuits.

Patrick had the QRT teams rotating on a 14 hour shift as BGen Hurd had requested. Something didn't seem right. =^= Mjr McMichaels to BGen Hurd. QRT stands ready sir. Also, have the rest of the men on alert=^=

USS Essex Bridge

"Admiral, we're checking all of the Slipstream systems and working through the sensor data we have on this sudden stop," Jack reported from Engineering. "At this time, we're working through repairs and analyzing the data but we won't be Slipstream capable for at least 24 hours."

He didint like it but being honest was the best policy and Jack handed over the details he had.

Deela got the bad news, "This is going to set us back. Do what you need to do and do it quickly." She wondered if the other two ships had noticed their disappearance. In the meantime, she watched the alien ship.

"Is there a way to send some kind of signal to the others that we are in trouble of sorts?" Jewel asked looking at Deela as she really didn't like this situation one bit especially with Ferengi being involved.

Just as Jewel finished her question the turbolift doors hissed open and Hades entered the bridge. He hurried to the medical console and took a seat releasing a young ensign from his duties. He looked over at Deela waiting to see what her response was.

"I am sure that they already know." Deela's attention now went elsewhere. She observed Hades for a moment, then addressed him, "Dr Hades. What brings you to the bridge?"

Alien Ship

With the conversation over after speaking with the Federation Admiral, The Ferengi Captain Golk began to plan his next move. Having successfully employed the Slipstream Disruption Device developed by the Romulans, he now turned to his Tactical Officer to give his next order.

"Cloak the vessel! Lets confuse the Federation Admiral further and keep her off guard!!" He ordered.

The Tactical Officer nodded in compliance and followed his orders, making sure to completely shroud the ship in cloak.

USS Essex Bridge

Deela practically fell out of her seat, "You have got to be kidding. They have a cloaking device?" It was a rhetorical question, one not to be answered, "What is their game?"

Down in Engineering, Quan looked across to the external display. "what the hell!. That ship just cloaked.. Well, that narrows the field down a bit. Only the Romulans and the Klingons have cloaking tech, so they must be working with one or the other. Unless or course there is a new player in town." He looked over at Solomon, "I'm so glad I'm not a command or tactical officer."

He closed the final panel, "Power is back up, Sir. But, I'm not sure how it will stand up to rough treatment, I've had to do a lot of bypassing to get it working. I'll get to work on repairs and get the main circuits back on line. "

Jack looked over at Quan, knowing he was doing the best he could in this situation. "Understood, I'll keep an eye on things here...the last thing we need is a new player mucking things up."

Main Bridge

Hades just listened to all that was going on. His medical aid, what had been on the bridge before him, had filled him in. He wasn't much for dealing with Ferengi. He wished Varro were here. That Vulcan knew his way around a Ferengi's brain. He'd memorized all the rules of acquisition and as a Diplomat he'd had many dealings with them. Hades felt pretty much useless up here. He looked over some reports on screen and decided that if this cloaked ship had the ability to fire under cloak he'd better be up here. The cloak, not a common thing for Ferengi ships, was either Klingon or Romulan. Since he doubted the Klingons would have anything to do with the Ferengi he'd bet that it was the Romulans. Either way something smelled fishy.

Alien Ship

Golk sat back and considered his next move carefully. Having disrupted the Slipstream Field of the Federation Starship, he considered the first test a success. Having procured the Prototype vessel after a difficult mission, he decided to put the next phase into action.

"Helm, begin a Lateral Run alongside the Federation Vessel... Tactical... Raise Shields and arm Weapons but do not...drop the cloak! Execute!" He ordered.

The Ferengi Tactical Officer smiled as he programmed in the Attack Run and took aim. Several moments later he fired several shots from the Disruptor Arrays across the Hull of the Federation Starship and inspected the results with glee.

Essex Bridge

The ship rocked, Deela shouted urgently, "Set phasers to wide beam sweeps and fire." It didn't take her but a few seconds to estimate the enemy's position by their attack pattern and notified her Tactical Officer.

White punched the orders into the panel and the ships fires several wide beaming arcs of phaser fire that found no target. "Negative impact Admiral" The chief began charging the phaser banks for a second volley.

Chloe reported from her station "Admiral they are cloaked. I can't find their heading." she reported.

Hades' fingers flew over the console as he checked incoming casualty reports. Thankfully nothing serious. He turned to Deela and caught her eye. "Admiral if we knew if this was a Romulan or Klingon cloak I could help....well only if it was a Romulan cloaking device."

"Well, if they are firing while cloaked, I would say Romulan." Deela thought for a moment, "They are going to fire at us again. That is a given. If I was them, I would damage the shields and prevent us from leaving."

Deela immediately turned to White, "Transfer all power to the shields now!"

Alien Ship

Seeing the damage caused by the first barrage of Disruptor fire from his newly acquired vessel, Golk looked over at his Tactical Officer with a grin as he gave his next orders.

"Enough tickling of this Federation vessel, target Shields and Propulsion systems in the next volley!" He ordered before looking down to the Helmsman sat at his station.

"Follow an erratic flight path that allows Tactical to fulfil their objectives and then take us out of the system at maximum warp!" came the order.

The Helmsman looked back confused to his Captain.

"If they can't find us, they'll never know who hit them!" He barked as he clarified his orders. The helm began steering the ship around as Tactical opened fire and smiled as he scored several more hits on the Federation Vessel.

Essex Bridge

Deela was correct. Once again, the ship shook but this one was much harder, "Damage report!"

Chloe said "Helm is not responding Admiral" as she tried to track the cloaked alien ship.

Deela contacted Engineering, "Helm is not responding."

"We are aware and are working on it as we..." Another Engineer gave him the thumbs up, "It should be responding now."

Deela quickly accessed the Essex's situation. She had an idea but it would take a lot of skill along with some luck, "The ship may be cloaked but not..." She calculated where the alien ship was last and what position they would have to take in order to target our shields. She looked around at the crew whose eyes were all on her now, "When they fire, we canl see the weapons as soon as they leave the cloaking field. As soon as we do, we fire. If we are lucky, we will wound them." She didn't really believe in luck but many did. For her, this was all based on what she would do if she was them.

Chief White Smirked, "I will make sure we hit dead on those marks Admiral." He changed the firing pattern from sweeps to direct point and armed a spread of torpedoes to boot. "Admiral, if we run a tachyon charge thru the main deflector and send our a burst in all directions, it should highlight the ship for several seconds, more than long enough for our weapons to find their marks."

"Then do it." Deela was very confident in her crew.

Joseph switched the deflector over to emit a tachyon pulse while the array charged. The time was only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity.

Alien Ship

Looking back at the Captain, the Ferengi Tactical Officer smiled. "Several hits confirmed on the Starfleet Ship sir, as ordered the Shields and propulsion were targeted...however there was minimal damage..."

The Ferengi Captain looked across at his officer. "Then Target them again you fool! I want them stranded out here!!"

Essex Bridge

The bridge crew was very quiet, most eyes were on the viewscreen as they waited for the alien ship to attack once more.

As the console showed the systems were ready White activated the deflector, "Activating the pulse Admiral" he said as he watched him display. A moment after the system activated a blip appeared on the targeting scanners as a once empty section of space seemed to be outlined with a crackling distortion. "Target locked ... firing." he said as he activated the ships weapons. Three torpedos and several blast from the phasers found their mark in an brilliant array of colors and fire as the enemy ship was rocket out of her cloak. "Direct hit, damage to both their primary and secondary hulls. Their cloak also appears to be offline."

Deela showed excitement by practically jumping out of her chair, "Good job. Target their weapons and disable their ship. Let's end this right now. We have somewhere to go."

From the tactile station, Chief White targeted first their weapon and then their engines. Volley after volley of phaser fire erupted all hitting their marks with precision.

Alien Ship

As the barrage of weapons fire from the Essex took its toll on the Alien Vessel, the crew held on for what seemed like an eternity before almost all of the primary systems went offline. In the darkness, the Ferengi Captain cried out in vain. All around them consoles exploded and sparks showered as more systems failed from the overload of energy they tried to withold, but ultimately failed.

"How?? How could this have happened?? How did they see us?" he asked a question that would not see an answer from his wounded crew-mates. the small crew sat in silence waiting for the next move to come from the Federation vessel.

Essex Bridge

It was confirmed. The alien ship was no longer a threat. Deela felt herself relax a bit.

"Are we planning to board that ship or just leave her disabled?", General Hurd inquired.

Before Deela could answer, the sensors alerted the bridge crew that there was a ship approaching. Soon, they were face to face with a Federation ship. The Captain of the ship wasted no time.

"Admiral, they are hailing us."

"On screen." Soon, she was face to face with a human male, a Federation Captain, one whom she recognized, "Admiral T'Lar, it has been awhile. You're a little far from home. I see you have met my pain in my...side. Damn those Ferengi. Thank you for disabling that blasted cloaking device."

Deela smiled, "Captain Williams, it has been a while. And yes, it looks like your pain has become my pain as well."

Williams shrugged, "I'm sorry that you got mixed up in this. I have been chasing them for a while now and I would have caught them already if they hadn't got in a lucky shot." He leaned forward in his chair, "If you would allow me to take charge of these Ferengi and their stolen ship, I would be most grateful."

Deela observed him for a moment, "Normally I would do it myself but I'm afraid the we are overdue with out Delta Quadrant assignment. I will be sending a few of my Security officers with you to help secure the bridge of that ship. And while that is being done, you can join me here on my ship and explain to me who they are and why they attacked us."

"Okay." He motioned to his Security officer to board the alien ship and secure it, "I'll join you in a moment Admiral."

"Looking forward to it." Deela looked over at Lokran, "Go." She watched him as he began to exit the bridge. "T'Lar to Solomon, give me an ETA of when we will be able to slipstream."

Down in Engineering, Solomon happy pressed the comm button the nearest panel to him. "We're good to go Admiral, now that the enemy is out of commission, just give the word," he confirmed.

R'nard had been watching the exchange with great attention. He nodded to Deela and left the bridge with the Security officers. "I'll be back before you will get to slipstream, Admiral."

"Good." Deela turned her attention back to the view screen.

General Hurd, taking in all that was going on, shook his head imperceptibly and said, “Your orders Admiral?”

"Put a tractor beam on the ship just in case. As soon as our security team is back, we are going to slipstream and catch up with the other two ships. I'll be in my ready room. Show the Captain to my ready room when he gets here."

Chloe said "Aye sir " She continued to prep the ship's helm to new Talaxia.

Deela got up and went to her ready room. She contacted Starfleet to make sure that everything was on the up and up. Once satisfied, she waited for the Captain to show up. He told her who they were, how they stole the ship with alien technology, kidnapped the helmsman and looked for anything that would make them a profit. All they could do now was wait and hope that everything goes without a hitch.

Hades left the bridge, now that the threat was over and he knew his sickbay would not be full. He headed down to the bay to take care of the routine things that waited for him. His thoughts though, they were on the Romulans. He wondered how Lai'lira was doing back at the station. Braxton was with her and as calming as that seemed it also was a worry for him. He could see the two falling in love and he wasn't that much a fan of the situation. S'ten had trusted Hades with Lai and he was determined to make sure she was well cared for.

Everyone was now back on board and the other ship was off and running with the alien ship in tow. Deela came out of her ready room and looked around at her bridge crew before taking her seat. She sat down, "Hopefully, there will not be any more problems. Shall we get back to our mission? Lt. Young, prepare to go to slipstream."


OCC: I moved Chloe's response to the appropriate place. I guess this is pretty much ready to be posted. Thank you all.

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