[USS Charon, Bridge]
Commander Marcus snickered to himself as he came from the Holodecks where he had been keeping the Vulcan scientists for their Incarceration. He had just changed their simulation parameters to make them watch "Barney and Friends" all day long. He wanted to make sure he was prepared for whatever could happen when and if they found the Temep'Shar.
He stepped onto the bridge and found the helmswoman in her chair, calmly tapping away at her console.
Sakarra heard the return of the Security Chief, noticing the even gait of a tall human moving with purpose. It was quite unmistakable. And she was barely surprised when he walked up to her station. Officially, she was still under arrest even though the Captain seemed inclined to throw the rulebook out of an airlock as well.
She turned her head to gaze up at the blue eyed human.
"It would seem your Incarceration has been moved to better accommodations." he said with a smirk and a wink. He wanted any Information he could get about the Vulcan mission and he really did not enjoy the idea of being thrown out an air lock or shot by the Captain today. "Got a minute to give me a bit more details on this ship we are after or what to expect when and If we find it?"
"Certainly, Commander."
Although 'better accommodations' might be a matter for debate, Sakarra was hardly surprised that the Security Chief seemed willing to deal with more imminent matters for the time being. And under the circumstances it was indeed 'better' to be able to offer assistance when and where needed than meditating in her quarters, no matter how pleasant the prospect.
The young Vulcan nodded to one of the enlisted personnel standing by to take over at the helm and swiftly moved towards the currently vacant center chair, not even stopping to appreciate the irony of the situation. She brought up the small auxiliary screen and motioned for Commander Marcus to have a seat as well.
"What details are you looking for?"
"Well for starters what was her exact mission out here anyway?" he asked still a little vague. He had not been able to read much more than a hand full of words in the Vulcan data. and even that was subject to debate. "And what should we expect to encounter when we board the ship? if this is a Vulcan Intelligence ship, we may not get a very warm welcome even if we are Friendly."
"Not an intelligence ship, Commander."
Sitting in her usual straight, elegant pose, long legs neatly tucked away to the side, Sakarra had linked the auxiliary screen into her personal files and once more brought up Seleya's schematics. The translation matrix was still 'chewing' on some of the unfamiliar technical terms, but it would suffice.
A deep red shape, elegant in its simplicity, rotated on the monitor like a sleepy feline basking on a rock.
"She is a science vessel. Based on the design of Seleya, although I suspect we will find some obvious differences, namely in the deflector dish and the main engineering section. However, this should suffice if you wish to assemble a boarding party, and I should recommend you do so since most Vulcan Yel-hal'aylar are equipped with reflective hulls that make scanning of the interior rather difficult, even when searching for lifeforms. Engineering and the bridge may override and broadcast locations of the crew, but we cannot be certain there are any survivors."
It was not something she liked to dwell on, so she simply downloaded the translated schematics onto a PADD and handed it to the tall human perched on the chair next to her.
"Her mission, if you could name it such, was a test flight. A test that obviously has failed to render the desired results. Even so, it is customary for a contingent of V'Ket to be on board and T'Pelar has confirmed as much. They will be wary of any visitors, especially if they know where they are and suspect Rihannsu in the vicinity. I would strongly recommend that if you find survivors, you make certain to identify yourselves as Starfleet at the earliest opportunity. You have been to Xen'Tal and the Institute of Defensive Arts, yes?"
"It has been a while." Dylan admitted. Even when he was on Vulcan, it was evident that even a Human trained in the basics of Vulcan Martial arts would have a hard time against a trained Vulcan. "If there are survivors, what is the standard crew compliment of a ship like hers?" Dylan asked.
The young woman nodded solemnly. It was unlikely even one who had taken classes at Xen'Tal would know what an experienced t'naehru was capable of, but if such a situation should occur, there was little she could advise in any case.
"Since it was a test flight, it would be logical to assume that no full complement of secondary departments was on board. The Captain and bridge crew, up to twelve engineers and six technicians, certainly some guests in addition to the regular complement of twenty-one scientists and most likely, six V'Ket and their commander. Fifty to sixty personnel rather than the usual one hundred and eight would be a reasonable estimate."
"That would no doubt tax our accommodations more than they are already." Dylan noted. "Not to mention that when the Captain orders the ship destroyed it will take us several months at best to return to Federation space. "I don't suppose there would be any equipment that would help us say avoid several months of being stalked by Warbirds?" he asked with a bit of wishful thinking.
"Not to my knowledge, Commander." Sakarra shook her head regretfully "If the ship were still able to create wormholes and evade the Rihannsu, they would have done so already. It may be possible they are simply unable to repair whatever caused their test flight to be aborted, however I doubt we would be able to adapt the technology to Charon in any reasonable amount of time."
"I was afraid you were going to say something like that" He said as he scanned the translated schematics of the ship. "Then what if we were to say get 'lost' ourselves?" he asked. "What if we were able to say modify our warp engines to look like a Romulan power signature at distance? assuming we could pull it off without having a Warbird up our ass already, it may buy us some time when we find the Temep'Shar and hopefully be well on our way home before the Rommies realize what happened."
"A reasonable suggestion." The young Vulcan nodded, a thoughtful light in her jet black eyes. Of course such a course of action could be counterproductive if the Vulcan crew mistook them for the Sundered, but for the moment the possible gain would by far outweigh the theoretical risk.
"I shall forward it to the Captain unless you wish to do so in person. And of course we would have to speak with the Chief Engineer to see how fast such a plan could be implemented."
Dylan smiled. "Lets split the difference. I will talk to the Captain and since you know the engines better than all but the CEO anyway, I would suggest you talk to him and maybe you could knock some time off the work load."
"Agreed." Sakarra had already started some calculations at the back of her mind, although she was certain Mr Calhoun would be able to vastly improve upon them. That was when the monitor before her beeped with a personal message forwarded from her desk- the proverbial ribbon tied around this one left no doubt as to the identity of the sender or, for that matter, the content.
"I fear the matter has just become obsolete, Commander. If you would kindly assemble a security detachment and stand by – it seems we are closer to our objective than we thought."
"That team is already standing by." he nodded. "I will head down to the Transporter room once geared up and lead it myself." he said.
"Very good." Sakarra tipped her head as the Security Chief stood up and made to leave for the turbolift
"Oh, and Commander?" He pivoted around and glanced down at the small figure of the Vulcan in the center chair who studied him with unreadable black eyes under a slightly raised brow.
"Should you encounter Vulcans wearing terracotta colored uniforms and bearing swords, I advise you to remember there is a reason that Starfleet phasers have a stun setting although the default charge will merely slow them down. Please do not hesitate to use it although I of course leave it to your discretion to announce your friendly intentions with a Vulcan salute first. Still, I suggest you do not mention anything remotely resembling 'slapstick'."
"I will keep that in mind. We wouldn't want to offend the Vulcans now would we?" he smirked.
[End Log]
Commander Dylan Marcus
Chief Security Officer
Lieutenant Commander Sakarra Tyrax
Chief Helm
USS Charon
