Unexpected, part 1

Posted on Tue Dec 12th, 2023 @ 1:28am by Lieutenant Commander Jaal Jaxom & Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Kell Asaa Dr & Lieutenant T'Lira Sh'Karra & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette
Edited on on Tue Dec 12th, 2023 @ 1:34am

1,818 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Investigate the Chintoka Shipyard Buildup
Location: Cardassian Territory
Timeline: current

-snip-
Jaal chuckled. As someone specifically trained in operations he surmised what was going on. "They're doing the same thing we are... using passive scans trying to keep their exact location from us," he explained. "Let's do a full sweep, all sensors, only one pass then shut them back down, let's see what we can find."

"Helm, keep us on the edge of the Berion cloud, once the full sweep is finished, increase to half impulse for thirty seconds, then slow to station keeping for the time being."
-/snip-

Jaal did not sit in the center chair. Sure, he was in temporary command, but there was something about the "Chair" that intimidated even him. While he suspected his past disciplinary record made him feel he didn't deserve it. He had to prove it his shipmates and himself.

Someday perhaps, but today was not that day. He paced around the bridge until the results of the quick, active sensor sweep, could be announced.

Karadis, he noted, ran the operations/tactical console nearly as well as he did. Savette could, in fact, pilot a larger ship with some coaching.

He walked by the science station and told Lieutenant Sh'Karra, "Good job with those shield mods, and thank you."

"I don't know why it wasn't done sooner. As soon as I reported for duty I noticed the problem, Sir. We will still have to properly purge the engines when we get to a Federation facility," T'Lira replied.

Sitting at the helm Isabelle was getting herself accustomed to the size of the ship she was now piloting. She’d trained to pilot small craft, but nothing this size, to say it was a learning curve was an understatement.

At the Operations console, Karadis prepared the full sensor sweep. It had to be short, sharp and precise so as to give them as much information as possible, but not divulge their location. She rolled her shoulders a couple of times, then her neck, cracked her knuckles and wiggled her fingers. Her hands glided over the console, much as a concert pianist does when playing a precise complicated piece of music. The signal went out, then seconds later she immediately shut it down. Concentrating her focus on the readout, her eyes widened as she read and analyzed the data.

“Sir, we have five ships heading our way…three Keldon and two Galor class” she reported “Estimated arrival time at their current speed is forty five minutes.”

Jaal peered over her shoulder at the display. "It's gonna be a party now. Instead of going to red alert, let's keep our EM emissions low for the time being. We have some time to come up with some strategy."

He looked to Savette, thinking out loud as he gave orders as he wanted everyone to know the reason for them. "Change course to one nine eight mark two two. Increase speed to one eighth impulse. That will gain us at least a couple minutes. Stay on the edge of the cloud. We may have to take a defensive dive back down."

He resumed standing in the center of the bridge, "We're not running yet. We need to give the captain more time. Bridge to engineering, McCrudden, I know it's finicky but any chance the cloak will work if we need it?"

“I can’t make any promises Sir,” McCrudden replied, “To be honest, I don’t know if the Berion matter affects it. The last simulation we ran showed the cloak operating at seventy four percent, but that’s with a three percent margin of error either side. My lads and lassies will do their best, to keep it up and running if you do use it.”

"Good enough, let the lads and lassies know their efforts are appreciated. I'll update you as events warrant," Jaal answered.

Karadis was studying the readout of the sensor sweep again, something didn’t add up.

“The flying formation that the Cardassians are using is wrong” she said out loud. “They’re flying with a Galor class out front, then three Keldon class, line abreast, then a Galor class in the rear” she added.

“Every time I’ve been in a ship battle with them, the Galor class have always been out front, used as a battering ram to ‘punch’ a hole in the opponent’s line, letting the Keldon class ships in to reek havoc and mop up. If their intention is to capture or kill is, why the departure from the normal set up?” she asked to everyone.

Isabelle was concentrating on keeping the ship where Jaal wanted it, she wasn’t used to piloting a Starship it was a whole new learning curve. “Maybe they’ve got a different plan.”

“True, and that’s an unnerving thought Lieutenant,” Karadis agreed, “It’s just so…unCardassian, if you see what I mean. Perhaps…”, then she laughed and shook her head, “No, no, that couldn’t be it…that would be incredibly stupid, even for Kerr, if it’s him…”

In the short time Jaal served under Captain Kerr, he'd observed the captain was anything but conventional and had no aversion to risk taking. "You know the captain better than the rest of us," Jaal took a step towards Karadis and the control board, "Please elaborate your thoughts."

Karadis took a breath, “During the Dominion War, the Captain developed ’the linebacker’. Now, bearing in mind I have zero knowledge of what people of Earth call sports, all I know is that’s it’s based off of a game there. I can only tell you how he deployed it, but you won’t like it, it’s callous, some would technically call it murder, but it worked. Depending on how many ships he had, he’d set out deployment thus. A Starship out front, heavy cruisers line abreast, and Starship or Starships at the back. The front Starship took the brunt of the attacking force, often times being destroyed or at the least very heavily damaged. The heavy cruisers then blocked any attacking ships trying to attack the Starship or Starships at the back, we would often lose as many as half to three quarters, however, this then allowed those Starship or Starships at the rear to come through and destroy what was left of the opposing forces.”

She stopped and drew another breath, “Sir, I think Kerr is on that front Galor class ship, leading the attack, but I have a feeling he’s got a plan… I just don’t know what. Instinct tells me, that’s one of his ‘linebacker’ set ups.”

The Trill's lips twisted in thought as he listened. He knew very little of Terran sports let alone any one individually. As for the Dominion War, a lot of ugly tactics were used on both sides. At last he spoke, "All right, I have a feeling you're right. Let's maintain our current course and speed until we get some kind of signal. When they get within weapons range go to red alert. We'll let them know we know they're there. I hate the waiting game but I think that's necessary for now."

“Wait a minute…” Karadis said thoughtfully, “They used passive scans, passive…scans, why would they do that?” she asked, looking around.

Not waiting for an answer, she carried on, “They already knew we were here, they’ll already know our ship classification, but probably not our upgrades. Those scans were pointless, unless…”, and she turned back to her console.

She brought up the Cardassian passive scan sensor data. Breaking it down into component frequencies, she opened up their own passive sensor data. From what she knew, most passive sensors worked on the same principles with a few variations. Placing them side by side onscreen, she began comparing them and after a few moments suddenly shouted ‘Eureka!’

“Sir, there’s a piggy back signal on their passive scans.”

Opening the signal up, a familiar Cardassian face appeared, that of Gul Dukat.

“Five ships, myself upfront, ‘linebacker’ set up, fifth columnist ship in rear. Set red alert on our approach, fake attack, don’t fire, we’ll do the rest.”

Karadis turned to Jaal “I was right, he is that stupid.”

"I don't think that's stupid at all, it's fucking brilliant, " he disagreed with her, "I just wanna know how he pulled that one off."

“I think there’s one clue I can give you” Karadis replied, “Just prior to Kerr throwing us off the time ship, he told me to stun one of the Cardassians and leave them in the brig. Don’t ask me why, he wouldn’t say, but he looked serious and you never argue with Kerr when he looks serious, believe me.”

"I've found that already... So now it seems he's saving us instead of us coming to rescue him," Jaal shook his head and chuckled, "I gotta admit, I like the way he thinks."

“Don’t be to impressed Sir, it can be very erratic at times” Karadis said. She pondered the situation, trying to guess Kerr’s plan, but more so, how he got from where he was going and in what, to where he was now and how he managed it. For her, the crux of it was to do with the stunned Cardassian she was told to leave onboard just before he set off.

“That Cardassian…” she said out loud, “Kerr obviously used them as a pawn or as leverage, but how and why?
If I had to guess, when he went looking for the Founder, he must have told them some unbelievable story to get them to trust him, and how in the name of Kahless did he manage to get involved with fifth columnists? I guess we’ll find out soon. Orders for the fake attack Sir?” she asked.

"It looks like we were on the right track," he told her, "Same as we planned, when we're in their weapons range, go to red alert and raise shields." He thought a moment, "I think to make it look good, target them but we won't fire unless we have to... just in case something goes wrong we should be ready."

[40 minutes later]

The five Cardassian ships entered the quadrant but didn’t slow down, they kept their course and speed. Onboard the lead Galor class, the Gul watched through his viewing glass.

“On my mark, link to their ships computer and enter the code”

“Yes Gul” the Trooper replied.

“Slow to impulse power now” the Gul said.

The ship slowed down and the others followed suit. There was now only thirty seconds between them and the Federation ship, the plan was now in place, he had them where he wanted them and soon they’d be helpless.

“Link to their computer…now” the Gul said.

“Uploading link now, sending code” the Trooper replied.


TBC...

 

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