Captain, on the Bridge!

Posted on Fri Aug 27th, 2021 @ 2:05am by Captain Björn Kodak & Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant Sovaan & Lieutenant JG Eleanor Ellsworth & Lieutenant Chaali

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: USS Sojourner; Computer Core Control Room; Main Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 4 at 1300

[Starship Sojourner]
[Main Bridge]
[Following Eyes in the Dark, Bridge Post]

The Main Bridge of the Sojourner was a dark cacophony of its usual self. It had been a mere three minutes since they had been struck by the strangers' dampening weapon.

Flickering consoles could not decide between Condition Gray, Condition Red or normal operations, and cycled between them and blips of darkness. The background was the mutterings of indistinct voices- and a skinny figure who was relaying commands to the Computer Core Control Room from Commander t'Nai to free up limited shipwide communications.

"Boost priority pathways in Mu and Nu Recursives, I'm tying it through the ventral sensor dome," was heard over Noah Balsam's comm. He nibbled his lips- that was too low level to bother the Captain with as it was background conversation. "Trying it now. Initiating a full reboot of the communications relay network. Standby Balsam, Bridge."

"They-they're rebooting now, Captain," Noah's calm innocence blinked as he relayed the information to Doctor Emni t'Nai. "Bridge, Computer Core. Message received and relayed. Standing by." The skinny one puffed out a breath, his forehead still aglow in the sweat from climbing five decks through a Jefferies Tube shaft.

Emni nodded, her expression grim, "Keep me posted. I want to know as soon as weapons and shields are back online."

"Whatever you're doing, keeping doing it," Chaali said with a knit of her bald, cerulean brow. In the violent jolt of the attack, her wig had toppled and she hadn't retrieved it from the deckplates yet. "Ellsworth, I'm detecting packet-transreciever response in the short-range sensor systems. Do we have any sensors?"

Ellsworth nodded to the woman's query, "Aye, I reckon we might. Yes! Marginal short-range sensor are online. It looks..." She cocked her head around, "One of the three unidentified ships appears to be firing on the planet near the location of the Away Team. Another ship seems to have locked on the Klingon vessel with a tractor beam!"

As various systems began to come back online -- thanks to Starfleet's near obsession with redundant backups and Plans A, B, C, and D -- the comm system suddenly squelched with a transmission from the surface. The voice on the other end sounded not so much panicked as forcefully concerned, if there was a difference. Mixed with the frequencies of humanoid speech was a load rumbling that, for but a moment, was supplanted by the thunderous slamming of disruptor fire on the surface above.

"Kodak to Sojo. Beam us up now! The ceiling is coming down on top of us!"

"Hold position--" came t'Nai's reply as she turned, ordering the beam up with a gesture to Sovaan.

And that's when it happened. On the other end of the line, the thunder gave way to a great crack that could almost be felt across the transmission. The pervasive rumble of collapsing rock and earth mixed with panicked yells from the Away Team -- yells that promptly ceased to sound over the comm, whether because the rocks had smashed the team into pulp or the transporter had whisked them away still unknown. But there was a stillness on the line after, Auris and her crew having accomplished the destruction of the ruins down below.

"D...do we have them?" asked a voice bereft of belief. It was Ensign Davies, who'd been called to the Bridge to monitor the auxiliary Science station. Though his specialty was entomology, the man had the skills to serve as a junior Science Officer when needed. In the quiet following the thunder, he couldn't help but think of Andrew -- his lab partner -- who no doubt toiled in the lab below without knowing his paramour and the rest of the Away Team were in dire danger.

Sovaan gripped the edges of the console and slumped his shoulders. "Only just," he breathed, pent-up breath rolling out of his mouth. "All team members accounted for, Sir."

"Kodak to Bridge," came the raspy voice of the Sojo's Captain. Already rough in timbre, the Chameloid's tone was suffused with the gargle of dirt, dust, and near-death. "We've got severely wounded here. Doctor Ryan Walsh is heading with Mr. Giorgiou to Sickbay. Security Officer Joval has a broken arm and a nasty gash on his forehead. I think the rest of us are mostly OK, save some scrapes and bruises."

There was some background conversation over the line, then, pulling Kodak away from his immediate report. It was a few moments later before he spoke again. "I understand we're having some technically difficulties at the moment. I'm headed to the Bridge now. Doctor, I know you probably want to help our injured but I need you to stay there until I arrive. Doctor Walsh will have to make due without you for a few minutes until you can get me up-to-speed. Kodak out."

The Romulan doctor-cum-stand in captain let out an audible stream of held breath as Kodak signed off before tapping her own commbadge. Relief had flooded her at his voice, but they were far from out of the woods and two more wounded on this away mission rent her conscience. She would stay on the bridge, but had to work to put her own conflicted emotions aside.

"t'Nai to Sickbay. You have wounded inbound. Dr. Ryan Walsh is with them."

Dogrov's rough voice came across the speaker in response with a simple "Acknowledged," before the line cut.

On the main screen, the Klingon ship was nowhere to be seen directly and instead one of the strange alien attackers loomed, dominating the view like the two ships were in an old-fashioned street draw from the Ancient West. Chaali watched the ship with earnest curiosity. "I wonder why they haven't finished us off?"

In the minutes since Kel-Tut's weapons had first fired across their bow Emni had developed a wrinkle of consternation between her brows. At the Bolian officer's question it deepened, seeming to push inward and gave the impression of two very light ridges. She raised a hand two her brow absently, rubbing as she did. "That's a good question, Lieutenant. Have we got sensors back yet?"

Chaali's console squelched. "I'm getting minimal sensors. Short-range only. It looks like the aliens tractored the Klingons and have pulled them closer to the planet."

Emni stood, feeling the bruises that were undoubtedly already forming as she did. "Do we have any idea of their status, Lieutenant?" she asked Chaali, moving forward to stand in the middle of the bridge as if by repositioning herself she could learn more by pure force of will.

Chaali's bald cerulean brow furrowed. "I'm detecting no power signatures whatsoever from them<' she attested before her comm squelched again. "We're being hailed."

Emni nodded, schooling her features as she did. "Not the Klingons I assume," she said, her voice dry. Settling back into the Captain's chair she nodded to Chaali. "Put them through."

"Channel open," Chaali affirmed with a nod. It was not the Klingons. The screen blinked and in a shadowy dark environment with spotlights appeared a man. He wore a black vest over a bare chest, his skin green. His hair was long and black, somewhat bedheaded. His features were reminiscent of the Hawkish Romulan eyes, or the appearance of one from the Asian hemisphere on Earth. His skin was more olive than the lime that was Timmoz's skin.

"Federation vessel," he said with a smooth resolve, a hardened edge, "You are in violation of sovereign ancient Syndicate territory."

Emni eyed the man on the screen, sitting back in the Captain's chair as she did and draping her arms on the two arm rests as though she weren't sitting in the middle of a bridge running on back up power. "I was under the impression that we were in Klingon space, a foray for which we have permission from the appropriate local authorities. To whom am I speaking?"

"We do not recognize the Klingon claim to this world. Or any other Orion world." His almond-shaped eyes narrowed. "I would imagine a Romulan would understand that." He folded his arms, "First Hand Jeycid, of the Eno Makar. Your crew put my Mistress in our medical bay. I am in command now." He eyed Emni, "Why is a Doctor in command of a Federation starship, if I may ask who I speak to now."

The Romulan let one eyebrow raise at the introduction from the Orion on the screen. "Lieutenant Emni i-Rizz t'Nai of the USS Sojourner," she said by way of introduction. "It's a pleasure to meet you First Hand Jeycid. I am sorry about your Mistress."

She paused a moment, raising a hand to her mouth as if debating whether to answer the First Hand's question about her status on the ship, finally she settled on, "I'm the ship's 2nd executive officer and this happens to be my bridge shift." In the back of her mind she couldn't help a slight cringe. It would be easier to simply explain what was going on rather than obfuscate, but she found herself unsure of how much she should reveal. The uncertainty made her indecisive and she quietly wished Kodak would arrive on the bridge before the conversation had to go any further.

The man on the screen nodded. "The pleasure is ours, Doctor," he tapped his left shoulder-pec. "We understand why you have beamed down to this world," Jeycid continued. "We advise you to abort. You are chasing a fantasy. A dangerous one. If the Federation values the sanctity of cultural relics and foreign territory, then another encounter with us will be unnecessary."

"One man's fantasy," came a voice from t'Nai's right, "is another man's reality." The turbolift doors hissed closed as Captain Kodak stepped properly onto the Bridge.

A wide-eyed Noah looked up at the burly man who properly eclipsed him, "Captain, on the Bridge!" He stated with a slight, almost pubescent warble.

Kodak had heard the tail end of the exchange when the doors had opened and now, apparently, the Chameloid had something to say on the matter. "As I'm sure my Second Officer has informed you, we have permission from the Klingons to be here. This is, by rights, their space -- and their say goes, not yours."

"Additionally," he strode to the center of the Bridge, standing tall to intimidate as he faced the viewscreen, "By attacking us, you've committed an act of aggression against the Federation. I rather thought the Syndicate would want to avoid having us breathing down their necks at every turn. But if you continue your aggression against this vessel," Kodak stood there for a moment, his eyes full of fire, "that's exactly what will happen. You've an opportunity to avoid that. Do with it what you will. Close channel," the Captain ordered.

When the viewscreen went blank, Kodak turned to t'Nai. "Doctor, thanks for keeping my seat warm. Bring me up to speed as quickly as you can, please." With the Orion vessel momentarily inactive on the viewscreen, the Captain gambled that they were taking time to figure out their next move, which gave him time to do the same. As Emni began her explanation of things, the Chameloid's startling eyes roved the Bridge, taking stock of things as the woman spoke. The Sojo was in worse shape than he'd anticipated, it seemed. A small sigh escaped the Captain as the Doctor's tale came to an end.

"Sounds like you've done all you could. Good work, Doctor," Kodak nodded, in a rush to dole out orders before the Orions took action again. "Return to Sickbay. Satoru and Mr. Nir need all the help they can get, I fear," he said, his face heavy. "I'll take things from here."

Relief had flooded Emni at Kodak's tinged lightly with anxiety. He had handled the conversation with the Orion so deftly that a tiny part of her brain was second guessing itself. "I'll do the best we can for them both," she assured the Captain as he relieved her of her assignment so that she could return to Sickbay.

"Thank you, Doctor," Kodak replied with a nod. He looked then to Chaali, followed by Sovaan and Balsam. "What's the current status of our systems? And theirs?" he asked, turning back to the viewscreen. The Orion ship still hung motionless there but who knew when that might change. "Helm, prepare for evasive maneuvers. Pattern Delta Three. If that ship even twitches, I want you to go," Kodak ordered.

Again wide-eyed, Noah hesitated for only a moment, like he was stuttering over his words, "S-secondary computer systems are online, w-we'll have the Main Core in two minutes..."

Chaali swayed about her console near Noah, her fingers dancing, "Sensors are limited to short-range, but we have communications. Transporters are online." She glanced up at the man, "The Klingon vessel is drifting into the upper atmosphere, Captain."

"Shields are booting back up, but they're holding, at least for the moment," Sovaan said. "Phasers are...still down. Torpedoes are all we have to work with."

Ellsworth motioned her hands, "the helm is basically dead, we won't be going anywhere in a hurry that's for certain. I am prepped and ready for evasive maneuvers... if it comes to that as soon as I get a little power." With the Klingons, now the Orion, Ellsworth had regretted they had ever come to this planet. She wasn't entirely sure why they were there; but, at this point none of it seemed all that worth it to her.

"Very well," Kodak nodded, sighing internally but not letting it show. Ellsworth might not know or care much about why the Sojo had come here but, to the Chameloid, the planet was literally everything in that moment. That included the Klingon ship now helplessly falling into Cho'thil's atmosphere. Kodak's mind spun through possibilities as he looked up at the viewscreen for inspiration.

On the main screen, the three Orion vessels moved into a triad stance, their aggressive ship lines forming a wedge. But they made no hostile move- nor did they attempt to hail.

"They truly don't seem interested in finishing us off," Kodak said, thinking along. "But we can't let the Klingons crash down there. What about the tractor beam?" he asked Chaali, who was in charge of power distribution throughout the ship. "Could we get enough power into our thrusters to get into tractor range and pull that ship back up with us?"

The Cerulean One chomped her lip with a pensive look of doubt. "We'll have to divert power from shields, Captain." She eyed the Orion vessels with suspicion. "Their shields are still up and it looks like their disruptors are loaded. Sovaan do you detect a weapons lock?" Right now she really wished Timmoz was here for some insight into Orion standoff tactics. Why weren't they finishing them off?

Sovaan studied the console, then shook his head. "No, no weapons. They appear to be waiting. They could be trying to provoke us, or they could just be waiting to see what we'll do. I'm not getting any clues."

"What good does a capital confrontation do them now?" the Captain mused out loud. "They tried to take the puzzle sphere and failed. An away team confrontation is one thing but destroying a Starfleet vessel? That's an entirely different animal," Kodak rasped. "I wasn't kidding about that bringing the whole might of Starfleet down on their operations. I seriously doubt they want that kind of attention. But that doesn't mean they won't meddle a little. Case in point," he gestured to the bridge around him, which was still lit by emergency lighting.

"Chaali, divert power from the shields," Kodak spoke into the semi-darkness. "We're going to call their bluff. Mr. Sovaan, once you have the power you need, snag the Klingon ship in a tractor beam and start pulling it back up. Helm," the Chameloid turned to Ellsworth, "use whatever thruster power we can manage to keep us from being pulled down with the Klingons. Mr. Balsam," Kodak turned then to the over-eager cadet, "when can we expect full operational capacity?"

"Power diverted. The tractor beam is online," Chaali acknowledged. She had been talking over the comm to Sickbay and turned her attention back to the crisis. She looked at the screen and the three Orion ships.

Noah glanced at the burly man, "The last estimate I heard was in a minute we'll have main power back online."

As if on cue, the Bridge lighting suddenly flashed and returned to standard levels of illumination. An audible thrum of energy washed over the command center, consoles coming back to life as full power was restored. Moving to take his seat in the center of it all, Captain Kodak nodded approvingly at the holographic readout emanating from the arm of his chair. "Good work, everyone," he said with pride, spying systems coming back online all over the ship. "Alright, let's see to that Klingon ship. Prepare to extend our shields around it once the vessel is in range."

"Aye captain, we should be in a good position here, position holding," Ellsworth was relieved that the power diversion was adequate, there was enough available power to thrusters which ensured that they would not be pulled down with the Klingons. Furthermore, they might even be in a position to assist.

"Activating tractor beam," Sovaan announced. "Successful lock. Retracting now. They should be in range momentarily," he added. After a long pause, "We have them. Extending shields now, but it will take some work to cover both of us. With all the effort, it is likely that we will lose some of the power we just got back."

"Understood," Kodak nodded. "And what of the Orions?" he asked, looking towards Chaali. The ships were, of course, still frozen on the viewscreen, though visuals alone could not tell an entire picture. Sensors would have to fill in whatever gaps the visuals left behind. Would the Orions risk the direct provocation of Starfleet by firing on them while tractoring the Klingons? Would they, instead, destroy the Klingons out of spite and then make a run out of the system? Or was there something inbetween? All they could do was keep their shields up and see what happened.

Chaali's cerulean brow was furrowed. "They're moving off, Captain. Bearing... 246 mark 316." She looked at the Chameloid. "A course directly for the Epsilon Orionis system. Kolar system." Her console beeped. "The lead ship just jumped to warp."

Kodak watched the ships turn onscreen, nodding as Chaali reported their heading away. In the wake of the first ship's warp jump, the other two thundered into the distance as well, snapping forward and out of range to do them anymore harm. "Thank you, Chaali," the Chameloid offered a nod. "We still have some work to do. I'm sure the Klingon captain won't be a fan of what happened here. Let's get them up into a stable orbit before we make our own getaway, hmm? Something tells me we shouldn't linger."

"Helm," the Captain said then, uploading data from a PADD he was carrying into the Sojo's systems. "You'll find the coordinates of our next stop in the computer banks. I'd like you to lay in a series of warp hops to confuse anyone -- Klingon, Orion, or otherwise -- who might decide to try following our warp signature. Then set course for the next stop on this little hunt and get us there as quickly as you can. It's time we tackled what's next."

=/\= A joint post by... =/\=

Captain Bjorn Kodak
Commanding Officer

and

Lieutenant Emni t'Nai
Chief Medical Officer / 2XO

and

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Computer Specialist

and

Lieutenant Sovaan
Chief Tactical Officer

and

Lieutenant Eleanor Ellsworth
Secondary Flight Controller

and

Lieutenant JG Chaali
Chief Operations Officer

and

The Orions (played by Kyle!)