Post# 28 The frontier has new rules

Posted on Wed Mar 1st, 2023 @ 10:09am by Commodore Sureth & Taavis {SF Capt. Ret.} {UFP Intel Agent} & Captain Shauna Callaghan & Lieutenant Commander Ramvek Williams M.D. & Commander Kehlani & Lieutenant Isabelle Veran-Dallas & Lieutenant Commander David Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Billi & Lieutenant Griffon Resch "Nazgul"

Mission: Mission 9 Deal with the Devil
Location: Main Briefing room
Timeline: 6 hours after "Who Saved who"

On:

David decided to forego breakfast, the events of the last eight-teen hours had gone drastically off the original intent, what started out as a simple escort mission to bring a ship with high priority passengers to the station and repair some minor technical issues had turned into a mystery with consequences. The nova from all of the reports would be back in service within a couple of weeks or less. The cause of the explosion a mine was being investigated, the main suspect was the Essary a group of essentially social misfits who also happen to be militarized. David had spent a portion of the last four hours going over what he could find about this small nation state.

David entered the briefing room, oddly it was empty, he wasn't sure if there was assigned seating so he just looked out the view port, which had a view of the docked ships, he saw the Nova already surrounded by a drydock scaffold and a pair of workbee engineering craft dragging away several damaged sections exposing the inner hull sections. In the next berth was the Charlottetown, it's engines powered down, and minimal exterior lighting on, the docking ramp looked to be active with technical crew moving equipment on board.

Shamarra had received word she was to report to the briefing room, not sure what it was about, grabbed her PADD and headed for the briefing room. Walking in she nodded to the officer already there and took a seat

David was slightly surprised "I'm Lieutenant Wallace from intelligence." to the new comer he didn't recognize.

"Lieutenant Shamarra Poole,chief science officer, pleased to meet you."

David turned back too the window, "After yesterday a staff meeting is about all I can handle." he said pointing too the damaged Nova 2 and the workbee bringing the damaged hull section into view.

Shamarra nodded "It's going to take some time to repair the damage, but at least we didn't lose anyone."

Taavis entered the conference room and went and stood behind her chair, lightly leaning on the back as she tapped at a PADD and read its contents.

Billi, Kehlani and Resch came in as a troupe, all three grinning at some story one of them had been telling before entering the chamber of silence. Kehlani and Resch sat down but Billi went over to the large panoramic window, seeing her FC crews out aiding the engineering crews. "Shouldn't take too long, Nova's aren't that big."

Shauna smiled warmly to everyone as she walked into the briefing room. Carrying the PADD containing her report on events she took her seat.

Following Shauna into the briefing room, Isabelle moved around the table and took her seat.

Doctor Williams entered moments later giving a nod to those already present and took a seat. Reaching into his uniform thigh pocket removed his PADD and set it on the table to make any notes concerning anything medical.

Seeing that more had entered, Billi turned from the window and went to her own seat, bringing forth her palm PADD.

Sureth and Commodore Wallace walked in together and Sureth allowed Wallace his place at the head of the table.

" Have all arrived?" Sureth asked.

David's pad made a barely audible noise drawing his attention ~Sensor image fragment recovered~. The image appeared, it was the mine seconds before it detonated.

Taavis went around her chair and sat down, sitting forward with arms resting on the table. "It appears all have arrived, Sir."

“Not quite Commander” Shauna offered Taavis a polite smile. “Captain Rivers hasn’t arrived yet, it’s not like him to be late. He must be delayed.”

" We must proceed quickly. This is Commodore Wallace from the Charlottetown. I invited him to join us so that he can give us a break down of his mission." Sureth added.

"As my return has been recent, I am not caught up on who is what, as of yet. Apologies," said Taavis, going back to check on her private encoded messages. The SS Teral'n was ready to take part in its first warp trials. Brilliant! She thought.

Jarred stood, the scar on his face definitely caught the attention of a few in the room, "I'm Commodore Jarred Wallace from starfleet intelligence, I was on a mission to reopen relations with the group called the Essary, they're an amalgamation of expatriate federation citizens, disgruntled former starfleet officers, and other types who have chosen too be independent of those governments. In recent months they have been seen operating a number of surplus Romulan warbirds in addition too the number of other ships." He paused looking across the room "While they're noted for being militant about their borders, they generally don't get involved in matters outside of them either."

What was said immediately caught the attention of Taavis, who looked at Commodore Wallace. "By surplus you mean stolen, I take it. Romulans don't have 'surplus' ships they just hand out like pastries at a party. Every vessel of the Romulan Star Empire is a state secret, and they keep them that way. It's why Romulan commanders self-destruct; honor and secrecy."

"These ships were part of a group the left the empire, They also have, according to a report I saw five Klingon warbirds, a salvaged and now operational K class starbase they use as a listening post on the Federation side of their border, we assume they have something similar along their other borders as well." The commodore replied

"I have some knowledge of the Klingons and they also do not let just anyone command one of their war birds or birds of prey. I know personally a Federation Captain whose husband commands a Bird of Prey," Shamarra spoke up. "The Klingons are a race of honor and every day with them is a good day to die."

Kehlani cleared her throat abruptly since she was the only Klingon in the room. "That is true. We protect our own vessels even more so than the Romulans. However, should those ships prove to be crewed by Klingons, against the Empire, they are then traitors and will be dealt with our way. No Hurq (outsider) shall ever hold sway over the Klingon people again." But, going with another part of what this Commodore Wallace said, she gave voice to it. "As for Romulans, there is the fledgling Romulan Republic, trying to get away from the harsh living of the Empire."

Jarred gave a crooked smirk "This No Hurq has seen them first hand, they were 30 years old, but they were klingon."

Kehlani returned the smirk. "Should they prove to be enemies of this station and the Empire they will pay for it in blood. How are we to proceed with this, Commodore Wallace? Are they under suspicion for the mine incident?"

"My guess is yes, but it doesn't add up." Jarred stood up and as if on cue an image appeared on screen "What's this?"

David stood up, eye to eye with the commodore, "This is the only image of the mine decloaking, I'm not the expert but this looks like a bad copy of the mines used to block the wormhole during the Dominion war."

"I thought all the cloaked mines had been found and deactivated or destroyed," Shamarra commented "Any mine cloaked or not at the entrance of a worm hole would collapse it should the mine be hit it would blow and that is the end of a worm hole. There'd be no way to fix it."

Jarred looked long and hard at the image, "They were, but these might be bad copies, very bad ones, I'll get the original designs from the archives for review and planning for remediation."

Taavis had stood and got behind her chair again, her eyes on the imagery of the mine decloaking. "They are faulty. The mines at DS9 were state of the art and they did not decloak before exploding. That was their crutch, as it were. These seem to need a millisecond of time between decloaking and explosive activation, as if the cloak was draining power like it would for a starship. But, the other question becomes; are they self-replicating like those at DS9? If so, that means there is another mine in its place as we speak."

"What if we set a volley of torpedoes followed by a full spread of phasers? My theory is once we get the mines either destroyed or greatly reduced then we should be able to eliminate them? Unless someone has a way to disarm them. I believe that if we can destroy the lead mines the rest should follow suit," Shamarra suggested

Kehlani Spoke up as Taavis finished. "I will take Foes Bane out and we shall check. Unlike the Nova, we can cloak and remain stealthy for this operation."

Resch, having been listening to all of it, was still in his seat. "Commodore Wallace, Mister Wallace, has there been any cross-talk that we may have picked up? Messages, comms, anything like that from this amalgamation?" As an Intel officer himself, Griffon had to ask. If none had been detected then perhaps he should start going through data streams for clues.

Taavis waited to hear what would be said before she offered more.

Both Wallace's were caught off guard. Jarred spoke first "Nothing that would imply they're using mines like this, the majority of their order of battle is defensive, geared to keeping unwanted military forces out, not offensive."

David looked at the Commodore, "With the number of ex-Starfleet officers in their militia ranks anything is possible."

The Commodore looked at the station command staff, "I'm going to reach out to one of my contacts in their territory, I'm also going to request that the Manchester and Grandville keep clear while we investigate if there are more than the original three mine, I'll also see if we can get a ship to pick up for the Nova being in drydock."

After taking it all in Taavis spoke up. "Lieutenant Commander Kehlani is our Klingon liaison. An envoy from the Empire. She is also now a member of the KDF, and is here as both an ally and as our Strategic Operations Chief. Deputized, as it were, to remain in Starfleet service while serving the Empire. I needed to make sure that that was clear. HoD Kehlani commands the IKS Foes Bane." After letting that sink in she went on. "Mister Resch, you seem interested in the comm channels and messages. We are short on information from such sources. Pack a bag and join Kehlani on the Foes Bane. Her Bird of Prey can sit and absorb comm chatter without being detected. Gather intel then bring him back so we can sift through it, Commander Kehlani."

"Aye, Commander," said Kehlani with a nod. "It will be done."

"As for the Nova-Alpha, I will put forth orders for engineering to make haste in the repairs. Ten hour shifts if necessary. We cannot defend what is ours with just smaller ships." Added Taavis.

The Commodore looked at Commander Taavis "If this is an escalation, one more ship will make a difference."

Taavis gave a respectful nod to Commodore Wallace. "It was escalated the moment our ships struck mines, Commodore. As Number One for this station, and Security Chief, I am tired of being reactive. Outsiders attack, we react, and it has been a horrible habit since I got here. It is time to be proactive, not reactive, and let those out there know that we will not be pushed around, that we will protect our own. Federation space is Federation space. Pardon the crude way of saying this, but every time we sit on our asses and do nothing, soon enough a boot gets stuck in those asses, people lose their lives, property stolen and, a facility that spends weeks putting itself back together. We need action, not inaction."

Having said that Taavis looked to Kehlani. "Commander Kehlani, instead of sitting and collecting comm data, go out to the mine site and scan for debris from both the mine and the Nova. Beam what you can aboard your ship and bring those items back to M-69 for analysis." Her eyes went around the room as she continued. "Perhaps we can glean something from debris, possibly even parts of its computer systems to examine."

Sureth looked to Wallace. "It seems we have a plan. Are there any other questions?" Sureth asked.

Shauna had sat quiet taking in what everyone else had to say. “No questions Sir. I’ll check on the damage survey for the Nova, see how long repairs are likely to take.”

Kehlani gave a nod to the room before clapping a hand briefly down on Griffon's shoulder. "Come, Ensign Resch. It is time to live like a Klingon." She gave a pseudo-evil chuckle as she headed for the door.

"Ohhh, yay," said Resch, under his breath, as he stood and followed the Klingon Commander out of the room.

Taavis looked around the room. "Thank you all for being here. Let's work to keep things peaceful, but also to keep ourselves ready for any contingency. As I have Security matters to see to, good day." Giving a final few nods goodbye, she turned and left the room.

David made a quick exit, he had a large amount of work to do.

As the crew dispersed Sureth then again tunred to Commodore Wallace.
" Your quarters are ready and so are your guests. Security is on high alert. Our hospitality is generally better than this."

Jarred waited until the last of the crew left "I'm not worried about that, if I can be up front, I'm not expecting this to go very far, just before the meeting I spoke with David Pothier one of my contacts within the Essary, they're not going to change their stance."

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