A Stealthy Entrance

Posted on Thu Jul 22nd, 2021 @ 2:46pm by Lieutenant JG FalenvralLi Zh’kyhrihr & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: By Artemis' Bow
Location: Between Athena and Cavalier
Timeline: After "Prep for Retrieval"
2086 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Finn made the comm calls for launch while Li worked diligently to bring everything she needed online. Once they got the approval to launch for some maneuvers, Finn paused to watch her counterpart work. She was efficient and clearly knew what she was doing, even when working with a foreign system. It was inspiring. Before she was caught staring, Finn broke off her gaze and started mentally preparing for the task ahead.

The little ship responded well enough lifting off the deck and taxiing for launch but, once in open space, Li quirked her lips, antennae quivering slightly, fully erect as she made some adjustments. She double-checked her position relative to Athena, Cavalier, and the Pirate Destroyer, then opened the channel back home. "Athena Ops, Li. I'm going to run this shuttle through those maneuvers close to the ship. Could you relay your sensor readings back to me?"

"Your airspace is clear to maneuver and we're ready to relay data. Go ahead, Lieutenant."

She turned her head toward Keating and hit the thrust, pitching the ship up, down, cycling through combinations of yaw and roll and levels of thrust, barely glancing at her instruments. If it weren't for inertial dampeners and artificial gravity, even an experienced pilot would be sick if not turned to paste. Looking out the viewports alone would be enough to make a grounder dizzy. Her voice coming a little slow, almost performatively relaxed, she said, "I hope you don't think there's too much carryover in riding a skidder and piloting something like this. The reflexes help, but freedom of movement and system complexity, whew. It is not the same."

"This seems much more difficult. You're fantastic with this thing, but I will say that I'm very grateful for inertial dampeners right now." Finn chuckled. The data streamed in and she did her best to review it while the shuttle moved.

The ship looped and spun around, gaining some distance from Athena before she turned it and hit max thrust headed straight toward the Shuttle bay, then flipping and hitting thrust to bring them to a relative stop before Ops had a chance to radio a collision warning. With a glance at the relayed telemetry, she signaled, "Thanks for that. We'll be on our way." She set a slow course that would take them into position with the gaseous bulk of Iuvat-5 occulting them from the hostiles. From there, she increased thrust gradually while going over the data, making several marks, identifying thresholds of stealth. "See this? I don't think their sensors will see us at all while we're ballistic. Short of an active, targeted scan. But we have to be careful maneuvering. Depending on the profile we present, even attitude thrusters could draw attention and the main thruster is going to be a beacon unless the bulk of this shuttle is directly blocking it."

"If we match our shield harmonics to slip into their shield barrier, do you think that would show up on their sensors?" Finn asked, thinking that might be the best way in without gaining attention, but if the stealth tech wouldn't hold up then they'd need to find a way to transport over.

"I think," Li said, watching their angle with relation to the planet and the hostiles, "we'll be okay getting through the shields." She cut thrust before it would be visible and let the shuttle continue on its course toward the next screening body. "I've never tried anything like this but as far as I can tell they won't notice unless they're looking for it. But then? Sensors on the hanger bay are pretty sensitive. Unless it's total chaos for their crew, they'll see anything entering or leaving the ship that way."

"The other problem we have is getting the doors opened. Then again, once we're within their shielding, we could just beam aboard. Either way, we'll need a distraction to keep their eyes off of what we're doing. We could rig a weapon to explode and beam it to the opposite side of the ship. Or we could try to engage another vessel out there but make it look like it came from the Cavalier. Though that might end up with us in even more trouble. You have any ideas?" Finn asked, hoping that Li had thought of something better than she had.

Li gingerly rubbed her temple and said, "I don't know. The idea of engaging either of those ships using this little shuttle doesn't fill me with confidence. If we do end up making a phaser explode though, let's just make sure it's far away when it goes off."

She put her hands back on the controls and made a short burn using a group of asteroids for cover to gain more velocity and curve their course. "Are the doors really going to be a problem? You don't have some kind of Chief Engineer override code that'll let you board another Starfleet vessel?"

Finn chuckled. "Unfortunately, that's not quite how it works. Though, I do have the Cavalier's transponder code. If we squawk the same code we might be able to trick it into opening for us. We'll still need a distraction though so that no one notices the doors opening on sensors."

Thinking in silence, Li made several more course adjustments and burns, the shuttle's path updating on her PADD's display, following the prescribed arc that would bring them near their destination. Then she brought the schematic of Cavalier up to study, hoping for inspiration. "So, fixing up an old shuttle and taking it for a spin. How does this compare with your holodeck plans?"

"Meh, not quite the same. This sucker isn't that old," she shrugged. "I want to restore like a first gen shuttle. Though, I've been thinking about possibly building my own from scratch, instead of restoring an old one. I've been leaning towards that more, though I haven't had much time lately." Finn straightened in her seat and looked at the schematics of the Cavalier with Li. She closely examined the shuttle bay. "Is this the route you found from the shuttle bay to the brig?" She asked pointing to a highlighted section of Jefferies tubes.

Nodding, Li pointed to the long stretch of maintenance access along the spine of the ship. "Yeah, once you get in - from either the shuttle bay or the cargo bay - you have a pretty straight shot forward to the security complex. It's pretty long though. The shortest path is if we could get in through the Waverider docking port. I don't know if they even have one of those on board but the Nova's specced to have a birth for one at the bottom of the primary hull. That would be right below security and the brig." She pointed at a short, vertical stretch of Jeffries tubes connecting the two, passing through only one deck.

"If it's in the spec, then it should be there. That would actually be easier than trying to get in the shuttle or cargo bay and with its close proximity to the brig, we can get in and out quickly. Assuming they're in the brig anyways," Finn paused for a second and calculated the options at hand. "Let's try for that first. The only downside is if we let off an explosive on the opposite side of the ship, they're going to maneuver away from it. You'll have to dock her while maneuvering, but I guess you can handle that." She nodded at her skilled counterpart.

"Huh. I could handle that better if we had a solid hardpoint to dock with." Li zoomed in on the schematic of the Waverider itself. "Our only exterior access is going to be the fore landing gear, which doubles as an emergency escape hatch." She thought it over while making several tiny adjustments to their trajectory as the vessel loomed nearer. "We can get a seal, don't get me wrong. But if they rear up like a startled zabathu at our distraction we'll be exposed for all to see. It does seem like our best option though."

Finn adjusted their shielding as they came close to the Cavalier. She looked over to Li as the adjustments were completed. "Take us as close as you think is safe, I'm going to go set your rifle to overload. If all goes well, we'll still be alive five minutes from now," she grinned and walked towards the back of the vehicle. "Let me know when you're positioned and ready to dock. At that point, I'll set the trigger and beam the rifle out. Once it goes off, we'll have limited time to dock without being noticed so we'll have to move fast."

Li held her breath as they passed through the shields but saw no sign of reaction from the other ship. She winced at a few last maneuvers to kill the rest of their momentum, almost positive some of that thrust should have been visible from the destroyer but hoping they weren't watching their own allies too closely. "I have a visual on the Waverider. Hitting our entry point in. . ." she paused, double-checking actual distance and speed. "30 seconds."

The shuttle rotated into the proper orientation relative to the Waverider for docking and drifted closer. "15 seconds. Extending clamps. 10. 5."

The hum of the overloading rifle became louder and louder as the seconds counted down. "Transporting the distraction!" Finn said as it neared its threshold. It wouldn't be enough to cause much damage to the hull of a starship, but it would be enough to keep them wondering what happened and more importantly keep their eyes off of the docking port. The rifle turned grenade then disappeared and a moment later the Cavalier banked away from where the weapon was sent. "NOW!" Finn barked from the back of the shuttle.

Through gritted teeth, Li willed the docking to happen faster but, regardless of distraction, they'd surely noticed if someone crashed into them. Her finger hovered over the control to mate the two craft about to hit it when the target disappeared. "Tezha!"

She tried to bank along with the Cavalier, rolling to maintain attitude with the banking ship, driving to follow its buck to its own port and closing distance again until there was a clang of metal on metal followed almost immediately by a clunk of the docking clamps engaging. She let out a sigh and stared down the sensor readings for any sign they'd been spotted. "Whew. Lucky they just veered off and didn't take any real evasive action."

"Damn, you're good," Finn said with a wide grin and a sigh of relief. It had been a wild ride so far, but she was enjoying every second of it. "Let' get out of here quickly though just in case someone saw our blip on the radar so to speak." Her facial expression returned to its serious nature as she grabbed a tricorder and the extra weapon she'd brought with her and then opened the hatch above them. "You ready?"

Rising from the pilot's seat, Li hesitated for just a moment at the way the engineer was smiling at her, feeling herself blush. She swallowed it down and unclipped her phaser, moving toward the hatch. It would have been comforting to have both hands on a rifle but, raising the phaser, she kept her line of fire well off Finn and looked up toward their entry point. "The moment you are."

Finn unlocked the hatch and pulled the ladder down before quickly pulling herself up. "Close the hatch behind you," she announced before rounding the corner into the first main jefferies tube. "Let's head towards the brig first. With any luck, we'll find them on the first try."

Following up the ladder into the dim interior of the Waverider, Li was relieved to find no one aboard or working in the cramped docking bay surrounding it. She pulled the hatch shut and kept an eye out as Keating opened up the Jeffries tube and scrambled in with a practiced movement. With one last look around, she holstered her phaser to free both hands and climbed in herself, pulling that panel back into place behind her. The brig would be a short climb up the dimly lit passage and she felt adrenaline building more than it had during that docking procedure as she listened to the soft tap of their feet on the rungs and the hush of their breathing in the close space.