Options

Posted on Thu Jun 11th, 2020 @ 5:32pm by Commodore Jacob Kane & Lieutenant Seleya Qellar PhD & Lieutenant Noah Reed M.D. & Lieutenant Ausra Danton

Mission: In the Family
Location: USS Athena - Briefing Room
Timeline: MD-5
650 words - 1.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Kane paced the room - uncharacteristically - as the three other officers waited for him to speak. He'd gathered them on short notice, time being of the essence, yet he wasn't clear in his own mind what the next steps were. So far on this mission they'd been ambushed and tricked and bluffed by multiple parties. He was uncomfortable with that - his style was to be prepared for anything and to react to it effectively. It hadn't happened for them.

Glancing at the three remaining senior officers he had on board, he crossed his arms as he finally stopped.

"I need some options. The Paratans are throwing up sensor and communications blackouts. We can't contact our away team, their patrol ships are hunting the Glory, which we're now keeping out of their reach, and I'm starting to develop a strong desire to start dishing out a few photon torpedoes." He scratched his beard. "But Harrington will string me up and hang me out if we do. So...thoughts? Suggestions?"

"Have you ever played with string and cans when you were a kid? Strung them up between tree houses so that you could hear the person in the next yard? What about using some probes and trying to place them so we can bounce signals and ultimately get in touch with the people on the ground?" Ausra asked . . . "Though we'd have to have them protected somehow. Can we rig up little shields for them? I don't know, not my area of expertise."

Kane glanced over at Qellar. "Could you make it work?" he asked.

"I could, but it will take far too long. Depending on their purpose, most probes are either hardened or shielded against radiation but that's insufficient to ward off directed energy weapons. Communications probes would need an entirely new shield generator and reconfigured set of shield emitters," Seleya said. She turned to Ausra, obviously deep in thought, and then nodded toward the woman. "Lieutenant Danton's idea does have merit; however, I suggest we take a stealthier approach.

"This planet is still primitive enough to have substantial amounts of space debris in low orbit. I believe we can manufacture a network of micro-probes with a minimal amount of communications hardware that could be inserted into the debris field. With enough 'cans' and string, we should be able to establish a communications network strong enough to penetrate their defenses. Depending on the sophistication of their detection grid, the Paratans would either see them as new debris - easily explained as previously undetected or the result of a new collision - or not detect them at all. Regardless, by the time such a minor matter makes its way to anyone of importance, this entire affair will have been concluded."

"Awesome," Ausra replied, cheerful that her idea had not been a total waste of time.

"See it done," Kane nodded, agreeing with his engineer's pragmatism. "You have two hours." He glanced between the science officer and engineer, hinting that they should combine efforts. Then he looked at Reed. "Doctor, how is the Ambassador? Any changes?"

Doctor Reed looked up at the captain. "Actually, her condition has improved quite a bit. She is able to be conscious a few hours at a time. Her body is still recovering. That, mixed with the drugs being delivered, makes it a low process but she should be sitting up and mostly awake by tomorrow, I'd venture."

Kane nodded. The Ambassador being back to herself was either a blessing or yet another curse. Having her to deal with the Paratans could go either way. "Keep me appraised."

"Yes sir," Ausra said and already hurried off without asking to be dismissed or waiting for any verbal confirmation from her captain.


:: OFF ::



Commander Jacob Kane
Commanding Officer
USS Athena

Lieutenant Ausra Danton
Chief Science Officer
USS Athena

Lt Noah Reed
CMO

Lt Seleya Qellar
Chief Engineer