Moving In PT1
Posted on Thu Dec 9th, 2021 @ 11:03pm by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Finchley Kerr & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell
Mission:
Gamma Quadrant
Location: Just beyond the Ion Cloud
Timeline: Current
At their current speed, the Sunfire would reach the Ion cloud where they had encountered the Cardassian threat within a matter of minutes. The starfield before them stretched thin, but in the distance a blob of bluish color dotted the horizon line, growing steadily bigger.
Finchley walked back to his console. Keying in his security code to the computer, he sent a coded Intelligence level nine message back to Sentinel One with a request for access to the USS Patterson's latest mission logs. His hopes were that when the reply came back, he'd at the very least be able to speak with them to gain some details. The best he could do now was wait on that reply. Once done, he returned his focus back to the job at hand.
He was surprised at the quickness of the reply he received back. Decoding the message, he read it, recoded it and stored it to in his personal file, then turned to Savar saying "Sir, as per our recent discussion, I've received a reply back, permission to leave the bridge?"
Savar raised an eyebrow, "Is it absolutely necessary Mr. Kerr?" He asked pointedly.
"In order to gain the information we're hoping for Sir, yes, I believe it is" Finchley replied calmly.
"I'm still waiting from my end, Captain," Dean mentioned.
Savar nodded, "Understood Mr. House, let me know when you receive and answer."
Ronson reappeared a short while later, having made a few discreet inquiries and determined the former Captain's current location. He approached the command chair and handed a padd to the Sunfire's new Captain, it contained the passenger manifests of the two transports, as well as an attendance list at the service for Rhenora's friend's funeral service.
Savar took the PaDD from Ronson, "Thank you Mr. Mitchell." He said softly as he looked over the passenger list as well as the attendance list for Rhenora's friend's funeral. Now he waited to see what answer Mr. House received.
"Do I have your permission Captain?" Finchley asked.
"Yes Mr. Kerr you do." Savar answered simply.
"Thank you, Sir, it's much appreciated" Finchley replied, gesturing to one of the bridge crew to take his station till he returned. He hurried towards the turbolift and was soon inside and on his way to his office.
"Captain, approaching Ion Cloud now. Scanners show a heavy concentration of stellar fragments and asteroids of varying sizes. Is there something specific we should be scanning for?" The young conn officer asked.
"Yes. Both Cardassian and Federation warp signatures." Savar replied without fanfare.
"Aye, Captain, scanning for both Cardassian and Federation signatures."
Finchley appeared back on the bridge and immediately went over to his Captain.
"Sir, I have new information for us in regards to our mission" he began "I've managed to contact Sentinel One and they gave me a 'read only' look at the files from their questioning of the Cardassian prisoners, I couldn't download anything, however, I do have someone who can corroborate the information, my assistant, Shr'Nesh Karadis. It would appear that several Cardassians were genetically altered to look like Bajorans government officials on New Bajor. Their mission was to destabilize the political situation and bring about a civil war."
"They were successful in their plans, more than they'd actually hoped for, the war they caused killed thousands and that's what caused the New Bajor government officials to flee on the carriers, the winning faction were going to kill the survivors and install a new government. The Cardassian ship Arngard, along with the other two ships were there to try and extract their altered Cardassians and take them back to their base."
"I have a few of the names of those altered, they are Lomar Hardan, K'lovar Ramin, Piort T'ken and Yaran E'nef. There's something else, though those on the USS Patterson who questioned the Cardassians don't have an exact fix on where they were heading, they did manage to get a name, Joran. I don't know if that's a planet, or a person or what. Can I suggest that when we get the crew manifests of those who were on the two Bajoran carriers, we cross-reference those with the name's I just told you" he finished.
Savar listened intently and when Kerr was finished he answered, "Do so Commander and if you need help get Aurora to assist you in cross-referencing the names."
Aurora nodded in response to the suggestion, “Let me know if you need me, Commander.”
"Thank you, Captain, hopefully, if Lieutenant House gets the information he's requested from Starfleet Security soon we can get that started right away" Finchley replied, and then looking at Aurora he said, "Your help would be gratefully appreciated Lieutenant, thank you."
About this time Harper McGinnis entered the bridge. With him was a cart of selected sandwiches and a coffee basin. Next to the basin were coffee cups. Harper was easy to tell apart from the rest of the crew because his uniform was a blue jump suit with a yellow stripe across the top. On the right shoulder is a round patch that reads "United Starfleet" on the top, and across the bottom reads Civilian Corps. In the middle was a knife and fork crossing each other, much like they were swords. This recognizes that Harper is a cook in the civilian force.
"Coffee or sandwiches anyone? You have been on this duty cycle for some time now and I know some of you must be hungry. So, your friendly neighbor cook has arrived to do his part" exclaimed Harper.
Several minutes later
"Captain, It may just be a blip, but long-range sensors have picked up a faint warp trail moving tightly through an asteroid cluster, 43 degrees to port. The trail is fading but it couldn't be any older than a day."
"Bring us about and engage in a parallel course at warp four." Savar instructed.
"Aye, parallel course, warp four. Two minutes until asteroid cluster boundary breach. Short-range sensors are scattered at best. There is something in the cluster which is causing the signal to echo. Attempting to compensate.
Deep within the nebula lay a planet, surrounded by an advanced shield designed to deflect and confuse any sensors. A highly intelligent but xenophobic species occupied the planet, and would retaliate with force if they were disturbed. Their shield had kept the safe for centuries - would it continue to do so?
"Sir, may I suggest that we launch a shuttle to go back to the ion cloud and try to gather more information from the Carriers" Finchley said "that way the Sunfire can still follow the warp trail and we can try and discover what was so important to the Cardassians that they sent three ships there. I'm more than happy to volunteer to lead an away team on the shuttle if you'll allow it, with perhaps two other volunteers?" he added.
"We have a bit of a problem...." Dean sighed a little bit reading over the information he just got. "There are four names here, that are altered Cardassians. Aside from the two Milita we caught, they have something to do with the New Bajor government." Raising an eyebrow, "And it just gets better. There's a fifth. Bajoran Militia named Joran, and he's missing. Maybe Finchley and Aurora can look into it more. It's dated to prior to the civil war."
Aurora looked to Savar. “If I’m going to be helping then I might as well volunteer to go along on the away team, that’s if you decide to approve it.”
Commander Baldric raised an eyebrow at the interactions taking place around the bridge. It seemed they were a very willing crew and wanted to help in any situation. A trait to be envied.
Savar listened as both Kerr and Aurora offered their services. He however was unwilling to split the crew at this time. He glanced at Baldric to get her take on events. For now he was quiet as he silently weighed the little information he had.
" Do you have enough information?" Baldric challenged as she saw his quiet contemplative gaze. She wasn't here to make friends, she had a mission objective that would greatly aid her career advancement if she pulled it off.
If Savar was offended by Baldric's brashness, he didn't show it. Instead he replied in an even manner as he looked at her. "I do. Commander Kerr your recommendation is noted as is your volunteering for an away mission. The same for you Aurora. However for now we we will continue on our current path. The Patterson is already conducting searches for the Carriers and we will leave them to it as we follow this lead."
"Captain, we already know where the Carriers are, they're on an asteroid in the ion cloud, we rescued the crews and took them back to DS9. The Patterson captured the Senior Officers of the Cardassian ship Arngard and went to warp once they were outside the ion cloud. We got the name's of the altered Cardassians from the interrogation logs from the Patterson" Finchley said "what we don't have are the personal logs from the surviving government officials and Bajoran Militia as to what went on before the civil war took place. That's what could be on the Carriers, and why I suggested sending an away team, to see if we could recover them" he finished.
Balric watched the interaction, both were strong personalities and she could see the passion for finding the truth written clearly on both of their faces. Would Savar risk an away team to find more detail on these 'spys'?
"We will continue on our current path Mr. Kerr. Leave it to the Patterson to find the carriers and any information on the personal logs." Savar replied
Finchley knew the Patterson wasn't looking for the Carriers, they'd already been found, instead they were looking for information from the Arngard crew on the locations of any Dominion and Cardassians bases being built in the Gamma Quadrant. He felt an opportunity was being missed, but, Savar was Captain so he simply replied "Yes Sir."
TBC
