The Pursuit and the pursuers
Posted on Wed Jul 19th, 2023 @ 10:25pm by Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant T'Ka O’Drisscol & 1st Lieutenant Kate Score & Lieutenant Thomas Haldeman & Lieutenant Alison Haldeman & Lieutenant Sarah Wilson & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell
Mission:
Repairs and Retribution
Location: Space
Timeline: Current
Ronson Mitchell watched as the Dragon Lady left the bridge muttering under her breath and the medical team swung into action to treat the injured crewman.
"What in the hell just caused that!?" Dean looked around at the Bridge crew and, apparently, it was also a good thing to go ahead and have the Doctor come up there.
Kate Walked back onto the Bridge, and seen the scene, walked up and started to help the Medical Team since she was also trained in Medical Issues, mostly Combat but it still helps.
Bonnies fingers danced over her console, "Showing a power surge in the secondary EPS grid. It's been finicky ever since the crash and hasn't been fully optimized yet. I'll... um... go and see if Commander Kla'ren needs a hand getting this under control." Bonnie said as she stood up, locking out her terminal in the process.
They continued along the warp path they had chosen to follow, everyone working at their stations to make sure there were no more explosions and that nothing on the sensors were missed. Time passed slowly as they worked, minutes turning into hours as the Sunfire hunted down those that had taken their senior officers. Still the Cardassian cruiser was behind them, growing every so slowly closer. What were they up to?
Dean was about ready for them to or himself to decide to either go left or right, except for the Cardassian ship was still there. "Enough of this, hail them."
"Aye sir" Ronson replied a d felt the urge to swivel around so he could see the face of those pursuing them. A Cardassian Glin appeared on the screen.
"I am Glin Genai of the Cardassian union. To whom do I owe the pleasure?" His tone was sickly sweet.
There was a raise of one eyebrow from Dean, no Gul? That was different. "Commander Dean House of the Federation starship Sunfire. Would you care to explain why you are matching our exercise maneuvers, Glin Genai."
"We are merely traveling on a supply run to the mining outposts in the Kunar sector. The colonies there are running low on food and medical supplies" The Glin replied with a sly smile. "One could ask the question as to why one of the Federations most powerful warships is heading in the same direction?" The look in his eyes was akin to a cat who had caught both the mouse and the cheese.
"Like I just explained. We are on exercise maneuvers. After all," Dean tapped on the arm of the chair for Ops or Tactical or both to get a better, but subtle scan of the other ship. "We're not to far from one of our Starbases. We do these kind of things on a regular basis."
"Exercise maneuvers I see? Where is your Captain? I would like to speak with them about the nature of these...maneuvers. They seem to be following a warp trail, we may be able to assist if you are looking to locate something...or someone." The Glin replied smugly.
"Our Captain is currently dealing with a negotiation dispute, very delicate in nature and not to be disturbed. You can speak to me if you need something. There's no reason to continue to follow us. As I said exercise maneuvers. I believe you would call them war games, Glin." Still waiting on Ops and Tactical with those scans.
"War games, very interesting indeed. We shall continue along our way, but be on notice Commander House, if these 'war games' venture too close to any of our mines or colonies, there will be action taken" the Glin threatened.
Meanwhile Tactical was working on getting the scans and the information the Captain required. "Sir, she's heavily armed, and would be a formidable opponent in a fire fight"
Out of view of the Glin, Tom watched the exchange. The Cardassian was lying and trying to bait House. "He's lying through his teeth." He muttered softly, more to himself than to anyone.
"Most likely" Ronson whispered back as they watched and waited. "What did he say about the Kunar system?"
"Its where their mining colonies are." Tom whispered back. "Perfect place to hold and hide the captain and the others."
"Well of course he's lying, just like I was, and we both know the other is. They're not going to just be on their way and let us just move on." Dean shook his head, "You are right though Ronson, Tom. He did let it slip and give us a direction to go. We'll just have to be a little sneaky about it. We'll let the other group go, as much as them splitting off from us was still a bad idea. At the least send an encoded and scrambled message to them. Maybe they'll get it, maybe they won't. If they do they should meet us there."
"You think that's where the Captain is?" Ronson asked, running a long rang scan in the sector the Glin had referred to. He kept monitoring the Cardassian ship as well, making sure they hadn't powered weapons. "They're tracking us Sir, their weapons are still not charged."
Even though Ronson's question wasn't directed at him, Tom answered the first part of it. "I'd bet everything I have that Captain Kaylen, Commander Savar and Lieutenant Vali are being held on one of those mining colonies."
"I wouldn't doubt it either. We've got two things I can think of for now. I don't believe finding the ship that Remal and Patin stole is going to get us very far at this point. Though we can still try to keep an eye out for them. We continue and try to find a ship with a cloak to steal. Or, we try to play off that Galor class, hide for a little bit, and then change our transponder signatures to look like a Cardassian cargo transport." Dean looked to the rest of them, "Or I'm open to other idea's."
Tom looked around and then spoke up. "I think we need to realize that we're dealing with an unknown but specific amount of time in finding the captain and the others. The Cardassians will kill them and dispose of the bodies. The question is, how long do they want to drag out torturing our officers before killing them. So, in that regard looking for Remal and Patin as a priority is out. So is stealing a cloak." He looked at Dean. "We change the transponder signatures to look like a Cardassian transport and see what we can find that will lead us to the others."
"I tend to agree with Lt Haldeman" Ronson admitted. They still had a faint warp trail to follow but who knew id it was the right one or not. He changed tack, pulling up what data he could on the Kunar system. "The Kunar system is a series of 7 planets and moons, 4 of them are habitable, one is borderline. There are a number of recognized mines and colonies there, including ore mines, gemstone mines and minerals mines. It will take time to covertly scan them all and we would need to be closer, a lot closer."
"That's why I suggested the transponder instead. So, lets get that in play. It'll still give us time to also look over information on the mines and decide which is the best possible one." Dean leaned back a little, "Find us a hiding spot."
"Aye Sir" Ronson starting looking for a good place to hide when something caught his attention. "Sir! The Cardassians are changing course and increasing speed. It's like they're chasing something..."
Meanwhile on the Civilian Transport...
Patin reached over and smacked Remal, interrupting his snoring with a sudden start. He sat bolt right up, “What, what’d I miss?” He asked as his brain fog lifted quickly.
“We’re 10 minutes from the border. I thought you’d like to be awake and alert when we cross.” She looked over at him and the still unsure nature upon his face. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
“We’re done talking about it.” He gave her a hardened look. “This is the path I must take otherwise I will have failed as a husband and as a father before I ever got the chance to prove otherwise.”
“I mean,” Patin interrupted with a sly grin. “My bed is always an option, you know, if you’re interested. All it would take is a minor coarse adjustment and I could have you naked in a few hours.”
“Hmmm, tempting, and no offense to you, but If I did that I would die twice. First when I found out Rhen died because I did nothing, and again when her corpse comes back to kill me for sleeping with her best friend.” Remal admonished.
“Good point. The temperament on that one would have her crossing dimensions to haunt us both. On second thought, I don’t know you, don’t care to know you and I don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh, and you should know something else…”
“Oh yeah? What would that be?” He said while chuckling at her fearful withdrawal.
“The Sunfire just entered sensor range. She’s closing fast. And she’s not alone…”
TBC
