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Posted on 08 Nov 2019 @ 10:46pm by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant Mitchell Graham & Lieutenant JG Lilura Karakalakss

Mission: Mission 2 - The Agora crossroads
Location: Bridge
Timeline: MD1 20:00
800 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Jon made it back up to the bridge, happy to see the new CMO in his bridge seat. He didn't want to have to coax him into spending some time up here.

"Lieutenant Graham," he nodded at the chief pilot. "What do we know about that other ship?"

Graham put the ship up on the main viewer. It was a fairly large ship, painted gleaming white with multicolored neon lights that gave it a festive appearance. Its lines were sleek and curved. Whoever owned it had money and was a show-off. The ship had dropped out of warp and was slowly approaching the system.

"Unknown configuration," Graham reported, "but my guess is it's some kind of expedition yacht. Over a thousand lifeforms aboard. Some weapons, apparently defensive in nature."

"We hailed it and got a 'stand by' reply in a Ferengi dialect," Derek Han added.

Jon shook his head, “They are not Ferengi. I can sense people in that ship and there’s nowhere near a thousand either. I can’t read Ferengi. Thoughts,” he turned and asked who was manning security.

"Extreme caution recommended, sir," The Niocian Lieutenant there said.

Lilura was at the engineering Panel. While her own Psionics in Telepathy and Clairvoyant disciplines was null, she had grown up around those who had those disciplines, and she trusted explicitly what the captain was picking up. "Sir, if they are hiding the fact of how many are on board, it stands to reason they have signature emitters to hide what they truly are, so we cannot really trust what the sensors are saying. Might I suggest Yellow alert and shields on medium just in case they are hiding weapons that are more than just 'defensive'?"

"Yes," Jon agreed. "Excellent suggestion."

The Niocoan Lieutenant took that as his order. A moment later the yellow lights recessed within the bulkhead panels began flashing on every deck.

"Open Hail," Jon said when this ship finally decided they had stood by long enough. "This is Captain Jonathan Reynolds of the USS Andromeda. To whom am I speaking?"

The reply came back audio-only. "Andromeda, this is the charter vessel Dauntless Trader, eighteen days out of Kothar Prime. We are carrying passengers to Agora Crossroads. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Stand by."

"Do you need assistance Dauntless?" Jon asked.

There was a momentary pause. Then the reply came back. "Affirmative, Andromeda. We will heave to and rendezvous at your position."

On the viewscreen, the other ship turned and approached head on.

Lilura turned to the returned scans and immediately began plotting out the power signature of the encroaching vessel. The power signature was higher than what it should be, meaning, "Captain, I would advise caution. The power output is that of an Orion raider.. they can double their engine power for a while as it slowly eats their engines, but it gets results. And if Orion, they can have a mix of weapons on that thing that is designed to take down their prey. They might genuinely need help, especially if the engine doubling technique got stuck and they are eating their engines... but maybe not.. be on your best gut hunches and diplomatic etiquette."

"Well they are not being truthful," Jon stated. "That much is for sure. I can sense that. And they sure as hell don't sound like Ferengi. Open comm. again.

"Dauntless. What is the nature of your technical difficulties so I can dispatch an engineering team to administer aid."

The other ship kept coming, seemingly on a collision course. Graham kept his hands on the helm. Meanwhile, there was no answer to the Captain's question.

Then suddenly the other ship jumped to warp, going over the top of Andromeda's saucer section with little room to spare. In a flash it was gone.

Graham immediately began typing in a pursuit course in anticipation.

"No," Jon said looking at his Helm chief. "They want us to follow them. That was the equivalent of looking us in the eye, sizing us up. I suspect they will be back but we are not at this time following them. They were lying about needing repairs. I could sense that. Hold course until we hear back from the away team."

Lilura chimed up, "Sir, what about discretely launching a class 2 probe in that direction to keep tabs on them? They are small, stealthy if you don't its there, and is designed to monitor for energy signatures and communications."

Jon nodded at the engineer. "Yes make it so Lieutenant."

OFF:


●●● Commander Jonathan Reynolds
Commanding Officer
USS Andromeda


●○ Lieutenant JG Lilura Siana Karakalakss
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Andromeda

●● Lieutenant Mitchell Graham
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Andromeda