Post by mal on Feb 11, 2018 17:59:09 GMT -5
Jaras sat on the command chair of the bridge, one leg over the arm. He would have preferred a narrower set but this was standard, wide enough for a captain to have
a pet or companion snuggled up against them. Note to self, get a young targ or caitan for appearances.
“Sensor station, report.”
The young Orion male checked his readings again then looked back.
“The warp trail leads into that star system. It is uncharted, like most in this sector, and it’s it’s sole planet’s atmosphere is heavily charged with ionic energy. Sensor scans will be near impossible as will transporter use."
Jaras nodded. They’d followed the trail after responding to a duress call from a Federation trader. The vessel had been under attack by pirates. Pirates who were NOT part of Jaras’ personal Guildhouse. Both vessels had been badly damaged, and the Pirate vessel had retreated. The more damaged Federation vessel had detected the approach of Jaras’ vessel and, for some reason, had been skeptical of his altruistic intentions.
Pursuit … uh, rescue speed had been engaged. Were they on the planet below? Could they be found?
"Red Alert. Helm, continue intercept course and establish standard orbit. Sensor station, launch two probes when range is achieved. . Weapons officer, prepare weapons in case needed for ‘self defense’.”
Orbit was established.
“Sensor Station?”
“Sir, it’s as long range sensors detected. The ionic fields prevent detect, though the probes are entering atmosphere and will begin a systemic sweep of the planet. Itcould take a while."
"Tactical. What are the chances that the federation vessel landed intact.”
The woman turned, and Jaras was against amazed at her beauty, which was exceptional, even among Orions. Like all the bridge crew, she was neither a seduction agent nor slave but a brilliant member of the noble caste.
“Very good , sir. Especially if aquatic landing could be achieved. However, ability to repair and achieve space again is less likely.”
Jaras smiled. He liked her. He’d worked once with a Vulcan and the annoying bast**d would have rattled off a likelihood as a percentile, out to three decimal points.
“Be thorough with the probe patterns. Make them tight enough to make a Tholian proud.”
Two days were spent scouring the planet’s surface with the probes, section by section. Finally, a hit. They buzzed him in his private quarters, just off the bridge.
“Commander Vale, to the bridge. We’ve found her.”
He swung out of bed, tossing the furs aside, pulling on a kilt and boots, then came out through the man-trap doors.
“Report!”
The sensor operator looked.
“I’ve got non-indigineous metallics detected. Minimal scatter, sir. She landed intact.”
“Excellent, have the probes withdraw. They may not have detected them yet. Prepare two armored shuttles. I assume we’ll need environmental suits?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Am I correct in the assumption our best environmental suits are also our combat armors?”
The young man smiled.
“That they are, sir.”
“Then prepare each shuttle with a crew of eight 'rescue’ specialists. Ka'ar will lead the first team, and I will lead the second. Standard pilot compliments.”
“Of course, sir.”
Jaras walked over and sat on his chair, leg slinging over the arm again. He wondered what cargo the rival pirates had been after. Or perhaps technology? He would have to secure either, just to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands of course.
They approached the crash site in linear formation. Should the first shuttle be fired upon, it would shield the second. But not shots were fired. The probes made a final sweep, cruising just hundreds of feet over the vessel. Sensor station reported no indications of power. Had the ship suffered critical system failure? Such a shame.
But, no chances were to be taken. It could be a ruse.
The shuttle landed a bit roughly on the uneven terrain, between rock formations and a few hundred yards from the fed vessel. They leapt out of the air locks,weapons to the ready. One a better planet they’d have used grav biked, but not here. The scalding, toxic air was thick and red, and Jaras’ visor briefly was coverted in moisture until the auto clean field kicked in.
They moved forward, the second party approaching from the opposite side. The winds were torrential and visability was a couple dozen feet. But the outline of the ship soon loomed before them. Jaras checked his sensor readings, using HUD display. No energy. Standard Hull composition.
“Move in on that hull. I want egress charges immediately. Phalanx formation into the vessel. Remember, we are here to 'rescue’ any valuable crew and rescue any valuable tech or cargo.”
“Sir, we already have a breach. Looks like the hull took a hit when it landed from a granite formation.”
Jaras smiled.
“Excellent. All the better. Make entry immediately. Remember, take any 'confused’ inhabitants alive.”
Xanos — The S2 photon torpedo’s or rather their equivalents being locked onto the Battle Raider were nothing new, but the next part was a bit of a problem. From ship to ship to ship, a pulse net started to form until the net was complete. It was some sort of electromagnetic field which did no actual harm to the ship in question but it did isolate the ship from signals in or signals out. That too was not such a big deal as the fact that warping into or out of the net was a guarantee that the ship who dared was going to undergo a full shut down of systems thus preventing the warp and defenses. It was standard practice for the Kernoq but not exactly something the Orions had to deal with or even knew about since only the Federation had to deal with these bungholes thus far.
This was about the time the larger ship came out of cloak. There were 15 Ahada Battleships in the cell, but just the one, 230x250 meter vessel was needed [ Link ] it was not the master ship, but acted in its capacity as it and the others remained cloistered in some secret space, conserving resources. The larger ship locked all three of its Mark 7 disrupter (equivalent) cannons on the Battle Raider and sent out a hail. They didn’t have to knock before barging in on their unsuspecting guests, but it was polite to at least let someone know what was about to happen before bending them over.
Orions – “This is Commander Mila Daro of the Orion Battle Trader Mjolnir. We extend you greetings. We have been trailing a federation vessel which entered the atmosphere of this planet two days ago. And you would be?"
She typed a code on her arm console, giving numeric orders. Primary of which was scanning these people. Previously, she’d only known of Klingons and Romulans having cloaking tech. Their own ship was about half way between the size of voyager and the enterprise, but with Orion warp drive of course. And any other tech they’d acquired along the way.
Xanos – “Admiral Xanos of Kernoq Cell I, announcing intention to board.”
He loathed to use the word Kernoq but he could not call himself or the others Darqar since they were exiles and thus no longer considered Darqar by their ownpeople’s standards. The net was not complete but it was d**ned close. If the ship had the ability to drop straight up they would have been able to zip right out in the last minute. But the larger ship lifted to take advantage of that option. The ship could zip upward and possibly get blasted for their effort.
“And the Federation Vessle… if you grant us the coordinates of where they have landed, we may provide help.”
May, it was a tentative thing. His intentions were more to the effect of helping the Federation trash directly to processing for consumption.
Orions — Mila pressed a code on her console, and massive Orion warp drives came into play. At full burst they dwarfed anything the federation had, but only for short bursts. And, dammit, the engineer Tharr Ghett, was due a bonus on this one, as the sensor officer was due an extended stay in the pain booths.
The Mjolnir burst up toward the planet, luckily (10) avoiding the completed portions of the net. It skimmed the atmosphere, using the ionized atmosphere for cover asit placed the planet between them and the unknown ships.
"All power to the aft shields. Security, get this incompetent bloodworm off my bridge! (She pointed at the Sensor operator) Science station, assume Sensor Duties!”
The Sensor operator and he was dragged off. Distance, she needed distance to assess these new people. Cloaking technology. Other Guilds had it but not theirs.
Could it be acquired? Jaras would be pleased if it was. He himself had been engineered with some Romulan DNA. She knew a barrage of shots was heading for their stern but they were a battle ship, however disguised. With her assumed greater speed, she could keep a distance and use long range weaponry.
“Daro to Admiral Xanos. Request to board temporarily denied. Shall we discuss the Earth vessel?”
Xanos — “It was not a request.”
The first disruptor cannon had fired as the target left the incomplete net and missed completely because warp happens, but the second was nearly dead on, a few thousand Tera Watts of pain lobbed at the ship. The third went wide, past the front of the ship.
“If you surrender the coordinates of the Earth vessel, we will accept your five weakest fellows for our purposes and let the rest of your crew on their way.”
Xanos did not have to be greedy. Besides, if they always devoured EVERYONE they encountered, then there would be no one left to tell the tale. So they were willing to accept a donation of worthless crew with which the Orion wanted to part. Part of the fun in letting prey decide who among them was to be surrendered to an enemy was letting them go through the psychological quandary of it all. Meanwhile the 10 smaller ships were moving into the area around the Orion ship, starting to retake their earlier formation with variations due to the subjective nature of the area in which the Orions were hiding.
Orions — The blast rocked the ship.
“Commander, disrupter hit on the stern shields. They’re holding but damaged.”
Mila grunted in annoyance, hitting mute.
“Disrupters, cloaking, fighter craft. Who ARE these people? Tactical, launch mine array astern. Fire long range weapons and increase range on enemy. Disrupters have shorter range than sniping phasers."
Science officer Spi'ers spoke.
"Commander, if they cloak, we may be faster, but if they cloak, we won’t know which way to go.”
She glared at him.
“Dammit, then go deeper into the atmosphere. We’ll BOTH be blind. Being invisible is useless in an unlit mine shaft!”
The ship dove into the storm of the planet’s atmosphere.
Xanos — Xanos actually did not prefer to cook his food, he liked it nice and raw, preferably screaming until the last bite. This little ship thought it was cute. Xanos let the ten smaller ships fall back, out of the storm, turning the aft burners of the Ahada ship on the storm as it was flown directly into the edge. Then he blasted out of the storm and iron field full throttle, hydrolyzing the storm and igniting the ions basically turning the rim of the toxic planet’s atmosphere in the area to fire. It was not a direct hit but rather a thousand smaller cuts to the shields of the ship stupid enough to try and hide from the micro cell’s lead ship.
“That was not an option…”
He snarled through the line of communication as the storm and ion field burn started to subside. Only with this cue did the ten smaller ships start back into the territory for pursuit.
Orions — “Commander, he knows directly where we are. He’s igniting the atmosphere. The mines are exploding behind us. We’re losing power to the shields.”
d**n.
“We still have the probes we launched earlier, and they’re NOT in the fire. Redirect them to strike the lead ship and activate their torpedo charges.”
They dove deep, skimming the surface of the planet, lessening the damage until they flew over the location of the federation ship.
“Commander, the raiding parties are in the shuttles.”
She nodded.
“Extend shield around the Jaras’ shuttle and bring him in.”
“And the other?”
“Order him to ram the enemy vessel. Even our shuttles have self destructs.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
They scooped up one of the two shuttles, abandoning the other, which blasted up toward the Dishonored’s ship.
The two probes attacked as did the kamikaze shuttle, with one of the probes actually hitting, a photon torpedo charge detonating. Commander Vale staggered out of the shuttle, battered from the rough collection.
“What the Gods is going on? Are we under attack?”
The bay officer nodded and replied.
“Some sort of albino Klingons - wanting crew as tribute.”
Xanos — After the second attacked and damaged the Ahada ship’s shield, fire was returned on that probe. The first not seen as an immediate threat and then came the shuttle. d**n that one was not expected but a respectable variation of tactics. The ten ships continued pursuit through the atmosphere, finding the ship picking someone up and then the SF ship that was down. Lunch time boys! They could have given a lesser d**n about the ship that was fighting back. But then that might be because ten more ships just like those were coming out of cloak to protect the Ahada, forming a net between the larger ship and the flight path of that first shuttle. If it was an attack to be repeated it was going to be met with some difficulty, that was once the net was complete. It always took a little while to get a fully formed net.
The other ships in the atmosphere were firing on the SF ship two had landed, its crew charging like a bunch of angry Vikings literally ripping apart any living being they got their hands on and taking a few bites along the way. The boys were starving and someone had just rang the dinner bell. At least now the Orions know what he was demanding 5 of their crew for… lunch… literally.
Orions – Vale came to the bridge and took the command chair, and was quickly briefed on the situation.
“Jettison an escape pod, with the Sensor operator and four 'servant’ class. Then get us the hell out of here.”
Within a minute, a pod was launched with five Orions, and Vale again ordered full warp, bursting out of the atmosphere and toward the Orion space at unmatched speed. Let the enemy have the Federation ship. They’d already dropped their cargo and warp corp. Vale would have liked a couple hundred new prisoners, but they’d sealed themselves in the saucer section. No time to get them. And they were being attacked by the Dishonoreds raiding party.
“Bon Appetit, Gentlemen.”
There was no known cure for the poison with which they’d been injected. And extremely hard to detect. He wondered if the enemy would notice before ingesting the men. (To quote from the first Indiana Jones “Bad Dates”) He was annoyed at losing the Shuttle pilot. A proud death, though. As was that of the Sensor operator, a last chance to redeem himself.
a pet or companion snuggled up against them. Note to self, get a young targ or caitan for appearances.
“Sensor station, report.”
The young Orion male checked his readings again then looked back.
“The warp trail leads into that star system. It is uncharted, like most in this sector, and it’s it’s sole planet’s atmosphere is heavily charged with ionic energy. Sensor scans will be near impossible as will transporter use."
Jaras nodded. They’d followed the trail after responding to a duress call from a Federation trader. The vessel had been under attack by pirates. Pirates who were NOT part of Jaras’ personal Guildhouse. Both vessels had been badly damaged, and the Pirate vessel had retreated. The more damaged Federation vessel had detected the approach of Jaras’ vessel and, for some reason, had been skeptical of his altruistic intentions.
Pursuit … uh, rescue speed had been engaged. Were they on the planet below? Could they be found?
"Red Alert. Helm, continue intercept course and establish standard orbit. Sensor station, launch two probes when range is achieved. . Weapons officer, prepare weapons in case needed for ‘self defense’.”
Orbit was established.
“Sensor Station?”
“Sir, it’s as long range sensors detected. The ionic fields prevent detect, though the probes are entering atmosphere and will begin a systemic sweep of the planet. Itcould take a while."
"Tactical. What are the chances that the federation vessel landed intact.”
The woman turned, and Jaras was against amazed at her beauty, which was exceptional, even among Orions. Like all the bridge crew, she was neither a seduction agent nor slave but a brilliant member of the noble caste.
“Very good , sir. Especially if aquatic landing could be achieved. However, ability to repair and achieve space again is less likely.”
Jaras smiled. He liked her. He’d worked once with a Vulcan and the annoying bast**d would have rattled off a likelihood as a percentile, out to three decimal points.
“Be thorough with the probe patterns. Make them tight enough to make a Tholian proud.”
Two days were spent scouring the planet’s surface with the probes, section by section. Finally, a hit. They buzzed him in his private quarters, just off the bridge.
“Commander Vale, to the bridge. We’ve found her.”
He swung out of bed, tossing the furs aside, pulling on a kilt and boots, then came out through the man-trap doors.
“Report!”
The sensor operator looked.
“I’ve got non-indigineous metallics detected. Minimal scatter, sir. She landed intact.”
“Excellent, have the probes withdraw. They may not have detected them yet. Prepare two armored shuttles. I assume we’ll need environmental suits?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Am I correct in the assumption our best environmental suits are also our combat armors?”
The young man smiled.
“That they are, sir.”
“Then prepare each shuttle with a crew of eight 'rescue’ specialists. Ka'ar will lead the first team, and I will lead the second. Standard pilot compliments.”
“Of course, sir.”
Jaras walked over and sat on his chair, leg slinging over the arm again. He wondered what cargo the rival pirates had been after. Or perhaps technology? He would have to secure either, just to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands of course.
They approached the crash site in linear formation. Should the first shuttle be fired upon, it would shield the second. But not shots were fired. The probes made a final sweep, cruising just hundreds of feet over the vessel. Sensor station reported no indications of power. Had the ship suffered critical system failure? Such a shame.
But, no chances were to be taken. It could be a ruse.
The shuttle landed a bit roughly on the uneven terrain, between rock formations and a few hundred yards from the fed vessel. They leapt out of the air locks,weapons to the ready. One a better planet they’d have used grav biked, but not here. The scalding, toxic air was thick and red, and Jaras’ visor briefly was coverted in moisture until the auto clean field kicked in.
They moved forward, the second party approaching from the opposite side. The winds were torrential and visability was a couple dozen feet. But the outline of the ship soon loomed before them. Jaras checked his sensor readings, using HUD display. No energy. Standard Hull composition.
“Move in on that hull. I want egress charges immediately. Phalanx formation into the vessel. Remember, we are here to 'rescue’ any valuable crew and rescue any valuable tech or cargo.”
“Sir, we already have a breach. Looks like the hull took a hit when it landed from a granite formation.”
Jaras smiled.
“Excellent. All the better. Make entry immediately. Remember, take any 'confused’ inhabitants alive.”
Xanos — The S2 photon torpedo’s or rather their equivalents being locked onto the Battle Raider were nothing new, but the next part was a bit of a problem. From ship to ship to ship, a pulse net started to form until the net was complete. It was some sort of electromagnetic field which did no actual harm to the ship in question but it did isolate the ship from signals in or signals out. That too was not such a big deal as the fact that warping into or out of the net was a guarantee that the ship who dared was going to undergo a full shut down of systems thus preventing the warp and defenses. It was standard practice for the Kernoq but not exactly something the Orions had to deal with or even knew about since only the Federation had to deal with these bungholes thus far.
This was about the time the larger ship came out of cloak. There were 15 Ahada Battleships in the cell, but just the one, 230x250 meter vessel was needed [ Link ] it was not the master ship, but acted in its capacity as it and the others remained cloistered in some secret space, conserving resources. The larger ship locked all three of its Mark 7 disrupter (equivalent) cannons on the Battle Raider and sent out a hail. They didn’t have to knock before barging in on their unsuspecting guests, but it was polite to at least let someone know what was about to happen before bending them over.
Orions – “This is Commander Mila Daro of the Orion Battle Trader Mjolnir. We extend you greetings. We have been trailing a federation vessel which entered the atmosphere of this planet two days ago. And you would be?"
She typed a code on her arm console, giving numeric orders. Primary of which was scanning these people. Previously, she’d only known of Klingons and Romulans having cloaking tech. Their own ship was about half way between the size of voyager and the enterprise, but with Orion warp drive of course. And any other tech they’d acquired along the way.
Xanos – “Admiral Xanos of Kernoq Cell I, announcing intention to board.”
He loathed to use the word Kernoq but he could not call himself or the others Darqar since they were exiles and thus no longer considered Darqar by their ownpeople’s standards. The net was not complete but it was d**ned close. If the ship had the ability to drop straight up they would have been able to zip right out in the last minute. But the larger ship lifted to take advantage of that option. The ship could zip upward and possibly get blasted for their effort.
“And the Federation Vessle… if you grant us the coordinates of where they have landed, we may provide help.”
May, it was a tentative thing. His intentions were more to the effect of helping the Federation trash directly to processing for consumption.
Orions — Mila pressed a code on her console, and massive Orion warp drives came into play. At full burst they dwarfed anything the federation had, but only for short bursts. And, dammit, the engineer Tharr Ghett, was due a bonus on this one, as the sensor officer was due an extended stay in the pain booths.
The Mjolnir burst up toward the planet, luckily (10) avoiding the completed portions of the net. It skimmed the atmosphere, using the ionized atmosphere for cover asit placed the planet between them and the unknown ships.
"All power to the aft shields. Security, get this incompetent bloodworm off my bridge! (She pointed at the Sensor operator) Science station, assume Sensor Duties!”
The Sensor operator and he was dragged off. Distance, she needed distance to assess these new people. Cloaking technology. Other Guilds had it but not theirs.
Could it be acquired? Jaras would be pleased if it was. He himself had been engineered with some Romulan DNA. She knew a barrage of shots was heading for their stern but they were a battle ship, however disguised. With her assumed greater speed, she could keep a distance and use long range weaponry.
“Daro to Admiral Xanos. Request to board temporarily denied. Shall we discuss the Earth vessel?”
Xanos — “It was not a request.”
The first disruptor cannon had fired as the target left the incomplete net and missed completely because warp happens, but the second was nearly dead on, a few thousand Tera Watts of pain lobbed at the ship. The third went wide, past the front of the ship.
“If you surrender the coordinates of the Earth vessel, we will accept your five weakest fellows for our purposes and let the rest of your crew on their way.”
Xanos did not have to be greedy. Besides, if they always devoured EVERYONE they encountered, then there would be no one left to tell the tale. So they were willing to accept a donation of worthless crew with which the Orion wanted to part. Part of the fun in letting prey decide who among them was to be surrendered to an enemy was letting them go through the psychological quandary of it all. Meanwhile the 10 smaller ships were moving into the area around the Orion ship, starting to retake their earlier formation with variations due to the subjective nature of the area in which the Orions were hiding.
Orions — The blast rocked the ship.
“Commander, disrupter hit on the stern shields. They’re holding but damaged.”
Mila grunted in annoyance, hitting mute.
“Disrupters, cloaking, fighter craft. Who ARE these people? Tactical, launch mine array astern. Fire long range weapons and increase range on enemy. Disrupters have shorter range than sniping phasers."
Science officer Spi'ers spoke.
"Commander, if they cloak, we may be faster, but if they cloak, we won’t know which way to go.”
She glared at him.
“Dammit, then go deeper into the atmosphere. We’ll BOTH be blind. Being invisible is useless in an unlit mine shaft!”
The ship dove into the storm of the planet’s atmosphere.
Xanos — Xanos actually did not prefer to cook his food, he liked it nice and raw, preferably screaming until the last bite. This little ship thought it was cute. Xanos let the ten smaller ships fall back, out of the storm, turning the aft burners of the Ahada ship on the storm as it was flown directly into the edge. Then he blasted out of the storm and iron field full throttle, hydrolyzing the storm and igniting the ions basically turning the rim of the toxic planet’s atmosphere in the area to fire. It was not a direct hit but rather a thousand smaller cuts to the shields of the ship stupid enough to try and hide from the micro cell’s lead ship.
“That was not an option…”
He snarled through the line of communication as the storm and ion field burn started to subside. Only with this cue did the ten smaller ships start back into the territory for pursuit.
Orions — “Commander, he knows directly where we are. He’s igniting the atmosphere. The mines are exploding behind us. We’re losing power to the shields.”
d**n.
“We still have the probes we launched earlier, and they’re NOT in the fire. Redirect them to strike the lead ship and activate their torpedo charges.”
They dove deep, skimming the surface of the planet, lessening the damage until they flew over the location of the federation ship.
“Commander, the raiding parties are in the shuttles.”
She nodded.
“Extend shield around the Jaras’ shuttle and bring him in.”
“And the other?”
“Order him to ram the enemy vessel. Even our shuttles have self destructs.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
They scooped up one of the two shuttles, abandoning the other, which blasted up toward the Dishonored’s ship.
The two probes attacked as did the kamikaze shuttle, with one of the probes actually hitting, a photon torpedo charge detonating. Commander Vale staggered out of the shuttle, battered from the rough collection.
“What the Gods is going on? Are we under attack?”
The bay officer nodded and replied.
“Some sort of albino Klingons - wanting crew as tribute.”
Xanos — After the second attacked and damaged the Ahada ship’s shield, fire was returned on that probe. The first not seen as an immediate threat and then came the shuttle. d**n that one was not expected but a respectable variation of tactics. The ten ships continued pursuit through the atmosphere, finding the ship picking someone up and then the SF ship that was down. Lunch time boys! They could have given a lesser d**n about the ship that was fighting back. But then that might be because ten more ships just like those were coming out of cloak to protect the Ahada, forming a net between the larger ship and the flight path of that first shuttle. If it was an attack to be repeated it was going to be met with some difficulty, that was once the net was complete. It always took a little while to get a fully formed net.
The other ships in the atmosphere were firing on the SF ship two had landed, its crew charging like a bunch of angry Vikings literally ripping apart any living being they got their hands on and taking a few bites along the way. The boys were starving and someone had just rang the dinner bell. At least now the Orions know what he was demanding 5 of their crew for… lunch… literally.
Orions – Vale came to the bridge and took the command chair, and was quickly briefed on the situation.
“Jettison an escape pod, with the Sensor operator and four 'servant’ class. Then get us the hell out of here.”
Within a minute, a pod was launched with five Orions, and Vale again ordered full warp, bursting out of the atmosphere and toward the Orion space at unmatched speed. Let the enemy have the Federation ship. They’d already dropped their cargo and warp corp. Vale would have liked a couple hundred new prisoners, but they’d sealed themselves in the saucer section. No time to get them. And they were being attacked by the Dishonoreds raiding party.
“Bon Appetit, Gentlemen.”
There was no known cure for the poison with which they’d been injected. And extremely hard to detect. He wondered if the enemy would notice before ingesting the men. (To quote from the first Indiana Jones “Bad Dates”) He was annoyed at losing the Shuttle pilot. A proud death, though. As was that of the Sensor operator, a last chance to redeem himself.