Sitting Ducks

Posted on Wed Jul 6th, 2022 @ 5:19am by Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Yana Petrova & Petty Officer 1st Class Jackie King & Sergeant David Novak & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Captain Fergus Williams & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant JG Taina M'Tras & Lieutenant JG Melissa Jones & Callie Marshall & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin & Lieutenant Christoph Ivers & Lieutenant JG Andrea Carrington

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Main Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1100
2929 words - 5.9 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The ISS Vengeance and its Shadow Fleet streaked through the vast expanse of space at Warp 7, taking up their standard formation with Vengeance at the lead. They had been traveling consistently for a month and had almost crossed 3 sectors of space. 54 Light Years of distance, yet only .07% of their journey home. On Captain Petrov's orders, they had gained a few resources from two Kazon Freighters including raw materials, Kazon gold, some strange food, and 32 new slaves for the Klandell and Lovarr. The boarding actions had managed to keep the crew sharp and, perhaps most importantly, distract them from the relative hopelessness of their attempts to get back to the Empire in their lifetime.

Bridge, ISS Vengeance
On the Bridge, the Alpha Shift crew carried on the normal business of their departments, working consoles, taking reports, checking status, and giving orders to their underlings. In the center of the room, Captain Ivan Petrov sat in the starboard command seat a PADD in his hands. It was three hours into the shift and he was still looking through the list of items which now sat in their cargobays. Many of them they had yet to identify and, considering they were from the other side of the galaxy, they had no idea the cargo's worth. In the end, the Captain intended for these raids to give them a financial base to buy supplies, both necessary and luxury, and wield as much political influence as they had military. What was more, he intended to obey the Prime Directive: "Terror must be maintained", to cow every people they encountered and to have leverage in any situation they possibly could.

He turned to his right and looked at his quite-pregnant Discipline Inspection Officer. Though it wasn't required, Callie Marshall often chose to spend her non-client hours on the Bridge sitting in the rather uncomfortable bench seat near him. He had just started to rely on her mental abilities, especially when they came upon an enemy. Her power to know what people were feeling was going to be an edge for him, and he intended to make good use of it.

"With the slaves on Klandell and Lovarr, we have more mouths to feed." he said, conversationally. "I can't shake the feeling I'm going to be more of a Pirate Captain than an Imperial Captain."

Callie offered a nod and a smile. “Maybe so Sir, but you're doing what you have to do to ensure the survival of our growing fleet. Not to mention our growing family!” She grinned as she rested her hand on her expanded stomach. In the last month her bump had grown even bigger than it was before, between that, and the fact that she’d started having braxton hicks false labour pains, She was grateful to have a sit down role.

He thought about what she said for a few moments before smiling himself. "I think I'd look good with an eyepatch, don't you Callie?"

Callie couldn’t help but grin. “Perhaps So Sir, but I’m not sure your wife would agree.”

The doors to the bridge opened and for a moment it seemed like no one was coming through them. But then a figure in Intelligence Grey exited the lift and stepped onto the bridge for the first time in over a month. Nearly 5 weeks since her surgery, Kassandra Selin was back on the bridge. She walked slowly but confidently as she stepped up to the Intelligence console and relieved the Ensign there. She was ignoring the fact that 'light duties' meant sitting at a desk. She felt fine and was fine to stand at the Intelligence console for a bit of time.

Callie smiled warmly as she turned to look at Kass. “Welcome back Lieutenant, it’s good to see you back on your feet again.”

"Glad to be back on them" Kass replied.

"We can get you a chair, Kassandra." the Captain said, looking over his left shoulder as his daughter. "We've got extra stools which would suit the station."

"No thank you Captain, i am fine and able to maintain my station as it is" Kass said professionally.

The turbolift opened again as the chief devil dog stepped through the doors a padd in his hand. "Morning everyone. Captain, I've got the latest manifest of weapons we took from the last ship. Looks my theory that the Kazon aren't building their own weapons is correct." he said handing it over.

Ivan took the PADD and looked it over, placing the one he already had in his hand down on top of the closed center console between him and the XO.

"Somewhat primitives things compared to ours, but we can probably sell them for a generous price." he said with a grin. "Or improve them and sell them back to the Kazon Federation for more."

Callie offered Fergus a warm smile. In the last month he’d become something of a father figure to her, helping her with her weapons skills, and theory training when it came to hand to hand combat. It wasn’t like she could spar in her condition.

M'Tras strode gracefully from the turbolift, briefly snapping to attention before moving with that same feline grace towards the bridge engineering console. Most of her duties would still be in Main Engineering, which she knew very well, but this was her first time sitting here. She had rarely been to the bridge at all. She settled in and smiled to herself a moment, quite content, before her fingers moved smoothly over the console, quickly getting to work.

Melissa looked at the prisoners in their cargo hold. Studying their behavior. "Hmm... Interesting... Captain. Some of the Kazon seem to be strong enough to endure some... projects I have in mind. I would like several to be turned over to my custody... particularly one male and one female."

“May I ask what it is you want a pair of Kazon for?” Callie looked at Melissa curiously.

Melissa looked back at Callie... "I am currently working on means to improve our unskilled labor situation."

"Our rosters show no female Kazon, so far. They don't seem to generally leave their planets." Ivan said, looking over at his former Chief Engineer.

“Sounds like that might throw a spanner in the works” Callie have Melissa a smile. “Perhaps we’ll encounter a female later on.”

Troy entered the bridge, coming from his half shift in Security. He took his seat next to Ivan. He glanced at Ivan and nodded. "Good morning Captain. Any new ships on sensors I should be aware of?"

"All standard so far, Commander. Long range sensors picked up minor skirmishers from the Kazon, but that's all. Nothing that interests us so far." Ivan answered his XO. Troy had preformed well in the past 8 days since his promotion was made official.

Callie gave her husband a warm smile as he and Ivan spoke. She was feeling very proud to be the wife of the ship’s First Officer, and even if Troy wasn’t she’d still be proud of him. Up until recently she hadn’t truly felt happy being a Terran Officer mainly thanks to her father, but recent events had changed her opinion on that.

The next person to enter the Bridge was Jackie King holding a teacup and saucer. She moved carefully toward the command module and handed the hot drink to Ivan.

"Can I get you some cookies with that, Captain? Perhaps I can rub your putrid feet or...I can kneel and play the ottoman." Jackie said with a coy grin as she looked at her boss.

"My next set of accommodations will be much more complicated than that, Jackie. Now move away. You're blocking my view."

As Ivan waved her off with a slight smile, Jackie grinned boyishly and turned her attention to the XO.

"Anything for you, Commander?"

Troy shook his head. "Nothing for me Yeoman King, but I am sure Chief Inspector Marshall is craving a Vulcan herbal tea."

Jackie nodded and departed quickly, her attention on the task ahead.

"I'm determined to select a new Chief of Security today, Troy." Ivan said, playing at drinking the hot liquid and then stopped, not wanting to burn his lips. "Then you can focus on your job, at last."

Troy gave a wan smile to his Captain. Despite the extra effort of wearing two hats for more than a week, he was going to miss his work in Security. "I have rather enjoyed the extra time to give my staff a proper goodbye. You are right of course. I need to focus my attention on my new duties if I am to serve you and the Empire effectively."

"When I first became XO, I moved ships." The Captain said, watching as Jackie moved from his ready room with another teacup and saucer, this time stopping in front of Callie and offering it to her. "So my promotion meant alot of goodbyes from Security crew I'd worked with for 13 years. At least you get to stay around."

The man sipped his tea, holding the saucer underneath so he wouldn't spill. He cleared his throat and was about to speak again when a familiar alert sounded from the Ops console behind them. He looked over his shoulder, knowing that the alert was primed to sound when a ship meeting their specified configuration came into sensor range.

Andrea looked towards Petrov. “Captain we’re picking up a vessel that matches the parameters specified. Readings show it’s a freighter, Allegiance is unknown. It’s current speed is 12,000 kilometres per second.”

Callie offered a curious look as she sipped her tea, she wondered who it was they were about to encounter.

Troy could have had one of the watchstanders put the ship on the main viewer, but it was almost second nature for him from all his bridge shifts at tactical. He put the ship on the screen.

A long, squat freighter with tan structure inlaid with orange panels appeared on the screen, streaming away with impulse engines of orange. They hadn't seemed to notice Vengeance or the Kazon ships yet and were still traveling along at what was likely 3/4 impulse power for them. The configuration was unknown to them.

"I wonder who that belongs to." Ivan said, reaching up and tapping his commbadge. "Mad Dog, this is the Captain. We need you on the Bridge immediately."

=/\=On my way, Captain.=/\= Micheal's disembodied voice sounded before the line was closed.

"Lieutenant Selin, any clues for us?" Ivan said, then sipped his tea again.

"Configuration unknown at this stage Captain, but I am running comparison scans." her console pinged "Similar in parts to the Kazon freighters, seems to share some technological basis." she raised her head "Maybe they trade with the Kazon?" Her console pinged again. "Some parts of the ship seems to follow the lines of a Talaxian, but its not conclusive. Scans will take a bit longer"

A few moments later, the turbolift door parted, allowing Micheal to enter the bridge for the first time. "You called, Sir?" His gaze was locked on Ivan as he strode onto the bridge with purpose

"Micheal, what the hell is this thing? You recognize it?" Ivan asked, once the man had drawn near.

Casting his gaze to the viewscreen, Micheal replied immediately. "That's a Telaxian Bulk Freighter, Did'jim Class. Crew of fifteen, passengers could be up to ten more. Warp capable up to three point seven. Deflector screens and a few laser batteries. Nothing that could harm my ship, let alone the Vengeance, Sir."

Troy turned to Mad Dog. "What do these...Talaxians generally trade in and for? Is commandeering their cargo worth the effort?"

"Whatever is there, we should attack even if just for the experience with these Talaxians." He said, pressing a button that opened the command console and qued up fleetwide, a comm setting that broadcast to every speaker in the fleet. "This is the Captain. We have encountered a Talaxian freighter and we are prepared to take them. There is no need for battle stations, but shields should be raised on all ships."

He looked forward to the helm and nodded.

"Johnathan, pursuit course." he said, and then looked back to the tactical console where the Cristoph Ivers was stationed since a Chief of Security hadn't yet been selected. "Mr. Ivers, stand by with phasers only. Let's not waste resources."

“Aye, sir.” Ivers replied. Christoph couldn’t deny that it was quite exhilarating being on the bridge with all of the senior staff. Even if it was just a momentary thing, he enjoyed seeing how they worked together for the good of the Empire and their subordinates. With any luck though, perhaps he would be seeing this situation more often than not and have a direct impact in the very actions he admired. He brought phasers to the ready but did not target the vessel until commanded.

The fleet of three loomed on the Talaxian Freighter and the smaller vessel cued up their speed to full impulse power. Ivan looked over to the woman next to him and lifted his brow.

"I wonder if they know what we're after or if they thought we were friendly Kazon trading partners."

Callie looked at Ivan. “I think they were waiting to see what our intentions were Sir, I sensed no hostility from them. If anything I’m sensing more fear than anything else. They’re afraid of us.”

Ivan nodded, taking in her perspective with interest.

"Andrea, hail them on all frequencies."

Andrea nodded as she looked towards Ivan. “Hailing now Captain” She gave it a couple of minutes. “No response to our hails yet Captain.”

“We’ll that’s a problem for them.” Ivan said, shaking his head.

“Sir..” Andrea looked at her readouts. “The Freighter’s warp engines are powering up.”

“Ivers, take out those engines before they go to warp. I don’t want to have to chase them down.” Ivan said, taking a sip of his tea and clearing his throat, his demeanor nonchalant.

Troy glanced briefly at the tactical station almost longingly. A week ago he would have been firing the shots that brought this freighter to heel.

“Aye, sir. Firing phasers.” Ivers replied succinctly as he tapped his console. Two brilliant beams shot out from the Vengeance’s outer hull, the first only making contact for just the briefest of seconds to take down their pathetic defenses while the second lingered a moment longer until the engine on the freighter sputtered and went dark, plasma starting to leak out from it. “Freighter’s engines disabled, Captain.”

Troy gave Ivers an approving nod. "Good shot Mister Ivers."

“Andrea, broadcast on all frequencies. It’s time they heard my voice.” The Captain said, placing his Rea and saucer down on the panel beside him and standing up from his chair. Stepping forward, he looked at the shuttle like a predator.

Andrea nodded. “Ready to broadcast Sir.”

“Talaxian Freighter. This is Captain Ivan Petrov of the ISS Vengeance, Commander of the Terran Shadow Fleet. Perhaps you’ve heard of us. We can do this the easy way or the hard, but either way, we will win. The question is will you still draw breath when the winning is done.” Ivan said, taking a few steps forward. “If you come to a stop now and lower your shields, we will take your cargo, we will scuttle your ship, and we will enslave your crew, but you will live. If you try to run again or put up a fight…well, let us say you will wish you hadn’t.”

The reply came back "We have stood down" And the ship's systems showed that they had indeed stood down their weapons. The viewscreen cleared to show a male talaxian. "We have stood down" the man repeated. Behind him on the bridge showed several Talaxians who looked beaten.

"Bring your engines to a full stop, power down any shielding, and gather your crew in one of your cargo bays. Our boarding parties will arrive soon, and anybody outside of a cargobay will be vaporized on sight." Ivan said, his voice emphatic and unapologetic. "You have two minutes to comply. Confirm you understand my instructions."

"I confirm" The man replied. But his face did not show any emotion as he spoke.

Ivan turned to his XO and gave a thin and satisfied grin. "We're taking several parties, just like last time. Two to three in size. Established boarding action rules of engagement apply. You go ahead and lead team one, take two or three people in addition to yourself. We'll have a team from Klandell and a team from Lovarr as well. Once things are secure, get those cargobays cleared and Yana and I will arrive, her for processing our new slaves, me for completing the operation. Does that sound good to you?"

Troy glanced around the bridge. "Lieutenants Ivers, Monroe and M'Tras with me." He tapped his commbadge. "Armory to Transporter Room One with tactical load out for four people."

Andrea nodded, and quickly headed to join Marshall this was her first opportunity to get off ship as part of an away team, she wanted to make a good impression.

"Yes, sir," M'Tras replied as she rose from her seat with predatory grace. She walked swiftly to join Marshall as well.

“Aye.” Ivers paused just a beat at his station as Cassiel moved to relieve him and then joined the others.

END