AQ/D01 - Bridge

[Daniel Brooks]

The Aquila dropped out of warp near the stricken Cardassian patrol vessel.

"On screen." said Brooks as the ship came up on the viewer it would cause a shudder down anyone, the ship was a mess, a number of hull breaches, the front section practically destroyed along with one of the nacelles half off.

Either there was a very big ship in the area that could do that kind of damage or at least a group of them. Unless something else went wrong.

"Commander Velaul, get your away team selected and get over their. I feel we won't have much time in saving any survivors by the state of that vessel."

Brooks also felt the nerves of if the Cardassians arrive they will automatically think the Aquila did this and it would take a lot of diplomatic talk to get them out of it.

Before Velaul left Brooks said, "Commander Velaul, I believe in being very careful with this. Go over armed and be prepared for anything."

Turning to Commander Talion he said, "Check all scans and records to see if anything could of done anything like that before in any other accounts in the area."

He turned back to the viewscreen, "What ever the hell that was I don't want it happening to us."

==Tag Velaul and Talion==

[Beno Velaul]

The damage to the ship was worse than she thought, it was fortunate that anyone survived at all. They might not feel that way at all, but inntime they will. Her thoughts were interrupted  "Commander Velaul, get your away team selected and get over their. I feel we won't have much time in saving any survivors by the state of that vessel."

"Commander Pond." She stopped remembering that its a habit she needed to break. "I mean Kurasa  you are with me." Tapping her combadge. "Commander Velaul Ensign Mala,  Commander Lim, Lieutenant Hoekstra and Cindy report to Transporter room one for Away team briefing. As soon as possible." Her voice had a sense of urgency to it. "Bring transport enhancers and extra medical kits." 

Everyone on the list had a purpose,  and Beno needed all of them. Before Velaul left Brooks said, "Commander Velaul, I believe in being very careful with this. Go over armed and be prepared for anything."

"Naturally Captain." She said with a wink. "Hopefully it is just decorating my hip," She did hate to fire at people but will if need be, if it was a choice between her team and theirs. Beno would send flowers, all while bringing her team back whole.

>>>>Transporter room >>>

[T'Kol]

As T'Kol was working to send and gain a signal she noticed a message being sent to her from within the ship, within the bridge it would seem as she looked at it source.

She read the information and let out a small and faint. "Interesting". as she took in the information. It would seem the information, information that she may have taken for granted, was about the runabouts. At least part of her plan would not work if it was true.

She held that information as she could hear a faint signal and switched her focus.

"Captain, I am picking up a very faint signal. I am trying to focus on that now. I am not able to quite make it out... yet." She gave. Hating to give half information but she knew the Captain and crew would need whatever information they needed.

== Tag All ==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion is intently trying to scan the ship to determine if the extensive damage to the ship shows evidence of it having impacted the asteroid. Beyond that, he is doing his best to locate life signs and tag them as locations to be searched on the ship.

== GM Input for the results of his scans please. ==

[Cologero Coppola]

Once Cologero brought the ship to a full stop there wasn't much more for him to do, other than making sure nothing hit the ship. The other ship looked like it was hit hard by something. The ship itself had a  unique design that looked good, minus the damage done. 

Just before he brought the ship to a stop, Cologero made sure to point the ship towards home. 8f something were to happen they can just fly away, if the ship was in the wrong position it would risk exposure.

"All stop and holding Captain."  He didn't want anything to happen to the ship, it would also be the consensus of everyone else. The tension of the Senior Officers would suggest something could go wrong, a constant reality they faced every day.

[Jez Mala]

The Commsystem activated, [ Mala to anyone on the Bridge, the phasers are ready. I’ve selected a few Security officers for the Away Team that may be useful in this situation. Per Chief Kurasa’s order. Standing by. ]



<< Security Complex.<<

[Daniel Brooks]

==GM Brooks - Input for Talion==

Scans would show a big explosion had occurred either in or near the ship that had caused the asteroid to also be blown apart.

The ship itself showed some places where accessible with low amount of life support, these area showed a concentration of five to ten crew members. Scan showed a varying degree of their life signs. There was about three pockets across the ship. The other area where there was life support was the Bridge and in a small section in Engineering. On the Bridge there was four life signs, but one was very weak. The other three showed up as none moving, probably unconscious.

There was also indication that some systems were still powered up, force fields had blocked a number of hull breaches. To the usual scans it would seem these systems were usual and nothing strange. Most of the power had been diverted to life support.

The trajectory of the explosion of the asteroid was travelling away from the front of the vessel and sensors indicated that this wasn't the usual type of explosion had occurred.

[Shione Kurasa]

Shione picked up on the message from Mala and as they left the bridge she responded. tapping her badge"

"Kurasa to Mala Bring your Security choices with you to Transporter along with phasers for other away team members. Apologies for keeping you waiting."

>> Transporter>>

[Beno Velaul]

There was an incoming communication  [Lieutenant Young to bridge it appears like our Cardasian friends flew directly into an asteroid, I am starting an investigation as to why they didn't see it. I would like permission to beam a sample aboard for testing, one the size of a grapefruit would suffice."]

[Alexander Talion]

While the channel was still open to the Bridge, Talion replied for all to hear, "Actually, I don't think that the damage is from an impact. My scans indicate that they may have been extremely close, but I'm detecting that there was an explosion that caused damage to both. The damage to the ship is not crushing damage, but was from some sort of detonation. I also have readings on life signs and am forwarding that data to Tactical and it is available for all Operations functions. I've highlighted locations for easy access. I'm still trying to determine what the cause of the detonation might have been."

[T'Kol]

As the ship came to view on the main screen it was clear why they were not getting any answers back.

There was no need to comment as the ship jumped to action. She viewed the ships damage and heard the Chief Science Officer assessment.

Some thoughts came to her mind. "Captain, May I suggest a security team focus on finding what did cause the explosion sir. If the other Cardassian ships arrive they are likely to be quick to blame us. If we can show them their ships logs it may help to sway them to the truth." She questioned.

She then turned as science was scanning the ship T'Kol though best to keep from having any surprises and did a long range scan. Looking for any other Cardassian ships in the area.


== GM Input: Does T'Kol, readjusting her console to scan for ships particularly Cardassian Ships, find any other ships in the area. Especially any heading this way?==

[Daniel Brooks]

==GM Brooks: Input for T'Kol==

T'Kol scans showed the nearest Cardassian ship was around five hours away to assist.

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks turned in the direction of Commander Talion,

"I'm inclined to go with your assessment Commander as I would think the Cardassians would be able to move around an asteroid."

T'Kol then suggested the security team assess the logs aboard the Cardassian vessel to find out what had gone on because anyone coming might want an explanations. At the moment in the forefront of Daniel's mind was rescuing the crew then looking for the reason why this explosion happened.

Dan opened a link to Velaul, "Captain Brooks to Commander Velaul, get the crew off and then try to work out what has gone on. We will have to make this a quick investigation as I'm sure the Cardassians will have vessels on their way here. Brooks out."

He knew his Chief of Security would already be thinking an investigation will be needed in covering themselves when the Cardassians would turn up, to be fair they would have to take their sick crew over so either way there would have to be dialog between them.

==Tag All==

[Beno Velaul]

A reply came from Carley. [Captain I need an answer on that sample, we can determine what happened with some certainly it could also give us an idea about potential dangers out there.] Her voice was calm with a hint of confusion.

[Captain when their friends get here it will behoove us if we have something to tell them about what happened.] 

==Tags and don't forget Commander to double post the answer ==

[Alexander Talion]

== Sorry, quite right. I neglected to do that. ==

Talion replied, "Captain, Lieutenant Young has a point. We could launch a probe to retrieve samples of both the asteroid and small debris from the ship, especially some the computer determines were likely nearest the initial blast. We might find out what we're dealing with and if there could still be more of the material on what remains of the ship."

== Tag CO ==

[Shione Kurasa]

The Chief of Security's voice came over the Main bridge comm.

[ Kurasa to bridge, Away team ready and on transporter pad. At your orders Captain.]

[T'Kol]

T'Kol let out a little breath she did not realize she was holding, as she looked at her console.

"Captain it would seem we have some time. I have tracked a Cardassian ship at least 5 hours away. I will keep an eye on it. Would you like me to hail the ship once in range?" She asked

She wandered, innerly, how long it would take to get everyone off the ship.IT seemed that the First Officer was thinking along the same line as the Chief Petty Officer.

[Daniel Brooks]

Brooks turned to Talion and said, "Yes, of course in the matter of any investigation we should try to give the Cardasssians as much information as we can. I think we should cover all bases and not forget to make our work here as deep as we possibly can to get a good picture for them."

Opening the comms he said, "Brooks to Young, yes, we need to check all areas. Go ahead. Brooks out."

The Chief of Security's voice then came over the comm,

[ Kurasa to bridge, Away team ready and on transporter pad. At your orders Captain.]

Brooks tapped his commbadge, "Brooks to away team, beam over when ready and good luck. Brooks out."

He closed the channel as T'Kol then reported in

"Captain it would seem we have some time. I have tracked a Cardassian ship at least 5 hours away. I will keep an eye on it. Would you like me to hail the ship once in range?"

Brooks shook his head, "No, let me know when they are in range. We don't want to make contact without any information at our finger tips as they will think we done this."

==Tag All==

[Beno Velaul]

There was a communication that came from the First Officer [Velaul to Aquila we are serching for survivers, and right now there isn't anyone on the Bridge who were capable of answering any hails. With any luck we can locate more survivers, i have hope that there is more out there.]

[T'Kol]

As the FO called back T'Kol listened with interest.
She kept an eye on the vessel and tried to see if she could figure exactly what kind of ship it was.

[Beno Velaul]

[If we can get Tactical to launch a class three probe or two, we can bring back small pieces of the hull and part of the inhabitanted part of the ship.]

[Alexander Talion]

Talion spoke up, "Sir, I concur. A standard Class 3 probe has the capacity to gather and even do preliminary analysis and is designed for this range. We wouldn't need to modify anything, it already has stealth capability and if needed, it can assist in analysis of any other ship if they arrive while we're gathering samples."

[Daniel Brooks]

The Comms opened on the bridge from the FO.

[Velaul to Aquila we are serching for survivers, and right now there isn't anyone on the Bridge who were capable of answering any hails. With any luck we can locate more survivers, i have hope that there is more out there.]

"Aquila to Velaul, judging by the state of the vessel I'm surprised anyone is around at all."

[If we can get Tactical to launch a class three probe or two, we can bring back small pieces of the hull and part of the inhabitanted part of the ship.]

Commander Talion then said, , "Sir, I concur. A standard Class 3 probe has the capacity to gather and even do preliminary analysis and is designed for this range. We wouldn't need to modify anything, it already has stealth capability and if needed, it can assist in analysis of any other ship if they arrive while we're gathering samples."

Daniel turned and said, "Make it so Commander Talion." before going back to Velaul, "We are doing what you suggested is there any way we can assist in getting the survivor's off quicker?"

==Tag Talion and Velaul==

[Alexander Talion]

Cdr Talion quickly tapped in the program specifics for the probes and launched two of the Class 3 probes. One was instructed to gather samples of the asteroid, specifically samples that were suspected to show contaminants from the detonation, and at least one control sample to compare with. The other was instructed to do the same with samples of the ship debris.

He then reported, "Probes are away, sir."

== Tag CO ==

== GM Input on the probes? ==

[Beno Velaul]

The answercam shortly after. [Captain I would suggest getting these three to urgent care top priority, the man I tagged is the Captain sort of speaking. We can save them but they need to be treated now.] There was a brief delay before going on. [What we need is extend your Sheila's around us to give the structural integrity field less to do, and start a power transfer I don't know how much longer life support has before failing. It will also give me a chance to look over their sensors logs.] 

Connecting Hoekstra to the conversation. [Velaul to Hoekstra and Kurasa I'm arranging a power transfer from the Aquila, to you need time to prepare for receiving the power transfer?] She didn't want to cause more problems then its worth. She also didn't want to cut her out of the conversation. [Commander Kurasa I am sending their Commanding Officer directly to Surgery, I would suggest our CMO be there to do the honors.]

[T'Kol]

T'Kol listened as the comms came to life with information. Non of it had her place to chime in until she heard the first officers report.

Once the comm was silent T'Kol, with concern, spoke up.

"Captain, if we extend our shields and start an energy transfer that will leave our ship very vulnerable. Perhaps we can sacrafice another probe to create an energy transfer. I understand it would not be quite the same but it should be enough to reignite the ship." She suggested

== Tag Cap and anyone ==

[Alexander Talion]

While waiting for the results from the probes, Alex listened to what was going on. Being a former FO, he calmly advised, "Captain, we need to allow the CEO to give his evaluation of the situation first. We also have no information about what caused the detonation. If we feed power into their ruined systems and they aren't able to handle it, we could only increasing the risk for everyone over there. If there is weapons or volitile material involved, we could potentially even be putting our own ship in danger." He paused before continuing, "We need to give our people time to do their jobs. We also knew there would be casualties being beamed over before we sent the CMO to be on site.

What he wasn't saying was that the CMO can't do her job in two places at once. We have an entire staff on a huge ship that practically has it's own hospital. He was seeing confusion in the assignment of people to jobs and it was worrying him. Something he had learned the hard way was that you had to make command decisions and then live with them, right or wrong. You also had to have faith in your people. It was hard, but giving them the chance to do what you asked of them was a necessary part of being a crew and in the field it was part of an effective team.

It was hard for Alex not to say some things, but he also knew he had been out of the field for a few years. He was a CSO, not an FO, but the Captain need a senior officer to at least be there to be a sounding board.

[Lois Lim]

A message from the away team came over the bridge comms and the voice of the Chief Medical officer was heard.

[Cdr Lim to Cdr Velaul, all Away Team members and Captain Brooks, all injured are to be transported to the Aquila, critically injured to Sickbay, all others to Cargo Bay one or two. The 12 cardassian at my location need to be transported to Cargo Bay one. Captain as a courtesy after all the injured are transported, I recommend we transport the dead to the Aquila morgue, because if the ship is destroyed, they will be lost. It may go in our favour with the Cardassians if we can return their dead. I also think that once we have all the injured transported to the Aquila I should return to the ship.]

[Cologero Coppola]

Hearing everything that was going on Cologero had little to nothing to do, other than going over what manuvers the ship could handle there was nothing. T'Kol seemed like she had some concern about what the First Officer had to say.

"Captain, if we extend our shields and start an energy transfer that will leave our ship very vulnerable. Perhaps we can sacrafice another probe to create an energy transfer. I understand it would not be quite the same but it should be enough to reignite the ship." She suggested

"Captain." Cologero said while turning his chair the most it will go. "In the history of Cardassia they don't fire on their own people, by extending our Sheilds they wouldn't fire on us because it would jeopardize their own ship." No matter what they did there were consequences, figuring out what ones stink less was the trick.

"Captain, we need to allow the CEO to give his evaluation of the situation first. We also have no information about what caused the detonation. If we feed power into their ruined systems and they aren't able to handle it, we could only increasing the risk for everyone over there. If there is weapons or volitile material involved, we could potentially even be putting our own ship in danger." He paused before continuing, "We need to give our people time to do their jobs. We also knew there would be casualties being beamed over before we sent the CMO to be on site.

It started to seem like Talion had no faith in the First Officer, by the sounds of things she already addressed his concerns before he had them. Both the Chief Medical and Engineering Officers were listening. Anymore of this chatter would create more tension.

"Captain requesting permission to report to the Cargo bay, I might not be a Doctor but I can be an asset to triage." The answer could go either way, he was needed in both locations the question was what one was more important. Medical teams were in place to do a job, they just needed an opportunity to do it.





=Tag Captain =
Captain, if we extend our shields and art an energy transfer that will leave our ship very  sacrafice another probe to create an energy transfer. I understand it would not be quite the same but it should be enough to reignite the ship." She suggested

[Kalli Thorn]

A comm opened to the Bridge from Engineering: [Thorn to Bridge, I'm setting up the sequence for a power transfer. I'll start at the minimal transfer, to be sure it is safe. The initiation of the transfer will be at control from the Bridge, but I'll monitor from Engineering. I should have it set up by the time we're in position.]

[Daniel Brooks]

Talion reported the probes were away, the Captain looked in his direction, "Well done. Hopefully it will provide some information."

The FO's voice came over the comms, [Captain I would suggest getting these three to urgent care top priority, the man I tagged is the Captain sort of speaking. We can save them but they need to be treated now.] There was a brief delay before going on. [What we need is extend your Sheila's around us to give the structural integrity field less to do, and start a power transfer I don't know how much longer life support has before failing. It will also give me a chance to look over their sensors logs.]

Connecting Hoekstra to the conversation. [Velaul to Hoekstra and Kurasa I'm arranging a power transfer from the Aquila, to you need time to prepare for receiving the power transfer?] [Commander Kurasa I am sending their Commanding Officer directly to Surgery, I would suggest our CMO be there to do the honors.]

Daniel listened to his FO orders as T'Kol then suggested,

"Captain, if we extend our shields and start an energy transfer that will leave our ship very vulnerable. Perhaps we can sacrafice another probe to create an energy transfer. I understand it would not be quite the same but it should be enough to reignite the ship."

"Captain." Cologero said while turning his chair the most it will go. "In the history of Cardassia they don't fire on their own people, by extending our Sheilds they wouldn't fire on us because it would jeopardize their own ship."

Brooks looked a the Midshipman, "I don't think I would want to gamble on that Mr Coppola."

"Captain, we need to allow the CEO to give his evaluation of the situation first. We also have no information about what caused the detonation. If we feed power into their ruined systems and they aren't able to handle it, we could only increasing the risk for everyone over there. If there is weapons or volitile material involved, we could potentially even be putting our own ship in danger." He paused before continuing, "We need to give our people time to do their jobs. We also knew there would be casualties being beamed over before we sent the CMO to be on site."

Brooks nodded and said, "I agree with you Commander Talion I think we need to be on the side of caution."

[Cdr Lim to Cdr Velaul, all Away Team members and Captain Brooks, all injured are to be transported to the Aquila, critically injured to Sickbay, all others to Cargo Bay one or two. The 12 cardassian at my location need to be transported to Cargo Bay one. Captain as a courtesy after all the injured are transported, I recommend we transport the dead to the Aquila morgue, because if the ship is destroyed, they will be lost. It may go in our favour with the Cardassians if we can return their dead. I also think that once we have all the injured transported to the Aquila I should return to the ship.]

"Captain Brooks to Commander Lim, I agree. Beam over as soon as you can. Brooks out."

"Captain requesting permission to report to the Cargo bay, I might not be a Doctor but I can be an asset to triage." asked Coppola.

"Denied Mr Coppola, there is plenty of medical staff aboard, you are needed at the helm just in case." replied the Captain.

[Thorn to Bridge, I'm setting up the sequence for a power transfer. I'll start at the minimal transfer, to be sure it is safe. The initiation of the transfer will be at control from the Bridge, but I'll monitor from Engineering. I should have it set up by the time we're in position.]

"Bridge to Thorn, await for Hoekstra orders. Bridge out."

==GM Brooks Input for Talion==

Probe shows explosion shock wave coming away from the distressed ship, showing impact in the asteroid from the shock wave.==

==Tag all==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion continued to stare at the raw feeds of data from the probes as they gathered their samples and sent back readings from the ruins of the ship, the asteroid and the surrounding space filled with an expanding cloud of debris. His eyes widened as he began to see a pattern in the data.

"Captain, I finally have something from the probes. Although they're still only part way into their mission, the sensor data from them seems to indicate that the asteroid did not impact the ship. I have no explanation why the ship was so close to the asteroid, but it appears that in some kind of act of desperation, they fired a torpedo of some kind to keep the asteroid from hitting them head on. The asteroid only shows damage from a shock wave, not a material impact. Perhaps they lost propulsion or had a critical power loss of some kind. I would speculate that point blank damage from a single torpedo detonation would only cause such extensive damage if they had lost their shields, though the asteroid might have caused it to form the doubling effect of a shaped charge."

He then finished his report with, "I'll continue to monitor the data and let you know if anything more conclusive comes in, sir."

== Tag CO ==

[T'Kol]

T'Kol listened and almost felt, bad for the Captain as the bridge, including her, had flooded him with information or suggestions. However, that was what being Captain was like.

She wandered if she would ever be able to make such decisions. Be able to process so much in such little time.
She had never thought of her self rising up to become Captain, until recently. She was not sure that she ever wanted to be Captain but she was inwardly, beginning to ... feel, the want to become more. More than she had, more than an assistant. More.

But to be more she would also need to lead. Was she ready for that? Right now she needed to focus but there was nothing she could add, nothing she could help with.

She turned, still listening and looking for any other ships. Keeping an eye on the Cardassian ship. She watched to see if it put out any calls.

Talion was watching the probes so she would keep an eye on their surroundings. They could be caught in a compromising position.

== GM INPUT: Does she hear anything else on coms? She also keeps a watch on the ship please let me know if she sees it change course. Does she intercept and signals from the Cardassian ship?==

[Beno Velaul]

There was anotherreply shortlyafter. [Commander Talion thank you for pointing out the obvious already established, we will talk about this when I return.] There was a brief silence as she was attempting to gather any other information from the station. It was possible that they were forcing to much power through one way or another. 

[Until then Commander this bridge looks like it was hit by a power overload, if I had to guess they channeled too much raw power throughout their systems causing the overload.] Neither Beno or Velaul had much more than minimal experience in the area. Fortunately she did travel with someone who did know these things.

[Captain we are heading down to Engineering in a second, there isn't much more I can establish from here. Seeing how our Friends here are not fond of Secondary protocols, it's an educated guess that it fried most of their systems outright. Best case scenario they can use this ship for scrap after, for now we will conctrate on the task at hand.]

==Tag==

[Lois Lim]

A reply came to the captain after his communication with Dr Lim.

[Aye Captain, once all casualties and deceased are evacuated to the Aquila, I'll beam over too.]

[Lois Lim]

A request from Dr Lim came into the bridge.

[LCdr Lim to Aquila, 12 injured cardassians at my location to be immediately transported to Cargo Bay 1. Also, three dead Cardassian at our beam-in site to be transported to the Morgue.]

[Shione Kurasa]

During the time of the communication with the away team there was a comm from Security to the CO

[Lieutenant Commander Senkar to Captain Brooks. In keeping with the requests from the Chief Medical officer and under orders of the Security Chief I have posted security personnel in Sickbay and both cargo bays that will be used for medical triage of the Cardassian wounded. We will oversee the transport to ensure no active weapons will arrive with them and all of our people will use the utmost care to treat the wounded respectfully, Security out.]

==Tag if needed==

[Shione Kurasa]

Not long after the message from Security the Security Chief's voice came over the bridge comm:

[Kurasa to Away team and the Aquila; the Doctor is preparing to transport the 12 casualties from our room directly to the Aquila and she will be transporting over with them. Ensign Mala suggested placing isolinear tags on the dead so we can recover them by transport after we have dealt with the living; Kurasa out.]

==Tag if appropriate==

[Daniel Brooks]

The report from the probes where troubling,

"Captain, I finally have something from the probes. Although they're still only part way into their mission, the sensor data from them seems to indicate that the asteroid did not impact the ship. I have no explanation why the ship was so close to the asteroid, but it appears that in some kind of act of desperation, they fired a torpedo of some kind to keep the asteroid from hitting them head on. The asteroid only shows damage from a shock wave, not a material impact. Perhaps they lost propulsion or had a critical power loss of some kind. I would speculate that point blank damage from a single torpedo detonation would only cause such extensive damage if they had lost their shields, though the asteroid might have caused it to form the doubling effect of a shaped charge."

He then finished his report with, "I'll continue to monitor the data and let you know if anything more conclusive comes in, sir."

Brooks turned to the Commander, "I hope some of the crew who are able to talk to us might be able to explain what did occurs. Either way it doesn't sound good."

Velaul commented back via the comms and maybe what they had seen on the Bridge had something to do with the sudden close by explosion.

The Doc then called in, [LCdr Lim to Aquila, 12 injured cardassians at my location to be immediately transported to Cargo Bay 1. Also, three dead Cardassian at our beam-in site to be transported to the Morgue.]

This was quickly followed up by Security
[Lieutenant Commander Senkar to Captain Brooks. In keeping with the requests from the Chief Medical officer and under orders of the Security Chief I have posted security personnel in Sickbay and both cargo bays that will be used for medical triage of the Cardassian wounded. We will oversee the transport to ensure no active weapons will arrive with them and all of our people will use the utmost care to treat the wounded respectfully, Security out.]

It seemed his new Security Chief had made sure his team had everything covered.

The Security Chief then said over the comms [Kurasa to Away team and the Aquila; the Doctor is preparing to transport the 12 casualties from our room directly to the Aquila and she will be transporting over with them. Ensign Mala suggested placing isolinear tags on the dead so we can recover them by transport after we have dealt with the living; Kurasa out.]

Daniel looked towards the view screen he just hoped the Cardassians would be understanding when they got here.

==GM Brooks:

For T'Kol: The ships comms doesn't give anymore information apart from a broken distress call. The other Cardassian ship was still on course to their location.

==For all==

Sensors would indicate that the ship in distress had a power build up inside the front torpedo tube area, it was indicated a little bit further back from the torpedo bay. It seemed somehow to have its own power source. The sudden build up of power would take everyone by surprise as the ship itself was low on power.

==Tag All==

[T'Kol]

T'Kol watched as the Cardassian ship closed in on the damaged ship. She speculated in her thoughts, how the Cardassian would react once they arrive.

She was most surprised that there was no communication or attempted communication between the ships.

This thought suddenly concerned her a bit as she thought about it. She then tried to pull up any communication signals.

Even though she was not monitoring the signals before the event the ships computer sensor should have logged all signals.

Before she called out to the captain her concerns she thought she should do a little diligent work first.
She changed her console. She arraigned it so she could keep a a quarter of her console keeping an eye on the progression of the incoming Cardassian ship. Another quarter monitoring any incoming signals to the area.
While she used the other half now to research. She searched back to 10 minutes before they first noted the distressed ship and looked for any Cardassian signals other answering the distress call.

== GM Input: Correct me if I am wrong but all local signals would still be recorded by the ships active sensors. Can she (T'Kol) not access those logs and see if there was any answer to the initial distress call? ==

[Alexander Talion]

Seeing the power building up on the Cardassian ship was troubling enough, especially where it was inexplicably building. Talion was starting to report, "I'm seeing a..."

Too late. They saw the explosion and then the wreckage shifting.

Another quick reference of the data and he reported, "That latest explosion, from the same area of the ship, has now caused additional damage that appears to have severed the wreckage into at least two pieces. I'm still reading life signs, but I can't tell if any of our crew are injured or not."

A second later, he picked up chatter from Cindy through her internal systems, but routed to the comms of the team. "I've also got confirmation that they're losing atmosphere in Engineering."

== Tag Bridge Crew ==

[Shione Kurasa]

Soon after the Commander's observation of the explosion on the crippled ship, the strained voice of the 2nd officer came over the Aquila bridge comm.

[Commander Kurasa to the Aquila and Away team. There have been explosions here and I am ordering an emergency transport of All away team members back to the Aquila. Those present in my area are injured, and the ship has been further damaged.

Aquila initiate transport immediately, Kurasa over.]

==Tags==

[Kalli Thorn]

The voice of a concerned Thorn came over the comm: [Thorn to Bridge, we've lost the connection for an attempt at feeding them power, but it wasn't us that caused whatever happened. I have a Damage Control team standing by. Do you need us to deploy?]

== Tag Bridge Crew ==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion sent a message to Cindy from his terminal: [Status report?]

He got a nearly instant reply on his screen: [Valkyrie Actual...we have a situation. The team is divided and drifting apart. CEO viable and moving to best possible area until extraction. Advise if I need to move to assist in any other locations before anything else happens. Casualty status of other team members is unknown. I have life signs, but no details at this range.]

Talion responded: [Proceed and stand by for now.]

Talion's pulse quickened a bit, but he said nothing more to the rest of the crew. It would only serve to add unproductive chatter to an already hectic situation. Cindy was better trained for these situations than he was anyway. He knew to trust in her. He also knew that he needed to trust in the leadership of the team. Kurasa made the sae call he would have. She called for them to be puled out ASAP. Alex worried about any interference with the transporter locks, but barring that, the team should be back on the ship within seconds. He was worried, but not for Cindy. His worry was for all of the rest of the crew who were at risk on what was left of that Cardassian ship. Alex silently hoped that The Fates would spare them all.

[Jez Mala]

The Comm system, activated. [ Mala…. crackle.. crackle…pop… Aquila pop..pop.. crackle please.] The static was heavy .



== Tag Bridge. ==

[Daniel Brooks]

Lucky enough the Aquila was far enough away and in a slightly different direction to the shock wave of the device that had over charged and exploded again, the shock wave hit the asteroid and more parts broke off.

"Shields." said Brooks as Keval said "Done sir." as the shock wave hit them. It brought the shields down to sixty three percent.

"That latest explosion, from the same area of the ship, has now caused additional damage that appears to have severed the wreckage into at least two pieces. I'm still reading life signs, but I can't tell if any of our crew are injured or not." reported in Talion.

A second later, he picked up chatter from Cindy through her internal systems, but routed to the comms of the team. "I've also got confirmation that they're losing atmosphere in Engineering."

[Commander Kurasa to the Aquila and Away team. There have been explosions here and I am ordering an emergency transport of All away team members back to the Aquila. Those present in my area are injured, and the ship has been further damaged.

Aquila initiate transport immediately, Kurasa over.]

"Bridge to Transporter room, Lock on to all surviving personal on that ship and beam them here. Beam the away team directly to Sickbay."

[Acknowledged.]

Mala's comms popped up, [ Mala…. crackle.. crackle…pop… Aquila pop..pop.. crackle please.]

Daniel hoped that none of the team had been injured, it concerned him what made the secondary explosion that finally ripped the ship apart.

[Transporter room to Bridge we have managed to beam everyone over that still had life signs, we have beam all the away team to Sickbay for assessment. Transporter room out]

Captain Brooks breath a little easier at finding this out, it made it a lot better.

"Talion, see if you can analyze the sensors and work out what the hell that was. I also want an assessment made of the area of the ship on what caused that explosion and weather it is safe for a small away team to pop over and take a look."

==Tag Talion and everyone else==

==GM BROOKS==

For T'Kol: The only ships who had answered the distress call was the Aquila and the Cardassian Patrol ship heading towards the scene. There was no other vessels closer in range.==

[T'Kol]

T'Kol perked up and stared at the screen as explosions rocked the ship they were there to assist.

She listened as communications came from Kurasa, then another engineer but it was the securities messege that had T'Kol most... worried.

She instantly tried to cut through the static and respond to the security officer. She boosted the signal and then was about to initiate the response but she heard the Captain quickly transport the crew back to the ship.

She decided to respond just the same.

"Chief T'Kol to Ensign Mala, I trust you and the entire away team made it aboard and in sickbay safely. Can you please report any crew injuries." She gave and waited to hear the response.

[Alexander Talion]

Talion had his orders.

"I'm on it, sir."

Now that they had a record of exactly where the energy signature had been detected, he did two things. First, he started the sensors focusing a narrow beam scan on the area of the last buildup. He wanted high resolution data on everything in that section of the ship. This was two detonations they knew of now and there might still be material there or a device that would cause even more damage. He wanted to know what it was. The second thing he did was bring up the recorded data of the latest event to see not only the exact timing and sequence of the buildup and detonation, but the patterns of the energy waves as well. Every form of energy had its own pattern and he wanted to look at the fingerprint of this one.

== GM Input of what Talion finds ==

[Daniel Brooks]

==GM BROOKS==

Input for Talion: Looking at the sensor records, the patterns didn't match anything on file, this was something new. It did show however the trace elements from the earlier damage to the vessel matched this pattern.

[Alexander Talion]

After looking at the scan results, Talion reported, "Captain, the energy signature is unlike anything currently on record. I can verify that it appears to be the same thing that caused the initial damage, but I can't say if it is the same device of if there are multiple items in that area of the ship that are unstable. I can only add that if it is a single device that is the cause, then we might have roughly the same amount of time as from the original distress call until this last detonation. That is pure speculation, but it is the best I can offer. As to the structural integrity, I will defer to Engineering on the wisdom of sending anyone into that particular situation."

== Tag CO and Bridge Crew ==

[Daniel Brooks]

Daniel listened carefully to Commander Talion's assessment.

"Maybe some new weapon they are trying out..." Brooks speculated aloud.

Walking around the Bridge he joined Commander Talion,

"Is the structure still strong enough to let an away team over and take a look. I know it would be risky but we do need to find out what is going on over there. It might give us some leverage when the Cardassian's arrive."

==Tag Talion==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion looked back at his screen for a moment and reflectively gave his beard a stroke as he considered before responding without turning back to face the Captain, "Well...I suggest Engineering take their look at the scans first, but if you sent someone over there, they would need to be in EVA suits and prepared for anything. I'm speculating that it may not build up for another detonation too quickly, but since I can't identify that energy signature, it is likely some form of experimental energy source and thus I can't say what impact it might have on any given life form or how to effectively shield against it."

== Tag Brooks ==

[Daniel Brooks]

Brooks listened and agreed,

"Yes, send engineering all the information so far and we will get Hoekstra to brief us if he thinks it worth going over for a look."

[Velaul to Bridge the away team has sustained a few injuries, but we over all are fine. Dr. Lim took the worst of it, she is going to be down forr a little while.I am waiting to be cleared before resuming regular duties.]

The Captain looked at Talion with a little bit of concern on his face,

"That isn't good." he commented before moving back down to the Command area in front of the center chair.

Daniel paused while he looked at the crippled ship on the main view screen, it seemed to have echoes of the old Cardassians trying to be sneaky and gain an advantage. It wasn't something he was expecting to find in this area of the quadrant, maybe a ship trying out a new weapon in the neutral zone. All seemed a little bit too risky to him.

==Tag all, esp Talion==

[Kalli Thorn]

Talion sent the information across to Engineering for their review. He added his concerns about the unidentified energy signature.

"All sensor data sent to Engineering, sir. Fortunately, all our people made it back, but not without a scratch. That was a bit close for comfort. Cardassians and Romulans are both known for sometimes crossing the line when it comes to experimenting with less ethical technologies. If we're going to do anything further, we're going to want to do it before that other ship gets here or we risk our people being captured or worse."

== Tag Brooks ==

== Oops! Oh well, rolling with it... ==

[Cologero Coppola]

There wasn't much for him to do at this time, he couldn't move the ship at this time due to lack of orders. The one thing that he could do was go over the dimensions of the ship, the size of the ship was typical. It was longer than wide or high. With the height being six hundred and sixty three meters, the beam being pretty much four hundred meters and the last dimension was one hundred and fourty seven meters deep. 

In plain English this means it's wider and longer than deep, the question was how much can the ship take? How fast can he drift the ship before it breaks apart? If it was going to turn into a run and gun situation they were going to need manuvers that were new to them.

There is nothing quite like riding the eye of the storm, we just have to hold our hats down tight. There were going to be a few manuvers that Cologero could plan with the trick of not breaking the ship, and hopefully not making people sick either.  It would be the same as being on the rides at a Carnival of some kind, not everyone can stomach them.

An Away that comes back alive is a good result, in time they should all get better. The part he didn't fully understand  was what anyone was doing there, it could be a violation of some treaty. Another thing that came to mind was some people really needed to lighten up, not everything was going to be doom and gloom. "In the case of our Cardasian friends here, I would be worried about Obsidian Order, who are always on the lookout for intelligence." This wasn't him saying to Thorn that this was going on, just a remote possibility.

==Tag - Plus I had to get something out==

[Daniel Brooks]

Brooks listened to Thorn's report,

"Yes, we would have to do it sooner rather than later, the time window is very small." replied Brooks looking back to the Chief Science Officer before stepping forward to the helm area.

"Mr Coppola, move us out of blast radius of the ship but close enough to beam an away team over and back." he ordered.

Tapping his commbadge he said,

"Sickbay, this is the Bridge, report please?"

Captain Brooks left the channel open.

==Tag all==

[Shione Kurasa]

A reply from Sickbay came almost immediately

[Second officer to the Captain. I am with Gul Nassett who does not believe that his ship is largely wrecked and feels that we should allow him to go back despite his current medical condition.

Captain can you send the current drone footage of his ship to my Padd so I may show him in real time just how little of his ship remains?

Second Officer over.]

==Tag Brooks==

[T'Kol]

Hearing the Security Chief's request T'Kol quickly pulled up the requested information.

"Captain I have that feed if you would like me to send it to Chief Kier 77." She asked before looking for Kiers PADD.

== Tag Cap ==

[Cologero Coppola]

Greatful that the blast didn't hit the ship, the next one they wouldn't be so lucky. He was shocked that he would send anyone back there, on the other side of the same coin he would love to go. It was probably going to be  a mess, something that he was brought up around.

"Mr Coppola, move us out of blast radius of the ship but close enough to beam an away team over and back." Came the order from his Captain, in the worst case scenario calculating out the blast radius was going to be a little  complicated. The payload of torpedo capacity was un known, this could also lead to a Warp core breach.

"Aye Captain." He said as he started to plot in the course, the position was going to be importan. By moving the ship into a certain position and angle the shock can be absorbed easily. As the ship moved moved into position the ship it was now facing the Cardasian ship, the layers of protection was just superior. If he did it right the angle of the ship and deflector dish would absorb the impact, while the rest of the ship only feels a gentle shake.

==Tag or GM input==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion could be heard speaking to Tactical, "Mister Coppola, I'm sending an estimated risk assessment to your station of the known blast radiuses for the current threats, including worst case scenarios. Hopefully this will aid you in adjusting our angle of attack and shield power allocations accordingly. The sensors are not currently indicating potential core compromise, but I can't say how much more might still be protecting it if there is another detonation. Based on the estimated time between detonations, I have started a countdown clock for that same time span. I suggest planning for enough time for us to be clear, if it were to cause a core failure as a result. Please keep the Captain informed of how much time you estimate we will have."

== Tag to Coppola ==
== Tag for GM Input: It wasn't stated exactly how much estimated time passed between the detonations. Please try to give us an idea of what we are speculating that we're working with and where that count down is at, as it becomes relevant. I understand that it may not be accurate, but it is the best we have to work with. ==

[Cologero Coppola]

Hearing everything that Talion was saying it was exactly what he was getting ready for, he was also taking into account the Variable Change. "This is why battles are won and lost before the first shot is fired, know the terrain and everything in it Commander." The condition of the battlefield before and during the battle was to be taken into account at all times, any changes could have an effect either way on everything. 

"Commander I suggest we eliminate the possibility of the internal threat, possibly software issues that can have unwanted results." It has happened in the past where a ship uses its sensors to figure out what happened with un expected consequences, such as a virus intended to cause destruction. It was surprising that no one had developed an anti virus software, it could manage the situation better.

==Tag==

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks heard Kurasa voice come over the comms,

[Second officer to the Captain. I am with Gul Nassett who does not believe that his ship is largely wrecked and feels that we should allow him to go back despite his current medical condition.

Captain can you send the current drone footage of his ship to my Padd so I may show him in real time just how little of his ship remains?

Second Officer over.]

Daniel was a little bit surprised, it was the Gul of the ship they had dealt with on the last mission on the Charon. It suddenly dawned on him that this in fact was the very same patrol ship which had been lurking near the mining colony on an asteroid which they had to save.

"Brooks to Kurasa, yes we will patch it down to you know and inform Gul Nassett that I will be down myself to see him shortly. Brooks out." he closed the channel.

Dan thought about what he was going to say to Gul Nassett, he didn't like what was going on at this moment in time.

==GM Input for Talion==

It could be identified the time when the first explosion happened was a matter of minutes before the original distress call was sent out.

==Tag all==

[T'Kol]

Once T'Kol heard the Captain respond she sent the video to Kurasa.

"T'Kol to Commander Kurasa, that video should be coming through to your PADD now." She gave

[Lois Lim]

==Sorry forgot to put this here last night. ==

== Temp NRC Dr Harry Langston 2IC Sickbay ==

A message came to the captain's comms.

[Dr Langston to Captain Brooks and LCdr Kurasa. I'm assuming at some point there will be a second away mission gathering more information. If my assumption is correct, then I recommend a medical officer be assigned to the away mission, considering what happened to the last away mission. As the CMO is still incopasitated, and other medical staff are still need on the ship I recommend CPO SNP Wedsday Addams, highly trained in feild medican. Langston out.]

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks had known Doctor Langston for years and it was good to serve with him so long.

"Brooks to Langston, yes there will be shortly as we have a very small timescale to work with. Brooks out." he closed the channel then looked at Commander Talion,

He knew this could be very risky indeed,

"Commander, I will give the away team them ten minutes to get to the weapon and make an assessment, if that think even looks remotely like it going to make another explosion I want them out of there regardless of how far they have got."

Brooks then tapped his commbadge,

"Brooks to Kurasa, you have ten minutes and no longer, if that weapon looks like it will explode again we will beam you out, no arguments. Brooks out."

Closing the channel, Dan couldn't help thinking he needed to go down to Sickbay and talk to Gul Nassett.

"Commander Talion, I'm going down to sickbay, you have the Bridge." he said to the Chief Science Officer.

Captain Brooks headed over to the aft turbolift and said, "Keep me informed of any developments."

He stepped into the turbolift and said "Deck twelve." the turbolift whirred into life.

==Tag Talion and Kurasa==

>>>Sickbay>>>

[Alexander Talion]

At hearing that the CO was heading to the Sickbay and that Talion was being given temporary control of the bridge, he stood from his station and replied, "Aye, Captain."

Alex looked at the Center Chair for a moment and let his breath out slowly as he reflected back on his time as a FO on the Titania. With rank came responsibility and he had learned a while ago that as a Star Fleet officer, he was no exception. As he stepped away from his station, they all logged him out automatically, returning to their default screens. He took the Captain's seat and began using his PADD to access the same systems he had been. He wanted to keep an eye on things.

[Keval ch'Alev]

Keval had been busy looking at several tactical scenerios for when the Cardassians support would show up.

He knew they wouldn't be happy and may not give them chance to explain and wanted the Aquila to be ready for them. There been a lot of information coming in and Mr Coppola had done a great job in moving the ship into an area where they would less likely to be hit by the next wave.

It was to his mind through it would depend on what kind of ship was responding to the distress call.

On sensors at this time it showed a vessel coming but it wasn't quite in range to work out which class it was, Keval hoped it wouldn't be anything too troublesome. The Captain excused himself to head to Sickbay while Commander Talion took the Captain's chair in his place.

The Andorian knew the next part of this mission was very risky and tactically put the away team at risk.

Looking at the direction of where the Cardassian ship was coming from it was almost going to arrive directly a stern. Not the best position.

"Commander Talion, may I suggest we turn the Aquila one eighty to protect us from the incoming assistance for our guests."

==Tag Talion==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion looked up from his PADD and considered the question for a moment. He even brought up on the main view screen their tactical position and the incoming signal path.

Pointing to the screen he responded, "Well, on the one hand, we may have to have shields toward the debris in the event of another detonation. On the other hand, we have a potential incoming threat. Since we want the strongest shields facing both, perhaps it is best if we put the wreckage between us and the estimated arrival point of those coming late to the party. They might alter course, but I would prefer to have us pointed in the right direction for all current contingencies. Please make it so, commander. Adjust as best you can, given what we have to work with. Asteroids are not known for being cooperative."

== Tag LCdr Kavel ch'Alev ==

[Shione Kurasa]

A familiar voice came over the Bridge comm as well as the CO's badge

[Commander Kurasa to Captain Brooks. The transporter Chief has assured me that they will maintain a lock on our signals and we are getting on the transporter pad as I speak. I will leave my comm open to you and the bridge as ordered, Kurasa Over]

[Keval ch'Alev]

Keval listened to Commander Talion's recommendation on moving the ship to a different spot.

"I agree, it would be the better tactical position. Mr Coppola, please bring the Aquila into this position." said the Andorian sending the helm officer the position he thought would be most likely to afford them protection not just by the incoming but the current ship they were with themselves.

Keval then went quiet again as he checked in with how long they had before the next Cardassian ship would arrive.

==Tag Talion and Coppola==

[Daniel Brooks]

<<<Sickbay<<<

The turbolift doors opened and the Captain stepped back out on the Bridge, he waved his hand to Talion to remain the center chair for a moment as he noticed they were currently moving the Aquila.

Looking at Keval he knew this was about protection as the COS voice came over the comm.

[Commander Kurasa to Captain Brooks. The transporter Chief has assured me that they will maintain a lock on our signals and we are getting on the transporter pad as I speak. I will leave my comm open to you and the bridge as ordered, Kurasa Over]

"Thank you Kurasa and good luck."

Brooks moved to the center of the Bridge, watching the view screen, the Bridge was practically silent apart from the hum and the usual noises.

He hoped the Cardassian ship wouldn't be giving them anymore surprises.

==Tag all==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion respectfully stood as the CO returned to the Bridge. At the CO's direction, he remained in front of the Center Chair, but stated the obvious, "I gave permission to alter our orientation so that we're in best possible position, based on the vector of the incoming ship."

Within seconds, the device on Talion's arm beeped and he glanced at it. He reported, "They're in..."

Another tap on his device and the Main View Screen changed to show the incoming sensor data from a combination of sources that was filling in some of the voids of the internal ship structure that was difficult to read previously. It was showing a form of detailed wireframe graphic reference that was easy to read while giving some depth to the display. It showed signal blips with tags of which member was which, though only giving shortened designations, the trained eye could easily follow the various team members activities.

== Tag Brooks and Bridge Crew ==

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks replied,

"Yes, well done Commander."

Dan watched as the information came up on the main screen.

"Let's be very careful, I do not want us to lose any team members."

==GM Brooks Input==

On the senors there showed a small surges in areas around and near the experiment which was different to what had been seen previously.
==Tag all==

[Cologero Coppola]

There was a better position that Cologero could see after ch'Alev said it, it would give them more of a response time. The increase of time no matter how slight can be the difference between victory and defeat, it all boils down to a few factors. He needed to keep his mind sharp with fast hands, it might be like navigating a brick. The Cardasians were still at a distance giving them plenty of time, on the other hand there isn't always going to be a fight.

"Aye Commander." He said while making the correction. "Adjusting now." Making the corrections " The ship wasn't moving that fast taking a few seconds. The Captain's absence on the Bridge was slight, that didn't leave enough time for a significant change. The biggest change was the Cardasians were closer, it really didn't amount to much.

The second away team going back to the ship was a bit of a concern, they can concentrate on the best case scenario. They would go in find what they need and leave, when the Cardasians arrive they do the same.

==Tag Commanders==

[T'Kol]

"Captain we could keep a medical lock and monitor the away team from here along with the transporter lock." She gave

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks looked across to T'Kol,

"Make it so." he replied before looking back at the main screen.

Dan couldn't help feeling this indeed was a very bad idea. It might be worth the risk but on the other hand, would it.

==Long range sensors shows incoming Cardassian ship in the next hour.==

[Daniel Brooks]

==GM Brooks==

Sensors would indicate a massive change in the cardassian ship, it would show signs of the 'experiment' starting to charge up and putting everyone at risk.

==Tag all==

[Alexander Talion]

Without warning, an urgent beeping started to come from the device on Talion's arm. With a look of concern, he silenced it and read the message, then pressed a few buttons and began to explain.

"Captain, I had the computer continuously monitoring the unidentified energy signature. It seems our estimates were not conservative enough. The sensors are showing another building spike in power within the device. I recommend pulling our people out immediately."

== Tag CO and Bridge Crew ==

[Shione Kurasa]

Just as Commander Talion spoke the clear and remarkably calm tone of the Second officer came over the Bridge connection to the Away Team.

[Kurasa to Aquila Bridge and Transporter room, The danger level has increased dramatically, but our Engineer, may have the answer.

I want the transporter operator to literally have their finger on the button to pull us our immediately if you hear me say the word APPLE, and Captain if that happens you might want to be ready for a substantial explosion.

We are maintaining contact so please stay focused everyone.]

It seemed likely to the Bridge crew that the last line was directed to Kurasa's team

==Tags==

[Daniel Brooks]

Dan couldn't help but feel as if the Cardassians may have led them into some kind of trap when all of a sudden Talion said,

"Captain, I had the computer continuously monitoring the unidentified energy signature. It seems our estimates were not conservative enough. The sensors are showing another building spike in power within the device. I recommend pulling our people out immediately."

Brooks turned towards the Chief Science Officer, "I agree."

[Kurasa to Aquila Bridge and Transporter room, The danger level has increased dramatically, but our Engineer, may have the answer.

I want the transporter operator to literally have their finger on the button to pull us our immediately if you hear me say the word APPLE, and Captain if that happens you might want to be ready for a substantial explosion.

We are maintaining contact so please stay focused everyone.]

Daniel wasn't sure how big of an explosion would come their way,

"Brooks to Kurasa, permission denied I am getting you all out of their now."

Tapping the comms Brooks said, "Transporter room one, lock on and beam the away team back."

[Bridge, this is the transporter room, we lost our lock on the away team. We are trying to reconnect.]

Daniel looked back at Talion, "See if you reroute extra power to the transporter room."

"Brooks to Kurasa, you may only have a couple of minutes, try and get the team further away from the device to help get a lock on your team. It might be shielding the lock on."

==Tag All==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion quickly moved to the Engineering station and it snapped to life as he approached. With rapid menu selections he reported, "I'm increasing power to both the transporter systems and the sensors to try and boost the signal for us to be able to regain locks on the team. I suspect it is actually that unidentified energy pattern that is causing the interference. If it were just shielding, then we would have lost lock when they walked in, but we lost lock as this thing began the power-up cycle. They brought enhancers with them. If they are able to set them up, it might help boost the signal as well."

== Tag to Bridge Crew...also to the Away Team if he is being heard over the comms ==

== GM Input for effectiveness of boosting the power to both systems ==

[T'Kol]

T'Kol, with the Captain's blessing, reconfigured her screen to two halves. On side watching communications while the other side had a medical lock on all of the away team.

She shared the screen with the medical terminal with a message of the plan to watch the crew. 

Then she looked towards Chief Science Officer as he explained the new issue and sudden occurance.

"Commander, can the medical lock help the transporter to get a better lock?" she asked ready to share her information as needed.

[Alexander Talion]

Talion considered the question posed by T'Kol and replied, "Well, under different circumstances, it might help find our people, by triangulating their signals, but that is not the difficulty right now. We know where our people are, the trouble is that to scan them on a quantum level, so that the transporter can complete the transporter sequence, we need to be able to have a clear enough reading. It appears that this unidentified energy pattern, that the Cardassian experiment is generating, is preventing us from being able to scan them with that level of resolution. We either need to find a way to penetrate that energy field, or they need to get clear of it."

[Daniel Brooks]

==GM Brooks==

Input for Talion:

They could boost the signal of the transporter by rerouting the power from non essential areas, if Talion had the time and looked at the senor logs he would see that there was an area down the corridor from engineering on the Cardassian ship for some reason seemed unaffected by the 'experiment'.

[Alexander Talion]

As Talion continued to try and route additional power to boost the transport effort in every way possible, he glanced at one of the displays to his right and noticed something. Technically it wasn't what was showing on the screen, but what wasn't showing.

With a touch to his arm PADD, he said, "Cindy, verify the readings of a room ten meters to your right."

[Cologero Coppola]

Cologero was keeping a close eye on screen to monitor how close the other ships were, it might be a close one as he was prepared for almost anything. This might be like an tango, as close and personal as it it can be. There wasn't much more for him to do, just sit and watch things unfold. Probably the very reason no one goes full time on the helm, on the other hand it had the potential to be the most exciting. 

When it came to it there was a lot in common with dance, every step and motion were carefully calculated for best results. This was something he was in no hurry to practice, outside of simulations. His personal favorite was the Ballu Tundu dance said to be first performed in the early years of the eighteen hundreds, it wasn't appropriate for their purpose. The dance that he chose to go with was the Calabrian Tarantella, with the careful movements and spacial awareness were both equally as important.

==Still here, GM input how close are the new arrivals==

[T'Kol]

T'Kol turned her attention to the Chief Science officer as he exclaimed why her idea would not work. She nodded in his logic and then added to her question.

"Forgive me if I am completely off base as I am not a scientist or engineer, but could we not utilize the defelector dish? Could we reroute sensors using the deflector dishes power output, which would essentially boost the power and focus the sensors?" She asked attempting to find a way to be helpful.

[Alexander Talion]

Alex considered T'Kol's proposal and then admitted, "Although the deflector dish is not a very good receiver, we might be able to use it to push a signal through the energy field. The problem is that we know nothing about this unidentified energy field. We're as likely to make things worse, but right now, it is certainly worth considering. With so many types of sensor signals and frequencies to try, it could take quite a while to find one that penetrates it."

He then changed his approach, "I detected an area on their ship that seems to not be showing the energy signature that is building, so I informed Cindy about it and she is moving to it now. Keep an eye on the team and see if we're able to get a lock on them. I'm sure that she will try her best to get those people out of there."

The isolinear tags could indeed be useful for transporter functions, especially when there was not anything else to assist in achieving a lock on a target. He had even seen them used in darts to attach them to wild creatures that were being retrieved as samples. They were relatively simple and disposable, but could enhance the transporter process. Actual transporter enhancers were rather annoying to carry around, but if you have the time to set them up, they actually networked with the transporter system and functioned as an additional array booster subsystem to enhance the scanning signal from the target location.

A quick look at the monitor reminded him that the device was building up quickly now. Frankly, it was making him rather nervous. He wasn't worried about Cindy, but there were several people over there that would not likely survive the experience like Cindy would. If they didn't get out of there quickly, the entire team might be lost.

== Tag T'Kol ==

[Daniel Brooks]

==GM Brooks==

Input for Coppola: The Cardassian vessel was still a little way out and not in range to do anything towards the Aquila. Their advance gave them an eta of around thirty minutes but sensors were being interfered with a little thanks to the 'experiment' warming up.

==Tag==

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks listened as his senior crew discussed ideas on how to get around the issue. In the back of his mind time was running out and options were seeming to be limited.

Brooks said, "Is there anyway we could separate that section of the Cardassian ship and get the away team to move out of the section. If this.. what ever it is removed from them. Then it would stop the interference and we could get the team back."

Knowing that the Cardassian ships hull and integrity wasn't very good right now it probably wouldn't take much to rip the thing away as a whole.

==Tags Bridge Crew==

[Alexander Talion]

At the words of the Captain, Alex turned and gave a small shrug, "Well, they're very close to the device. Maybe if we tried using a tractor beam and fired a precisely focused phaser shot at the hull near them, but we can't be sure we won't injure any of them with secondary effects like superheated hull plating that will be flying around. If they aren't behind something, the molten metal will kill them as surely as if we do nothing."

As Talion was speaking, his head was turned away from the monitors now. He couldn't see that the ship had briefly saw a spike in a reading, when Cindy had stepped into the room for a second to get her scan to complete. the entire team was now trying frantically to get into that side room that was miraculously shielded in some way.

== GM Input: Any chance that the others who are monitoring the efforts to get a sensor lock and manning the transporters are able to see the results and save them? Maybe just a little chance? ==

[Shione Kurasa]

The Bridge and Transporter control each received a comm from the Away team Commander

Her voice and tone were calm but forceful

"Commander Kurasa to Aquila, Kindly Get us Out of here, Now Please!"

==Tag GM==

[Cologero Coppola]

There wasn't anything for him to do at the time, and he recognized the stress in her voice. It stood to reason that they were going to have to move. All he needed to do was push the button, just waiting for the order first. The away team  was set to come home, soon after they were going to leave. The statement about firing on the ship made him make a confused look, right now even activating weapons 

"Commander isn't there a chance that the Cardasians might think we have hostile intent?" He wasn't entirely sure about how it would play out, but was sure they stood a great chance of elevating the situation  

==Tag==

[Daniel Brooks]

Captain Brooks listened to Commander Talion's assessment,

"Well, they're very close to the device. Maybe if we tried using a tractor beam and fired a precisely focused phaser shot at the hull near them, but we can't be sure we won't injure any of them with secondary effects like superheated hull plating that will be flying around. If they aren't behind something, the molten metal will kill them as surely as if we do nothing."

Daniel looked at the Chief Science Officer and said, "Well...let's find a better way of getting them out of there."

"Captain to transporter room any luck?" asked the Captain.

[Transporter room one, if they move out of range of the device it would be beneficial, I would also say through the lock on will still be difficult but I am sure we can pull them through.]

"Commander Kurasa to Aquila, Kindly Get us Out of here, Now Please!" came the Chief of Security.

"Brooks to Kurasa, we are trying to beam you out." Brooks replied,

[Transporter room one we have established a lock on the away team and beaming them back now...... we lost them Sir............... lock on reestablished beaming..................................................]

The few seconds seemed an eternity to those on the Bridge.

"Got them Sir." came from the Transporter Room.

"Mr Coppola. Warp two any direction away from the vessel." order Brooks.

The Aquila jumped to warp two and just out the way as the Cardassian ship exploded into pieces.

==Tag All==

[Beno Velaul]

<<<<< Sickbay<<<<<


Returning to the Bridge, there was still a lot for her to report. The question was where would she deliver it, the Captain would decide where. It did feel a little strange to her being there still, and not on the away mission. While she was getting into position she gave a glance at the Chief Science Officer, and a bit of a smile to ch'Alev.  He would be able to detect more than a little joy to see him, a kind of joy that she seldom feels.

She stood to his right and in front of her chair, her view was to him. "Captain." She said to him as a greeting. "Our Guests should be ready to be returned home at any time, they are sturdy enough for that." She didn't sit down until the Captain would motion for it, or he might want to go into the ready room for a private meeting. 

==Tag Captain==

[Alexander Talion]

There was a soft sigh of relief as it was announced on the Bridge that the team had been returned to the ship. The fact that the ship had also escaped any adversity was a plus. Talion simply gave the CO a nod of understanding. They had managed to (once more) make it through a less than optimal situation. Before he returned to his station, to wrap things up, he stopped by Coppola. It wasn't much, but he simply placed a hand on the man's shoulder, only briefly, as he said, "Well done, Mister Coppola. Well done."

Talion then moved over to his station and began a quick review to see if there was anything significant to add to his reports. There was a lot of data to go over. He also thought he had best check on the rest of his department. He had been rather busy with the current crisis, but he now had to consider the myriad of other things he was responsible for on a daily basis.

[Cologero Coppola]

The order to go to warp came as some comfort, they were about to leave. Putting in warp factor two, it told him that there was no rush to get to far. His fingers glided across the controls locking in the speed while the engines started to come to life. "Warp factor two Captain." 

The view screen started to show the ship going into warp with how fast the stars were going by, a truly remarkable sight. It was his favorite part of traveling so fast, but only on the top ten of his list of favorite sights. Soon he was greeted by the Chief Science Officer. "Thank you Sir." He glanced back with a smile. "How far do you think we are going at this speed?" Chances were good that the other ships were going faster to catch up.

==Tag==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion's expression showed mild amusement as he answered Coppola, "I wouldn't think we want to venture too far, just far enough to not feel the effects of the malfunctioning Cardassian ship. It is my guess that we're going to be rather eager to hand over our current guests, as soon as their ride shows up to inquire about them. Given that we're traveling at roughly just under two hundred million kilometers per minute, or closer to three million kilometers per second, what would you estimate our minimal safe distance to be from a ship with a warp core detonation? You should check with the Captain on that one though."

== Tag Coppola ==

[Daniel Brooks]

Beno came around to the command area and stood in front of her chair,

"Captain." Commander Velaul said to him as a greeting. "Our Guests should be ready to be returned home at any time, they are sturdy enough for that."

Brooks smiled, "Welcome back number one. Take a seat Commander, Mr Coppola set in a course to intercept the Cardassian vessel. Let's give them our guests."

He knew it wouldn't take long for them to intercept the Cardassian vessel. When they finally did, Daniel said, "On screen."

As they did so he said, "T'Kol, open hailing frequencies."

Once the channel was open, Brooks stood up and said,

"This is Captain Daniel Brooks of the Federation Starship USS Aquila, we responded to your other ships distress call and managed to rescue some of it's crew and Captain before it exploded. We thought they would be better in your care then in ours as you were clearly responding to the distress call to."

There was a few moments of silence before a big built Cardassian Gul appeared on screen,

[I'm Gul Dalmam. Thank you for responding to our ships distress call, if you can give us our crew as quickly as possible then we can go.]
his face showed anger and annoyance along with his aggressive tone.

"Nice to meet you Gul Dalmam, we are happy that we could offer your fellow Cardassians assistance, it seemed the ship was in a very vulnerable state when we found it. We do not know how this come about but I am sure Gul Nassett would be able to assist you in what caused the ship to be in such a condition."

[Yes,yes, get on with transfer of our crew.]

Dan turned to Commander Velaul,

"If you would please Commander."

Turning back to the view screen,

"This will take a couple of minutes then we will leave you to it. Just one question, how come Gul Nassett was so far into the neutral zone? Did he stray off course?"

The Gul glared at him and said [I can not tell you anything in regards to why Gul Nassett has indeed strayed so far into the neutral zone or weather in fact I could also accuse you of doing the same.]

Captain Brooks stepped forward, "With all due respect Gul Dalmam, we are here because of a distress call from one of your ships, likewise you are... otherwise we both wouldn't be in this position."

The Gul looked to his right then back at the screen,

[Transfer completed. Goodbye Captain... I hope we don't have to meet again.] the Gul closed the channel.

On the viewscreen the Cardassian vessel turned slowly then jumped to warp.

"Nice to see they are social as ever." commented Brooks before moving back to the command chair.

"Mr Coppola, take us to warp six and out of the neutral zone and back to the star base."

Turning to Velaul he said, "We shall debrief in my Ready Room in an hour, give you time to gather your information."

==Tag all==

[Cologero Coppola]

The answer didn't take too long they just wanted to get away from the blast, their passengers also had to be returned home. He would feel better after they were returned to their people, chances were certain that they felt the same way. As he eased the ship out of warp, it had a small drift before coming to an all stop. On the screen they could see the adjustments to return to a rendezvous point, no one wanted to be there too long. 

The two ships were soon close enough together that they were able to receive the passengers, once this was completed Cologero set in the next course to the Star Base. The new route required a one eighty  degree turn, just not too fast. As the turn was completed, the hum of the engines sprang to life again. "Warp six engaged." He was excited about leaving the neutral zone.

"Asked and answered." He said with a little chuckle. Once they were at the Star Base he had a few things to do, most of them were traditional from his family history. "Commander for a first mission it worked out well." He wasn't sure about how other missions will go, he just hoped that they all go well.

==Tag==