12-15-2024, 05:17 PM
The midshipman's answer was confident, a perfect demonstration of the bell curve they showed officers during command school. She'd been around long enough to shake the nerves of a newly minted officer for the confidence of an inexperienced officer, who would shortly be humbled back to the bottom of the graph with enough time and trauma. Which was where she would likely remain for the rest of career as most everyone did after enough kneecapping. And Artemis specialized in traumatic kneecapping.
Her humbling came much faster than Tyra had anticipated but also much kinder as Grant gently corrected her calculation to account for the disturbances from the nebula.
"Under normal circumstances, Midshipman Maxas-Darl's plot course would be correct," he began. "However, given the nebula's interference to our systems, we won't be able to navigate quite as cleanly."
"Based on what I was able to determine of the ship," Grant continued, "It's registered as a Klingon transport vessel named qoH. It's registered out of Arcturus IV. Reports show the planet is a known safe haven for ships that, if not outright smugglers, aren't exactly...forthcoming...with cargo manifests and regulations. The ship is moving at a sedate pace, appearing to be undamaged. However, the probe doesn't have the capability of determining lifesigns or what cargo she may or may not be carrying."
As the CTO turned to encourage -- she assumed since Grant didn't seem like a yeller -- his midshipman, her blue eyes shifted to her console as she considered all the different variables.
The transport vessel was moving calmly and slowly for one of three reasons: they were unaware of Artemis' presence, they believed Artemis was unaware of their presence or they had no reason to be nervous about a Starfleet patrol. She found it unlikely that Artemis' arrival would have gone unnoticed to any passing ships and most smuggling operations had been lookout systems in place that watched ship movements for these random patrols. She also found it just as unlikely that this ship was innocently wandering through a nebula as part of their flight plan.
If they felt safe despite Artemis' presence, there was a chance that they'd remain on their flight path regardless of what Artemis did but that also presented the opportunity for them to observe Artemis' probe deployment if they had a way of scanning through the interference, which was intel Tyra wasn't certain she wanted to make public just yet. Alternatively, if they somehow didn't know about Artemis' current location, they might when they moved to drop the next probe and there would be little chance of keeping track of the ship in these conditions. That was tactical risk she wasn't sure she liked.
"Given that information, Captain," Grant said as he was back at station, breaking through Tyra's musing, "I do recommend we continue to the third drop-off, but I'll make sure to keep tabs on the qoH."
"I have to disagree, Lieutenant. It's been a while since we've run a cargo inspection but I think this is a good opportunity to dust some cob webs off," she answered, her lips curving into a smile that was more mischievous than pleasant.
"Plus, it'll be better to make the next drop without a potential audience..." She added before turning her gaze from Grant to the midshipman.
"Plot a course to intercept, best safe speed. We want to catch them unaware before they can run but have the tractor beam ready. As soon as we're within intercept range, open a channel for me, Lieutenant Grant."
"Crawford to Security. We're encountering a potential smuggling vessel. Please have a small boarding party ready in case an inspection is needed."
== Tag! ==
Her humbling came much faster than Tyra had anticipated but also much kinder as Grant gently corrected her calculation to account for the disturbances from the nebula.
"Under normal circumstances, Midshipman Maxas-Darl's plot course would be correct," he began. "However, given the nebula's interference to our systems, we won't be able to navigate quite as cleanly."
"Based on what I was able to determine of the ship," Grant continued, "It's registered as a Klingon transport vessel named qoH. It's registered out of Arcturus IV. Reports show the planet is a known safe haven for ships that, if not outright smugglers, aren't exactly...forthcoming...with cargo manifests and regulations. The ship is moving at a sedate pace, appearing to be undamaged. However, the probe doesn't have the capability of determining lifesigns or what cargo she may or may not be carrying."
As the CTO turned to encourage -- she assumed since Grant didn't seem like a yeller -- his midshipman, her blue eyes shifted to her console as she considered all the different variables.
The transport vessel was moving calmly and slowly for one of three reasons: they were unaware of Artemis' presence, they believed Artemis was unaware of their presence or they had no reason to be nervous about a Starfleet patrol. She found it unlikely that Artemis' arrival would have gone unnoticed to any passing ships and most smuggling operations had been lookout systems in place that watched ship movements for these random patrols. She also found it just as unlikely that this ship was innocently wandering through a nebula as part of their flight plan.
If they felt safe despite Artemis' presence, there was a chance that they'd remain on their flight path regardless of what Artemis did but that also presented the opportunity for them to observe Artemis' probe deployment if they had a way of scanning through the interference, which was intel Tyra wasn't certain she wanted to make public just yet. Alternatively, if they somehow didn't know about Artemis' current location, they might when they moved to drop the next probe and there would be little chance of keeping track of the ship in these conditions. That was tactical risk she wasn't sure she liked.
"Given that information, Captain," Grant said as he was back at station, breaking through Tyra's musing, "I do recommend we continue to the third drop-off, but I'll make sure to keep tabs on the qoH."
"I have to disagree, Lieutenant. It's been a while since we've run a cargo inspection but I think this is a good opportunity to dust some cob webs off," she answered, her lips curving into a smile that was more mischievous than pleasant.
"Plus, it'll be better to make the next drop without a potential audience..." She added before turning her gaze from Grant to the midshipman.
"Plot a course to intercept, best safe speed. We want to catch them unaware before they can run but have the tractor beam ready. As soon as we're within intercept range, open a channel for me, Lieutenant Grant."
"Crawford to Security. We're encountering a potential smuggling vessel. Please have a small boarding party ready in case an inspection is needed."
== Tag! ==