ZE/D01 - Bridge

[Morad Ameen]

=

[Morad Ameen]

The steady, rhythmic hum of the warp drive pulsed through the deck plating of the USS Zephyr as the destroyer cut across the stars. On the main viewscreen, the elongated streaks of warp space stretched out ahead, marking the long, quiet trek back toward Deep Space Nine.

Commander Morad Ameen, acting CO, sat in the center chair, leaning back with an arm resting casually on the console. The chaotic rush of the Broken Arrow mission was behind them, the genomic data crystal had been secured, Apex Prime and the stasis pods were safely transferred to the USS Auberjonois, and the ship had finally settled into standard cruising operations.

Across the bridge, the quietness of a routine watch had resumed. Consoles chimed intermittently with standard navigational telemetry and passive sensor sweeps, the bridge crew working with relaxed efficiency.

After hours of high-stakes tension and first-contact diplomacy, the stillness was a welcome reprieve. Morad tapped a control on his armrest, bringing up the ship's current transit route and ETA to DS9, letting the quiet hum of the bridge wash over him while keeping a steady eye on the forward view.

I wonder if they will send me back to the Titania after we are done here or make this gig permanent... This old lady is starting to grow on me... She's seen a lot of miles, but still has a lot to give... Don't you Zee?

He gave the armrest of the Zephyr's command chair a gentle loving pat.

[Amila Ra'an]

Amila slipped onto the Bridge a solid forty minutes early for her Alpha shift rotation. She liked the quiet of the early morning, and it gave her one last opportunity to double check duty rotas before posting them out for the week. She was still putting a lot of pressure on herself to get things right on the administrative side of being the Chief Science Officer, and hadn't quite found herself willing to trade in any of her usual functions as a science officer to make space for the DH duties. It meant she often found herself pulling extra hours at the beginning and end of her shifts, but she enjoyed it.

She was also motivated for other reasons to make sure that she didn't miss a beat. Not only was it her first assignment as a Department Head, but it just so happened to be under Morad's first command. She not only wanted to make him look good as a commanding officer, but she didn't want to give the fleet commander any passing reason to think that they couldn't work together.

She sat at her station, her left leg bent underneath her so that she was actually perched more on her foot than the seat itself. She had multiple projects spinning in front of her. The duty roster for the science department that was finished, but she was still deciding if she wanted to make any tweaks. She was also monitoring long range sensors, short range sensors, and she was also running back-up sensors so that she could test out some modifications to see if they could improve efficiency. This is what she did best - working on multiple items at once. Split focus, big picture, small picture all at once. She was so wrapped up in her work, she was almost unaware of the background around her and the others working at their stations.

Almost. Morad's presence was impossible for her to ignore. She couldn't see him with her back to the command well, but she felt his presence. She simply used it as an excuse to become more engulfed in her work for the moment. There was also a simulation she was running in the lab she could check on...

No, that would be too much. Keep it to the Bridge, Amila. Don't spread yourself too think. You'll miss something.

[GM-CD]

[FROM: Commanding Officer, USS Lowry
TO: Any Federation Starship in range
Starbase 214 blockaded by Cardassian escort squadron. Cardassian invasion fleet crossing border. Fleet comprises three Escorts, three Battlecruisers, one Dreadnought. Lowry withdrawing. USS Yeager remains on-station. Current status, unknown. Immediate reinforcement requested.]

[Gath]

Gath stepped onto the Bridge and strode to his station to check in and put in a good show for the start of the shift. He had already been at it for almost an hour, preparing and giving his people a good turnover briefing from the previous shift. Turnover overlap began 30 minutes before the official start of shift, giving rise to the saying that on time was late. Gath had enjoyed a hot cup of coffee to start his day.

Gath was already caught up on work and was now busy trying to think of a new excuse to stop by Sickbay to see Evie. He didn't want to seem too eager, but just thinking about her made him grin, putting a proverbial crack in his armor. He was known for his stoic approach to matters while on duty, but she was going to make it very hard now. This thought made him focus even harder, yet having such difficulties were still a good thing. Such were in internal struggles these days.

He did have the presence of mind to glance to the CO and Lieutenant Ra'an, "Commander...Lieutenant..."

[Morad Ameen]

The bridge fell into a sharp, focused stillness the moment the automated distress header splashed across the central console.

[FROM: Commanding Officer, USS Lowry
TO: Any Federation Starship in range
Starbase 214 blockaded by Cardassian escort squadron. Cardassian invasion fleet crossing border. Fleet comprises three Escorts, three Battlecruisers, one Dreadnought. Lowry withdrawing. USS Yeager remains on-station. Current status, unknown. Immediate reinforcement requested.]

So it begins...

Morad leaned forward in the center chair, his eyes narrowing as he processed the composition of the enemy battlegroup. Three Escorts, three Battlecruisers, and a dreadnought.

A planetary assault force... Ameen thought, his jaw tightening slightly. Dropping in alone against that kind of firepower isn't courage, it's throwing away a starship and her crew for nothing. If the Yeager is still in one piece, chances are they're running silent and shadowing. If we drop out of warp guns blazing, we could compromise whatever stealth they have left and draw the whole fleet onto us. 

He looked up, shifting into command cadence. "Lieutenant Gath," Morad said, acknowledging the Chief of Security with a firm nod. "Bring the ship to Yellow Alert. Charge secondary defensive grids and ensure all three of our burst-fire torpedo launchers are loaded and placed on hot standby. I want our combat systems primed, but we keep our signatures tight."

Turning toward the science console, he addressed Amila. "Lieutenant Ra'an, pull passive long-range telemetry on the Starbase 214 sector. If the Yeager is operating in quiet mode or maintaining comms blackout, do not actively ping for them, we don't want to hand the Cardassians their coordinates on a platter. Instead, cross-reference known Starfleet fleet dispositions in this sector, try and see who else received this beacon, and check for their last known vector. I also want a full environmental survey of the sector, check for nebulae, asteroid belts, plasma fields, or local solar phenomena. Anything we can tuck into to mask our sensor profile and use to our tactical advantage if needs be."

He pivoted toward the communications console manned by the duty officer. "Comms, relay the Lowry’s distress packet directly to Starfleet Sector Command at Deep Space Nine on secure high priority channels. Inform them the Zephyr is en route toward the sector perimeter, standing by for task force integration, and request immediate tactical orders and rendezvous coordinates for a coordinated response fleet."

Finally, Morad looked to the flight control station. "Helm, adjust course toward Sector 214, but hold us along the outer sensor perimeter at high warp. Let's get into battle ready position without flying straight down their throat until we have new orders or fleet backup. We will stand by to provide the Yeager with assistance if they request it."

Let's hope Starfleet can muster a response fleet together quickly... this incursion cannot go unanswered...

== Tag ==

[Amila Ra'an]

Amila let the message contained in the distress signal sink in.

An invasion. Why now?

When Morad began giving out commands, Amila's casual posture shifted quickly from sitting comfortably almost curled up in her seat -- her left foot hit the floor, she was now perched on the edge of her chair full attention to her station. As the Commander spoke with Gath, she was already shutting down the extemporaneous projects that she was running, powering down her sensor experiments and closing out the duty roster to prepare her station to be fully alert.

When the orders came her way she was ready.

"Lieutenant Ra'an, pull passive long-range telemetry on the Starbase 214 sector. If the Yeager is operating in quiet mode or maintaining comms blackout, do not actively ping for them, we don't want to hand the Cardassians their coordinates on a platter. Instead, cross-reference known Starfleet fleet dispositions in this sector, try and see who else received this beacon, and check for their last known vector. I also want a full environmental survey of the sector, check for nebulae, asteroid belts, plasma fields, or local solar phenomena. Anything we can tuck into to mask our sensor profile and use to our tactical advantage if needs be.
 
"Yes, sir. I'm on it, Commander," Amila replied as her fingers began quickly typing in the commands to pull up the relevant data, her eyes scanning for anything useful.


==Tag for GM input please, Does science have any luck finding a way to mask our sensors and/or sneak out way in using any known telemetry/cartography information from the region? ==

[Sebastian Cortez]

Sebastian had finished up a few experiments in the Lab that Lt. Ra’an asked him to complete and she wanted him to bring her the result as he was finished.

Sebastian enjoyed his work, it was a welcome change after their last mission, he still had mixed feelings about his performance on that mission, But Lt. Ra’an said overall he did well, but he wasn’t completely convinced.

He stepped out onto the Bridge. He spotted Ra’an at the Science Station, the Bridge’s atmosphere was uneasy. One could cut the tension with a knife. He made his way over to Ra’an, He handed her the results of the chemical analysis of unique spores they had discovered on a passing asteroid. “ Did I hear that correctly, a Cardassian invasion fleet? “ He said to Ra’an as he handed her the test results.

Sebastian had never been a huge fan of the Cardassians. In fact, there was something about them that made him deeply uncomfortable. The parallels between what the Cardassians had done to the Bajorans and what his own ancestors, the Spanish Conquistadors, had done to the native peoples of the Americas were difficult for him to ignore.

The details were different, but the pattern was disturbingly familiar. The Conquistadors had arrived in the Americas, conquered indigenous civilizations, enslaved people, seized their lands, and exploited the natural resources of those territories for the benefit of Spain. Wealth, gold, silver, and other resources were extracted from the New World and shipped across the Atlantic to enrich a distant empire.

The Cardassians had followed a remarkably similar pattern on Bajor. They occupied the planet, subjugated its people, stripped its resources, and transported those resources back to Cardassia to benefit the Cardassian state. Bajor itself was treated less like a living world inhabited by people and more like a resource to be exploited.

Sebastian knew there were important differences between the two histories, and he wasn't trying to claim they were identical. History was rarely that simple. But the similarities were impossible to overlook: conquest justified by ideology, an occupied population treated as inferior, forced labor, exploitation of natural resources, and an occupying power convinced that it had the right to take what belonged to someone else.

Perhaps that was what bothered Sebastian most. The Cardassians weren't monsters from some ancient history book. They were people who had made choices. And when Sebastian thought about what the Conquistadors had done centuries earlier, he couldn't help wondering how easily people could convince themselves that conquest, exploitation, and oppression were somehow justified.

Different century. Different planets. Different empires.

Same ugly idea.



== Tag All. ==

[Amila Ra'an]

“Did I hear that correctly, a Cardassian invasion fleet? “ Science Officer Cortez said to Ra’an as he handed her the test results.

Ra'an nodded. "Yes, these will wait," she stated. "Take your station," she ordered.

"Right now we're using known data from the sector surrounding Starbase 214 to scan for anything that we might be able to use mask any sensors, comms, or even our arrival before we send out anything into the region that might be pinged by the Cardassians," she explained. "You'll help me look."


==Tag Cortez==

[Evie O’Fee]

Beinig the first time that Evie had to take a station on the Bridge she had no idea where to go, finally someone pointed her to a station with no designation. She was able to log in quickly gaining the information from Sickbay, there wasn't much to really go over. The biggest injury taken to sickbay lately was treated quickly and released, the engineers did a good job putting her Sickbay back together soon able to treat patients there again. 

Seeing there was no reason for her to be there Evie decided to enjoy the change of view for a bit, the orders were usually the same. Take care of the wounded was the only real order that Evie usually receives, there was little more for her to do unless going on an Away mission. It didn't take long before Evie heard most of the orders, for a second it felt like there was a distance between her and reality. Did I have some kind of stroke? Cardassians? Evie shook her head with a little nervous energy, it was something she wasn't used too. 

The big person she became concerned about wasn't on the Bridge, it was doubtful that he was going to at this point. Now that Evie had some idea about what was going on, she could get sickbay ready. Again going back to the original set of orders, take care of the wounded. Evie took a small look at Gath before turning her attention to the Captain, she composed herself a little before speaking.

"Captain by the time we get there Sickbay should be ready for anything, is there any other orders for me on this?" Evie wasn't sure if she was going to be required to do much else. 

==Keti==

Being called to the Bridge Keti was one of the last to come to the Bridge, Sebastian was already there as was Ra'an. He was happy for her, Ra'an had potential. Now that he was at his station Keti could figure out what was going on, soon he was looking back at his ignorance of the situation with fond nostalgia. Even with the occupation being before he was alive, he inherited some of the hate. If the monster inside him had a chance of getting out, this would be the very trigger.

"Hello my old friends." Keti said quietly to himself while rubbing the scar over his eye, something he had plans on removing one day he just wasn't sure when other than possibly before the wedding. "Lieutenant Ra'an." Keti soon realized there was an unintended amount of anger in his voice, that quickly went away after he started to speak again. "I apologies for the tone it got away from me temporarily." Keti wanted to compose himself better. "Permission to modify a couple of our stealth probes for communication purposes, at very least we can get a clear picture of what is going on." In reality he was just looking for a way to keep busy, there were probably a few things she might want him to do but it didn't hurt to ask.

==Tag==

[Gath]

Gath heard the order to go to Yellow Alert. He brought it up and it was Broadcast across all decks. The flashing Yellow indicators were hard to miss. The warning sound got the attention of everyone, then fell silent after three blast, as was common. It called everyone to General Quarters as a result and people would begin reporting in their information, as per protocols.

As the Captain had ordered, he charged up the defensive systems. If they went to Red Alert, Tactical would bring up the offensive systems and targeting. The exception here was that Gath was initializing the torpedo launchers to bring them to a hot and ready state. This made the crews that manned them ensure that the system was staged to continue to load torpedoes as required.

Gath dutifully reported, "Sir, Yellow Alert established, all decks. Defensive systems online. Launchers are prepped and standing by for use by Tactical. In addition, Security is all accounted for and my people are at their stations."

For just a moment, his eyes met Evie's. His face relaxed for just a minute, a hint of a grin there as he took a breath and let it out. There was so much more he wanted to say right then, but  this was not the time or place. They couldn't seriously be planning to lock horns with those Cardassian ships. The smaller ones, sure. They could hold their own against most of them, but a Dreadnought? He didn't even want to think about it. It wasn't worth trying to speak the statistics out loud, because it was that bad.

== Tag to all ==

[Sebastian Cortez]

Sebastian nodded and turned his attention to the sensor data, his expression becoming more focused as he began studying the readings. He knew how clever the Cardassians could be, but that meant he had to be smarter and more innovative.

“Yes, ma’am. I think our best option is to identify a naturally occurring source of sensor interference in the sector and determine whether we can use it to our advantage. We don't necessarily need to make the ship invisible. We need to make it difficult for the Cardassians to distinguish us from the environment.”

He began sorting through the data, comparing subspace fluctuations, stellar radiation, electromagnetic interference, asteroid concentrations, and other anomalies. “If we can find an area where their sensors are already dealing with significant background interference, we may be able to use it as a sensor shadow. We could then modify our deflector emissions to match the surrounding conditions rather than trying to overpower their sensors.”

Sebastian paused as another set of readings appeared on the display.

“We should also examine their known sensor and communications frequencies. If we understand what they're looking for, we may be able to minimize the specific signatures they're most likely to detect. The same principle might work for our communications—hide our transmissions inside naturally occurring interference rather than broadcasting through it.”

He looked back toward her. “If we're successful, the Cardassians won't necessarily see anything. They may simply see something that doesn't warrant further investigation.”

A faint, almost tentative smile crossed his face.

“And if we can make them spend their time investigating something that isn't us, I would consider that a successful use of the available science.”

He returned his attention to the display.

“I'll start by identifying the most promising anomalies and cross-reference them with the Cardassian sensor data. Once we find a suitable location, we can determine whether our systems can reproduce the conditions closely enough to conceal our arrival.” Said Sebastian, his voice filled with excitement.



== Tag Ra'an.==

[Amila Ra'an]

Keti was the first to arrive of the science officers and he immediately had ideas to share before he took his station.

"Lieutenant Ra'an." Keti soon realized there was an unintended amount of anger in his voice, that quickly went away after he started to speak again. Though the tone was barely clocked by Ra'an, who was too focused on work to be bothered by anything other than inefficiency, though she realized he must have thought he had done something by his apology.

"I apologies for the tone it got away from me temporarily." Keti wanted to compose himself better. "Permission to modify a couple of our stealth probes for communication purposes, at very least we can get a clear picture of what is going on."

Amila nodded to him. "We are under orders not to send anything out - no signals, no probes, until we are certain we have cover," Ra'an stated. "But, let's get something prepared for when we do."

Cortez walked in shortly after and took his spot to Amila's immediate right as she indicated. She still considered him impulsive and wanted to keep an eye on him. After she had given him orders to help him scan the known data he began to speak, thinking out loud she assumed as he began by suggested that they do precisely what she had just ordered him to do. She kept an eye on him somewhat anxiously, eager to get back to work, but well aware that she needed to listen to him carefully lest he slip something in that she agree to that wasn't correct.

“We should also examine their known sensor and communications frequencies. If we understand what they're looking for, we may be able to minimize the specific signatures they're most likely to detect. The same principle might work for our communications—hide our transmissions inside naturally occurring interference rather than broadcasting through it," he added.

"Known frequencies,"  she emphasized. "None of our sensors into the region under we have cover," she reminded him.

“And if we can make them spend their time investigating something that isn't us, I would consider that a successful use of the available science," Cortez added as returned his attention to the display. “I'll start by identifying the most promising anomalies and cross-reference them with the Cardassian sensor data. Once we find a suitable location, we can determine whether our systems can reproduce the conditions closely enough to conceal our arrival," he continued, his voice showing signs of excitement.

"Good idea, you focus on that, and I'll focus on how to hide us," she said, her mood softening as she also became enthusiastic about his input. "Nice work. No sensors into the regions under the Captain's orders, though" she reminded Cortez a third time. "Studying only for now."

"Lieutenant Keti," Ra'an said, now piggybacking off of Crotez's idea. "Did you hear that? Cortez may be on to something. If we do end up using one of our probes to get a comm into the region, it may be nice to have a double back-up. Not only use cover from natural phenomena, but assuming the Cardassians do read it, maybe make it look like something else to the Cardassians that isn't Federation that might seem innocuous to them, but that our people might get. Old Bajoran, Occupation era, or maybe even an ancient Earth radio signal, Navajo or something?"


==Tags to Keti and Cortez== 


==Tag also to the GM-CD now that we have had additional input from the Science team. Do any of us have any luck with our focused projects on determining if there are anomalies in the region that will work to our advantage, and does Cortez come up with any useful limitations to Cardassian technology? - Thanks!==

[Keir 77]

<<Engineering<<

Receiving notice of mission start catalyzed the young Hermat to get out of the funk s/he had been in since stepping down from hir position of First officer. S/he had tried to find a place in that role that s/he could make work for hir but the harder s/he tried that less comfortable it had become.

Keir knew hir place as Chief and threw hirself into it since stepping down. Focusing on the department had given the young Hermat a feeling of being centered that s/he had not felt and s/he knew now that Command was not the role s/he was made for.

Stepping off the lift and moving to the Engineering station Keir confirmed that all systems were operating well and once s/he was certain s/he turned and addressed the CO.

"All systems operating at optimal levels Captain. Engineering is ready Sir."

==Just a quick post to try and recapture the posting Mojo==

[GM-CD]

Unfortunately the area surrounding Starbase 214 contained several Light Years of nothing. Empty space or systems that lacked the raw materials, life, or stellar phenomena to make them interesting enough to study. It was one of the reasons why the base was located where it was - an almost unobstructed view into what had once been Talarian space, under Cardassian occupation now for the better part of a decade.

The biggest limitation to Cardassian technology, like the Klingons, was their scientific systems. Sensors used for navigation and fire control were first-rate and included multiple redundancies, but outside of dedicated scout or science vessels, sensor arrays dedicated to scientific study were considered second-line systems and their development was not a priority to the Cardassian military. Of the intelligence available to a relatively-junior Department Head and newly-minted Midshipman, which amounted to little more than citations from a Tactical School textbook, indicated that less than 1% of Cardassian military spending was utilised for the development of new scientific systems.

[Jukish Keti]

There were a lot of things still taught to Bajoran children that were not taught elsewhere, Earth had the same thing from the Jewish people. The differences between the two were negligible at best, the biggest differences were delivery systems that did the same job. The Navajo used their language to so they could basically talk freely over monitored channels, this was something that they wouldn't be able to do today. Keti mumbled something that wasn't understandable to everyone around him, his tone didn't suggest much of anything. 

Keti started to believe with the three of them they could come up with something, they already had the promise of something good. "Lieutenant the Beloti system isn't too far away from our Star Base, it could be used in a similar fassion to the Star Base two one four. The significance of this area is the five hundred colonists were being transported through the system until the mine hit, the Federation is known to study and restudy the same thing over and over again." Keti was thinking of using that as a cover, if they could get proper authorization.

"In order for this work proper we need to know who the Commanding Officer is, what we need is something that means something to them that others would dismiss. During the occupation we had a lot of ways to get a message out there under their noses, we can employ the same methods to accomplish the same thing." Right now it wasn't the best idea but it was something they could build on. 

==Tag==

[Sebastian Cortez]

Sebastian listened carefully as Lieutenant Keti and Ra’an discussed the possibility of disguising their communications. The idea immediately caught his attention. It was another piece of the puzzle, and perhaps one that could give them an advantage without requiring them to violate the Captain’s orders.

“An old Bajoran transmission could work,” Sebastian said, studying the data on his display. “Especially something from the Occupation era. The Cardassians would have encountered thousands of those signals. If we could reproduce the characteristics of one and make it appear sufficiently degraded, they might have little reason to investigate it.”

He paused, considering the other possibility.

“Although I think the ancient Earth transmission idea has some merit as well. Something predating the Federation would be difficult for them to associate with us. If we could reproduce the characteristics of an old terrestrial radio signal and then bury it within naturally occurring interference, it might appear to be nothing more than an old transmission passing through the region.”

Sebastian glanced toward Amila.

“And we can test all of this without transmitting anything. We could model the signals against the Cardassian sensor data we already have and determine what they would likely see from their perspective.”

His attention returned to the display.

“If we understand what their sensors are most likely to identify as unusual, we can make sure our deception doesn't accidentally create the very signature we're trying to hide.”

Sebastian considered the nearly empty region surrounding Starbase 214.

“It's almost ironic. There isn't much of scientific interest out there, but that may actually work in our favor. If the Cardassians are accustomed to seeing mostly empty space in this region, then an unusual signal might actually stand out more than we want.” Added Sebastian.

He began organizing the available data.

“So perhaps the best approach is to make the signal appear ordinary first, and then use the natural interference to obscure it further. If they do detect it, they should have no obvious reason to associate it with a Federation vessel.” Suggested Sebastian.

Sebastian smiled slightly.

“We aren't really trying to disappear. We're trying to give them something more interesting to investigate than us.” Stated Sebastian.

He looked toward Amila again.

“And I'll continue working strictly with the data we already have until you give us permission to do otherwise.”



== Tag Ra'an and Keti. ==

[Gath]

Gath listened to the chatter going on around him and it made him think of something, "I would be worried about any signal that would be out of the ordinary in their area of space. If we eventually must send a signal, We might consider launching a probe that would carry a message and send it to a different location before transmitting. At least then they would detect it coming from a direction other than us."

He wasn't sure how to phrase his second suggestion, "There is also something I learned from a pilot friend of mine that I'm not sure if it would apply in this instance or not. Once we drop out of warp, we can initially use the impulse drive as normal, but then there is a technique that I forget the name of, but you shut off the actual thrust, but continue to keep the mass drivers engaged so that the ship continues to drift at that speed without leaving an exhaust trail of any kind. He used it in combat to be able to continue drifting in the original direction, but could then rotate to fire behind him and attack his enemy with his forward firing weapons. If it is possible to maintain the inertial momentum without the cardassians able to track us by normal means, that could be useful. Such a drifting method would at least make us harder to spot."

== Tag to all ==