YE/D01 - Bridge

[Paul]

==

[Peter Jensen]

Peter was on the bridge, taking in status reports and summarizing them for the Captain's review once she came back out. The Captain was in her ready room, waiting for the new transfers to present themselves; one of the duties of command. The rituals had to be observed.

He couldn't help but smile a little at the trepidation with which he'd reported for command that first time on his first assignment out of the Academy. The Chin'toka.

What a shit-show that first assignment was, he thought. He still remembered being made to fight the enlisted as a "team building exercise". If he didn't think that statutes of limitations would be in effect, he'd definitely try to make a legal matter out of it now that he was a Commander. But...as things stood, perhaps the past was best left in the past.

He sighed, and quickly sized up the new Midshipmen as they arrived on the bridge to head for the ready room. He had of course read their files, and was definitely hopeful. Both showed great potential. Midshipman Turner was apparently a child of two worlds - which was not all that uncommon. What interested Peter far, far more was the fact that the man seemed to be an engineering wizard. He didn't know much about engineering apart from the crash course in the basics that he took at the Academy, but the fact that the man had managed to design a calibration tool that was even more effective than the current type in use, while not even out of the Academy yet spoke volumes about the promise he showed.
And as for Midshipman West,  Peter saw a lot of himself in her. She seemed the martial type of security officer, rather than the Sherlock Holmesian-type, which was something that resonated with Peter a lot. And he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he saw a bit of a diamond in the rough. Only time would tell if he was right, though.

== Welcome middies!   We're happy to have you join us! ==

[Arwen Qi]

Qi had always preferred to spend time in his lab. The strict protocol of the bridge was stifling, like trying to paint while wearing oven mitts. Today, though, he was happy to take his station on the bridge. He couldn’t afford to hide away while most of the Yeager’s senior staff already knew each other.

As the turbolift doors slid open, Qi scanned the room to find his station. It was quiet, as he’d expected. Jensen seemed to be waiting for something or someone.

“Good to see you again, Commander,” Qi said. “Just getting my station set up. How are you finding the new ship so far?”

== Tag Jensen ==

[T'Lari]

[Try it now.]

Ensign Setthik's frustrated voice came across the weapon station's speaker. T'Lari had found him to be a rather skilled chess player in the little time off she'd had since arriving on the new Yeager. He was also quite the skilled engineer, specializing in weapons system, but even he was having difficulty with the software running the panel. The display continues to make a 'fritz' sound as the system keys appeared, dissolved into static, and reappeared in a different spot on the display.

"Nothing, Ensign," the Tactical officer replied calmly. "AE Fault 344 at Junction GR-522-2. That is a new message."

[Believe it or not that actually gives me something to work with. Hold on.]

The panel had worked fine for her first three days aboard, and then a new software patch had caused it to give the half-Vulcan nothing but trouble ever since. She'd basically monopolized the Saurian engineer's time for days, but it was necessary. The ship couldn't launch without weapons access... and even switching controls to a different station hadn't solved the problem. The code to operate the ship's weapons was more than a bit jury-rigged... but then so was so much else on the Yeager. Software development was standardized for new starships, developed specifically for their classes, but this ship wasn't a standard model. At least Stafleet had anticipated the problem and had put people aboard to handle such problems.

[Found it! I'm going to do a code rewrite on the junction software at that section. Give me an hour and a half and I'll have you up and running, guaranteed. Setthik out.]

T'Lari stood and stretched. 90 minutes. Fine. She needed to get some food anyway. As she did so the Chief Science Officer entered and went to address Commander Jensen. She needed to report her station's status, so she approached the two of them, patiently waiting as Qi spoke.

== Tag Jensen and Qi ==

[Peter Jensen]

Peter was still compiling reports when he heard LCdr Qi's voice. He looked up and gave the man a courteous smile.

"New", he said with a bit of laconic wit, then went on. "Honestly, it's a good ship. She packs a decent punch, and has decent speed. We can get a lot of good done with her.", he answered the question, then continued:

"The Captain is welcoming the new Midshipmen", he said, looking at the door to the ready room.

"Have you met your own department? Anything of note to report?", he asked, genuinely interested. Might as well get the report from the horse's mouth

[Jennifer Braggins]

==Following the Ready Room thread==

Coffee mug in hand, Jenny strode from her Ready Room onto the Bridge of the new-and-improved USS Yeager; it was a different layout than what she'd been used to, and she knew it would take time for her to acclimate to the positions of some of the consoles, but it was what it was; for a ship that had allegedly slipped through the cracks at the Bureau of Shipbuilding and made it to a construction slip before anyone realised their mistake, having slightly odd Bridge layouts was hardly the worst thing that could happen.

Atypical Bridge for an Atypical Ship with an Atypical Crew.

Jensen and Qi were talking and T'Lari appeared to be waiting in the wings for her chance to speak; likely they were discussing the usual last-minute minutiae that often needed addressing before the ship was able to launch; missing personnel, alterations to room assignments, and the like. Unless it was going to interfere with the launch of the ship, it was the First Officer's purview, while Jenny was left free to deal with getting the ship out of dock.

Rather than interrupt Jensen, Qi and T'Lari, Jenny simply moved toward her seat and dropped into it; the seat was more comfortable than some she had sat in, and would be beneficial during long and boring patrols to which the Yeager was likely to find itself assigned. They didn't have official orders yet, but scuttlebutt said they'd be updating starmaps along the Talarian border, a standard mission for a ship on shakedown but a criminal misuse of her crew's talents.

A waste of not, orders were orders, and their departure time was swiftly approaching. With a soft sigh, Jenny settled deeper into her chair and pushed the button on her armrest that activated the internal communications system.

"This is the Captain. All hands report to departure stations."

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

The readiness light for Sickbay would change to green, indicating that Sickbay was ready for launch.

However, each bridge officer's PADD would have a message delivered to it, with an appointment range for their Star Fleet-mandated physicals on it. The location however, was not in Sickbay, and was instead on the holodeck, with a note that added their physical's difficulty would be tailored to their capabilities. Even Captain Braggins was assigned one, though that same note added that the officer in question could request a traditional physical to be administered by sickbay if they did not want to utilize the holodeck physical.

Commander Jensen however, received a message from Kal-Geal, asking if the Commander would prefer him to remain in sickbay, or report to the bridge for the departure sequence.

==tag Jensen==

[Peter Jensen]

== This is after the conversation with Qi. A short post to get things wrapped up ==

Peter had received and acknowledged each departments status report. Luckily there was no hindrances in their path

For now

But he was still missing two: Beinn and T'Lari.

He quickly sent a message to Beinn that for now he should remain in Sickbay - he'd be summoned if needed. Which Peter fervently hoped wouldn't be the case.
Finally, he reached out to T'Lari first, turning to her and giving her an encouraging smile.

"Yes, Leftenant?", he encouraged her.

When all was said and done, Peter turned to Braggins.

"All stations and departments reporting green, Captain. We are ready to depart on your command", he announced before taking his own seat just in time to hear her give the order.

[Theresa Black]

>> Crew Mess >>


The short hop from the mess on the deck below to the bridge took about a minute, and coffee cup still in hand. Black entered the bridge. The Captain was sat in the centre seat already.

Damn it... She thought, noting that the Commander was in the forward footwell seated at the Ops station, while T'Lari and Qi were also already present at the rear stations.

“Sorry I'm late.” She said instinctually even though she wasn't.

Stepping down, and taking the helm position next to the Commander. She logged into the station. “Helm ready, Ma'am.” she said after a couple of seconds preparing to input the Captains course heading once given, while glancing sideways at the Commander.

This is going to be be rather uncomfortable. She thought with the First officer sitting right next to her. She didn't want to think about what he thought about the seating plan.


== Where did I put that gold tin of travel sweets covered in white powder? ==

[T'Lari]

"Yes, Leftenant," Commander Jensen addressed T'Lari. The Captain entered the Bridge as she spoke, sitting down in the center chair

The half-Vulcan nodded respectfully to the First Officer and gave her report. "The software problems with the weapons controls will be resolved within 87 minutes, Commander. The difficulty with the recent patch downloaded from Starfleet has been located and Ensign Setthik is performing a code rewrite on the faulty system. Weapons are otherwise fully operational, but as they have never been fired I would recommend that we perform a test as we travel out-system. Perhaps on a local asteroid or comet." Chain of command dictated that she inform the FO of the status, but Captain Braggins was of course easily able to hear as well.

As the Klingons say, 'No blade can be trusted until it has drawn blood.' A bit colorful, but accurate. Given the patched-together nature of the ship and the software that runs the systems it would be best to discover if the weapons will work before they are needed.

== Tags Jensen and Braggins ==

[Arwen Qi]

Qi shook his head. “The labs have been out of commission. I tried to connect a data module that I built on board the Geronimo, and it knocked out power to half the deck. Apparently, the power signatures were incompatible. I didn’t want to have my first department meeting by candlelight, but things should be in working order shortly. I just came up here to finish some last minute calibrations before we head out.”

The bridge became more crowded. A Vulcan (or possibly Romulan) woman approached Jensen with further updates on ship status. The captain entered from the Ready Room, followed shortly by Black from the Turbolift. Qi gave them both a courteous nod before returning to his work. He needed to make a strong first impression on his new crew. Glitches were a fact of life, but they weren’t an excuse for being unprepared.

A notification appeared on Qi’s console, alerting him to his mandated physical. Oddly enough, it seemed to be located on the Holodeck. Qi wondered if Sickbay was experiencing similar technical issues. He decided to pick the earliest possible option. These little distractions tended to pile up, stopping him from completing his actual work.

>>>> Holodeck >>>>

[Jennifer Braggins]

Departments all ready. Systems all green. Aside from a few calibration tweaks, the new-and-improved Yeager was ready to depart, as was her crew. Her Captain, on the other hand, wasn't so sure any more; she looked between her officers, going about their duties and daily lives as if her actions hadn't threatened to ruin them, and in some cases probably had. She'd never apologise for what she did, she'd had the moral high ground and had been right in the end, but the way things had gone down on the Philadelphia was regrettable - she should have trusted Jensen, he should have trusted her. Or she would have been better off casually deleting the message, any log of its receipt, and then ordered the ship to turn around anyway. By giving the crew an out, she'd put them in a terrible position, one she knew she might be called upon to put them in again.

Is it worth it?

Not for the first time, Jenny's malaise clouded her appreciation of the big picture; she did what she did to protect people, not the vocal minority who lambasted her every choice, but the silent majority who would never know her name or the acts she'd been forced to commit in the name of their safety. It wasn't fair to say that the young Captain had become jaded, her viewpoint had always been that the Federation was a bloated bureaucracy with too many people in the top ranks and too little interest in the little people, but recent events had shown that despite everything, the rot at the top still existed. Maybe not in the CinC or Presidential Offices, but certainly in the upper echelons that reported to them. 

Maybe it's time to force the issue of retirement; I can't be that vital that I can't be replaced...

Pushing such thoughts from her mind, Jenny sat back in her chair and let out a calming breath that she almost succeeded in preventing coming out as a defeated sigh; here she was on a brand new starship about to take her on her maiden voyage, and all she could think about was how it was time to move on. That did a disservice to her crew, who deserved the best she could do while she occupied the centre chair.

"Theresa, ahead one quarter Impulse until we clear the docking slip, then set course one eight zero mark zero five and go to full Impulse."

She didn't know their orders, all she knew was that they were going "south" down towards what had once been the Talarian Republic and was now the most recent addition to the Cardassian Union, despite bitter resistance from the Talarian military and several enterprising "private forces" made up of mercenaries and adrenaline junkies looking for adventure. The Federation had, allegedly, been providing discrete assistance to the Talarian Resistance, but that was based on unsubstantiated rumours; more likely she was going to be tasked with preventing smugglers entering the warzone and thus protect the peace the Federation had with Cardassia.

Peace that the Cardassians had broken. Repeatedly.

"When we leave the system's gravity well, set course for Starbase 214, Warp Six. We'll give the engines time to warm up before we really push them. T'Lari, keep an eye on your sensors; if you find anything you'd like to blow up to calibrate your weapons, let me know."

[T'Lari]

"When we leave the system's gravity well, set course for Starbase 214, Warp Six. We'll give the engines time to warm up before we really push them. T'Lari, keep an eye on your sensors; if you find anything you'd like to blow up to calibrate your weapons, let me know."

She nodded. "Understood, Captain. We're approaching the system's asteroid belt. I'll attempt to locate a target that will make for a suitable test."

Truth was she wanted something that would allow her to really push the weapons. It was one thing to fire a few phaser shots and launch a couple torpedoes, quite another to get a true idea of what the systems could do when stressed. The last thing they needed was for a fault to appear when battle started. T'Lari wasn't sure what the Captain would think of that. Braggins had a reputation as a 'cowboy,' well deserved... but reducing an asteroid to pebbles just to test the weapons might seem excessive.

== Tag ==

[Theresa Black]

Seat set, and helm configured, Black only had to wait a moment for the Captain to give her orders.

"Theresa, ahead one quarter Impulse until we clear the docking slip, then set course one eight zero mark zero five and go to full Impulse."

“Aye aye, Ma'am.” He replied. Then over the comm to the station CnC; “Antares control. This is Yeager. Disengaging docking clamps and preparing to move off.”

[Copy that Yeager.] Came the reply. [Good luck and fair weather.]

“Thank you control.” She replied closing the channel. The yard had done a better job on this ship than her predecessor she mused. The delay between engaging the impulse drive and the ship moving was imperceptible unlike the old Yeager where you could engage the engines, walk to the replicator. Consult the menu and return before the ship moved.

"When we leave the system's gravity well,” Continued the Captain, “set course for Starbase 214, Warp Six. We'll give the engines time to warm up before we really push them.”

“Starbase 214. Warp six, aye”

[Peter Jensen]

Truth be told, Peter was no more comfortable with the seating arrangement than Black was. He couldn't forget what he had seen in her eyes during the "bridge incident", as he had now compartmentalized the standoff. But he was also a professional and forced the feeling back down.
He didn't precisely like the arrangement of seats, and not just because of Black. While he could definitely see the reason for it, seeing as one unlucky - or lucky depending on whose perspective - shot would not longer be able to kill both the CO and XO at the same time, and thus cut off the heads of the chain of command, it also meant that he had no ready access to the Captain without having to go over there and talk to her.

He wouldn't be able to lean in and whisper in her ear without the crew noticing, let alone hearing. The possibility of a "private word" or discreet bit of advice or warning was completely and irrecoverably gone. The entire bridge would now notice if there was a disagreement between the two heads of leadership. And that was something Peter was not a fan of.
The value of CO and XO being able to have a "quiet conference" without drawing too much attention to themselves was gone. Now, he would have to ask Braggins for a private meeting in the ready room if he had something to say he didn't think the crew should hear.

Which idiot designer thought this layout was a good idea? Someone who's never served one minute, is who!, he thought angrily, but made his best effort to push the thought down and away so he could focus. And then realized that, if needed, he could use the console in front of him to send Braggins a messasge. It was not ideal, but it was the second-best thing he could think of.

He then heard Braggins give the order:

"Theresa, ahead one quarter Impulse until we clear the docking slip, then set course one eight zero mark zero five and go to full Impulse", and Black's acknowlegement of the order. He nodded. They were heading towards what used to be Talarian territory. He hoped it would only be a patrol mission. Just another routine mission.
But realized as soon as he'd thought it that he could very well have just jinxed that notion.

[GM-01]

==Timeskip - 5 Weeks Later==

After four weeks at Warp Six, the Yeager arrived at its assigned starting point between Deep Space Nine and Starbase 214, which also happened to coincide with the official and galactically-recognised border between the Cardassian Union and the Talarian Republic. It spent the next week moving system to system, taking detailed scans and running drills to keep the crew sharp and maintain an element of routine and structure among the monotony of stellar surveys and cartography. The occasional mechanical hiccough had not managed to delay the mission, but they had made for some entertaining and butt-clenching moments.

It was almost five weeks to the hour following the Yeager's departure from the shipyard, during a routine sensor sweep of the system while the computer compiled information to generate new star charts, that an odd blip appeared on the lateral sensor array. For a moment it looked like a sensor ghost, or maybe just a glitch, but it appeared again in a different location as the array completed a follow-up sweep.

Though the computer could not immediately identify the object, two things would be obvious to the sensor crews; 1) it was very hard to see, and 2) it was moving on a straight course to the Talarian border.

[Theresa Black]

New ships are a wonderful way to try out new technologies. And to try the patience of the crew along the way also.

Given that the primary mission of the Yeager was to map the boarder systems along the Cardassian /Talarian  DMZ, Black was all too ready to lynch whichever of the Antares shipyard team had not only failed to update over forty tera-quads of off the shelf navigation charts prior to launch, but had managed to install both the secondary AND tertiary quantum-astrolabes upside down.

That had taken over half a day to discover and repair when they'd found something was up by chance, when someone looking out the window noticed a planet on the wrong side of the ship.

Five weeks into the mission, may as well have been five months.

The shifts had swapped over about half an hour ago. Chertstone had been been on helm duty. He'd reported that there had been an anomalous reading from the lateral sensor sweeps during the last mapping pass, but the computer had classified it as a sensor ghost as it hadn't reoccurred.

Black accepted this as this region was quite heavy in gaseous interstellar matter, and had caused several other false positives.

However this time, when the computer flagged it again. It red flagged it as it was miniscule, but identical to the previous one.

Coincidences are never a coincidence. And if there's any doubt, there is no doubt. She turned back to address T'Lari who was seated at the aft tactical station.

“Contact bearing...” She gave a heading and inclination. “Identical to previous ghost contact half an hour ago. Can you confirm contact and heading?”


== Tag T'Lari and anyone else wanting to sound like they know what they're doing? ==

[T'Lari]

== I totally know what I'm doing. Fully 28% of the time. ==

T'Lari gave the slightest of frowns as the sensor ghost reappeared again. “Contact bearing...” She gave a heading and inclination. “Identical to previous ghost contact half an hour ago. Can you confirm contact and heading?” Lieutenant Black had turned to her, having seen the same notification on her console.

"Confirmed, Lieutenant," T'Lari responded. "Contact is moving toward the Talarian border. Attempting to pin it down." The half-Vulcan quickly tapped in a series of commands into her station bringing a course into view on the holographic display, then sent it to Black with a tag for the Captain's chair as well. She gave the Lieutenant an estimated speed and time to reach the border based on the results of the two contacts.

It wasn't a cloaked ship, most likely, because they wouldn't have been able to pin down anything.

I am making an assumption, one that might not be correct. A cloaked ship of one of the major powers would be undetectable, but an older ship or an obsolete cloak might show up on the sensors as a 'ghost.' Smugglers, perhaps? Or a race like the Ferengi who often dealt with older technology?

She could, of course, 'light' the mysterious ship up with sensors and try and pin them down, but that would give away the game and let them know they'd been spotted. Ultimately that decision would be up to the Captain. The new Yeager did need a proper sensor test, but this was perhaps not the best time.

"I will attempt to determine the contact's origin point."

== GM Input puh-leaze: What is the contact's distance, speed and time to the border? And can T'Lari figure an approximate course back from the contact (with the obvious assumption that it traveled in a straight line) to determine a general area it came from? ==

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

==Temp Security NPC Tabitha Rotterdam (Human)==


Tabby was bored. Oh so bored. Every other rotation, a Security crewmember was to sit on the Bridge - or rather, stand, since there wasn’t a Security station. There were auxiliary stations, sure, but Captain Braggins wasn’t big on Chief d’Tor’an keeping an extra eye on her. At least, that’s what the rumor mill said. The two women still weren’t exactly friendly after d’Tor’an had tried to kick Braggins out of the Captain’s chair last mission. Was it mutiny, or miscommunication? No one seemed to fully know the answer except those that had been on the Bridge at the time in question - and no one was telling the Lower Deckers.

Twirling a strand of hair, Tabs let out a loud sigh. No one seemed to care that she was bored, and so likewise, no one seemed to care about her sighing. The Bridge hummed with busywork, and Tabby wondered if life would have been more exciting had she gone for that position on Starbase 27.

“Contact bearing identical to previous ghost contact half an hour ago. Can you confirm contact and heading?”

The Chief Tactical Officer was speaking, and Tabby tilted her head like a Golden Retriever. It seemed that a stray speck of dust had gotten the attention of the Bridge crew, and therefore, the officer tasked with watching them.

“Confirmed, Lieutenant. Contact is moving toward the Talarian border. Attempting to pin it down.” The Tactical team sure seemed like they were having fun! Tabby smiled ironically as she watched them chase down the sensor blip. She scratched the back of her head; the itch kept moving, and Tabby planned to take a shower after this shift.

[Theresa Black]

Even out here on the boarders, subspace messages travelled to and from the ship. Mostly data packets were relayed through Starfleet's communications systems that gave Command real time locations and statuses of ships and facilities. But other more conventional messages travelled too.

Black while at the helm noted that the small PADD she kept in her thigh pocket buzzed letting her know that it had received a communication from someone. The tactical team often sent notes and messages internally between themselves via text, so that it didn't interrupt meetings or other situations while on duty, just to let each other know tasks had been completed or as memos for meetings and such later.

Taking a moment while T'Lari was consulting the ships main computer, she called up the message which had pinged in a side window on the helm console. The second she saw who it was from, she froze. It wasn't an internal message.

They were five weeks out, and it had taken half of that time to reach them though it's journey through the network. It was flagged as a personal message that had been sent to her private account on the ships server for reading later off duty, but it had still pinged her while on duty. She knew the sender. She read the message regardless.

She read the message again.

“Commander.” She said after a beat. As calmly as she could. “Can I speak to you please?” It was only then that she tapped the screen to close the message and turned to face the First officer. “In private.”

== Tag Jensen (Assuming you're on the bridge) – Can we borrow the ready room? ==

[Jennifer Braggins]

To say Jenny was brooding as she sat on the Bridge overseeing yet another day of monotony was an exaggeration, but only a small one. Communications with the few contacts she had left at Starfleet Command over the last few weeks had done little to reaffirm her faith in Starfleet; Ben Elias had confessed to illegally installing a Klingon cloaking device in the Liberty Bell, and his career was over because of it. Tyra's would have been too if he allegedly hadn't taken full responsibility, but the Artemis crew would be lucky if they did anything other than haul garbage for the next year or so. Not that either of them had aspired to flag rank, but there were rumours that Tyra and Jenny had both been removed from consideration for promotion to Commodore any time in the next few decades.

Hell, it only took them what? Twenty years to rehabilitate Erika Benteen? And now she's Admiral Janeway's right-hand woman.

Drumming her fingers on her armrest, Jenny considered once again retreating into her Ready Room where she could actually get some worthwhile work done; her paper on Operation Return and the relative benefits and drawbacks of the command styles and tactics of both Sisko and Dukat during the battle was nearly complete, and she'd been asked to write a third-party assessment on Starfleet's proposed construction budgets for the 2405-6 fiscal year; Starfleet Command might not appreciate her or her antics, there were still a few people in civilian government and academia who valued her opinion. Though she hated to admit it, having been in Starfleet for most of her existence, but life as a civilian was starting to look more appealing, and certainly more lucrative.

“Contact. Identical to previous ghost contact half an hour ago. Can you confirm contact and heading?”

“Confirmed, Lieutenant. Contact is moving toward the Talarian border. Attempting to pin it down. I will attempt to determine the contact's origin point.”

Jenny suppressed a sigh; this wasn't the first random sensor contact they'd come across since entering the area, and it likely wouldn't be the last. Unlike the previous few, however, Jenny sincerely hoped this one wasn't a misaligned sensor or dirt working its way into the terminals. On the other hand, if this was a smuggler or someone attempting to sneak across the border, it would be on her head if she failed to stop them, and all of those lucrative positions she'd just been thinking about would dry up in the face of a dishonorable discharge.

"Science, run a diagnostic on the sensors and confirm the sensor contact. Then give me a scan of the other side of the border, I want to make sure there's nobody waiting to pounce if we try to intercept. Theresa, plot an intercept course but do not engage until Science gives you the all clear. T'Lari, if that's a genuine contact I'm going to want a warning shot prepared."

Though the sensor contact had given the crew a break from the monotony and a chance to prove they were capable of doing something useful, it did little to break Jenny's malaise. This would probably be another dead-end lead that simply wasted their time, energy, and would need to be logged in great detail anyway so the bureaucrats running Starfleet could pick over her every command decision.

"Peter, if this contact is genuine I'm going to want a boarding party standing by. Standard customs procedure, and see if we have anyone on the crew who might have experience in...hiding things they didn't want found during inspections."

[GM-01]

==T'Lari==

The sensor contact was extremely weak, so the computer could only estimate a range; somewhere between ten and fifteen million kilometers from the Yeager's current position. Velocity was again, an estimate, of just below .25c. The computer also estimated that it would be between five and ten minutes before it reached the Talarian border.

Plotting a course using just two reference points, and estimated reference points at that, wasn't a perfect solution. The heading the vessel appeared to be on, assuming it was travelling in a straight line course, had it entering the system from interstellar space well away from any trade routes or inhabited planets.

[Peter Jensen]

The weeks that followed were...tedious, to say the least. Peter was bored, and that was putting it mildly. A more accurate description would be that he was bored out of his skull, often maintaining only as much presence of mind as was needed to do his job, and otherwise disappearing into his happy place.
So when something finally did happen after weeks, he was suddenly alert and attentive.

The Captain as well, it seemed, as she sprang into action. Peter's mind had done the same, and he'd already started thinking about boarding party members before she'd ordered him to stand by.

"Understood", he acknowledged her order, and got out of his seat, and was about to tap his badge when Black interrupted. He was definitely surprised, but the tone in her voice told him that it was serious, serious enough to warrant something as unusual as this request. Asking to speak to the XO privately rather than include the Captain was definitely out of the ordinary. He looked at her, and nodded seriously. "Certainly", he said, then thought for a second. It might be a bit much to ask the Captain to use the Ready Room for a conversation she wasn't going to be partty to. "Let's go to the briefing room", he said, and headed for the door", then tapped his badge.

"Jensen to Turner, West and Shadowhunt", he began, "Report to transporter room 1. Customs inspection, so be prepared to do a thorough sweep when we arrive. Please bring a sidearm but have it to stun", he said as he grabbed one himself from the bridge locker. He definitely sympathized with the Talarian resistance, but that didn't mean that he'd want to board a ship under their control or working for them without being able to protect himself.

"And bring any and all carryable equipment needed for a through search for contraband. I'll meet you there shortly", he finished the order as the doors opened and he exited.

== Time for a field trip? Oh, and a little nervous about what that message contained  Next post: Briefing room ==

[Theresa Black]

"Certainly", Replied Jensen to Blacks request. "Let's go to the briefing room." Gesturing toward the door while he simultaneously organised his away team to assemble.

>> Briefing Room >>

[T'Lari]

Curiously Lt. Black requested a private discussion with the First Officer. The Captain had decided to take the possible contact seriously. Or rather had decided it was at least worth a look.

"Science, run a diagnostic on the sensors and confirm the sensor contact. Then give me a scan of the other side of the border, I want to make sure there's nobody waiting to pounce if we try to intercept. Theresa, plot an intercept course but do not engage until Science gives you the all clear. T'Lari, if that's a genuine contact I'm going to want a warning shot prepared."

T'Lari responded "Yes, Captain," then reported her rather limited findings. It could be anything. It was most likely nothing at all worth paying attention to. She brought the phasers to standby, ready to go without causing an energy spike. "Phasers ready." T'Lari had to admit it was at least giving the crew a chance to test the ship's systems.

== Tag Jenny ==

[Theresa Black]

>> Briefing Room >>

Stepping back onto the bridge, Black glance over at the chronometer under the main viewscreen. She hadn't been gone long, but bridge time and ship time were almost relative.

When she'd left, one of the NCO's had taken over the helm until she returned. She just caught the end of T'Lari speaking as she moved forward feeling the eyes of everyone present on the back of her head.

Tapping the NCO on the shoulder, she received a brief report on what she'd missed. The course change toward the contact in particular. And relieving them, she retook her seat.

“Sorry about that, Captain.” She said, not wanting to cause any further disruption or share any details, for now. But in the back of her head, she repeated the mantra. Just do the job in front of you...

== Let the paranoia begin ==

[Jennifer Braggins]

Jenny frowned as Black returned to the Bridge with a mumbled apology, but said nothing. As per Starfleet regulations she had been forwarded official notice of Lilith Black's passing, as it was her duty as Captain to inform the officer of their recent bereavement, and she'd received a quick message from Lieutenant Sharp implying that a personal message had been routed to Black's Bridge station. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together, and part of Jenny wanted to relieve the older woman for her lapse in professionalism, and because nobody who lost a parent could seriously hope to perform their duties to expected levels.

Unfortunately, with timings so tight, she didn't have that luxury unless she wanted to take the helm herself.  While that would have been her first preference, indeed she wondered if she should have ever accepted promotion out of the pilot's seat, she had to remain in her "rightful" position and give the orders, while her crew enjoyed the privilege of making those orders a reality.

"Helm, plot an intercept course. If that is a ship, I want it stopped before it can make a break for the border."

As the Yeager moved on to her new course, Jenny drummed her fingers on the armrests of her chair. She was torn between ordering the ship, if it was a ship, to heave to, or to wait until they were closer and there was no hope of the ship escaping. The Yeager's lack of forward-mounted torpedo launchers meant she couldn't use shock and awe tactics to force the probably smuggler off their course, she'd have to wait until she was closer and had a better weapons solution.

He may not even know we're here, if he's running silent.

Jenny's lips quirked into a smile that wasn't quite wicked, but was very close.

"T'Lari, when I say go, I want you to hit that sensor ghost with every active fire control sensor you have. Take whatever discretionary power you need, but I want him to know we're here."

Standing, Jenny tugged on the hem of her uniform jacket in a manner which reminded her of the historic logs she'd seen of Jean-Luc Picard, and nodded to the Ops Officer to open a channel.

"Unknown vessel, this is Captain Jennifer Braggins of the Starship Yeager. You are approaching restricted space controlled by the Cardassian Union. Heave to and prepare for boarding, or you will be fired upon. You have sixty seconds to comply. This is your only warning."

With the message sent and the channel closed, Jenny waited five heartbeats as she returned to her seat, then crossed her legs and leaned forward in the chair with a predatory smile on her face.

"T'Lari...go!"

==GM Input please: Does the sensor ghost respond, or is Jenny yelling into the void like a raving lunatic?==

[Altairi Hydish]

An agitated-sounding commbadge transmission came in through intraship comms. [Hydish to Bridge, do you read? Power's been cut in Engineering. Emergencies are offline too. Is something going on up there?]

== Tag whoever's in charge of the intercoms ==

[Arwen Qi]

Qi didn’t mind the five weeks of scanning. The Yeager’s equipment was powerful, but idiosyncratic, to the point where they’d lost several hours of data due to a calibration issue. Luckily, his team had been watching the data closely, or they would have had to redo several days of sweeps.

Finally, a strange shadow on the sensors broke the monotony of their work. It was moving at sub-light speed, approximately .25c, and headed straight for the Talarian border.

“Science, run a diagnostic on the sensors and confirm the sensor contact. Then give me a scan of the other side of the border, I want to make sure there's nobody waiting to pounce if we try to intercept,” The captain said.

“It wouldn’t be the first time the sensors played a trick on us,” Qi replied. “Let’s scan behind them for a residual warp trail. If we’re fast, it won’t have dissipated yet.”

Qi tapped quickly at his console, finally getting used to the Yeager’s controls.

== Tag Bridge

GM Input:
- Are sensors functioning properly?
Any signs of residual warp trail?
Any activity on the other side of the border? ==

[Theresa Black]

"Helm, plot an intercept course. If that is a ship, I want it stopped before it can make a break for the border."

“Aye aye, Captain.” Replied Black a little too animatedly. “Would you like me to prepare the tractor beam too?” She asked.

== Tag back for el Capetino ==

[T'Lari]

"T'Lari, when I say go, I want you to hit that sensor ghost with every active fire control sensor you have. Take whatever discretionary power you need, but I want him to know we're here."

That was fine with T'Lari. It was the perfect opportunity to see how the system performed, even if the order was unusual. "Aye, Captain. Awaiting the order."

"Unknown vessel, this is Captain Jennifer Braggins of the Starship Yeager. You are approaching restricted space controlled by the Cardassian Union. Heave to and prepare for boarding, or you will be fired upon. You have sixty seconds to comply. This is your only warning."

We may be threatening a piece of space junk.

""T'Lari...go!""

With that the half-Vulcan keyed in the command to bring the Yeager's powerful targeting sensors online. She didn't lock weapons, but that was merely a formality and would take almost no time.

== GM Input: So does it actually work? ==

[GM-01]

==Qi==

Sensors were functioning perfectly for once. There was no residual warp trail in the immediate area; if this was a ship, it had dropped from warp and crept into the system under Impulse power. For a moment, there was nothing on the other side of the border. Then there was. A Cardassian Galor-class warship, matching the Yeager's speed, had materialised seemingly out of nowhere.

==T'Lari==

Active sensors were wonderful things, especially on a ship as advanced as the Yeager. Lashing the sensor contact with navigational, scientific and fire control sensors stripped away the effects of whatever stealth systems the small ship was using, and probably didn't do much good to the other ship's passive sensor array. 

Identified as a Greer-class light freighter, essentially an old Oberth class sans the secondary hull outrigger, at first the smaller ship went to full Impulse and vectored away from the Yeager, accelerating extraordinarily quickly for a craft of its tonnage. Then the Captain obviously realized he wasn't getting away, and shut down his engines.

Oddly, the engine signature seemed familiar. As though T'Lari had seen it before.

==Braggins==

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, once the ship had shut down its engines and resumed its ballistic coasting through the system, the comm. system came back to life.

[I guess you got me. Come alongside, I won't give you any trouble.]

The other ship's Captain sounded far calmer than the ship's initial reaction to being scanned would suggest. Almost bored or annoyed, even. Possibly more interesting than the tone of the voice, was that Braggins and T'Lari would recognise it; they'd dealt with this individual before, on the old Yeager.

[Theresa Black]

It felt like to took mere seconds to bring the Yeager to a distance of less than thirty thousand kilometres from the target. Well within weapons range.

Data began to come in Maz could see from the shared display between stations. Each primary station had its full analysis, while a GIST of that information made the rounds to keep everyone up to date.

With Braggins giving the word, it seemed to take seconds again for the errant contact to become fully real and, surrender?

A buzz from her PADD distracted her a moment again. She pulled it out and briefly she froze on seeing the subject header from her last message before she forced herself to open the new message. From Gellot working photon loader this shift. An energy surge had just caused the targeting compensator to reinitialise.

[Get it up and online.] She typed back. Having seen a reference in the GIST she didn't like.

[Jennifer Braggins]

==The following has been posted with GM knowledge and permission.==

The Yeager closed on the unknown sensor contact quickly, thanks to its frankly ridiculous engines; where the old Yeager had maneuvered like a small moon at impulse power, courtesy of a pair of engines "borrowed" from a ship half its mass, the new Yeager liked to go fast. Black still seemed preoccupied by whatever was going on in her head, but T'Lari and Qi both went to work quickly to bring her the results she had desired. No sooner had the contact been lashed with enough energy to peel the paint from the hull, a brief engine flare on the viewscreen showed that something, someone was trying to run. Then the flare disappeared, and a voice drawled through the speakers as the other ship shut down its engines.

[I guess you got me. Come alongside, I won't give you any trouble.]

With a quirked eyebrow, Jenny turned briefly to T'Lari to make sure she, too, recognised that voice from their previous service patrolling the Romulan border. If she was correct, the person they were dealing with was a very clever man, who understood Starfleet operations better than most, and who was always very careful not to get caught hauling contraband. That he did was beyond doubt, but the elder Yeager had stopped him twice during Jenny's six weeks in command, and both times she'd only been able to cite him for crossing the border without a permit. Now, Mister Obadiah Heathridge, Gentleman of the Spaceways, had been caught dead to rights.

Or had he.

A former Greer-class Corvette, he Disreputable Damsel had been designed from the outset as a corsair and raider; by cutting the outrigger pod from the Oberth-class Scout and installing heavy weaponry, the small ship was perfect for convoy interdiction during time of war. With a cargo capacity of two thousand tons, it could also be used as a small blockade runner. Though the ship was over a century old, it held tricks up its sleeves that Jenny only wished she knew, and hoped she wouldn't have to face.

"T'Lari, keep a tractor lock, hold him down if he tries to run. If he breaks the tractor, shoot out his engines. Braggins to Jensen, you're cleared to board; our friend isn't a big fan of Starfleet, so mind your manners." 

With a deep breath, Jenny rose and brushed her uniform jacket flat.

"Captain Heathridge, you're a long way from your usual haunt. Stand by to receive my inspection team, and then we shall talk about what best to do with you."

==GM Input on the reply, please: Does Heathridge reply or is he giving us the silent treatment?==

[GM-01]

The reply to Braggins' message was spoken in a flat Scottish accent, carrying weariness and irritation with it.

[Let's not try and make nice, Captain. Let's get this over with so we can both be on our way.]

The communication link went dead almost immediately after the other person had finished speaking.

[T'Lari]

I know that energy signature.

Confirmation came a few moments later.

The Captain turned to T'Lari, giving her a rather Vulcan-like quirked eyebrow which the Tactical officer returned. Obadiah Heathridge. Again. She felt a brief flash of irritation which she suppressed. Humans would call him a 'rogue,' but as far as she was concerned he was just a criminal, and she'd never understood the fascination with lawbreakers that some races held.

Braggins was cautious. "T'Lari, keep a tractor lock, hold him down if he tries to run. If he breaks the tractor, shoot out his engines. Braggins to Jensen, you're cleared to board; our friend isn't a big fan of Starfleet, so mind your manners."

[i]Good. She expects trouble and tricks. Deception as a best-case scenario. No doubt he will pretend to be smuggling food or medicine or adorable fluffy animals.[/i]

T'Lari activated the tractor beam and locked it on the smuggler's ship. For her part, after the incident with the Cardassian "freighter" the half-Vulcan was a bit more wary. That didn't mean she thought that Heathridge was going to lash out with phased polaron beams and start cutting into the hull, but she was ready at a moment's notice to separate his ship's engines from the rest of it. She didn't target the Yeager's weapons... yet. This was still just an inspection, and she intended to remain professional no matter how much Heathridge grated on her emotional control.

"Captain Heathridge," the Captain continued, "you're a long way from your usual haunt. Stand by to receive my inspection team, and then we shall talk about what best to do with you."

The no-nonsense Jensen would be the best to deal with this 'gentleman,' as far as the Tactical officer was concerned.

[Let's not try and make nice, Captain. Let's get this over with so we can both be on our way.]

[i]It's never that easy with him.[/i]

== GM input: Any problems with the tractors? ==

[Arwen Qi]

Qi gathered that Braggins was familiar with the captain of this freighter ship, though they didn’t seem to be on particularly friendly terms.

Good, at least she knows not to let her guard down.

“I’m scanning his ship for life signs,” Qi said, tapping away at his console. “Last time I came across a smuggler, I ended up with this symbiont.”

Qi kept his eyes fixed on the console, focusing on his work. He still remembered the days after the emergency joining procedure. He was sick for weeks. The dying symbiont felt like a cold rock in his stomach. Somehow, they’d both survived. In some ways, he’d gotten everything he wanted, but it came at the cost of his relationship with his family.

He read the scan data as it populated his screen, hoping that this freighter captain was less dangerous than the previous one he’d encountered.

== Tag Bridge

GM Input: Any life signs besides the freighter captain? ==

[Theresa Black]

From behind her, it seemed clear that the Captain knew the Captain of ship. A ship that was so small by today's standards that it had barely registered fully until they'd made the point of hunting it down.

Its course had been on a direct beeline it seemed with the boarder, over which their sensors now showed a Galor class vessel holding position.

After their last couple of missions, Cardassians were certainly not Maz's favourite peoples currently. If she'd had any cause to mistrust them before the Omarion mission, now her distrust was becoming almost pathological.

Following standard procedure, while both vessels were stationary, she manoeuvred the Yeager so that it wasn't exactly blocking the smaller craft from running if it foolishly made that decision, but blocking the direct line of sight between the two. Just in case some bright spark had the idea of sending some kind of narrow band transmission between the two.

Tactical wasn't just seat of the pants fancy flying and shooting. It was anticipating and countering what an enemy would do before they thought of doing it. If anything, it gave her something to focus on for now.

Tying into the passive sensors to not alert the Cardassian that they had been seen and actively scanned until it was necessary as T'Lari had already used such a tactic to bring the smaller craft to a halt, Black took the opportunity to see if she could glean what the Cardassian was up to while it waited.

== GM – Can we tell what the Cardassian is currently doing? Are there any stray or miscellaneous signals or contacts floating about that would be of interest maybe? ==

[GM-01]

==T'Lari==

The tractor beams were primed and ready for use, no issues reported.

==Qi==

The only lifesigns besides the Disreputable Damsel's Captain were the lifesigns of the Away Team.

==Black==

The Cardassian ship was holding station parallel to the Yeager, matching its distance from the border almost to the centimeter. Though there were no other extraneous sensor contacts, the computer did match the Galor's engine emissions with a contact that had, intermittently, appeared on the Yeager's long-range sensors since it had started its patrol. 

Further investigation of the logs would show the Cardassian ship always maintained the same distance from the border as the Yeager, and always seemed to be moving at the same velocity.

[Arwen Qi]

Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever crimes this freighter captain may have been guilty of, trafficking sentient life didn’t seem to be among them.

I doubt it’s a coincidence that a freighter ship would show up in an area where resistance fighters are using scavenged Federation tech, but whose side is he on?

“Qi to Science Labs, let’s send a probe to ‘update our star charts’. Keep a special eye out for signs of dilithium processing and alloys specific to Federation technology, especially anything that went missing in the mid-fifties. Feel free to throw in anything else that may be of scientific interest. If we happen to identify any possible Talarian resistance bases, please send that data to the Bridge.”

Qi bit his lip. There were no safe moves this close to the Cardassian border. If they could figure out where scavenged tech was being taken, they might have more insight into the freighter captain’s allegiances.

== Tag Bridge ==

[Theresa Black]

== NRC – PO Srent – Vulcan – Science ==

The response to Qi's request came back within seconds.

[Petty Officer Srent to the Bridge. I am launching a class three probe, now.]



== Black ==

While the others were dealing with the Greer class vessel, Black focused on the Cardassian vessel across the border.

Now the Yeager had come to a full stop, the other vessel had done so also. And, now she could scan it, it matched another sensor contact that they had detected on several occasions, but until now, it had remained in the edge of their sensor range.

Now it sat across the border, most likely scanning the Yeager and the Greer, just as the Yeager was scanning them.

Whoever was piloting it seemed to have matched, and mirrored Yeager's distance from the border. One hundred and forty six (million) yards was all that separated the two vessels.

The one advantage they possibly had right now was Yeager was a new vessel. Unless the Obsidian order had full access to the Antares yards records, they would have very little data on them. But there was a high possibility that other Starfleet ships had met with this much older Galor.

“Computer. Identify Cardassian Galor Vessel.”


== GM – Can the computer identify the Cardassian specifically? And if so, what information do we have on it? Previous engagements with SF vessels, known weaknesses or peculiarities. That kind of thing. ==

[T'Lari]

For a moment T'Lari had expected the tractor beams not to work but they had activated without issue. She considered for a moment as they engaged... was she really this cynical? For that matter, did cynicism count as an emotion? The 23rd-century philosopher T'Prea had argued that it was, that logic dictated that each situation must be judged according to circumstances and that becoming cynical interfered with that. Still, there were others who disagreed.

The thought didn't distract her as she kept a careful eye on sensor readings. She was ready to disable the ship if there was the slightest indication that it would run or otherwise prove a threat.

In the meantime Black was attempting to gather more information on the Cardassian ship a mere half light-second from their position. It was making no attempt to cross. Was it waiting for Heathridge? Most likely, though the circumstances were still unknown. Had the Cardassians detected him? Unlikely, but possible. Was he smuggling something to them? More likely. Too many questions.

[Jennifer Braggins]

Jenny sat, pensively considering the situation as her crew utilized their considerable initiative to further break down the situation that was evolving around them. On one hand, they had a potential smuggler making a run for the border who had only reluctantly stopped when he realised he couldn't outrun the Yeager or hide from her. On the other, there was a Cardassian Galor shadowing them, likely the one that had appeared on their sensors a few times over the previous weeks. On top of all of that, they still had their survey and mapping work to do, and an under-manned crew with which to do it. While she agreed with most of what her crew were up to, the probe launch could be considered a hostile act by the Cardassians, but she made no move to prevent its launch; so long as the probe never crossed the border or turned its sensors actively upon the Cardassians, the rule of interstellar law was on Jenny's side.

For once.

Heathridge wouldn't be selling to the Cardassians, I know that for certain. He might be helping out the Talarians, I suppose. This could also be a huge misunderstanding, but I doubt it.

Ultimately Heathridge wasn't the largest issue right now, the Cardassian Galor hovering just on the other side of the border was. On a scale familiar to most humanoids, the two ships were a vast difference apart, but on a galactic scale they were basically sitting in each others' laps; that was close enough for any wrong move to spark an interstellar incident, especially when the Captain of one ship was wanted for piracy by the government that owned the other ship.

So long as we stay on-mission, and on our side of the border, we should be good. I know the Federation doesn't recognise the Cardassian occupation as legal, but it's probably best not to push it.

"Open a channel to the Cardassian ship."

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, and letting it out slowly, Jenny sat up in her chair and tried to portray a confidence she wasn't sure she felt. What had been meant as a simple mapping and patrol mission was rapidly degenerating into another political powder keg. Someone out there hated Jenny, she knew it.

"Cardassian vessel, this is Captain Braggins of the starship Yeager; I notice we've been on similar courses for a while now, we are conducting stellar surveys and updating our navigational charts; perhaps we could pool our resources?"

It wasn't quite a bluff, but it had the benefit of calling the Cardassian out for shadowing her without actually doing it. Whether or not it worked would remain to be seen...

==GM Input please: Does the Cardassian ship respond?==

[GM-01]

==Black==

The energy signature was in the Starfleet database: the CDS Os'rusa was an older ship, having been seen combat during the Klingon-Cardassian and Dominion Wars. Interestingly, and for reasons known only to the computer, one additional data point was added to the request.

During 'Operation Return', the Os'rusa had attacked, and then been disabled by, the original Yeager-class Yeager. A link to the tactical report, authored by one Commander zh'Alla, was appended.

==Braggins==

For a moment, it seemed like the Cardassian ship would not reply. Then the screen flickered to life, revealing a tall and extraordinarily well-built Cardassian. Slicked back hair framed a powerful face, set in a deep scowl.

[I am Gul Hanar of the Fifth Order; state your real business here on the border, Starfleet. I see you've apprehended a civilian freighter; tell me, Captain, does piracy suit your temperament better than following the orders of your betters? I hear you're making a career out of it.]

Hanar's scowl deepened into an amused sneer as he spoke, deliberately trying to get a rise out of Braggins. A soft sound from the viewscreen drew Hanar's attention, and from the left hand side of the screen entered an athletic and attractive-looking Cardassian woman approached. The two conversed in hushed whispers for a moment, Hanar's scowl returning, before the viewscreen went to the default "Hold Screen" of the Cardassian Central Command insignia as the communication was paused.

A minute went by before the screen reactivated; the woman was moving away from Hanar, who now had an expression of sheer disgust on his face.

[Continue your "mapping mission", but remain on your side of the border. It would be a shame if you got lost and something unfortunate were to happen to you, Captain.]

The screen went blank. Sensors would indicate that the Cardassian ship was moving away, though her sensors were still locked on the Yeager.

[Theresa Black]

== Black ==

The Computer returned its results on the Cardassian after a couple of seconds.

[There is one match in the Federation Database.] It offered [CDS Os'rusa.]

It then went on to display basic statistics of the class along with a few other engagements with other  Starfleet vessels over the preceding years. One that it specifically flagged was headed 'Operation Return', submitted by a Commander zh'Alla.

It was an account of the retaking of Deep Space Nine during the Dominion war. The most interesting part being that the Os'rusa had been there that day, and had been disabled by the Yeager's former incarnation during that push.

Black was reading this while the Captain was now making contact with the Os'rusa. Looking up at the Gul on the screen. He seemed somewhat riled like all Spoonheads with a chip on both of their padded shoulders.

When the screen went blank and then returned moments later, maybe it was his officer informing him, that it was a ship called Yeager that had previously handed his ship its butt last time they'd met. Maybe that old rust buckets reputation would have some use after all, she thought.




== NRC – PO Srent – Vulcan – Science ==

It was several minutes after the probe had been launched when Srent once again made contact with Qi on the bridge.

[Srent to the Bridge. Commander Qi, we have begun receiving data from the probe. I am forwarding you our findings so far, which also includes what possibly appears to be a late twenty-first, early twenty-second century United Earth energy signature and distress signal.]

== Tag Qi ==

[Arwen Qi]

[Srent to the Bridge. Commander Qi, we have begun receiving data from the probe. I am forwarding you our findings so far, which also includes what possibly appears to be a late twenty-first, early twenty-second century United Earth energy signature and distress signal.]

Qi grinned to himself as the information began to display on his console. He hadn’t spent much time with his science department yet, but it was good to see that they seemed to be up to the task.

“Captain, our probe is picking up a distress signal from an old United Earth vessel. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the Talarians, but it’s worth investigating. The technology on board would be antique. We’d better get there before your smuggler friend finds it.”

Qi pored over the probe’s sensor data for any more details that may be useful.

== Tag Bridge

GM Input: Any info on the vessel’s registry/when it was lost? Can we tell if it’s on our side of the border? ==

[GM-01]

The signal was weak and contained only the SOS signal; no name or registry. Whether due to range or weakness or the energy signature, the probe could not isolate the signature enough to get a comparison for record; all it had determined that it was a pulse fusion signature, which dated it as a design put in place between Cochrane's 2063 flight and the development of the Matter/Antimatter drive in the mid-22nd century.

Unfortunately, the signal was coming from a system several light years on the Talarian side of the border.

[Jennifer Braggins]

Jenny's eyes narrowed as the Cardassian, in true Cardassian style, turned what could have been a perfectly pleasant discussion between two ship commanders into a personal attack. Though her anger bubbled below the surface, well aware of her trial and conviction in-absentia for piracy by the Cardassian Central Command, but she somehow managed to keep it in check as the swarthy Gul continued his vitriolic diatribe. One eyebrow rose, however, as the Gul was silenced by a trim and not-unattractive Cardassian woman in civilian clothes. The two conversed off-screen for a moment before Hanar closed the channel and his ship began to move away.

"What a charming individual..."

Though she was now "off the hook" with the Cardassian ship, she reminded herself that she would have to tread very carefully, at least until the ship passed beyond sensor range. With a deep breath that exhaled as a sigh, part relief that they'd managed to avoid a firefight, part frustration that such a confrontation had happened in the first place.

"T'Lari, get me everything Intelligence has on Gul Hanar. Run that woman's face through facial recognition, too; I think she told Hanar to knock it off, and Cardassian Guls don't listen to just anyone."

Before she had time to settle down, however, the voice of her new Chief Science Officer carried across the Bridge. She'd learned he was a man of few words, probably due to his new-ness to the crew, but when he spoke he was generally worth listening to.

“Captain, our probe is picking up a distress signal from an old United Earth vessel. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the Talarians, but it’s worth investigating. The technology on board would be antique. We’d better get there before your smuggler friend finds it.”

Great, first Cardassian shadows now a distress call. Who said this would be a simple survey mission?

Jenny considered Qi's words for a moment, especially her comments about Heathridge. The temptation to correct his choice of words was dampened by the ramifications of the discovery; if it was a United Earth vessel, it was two centuries out of date at least, but it was also a distress call that she was mandated by Starfleet regulation and interstellar law to respond to. The fact it was on the wrong side of a border, in space that was contested by a government hostile to the Federation, were inconsequential. 

This isn't something we can ignore. Not only do we have a duty to respond, it's our moral responsibility and this time, nobody is getting a choice in the matter.

Decision made in Jenny's mind, she knew that Jensen and certain other conservatives in her crew might disagree, but this was not Parhelia. The legality of what she had done there had not depended on whether or not Parhelia was Cardassian space, as the Federation had not recognised the Cardassian occupation as legal, but whether she had disobeyed lawful orders. This time, she was morally and legally mandated to investigate so long as she didn't put her crew at risk, and interstellar law would agree with her decision for crossing a border of a Federation ally, even if that ally was under military occupation.

Not that the Cardassians will see it that way, but since when have they obeyed interstellar law when it didn't suit them?

"Mister Qi, I want a range and bearing on that distress call. Theresa, T'Lari, I want you ready for a possible border crossing; it'll piss the Cardassians off, but we should be able to outrun them; we'll be weapons-safe unless they fire on us, but I want their sensors and communications scrambled if necessary."

Crossing the border was going to require speed, which meant they were going to have to open the taps; the Yeager hadn't been properly tested at full power, and effecting a rescue in hostile territory wasn't something they could afford to dawdle on. They were going to need their best people on-deck, monitoring the systems with eagle-eyes, and more than a few hopes and prayers that the entire ship didn't decide to spread itself over a few light years on a whim.

"Bridge to Hydish. Once you've got your glitch locked down, I want you to start prepping the engines for a full-power sprint. Bring the Slipstream online as well."

Jenny figured it would take Hydish a few minutes to get things set up, which was all the time she was prepared to give Heathridge to prove his innocence. If Jensen couldn't prove he wasn't smuggling contraband by the time the Yeager was ready to depart, she'd officially impound the ship and put a prize crew aboard her; Heathridge would have to sort the rest out with the admiralty courts when he and his ship were delivered to the nearest starbase.

"Yeager to Jensen: Expedite your search, we have a change of mission. If you cannot complete your search, you will detain Captain Heathridge and pilot the Damsel to Starbase 214."

[Peter Jensen]

Peter's response was immediate:

[Copy, Yeager. We'll speed it up]

[Theresa Black]

There was a momentary lull on the bridge as the Cardassian vessel moved off. The Captain asked T'Lari to look up the Gul and this friend to see what she could find. Then Qi spoke up, and the whole energy of the room changed.

A distress signal? Black began a wide sensor sweep to get a lock on the weak signal

Orders began flowing. And a heading was forwarded to Maz's terminal to better aid her finding the target. It was very weak.

“...Theresa, T'Lari, I want you ready for a possible border crossing; it'll piss the Cardassians off,”

Why change the habit of a lifetime?...

“...but we should be able to outrun them; we'll be weapons-safe unless they fire on us, but I want their sensors and communications scrambled if necessary."

That should be simple enough “Heading set...” She called out awaiting the command to engage.

"Bridge to Hydish. Once you've got your glitch locked down, I want you to start prepping the engines for a full-power sprint. Bring the Slipstream online as well."

That made Maz pause and take in a breath. She knew they had slipstream, but she hated it every time they used it. There was always a lurch to her stomach that made her feel unwell whenever they used any form of faster that warp drive. Slipstream, jump gate or even wormhole.

"Yeager to Jensen: Expedite your search, we have a change of mission. If you cannot complete your search, you will detain Captain Heathridge and pilot the Damsel to Starbase 214."

That last line made her stop completely and almost turn back. Will they need a pilot?

The reply almost as quickly put stop to the thought. [Copy, Yeager. We'll speed it up]

That's when she realised that she'd stopped moving and was just looking at her hands hovering above the console. Not meeting the eye of the day. Shocked and locked and bubbled in grief and tired. So tired.

Swallowing, she blinked back the sudden welling she could feel building inside, and forced herself to focus again. Breath. Do your job.

Course is set... She checked the glovebox under the console. Tin of travel sweets and barf bags, check...

She hoped no one had noticed her brief zoning out.

"Helm ready at your command." She said double checking her data once again.

[T'Lari]

[Continue your "mapping mission", but remain on your side of the border. It would be a shame if you got lost and something unfortunate were to happen to you, Captain.]

The conversation on the Cardassian bridge was telling, and T'Lari watched the Gul's sour reaction with interest. He was suddenly more diplomatic.

Interesting. A Gul being given orders on the bridge of his own ship? It is possible that woman is Obsidian Order.

The Captain seemed to be just as interested in the exchange. "T'Lari, get me everything Intelligence has on Gul Hanar. Run that woman's face through facial recognition, too; I think she told Hanar to knock it off, and Cardassian Guls don't listen to just anyone."

"Aye, Captain," the Tactical officer responded, pulling up the Starfleet Intelligence system access and keying in the searches. T'Lari was as interested as Braggins was. This mission was turning into more than a shakedown.

But then another wrinkle from Lt. Commander Qi. “Captain, our probe is picking up a distress signal from an old United Earth vessel. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the Talarians, but it’s worth investigating. The technology on board would be antique. We’d better get there before your smuggler friend finds it.”

The half-Vulcan thought that it was very convenient that they were suddenly receiving an old distress call. The old Kobayashi Maru test came to mind immediately. Was this a setup? Caution was definitely justified, but regulations were clear. They had to help. Braggins thought it over, and then came to an expected decision.

"Mister Qi, I want a range and bearing on that distress call. Theresa, T'Lari, I want you ready for a possible border crossing; it'll piss the Cardassians off, but we should be able to outrun them; we'll be weapons-safe unless they fire on us, but I want their sensors and communications scrambled if necessary."

Her fingers flew over the console, readying the sensor scramblers and communication jamming systems but not activating them yet. When it came to the Cardassians it was best to expect the unexpected, and the last time they'd encountered the Federation's old enemy the Philadelphia had nearly been destroyed... by something that looked like a freighter.

"Yes, Captain. Ready on your order."

Still, the young Lieutenant was perhaps a little too eager to test the ship's systems in an active situation. This new Yeager's sensors were massively more powerful than anything she'd ever used. As the humans joked they could 'peel the paint' off the Cardassian ship. That was good, because she was determined not to be taken by surprise again. Her people might consider her a poor example of what it was to be a Vulcan, but there were times that suspicion and a bit of paranoia could save lives. She keyed in a familiar protocol, the shield rotation she had used during the Philly's encounter with the 'freighter.' If that ship turned out to have phased polaron beams or any other such Dominion tricks she intended to be ready.

"Bridge to Hydish. Once you've got your glitch locked down, I want you to start prepping the engines for a full-power sprint. Bring the Slipstream online as well."

That will certainly get the Cardassian's attention considering how eager they've been to get their hands on one.

The half-Vulcan awaited the Captain's orders, systems at the ready.

== GM Input: What does the Intelligence file show about Gul Hanas? And what, if anything turns up on the mysterious woman on the Cardassian bridge? And are we good to go on weapons and sensors? ==

[GM-01]

The computer took a moment or three to process T'Lari's request as it verified her security clearance. Hanar's rather brutish face was displayed on the screen along with everything currently known about him.

[Name: Hanar
Age: 55
Rank: Gul
Assignment: CDS Os'rusa, Fifth Order
Service Record: 2368-2370: Gil; 2370-2373: Glinn; 2373-2374: Dalin; 2375-Pres: Gul.
Notable Service: Bajoran Occupation. Klingon-Cardassian War. Dominion War.]

There was no data on the woman provided in the datafile; either she wasn't in the database, or T'Lari had insufficient clearance to see what they had.

[Arwen Qi]

The discovery of the distress signal had launched the bridge into a flurry of overlapping chatter. The ship was old. Based on the limited sensor data available, it had likely been stranded for decades or longer. They were unlikely to find any survivors aboard. Still, it was their duty to respond.

And yet, something still wasn’t right. If this ship had been broadcasting a distress signal for that long, why hadn’t someone noticed it before now? This region of space was remote by Federation standards, but the Cardassians weren’t known for their lax border security. A stranded ship was perfect bait, daring the Federation to cross the line.

He shook his head. He would figure out the strategy later, once he knew what game they were playing.

“Sending the heading to the nav console now. Also scanning for anomalies in this region of space. I’d hate to scratch the paint on the Yeager’s first mission,” Qi replied to the captain. He queried the probe for any additional data, looking for radiation, subspace disturbances, and other hazards.

Our ship should be sturdier than an antique, but we should still make sure we don’t get ourselves stranded as well.

== Tag Bridge
GM Input: Any environmental hazards in the direction of the distress signal? ==

[Peter Jensen]

Quite quickly, Peter's voice came back:

[Jensen to Yeager. We found nothing of enough importance to justify staying here. We're ready to go back]

[Altairi Hydish]

A commbadge signal from Engineering patched itself in to Qi's console.

[Hydish to Commander Qi, we're getting ready to spool up the Slipstream Drive. If you or your people can offer any data or processing time to keep our calculations in line, we'd appreciate it.]

[Jennifer Braggins]

==Gonna add an element of CO-GM on this post to keep us moving!==

With the away team returning and the Disreputable Damsel cut loose with what sounded like a stern talking-to, Jenny was free to put the next steps into action. What had started as a simple charting mission had already been complicated by the shadowing Cardassian, but the distress call had added yet another spanner in the works, and she was not looking forward to her debrief once they finally arrived at Starbase 214. Crossing the border without permission would have been an act of war against the Talarians, but that was a fight the Yeager could have easily won; it was the Cardassian occupying force that still concerned her.

It's not like they'll need an excuse to come in guns blazing, even if they weren't dealing with a convicted pirate...

The biggest issue they were going to have was that the Os'rusa was still actively pinging them with its sensors; that worked both ways, as it meant the Yeager also knew where the Cardassians were, but it also meant they couldn't do anything sneaky. With the probe deployed, they could carry on with their legitimate charting mission while also effecting the rescue, so long as they were outside of sensor range of the Os'rusa.

Or we could use the probe as a dupe, but there's no telling how long that'll hold up...

An urgent chirping signal sounded from the Tactical and Science consoles; Jenny's own repeater confirmed what the two other officers were being told, the Os'rusa had disengaged her sensors and seemingly just vanished. No signs of power surges or other phenomena that might indicate a ship in distress were detected, leading Jenny to believe they had simply "gone silent" to surreptitiously observe the Yeager. It would be a shame if they didn't have anything to look at.

"Mister Qi, I need you to reprogram that probe to mimic our energy signature. T'Lari, shut down our transponder and all running lights. Theresa, just in case they don't buy our probe, I want you to take us to Warp Seven on any heading you want for one minute. Then drop us out of warp, turn us around, and activate the Slipstream Drive to get us to that distress signal."

As her crew went about their duties, Jenny once again needed to address her Chief Engineer.

"Bridge to Engineering; Altairi, I need you to disguise or mask our energy signature. It doesn't have to be a perfect, just make us look like anything but a Federation starship."

==Qi: the system was safe to enter, with no major environmental hazards.==

[GM-Braggins]

==Five Minute Timeskip==

The Yeager had punched it into high warp the moment the Away Team were retrieved, travelling 11.6 billion kilometers in a minute before dropping out of warp. Under Black's expert but possibly slightly anxious piloting, the Yeager swung about and fired up its Slipstream Drive.

Three minutes and thirty seconds later, having jumped a staggering distance in mere moments.

Upon arriving in the outer edges of the system, the distress call could be narrowed down. An ancient DY-150 transport was in orbit of an uninhabited Class M world, but the orbit was decaying. Given the automated nature of the call, it was likely the shift in orbit had triggered the system.

Scans of the ship would indicate the main fusion reactor had long since gone offline, power to the ship supplied only by a pair of tattered solar sails. There were faint life signs aboard, indicating humanoids kept within old-style cryogenic chambers.

She was not broadcasting a transponder signal.