This overarching story takes place after the first story of Saga of the Viper. Please read the first story post in that before continuing in this thread.
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Captain Tolbar sat in the command chair of the Typhon as they sped at high warp towards the Briar Patch. They had been the closest vessel when Facility 4028 sent out the distress call, but when they arrived, the attackers had already fled. They had only taken one item, a crate of parts that the Holographic guard had identified as containing the pieces to a Soong type android named Lore. Security footage showed a bunch of humans overpowering the guards using holographic dispersal grenades, essentially just walking in. Such was the problem having the entire base staffed by holograms. But at least they had been able to get the sensor data of the warp field, so the Typhon had jumped to warp as soon as they found it. And it seemed to be heading for the Briar Patch.
"Report."
Commander Cooper turned from his station and looked at the Captain, seating in a slightly elevated position in the centre of the bridge. "We're approaching the Patch now sir. No sign of the attackers, but the warp trail definately ends here."
"Helm, drop to Impulse. Cooper, have a wing of Valkyries ready for launch. Maintain full sensor scans and ease us in, half Impulse."
"Sir, sensors are picking up an Ion wake heading into the Patch. It starts from where the warp trail ends, it has to be the attackers."
"Track that wake. Keep us away from Metreon Gas pockets and keep all sensors on full alert."
The carrier ship moved into the Patch, cosmic clouds rolling off the hull. Like a shark hunting it's prey, the Typhon moved gracefully, trying to track the attackers. After a few minutes, the trail led to a ringed planet. Cooper confirmed the trail went into the atmosphere, but no return signal indicated they landed and are still there, but radiation interference prevented them from getting any sensor data on the surface. Tolbar ordered the launch of some Valkyrie wings to perform high altitude flybys with ground teams to beam down and search on foot.
Something caught Cooper's attention. There was some kind of spatial disturbance in the planet's rings. He focused his scans on the area.
On the Bridge of her ship, Commander D'Elon watched as the Starfleet vessel started sending fighters down towards the planet. Stood nearby, her guest, a Suliban, grew agitated. "Starfleet will find my ship, and they will find your cargo. And neither of us want that to happen." D'Elon remained calm, simply steepling her fingers and leaning back slightly in her chair. "No, Frillisk, we don't." Frillisk looked from the Romulan, to the viewscreen, and back. "Well? Aren't you going to do something? Shoot them down?"
D'Elon kept staring at the viewscreen as she replied. "That is a Typhon class carrier command ship, with a full compliment of Valkyrie fighters. Starfleet doesn't have many of them, and if we were to engage in a straight fight, we would suffer heavy casualties. No. No I have no desire to see my ship and crew lost because some smuggler got scared."
"You would do well to watch your tone."
At that, D'Elon turned, piercing Frillisk with a stare that could cut steel. "You are a guest on board my ship. As such, shut up or spend the next part of your insignificant life rotting in a jail. That ship outmatches us in terms of sheer firepower. We'll have to use our brains to get out of this one. Tell your crew to prepare for transport. Ta'el, decloak and maintain standby status. Make no hostile moves."
On the Typhon, the ship instantly went to yellow alert as a Romulan Warbird decloaked in the planets rings. The tactical officer reported they had not powered weapons or raised shields. In fact, they had made no hostile moves, but were hailing. Tolbar straightened in his chair, making sure to project the correct air of authority that Romulans always needed. "Romulan Commander. I am Captain Tolbar of the Federation Starship Typhon." On the viewscreen, D'Elon nodded, smiling gracefully. "Greeting Captain. I am Commander D'Elon, of the Imperial Warbird Tomalak. How can we be of assistance?"
"You can tell me why you are cloaked so deep in Federation space."
"We are simply on a scientific mission Captain. We are here to analyise the metagenic properties of this region, and determine if it would be feasable to establish a hospital here."
"You are aware this is deep in Federation space?"
"I am Captain. And are you aware this is not the days of old? Romulan and Federation ships freely traverse the space of each others, provided they stay away from major homeworlds, in the name of scientific research. If you wish, contact Romulan Command, or Starfleet Command, they will confirm our permission to be here."
"That may be, but it still doesn't explain why you were cloaked."
D'Elon kept her face perfectly genuine as she replied. "The answer is simple Captain. We detected a civillian ship approaching our position. They had no I.D. code and were heavily armed. They appeared to be pirates, and we have no interest in fighting so we cloaked until they passed. They entered the planet's atmosphere and we simply waited until it was safe to beam up our research teams. I assume you are in pursuit of that vessel?"
"That's correct. You know where they are on the planet?"
"Of course Captain. Our sensors have been modified to penetrate the radiation. We will transmit the coordinates to you. As this appears to be a Federation matter, we will transport up our research teams and withdraw from the Briar Patch."
"I would like you to stick around until we can confirm your story."
"Very well Captain. Tomalak out."
As the comms were cut, D'Elon turned to Ta'el and Satra, her smile dropping. "Beam the Suliban onboard and engage cloak. Take us back to Empire space."
As they departed the system, Fillisk blurted out. "What about that Starfleet ship? They'll find my vessel!" D'Elon didn't even look back to him, just kept staring at the passing gas clouds on the viewsceen. "Of course they will. We transmitted its position to them. But we also beamed up your entire crew and cargo. And by the time they can get a message to Starfleet to confirm we do not have authorisation to be here, we will be long gone. All they will be left with is some questions, and no proof of why we were here. After all, thanks to your shapeshifting abilities, they are searching for a group of augmented humans, not Suliban. And why would we give them the pirate ship if we were engaged in some transaction with them? Now, I believe you will find your payment and the rest of your crew in Cargo Bay 2."
Though she didn't look back, she could tell Fillisk hadn't moved. She waved a hand dismissivley at him and Ta'el took the sign, escorting Fillisk to the cargo bay.
After a few minutes, D'Elon stood up and went to the security console, bringing up an image of Cargo Bay 2. Ta'el was showing Filisk the components they were being paid with. While the rest of the Suliban checked their new aquisitions, Ta'el slipped out and locked the door. D'Elon pushed a few buttons as she commented sarcastically. "Oh dear. It looks like a force field has failed in Cargo Bay 2. We had better fix that." On the monitor, the force field cut out, exposing the room to space. The Suliban struggled to remain inside, but the pull was too strong and they tumbled out. D'Elon gave it a few seconds to ensure they had all been blown out, then reactivated the forcefield. "Satra, beam our cargo back onboard."
D'Elon made her way towards Cargo Bay 1, where engineers were already unpacking the components of Lore. D'Elon approached a table near the crates recovered from the Tuffli a few weeks ago, where his head had been put and picked it up, running her fingers over his face. "We've gone to a lot of trouble to get you out. But some secrets are worth taking the gamble for. And once we've cracked your brain, all your secrets will belong to us." She set his head down and looked to the engineers. "Tell me when you've got his positronic network hooked up to the isolated system. I'm eager to find that colony."
*****************************************************
Captain Tolbar sat in the command chair of the Typhon as they sped at high warp towards the Briar Patch. They had been the closest vessel when Facility 4028 sent out the distress call, but when they arrived, the attackers had already fled. They had only taken one item, a crate of parts that the Holographic guard had identified as containing the pieces to a Soong type android named Lore. Security footage showed a bunch of humans overpowering the guards using holographic dispersal grenades, essentially just walking in. Such was the problem having the entire base staffed by holograms. But at least they had been able to get the sensor data of the warp field, so the Typhon had jumped to warp as soon as they found it. And it seemed to be heading for the Briar Patch.
"Report."
Commander Cooper turned from his station and looked at the Captain, seating in a slightly elevated position in the centre of the bridge. "We're approaching the Patch now sir. No sign of the attackers, but the warp trail definately ends here."
"Helm, drop to Impulse. Cooper, have a wing of Valkyries ready for launch. Maintain full sensor scans and ease us in, half Impulse."
"Sir, sensors are picking up an Ion wake heading into the Patch. It starts from where the warp trail ends, it has to be the attackers."
"Track that wake. Keep us away from Metreon Gas pockets and keep all sensors on full alert."
The carrier ship moved into the Patch, cosmic clouds rolling off the hull. Like a shark hunting it's prey, the Typhon moved gracefully, trying to track the attackers. After a few minutes, the trail led to a ringed planet. Cooper confirmed the trail went into the atmosphere, but no return signal indicated they landed and are still there, but radiation interference prevented them from getting any sensor data on the surface. Tolbar ordered the launch of some Valkyrie wings to perform high altitude flybys with ground teams to beam down and search on foot.
Something caught Cooper's attention. There was some kind of spatial disturbance in the planet's rings. He focused his scans on the area.
On the Bridge of her ship, Commander D'Elon watched as the Starfleet vessel started sending fighters down towards the planet. Stood nearby, her guest, a Suliban, grew agitated. "Starfleet will find my ship, and they will find your cargo. And neither of us want that to happen." D'Elon remained calm, simply steepling her fingers and leaning back slightly in her chair. "No, Frillisk, we don't." Frillisk looked from the Romulan, to the viewscreen, and back. "Well? Aren't you going to do something? Shoot them down?"
D'Elon kept staring at the viewscreen as she replied. "That is a Typhon class carrier command ship, with a full compliment of Valkyrie fighters. Starfleet doesn't have many of them, and if we were to engage in a straight fight, we would suffer heavy casualties. No. No I have no desire to see my ship and crew lost because some smuggler got scared."
"You would do well to watch your tone."
At that, D'Elon turned, piercing Frillisk with a stare that could cut steel. "You are a guest on board my ship. As such, shut up or spend the next part of your insignificant life rotting in a jail. That ship outmatches us in terms of sheer firepower. We'll have to use our brains to get out of this one. Tell your crew to prepare for transport. Ta'el, decloak and maintain standby status. Make no hostile moves."
On the Typhon, the ship instantly went to yellow alert as a Romulan Warbird decloaked in the planets rings. The tactical officer reported they had not powered weapons or raised shields. In fact, they had made no hostile moves, but were hailing. Tolbar straightened in his chair, making sure to project the correct air of authority that Romulans always needed. "Romulan Commander. I am Captain Tolbar of the Federation Starship Typhon." On the viewscreen, D'Elon nodded, smiling gracefully. "Greeting Captain. I am Commander D'Elon, of the Imperial Warbird Tomalak. How can we be of assistance?"
"You can tell me why you are cloaked so deep in Federation space."
"We are simply on a scientific mission Captain. We are here to analyise the metagenic properties of this region, and determine if it would be feasable to establish a hospital here."
"You are aware this is deep in Federation space?"
"I am Captain. And are you aware this is not the days of old? Romulan and Federation ships freely traverse the space of each others, provided they stay away from major homeworlds, in the name of scientific research. If you wish, contact Romulan Command, or Starfleet Command, they will confirm our permission to be here."
"That may be, but it still doesn't explain why you were cloaked."
D'Elon kept her face perfectly genuine as she replied. "The answer is simple Captain. We detected a civillian ship approaching our position. They had no I.D. code and were heavily armed. They appeared to be pirates, and we have no interest in fighting so we cloaked until they passed. They entered the planet's atmosphere and we simply waited until it was safe to beam up our research teams. I assume you are in pursuit of that vessel?"
"That's correct. You know where they are on the planet?"
"Of course Captain. Our sensors have been modified to penetrate the radiation. We will transmit the coordinates to you. As this appears to be a Federation matter, we will transport up our research teams and withdraw from the Briar Patch."
"I would like you to stick around until we can confirm your story."
"Very well Captain. Tomalak out."
As the comms were cut, D'Elon turned to Ta'el and Satra, her smile dropping. "Beam the Suliban onboard and engage cloak. Take us back to Empire space."
As they departed the system, Fillisk blurted out. "What about that Starfleet ship? They'll find my vessel!" D'Elon didn't even look back to him, just kept staring at the passing gas clouds on the viewsceen. "Of course they will. We transmitted its position to them. But we also beamed up your entire crew and cargo. And by the time they can get a message to Starfleet to confirm we do not have authorisation to be here, we will be long gone. All they will be left with is some questions, and no proof of why we were here. After all, thanks to your shapeshifting abilities, they are searching for a group of augmented humans, not Suliban. And why would we give them the pirate ship if we were engaged in some transaction with them? Now, I believe you will find your payment and the rest of your crew in Cargo Bay 2."
Though she didn't look back, she could tell Fillisk hadn't moved. She waved a hand dismissivley at him and Ta'el took the sign, escorting Fillisk to the cargo bay.
After a few minutes, D'Elon stood up and went to the security console, bringing up an image of Cargo Bay 2. Ta'el was showing Filisk the components they were being paid with. While the rest of the Suliban checked their new aquisitions, Ta'el slipped out and locked the door. D'Elon pushed a few buttons as she commented sarcastically. "Oh dear. It looks like a force field has failed in Cargo Bay 2. We had better fix that." On the monitor, the force field cut out, exposing the room to space. The Suliban struggled to remain inside, but the pull was too strong and they tumbled out. D'Elon gave it a few seconds to ensure they had all been blown out, then reactivated the forcefield. "Satra, beam our cargo back onboard."
D'Elon made her way towards Cargo Bay 1, where engineers were already unpacking the components of Lore. D'Elon approached a table near the crates recovered from the Tuffli a few weeks ago, where his head had been put and picked it up, running her fingers over his face. "We've gone to a lot of trouble to get you out. But some secrets are worth taking the gamble for. And once we've cracked your brain, all your secrets will belong to us." She set his head down and looked to the engineers. "Tell me when you've got his positronic network hooked up to the isolated system. I'm eager to find that colony."
Fri Feb 23, 2024 12:52 am by sirvanyev
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