Kyhid Zohl: | The interior of the runabout is tense and quiet, the hum of the idling impulse engines vibrate through the deck plating as final preparations are made to depart. Several specialists and +
Kyhid Zohl: … even Captains from the allied fleet were able to join Zohl, and have just come aboard
Kyhid Zohl: stands near the runabout’s master console as the pursuit team assembles.
Kyhid Zohl: Welcome aboard. Find a station and secure yourselves. We depart the moment the airlock cycles.
Shallas: nods and settles herself by the science station, calling on the runabouts limited sensors. Given the nature of the mission, a Starfleet suit of armour was equipped on the Captain..
Ki’lana: “I ever talk about the Technical Services Academy?”
Kyhid Zohl: was inputting parameters into the ship’s system, when the Caitian Chief broke the ice a little.
Liiear: taps away at the console in-front of her making a few low level refinements to some parts of the runabouts targetting systems.
Kyhid Zohl: Not to my knowledge Chief, though I can’t speak for the others
Shallas: Not to my knowledge, either.
Kyhid Zohl: dropped into the pilot’s chair of the Runabout and began to initiate departure procedures from the Tykera’s shuttlebay.
Ki’lana: “A lot less formal at least as far as I know compared to Starfleet Academy. Though they drill you a lot harder on technical stuff. I know, technical academy with more focus on technical stuff? Scary.”
Kyhid Zohl: It’s served you well Chief, and I hope it will serve us all in the mission ahead.
Kyhid Zohl: clears his throat
Ki’lana: mans the engineering station, there wasn’t too much for her to do beyond idly monitoring sensors.
Kyhid Zohl: I appreciate your swift response, all. The vessel masquerading as the Siracca which has both the fugitives and CMDR Netal aboard, has a significant head start, and we only have a guesswork vector
Kyhid Zohl: to go off
Shallas: I’m rather surprised we took a runabout as opposed to something faster..
Kyhid Zohl: makes an agreeable sound with his mouth, “I know.. but Captain T’Mir was very specific in his advice. And at 114 years old, it’s usuall advice worth listening to”
Kyhid Zohl: recounted how he and Captain T’Mir had discussed the use of a runabout in this pursuit, for a number of reasons. The first one was sensor stealth, the smaller ship could be masked easier, and Chief
Kyhid Zohl: | … Ki’lana would need to keep a close eye on their power emissions, as well as Shallas on their sensor ping, so as to best sneak up on the missing Siracca
Shallas: That’'s rather old.
Ki’lana: “Hey it’s up there but 114 you still have quite a few years in you.”
Kyhid Zohl: went on to explain the second reason was more about the Ferasans. We would inevitably cross into their territory, and anything larger than a Runabout would raise quite the eye on us, potentially +
Kyhid Zohl: | … slowing our progress to track the Siracca-imposter ship.
Kyhid Zohl: He has remarkable hair for an old cat, eh… caitian <Zohl corrects himself in the presence of the Chief>
Kyhid Zohl: | As the runabout cleared the shuttlebay and began to leave the allied fleet, it was joined by two escort vessels which Captain T’Mir had put in place (The Kona and the Dragon +
Ki’lana: “Captain i’m one of the most hard to offend people you’ll meet. I call MYSELF cat sometimes.”
Kyhid Zohl: | … which was crewed by Ferasans allied to the Caitian Union it seemed).
Liiear: peers up from her console briefly before returning to her calibrations.
Ki’lana: “Y’know in the academy there was this other caitian, really good looking, named R’rlaw, everyone called him Raw, I called him Law.”
Kyhid Zohl: recounted the third reason - their escort, again a measure to help reduce attention on them as they near the territory of the ferasans.
Kyhid Zohl: Well, I should know better, and if I happen to say it, please correct me on it.
Kyhid Zohl: I take it he decided to forego studying law with a name like that
Kyhid Zohl: Science and tactical, I want you working together the moment we clear the Tykera and exit Hespera IX’s orbit. Find me that warp trail.
Ki’lana: “Oh no, huge rule follower, to annoying levels.”
Ki’lana: “Hence the name.”
Kyhid Zohl: | The warp trail of the Siracca was obscured. They were working off a guesstimate vector.
Shallas: That tends to make someone a lot less attractive in my book.
Shallas: huffs, manupulating the scientific controls to try and run calculations on the vector..Or at least contrast it to likely military systems..
Kyhid Zohl: ah, I don’t suppose any of their rule following rubbed off on you while there Chief?
Liiear: “Understood, engaging tactical sensors.”
Shallas: Where’'s Starfleet intelligence when you need it..More intel on Ferasan military outposts would have been nice..
Ki’lana: “Well like I said I thought he was extremely good looking. I had a crush on him. Made me mad.”
Ki’lana: attempts to find traces of the warp trail.
Shallas: …I remember my Academy crush..Those were interesting times..
Ki’lana: "Yeah? How’d that end? This was.. What, halfway into it for me? I ended up socking him in the nose. Got in trouble obviously, and both of us were mortal enemeis the whole rest of the time we were <c>
Ki’lana: …There. But that got all the tension out. So I say it was worth it."
Shallas: Oh, it was a Human surfer called Robert..Long blonde hair, muscled chest..A real looker~ But he insisted on only having a relationship that involved me and him, and that weirded me out quite a bit.
Shallas: Meanwhile, he was quite weirded out when I suggested a few others we could court to join the relationship..I dont think our dating cultures matched there.
Liiear: continues quietly working working at the tactical stations implementing a few Cooperative algorithms into the targetting sensors.
Ki’lana: “Oh right, Andorians, four people in one big blue pile.”
Kyhid Zohl: Konna, Dragon, this is the Runabout Boday. Form up on our port and starboard flanks. Sync your navigational and tactical feeds with Liiear, engineering feeds with the Chief and sensors with Shallas
Ki’ras: <C-Konna> “Reading you, Boday. Lining up nav and tactical feeds.”
Ki’lana: “Nah they tend to prefer one fellow idiot per person. Usually.”
Ki’lana: “Anyway i’m going to see if I can’t reduce our sensor footprint without reducing any of our systems too much.”
Ki’ras: steps from the back of the runabout, finally in his excursion uniform, free of Marine suit.
Shallas: chuckles over her shoulder and nods at Ki’lana.
Shallas: Most cultures seem to prefer just two people.
Shallas: Personally I never really got it - Seems limiting in so many ways.
Liiear: very quickly syncs up with the escorts, quietly hoping that the refinements she’s made don’t cause any issues.
Kyhid Zohl: notes the approaching Caitian from the Nez, “Ki’ras good of you to join us, Captain T’Mir was keen to have you along, and I’m pleased to agree with him”
Ki’lana: “Well it normally takes 4 Andorians to make one Andorian don’t it?”
Ki’lana: “Don’t explain the logistics, he’s the one with the blue collar.”
Ki’lana: points at Ki’ras.
Kyhid Zohl: had largely tuned out the idle chatter in the cabin. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested, though he was actively piloting the craft, but rather he was trained to recognise +
Kyhid Zohl: | … such chatter as a mechanism for managing stress during stressful moments. He had other ways to manage his stress… such as bottling it up!
Shallas: …It does, but I’l spare you the images.
Shallas: But more then that, four people just seems to me like what you’d need to make a proper life owrk.
Shallas: I mean, how are you going to do all the chores, and maintain jobs, and raise the children with just two people..And what if you’re feeling down and your one partner isnt around or they’re not in the -
Ki’ras: positions himself at the console between Ki’lana and Zohl. “Where do you need me, Captain Zohl?”
Shallas: - state of mind to look after you?! You have no one to go to..
Ki’lana: “Thanks, i’ll figure out the miracle of life if I ever decide to have a kid. Or something.”
Kyhid Zohl: | The hum of the runabout’s engines shifts in pitch as the vessel breaks the warp threshold and the space around them blurrs into the familiar streaking of stars.
Shallas: huffs, murmuring as she works on the Runabotus sensors. They were too far from the target area now, but she did try to get some advance intelligence of possible direcetion..And once the Runabout -
Shallas: - dropped out of warp? She’d try to tune the sensor to Hisperia’'s unique signature..
Ki’lana: “Captain how much of a time frame would you say we’ve got?”
Ki’ras: <FX-Dragon> follows the suit, by aligning with Boday and Konna, though seems to be a little bit ahead of both as they march towards Ferasan space.
Kyhid Zohl: Ki’ras, you’ve spent enough time in the field to know that ships can be hidden, but biological life is much harder to mask completely. I’m sure Captain T’Mir has filled you in +
Kyhid Zohl: … on how we used the fugitives’ bioi-electric effect to detect a vector of departure for the missing imposter ship siracca +
Kyhid Zohl: Captain Shallas is working off that exact resonance to refine that guestimate vector into an actual warp trail, with Liiear too. +
Kyhid Zohl: But, given the distance, is there anything you (ki’ras) can think of to help pinpoint their exact location, even if cloaked?
Kyhid Zohl: If we can isolate their specific bio-signatures based off this lingering bio-electric exposure they both have, then maybe we can track them like a beacon.
Kyhid Zohl: I’m sure we’d need to get close though…
Ki’ras: “Well, given that Professor Keating was the closest to bio-eletric source, his corresponding footprint might be the most significant one.”, he ponders aloud. ++
Shallas: We could certainly tune the sensors for the radioactivity from the planet..
Ki’ras: "If we are lucky, he might be shining like a firefly in a moonless night. Do we have access to his medical file? We could overlay bio-electric data from Weytahn over the thermal footprint of his body+
Shallas: Captains.
Ki’lana: "I’ve done some number crunching by the way Captain, I figured out a way to reduce our footprint on sensors though it’ll reduce our speed by 10%. I figured we’re already slower <c>
Ki’ras: based on his last medical checkup."
Shallas: Could we modify our probes to appear with a Ferasan signature?
Liiear: taps away on the tactical console forwarding a pair of cooperative algorithms to Shallas’s station “These may assist.”
Shallas: If so, I would suggest tuning the probes to the planet’'s radiation and firing probes in multiple directions to try and get a lead.
Ki’lana: …Since we’re on runabout, but obviously I wanted to run it by you first."
Kyhid Zohl: I like it Shallas! If anything it may help remove where they aren’t heading…
Kyhid Zohl: nods at the Chief’s question, "It seems worth the tradeoff I think, I’m wary of the potential response the Ferasan government may give when they detect our little armada en route. The longer we +
Kyhid Zohl: .. stay masked the better.
Kyhid Zohl: To say nothing of tipping our hand to those we pursue.
Kyhid Zohl: gives the Chief the nod to carry out their suggested changes
Ki’lana: “Can do, it’s not quite running dark but then we’d be moving at glacial speed.”
Kyhid Zohl: They have a large headstart as it is, so I’m more concerned about tracking them, and staying out of their sights, and away from entities which may slow us down.
Ki’ras: “Captain Shallas, if you need some energy signatures, call up the Dragon, they have a couple of older profiles in their databanks. If Captain Nall refuses, remind him of Citizen Clause 47.”
Shallas: nods and inputs a series of commands ,programming a series of probes with the energy signatures from Hisperia..
Shallas: Actually, what I REALLY need is someone to give these probes a Ferasan signature.
Shallas: I am inputting the profile from the planet’'s radiation signature now, but I can’t fake those.
Kyhid Zohl: This, Captain Nall… he might be able to help us with that.
Ki’lana: “So what were the Ferasans screwing about for anyway?”
Shallas: Who knows..These people were high profile agents, wernt they?
Shallas: seeks to open a channel to the Dragon, hoping to establish communications with either their Captain or the science division. “Captain Shallas to the Dagon, do you copy?”
Kyhid Zohl: Nearest we can tell, and this is my understanding from T’Mir, so correct me if I’m wrong Ki’ras.. but the Ferasans who came to assist were just privateers. Whereas those aboard the Dragon are… +
Kyhid Zohl: more complicated.
Ki’ras: <C-Dragon> “Purr and clear, Captain. How can we assist?”
Kyhid Zohl: But it is very coincidental that after the efforts to assist the fleet over hespera ended, they up and left when their ‘job’ was done. And for this imposter ship to go in the same direction we think +
Kyhid Zohl: is too coincidental. Chances are the privateer Ferasans may have been plan B to grab the governor and professor.
Ki’lana: “Aren’t they mercenaries for the klingons normally? What, did they skimp out on payments this year?”
Shallas: transmits the connection codes to the probes she had prepeared. “I need these probes provided with a Ferasan signature. Can your crew assist?”
Ki’ras: “Dragon crew are Ferasans who were saved by USS Boston from Cardassians some 50 years ago. Because Ferasa didn’t want them back, my home planet Macadarna offered them asylum and later on residence.”
Kyhid Zohl: But weren’t needed, as this other ship, Plan A, got here in time.
Kyhid Zohl: shakes his head a little as the Chief theorises and makes light of the complex relationship between the Ferasans, the Empire, and everyone else.
Ki’ras: “Other Ferasans are privateers. Most of them got scattered when Ferasan Dominion sided with Mad Emperoro J’mpok and lost the Klingon Civil War.”
Ki’lana: “Figures they back the losing side. But then you can’t blame people for choosing what they already know over ’hey MAYBE i’ll make things better.'”
Ki’ras: Aboard <C-Dragon> someone sighs heavily. "Yes, we can assist. Is there any particular signature you might find useful? Since you are heading into Ferasan Clans’ Dominion space, I suggest older++
Kyhid Zohl: Whatever their motives, they could very well be tangled up with this and not realise how dangerous the people their doing business with are.
Ki’ras: probes. Mimicking anything newer, being counterpart to Slithus escorts might raise suspicions as these escorts were built jointly with Caitians only recently."
Ki’ras: Well put, Chief.
Ki’lana: “What can I say? I’ve got a personal affinity for those people who spit while people are looking.”
Kyhid Zohl: watches the long-range navigational starchart. The border markers for the Ferasan Dominion were flashing a cautionary amber on his console as they neared.
Shallas: Older signatures will do fine. May you please transmit the signatures we can input on the probes?
Kyhid Zohl: We’re nearing Ferasan territory. I’ve heard being ‘alliance’ doesn’t count for much in this part of space.
Liiear: begins allowing the ships targetting sensor to float as a precaution. “Sensor buoy ahead”
Ki’ras: There is a brief pause on the comm channel, but after some 15 seconds: “Signatures profiles transmitted to Boday, Captain Shallas.”
Kyhid Zohl: Chief are we going to be masked from the bouy?
Ki’ras: looks to Zohl. “Well, they are still licking their wounds, sir.”
Ki’lana: rolls 63 (1-100)
Ki’lana: “By all means Captain, though i’d still suggest putting distance when flying past the bouys. Better safe than sorry.”
Ki’lana: “We have a reduce footprint not no footprint.”
Shallas: Thank you! May we not need th em.
Shallas: smiles and tries to overlay the signatures onto the probes.
Shallas: Probes are about ready to fire, Captain.
Kyhid Zohl: Acknowledged, both. Fire when ready, preferably before we cross into their space Shallas.
Ki’ras: <C-Dragon> “Best of winds, Boday. Dragon out.”
Shallas: All right. Tactical, can you give me a trajectory for the probes?
Shallas: Ideally one that covers a wide area in Ferasan space.
Liiear: “Forwarding the Coordinate’s now.”
Kyhid Zohl: keeps his eyes locked on the nav display. His body tenses as they are about to pass the border. He barely breathes as the Ferasan sensor buoy’s sweep passes over the Boday without detecting it.
Liiear: sends over the caculated paths to Shalas console.
Kyhid Zohl: Three hundred thousand kilometres, two-fifty, two..
Ki’lana: “So what’s Boday mean anyway?”
Ki’lana: says, utterly calm.
Shallas: nods, inputting the coordinates from tactical, she fires the probes in a wide spread pattern to try and find the vessel..
Shallas: Firing.
Kyhid Zohl: | All three ships share sensor configs and glide past the Ferasan buoy like shadows, having just released the various probes in all directions before they cross into Ferasan space.
Kyhid Zohl: allows a very faint, almost imperceptible twitch of the lips as they sneak past, but it was in regards to the Chief’s question about the runabout’s name.
Kyhid Zohl: It is named after ‘Captain Boday’. A famous Gallamite who served with considerable distinction in the Dominion war.
Kyhid Zohl: A brilliant tactical mind. Though most people remember him for his… unique physiology. As you may know, Gallamites have transparent skulls. +
Kyhid Zohl: And you could watch his brain processes in real time
Ki’lana: “Huh, thought they were named after Earth rivers, usually.”
Kyhid Zohl: Captain or station Commander’s perogative there Chief. At least… that’s what I’ll be claiming was my reasoning if Starfleet ever hits the book at me.
Ki’ras: continues monitoring data sharing between three vessels.
Ki’lana: “Nah I doubt they’ll say anything. I got through the Technical Academy somehow after all.”
Ki’ras: then walks over to Shallas. “Captain Shallas, do we have a medical ermm… profile on Professor Keating?”
Shallas: shrugs. She turns to the console, inputting a few commands. Eventually, KI’RAS gets a data file forwarded to him. “Why, we do indeed..”
Ki’ras: nods to Shallas. “If we overlay the average bio-electric profile over the thermal signature of his body constitution, it might give us some pattern to look after… like a loose baseline.”
Ki’ras: “I am guessing here.”
Kyhid Zohl: I had my ship’s CMO transfer everything he had. Those were taken just after both fugitives were brought aboard the Tykera, and before they were transferred to the Siracca for interrogation… or
Kyhid Zohl: so we thought
Ki’lana: “Hmm.. Say Captain, think we might be able to get the border crossing logs from the bouys from the last 24 hours?”
Ki’lana: “Well, I mean, I probably could, question is if they’d be useful.”
Kyhid Zohl: turns to the chief, “hmm, interesting… Liiear? Any fancy cooperatives algorithms that might dig out those logs before we get out of range of them?”
Shallas: grumbles. She nods, turning to try and overlay his thermal pattern with the bio eletric profile, hoping to send the more detailed profile up to the probes to finetune their efforts..
Kyhid Zohl: If it’s possible, let’s… you think it might have pinged the Siracca, or maybe whatever it was pretending to be if they’d dropped their masking by then? Or even just the latest on the other Ferasan +
Kyhid Zohl: privateers?
Kyhid Zohl: I’m sure given the circumstances, the diplomats an allied command can work out the … details after the fact.
Ki’ras: rolls 78 (1-100)
Ki’ras: invokes a secondary interface as he and Shallas work on the overlay idea.
Ki’lana: “They might of tried to mask themselves but I don’t really see why we can’t check.”
Kyhid Zohl: | The overlay provides a novel interpretation of various data about the good professor, particularly the unique EM signature produced through the interaction of +
Kyhid Zohl: |… the planet’s bio-electric field and the man’s own system. It was quite distinct, almost like a fingerprint. They could check against the Governor’s and note it was again distinct in this way.
Kyhid Zohl: | However, it would only be possible to pinpoint using this method within 10-30 million kilometres by biosensors.
Liiear: “I believe I can assist with getting the bouy logs, I’m forwarding you some modified Subroutines, they should help with penetrating the device and masking our digital presence.”
Shallas: I think we have something..
Shallas: ..But we’l need to be very close to use it to pinpoint a location.
Liiear: “I’m picking up a Civilian freighter on long range sensors, it’s being boarded by a known pirate vessel.”
Ki’lana: “Oh yeah, by the way, only risk would be them knowing someone tried accessing their logs. They wouldn’t know who or where, but they’d know someone tried.”
Ki’lana: “Give it a try?”
Ki’lana: moves her fingers over the console.
Kyhid Zohl: | Liiear’s long-range sensors had chirped and various icons appear: a mid-sized civilian freighter is being tailed, and now latched onto, by a high-energy signature. A classic piracy situation.
Kyhid Zohl: I see it now. There’s a civilian freighter being intercepted. Its transponder is weak, likely a local Ferasan clan engaging in piracy indeed.
Kyhid Zohl: Chief, access if you can. I’ll let the diplomats sort it after…
Ki’lana: “Giving the white jackets a headache sir.”
Ki’lana: rolls 86 (1-100)
Ki’ras: “Captain Shallas… this thermal and bio-electric overlay. Add up a Hobus subspace shockwave from Theta Green plants to it.”
continued below…
