Compile#2 May 03-04 (USS Rosenante & USS Boudicca Joint) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission: Once More Into the Breach Day 1 Stardate: 2414.01.15 Compile Summary (USS Boudicca - Personal Quarters - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 1 - 2203) (USS Boudicca - Ready Room - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 1 - 2205) (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2210) (USS Rosenante - Ready Room - FO - Commander T'Larah Sullivan - 2212) (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2214) (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2221) (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, Lieutenant Chance Raschen, 2223) (Starbase 989 - Animal Holding Bay - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - 2225) (Starbase 989 - Promenade - ATAC/SC Jessica Signos - Day 1 - 2242) (USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2329) (USS Rosenante - Bridge - 2O/COPS Lt Tom Jackson 2345) ======================================================= Mission: Once More Into the Breach Day 2 Stardate: 2414.01.16 Compile Summary (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid - Day 2, 0001) (USS Rosenante Observation Lounge 2O/COPS Lt Tom Jackson Day 2 0003) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 2 - 0004) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma- 0007) (USS Boudicca - Observation Lounge - ATAC/SC Jessica Signos - Day 1 - 0011) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - Lieutenant Chance Raschen - 0013) (USS Boudicca - Observation Lounge - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 0015) (USS Rosenante, Observation Lounge, Lieutenant jg Sanok, 0016) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 2 - 0018) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid - Day 2, 0030) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma, 0032) (USS Boudicca - Observation Lounge - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 2 - 0035) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge -2O/ COPS Lt Tom Jackson - Day 2 0037) (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 2, 0039) (USS Rosenante, Observation Lounge, Lieutenant Chance Raschen, 0042) (USS Rosenante - Main Engineering - ACEO Lt. Eian O'Neill Day 2 - 0110) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Personal Quarters - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 1 - 2203) Josh had spent the last week moving her belongings from the CMO's quarters and office to the FO's. She and Mike had also spent as much time together as they could knowing that when shore leave was over it might be quite some time before they saw each other again. Today was also her son's twenty fourth birthday and she had remembered to sent a message to him wishing him a happy birthday. So finally with everything done and everything quiet she was about to have, what for her, was a fairly early night when she heard the Captain on shipwide. =/\= Attention all personnel, this is the Captain. We have just been given priority orders from Starfleet command. I’m not at liberty to detail them at this time. All non-starfleet, civilian personnel are to immediately disembark. Take only what belongings are absolutely necessary, you will be provided with essentials and quarters on the starbase until the Boudicca returns. There are *no* exceptions, *all* civilians are to disembark immediately. We will be getting underway at 2330; you *must* be off ship before we clear moorings. That is all. =/\= Sighing Josh pulled her boots on, tied back her hair and picking up a padd was already half way to the door when the bridge contacted her to report to the ready room. "Caskie here. On my way." --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Ready Room - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 1 - 2205) Announcing herself and entering when acknowledged Josh stopped at the other side of the captain's desk. "You wanted to see me Sir. I take it from your announcement that shore leave is over, and since you've ordered all civilians off the ship I take it we've not been simply ordered to go study some rogue comet." (Reply Durand) (Posted by Marilyn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2210) The door chime announced a visitor just a few moments before the door slid open to reveal the First Officer of the Rosenante. T'Larah entered and in her usual manner got straight to the point. "So evacuating all civilian personnel including animals, immediate report in of all sections and a canceling of all shore leave, how bad is it?" she asked. Ahmed frowned and gestured for her to be seated. He slid a PADD across the desk to her as he explained. "It's bad." he said with a shake of his head. "Command detected two Borg vessels, one a tactical cube and the other a new unclassified vessel they are calling a Borg Pyramid. They are en route as we speak towards the Dovek system. It's a relatively inert system, once inhabited by the Tkon Empire roughly 60,000 years ago. The Tkon were technologically as advanced and perhaps more so, than the Federation is presently." "Admiral Richardson seems to think that the Borg may be after some sort of Tkon super-weapon. There's no strategic value to the system and there are no living inhabitants. That means whatever they are after is material in some form. It could be data. It may well be a device or weapon." "We've only heard of Borg Tactical cubes in operations with ships of similar design, so that makes me very concerned. It is readily apparent that this tactical cube is present as a sort of escort for the pyramid. that means that the Borg are placing this operation on a very high priority." "The likelihood of tactical engagement is high. And considering my lack of direct experience with the Borg, I'm apprehensive of our ability to handle this operation. Fortunately, the Admiral assigned the Boudicca to our two ship task force. Captain Durand has direct experience of the Borg, from his time aboard the Denver, so we'll have him as a resource to draw upon." Ahmed rose from his desk and took a couple of steps so that he was facing out of the large observation window that dominated the outer bulkhead of his ready room. Ships went along content with their ignorance of the situation brewing just beyond the borders of the Romulan Star Empire. "T'Larah," Ahmed finally admitted to his first officer. "For the first time in my career, I'm frightened. The Borg are unlike any foe the Federation has ever faced. They are more... alien, inhumane. You can't truly predict them, or conduct diplomacy with them. You can't reason with them and you can't make them back down. They're a nearly unstoppable plague that threatens to consume everything in the galaxy if they are given enough time." "I don't know how command can believe that we can accomplish this mission with two ships when thirty-six failed to stop a less advanced Borg cube at Wolf 359, or an entire fleet nearly lost the Battle of Sector 001 a decade later." (reply Sullivan) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Ready Room - FO - Commander T'Larah Sullivan - 2212) The Captain gestured for her to have a seat and slid a PADD across the smooth surface of the desk, with the current mission brief. The first thing she saw when she looked at the screen was the UFP seal and in large block letters: [CLASSIFIED: THUMB PRINT REQUIRED] which was a simple matter. The next screen showed a still image of a long dead planet with two geometric shapes in orbit. One was the very familiar tactical cube famous the Federation over since the battle of Wolf 359. The other was some kind of pyramid like structure. At the bottom of the still was the time stamp of when it was taken with the obligatory "Classified:For Official Use Only" She understood why it was classified and shuddered to think of what might have happened if the Romulans knew and decided to act at the same time as Wolf 359. "It's bad." he said with a shake of his head. "Command detected two Borg vessels, one a tactical cube and the other a new unclassified vessel they are calling a Borg Pyramid. They are en route as we speak towards the Dovek system. It's a relatively inert system, once inhabited by the Tkon Empire roughly 60,000 years ago. The Tkon were technologically as advanced and perhaps more so, than the Federation is presently." "Admiral Richardson seems to think that the Borg may be after some sort of Tkon super-weapon. There's no strategic value to the system and there are no living inhabitants. That means whatever they are after is material in some form. It could be data. It may well be a device or weapon." "We've only heard of Borg Tactical cubes in operations with ships of similar design, so that makes me very concerned. It is readily apparent that this tactical cube is present as a sort of escort for the pyramid. that means that the Borg are placing this operation on a very high priority." "The likelihood of tactical engagement is high. And considering my lack of direct experience with the Borg, I'm apprehensive of our ability to handle this operation. Fortunately, the Admiral assigned the Boudicca to our two ship task force. Captain Durand has direct experience of the Borg, from his time aboard the Denver, so we'll have him as a resource to draw upon." Ahmed rose from his desk and took a couple of steps so that he was facing out of the large observation window that dominated the outer bulkhead of his ready room. Ships went along content with their ignorance of the situation brewing just beyond the borders of the Romulan Star Empire. "T'Larah," Ahmed finally admitted to his first officer. "For the first time in my career, I'm frightened. The Borg are unlike any foe the Federation has ever faced. They are more... alien, inhumane. You can't truly predict them, or conduct diplomacy with them. You can't reason with them and you can't make them back down. They're a nearly unstoppable plague that threatens to consume everything in the galaxy if they are given enough time." ~I don't know which is more frightening, the situation or the fact that he is.~ "I don't know how command can believe that we can accomplish this mission with two ships when thirty-six failed to stop a less advanced Borg cube at Wolf 359, or an entire fleet nearly lost the Battle of Sector 001 a decade later." "I would also like to point out that the vessels on our side of the conflict weren't as advanced as we are now. Many of our combat advances have come from direct confrontation with the Borg. I do however agree with your assessment we should have more ships." she responded. "Do you have any preliminary approach ideas, or are you saving it for the briefing?" she asked. (Reply Captain Salid) "Understood, I have a few ideas myself that will wait for the briefing as well. Captain Durand's experience is welcome." (Reply Captain Salid) (Posted by Todd) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2214) "I would also like to point out that the vessels on our side of the conflict weren't as advanced as we are now. Many of our combat advances have come from direct confrontation with the Borg. I do however agree with your assessment we should have more ships." T'Larah responded. ~True.~ Ahmed thought, ~But so have the Borg.~ "Do you have any preliminary approach ideas, or are you saving it for the briefing?" she asked. "I'm still looking over the latest tactical encounters with the Borg. I have recently become aware that the USS Spectre had a recent encounter and was hoping to glean some insight. I believe I will have a basic tactical plan put together before the briefing, but I'd like to run it past you and Captain Durand before announcing it. I'd like to have some other eyes look at it since Tactics are not exactly my strongest suit." "Understood, I have a few ideas myself that will wait for the briefing as well. Captain Durand's experience is welcome." Ahmed nodded. "I agree. In fact, I'd say Captain Durand's experience is essential. Even if he was a junior tactical officer at the time, the very fact that he has a direct personal encounter with the Borg makes him an invaluable asset." He turned to face his First Officer. "This is going to get nasty T'Larah. a lot of people are going to die on this mission. We're going to have to achieve our goals here regardless of our personal sacrifices. No one is too valuable to commit and the Borg have to be stopped. I don't know what they are up to, but it simply can not be anything good for us. We'll stop them or we'll die trying. We do not retreat, we do not surrender. We fight until there is nothing left, is that understood?" (reply Sullivan) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2221) The chime to the ready room door sounded just a second before sliding open to admit Raschen. The man was dressed in an older style freighter crew uniform comprised of blue duty coveralls. "You wanted to see me sir?" he asked as soon as he stepped through the doors. "Indeed I did Lieutenant." Ahmed answered and handed Raschen a PADD, that was newly acquired and signed. "As of this moment, I have had you recalled to the Rosenante under the "Needs of Command prerogatives in the Regulations." He said simply. "I need another experienced security and tactical officer on our current mission, and you're now available. That said, I've noticed that you have a couple of starfleet officers in your crew aboard the Tranquility as well. As that vessel isn't going anyplace, I like to offer them the opportunity to join us for our current mission." Ahmed considered things for a second. "I'm not going to shine you on, Lieutenant, we're dealing with the Borg here, so I need all the qualified and skilled personnel I can get. I can commandeer those two members of your crew, but I'd prefer not to. Can I count on you?" (rely Raschen) "We'll dock the Tranquility in the Aft shuttle bay for the duration of the mission, that way should we need her, she'll be here." Ahmed replied. (reply Raschen) "Excellent. We're getting Underway at 2330 hours. Please have the Tranquility stowed by that time. After that, we'll be conducting a mission briefing at 0000 hours while en route." (reply Raschen) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Ready Room, Lieutenant Chance Raschen, 2223) "You wanted to see me sir?" he asked as soon as he stepped through the doors. "Indeed I did Lieutenant." Ahmed answered and handed Raschen a PADD, that was newly acquired and signed. "As of this moment, I have had you recalled to the Rosenante under the "Needs of Command prerogatives in the Regulations." He said simply. "I need another experienced security and tactical officer on our current mission, and you're now available. That said, I've noticed that you have a couple of star fleet officers in your crew aboard the Tranquility as well. As that vessel isn't going anyplace, I like to offer them the opportunity to join us for our current mission." Ahmed considered things for a second. "I'm not going to shine you on, Lieutenant, we're dealing with the Both here, so I need all the qualified and skilled personnel I can get. I can commandeer those two members of your crew, but I'd prefer not to. Can I count on you?" Chance's got bulged in fear and muttered under his breath "f*** me running". Then shaking his head to help clear his thoughts, Chance looked at Solid "Yes sir; wherever you need us. On my crew I got Marine Corps Lieutenant-Major Luciano La Crooks; and Flight Command Lieutenant-Major Brandy Shea. "He was an assassin and my fleet liaison officer during the Fed-Car War before retiring from the corps as a major and buying the Treasure Chest Complex. He came back to active duty with a reduction in rank. "She's married to one of my old war buddies. Shea was trained as a bomber pilot until she joined my crew. I first met her when I helped Josh get her husband's remains to Earth. "I need time to make arrangements with the Dock-Master to leave my ship." "We'll dock the Tranquility in the Aft shuttle bay for the duration of the mission, that way should we need her, she'll be here." Armed replied. "I'll see to it that she's in the bay before we get underway." "Excellent. We're getting Underway at 2330 hours. Please have the Tranquility stowed by that time. After that, we'll be conducting a mission briefing at 0000 hours while en route." "I don't have any time to waste then." Raschen said as he turned and headed for the door. "We might be a touch late to the brief." He said just before the door closed behind him. (Reply Salid iyw) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Starbase 989 - Animal Holding Bay - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - 2225) Carrying a cage with Bruiser unhappily ensconced in it and with Lulu simply walking beside her off leash Josh entered the cargo bay that had been designated to hold all the pets from the Boudicca and the Rose. Walking over to the nearest technician she put Bruiser's cage on the floor and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Cmdr Caskie from the Boudicca I have a dog and a cat that will need boarded until I return." The tech nodded not really looking at her or her pets. "Names and species." he barked. Josh took a deep breath since she wasn't happy with his attitude. "Bruiser and Luadas, felix domesticus and canine. Would it be possible not to separate them?" Finally looking at her he shook his head and snapped of a reply. "No, we have separate facilities for cats and dogs. It won't be possible to keep them together." Josh was tempted not to say anything and just let them find out Bruiser's temperament for themselves but relented since Bruiser would suffer as well. She stared at his name tag and smiled at him. "Fair enough Hastings, is it? But I feel I need to warn you that Bruiser doesn't exactly have the sunniest of tempers and he would be a lot calmer if you kept him with Lulu." Finally the tech looked down at the two animals and took a quick step back from her dog. "He should be on a leash and if he has that bad a temper he should be crated as well. Although I'm not sure we have a crate that large immediately to hand." Josh laughed and rested her hand on her dog's head. "No, this is Lulu and she is the sweetest thing." Pointing to the cage at her feet she smiled. "This is Bruiser. He's the one with the temper." Finally having hopefully talked the tech into doing his best Josh put Lulu on her leash and ruffling the hair on her head told her to be a good girl. Bending down she spoke quietly to Bruiser and told him to behave. Handing both the leash and the crate to the tech Josh headed back to the ship. (No reply needed) (Posted by Marilyn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Starbase 989 - Promenade - ATAC/SC Jessica Signos - Day 1 - 2242) Eian returned the embrace and bent down to kiss her. When they were done, he smiled at her and released the hug. "I love you," he said. "And I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't follow your own orders," he added with a smile. Jessica smiled at him, "I'll try, but then again I might not have that luxury. However, I'll give anyone that might keep me from seeing you again hell first. That I will promise." "We'll be looking out for each other out there, whatever this is. And when we're done, we'll meet back at the Cork, pick up Murphy and have a Guinness or two and maybe even dance. I believe you owe me a lesson on Coordination 101." "You have coordination, what you lake is the proper mental perspective." She smiled at him. ~And in the end this might be the last time we can hold each other.~ It was an unwelcome thought but one that invaded her mind none the less. There is always a certain feeling when one gets ready to go off to war, a heaviness that settles among the people effected. Jessica felt that heaviness now. It's the same when her father would leave in the middle of the night, it never changed. "I'll hold you to that, the Cork, till then." She slowly parted from Eian not wanting to leave his side she slowly slide from him and made her way to the Boudicca. There was far to much work that needed to be done and not enough time to do it in. She knew the captain's would be calling a officers meeting soon and Jessica wanted a full work up on the tactical department before that time. Who was battle ready, injuries, training, ammo, and weapons on hand... All of it. She sighed glancing back toward Eian, ~Why is there always so much to do and so little time to accomplish everything.~ (reply Eian, iyw) (posted by Matthew Locke) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO, Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 1, 2329) "Captain, the Boudicca reports that they are ready to depart dock, sir." Dralar reported. Ahmed looked up from the last of his readiness reports, and then handed them to the yeoman standing at his left elbow. "Notify Docking control, disengage all docking clamps and umbilicus, and move us away from Starbase docking slip. take us, best course out of the Starbases Area of Operation. "Get me the Boudicca on the screen, Mister Jackson." (reply Jackson) After a few moments, the main view screen shifted from the space immediately surrounding the starbase to the bridge of the USS Boudicca. "Captain Durand we are leaving dock now. I'd like to keep our formation tight in case we are detected prior to our arrival. Maybe the proximity will hide the fact that there are two starships here instead of one." (reply Durand) "Understood Captain, see you and your crew at the briefing. Rosenante out." The main viewer returned to the image of the area surrounding them, three Tellarite freighters slipped past the view screen to their port side. "The Boudicca is in an echelon eight formation captain, aft and starboard distance 1200 meters." The Helmsman reported. "Very good mister Dralar, once we're clear of the Starbase's operational authority zone, set course for the Dovek system. I would prefer to come in very high above the system's elliptical plane if at all possible. Once the course is set engage at warp 7. Notify the Boudicca of course and speed prior to engaging." Ahmed re-iterated. "Yes captain." Although Ahmed had some experience as Captain of a starship, he had never had to face the Borg, nor had he ever commanded a small force before. A single starship was within his element, but multiple vessels? He had no idea if he was up to the task. He did know that he'd have to call on his experience under the command of Captain, then commodore Sash, and later Captain Rivers, each of whom had both commanded task forces while he was under their command. There were lessons to be had there and observations to be made. "Mister Sullivan, you have the Bridge. Have Lieutenant Xim relieve you when it is time for the briefing." (reply Sullivan, Jackson) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Bridge - 2O/COPS Lt Tom Jackson 2345) Tom was working the ops shift - he was having a hard time - Dahlia and he had not had much time before duty called. Tom was worried, nervous, excited - he was finding he thrived on the activity of an active mission. He wondered what a 2O would do once a mission was afoot. So far Tom had mostly served as COPS. He wondered how he would fare? He, the captain and First Officer had not spoken much of what Tom;s additional duties would be. It was all secondary - the Borg were on the move again. The two ships were departing SB 989 - Tom thought of Dahlia and how his heart broke as he had said jgood bye. He never could handle a woman's teas. The captain;s voice broke into Tom;s thought when he ordered "Get me the Boudicca on the screen, Mister Jackson." "Aye, Aye skipper" Jackson replied. His hands flew quickly over the keys n his console. The Boudicca's bridge soon was displayed in the view screen. The captain's talked and soon bid themselves good bye till the briefing. (reply:none) (posted by: Bill) ======================================================= (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid - Day 2, 0001) Ahmed stepped into the Observation Lounge with just moments to spare before the briefing was to begin. He had just settled into his chair when the Boudicca made the initial connection for the briefing. Once Ahmed connected the conference and added the new encryption codes that Raschen had brought to the mix, the nature of the briefing became very different indeed. On both ships, the table in the compartment appeared to expand and holographic representations, updated in real time, appeared to occupy a relative position at the newly created section of the table. The illusion was amazing, for the Rosenante, it was as if the Boudicca crew was sitting in the same room as they were, while for the Boudicca crew, it seemed the same, except it was the Rosenante crew that was in attendance. Ahmed had to smile, since this particular improvement allowed incredibly complex communication to take place with a great deal of security. The detail was stunning and the combined briefing would allow the personal nuances of the attendees to be seen by all present. long gone were the days where some one could discuss something or make a gesture, 'off-camera' as it were. Alan seemed non-plussed by the situation, as if he had seen this sort of thing before somewhere outside the confines of a holodeck. NRPG: Since the idea here is thatwe are all in the same room, there will be no need during this briefing to use the =^= symbols. "Captain Salid, shall I begin?" Durand asked. "Yes please do Captain." Ahmed replied. "As you all know," Durand began, "just over two hours ago, we received joint mission orders from Starfleet... of the very highest priority. Admiral Richardson sent us this data packet. I warn you, the implications are disturbing.” As Alan continued to speak, the images the pair had seen earlier were put on the screen, minus Admiral Richardson’s image or his briefing. Durand continued, "These images came from the Darson Deep Space Array. For those of you unfamiliar with it, that’s an extremely sophisticated sensor platform which is tasked with border surveillance. Occasionally it catches things like this." He gestured toward the screen. "I suspect most, if not all of you, recognize the image to the right... that’s a Borg Tactical Cube. For those that don’t, it’s an upgraded, specialized for killing starships version of the ‘ordinary’ Borg Cube." "The *worse* news, is that pyramid shaped vessel that is with it. We have no idea what exactly that is... beyond the fact that it is a Borg vessel. No one in Starfleet, nor any of our allies have ever encountered this design before. Command is rather imaginatively calling it a ‘Borg Pyramid’. Let’s not ever say that command lacks creativity," he quipped without humor. "Both of them are on a course to the Dovek system, which is in the Beta Quadrant just outside Romulan space. As to what they are up to, Captain Salid will address that issue shortly. Any questions thus far? Comments?" "Do we have any technical scans or specifications on the Borg pyramid?" McLaren asked, "Do we know if it is a native Borg vessel or something that they assimilated?" (reply Durand, any other questions) It was a good question, one that Ahmed wished they could provided a more reasonable answer to. Just once he'd like a mission that was fairly straight forward, rather than fraught with unknowns and conjecture. Once all the questions concerning the Borg ships had been asked and answered to the best ability possible, Ahmed picked up the briefing. "The apparent destination of these Borg ships is what makes them a significant threat. The Dovek system is located just 15 light-years spinward outside of the border of the Romulan Star Empire. The second planet Dovek II, is believed to be one of the last surviving member worlds of the long extinct Tkon Empire." "For those of you who don't know much about the Tkon, you're not alone. Even after six decades of research by Federation Archeologists, we know very little about them." "What we do know is that they were at least as advanced as the Federation in most fields, and that in a few others, they are known or believed to be well in advance of our own technological developments." "There has been a long debate about what happened to them. The theories range from self-destruction, to civil war or massive galactic catastrophe. Of the theories, the one that is most widely accepted is that the seat of the empire was destroyed by a super massive super nova 60,000 years ago, during the Age of Makto. Archeologically we can watch the destruction of Tkon worlds as a wavefront expanding from a single point. Those closest were completely pulverized by the energy wave, while those farther away were cooked by radiation or gamma ray bursts, at least in the latest models." "Now if you consider that the Tkon were highly advanced technologically, you could easily imagine the interest that the Borg may well have in the Dovek system." Ahmed paused long enough to let his words sink in before continuing. "If the Borg have some sort of indication that advanced Tkon technology could be assimilated at Dovek II, enough so that they have sent two ships, one a tactical vessel and the other a specialized ship of some sort, then you can bet that we are going to have our hands full dealing with them here." "We have never seen a specialized Borg vessel escorted by a Tactical cube before, at least not in the Alpha or Beta Quadrants. That in itself tells us that the Borg are fully committed to their mission, what ever it may be. Because of that commitment, we must be even more committed to putting a halt to their plans. That's our mission." "We will assess the situation, try to determine the Borg intent and then if we determine the situation to be warranting, we shall interdict with extreme prejudice." "Make no mistakes, this mission will push us all to our limits. There is no single lifeform that inspires more fear than the Borg. They are relentless, calculating and purpose driven. They are strong, well-organized, and adaptive. Whatever they are looking for is something we can not allow them to have, even if it means the complete destruction of both these vessels to prevent that acquisition." Ahmed sighed. "That said, we're not going to go in there phaser banks blasting. It is a preference to avoid armed conflict for as long as possible. We fully expect the conflict to happen. The Borg are nothing if not predictable. Admiral Richardson, from whom our orders derive, has placed me in overall command of this mission. I will be deferring to Captain Durand's experience with the Borg and his tactical experience as well. He will retain command of the Boudicca and will be operating in a cooperative manner with the Rosenante. He is an experienced officer and I welcome all input and advice that he may have. The respective chain of command for both ships will remain the same, with Captain Durand taking his orders directly from myself, Should I be incapacitated in some means, Captain Durand will then assume command of the mission." "First order of business is preparation. All tactical and engineering teams will be tasked with making adjustments to the phaser, torpedo and shield modulations. Sickbays will convert at least one public space into an emergency triage and treatment area. All security teams will distribute phasers to every crew member and establish weapons and power pack caches at fortified strongpoints in anticipation of possible boarding by Borg drones. Starting immediately for all ship's personnel, sidearms are required to be worn with your duty uniform. All security teams will be issued phaser rifles. I want double patrols on both ships." "Operations, You will place mobile fusion generators and power pack recharging stations in key locations through the ship. You will also facilitate all logistical and supply requirements made by other departments. In addition, I want encryption capability for the ship's main and secondary computer cores prepared should it be needed, The encryption will be turned over to the respective ship's Commanding Officer and First Officer." "Engineering, I need a complete check of all life-support modules and emergency systems. Also stage damage control equipment at key locations to facilitate a quicker response to any engineering emergency. "We will arrive in the Dovek system in 48 hours, and the Borg will have been there for at least 24 before we arrive." "Does anyone here have any questions or concerns that they need to voice?" (reply All Boudicca and Rosenante crew) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante Observation Lounge 2O/COPS Lt Tom Jackson Day 2 0003) Tom entered the room and took his seat next to Phil Sheridan and Robbie Smith. Each gave Jackson a 'What's up look?'. Tom did not know and simply shook his shoulders. ~So much for being in the loop~ Jackson thought somewhat sullenly. The others filtered in and took their seats. Th first officer and CO had not yet arrived. Tom, Phil and Robbie shipped their drinks. While waiting for the captain and FO to arrive, Phil Sheridan began to tease his friend and boss Tom about being an 'old married man' now. Tom knew that these two were not going to ease up. TJ shrugged his shoulders and replied "Well, when you got it you got it" and smiled at the other two men. They huddled and reviewed the OPS status reports they all knew that Captain Salid would want. The ship was fully set to depart on a moment;s notice. Weapons, software and engineering areas were updated and fully loaded. (reply: None) (posted by: Bill) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 2 - 0004) ~The Borg. Damn~ Feelings of apprehension were settling in his stomach, as he was sure they were in everyone else's. It wasn't exactly something Starfleet put on its recruiting brochure. ~No wonder they evacuated everyone, including pets.~ He knew they would need to get engineering ready--the shield generators would have to be programmed to remodulate their frequencies every few seconds, for adaptation purposes. The same went for the phaser banks and photon torpedo signatures. He would likely be in charge of those, in addition to calibrating the tactical array. He was extremely glad for the upgrades the Rose had received during her time at Starbase 989. The THIS targeting matrix and self-healing shield capacitors were about to get a workout. When Durand concluded, he said a quick prayer to God that He would watch over both ships, but especially watch over Jessica. (reply none necessary) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma- 0007) Ben listened to the breifing, and slowly felt his blood run a little cold. They were going to face the Borg. He felt the anger building in him but forced himself to remain composed, it would do him little good to break down in the middle of a breifing no matter what he was feeling. He hoped that no one present other then Sanok had noticed, his friend would likely have a little advice to dish out after the breifing concluded. Captain Salid handed out assignments and he was glad that the Captain was taking the idea as seriously as he was. All personnel were to be armed and weapons and power cells were to be stashed at strongholds over the ship. It was a good plan but it would eventually prove futile, they would be lucky to get off half a dozen shots before the drones adapted forcing them to fight hand to hand. Ben would see to it that everything was taken care of after they were dismissed, assigning his staff to preparing the strongholds and handing out phasers to all the crew. He was still wary about the possibility of being boarded and having to fight off the Borg in the corridors. There was another option that could be taken advantage of. "Captain," Ben said at the appropriate moment. "I recommend me remodulate the frequencies on the phasers. The Borg will adapt quickly and we'll only get a couple shots before we're firing blanks. No more then half a dozen phasers should share the same frequency, eventually they'll adapt but at least this will buy us enough time to come up with other options." (reply any) (posted by Milo Young) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Observation Lounge - ATAC/SC Jessica Signos - Day 1 - 0011) ~May the fates protect us.~ Jessica thought has the briefing went bad to worse. It all made sense now, her shoulders sunk, she knew the up and coming orders were bad but she had no ideal that they would be this. ~What to do?~ She thought her father had taught her never panic, you can always find a solution if you look hard enough. That what she did now, she searched all the information she had learned of the borg during her academy, and from the horror stories she's was told from her father. When a thought came to her, a daring, and somewhat suicidal thought, but this was however a suicidal mission. She outlined the details for her insanity in her PADD has she listened to the mission breifing. "Does anyone here have any questions or concerns that they need to voice?" Captain Salid voiced. Jessica stood, she was sure that the room was gonna either be flooded with question or completely silent. She motioned to the Captain Durand "With your leave sir." (reply Durand) Jessica looked over the combined meeting rooms, her experience in starfleet many times out shown by the experienced officers gathered before here. She felt how she often looked small, weak, frail. "Has there been any thought on how we will engage two borg ships, when this goes south." She voiced her option. She closed her eyes to collect her thoughts "Lets face facts the Borg are not gonna take kindly to two federation ships interfering with their plans. How will we fight two borg vessels when it normally takes an entire fleet to take one borg cube down. These are all fears we share." She paused to catch her breath and to stop herself from rambling. "I do have an ideal, a small team to beam aboard the borg cube or other key tactical location, push has far as possible into the structure has a teleport signal can allow. Drop and arm an antimatter mine and blow it from the inside." (reply any who wish.) She watched the looks on the other officers faces, she was more concerned with the Captain looks however. She took a deep breath. "Also there is the matter of Borg drones adapting to our phasers, which highly lowers there effectiveness. I propose instead we use hyper sonic impact rounds." Again she glanced around the room. "We know there adaptive shields are effective against energy based weapons, but when faced with high speed rounds... they fail." She sat letting what she said sink in, it was after all her insanity. She wondered how the rest of the crews would look at her after her little speech. Either way they would find a way to overcome the trials before them or die trying. (reply any in the meeting who wish) (posted by Matthew Locke) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - Lieutenant Chance Raschen - 0013) Captain Durand was in the process of giving his brief when Raschen walked into the room with La Croix and Shea right behind him and stood next to the bulkhead by the door. All three were still in their blue coveralls with varying tabs on the left sleeves. Raschen wore tabs that said EB-454, AR-558, and Placidly; Shea wore one that said MDP; and La Croix wore 4 tabs that matched the tabs of Chance and Brandy. They all three stood next to the bulkhead. Durand was talking “Both of them are on a course to the Dovek system, which is in the Beta Quadrant just outside Romulan space. As to what they are up to, Captain Salid will address that issue shortly. Any questions thus far? Comments?” Raschen raised his hand saying "Sir, we're gonna hold our questions till the end." As indicated himself, Lucien, and Brandy. After the brief most everyone was dismissed. Before leaving, Lucien and Brandy turned toward Chance and the three spoke quietly among themselves before the 2 majors left. (Reply Salid iyw) Posted by Charlie --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Observation Lounge - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 0015) Detron listened to Jessica's suggestions on how to handle the Borg and he was pleased with what she had to say. Detron made notes on his PADD for future reference when they were needed. Detron stood and added. "Sir. I believe that is a good strategy and I am willing to volunteer for the operation. Might I suggest a combination of the two she suggested with looking at knocking out their sensor nodes. Then apply the antimatter explosion sir." Detron waited for further suggestions. (Reply Signos, Any at meeting) (Posted by Edward) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Observation Lounge, Lieutenant jg Sanok, 0016) The Borg. A word that filled most races with fear and dread, simply at the mention of their name. The first time Starfleet met them, it was said that you can't outrun them. You can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming. Eventually, you will weaken. Your reserves will be gone. They are relentless. In early encounters, that was entirely true, but Starfleet had found ways to bloody them. Still, the Borg were a mighty threat, a threat to be feared. It was entirely possible that both the Rosenante and the Boudicca, would now return from the encounter. While in the academy, Sanok had taken a particular interest in learning all he could about the Borg. Of course, in a Sec/Tac major, he had received extensive education and training against them, but he had studied everything he could find about them. One never knew what might be needed someday. Sanok listened to the suggestion make by Signos, followed by Trei's agreement with the plan, as well as his willingness to lead the team; atypical Klingon reaction. However, it was not always a good day to die. When Trei was finished, Sanok stood. He nodded to Captain Salid, then to the holographic image of Captain Durand. "Captains, if I may. Though the Borg can adapt their shields to the frequencies of our energy weapons, using projectile weapons is also unlikely to succeed. In 2383, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise-D, killed several Borg drone in a holodeck, using a Thompson submachine gun. Since all Borg have the same knowledge, it is extremely likely that they have adapted to the possible use of such weapons against them. "I would also suggest that sending a strike team on board their ships with an anti-mater mine, is likely to fail as well. The Borg have shown that they ignore teams on their vessels when they don't consider those teams to be a threat. It is almost a surety their internal sensors would detect the presence of such a mine. If so, they would take extreme measures to eliminate the threat. It is almost sure suicide, to send a team in to do that." When he was finished, Sanok simply returned to his seat and waited for a response. This was going to be a difficult mission, and deciding how to prepare for what was to come, would be equally difficult. Perhaps all that could be done, was to wait and see, then adapt, just as the Borg did. The Borg. A word that filled most races with fear and dread, simply at the mention of their name.... (reply any) (posted by Bob) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 2 - 0018) Eian listened to everyone's suggestions, meanwhile typing away at his PADD, working out a scenario that built off of what others had said. He was interested in the technology that allowed them to have this meeting together. It made it look like the Boudicca crew were actually there. With a few modifications... "I have an idea," Eian said in his typical blunt manner, when his mind was engrossed in a theory. He stood, still looking at his PADD. "I think...yeah, if we can manufacture the images of people, we can also manufacture false life signs. It's possible that we could have a boarding team 'beam in', manufacturing their image but in reality beaming in just the mine with anti-gravs attached to it. Then, using the holodeck technology I developed last December, we could have them control the mine on the holodeck as if they were actually on the Borg cube. It would mean we'd have to beam holo-emitters over with the mine, but it wouldn't be so hard to do. We could also attempt to modify our weapons to display a false holo-signature, masking the inherent signature with a subspace mask." Now excited, he put the PADD down and used his hands to animately describe his idea. "It'd be like having a secure conversation, only we could potentially even tap into interspace channels. The only issue is the power drain, but it's possible we could piggyback a signal off of their own node system. It would simultaneously draw power from their ship and give power to our holo-emitters, which would also carry the signal that would mask the mine signature. And if we could somehow get that signal over to the Rose or the Boudicca, we could transfer them to our own weapons in the event of them boarding us. "But it might take too much time," he continued. "So as a backup plan if they try to board us, we could rig the holodeck to do pretty much the same thing. Masking the signature of our energy weapons so they would have to spend time attempting to find it to adapt to it. It would buy us time if nothing else," he finished. He realized his entire plan was evolving in his head as he spoke, so it probably came out as a garbled mess. But if Matrix or Jacobs or Gesar happened to agree with him and build off of his idea, they might have a way of making Jessica's plan work *and* buying some time in the event of a boarding at the same time. (reply any) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid - Day 2, 0030) Once he had opened the floor to questions and comments, the room came abuzz with excitement. Not surprisingly, it was Soma that spoke up first, "Captain, I recommend me remodulate the frequencies on the phasers. The Borg will adapt quickly and we'll only get a couple shots before we're firing blanks. No more then half a dozen phasers should share the same frequency, eventually they'll adapt but at least this will buy us enough time to come up with other options." Ahmed nodded, it was a strong and well considered option. "Very well lieutenant, coordinate with the Boudicca so that we do not inadvertently use any of the same frequencies that they are using, that should aid in our survivability considerably." He replied. "Has there been any thought on how we will engage two borg ships, when this goes south." Signos asked. She closed her eyes to collect her thoughts "Lets face facts, the Borg are not gonna take kindly to two federation ships interfering with their plans. How will we fight two borg vessels when it normally takes an entire fleet to take one borg cube down? These are all fears we share." She paused for a moment "I do have an idea, a small team to beam aboard the borg cube or other key tactical location, push has far as possible into the structure as a teleport signal can allow. Drop and arm an antimatter mine and blow it from the inside." Ahmed considered it. There were a number of hazards associated with such a plan. One of which was the immediate dangers in transferring Antimatter in the first place. "Also there is the matter of Borg drones adapting to our phasers, which highly lowers their effectiveness. I propose instead we use hyper sonic impact rounds." Again she glanced around the room. "We know thier adaptive shields are effective against energy based weapons, but when faced with high speed rounds... they fail." Detron Trei was the next to chime in, "Sir. I believe that is a good strategy and I am willing to volunteer for the operation. Might I suggest a combination of the two she suggested with looking at knocking out their sensor nodes. Then apply the antimatter explosion sir." "Captains, if I may." Sanok said as he stood. "Though the Borg can adapt their shields to the frequencies of our energy weapons, using projectile weapons is also unlikely to succeed. In 2383, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise-D, killed several Borg drones in a holodeck, using a Thompson submachine gun. Since all Borg have the same knowledge, it is extremely likely that they have adapted to the possible use of such weapons against them. "I would also suggest that sending a strike team on board their ships with an anti-mater mine, is likely to fail as well. The Borg have shown that they ignore teams on their vessels when they don't consider those teams to be a threat. It is almost a surety their internal sensors would detect the presence of such a mine. If so, they would take extreme measures to eliminate the threat. It is almost sure suicide, to send a team in to do that." Ahmed nodded. " I agree, however, it could still be an option worth considering, I'll have to take a more detailed look at the hazards associated in using such a device. While I have no doubt it would be a potent weapon, antimatter in any form is very volatile and hazardous to transport. In addition, antimatter explosions can cause significant damage to subspace, so I'll need to carefully weight the options before I can approve such a plan. I suspect that Sanok's conclusions may be correct, and that I may well find it to be prohibitive in the potential for losing personnel. Anyone else?" "I have an idea," Eian said. He stood, still looking at his PADD. "I think...yeah, if we can manufacture the images of people, we can also manufacture false life signs. It's possible that we could have a boarding team 'beam in', manufacturing their image but in reality beaming in just the mine with anti-gravs attached to it. Then, using the holodeck technology I developed last December, we could have them control the mine on the holodeck as if they were actually on the Borg cube. It would mean we'd have to beam holo-emitters over with the mine, but it wouldn't be so hard to do. We could also attempt to modify our weapons to display a false holo-signature, masking the inherent signature with a subspace mask." Now excited, he put the PADD down and used his hands to animately describe his idea. "It'd be like having a secure conversation, only we could potentially even tap into interspace channels. The only issue is the power drain, but it's possible we could piggyback a signal off of their own node system. It would simultaneously draw power from their ship and give power to our holo-emitters, which would also carry the signal that would mask the mine signature. And if we could somehow get that signal over to the Rose or the Boudicca, we could transfer them to our own weapons in the event of them boarding us." ~Interesting thought~ Ahmed considered inwardly. "But it might take too much time," he continued. "So as a backup plan if they try to board us, we could rig the holodeck to do pretty much the same thing. Masking the signature of our energy weapons so they would have to spend time attempting to find it to adapt to it. It would buy us time if nothing else," he finished. "Hmmm." Ahmed replied as he tried to grasp everything that O'Neill had suggested. "To be honest with you ensign I'm not certain I completely understand what you're suggesting. I'd like some further information. After the briefing, I'd like you to put together a report on the process and submit it to Commanders Lorimar and McLaren, Lieutenant Matrix, Ensigns Gesar and Jacobs for their feedback. We'd need to know what sort of effects this might have on both ships systems and viability of producing such a piece of equipment in the short amount of time that we have available to us. Once everyone has chimed in, I'd like that information submitted for review by Captain Durand and myself." "Now to answer Ensign Signos' earlier question concerning a battle plan, Captain Durand and I will be discussing our options and will have a general plan of action prepared prior to our arrival at the Dovek system. As of this moment we are still reviewing the most recent tactical engagements with the Borg, that we can get our hands on, in the hopes of familiarizing ourselves with the most recent advances in Borg offensive and defensive technology and tactics." Ahmed paused for a moment. He looked around the room. "Now I've got to ask a question that may make some of you very uncomfortable. I need to know who among us has had any direct experience with the Borg. By direct I mean first hand contact, not stories, not what was taught in the academy. This is important, because that experience could be helpful in coming to a better understanding of how the Borg think, or how they may react to our actions once we've arrived." (reply Any room for more) Once all the remaining questions and comments had been presented, asked and answered, Ahmed decided it was time to dismiss the assembled crews and to have them get to work. "Okay everyone, you have your orders. You are dismissed to your duties. Captain Durand, Commander Caskie, Commander Sullivan and Lieutenant Jackson, Lieutenant Raschen and Lieutenant Soma, please remain for a few minutes longer." Once everyone, except those requested had departed, Ahmed addressed his two senior most security officers. "Mister Soma, Mister Raschen. I'm going to split the responsibilities of the Security/Tactical department or the duration of this mission. Starting immediately, Mister Soma, you will be handling Tactical modifications to the ship's weapons and shields. I'll give you Lieutenant Sanok as your assistant." (reply Soma) "Mister Raschen, you will be handling the modification of the personal weapons as well as modifying the internal security fields and handling strongpoint set-up. Mister Nunez will be at your disposal. I have no problems with you two pooling your resources or personnel, but I feel that I need to separate these duties because of the large amount of work and the relatively short time that it needs to be accomplished in. Mister Raschen, be very discriminating with the methods you choose to employ to this end." (reply Raschen) He turned to Durand. "Captain Durand, who do you want my personnel to coordinate with on the Boudicca?" (reply Durand) "You have your responsibilities. That will be all gentlemen." (reply Raschen, Soma) Once the two officers had left, Ahmed turned to regard the assembled command crew. "Captain Durand, I would like for you and Commander Sullivan to come up with a tactical stance that we can utilize against the Borg when it becomes necessary. We don't have enough ships to be able to utilize a wave attack and we've seen the results of a combined attack against a Borg cube, let alone against a Tactical cube. We need something new, that the Borg are unlikely to have encountered from us before. I have full confidence that you can put something together. Commander Sullivan is intimately aware of the Rose's combat capabilities as is your own first officer, so you should have plenty of resources there." (reply Sullivan, Durand) He then turned his attention to Caskie and Jackson. "Commander Caskie, I'd like for you to take charge of the preparations for the Boudicca if Captain Durand can spare you for it. Mister Jackson will do the same here on the Rosenante. I'd like a status report on the state of preparations in eight hours." (reply Caskie, Jackson) "For all of our benefits, I want to make absolutely certain that there is no confusion as to the chain of command. I want this to be clear because should there be losses among the chain, we can not afford any loss of initiative as a result of confusion." "I am looking at the seniority and relative positions of individuals when I decided upon this organization. I retain overall command of the mission. Behind me is Captain Durand, then Commander Caskie, then Commander Sullivan and finally Lieutenant Jackson. Should the entirety of the command staff be incapacitated or killed, command of the overall mission will proceed in rank order of seniority. It is imperative that this information be disseminated to all senior department heads prior to the engagement with the Borg. With this in mind, do any of you have any adjustments that you feel should be made to this organization?" (reply Sullivan, Durand, Caskie, Jackson) Once any concerns were addressed, Ahmed continued. "Very good. You have your orders. Captain Durand, a moment please. Everyone else is dismissed." (reply Durand) Once the other senior officers had departed, Ahmed continued, "I know you have a lot to take care of captain so I won't keep you much longer. I have some reservations concerning the antimatter mine concept. However, it has occurred to me that should it prove that the Borg are conducting some sort of operation on the planet's surface that they may not be able to detect nor react to such a device there with the same capabilities as they would aboard one of their ships. Therefore, I believe that resource denial may be an option at that point. The planet is uninhabited, so there is no danger to indigenous populations, and subspace fractures rarely take place with antimatter explosions inside a gravity well." "I'd like such a device constructed. Have Commander Lorimar do so, with the intent to deploy it on the planet's surface should it be necessary. If there is something on that planet that the Borg want. I'd like to get a look at it before destroying it if at all possible. So we may be sending down an away team, and then following it up by deploying such a device. It may stand to reason that if we can destroy the reason that the Borg are here, that they may simply return home without the need for a prolonged tactical engagement. What are your thoughts on the matter?" (All members of both crews) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma, 0032) "Okay everyone, you have your orders. You are dismissed to your duties. Captain Durand, Commander Caskie, Commander Sullivan and Lieutenant Jackson, Lieutenant Raschen and Lieutenant Soma, please remain for a few minutes longer." Once everyone, except those requested had departed, Ahmed addressed his two senior most security officers. "Mister Soma, Mister Raschen. I'm going to split the responsibilities of the Security/Tactical department or the duration of this mission. Starting immediately, Mister Soma, you will be handling Tactical modifications to the ship's weapons and shields. I'll give you Lieutenant Sanok as your assistant." Ben listened as the Captain explained what he wanted, splitting tactical and security for the mission, Ben would lead the tactical while Raschen handled the security. "Understood Captain, I'll see what I can come up with to aide the modulation of the shields and the weapons systems. Maybe some for of automated modulation program could be written into the systems." Ben replied. He'd have to speak with theengineers to see if it were possible to do so of course. "MisterRaschen, you will be handling the modification of the personal weapons as well as modifying the internal security fields and handling strongpoint set-up. Mister Nunez will be at your disposal. I have no problems with you two pooling your resources or personnel, but I feel that I need to separate these duties because of the large amount of work and the relatively short time that it needs to be accomplished in. Mister Raschen, be very discriminating with the methods you choose to employ to this end." The idea of pooling personnel could be helpful as well as making things more complicated, Ben couldn't help but wonder how the personnel would be split if it came to it. Salid addressed Durand for a moment and then said. "You have your responsibilities. That will be all gentlemen." "Aye Sir." Ben said as he stood to leave. (reply Salid, Raschen, Durand, any) (posted by Milo Young) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Observation Lounge - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 2 - 0035) Josh had sat quietly all the way through the meeting since she simply had nothing to add. She didn't have any experience of fighting the Borg and since her main area of expertise was medical all she really knew about the Borg was the fairly slim possibilities of rehabilitating them back to their previous lives. That would not help at present so she simply kept quiet and made notes. She listened to the ideas presented and made notes on each one of them and finally Salid dismissed both crew with the exception of both Command Staff and the Rose's TAC/Sec team. Having given Rachen and Soma their orders he dismissed them too and began to address the joint command staff giving various orders. Eventually he turned to Jackson and Josh. "Commander Caskie, I'd like for you to take charge of the preparations for the Boudicca if Captain Durand can spare you for it. Mister Jackson will do the same here on the Rosenante. I'd like a status report on the state of preparations in eight hours." Josh merely nodded her head. "Aye Sir." and made another note. "For all of our benefits, I want to make absolutely certain that there is no confusion as to the chain of command. I want this to be clear because should there be losses among the chain, we can not afford any loss of initiative as a result of confusion." "I am looking at the seniority and relative positions of individuals when I decided upon this organization. I retain overall command of the mission. Behind me is Captain Durand, then Commander Caskie, then Commander Sullivan and finally Lieutenant Jackson. Should the entirety of the command staff be incapacitated or killed, command of the overall mission will proceed in rank order of seniority. It is imperative that this information be disseminated to all senior department heads prior to the engagement with the Borg. With this in mind, do any of you have any adjustments that you feel should be made to this organization?" Josh simply shook her head once again. Determined however that she would do everything in her power to keep both captains alive, since she certainly didn't relish the prospect of being the senior officer in charge of this particular party. Once dismissed she headed back to her office but changed her mind half way deciding to visit all the departments in person rather that contact them by comm. (No reply needed) (Posted by Marilyn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge -2O/ COPS Lt Tom Jackson - Day 2 0037) Tom had kept quiet during the briefing. Jackson had never directly encountered the Borg - he had seen the aftermath of several assimilations. One thing he had come to learn was that the Borg were relentless - always coming and very difficult to stop. Personnel loss was felt to be high. Normally, Tom was not one to spook easily but this time things were different. He thanks his lucky stars that Dahlia was safe on SB 989. The suggestions that came forth during the meeting were, well, interesting.Jackson was not a scientist nor engineer. The anti-matter bom sounded dangerous and interesting at the same time. Captain Salid concluded the briefing with "Okay everyone, you have your orders. You are dismissed to your duties. Captain Durand, Commander Caskie, Commander Sullivan and Lieutenant Jackson, Lieutenant Raschen and Lieutenant Soma, please remain for a few minutes longer." Tom watched as those not requested to stay went out ot perform their duties. His curiosity was peaked at the request to stay behind. Ahmed Salid went through what he wanted from the tactical and security folks. Tom was glad Chance had arrived upon the scene. He knew and trusted Chance. If he had to go into danger, Tom wanted a man like Chance with him Ben Soma was another he was glad was with them. The Captain then turned his attention to Caskie and Jackson. "Commander Caskie, I'd like for you to take charge of the preparations for the Boudicca if Captain Durand can spare you for it. Mister Jackson will do the same here on the Rosenante. I'd like a status report on the state of preparations in eight hours." He watched Josh and her reaction. She was another person Tom was glad to go into harm's way with. tomacknowledged his orders with "Aye, aye Sir". Tom's mind began to race with the myriad of things to do Ahmed Salid continued in a vein tha t caused Tom to pause and consider his new responsiblities -"For all of our benefits, I want to make absolutely certain that there is no confusion as to the chain of command. I want this to be clear because should there be losses among the chain, we can not afford any loss of initiative as a result of confusion." "I am looking at the seniority and relative positions of individuals when I decided upon this organization. I retain overall command of the mission. Behind me is Captain Durand, then Commander Caskie, then Commander Sullivan and finally Lieutenant Jackson. Should the entirety of the command staff be incapacitated or killed, command of the overall mission will proceed in rank order of seniority. It is imperative that this information be disseminated to all senior department heads prior to the engagement with the Borg. With this in mind, do any of you have any adjustments that you feel should be made to this organization?" Clearly, his old friend was worried and that was not like the CO. Tom swore to himself quietly he would not let his commander down no matter what! (reply:none) (posted by: Bill) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Observation Lounge - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 2, 0039) "Hmmm." Salid replied, and Eian could tell from some of the looks he was getting that he had been 'rambling on' again. "To be honest with you lieutenant I'm not certain I completely understand what you're suggesting. I'd like some further information. After the briefing, I'd like you to put together a report on the process and submit it to Commanders Lorimar and McLaren, Lieutenant Matrix, Ensigns Gesar and Jacobs for their feedback. We'd need to know what sort of effects this might have on both ships systems and viability of producing such a piece of equipment in the short amount of time that we have available to us. Once everyone has chimed in, I'd like that information submitted for review by Captain Durand and myself." Eian nodded, responded with, "Yes, Sir, I'll get right on it," and sat down. He would need to work out quite a few kinks in his plan. To do the amount of work he was suggesting in the time allotted, they would have to commandeer a holodeck and they would probably end up working with a 'quick and dirty' prototype if they were to use the holo-emitters to mask a mine's signature before beaming it aboard the enemy vessel. Additionally, it might be of more use to spend time on creating a program that would allow a phaser signature to be masked. The briefing went on for a bit longer, and Eian used the time to sketch out a basic plan on his PADD. Salid dismissed them by saying, "Okay everyone, you have your orders. You are dismissed to your duties. Captain Durand, Commander Caskie, Commander Sullivan and Lieutenant Jackson, Lieutenant Raschen and Lieutenant Soma, please remain for a few minutes longer." Eian stood and headed out, still looking at his PADD and thinking about how he could improve his plan. (reply none necessary) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante, Observation Lounge, Lieutenant Chance Raschen, 0042) Once everyone, except those requested had departed, Ahmed addressed his two senior most security officers. "Mister Soma, Mister Raschen. I'm going to split the responsibilities of the Security/Tactical department or the duration of this mission. Starting immediately, Mister Soma, you will be handling Tactical modifications to the ship's weapons and shields. I'll give you Lieutenant Sanok as your assistant." After Soma and the skipper finished talking, Salid turned toward Raschen. "Mister Raschen, you will be handling the modification of the personal weapons as well as modifying the internal security fields and handling strong point set-up. Mister Nunez will be at your disposal. I have no problems with you two pooling your resources or personnel, but I feel that I need to separate these duties because of the large amount of work and the relatively short time that it needs to be accomplished in. Mister Raschen, be very discriminating with the methods you choose to employ to this end." "I understand sir; I have a couple ideas that I want to ask about. But first, one quick question sir. Where do you want LMaj. La Croix and LMaj. Shea to report?" (Reply Salid) "For defense, I want to set up some Kill Zones with EMP mines throughout the ship. For offense, Major Shea had the idea of using one of the support craft to drop EMP bombs on the Borg vessels." (Reply Salid) Then the skipper of the Rose and talked with the skipper of the Boud before turning his attention back toward Chance and Ben saying."Captain Durand, who do you want m"You have your responsibilities. That will be all gentlemen." Chance looked at Ben the back at Ahmed "Aye sir" and headed out of the room. The only things he felt certain of was that T'Lela was safe, he would be changing into a Starfleet uniform, he would lose friends/ brothers and sisters in arms, and if was still alive when it was over that he was going to get drunk. (Reply Salid, any iyw) Posted by Charlie --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Main Engineering - ACEO Lt. Eian O'Neill Day 2 - 0110) Eian sat in a small area of Main Engineering, in front of a console that was relatively isolated from the rest of the room. He had six screens in front of him--five of which were on the console, and one of which was his PADD. Music played just loud enough for him to hear it, and as he thought about the engineering problem in front of him. He listened to ChrisTENdom, one of four major humanoid Christian bands who recorded fast-paced, bass-filled music that reminded Eian of the old artists who recorded something called 'hip-hop.' The members were actually all civilian personnel aboard Starbase 873, and Eian had gone to a concert as a teenager when his family's ship was docked there. The anti-matter mine problem and the phaser problem turned out to be the same, Eian realized. The basic idea was what he was calling the "blanket" theory. As the anti-matter signatures and energy frequencies of the mine and weapons (respectively) changed, they would be masked by a holo-emitter-induced "blanket". It would create an image, much like the new holo technology did for humanoid eyes, except the image would fool most sensors in the same way that a traditional cloak did. The holo-emitters, instead of projecting an actual image, would project false frequencies and signatures that modulated at the exact same rate as the actual frequencies and signatures did. The Borg would be one step behind at all times because the blanket would give the phasers a chance to change frequencies before the Borg detected the next frequency, or the anti-matter mine the chance to change signatures before they detected the next one. The ship's computer could easily handle picking random numbers for every phaser on board, so that no phaser would operate at the same frequency at the same time. The false frequencies would also be unique for each weapon. A simple holo-emitter, about the size of Eian's thumb, would take care of creating the blanket for the weapon. The problem he was facing was actually the holo-emitters that would go on the anti-matter mine. At this point it was a problem of sheer space. The anti-matter mine itself was about the size of his stool, and it would need four holo-emitters to create the blanket to cover it completely. Then it would need one anti-grav, which would add another foot onto the bottom of the mine. By the time it was complete, it would be the size of a ten-year-old child and clearly detectable to the naked eye. Any transport that occurred would have to get it extremely close to its target before it was spotted. But what if this technology could help them find the exact place to put the mine? He sat back for a moment, and thought. Captain Salid had said that after Quol Nor's murder scheme, it was illegal to use this technology to physically transport a holo-signature to another location and then solidify the signature, much like 'turning the safeties off' on the holodeck, in any case other than within a holodeck. The potential for disaster was just too high, to give the average Starfleet officer the ability to transport himself to a location but not actually be there, to make his signature 'solid' for a few moments and then phase out again. He could get away with virtually anything he wanted to. (NRPG: Check out mission 'Touch of the Eidolon' for more info on this tech) But if done properly, this technology could allow a group of officers to remain in the safety of the holodeck as their holograms went into the Borg cube and disabled the shielding around an area where an anti-matter mine could beam in. He finished his report on the phaser idea, sent it off to all of the senior engineers, and then tapped his combadge. "O'Neill to Captain Salid." (reply Salid) "I have an idea, Sir, but I think it may come with some legal concerns. Do you have a moment?" (reply Salid) "Yes, Sir," Eian answered. This idea could be just the thing that would give them the advantage over the Borg. They had the technology already, it would require virtually no extra time to rig, and its only disadvantage was that once used, the Borg would attempt to use it themselves. (reply Salid, any) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- End Compile ---------------------------------------------------------------------