Approching Socala Major

Posted on Mon Feb 24th, 2020 @ 1:11am by Company Sergeant Major Jeffery "The Mountain" Duval

Mission: Mission 9: Interference
Location: Various Locations - USS Essex
Timeline: 0900Hrs - April 21st, 2389

It was late in the evening, but the Essex's Senior Staff had returned to the Bridge as the ship closed in on the Socala Major system and prepared to drop out of Slipstream...

Jack returned to the Bridge from his quarters after the senior officers call. He was mightily impressed with how such a small Starfleet vessel was coping with the demands of Slipstream travel. He relieved Master Sergeant Duval at the Ops Station, taking note of the other senior officers returning to Bridge Duty. He ran a check and update of all systems on the Ops panel and prepared the sensors for a passive discreet scan of the system. With this being a pre-warp civilization, precaution was called for...

Master Sergeant Duval was also on the bridge as the ship emerged from the slipstream conduit, he smiled as he observed in silence but the sight never got old to him as he made a note to go round up the boys and get them ready and since he was manning the ops station as a relief watch which was something he normally didn't do but they needed an extra man to fill in and since he was on the bridge at that time, filing a report that the marines gear was loaded and stowed away, he shrugged and went to work.

That was a few hours earlier and now they were on arrival as his relief showed up as he looked at the Massively build Master Sargent. "sir. I'm here-"

"Yes, very well." Duval responded. "For the record sir... please don't call me sir. It offends me." he replied with a smile which was something he really had to fight to control as he had to restrain almost forty years of training because he usually started screaming at people who called him sir and considering he was much more massive then Lieutenant Jack Solomon, he was actually being very polite on the matter.

"Very, I stand relieved." and with that Duval walked into the turbolift and was gone from sight.

Coleman walked onto the Bridge and walked over to the Engineering station. He wanted to make sure that the slipstream drive was doing well and nothing would make it bumpy before the ship came out of slipstream.

R'nard entered the Bridge and went to the XO's chair and sat down. Much would happen when the ship came out of slipstream.

It appeared the core was working wonderfully on the ship, even though the Intrepid-Class starships were not really rated for the slipstream corridor as much as the newer class of starships, such as the Vesta-Class. But, the Essex was doing just fine and thus, Coleman waited until the ship came out of slipstream to see what was needed next.

Deela stepped off the turbolift onto the bridge. She walked to her chair and waited for her seat to be vacated. She sat down and glanced around the bridge, observing everyone and everything.

Deela saw Coleman on the bridge as well. She figured that he was checking on something, "Commander Coleman, status."

Coleman looked over his shoulder. "The core seems to be holding steady, as well as the ship. The hull stresses seem at their normal levels and structural integrity appears to be holding at nominal levels, ma'am."

Deela acknowledged him, "Very good." She looked over at Bremer who had just entered the bridge. then over at the viewscreen. She proceeded with her next orders, "Prepare to drop out of slipstream and engage the cloak."

Saith relieved the young officer at the Tactical Station and pulled up the maps and reports from the shift. She began calculating the best way to approach this system. She specifically looked for pockets that could be problematic if the wrong weapon was fired into them. Almost subconsciously she took note of the ships shields as they came through the slipstream. Everything was fine . . . for now.

Her fingers tapped out her commands for the board, "Cloak engaged." She took another look at her read-outs. “Shields and Weapons also appear to be at full capacity and function.” Saith reported.

Bremer arrived on the Bridge in time to hear Deela give the order to engage the cloak. He looked at the screen and saw the third planet in the Socala Major system growing larger on the screen. With the XO's chair meant for Lokran and the CO's chair for T'Lar, Bremer walked over behind the two and stood at the seldom used Auxiliary Station in front of the Bridge's MSD.

Phoenix gave Bremer a polite nod from the secondary tactical station. For the most part, she was entrenched in looking for any sort of tactical flaw the Essex might make on this run. Thus she did not speak to anyone.

They were now at the edge of the Socala Major system as Bremer had planned at the meeting. Deela looked to La Baron, "Ensign La Baron, reduce speed to ." She then addressed L'Verrem, "Captain L'Verrem, you may begin performing your scans."

"Aye," L'Verrem replied.

The ship slowed down as they began to move inside the Socala Major system. The ball was in L'Verrem court now so to speak.

The Caitian's tail slowly swished back and forth as he contemplated the scanner readings, "M-Class planet. 0.98g gravity.The atmosphere is within standard pressure boundaries and is breathable, aside from an abundance of particulates in their population centers. We will not require breathing apparatus on the surface. The tetryon source is still active. I can confirm it is emanating from the third planet. We will have to be in standard orbit before I can determine the exact location," he announced.

He paused for a few moments, "This planet is very active with electromagnetic energy. I believe we will need to induce a solar flare to mask our presence in the event the tetryons interfere with the cloak." He tapped several commands into his console, the announced, "I have sent the coordinates and spread pattern for the quantum torpedo volley to Lt. Saith i-Ki Baratan's console."

Over at Tactical, Saith quickly calculated the pattern in her own head and concurred, more or less, with those sent to her by L’Verrem. She nodded her head agreement, tapping the orders into the console. “At your command,” she paused fingers over the keys, knowing the order would come immediately.

L'Verrem waited for several moments until his console display showed the ship and star were in the right position.

"Fire," L'Verrem said calmly, with a slight purr in his voice.

“Torpedoes away.” Saith said looking up to watch the minor flares of light as they hit their marks. She verified they had hit where desired, “perfect match, we are now undercover.”

L'Verrem's console displayed the sector of the star they targeted. He watched it with ears and whiskers pointed toward it and tail twitching, expressing his total attention to the data flowing on the screen. Moments after impact, a bowed tendril of plasma erupted and expanded outward. At first, the star's intense magnetic field held it in place at the ends as it's middle expanded outward. When gravity and magnetic field could no longer restrain it, the tendril burst at the waist, spewing a spray of x-rays and particles away from the star and toward where the planet would intersect it in its orbit. L'Verrem purred in agreement with how the flare was evolving.

"The flare is evolving as expected. Well done, Lt. Saith i-Ki Baratan," L'Verrem announced.

Mike nodded, "Very good. Engage the cloak, just in case there are other eyes watching." Mike flashed a smirk, as he walked over to Tactical and stood beside Saith as she scanned the planet.

Deela watched on as everyone did their jobs.

As Mike watched the sensor readings come in, he noticed something. He tapped a command to magnify the view. To him, it looked like a major battle was taking place on the planet’s surface and the technology used reminded him a lot of that used on Earth during its Second World War. Propeller driven planes, big gunned ocean going warships, infantry using firearms and small self-propelled tanks and artillery, with rear area command bases using radio transmissions to direct their forces.

“Lieutenant, what’s that look like to you?” He asked of Saith, watching her opinion of the same sensor view.

"A disagreement." Saith smiled slightly, "I big and bloody one. Captain [to L'Verrem], Admiral [to Deela]" she localize the main part of the battle on her screen and tapped on the console so they could see it for themselves.

Mike then widened the view, it appeared one side was pushing deep within the others territory, but what troubled him was the location, the defending troops seemed to have their defensive emplacements surrounding the location of the Tetryon emissions.

“We might have another problem here.” Mike said aloud. “There appears to be a global conflict going on down there, and one side appears to be protecting our target…unknowingly or not.” He paused for a moment while looking over readings.

“Saith, Billy…I want the two of you to monitor radio transmissions from the planet. See if there is any mention of ‘advanced weapons’ being used and try to determine which formation is the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’. Jack, work with Captain L'Verrem on finding a way to the Tetryon source."

Jack nodded as the Admiral gave out his instructions to find a route to the Tetryon source. He was also looking forward to working with other members of the crew as he still felt a need to settle in.

Saith's head nodded as well, although she was wondering what the determination of good vs bad was.

"Yes Admiral," replied Billy as he focused in his head his task at hand. He too was confused by the terminology of good and bad, "How do we know which are 'good' or 'bad'? You want us to determine the aggressors bringing in the technology and who their sided with? In Diplomacy there isn't a defined good or bad, just different points of view."

Bremer smirked, it seemed his joke went unnoticed, “See if you can tell which side is the aggressor in the conflict, if either side is using any ‘advanced technology’, or if either has been proven to be engaging in what we’d consider to be war crimes.” While the info wouldn’t make or break the mission, Mike did want to know more about the two sides fighting, and learning some of their background would help…especially if contact became unavoidable.

Jack looked over at Captain L'Verrem as he suggested an idea. "Captain, perhaps we could use Astrometrics to see if we can solve this particular problem?" He asked.

L'Verrem nodded in agreement. "An excellent suggestion, Lt. Jack Solomon. It would aid with visualization and allow real time updates of hostilities. It would greatly aid away team planning. With your permission, Admirals," L'Verrem replied.

Deela nodded, "Although there are no immediate plans for sending an away team, it is a good idea to be prepared. Solomon, L'Verrem...proceed."

L'Verrem padded to the turbolift, following Solomon.

Coleman leaned over his shoulder from the Engineering station. "Admirals, it appears that while the torpedoes helped for the time being, we'll need to fire more throughout a 24 hour period in order to keep our cloak up and make sure that no one sees through it. I'll have to see what the interval is, but it shouldn't be too many. One every eight to ten hours on my team's early estimates."

Deela looked over at Coleman, "Do as you see fit Commander."

Mike also nodded, “Understood, coordinate with Tactical.”


Pepper's Quarters

Pepper was asleep in his makeshift hammock which he had rigged above his actual bed. Fleet beds were comfortable but the good old hammock just had this feeling about it that reminded Marcus of the good old days when the marines were transported in federation ships cargo holds. It was one of the few luxuries he afforded himself. As the ship dropped out of slip stream the hammock gentle moved, it was a very very slight movement but Marcus felt it. Laying there with his eyes open Marcus watched the dull light from outside cast shadows across the ceiling of his quarters. Normally he'd be in a room of his own as it was one of perks of being the most senior enlisted marine in the Division but for this voyage he was sharing a room with Duval. Marcus Pepper looked across at Duvals bunk and realised it was empty, he took a deep breath then closed his eyes. Not knowing what lay ahead he had learnt a long time ago that prior to any deployment make sure you get plenty of food, water and sleep because once your deployed you don't know when you'll get any personal time.

"Mess hall." he growled, the lift then hurtled to its destination, the doors opened and the mountain of a man walked out and down the hall, he entered the messhall as he quickly got himself something to eat and drink.

Ten minutes later, now feeling much better he departed the messhall as he went to round up the marines as he tapped his combadge. "Duval to all Marines, up and at em boys. Report to your stations.... repeat, all marines to stations.."

Pepper opened his eyes and looked around the room, he then climbed out of his hammock and picked up his combat gear. As he headed out of the door he had a feeling he had forgotten something but couldn't figure out what it was. As he walked into the main barrack area the marines all looked up at him and gave him a respectful nod of the head. Pepper simply stood near the door and the marines instinctively started to line up ready to move. Pepper took one more look down the lines of marines then turned around and lead them out of the door.

Duval nodded to Pepper as he pulled on his pack. "Marines, lets move!" as one Private called. "Sir what do we do!"

"If you have to ask what end of the weapon goes where, you have not been paying attention to life Private Emile... Now get your ass moving before I cram my boot up your ass..!" Duval snarled loudly, then he reached out and snagged a fistful of the other mans uniform as he bodily hauled him to within inches of Duval's face. "Do not ever call me sir, ever again Private or I will make you spacewalk the starbase without a suit, Do I make myself clear!" Duval roared.

"Ahhh.. yess Sargent."

Duval gently released him as he then smiled darkly. "Get your ass back into the line." he watched the Private go as he fought down the urge to kick him from behind as he glared up at the bulkhead. "God, why do you spite me with these people!"

The bulkhead's silence was to be expected as none response was forthcoming. "Amen..." as he picked up his rifle from where he had left it on the counter next to him and he turned and walked out the door as he muttered. "I'm too old for this crap." as he went into the next room as he looked at the gathered marines present, he waited for Pepper to start the briefing. "Sir... All Marines are present and accounted for." he commented in his bass tone which made him sound almost angry all the time.