[Galaxy] 2161.08.27- Out of the frying pan

[SkinnyElvisDaddy at aol.com]

~~~Freighter Oregonian, Xantia Sector~~~
 
 
The freighter Oregonian slipped silently into the Xantia system,  her
scanners actively searching for any signs of what the Romulans  might
be doing in such an out of the way place. Somewhere behind,  the
Intrepid, Yorktown, and Andorian task force sat ready to pounce on  a
moment's notice.
 
Further into the system the little ship traveled, trying to look  as
inconspicuous as possible. Suddenly, the sensors began to react,
coming  alive with contacts.
 
[ Control Bridge ]
 
Ethan took the transport out of warp as steadily as was possible.
Since  the engineering team had gone to work on the engines things have
improved  considerably from his perspective at the helm console. His
navigational  sensors were immediately flooded with signals from other
ships and  fluctuations which looked like warp signatures from ships
recently  departed.
 
Mendez quickly adjusted his earpiece, and receive some data from  the
Oregonian's systems. "I'm picking up a huge comm traffic in the  area,
sir. The patterns match with Romulan signatures, but it is  probably
heavily encrypted. And... well, there isn't much I can do with  these
computers here", he said with a mix of fear and disappointment.
 
"There's hundreds of them here" Ethan said. Normally he'd  be
exaggerating making a statement like that but this time he  actually
meant it. On the view screen they could see ships of all shapes,  sizes
and classes heading in and out of the system. Larger groups would  go
to warp whilst new arrivals would warp in. "If we are hailed, try  and
return in Nausicaanan. Keep them confused for as long as we  can."
Ethan responded to the comms officer as he prepared to set a  reverse
course. They had to get what they could and get the hell out of  there.
The odds were overwhelming.
 
"Aye, sir", replied Mendez.
 
"All stations get any data you can right now and prepare to relay it
to  the Intrepid and Yorktown." Ethan ordered. As soon as they released the
data  they'd be found out so they had to keep quiet until they found as
much as was  useful. He turned to tactical. "Mr Bolenski, what can you
tell me about that  .. hub they are coming from. The moon there?" he
asked, hoping the freighters  sensors would be up to it.
 
Bolenski examined the sensors "Well Captain Armstrong..." his  voice
trailed off as he checked the notes on his PADD "Well  Captain
Armstrong..." scribbling furiously and looking at his face  as
different emotions crossed it- Mac never played Poker and was  always
useful in first contact situations because anyone who could read  body
language knew exactly what he was thinking. "Captain Armstrong  the
tactical situation is as follows- sorry it took so long I wanted  to
make sure I was giving you solid data. First its like any other  large
shipyard military or civilian in that its got ships partially  built
all over the place in orbit. Instead of Star Fleets technique  of
building units on the ground then sending them out into space and
orbit  for final assembly they seem to just build the space frames
completely in  orbit." Bolenski tilted his head sideways and spoke to
himself "I wonder how  they can weld that way and have the liquid steel
make solid joints?"
 
Shaking himself to concentrate "Because of all the construction  and
scrapping they've got the place highly ionized with heavy  metal
gasses- if we slow down fast enough, if nobody has seen us we might  be
taken as a dense cloud of gas." Studying his PADD and doing a  few
figures and cross checking it with the displays "The moon itself  works
in our favor- not only do they have damaged vessels crash or  landed
on it, but they've got shot up junk in orbit around the moon.  Makes
sense if your tech base is based on repair rather than innovation  like
Star Fleets." Mac's nose was almost pressed against the monitors  as
he made more notes "Apparently the ships that are wrecked or  heavily
damaged are put into orbit around the moon then they use tugs  with
magnetic clamps to latch on, and fly them to the surface of the  moon
as required- which makes sense as a compromise between  being
weightless which is hard on a crew, and the full gravity of a  planet
which is hard to manufacture large parts into starship  hulls."
Scribbling furiously on his PADD Mac made a few more notes "I  don't
or can't see any signs of short range fighters and there's so  much
ionization and junk floating around out there they might not be  able
to see us" Thinking out loud "Skip, if we got some kind of  liquid
gases down in the hold- is there a way we could intentionally bleed  it
and claim battle damage to buy us some time so we don't have to use
the  phase cannons?" Mac looked at Captain Armstrong and chewed his
lower  lip.
 
"We have 6 small shuttles on this ship- what would happen if we  backed
out, programmed one of the shuttles to fly out, fly underneath  the
plane of the ecliptic with a bunch of random Orion smuggler  trade
language and we come in above the plane of the ecliptic- and we  sneak
in and hide behind all the ships on the moon that's in its  orbit?
That's where they've parked their junk ships they're rebuilding  or
cannibalizing and since form follows function some of these  Romulan
freighters are almost identical in size to ours. There's a real  strong
chance they won't even see us- after all, who does an inventory  on
something that's already scrapped and damaged?"
 
"See what we have in the hold regarding the gas. We might be able to
use  that idea as a diversion later on. I can take us slowly to the
outskirts of  the moon where the wrecked ships and try to maintain a
trajectory that looks  like we are being dumped there for salvaging. As
long as no-one does a  detailed scan - or the dilithium we are carrying
will stand out like a sore  thumb." Ethan mused. "I'm reluctant to use
those shuttles" he said, they  weren't much larger than an escape pod,
"But if we sent a couple out ahead of  us as we get closer, it might
look like a more convincing 'escort'. So lets  do it".
 
"Yes Sir- moving out like I have a purpose in life" Bolenski said
out  loud as he ran for the door thinking.
 
[ Deck Jumping ]
 
"All right- this will be pretty easy actually. Tell the shuttles to
stay  10 Kilometers off the port and starboard bow separated by 120
degrees  centered on the ship- easy sneezy". Panting from trying to
sprint 295 meters  plus jumping between decks gets exhausting real
quick like. WAIT- STOP! Mac  looked past the machine shop, into the
ships store of raw materials. Copper  wire,,,,,,I NEED COPPER WIRE!!
Grabbing two each 500 foot spool's Mac grabbed  both of the then
threw it on the deck as hard as he could shattering the  plastic
spool's the wire had been neatly wrapped on. COMPUTER! DISABLE  FIRE
SUPRESSION SYSTEM FOR THIS DECK FOR 15 MINUTES he shouted.  Pulling
the coil's of wire apart intentionally making a mess, he took out  his
laser pistol setting the aperture on wide beam then fanning the  copper
wire's where the plastic insulation immediately burst into flame  into
a charred mess. PERFECT! Mac smiled. Grabbing disposable  machinest
gloves Mac grabbed the still smoldering wire tangled messes of  the
former reels and hurried across the Shuttle bay. Throwing one  reel
into each of the two ready launch shuttles and kicking them into  the
back Mac quickly went through the pre launch sequence. "C'mon! BOOT
UP  NOW!" Slowly the shuttles warmed up as they did the preflights Mac
finished  the programming.
 
"Shuttle bay to Captain Armstrong- Shuttles 1 and 2 ready to launch  on
your command- moving to the gas storage for plan "B" as in  "Gas
Bottle". Not waiting for a reply from the Captain Mac ran out of  the
shuttles just barely clearing the airlocks doors as the air  pumps
began to depressurize. "I need to work out more!" Mac thought  to
himself running "Or I need to be assigned to a MUCH smaller  ship!".
Fortunately whoever designed the Bison class freighter realized  the
ships stores, the shuttles, the machine and electrical repair  shops,
and freight all needed reasonable access to each other.
 
"Battle damage,,,I need to emulate battle damage" scrolling down  the
list of gasses "OK, we're going to vent some oxygen, some  nitrogen,
we'll scavenge some fecal mater from the reclamation units to  emulate
dead people." Mac chewed his lip and scratched his nose  while
thinking "And lets throw in some hydraulic oil" Smiling "OK,  this
will work" taking a breath "Bolenski to Captain Armstrong-  shuttles
primed, gas discharge primed- anything else Sir?" Mac laughed  and
waited for the response, giggling at the burnt copper wire
 
= Better get back up here, we can trigger it all from the bridge = Ethan  
replied
 
[ Control Bridge ]
 
Realizing they'd entered Rommie territory, Mike made ready for a
fight.  He awaited his orders. Ethan noticed the Ensign tense up.
"Stand by Ensign,  two phase cannons isn't going to do much if we stir
up this lot! But if we  are found out we can try and hold them off
until help arrives." as he  finished he saw Bolenski had returned to
his post.
 
"Yes Sir" Mac grinned evilly "I'll do what I can to make us look like
a  hole in space" pausing "Or did you mean the other Ensign?"
 
Mike smiled and replied, "Yes sir." He tried to relax and waited to
see  what happened next.
 
"Perhaps you can assist Mr. Bolenski in configuring these  shuttles.
We'll need someone to remotely pilot them?" Ethan suggested.
 
Mike nodded and replied, "Aye sir." He went to assist Bolenski.
 
"Engineering, we may be in for a rough ride. What is the status of  the
hull plating?" he queried. He knew the supporting systems had  been
operational but had no idea to what level they would be protected.
 
"It's at 100%... such as it is." Yearly said into the comm. "This isn't  
exactly a fleet vessel, so it's not rigged for sustained combat. Even with  
the 
enhancements that the Lieutenant and I have come up with, she won't be  
able to 
stand up to much." 

Once the shuttles had been launched and positioned just ahead of  them,
controlled by Ensign Chester from the bridge, Ethan took the  Oregonian
closer to the moon and began to get stronger and more  detailed
readings. As they flew closer he noticed changes in the paths of  ships
around them and it became clear they had been noticed.
 
"Sir, we're being hailed - it's from some sort of traffic control",
said  Mendez before continuing "I'll ask them about docking
instructions, to give  us some extra time. Any other instruction?"
 
"Inform them we are here for salvaging, we've taken damage, in
Nausicaan  or Romulan if your up for it?" Ethan said and nodded to
Bolenski. "Now would  be a good time to release that gas, for show", he
said. He doubted they'd be  convincing for much longer but it would buy
them more minutes. He kept the  reverse course programmed in.

Mac pressed a few commands into the computer system, which in turn released 
 huge billowing clouds of gas on either side of the ship. "I've got an 
idea!  Tell'em we just lost containment in a panicked voice over the com's 
system that  we've had gas bottles break!" Mac dumped as much gas as he could 
making little  clouds of frozen oxygen, nitrogen, trace elements and fecal 
mater.

Mac's terrible habit of singing 20th century television show tunes- or  
humming- to relieve stress as the Romulans approached to attack kicked into 
high  gear as he sang the following song: 

The end of the Civil War was near 
When quite accidentally, 
A  hero who sneezed abruptly seized 
Retreat and reversed it to victory. 
 
His medal of honor pleased and thrilled 
his proud little family group.  
While pinning it on some blood was spilled 
And so it was planned he'd  command F Troop. 
 
Where Indian fights are colorful sights 
and nobody takes a lickin'  
Where pale face and redskin 
Both turn chicken. 
 
When killing and fighting get them down, 
They know their morale can't  droop. 
As long as they all relax in town 
Before they resume with a bang  and a boom 
F Troop! 

"Strange" Mac thought to himself "I have the overwhelming urge to kick  a 
cannon carriage wheel" 
"GAS RELEASED, SIR!" Mac gave Captain Armstrong a  half smile and grin. 
"Aye, aye, sir...", answered Mendez, just before  replying the Romulan
communication in their own language. He had decided to  reply in
Romulan, throwing in some expressions in Nausicaan, hoping that  the
bad guys would thought that he was some kind of regular and  somehow
dumb pirate. If wasn't for the tense situation, he would have  laughed
at his twisted impersonation. A couple of seconds passed. "We  were
ordered to wait at this position, sir".
 
"That seems fairly ominous." Ethan said and bought the freighter to  a
standstill. He saw on navigational sensors one small ship pull away
and  toward them. Switching it onto the viewer the bridge crew watched
as it  seemed to delay by running a scan on the gas they had released
into space. It  turned about and went back where it came from, but
before anyone could speak  three other slightly larger ships began to
break free from the back and head  purposefully toward them.
 
"Uh oh... It seems that our cover up is gone! They are hailing us again.  
And.. they demand us to stand down and surrender.", announced Mendez. 
"Hey-  I have an idea! If they want us to stand down ask if they're going 
to send over  repair teams" Bolenski said "Can't hurt if we pretend to 
misunderstand them in a  safe way, right?" 
"Damn." Ethan engaged the engines again and prepared for  evasive
maneuvers, if such a thing were possible in a hulk their size.  "All
hands. Tactical alert!" 

"Captain Armstrong- I've targeted the two closest ships with the phase  
cannon. Or would you rather I aim both cannons at the same ship?" Bolenski  
looked at the monitors "I have them on passives with a good solid lock. It 
could  be argued either way based on their hull polarization Sir which is 
better. How  do you want this done, Sir?"

Cmdr Ethan Armstrong
Commanding Officer
ESS Intrepid, NX-07  
&
LtJg. Arturo Mendez
Comm Officer
ESS  Intrepid
&
Ens. Mike Chester
Armory Officer
NX-05 Yorktown
apb
Lt.Cmdr. Nat Cameron
CAO
NX-05 Yorktown
The Fighting Lady
              &
Ensign Mac Bolenski (and Patterson)
Armory Officer
NX-05 Yorktown
            &
CPO Michelle "Firecracker" Yearly (apb Leo)
Warp Core Reactor Chief
NX-05 Yorktown
The Fighting Lady




You ever dance with the devil in the pale moon  light?
I always ask that of all my prey...
I just like the sound of  it.....

Jack Nicholson- Batman
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