Kirin Sage Poletti's Story

EvoPrime wrote:Jannery frowned. Well, he had never been good at deception or diplomacy anyways.

He muted the transmission for a moment and spoke to his gunnery officer,

"Any way we can hit their engines without killing them?"

The officer shook his head. "This ship class isn't in the database. Don't even know what it runs on. If we hit the engines, we might blow something up by accident."

Jannery had an idea, suddenly. "Scan their ship: X-Rays, infrared, UV, everything you have. Get me information on their layout and see if you can find energy signature concentrations."

"They'll detect that, sir," the sensor officer pitched in.

Jannery gave a derisive snort. "Let them. A ship of that size can't be carrying anything overly dangerous."

"Very well, sir, scanning now."

Jannery unmuted the smaller ship's captain and began attempting to weave an elaborate excuse.

EvoPrime wrote:"Sir. They seem to be trying to deflect our scans."

"Eh?"

"Random new energy signatures, mainly heat, are popping up randomly. My old crew used this exact same strategy at the Battle of Zathara: desperately understaffed, most of our crew dead, but we made it seem like our reactor was about to detonate, made them try to escape the blast radius, and we shot them in the back."

"The bastards are no pushovers, I'll give them that."

The gunnery officer turned towards Jannery, a scowl on his face.

"Sir, they're just Society eggheads. The worst they'll have is a sim-"

Were it not for the terminal separating Jannery and the officer, the reminiscent fury that had suddenly developed within him would have unleashed itself in a punch. Instead, he spoke through clenched teeth:

"Oh, I'll tell you what they can do. For scientists, they have damn good firepower: I've seen one of their medium-sized "exploration" vessels, unmodified, smashing a whole pirate fleet. Even the Nebula, bless her, won't survive a full-on attack by an entire fleet. This demands resolve and care."

"Sir," the sensor officer intoned, "They're communicating with some ship or station a distance away. We could try intercepting the transmission, or shutting them off and broadcasting on the same frequency to try and alleviate suspicion. EMP weapons are another option, we could pretend it's a solar flare."

Jannery shook his head. "The interception idea is too risky, but we could try to launch a cloaked EMP rocket and give off solar flare readings. That is, if you're up to it.

The sensor officer grinned and nodded, and turned back to his terminal, pressing buttons furiously, and the gunnery officer began barking orders into a radio system.

Ambassador Karik wrote:"Captain?" No response. Kirin was running out of patience. She tagged out, letting the Wing Commander take her place. Kirin dropped the communications line into standby, leaving no outgoing signals other than the one that would confirm they were still connected. Audio and video were shut down, and the Wing Commander was left in charge of answering should the captain of the Nebula choose to re-open the line.

Taking a slow inhale, she left the window and headed down a short set of steps to where the proper bridge crew worked. They were stationed in circles, but some wandered around to get a little exercise in. Each had their own data feeds heading directly into their headsets. They acknowledged the captain's presence but didn't pull their attention away from their jobs. Kirin stopped when one of them stated "Captain, we're picking up readings that there is a solar flare heading our way."
Her expression didn't change much beyond a shift to curiosity. And then to concern. There hadn't been any earlier reports about a solar flare... "Cross-check it with the three outposts of Li'er and the two on Mika."

The crewmember obeyed, pulling up the display into a hologram form that the other crew would be able to see. It took a few moments before it showed a response from Li'er. And then Mika. Three of the five outposts confirmed there was a solar flare, which had prevented them from sending the news in the first place. One of the Mika outposts said they didn't have the proper equipment to detect it. And the last - one of the Li'er posts - stated that the readings were false and no equipment indicated a solar flare.

Kirin frowned again. The results were mixed; it was unfortunate that the responses didn't match up. Already she regretted coming out here to where there wasn't any proper governmental control. The communications and data flying around were spotty. Subject to nature and interception. It was a pain.

After a time, she chose the next move. "Inform dispatch of the situation."
"Already informed, results from outposts also relayed." confirmed one of the messengers.
"Then dispatch the first team of drones to the Society ship. See why they aren't replying to our first message." She was saluted, and then she moved off the bridge. Heading towards the central part of the ship, she kept a line going with the Wing Commander. "Suggestions?"
"It would be safest to move into the atmosphere of the planet to have the least impact from the solar flare. However, the other ship - the Nebula - does not appear to be taking shelter. It's probable they have the shields for it, but it is still suspicious that they are up here rather than on the planet surface. It is also suspicious that the Society did not forewarn us about their presence or that the ship captain did not state his name. The ship may not even be affiliated with the Sirius Federation; it's possible that the story is just a cover to keep us from investigating them." a pause, "We have authorization from the Society to be here, and we'd receive backup quickly in the event of an altercation. That wouldn't help us out much if the first few shots were more than we can handle, though, and I don't know what firepower they have."
"Right... so the atmosphere is our best chance."
"Yes, captain. Best-cast scenario, we are protected from the flare and can meet up with the landed Society ship. If fired on, the atmosphere may absorb a fair amount of it. Worst-cast scenario, we get shot down as soon as we try to move at all."
She was quiet. They were just out here as auxiliary assistance to the Society rescue mission. Hired for the mission. Her crew didn't have any other obligation to risk their lives for any of this. If she turned back now it could save them at the expense of being charged with breaking the contract. But if she proceeded forward, they could be getting themselves into an even more dangerous scenario. The captain let out a disgruntled sigh. "Atmosphere."
"Ten-four. Also, drones have been dispatched towards the outpost. They are running pacifist codes to every ship in the vicinity."
That was good. If they got shot, the ships - and consequently every organization and government that currently had units here - would know the attack was unprovoked. "Send our intention to the Nebula. And keep me informed." she set the comlink into standby, and felt the gentle decline of the ship heading down. The vessel they had contacted would be informed that their reason for moving was not meant as a sign of attack or invasion. But they didn't send the fact that they were seeking shelter in the atmosphere. That much would likely be obvious.

EvoPrime wrote:"Sir, they're moving into the atmosphere." There was a panicked edge to the sensor officer's voice.

The gunnery officer shook his head. "The EMP rocket is on its way, but it has to use the weaker ion engines to produce minimum heat. It's gonna take a while to get there, sir, and they may be in the atmosphere by then. The magentic field will severely reduce the potency of our Plasma Lances. We do have the secondary railguns, but those aren't anywhere near as effective."

Jannery mused on this for a second. "Alright, then we take a risk. Fire one of the fuel-propelled EMP rockets and hope they're not paying attention."

"Done and done, sir." A gleam of madness, the type found on that of the face of a predator about to pounce on its pray, shone in the gunnery officer's eyes as he typed in commands at his terminal. Seconds later, a new heat signature appeared outside: suppressed but visible.

Time for a gamble.

Ambassador Karik wrote:Kirin rounded the corner, catching the attention of two Twi'lek crewmates in conversation. Both paused, acknowledging her. The blue-skinned greeted first. "Good evening, captain." pause, "Or.. morning. Day? Yes. Good day, captain."
"Likewise, though considering the circumstan-"
Proximity sirens flooded the corridor, nearly blocking out the voice of the Wing Commander. "Emm.. pod... contact."
"What?" she strained to hear, until a silence snuffed out the alarms. There was a whine as machinery shut off, the lights of the corridor darkening into their emergency red hue. Kirin blinked, trying to simultaneously adjust to the change and grab hold of something. Blue lights kicked in, then green, then finally the rest of the colors. She hit the ground from a couple feet up when the gravity turned back on. And then there was a violent jerk.

Alarms pierced the air, crew scattering to their stations. Kirin acted instinctively, rushing back towards the deck. The Wing Commander was already barking orders at half a dozen people. He saluted her, shouting "Captain on deck!" and then shifted into his role as secondary again. Kirin focused her eyes on the display of the window, dozens of alerts flashing across the ship's displayed layout. The most concentrated amount of offline equipment was on the side that the Nebula was nearest. She knew what that meant immediately. Stepping up into command, "Disconnect the power from that machinery, engage Set 2."
"Engaged!" came a voice from below.
"Split the network, they're using electromagnetism."
The confirmation was drowned out by another violent jerk. This one was physically harder, but the impact on the equipment was gentler. Kirin swore, catching grip on the railing and stabilizing herself. A fresh set of alarms was going off, with a more infuriating tone. Part of the secondary external shielding had been compromised, and the atmosphere was burning against the inner one. Almost immediately the shield shifted, covering the breach at the expense of weakening the area around it a bit. The alarm shut off.

"Dispatch the second and third set of drones. Orbit."
Blue crosshairs appeared on the display, tracking the drones as they were sent out and began rotating around the Singer's Grave on the side that had been hit. It was a crude shield, and already the drones were engulfed in the fire of the atmosphere. But they would hold.. if they didn't get shot down first. "Hold fire!" she added. Her eyes were locked on the crosshairs that indicated the Federation ship. The symbol was red and encompassed in orange, letting it stand out against the plethora of other things running across the display. Practically drowned in them was a personal alert coming from the dispatch. It kept grabbing her attention, until finally she confirmed that yes, they were under attack. Half an instant passed before yet another batch of messages informed her that the fleets from Oranig, Biro, and Stravin Nine had been dispatched. Kirin just stared ahead at the Federation vessel. What were they trying to hide?

EvoPrime wrote:The dissapearance of the rocket's heat signature and massive power fluctuations in the enemy ship's interior meant the rocket had hit. Only a matter of time before the second one finished things off, but first, there needed to be an insurance that the ship wouldn't escape.

"Fire plasma lances at the very back of their engines. Make sure they can't fly out of here," Jannery growled. He wasn't a good diplomat, but when it came to the military operations of a flagship and its weapons, everyone knew he was the man in chsrge.

A few seconds ticked by before three beams of plasma arced out from turrets on the Nebula's hull. They were composed of varying glints of light purple and brilliant white, and were being propelled along, funneled through a gravitational tube by high pressure.

They made impact with the enemy ship's engines before Jannery had time to blink, and the erupting flash removed his ability to see the extent of the damage.

Ambassador Karik wrote:The Singer's Grave kept a steady descent, relying on the planet's gravity pull to guide it in. A whole batch of crew was working on figuring where the best place to land was. They were starting to pass several miles under the Nebula when another alarm notified that they had been targeted. She had just enough time to orient the drones towards the location when a wave of purple flashed across the window. It was chased by orange before the window was transparent again and indicated one of its auxiliary engines had been clipped. Four drones had been lost, disintegrated by turrets. Kirin was livid. That was, until the messages from the Society ship on the surface began coming in. They were time-coded from several hours ago; apparently the thick atmosphere had distorted the signal enough that it couldn't get through. They were receiving the Grave's distress signal, and had sent up shield capsules. Almost as soon as she read the last message, she spotted silver streaks heading directly for them. There was a soft rumble in the floor. They had been hit again, but this time from an ally. And then a second, softer. Third, even lesser. Fourth. The fifth and sixth weren't even felt, but they registered as foreign bodies clinging to the external of the ship. Each of them tapped into the shield generators and added their own layer to the defenses. Finally, the Grave dropped under the atmosphere. The wind resistance hit hard, straining the new shields and slowing the ship down substantially. In only a few minutes, they'd be inside the terrestrial shields of the Society. Kirin held her place at the front of the ship while a sense of relaxation washed across the crew.

As for the captain, she was livid once more. She hailed the Nebula, only opening the audio connection. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

EvoPrime wrote:"I expected you would be intelligent enough to take the hint and leave," Jannery replied curtly. Another purple flash exploded outside the windows, this time from the lances impacting somewhere further in on the hull of the enemy ship. After it dissipated... Nothing. No damage had been done. The shields were too strong.

And then, they dissapeared competely, the atmosphere swallowing the small ship completely. By the time the Nebula entered the atmosphere, they would be long gone. They had failed. Communications also dropped, presumably cut off by the enemy shop. The failure was now complete.

"Sir? We're detecting incoming warp signatures. Big ones." The sensor officer sounded scared.

Jannery sighed. No rest for the wicked.

Ambassador Karik wrote:(( Copied over from "Norline and Related" ))
Kirin rolled her eyes and dropped communication. She didn't know which species the captain belonged to, but he clearly struggled to speak in a logical manner. Thinking 'stay put' was synonymous with 'leave or be shot at' was just..
She shrugged it off. No point in getting upset now. They were inside the perimeters of the Society base and could finally get their job done. The damage incurred would be disputed later. For the moment, she left a skeleton crew on the Grave and headed down to the base camp.

Here, Kirin was greeted and taken inside part of a temporary building growing off the side of the old outpost. She was debriefed on the progress and assigned to go meet with the operations manager to determine their next course of action. As it turned out, there were only four researchers that were reported survivors of the attack. None of them were anywhere to be found.