It begins

Studying the specifications of the Syntron deflector system upgrade, Rogers sat in the center seat overlooking the conn and ops stations. Behind and above him, Lieutenant Tritter at the Tactical station worked diligently overseeing the ships readiness.The engineering console behind Tritter's left shoulder flickered with activity as it's personell kept the Akira class vessel in tip top condition. Off to Davids right at the starboard science station two, the assistant science officer, Lieutenant Sean Andrews, busily studied the Pel sensor system install as he readied it for implementation once they reached the anomaly.

Suddenly, a pronounced chime pinged throughout the ship and the helmsman brought the Spectre out of warp directly behind and slightly above the USS Lotus, matching her every move precisely. David glanced up at the viewer to see the Intrepid class flagship of Lotus Fleet silhouetted against the raging glory of the Azimuth Horizon some fifty million kilometers ahead. Behind David, lieutenant Tritter spoke casually.

"Notice from the Lotus commander. Prepare to go to condition red on their mark."

"Understood Lieutenant. Go to yellow alert now."

As the multitude of panel lighting throughout the ship started pulsing their yellow hued warning, the ship's computer announced the changed condition to the crew. Rogers pressed the ship wide communications icon on the chair console.

"All hands, we have arrived. Captain to the bridge."

"Sir," broke in Lieutenant Andrews. "Detecting a Tachyon sweep from the Lotus."

David thought momentarily. 'Did Captain Gould suspect a cloaked ship?' Shaking his head, David berated himself sternly. 'Of course he did. There could be Klingons out there already.'

Looking past Tritter to his right, David caught the eye of the mission operations officer, Lieutenant Tara'el V'oritel.

"Mister V'oritel, launch squadron one for combat patrol and prep squadron two."

Eighteen decks down, the starboard fighterbay doors slid open and the twelve Kenada fighters of Squadron One began their launch sequence. The three fighters in the first to lift off the deck. As the second group begin their ascent they saw the first three crash into a level 10 force field that dropped down the instant the doors were fully open. Astonished, the pilots set down and put a call in to the emergency damage control team in the fighter bay. The call was unnecessary, as the stalwart crew was already rushing to put out the fires that blazed in front of the bay doors, as well as calling in an emergency medical team.

Lieutenant Shar Noor who was working on the remaining fighters' "Floodgate" configuration saw the whole thing and rushed to the nearby control room to scold the Ensign in charge of the bay for the tragic mistake, only to find him dead on the deck, a phaser shot on stun at close range. It had to be someone he trusted... He tapped his combadge, "Security and Commander O'Conner to Fighter Bay Two control immediately!"


Just as he was summoned to the bridge Daniel was just getting into the turbolift "Bridge" as the doors opened he walked out onto the bridge noticed they were no longer at warp, the yellow alert and the busy people around the bridge "Report" Summers stated as Rogers stood up from the center seat and took his own and Daniel sat in the center seat.

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Eventually wrapping up his short status report to Captain Summers, David finished by adding his reasoning for the fighter launch when collision alarms suddenly sounded. A sharp tremor swept across the bridge and the main mission operations panel behind Rogers pulsed a blinding white and exploded from a power feed back from the explosion six decks below. The Spectre's flight control officer, Ensign Charles Grissom, was thrown back from the console to land in a heap at the base of the tactical station. Rising quickly, David made his way around and up the gangway toward Grissom, tapping his combadge badge on the way.

"Hangar bay one. Report!"

After a quick check with Kurt, O'Conner replied with a sober tone. " O'Conner here Bridge." He glanced down at the dead operations officer. "We got a problem. Ensign O'Hare is dead, shot in the back. Whoever shot him also erected a level 10 force field. Blocking the hangar doors and kill three fighters and their crews."

O'Conner sighed lightly he would never be able to understand this cult and their followers. These senseless minor attacks did almost nothing to slow them down. They merely aggrieved Starfleet, but if their goal was to die for their Storm they were working well to do that.

Fortunately, Kurt had shown to be a good adjunct for O'Conner and while O'Conner might not have the security mind of Kheren he wasn't naive either. Not only had O'Conner had personally confirmed his officers and crew members, he had also installed an 3 man engineering team system and Kurt had been tracing locations of the crew watching over the staff as they finished up the last of the refits to the Spectre and her birds.

"Bridge, we will need 15 minutes before we can launch any more fighters." O'Conner stated clearly before sit down at the station and removing the front panel as he started to check for any more sabotage or damage, before clearing the stations memory and resetting it.

Summers arrived at the bridge as the communique came through from O'Conner, "Very Well Commander, do what you can Summers Out" Daniel said ending the conversation and heading towards his chair, "Report" he snapped with a determination that sent shivers down his own spine, Calm down Daniel he thought Cant let them get the best of you, especially on your ship, this is what they want, to get you aggravated so you make a mistake a costly one, so for God's sake calm down.

"Sir. The Lotus is actively scanning for cloaked vessels. In light of this ... mishap, in the hanger bay, i recommend we initiate a level 3 security alert and trust to Captain Gould to alert us to any outside contacts."

Still tending to Ensign Grissom, David looked up at the tactical console beside him.

"Mr. Tritter, mobilize your security details. We need to find out what, or who, destroyed three fighters inside our own ship!"

"Agreed level 3 security alert it is"