PRELUDE TO NEW HORIZON: No Way M.A.C.O.!
Posted on 01/16/2017 @ 12:43pm
Edited on on 02/02/2017 @ 8:34pm
Mission:
PRELUDE TO NEW HORIZON
Location: Beta Quadrant
Timeline: following the Edge of Never
*USS Phoenix, 0340 hours.*
Sean grumbled aloud as the comm chirped loudly, waking him from a deep slumber. Rolling over in the low bed he growled an answer to the room.
"Yeah, I'm up! I'm up! What is it?"
The answer came as the voice piping from adolesence, or so it seemed to Andrew' s groggy mind.
"Ensign Andrews, Starbase Lotus calling ... er, I mean this is ensign Maldor from Lotus base communications. I was told you could clear up a glitch we're having here at the moment?"
Sean sighed inwardly and sat up on the bed, cursing his misfortune once again. He should have took shore leave and went to Earth last week. But no, he wanted to get more work done on the Phoenix while Rogers was away. Swinging his legs over and onto the deck, he replied tersily.
"This better be good, Ensign. What's the problem?"
"Sir, we've got an incoming transmission we can't clear up. My supe says its internal melding within the subspace transceiver, but our techs say its external. I was told you had a lot of experience with our systems. Could you come clear this out for us, Sir? From what gibberish we can make out, it seems like a distress call, but we cannot nail that down for certain and I don't want to alert the entire base if it isn't one. Can you get over here please?"
Sean stood up and began reaching for his uniform from the chair nearby, noting the chronometer on the wall as he did so.
"Ok, Ensign, I'll beam right over. Which site are you at?"
"Administration section B, Communications room 5."
Pulling his tunic over his head Andrew gave a short reply.
"On my way Ensign."
Six minutes later found a still slightly dishevelled Andrews walking through the door of room five on starbase Lotus. A jog to the turbolift, ride to the nearest transporter; Transport to the base and jog to a turbolift. Ride and jog again to communications room 5.
"Ok ensign Malkior, what's the problem?", Sean barked as he approached the three personnel standing around a comms panel.
A short, rotund ensign wearing the science blue uniform spoke as he turned at Andrew' gruff entrance.
"Maldor, Sir. Have a look at these readings! They make no sense!"
Sean, his curiosity obviously piqued now, strode to the array and studied the displays for a moment, reached across and changed a few settings on the LCARS padd and studied it again.
"There's your problem, Ensign. Thats an outside jamming source, not internal. See those spikes hiding almost behind your signal pitch? Matching it exactly? Something, or someone, is jammming your incoming signal!"
The young human boy, for boy he seemed to Sean, gave a surprised grunt at the screen and looked back at Andrews again.
"So what do I do? Force an override?"
"Not without knowing the exact direction you can't", Sean replied matter-of-factly.
Tapping his own commbadge, Sean contacted Lotus base's main flight control.
Lieutenant, er, Ensign Andrews to traffic control. What have you got on traffic flight?"
A second later the deep voice of traffic control came back.
"Nothing out here but stardust, Andrews. No traffic expected for about eight hours. Why d'ya ask?"
Sean answered immediately.
"Please check long range sensors for any traffic out there. I seem to have a jamming signal blocking an incoming transmission. Send me what you find please."
"We're on it, Ensign. Giv 'er a couple seconds."
Moving back to the display, Andrews switched to the traffic pattern feed to await the results. A mere ten seconds brought a glimmer from the screen and the results from long range scans, plus a comment from flight control.
"There ya are, Andrews. Good call. That is the shuttle we're expecting and she's just shy of twenty light years away, running hot at about warp 8.24. Delta class shuttle. The jamming source is right on her tail at about twenty-five hundred kilometres, closing slowly."
"What is it, Davidson?"
The auburn-haired woman at flight control turned to face the tall, stately blonde woman that came up to his station.
"Commander, we seem to have an inbound shuttlecraft with new personnel entering the sector at high warp, inbound to our location from bearing 202 mark 45. There is a moving jamming source overtaking it."
It didn't take long for an experienced Lotus Fleet officer like Karen Schmidt to figure out what was going on. After all, Starbase Lotus, headquarters of the most elite division of Starfleet, was located in the hottest spot in the entire quadrant, near both the Romulan Neutral Zone and the Organian Peace Treaty Zone between Federation Space and the Klingon Empire; and between them, the doorway to the infamous Delta Quadrant.
"Lieutenant Davidson; find out any available ship nearest to this shuttle's location and have one ready to intercept."
"On it, Commander."
The Exec of Starbase Lotus then tapped her commbadge.
"ComScan station, this is Schmidt; Lieutenant Shar, we need maximum gain on the communication array and the sensor grid, bearing 202 mark 45. Something is happening out there and I want to know what."
"Commander," then said Davidson turning to her, "We have only one ship capable of reaching so far in time to intervene... and she just cleared dock for a shakedown cruise of her newly refurbished impulse engines; the Horizon."
"Patch me through."
"Patch me through."
After a moment, the comm screen was filled with a view of the expansive bridge of the flagship in the background and the unmistakably recognizable dark blue, white-haired, silver-eyed countenance of her commanding officer.
"Horizon, this is Starbase Lotus; captain Kheren, we have an emergency. An incoming shuttle is being pursued by an unknown bogey jamming her and yours is the only ship capable of intercepting."
"Coordinates please, Commander Schmidt," was the familiar to the point reply of the Andorian.
"They have been sent to your nav station, captain."
"Coordinates please, Commander Schmidt," was the familiar to the point reply of the Andorian.
"They have been sent to your nav station, captain."
"Confirmed, Sir," said the Inuit helmsman in front of him. "Interception trajectory plotted and laid in. Transwarp at your command, T4 ETA two minutes."
"On our way, Starbase Lotus," Kheren finished curtly. " Horizon out."
"On our way, Starbase Lotus," Kheren finished curtly. " Horizon out."
A moment later, the immense hull of the Horizon class starship jumped into a swirling funnel of energy and winked out.
- Starfleet Flight Pan - San Fransisco - Earth -
Stardate 88582.68 After just over a two-year advanced course at the Academy Second Lieutenant Alexandria Somers boards the Delta Flyer class shuttle Taff at the flight pan outside Starfleet HQ San Francisco. She looks back from just inside the doorway at her father and mother, they had come to see her off. Her father was the picture of stoicism he would have done a Vulcan proud. Her mother was more emotional and she was crying as Alex boarded the shuttle, she dropped her bags inside the ship and rushed back down and flew into her mother's arms for one final hug.
"Awww Geez mum, you going to get me crying," Alex said hugging her mother.
"It is a sad time for us, it has been a good time with you around, now you are returning to the front lines" her mother Jennifer Somers said.
"I know it is going to be hard getting used to the confines of the USS Horizon after the plush surroundings of our family mansion," Alex said with humorous Sarcasm and a smile.
Her mother gave her one of her trademark looks that said do not be a smart alec. After breaking away from her mother she gave her father a final hug, he returned it and his reserve broke down "Bye Daddy," Alex said into his year and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
With that, she returned to the shuttle without looking back and closed the ramp when sealed in she slotted herself into the pilot's seat of the Delta Flyer Class shuttle. And looked out of the window to her right and saw her parents waving at her, she gave them a jaunty salute as she transferred offensive and defensive controls to her station.
The Shuttle Taff was set up in the same style as Tom Paris had it set up, the shuttle may have had the latest weapons and defence systems, but it was otherwise a replica set up of the Delta flyer class shuttle that Tom Paris flew when he was on the USS Voyager. Getting the clearances from flight control, she effortlessly lifted the shuttle up off the flight pan and zoomed into the sky. It was not long before the light blue sky became darker than black as she left the atmosphere of the planet when a good distance away from the planet she located the current location of the USS Horizon and set a course at the shuttle's maximum cruise was higher since the shuttle was created thanks to the improvements. Still, it would take her four months at warp 7 from sector 001 to the Hromi sector, the inner edge of Federation Space where Starbase Lotus was located.
Settling in for the long trip Alex took the shuttle to low warp until she cleared the Sol system then went to full warp. Now she was at warp she went back and pulled out a couple of books and returned to the pilot's seat, made sure the autopilot was on and sat back to read.
"Awww Geez mum, you going to get me crying," Alex said hugging her mother.
"It is a sad time for us, it has been a good time with you around, now you are returning to the front lines" her mother Jennifer Somers said.
"I know it is going to be hard getting used to the confines of the USS Horizon after the plush surroundings of our family mansion," Alex said with humorous Sarcasm and a smile.
Her mother gave her one of her trademark looks that said do not be a smart alec. After breaking away from her mother she gave her father a final hug, he returned it and his reserve broke down "Bye Daddy," Alex said into his year and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
With that, she returned to the shuttle without looking back and closed the ramp when sealed in she slotted herself into the pilot's seat of the Delta Flyer Class shuttle. And looked out of the window to her right and saw her parents waving at her, she gave them a jaunty salute as she transferred offensive and defensive controls to her station.
The Shuttle Taff was set up in the same style as Tom Paris had it set up, the shuttle may have had the latest weapons and defence systems, but it was otherwise a replica set up of the Delta flyer class shuttle that Tom Paris flew when he was on the USS Voyager. Getting the clearances from flight control, she effortlessly lifted the shuttle up off the flight pan and zoomed into the sky. It was not long before the light blue sky became darker than black as she left the atmosphere of the planet when a good distance away from the planet she located the current location of the USS Horizon and set a course at the shuttle's maximum cruise was higher since the shuttle was created thanks to the improvements. Still, it would take her four months at warp 7 from sector 001 to the Hromi sector, the inner edge of Federation Space where Starbase Lotus was located.
Settling in for the long trip Alex took the shuttle to low warp until she cleared the Sol system then went to full warp. Now she was at warp she went back and pulled out a couple of books and returned to the pilot's seat, made sure the autopilot was on and sat back to read.
All was quiet on the flight out, the moment the shuttle got to the sticks of Federation space the Orion Pirates came out of nowhere and began firing on the shuttle. Alex was engrossed in her book when she was practically thrown from her seat and then in fluent welsh she used ancient curse words as the modern ones were not easy to put into Gaelic, but the words she used had the same meaning.
"Dammit, frakking Orion's" she activated the shields and defensive and offensive systems and flew the shuttle as if it were a fighter, it was not as agile as one but the moment it broke inertia it was a slippery little sucker.
Now she brought the shuttle around and saw a flight of Orion Interceptors "okay, you guys I can take on" she said and fired with her upgraded weapons, destroying one Orion fighter and damaging the other one. Now she was in a furball if any other shuttle pilot encountered such an event, they would most likely fret, but Alex felt at home in combat and she had seen none while on her advanced training, so this was a welcome break. with a few scorch marks and slightly depleted shields, the interceptors were taken care of, just as she began to relax the carrier for the fighters arrived, it did not take them long to realise they had lost all their fighters and opened fire on the Shuttle Taff.
Alex's reflexes were still on alert and she just dodged the fire, "okay I am crazy and good, but I ain't that crazy and good!" she said and made a run for it. She put all power from the weapons into shields and engines and her speed picked up a little, eventually, she went to warp, making sure the Horizon was her next stop.
"Dammit, frakking Orion's" she activated the shields and defensive and offensive systems and flew the shuttle as if it were a fighter, it was not as agile as one but the moment it broke inertia it was a slippery little sucker.
Now she brought the shuttle around and saw a flight of Orion Interceptors "okay, you guys I can take on" she said and fired with her upgraded weapons, destroying one Orion fighter and damaging the other one. Now she was in a furball if any other shuttle pilot encountered such an event, they would most likely fret, but Alex felt at home in combat and she had seen none while on her advanced training, so this was a welcome break. with a few scorch marks and slightly depleted shields, the interceptors were taken care of, just as she began to relax the carrier for the fighters arrived, it did not take them long to realise they had lost all their fighters and opened fire on the Shuttle Taff.
Alex's reflexes were still on alert and she just dodged the fire, "okay I am crazy and good, but I ain't that crazy and good!" she said and made a run for it. She put all power from the weapons into shields and engines and her speed picked up a little, eventually, she went to warp, making sure the Horizon was her next stop.
But then, the signal she was getting from the Lotus Fleet flagship simply winked out. A quick check of her instruments confirmed that it was not a malfunction. The Horizon simply had disappeared.
For exactly two minutes, she was left with no clue as to what had happened.
Then, her sensors picked up an unusual disturbance right behind her shuttle and, before she could even get alarmed by it, the colossal hull of the largest Starfleet starship she had ever seen appeared out of a swirling funnel of energy that flashed open and close so fast she would have missed it had she blinked at that moment. The vessel 's huge mass acted as a wall against the volley sent by the Orion warship, absorbing it with barely a flicker of it's huge deflector screens when it would have pulverized the Delta Flyer. The starship was shaped in the time honored and proven design of saucer with secondary hull and nacelles christened by the legendary Constitution class, but was more reminescent of the Ambassador class forward, Galaxy class midway and Excelsior class in her nacelles shape; except that this starship was almost a kilometer and a half long, larger even than the newest Odyssey class.
Somers' IFF circuit read the ship's transponder instantly: NCC-102176 U.S.S. Horizon.
On her comm channel, a strong, clear signal was received.
"Orion vessel; this is Captain Kheren of the USS Horizon; you are trespassing into Federation Space with hostile intent. Desist and move out of this sector immediately."
There was no reply. On her sensors, she saw the Orion ship trying to circumvent the titanic starship.
So here, it was an enhanced delta flyer shuttle going at max warp and being chased by an Orion carrier, on her sensors she picked up the USS Horizon and opened a hailing channel.
"Shuttle Taff to Horizon flight control, this is Lieutenant Alexandria Somers, Marine Commanding Officer requesting landing clearance, I am being chased by an Orion carrier ship, I will need fire support, standby prepare for close fire support, I will be dropping deep into your defence perimeter with hostile ship on my six."
"Taff, this is Horizon," came a different voice, male but less deep than that of the captain but no less poised; " activate IFF beacon and prepare to dock on main shuttle bay, saucer section top aft."
With that, she activated her IFF beacon and dropped from warp and as warned she dropped right in on top of the Horizon and. This told her that the Orion ship was that close on her tail. She was too busy dodging fire from both sides
"Taff, this is Horizon," came a different voice, male but less deep than that of the captain but no less poised; " activate IFF beacon and prepare to dock on main shuttle bay, saucer section top aft."
With that, she activated her IFF beacon and dropped from warp and as warned she dropped right in on top of the Horizon and. This told her that the Orion ship was that close on her tail. She was too busy dodging fire from both sides
"Dammit why do I have to be this lucky!" she said with sarcasm.
She had to quickly pull up and duck and weave as the mobile Starbase fired a split second after she dodged.
"Nice shooting tex," she said as she saw the Phaser beams lash out at her pursuer.
"Nice shooting tex," she said as she saw the Phaser beams lash out at her pursuer.
The shot had been of four class X heavy phasers boxing the whole Orion vessel within four orange beams of searing light and fire. The shots had been near enough to singe her shields. Another call was then heard, again from the deep voice of her commanding officer.
"Orion vessel;. We now have your shield modulation and locked ten phaser strips and two burst five swivel torpedo tubes fully loaded with transphasic torpedoes on your engines. Desist or prepare to be boarded. this is your final warning."
The Orion suddenly came about and shot out at emergency warp away towards the nearest border of the sector. From the aft section of the Horizon's lower hull, an Aquarius class escort starship launched and went to high warp in pursuit of the fleeing Orion, making sure to give it best incentive to exit Federation Space.
Her sensors read that the Orion ship fled the area. Now she brought her ship to level flight and took up a holding pattern.
"Shuttle Taff to Horizon tactical, nice shooting there, flight control sending IFF code and requesting permission to dock.
"Horizon to Taff; permission granted. Nice bit of flying out there. Proceed to designated flight deck."
Her sensors read that the Orion ship fled the area. Now she brought her ship to level flight and took up a holding pattern.
"Shuttle Taff to Horizon tactical, nice shooting there, flight control sending IFF code and requesting permission to dock.
"Horizon to Taff; permission granted. Nice bit of flying out there. Proceed to designated flight deck."
The Delta Flyer soon found ample room to dock in a shuttle bay larger than on any starship ever built, shying only from one found on actual starbases. There were eight of the latest class XI shuttles parked there, four class X shuttles, four class 18 shuttlepods, two M1 Sphynx workpods and a pair of workbees and one Delta Flyer sporting the name Dawn on it's hull. There was even a pair of refitted Peregrine class fighter shuttles and the obvious access hatch for what could only be the captain's yatch, fully integrated to the hull. And yet, with all this, there was enough room for Somer's craft to maneuver with ease.
The low intensity forcefield keeping life support in and the frigid airlessness of space out let Somers' flyer enter and land with barely a flicker of light as it passed through. On the deck was waiting the chief of security to greet her.
The woman was Andorian, not the well known Bishi light skinned, frontal antennae type but of the much less common Thalassan type; long knobby antennae protruding from the top side of her long, thick, white-haired mane cascading around her deep blue feline face. What was even less common of her was her astounding size; she was two point twenty-five meters tall, dwarfing even Hirogens and with a powerfully athletic built unusual for her species. Andorian females were known to be usually taller and as strong as their male counterparts, more than twice that of a Human being, almost as strong as Vulcans... and much more aggressive. This one looked like she could wrestle a Vulcan... and win.
Yet, despite her rigid expression, Andorians having too few facial muscles to smile, her voice was surprisingly soft and feminine despite the professional firmness of it as she nodded in greeting to Somers.
"Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Somers. I am Lieutenant Tyvya, chief of security and tactical aboard the Lotus Fleet flagship Horizon."
"Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Somers. I am Lieutenant Tyvya, chief of security and tactical aboard the Lotus Fleet flagship Horizon."
Alex looked at the Andorian and nodded in greeting.
"Hello Lieutenant, happy to be here, I was posted to this ship last time around and after things went south, well for me anyway I returned to Earth for further training, now I am back again" Alex said as she stepped down onto the flight deck properly and looked around. Alex noted that there was something different about this Andorian, but she noted some extra accessories like the ring on her left Antennae, for the moment her usual curiosity was not there, now that she was safely on the Horizon and her Adrenalin had returned to its normal levels and now she was a little too distracted to concern herself with species mating rituals.
With shaky hands Alex checked that she had her hidden retractable quarterstaff in its customary place, she had a boot combat knife in her left boot and in one of her two kit bags she had her bladed weapons her twin wakizashi blades, a Bat'Leth and a Dak'Tagh knife, but she tended these days to favour the wakizashi blades and two versions of twin desert eagle pistols. One version was your basic disruptor bolt effect energy based packed into a desert eagle shell, these pair of pistols were custom made, the others were vintage style and fully operational currently she had limited ammo for those guns, so she tended to rely on the disruptor based versions.
As she walked along with Tyvya she noted that the Lieutenant was not exactly packing standard Starfleet weapons if the boot knife and other weapons were anything to go by, they were small enough so as not to be noticed. But like the ring on Tyvya's antennae Alex did not think on the matter beyond noting the differences, and if she remembered correctly, this was not your usual Starfleet ship.
"So El-tee, where are my quarters? I need to dump my stuff first."
She paused as she looked back to the rest of her stuff being unloaded turning to face front again.
"And unless Captain Kheren or the First Officer wishes to speak to me, I need to know does this ship still serve real alcohol as I need something to calm my nerves?" Alex asked.
"There is no urgency now that the incident with these Orions and you is over," the giantess assured her as she guided her further inside the colossal vessel. "We are returning at standard warp travel to Starbase Lotus, so you have a good shift's length to settle in. Report to the Captain as soon as you feel ready to. First Officer Redding is out in the Polaris chasing off those Orions, and the captain anyway prefers to meet every new crew member personally."
They went to the nearest turbo lift and despite the large crew filling the corridors, they were both alone when Tyvya called for deck 2.
"As our MACO unit department chief and senior security and tactical officer, you are assigned to our senior officers quarters. As for your last request; the Crow's Nest on deck 10 has a store of every alcoholic beverage known in this galaxy; but real alcohol is available only with the Captain, the First officer or the Quartermaster's permission... or if the Chief Medical Officer prescribes it. Are you in need of medical attention?"
Smiling "No, but I need something to steady my nerves, I may be the best shuttle pilot, but even I get shaken by close calls like the one I just escaped from, look at this" she said holding up a shaking hand "that is how badly I am shaken and my nerves well I need a strong drink to steady them. Could you possibly show me to my quarters, please? I had different ones last time I was here" alex asked.
"We are on our way to officers quarters, Deck 2. Please follow me," the Andorian woman said as the doors of the turbo lift whooshed open.
Once they stopped at the door, Tyvya activated the opening.
"You may imprint your DNA on the door pad and any encoding you like on your quarters access and configure the rooms conditions to your liking. Only the captain, the first officer, the chief medical officer and myself will have emergency access from then on. Of course, the EMH is also able to materialise inside as everywhere else on the ship in case of medical emergencies, either called for or if the biomonitor in your commbadge or the internal ship biosensors send an alert signal."
Looking at the Andorian "That is logical" Alex said as she inputted her DNA by pressing her thumb to the door pad, then in an old welsh dialect put in a password and looked at Tyvya "Well that is done" she noted that her other items had not yet arrived so she dumped her stuff in her new quarters.
The room was spacious and consisted of a reception and living room area, a small work area and a bedroom with a private adjoining personal facility with both sonic and water showers. Everything was neat but bare, awaiting the personal touch of its next occupant.
"so what to do now!" Alex said to no one in particular.
"Despite my cross-training in medical, I am not qualified to prescribe drugs to... alleviate your current condition," she then said, looking at her shaking hand. "But inside is a food replicator that can provide you with synthehol giving all the relaxing effects of any kind of alcohol you wish but without the debilitating aftereffects. And mind you, Lieutenant, these are state of the art replicators, not the old crude ones of yesteryear; what comes out of it is virtually identical to the real thing because it is the real thing; down to the molecular level exactly like the actual model used to program it, up to and including Grandma's Eggnog. We Andorians have smell and taste far beyond those of every other species in the Federation, and even us can't tell the difference now. So feel free to use it to... steady yourself."
Alex looked at her strangely, and wondered did Tyvya make a joke as It was known that Andorians did not understand Human humour; it certainly didn't appear so with this one, despite her frozen features.
"Well that is good to know, but even with enhanced replicators, it will never be as good as the real thing" Alex commented and entered her room as she looked back Tyvya. "Well Lieutenant, I think I know all I need to know at present. I think my old team is still loitering around somewhere, perhaps I will go seek them out before I go see the Captain it will be good to get reacquainted with them again" Alex added as the rest of her items arrived. "Ah at last, now I can start unpacking *looks at the tall Andorian* so El-tee apart from my wee unit, how is the marine situation on this tub?" Alex asked.
The Andorian did not comment on the unexplainable attitude of so many humans to see replicated matter as "not the real thing" when there was absolutely no difference with what they stubbornly referred to as "the real thing." A molecule of water was still a molecule of water, regardless of it being condensed within a planet's gravity well or into a condenser. Same with ethanol or anything else. You could even put impurities in there if you wanted "flavour." Not that human senses were that acute, to begin with; they never complained about the air they were breathing or the water they drank on a starship as "not the real thing" when it had always been all replicated in the first place for centuries. Even mere holo-technology completely fooled them, having no antennae to perceive subtle odours, the EM spectrum, ultrasonics, ultraviolets and infrareds or the biofield lacking in holo-constructs. But when it was things like alcohol, they always insisted it was not the same. Human minds worked in very strange ways...
Andorian minds, however, were unerringly pragmatic. So, she only bothered with the pragmatic part of the conversation.
"We are currently without the required MACO division aboard. Our MACOs all transferred with Commander Jureth when he was promoted to Captain of the USS Alsea; something about a sensitive mission within the Romulan Star Empire... or what's left of it. I believe Captain Kheren's first responsibility for you will be to have you bring your department up and ready before we receive our next orders. He will find your recommendations most welcome."
Alex looked at her then to her Padd.
"It is nice to see that my old marine crew remained on this ship." Alex was referring to the marines that were with her first time around. "it will be good to see them again, I bet they are fed up of playing security officers?" she asked the lieutenant.
"Well, let's see; they went to the edge of the galaxy to fight against a marooned squadron of Jem'Hadar serving the holographic recreation of Khan Noonien Singh commanding a lost super warship; they went to fluidic space to tackle the Undine in a complex diplomatic situation and retrieve our captain when he had been transmuted into one; they went to a pocket universe to confront a race of space wolves and another of pure energy while helping to establish and defend a new colony; they were there to help save a supply ship from Klingon marauders of the past and secure the access to a sentient time portal... yeah I guess you could say they might be fed up with real hard work and want plain MACO duty now."
This time, the giantess spoke with deliberate seriousness. After living through all these events herself with her fellow security officers, and a lot more before that when they had all served on the legendary USS Lotus and USS Artemis, going through a cosmic anomaly, a haunted nebula, a Dyson shell, the destruction of her former starship and through time itself, she was clearly telling that she certainly was not impressed at all with typical MACO posturing depreciating Starfleet security.
Looking at the Lieutenant and holding up her hand in a reflex reaction.
"whoa there tiger, I have nothing against Starfleet Security; just because I am a marine, does not mean I look down on Fleet security. I have the uptmost respect for any Security Officer who would strap on a phaser and go into battle for the Federation. I know my squad they gets restless with too much combat, unlike myself I get restless when there is too much downtime. You should have see how many hours I spent in the holodecks on Earth running combat simulations. Despite my young age, I am a combat vet and I was given a field commission, so I will say this only one El-tee; kindly do not take such a tone with me, or I will put you flat on your behind regardless of your size."
Then with some humour she added:
"Probably hurt myself in the process. all I am saying is, do not judge too quickly" Alex said. I
It was true the large Andorian did not frighten her; few things did and those that did she tried to avoid.
The Antennae of Tyvya's head curved sharply inward in amusement for several long seconds while she laughed uprariously.
"The arrogance of Humans is so funny, it cracks me up every time. Please apply your own words to yourself. You obviously have no clue whatsover about Andorians... and even less about me. But if you need to try to prove yourself, please do not hesitate. There is an excellent combat area on board... and I would love a good warm-up with a real fighter."
Then, her antennae pointed forward, darting her four eyes straight down at her.
"We are of the same rank you and I and are respectively chiefs of our own department; so regarding my tone; live with it."
It had been a long time since Tyvya had had any challenge except from her husband; and even he, the most reknowned duelling master of Andoria, had to be careful with her. Andorians thrilled with challenge and reveled in violence, to a level that would be considered downright psychopathic to a Human. This one clearly had no idea what she was doing... while she, as was her duty as chief of security, had read thoroughly the personal file of their incoming MACO chief. Oh yes, she could put her flat on her back... and then, the real fun would begin.
The next assignment indeed now promised to be a lot of fun.
With that, the tall Andorian nodded her farewells and left Alex to her own devices, the moment the doors closed Alex began unpacking her stuff that had not long arrived, as she unpacked some personal belongings she pulled out an old style picture of her and her partner and smiled whistfully.
Her desk terminal was active and showed that the Horizon was returning at standard warp towards Starbase Lotus; ETA seventeen point one hours current cruising speed warp 8. And so, she had plenty of time to report to her commanding officer and then reunite with her team.
By Kheren on 01/16/2017 @ 2:14pm
Good start. I made up a story mission for you and took the liberty to add authors who might want to join in and also of correcting distance from 20 parsecs to 20 light years to make it congruent with trek tech. 20 light years is an entire sector away and the best sensors can detect details like a shuttle only slightly beyond that. A parsec is over 3 light years, 20 pasecs would make it well over 3 sectors away (over 60 light years!), way beyond sensor capabilities.
At warp 8.4 it will take 9.2 days for the shuttle to reach the starbase (11.05 hours/light year).
So you know...
By Kheren on 01/24/2017 @ 1:07pm
I adjusted stardate and time/distance to your stated maximum warp cruise speed (which is 7 for the fastest vessels) to account for the 110 light years (5 and a half sectors) between Earth and Starbase Lotus and the current stardate of the RP.
I also removed the useless and annoying combadge symbol from comm dialogs. We do not use pictographs in our stories, as we want them to read like actual novels.
I adjusted a bit and expanded on the space scene to give you a glimpse of how things will usually happen with the Horizon. Captain Kheren is a firm beleiver of Starfleet's rules of engagement and of Federation ideals; he would never fire on another ship without first attempting to warn them off and would exert firm restraint in any combat situation unless unavoidable. The sanctity of sentient life are no empty words for him.
And this is something he demands of all who serve with him as well, as you will soon find out. ;)
All new stuff except what directly follows your original post is in yellow, so that you get all the additions easily spotted.
By David Rogers on 01/24/2017 @ 1:57pm
Hmmm ... seems Andrews missed the boat. lol
By Kheren on 01/24/2017 @ 4:37pm
As we get back to the starbase, there should be interaction coming up your way... but I'm mostly letting Alex lead this one.
However, if you want to participate sooner, feel free to use NPCs on board. With a crew of over 2000, there's a few to choose from ;)