Waiting

Posted on Thu Jul 23rd, 2009 @ 11:28am by Captain Vorn Krace

Mission: Dark Discoveries
Location: USS Iapetus - Bridge
Timeline: MD10 1400hrs

"The SS Mosh'tar has dropped out of warp, and is progressing in-system," came the report from Ops, as Vorn sat in the command chair, clearly anxious with the plan they were implementing, but trying not to show the full extent of it. He knew he needed to appear confident infront of his crew.

They had managed to repair their communications array enough to receive messages, and Vorn had spent the first half hour after being reconnected to the federation's broadcasting network searching for any mention of his First Officer. There hadn't been anything on any of the news channels, and nothing in the way of information requests or orders on any channels he could access. That meant that for the last 5 days Peter had been able to avoid detection... he could be anywhere by now.

It wasn't that the damage to the array was so severe, but it was a component which took time to repair, time which Vorn had insisted be spent on trying to stop the Guarded. He had no idea why he had such a strong compulsion to stop them over everything else, but he assumed that his connection with the beings in the nebula and their feelings had a strong influence on it, even now that he was effectively out of range to feel anything from their combined mental presence. It had been necessary however to make sure that work was being carried out on the communications array, so that they could receive the transmission that the away team would send when their job had been completed, and they had marked the target.

To Vorn's right sat Raging, who was for the moment performing the tasks of Executive Officer, in the absence of both the official first and second officers. The chair seemed to suit the man, and he sat in it comfortably. On Vorn's left sat the ship's counsellor.

"Chief, is everything ready for the upcoming operation?" He asked. He knew that with the Luna's unique sensor suite, they could scan the Gormali system on their long-range sensor net without being detected by the Guarded forces, and that information had made it clear that there would be a battle when they warped in-system.

"As far as I know it is. I have had to check out and reexamine the sensors. They needed to be placed into a holding stasis, if you get what I mean. Hold out a magnetic field in space to detect fluctuations so that I could test them out, but it seems alright. You know...giving that technical speech, I just do not feel right in this chair," said the Chief, with a smirk.

Vorn smiled. "It suits you." He responded. Looking forward again to the viewscreen, he took a deep breath, before blowing it out through his nostrils. The waiting really was going to be the killer on this operation.

The Chief looked up quietly, "Now what do we do? Just...nothing?"

"If we move before Acle and his team send the signal, then we'd risk blowing the whole mission," Vorn explained. A surgical strike like this required that the timing be just right, or it would all fall apart. "If they don't take down the station's shields, then our attack could fail. And if they don't light up our target for us, then we won't know where to shoot anyway. So we wait."

He took in a deep breath, before hitting the ship-wide intercom.

"All stations, report readiness."

"Helm systems are optimal, Captain." The young helmsman replied. Crewman Cook had been a part of the old Lincoln crew since Vorn had taken command, so while he was comfortable around the crew, he still seemed nervous at times when he had the controls.

"Tactical systems report readiness, Captain. We're ready to fry some Guarded butt." Zalea'an was an Andorian, a race sometimes typical for it's eagerness in a fight.

"Shields are good at 100%. Power flow is normal. All systems are ready." Biggins was, apart from Bradley and Vorn, the seniormost officer left on the bridge, with the away team gone, and seemed perfectly comfortable in the role he had inherited off the man who had become executive officer.

"Good." Vorn said it quietly, almost to himself, and so only Bradley and Raging either side of him could hear. Now we wait.

-----
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

Master Chief Petty Officer Raging Eagle
Chief of the Boat