The Plan

Posted on Tue Nov 10th, 2009 @ 12:59pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant JG Lucas Jameson

Mission: Into a Devil's Heart
Location: USS Iapetus
Timeline: MD06 1838hrs

As the two beamed back to the Iapetus, Vorn's expression instantly changed to one of stone. "Federation Security orders, my arse," he said, as he stepped off the transporter PADD and started leading the way through the corridors. "I thought black operations were supposed to be quiet. Somehow, I don't think exploding a shuttlecraft next to a station and stealing a Federation Starship qualifies."

"You're right, there does seem to be something odd about all this. But the order is valid, so far as I can tell," Acle responded.

"He may have given us a possible reason not to arrest him and throw him straight in the brig, but I still don't trust him entirely. He's become very volatile, especially where his father is concerned," he walked at a relentless pace through the corridors as he spoke, and even Acle had to struggle to keep up. "I want you to assign the skeleton crew to man the Lincoln, but make sure it has a few trustworthy people on it. I want to have full control of that ship if Peter decides he's going to do anything else stupid. Lieutenants Gunning and Jameson to my readyroom" He tapped his combadge as he said the last sentence, but barely broke stride in his speech as he changed from talking to his second officer to issuing orders over the comm.

"I'll get right on it," Acle responded, entering the turbolift with the CO. He could better organise crew replacements from the terminal on the command chair, and issue orders from there to the senior staff on the bridge.

As they entered the turbolift, Vorn ordered it to the bridge and they rode it in relative silence, though Vorn's mood was still palpable. As it deposited them on the top deck, Vorn strode straight for his ready room. Gunning should already be there, having been on the bridge when Vorn left, and the chief engineer should be arriving shortly. "You have the bridge, Commander," he said as he entered his room.

Jordan always felt a bit strange being in his commanding officers' ready rooms if they weren't but he was curious as to what the Captain required of him.

"Take a seat," Vorn said, as he walked in at the brisk pace he had kept up from the corridors outside the transporter room. He moved round the back of his desk himself, but couldn't sit down. He wasn't in the right mood. "We'll wait for Lieutenant Jameson before I begin."

"Sorry I'm late." Luc said, running in, putting on the black jacket on the top of his uniform as he came in "My wake up call was on el fritzo, probably a joke by my assistant chief. She and I have, uh, history."

Vorn glared at the Lieutenant. "It's eighteen forty, Lieutenant. You were supposed to be on duty an hour ago," he said, his anger being brought to the surface by the situation with Brown.

"OK, sorry." Luc said "Not my fault that my alarm-"

"Just sit down," Vorn snapped, cutting him off. He turned his attention to Gunning. "According to Brown, he has orders from Federation Security to apprehend a compromised link in the chain of command. A black ops mission. No matter what the signature though, I still don't fully trust it. A black ops mission is supposed to be quiet. Not blasting shuttles and stealing starships from active bases. And as far as I'm aware, they certainly shouldn't threaten the person into carrying out the orders by telling them their CO will get court martialed if they don't follow their orders." He paused as he took a breath, before getting to his point.

"I have told Peter we will help him carry out his mission. What I haven't told him is that if I determine that his orders come from a compromised source, or are against the best interests of the Federation, I will scrub the mission. To be able to successfully do that, I need to have complete control of both ships. I have told Commander Walex to assign trust worthy people to the skeleton crew I'm sending over to the Lincoln, and I want you to go with them. Before you go though, I need you and your deputy to come up with and brief me on a plan to quickly take out the shields of a Nebula class starship, even if only temporarily. Get them to recalibrate their systems - anything, so long as it gives us a window."

"Aye sir. Can do. Nebula classes have a significant number of shield weaknesses that I'm quite sure Luc can assist me in exploiting." Jordan was surprised at the candid honesty of his Captain and was not entirely sure whether it had been he who had brought it out, but he did find himself appreciating it.

Vorn turned his gaze on his troublesome CEO. "I need you to work on a way to decrease the time needed to lock onto and beam up an individual. We are looking for a human female, likely no combadge. If you need it, her medical files should be stored in the database we uploaded from the colony. Think you can handle that, Lieutenant?"

"I'll need round about, ooh," Luc said, taking a second to use his multiplication skills "24 hours. Give or take an hour."

"You have 20," Vorn replied, once again reinforcing the opinion in every engineer's mind that the short definition of 'Captain' was someone who always asked the impossible. He nodded to the two Lieutenants. "Dismissed."

-----------------
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Commander Acle Walex
Chief Intelligence Officer/Acting First Officer
USS Iapetus (NPC'ed by Krace, due to LOA)

Lieutenant Jordan Gunning
Chief Tactical/Security Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant JG Lucas Jameson
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Iapetus