Knowing is Half the Battle

Posted on Mon Apr 29th, 2013 @ 10:22am by Captain Tobias Naros & Lieutenant Commander Xavier Nor'el & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson & Lieutenant Aniela Darvetti & Lieutenant JG Miranda Blackfur & Lieutenant Amanda Owens
Edited on on Mon Apr 29th, 2013 @ 10:51am

Mission: Episode 1.1 - "MystiQue"
Location: Main Bridge, USS Yorktown
Timeline: Mission Day 04, 1217 Hours

ON: [[Main Bridge, USS Yorktown, Mission Day 04, 1217 Hours]]

An eerie silence descended on the bridge punctuated only by an occasional spark from the damaged console as the sound of weapons fire faded away. There was a definite sense of relief amongst those seated around the room at having finally managed to bring about a temporary lull in the fighting. The fact things had escalated so rapidly only to de-escalate in an instant as the result of a few well-placed shots on the part of Lieutenant Commander Thompson was raising a flag for Tobias. Something told the El-Aurian there was more to their situation than met the eye...he just couldn't place it yet.

"Well," Joe said into the silence, "I guess they're finally ready to talk." He nodded to the captain. "Incoming hail, Sir."

Tobias cast a quick glance in the direction of Q Junior (PNPC) and noticed the young entity seemed just as confused about what was going on as anyone else in the room. Slowly, he turned his attention toward the forward viewscreen. "Let's see what they have to say," he replied, "Onscreen."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the visage of a rather angry looking Cardassian officer appeared. Barely visible behind her were several other crewmembers moving back and forth across the warship's dimly-lit bridge, presumably working to restore their ship's weapons capabilities in case the Yorktown decided to press the attack.

"This is Captain Tobias Naros of the Federation starship Yorktown," Tobias began, "to whom am I..."

=^= I don't care who you are, captain =^= the Cardassian snapped =^= You are tresspassing in Cardassian space while harboring a known fugitive. Hand him over and I may decide not to blow your little starship into space dust. =^=

Miranda muttered softly with somewhat of a snicker, yet spoke clearly enough to be heard. "How come a Keldon can't defeat a single Defiant-class ship, much less a Klingon Warship..." she asked, not caring whether it had been carried over the open transmission as she was busy setting up the next attack/evasive run.

Arrogant, aren't they? Amy thought mildly. Mostly, she was glad that things hadn't escalated to the point where she actually needed to act as a combat coordinator for the starfighters.

"I am afraid there has been some sort of misunderstanding," Tobias said slowly, "According to the Treaty of Bajor, this region of space is under Federation jurisdiction. As to your claim that we are harboring a known fugitive..."

=^= Do not trifle with me, captain =^= the woman scoffed, cutting the El-Aurian off mid-sentence once more =^= I can see him standing on your bridge. You have thirty seconds to surrender him or I will order my people to resume firing. =^=

Joe shook his head minutely, knowing Naros would catch the motion. The Discontinuity was still limiting their sensors, but even so he could see that the Cardassians needed at least another twenty minutes to bring their weapons online - forty for some of the more powerful systems.

Aniela was watching the exchange between the Cardassians and Tobias, glancing over as the report regarding the other ship's weapons capability was given. A beep from her console, however, drew her attention; the energy analysis was complete... Surprised, she spoke up just loudly enough for Tobias to hear, "Captain...I have some new information that you should know about." Catching his eye, she darted hers towards the viewscreen and shook her head ever so slightly to indicate her findings shouldn't be discussed openly.

The El-Aurian motioned for communications to be suspended. He waited until the angry Cardassian woman had disappeared from the viewscreen before turning his chair so that he was facing toward the science station. "What is it, lieutenant," he asked.

"My scans picked up on unusual energy readings while we were in combat. I thought it might just be because of this area of space, but when I ran a comparison, I found that the energy readings were nearly identical to the ones we found for the energy sphere," Aniela explained quickly. "I'm not sure of all the energy sphere's capabilities, but I don't know that we can trust what we're seeing."

"What an idiot," Junior exclaimed to himself. Realizing that his sudden outburst had just been witnessed by everyone else in the room, he quickly added, "Not you...me. I should have known they would try something like this."

Raising an eyebrow, Aniela looked over at the Q. "I take it this is within their capabilities then..." It would have been much more helpful if he would have just told them the full extent of the energy sphere's abilities so the crew could have been prepared. For now, what's done was done though.

Xavier had been going over the damage reports while listening to everything going on around him. At the suggestion that the ship attacking wasn't really Cardassians he thought back to the last briefing they all had and Juniors reluctance to telling the crew who was really after him. He silently thought to himself I had a feeling something like this could happen.

The aliens may have succeeded in fooling the Yorktown into believing they were a Cardassian warship, but their attacks had also affected the Yorktown as if they really were nothing more than what they appeared to be. "We might just have a chance," Tobias mused aloud, looking from Junior to Darvetti, "Mister Thompson...restore communications."

The Cardassian woman's face showed her displeasure with waiting, =^= I trust you have made your decision to surrender, Captain? Or shall we continue our attack? =^=

"I do not believe it would be in your best interests to continue attacking this vessel," Tobias told her, "Your weapons have been disabled and it will take some time before they are operable again. Even then, I do not believe you have the necessary...experience...to continue engaging us in this fashion."

Refusing to give him the satisfaction of simply giving in, she remained silent for a moment. =^= Obviously your sensors are having difficulties. There is no problem with our weapons and we are not some weak race with no experience. The Cardassians have plenty of experience, or have you forgotten your history, Captain? =^=

"Perhaps I did not make myself clear," Tobias said in a measured tone, "We know you are not who you appear to be. You may choose to resume your attack and I can assure you we will defend ourselves as necessary. However, I would strongly encourage you to listen to what we have to say before you make your decision."

Gritting her teeth, the commanding officer sat silently, looking at Tobias with an icy glare. She seethed silently as she debated a response. Apparently her bluffing was at an end, but she wouldn't admit defeat so easily and certainly not aloud. Instead, she waited to hear what he had to say, =^= I am not making any admissions, Captain, but I will hear you out. We are not an unreasonable people after all. =^=

Tobias knew well-enough that this could be his only opportunity to persuade whomever was really after Q Junior to at the very least suspend their pursuit of the young entity. "I do not know much about your people other than what I have witnessed since our first meeting," he said, "and I certainly do not know what grievances you bring against Q that you would desire to cause him harm. We, that is to say the Federation, have had our fair share of interactions with the Continuum over the years."

The woman's gaze moved to Q Junior as she frowned and glared at him. =^= He is not to be trusted, none of them are. They must be stopped! =^=

"I will admit, their visits have been intrusive, annoying, frustrating, sometimes even downright dangerous encounters," the El-Aurian admitted, "but they have never knowingly caused us direct harm. In fact, difficult as it may be to believe, this man's father must be credited with challenging us to grow in ways that have brought out the best in us."

=^= Never caused direct harm?! Unbelieveable... =^= She was seething; they just did not understand. =^= What his father may or may not have done to you has no meaning for us. We were attacked, and the Q entity was there! =^=

"But that wasn't me...," Junior protested, stepping around the tactical console to stand on the left of the captain's chair.

Tobias held up his hand in a gesture he hoped would prevent their conversation from escalating to a shouting match. A part of the El-Aurian wanted to allow the young entity an opportunity to speak for himself, but Tobias had a feeling whoever these people were, they were even less likely to believe the word of a Q. "I cannot say that I understand what happened to you because I was not there," he told the woman, "but you are not the only ones to have encountered a member of the Q continuum. Furthermore, is it truly just to hold this man accountable for the grievances of his father?"

=^= Someone must pay. If we could get Q, believe me, Captain, we would. He is the seed of his father...Close enough to the real thing. =^= Someone had to answer for what had happened, why couldn't they see that? True, they were not in the best position, but still they deserved to have their revenge against this creature.

It was clear that Tobias had made little progress thus far. If he could not find some way of convincing these people to spare Junior's life, he would be placing his ship and crew in jeopardy as well. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking again. "Who are you," he asked.

At the question, she half smiled, half smirked with her fingers steepled as her elbows rested on the armrests of her chair. =^= Who am I? Surely your entity friend told you...no? =^= Looking deep into Tobias' eyes, her expression turned much more serious as she replied, =^= My name....is Legion, for we are many... =^=

OFF

A Joint Mission Post by

Captain Tobias Naros
Commanding Officer
USS Yorktown

Lietuenant Commander Xavier Nor'el
Executive Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer & Second Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Aniela Darvetti
Chief Science Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Amanda Owens (PNPC)
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Yorktown
Played by: LtCmdr Thompson

Lieutenant JG Miranda Blackfur
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Yorktown

Q Junior (PNPC)
Played by: Capt Naros

and

"Legion" (PNPC)
Played by: Lt Darvetti