Chapter XXV: Thinking Clearly

From behind the cloak of the Vaq'ghol, it was hard for Semil to believe that the Empire's nominal 'allies' in the Syndicate weren't able to see through it. In two hours they had closed the gap, and were trailing behind the Marauder at short range at high warp. Surely, the Marauder must have a contigency for having been followed by a cloaked ship.

K'vot sat lazily in the captain's seat, unimpressed by Semil's mounting anxiety and worry. "If we mount an at-warp beam over of a boarding party..."

"It won't be possible to match both the subspace frequencies of the warp field and their shields without dissipating the transporter beam. And certainly not without decloaking. Patience."

Semil could hardly stem his overwhelming urge to take immediate, decisive action. A restlessness K'vot could recognize, if not sympathize with.

"We're closing to within thirty minutes of the Verex system. If we don't stop them now..."

"If we don't stop them, they'll what? What is it you think they'll do exactly?"
"I can't be sure. Beam the cargo down to the planet. Hand it off to a second, faster courier. Any number of options out of our control."

"All reasonable speculation. But I think you forget one key..."

"So you don't think Fennaz is expecting us? No more than you're trying to anticipate him?"

"I would have thought that in your time as a Dominion operative, you would have learned that second guessing onesself is the most certain means of ensuring defeat."

Semil shook his head in disagreement. "It's not second guessing - too much of this smells more and more like a trap."

"When confronted with a trap, you intend to just walk away? Or spring it unprepared?"

"I imagine you're intending to beam over boarding parties to search for the cargo. Onto that massive ship, with Founders know how many Orion toughs just waiting to intercept you?" Semil belated winced at his habituated, unconsidered reference. One K'vot was polite or hard-headed enough to ignore.

"Our only other option is to attack with torpedoes at warp. Which risks damaging the cargo, since we're unable to determine its location without actively scanning. Again, that means decloaking."

That last point stung. It should have occurred to Semil. He wasn't thinking clearly. It would take him weeks more to parse out the feeling, but the vague din of a bloodlust was just starting to cloud his judgment. There was no real precedent for such experiences in his downloaded Vorta memories - only the foggy haze of his previous escape...

"Very well then, we let them arrive at their destination. I have an idea."



The Marauder entered the Verex system, dropping out of warp beyond the gas giant fourth planet.

It had started an impulse turn for Verex III, when the Vaq'ghol dropped her cloak and opened fire on the aft quarter of the bulbous, more sizeable Orion ship. Being smaller and more maneuverable, the Bird of Prey brought her wing disruptor cannons to bear with a gracile swiftness the lumbering Marauder would never have been capable of.

The Vaq'ghol held her spray of cannon fire briefly, then unleashed a blinding fury of disruptor bolts, trained on a particular point on the Marauder's bulbous rear.



From his seat on the Bridge, K'vot swiveled to face his Tactical Officer. "Report."

"Direct hit to their portside aft power coupling. Their aft shields are down to forty percent; fluctuating..." The Tactical Officer paused, watching her status displays intently. "Their aft shields are intermittently cutting out."

K'vot tapped the comm system. "Transporter Room. Team One, standby to energize."

The Colonel raised his hand to ready the signal. "Now." His hand lowered, commanding the Operations Officer to trigger the transport cycle.



Aboard the Marauder, in an otherwise non-descript stretch of corridor, the red pulse of alert klaxons partly disguised the telltale orange glow of the Klingon transporter beam. Five Bekks pulled their disruptors, and readied their holstered bat'leths as soon as the beam-in cycle completed. Nodding to each other their readiness, they started down the hallway at a brisk light jog.

They had made it several dozen meters along the corridor by the time the first Orion security response teams engaged them. Disruptor bolts volleyed in each direction of the corridor. A particularly stout Orion guard stumbled down face-first onto the deck plating from his cover position, a freshly blasted scorch mark having seared straight through his midsection.

Meanwhile, down the hall and around the corner, well out of sight of either the boarding party or the Orion security response team, a second transporter beam alit the empty corridor intersection. A lone, pale Vorta craned his neck around in all directions, verifying that he was unseen before starting up a nearby ladder.

From what I had read on the subject Geneviève Bujold was uncomfortable with the media circus surrounding the role, and disdained the interviews that would subsequently come with it, refusing to do them. There's an article about it on Memory Alpha as well, for anyone who is interested.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Genevi%C3%A8ve_Bujold

I only remembered Kate Mulgrew through guest spots on Matlock and Murder, She Wrote. I don't think I would have watched Voyager at all if they had stuck with Bujold.

And the work she is doing on Orange is the New Black only reaffirms it for me. Kate Mulgrew ROCKS!

I wish I could say I was going but actually hadn't planned on it this year. I will try for next year :)

Glad that deal didn't work out. Geneviève Bujold never could have portrayed Kathryn "Spitfire" Janeway the same way that Kate Mulgrew did. Yikes.

Any stiffer she would be a plank of wood

soooo stiff would make a wonderful Vulcan

I had no idea there was another Captain Janeway.

#t=247

Hot, hot spoilers:

This is awesome, anyone else from the Los Angeles Area going?

Quote by Halish

Also Josh Hartnett's buttocks. :blush:

oooo I must Google this! :evil:

Thanks for the fun day! Was a ball!

And thanks to my two team mates for the night, Eazzie for the treasure hunt and GXV3 for being my STO Wife

Was great fun. as I said in my status. thanks to all who put the energy into it. and the coordination of all its participants.. i couldnt have done it.
Im glad I won something, thats rare for me.(even though my names not there :p ) I put all my energy into a dramatic drunken beach performance lol

Quote by Halish

Also Josh Hartnett's buttocks. :blush:

Yes, there's definitely that. But if you watch the end of episode 4 or 5 (I forget which) you're in for a bit of a treat involving Mr. Hartnett.

The progression of the show is a bit slow-paced but there's a reason for this so I'd advise sticking with it, you'll be able to see where certain plot points are going and how they're going to intersect.

Room's been booked at The Rio: Tuesday July 29th to Monday August 3rd. Little more than a month to go. Can't wait!

Thank you ever so much for the event. Shame I couldn't stay till the end .. time difference and all that. The winning of the Suliban Cell Ship was all due to Robert's hard work. I owe him big time.

Thank's again

Iain

Chapter XXIV: Familiar Dance

One hand wielding his palm beacon, the other his tricorder, Semil raced along the darkened mineshaft more quickly than he would have judged safe not two hours ago. K'vot struggled to keep up.

"Slow down. You're going to get us both killed, blundering your way into a crevasse, or worse." K'vot was not accustomed to playing the worriwart schoolmarm. But it suited him to protect the investment of his time and resources, to say nothing of the General's.

"Any slower, and we risk letting them get away." Semil was focused enough on his task, it was surprising he bothered to reply. "And besides, I think we're getting close."

"Explain to me again just why you think there's a way out going deeper into the mine?"

"Because miners need..." Semil paused, taken by some reading from his beeping tricorder. "Miners need ventilation. This way." Semil ushered K'vot into another turn.

K'vot would have called the passage unfamiliar territory, but then everything was unfamiliar in the monotonous pitch black outside of his torchlight beam. Even using his tricorder, he would be hopelessly lost without the Vorta by this point. It made sense to at least keep tabs on the Vorta. Bringing him back up to the mine's upper level would have been dramatically more complicated if he'd had to activate his pacifier implant.

"And now here. No, strike that." The Vorta double-backed at the four-way intersection, switching from a left to a right tack. "This way."

"Stop." K'vot was frustrated and angrier than usual, though he admitted it was not entirely directed at the Vorta. "Are you just getting us more lost? If we are cut off from the ship, you already said we're at too great a depth for them to contact us or beam us back."

"Yes, yes. But trust me. We don't have much further to go."

"I'm beginning to think you'd prefer I came from a miner family."

Semil would have taken the bait at K'vot's attempt at a joke, were he not so pressed for time. "There. Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Pick up the pace."

Now that Semil had mentioned it, K'vot did feel something on his face. The air in the mine had been cool and damp, with a decidedly musty odor that must have been dust and mine leavings. When they found a moment back on the ship, he'd have to stop by the Infirmary to request a respiratory purge from the Doctor. There was a cold nip to his face now. A biting chill -- moving air! The Vorta was on the right track after all.

"There. Do you see it?"

Even with the palm beacons, K'vot's eyes had accomodated to the dark just enough that he could sense the vague, faint glow emanating from the corridor ahead. His own pace quickened, now given some assurance of the Vorta's certitude.

Semil explained. "When we were down here before, I thought I could hear some air movement. Barely. Miners this deep can't operate without some ventilation assistance..." They turned a last corner, and found themselves at the bottom of a clear ventilation shaft. Looking up the several hundred meters of rock, they could make out the bright light of morning far above, piercing the top.

"You're not planning on climbing...?"

Semil reached for his communicator wristband, twiddling the knobs. "It's even better than I thought. Clear line of sight. If I remodulate the frequencies to resonate just so..." He thumbed the signal actuator, speaking into the communicator. "Vaq'ghol, come in. Landing party to Vaq'ghol. Respond."

The signal was garbled, but audible. "This is Vaq'ghol. We read you."

K'vot leaned in to Semil's communicator. "K'vot here. Can you get a lock on our coordinates?"

There was a pause. K'vot worried that the uplink was too tenuous and short-lived to make transport a viable option. He readied himself to reach for his remaining climbing pitons when the signal came back through. "Colonel, apologies for the delay. We think we have a lock on you now. Some adjustments were necessary." K'vot appreciated that his crew were just apologetic enough, but not overly so.

The Colonel motioned for Semil. "I believe you've earned the honor this time, Vorta."

It took Semil a moment for the order to register. "Vaq'ghol - joI yIchu'!"
Within moments, the two men recognized the familiar dance of sciltillant light that heralded the transporter beam.



Aboard the Vaq'ghol bridge, Semil and K'vot strode in hurriedly.

"Report."

"An Orion Marauder broke orbit 40 minutes ago and entered warp. Heading 315-mark-9."

"Helm, pursuit course. Maximum warp." K'vot resumed his captain's seat, as Semil slid into an unoccupied Tactical station at the rear of the bridge.

Semil didn't need to rely on the Tactical database readouts for certain knowledge. "Those Marauders aren't the speediest. We should be able to close that headstart." The minutest shift in the grav plating signaled the Vaq'ghol's entry to warp.

A dance of inputs from Semil's fingers brought up the calculations and astrogation charts he needed. "There aren't many Syndicate-administered worlds along that heading. Maybe if I can cross-reference..."

"No need." K'vot coolly remarked from his seat. "I know exactly where they are headed. You can skip ahead in your database search to the Verex system."

"Perhaps this would be a good time to share just who Fennaz is. You've clearly had dealings."

K'vot nodded. No need to obfuscate what was already clear. "He's a mid-level Syndicate operator. His operation helped locate and procure certain... items."

"Dominion technology."

"Some."

"Dominion cloning technology."

K'vot's wordless non-answer, Semil took as affirmation.

"You never told him what your requisitions were for, did you?"

"No, but he wouldn't have had to piece much together to know what we were planning..."

"And the Verex system?"

"An old Orion stronghold. Moreso in recent years. It's a key point of transit between Klingon and Orion-dominated territories."

"Then we can expect Fennaz will be acquiring some support."

"He's going to need it."

I certainly would not say no to more Trek based games. Although the days of Interplay v Activision etc are well behind us.

Alas while they try to create junk like the film tie in game that even angered JJ we will most likely only see more Mods like Armada 3 and Sacrifice of Angels 2.

Maybe the glut of upcoming Star Wars games and other space titles will see an interest in Trek games again as well. I would not say no to a Bridge Commander 2 if Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen drum up interest.

Gaming markets love to jump after the money. If Star Citizen etc get a lot of attention then the big players will want something similar to claw out cash for themselves. The classic situation where a big hit will spawn a bunch of clone games trying to cash in.

nick

does your label maker print color gradients? **evil grin**

My advice to you is to download the FES program, watch the help videos,and then experiment with combos until you find one that works for you. I finally optimized my binds in a way that worked for me and as a added bonus helped increase my DPS slightly. The best way to get great key binds is by trial and error.

Keep in mind that while key binds are allowed by Cryptic, Macros are not allowed and could get you banned from STO.

Key binds only assign functions to keys. Macros automatically activate skills/abilities based on timers and they can also be programmed to run constantly. Key binds were included by design while macros were left out because they can be abused and used to cheat.