Bridge Duty Escalates: Part 3

Posted on Sat Nov 11th, 2023 @ 8:46am by Captain Ryhl th'Zeles & Ensign Sar & Commander Chalan Kendri & Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad & Lieutenant Commander Jason Elliot & Ensign Dramin
Edited on on Sat Nov 11th, 2023 @ 8:52am

1,900 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Timeline: MD: C15

Ryhl once again addressed the Klingon. "HoD Vurla.. Captain.. I must urge you to call off this pointless blustering. Let's get to the bottom of who is really responsible for the widespread incidents on the planet's surface. Were you aware there is also suspicious activity affecting the Ferengi settlements as well?"

=/\=Challenge our air space and we'll who's blustering. We are conducting our own investigation, the Council is insisting that we allow your officer Razka to aid us in the investigation. THAT is the extent of Federation involvement we will allow!=/\=

Vurla spat, she'd spoken the Commander's name with disdain.

"Stand down your fighters, HoD Vurla", Ryhl said as a smile crested his bright blue upper lip. "It isn't up to you or the Council to tell Starfleet or the Columbia how we'll run our operations", Ryhl said as he crossed his arms and straightened his antennae. His neck lifted his head higher as his shoulders spread out along his back and collarbone.

"Anything less than full cooperation will be considered suspicious. Commander Razka works for the USS Columbia and will be leading the joint operation under my orders.. Not yours.. Expect to work with the other settlements on the investigation as well." There was a finality in Ryhl's tone. "By the way... You will treat Lieutenant Commander Razka and the other members of this crew with the respect they each deserve."

As Ryhl spoke, Ensign Veers's steady hand guided the Columbia on a gliding path towards the KeQ'Var. Its massive form was multiple times larger than the Vor'cha. The Klingon ship still packed a great deal of firepower, as well as the threat of Klingon warriors. Size was never a measure of strength, but the Columbia was also heavily armed and more advanced.

Ryhl hoped that keeping his shields down, weapons uncharged and the lack of any alert status could be seen as a sign of trust.

Although the Vor'cha was a powerful starship, it was no match for the Columbia. Odyssey class vessels were armed to the teeth with 16 type-XIV phaser arrays and torpedo launchers capable of a "rapid fire" mode. He also knew the Klingons would not respect weakness.

"Together we can find out the truth, Vurla... Call off your fighters", Ryhl said as his arms returned to his sides. Part of his vision had been monitoring the flight path of the fighters on the center nav console.

Vurla smiled at the Captain, "I will assign the fighter to escort our incoming support vessels, my vessel will remain here. I trust you will keep the Romulans near their settlement to avoid any conflicts, I will fire on any unauthorized vessel approaching our territory."

The Romulan fighters had formed back up in the center, Klingon fighters not far behind. KDF NuQDuj fighters communicated to coordinate an intercept based on the movement of the Romulans. As the silver snakeheads banked upwards and away from their pursuers, the Klingons tried to out climb the Romulans by use of more aggressive angles.

A small gap in distance was filled. Just as the Klingons began to move into a firing trajectory, the Romulan fighters jumped to warp. The Klingon fighters banked back towards their mothership. One rolled tight on its axis in a celebratory maneuver. The small ships turned slightly towards the Columbia, projected path showing them moving just off the starboard bow.

The KeQ'Var cloaked and the Klingon fighter moved out of the atmosphere and went into warp. An audio-only message come in over the COMM.

=/\=We will defend ourselves.=/\= The channel cut out...

On a separate channel, Captain Lorut Vila had picked up the hail from the Columbia. She asked her Helmsman to return a message. >>Mendocino to Columbia. We have received your hail. We plan to be there to aid in five hours. Keep us updated.<<

Kendri>> Understood, Mendocino. This is Commander Chalan. The Romulans and Klingons decided to square off in front of our main viewer. We are trying to talk them down, but may need your assistance. <<

Vila>>Thank you, Commander. Lorut out.<<

Words from the center of the bridge were transmitted to the furthest corners of the bridge. Comm controls at each station allowed them to project their voice into the wide center space. Chatter from Ryhl and Kendri could be heard clearly towards the rear of the bridge.

Sar turned to Sarah. "I do wonder how much calculation Captain th'Zeles has placed into his risky stance." He stood close to her as they watched the viewscreen.

"I would assume he's assessed the risks and has asked the Commander for her input, as well. He doesn't appear to be a man who acts rashly," Sarah answered.

"I am less confident in your assumption", Sar said as he watched the cerulean Captain.

Meanwhile Ryhl responded immediately to the channel closing. "Red alert", he shouted. "Shields up. Mister Tomm, if they de-cloak aggressively, lock onto their bridge and weapon systems. It would take time to punch through their shields. It'll give Vurla a chance to decide whether or not she wants to go to Sto'vo'kor over this."

“Aye, sir. Shields at maximum. Targeting scanners primed and weapons locked. Ready at a second’s notice,” Tomm confirmed.

Sarah took Sar's hand a moment, and led him to the Console areas. "You should sit by Commander F'Rar-we might be needed," she said, taking a seat next to Rachel herself.

"Sound idea," Sar said to Sarah as he walked with her, looking towards Lieutenant Commander F'Rar. "Greetings, Commander. Do you require my assistance? Ensign bet Ira and I have completed our EPS flow distribution analysis."

Paisley nodded. "Sure, make sure power stays up. I don't care how you do it," she said. "Send a comms to Turner, tell him to take over in the Office, institute all hands warning. Thank you, Sar," she said. She smiled and chuckled lightly. She wasn't used to having a second person at the console with her.

To ensure they had additional power at the ready if needed, Rachel automatically enabled the secondary and emergency power generators and allocated a boost of power available for tactical to distribute as they saw fit, with the rest going to flight control. In the back of her mind she wished they could tap the quantum core for even more.

Although the Vor'cha had a tight turning radius, it would be hard to outmaneuver the amount of phaser banks. Type XIV phasers were the latest model, updated from ships including the Sovereign and Intrepid class vessels.

The Vor'cha was a powerful vessel in its own right. Its main disruptor was capable of causing serious damage. It also possessed 8 smaller disruptors. Both vessels had powerful shielding.

"Mister Veers, stay loose. We might need to make some dramatic maneuvers, take us on heading two-seven-zero degrees. One quarter impulse."

"Yes Sir," Veers said. The young man's hands shook a little as he carried out the order.

"Open out a blast comm message... The Klingons will pick it up." Ryhl waited for the channel to open.

Without missing a beat, Rachel quickly boosted power attenuation in the deflector and widened the transmission area before turning and making eye contact with the Captain before giving a nod to indicate that his channel was setup accordingly.

"Soros, be careful. Fires can start if you aren't. Captain. If they hit my damn hulls, I'll blast them myself," came Paisley's voice from the Engineering console, black hair sprawling as she typed furiously.

Captain th'Zeles spoke over the channel, "Vurla, The time for diplomacy is over. One Captain does not speak for the entire council, nor the Klingon Defense Force. If you attack a Federation starship over your selfish desires, Qo'Nos will hear about this.. They WILL come and replace your council. I say again.. Stand down. A joint investigation WILL proceed under orders of Starfleet Command and her allies."

There was genuine anger in Ryhl's voice. At this point he was putting the ship at risk. Many had never seen him like this, assuming he was always polite or would always take the path of least resistance.

A new, unkempt side was slowly revealing itself. Ryhl also knew he had to be forceful with Klingons in particular. The Columbia was not sent here to befriend the Klingons. Starfleet needed a tough hand to get to the bottom of an increasingly murky situation. He would not allow Vurla or the Council to impose restrictions on the ship's operations.

Ryhl tapped his commbadge. "Mister Razka, your experience is needed on the bridge. There's been an incident with a Klingon starship."

Razka was at the Klingon settlement with Governor Brok'tan when he received the comm. =/\= Sir two to beam directly to the bridge=/\=

"Surely, Mister Razka... I'll trust you on this." After the channel with Kas closed, he turned to Lieutenant Commander Tomm.

"Mister Tomm, cycle the shields with our transporters to get them through." This would allow the shields to drop temporarily for a split second.

Jason looked at the displays watching events unfold, "Too bad our fighters weren't arriving."

Captain th'Zeles had considered launching fighters but considered it too much of a risk to the pilots. A Vor'cha class starship could easily overpower a starfighter's defensive systems.

Ryhl was being aggressive, but knew he would be disrespected by all Klingons from here to Qo'nos if he did not take a tough stance.

Lt. Commander Razka and an old grizzled Klingon materialized on the bridge, "Captain th'Zeles this Brok'tan, Lt. Governor of the Settlement."

Ryhl quickly walked towards the two Klingons as they beamed towards the edge of the central space. "Lieutenant Governor Brok'tan, welcome to the Columbia. Had I known you were arriving, I would have made better arrangements. However, we have an incident... Come this way and we will discuss."

Ryhl led the officers closer to the command chairs, looking to Kendri.

Feeva's soft brown eyes watched carefully. It was an interesting dynamic happening right now-the older of the Klingons seemed to take a fatherly like role with the younger Razka Kas. Hmm.

Paisley let out a sigh as the Klingons appeared. This was going to be a PROBLEM, she could already tell. She replied to Jason over her shoulder. "Exactly. The Mendocino is still a few days' trip away," she muttered. "What do you think, any cute Klingons will be joining them?" She joked.

"They said five hours," Kendri said chiming in. "I told them what we are dealing with, so I'm hoping they can shave some time off of that."

"Good," the other Carjoran said. "Ok, I took all nonessential power down to minimum capacity. If necessary, we have enough power to fight," she said to Chalan. She sighed. She might've been raised Cardassian, but she hated violence in general.

Jason watched the events unfolding, "I need a coffee." he winked over to Paisley hoping she'd get the message.

"Me, too. Sar, handle the Console, please. I'll be back. Commander, you want a Raktajino?" She asked Kendri.

"Will do," Sar said as he moved over towards the secondary console. He looked briefly at Lieutenant Commander F'Rar.

"No, thank you." Kendri said curtly not really processing the offer, nor the odd time in which it was made. The Klingon governor had just beamed aboard days after his predecessor had been assassinated, and the Klingons and Romulans were still threatening to start a war.

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