SIM LOG NARRATIVE - SD 201906.14

Bridge

((Note: I have imported into this Narrative actions recorded in a Joint Log between Shadow and Relok as if they had occurred during this sim. See "Long Distance Communication" dated 201906.16.))

The Penumbra remained at Red Alert even though it was on the far side of the planet Janidor from the Kyrathian invasion and the orbital battle between the Kyrathian Colony Ships and the Aslan Battlecruisers.

The Captain had taken a Diplomatic Team down to the planet to meet with Krigeth's beetle-people and the Colonel had taken another team to the Safe Zone to solidify their Forward Operations Base there.

That left very few people on the Bridge: Lt. Cmdr. Relok had the conn and was sitting in the Command Chair; Lt. Jason Carter maintained his post at the Helm, even though the ship was in a low geosynchronous orbit over a vast ocean; and Ens. Tabeshk Tibris manned the Operations Console and was trying not to grow too bored.

Tabeshk muttered to himself, "Oh, yeah, I gotta run a diagnostic on nacelle 3, right!" He glanced at Relok for confirmation, "Do I have the A-OK?"

Relok responded, "Run the diagnostic, but keep the drive online in case we need it. We are at Red Alert."

Tabeshk waved away Relok's concerns, "Yeah, yeah, I know old man." He started his diagnostic.

Suddenly, Relok got a far-away look in his eyes as he had a telepathic conversation with his Shayana, his Oath-Brother, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, who was actually down on the planet. After a moment, he stood and walked to the Master Systems Display on the rear wall of the Bridge and pulled up star charts of the galaxy. With a calm determination that hid the frantic beating of his heart, he panned and zoomed across the galaxy to the Alpha Quadrant, so far away from where they were at the moment.

Meanwhile, Tabeshk continued his diagnostic. He glanced at Carter sitting beside him, "Hmm, everything is looking fine Carter. But I'll keep looking. You seem like you have a hunch on something, so I'll follow it to the letter."

Carter nodded to him, "I have a suspicion as to why the engines failed at a critical moment, that's all I'm going on. It's just a theory for now."

Tabeshk replied, "Seems like a logical theory. I'll keep looking into it."

Then a call came over the comm system. It was Lt. Col. Patterson, "FOB to Penumbra. I've got a pretty big requisition order to fill ...," he continued with his list of supplies for vehicles, equipment, and materials for their new Base.

After forwarding the request to Engineering, Tabeshk went to resume his diagnostic of the nacelle. But Relok turned from the MSD and said, "Tabeshk, when you have a moment, I need to send an urgent message with these coordinates to the USS Aldrin in the Alpha Quadrant." He tapped the MSD panel to relay the coordinates to the Ops console before continuing, "You'll probably need to make multiple communications connections to get through. Start with the nearest Aslan base."

Tabeshk raised an eyebrow at the unusual request, but complied without comment, putting the call through and then waiting for the connections to be confirmed. While he waited, he continued his diagnostic of the nacelle, saying, "Still looking."

Suddenly Tabeshk chuckled, "Heh, the ship is a lot bigger than looking through the blueprints. Wait," he paused, slapping his forehead ridges, "I built this thing as a project when I was in the Academy! I'm so stupid!" He sat up straighter and really focused on his search. A moment later he turned to Carter, "You said the engines had a hiccup? You're right, that shouldn't have happened at all, period."

Carter answered, "Yeah, they seemed to have had some sort of a burp. Check the mono-stable circuitry."

Tabeshk explained, "I was given special clearance to help build this ship as a graduation project in the Academy. It might have been due to my birthright, but I know this ship." He checked Carter's suggestion on the mono-stable circuits.

While he waited, he continued his diagnostic and then finally exclaimed, "Aha! Carter, I found the issue!"

Carter leaned over to see, "The circuitry?"

"The nacelle was clogged by something . I can't tell what it is." He was interrupted by confirmation that the call had connected all the way to the Aldrin and the message had been delivered. While he was confirming that call, a call came from the Captain, "AT 1 to Bridge. Can you get a lock on the Away Team plus Krigeth and beam us from here to ... uh ... the base of the nearby mountain?"

Tabeshk grunted, "Uhh, I can try, I am kinda BUSY AT THE MOMENT!" He took a breath then said, "Sorry, Captain, the lack of fun here is stressful."

The Captain responded simply, "Lock on and energize when ready."

After performing the transport, Tabeshk returned to the nacelle diagnostic. "Okay, Carter, I figured it out. Remember when you guys went through the gas cloud?" He paused only briefly before continuing, "Apparently we picked up a piece of debris from it and it got lodged. Meaning we need to send a mole through the ship to clean it out. Have fun with that one!"

Relok had returned to the Command Chair when he heard Tabeshk's report. "Tabby, that's right! The gasses from that planet were very dense. We should have cleared it before using warp drive so much. And slipstreaming afterward probably made it worse!"

Tabeshk spun his chair. "No duh, Relok! And you're the Vulcan boy genius! Pfft! Looks like you guys needed a half-breed like me, anyway! Well, you're welcome!" Then he added, "So, who wants to be a mole and go digging through the ship, Carter or Relok, hmm?"

Main Engineering & Cargo Bay

Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry, Penumbra's Chief Engineer, was in Main Engineering keeping up to date on the conditions of the engines, shields, warp drive and weapons in case the Penumbra had to deal with the Kyrathians again.

Meanwhile, in the primary Cargo Bay, Mst. Gunnery Sgt. Derek Hines had commandeered the Bay as a staging area for outfitting a new Forward Operations Base in the Safe Zone where the Penumbra had relocated a thousand Janosian civilians. Hines was finalizing upgrades to the land vehicles and prepping them for transport via runabout to the surface. He tapped his commbadge, "Hines to MacArdry. Think you can bring a few of those electro-static generators for our vehicles to Cargo Bay 1? Same things we set up on those biosuits and combat armor."

Bevin replied in her Scottish Brogue, "I'll dae me baist, Hineys, me dairlin, bay thair ain a shairt." She collected the generators and put them on an antigrav sled and headed out the door.

A few minutes later, she arrived and Hines waved and called, "Over here, ma'am!" With a smirk he tapped the side of a heavily armed assault vehicle. "How many of those do you think it'll take to get half a dozen of these spore-proof?"

Bevin studied the large vehicle and answered, "I'm gaein tae say faur pair vaihikil wi tha thair waill be ainaw raidandaincies tae haelp civvir mist o tha vaihaikil." She'd brought nearly four dozen of the generators on the sled she was pulling, so there should be enough to go around.

Hines nodded, "Alright. We'll need to get them hooked up as soon as possible. Soon as we have the first 3 ready, we gotta deploy them via runabouts to the ground troops at the FOB. Lets get going!" He climbed up into the rear of the first vehicle and together they began hooking them up.

Bevin called to a few Marine Pathfinders shuffling equipment around the Bay, "Ye ken, ye caeld haelp tae!" She gave them all brief instructions on the installation and they set to work right away.

Away Team 1 (Diplomatic Team)

A Diplomatic Team consisting of Capt. Zak Taylor, Counselor Charis Ariti, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, Ens. T'Lin, Staff Sergeant Khalgon of the Pathfinders, and a couple other Marines, were on the beach with the beetle-like Krigeth.

Krigeth buzz-click-thunked and the Universal Translator said, "Elder Zak, if you'll come with me, I'll introduce you to our Elders." As they began walking up the beach he continued, "I have told the Elders about the Demon Plague, and we did send a few scouts, but ...," he trailed off.

Ariti and the others began to follow their Captain but then the Counselor had a sudden realization and paused, asking, "May I come along as well?" It would not do to have a large group of aliens suddenly walk into these people's Elder Council uninvited or in violation of some protocol.

Krigeth stopped and waved his antennae at Ariti. A treble whistle came from his shell, his people's version of a laugh! He said, "Of course, Strange One Ariti, you are my friend!"

Ariti replied through her voder device, which made a semblance of a happy "brr-click".

The Klingon Pathfinder, Khalgon moved alongside Ariti and the Captain, "I shall accompany you," he announced. The rest of the party also resumed walking behind Krigeth, the Captain, and the Counselor.

Shadow glanced out to sea, knowing about the incoming storm that Relok had detected from orbit. He glanced around searching for ways to build a defensible shelter from both Kyrathians and the weather, in case such was needed. Suddenly, he paused and cocked his head as if listening to something no-one else could hear. He stood that way for a moment, intense, before relaxing again and turning to join the others.

The Captain was speaking as they walked, "Krigeth, tell us what your scouts found, and how they reacted."

Krigeth replied, "The Demons have taken several of the Soft Ones' cities. They are very large and very bad. Our scouts retreated very quickly."

Khalgon grunted, "We lack the manpower to fight them on equal ground, Captain. When faced with a superior foe who has you outnumbered and outgunned ... what do Klingons have left?"

Krigeth paused at the treeline. "It would be so much easier if your kind could slide Nishara. It is a long walk to our Cavern."

Ariti looked at the Captain, "Could we?" she asked.

Zak glanced up at at the mountain poking out of the tropical jungles, not registering the Counselor's comment. "You live inside the mountain?"

Krigeth bobbed slightly as they resumed walking into the jungle, "Our Cavern's entrance is in a valley on this side of the mountain. The caves probably do go deep into it."

Suddenly the Captain's commbadge chirped and Patterson's voice came through, "Patterson to Taylor. I have an idea that might allow us to push back against the Kyrathians, sir."

Zak stopped to answer the call, "Let's hear it, Colonel."

But Krigeth froze, his body lowering nearly to the ground in abject fear. "You speak to spirits!"

Ariti exclaimed, "No! No, that's just a way we can talk over long distances, another device we have."

Zak removed his commbadge and showed it to Krigeth. "It's just a device that brings one of my friend's voice to me over a long distance."

Krigeth studied the device with curiosity before the Captain returned it to his chest. He buzzed, "Your people are strange indeed!"

Ariti laughed, "I guess we are!"

Khalgon shook his head and mumbled, "Some of us are stranger than others."

Patterson continued, "The Janosians have a vastly larger military force than we do, if we can liberate them, even with their armaments as limited as they are. Those electro-static generators can be made to attach to tower shields. That gives us mobile cover. Think of the old Roman Testudo, or general Riot Control tactics. Then all we need are weapons that'll take down their Gatherers and Soldiers. Shouldn't be difficult to rig impact grenades to their longbow shafts ...," he trailed off.

Zak considered a moment and then answered, "That's a fairly good idea, Colonel. But it assumes we can liberate hundreds more, if not thousands, all while the Kyrathians are fighting against us."

Patterson replied, "I'm not deploying armored vehicles for nothing, sir. The ground forces will stay here on defensive duty. My Pathfinders are going to actively try to liberate as many men as we can. The more we can gather, the more likely we can fight these bugs off. I'll keep you updated. Patterson out."

The Captain responded, "Dean said he mentioned to their Elder using their fishing and sailing vessels to bring folks to the Safe Zone, but ... they don't have communication capabilities. Let's look into a Command and Control network, Colonel. Communication towers or something."

Patterson answered, "Already working on a C&C station, sir. As it is, I've got a mobile emitter on every vessel with weapons, and a communications center at the encampment. Haymaker 4 has heavy weapons getting set up for defenses, and Haymaker 3 is manning the perimeter with their entire contingent. I've got Hines and his Pathfinders, with exception of Khalgon and his team, working on getting amphibious assault vehicles armored against the Kyrathian Spores so we can start deploying rescue operations."

The Diplomatic Team, pushing deeper into the jungle further from the beach, began to encounter dense undergrowth that inhibited their passage. Khalgon grumbled under his breath, "Had to ask about the Bat'Leth, didn't you, Captain?"

T'Lin was avoiding disturbing the terrain as much as possible, probably the only one truly used to such an environment, being similar to where she'd grown up. The Captain watched her graceful movement and commented, "Hey, T'Lin, you're moving pretty good through this stuff. Kinda like home, huh?"

The dark-skinned Vulcan woman answered, "Yes, the forest is similar to the surrounding area of my village." She glanced around her before continuing, "I do hope there are not as many predators, though by the lack of us being eaten, I believe that hope is correct."

Even Krigeth, who lived on the island, was having issues, shoving his way under much of the underbrush. He said, "This is why we slide Nishara. The plants are just too thick!"

Shadow launched himself at a tree and quickly climbed to the canopy, dropping down a rope. His people were arborial and lived in the canopies of huge trees on his homeworld, so he was comfortable above the foliage of the underbrush. He called out, "Come on, y'all! I found an easier way way to get around the ground foliage."

Zak glanced at the dangling rope. "Shadow? Well, of course you go to the canopy! I'm not sure the rest of us will be comfortable ... way ... up ... there."

T'Lin spent only a moment looking before grasping the rope and clambering up the tree. Krigeth rose up on only his rear two legs to look up the tree. He exclaimed in wonderment, "He climbs above the plants! What a novel idea!"

Ariti studied the rope, trying to decide whether using the rope or simply climbing the tree would be better. After a moment, she decided the tree would be less precarious and started to climb.

Shadow called down, "Come on, Krigeth! It's a whole different world up here!"

Then the Captain suddenly realized Ariti had made a suggestion, "Did you ask if we could slide Nishara? You mean ... transporters?"

At almost the same moment Khalgon grumbled again, "This is ridiculous. Why don't we stick a commbadge on Krigeth, have him do his Nishara thing, then beam to the coordinates behind him?"

The Captain grunted, "Khalgon, you're right, this is ridiculous. Counselor, we should slide Nishara."

Krigeth replied, "I would like to see your version of Nishara. It sounds intriguing!"

Zak tapped his commbadge, "AT 1 to Bridge." When Ens. Tibris answered from the Operations Console he continued, "Tabby, can you get a lock on the Away Team plus Krigeth and beam us from here to ... uh ... the base of the nearby mountain?"

Ariti paused in her climb and said, "THAT would be a lot quicker!" She hopped back down to ground level, followed by T'Lin and then Shadow, coiling the rope behind him.

Tabeshk's voice came back, exasperated, "Uhh, I can try, I am kinda BUSY AT THE MOMENT!"

The Captain rolled his eyes at "Tabby the Troublemaker" but said nothing. A moment later Tabeshk said, more calmly, "Sorry, Captain, the lack of fun here is stressful."

Zak looked over at Krigeth and said, "Krigeth, prepare yourself, this will feel a little weird." Then he tapped his commbadge and said, "Tabby, lock on and energize when ready."

The Diplomatic Team suddenly dematerialized and reappeared in a clearing beyond the jungles on the slope of the mountain.

Krigeth suddenly flattened his body again, all the way to the ground in abject terror, a shrill whistle emerging from his shell, "Oh my, oh my!"

Ariti instantly dropped beside him and stroked his shell, "It's okay ."

Shadow withdrew a canteen and offered Krigeth some water. Even T'Lin squatted beside the beetle-like creature, asking, "Are you all right, Krigeth?"

The Captain was alarmed, "Krigeth, are you OK? We didn't harm you did we?"

Krigeth slowly rose from the ground. "I like Nishara much better than what you do. It felt like my shell had fallen off!"

Shadow smiled at him, "It can be unsettling the first few times." He offered the water again.

Krigeth recovered himself and said, "I'm fine, it just scared me is all." He took a look around. "This way, it isn't far now." He noticed Shadow's water and suddenly a long proboscis descended from Krigeth's "neck" to drink from Shadow's canteen. Once Krigeth had finished, Shadow poured a small amount of the water onto the mountain as a form of libation.

Refreshed, Krigeth resumed their walk up the mountain with the Penumbrians with him. Only moments later three beetle-like members of Krigeth's people suddenly appeared, emerging from Nishare before them. One of them clunk-ticked and the Universal Translator said, "Halt! No Soft Skins are allowed on the Mountain! You defile it!"

The whole team of Penumbrians immediately froze in their tracks. Shadow bowed and said, "We come to speak to the Elders."

The Captain gave what he still hoped was the universal sign of "we come in peace", the hands up and out gesture. "Whoa! We're friends! We need your help!"

Krigeth added, "I bring Elder Zak and his friends from the Other. The Elders are expecting them."

The other beetle who'd spoken thunked his shell. "Hmph. You are corrupting our people with these Soft Skins!"

The Captain glanced at Ariti and said softly, "We've got our work cut out for us, huh?"

Away Team 2 (Safe Zone)

Lt. Col. Travis Patterson was aboard RAVEN 2 with Charlie Team, rapidly approaching the Safe Zone where the Penumbra had deposited a thousand Janosian refugees.

Lt. Cmdr. Dean Spearhorse was on RAVEN 1 with Bravo Team. One of the men, Cpl. Hudson, looked to the Commander and asked, "Feeling all right, sir? We heard about what happened in Sickbay." Dean waved it off without comment.

The four RAVEN craft descended from the air, and once the doors had opened, the ground troops quickly spread out to set up a hastily fortified position.

Patterson stood and followed his men out of the craft, immediately scanning for whoever the Janosians' senior soldier might be. Finding a likely candidate, he strode over and soon they were having a conversation.

A few minutes later, Patterson turned from the knight and tapped his commbadge, "Patterson to Taylor. I have an idea that might allow us to push back against the Kyrathians, sir."

The Captain's voice came back, "Let's hear it, Colonel."

Patterson continued, "The Janosians have a vastly larger military force than we do, if we can liberate them, even with their armaments as limited as they are. Those electro-static generators can be made to attach to tower shields. That gives us mobile cover. Think of the old Roman Testudo, or general Riot Control tactics. Then all we need are weapons that'll take down their Gatherers and Soldiers. Shouldn't be difficult to rig impact grenades to their longbow shafts ...," he trailed off.

Zak considered a moment and then answered, "That's a fairly good idea, Colonel. But it assumes we can liberate hundreds more, if not thousands, all while the Kyrathians are fighting against us."

Patterson replied, "I'm not deploying armored vehicles for nothing, sir. The ground forces will stay here on defensive duty. My Pathfinders are going to actively try to liberate as many men as we can. The more we can gather, the more likely we can fight these bugs off. I'll keep you updated. Patterson out."

Patterson tapped his badge again, changing the channel. "FOB to Penumbra, I've got a pretty big requisition order to fill .," he trailed off.

The Captain's voice interrputed, "Dean said he mentioned to their Elder using their fishing and sailing vessels to bring folks to the Safe Zone, but ... they don't have communication capabilities. Let's look into a Command and Control network, Colonel. Communication towers or something."

Patterson answered, "Already working on a C&C station, sir. As it is, I've got a mobile emitter on every vessel with weapons, and a communications center at the encampment. Haymaker 4 has heavy weapons getting set up for defenses, and Haymaker 3 is manning the perimeter with their entire contingent. I've got Hines and his Pathfinders, with exception of Khalgon and his team, working on getting amphibious assault vehicles armored against the Kyrathian Spores so we can start deploying rescue operations."

Dean stood nearby, watching Patterson and wondering if there's anything he needed to know. Patterson turned to him and said, "See if you can coordinate with the Janosian Engineers to maneuver their trebuchets and whatever siege towers they've built to act as coastal defenses and watchtowers."

Dean gestured as the Janosian Elder approached but answered Patterson, "I will do what I can, sir." He walked off to greet the Elder, "Good to see you again, Your Eminence."

Patterson moved over to coordinate his Marines from a newly-established Command and Control center, where he began studying maps and charts to come up with a plan which he would use to brief all the various Squad Leaders.

As Dean approached him, the Elder asked, "Why did you come back? We knew we could not hold you against your will, with the wizardry of your tech, but you come back to put your people in our custody again?"

Dean shook his head, "No, no, Elder, nothing like that! Our Prime Directive has been lifted, which will allow my people to help you protect yourselves better."

The Elder sounded suspicious. "How so?"

Dean explained, "We can provide some of our older tech - power supplies and weapons that we seldom use anymore - to help protect your safe zones, communications, and the lasers to help fend off incoming ships. I will have to talk with your most gifted science minds, and the builders of your fortifications to best assist."

The Elder raised an eyebrow, "Our wizards and laborers?"

Dean nodded, "Yes, they are the most likely to grasp the tech - no offence to your noble knights, who have trained for many years to be battle tested and hardened. The archers and the knights are the last line of defense if the tech fails."

The Elder considered a moment and then answered, "I will have the appropriate members of my people meet with you in a half hour."

Dean thanked the man and then strode back over to where Patterson stood. "Sir, the Elder is going to work with us not against us."

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