USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202003.06 Bridge, Others: . The Penumbra was making its way back to the star system where a Kyrathian Noble had made the first peaceful overture. Captain Zak Taylor had decided they needed to use the strong telepathy of Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, monitored by the mental bond he shared with Lt. Cmdr. Relok, and persuade this "friendly" Kyrathian to come aboard the Penumbra for "peace talks". But, first they had to get back there. . As they flew, the Captain was sitting in "the Big Chair" watching the stars streaking by on the main viewer. Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter was manning the helm, apparently thankful he wasn't forced to fly via manual sticks ... yet ... again. Relok was sitting in Patterson's usual seat, filling in as First Officer while Patterson sat watching the Kyrathian from hiding in the Cerberus, reading over Lt. T'Lin's reports on the Kyrathians' written language. Shadow sat at the Secondary Science Station, mentally "listening" for the Kyrathian Noble's "voice". Near him was T'Lin at the Primary Science Station, diligently poring over the Kyrathians' written language since the Captain had said he'd like another way to communicate with them and not have to rely risking Shadow's brain. At the Tactical Console, Lt. JG Denovan Hawke poked at various buttons, trying to see beyond the limits of their long-range scans for where the Kyrathians were and how they were moving. And Lt. Tabeshk Tibris sat at the Operations Console, fidgeting nervously and flipping through various power distribution screens. . Tabby finally turned to Relok and asked, "Relok, what have you found so far?"

. Relok responded, desperately trying to control the frustration in his voice, but failing, "I've found that I apparently do not have the intuitive grasp of this language that T'Lin seems to have. Most of these glyphs are virtually meaningless to me! Pink elephants, green butterflies, polka-dotted fish ... how can these symbols mean words?" . Shadow turned to face Relok and said, "Shayana, remember the Rosetta Stone? We may need to find something similar to that, or like an index to the Mayan Codices." . Tabby grunted and said, "T'Lin, can you look into those glyphs again, if you are not busy?" . T'Lin looked up from her research and said calmly, "I am reviewing them right now, Tabeshk. The symbols alone are almost completely pointless. It is the context and combination of those symbols that have meaning." . Finally, Hawke's efforts paid off (or the Penumbra finally came into sensor range) and he said, "Hmm ... it looks like there is still one sitting in the nebula, however, there are three more that just popped up on sensors. ETA 10 minutes." . A moment or two later, the Penumbra arrived at the system with the nebula, the water world, and the Lone Kyrathian Noble who made the peace gesture. Carter announced, "We have arrived, Captain." He glanced over his shoulder at Hawke as he tapped his commbadge, "All Delta Flight members, Alert One. Prepare to scramble." . The Captain asked, "Hawke, Tabby, status of our MIRAGE? We're invisible?" . Tabby answered, "Aye, Captain." . Hawke replied, "Still good to go." . The Captain turned to consider Hawke a moment and then said, "So ... how do we find the Colonel without compromising his hidey hole?" . Relok added, "Or ours!" . The Captain raised an eyebrow and gave a nod. Hawke answered, "Well, we could use a probe that's been set up with a false sensor signal to make it look like it's us. Decoy for them to take the bait."

. Tabby mused, "I don't know why I feel the way I do, but this Noble gives me a glimpse that things aren't the way they seem to be. Is it wrong to look into both sides?" . Shadow responded, "I don't think you're wrong, Tabby. We SHOULD look at both sides of the equation to get the whole picture." . Tabby answered, "I know, I just can't help looking like a madman. I surely look like one to the Aslans." . And then the Captain asked, "Relok, Shadow, are you ready to try our experiment? Can you make contact with that Kyrathian?" . Relok said, "Captain, I remind you, my bond with my Shayana is personal and accidental. I can sense him and any discomfort he may have, but ... well, I have little other to contribute." . Relok walked over and sat at one of the unoccupied Reconnaissance Stations across from where Shadow sat at the Secondary Science Station. Shadow sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he reached out with his mind, searching for the Kyrathian Noble's. As he did he said softly, "Relok, you have the hypo of Merasha, in case I get into trouble? I would not trust too many people with that." . Relok answered, equally soft spoken, "I have it, Shayana. You've set the dosage you want, though, right?" . Shadow answered, "Yes, Shayana, it's ready to go if it's needed." . The Captain watched the two as they prepared and then said, "T'Lin, you have some medical training, right? Maybe ...," he paused and then turned, "Den, Nine was a medical drone, right? Get her up here in case Shadow needs emergency attention." . Hawke pondered a moment and then tapped his commbadge, "Nine, please bring a med kit and come to the Bridge." . A moment later her voice came back, "On my way." . A call came over the comms, "Bridge, Delta Flight is standing by. All aircraft are prepped to launch pads, and combat ready." . Carter answered them, "Delta, acknowledged. Stand by."

. Though no-one else could hear it, the "friendly" Kyrathian Noble sensed Shadow's "groping" and spoke to him telepathically, ~You! You're back! I told you to leave. You can't be here. My sisters are coming!~ . Shadow thought silently back to the Kyrathian, ~We would like to talk to you about a way to resolve all the fighting once and for all if possible.~ . About that time, Nine stepped off the lift and glanced around. Seeing Shadow and Relok with looks of intense focus on their faces, and knowing what the plan was, she knew that was where she was needed. She walked over to them with her med kit and squatted near them. . Relok felt Shadow make a connection with the Kyrathian. He asked, "Is that the Noble, Shayana? She's female! And ... she's scared!" . The Captain stood from the Big Chair and walked over to where Relok and Shadow were sitting and began watching them carefully. . Shadow spoke out loud, "Yes. She's scared for us. There are several of her sisters coming." . The Captain was incredulous, "She's ... scared? For us?" . Shadow said, "She's wanting us to leave." . Tabby mumbled softly to himself, "Please, don't be wrong! Lots of people were lost last time a similar event happened! Maybe we can fix this and not suffer the same losses." . The face of MAX, the AI that lived in the computer core, appeared on one of the Science consoles nearby. He said, "Captain. Unknown uplink established." After a moment he added, "Sir, the Cerberus is transmitting coordinates via binary coding." . The Captain looked up at MAX, "Good." He turned, "Carter, rendezvous with the Cerberus." . Carter nodded, "Aye, sir. Maneuvering to the coordinates. MAX?" . MAX transferred himself to Carter's helm console and answered, "Carter, he's inside the Nebula." Almost instantaneously, his face reappeared at the Science console near the Captain, "Captain, we'll lose the benefit of our MIRAGE in there."

. Hawke said, "Hence my idea, which I already have the decoy probe ready." . The Captain turned to Carter, then to Hawke, "Then how the hell is HE doing it? That damn SpecOps ship of his amazes me. Fine, let him have the nebula. Get cloaked Delta Flyers between us and that planet. That friendly Noble is connected to that place somehow." . Carter nodded, "Aye, sir." He tapped his commbadge, "Delta Flight, scramble. Set up a cloaked perimeter between us and the planet." The acknowledge followed immediately after, and seconds later eight Delta Flyers exited the Hangar Bay under their own MIRAGE system and spread out to encompass a large blockade of the planet. . A call from Patterson on the secure commlink came in, "Cerberus to Penumbra. Wasn't expecting you guys so soon back ... and a blockade? We expecting company?" . On the Kyrathian Colony Ship, the friendly Noble sent her thoughts to Shadow, ~My sisters will devour you and your ship! You must leave, so they will. They can't be here either, not now, not so soon! It's not ready!~ . Nine listened to what was going on around the Bridge. She glanced up at her brother at the Tactical station, and then returned her attention to Shadow. She was a little confused. She thought that if this "swarm" was like bees or other insects, why couldn't they just use tachyon particles to create an electrical field between the ships? Surely they knew that insects didn't really like high-energy situations! But ... she didn't say anything, keeping her thoughts to herself. . Shadow continued his silent mental conversation with the Kyrathian, ~Alright, I still want to converse with you further about a peaceful way we can work things out.~ He looked up and translated for the benefit of the others watching him, "She says her sisters will destroy us and our ship. We need to leave so they will. They can't be near the planet either, that things there are not ready."

. Relok looked up at the Captain, "Captain, this Noble is doing something she doesn't want her sisters to find ... yet. Maybe we need to leave, like she asked." . Tabby asked T'Lin, "Any more new glyphs that could help us determine?" . T'Lin looked up at him, "I am working on it." She pulled up her "vocabulary" of the Kyrathian language, and said, "The following words have been translated: search, seed, eggs, food, shortage/storage (not sure which one), thousand, together, and, or, the, and unknown." . They took a moment to absorb how little they actually knew of the Kyrathians' language before T'Lin took a breath and turned to Relok, "She is ... afraid?" She sat back in her own chair, extending her own empathic senses to find the Kyrathian. . The Captain was growing impatient. He snapped, "Shadow, we need information, not instructions! What the hell is going on?" . Shadow answered, nonplussed by the Captain's frustration, "Captain, she may be trying to protect her nursery that is not quite complete," he turned to T'Lin and continued, "And yes, she is very afraid." . Shadow continued his silent conversation, ~Ma'am, please help us understand what is going on, so we can try to help you.~ . MAX started, "I believe I've come up with an idea on how to mask the movement in the nebula ...", but at that moment the three incoming Kyrathian Colony Ships dropped out of warp near the nebula, and came to a full stop. MAX finished, "Never mind, we can discuss that later ... if we survive." . Hawke said, "Guess who decided to invite themselves to dinner." . T'Lin looked up at the main viewer, "I believe her sisters are here." . In Shadow's mind the Kyrathian Noble cried out, ~No! Too late! The Swarm is here, they'll take it! They'll take all of it!~

. With three potentially hostile Kyrathian Colony Ships in close proximity, Carter took the initiative and ordered, "Red Alert!" He switched the ship to manual steering and his joystick controllers slid out from his console as the klaxon sounded and the red lights flashed. . Shadow said, "Those three ships are SWARM ships and they'll try to take all of it." . Suddenly, Shadow, T'Lin, Relok, and anybody else on the ship with a trace of empathic or telepathic abilities heard a voice in their head. Another Kyrathian Noble spoke to them telepathically, ~Who are you talking with? Who's there?~ . T'Lin sat up straight, "Wait. They are curious, not angry. Not yet." . Tabby sat up straight too. He said, "Should we slowly back away? Things could go very wrong here." . T'Lin continued, "This is our one chance. We should stay out of this firestorm unless we have to." . Patterson's voice came over the commlink again, "Penumbra, targets locked ... weapons set to disable." . MAX warned, "If the Swarm is all inter-connected ... the entire Hivemind will know about this location, would they not?" . Relok glanced up at MAX's face on the monitor, "Yes, so ... why don't they?" . MAX raised an eyebrow, "Intriguing." . Shadow reported on what he sensed of the Kyrathian, "She's extremely upset, and the power of her mental force is almost overwhelming. And coupled with mine, almost synergystic in nature. I'm trying but ... can't seem to break free ... just yet." . The Captain turned to his Tactical Officer, "Hawke, what are our chances against 3 ... or 4 ... Colony Ships? Where the hell are the Aslans?" . Hawke answered, "Same as last time, not very good." He checked his board and said, "The Aslans are five minutes out." . Tabby had a sudden insight. "Seeds ... their seeds?" . T'Lin brainstormed with him, "Their seeds ... their seeds ... their food!"

. Tabby responded, "This noble is storing her seeds but ... has a shortage ... of food? That's why they swarm. Food shortage!" . T'Lin had a flash of uncharacteristic enthusiasm, "Yes! I was trying to figure out one glyph when I should have been looking at the whole group!" Quickly she cleared off her console and pulled up a new program, trying to put together a sentence in the Kyrathian code. . Tabby turned to the Captain, "We should fill Patterson in before he does something stupid and reckless." . Suddenly, the "friendly" Kyrathian ship launched dozens of Energy-Siphoning pods. They zipped through the nebula and out the other side ... at the other Kyrathian ships! . Tabby's mouth went slack, "Whaaa ...?" . Shadow mumbled, "Told you she's on our side ... or we, hers." . Hawke grunted, "Well, that just increased our odds by 20 percent!" . Tabby grinned, "That's cool! Uh ... for once, that is." . With a strong emphasis, again, all those on the Penumbra with a trace of empathic or telepathic abilities heard a voice in their head. The "friendly" Kyrathian was projecting to all who could hear her, ~You will not have them! They are not for you! Leave, all of you, flee! NOW!~ . Patterson's voice came over the comm, "Penumbra, guess that's our cue, sir." And suddenly, the Cerberus came hurtling out of the nebula, and opened fire on the left-most "Enemy" Colony Ship with its WAR Driver. . Hawke said, "I say we get to work. Locking weapons." . The Captain sat back down in the Big Chair as he said, "Hawke, Carter, get us in the fight. We're ... defending our friendly Kyrathian." . Tabby spun his chair around, "So ... we are defending? Captain?" . Relok said, "Captain, that's going to be hard to explain to the Aslans!" . Carter nodded, "Aye, sir. Disengaging MIRAGE. Tabby, auxiliary power to helm control. Inertial dampers to 50%!"

. Tabby spun back to his console, "Uhh ... on it." His fingers flew across his board. He also tried to make a commlink with the Aslans. After a second or two he cursed, "Answer, damn it!" . T'Lin quickly strapped in, then accessed external sensors to make scans of the ships. She suggested, "Hawke, target the lower most compartment in the center of the ship. That is the weakest point." . Hawke saw the spot she was talking about, "Got it." He locked on to that spot and send the data over to Patterson and Delta Flight as well. . Shadow was growing weak, but he sent one last thing to the "friendly" Noble, ~We'll help you, ma'am.~ But the strain of her emotions and the arrival of all the other telepathic Kyrathians with their hive mind overloaded his mind and he slipped into unconsciousness. . And then the Aslans arrived. They dropped out of warp just behind the incoming Kyrathians. As soon as they arrived they opened fire with high-yield photon torpedoes. . Nine finally voiced her thoughts, "If they're insects, why not create a tachyon particle field? The energy would fry them, wouldn't it?" But nobody heard her due to all the activity. . The leader of Delta Flight saw the Cerberus when it streaked past and fire its WAR Driver. He saw the Penumbra drop its MIRAGE and move to protect the "friendly" Kyrathian ship inside the nebula. He moved forward and called out, "Delta Flight to Penumbra. We'll keep the torpedoes off our new friend!" . Tabby watched the Aslans as they fired their heavy weapons at the Kyrathians. He said, "I swear to God, they'll kill the friendly one! We have only one chance!" Cerberus & Delta Flight:

. Lt. Col. Travis Patterson was alone aboard his advanced reconnaissance ship, the Cerberus, under cloak and with minimal power signature, monitoring the single Kyrathian Colony Ship Bearing the only Kyrathian ever to make a peaceful overture to them. He had been there for some time and for that time had been out of contact with the Penumbra, and had no idea of what the Captain had planned. . And when the Penumbra returned to the system, using their own advanced MIRAGE system to mask their location and signature, Patterson could not see them, but ... his onboard Artificial Intelligence, AEGIS, was able to detect a faint warp signature, one that had a distinctive Starfleet signature. It announced to Patterson, "Warp signature detected in the system. Starfleet designation." . Patterson glanced to his Heads-Up-Display projected in his Combat Helmet and responded, "Acknowledged, AEGIS. Bring systems to full power." . AEGIS responded, "Systems online. Activating SHROUD countermeasures for navigation inside the Nebula." Previously, when the Delta Flyers had been attempting stealth maneuvers against the Kyrathian ship in the nebula, their movement generated wakes through the nebula's gases. But, the more advanced stealth systems aboard the Cerberus (which Patterson had undoubtedly acquired through his connections with Section 31 and other Black Operations for Starfleet Intelligence, and some of which were likely "disavowed" or even technically "illegal") were capable of suppressing even these small ripples. . As soon as AEGIS detected the Starfleet signature, it attempted a subspace communications connection with MAX, the Artificial Intelligence living within the Penumbra's computer core. On the Bridge of the Penumbra, MAX announced, "Captain. Unknown uplink established." He then followed, after the two AIs exchanged binary "handshakes" with, "Sir, the Cerberus is transmitting coordinates via binary coding." .

. Shortly afterward, the Penumbra, under MIRAGE, launched Delta Flight, all eight of their Delta Flyers, each with their own MIRAGE systems to keep them virtually invisible. They fanned out to create a cloaked perimeter between the Penumbra, the nebula, and the watery planet. . Patterson noted that AEGIS had made contact with MAX and gave a short nod. The interlinked AIs shared data and showed the launch of Delta Flight on Patterson's HUD. He opened the secure commlink, "Cerberus to Penumbra. Wasn't expecting you guys so soon back ... and a blockade? We expecting company?" . But before Patterson could get a response from the Penumbra, AEGIS reported, "Kyrathian signatures detected. Three Colony Ships are entering long-range sensors." He marked their locations on Patterson's Smart HUD. . Patterson began maneuvering the Cerberus into a defensive posture around the latent Kyrathian ship inside the Nebula. Once in position, he armed the WAR Drivers. The device was technically a misnomer since the acronym meant Warp-Accelerated-Rail Driver. The device didn't actually launch "rails", and they didn't quite achieve warp speed, but it did launch solid projectiles at nearly light-speed, delivering a devastating force of impact that could often punch through ordinary shielding and leave gaping holes in a ship's hull. He called the Penumbra, "Targets locked ... weapons set to disable." . Suddenly, the Kyrathian ship lingering inside the nebula, the one on which was the Noble that had made peaceful overtures, launched dozens of their Energy-Siphoning Pods! Patterson tensed as he saw the pods go zipping away, but ... he knew there were no visible targets, other than ... the other Kyrathian Colony Ships! The "friendly" Kyrathians were attacking their own people. . Patterson opened his commlink, "Penumbra, guess that's our cue, sir." He addressed the AI on the Cerberus, "AEGIS, full power to weapons. Disengage the cloaking device."

. And suddenly, the Cerberus came hurtling out of the nebula, and opened fire on the left-most "Enemy" Colony Ship with its WAR Driver. . Suddenly, the Aslan Fleet arrived, dropping out of warp just behind the incoming Kyrathians. As soon as they arrived they opened fire with high-yield photon torpedoes. . The leader of Delta Flight saw the Cerberus streak past and fire its WAR Driver. He moved forward as he called out, "Delta Flight to Penumbra. We'll keep the torpedoes off our new friend!" Sickbay and Main Engineering: . Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry was in Main Engineering, continuing to keep her attention on the engines, shields, and weapons to keep them in optimal condition. As usual, she kept one monitor near the "pool table" in Main Engineering displaying the ongoing situation from the Bridge so she could stay informed of developments even while she worked. . Elsewhere, Nine of Twelve, the former Borg medical drone, made her way into sickbay, looking around. There wasn't a lot of staff around at the moment, and that was fine with her. Those that were present were preparing for possible casualties. So, she decided to take the opportinuty to have a look around quietly. . As Nine nosed around sickbay, one of the nurses on duty, Nakamara, called to her, "Hey, Nine! How can I help you?" . Nine answered, "I'm just looking around, familiarizing myself with Sickbay. Otherwise, I'll just be sitting and staring at a wall." She gave a shrug. . Nakamara smiled back at her, "No problem. Ask me if you need anything!" . Nine gave her a nod and as the nurse turned back to her duties, Nine began opening drawers and cabinets, so she'd know where things were. As she did, she asked, "What kind of prep do you do for missions like this?" . But, she didn't get her answer because her commbadge chirped with a call from her brother, Lt. JG Denovan Hawke, the Tactical Officer on the Bridge. "Nine, please bring a med kit and come to the Bridge."

. Nine glanced to Nurse Nakamara, "Never mind." She tapped her badge and answered, "On my way." She reached for a medical kit and made her way to the nearest turbolift.

@everyone Another Sim Narrative is up!