USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202004.17 Bridge, Main Engineering, & Hangar Bay: . The Penumbra was parked in interstellar space with a "friendly" Kyrathian Colony Ship so close that it was inside the Penumbra's shield bubble. An Away Team was aboard the Kyrathian ship, the first non-Kyrathians to ever do so. . While the Away Team conversed with the Kyrathian Noble, on the Penumbra Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry was in Main Engineering working to keep the ship in tip top condition, despite all the phasers and everything that had gone off around them in the earlier fighting. She was also trying to keep shields and weapons at optimal levels, while also planning for the pull-in leads for extra power in case they needed the Fly Swatter or Bug Zapper functions. . Lt. Col. Travis Patterson was sitting aboard his tiny ship, the Cerberus, parked in the Hangar Bay with its own shields protecting the Noble's incubator pod and her eggs. Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter was also in the Hangar Bay, completing his inspection of the Delta Flyers to certify their flight-worthiness. . Meanwhile, on the Bridge were Capt. Zak Taylor, sitting in the Command Chair; Lt. Tabeshk Tibris at the Operations Console; Lt. Denovan Hawke manning the Tactical Station; and LtJG Katarina Hawke (formerly known as Nine of Twelve) was standing at an auxiliary Medical station, coordinating the nurses seeing to the few remaining injured in Sickbay. . Hawke was reviewing his board and reported, "They are still going at it, sir." . Zak grumbled, "Figures. Those Aslans are all shoot, no talk." . Tabby muttered, "I've had enough of beetle-like bugs for awhile, myself, Captain." . Zak commented, "Seems this part of the galaxy is dominated by insectoid races. All the mammalian humanoids are on the other side of the galaxy apparently."

. Hawke mused, "There's bound to be some way we can explain it to them so they will understand, instead of firing back and being the instigator of a full scale war with us." . Zak answered, "Yeah, Hawke, the Android already has his work cut out for him in undoing what that Yzz guy said about us. Hmph, traitors ... really?" . Katarina couldn't help but smile at the Captain's sentiment. Tabby grumbled, "Heh, we're the bad guys. But, honestly, Yzz isn't much better." . Zak continued, "We shouldn't do anything to make the situation worse. Politics ... I've always hated it. They warned me that becoming a Captain would mean becoming a politician." . Suddenly Hawke's console beeped. He glanced down and then reported, "Um ... one of the Aslan signatures just went dark." . The Captain stood and turned to face Hawke. "Gone dark?" he said. "Those damn Energy-Siphoning Pods, huh?" He rubbed his chin, thinking. . Hawke agreed, "I would think so, yes, sir." . Finally the Captain said, "Damn it, hate the roaches or not, they're our allies out here. Hawke, pull the shields from the Kyrathian." . "From them, sir?" Hawke asked. He wasn't against going into battle, but he just wanted to be sure. At the Captain's nod he said, "Guess so." And un-extended the shields. . The Captain turned to his Operations Manager, "Tabby, ready to fly some more?" . Katarina's eyes widened at the thought of Tabby flying again, and she wondered if she could watch. Well, watch closer than from the medical console. Her brother, Denovan Hawke at the Tactical console spoke to her through their shared Borg connection (even though they were separated from the Borg collective, they still had their own interlink), ~ You can go look if you want Kat, just don't get in the way. ~ . She responded to him over their link, ~ Who me? get in the way? ~ She smiled a sweet and innocent smile and moved closer to watch Tabby fly the ship.

. Tabby just said, "Aye, sir," and moved back over to the Helm station. . Then Hawke suggested, "I suggest alerting the Kyrathians to what we're about to do." . Zak agreed, "I guess we ought to let the Away Team know we've got an errand." He tapped his commbadge, "Penumbra to Away Team." . Lt. Cmdr. Relok responded, "Relok here, go ahead, sir." . The Captain informed him, "We've got to go help the Aslans out. We're leaving you on your own, but should be back soon. Hang tight." . Relok answered, "Understood. We seem to be making progress. By the way, there are likely other non-Swarm Kyrathians out here, sir." . Zak glanced over at Hawke with a look that said their suspicions were confirmed, then responded to Relok, "Acknowledged, Commander, makes sense. Catch you on our return. Penumbra out." . Bevin called from Engineering, her Brogue accent barely recognizable unless you'd known her for a while. "Caiptain, sair, iffin ye waint, Prawjict Mantgalfier waeld be raidy tae gae ait yer command." . Katarina looked confused at Bevin's words, wondering if anyone would translate them for her. But the Captain merely tapped his commbadge and replied, "Bevin, Project Montgolfier sounds good. Get your decoys ready, Commander. We might need the distraction." The procedure was to launch several mylar-like balloons with subspace transceivers to make them look like additional support ships. It was hoped they'd draw off Kyrathian Energy-Siphoning Pods away from the Penumbra and the Aslans. . Bevin responded, "Aye, sair, a taisk farce o Gailixies camin rait ip." You could almost hear the grin in the tone of her voice as she configured the decoys to emit signals making them look like full-sized Galaxy-class starships. . Tabby got himself situated at the Helm console. He said, "Well, now that I understand how to freaking read the map thingy, hopefully I can fly better? No promises."

. Zak patted his shoulder, "Tabby, you're not pulling the Kyrathian ship this time. Gently. Take us to where the fighting is." He turned to his Tactical Officer, "Hawke, engage MIRAGE, let's be invisible." . Tabby grunted, "Gotcha." He eased forward on the thrusters and started inching forward, slowly accelerating. . The Captain started his usual pacing. . Hawke started up the MIRAGE system to hide them, and then made sure the torpedo launchers were loaded and primed. He muttered, "This is where the fun begins." . In moments they were approaching the fighting. There was one Kyrathian Colony Ship dead in space, surrounded by a debris cloud. One Aslan Battlecruiser was dark and drifting, totally engulfed by Kyrathian Energy-Siphoning Pods. . Down in Engineering, Bevin had six decoy packages ready to deploy. She called the Bridge, "Taibby thaink ye kin haindil saix mair shaips ait tha saim time? I've tied thair cantrawls tae yer baird." . Tabby made an audible gulp. "Six?!? More?!?" . Bevin answered, "Aye, Taibby, thaink o thaim ais raidiaw cawntralled bawts." . Tabby quipped, "Like remote controlled car's more like it." . Bevin chuckled, "Aye, saim daiffirince." . But before he could do anything else the Captain called Bevin, "Bevin, launch six decoys, spread them out." . Bevin answered, "Aye, sair, spraidin thaim aut ais ye waish." . Hawke put the actual tactical display on the main viewer to show the area on an isometric 3-D view for better strategic evaluation. The Captain said, "Hawke, watch for more Pods floating around here." . Zak studied the tactical grid on the main viewer. It looked like the other Kyrathian ship was just ... lurking. It wasn't actively attacking but was instead ... hiding within a cloud of Energy-Siphoning Pods. But the other Pods that were "free floating" detected the decoy balloons and started homing in on them.

. Over the open channel Bevin kept with the Bridge she saw the Pods coming after the decoys. She was heard muttering, "Came tae mama." . Then the Captain said, "I would have thought 2 Aslan Battlecruisers could have handled two Kyrathians. Looks like they got over-confident." . Hawke answered, "Evidently, Captain. It does happen." . Zak glanced at the nurse, "Nine ... er, Kat ... are there any life-signs on that dark Aslan ship?" . Tabby glanced at the former Borg, "Oh, I see you finally disclosed your name, uh, Kat?" . She smiled at him as she returned to the Medical station. Her fingers moved over the console as she made the scans. . Hawke then said, "Should I narrow the phaser beams for more precise shots to only disable the Aslan ship and get rid of the pods? It'll take manual aiming, though, not to toot my own horn. That can be better than the computer doing it." . Zak pondered a moment and then said, "I don't think we ought to risk shooting even towards the Aslans, what with the political situation such that it is. See if you can get the Pods near it and give it some breathing room." . Finally Kat made her report, "I'm sorry sir, I am not getting any readings, and it appears life support has been down for a while." She turned her scans on the other ships. . The Captain frowned and then said, "OK, so one dead Battlecruiser. Let's see if we can save the other." . Hawke said, "I can do that." Then he said, "Tabby, once we get in range, let's go right between the group. Heading ... 278 mark 125. On my mark." As he said this he set up multiple targeting slides for each pod as they moved. He smirked, "Let's see if I get to say 'boom headshot.'" . Zak smirked at his Tactical Officer, "I'm sure you'll get to say it at least once. Free fire at the Pods, Lieutenant." . But Tabby turned his chair to look at him. "Whaaa?" . Hawke explained, "What I showed you about the degrees, remember, X, Y, Z axis."

. "Yeah, yeah," Tabby said, "I got that part, just not the mumbo-jumbo you spewed out!" . Hawke grunted, "Which part, Lieutenant?" . Tabby groaned, "The numbers with the mark this mark that. It made my brain hurt!" . Hawke gave a weak smile, "It's just a term. Mark separates the two number angles, and then, 'mark' meaning to do it when I say so." . "Oh!" Tabby spun back to the Helm, "Got it." . Suddenly a call came over the comms. "Is that you, Traitor? I see your fake ships. Are you here to help your new friends?" . Zak turned to the viewer, "Was that ... Cmdr Yzz?" . Tabby grumbled under his breath, "Traitor this, traitor that. Just shut up already!" . The Captain turned to Hawke, "Open a channel." . Hawke quickly did so and gave the Captain a nod. . The Captain called, "This is Captain Zak Taylor of the Penumbra, here to render assistance." . Cmdr. Yzzklunkcrick's voice came back, "Assistance to whom, Traitor? We've destroyed one ship. The other is on borrowed time." But even as he said this, six Kyrathian Energy-Siphoning Pods were drawing dangerously close to his ship. . Hawke bit his lip to avoid saying anything to the Aslan Commander. . But Tabby didn't do so well. He grumbled, "Yeah, that's what you get. Let those Pods sit awhile, then when you cry for help I'll consider it." . But the Captain rolled his eyes. "Hawke, help them out, will you?" . Then Hawke called, "Tabby?" . Tabby mumbled, "Hmm?" . Hawke replied, "And ... now!" . "Oh, yeah!" Tabby quickly turned the ship to the desired heading and flew between the Aslan Battlecruiser and the Kyrathian Colony Ship. . Once the ship was headed in on course for that burst, Hawke started to try and pick off the Energy-Siphoning Pods as they moved between them. He thought that given his Borg physiology, theoretically, they all should be 'head shots'.

. Hawke picked off three Pods with ease, but a fourth one almost managed to move out of the way, getting only a glancing shot. Still, the shot sent it spinning off into space. . "Boom!" Hawke said, "Headshot!" . The Captain saw how the tactical overlay showed several pods disappear. "Nice shooting, Hawke!" he said. "Now, get a few more of them!" . Suddenly, a call came from Bevin in Engineering, "Caiptin, I'm gaittin a maissije fra tha ithir shaip: ' Kin innyane hair me? Whay dae thais shaip aittik is? Way've dane naethin! Lait thaim daistrawy tha Swairm, laive is alane!'" . Tabby responded first, "Another friendly?" He opened the comm to Bevin, "What was that?" . But the Captain instantly knew what she'd said. "What? They're independents! Bevin, tell them to pull back their Pods! Show the Aslans they're not hostile!" . Quickly she sent the telepathic message, ~ I hear you, pull back your pods to show the others your intentions are peaceful. ~ (Strangely enough, her telepathy did not have her Brogue accent.) Almost immediately, the cloud of Pods surrounding the other Kyrathian ship withdrew into their ship and the ship backed off. . Tabby spun his chair, "Captain, should I contact Yzz?" . But Hawke interrupted, "Tabby, if you would, sir, bring us about and level us for zero elevation on them." . Tabby spun back around, "Gotcha." . Finally the Captain responded to Tabby's suggestion, "Yes, Tabby. Tell him the other ship is friendly. We'll pick off the Pods and let him withdraw!" . Tabby nodded even though he faced away from the Captain, "Understood, contacting the Aslans now." As he made the call he muttered, "Please have him listen to reason." . But when the comm was open, Yzz's voice came through, "Aha! See, they are retreating! We have them now!" . Tabby barked back, "Yzz, STOP! I'll explain, but you need to stop!" . Zak also called, "No! They're not retreating, they're backing off! They're friendly. Don't shoot!"

. Tabby spun his chair again, "Captain, may I explain?" . But as he said this, two of the remaining "free floating" Pods attached to Yzz's ship's shields. Almost immediately their power dropped dramatically. . Hawke barked, "Should I take those out?" . Zak turned to his Tactical Officer, "Hawke, surgical precision on those two Pods. No damage to the Aslan ship, got it?" . Hawke nodded, "Understood." He took a moment to completely focus and fired high-intensity phaser pulses. The two Pods were quickly fried, but Hawke did not celebrate with the "headshot" exclamation. The Aslan ship was now free of Pods, but it had taken a serious power drain. . Tabby still stared expectantly at the Captain. "Captain, we need to explain before this gets worse for both parties." . By this time, the other Kyrathian had withdrawn all its Pods and suddenly turned and jumped to warp. . Bevin called again, "Caiptin, thay say 'thaink ye fer yer haelp!'" . Zak sighed and tapped his commbadge, "That's good news, Bevin. Now we just have to convince Yzz." . Yzz called again, "You opened fire on an Aslan ship! You are Traitors!" . Tabby gave up waiting for the Captain's okay, he nearly screamed at Yzz, "DAMN IT, WOULD YOU LISTEN, YZZ!" . Bevin was heard muttering, "He naids a guid shawt o RAID!! raight ain hais faice."

@everyone Yet another exciting Sim Log Narrative is posted!