Star Trek: Theurgy

CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

September 13, 2020, 12:07:44 AM

[PO2 T’Kolla | Cargo Bay 1 | Deck 2 | USS Allegiant] ^{@Auctor Lucan} 
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Now he had finally managed to find some time and a lonely spot where he could just get familiar with this new gun. It was on his agenda pretty much the very moment he heard about it and as he joined the Allegiant he thought that he could use his time here to become acquainted with the new weapon. Well at least he thought that he could find a few hours, but now with only half of the team left on the Allegiant and one of the two remaining engineers being one of the away team, it became more and more unlikely for him to find even the smallest space in his time schedule for the Accipiter. He should really start doing stuff like this before he will join random missions in the future, at least if there is going to be a future for him. An unpleasant and still not unlikely thought, but now it was unnecessary. He had found the time for the Accipiter and could actually go through the spec carefully, which meant he could check if the weapon was as devastating as he expected it to be. He opened the cargo box with the Accipiters brought on the Allegiant for the mission and took one of them out of its frame. Even the gun itself was, to put it mildly, heavy. The charge combined with this gigantic thing was probably enough that some people would simply fall over while trying to use it. After some moments he was able to hold the gun a way he would be able to fight with it, even though it was build for taller Officers than him apparently.

“Petty Officer T’Kolla, could you please see me in my ready room?” Sounded form the console to his right, while he wielded the huge thing in his hands. The comm system turned back to silence and the Devore lost for at least one or two seconds the control over his facial muscles. Again he was happy no one was here to see that, but as the Lieutenant Commander called for him through the comm, he briefly started to swear soundless toward to console. Why did she had to call me exactly now? Like if I don’t have to deal with something too. He eventually laid the Accipiter back in its cargo box and pressed the button of the console. “Petty Officer 2nd Class Kolla here. I’m on my way, Ma’am.” Before he left the cargo bay the Petty Officer straightened his uniform and rolled his sleeves up to hide the scars on his right arm. There was nothing really wrong about them, but he simply preferred them not to be visible. Especially if he was going to meet humans, they just tended to talk about stuff like that too much.

The ready room of the current captain was fortunately on the same level the cargo bays were, so he simply had to go straight toward the bridge and then right. With most of the crew already or almost off the Allegiant, the corridor was quite empty, not that they were too overcrowded before. He stopped in the smaller corridor that would normally host a security Officer or so. Well whoever normally was on that Position wasn’t now. Taa’gur used the door console to notify Dewitt that he has already arrived. As the door opened he made his way in the ready room and almost as soon as he passed the door frame he saluted toward the Captain. A simple “Ma’am!” followed the gesture and he waited for his superior to give him the proper military orders to stop saluting.

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OCC: sorry for the delay, but as mentioned tough time at work.

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #1 – September 14, 2020, 04:06:11 PM

[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Seated behind her desk, Jennifer looked up when the sliding doors parted, and she gave the Devore a quick smile.

The Petty Officer acted very formally, though, saluting even though such was extremely rare as as far as Starfleet officer manners went. She realised he might come from a previous affiliation, prior to his enlistment in Starfleet, and had yet to adopt the standards of the Federation. So, she realised that the first priority was to make him relax a bit.

"At ease," she said, waving as if to dispel the notion that this was some manner of cross-examination at hand. "Please, have a seat. Do you want anything to drink?"

She had gestured towards the sitting area in the ready room, and then headed for the replicator herself. Shecocked a hip as she stood there and made her own order first. "Almond milk, unsweetened, please," she said, and once she had collected whatever the Devore wanted - if he indeed wished to drink something - she sat down with the man. "You came aboard the Theurgy during the layover at Aldea, correct? Tell me, how did you know Anderson, for I am assuming he was the one who hand-picked you for this assignment, right?"

Since Dewitt didn't know T'Kollas, she rather wanted to break the ice before she could begin discussing the mission at hand. While she listened to him talking, she sipped her nutty milk and studied him, not sure she'd ever encountered a Devore before - rare as they were and not of any system close to Federation space.

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #2 – September 17, 2020, 02:10:05 PM

[PO2 T’Kolla | Ready Room | Deck 2 | USS Allegiant] ^{@Auctor Lucan}
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Even though the Devore understood the invitation of Dewitt more as a direct order than a friendly offering, he still appreciated it to sit down now. With a short “Yes, Ma’am.” he followed her “order” and took the next free seat, where he still sat in the most straightened way he could. “I guess I would simply take a normal water with no artificial additives in it please.” Strange, where Taa’gur was from it was definitely not so common for a higher Officer to offer their subordinates anything, but the chain of command was anyhow not so… visible on Starfleet vessels.

As they both sat down the Human began to ask the Petty Officer about his prior contact with the Admiral who brought him to the Theurgy. “We stumbled upon each other while I still worked at R&D." Taa'gur began and tried to keep his answers as short as possible. "He apparently tried to figure out why Starfleet shifted a lot of their resources to the weapon development.” He took a small sip from the glass of water in his hand and slightly relaxed his posture. This wasn’t probably a moment where he had to react in a matter of seconds, so he could stop acting like he would have to. “After some time the Admiral came back and asked me if I would have recognized some changes in the behaviour of the Starfleet. I guess I either had some impact on him or just knew too much and he had to deal with me. Whatever his reasons, he offered me the chance to join the Theurgy.”

While he leaned back, Taa’gur asked his superior something that interested him since Dewitt called for him. “Ma’am, I guess you haven’t just called me to start some small talk. What’s the reason that I’m really here?”

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #3 – September 23, 2020, 11:01:26 AM

[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Nodding where she sat, Dewitt supposed that whatever Anderson's reasons had been, the Devore had been considered a resourceful man and well apt to assign to the Theurgy's mission.

"Well," she said and ran a hand through her red hair, thinking for a moment, "I was thinking that given your background in R&D and your special affinity for weapons technology, along with the fact that you've been directly involved in the Fleet Development Program that the Infested have launched, what manner of Starfleet explosive devices or technology do you think they would have sent to Breen to make them engage in another intergalactic war?"

The question was simple enough. Likelihood and options. Theories in terms of what they might try and scan for down on Breen, when the time was due.

While she listened, Dewitt studied the man while sipping now and again from her glass - her green eyes judging if he actually knew what he was talking about or if he was just conjuring ideas without any basis. She hoped he wasn't the boasting kind, but actually had some real knowledge about what might await them. More importantly, that he knew how to defuse any of the explosives he listed off as likely options.

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #4 – October 02, 2020, 02:31:32 PM

[PO2 T’Kolla | Ready Room | Deck 2 | USS Allegiant] ^{@Auctor Lucan}
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The only thing Taa’gur hoped for in the situation was that whatever the Human wanted to discuss now, was something actually related to their mission and not just some ordinary small talk. He had by far better things to take care of than having such kind of conversations, but then Dewitt explained why she has called him apparently. The question which kind of bomb the Infested would use to start this new war with the Breen and at least in Taa’gurs opinion this wasn’t quite that easy to answer. While, yes, the most obvious one would be a standard photonic torpedo, but if Taa’gur would have to bet his money would go straight to another one.

“There’re a couple of possible warheads that could be used to track the assault back to the Federation, but in my opinion it’s most likely that the infested would use an old spatialtorpedo warhead.” He crossed his arms beneath his chest while trying to explain his opinion about the situation. “Whatever the Federation wanted to deploy down there, they needed to smuggle it in the relatively small personal storages of the ambassadors this in itself requires a relatively small device that would still have an immense explosion radius. A standard spatial warhead was not larger than three of those cups you’re holding there stacked together and nonetheless it would has an approximate explosive power of more than three-hundred kiloton.”

There were a lot of different possibilities for the Infested though and even if Taa'gur would have a whole week to think about this, he couldn't really say which kind of bomb they will find down there. The least he could do nonetheless was figuring out which ones were the most likeliest of all. If they were unlucky they wouldn't have much time down there so any second will matter.

“The biggest reason for them anyway is that it would have been easier to hide nuclear radiation than cloaking the antimatter of a photon torpedo, not mentioning the fact that larger amounts of antimatter could get easier located. So basically spatial torpedo could be just old enough to work for this but not too old to have no effect.” The Devore waited for some moments till he added: “But since I’m still lacking sufficient information about the situation down there is basically any kind of bomb possible. It just depends on how much time the Infested had.”

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #5 – October 10, 2020, 03:53:22 PM

[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Of course there was likely too early to say for the Devore what it might be, and too hard to speculate since the options were too many. His reasoning was sound, however, and Dewitt was pleased to hear how he wasn't boastful in his sentiment regarding the extent of his expertise. Even the Federation's foremost experts in the field would have too little to go on, since for all they knew it might not even be a bomb at all, but something entirely else that might happen.

If Dewitt had one regret, it was that the mission had been launched with barely any data to go on, which didn't serve them in the slightest when it did seem like something could happen once the Breen Council convened in the Hall of Heroes.

"I suppose that kind of size would be most convenient to bring inside the Federation Embassy," she said and looked at her glass before she finished it, putting it aside on the small table. "Let's just hope the tricorders pick something up once the away team is inside the building, so that we have a bit more to go on. I really hate how we have to fumble in the dark when there is so little time left. Your humble disposition in regard to the many possibilities is well noted too. This would not be the time to boast and brag, posing oneself as a know-it-all."

His thought about how much time the Infested might have had for the planning of the potential bombing of the Breen Council gave Dewitt some pause, and she ran a hand through her red hair in thought.

"Well, I don't see why the Borg Invasion and the antagonising of the Breen would be mutually exclusive," she mused, and then proceeded to explain. "Regardless of the success in getting the Borg Queen to assimilate an Infested, and having the Collective invate the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, it could still have been advantageous to set the Breen on the path of war. It could be the Infested have planned to bomb this city for quite some time, and it just so happened that with us stopping the Borg Invasion before you joined the crew at Aldea, they always had this as a secondary contingency to seed an intergalactic war between the factions of four Quadrants."

A worrying thought, to say the least.

"I also wondered if you could give me an update on these Accipiter rifles that Deputy zh'Wann suggested that we might bring. I already know they were plundered from the Reavers of the USS Calamity, well before I came aboard the Theurgy, but I am somewhat unfamiliar with the technology. I would appreciate knowing what manner of firepower we have at our disposal, should we find ourselves in a bit of a predicament."

Just like she'd asked Frank Arnold to know what the Tovarek drone could do, she was keen to know what these mysterious weapons from the future might have in store as well.

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #6 – October 20, 2020, 01:41:40 PM

[PO2 T’Kolla | Ready Room | Deck 2 | USS Allegiant] ^{@Auctor Lucan}
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With his water in the left hand the Devore listened attentive to the words of his superior and appreciated her patients with him. For him at least it was patients that Dewitt showed with her reaction. Given the circumstances Taa’gur could maybe have found a more reasonable answer toward her question then what he presented her. While there was nothing directly wrong with the option he presented, there was also no actual evidences to back his theory. The CO, anyhow, has changed the topic of their dialogue to another, less unknown, one.

The question that the human asked, anyhow, confused the Petty Officer. He thought till now that the Accipiters were already aboard the Theurgy since it left the dry dock, but again it would fit perfectly for a Federation ship to not have a weapon of this calibre. Starfleet and Federation were, except for the Infested obviously, quite restrictive if it came down to firepower and weaponry of their ships. A shame, since they could easily take over some of their enemies in the quadrant if they wouldn’t care about those weird ethics.

“Well, Ma’am, those guns are basically railguns with some different features. To make those explanations short, you can choice how many devastating bullets you want to punch through your enemies in one minute and if I’m not mistaken than those little devils also have an integrated targeting system.” After he took the last sip of his water he placed the glass on the table in front of him and listened to Dewitts response.

Before he could restrain himself though the Devore continued to ask a question he’s asked himself now for a pretty long time. “Ma’am, if we’ll encounter Federation personal down there in the embassy, are we allowed to use lethal force then? I know that Federation Officers normally hesitate to allow such methods, but our situation is definitely anything but normal.”

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #7 – October 26, 2020, 12:10:17 PM

[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Jennifer had been thinking about possible uses for the targeting system of these Accipiters, which she already knew had some kind of tachyon feature, when the Petty Officer raised a question about the mission ahead.

"Captain Ives has made it clear that we are not to deviate from what Starfleet used to be, so protocol still stands," she said, but not in a dismissive way. "Regulations are clear when it comes to lethal force, and it is to be avoided unless the use of such is forced upon us. So, in this situation, I will not authorise the use of anything but stun-settings unless Lieutenant Arn - as the leader of the ground team - gives such an authorisation on-site. Unless one of the Infested are encountered down there, I cannot foresee the need to kill our brothers and sisters in the fleet. They are but ignorant, unknowing of what Starfleet Command has become. For all they know, they are doing naught wrong, and that shoudn't have to cost them their lives."

With that matter being settled, Jennifer stood up, confident she had learned what she needed from the Devore.

"Thank you for stopping by, Petty Officer," she said and extended her hand to shake it. "Did you have any other questions?"

She gave him a warm smile, not judging him in the slightest for asking about the mission parameters given the highly unusual situation that faced the, with so much riding on them stopping the Breen from entering an intergalactic war and turning their fleets against the Federation.

Re: CH04: S [D02|1600] An Explosive Dialogue

Reply #8 – November 06, 2020, 11:54:15 PM

[PO2 T’Kolla | Ready Room | Deck 2 | USS Allegiant] ^{@Auctor Lucan}
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For the Devore the answer of the Human was anything but surprising. He already knew that their species had developed a pretty exhausting high level of moral and they also followed those ideals in almost all situations. Just as if they would have some kind of under skin slave collar that demands them to follow that moral compass. At least this was the way the Devore had experienced the Humans yet. An amazing species for sure.

Still he had his objections about the order the woman gave him, since those ignorant brothers and sisters in arms of them would probably have few to zero restrictions to use lethal force if they’ll face them. In fact Taa’gur actually expected them to be even more aggressive against the crew of the Theurgy than they would be against any other enemy. Deserters were normal the most hated since they didn’t only fought you, they also betrayed you before with their deserting. Nonetheless, the Petty Officer accepted the orders of the Commander. “Thank you Ma’am. I’m even somewhat happy that you have decided to use the harder way here. In case it matters, I don’t believe I couldn’t have decided in the same way as you have.”

Then the woman stood up and reached her hand out to the Devore for the very human gesture of shaking it to end a conversation. Actually if Taa’gur thought about it, there weren’t many other species who shook their hands. Now, anyway, wasn’t the time to philosophize about common gestures and if Taa’gur thought about it there wasn’t actually any time when this wouldn’t be a complete waste of time. So instead of thinking about it he extended his own hand. “No, Ma’am, there isn’t anything left and I guess I should really use the remaining time to prepare myself for the mission.” He saluted a last time and turned around to make his way to the door. On half way there though he stopped again. “I guess it wouldn’t harm your non-lethal rule though, if I will break some bones.” He then stopped briefly. “I mean just hypothetically.”

- FIN