From alton.reich@snet.net Sun Jun 7 11:30:52 1998 Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 07:27:40 -0400 From: Alton and Elizabeth Reich To: distribution:@snet.net; (see end of body) Subject: USS YAMATO: Closing the Loop Newsgroups: alt.starfleet.rpg [BACKPOST - MD:3.1800 - 9-Forward] The assembled senior staff stood around chatting among themselves. Captain Stern had requested that they all meet without giving them any reason, and now he was not present. "CMDR, do you have any idea what this is about?" LT D'artgnan asked Alex Conner in a hushed voice. "No, LT, I'm as in the dark as you are and I really don't like it.," Alex replied. The doors tothe lounge swished open and all heads in the room swivled to see CAPT Stern walk into the room followed by ENS Hibiki and LT Bal. Hibiki was carrying a blue cushion with a three cornered, dark blue paper hat launing in the center and Bal was carrying a silver tray arranged with glasses of pink, bubbly liquid. Isaac and Ryoga headed straight for LT Wolfe, while Bal began to circulate around the room handing out glasses. Isaac cleared his throat, and a hush settled over the room. "LT Morgan Wolfe, we are gathered here to acknowledge your achievement in passing the Bridge Officer's Qualification Exam. You have demonstrated the skills and qualitied necessary to lead this ship and her crew in the various endevours that we will undertake. As is long standing tradition, I present to you this hat as a tangible symbol of your achievement," Isaac turned and removed the paper hat from the pillow and placed it on Morgan's head, "to be worn for a period of no less than one full bridge watch." Isaac smiled and extended his hand to Morgan, "Congradulations LT. It's always good to see an engineer pass the test." Morgan grasped his hand firmly, "Thank you, Sir. A full bridge watch?" "Even in the head," Isaac smiled, "or you'll end up in the brig." Ens Hibiki held his champange glass high, "To LT Wolfe." A few minutes later Isaac was talking to CMDR Connor and LT D'artgnan. "You could have given me some warning, CAPT," Alex said. "You're right, I should have, but the opportunity to do this arose and I decided to jump on it. Under different circumstances we would have planned this together," Isaac replied. "CAPT, where did this tradition come from?" Brenan asked, "CAPT Slick never did anything like this for me on the PROMETHEUS, especially the paper hat. Did it come from the BISMARCK?" Isaac looked around furtively, "No, actually, I made it up this morning. It turns out that ENS Hibiki is an Oragami expert and so I enlisted his aid. I just need to remember to do this to the next person that passes the test, or it will look suspicious." "But, why?" Brenan asked. "Ok, LT, I'm going to try to teach you a lesson that was totally lost on Sovak. Morale is important. This excercise, even the paper hat, is a symbol of achievement. A visible sign that achievement is rewarded. It'll improve LT Wolfe's morale and consequently performance, as well as everyone else's. If there was ever a time when I would need this crew to perform, this is it." *** [Forward post - MD:5.1130 - Bridge] > "Engineering, what do you think?" Stern called down. > > "Its all ready to go Captain." "What do you think, XO?" Alex shrugged, "It isn't likely to do more than really annoy them, but it couldn't hurt to fire it." "Well, I'm really annoyed that they attacked Tabillin. Bridge to Engineering." [Wolfe, here, Sir.] "Get that modified torpedo to the aft torpedo tubes and get it loaded." [It'll be there in a few minutes. Wolfe out.] "LT Trisx, fire that torpedo when ready. Set it on a course for one of the other clear tunnles in the nebula," Isaac ordered. He didn't wait for her reply before asking, "LT M'gan, what's our time to the egress?" "At our present speed, we'll enter the tunnel throught the nebula in 15 minutes." "Go to warp as soon as possible, LT. LT D'artgnan, are they pursuing?" "Aye, Sir, but between our head start, and greater initial velocity, they won't be able to catch us before we go to warp." "Do we have any idea what those ships are capable of at warp speeds?" CMDR Connor asked. "No, we don't," Isaac answered, "but I'm really hoping we've got a higher top speed." There was tension on the bridge until LT M'gan announced, "We can go to warp any time, Sir." "Engage at warp 2, LT," isaac ordered and the YAMATO shot into the nebula. *** [MD:5.1400 - Bridge] The hazy veil that had hung across the main view screen parted and the the YAMATO now had clear space around her. Isaac thought he could hear a sigh of relief from the crew as they left the Tabillin system, and the Dalriada behind. "LT D'artgnan, raise OMEGA on the hyperwave comm system and patch him through to my ready room. XO, you have the bridge." "I have the bridge," Alex acknowledged. A few minutes later Isaac was sitting in his ready room reporting in to ADM Brooks. "We detected three Dalriaran ships in the system, Sir. They massed almost as much as the YAMATO, so I chose not to engage." "A wise decision CAPT. Did you manage to scan the ships?" "We had launched probes and have the data they collected, I'll arrange for that to be transmitted back to OMEGA. We didn't see any weaknesses in their defensive systems with the scans, but the experts may have more luck." "What about the Federation Outpost?" Brooks asked. "We scanned a debris field, and it looks like the ships assigned to Tabillin were all destroyed. We didn't note any significant damage on the planet's surface, so I would guess that the base was captured, rather than destroyed." "Either way, it means that the Dalriada are on the move. They've already moved against the Dante System. Did the Dalriada pursue?" "No, and that puzzles me a bit. As soon as we went to warp they broke off pursuit." "Interesting," Brooks looked away for a moment, "CAPT Stern, is the YAMATO ready for another challenge?" "Of course, Sir." "I'm ordering you to the Burrakis System. Your mission is to scout the system and report on the Dalriadan presence in the system. You will harrass their forces if possible." "With all due respect, Sir, Burrakis is likely to be heavily defended. I doubt we'll be able to get more than long range scans, much less harrass the Dalriadan forces." "You'll have one advantage, CAPT. The USS HOOD was equipped with a phase cloaking system that was recently removed. I'm sending you those components via D-Warp shuttle. You should receive them within a few hours. Your CEO was on the HOOD and should be familiar with the system." "Thank you, Sir. That changes things quite a bit." Brooks noted the look on Isaac's face, "Just be careful, Captain Stern. Even with the phase cloak this is still a dangerous mission." "I understand. We'll be careful. Stern out." ADM Brooks' image dissapeared from the monitor and Isaac sat looking at the blank screen for a moment. Already his mind was working. He stood and returned to the bridge. "XO, establish a course for Burrakis at warp 8 and assemble the senior staff. We have a new mission." TIMELINE: FMD: 3.1800 Celebration for Lt Wolfe Alton FMD: 5.1130 YAMATO warps out of Tabillin system FMD: 5.1400 CAPT Stern reports in to ADM Brooks FMD: 5.1400 CAPT Sterns orders ship to Burrakis NRPG: Folks, time for a staff meeting. Don't wait for me to start it. Les: I'm assuming that Wolfe was on the HOOD at the same time as the phase cloaking device. Please write up a briefing on it. Josh: Could you handle talking a little about beautiful Burrakis? Respectfully submitted, CAPT Isaac Stern CO - USS YAMATO (NCC-1705-E) Alton Reich -- Alton & Elizabeth Reich alton.reich@snet.net "Dreams are sometimes catching / Desire goes to my head / Love responds to your invitation / Love responds to imagination / Respond, Vibrate, Feed Back, Resonate" -- Rush, Chain Lightning %%% overflow headers %%% To: Alter Ego , Josh Young , Pat Schumacher , Les Chappelle , Janis Hill , Vicke Denniston , vicden1@yahoo.com, Kristine Berg , Karen Fainges , Alexs Thompson , Jim Littleton , Jeffrey Jenkins , Jeffery Trock , George Harmon %%% end overflow headers %%%