From alton.reich@snet.net Sun Jun 7 11:15:25 1998 Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 21:54:32 -0500 From: Alton and Elizabeth Reich To: distribution:@snet.net; (see end of body) Subject: USS YAMATO: What Lies Just Around the Bend in the Road? Newsgroups: alt.starfleet.rpg SD: 100312.2130 [MD: 1.1200 about, Dreamscape] LT Bal stood in the ankle deep snow and shivered slightly. The light from the full moon gleamed off his oiled, bare chest. He heard the howling of a wolf nearby, and turned toward the sound. The wolf sat at the top of a rise to Bal's left. The creature's fur looked shades of silver in the light. She sat and waited as Bal trudged up the hill in the snow. As he approached, a switch clicked in his mind, "Indra?" he said softly. Bal extended his hand to touch the wolf, but before he could, she began to run through the snow away from him. Bal began to run after her, and was amazed at his ability to keep up with her. The wolf led him down the other side of the broad hill and into the woods. Even as branches slapped against his bare chest, Bal did not slow down. He ran through the woods with an instinctive knowledge that he had to keep the wolf in sight. He ran in long smooth strides relishing the pounding of his heart and the clouds caused by his breath. The trees flashed by on both sides and at one point he splashed through a partially frozen stream. Still the wolf remained ahead of him, just on the edge of his vision. Finally the wolf stopped and Bal slowed his approach. He moved toward her carefully. She was sitting at the edge of a clearing bathed in a harsh, flickering light. Bal stepped into the clearing and felt the heat coming from the fire at the clearing's center. It had melted the snow around it for almost two meters leaving a ring of cold mud around it. Bal turned away from the wolf and moved toward the roaring fire, drawn as if a moth. He could feel the heat on his face and chest, and he began to sweat in the cold air. He stopped in front of the wall of flame and thought he could see something beyond the flames. He squinted in an effort to get a better look. The flames seemed to become translucent before him. Inside the fire there was a woman that he had never seen before. She was tall with perfect white skin. Her long, straight, black hair fell to the small of her back, and her red lips stood out against her skin. Her eyes were closed and she seemed untouched by the flames. Bal reached through the flame and grasped her shoulders. He pulled her toward him. As she emerged from the flames, Bal began to burn. *** He screamed and the sound echoed through the bedroom. Bal jerked awake and tried to untangle himself from the sheets. He was drenched with sweat and his heard was pounding in his chest. He swore under his breath, this was not good. *** [Sickbay - a short while later] Bal entered sickbay, and Dr. Mara looked up at the sound of his entry. "Good afternoon, LT," she said, "Can I help you?" "No, actually," he replied, "I'm looking for ENS Mahs." "He's back there checking medkits before we distribute them throughout the ship," Lisa said gesturing toward the sotrage room adjacent to sickbay. "Thanks," Bal replied heading in that direction. Bal found Sayphrus and two technicians checking the contents of the medkits. "Counselor," Bal said from the doorway, "do you have a few minutes to talk?" "Sure, LT. Do you want to go to my office?" "Yeah, I think so." A few minutes later they were settled in Say's office. "What's on your mind, LT?" "I had a dream, and I think it means we're in trouble." "Why?" Say asked. "Because," Bal replied, "the last time I had a dream this vivid was just before the PEARSON was almost destroyed at Arcturus." "Oh," Say replied, "Can you tell me a little about it?" *** [MD 1:1900+ - Ready Room] > Alex leaned forward. "Foregone conclusion at this point, boss. > It's only a matter of time as to when and then how they'll play it." > > Stern showed no adverse reaction of any sort. That had been his > answer too. So many unknowns right now. So many questions. > > Issac took another sip of his drink, picked up the padd, and handed > it to his Executive Officer. "Let's start with this one." "Sensor logs from the PROMETHEUS?" Alex asked. "From our encounter with the APOCOLYPSE, a Q-Ship. The Dalriada build warships and hide them in the space frame of a merchantman. They sacrifice speed and maneuverability, but that ship almost took the PROMETHEUS apart. This data, with the data that was recovered frm the LEX should give us a good picture of what we have to deal with," Isaac explained, "We have to know what they've got before we can figure out how to defend against it." "That isn't going to be easy, Sir." "Well, for now our rule of engagement is going to be to run from anything that out masses the YAMATO. Even a vessel that matches our size is going to put up a hell of a fight." "I'll pass that along." "Thanks, XO. We're almost on station. Let's go brief the troops, I think we're in for a long couple of days." *** [MD:1.2000 - Observation Lounge] Isaac entered the lounge with a small atack of PADDs in his hand. As he stepped through the door the hushed converations between members of the senior staff came abruptly to a halt. Even the normally relaxed LT D'artgnan showed characteristic signs of worry. If the tension level remained this high for long ENS Mahs would have a ship of basket cases to deal with. Isaac set the stack of PADDs on the table and took his seat at the head. "I want to thank you again for assembling on such short notice. We've done this twice today, and I'd expect it to continue for the near future. LT M'gan, what's our ETA on station?" "We should be in position to begin our patrols at about 2100 hours. We will be taking a position about halfway between where the LEXINGTON was destroyed and the border," M'gan reported. "When we arrive, I want to drop out of warp and get a good baseline scan," Isaac said, "We've got a lot of territory to cover, so we'll cruise parallel to the border at warp 2." "Aye, Sir," M'gan said, nodding. "This," Isaac said gesturing to the stack of PADDs, "is your key to all the data we've got on the Dalriada. I'll summarize for you. The Dalriada tend to pack a lot of weaponry into a very small package. In some way their arsenal is far more potent than our's. A Dalriadan ship that matches our mass will prove to have far more fire power. We're going to have to be smarter than they are in order to win a fire fight with them. LT D'artgnan has had some experience with the Dalriada." "Far more than I care to think about, Sir," Bregan interjected. "Well, I'll be relying on you to share, LT. I want you to work with LT M'gan to develop attack and evasion patterns that take advantage of the YAMATO's strengths. I also want you to work with LT Trisx and Stephens to try to find weaknesses in their defenses." "Aye, Sir." Isaac began passing PADDs around the table, "I have a few ideas of my own, and until you make recommendations, here's what we're going to try. Unless we're defending some vital interest of the Federation's, we're going to avoid direct confrontation with any Dalriadan ship that out masses us." "Discretion is the better part of valor?" Alex commented. "Exactly. If we have to engage them I want to try to do it at warp. A significant part of their arsenal seems to be directed energy weapons that won't function at warp. We'll be limited to flux torpedoes, but they'll be limited to Pulverizer missiles. If we get caught at sub-light speeds we'll have to deal with their seeker drones. LT Wolfe, I want you and LT Trisx to come up with some way to defeat them. We could probably develop a point defense system of some sort." "We might be able to set up a direct link between the sensors and the targeting system for the type Xa phaser cannons to pick them off at close range," Morgan offered. "That's a good start, but the Xa firing arcs are fairly limited. Once the drones are in close to the ship, the cannon wouldn't be able to hit them," LT D'artgnan pointed out. Isaac leaned forward, and put his elbows on the table, "I'm willing to entertain any crazy suggestion that might save us later." NRPG: Offer suggestions, folks. I'll pass the good ones on to CINCINDIGO, and see if he thinks any will work. I think the key is to engage at warp. The Dalriadan beam weapons seem more potent, and engaging at warp will take them and the drones with the lasers out of the picture. The Pulverizer is basicly a flux torpedo on steroids. Vickie: After the meeting breaks up, get us on station and start patroling. The initial scans should find nothing out of the ordinary (we might be close enough to detect the wreckage of the LEX, I'll leave that to you). Les: Feel free to complain about the operational limits of the equipment, and then make it work anyway. Alexs: Bal's bream was originaly written over a year ago to foreshadow the destruction of the USS PEARSON. The post never made it out and I never got a chance to blow that ship to bits. Quite a shame, actually, since the post in which the ship was destroyed would have been quite fantastic. It foreshadows my own twist in this plot, but I'm not going to tell you what that is (suspense is good). Make some attempt to interpret the dream. My next post will get us to MD2, so you can go there if you'd like. Something WILL happen on MD 2. 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 %%%