The old and the new

Before Rachele Rivers could make one more step with Oseno Jureth, a deep but soft voice stopped her.

"Captain Rivers..." Inwardly, the Alsea's commanding officer cringed, dutifully turning to face the voice's owner.

The athletic Andorian that came up to her had a very cold expression on his amazingly dark-hued blue face and the antennae sprouting out of the side and top of his long, thick mane of snowy hair were moving in a peculiar way, as much in and out as up and down, like a snail's eyestalks. But his voice was warm if firm and his eyes were kind although there was the shadow of a recent raging storm in their silvery light. Her own blue eyes lingered on his, eyebrows pinching together slightly at the traces of anger she could see.

There was a towering giantess of his own kind with him, paler of skin but still darker than the usual Andorians seen on the station and with the same pair of receded antennae as his, instead of the more frontal ones most were accustomed to. Already she was addressing her tactical officer as she was herself spoken to:

"We have not formally been introduced; I am Captain Kheren of the starship Artemis."

He did not extend his hand towards her. He certainly knew the Human gesture, but Andorians as a habit did not do that. His stance however clearly showed that he treated her as a fellow officer and an equal, regardless of her lower rank and her provisional status. Rivers regarded him briefly, hand seeming to come up for just a moment before she folded both arms behind her back in a very Vulcan-like manner. “Sir, Lieutenant Commander Rivers of the Alsea.”

"I am sorry to hear about your commanding officer's condition. Hopefully he will get well soon."

Andorians were not much into socialities. But despite its brievity, the wish sounded sincere. Then, he lost no more time before speaking about what was on his mind.

"Your ship and mine are tasked to face the anomaly and the Romulans together. As soon as it will be convenient for you, we will have to meet and discuss this."

It was less than an order but more than a request, and once she'd clued in on that, the young redhead blinked once.

“Sir, perhaps now would be a good time. Mr. Oseno and I are headed down to the infirmary to check on Captain Siduri's condition, and your tactical officer,” she glanced over at Tyvya. Or rather, over and up before continuing “...could continue exchanging notes along the way.”

She paused, then reconsidered. “Unless this is the sort of thing better left to a briefing room?” Between Borg, Romulans, and Kzinti invasions of her home turf, the attractive young woman had gotten used to impromptu meetings held whenever there was space to talk, many times with a phaser rifle hugged to her chest. There was decorum, she reminded herself as the words left her lips.

Andorians were pragmatic by nature and Kheren was no exception in this. He simply nodded to the suggestion and, with a callused hand, invited her to lead the way.

As they started to walk, he lost no time either.

"You might not remember, Captain Rivers, but we both met briefly before; when the Romulans tried to take over this very Starbase. I recall you being the assistant of Security Chief Speaker-of-Names then, while I was only a Master Chief Petty Officer in security at the time, barely assigned a few days before and fresh out of the Academy. And, merely days later, I was out of the infirmary and promoted to tactical chief of the Lotus. That did not leave us much time to... socialize... But we did share this bout with the Romulans then..."

Kheren made a pause to let her recollect the incident before asking:

"It's been some time... So I would like to know, what is now the extent of your experience in dealing with Romulans?"

"To be honest, not much beyond our shared bout back then," she admitted with a sour face. "Until very recently, I was on the other side of Federation space with Captain Speaker-of-Names on the USS Pittsburg, dealing with the Kzinti situation."

The captain of the Artemis nodded in understanding.

"Nevertheless, I'll still look for your input when I will try to reason with the Romulans, once we find them."

He noted her surprised expression and explained:

"My chief of science came up with another use for the inverted ionic pulse when we went into the Mutara nebula a few months back; besides finding and closing subspace fractures, it can be used as a kind of space sonar to pinpoint any physical object, wether it emits anything or not like the perfect cloak of the Scimitar class dreadnought we are expected to face. True it is limited to the ship's forward arc... but it is better than waiting for them to attack us or the anomaly while still unseen. They will also clearly know when we will "ping" them; that might help in putting them in a mood to talk."

As they walked down the corridors of the immense space station, Kheren made a pause to let the red-haired woman digest the idea. Then he went on:

"Now, regarding our joint operation; I propose that, once we get to our designated zone of operation, the Alsea should immediately go to multivector assault mode and both ships maintain condition red. This way, not only will we be fully ready to instantly respond to any enemy presence, but our four warp engines will dig a significantly larger subspace trench than any other fleet deployement. While in formation, the Artemis will be able to extend her own shields over your hulls, providing them with a second layer of protection, at least in the first moments of an attack. Afterwards, the Artemis will maneuver to provide full cover. And while your ships will be free to engage the enemy, we will have enough phasers and torpedoes ourselves to offer support... but most of all barrage whatever they will attempt to do against the anomaly."

Again, he paused to let Rivers ponder a bit what he was proposing. After a few steps, he finished:

"At warp 7, my ship's cruising speed, it will take us thirteen hours to get to the anomaly. Up until then, we may discuss this further if you come up with a better plan."

Oseno fell back a few paces behind the two captains as the group walked down the passages of the sprawling starbase. He did so not only out of respect, but so that he could have his own conversation with towering Andorian tactical officer of the USS Artemis. As he fell into step beside Tyvya he never realized that Andorian women could be quite so tall. Not that he'd met many in his short Starfleet career, but the ones he had met had all been about his height. Oseno had to admit to himself he was intimidated by her before he could bring himself to speak about the current tactical situation, which wasn't one that he approved of at all, but after serveral seconds of pacing Tyvya he started the conversation.

"It appears as if my Chief Engineer has convinced the fleet captain that it is somehow a good idea to have the Alsea in three pieces for most of this mission. I think they are making a mistake, and an unnecessary one at that. That said, it appears that what I think has little bearing on their decision so I suppose that you an I will have to figure out some measure of coordination between all three sections of the Alsea and the Artemis. I would start by recommending we dedicate a comm channel to our group specifically and leave it open to facilitate coordination."

"Agreed," said Tyvya, adjusting her usually long stride to match that of the smaller officers before and alongside her, out of habit long acquired since well before she left her homeworld to join Starfleet. Although Andorian females were as a rule taller than their male counterparts, as well as the average humanoid, she was even taller than most of her kind and had learned quickly to fall in step with others; as a security officer, the shocking effect of her bursting to her full speed and stride when someone tried to bolt away, or to step between a charge and danger, was an advantage she routinely exploited. And beside, it was just more polite and practical for a conversation.

Reflecting on the concerns of the Bajoran, she lowered her four oculars to him with something her rigid face approximated to a frown.

"You're the tactical officer of your ship; no one should know better than you what is best for her in a tactical situation; and it is under your authority and, even more, that of your captain,,, not your chief engineer and not even any higher ranking officer of Starfleet. And no one becomes captain of a starship if he or she is such a fool as to not at least listen to the expert advice of senior officers... especially to the ship's tactical officer in a tactical situation."

She paused a moment, evidently thinking about something, before she finally asked:

"I'm a bit confused though... Isn't the multivector assault mode the most powerful and effective configuration of the Alsea? If so, why, instead of waiting and losing critical time, deploying her immediately as we arrive on the theater of operation would be a mistake?"

Oseno nodded "It is indeed our most powerful tactical configuration. My concern lies more in the modifications that Commander Lire will be making to the Alsea's warp cores to facilitate each section being able to participate in the containment of the anomaly. They will be rushed, and if they should fail under stress or if one of the Alsea's sections were to lag behind the others and then have to turn and face a threat the ship would be crippled significantly. Perhaps I am thinking too negatively, but I think that I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't take into account anything that could hamper the Alsea's ability to fight."

Oseno knew why Tyvya was questioning his thinking and she was right, but his concerns were for the overall ability of the ship to fulfill its role as a warship. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he still had the same bad feeling he had as soon as he'd heard Commander Lire's plans to modify the Alsea.

The giantess nodded in understanding in a very Humanoid-like fashion.

"I see; well, any modification to the ship must be approved by the captain... who's approval should rely on the recommendations of all senior officers, most notably his exec... and, in a tactical situation, his tactical officer of course. So I would dare say this is the first battle lying before you, Sir."

Aftera pause, Tyvya then said:

"To bring you up to speed, Lieutenant, the Artemis is the lesser tactical unit of the fleet. But we still have twenty type X phaser arrays and three burst V torpedo launchers, two fore and one aft. With our standard complement of two-hundred and fifty photon torpedoes and as many quantum torpedoes, we can fire up to fifteen warheads at a time for over thirty salvos to support your own offensive. But our best asset will be our defensive capabilities. With our original sternback V impulse engines, our speed and maneuvering can keep pace with ships two classes below ours; our sheer mass will make us a prime target, freeing you for the offensive and we sport the same ablative armor as a Defiant class and a capital-class shield grid we can reinforce or extend with a lot of extra power from our refited Class VIII warp core."

Taking a breath, she then sumrized it all by saying:

"In short, we can take more pounding than any other ship in the fleet not blessed with the regenerative ablative armor of the Lotus... and will be the obvious and willing target of enemy fire. So, our best role will be to offer cover and fire support to your attacking units. To quote the captain: you will be the sword; we will be the shield."

Oseno smiled at the giant Andorian woman "That's still an impressive cadre of weaponry for a shield. I took the liberty of adding a dozen transphasic torpedoes to the Alsea's stock when we returned from our confrontation with the Klingons. My thought would be to fire them in the opening salvo of an engagement to surprise and confuse the enemy. We could use them to target shields, or engines and possibly cripple a large target at the outset of a fight. Captain Siduri and myself have also drawn up some computer guided attack formations for the Alsea as well that will allow us to focus our firepower. I am still concerned about the possibility of facing down a Scimitar though. It has to be the single most formidable vessel in the galaxy short of perhaps the Borg cube."

Tyvya's icy blue eyes reflected the concern etching the Bajoran's voice.

"Scimitar class Romulan dreadnought... almost nine hundred meters long and one point four kilometer's wide; almost five dozens disruptors, over two dozen photon tubes, possibly also a thalaron radiation emitter... primary and secondary shields... and an advanced cloaking device virtually undetectable, with a massive power core able to produce enough energy to keep it cloaked with shields and main weapons operational... "

She shook her head with a dark expression on her rigid face.

"Our only advantage against it will be maneuverability... and possibly also the numerical advantage, but this is assuming there will be no escort for it."

The towering blue-skinned female made a pause and then looked suddenly at Oseno with a bright glare in her facial eyes.

"Lieutenant, with its capability to fire under cloak, a Scimitar battleship can only be detected at the precise moment it fires... but I read that your chief science officer adapted your sensors to provide a reflex program to navigation when a subspace fracture about to flare up with the anomaly's plasma was detected. How about... using that program on our tactical sensors and systems to detect weapons lock and target them ourselves as they are about to fire?"

Oseno listened as Tyvya rattled off the stats of the Scimitar Class and it did nothing to improve his mood. He knew the vessel was dangerous, but perhaps not quite realized just how dangerous until Tyvya laid it out in front of him. When she mentioned Pel's program Oseno's expression changed slightly as considered the possibility of adapting it for tactical use. Jureth realized that he had made a dangerous assumption that the Romulans would confront them before any battle and he now realized that they were just as likely to shoot first, and not ask any questions at all.

"That is an excellent idea Lieutenant," Jureth finally acknowledged "If we could do that we negate the Scimitar's advantage of being able to fire while cloaked, or at least give ourselves a few precious second with which to perform evasive maneuvering. I can work with Pel and see about making the necessary changes to the program, and once we've made them on the Alsea I could send the exact specifications to you. I don't think it will take much to make the changes, but I will admit that writing computer programs isn't always my strength either. My other major concern about engaging the Romulans is the possibility of the Thalaron emitter you mentioned. If they have one, and we are unable to take it out immediately...."

Oseno trailed off as his mind contemplated the dark possiblity of the Romulans using a Thalaron weapon against Lotus Fleet. The renegade Shinzon had eliminated the entire Romulan Senate with only a small Thalaron generator. A weaponized version could destroy all of Lotus Fleet, and Starbase Ten leaving the Federation vulnerable to being conquered by Sela and her group of thugs.

"Here is where we becomes the shield to your sword," then retorted the giantess with almost the hint of a smile."As I said, the Artemis has been refitted... with a Sovereign class type IX warp core; since our ship is confined to warp 9.6, structurally unable to whisthand the 9.9 warp speed it can provide, this leaves us with a lot of extra power for tactical use... like boosting and extending shields. Now, all Lotus Fleet ships will have to implement the Metaphasic Shielding Laforge Program One to their standard shield grid because of the Azimuth Horizon anomaly we have to deal with. This modification allows a ship under its active shield to whisthand even the radiation and energy output of a star's corona; and thalaron radiation, for all its lethality to organic matter, is still but electromagnetic in nature. So, as long as such shielding is active, we will be safe."

She paused before adding the tactical considerations this implied.

"Because of this and the fact that deployement of the thalaron emitter is slow and power requirements demands that the ship uncloaks, most probably also to be stationary, we only have to fear it if our ships are disabled; shieldless and unable to move. With your ship able to become three and our excess power allowing us to strengthen and extend the Artemis' own shield to cover any of your attacking hulls, the chances of this happening are slim... unless their conventional but massive arsenal does the trick... or destroys us in the first place anyway. That is much more the threat we will have to face than such exotic doomsday device."

Pausing again, Tyvya glanced at their commanding officers walking a few paces before them as she finished:

"That being said, we should nevertheless prepare fast evacuation protocols with shuttles towing escape pods away from any thalaron blast zone. That is why Captain Kheren wants only a skeleton crew on board the Artemis... as she will be, on top of this threat, expected to offer herself as the prime target of all that massive Romulan firepower."

She did not continue her thinking outloud, out of professional respect; but she did think back how completely oblivious to this had been her own first officer, Michael O'Conner. The man had objected to the point of blatant insubordination to the life-preserving wisdom of the captain, out of some misplaced, foolish ego-thumping Human emotionalism.

Tyvya was Andorian; she could accept emotion; but she could not accept foolishness.

She had also noticed his confusion and surprise when their captain had suggested manned shuttles to implement the warp core fence around the anomaly, as if their commanding officer had now ordered people to their death. There was a universe of difference between being aboard a small, nimble, shielded craft, far behind battle lines and being aboard a four million tons starship offering itself as bait and target right up in the face of the enemy. O'Conner was a fine engineer and an admirable officer; but he was obviously no tactician.

Musing this, the giantess understood now the quandrary Oseno Jureth had been facing with his own chief engineer. But just as she had said to him, she said silently to herself that tactical considerations had to be approved by the captain... after listening to the tactical officer. And Kheren, for his part, had proven that he indeed listened to his officers when he had relented a bit to O'Conner's typically Human irrational outburst.

She would see that he listened to her as well.

And thinking about it all recalled something else she had almost forgotten.

"Oh, and by the way, Sir; a Scimitar also carries at least one complete wing of Scorpion class attack fighter shuttles.Since they are armed only with disruptors and the Artemis alone has more than enough phasers to obliterate them in the first minutes of an engagement, they do not pose much of threat... unless they are used to divert our firepower long enough to allow the mothership to accomplish her main objective; destroy the anomaly. And if our shields go down, they could then do a lot of damage; Romulans would not hesitate to use suicide runs."

Tyvya then brought out from her belt a PADD she gave to Oseno.

"Here you have all the Artemis security protocols we strongly suggest you implement on you ship; on all Lotus Fleet ships and the starbase, as it were. Romulans never did boarding actions for all the centuries we have fought them because, just like taking prisoners, it's simply not in their military doctrine. But Remans have been known to do so... and we may not face Klingons who relish doing both, but an inside strike attempt is most expected from the Horizon Children. They simply don't have the firepower in space to accomplish their goal... but they may have one sympathiser even among our crews and one man is enough to pose a significant threat if left free to act in our midst."

After giving the PADD to the Bajoran, she stopped as their commanding officers arrived in front of the infirmary.

"If nothing else, Lieutenant, I will return to the Artemis and finalize tactical preparations there. I will ask our science chief and our chief of ops to establish a link between our tactical sensors and yours. This way, whenever a sensor or a phaser from any of our ships finds a target or a shield modulation, all our units will instantly pinpoint it as well."

Oseno accepted the PADD from Tyvya and quickly synched it with his own transferring the security protocol data before handing it back to the towering Andorian.

"Thank you Lieutenant. I have rather stringent security protocols in place on the Alsea already, but I will use yours to fill in any gaps that I may have. As we speak my security teams are conducting security sweeps of the Alsea, and searching all crew records for any possible connection to the Children. It's a pleasure conversing with you Lieutenant Tyvya, and we'll see you out there."

As his conversation with Tyvya concluded he continued to follow the two commanding officers as they continued toward Starbase Ten's sickbay.

Standing still behind them as they moved away, the tactical chief of the Artemis activated her personal communicator with her surprisingly slim fingers.

"Artemis; one to beam up."

A moment later, the giantess found herself in the main transporter room of Captain Kheren's ship.

"All boarding security protocols are checking positive, Lieutenant," said the Vulcan security guard standing near the door inside the transporter room, after receiving a nod from the transporter chief. "Your subatomic signature and your cerebral emissions confirm that you are who you appear to be and as much in full control of your faculties as when you last left."

"You sure, S'Kon?" she said then.

In her hand, she pointed a phaser at him.

"Your power pack has been drained in transit, Lieutenant," calmly replied S'Kon, his hands still crossed at his back... where his own phaser was. "The blade you had hidden on your person was beamed separately to the armory."

She stood up, antennae curving inward in obvious satisfaction.

"Good. How about the rest of the security protocols?"

"Engineering, Ops and Science have completed level 1 diagnostics of all ship systems; all confirming no system alteration or foreign element present. Medical reports all crewmembers have been through physical and psychological level 1 examinations; one cult sympathiser and three potential ones have been transfered off the ship to starbase security for further questioning. All security and tactical systems, programs, supplies and personnel checked and prepared for the mission. All safety protocols are in effect."

Tyvya nodded, visibly satisfied.

"This time, no one will catch us flat-footed because of our own carelessness," she commented, as much a compliment as a vow. "I want a general meeting of the entire security personnel in conference room 4 in one hour. The Captain will be back shortly."

The Vulcan nodded in aknowledgement.

"We'll be ready for his test as well, Lieutenant. We'll get him this time."

Moving past him through the wooshing sliding door after he unlocked it for her, she strode beyond the second security guard stationned outside the entrance towards the nearest turbolift. The Andorian giantess raised her antennae with satisfaction. She knew they were as ready as they could possibly be; yet, there was still a lot to be done before departure for the critical operation laid out before them.