A wolf in sheep's clothing Pt 10

Posted on Tue May 21st, 2024 @ 9:59pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Captain Kevin, Lord Kilbane of Sanquhar & Lieutenant Commander Wyatt Steele
Edited on on Tue May 21st, 2024 @ 10:05pm

Mission: The missions never over.
Location: USS Thall, bridge
Timeline: Current.

Kilbane walked onto the bridge, it had been a while since he'd seen the Captain and if he was honest, he was glad, the guy was in pieces and no use to anyone. The situation was now left to him to sort out, being the Senior Officer present, oh lucky him...

Seeing Wyatt at his console, he walked over to him. "The situation is this Lieutenant, the Captain's indisposed and we need to get back to Base One. Between where we are here and open space are unspecified class Klingon ships, we don't know how many, but at a guess I'd say three minimum. It looks like McCrudden has managed to get this bucket of bolts up and running again, which is no mean feat, and he thinks the cloaking device is operational again. We have to try and make a run for it, the only thing is, we've never tested the cloaking device going from planet side into open space before. You're the best pilot we have, so you're taking us out, I'll monitor the cloaking device as we deploy it in the upper atmosphere. Any questions?"

Questions? Wyatt had plenty but none that couldn't wait. He wanted nothing more than to get off this planet and put this whole sordid affair behind him. "Just one question sir. when do you plan on this taking place?"

"On us taking off for Base One?" Kilbane asked.

Wyatt looked at Kilbane, what did the man think he was talking about? Ordering pizzas? "Yes sir. Leaving here and getting home."

“Right now Lieutenant, so get us underway” Kilbane replied, “once we’re in the upper atmosphere, let me know and we can try deploying the cloak.”

"Yes sir," Wyatt replied as he moved to the Conn station and sat down. :Activating lifting thrusters. Power is steady across the board as the Thall groaned but lifted off the ground. Wyatt continued to apply a steady amount of thrust to the ship as it made for the upper atmosphere. "100 feet, 200, 500 hundred." As the Thall moved ever upward. The seconds ticked by. "Power is still steady at 15,000 feet, 25,000 feet..." Up they went without any problems "50,000 feet,....75,000 feet.' He addressed his next to Kilbane, "approaching upper atmosphere be ready to activate the cloaking device."

"If this thing works properly, set a course for Base One as soon as we're free of the planets pull" Kilbane said, "Also, see if you can track what types of Klingon vessels are in the area, it may give us an idea of why this planet is so important to them."

"Yes sir." Wyatt replied as he waited for the word that the cloak was engaged. When the cloak was engaged, he would set up a search grid using They use advanced astrometric analysis to see the gravitational trails that cloaked ships leave when passing certain kinds of stars. It that didn't provide any information he would use tiny variances in the warp engines to detect them. While he waited to set coarse Base One.

"Right, we're at the right height" Kilbane said, deploying the cloak.

"Cloak engaged, set course for Base One...now!" he told Wyatt.

Wyatt didn't even respond to Kilbane's order at least not verbally. He simply engaged the warp engines. "Course set for Base One we are traveling at warp 5. Don't want to push the engines and systems too hard. Activating search for Klingon ships."

"Sir" Kilbane replied to Wyatt, "I may not be the Captain, Lieutenant, but we still maintain bridge protocol. Once you have the information, send it to SFIHQ, they'll want a heads up, chances are they'll want to send other ships to continue to monitor the area."

"Yes sir." Wyatt replied simp

The Thall broke out of orbit and out into open space. Kilbane, probably like everyone else, was glad to be off of the planet and hopefully heading back home again. This had to have been one of the most difficult missions he'd been on, not because of it's complexity, but for it's emotional drain on the crew. Karadis was dead, the Captain was deeply incapacitated, Wyatt and Eve had witnessed what it meant to be a part of Purple Squad and he had no doubt it affected them one way or another. And himself...to blame for Karadis' death, something he'd never forgive himself for, and now having to temporarily take over Command and see to it they got back safely. He quickly realised he couldn't afford to wallow in self pity, and pulling himself back said, "Anything on scanner yet Lieutenant?"

"Nothing yet sir. Still scanning the area." Wyatt replied as he looked at the sensor data coming in to his console. "Ah. getting some data now sir. Have one, two Klingon ships cloaked." He was silent as he studied the data. "A bird of prey :Kvort class and a Par'tok cargo vessel and hold on a Negh'var heavy cruiser sir."

"That's a varied selection of ships, not like the Klingon's at all" Kilbane replied. He sat for a moment thinking, why the different classes of fighting ships, then it struck him.."They're rebuilding their fleet, that's why!" he said out loud. It made sense now, why they were at Sestus One, the dilithium was for the new ships warp cores. That also meant they must be getting raw materials from elsewhere to build the vessels.

"Lieutenant Steele, where's the nearest planet for iron ore and aluminium to where we are currently?" he asked Wyatt.

"Not one for both sir but they are close to each other. Pinia for the iron ore and Onus for the aluminum sir." Wyatt replied crisply.

"Both near the border of, but not in, Klingon space" Kilbane answered thoughtfully, "are they making what would have been called a 'land grab' way back when? Lieutenant, theorize, if you were the Klingon's and you'd just come out of a war where your fleet had been severely depleted, in order to rebuild it, would you make a move for all three planets outside your borders where raw materials were abundant all at once, or would you try to take them one at a time?"

Wyatt turned in his seat to face Kilbane. "I would take one at a time, to give myself a foothold. Then proceed after the other two. To take all three at once is fool hardy sir. It would spread the Klingon forces too thin and with their fleet already depleted it is an unnecessary risk sir."

"That's what I'd do as well Lieutenant" Kilbane answered, "but Sestus One is the furthest away planet from the Klingon Empires border, so why haven't we heard anything from the other two planets about being attacked, why come here first?"

"Because it is the farthest sir. You secure Sestus One, you have your furthest outpost secure, and it secures your supply line back to the other two as well as the Klingon home world. The other two haven't been taken yet. The Klingons want Sestus One firmly in their hands." Wyatt answered. It also frees up what ships they have for the other two plants sir." He added.

"Very true Lieutenant..." Kilbane replied, "...very true. We need to get back to Base One as quick as we can, alert the Admiralty of this information. Even though it would take them some time to build it, a fully functioning Klingon fleet doesn't bare thinking about."

He walked over to the Operations console and punched up the scans of the sector, but they seemed to be in the clear having passed where the cloaked Klingon vessels were. On the one hand, they could try to punch it and risk what repairs McCrudden had effected and was still effecting, or they could steadily make their way back over a longer period but at least make it home safely. He decided the latter was best."

"Steady as she goes Lieutenant, best we get back to Base One in one piece rather than lots" he said to Wyatt.

"Yes sir." Wyatt affirmed. "Arriving in one piece is always better than arriving in multiple pieces."