Quell’ish - USS Elysium’s Arrival Part 2

Posted on Thu Mar 11th, 2021 @ 7:00am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Lieutenant Sapphire Morgan [Lalor] & Vice-Consul Josephine Carlyle-Cragen & Lieutenant JG Nerinath zh'Rhilror [Lalor] & Cadet Sophomore Grade Triston Montgomery [Lalor] & Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Miran Lalor [Lalor] HRH & Captain Gary Taylor & Lieutenant Commander Aurelia Taylor & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris & Lieutenant Victor Barclay de Tolly & Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D. & Ensign Kara Hoffman & Master Sergeant Kieran Fredericks

Mission: Season 5: Episode 1: No Exit
Location: Quell’ish
Timeline: MD1 - 11h30
2582 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Previously on the USS Elysium...

Down in the lower deck amongst the intelligence and strategic operations staff Siora felt the swell of noise in her head much like the rest of them. Some had succumbed to the noise and were on the ground in agony as they ears seemed to bleed for this sensory attack. Siora gripped the console refusing to go down she attempted to find a way to scan those ships.

==

"Keep your coms frequencies on a rotating modulation. if they find our comm's channels, they'll just flood them with more feedback. Basically it's the same as kicking us in the nuts." Jessica noted. "Sonic Warfare was used during the Dominion War, and it's the lowest trick in the book. I want scans on those ships,. We find their comms arrays, or anything producing that damned noise and we take them out. We come in above and below."

George stayed in tight formation with his wing. He didn't know who they were facing, but, he already didn't like them. And Miraj was trapped on the planet below. He knew he had messed up the last time they were together. If he got another chance, he wouldn't fail again.

Jess had to make a decision, before they could attack them again. "Alpha and Beta wings, we're heading in close and fast. At that range, we'll be able to hit them no matter where they are. Prep for multi-vector assault, and hope we hit something that looks like a subspace transmitter."

===

Phoenix brushed at the blood that dripped down the side of her face, from her left ear almost absently. "rotate our shields on variance. Get as many scans of those ships as you can and send it to the Intelligence blister and transmit the probe data to science. Consul, take us to the outer solar system." She gave her orders as calmly as she could. She did not want to leave her away team. She hit the comm to the Fighters. "Commander Vaii, We are heading to the outer area of the System. Form a CAP and stay close."

Jess spoke. "Roger that, Boss. Alright people break off. It's back off. THe Boss wants us back on the farm asap." Jess performed a 180 flip and proceeded back to the Elysium.

Arriving on the bridge, Naxea walked briskly out of the turbolift and took her position next to Lia at the Tactical Console. Seeing the ship move away from the planet on screen did not sit well with her as she wanted to get S'hib and the forward Away Team back on board. However, she remained quiet as she clinched her jaw, not wanting to interrupt the Captain as the planet continued to grow smaller in size.

=== Now===

"As you request Sinkahue, coming to 284.9 ahead one half impulse". The ship dipped as she turned so as not to show any vulnerable parts to the enemy vessels, Imik knew they could show no cowardice to these opponents.

Lia nodded as Phoenix gave her orders, "Shields are being rotated, still unable to get any weapons lock". Her hands danced along her console, "They appear to be able to shield themselves from our probe, I'm getting little to no useful information. I'll transfer what I have, but I don't think the blister will be able to make anything of it". Lia glanced at Naxea, "Don't worry, we'll get them back. One way or another, but for now we back off".

Gary moved closer to Phoenix, You should go to medical, get your ears looked at." He paused for a second before continuing. "Something isn't right. They had to know we couldn't get a weapons lock on them Yet they took no aggressive moves against other than the high pitched noise, which I think was to warn us off and not an attack."

"Roger that, Boss." Jess took the squadrons back to the Ely.

"well I am not appreciative of their way of telling us to back off." Phoenix grumbled.

Victor at his post in Engineering kept his faith Tonya would be able to take care of herself even in the harshest conditions.

"Sinkahue, there is a small planetoid laying off our starboard bow. It is large enough to shield our vessel, do you wish me to place us behind it?" Imik was unsure of Federation procedure, so she defaulted to standard Ojnas procedure. This was one of the pilot's dutys to inform and advise the Sinkahue (Captain) of any advantage, in this case protect the ship from further attack.

"Aye Consul,. please" Phoenix said.


Alicia has taken note of what Gary had said to Phoenix. “Captain, I have to agree with what Commander Taylor said, something doesn’t add up here. Those ships are formidable looking but they haven’t threatened us. Perhaps we’re facing a race that’s more afraid of us than we are of them, either that or they simply don’t understand us."

Phoenix didnt answer, she merely turned her gaze to the screen. "By the end of this, they will understand us very well"

"And hopefully we will understand them. Captain I suggest restraint. This is a First Contact situation and we don't want to ruin any chances of friendship by making a rash move." Gary answered.

tag Phoenix

Arri still had the noise ringing in her ears, add to that, the high-pitched noise had... done something to her thought proces. Now it was overlapping with something she absorbed.

"Those miserable, insufferable, shreaking, worms!!!" Arrianna suddenly stated in her mirror alternate's voice.

Phoenix spun and stared "Commander!"

"Apologies... Captain. The inferno racket has triggered what's left of the Viceroy in my mind." Arri reffered to her mirror alternate. "I will have it under control after meditation, Certain sounds effect my people's minds like mental stimulation." Arrianna focused for a moment. "I think that noise might have been a means of communication that our worthless universal translator may not have had the capability of understanding. I may have to gut it like a fish and reconfigure it. It is possible they were speaking to us in their own gutteral shreaking. If it is a language of some kind, perhaps I can study the frequency and find some way to understand that insufferable shreaking gibberish."

"Then remove yourself from the bridge until you can calmly perform your duties" Phoenix stated.

Alicia made a mental note to speak in depth with Arrianna when this was all over, unless her behaviour warranted talking to her any earlier. Right now she was more distracted by the constant ringing in her ears, it was playing havoc with her senses.

Turning to face Arrianna, Imik raised her hand. "Sha-Rathshu, may I suggest you start your investigation with Tholian. When I first heard the sound I was standing in the hanger bay, the acoustics filtered it and I am sure I heard Tholian within the sound. Perhaps it is a dialect of that language?" Imik had by now fully reverted to her Ojnas mindset, ranks and way of speaking now flowed easily from her in pure Ojnas form.

Lia moved from her console and stood beside Gary, "If they're using sound as a method of attack, then they've made the first move. Our problem is we don't know if that sound is communication or an assault, our Ojnas consul here believes she heard Tholian". She pointed at Imik as she spoke, then turned towards Phoenix. "I'm no expert in first contact protocol, but to me. Their actions aren't of a friendly type, so I advise at this time we go forwards slowly. Until we establish one way or another what our noisy opponents are about, I would recommend we stay on red alert for now".

"I agree with Commander Taylor, Captain. We should prepare for war. They are preventing us from recovering and even communicating our Away Team with that shield they deployed around the planet," Naxea stated. "We should deploy defensive measures around the moon in case they decide to come after us while we decide what to do."

"Tha willnae happen, Naxea.'' Gallia promised, "Now, what are we watin' fer? They got our people,le's kick their asses."

"Gallia, ease down. This all may be a test to see how we deal with adversity. Do we talk first or shoot? They may be feeling us out." Gary told strategic ops officer.

Arri spoke. "I concur.. again. Can we even target our weapons on those ships. At the level of technology that they possess, they may have the ability to destroy us easily.

"If they kill Fernandah te prove yer point?" Gallia asked, for the first time revealing her reasoning for her aggression.

"LIEUTENANT!" Phoenix had, basically lost her temper now. "IF you cannot give us anything other than anger and aggression, remove yourself from my bridge! NOW!" Phoenix pointed towards the turbolift. She had never been one to accept someone yelling at her on the bridge. The last person who had done that, well, they were no longer on the ship that as for sure.

"Commander An Vantar, work with Intelligence around those scans. I want those ship types run though our database. Commander Taylor.. Lia.. I want you and Naxea to work together to put together an away team and a plan for us to drop them off with transport enhancers, if there is a way through that net, I want it found. We will shut down the Elysium, let us run as dark as we can. Minimal power only. I do not want us to attract attention when we are not ready for them. Commander Taylor, keep Vaii's squadron out there, but tell them to go dark and watch."


"At once Captain." Gary hit his com button. "Taylor to Vaii. Jess you and the squadron stay on patrol, go dark and keep both eyes open."

"Captain," Victor asks, "The net is tight but there are times they have to open up. If we can sneak a probe in, we might get better Intel?"

"We have that information Lieutenant, Its with Intel right now" Phoenix said calmly. "And i do not want to risk the Elysium by going in too close again."

Kara chipped in from her station, as she was reading the statistical data that flowed down her screen. "Captain, a probe could work. We could reconfigure one, with a best guess configuration. What i mean is, we can simulate the best frequency, so the probe has the best chance of slipping through. However, even that in itself may be mistaken as an act of aggression, or territory infraction. However I don't think we can just sit here and do nothing either." She continued. "There's no guarantee's it will work completely, but it might give us the information we require to make future decisions. I've already taken the liberty of cherry picking the best probe configurations and shield modulations, engineering can have a probe ready in about twenty or so minutes at your order."

Was she speaking gibberish? Phoenix bit back a snarl. She looked at Gary. "Is the translator not working?" she asked, acid in her voice. "We launched a probe before and the data is with the Intelligence team!" She repeated again.

Gary looked at both Victor and Kara. "We are NOT launching any more probes. Get your heads in the game people."

***Primary Sickbay***

In primary sick bay, Tate and the rest of the staff offering assistance found themselves reeling from an attack no one could've anticipated. Frankly, Tate spent the first few moments after the onslaught just trying to keep her stomach contents in her stomach. Still feeling more than a little woozy, however, she forced herself to move, tending to those who were still writhing in pain. What could be a temporary injury for some, however serious, could be downright deadly for others whose hearing was much more sensitive. Depending on the severity of the injury, the nerve damage could be irreversible for some. She tried to push those thoughts out of her mind, even as she prayed they wouldn't have to endure another sensory attack again.

Sthilg was busy running checks on crew who had been brought in with hearing and nerve damage. A few of the more serious ones were the crew with more sensitive hearing and the lizard was currently treating one of the said ones whose eardrums had shattered completely.

Heather had replicated extra ear plugs just incase they’d be needed, her ears were still ringing from the sonic blast, she had a constant noise that was interfering with her senses. She wasn’t sure if it was just her or if other telepaths onboard were the same. She waited for Sthilg to finish with his patient before speaking to him. “Doctor, I don’t know if it’s just me but my ears are still ringing and I can’t focus my senses.”

" Sssit down and let'sss take a look at you. " The gorn said calmly even if his own head was throbbing. " I sssee the problem. One of your inner ear'sss arteriesss has been shaken loossse. Give me a ssseconed to fix it." He said calmly.

Heather nodded, she hated it when her senses were out of whack. She had to wonder whether it would have had a similar effect on other Betazoids.

Part of Tate wanted to go to Heather to offer comfort, but the logical part of her knew she was in good hands and the best thing she could do was carry on in Heather's place for the moment. Taking a centering breath as she moved from patient to patient, she offered what she hoped would be reassuring hand squeezes with one hand while offering PADDs for communication to patients who suddenly weren't sure they could understand or be understood given the varying levels of damage to their auditory processing nerves.

Sullivan had experienced the panic that came with various injuries during her time in sickbay, but suddenly being unable to hear properly had to be one of the most distressing experiences she'd witnessed. She gestured for people to type into the offered PADDs as needed and efficiently but compassionately assured each patient she interacted with they would be kept informed and wouldn't be left in the dark even though on one level it felt very much like it. Eyes only provided one part of a complete picture.


==Marine Country==

Staff Sergeant Gami shook her head as it still throbbed painfully from the recent sonic feedback in the ship's comm system. Donning her helmet had helped deal with the trauma and limit the damage. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times in order to relieve some of the pressure in her ears. "I'll kill whoever initiated that attack," she said aloud.

"I'll hold him down for you. " Fredericks said from behind her. He was still a bit woozy after that, but he was getting better. "Is it always like this? " he asked Gami.

"If you're referring to this kind of BS attack, I have no clue, Top," Gami said. "I was only recently assigned here about a month ago. "Since then, it's been quiet aboard."

"Not exactly what I meant, Staff. " said Kieran. "I mean is it always this crazy. " He explained.

"No, not always," she said. "But the Colonel will get it straightened out. I've served with her before and honestly, I wouldn't prefer to serve under any other Commander."

[OFF]