Kestra then asks, "How many hands are still with us?"
"Our crew was 92 before the attack. We have 54 dead, and 8 more injured. Only 30 crew remain alive, mostly scientists. We could use an engineering team or 4 if the Romulans will allow you to assist."
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"We did not extend any courtesy to your vessel, which was clearly spying on our territory for some reason. A small, low profile ship, spangled with advanced sensors, illegally in the Neutral Zone. The ship is mine by right. I intend to take it and my prisoners to Romulus and put them on parade."
Mhevan is clearly (to an empath) more nervous than someone in her position should be.
Kestra says, "You seem a bit nervous, huh? The science vessel gave you a run for your money. Or is it something else? Are you a changeling trying to sew discord between the Romulan Star Empire and the Federation? Or maybe you would rather be a guest of ours in San Francisco?"
We intend to rescue the Nightengale and its crew. We do not want to have to take it by force but we can if you force us to do so. Is there any kind of a deal we can hash out?"[/b]
Empath
Gareb takes this as an opportunity to chime in. "A Nova Class vessel though a new design isn't exactly a Sovereign Class. I'm sure the Tal Shiar have larger files on it than we'd care... this is an opportunity for you to gain much more valuable data for the Romulan Star Empire."
Striding forward the Andorian comes into full view "Your arrangement with the Dominion has kept one hand tied behind your back but we've gotten up close. I'm sure you'll agree the acquisition of knowledge about Dominion technology without risking conflict might be far more prestigious for you and useful for the Star Empire. Let us take our ship and crew back and you can be the one who earns the rewards for such useful service."
"I assure you, I am but a loyal servant of the Romulan Star Empire, no changeling. In fact, there is no evidence that the Founders have infiltrated our command structure, which, of course, cannot be said for the Federation. But let's not escalate this situation. I have no interest in war. I am merely performing my duty as the guardian of this sector. Perhaps your Captain would join me here on the T'Varen to discuss a trade. As a show of good faith, I will allow you to beam repair teams to the Nightingale."
Kestra says, "Excuse me Commander whilst we confer."
She then puts the Romulan Commander on Mute and says, "Chief Tkarra, could you go over to the Nightengale and get her somewhat operational, maybe even warp engines or so?"
She then says, "Captain, would it be possible for Commander Jokkem to borrow one of your Pips and then Gareb, Jokkem and I could beam over to the Romulan ship under heavy guard and negotiate or should we just get the Klingons to destroy this T'varen, tow the Nigthengale to Federation Space and then tow the T'varen and say they crossed the neutral zone? I just really enjoy the inherent challenge all of these gambits."
The plan does have some merit, Lr. Commander Kestra. Exaggeration is a valid form of diplomacy. It seems that the Romulan is not as confident in his abilities or standing as he is trying to communicate, the XO states.
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I am at the transporter and I suggest we beam as many of that crew to our ship as possible and that I go over and we scuttle the ship and depart from our side as the Romulans did not state in our negotiation we could not beam their crew over. I also suggest we do not send any officer aboard their ship in the neutral zone. I await your orders, Captain
Kestra says, "To quote the famous Earth General, 'Кто не рискует, тот не пьёт шампанского.' or he who does not take risks, shan't drink champagne."
The Captain observes your progress and machinations, sitting in the chair, weighing the options.
"As a woman out of time, T'Karra can perhaps be forgiven for her response, but I am surprised at the rest of you. I've served in conflicts with the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Cardassians, but never in a time of such existential threat as that posed by the Dominion. Whatever happens here, we must not lose the tenuous peace that we currently have with the Romulans. Commander Mheven has declared those crewmen prisoners of war, so we will not remove them from the ship. We also will not attack the T'Varen, which is currently behaving in a fashion that meets the letter of our treaties.
"I will beam to the T'Varen with two security officers, enough to keep up appearances. I will stall for as long as possible while you beam to the Nightingale and implement repairs. While you are there, see if there is something else going on. How came this ship to be off course. That seems to be highly unlikely to be an accident. Commander Kreskin, you will remain here in Command."
Kreskin resists this notion, saying that the Captain's place is on the bridge, but your Captain will not be gainsaid.
[ooc] Who is Kreskin? Is he the Second or Third shift Captain? Isn't Jokkem XO? C'est la vie."[/b]
Kestra says, "Aye, Aye Captain!" she then makes her way to the transporter room.
Gareb heads towards the transporter room. He considers stopping to get some signal boosters but they might not be able to afford the time and their new Captain would no doubt disapprove.
You appear on the transporter pads of the Nova class vessel, their transporter specialist not wanting to take any chances with site to site transport at this point.
Commander Lewis awaits you in the transporter room. "Welcome aboard, and thanks for your help. We have quite a messy situation here. I've prepared a briefing if you would like to join me in our conference room, which is one of the few functional areas of the ship."
Kestra says, "Ma'am, it is good to finally meet you face-to-face. I am impressed that you were able to take that ROmulan to task with this ship."
Commander Lewis, I am Commander Jok'kem. If you can fill us in on what has transpired that might expedite the aide we can give. Do you have any wounded or medical personnel. If not, our doctor can aide the survivors
"I'm postulating ways we can make it harder for the Romulan's to lock onto us but a lot is dependent on what systems are operational."
MacLeod nods in agreement with Jok'kem as he says, "I'm here to lend whatever help I can to your medical teams."
A turbolift takes you all to deck one, and from there you make your way to a conference room forward of the bridge. On many ships, the Bridge viewscreen can be opened to view forward through an actual window, but on a Nova class, there is a hallway and rooms forward of the bridge. All views on the bridge viewscreen are projections.
Commander Lewis brings up a display on the screen in the conference room. You see a diagram of the ship in space, clearly across the border of the Neutral Zone.
[b]"I was on duty. Captain Blake was in her quarters. Everything was fine and no problems had been reported with the ship. Our course was to travel along the Neutral Zone to our next survey assignment. During a routine course check, our navigator realized the ship had gone off course. While the navigation system showed we were off course, a more detailed position check proved we had slid into the Neutral Zone. Before we could change course, the Romulans decloaked and opened fire. We returned fire but took the next Romulan salvo. Among our dead is Captain Blake. She was found dead in her quarters after having activated something called the Romulan Protocol. I believe she was hurt trying to get to the bridge, then returned to her quarters to activate the protocol.
Kestra scratches her chin and says, "Commander, You must have done a good job damaging the Romulan ship. Have they tried to send shuttles to board you or you have been sitting in space like this for hours? Now that we are on board, were you just doing research?"
"We managed to catch the Romulans with their shields still down as they were coming out of being cloaked, I guess. Certainly we are no match for a D'deridex cruiser. I guess we just got lucky. They haven't made any attempt to board via shuttle or transporters, and our shields are down, so they could board landing parties whenever they choose. We are, for the moment, a purely scientific vessel. Before this assignment, we were doing long range sensor scans of Dominion emplacements on the front, but we were rotated off to this duty six months ago."
She seems frustrated by your mistrust, but is being truthful.
Kestra says, "No disrespect, ma'am, intended. I was concerned that maybe our original communication was being monitored or something so I figured maybe you could have said one thing on comms and then tell us something else in person. How many injured crewmen? What systems are online? How are the weapons systems? What is the capacity of your transporters? Madam, we may have an ace up our sleeves as the Earthlings say..."
"Perhaps the Bastion is more frequently involved in espionage than we are, but you seem highly suspicious. Everything I told you earlier was true and accurate. We were a crew of 92. We have 54 dead and 8 injured. Thirty of us are still standing an at our posts. As for systems, we have damage to the warp core safety systems, the warp core itself, Multiple hull breaches that need sealing, Propulsion, shields, weapons, could be damaged. There is no way to know for sure without diagnostics. Most minor systems are shut down under the Romulan Protocol, but we don't need replicators and full lighting at the moment. All of this is complicated by the fact that many of the functions of the main computer have been encrypted beyond my command authority to access by the invocation of the Romulan Protocol. Transporters are locked down to prevent their use in the escape of enemy agents. Basically, we are a floating hunk of duranium, Lt. Commander."
Kestra says, "Commander, Our ship is not at 100% either. This is your ship, so how about you tell us what you want to have done? We can try to fix the warp core. We can extend medical care to your crew. Just so you know, our captain is currently on the Romulan vessel."
"Even if we can only get a few seconds out of the warp drive it might be enough to get back across the border. There is the possibility of espionage, potentially on behalf of the Romulan's but also by the Dominion. A single changeling could have made a few adjustments to your navigation systems in hopes of inciting tension between the Federation and the Romulans. If the Captain can buy us some time we can get back across the border and it wont matter one way or the other." Gareb didn't bother adding any of his concerns about the precarious situation the Captain was in.
Kestra says, "Look, the only way this works is if it looks like Commander Lewis looks like she is going to with the Romulans and then goes off on her own with warp. If the Romulans choose to pursue then they will have to cross the neutral zone. Commander Lewis, we can try unlock the ship from the Romulan Protocol, fix your warp drive and then it will be up to you whether you want to warp home or follow the Romulans. We will protect you either way. "
Doctor, please see what you can do to help the injured. Mr. Chiaquis and Mr. Takarra will aid whoever you have left in Engineering to make the ship more operational and defensive. says the XO.
"If you are working on that I'll look into the shields... we wont shoot our way out of this one. If things are looking particularly bad let me know and I'll forget about the shields and help with getting warp drive or impulse working properly."
Commander Lewis considers for a moment, "I appreciate the assistance. And I agree with Commander Jok'kem. Our two priorities have to be restoring Warp engines and the Computer. Mr. th'Chiaquis, I appreciate your intent, but without our main computer, the shields will be useless. You are an expert in computer systems, are you not? Would you be willing to attempt to decrypt our systems and regain control of the main computer. Commander Jok'kem, I propose that one of us coordinate the repair efforts and one of us undertakes to repair some of the damaged hull plating. I defer to you with regard to which of those you would prefer to undertake."
Kestra says, "Garab, I will help you with the computer systems and hopefully de-Romulan Protocol the system."
"Very well, time to see what we can do." Gareb sets about working on the computer systems with Kestra.
T'Karra makes her way to main engineering, where she finds a rag-tag group of junior engineers being directed by a female Tellarite named Lt. Morrow. The Tellarite woman huffs and snorts at the arrival of the Vulcan engineer, but a brief communication from the Commander silences her objections.
Dr. MacLeod makes his way to a sickbay in chaos. Sickbay is undamaged, but is overrun. Nurses, doctors, and biologists pressed into service as emergency medical personnel are working to triage incoming wounded from all over the ship. A stern and efficient Vulcan manages the chaos, Lt. Commander G'trel. As MacLeod enters, the Vulcan looks up from an Andorian security officer with severe plasma burns.