Risk vs. Reward (Part 3 of 5)

Posted on 22 Aug 2013 @ 7:42pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Lieutenant Ammar Fahad & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Ensign Natalie Chevalier & Ensign Ariadne Fleming & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Tarishiana Barel & Chief Petty Officer K8 Yellow

2,289 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 02 - 2359 hrs

Previously, on Risk vs. Reward (Part 2)...

The Commander had no desire to go toe-to-toe with the Borg, but arguably he was the most experienced tactical officer aboard, and if anyone should be going inside that ship, they wouldn't be doing it without him.

"At that point we will perform an emergency beam-out to the Galileo, and retreat at maximum velocity, hoping the Borg haven't deemed us a threat. If they do, well suffice to say our illustrious CoB, Mr Quinn, has put his years of engineering experience to practice and will be assisting with the modification of some rather unorthodox torpedoes. We won't get more than a couple of shots, but if they work, we should have all the time we need to run."

With one final command, he tapped against the display, and the projection shut down.

"Any questions?"

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Allyndra could not believe her ears. She had not dealt with Borg personally but she like others had known about them, read about them, taught about them and had gotten stories about them. Her first thought was the Command was daft. The Venture stardrive had been neatly and easily defeated and now they were proposing to take this ship against the Cube and while they already had a sickbay full.

"Yes indeed," Allyndra pushed away from the wall. "I must say, sir that with the number of wounded I must protest. I cannot fathom seeing more injured and the ones rescued subjecting those survivors the mental trauma, though I will defer that assessment to our Chief Counsellor."

"In the event that we recover crew members from the Venture that have already undergone partial integration into the Collective, we will of course house them in separate facilities aboard this vessel - Doctor, could we move any of the less injured patients from the main Sickbay to the Cargo Bay triage facilities to free up some beds?"

The XO completely understood that the last thing the wounded survivors onboard would want to see would be their partially assimilated crewmates, but there had to be a way forward - all they had to do was find it.

"Cargo Bay One is already set up as a field hospital so that would help. Depending on needs I may request Cargo Bay 2." Allyndra was not happy about the situation but she had already figured the Galileo would not be taking the days away to off-load wounded to the Venture Saucer section. Tatically it made sense, what if the Borg ship followed them to a much bigger prize.

Scarlet had to remain silent for a long moment, her features as neutral and calm as ever, not letting what she felt show. In truth, she agreed with Allyndra. She thought the plan was suicide. Hate them or not, the borg were an intelligent hive mind. She'd read up on some of the documented reports between the last meet and now, crammed what she could. She honestly couldn't believe that a species known for assimilating information and learning from their mistakes would let them get away with the plan. And it wasn't just their own crew they were putting at risk for a wing and a prayer plan, but also the survivors they had managed to pick up from Venture. On the other side of things though, she was a member of the command team now, and she'd already voiced her concerns to Saalm and Holliday about the likelihood of the Borg having assimilated and learnt from Starfleet's previous encounters with them, making this plan shaky at best because surely they'd have learnt from previous 'sneak' attacks with so called 'non threatening' small craft actually turning out to be a threat. Afterall, if the Borg were famous for anything else other than assimilation, it was adaption. But they had been sure it wouldn't be an issue. And after that, having aired her concerns and them not being seen as a problem...it was now her job to fall in line and do what she could to support the mission.

"We shall have to make do with what we have," Scarlet finally spoke, nodding to Allyndra. "There will be a lot of psychological trauma. We're going to have to be ready to pull some long shifts and whatever extra staff we can get. I'd also recommend we not inform the patients we already have on board that we're chasing down the borg cube that destroyed their ship. It could be shattering to some of them, thinking they're being taken back to the things that almost killed them and slaughtered or abducted their crewmates. If we do find survivors, they should be kept apart from the the survivors we already have."

Delainey bit her lip. Hard. Now was not the time to publicly disagree with Scarlet, but she didn't agree with keeping their mission from the survivors. The motive for doing so was to prevent panic amongst the wounded, but Delainey's experience had taught her starships, especially ships the size of Galileo, were breeding grounds for gossip and rumors. The notion that this could be kept from them, with all these people present, was ludicrous. And once the word was out -- what would it do to the trust the survivors were trying to forge if they found out they were not being told the truth? In this case, Carlisle believed honesty was best. The crew of the Venture deserved to know there was a rescue being plotted. To keep that from them was to insult their intelligence and to deny them the voluntary opportunity to pledge their lives to save those left behind.

'Like me,' thought Ammar. Of course, he had only been aboard the Galaxy class vessel for a few days. Hardly enough time to make meaningful connections.

Dea knew they were risking a lot, perhaps their very lives for this mission. But there was no denying the fact they owed it to Venture's crew to try and save them. At the moment there was nothing to say other than nodding agreement to the Captain and XO.

Aria bit her lip, frowning as she looked at Scarlet. her own question wasn't one she voiced. How would they escape this without the Borg assimilating them? It was clear that the Borg were out to get people. Now, if the Venture had acted like no threat, they had still been taken. What made the Galileo so special that they could be ignored?

Carlisle decided to focus on the logistics of the plan as she framed her comments. "I'm concerned about how we'll keep this from the Venture crew going forward. Even if we all swear to keep this plan to ourselves and manage to do that, our Venture colleagues were as well trained as we were and will know something's up sooner or later. Creating a panic now is not what we want, but I fear the panic will be worse if the truth is discovered, or at the very least it appears we're holding back and it becomes clear we never intended to tell them. They've been traumatized, and the mission may not go the way we like, but at least we wouldn't be giving them a reason to fight us."

"For now, I don't think we should be telling them anything at all," Scarlet shook her head, thinking it over. "They're hurt and recovering. They don't need to know anything about any plans we have. They should just be focussing on getting better. And if people ask, that's what we should be telling them, for the time being at least. We're the only ones who've seen that video. Causing a panic that we're facing borg, and more, the fact we're going to chase them down ourselves won't help. Anyone who lives and works on a starship know they are full of rumours, and they should also know they're just that. It's something that can be reassessed though, as things change and move, there may come a time where we need to say something, but we'll know if it gets to that. I think with a mission like this, we're all going to have to be adaptable and ready to think on our feet and improvise."

With the room falling silent, John once again stepped up, he felt much like he was addressing a group of cadets at the Academy, but there was fire in the bellies of his crewmates, he was sure of it.

"In the meantime, there is a lot of preparation to undertake. Science department, you already have your orders - I want a way to find that Borg vessel."

Jared was a little perplexed and worried. He hated the Borg with a passion, for the simple reason that he they took away individuality the core of being humanoid. The answer to how to detect the Borg was not really his area of expertise, but he did start thinking about a solution.

Tarishiana made a note to be sure to talk to the CSO. She had met her earlier that day and was quite impressed with the officer. She would offer whatever help she could.

Nat didn't know the first thing about tracking a Borg cube: hoping desperately that there were others in the Department more inclined to such matters, she tried to think how she could help. The interior of a Borg cube featured higher temperature and humidity than a standard class M environment: as such, Nat suspected they would be excellent breeding grounds for fungi and molds. Perhaps, she could get a culture? It was possible such research could open up a whole new perspective on the particularly micro-ecosystem of Borg cubes. She began excitedly jotting down notes, the actual mission completely forgotten.

Jacob began to use all the available resources he could to begin tracking the Cube. He had managed to stop the rage inside him from going too far, now he was practicing "focused anger" for as one of his heroes, Ed Roberts the "Father" of the Disability Rights Movement said so long ago, "Anger is a powerful energy. We don't need to suppress or get over our anger, we need to channel it into making change for the greater good." And that is exactly what he aimed to do.

"Security and Tactical - needless to say, if we take on visitors I want to be able to seal off a deck at a moment's notice. Prepare all phasers onboard to a rotating modulation, and place forcefields over all critical access points."

Aria frowned at that and shook her head. "Isn't it better to use the TR-116 rifles we have? They're projectiles and might be a bit more forceful. Rotating modulation is all fine and good for the first ten minutes but nothing says it will be able to keep up?" she said, meeting the XO's eyes firmly. "I mean, if we're going to go in, I'd like to up my chances considerably."

"Prepare both options - we save the TR's as backup or critical situations only - the last thing we want the Borg knowing is we have a tactical advantage, the moment they do is the moment they switch to more aggressive tactics."

The TR rifle had been a spontaneous moment of genius by the Fleet engineers - going back to technology four hundred years old but bringing it up to date had resulted in a highly efficient weapon that had no energy weapon component.

"Whilst the rifles are directly more effective than standard phaser rifles, there is no long term data to prove the Borg can't simply adapt their shields to block the projectile. Let's not blow our ace in the hole too quickly."

Turning his attention to the new engineer that had joined the team in the briefing room, John found himself having to trust a new member of the crew in a very short space of time.

"Mister Fahad, you might be the newest member of this crew, but with our engineering team compromised I will be needing you to step up to the task. Have the warp core locked down and prepared for immediate withdrawal at the first sign of trouble - oh, and give the external hatches a once-over - if we need to flush some drones into space, the last thing I want is a faulty locking mech screwing up my day."

Fahad nodded, fixing tired eyes on the Commander. "I'll make sure it's done, sir." His voice sounded drawn and tired, but resolute.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

LtJG Ammar Fahad
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

ENS S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh
Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

CPO K8 Yellow
Transporter Chief
USS Galileo
[NPC - T'Srrr'Kharh]

Lt. Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Aria Rice
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lt. Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Ensign Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
USS Galileo

Ensign Im'er Mor'an
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Master Chief Petty Officer Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Commander Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor/2XO
USS Galileo

LT.(jg) Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Tarishiana Barel
Science Corps Technician
USS Galileo

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