Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Posted on Mon May 3rd, 2021 @ 2:59pm by Captain Maia Sterling & Lieutenant Commander Sheena Toran-Blake & Captain Karyn Somers & Ensign Eretria & Senior Chief Petty Officer Henry 'Hank' Keitel

Mission: The Thorion Conundrum Mission Brief
Location: Bridge
Timeline: TBD

[ON]

Ensign Eretria was covering the tactical station on the Leto Bridge when a transmission came in from the shuttlecraft on Thorion III. It was a short voice transmission followed by a video feed from aerial drones the ground team had with them. She immediately keyed the communications system on her console. =/\=Captain Sterling to the bridge. The survey team on Thorion III is engaged in a firefight with an unknown group of Orion's.=/\=

As she followed the Captain out of the CRR Karyn looked over to the Ensign who spoke "Any more details than that Ensign?" Karyn Somers asked moving up to Tactical to take a look at the report, she was reading through it as the Captain was speaking.

Captain Sterling had just taken a shower and was already on her way to the bridge when she got the call to report there.

Looking up at the Captain "what do I have to work with Captain, I know the MCO is planetside, so what do I have left to work with?" She asked her Captain.

"About a platoon Lieutenant. We have about 30 marines still on station." We originally had a company and should be getting fresh replacements any day now.

"Now what's this about a firefight on Thorion III?" Sterling added.

Eretria put the drone video feed being relayed from the shuttlecraft on the main viewer. It showed a group of Orions attacking a compound of Andorian and Tellarite miners with the Leto's away team moving into position to counter the attackers.

"Have engineering power up the warp core, and prepare for launch," Maia ordered.

"Captain I need to know exact details of Brannon's location and what my team could be expecting, I will not take the Rifles into blind combat," Somers said.

Maia turned to Lt Somers.

"Apparently she was shoring up a hole in the defence of the embassy. She herself disobeyed orders as I personally told her and the crew to not wander around alone. apparently, she needed a part and instructed her escort to go get one. they should have come together. At any rate, she was captured and taken, as I said a snatch and grab. There were drag marks for about 10 feet but she was picked up and taken most likely to a ship. There was no transporter used, we would have scanned the trace. Alarms would have been set off."

Eretria spoke up from her position at the tactical station. "Petty Officer Tanner has informed me that the away team put Veridium patches on the inside of their uniform's. We should have no problem tracking them once we get within the tactical sensor range."

"That's a start," Sterling said. "Perhaps we can track them once we get into range and that presupposes that they will not be covered by a force field.."

"Status report" The captain ordered.

Karyn listened to what the Captain said "Then she is probably on the planet somewhere then" she turned to the tactical officer "Tactical can you scan for any shuttles that are unaccounted for and correlate with any flight paths? If they did not go into space then we all know the fastest way to get out of a hot zone is by shuttle, I want to know their direction, speak to Thorion flight control if you need to, they are bound to track all shuttles" Karyn asked then looked at the Captain fearing that she may have just stepped out of line, she was a Marine Officer who just requested something from a bridge officer that she did not know and in front of the Captain.

Eretria sent a query to the Thorion Space Traffic Control for the requested information. A few moments later the data appeared on her screen. "Three vessels have departed orbit since Lieutenant Brannon's last contact with anyone. Two Thorion patrol ships and a privately-owned spacecraft."

"Can they get a fix on that POV? or access to a filed flight plan?" Sterling requested.

"More details on that private ship if possible please Ensign," she said and looked at the Captain "not knowing those kidnapped, yet, what does Brannon know that might be of any worth to those who abducted her?" Karyn asked.

"I will brief you in my ready room Lieutenant," Maia stated.

Eretria reviewed the sensor logs provided by Thorion Space Traffic Control. She noticed the change in course that deviated from the projected flight plan out of the system to one even deeper, specifically for a section of the asteroid belt near the current position of Thorion Three. She put the new plot track on the main viewer.

"Just as I thought," Maia said. "Eretria how much more time until the ship is powered up?"

Eretria checked the status board display on her console. "Ten minutes Captain. The engineering duty officer is performing final checks for the dilithium chamber now." She noticed an incoming hail on a Thorion frequency. "Message from Thorion Defense Force sir. Two officers have been recovered from the survey team. Lieutenant Blake and Lieutenant Dougherty are aboard a Ballista-class patrol ship and will transfer aboard at a rendezvous point near the asteroid belt."

"Two out of four? Thinks are looking up. We still have missing crewmen out there. Send my compliments to the Thorion authorities and acknowledge receipt of the message." The captain said.

Eretria sent the acknowledgement before turning to Maia. "I'll meet the rescued away team members in the Transporter Room and take them to Sickbay to get checked."

"Well I guess I better get my team assembled then," Karyn said and tapped her Commbadge =/\= Somers to Nurse Peeters report to Transporter room one full ground combat gear, medical kit for short term care, also grab you a hand Phaser we are going to get our people back =/\=

=/\= Acknowledged. full gear, medical kit and hand phaser ready in 20 minutes. Nurse Peeters out =/\= She just finished treating her patients when the call came. She could now leave them in the capable hands of the Emergency Medical Hologram Dr Pierce and Sylestia. She made sure everything was under control before she left the sickbay and quickly changed gear. Making sure she carried her phaser and controlling the content of the medical kit a second time, she convinced herself she's ready.

=/\= Acknowledged Nurse will see you in transporter room one, Somers out =/\= she finished then tapped her badge again =/\= Somers to Ensign C'Tinu, meet me in transport room one combat gear and engineering kit and a hand Phaser in fifteen =/\= Karyn said.

=/\=Acknowledged. 15 minutes geared up C'Tinu out=/\= Turning around, K'Rin grabbed her engineering backpack and tossed the necessary tools, including a portable power pack. One never knows when you will need one, and a hand phaser. Adding to that, she tossed her blade in for added measure.

When the Caitian signed off she looked at the Captain, "Permission to leave the bridge Captain?" Somers asked.

"Granted" The Captain replied.

With that Karyn left the bridge and headed down to her quarters to get changed into her combat gear and gather her weapons together.

K'Rin headed for the transporter room post-haste. oO Away mission sometimes goes south and you never know when you're gonna need to rely on your hand to hand tactics. Glad I learned mine Oo, she thought as she entered the transporter room.

Sheena was deep in thought when she entered the bridge. She had been checking comm traffic between the planet and the ships in orbit. Some were clear about the embassy yet some hinted that things might not be on the up and up, and it troubled her. However, she stayed quiet as she took her place next to Maia.

Any word on our request for Thorion support to looking for our people Number One?"Maia asked.

"Unclear but I am told that two have been rescued. Both from the ship but I can't get any word as to whom they picked up. The Thorion's are still searching for the rest," Sheena said. "I'm worried as to who they are. They are late in checking in," she added.

"They might not be able to check-in, however, they were all wearing veridium patches, so we should be able to track them no matter where they are," Maia said.

"Well that's a plus to say the least. For some reason captain, I am beginning to think that all these abductions and the pirate activity might be the begining of an Orion ploy to sabotage the talks between Thorion 4 and the UFP" Sheena said.

It has always been in their interest to destablize relations in the region Number One. Maia replied.

[End]