Star Trek RPG - Mission #4: "Codex Aelyrr"

Kylah tries--not expecting any success--to see whether the Yorktown's broadcast has been received by the Klingon ship. At least, she hopes to ensure that the same interference that is blocking the Naradraen's messages isn't having the same effect on the Yorktown.

A flash of an idea hits her, although she is unsure whether now is the right time to attempt any experiments. She does not want the Captain to speak to her as she did Collins.

Then again, her idea might--might--bring them more information, rather than taking them a step closer to a battle. It is her duty.

"Captain," she says quietly into the tense silence awaiting a response from the Klingon vessel. "This morning, I mentioned having heard a second message from a stationary source--possibly a planet or moon or space station. This source was communicating with the Naradraen--at least, I assume it was the Naradraen. Now that we have moved closer in range and have some shared language, may I attempt to reach whoever sent that message? Perhaps they will know what this is all about."

While focused on his sensor panel which is sstill gathering information, Rangin tries to keep an eye on the interaction on the bridge in this time of crisis and in particular to how Captain Singh is taking charge. Firm precise and polite that could only have come from years of practice and determination, Rangin sees how the earned respect means that the ship is doing exactly what she wants.

If he ever wanted to be a Captain of a ship, this was the kind of thing he would not only have to aspire to but emulate in the fullness of time. The only other thing he can think of is that after this is all over, finding those who were on the Bridge at the time and buying them a drink to say thanks...although he isn't sure if protocol would allow it. One thing he is sure of that if it ever came to a battle, he would far rather have Ens. St Croix at the Security station than Collins.

As Singh hails the ship, he cannot help a small smile passing his lips at her wording, similar to his initial recommendation. Perhaps he isn't so far off after all. He focuses back on the sensors to try and determine what the Klingon Scoutship is doing next, whether preparing to back off, or go all out.

All decks now report full readiness under Red Alert conditions. Kylah is confident that the Klingon warship would have received the Captain's hail, despite its jamming of the Yorktown's communications with the alien ship, as those were on different subspace channels. In any event, there is no immediate response from the Klingons.

"Yes, please do, Ensign," Singh says in response to Kylah's suggestion. "Also, send a brief update to Starfleet Command."

Rangin knows of no reason under Starfleet protocol why he couldn't treat his watchmates to a drink later (assuming he and they live that long).

Collins and Graham see that the Yorktown will be within torpedo range in eight minutes.

"Recommendations?" the Captain asks aloud.

Moments later, the Klingons fire again at the other ship, which does not return fire.

"Beam Ens. Rangin into space" occurs to Graham as a constructive recommendation, but inappropriate under the circumstances.

He glances briefly at Collins, not wanting to step on her toes but at the same time not wanting to leave her hanging if she's looking to "big brother" to respond--he's in fact not sure how much ship-to-ship combat she's seen.

"We, ah, don't know the situation ma'am," Graham replies, his voice becoming crisper and more confident as he continues.

He realizes that given his age compared to many others on the bridge...Nia and Bennett aren't really older than Collins--it's possible he may have been in more ship-to-ship than everyone combined aside from the Captain.

"But if the Klingon ship doesn't stand down nobody on the other ship will left alive for us to sort things out with. I recommend a torpedo across her bow and an order--one--order to desist." He looks from the Captain to the view screen and back. "A ship her size would have to be extra crazy, even for Klingons, to take on Yorktown." He glances at Collins. "I'm sure we can disable her with phasers if needed, Captain."

Kylah quietly works to open a channel to the source of the second, stationary message. If she is successful, she will send the message:

Attention. This is the USS Yorktown, a starship representing the United Federation of Planets on a peaceful mission of exploration and scientific discovery. Several hours ago we first detected broadcasts from a vessel in motion and a stationary source. Since both sources were of unknown origin, we could not interpret them at the time.

After working on the translation problem for hours, not long ago we received a distress call that we could now interpret, from a vessel identifying itself as the Naradraen. The message stated it was being attacked and requested help. We changed course and informed them we were on our way to assist them, which they acknowledged. They stated that they were in danger of being boarded. At that point, the transmission was blocked, most likely by the enemy vessel.

We are now within visual range and see that the Naradraen is under active fire and has sustained damage; the other ship is of Klingon origin--if you do not know this race, they are from the planet Qo'nos and possess a growing empire. This ship does not appear to be part of the Klingon Imperial Fleet, however, and may be working alone. They are aggressive and are outgunning the Naradraen. We fear the vessel cannot withstand the attack for much longer.

We will protect the Naradraen to the best of our abilities, but wish more information, if possible. Is the Naradraen your ship? Has the crew contacted you and informed you of what led to this attack? Can you tell us your species and origin? Any information you can provide would be appreciated. Please respond as soon as possible. This is an emergency and we must act soon.

Whether or not the above message is successfully sent, Kylah sends a modified version of this message to Starfleet Command, containing only the information related to the two ships now in combat.

Nia listens to Booker and nods slightly, but then her expression shifts to one of slight concern as she stares back at the viewscreen. "Mr. Graham is right, Captain--a ship her size would be crazy taking on the Yorktown all by herself. So why are they ignoring our message?" She inhales deeply. "Perhaps we should consider the possibility that they're not alone. Uh... Ensign Rangin, you've been working with that spectacular new device we were meant to be testing. I know it's meant to be used on planetary bodies, but... do you think it'd be any use in detecting cloaked ships?"

While continuing to monitor the battle in front of him, Rangin hears his name being called and a question asked by Lt. Onn. Considering for a moment he shakes his and turns in his chair to respond to her and the Captain at the same time. "Unfortunately, ma'am, we don't even know if it is wired in correctly, we have only just run the initial tests. As for detecting a cloaked vessel, I very much doubt it in open space. In a nebula, it might be able to track the displacement wake of a ship as it moves. Also, the side effects of the device are currently prohibitive, we'd lose all bio-sensor data. If we could be certain other ships would be impacted likewise, it might prove valuable, but we currently have no way to test the hypothesis safely."

Rangin considers the point for a moment, "If there are other vessels out there, we may wish to consider monitoring and jamming the Scoutship to see what communications it is making, ma'am," he addresses to Captain Singh. "Also ma'am, it looks as though assisting the Naradraen will also involve removing a Klingon presence from the ship."

"Even a cloaked ship emits some kind of energy." Collins offers out to the whole bridge. "Can we make the sensors sensitive enough to detect a cloak?"

Ruminating on Rangin's answer, Nia purses her lips. Damn. What's the fun of having a new toy if you don't play around and try to break it? But that's one of the many differences between pilots and sciencey types. She ponders the negatives of losing biosensors for a few minutes versus the delicious possibility of uncovering a cloak. If it were up to her, she'd risk it... but she'd feel better doing it on a shuttle rather than a starship with hundreds of people on board.

When Collins speaks, Nia nods. "If only. It's been tried. Our more learned science officers can correct me if I'm wrong, but so far the only success in penetrating one of these bad boys was back with the Romulans, when they first developed the tech back in '66. Unfortunately, they plugged the hole in the design not long after--and Klingons seem to have done even better than their pointy-eared counterparts."

She shakes her head ruefully. "Far as I know, the only way our sensors will pick 'em up is if they start to move--or right before they uncloak. And by then it'll just give us enough time to say 'Oh sh--'" She catches herself before it's too late and says 'Shoot' rather than it's saltier option.

"On the other hand," Nia continues, "after thinking it over, I'm not entirely sure my fears are that justified. Can't see why they'd have a second cloaked ship just to attack the Naradraen--they'd only cloak if they knew we were coming to the party and wanted to obfuscate their firepower. But before we got here, they wouldn't waste the energy, especially since they're vulnerable to attack and can't use their weapons. And the Naradraen didn't mention being attacked by a pair of ships, did it, Ensign?" She turns to Kylah, then realizes the young woman isn't looking at her. "Ensign Kylah?"

Busy trying to act on Velir's suggestion of jamming any outgoing transmissions, Kylah does not realize Lt. Onn is speaking to her, so pays attention only peripherally. But the use of her name makes her swivel around. "I am sorry, Lieutenant. You asked if the Naradraen...?" She suddenly recollects the question and shakes her head. "No, they referred only to one enemy ship. Actually they used another word to describe the ship, but the UT could not translate it. I cannot think why the UT would not know the word for Klingon, if that is indeed what they said. Perhaps the Naradraen did not know who the Klingons were."

She bites at her lip and looks back at her datapad, with the previously translated messages. "I do not know if this is useful, but it does not seem this attack was altogether a surprise. Early this--yesterday morning, the message I intercepted used the words enemy and course. I think they knew someone was likely to be after them on their journey. And it involved some sort of holy book. A codex, they called it."

After a hesitation, Kylah shakes her head. "But this is probably not helpful information now," she murmurs, then falls silent. Her attention returns to the attempt to identify any messages from the Klingon scout ship, and then to jam them--if possible.

Graham splits his attention between his console and the discussion among his crew mates.

He's glad he kept quiet, as he agrees with Nia's analysis--in the end.

A setup for the Yorktown with the ship-to-ship as a charade would be outlandish for Klingons. More like Romulans.

And while if there was anyone would spend enough cycles to craft such an ornate scenario--including, if it were an ambush, disguising the ships as those of Klingons to misdirect the Federation's retaliation--it would be the Romulans, it's such an outlier he wouldn't make tactical decisions based on it.

Although just to be sage I wouldn't expose our flanks to the ship on the lose side, either, he thinks.

Kylah has no immediate response to her message to the other alien signal source. She knows that, given the Yorktown's current location, a reply from Starfleet Command or a closer starbase might not come for at least a day.

"Thank you, everyone," the Captain says. "Mr. Roble, Mr. Rangin, scan for anything that might suggest the presence of a cloaked ship or ships nearby. Use Dr. Brold's prototype sensor module only if you think it would help. Mr. Collins, prepare a torpedo for proximity detonation - close enough to get the Klingons' attention, but not enough to damage them. Then prepare a spread of four torpedoes for immediate followup and on-target detonation. Mr. Graham, track the Klingon ship and target it for optimal effect, but minimum effect on the unidentified ship, if possible. Fire only on my command."

The ships on the viewscreen grow larger; the nebula is also becoming more prominent by the minute. The alien ship returns fire at the Klingon, but its weapons are relatively weak by comparison, and the Klingon ship is undamaged. The scoutship begins moving again, and fires once, twice, three times in quick succession. The alien ship is badly shaken by the disruptor fire and its deflector shields are now near collapse.

"Three minutes to torpedo range," Roble says.

Suddenly Collins remembers Lieutenant Thalen's message from over a week ago. "Starfleet Tactical told us about this." she says as she scan through her messages to find the one she remembers, and the notes she made on it. "The Naradraen. Is it from Haran V?"

Roble checks the Federation shipping updates. "No such vessel has ever put into Haran V or anywhere else that we know of," he says.

"See to the torpedoes, if you please, Lieutenant," the Captain says.

So, everyone else can blurt stuff out? Nice. Collins faces her panels but looks sideways to Graham. Was I wrong for saying that? she asks with her eyes.

"Yes ma'am," comes Rangin's clipped reply as he focuses on the sensor panel and wonders how to find the invisible. Just looking for it directly isn't going to work and there is nothing to compare it to. Well, perhaps that isn't necessarily the case. But the only thing in the area which is marked out are the subspace disturbances from the warp engines of the two ships. If any cloaked vessel is out there, then maybe he can see it that way.

Rangin's fingers begin to dance across the console as he starts his searches before sending the suggestion to Roble.

There are higher-than-usual levels of interstellar hydrogen and other trace gasses in the area because of the nearby nebula, Rangin sees. In his initial search, he finds no nearby subspace disturbances other than the warp drives of the Yorktown itself and the Klingon ship. The alien ship's unusual hadron-pulse drive has no subspace signature at all.

Nia shifts her gaze to the right and slightly ahead of her, toward the tactical station -- but this time she's looking at Collins, not Graham. "Excellent memory, Collins," she says quickly and quietly. "The Naradraen's culture seems to be completely new to us, so I doubt they've ever been inside known territory or we'd have some record of their language. But this batch of Klingons could be a splinter group from that battlecruiser, or could be utterly unrelated, which I admit is more likely. Either way, I'm very glad you reminded us that Klingons were on Anubis not so long ago." She looks at the viewscreen with a slight frown. "Personally, I'm not a fan of traveling in their wake."

Briefly pausing in her continued attempts to monitor and/or jam any messages from the Klingon vessel, Kylah turns to Lt. Onn as the older woman speaks. Then she returns to stare at her screen.

An uncomfortable sense of déjà vu is making her stomach muscles tense. The red alert, the klaxon, the sight of a lieutenant at the helm... Singh and Roble on the Bridge with Vargas oddly absent... and now the mention of a Klingon battlecruiser.

That dream, she thinks with a shudder. That horrible dream.

Of course she realizes no one can predict the future; even with her mental abilities, that is impossible. And there is no battlecruiser here now, much less two. At least, none that they have seen thus far.

But the flash of visions from that nightmare nag at her. So much blood, so many dead... the Yorktown reeling, battered and vulnerable... and that terrifying inevitability of the computer's countdown to self-destruct. Another icy shiver runs down her spine.

It meant nothing. Of course it meant nothing. Focus on now, not phantoms from your mind!

With a swallow, Kylah redoubles her efforts to track any broadcast messages either from--or to--the scout ship.

After a moment, another thought occurs to her. Now that the Universal Translator understands so much more of this language, the Naradraen's original signal--and the one sent from the stationary source--should now be much easier to translate. Quickly, she runs the earliest messages from yesterday morning through the UT in hopes of learning more.

Rangin keeps monitoring to see what he can find in the remaining few minutes before they engage.

As best he can Graham gives Collins a sanguine look as if to say "don't worry about it, shrug it off," shrugging just slightly himself.

Graham double checks and triple checks his targeting, confident but conscious a mistake would be, well...embarrassing.

Not just in front of Nia, but Bennett as well, and Collins, and...well, everybody.

"Nor am I, Mr. Onn," the Captain says seriously.

Kylah discovers no messages emanating from the scoutship on any of the usual Klingon military subspace bands, but soon does on a tertiary Klingon channel. It is encrypted. She begins jamming at once, but does not know how long it had been broadcasting before she cut it off.

The earlier alien messages are still somewhat fragmentary. They appear to have been a lengthy status report from the Naradraen to what was probably a ship, base or colony of the same race in another star system. The first ship signaled that it "was bearing the Codex of blessed memory away from our ancestral enemy and to lasting safety with you, Ael willing." The recipient of the signal, in replying, encouraged the Naradraen to make the best possible time, evade the enemy and avoid attack. The Naradraen then acknowledged. There was also extensive telemetry and technical data, largely numeric, that Kylah does not understand.

Rangin finds no smoking gun for the presence of a cloaked ship or ships nearby, but cannot be sure that they aren't there. There are no noticeable displacements of interstellar gasses, or microgravitational distortions, that would suggest cloaked ships in the vicinity.

Graham's targeting is complete and he believes it is correct. His board does not indicate if Collins has prepared the five torpedoes as the Captain ordered, however.

The Yorktown is one minute to torpedo range.

Collins taps the panel a few more times. Without turning around, she declares "Torpedoes armed and at the ready, Captain. Awaiting your order."

Kylah passes along all the message information to the Captain, including the Klingons' activity. She also sends off a recording of the message to Garcia for decryption if possible. Can she locate how distant or to what approximate location the Klingons' message has been sent?

"Thank you, Mr. Collins," says Singh.

Garcia acknowledges the referral and a few seconds later adds, "This is not a typical Klingon military code. It might take me awhile. Stand by."

Subspace communications are typically omnidirectional and Kylah cannot determine how distant, in what direction or to what approximate location the Klingons' message was sent. It was a sufficiently strong signal to reach the Klingon Empire at this distance, however.

Just before the Yorktown comes into torpedo range, the scoutship fires again at the alien ship. In a feat of piloting which Onn cannot help but admire, the Klingon ship then does a "backflip" (relative to the Yorktown) and deftly moves to the far side of the alien ship, moving in close, to within fifty meters of its prey. "Her shields have collapsed," Roble announces. He checks another display. "The Klingons have got her in a tractor beam... and are now engaging their transporter."

Rangin, in his scans, now notices unusual radiation readings coming from the alien ship.

The Yorktown is now within torpedo range. "Take us in another 800km closer, then all stop," Singh orders.

"Why isn't the Naradraen moving?" Nia mutters, furious and ready to pull the Yorktown back in line with the Klingon ship, if Collins needs help getting a lock on it. "The ships are equal in size, she should be able make an attempt to escape the tractor beam."

Shaking her head as if bothered by an insect, she doesn't waste time asking why the hell a mere scout ship is equipped with the energy for such powerful tractor beam use. They're Klingons, they don't need a reason to be over-the-top bullies. Nia continues to stare in concern at the seemingly helpless alien vessel. "Is something wrong with their engines? If not, maybe whoever's at the helm's been injured." Or worse than injured... but she doesn't voice that.

Collins concentrates on keeping the sight aimed at the Klingon ship.

Unable to find any trace of another Klingon ship. whether it is there or not, Rangin leaves a subscan running, to alert him in the case that one should decloak, and then turns his focus towards the two ships concentrating on the unusual radiation, and the number of crew on each ship as to whether the Klingons have finally started to board.

"Take us around on the other side, Mr. Onn," Singh says. When the helmswoman does, the Klingon scoutship uses its tractor beam to turn the alien ship to keep it in between. Collins is stymied by the scoutship's move and cannot get a clear shot.

Rangin refines his search and believes the radiation is coming from what appears to be the engineering section of the alien ship. It does not read as dangerous to humanoid life, but is of a type he has never seen before. Klingon lifesigns have dropped by five on the scoutship and increased by the same number on the alien ship. Two alien lifesigns have stopped registering at all.

Roble says, "Sensors are picking up weapons fire on the alien ship - Klingon hand disruptors."

Singh stands and, after a moment, says, "Mr. Onn, assemble a boarding party. Take phaser-2s set on heavy stun. You may use deadly force if there's no other way to help the people of that ship against the Klingons. Beam over immediately."

Nia gets to her feet. "Aye aye, Captain," she says automatically. She suspects strongly she knows why Singh chose her. They need to move the ship in order to get access to the Klingon vessel, and--if Nia's guess was right--either pilot's dead or the Naradraen needs a quick fix. Either one is right in Nia's wheelhouse.

She thinks fast. Security officers first, obviously. And there's one guy who can take out any bullies in a hand-to-hand situation, if it gets to that. Her communicator snaps open as she moves from her seat. "Onn to Rawlings. Grab a phaser-2 and get to Transporter Room 1, we've got a date with some Klingons."

Her eyes catch sight of Collins. Girl looks like she's itching for a fight. Is she ready after whatever that health scare was? Nia remembers their drinks session. Yeah, she's up for it. "Collins, you're up."

Then she hesitates before her next choice. Shit. Shit. I can't be worried about this. Stay professional. He's got the experience, you know that. Focus. "Graham, you too."

Rawlings, Collins, Graham. That's the muscle. Radiation leak... I might be able to fix that if I can get there, but if not, I need someone who might be able to figure out alien tech, especially if it's causing them damage--and preferably someone who thinks out of the box. Nia's gaze shifts to the Science station. Booker's not going to like this, but... "Mr. Rangin, you're with us."

Six are the most they can beam out at one time. So who gets the lucky spot? A doctor, maybe, but Rangin can probably serve in a pinch... She hesitates for a few seconds to mull over.

Kylah watches all this, swiveling and staring at Velir when his name is called. She darts her attention to Lt. Onn and stands up. "Lieutenant," she blurts. "You will need someone who can communicate with them. The UT is not complete and I--I can--" I can sense their emotions, is what she wishes she could say. She also wants to say that she can speak Klingon fluently, but that is definitely off the table. "I can possibly fill in where there are gaps. Please ma'am, I volunteer."

The young ensign's voice stops Nia's racing thoughts. Not a bad idea, but... "You're up to this, Ensign? You've been in and out of sickbay a lot over the past couple weeks. Had a concussion only a few days ago. I'm sure you'd be useful, but..." She stares at the Elasian. "No offense but you look like you're on your last legs. I need everyone with their full wits."

Heart racing, Kylah clutches the edge of her chair. "I am fine, Lieutenant. I am fine. And I know this language better than anyone. I have worked on it all day, almost non-stop!"

"Exactly. You've been working on this for two watches. And you look it. Enthusiasm noted, but--no. End of discussion." She says to the Vulcan healer, "T'Var. We want a sawbones who can fight. Transporter Room 1, with me, if you please." She nods at the Captain and the rest of her team, ignores Kylah completely and rushes to the turbolift. On the way, she surreptitiously pats her chest for the comforting reassurance of her inhaler. No problem.

In the turbolift, she catches the look of disappointment in Kylah's face. Nia remains firm, but she does say: "You are vital here, Ensign. I want you ready to help liaise with these folks if the UT falls short. Got it?" The ensign nods slowly.

That accomplished, Nia promptly forgets everything but strategy. Once everyone is on the turbolift with her, she'll head to grab the weapons and get on board to save the Naradraen and kick some Klingon ass.

Sinking slowly to her chair, Kylah is aghast and embarrassed... and terrified for Velir. She knows he is smart and she is not well-equipped to protect him--even if he were to need protecting. What can she do? She is poor with phasers and her knives are gone.

But it is not just the need to be with Velir while he faces danger. The aliens whose messages she has been focusing on all day... their prayers, their pleas, call out to her. It is as if they have been talking directly to Kylah, waiting for a response. Too, there is her recent attempt to flee the Yorktown. She wants to make up for that, to prove that she is a member of the crew. They all helped save her life even though she was abandoning them, ignoring her duty. Now she cannot even stand with them.

She watches Velir as long as she can. I will pray for you, she thinks, wishing he could hear her. Her eyes scan the whole team. I will pray for you all.

Collins follows Onn to the turbolift. She's ready to run to the weapons locker and then to the transporter room. Klingons. At last. Something familiar. she thinks. She's also somewhat relieved that Onn was chosen to lead this team. I'll watch her and learn. Then, next time I'm up, I'll do better.

Concentrating hard on the sensors, Rangin is surprised to hear his name called for Away team, especially to go head to head with a set of Klingons. Of course it's worse than that as Ens. Graham would also be coming along, and frankly Rangin expects to be shot by him and for it to be called an accident, friendly fire or just that a Klingon did it.

Briefly before he leaves his seat, he dumps the schematics of the Naradraen into a tricorder including info on the radiation. Getting up he confers with Lt. Cmdr. Roble about being kept informed as to where the Klingons were on the ship before heading to the turbolift behind the others.

As he reaches there, he overhears the conversation between Lt Onn and Kylah and can see her desperation to come along, but in some ways the Lt. is right, Kylah is not up to it. Once finished, Rangin briefly steps to her side and asks her quietly and urgently, "Kylah, if there is one thing you could do for us, please let them know we are coming. Would save us more trouble than we can handle and we'll be back sooner rather than later."

He then heads for the turbolift ready to follow whatever orders he needs to and holding a tricorder with some unusual data.

Nia pays close attention to Rangin when he walks over to Kylah, bearing in mind Booker's fears about him. As a result she overhears his quiet request to her.

"Belay that request, Kylah," she says quickly. Her gaze shifts to Singh and then to Rangin. "Sorry. The Klingons are jamming the Naradraen's channel, which means the enemy's almost certainly aware that they were contacting us--and the Klingons are probably listening in on us as well. That means if we send anything, they'll know about it, but the aliens won't. That not only defeats the purpose but telegraphs our arrival.

"But good call on getting the Klingons' position--I wasn't gonna bother with that until we get to the Transporter room, since we want the latest data. Still, it can't hurt to put the word in now." She darts a glance at Roble. "Not sure how close you can monitor all our various lifesigns, but we may need to split up at some point. If possible, send us an inaudible warning if we're within ten meters of a Klingon--say, two quick pulses on our comms." She glances back at her group. "Radio silence is crucial. No alerts or discussions on our communicators unless absolutely necessary. Collins, pass that along to Rawlings, please."

Kylah listens numbly to both Velir and Onn. She is glad the older woman was the one to remind Velir about the signal jamming. Onn's subsequent comment about requesting silence sends another jolt of concern through her--a reminder that it's such a dangerous mission, even communicating with the boarding party could risk their lives.

She turns to Graham and wishes him good luck with her silent stare, and the same to Collins, although she is less sure the latter will take notice of her.

"Aye, sir." Collins acknowledges Onn's orders, although she wonders why the lieutenant is ordering the remaining bridge crew around with the Captain sitting right there.

Collins nods in response to Kylah's stare. Poor kid, she looks so worried.

Dr. T'Var rises from her seat, following Onn. Others soon arrive to take the Bridge posts of those who are leaving, including Leventhal, who is now back at the Helm.

Roble says, "The five Klingons appear to be sticking together, although our scans are somewhat hindered by radiation interference. I'll provide the coordinates to the transporter operator so that you can be beamed in close, but not right on top of them."

"Carry on, Lieutenant," Singh says to Onn. "Mr. Kylah, download all the UT data you have on the alien language into the boarding party's communicators. Further communications should only be through encrypted texts, until Mr. Onn tells us otherwise."

Onn and the others will be able to draw phaser-2s, tricorders and communicators in Transporter Room 1.

Kylah gives a tight nod and, blinking back tears to remain professional, transfers the language transcripts and direct data to the team's communicators as ordered. If she cannot go, she will do whatever she can to contribute and keep both her colleagues and the aliens safe.

Rangin decides that saying little and letting those with more experience get on with it, he can follow along behind. His experience isn't it this area, actually he's not even sure why he is going along saying as Ens. Hayes would probably have been a far better match in talking to any new aliens, so what is Lt. Onn thinking?

He passes on commenting on the fact that the Klingons would know the instant they transported across and weren't going to be shy about informing their own team over an encrypted channel about where they were boarding across to. Of course, that just meant they were gong to be boarding a panicked and troubled ship, that had been under attack, who probably didn't know them from the Klingons, while heavily armed and spoiling for a firefight, without informing the terrified, nervous, and probably trigger happy, crew they were turning up, who were likely to fire on any new group who boarded as a threat...what could possibly go wrong?

Trying to convince himself that this is probably some Security or Command Tactic he had missed while cataloging skullworms on Vecna II, he resigns himself to the fact that if he is going to wind up in the Captain's Chair again, he has a lot to re-learn. But the more he considers it, the more he wonders if another Security member wouldn't be a better fit, but as the others gather he realises that with one Command, three Security and a medic, he was the only Science person there. At least T'Var was eminently sensible when it came down to it.

Rangin will follow the others, picking up the phaser-2 and communicator, but keeping his own tricorder with its data in.

Onn, Collins, Graham, Rangin and Dr. T'Var gather in Transporter Room 1. Lt. JG Mark Ferguson is behind the console, and says to Onn, "I've coordinated with the Bridge, ma'am. They'll drop shields long enough for me to beam you over, then raise them again."

Ens. Terrance Thayer "Two Tons" Rawlings soon arrives to complete the Yorktown boarding party. He seems tense but ready for anything.

Onn confirms that everyone's communicator has been upgraded with the alien language database to function as small UTs.

Collins is ready to jump onto the transporter pads, but she decides to wait for Onn's orders.

Graham has a succession of thoughts, all of which he thinks better of expressing out loud, most of which he's not happy about.

Other than what he concedes is perhaps personal rather than professional concern for her safety, he has no objection to Nia leading an away mission--except that under these circumstances, if he were in the big chair he'd drop a loaded for bear Security team in first to clean up the Klingons, then send one of Starfleet's typical multi-role teams.

He doesn't doubt the effectiveness of such teams in general--but a Klingon boarding party? We don't need a fucking xenobotanist...

Which is the second pisser, given what he's told her, he's shocked Nia picks Rangin... He forces himself to maintain a neutral expression. Even a questioning glance is BS while she's in command of the away team, but damn do I want to ask her what she's thinking...

Graham can at least give Kylah a quick, confident nod and a thumbs up when she glances his way. He suspects she wouldn't fully appreciate an attempt at humor, but it might not even be that many years off for me to joke I've been on beaming into hot LZs since before she was born.

Rawlings seems solid, and he has the sneaking suspicion T'Var is, in the way Vulcans often are, quietly more of a badass than anyone would guess from the Medical uniform.

He chuckles to himself. With Collins and Nia rounding out the team, Rangin's a regular Ens. Dunsail.

In the transporter room he gives Rawlings and then Collins a comradely punch on the shoulder. "Check weapons," he says, starting out addressing his Security colleagues then glancing around to the rest of the group.

"Permission to take point, N- ma'am," he asks Onn, throwing a glance Collins way to acknowledge she's senior Security officer.

In response to the shoulder bump, Collins feigns a gut punch to Graham's midsection. She then nods, indicating she's fine with him taking point.

Nia thanks Ferguson briefly and then takes in the team, pausing just long enough on Booker to know that she has no doubt of what he's thinking regarding the composition of the party. She lifts one finger at his request, telling him tacitly to hold his horses. She then takes a deep breath and stands tall, the usual humor in her gaze replaced by a glint of anger and resolve.

"Okay guys. This isn't the time for a long debate, but I want strategy suggestions from each of you. I also want to tell you why I think you were the right choice for this mission.

"The security makeup is pretty obvious." She looks at Rawlings. "Double-T, you know you're here because I know you, I trust you, and I frankly pity the Klingon who tries to go up against you in hand-to-hand combat.

"Collins. You got your crew to safety, to the best of your ability, back on that Sakathian zombie-laden station. I want that same kind of gutsy fighting on this team to help the aliens out of this mess.

"Graham." Nia moistens her lips slightly before continuing. "Strategy. Toughness. Experience. Resilience under extraordinary pressure. And an absolute resolve to take care of your allies." She stresses the last word, hoping he knows that she doesn't really think he'd frag Rangin, but also that she expects him to not give the guy any guff.

"T'Var, obviously we want a skilled doctor with a cool head and an excellent trigger finger. These aliens may be hurt. We may get hurt. Your job is... well, hell, you're like 75 years older than I am, of course you know what your job is."

She turns to Rangin, who seems cool but somewhat... ambivalent? He probably didn't like her second-guessing his recommendation to Kylah. He'll have to get over that. "Rangin, you seem to be the odd man out. But you're a xenobiologist, you might be able to figure things out about these aliens' systems that could help T'Var, especially given the radiation. You're also here because I saw exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking you're capable of when you searched for Ensign Kylah, not to mention her attackers. I also know you were the one to take down that psycho Palver guy. There's a radiation leak and you're an expert with sensors. I want someone who thinks in a... well, an alien way. I think that's you."

Nia takes another inhale. "And if you're all wondering just what the hell I'm doing here instead of Vargas or another security officer. I can't read Singh's mind, but I've known her for longer than the rest of you, and I can guess what she's thinking. The Naradraen hasn't moved since we got in visual range, despite being fired upon; they're not even trying to get out from the tractor beam of a ship that's its equal in size. I think it's dead in space, and that means either the pilot's incapacitated or dead, or the engines are shot.

"The Yorktown needs a clear shot at that Klingon ship, and as we saw, they're gonna keep playing hide and seek with us until the Naradraen gets moved. I'm a pilot first and foremost and I can fly just about any ship that's thrown at me, alien or not. And I'm a solid engineer as well. I don't know half of what you Security folks or Science folks know, but I'm damn quick to learn, and I take advice well. I'm good with a phaser, not so much at hand-to-hand. If I lose my phaser I'm probably dead meat. And that's my problem. Your jobs are to save the Naradraen and keep yourselves safe. I'm the last person to worry about, okay?" She flicks her gaze at Booker and Double-T for emphasis.

"Okay. Now you know my strengths and weaknesses, you can bitch about it later to Singh or Vargas. As of now, I want strategy suggestions from each of you. Graham's got one, he's on point. Any other recommendations, I want to hear one from each. Time's wasting: go."

"Securing the Naradraen, and getting its crew to safety should be the primary goal." Collins is trying to think of the bigger picture, rather than going with her gut desire to shoot all the Klingons and sort out the mess later.

Graham smoothly switches to parade rest at Nia's look and gesture, holding that pose - although flexing each leg in turn slightly - while she gives her briefing.

Graham has to resist nodding approvingly - she's got the role of mission leader down pat. Right or wrong, you have to be the one to make choices and enable your team to gain the initiative.

He does glance sideways at Rawlings just for a moment after she states that she's last person the team should worry about. "Losing your officers" has been bad mojo (and not losing them has been a point of pride) for not just in Starfleet but in military tradition for hundreds of years.