Playing with our Torpedos

Posted on Tue Dec 11th, 2018 @ 1:49am by Lieutenant Zoe Cayce & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson

1,030 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Klingons on Starboard Bow
Location: Security offices
Timeline: 2261.189 2145

Bec walked into the security hub, coffee in hand, and smiled. She missed this place, well, not this particular security hub, but the space in general. She allowed herself a moment to look around, watch the security officers doing their duty before she went into the task at hand. "Alright Hawk, lets get to work," she said, approaching the man at the desk, noting he wasn't who she expected to see and narrowing her eyes slightly.

The young man, whose name was Lionel looked at the XO in surprise, and then turned toward the Security Chief who, as luck would have it, happened to be exiting her office at just that moment. And it actually was fortuitous happenstance though, in fairness, she wasn't above orchestrating such moments when she felt the need. "Its alright, Lionel," she said in a husky alto that carried with it the lilt of her native tongue and betrayed the fact that she had learned Federation Standard as a second language. "I've got this." Lean with long, straight hair just a shade short of true black, Zoe waited until Lionel had shot her a confused look and scurried off, before turning toward the Commander. "Everything's ready," she said as she indicated a nearby display.

"Great," Bec smiled at Cayce, wondering why she'd thought her name was Hawk, and moved to the display. "So, how are we going to do this. It needs to detonate to look for the ship, but not damage them and potentially send a station destroying energy beam right at us..."

"Bit of a game, isn't it," Zoe said, frowning at the display. "Just not the fun kind. Their actions trigger the tetryon particles that we can track. As long as they are not moving, they are hidden from us ... and I am certain they are well aware of that fact. So. Two possibilities spring to mind. I have extrapolated a search area. Now, I can configure the torpedo, with a minimum payload to 'seek' tetryon particles which, if we get lucky and they think its heading for them, will cause them to react ... And ... I can back that up with a series of low-yield torpedoes spread out like ... a ... a ... oh, what's that name ... mine field! That's it. Like a mine field. If the ship moves, it triggers another one and we see what direction they are headed.

"Ooh, I like the idea of a mine field," Bec grinned. "Good thinking," she said as she rubbed her hands together. "It shouldn't be too hard to configure the torpedoes. We should do this," she gestured to Zoe as if to indicate her idea, "and configure a few more that we don't send out right away. Save them in case we need to change direction." She looked down at the display. "And if this works, we should suggest sending word to K7 to employ a similar tactic, that way they can see where and when this unknown ship pops up in their sector."

"Hopefully, this will help at least long enough for us to figure out a better, more permanent solution," Zoe said as she leaned one hip against the counter, frowning down at the figures. "Operating under the theory that ships don't have unlimited power and that our mystery guest needs their power for one action or the other, but not both at the same time, then once we get a fix on them, we might be able to do some damage to their weapons systems. At least I'd like to ... "

"You and me both," Bec muttered, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest. "I'd love to be back in security right now. And get the chance to go over to that ship and punch their captain..." She grinned at Zoe. "Alright, so let's work on reconfiguring those torpedoes first. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can start searching for them and work on getting to punch them where it hurts."

"Punching," Zoe said as she slid into a seat and made some adjustments to the configuration profile then transferred the data to a PADD. "Punching is good ... direct, satisfying ... you know, I like the way you think, Commander. The rest is hands on; shouldn't be more than a few hours work altogether for all of them. How about we do the first one together? Get it right and then we can work separately for the remainder ..."

"There's something cathartic about physically punching someone or something," Bec smiled. "And yes, we can do that one. Many hands make light work, or so I've been told."

"Onward to the torpedoes then," Zoe said and as they started walking, she added, "Punching, huh? I've always preferred kicking. More power."

"Kicking is good too," Bec nodded. "But punching just feels good to me," she chuckled and shook her head, following Zoe to the torpedo bay. "I feel the ripple of a good punch down my arm better than I feel the ripple of a good kick through my leg." She gave a shrug and contemplative look. "But then, maybe I'm not kicking properly. Never know. I could use more practice either way."

"Never enough practice," Zoe said over her shoulder, waggling her eyebrows slightly, as they entered the torpedo bay. She walked with a sort of graceful confidence and stopped at the first torpedo; squatting down beside it, she spread out the tool kit she was carrying and motioned for the commander to join her. Together, they worked out the necessary adjustments according to the data she had recorded on the PADD. Finally, with one last adjustment, she nodded in satisfaction. "That should do it," she said.

Grinning at the comment about practice, Bec chuckled. When they reached the torpedo, she followed Zoe's lead on the adjustments, making suggestions here and there about different tweaks or adjustments. "Alright, lets get to work on the rest of them," she said gathering her tools before standing up.

"See one, do one," Zoe murmured as she motioned for two security officers to approach, one followed the Commander while the other followed her. "Watch closely," she murmured. "We need to get this right."

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