Season 1, Mission 04: Lurking Beneath

[Lance Krol]

"Aye sir." Octavius responded. He quickly made his way to the turbolift, he leaned out as a thought occured to him. "Masters sir, check the transmission logs if I remembering he problem from earlier it might be put to recrod in there. Without waiting for a response he stepped back and the doors slid shut. "Engineering." "Alright! Time to show Masters what a real security officer can do." he thought to himself excitedly.

=/\=Octavius to Krol, I know you're busy but it seems that everything is appearing just too perfectly. I'm coming down to check on the sensor array. Mind giving me a hand?

Krol got up and looked at his commbadge, as well as he was able to look at something pinned flat to his chest. He tapped it slowly.

=/\=Krol to Mirwald=/\=

I was thinking the same thing, petty officer. Come down and I'll show you what I've found.

=/\=Krol out=/\=

He turned back to the console, and looked at the blind spot. The sensor domes in the ship didn't cover a point directly behind the warp nacelles, but to hide a ship in that blind spot you would need to be so far away you'd be outside sensor range anyway. Still, something didn't feel right...

[OctalLord]

Krol got up and looked at his commbadge, as well as he was able to look at something pinned flat to his chest. He tapped it slowly.

=/\=Krol to Mirwald=/\=

I was thinking the same thing, petty officer. Come down and I'll show you what I've found.

=/\=Krol out=/\=

He turned back to the console, and looked at the blind spot. The sensor domes in the ship didn't cover a point directly behind the warp nacelles, but to hide a ship in that blind spot you would need to be so far away you'd be outside sensor range anyway. Still, something didn't feel right...

Moments later he arrived in engineering. As the door opened he consulted a passerby crewman as to Krols location and to assertain a specific itemn. He wasn't too far away.

"Mirwald reporting Krol." He said as he walked towards the Ensign. A bright smile on his face. "I brought this, figured I could take a wack at the problem." He brandished a large metal wrench in front of him.

[ThomasRiker]

While he was notifying the Captain he noticed the turbo lift doors open, revealing Lt. Thompson, he has seen his image when studying the mission reports and crew manifests. Tobias could barely contain his joy at the prospect of having someone else to deal with the Chief Petty Officer, though he couldn't help feeling disappointed that he had lost just as quickly as he had gained the Chief of Security role.

"Would you like to take your post sir?" Tobias asked the Lt. sensing his indecision.

Tobias nearly gasped as he realized that the Captain had given him and order while he was so focused on making sure his log was worded right, but it only took him a quick moment to collect himself. He pushed a few buttons transmitting the requested message and received the necessary confirmations. "All ships have confirmed sir, one is having a small problems with the navigational system but are correcting now"

Reece leaned over the station and glanced at the picture. They were right, everyone was exactly where they should be.

"That's a first." He said looking up at Masters. "Did you threaten them if they got out of line."

He looked closely at the display, something was off with it. He reached his fingers over the console, swatting Master's and Mirwalds away, "If we just..."

He began muttering to himself as he tapped away. Using the console upside down was a pain.

He diverted some power to the resolution settings and widened the search parameters.

"Damnit...." He whispered. "Mirwald, can you head down to Engineering, work with Mr Krol to enhance the sensors. Or just run a diagnostic on them. Something is up."

Tobias began to look perplexed. He looked to the Chief of Security not sure how to put it, so he just put it as plainly as possible. "Sir, a moment ago when i contacted the ships in the formation, one reported as being slightly behind, but the sensor indicate that all ships are exactly in place. Even if the ship managed to take care of the problem in record speed, they should still be slightly off from what the computer indicates." Tobias said. He began running a diagnostic on the panel to insure that his readings were correct.

[Kale Bridges]

Tobias began to look perplexed. He looked to the Chief of Security not sure how to put it, so he just put it as plainly as possible. "Sir, a moment ago when i contacted the ships in the formation, one reported as being slightly behind, but the sensor indicate that all ships are exactly in place. Even if the ship managed to take care of the problem in record speed, they should still be slightly off from what the computer indicates." Tobias said. He began running a diagnostic on the panel to insure that his readings were correct.

Reece walked around to behind the console so everything was easier.

He looked at the readings. Made more sense the right way up.

"Tobias, contact that ship again, ask if they're in exactly the right position. I have a feeling that we're being sent false readings."

He stared at the sensors. There was no other way to describe it than too perfect. Even the Borg would've been confused. He looked up, tempted to inform the Captain.
---"Not yet."--- He thought to himself. ---"Wait until you have something concrete."---

[Lance Krol]

Moments later he arrived in engineering. As the door opened he consulted a passerby crewman as to Krols location and to assertain a specific itemn. He wasn't too far away.

"Mirwald reporting Krol." He said as he walked towards the Ensign. A bright smile on his face. "I brought this, figured I could take a wack at the problem." He brandished a large metal wrench in front of him.

Krol turned around and grinned when he saw the wrench. He had no idea how the petty officer had gotten such a thing, but it was probably punishable.

"Yeah, feel free to smash one of our glass-top keyboards, or maybe a holographic display or two," he joked as he turned towards his console again and called up his report on the sensors one more time.

"As you can see, we have two minor blind spots behind our warp nacelles. Mostly, this is because the warp nacelles get so incredibly hot sensors would just melt. In any case, it's a blind spot, and it's not big enough to hide a ship in it may be if you're hiding just on the edge of sensor range. I've been getting standard debris reports from that area, but they're following a pattern, much like someone following our warp trail as best as they can but just slipping."

He turned to Mirwald, "Am I being paranoid, or does that seem suspicious to you?"

[cortez]

Cortez was leaning over the helm console, taking a few moments to double check the Churchill's course and heading. After he was satisfied everything was in order, he left for his ready room to begin looking into that pirate starbase Starfleet had refused to investigate.

"You have the bridge, Lieutenant Thompson"

[ThomasRiker]

Reece walked around to behind the console so everything was easier.

He looked at the readings. Made more sense the right way up.

"Tobias, contact that ship again, ask if they're in exactly the right position. I have a feeling that we're being sent false readings."

He stared at the sensors. There was no other way to describe it than too perfect. Even the Borg would've been confused. He looked up, tempted to inform the Captain.
---"Not yet."--- He thought to himself. ---"Wait until you have something concrete."---

Tobias could literally feel his superior's feelings of suspicion and concern, and his own matching feelings were growing. Tobias hoped that what the Chief was doing down in engineering would help matters, he hoped that what ever was going on was only a problem with their ship, not something outside of their control; he hasn't even fully settled in, does something else really need to go wrong here? He sent out  transmission to the ship that should be out of place.

"USS Churchill to Federation ship occupying position Gamma. please confirm coordinates." Tobias said, using a vocal message this time.

When a reply came, Tobias scowled. "Lt., they want to speak to my superior. They feel I am being over zealous and they don't like an Ensign "bothering" them when they are dealing with a jury rigged system at the moment" Tobias said, hiding his annoyance in being downplayed. He offered Lt. Reece the ear piece, but also prepared the control to put it on screen in the event that was what Reece asked.

[OctalLord]

Krol turned around and grinned when he saw the wrench. He had no idea how the petty officer had gotten such a thing, but it was probably punishable.

"Yeah, feel free to smash one of our glass-top keyboards, or maybe a holographic display or two," he joked as he turned towards his console again and called up his report on the sensors one more time.

"As you can see, we have two minor blind spots behind our warp nacelles. Mostly, this is because the warp nacelles get so incredibly hot sensors would just melt. In any case, it's a blind spot, and it's not big enough to hide a ship in it may be if you're hiding just on the edge of sensor range. I've been getting standard debris reports from that area, but they're following a pattern, much like someone following our warp trail as best as they can but just slipping."

He turned to Mirwald, "Am I being paranoid, or does that seem suspicious to you?"

He put the wrench down, leaning it against a nearby platform as he took a look a the sensor report.  "No you're paranoid. But I am too so I think you're right." leaning forward he felt the gears in his head turning. "I don't know if you've noticed the nearly perfect pattern that we're reading the others following, if you can tell me how that's possible I'd love to know."

He held up one hand with two fingers outstretched, pointing at the nacelles. "I've been in a intrepid class ship before. Those come with variable Nacelle technology, so do you think we could move those in warp to clear out some space for the sensor to see better?" He looked at Krol. "Sure we'd have to mess with the array to get it pointed the right way. But "Aut viam inveniam aut faciam" right?"

[Lance Krol]

He put the wrench down, leaning it against a nearby platform as he took a look a the sensor report.  "No you're paranoid. But I am too so I think you're right." leaning forward he felt the gears in his head turning. "I don't know if you've noticed the nearly perfect pattern that we're reading the others following, if you can tell me how that's possible I'd love to know."

He held up one hand with two fingers outstretched, pointing at the nacelles. "I've been in a intrepid class ship before. Those come with variable Nacelle technology, so do you think we could move those in warp to clear out some space for the sensor to see better?" He looked at Krol. "Sure we'd have to mess with the array to get it pointed the right way. But "Aut viam inveniam aut faciam" right?"

Latin; Cute. Krol resisted scratching his head as he tried to work out what it meant, then gave up.
"...right. Anyway, the pattern thing. I don't think that we could hold such a perfect formation, given that they are civilian ships with civilian engines and civilian pilots. There's a chance that they're all ace pilots or they've gotten hold of a military-grade coordination computer, but I doubt it. In short, I smell a rat," Krol explained as he ran through the ship's systems to look for any way to move the nacelles. He'd never heard of them being moved, much less midwarp.
"I doubt we can move the nacelles, but they'll move by themselves once we come out of warp. Then again, if we are being followed that's when they'll attack."

He turned to Octavius again. "Any ideas?"

[Kale Bridges]

Cortez was leaning over the helm console, taking a few moments to double check the Churchill's course and heading. After he was satisfied everything was in order, he left for his ready room to begin looking into that pirate starbase Starfleet had refused to investigate.

"You have the bridge, Lieutenant Thompson"

Reece looked up from the console for a few seconds. "Aye sir."

He waited until he entered the ready room then looked at Masters, "I love those words."

Tobias could literally feel his superior's feelings of suspicion and concern, and his own matching feelings were growing. Tobias hoped that what the Chief was doing down in engineering would help matters, he hoped that what ever was going on was only a problem with their ship, not something outside of their control; he hasn't even fully settled in, does something else really need to go wrong here? He sent out  transmission to the ship that should be out of place.

"USS Churchill to Federation ship occupying position Gamma. please confirm coordinates." Tobias said, using a vocal message this time.

When a reply came, Tobias scowled. "Lt., they want to speak to my superior. They feel I am being over zealous and they don't like an Ensign "bothering" them when they are dealing with a jury rigged system at the moment" Tobias said, hiding his annoyance in being downplayed. He offered Lt. Reece the ear piece, but also prepared the control to put it on screen in the event that was what Reece asked.

Reece took the earpiece and placed it on the console, bringing the conversation up on the small tactical screen.

"I hate the feeling of those things."

He looked around at the screen, "This is Lieutenant Thompson of the USS Churchill."

A human female appeared on the screen. "Your ensign has done nothing but pester us! He...."

"I don't care." Reece interrupted. "He was following my orders. Now just answer the darned question. Are you in exactly the right position."

The woman looked very taken aback. "No, of course not. Our computer is flying, there's going to be variations."

Reece glanced at Masters. "That was all we needed. Thanks." He closed the communication.

Thompson to Krol. We're either being sent false readings or you've broken my sensor array somehow. There's a bottle synthahol in it for you if you solve our problem in less than an hour. Solve it, not find it. He jabbed.

"Masters. Prepare a type 2 sensor probe. Launch it on my signal." He said leaving the console and sitting in the "big" chair.

"Mr Cadenza, report."

[ThomasRiker]

Reece looked up from the console for a few seconds. "Aye sir."

He waited until he entered the ready room then looked at Masters, "I love those words."

Reece took the earpiece and placed it on the console, bringing the conversation up on the small tactical screen.

"I hate the feeling of those things."

He looked around at the screen, "This is Lieutenant Thompson of the USS Churchill."

A human female appeared on the screen. "Your ensign has done nothing but pester us! He...."

"I don't care." Reece interrupted. "He was following my orders. Now just answer the darned question. Are you in exactly the right position."

The woman looked very taken aback. "No, of course not. Our computer is flying, there's going to be variations."

Reece glanced at Masters. "That was all we needed. Thanks." He closed the communication.

Thompson to Krol. We're either being sent false readings or you've broken my sensor array somehow. There's a bottle synthahol in it for you if you solve our problem in less than an hour. Solve it, not find it. He jabbed.

"Masters. Prepare a type 2 sensor probe. Launch it on my signal." He said leaving the console and sitting in the "big" chair.

"Mr Cadenza, report."

Tobias was glad that his superior had been standing next to him, and while he wouldn't admit it to anyone else, he was glad that he was involved with identifying that a problem arose. Now he just hoped that Chief Mirwald and Engineering could solve it. The computer was still running the diagnostic he had started, and unfortunately he couldn't poster engineering to get it going faster, so he had to wait. He began the preparation for the probe Lt. Thompson wanted. "Probe is preped and ready for launch sir" He called out to Lt. Thompson now sitting in the Captain's Chair.

Tobias also drafted a brief text to Engineering and CCed Chief Mirwald detailing the situation with the sensors and the actual placement of the ship. He didn't know if it would help, but he figured Mirwald needed to know, but they could figure that out. the added to the text to let him know if he needed to do anything from the bridge control.

[OctalLord]

Thompson to Krol. We're either being sent false readings or you've broken my sensor array somehow. There's a bottle synthahol in it for you if you solve our problem in less than an hour. Solve it, not find it. He jabbed.

"My first being that we step it up a notch." He said to Krol in response to his question. "I have no doubt you've kept the array working fine. So it must be we're getting the false readings."

Krols console beeped and switched to a screen showing the new details they should have been getting. "Well I've got a couple, one more drastic than the other. The first idea is to see if we can expand the arrays range near the ship that should be lagging behind and see if they've got a hitchhiker hiding in the blind spot. The other is that we send out some of our own false readings and see if we get a response out of that. Albiet depending on the systemns the others in the convoy have that could cause a catastropic formation loss."

[Taras Cadenza]

Reece looked up from the console for a few seconds. "Aye sir."

He waited until he entered the ready room then looked at Masters, "I love those words."

Reece took the earpiece and placed it on the console, bringing the conversation up on the small tactical screen.

"I hate the feeling of those things."

He looked around at the screen, "This is Lieutenant Thompson of the USS Churchill."

A human female appeared on the screen. "Your ensign has done nothing but pester us! He...."

"I don't care." Reece interrupted. "He was following my orders. Now just answer the darned question. Are you in exactly the right position."

The woman looked very taken aback. "No, of course not. Our computer is flying, there's going to be variations."

Reece glanced at Masters. "That was all we needed. Thanks." He closed the communication.

Thompson to Krol. We're either being sent false readings or you've broken my sensor array somehow. There's a bottle synthahol in it for you if you solve our problem in less than an hour. Solve it, not find it. He jabbed.

"Masters. Prepare a type 2 sensor probe. Launch it on my signal." He said leaving the console and sitting in the "big" chair.

"Mr Cadenza, report."

Taras stared at the helm, his eyebrows furrowed. He turned back to the viewer, then back to the helm. Perfect formation... that's impossible, surely. I mean... you can't get it to the centimetre... That's impossible...

"Mr. Cadenza, report." commanded the newly-arrived Lieutenant Thompson. In response, Taras cleared his throat.

"Well, our position is stable, no real problem there, warp drive, both nacelles are functioning at optimum efficency... there is nothing wrong at my end, sir." replied Taras, a concerned look on his face. "That's the thing. Our position is just... stable. And yet, theirs is..."

Taras trailed off as he thought to himself. Several ideas flashed into his head at once.

Hmm... I wonder.

[Lance Krol]

"My first being that we step it up a notch." He said to Krol in response to his question. "I have no doubt you've kept the array working fine. So it must be we're getting the false readings."

Krols console beeped and switched to a screen showing the new details they should have been getting. "Well I've got a couple, one more drastic than the other. The first idea is to see if we can expand the arrays range near the ship that should be lagging behind and see if they've got a hitchhiker hiding in the blind spot. The other is that we send out some of our own false readings and see if we get a response out of that. Albiet depending on the systemns the others in the convoy have that could cause a catastropic formation loss."

"As an engineer, let me promise you I have no intention of trying to solve a problem by causing a problem. We're not going to even attempt anything that might cause a break in formation.

As for the sensor relay, you can't just apply more power to sensors like you can to shields. They're limited and they don't change. I-"

Suddenly, an idea struck him.

He hit his commbadge.

=/\=Krol to Cadenza=/\=

Excuse me, Flight Officer. Is it possible if we could quickly flip around and fly in the other direction, just for thirty seconds? We won't have the option of warning the other ships.

=/\=Krol Over=/\=

[Kale Bridges]

"As an engineer, let me promise you I have no intention of trying to solve a problem by causing a problem. We're not going to even attempt anything that might cause a break in formation.

As for the sensor relay, you can't just apply more power to sensors like you can to shields. They're limited and they don't change. I-"

Suddenly, an idea struck him.

He hit his commbadge.

=/\=Krol to Cadenza=/\=

Excuse me, Flight Officer. Is it possible if we could quickly flip around and fly in the other direction, just for thirty seconds? We won't have the option of warning the other ships.

=/\=Krol Over=/\=

Reece listened in.

That could work.

Actually Mr Krol, we do. Encrypt the transmission and send it on a narrow band frequency.

He got up from the Chair. However, I don't want to slow this convoy down. I have a type 2 sensor probe ready. We'll send you the results as we receive them. If that doesn't work, we'll do it your way.

"Launch the probe." Reece said.

---"Intrepids can't pull a Crazy Ivan. So they'd see us turn. We need to remove that advantage...."--- He thought to himself.