S2 M2: "Pursuit of Yesterday"

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

Julia made her way to the back of the bridge as she listened closely to her officers. "The only problem is that our ship is even less maneuverable in a sub orbital environment." She added to the conversation as she approached the station. She looked more closely as K'Lizhs scans and worked to delve further into the chroniton readings he had picked up. Chronitons were a tell tale sign of time travel. "I'm measuring the chroniton particles now. See if i can figure out whats going on here."

As she reviewed the scans her results seemed to defy logic she continued to check and recheck as a look of concern crept onto her face. "If my calculations are right, and for once I hope they aren't, these fighters are Dominion War era. That would explain why they fired on us without communication. K'Lizh, can you confirm?" Julia asked hoping he would find a flaw in her math.

[Bridge]

Ian smiled as piloting was a topic he could talk about for hours.

"True enough Ma'am, but half of doin' anything is knowin' you can. I'd bet all the shore leave I have saved up that these Jem'hadar boogits know nothing of Max Immelman, Jimmy Thatch, or Francis Gabreski. They want ta dog fight in an atmosphere, I'll give them a bloody dog fight in an atmosphere."

Ian paused as he listened to the chroniton report.

"I guess the bigger question is, what is causing the chronitons and are these two all there will be, or have we got us a cross time rift that will cause Temporal Intelligence ta have kittens?"

[Klizh]

[Bridge]

Julia made her way to the back of the bridge as she listened closely to her officers. "The only problem is that our ship is even less maneuverable in a sub orbital environment." She added to the conversation as she approached the station. She looked more closely as K'Lizhs scans and worked to delve further into the chroniton readings he had picked up. Chronitons were a tell tale sign of time travel. "I'm measuring the chroniton particles now. See if i can figure out whats going on here."

As she reviewed the scans her results seemed to defy logic she continued to check and recheck as a look of concern crept onto her face. "If my calculations are right, and for once I hope they aren't, these fighters are Dominion War era. That would explain why they fired on us without communication. K'Lizh, can you confirm?" Julia asked hoping he would find a flaw in her math.

K'lizh curled his whiskers as brought up Rellek's calculations and tried to make sense of them. "As near as I can tell, Captain, the math looks right, but I didn't study temporal theory in the Academy so I'm not familiar with some of these formulas." Perhaps it would be wise to study up on temporal theory once they were past this, but K'lizh hoped to stay firmly rooted to his own place in space-time and hoped the continuum would do him the courtesy of returning the favor.

He whipped his head around to the pilot sitting on his right. "I thought half of doing something was not knowing you couldn't do it," he retorted.

[Nicholas Mortier]

[Main Engineering]

"Very good," James said. Before turning to Ensign Mikaelson to adress him. "Take your team and inspect the torpedo tube. Work with the engineers," James ordered emphasising with. As a form Tactical officer he knew that somtimes they could get a bit...overzealous at times. He then turned to Ensign V'kee, "Ensign, if you could accompany Mr. Mikaelson and his men to help from the Engineering side that would be good," he said, "Unless Leftenant Mortier has any objections?" James asked turning once more to the older engineer. "I want that torpedo tube cleared and ready to fire as soon as possible."

"Seems reasonable to me," the aging Engineer answered, "I'll try to draw some more power to SI and Phasers."
He made his way back to his console, and drew up a large diagram of the ship's EPS system.
"We can probably take some from the warp engines and replicators. That'd give them a nice boost," he muttered, half to himself.

[Ian Galloway]

K'lizh curled his whiskers as brought up Rellek's calculations and tried to make sense of them. "As near as I can tell, Captain, the math looks right, but I didn't study temporal theory in the Academy so I'm not familiar with some of these formulas." Perhaps it would be wise to study up on temporal theory once they were past this, but K'lizh hoped to stay firmly rooted to his own place in space-time and hoped the continuum would do him the courtesy of returning the favor.

He whipped his head around to the pilot sitting on his right. "I thought half of doing something was not knowing you couldn't do it," he retorted.

[Bridge]

Ian shrugged as he replied.

"I can't speak ta how things evolved on Cait, but on Earth, it was always easier ta duplicate summat once someone figured our how ta do it in the first place. As fer learnin' The hard way, a crazy idea stops bein' crazy as soon as it works."

Shrugging, Ian returned to waiting, something he hated to especially when there was flying to do. With nothing else to do, he thought about the temporal aspect of what was going on and frowned.

"If there are Jem'hadar from the war time here, that means there is almost certainly a Vorta, so the real question is, is there also a Founder here as well. Last thing we need is one of them trying to change the outcome of the war."

[Kintiss]

Isabella shook her head as the power went out. "I'm honestly not entirely sure what I expected out of my first day, but it certainly wasn't this." She laughed slightly scratching her head. "I'm Doctor Isabella Waters. People call me pretty much any variation of Isabella though, Issy, Issa, Bell, Bella..." Her voice trailed off f or a moment before she got back to the point of what she was trying. "As you guessed, I'm the new counselor on the ship. I came down to both introduce myself and offer help if you needed it, but full disclosure, I have very limited medical training outside of psychology. But I'll do whatever I can to lighten your load."

[Sickbay]

"Well, it'sss good to meet you anyhow. I'm Lt. Dr. Kintissss, the chief medical officer," Kintiss replied. "Under better circumssstancesss, I'd be taking care of your orientation, but given the sssstate we're in at the moment, that'll have to wait." Even if she didn't have complete medical training, Kintiss could always use a hand.

"We're sssstuck like thissss until engineering ssssendsss a team up, sssso I sssuggessst we ssstart passssing out the SSSSIMSSSS beaconsssss." Even with the power out, tricorders and hyposprays were still working, and he'd be damned if he and his team were forced to work in the dark.

[Solluk]

[Main Shuttlebay]

After getting the message that Jem Hadar fighters were opposing the Tempest, Solluk  requested an ordinance change for the Tigris.   He had a feeling that if he was ordered to launch, it wouldn't be on a diplomatic mission.  Fortunately, the Danube class were designed to be quickly reconfigurable.

As much as Solluk wanted to go out and help with the hot-swap module changes, he knew that the ground crew would be able to complete the task more efficiently without him getting in the way.  They had drilled for hot-swaps a hundred times before.  He would be able to launch at any point before the module was brought in, except for 5 minutes during which the physical connections were made.

Those 5 minutes were always the most harrowing.  He was on standby to launch at a moment's notice, but if that moment came during the critical juncture when the physical connection was made, he'd be trapped and useless at exactly the point when the ship needed him most.

Fortunately, though it seemed to last forever, the moment passed without incident.  Once the ground crew gave him the go-signal, he began the tests that would check the connection with the 'roll-bar' weapons module and the function of the embedded components.

EPS Connections.  Check.  ODN Connections.  Check.  SIF Function.  Check.   Loader cycling.  Check.  Prefire capacitors.  Check.  Green responses down the line.  The additional weapons hardpoints were ready to go.  He was now loaded with the highest-yield torpedoes the Tigris could carry.  The runabout was as close to a match for a Jem Hadar fighter as it would ever be.

Then came the second most frustrating part of readiness.  A 'game' every combat pilot inevitably learned how to play.  It had been first explained to him when he'd trained at the Academy on Mars.  He hadn't understood the phrase at the time, but he had come to know it well since then.  Security officers often played the same game when they were on standby for an operation.

'Hurry Up and Wait.'

Of course, he should be earnestly hoping that he would wait in vain.  That would be the logically preferable outcome.  No launch.  No fighting.  No death.

But he could not deny the craving inside.  The desire for his preparation to be transformed into action.  Even though that action would necessarily mean lives were risked, there was a part of him that was never satisfied with mere potential energy.  If his energy didn't become kinetic, then he felt an emotional disappointment.

'Emotional Disappointment.'  Two words that should be alien to him.

Well... Starfleet was about boldly encountering alien life, right?

Even if that life was you.

[Klizh]

[Bridge]

Ian shrugged as he replied.

"I can't speak ta how things evolved on Cait, but on Earth, it was always easier ta duplicate summat once someone figured our how ta do it in the first place. As fer learnin' The hard way, a crazy idea stops bein' crazy as soon as it works."

Shrugging, Ian returned to waiting, something he hated to especially when there was flying to do. With nothing else to do, he thought about the temporal aspect of what was going on and frowned.

"If there are Jem'hadar from the war time here, that means there is almost certainly a Vorta, so the real question is, is there also a Founder here as well. Last thing we need is one of them trying to change the outcome of the war."

"I'll take your word for it," K'lizh said. "You humans are the masters of crazy ideas." Indeed, they had developed a reputation for doing things and taking risks other species wouldn't do or take. And yet, somehow they almost always worked.

"I wonder," he spoke up just loud enough for the rest of the bridge to hear, "If these Jem'hadar are from the days of the war, will that make us retroactive Dominion War veterans?"

[Ian Galloway]

"I'll take your word for it," K'lizh said. "You humans are the masters of crazy ideas." Indeed, they had developed a reputation for doing things and taking risks other species wouldn't do or take. And yet, somehow they almost always worked.

"I wonder," he spoke up just loud enough for the rest of the bridge to hear, "If these Jem'hadar are from the days of the war, will that make us retroactive Dominion War veterans?"

[Bridge]

Ian shrugged expansively as he laughed.

"All species have their talents and I guess ours is 'never give up and never quite think things through.' Ian's brow crinkled as he thought about Klizh's second statement. "Temporal mechanics makes my head hurt. All this has and hasn't happened yet stuff is not for me. Next bloody thing you will say is that I fought the Borg before Wolf 359 occurred."

[Jada]

Bridge

Checking her own scans, Jada noted 'Ship silhouettes and weapons and engine signatures confirm these are 2370s-era fighters. But I wouldn't rule out old ship classes still in service on the fringes of the Dominion, probably with bored Jem'Hadar looking for a fight... We've only got the chronitons to indicate a temporal displacement, and they're also produced by cloaking devices.' She mainly wanted to provide a mundane alternative, before they all leapt to the unlikelihood of time travel.

'I think we have the upper hand here. I'd suggest we capture them, but Jem'Hadar fighters are reported to be immune to tractor beam locks.'

[Isabella Waters]

[Sickbay]

"Well, it'sss good to meet you anyhow. I'm Lt. Dr. Kintissss, the chief medical officer," Kintiss replied. "Under better circumssstancesss, I'd be taking care of your orientation, but given the sssstate we're in at the moment, that'll have to wait." Even if she didn't have complete medical training, Kintiss could always use a hand.

"We're sssstuck like thissss until engineering ssssendsss a team up, sssso I sssuggessst we ssstart passssing out the SSSSIMSSSS beaconsssss." Even with the power out, tricorders and hyposprays were still working, and he'd be damned if he and his team were forced to work in the dark.

[Sickbay]

Isabella nodded still frozen in place for a moment. "Beacons...r-right I can do beacons." She replied springing to action and grabbed as many beacons as she could. As she began to pass them out she turned to look back to Kintiss again. "So, I would assume most days aren't like this right?" Her tone was light and almost joking. Her step was springy and quick, in no time she's passed out all of the beacons she'd grabbed and went back to get more.

[Julia Rellek]

K'lizh curled his whiskers as brought up Rellek's calculations and tried to make sense of them. "As near as I can tell, Captain, the math looks right, but I didn't study temporal theory in the Academy so I'm not familiar with some of these formulas." Perhaps it would be wise to study up on temporal theory once they were past this, but K'lizh hoped to stay firmly rooted to his own place in space-time and hoped the continuum would do him the courtesy of returning the favor.

He whipped his head around to the pilot sitting on his right. "I thought half of doing something was not knowing you couldn't do it," he retorted.

[Bridge]

"Thank you Commander." She said as she moved back to her seat. "Looks like you might get to show us some more of those fancy flying skills, Ian." Looking behind her she turned to address the tactical situation. "Given what we know about these people I highly doubt they will back down or listen to reason. They are soldiers who fight to the death. If they are from the dominion era... we are the enemy. I doubt they stop until one of us is destroyed."

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

"Thank you Commander." She said as she moved back to her seat. "Looks like you might get to show us some more of those fancy flying skills, Ian." Looking behind her she turned to address the tactical situation. "Given what we know about these people I highly doubt they will back down or listen to reason. They are soldiers who fight to the death. If they are from the dominion era... we are the enemy. I doubt they stop until one of us is destroyed."

[Bridge]

Ian smiled broadly at the captain as he replied.

"Ready ta put the Lass through her paces Ma'am. I can promise you, the Jem'hadar have never even heard of a Split-Ess, an Immelman, or a Barrel Roll, let alone used them. Those maneuvers will exceed design specifications fer the nacelle pylons and the neck between the primary and secondary hull, but with as much reinforcement as Mr Mortier has pumped into the structural integrity field, they'll be buggered before they know we are even movin'."

[Kintiss]

Isabella nodded still frozen in place for a moment. "Beacons...r-right I can do beacons." She replied springing to action and grabbed as many beacons as she could. As she began to pass them out she turned to look back to Kintiss again. "So, I would assume most days aren't like this right?" Her tone was light and almost joking. Her step was springy and quick, in no time she's passed out all of the beacons she'd grabbed and went back to get more.

[Sickbay]

"Not alwayssss, no," Kintiss replied as he wrapped the SIMS beacon around his wrist and switched it on. "Sssssometimessss they're worssse." Being at the edge of the Gamma Quadrant was exciting, yes, but not without its share of dangers. Physical injury he could deal with just fine, but the mental injuries...maybe a new counselor was just what was needed around here. She could certainly help with his frayed nerves.

Speaking of things that got on his nerves, where was engineering at a time like this? Unless there was something serious going on down there, he needed their expertise up here. He couldn't run Sickbay like this forever.

When this was over, he planned on helping himself to as many Raktajinos as he needed.

[Isabella Waters]

[Sickbay]

"Not alwayssss, no," Kintiss replied as he wrapped the SIMS beacon around his wrist and switched it on. "Sssssometimessss they're worssse." Being at the edge of the Gamma Quadrant was exciting, yes, but not without its share of dangers. Physical injury he could deal with just fine, but the mental injuries...maybe a new counselor was just what was needed around here. She could certainly help with his frayed nerves.

Speaking of things that got on his nerves, where was engineering at a time like this? Unless there was something serious going on down there, he needed their expertise up here. He couldn't run Sickbay like this forever.

When this was over, he planned on helping himself to as many Raktajinos as he needed.

[Sickbay]

Issy smiled warmly as she listened to the CMO. "Worse seems like fun." She laughed putting her own SIMS beacon on her wrist. "What else do you need from me?" The counselor wanted to help as much as she could without getting in anyone's way.

[Julia Rellek]

[Bridge]

Ian smiled broadly at the captain as he replied.

"Ready ta put the Lass through her paces Ma'am. I can promise you, the Jem'hadar have never even heard of a Split-Ess, an Immelman, or a Barrel Roll, let alone used them. Those maneuvers will exceed design specifications fer the nacelle pylons and the neck between the primary and secondary hull, but with as much reinforcement as Mr Mortier has pumped into the structural integrity field, they'll be buggered before they know we are even movin'."

[Bridge]

"I'm guessing they won't be very talkative, but we should try anyway. K'Lizh hail them." Julia said. While she waited she looked to Ian. "Let's prepare for atmospheric entry, Lieutenant. Contact engineering and make preparations. I'm sure they'll need a moment to prepare. Jada, where are they? Do we still have a lock on them?" Julia asked.