Chapter 5 Lay a trap
BRIDGE
USS WISCONSIN
STARDATE 6305.8
Once they left orbit from New Carolina, the Wisconsin started on the trail of the Norsican. They had been cruising at Warp 8 for the better part of a day. Lt. Agathon projected that their course intercepted a nebula.
The Bridge viewscreen showed the nebula at extreme range. Jacobs looked over at the XO's tactical screen. Currently one of the junior officers was manning the station as Leonaidas was with Cdr Bauer working on some ideas for the next engagement.
Jacobs turned to Engineering station, "Dom, how are the engines holding up?"
"Not good sir, we've been at warp 8 for far too long. We could use a bit of work."
Jacobs turned to Science "Hotch, anything?"
"No sir, their warp trail goes straight into the nebula, and it's about a half light-year across, they could come out anywhere."
"Can they be at warp inside the nebula?"
"I don't think so, the concentration of particles is high, it's problematic that even we could go to warp in there."
The Captain looked at the screen for a while with the nebula on it. The pirates' warp trail was displayed up to where it went in the nebula. A question bugged Jacobs, "Why would they go into a nebula?"
Santini answered "Maybe they too were also pushing their engines hard. They may be working on them. Nice place to work, then come out running."
"Are we close enough to see them if they come out?"
Hotch punched a couple of buttons, "We should be, assuming they can't warp inside the nebula."
Jacobs got out of his chair and walked down in front of the helm. He stared at the screen for a bit, "TC, all stop. Everyone, options now."
There was a little awkward silence then Dom chipped in "If we wait here, I could work on the engines."
Agathon added in "Assuming sublight speed, they can't get away from our scans from this point."
Lt Jareau interjected, "What about our mission to rescue the hostages. We can't forget them."
Santini answered "We haven't abandoned them, we can get two birds with one stone. Fix engines and rescue them when they come out."
Jacobs asked, "Any assumptions in that?"
Santini nodded "Well, yes. I'm assuming worst case for getting engines online is 30 minutes. We can outrun them when engines back online."
Jacobs shook his head "I don't like that. Waiting for them isn't a good idea."
Hotchner offered, "We do have a good idea where they are going. We could lay in wait along their course extrapolated on the other side of the nebula."
Agathon pushed a few buttons, "There is an Ort cloud about another light year on the far side, someplace we can hide and wait."
Ben Grimm suggested, "We could leave a class 3 probe behind to warn us when they start moving."
TC asked, "What about a class 1 probe?"
Grimm responded, "A class 3 probe would do what we want and probably be undetectable."
TC explained, "I'm thinking the opposite of stealth now. Program a class 1 probe. Set it for maximum scan. When the pirates come out, they'll sense it and think it's us and start running. A class 1 probe can give chase and give us updates. If they continue their course, the probe will drive them right to us."
Everyone was nodding their heads, Jacobs picked up the idea. "OK, Helo, TC, plot a course to wait in that Ort cloud. Ben, prepare and program a class 1 probe for the mission." Turning back towards Santini "Dom can we do Warp 5 for about a day or so?"
Dom nodded, "Yes, I can get some work done with that. Give me some time to work up a schedule, then I'll start."
Jacobs smiled "Good. Make preparations, I'll be in my ready room. Lt. Teal'c, you have the Bridge."
Jacobs left and Teal'c sat in the Captain Chair. A replacement was called up. Once Josh got into his ready room, he went over to his desk and pulled up a star chart of the area in question. After a bit, he pushed the comm button, "Jacobs to Pastor Octavian."
"Octavian here."
"Got a minute?"
"Sure Josh, what can I do?"
"Well, we need some prayer. In order to rescue the hostages, we need to find this pirate and get them."
"Sure Josh, I will be praying for you. I'll stop by later also, if that's ok." Octavian offered.
"Absolutely, anytime." Josh pushed the comm button off. He said a quick prayer then went to the bridge.
Teal'c got up, "Probe programmed and launched. We were about ready to call you for resuming course." And he took the security station.
Jacobs looked around. "Very well, TC, warp 5. Helo, you have the bridge, call me if you need me." He turned and went to the turbolift.
DOCTOR'S OFFICE
USS WISCONSIN
Captain Jacobs walked in and Dr. Mallard rose up from his desk "Ducky, do you have a minute?"
"Why yes Captain, what can I do for you?"
Josh sat down at the desk, "How would the hostages be doing right now, actually, what is the time frame that we have?"
"Well, Norsicans are basically pirates. I would expect the Norsicans would treat their property decently, probably roughing them up a bit, but they'll feed and water them."
"Sounds like they are treating them like livestock."
Ducky leaned back "Essentially, that's all they are to the Norsicans. As soon as their usefulness is done, we can expect them to be killed. Josh, if I may,"
"What's bothering you?"
"I concerned about you; this mission is your first big mission that you've had time to let the stress get to you."
"Not quite, I've had a few interesting ones on Wolverine."
"But the difference is that you have been on combat status for a couple of days now. Both you and the crew need to take the edge off. Humans basically need a break every now and then."
"What do you recommend?"
"We're going to be cruising for a while, then waiting and fixing the engines. Come off yellow alert and let the crew fix themselves."
"Ducky, sounds good." Pointing to Ducky's comm. Panel, "May I?"
"Absolutely"
Josh pushed the button. "Bridge."
Communications answered "Lt Jareau here."
"JJ, check with Lt. Agathon, if nothing has changed, tell him to stand down from yellow alert."
"Aye aye sir."
"Thank you." Pushing the button again then looking at Ducky, "Ducky, thank you. Let me know what else you need."
USS WISCONSIN BRIDGE
Karl Agathon looked Lt Jareau, "That will be a relief. Well gang, any changes?"
Everyone was shaking their heads, he looked at Lt Jareau, then pushed the PA button on the command chair. "All hands, this is Conn. Stand down from Yellow Alert."
Dom got up from the Engineering station "Lieutenant, I'm going to be in Engineering."
Karl looked at him, "Any idea on how long for repairs?"
Dom shook his head and handed the station over to a junior engineering officer, "After looking at this we'll need every bit of the wait time once we get to loiter. I can't do any more here, we may be able to go faster once I get to engineering."
Karl nodded, while Agathon was the Conn, Santini was a superior officer and deserved acknowledgment, "Very well sir, I'll relay that to the captain." Santini nodded and left the bridge.
Lt. Jareau answered a comm. Whistle, "Hangar deck requests Lt. Calvin to report there for Raptor Checkout."
Agathon nodded, was all the senior staff deserting the bridge? "Very well, TC, call your replacement." Once the replacement showed up, TC left the bridge.
Karl walked over to Hotchner, "Any changes?"
Hotchner looked up, "None yet." Raising and eyebrow in the typical Vulcan fashion tipped people who knew Vulcans that they just had an interesting insight. Hotchner was the head of Sciences, trained primarily in Psychology. He just had an insight into Lt. Agathon. "Don't worry, you're doing fine. Basically, you just have to man the seat until one of the senior officers assumes the duty."
Agathon turned to him so others couldn't hear, "But why not turn the bridge over to you or Mr. Santini? You guys are senior."
"Mr. Santini has to work on the engines, I'm busy monitoring for the pirate to show up again as well as finding us a good place to 'lurk'. The other senior officers are doing various duties. I don't know the Captain well, but am impressed at him."
Karl turned "I thought you knew him, how did you get this posting?"
"I did extensive work with Mr. Leonaidas. Leo and I did a lot of work together in security."
Karl pointed at Hotchner's uniform "But your division is science, not security."
Hotchner nodded thoughtfully, "I'm a behavior analyst. Profiler. That discipline requires a basic understanding in a lot of science backgrounds to understand how a person's behavior develops. I'm the ship's science officer because it was felt that our mission may benefit having that background along with the Badgers."
Karl blinked, "But what about spacial phenomenon? Wormholes, that stuff?"
"We have a complete science department, I'm not the only scientist on board. The astrophysics specialist is Lt. Maya"
Karl waited for him to continue, "Maya…. What?"
Hotchner stated flatly, "Maya is her name, she's Psychon. They have only single names. But that's beside the point. Mr. Agathon, the Captain realized that here is a prime time to let a junior officer get some center seat time. Something more than normal cruise. It is a very good move on his part, and for what it is worth, you are doing a good job."
Karl smiled, "What I've been impressed with is the people the Captain has brought onboard. I don't know many, just Outback, Commander Carter I mean."
Hotchner nodded "When you find good people, you stick with them. He's also passed over a lot of people because he didn't know them. It would be interesting to find out how everyone got on board this ship."
Karl looked around, "I never thought of that. I just that HQ filled a bunch of seats."
Hotchner pointed at Hornblower, "Maybe some of the junior ranks, but with you as head of navigation, one of your duties is to mentor the junior people. That is what is being done with you."
Karl nodded, turned, and looked around. He was involved with Carter's refurbishment of the Raptors, and didn't spend a lot of time in the design and building of the bridge, but he started to recognize just how genius the design was. Standing here in front of the Science station, there is no spot on the bridge that you can't see the other stations. The worst view was the station right next to you, but you can still see that well. Walking around in the 'pit' where helm and Nav were, everything is visible. Maybe time to walk and talk to the other officers….
HANGAR DECK
USS WISCONSIN
Alan Carter finished a check on Raptor 2. TC was in Raptor 1 performing the same check. Alan pressed a switch and connected with Raptor 2 on laser link, "Raptor 2, Raptor 1, how are you progressing?"
TC pushed a button "Just fine Outback. We should go for a short hassle."
"I'd love to, but at warp we'd be left so far behind we'd never catch up."
TC laughed his deep belly laugh, "You would say anything to keep from a real challenge."
Carter smiled, "I'll don't have to take that! See you at the sims in 10!" Carter flipped the system off and got out.
Captain Jacobs walked in and saw the two men getting out of the Raptors, "What are you two guys up to?"
Carter reached the deck first "Well, the Raptors check out, ready for anything. TC and I are going to work off a little bit of steam. Want to join us?"
Jacobs nodded, "Maybe later, I need some time. Let me finish my rounds."
TC walked over from Raptor 1, "You're always welcome, where's your next stop?"
Jacobs looked back on his way out the door, "Engineering."
ENGINEERING
USS WISCONSIN
Chief Engineer Santini was looking over the engine displays and he didn't like what he saw. The warp engines were pushed hard for a long time. The big problem with warping for too long is cooling the warp core plus the engine nacelles. That nomenclature in and of itself is probably incorrect, as the nacelles didn't really house the engines, just the warp coils that allow the ship to travel faster than light. A better analogy to twentieth century technology would be if the warp core right here in engineering was the equivalent to the nuclear reactor on submarines, then the warp engine nacelles would be the submarine's propeller. But not exactly, because they did so much more than that.
A starship is not limited in speed by how strong the warp engines are, even warp engines years ago were powerful enough to push starships past their limits. But a starship is limited primarily by how strong the structure is. A warp field that is generated around the ship literally sucks in space in front of the ship and pushes it away behind the ship. The ship actually never moves inside its own 'bubble' of space inside the warp field, but the structure must be incredibly strong to withstand crushing forces from the nacelles. This is where engineering comes in handy. Earth's solution a little more than a hundred and fifty years ago was to put the nacelles way away from the rest of the ship, it creates a more uniform warp field. Scientists also found out that they could put a giant coil in front of the warp coils to modify the field slightly. This is why Earth, and later the Federation, adopted saucer shaped hulls for their large vessels. This allows a stronger warp field to be created without crushing the ship.
The other limit is heat dissipation. The warp core creates a tremendous amount of power to push a starship hundreds of times the speed of light. The Matter-Antimatter reaction inside the warp core is regulated with dilithium crystals and creates a substance called warp plasma. This plasma is sent down large conduits up the struts into the nacelles and through the warp coils to create warp fields that make the starships move. The tremendous amount of heat created is largely in the warp plasma, and when handled correctly, can be left behind the ship in the ship's subspace wake. This is the warp trail, a combination of twisted subspace and normal space mixed up with a tremendous amount of heat. Eventually, it will be dissipated just like a normal wake from a boat.
A ship's normal cruise speed is determined how efficiently its heat can be dissipated. In the case of the Enterprise Refit class, the normal cruise is Warp 7. For time above this, inspections need to be made along with replacement or remanufacture of parts when needed. As an engineer gets more experience with a particular ship and its characteristic wear and tear, emergency speeds can be pushed further.
The challenge in an emergency is how fast for how long. Ships can go very fast in the short time with the risk of the ship being crushed. Or you can go at a slower emergency speed for too long and risk heat feeding back from the nacelles to the warp core causing a very big explosion.
In today's case, it seems like the warp plasma/ heat conversion units in each nacelle were starting to become stressed. That is going to require recoating them when they are stopped. At least traveling well below maximum cruise has stopped the degradation, but they will need to be tended to as soon as they can, otherwise even normal speeds won't be attainable. In the meantime, there was some work that can be done on the engines, and Santini had the perfect man for it "Mike Knabe."
Lt Knabe turned from the task at hand and walked to Santini, "Yes sir?"
"We're going to shutdown the primary deuterium manifolds shortly; I'd like you to get one of the other crewmen and go inside and clean them out. We start that in 15 minutes."
"Aye Aye sir" and Knabe turned to get the required equipment, as well as coveralls.
Captain Jacobs walked in through the bulkhead doors "Dom, how are the engines?"
Santini walked over to a large wall-screen and pointed at the current diagram of the warp drive system, "We've had some delamination of the warp/heat conversion units, not as bad as I thought it would be, we'll take care of that once we're stopped. At this speed, I'm going to shutdown the deuterium manifolds one at a time and clean them out. Otherwise, everything looks like the ship is performing well."
Jacobs nodded, "Good to know. We may be needing some speed later. What's your assessment of the pirate?"
Santini turned and pointed over to the desk on the side "Let me show you."
The two walked over to the desk where he angled one of the displays. Santini sat down and pushed a couple of buttons. "I'm thinking the pirate ship is this here class. I'm not even going to try to pronounce it. If so, they seriously stressed their engines running from us. With that I really believe they are going to be working on their engines in that nebula. I'm estimating it would take us a week to do that level of repair that they need. Plenty of time for us to get our own house in order. Their technology is behind ours, and since they are the size of the ship is scout class or so, I would expect that we can easily outmatch them in a fight. They won't want to pick a fight with us."
Jacobs looked at the schematic, "Unless you have hostages to use as a shield. If they have hostages, can we attack the ship without hurting them?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm thinking they may have hostages bound up in critical areas of the ship. Bridge certainly, engineering, shield control, weapons, etc. Can we hit them without hurting hostages?"
Santini looked at the schematic again. "I see what you mean. The new phaser and fire control is meant to be able to target specific points on a ship. To guarantee success, we need to be close, very close. Almost point blank."
"Good, get together with Ben on preset points to hit. Assume hostages in worst possible position inside the pressure bulkhead. I don't think they would be running around with hostages fastened to the outer hull."
"Aye aye sir."
Jacobs turned "We got some time, take advantage of getting your people rested up as well."
Santini smiled to the point of showing his gap in the middle of his front teeth. "We're actually having a pizza party right here in engineering after the deuterium manifolds are cleaned. Call it sort of a working lunch. A lot of these kids don't know what real pizza tastes like."
"Dom, are you cooking?" Jacobs smiled.
"No, but I've sworn chef to secrecy about my family recipe. You got to trust somebody around here. Problem is he's English, nobody but us Italians can make good pizza."
"I thought you were American?"
Santini leaned back "8th Generation American, but pure Italian. Best of both worlds."
"Well, if I start seeing more Italian food coming from Chef, I know who to blame. Keep me informed."
Santini stood "Will do, you want a piece of pizza, Drop by about 1800."
Jacobs nodded "I just may. Let's see how things develop."
Just then the com whistled. "Dr. Mallard to Captain Jacobs."
Jacobs walked over to the panel and pushed a button. "Jacobs here."
"I have that physiology report for you."
Jacobs replied, "Good, call Mr. Bauer and let's meet in your office in fifteen minutes."
"Aye Aye Sir."
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER'S OFFICE
Bauer walked in with Jacobs and Ducky talking. "Am I late sir?"
Jacobs shook his head. "Not at all, thank you for coming. Go ahead Ducky."
The men sat down at Dr. Mallard's Desk. He pushed a button and several photographs of Norsicans were shown on his display by his desk. "Here we have the Norsican. Average height is six and a half feet. They are correspondingly more powerful. As for pure strength, Norsicans are on par with Klingons. They also have facial spikes, or horns lining the jawbone and extra claws at the edges of their mouths. The mouth claws are largely unused in the Norsican, no idea why they are there, but they do know how to intimidate other humanoids."
Bauer was noting this. "If we have to get into hand-to-hand with them, what anatomical spots do we need to know about?"
Dr Mallard pushed another button, showing an arm. "Their vulnerable spots are the typical humanoid spots, with the exception of the throat. They have some subdermal plating that is not readily apparent. Hitting that is like hitting bone, with little effect. Also, stay away from their wrists. They have an extending claw that injects poison into a victim."
Bauer asked, "Poison to kill? Paralyze?"
Mallard answered, "Depends on the Norsican. It's best to assume that it's deadly. If antidote is not administered within five minutes, the victim is probably dead. I'm synthesizing antidote now."
Jacobs shook his head. "Any other weaknesses?"
Mallard nodded. "Yes, unlike Klingons, Norsicans like the cold. They can't stand heat for long."
Jacobs asked. "How hot does it need to be?"
Mallard sat back and looked thoughtful. "I'd say if one could raise the temperature over a hundred, their stamina would be cut easily in half, maybe even faint at that."
Bauer asked. "How will our weapons effect be on them?"
Mallard pushed another button showing various weapons. "Phasers need to be set to a minimum of heavy stun. Stun Grenades will be as effective as on other humanoids."
Bauer pointed at the display. "What about the instant kill shot?"
Mallard pointed to the head. "Same as it is for other humans, you need to sever the spinal column from the brain. A phaser set to Level 4 minimum hitting base of the skull is needed. A hit here will cause instant death, just like in other humanoids."
Bauer continued, "But what about the claw?"
"That will automatically retract. It is a conscious effort for them to extend the claw and inject poison."
Bauer thought a bit. "Dr. Mallard….."
"Ducky, please."
Bauer smiled and turned to Jacobs. Jacobs smiled and nodded back. "Ducky, thank you very much. This is invaluable."
Mallard answered back, "My pleasure, Mr. Bauer."
Bauer corrected him, "Jack, please."
The three men had a good laugh. Jacobs turned to them. "Ducky, let us know if you come up with anything else. We have some time for preparations." They stood and shook hands and left.
USS WISCONSIN BRIDGE
24 HOURS LATER
Captain Jacobs was watching Carter maneuver the ship into its lurking place. The Wisconsin had made good time. After the manifolds were cleaned, they decided to go back to their cruising warp of 7 and made the Oort cloud with plenty of time. They had exited from warp and now slowed to a bare crawl. Oort clouds are made up of large iceballs that either were or will be comets to the local star system. The strategy now was to select a properly size comet to hide behind. Lt Agathon had found one and Carter was maneuvering on the far side of it.
Carter looked at his displays and selected the autopilot modes to station-keeping with the comet. "All in position sir."
Pastor Octavian was standing by the turbolift watching all this happen. Looking at the different displays he could see all critical systems of the ship at a glance. He could see from the Tactical Station that Commander Leonaidas was sitting at showed a shuttlecraft all prepped for flight.
Jacobs nodded and turned to Lt Jareau, "Tell Shuttlecraft Slayton clear for launch."
Down in the shuttlebay, it was depressurized and the shuttlecraft took off. TC gently flew the shuttlecraft out to a couple of miles abeam the Wisconsin. At this point, he set the autopilot for station-keeping with the Wisconsin and set up the laser commlink with the ship. The Wisconsin now had a stealthy passive sensor platform able to look at the expected path of approach of the pirate. TC and Hornblower settled in for what was probably a long watch. Once their watch was over, the Wisconsin would beam over their replacements and beam them back. This cycle could be repeated indefinitely.
Lt Jareau turned to Captain Jacobs "The Slayton reports on station."
Jacobs looked at Hotchner and Hotchner pushed a couple of buttons "Commlink established. We are receiving data." And pushing a button, the main viewscreen went from being filled with the comet to that of a starfield.
Jacobs now sighed "And now we wait."
