| SUBMITTED: Stardate 96205.3 | FILED BY: Subcommander Tylen tr’Valex | SECURITY: Security Level 2 - Confidential |
LOCATION: Echomet System, Kelterre Sector, Alpha Quadrant
MISSION: Respond to distress call from the S.S. Longshot Hypothesis claiming to be under attack.
OUTCOME: Call responded to, Longshot heavily damaged, entire crew either missing or deceased. Responsible party escaped. Bodies were recovered for return to families.
KEY PERSONNEL:
S.S. Longshot Hypothesis
CAPT Hanson, U.S.S. Sunrise
CAPT Nimitz, U.S.S. Pegasus
CAPT Tanaka, U.S.S. Singapore
CAPT Wallunga, U.S.S. Wayfarer
SCDR Tylen, R.R.W. Laehval
NARRATIVE:
On Stardate 96205.2, a distress call was received from a ship approximately one lightyear to the galactic southwest of Echomet. The R.R.W. Laehval was one of five ships to respond to this call. Upon arrival, the ship in question, the S.S. Longshot Hypothesis was already heavily damaged with systems nonfunctioning. No life signs were detected and only 15% of the freighter continued to hold atmosphere. Damage patterns and energy readings were consistent with Rihannsu weapons, specifically disruptors.
Once preliminary scans were taken, the Laehval began patrolling the perimeter under cloak, scanning for trace tachyon particles that would indicate the remaining presence of a potential cloaked Warbird. As the Wayfarer began to prepare a team to search the ship, a tachyon sweep from the Sunrise hit my ship and ensured my position was revealed to any other lurking ships in the area. I returned the Laehval to the main Fleet position.
While the away teams prepared, the Laehval utilized scans of the weapon fire patterns to try and match the tactics used to specific Rihannsu ships or organizations. Once the reconstruction was complete, it was clear the attack pattern was one utilized heavily by the Romulan Star Empire. Being familiar with Imperial tactics of this nature, I joined the away teams on the bridge of the Longshot to confirm my suspicions.
The away team found bodies left behind, marked with disrupter fire or bladed weapons. A medical team from the Laehval was unable to conclusively determine if the bladed weapons were Rihannsu in origin, however the preliminary results were inconclusive. Remaining evidence was not sufficient to confirm or rule out the possibility of Rihannsu blades. At this point, my away team returned to the Laehval.
Shortly after, the Sunrise detected the presence of foreign Rihannsu. The Laehval moved into position and attempted to coordinate with the Sunrise, however the ship must have gone to warp as the Sunrise was no longer able to detect their presence. The Sunrise and the Singapore attempted to pursue the unknown ship’s warp trail while the remaining ships continued to monitor the situation. Once the Wayfarer’s away team completed their assignment, all ships returned to Deep Space 13.
RECOMMENDATION:
The recovered bodies should undergo further examination to determine if any additional evidence can be recovered. All current evidence points to an assault conducted by remnants of the Empire. Cargo logs of the Longshot were pulled and can be analyzed to determine what the Empire had aimed to recover.
In future operations, Starfleet ships may wish to exercise more caution in their use of tachyon scans and bursts. Simply coordinating with Republic ships will eliminate accidental reveals of our ships and allow us to retain the potential for covert intelligence gathering or surprise ambushes from hostile forces.
OOC: If I missed anything in this report, do feel free to contact me for corrections! Thanks to Aev for running this impromptu event and shoutouts to Turtles, whose accidental typo of my ship’s name made me double check and realize it was I who screwed it up. Don’t name your ships after midnight, kids!