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As the Sheliak fleet approaches KDF headquarters in the Zenas Expanse, Captain Cynis gathers her allies for the final preparations…
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Shift Time: Sunday, Feb 14, Alpha -1
Audience: KDF and allies
Event Type: Social RP
Starting Point: Fleet starbase
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(Any other OOC notes)
Rhin@trionis#5666 reclined in the seat, keeping her feet up on the desk. The Orion drew into her coat, bringing out a cigarette and lighting it.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: walks by carrying couple of PADDs with an excited grin on her face, and slumps down in her chair
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: A new face, eh? You don’t look like one of Lorri’s folks.
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “Nope,” she replied, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “You guys need weapons, I supply the weapons.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Yep, one can never have enough weapons. If one believes they have enough weapons, they obviously don’t have enough enemies.
Rhin@trionis#5666 checked a message on her PADD. “Yep. No such thing as ‘armed enough’.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Good. I’m captain Cynis. I run this place. Who are you?
Rhin@trionis#5666 removed her feet from the desk, blowing out another cloud in a different direction. “Name’s Rhin. Import-export, teamster, specialty in gunrunning.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Well, considering the situation, your skills will be of great use for the foreseeable future nods to Lorri Tabadi. How’s the crew?
[Local] Lorri@crystyll: “Rested, I believe is the best way of putting it”
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “Morning,” she greeted Lorri.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Good, as rest will become a rare commodity, soon.
Lorri@crystyl dips her head in greeting.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Tabadi, meet Rhin, a gunrunner, teamster and…import-export specialist, if I remembered correctly.
[Local] Lorri@crystyll: “Freelancer, eh? How’d you get mixed up with this motley little lot?”
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “Eh you know, usual. Break out of prison, have no money, look for people who have money.” she glanced over at Egzo. “Morning, boss.”
[Local] Lorri@crystyll: “Aah say no more” she grins, following her gaze.
Egzo@HF_Mudd arrives, mug in hand, and slides into his usual seat.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: nods to Egzo Egzo! You’ve been busy, it seems.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: looks up at massive klingon Another new face.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Eh, just doin’ my part.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd squints at the newcomer. Rhin he’s met, but…
Uvenk@natthaan smiles and bows his head “Good day, I am Uvenk!”
Rhin@trionis#5666 gestured slightly upwards with her chin in Uvenk’s direction. “Sup, big guy.”
B’Atar@anncarise steps into the meeting room, giving Sadia a salute and nodding to the others around the table.
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: Qapla’, Sadia!
B’Atar@anncarise salutes Sadia with respect
Uvenk@natthaan smiles to Rhin “Good to see you are doing well, I was worried after our last little meeting ended.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: I’m captain Sadia Cynis, commander of this task force. Welcome to the wejpuh’ tul. Is that refurbished starfleet relic that’s parked outside yours?
Uvenk@natthaan unhooks his cape as he takes a seat, tossing it over the back of his chair “Ahh! i see you saw the Independence!”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: returns salute to B’atar Commander.
Egzo@HF_Mudd holds up a hand. “Hold on. Uvenk of the Independence, son of none?”
B’Atar@anncarise looks across with a curious tilt of her head as well.
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “Good to see you too Egzo.” Winks at him as he leans back
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: It’s hard not to notice such a fine vessel, even among the quite a motley group as ours.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Such vessels are rare sight nowadays, especially ones in good condition.
Egzo@HF_Mudd growls to Sadia, “I know we’re scrapin’ the bottom of the barrel of bloodwine, with that fleet and all, but… /this/ one? Really?”
Rhin@trionis#5666 looked between Egzo and Sadia whilst intaking more of her cigarette and blowing out a cloud of smoke.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to Egzo You are not happy with captain Uvenk’s presence, it seems. Why?
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Every cutter knows /Captain/ Uvenk is a gold-plated dandy playin’ at bein’ a /real/ pirate, with his Feddie ship and his…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd makes a dismissive up-and-down wave at Uvenk, presumably indicating his attire.
Rhin@trionis#5666 was considerably amused, chuckling to herself.
Lorri@crystyll smirks, finding all this quite entertaining.
Uvenk@natthaan waves a dismissive hand “Now now… just because I’m a pirate, doesn’t mean I have no honor.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: "Last I heard, 'e finally got in a real scrap and got the rest of his ‘fleet’ shot out from under him…
Egzo@HF_Mudd snorts, then drinks from his mug.
Uvenk@natthaan grumbles “They caught me by surprise… no one would have expected the Kazon to get their hands on a bunch of Vaadwaur warships…”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “So how /did/ you get a Fed ship?”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to Egzo Well, KDF command says his paperwork is legit, so that’s not an issue. And he will have a chance to prove his mettle to us…soon.
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “Bet your Klingon honor forbid running away until almost everyone was dead.” she smirked.
Egzo@HF_Mudd does not look impressed, or sympathetic.
Uvenk@natthaan deflates slightly
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “So you were pickin’ on the Kazon… Pakleds give ya too much trouble?”
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “The Talaxians paid quite handsomely…”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: clears her throat I will take anyone’s help, even the pirate that’s down on luck. Past matters little here, only actions.
Egzo@HF_Mudd looks over at Sadia as she makes her pronouncement, and reluctantly nods
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: gazes at everyone from one side to the other I do not believe anyone here had an easy start in their life.
Egzo@HF_Mudd mutters something that sounds like agreement
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: We all had to dig and claw our way to success. Do an extra effort just because we were different. And we will keep fighting, even when we are knocked down, we will get back up. I expect nothing less.
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “No arguments there.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: ahems Now, we have quite a situation at hand. to B’atar Commander, gives us a rundown.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “And we need every ship we can get, especially now. Even if it’s an ol Starfleet armed luxury liner.”
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “Oh, the Indy isn’t just a luxury liner any more… I’ve had her for ten years now… and she’s been upgraded with the best money can buy.”
B’Atar@anncarise smirks, “We’ll see what your ship can do firsthand soon enough.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd mutter mutter ferengi mutter
B’Atar@anncarise looks to Sadia, "The Sheliak fleet V’Ku’s son riled up is still on its way. After we crippled their escort squadron, we’ve managed to take three of their frigates out of commission. Did a little
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: - damage to some others, but nothing irrepairable unfortunately. We did manage to delay them significantly, but they’re still on their way here.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “They’re entering the Expanse now headed for the starbase, with current numbers of 14 heavy cruisers, 16 light cruisers and 33 frigates and 3 escorts.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: "We’re still running interference and hit-and-run attacks, but they’re flying in one big formation, which makes it difficult to do damage without losing our own raiders, even with their escorts -
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: - mostly down. And we never managed to get more ships to break off than we did that time we crushed their escort squadron."
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods grimly to B’Atar.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: a holoprojector activates, showing a map of local Zenas Expanse area, and smaller map of the system where the Starbase is
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: ** OOC: please excuse my MS paint "skills
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Generally, Sheliak are unwilling to split up their fleet. They will most likely besiege this station, wear down it’s minefield and turret defenses, and only then they will strike with full force.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: They have shown they will not be goaded into minor skirmishes, especially now that they lost most of their escort force.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Trying to face them off directly is not viable, not with the forces we have available. Most of our task force consists of raider, frigate and escort sized ships. We have few heavy hitters to match the Sheliak, who have mostly cruiser sized vessels.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: However, there’s one difference once they reach this place. They will be fighting on our turf now.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Before, we could only send smaller raider groups so far away from our facilities.
B’Atar@anncarise nods, “Aye, our ability to run interference with them was limited.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: If the Sheliak decide to stay together and set up shop here, in this system, while they siege the base, ths will leave rest of our facilities fully active and able to provide support to our, now far larger, raiding groups.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: five red diamond locations on the map start blinking While Sheliak were slowly trudging towards us, we have set up five forward bases. Bases 1 and 5 are farthest away from the action, and they will
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: - handle heavily damaged ships. Base 2 will deal with smaller repairs, and be a possible bait spot due to it’s dangeorus location.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Bases 3 and 4 will be main location for resupply and staging ground for our raids.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: In the end, Sheliak will not be able to keep their tight formation indefinitely, especially if they want to secure this system. They will have to set up patrols, scout the asteroid belts and make sure
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: - no “surprises” were left by us in the belts or on the planet and the moon we are now orbiting.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: widen her eyes in emphasis And we will leave a lot of surprises.
Egzo@HF_Mudd chuckles. It’s an ugly sound.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Now, this is a preliminary plan. I want to hear ideas, suggestions, the more devious the better
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: And know this.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Sheliak did not come here to intimidate us, or to make us surrender or negotiate. They are here to wipe us out.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “What about the allies we’re calling on? Any additional ships we can count on, besides the new faces here?”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: They care not about internal klingon politics or squabbles, or whether V’Ku was an outcast or not. Klingons breached their space, and klingon facilities must be wiped out.
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods. “That fleet out there is a big angry hammer. Or a fist.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to B’atar Alarian Windstrider clan sent their elite escort squadron, the Bladewings. Free Almavian Traders have already assigned a dozen heavy transports to help with the civilian evacuation.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Ventraxian State has detached part of their 3rd Defense Fleet, the Red Leaves cruiser group, to provide support. While it’s a dozen ships strong, most of these are on the tech level of mid - last century, pre Dominion War. So they will be best suited as support group.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Morrs Combine has provided us with heavy ground defense systems for our colonies. They do not hire as mercs, though, and other Reklari Combines are unwilling to get involved.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: D’rexian Planet States are still recovering from Breen occupation, but the Prophet has been sending us raw materials for incoming ship repairs.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: So, in general, not much in a way of ships, mostly material support. to Egzo What’s the state with other mercenary forces
Egzo@HF_Mudd admits, “Not great. With that fleet comin’ down at us, a lotta cutters have decided t’ cash out and walk away from the table. And not many willin’ t’ sign on for that, even with assurances that your latinum’s always good.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd shrugs. “Mercs 'n pirates. You know how it goes.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: grunts Well, more bonuses for those that decided to stay. At least some of them have some faith in our capabilities after all we’ve went though.
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods. “There’s some that believe in ya, like me and mine. But a lot, ‘specially the newer ones, they’re just lookin’ for an easy prize and easy money.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Also, I wanna say this.” He looks around the table.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: "We’re lookin’ at a fight of attrition here. We can’t meet these cutters head on, and even if we can get 'em to chase us,
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: we can’t just lead 'em around and wait for 'em to get bored and go home. They won’t. We gotta break 'em up, lead 'em into traps, and destroy 'em bit by bit."
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Make 'em bleed.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “We’re gonna lose ships. Just gotta make sure they lose more.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd snags a morsel off the tray and settles back in his chair to chew on it, having said his piece.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Okay, so, ideas and advice. turns to Lorri Tabadi?
[Local] Lorri@crystyll:“I wish I had more to offer, but unfortunately most of our fleet has been diverted”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: What ships you have available, Thana Vaneri and Kajeri Vaj?
[Local] Lorri@crystyll:“For the moment, though Thana at least may also get called up if not the Kayeri as well. I am awaiting word from the Circle on that decision”
[Local] Lorri@crystyll:“There is a contingent of the recovered Cardassian fleet now in service however, and we do have a wing of that group on it’s way to support here”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Good, any firepower we can get will help. Plus your crew’s scientific skills. We must find a way to mess up with their comms and coordination capabilities.
[Local] Lorri@crystyll:“I will consult with Kayd. If anyone has ideas on that front, it will be her”
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods to that, finding another tasty chunk on the tray and popping it into his mouth.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Excellent. turns to Rhin Your ideas regarding this situation?
Rhin@trionis#5666 inhaled sharply, as though Sadia asked her to fix galactic war. “…this uh, this fleet. They’ve got to be getting supply lines from somewhere. Take that out, and suddenly deep expeditions are a lot more difficult.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods to Rhin, and adds to Sadia, “That’s what my cutters are best at, raidin’.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: I thought about that, but so far our scouts didn’t notice any supply vessels of note. They have either designed their ships to be self-sustainable for a while, or they plan to live off the land.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Keep in mind, Sheliak are very different in body composition than us. They are not humanoid, more like some kind of living liquid or something. Hard to say from whatever visuals are available.
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “Shame we couldn’t sneak onboard their ships and mess around with the life support system and make them boil or freeze…”
Rhin@trionis#5666 shrugged. “Maybe we could. If they’re living off the land, they’d need local vendors for weapons and supplies.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd grunts. “Prob’ly more like harvesters. But we could hit those.”
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “Oh! Maybe we can beam some tribbles onboard their ships and let them eat all their supplies?”
B’Atar@anncarise laughs at the idea.
Rhin@trionis#5666 slooooowly turned to look at Uvenk.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: nods Then do not seem like talkative people, and most of the merchants probably wouldn’t handle their complex negotiations. I think even Feds almost lost their minds trying to get a “simple” non-aggression agreement.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to Rhin In any case, track their activities, if they DO try to trade, let us know.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Feddie solution t’ everythin’, try to /talk/ to it.”
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “I’ll send out a feeler, then.” she nodded.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to Uvenk If you believe you can make Sheliak lives miserable with some sabotage, feel free to try it. I will hook you and Rhin with station quartermaster if you need some…specific items.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: We are decently stocked with all kind of weird stuff, just don’t expect we have stuff like a Genesis device.
B’Atar@anncarise smirks and looks across to Uvenk, "Maybe that’s your ship’s big advantage. They’ll have comms open instead of shields up when they see you coming for them!
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “We can attempt… they might mistake us for a Federation ship…”
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “A little holo trickery…”
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “Might piss off the feds.” she chimed in. “I don’t have concerns about it, but they might.”
[Local] Uvenk@natthaan: “The Feds have been trying to buy the Indy back since I took her…”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: ** generally, if you guys have any special tricks you want to try, ping B’atar’s player as they are the main GM for this event
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: almost disappointed Starfleet had their presence to galactic south but it seems they kinda gave up on the Zenas Expanse.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: I don’t think Sheliak will blame them, especially when they figure out they’ve been had.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to Uvenk and Rhin But if you folks believe you can stick it to the Sheliak in any way that can help us, go for it. Just inform us if you’ll need additional support.
Rhin@trionis#5666 nodded. “I’ll see what I can do, but can’t make any promises if they’re not looking for vendors.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: If that doesn’t pan out, we’ll need your skills to supply the base once it gets sieged.
Egzo@HF_Mudd opens his mouth, then shuts it as Sadia says what he was about to.
[Local] Rhin@trionis#5666: “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: leans back Or locate weak spots in their patrols we could use for raid attacks.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: to B’atar Any other ideas?
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Raiding should be much easier this close to the base. Hopefully we’ll be able to cripple a few more ships before they get here.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “What of Mal’laan? It’s right on the Sheliak’s approach vector. We evacuating the colony, or just the civilians here around the station?”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Mal’laan has some heavy orbital defenses set up since the last attack, and Widrab prefer to live in deep underground facilities. Also, the D’rexian refugees have built extensive undermountain -
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: - facilities. Even if the Sheliak decide to divert the course to deal with that, it will be a good opportunity to hit them while they have engaged automated orbital defenses.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: We did evacuate orbital mining facilities of both workers and heavy machinery, so they won’t be scoring any easy gains there.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: If they plan to live off the land, they’ll find a scorched earth to be a weak sustenance.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Aye. If I were assaulting the Expanse and needed resources, I’d be going to Mal’laan, so it’s good to have that covered.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Also, the klingon Chu’tul colony has been evacuated - most of the civilians have found temporary shelters in the mine systems in the local mountains, the rest have been moved to Free Almavian Trader colony of Brionii II.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: This leaves you and Egzo with the task of preparing “presents” for Sheliak arrival.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Raids, ambushes, hidden fighter squadrons in the asteroid fields and moon canyons, explosives hidden among supply caches etc.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: As Egzo said, make them bleed.
B’Atar@anncarise nods, “Aye. We’ll make sure they’re as wounded as they can be before we have to face them head on.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “I’ll ask around my crews too.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Some may not wanna give away their best tricks, not with the KDF watchin’, but better’n gettin’ dead.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Does anyone else have other ideas to bring forward? looks around the table
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: This is no time to pull punches. The Sheliak definitely won’t.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: And they definitely have zero interest in hiring mercs.
Rhin@trionis#5666 checked a PADD under the table. “I’ll get started on checking with a few people and seeing what I can do.” She rose from her seat. “It’s been a pleasure, bosses.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: In that case, meeting is adjourned.
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods, draining his mug and leaving it on the table as he stands.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: You all have your objectives, let me know if you need additional assistance.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Get as much rest as you can, I foresee many sleepless nights.
Uvenk@natthaan picks up his cape and rehooks it.
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods ruefully, and exits.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: she picks up her padds and heads out Success to you all.
B’Atar@anncarise nods and stands, making her way out as well.
Lorri@crystyll heads out too.