As Kelly and Khaleed leave the bridge, Aaron heads to the tactical alcove to speak with Kimball. Kimball confirms they have four torpedo launchers; three to the fore including the roll bar, and one aft. Aaron outlines a firing sequence he wants programmed in; four torpedoes in the first volley but only one will hit, and then all four torpedoes are on target in the second volley - and the three that "missed" originally come about and hit, for a total barrage of seven torpedoes hitting simultaneously. Kimball runs a few scenarios in his head and realizes the timing will be the tricky part, so he starts work.
Satisfied, Aaron heads to the science station, where Ensign Zaft, a male Bolian, has taken Kelly's place. He tasks Zaft with improving sensor resolution in the gravimetric shear; Zaft starts work immediately. Aaron then heads to the conn and ops stations and asks Eleven to work on more effective maneuvers within the Cluster. Eleven hands him a padd with just that data, and Aaron declares, "I like you two." He takes the padd and heads to the war room to strategize, leaving Shil'vala in command.
Kelly and Khaleed enter shuttle bay one and find the Cambridge and the Somerville sitting in the repair bay. T'kora walks over and runs down the modifications necessary; Khaleed calls up his scant engineering knowledge and realizes this is way over his head. He tries to filter her instructions through his "science brain" and comes up with enough that he is confident he can contribute. T'kora tasks them with working on the Somerville while she handles the Cambridge alone. As Khaleed works, previous experiences from the Bahb symbiont come bubbling up, which helps.
Work on the various projects continues for an hour, and Kelly and Khaleed struggle to match T'kora's pace. However, they hear a throaty rumble as M'Belaa pokes her head in and asks, "Do you need a hand?" Khaleed retorts, "Two, actually," as the counselor eyes their work, shucks off her boots, and scrambles up to the top of the Somerville. T'kora looks over and starts to say something, but M'Belaa starts extracting components and making the modifications easily. With her help, the Somerville is back on track, but Kelly and Khaleed do spot the split-second confusion that crosses T'kora's face. The Vulcan returns to work but keeps a wary eye on the Somerville, but both shuttles are finished at the two-hour mark.
T'kora hails Aaron and reports, "Captain, the modifications have been installed on the runabouts successfully. At this time, I believe attempting these modifications on the standard shuttles to be illogical; they are too small to survive." Aaron replies, "Very good, and I agree." T'kora nods and adds, "Then I shall return your chief science officer, your medic, and your counselor." Aaron agrees before her statement fully registers, but he heads up to the bridge. T'kora, M'Belaa, Khaleed, and Kelly enter the bridge a moment later, at 1445 hours. Kimball reports, "Firing solution programmed in, captain," and Aaron nods. Before surrendering the science station, Ensign Zaft reports, "I've managed to increase resolution about ten percent, captain, but I'm not confident it'll hold up if we hit stronger shear." Aaron nods again and thanks him.
T'kora takes the engineering station and Aaron tells her, "Coordinate with the Bynars." He turns and adds, "Eleven, you ready?" The Bynars respond with thumbs mostly up, and Aaron decides to go with that. He orders, "Then take us in gently, half-impulse." Eleven complies and the Boston enters the Argolis Cluster for the first time. She starts shaking immediately from the gravimetric shear, but T'kora initiates her shield modifications. The Boston smooths out a moment later as the modifications blunt the shear, and they cruise at half-impulse for a few minutes without problems. Eleven reports, "Flying smooth now, captain. Permission to go to warp?" Aaron turns to Kelly and asks, "Will the sensors keep up at warp?" Kelly examines Zaft's modifications and replies, "Yes, as long as we keep it at or below warp four."
Aaron orders, "Warp one." Eleven carefully increases speed and the Boston shudders again as she enters warp, but T'kora taps a few commands for her modifications and the vessel's flight smooths out once again. Kelly reports the sensors are operational, and Aaron asks, "Anything on long range sensors?" Kelly gestures for Khaleed to perform a sensor scan; the Trill complies and then reports, "Negative."1) Aaron then orders, "Increase speed to warp three, but gradually." Eleven nods and obeys; the Boston shudders as her speed gradually climbs. They hit warp three and T'kora continues fiddling with her modifications, once again smoothing out the flight.
Aaron settles back, happy with staying at warp three for the moment. He orders Eleven to continue following the Cardassian ion trail, and asks T'kora, "Can you determine how fast they were going when they entered the cluster?" T'kora does some quick calculations and replies, "My estimation is that they were traveling at warp five. Illogical and foolish." Aaron agrees, but notices M'Belaa leaning over and watching T'kora's modifications intently, and T'kora eyes the Caitan but doesn't challenge her. Aaron looks away, smirking, and wonders if he's about to lose his counselor.2)
The Boston travels at warp three for an hour, and at 1600 hours Khaleed runs another sensor sweep and gets something. He reports, "Captain, Galor-class vessel dead ahead, heading this way. They're not on a direct intercept course, and I don't think they've seen us." He runs another scan and reports, "They're heading out of the Cluster at warp three, and they've taken heavy damage. It looks like this vessel was the one who lost part of their warp engine." Aaron considers his options before declaring, "We're not going to hide. Eleven, plot an intercept course, but aim for an area with high shear." Eleven nods as he enters the new course, and the Boston pivots slightly as she moves to intercept. Eleven reports, "Four minutes to intercept." Kimball puts the weapons on standby.
After two minutes, Khaleed calls out, "They've seen us." The Galor-class vessel slows as the Boston intercepts, and T'kora reports, "There are no modifications to their vessel." As both vessels drop to impulse, Ten adds, "Incoming hail." Aaron replies, "On screen," and the viewscreen emits static before resolving into the face of a very gaunt Cardassian gul with an overly thick neck. The Cardassian rumbles, "I am Gul Lokal of the Cardassian Third Order, in command of the Krager." Aaron introduces himself and states,"We saw the debris outside the cluster. Do you need assistance?"
To Aaron's surprise, Gul Lokal nods and states, "Our orders were to depart the Argolis Cluster and locate a Federation ship for assistance. Fortunately, you found us far sooner than we expected." Aaron jokes, "On my planet, we call that 'serendipity.'" Gul Lokal doesn't react, but states, "Please follow us." He cuts the channel, and the Krager pivots deeper into the Argolis Cluster. However, the gravimetric shear causes a piece of the Krager's already damaged superstructure to rip free! Aaron yells, "Tractor beam!" as Khaleed was already running computations. Kimball triggers the tractor beam and manages to catch the wreckage and push it back into place. Eleven utters a string of binary that everyone else is certain is profanity, which amuses Aaron.
The Krager nudges their warp engines back up to warp three and the Boston follows, still pinning the wreckage in place with her tractor beam. To the senior officers' sheer amazement, Cardassian techs tromp out in EVA suits along the Krager's hull whilst at warp! They reconnect and solder the wreckage back into place, with no casualties sustained. The repair crew marches back inside, and Kimball cuts the tractor beam. The Boston drops back a bit but continues following the Krager; they note how the Krager's shields dimple and flex under the gravimetric shear, and how occasionally the shear punches through the shields to cause the Krager's hull to ripple ominously! Thankfully, T'kora's modifications hold and the Boston is fine.
At 1650 hours, Khaleed reports, "System ahead!" as the Krager drops out of warp. The Boston does the same, and both ships enter the system. Gravimetric shear immediately drops, and Khaleed performs a sensor sweep. He reports, "Six planets, G1V-type main sequence star. One world is technically Class-M, but it's at the extreme outer edge of the green zone, so it's practically an ice ball. Two Cardassian vessels in southern orbit of that world, weapons on standby." The Krager sets course for that planet, and Aaron orders the Boston to follow. Ten reports, "Captain, the Krager is hailing the forces on the planet below." Aaron tenses, but a few seconds later Ten adds, "And we are now being asked to join in. Audio-only channel from the surface."
Aaron frowns but nods. At the chime, he identifies himself. A second later, a male Cardassian voice booms through the speakers, "Welcome, Captain Englyss. I am Agent Delan Corbas of the Obsidian Order. I thought you commanded the Wyoming?" Aaron replies, "I did. Promotions happen." Agent Corbas grunts, "True enough, captain. I will update my files, and congratulations. Your promotion is well deserved. Now, you have an opportunity to do a great service to Cardassia, captain. Please join us on the surface with as many crewmembers as you like, preferably medical, science, and security. Bring tricorders. And cold-weather gear. I look forward to meeting you." Agent Corbas then terminates the channel, and Aaron mutters, "He's worse than Bjornson."
Aaron orders the Boston into standard orbit once they reach the planet, 1,500 meters from the Krager. This is incredibly close, but Aaron wants to use the Krager as cover in the event of treachery. The other two Cardassian vessels fall back, outside of weapons range but still within transporter range of their people. Aaron orders, "Full scans, now." Khaleed complies, and starts rattling off his findings, "There's evidence of a settlement on the southern continent, but right now the only life signs are Cardassian. About three dozen." He fiddles with the sensors and adds, "Old Federation prefab habitat units, captain, but they're in real bad shape. I think they're about fifty or sixty years old."
Aaron frowns and recalls habitat units that old are often sold off to the private sector, probably decades ago. Khaleed finds a few undamaged sections with serial numbers and cross-references the computer. He calls out, "It appears these units were sold to the Tellarite Mining Consortium decades ago, but I've got nothing further. They're all heavily damaged, though." He performs a third scan and adds, "No mineral resources anywhere near the settlement." Aaron nods and muses, "Half of what they mine never ends up on the books." He assumes the TMC resold the units for a tidy profit. Khaleed shrugs and adds, "Regional temperature down there is -1° Celsius. The Cardassians are bundled up."
Aaron turns to T'kora and asks, "Can we use the cargo transporters to beam down a shuttle?" She shakes her head and replies, "Definitely not the runabouts; they are too large and complex. A Work Bee or a Type-6, maybe. Shall I prep the Malden IV?" Aaron snorts and replies, "No thank you, I don't want that variable in play. I was just curious." He declares, "We'll beam down three twelve-man teams, each a mix of security and medical and science." Shil'vala interjects, "I assume you're going even if I protest?" Aaron nods and replies, "Yup. I want you up here in command, with the two runabouts on standby." She snorts and says, "If by 'standby' you mean 'fully crewed, launched, and hiding by our warp nacelles,' then sure." Aaron grins but doesn't countermand her.
Aaron adds, "While you're doing that, I want a continuous scan of the region, particularly for artifacts." Shil'vala nods thoughtfully, and then Aaron laments, "And I really want to know why this guy knows my name." Shil'vala replies innocently, "You just have one of those faces, captain." Aaron grunts, "I'll remember that for your birthday." M'Belaa leans in and asks playfully, "Shall I get your plaque, captain?" Aaron looks confused for a second before he remembers the plaque Sutok made for him when he was declared an enemy of the Cardassian Union, and replies, "Maybe we keep that one under wraps for now. You can take your boots off if you come with us." He then frowns and muses, "You'd probably move easily down there without them, but you need some sort of protection. Mittens for your feet?" M'Belaa lifts up some strips of cloth and Aaron shrugs in acceptance.
Aaron, Kimball, Khaleed, and Kelly are part of the first team that beams down to the surface in full cold-weather gear and rappelling equipment - and weapons - at 1800 hours. They materialize in the center of the settlement, and Kimball immediately tenses and starts looking for an ambush, but spots nothing. Thee Cardassians turn to them, but they're all so bundled up against the cold that they waddle and can't use their disrupters effectively. Aaron looks around and sees the habitat units, they're all scorched black. He also spots older Cardassian firearms lying on the ground, and a heavily jury-rigged Ferengi power generator. His initial opinion is that this is a secret waystation used by multiple species for illicit dealings. Khaleed spots dozens of black piles of ash in the snow and scans one. His face pales as he says, "Captain, we have a problem. These are carbonized remains."
Before Aaron can answer, three Cardassians waddle their way over. Kimball can tell one of them is military, from the bulky uniform under his cold-weather gear, but the other two - a male and a female judging by their gait - are civilians. As they stop in front of the Starfleet crew, Aaron spots the military officer sports the rank insignia of a jagul, or a Cardassian admiral, and his tension ratchets up another notch. However, the Cardassians are so bundled up no skin is showing, until the civilian male takes off his goggles and holds out his hand to Aaron. Warily, Aaron shakes it, and the civilian introduces himself as Agent Corbas.
Agent Corbas gestures to the other two and says, "This is Jagul Kolar of the Cardassian Third Order. Please forgive his rudeness; he's had a rough day. And this is Agent Mul Duvella of the Obsidian Order." The female civilian bows slightly at the Starfleet officers but says nothing, while the jagul silently glowers. Agent Corbas sighs and turns to Khaleed, who is scanning the black residue with the tricorder again. Corbas identified Bahb by name, and says, "Welcome to the Bajoran refugee colony, Captain Englyss, located in the middle of nowhere. We believe it was set up a year ago, and this happened a month ago. Your service to the Cardassian Union is simple and straightforward: prove we didn't do this."
[TBA]