Game session: ?/2007

Alberic keeps his cool and greets Saul Toro calmly as soon as Toro finishes materializing. Toro snarls and rushes forward, but is stopped by Bjornson, who calmly greets Alberic in return. Alberic apologizes to Saul and claims that he was unaware of his family's manipulations in Saul's cashiering out, and that the same happened to him by another political faction the second time he took the Kobayashi Maru test. Alberic then introduces his crew by their adopted names, and Bjornson introduces himself only. He seems oddly bemused by "Petra" and enquires as to how Alberic and his crew located Kel Nor. Alberic tries to deflect the question, but Atli insists and Alberic claims he spoke to Fat Willie by subspace.

Atli then calls Alberic's bluff by stating that "Ayla" is really Mel, who he recognizes as Starfleet Security, as she did a few missions covertly for Starfleet Intelligence. He also recognizes "Petra" as Cidhela, and marvels at their doctor's work at modifying her appearance. He also points out that there is no smell of actual sex on either Cidhela or Alberic despite their elevated heart rates and reveals that he is in fact Fat Willie – a cover he created for infiltrating the Orion syndicate years ago.

Realizing his options are limited, Alberic agrees to hand over the medical supplies without a fuss as long as Bjornson doesn't reveal their true affiliation to the Syndicate until they're well on their way. Bjornson agrees, and Alberic and the Starfleet crew beam out. They materialize on the bridge of the Saber, and Alberic clears their departure with Kel Nor. The ship detaches from the docking port, and Daphne starts maneuvering them out while Alberic gives a brief rundown to Saval about what happened. However, rather then go home empty-handed, Alberic decides to race Tom Paris to Kathon Prime and capture him after he takes the weapons. He also orders Saval to restore their proper Starfleet records as soon as they're clear of the station. For her part, Saval agrees that the Captain did the right thing by avoiding a fight with Bjornson, and Cidhela states that it was Bjornson that rescued her from the Syndicate a decade ago, and called her 'Petra' until she finally learned to trust him and revealed her real name.

It will take six hours at full impulse to reach the Kathon system if they remain in the Badlands, or less if they return to normal space. Alberic decides to remain in the Badlands to prevent a run-in with Gul Drucel, however. He orders Atherton to the Bridge and arranges for the Away Team to shower and rest before they reach the Kathon system. He heads to his quarters and spends about two hours writing his report before showering and taking a nap. He does send a personal note of thanks to Cidhela for volunteering to return to Kel Nor.

Fal showers quickly but returns to the Bridge to work; he writes his report from Science I and focuses more on the scientific aspects of Kel Nor rather then on the results of the mission. Cidhela heads to Sickbay to have her appearance restored. Daphne focuses on flying the ship as fast as she can safely through the Badlands, while Mel showers and then finds Saval working in Main Engineering, acting as Chief Engineer while Cidhela is in Sickbay. She asks Saval about Bjornson, and learns that it when Bjornson killed the Syndicate family and rescued Cidhela; he apparently did so without breaking a sweat. They talk for a little while about Bjornson and if he did indeed turn traitor or if this is all some elaborate ruse to cement his cover, and Saval lightly jokes that she is glad Mel survived – she needs her help in protecting the male population of the ship from Daphne!

Two hours after departing the station, Daphne spots another ship heading on the same course they are. The Saber easily passes the ship, which Fal confirms is a Ju'Day-class courier, and they are not detected. Three hours after that, Fal picks up what appears to be a ship shadowing their course from outside the Badlands! He suspects the Prakesh, and informs Atherton. Atherton orders Daphne to vary their course, and sure enough, their tail mimics their course change. Atherton gives Fal permission to go to Engineering and try to figure out how they're being tracked. Fal heads down and finds Cidhela, who is slowly recovering from her surgery – her skin is more emerald then olive. He explains the problem, and the two officers work for a while to figure out how they're being tracked. Alberic and the other senior officers return to the Bridge and get briefed by Atherton, and then Fal and Cidhela hit on a risky plan – presuming that the transceiver that's tracking them is planted within the ship's computer network, they propose to shut down and reboot the computer manually to try and find the device, which would leave the ship defenseless for sixty seconds. Alberic reluctantly agrees, but orders Ganth, Petty Officer Adisa Oluwaseun, and Crewman Felch to report to the main shuttlebay. He plans to fly one of the four support ships himself, and have the four ships form a screen around the Saber while she lies vulnerable.

Alberic heads to the Shuttlebay after leaving Saval in command, and assigns Ganth to fly the modified courier while he takes the one runabout and the two enlisted crewmembers take the two available shuttlecraft. He orders a full systems check before they depart the Saber, and is surprised to find out his runabout is carrying the transceiver! He plots a course to take the runabout by remote a thousand kilometers away, and returns to the Bridge. He wants to destroy the runabout, but Saval points out that they could just send it away and lose their pursuer. He agrees, triggers the remote flight plan, and Fal confirms that their tail follows the runabout.

Alberic launches the three support craft and orders Cidhela to proceed with the computer reboot anyway, just in case. The Saber goes completely dark save for emergency lighting, as every system shuts down. The only link to the outside is their communications channel with the three support craft. Then, Ganth reports they have incoming company – the Valkyrie! The modified Bird-of-Prey is on a parallel course to Kathon Prime. Alberic gambles that the Valkyrie is trying to reach Kathon Prime before they do to prevent Tom Paris's capture, so he orders Cidhela to stop the reboot to prevent detection until after the Valkyrie passes. Several tense seconds pass, but the Valkyrie passes within a kilometer of them and doesn't seem to spot them.

As soon as the Valkyrie passes by, Alberic orders the reboot, and the Saber comes back online. The Valkyrie detects the Saber, and Bjornson hails them. He asks that violence be avoided and Alberic stop trying to intercept Paris. Alberic agrees, and the Valkyrie continues on their way. Alberic then orders Daphne to try and plot an intercept course with Paris instead, technically honoring his agreement in the letter, if not the spirit. He also has Fal modify a probe to act as a jammer, to prevent the Maquis from hailing Paris. The Saber starts to move, and the Valkyrie figures out pretty quickly Alberic's intent. The Valkyrie changes course and the race to Paris's shuttle is on! The Valkyrie pulls ahead despite Daphne's best efforts, and Bjornson angrily hails Alberic. Alberic refuses to give up the chase and the two spit insults back and forth before Alberic cuts the channel. He has the jammer-probe launched as well.

Alberic orders Mel to fire a photon torpedo ahead of the Valkyrie, hoping to damage the Bird-of-Ptey and regain the lead. Mel fires, but the Valkyrie flips on her axis and fires her phaser cannons, hitting the torpedo and detonating it between the two ships! Daphne immediately evades and Alberic pulls power to ventral shields to protect them. The shockwave hits the Saber and sends her tumbling a bit, and by the time Daphne regains control, the Valkyrie has cloaked and cannot be detected. They collect the three support craft and resume course. Alberic finally manages to find not one, but two potential sensor ghosts that could be cloaked ships, so he fires on one while Mel fires on the other. His shot hits and there is an explosion – too small to be a ship, probably a probe – but Mel's shot misses. They lose the sensor ghost and are forced to focus on gaining ground.

A little later, they detect a tachyon leak up ahead, and Alberic once again mobilizes the three support craft just in case. The leak could be a byproduct of a damaged cloaking device, and they try to close the gap. As they get closer, the tachyon leak suddenly changes course and heads straight for them! Refusing to back down, Alberic orders Daphne to hold course. The tachyon leak comes headlong at the Saber, and it's not until it's within one kilometer that Alberic orders Daphne to try and avoid it! Daphne attempts to do so, but as she does, the tachyon leak is revealed to be a disguised torpedo that explodes, sending the Saber tumbling end-over-end! Just as Daphne wrests control back to the damaged ship, the real Valkyrie decloaks behind them and delivers a punishing barrage that rakes their dorsal hull! Systems explode around them as the crew tries to hold on, and Ensign Thon pushes Mel out of the way just before the Tactical consol explodes, leaving him with bad plasma burns!

Mel tries to stabilize the panicked Trill while Daphne fights for any control she can. The Valkyrie comes back for another barrage, which fries the phasers and impulse engines. Refusing to be defeated so ingloriously, Alberic launches a photon torpedo out the Saber's aft launcher which hits the Valkyrie as she completes her pass, sending her tumbling into a roll! Despite the gesture, the Saber is in very bad shape, with micro-fractures on her dorsal hull, shields down to ten percent, no computer control, impulse engines fried and phasers off-line. The Valkyrie recovers but is leaking plasma, and Alberic orders the support craft to try and ignite the coolant trail. The Valkyrie apparently anticipates this and does a very close fly-by of the Saber before capping the leak, which means if they ignite the trail, the Saber will be hit as well. Alberic orders the support craft to belay his last order and to try and intercept Tom Paris, but only Ganth has the speed to do so. He moves off, and Bjornson hails again. Alberic denounces him as a traitor, and cuts the communication before anything else can be exchanged. Saul Toro tries hailing from the Valkyrie, but Alberic ignores it. Bjornson apparently decides further conflict with the Saber isn't worth it, and moves off to intercept Paris. Alberic orders Ganth to desist; the Valkyrie can easily overtake the courier despite the damage she's suffered.

The Valkyrie jumps to full impulse and Ganth and the others return to the Saber. Cidhela is already starting repairs, but estimates it will take at least an hour before impulse power would be available. Alberic gives her three hours, and does what he can to help from the Bridge. Saval is sent to Engineering while Fal mimics the captain's actions, but he realizes the sensor palette has been completely fried. Daphne keeps the Saber relatively steady and Mel carries Virgil to Sickbay. Mel finds She-Who-Swims' working on another crewman, but as soon as she's done she takes Virgil and shoos the uninjured Mel out of Sickbay. Mel returns to the shattered Bridge and does what she can to help, which is mostly clean-up as she is admittedly useless when it comes to repairing anything.

About two hours pass as the crew struggle to rebuild their ship, when Alberic receives a hail from the Valkyrie, marked "important." He decides to accept, and stares at a badly garbled transmission of Bjornson warning him that the Orion syndicate has dispatched ships to hunt him down. Alberic realizes the Syndicate must have found the corrected records, and realizes that the Saber will not be ready in time to fight – she's too badly damaged! Swearing, Bjornson states that Alberic won in the end – he can't allow a Starfleet vessel to fall to the Syndicate. But if the Valkyrie moves to intercept the Syndicate, they won't be able to retrieve Tom Paris. Alberic praises Bjornson for that sliver of honor left and closes the channel. The repairs just took on an even greater urgency!

Recap originally published on Livejournal.