Drill (Artemis)

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"We need to get the gas neutralized, rescue Dakora’s team, get word to the Berlin, find whoever is sabotaging the ship, and not get blown up in the process. (beat) Any questions?"'
- Commander Addison MacKenzie

Teaser

Purple-nebula.jpg

Intended as a training exercise, the crew of the USS Artemis-A was divided in two, half manning the borrowed USS Berlin to put both the Artemis and her crew through their paces as the two ships participated in a war game within the boundaries of the Paulson Nebula.

Act 1

Since their last mission was entirely planet-side,[1] Commander MacKenzie thought it prudent to give the crew a feel for what the Artemis was capable of. To that end, she set Commander Adea in command of the USS Berlin with a draft of the senior staff under him. Once in place, the now two crews would face off in a mostly-simulated combat in a nearby nebula. The environment there would not only prevent full impulse travel, but also add an element of uncertainty to the exercise.[2] (See Crew Manifests section for crew breakdowns)

USS Artemis

After entering the nebula, the crew of the Artemis deployed probes with modified signatures, intended to distract the already less-able sensors of the Berlin. After searching, they located a signature that eventually proved to be their quarry. Firing upon the smaller ship had the desired effect: decreased shielding and minor damage, but it also had an undesired effect. The phaser fire, though decreased in intensity for the exercise, was enough to trigger ignition of a plasma flare. This backfire of sorts caused significant damage to the Artemis' own shields, which sent the crew into repair mode. Yalu, Vedic and Savel headed to Main Engineering to assess and repair damage there. Upon arriving, they found an overturned replicator playing some sort of advertisement for drink-ware.[3]

USS Berlin

The Berlin took a careful approach to the nebula, having a disadvantage with sensor capabilities. Moments before being attacked by the Artemis, Ensign Kawarda (utilizing a "tactical astrometrics station") was able to spot the ship and relayed the information to Lorana on the bridge. There was however, no time to avoid the attack, and when the Berlin was hit and damage reports made, Adea made the call to send a boarding party over to the larger ship. Dakora suggested beaming in other items as a means of diversion not dissimilar to the Artemis' use of the probes, but on a smaller scale. The more obviously tactically valuable boarding points would serve as the diversions while Dakora, Osuna and Jones would beam into Elysium with a small contingent of security officers.

Act 2

USS Artemis

  • Bridge Crew

While Yalu, Vedic and Savel were dealing with the boarders, the bridge crew were brainstorming ideas on how to keep themselves hidden from the Berlin while they dealt with the boarders. Silveira suggested offense rather than defense, triggering multiple plasma flares at once and hopefully hit the Berlin, making it retreat from a possible confrontation, and thus giving the Artemis ample time to hide. Just as they prepared to do this, they noticed an obscure contact which was possibly the Berlin. Opting for a wide spread, Silveira fired at the contact and the plasma in one fell swoop, lighting vast amounts of the nebula aflame. As the Artemis moved away from the flares, boosting their shields to avoid more damage, the computer alerted the bridge crew that a detonation had been registered on deck 5, and Silveira handed out phasers to everyone in the room, prepared for a possible firefight. Meanwhile, Jovenan alerted the Captain that their plan to shield the Artemis hadn’t worked. They were still fully visible and running out of places to go. The ship was being bombarded, both from within and without, and as the simulated damage started mounting up, the Captain grew suspicious. What if all that simulated damage was, in fact, not simulated at all? [4]

  • Security Team

To make sure any boarders would have a hard time doing any ‘real’ damage (in terms of the drill), Vedic locked down the main computer core and set failsafes to potentially trap any would-be hackers, while Savel directed all on-board security officers to do sweeps of all decks. As the trio itself moved to try and intercept the boarders before they gained access to any sensitive systems, Yalu suffered a simulated injury, but chose to continue on with the others towards Deck 5, where the computer core was located. The computer identified Dakora, Osuna and Jones’ location as within the crew quarters there, but when making contact with the ‘enemy group’, they discovered that their adversaries had exchanged combadges with some other crewmen. Just as they realized that their quarry had already moved on to the computer control room, a simulated explosion rocked the ship, taking the artificial gravity with it while they heard phaser fire in the distance. A confrontation was imminent. Vedic was called away to help with repairs for some stuck turbolifts just before the firefight broke out between the two teams. When Dakora’s team started their escape through the Jeffries’ Tubes, Yalu’s group was prepared to follow, before they made a disturbing discovery. Very real anesthezine knockout gas had been released on the deck they’d just left, and the computer core was going haywire. This was no drill anymore. [5]

USS Berlin

  • Bridge Crew

While the boarding crew was aboard the Artemis, the Berlin were devising ways to keep their opponents occupied, so they wouldn’t have time to deal with the boarders. Yellir devised a ploy that would fool the Artemis’ sensors into thinking that another warp signature was approaching them from the other direction. Their plan seemed successful as the Artemis aimed at everything in its vicinity, and the Berlin made a run for it, hoping to outrun the plasma flares. With the concentration of plasma pockets in the nebula, Lorana alerted Cmdr. Adea that they only had two options left for navigation: either come up right next to the Artemis – which was on its way towards safer waters – or fly deeper into the perilous nebula. Yellir planned on concealing a subspace message to Dakora within a subspace signal bombardment amplified by a tractor beam, and was given permission to do so by the Commander. Once they did, Adea was shocked at the extent of damage being done to the Artemis[6] and ordered the crew to go on standby.

  • Boarding Party

Realizing that they might be trackable via biosigns, the boarding party devised a plan to trap some Artemis crewmen in some crew quarters and swap combadges. Accomplishing their task, the boarding group was slimmed down from 4 to 6, with Dakora, Jones, Osuna and Security Officer Kliss’lai continuing on their mission, which involved attaching simulated explosives to various access points for the computer core. While heading towards the second site, the group heard a sudden noise from an overhead gangway but didn’t immediately see any hostiles. They managed to get the second explosive attached and primed and left the computer control room behind, just as phaser fire started shooting towards them from the other end of the corridor. While the simulated explosions took out both the artificial gravity and the corridor’s lighting, the boarding party with a now ‘injured’ Kliss’lai opted for an exit strategy that involved swooping through an access hatch to a nearby Jeffries’ tube. There, they encountered a bloodthirsty crewman, Renirs, who had been on a mainentenance job, and instead opted to beat up Osuna with a very unsimulated wrench. After deescalating the crewman’s assault, she was brought along with the group as they climbed through the Jeffries’ Tubes, aiming for Sickbay so they could heal their simulated damages. It wasn’t until they exited the Tubes, that they realized their folly. They’d exited the tubes straight onto a deck filled with Anesthezine gas. Hurrying towards Sickbay – and its isolated environmental systems - before they lost consciousness, the group realized that they had bigger problems than a few yellow combadges. [7]

Act 3

Aboard the Artemis, a number of plans were set in motion. The Captain, Yalu, Jovenan and Doctor Sadar - a recently assigned Ensign - would work on dealing with the knockout gas currently enveloping the entirety of Decks 5-7, while Savel got permission to lead a team consisting of himself, Silveira and Kader down into the ship and locate Dakora's team so they could join forces against the rogue element that had boarded the ship and were currently sabotaging them from within. Meanwhile, out in the void of space, the crew aboard USS Berlin had been warned by Dakora something was amiss on the Artemis, and now began a surveying mission to see if they could locate another ship in the vast nebula surrounding them.

  • Dealing with the Gas

Jovenan and Sadar's plan to deal with the gas was to use the environmental systems to vary the air pressure in different areas of the afflicted decks, effectively guiding the gas towards the Quarantine Suites in Sickbay, so they could contain it until it could be rendered harmless. Accompanying them into the Ship - since all environmental controls did not work from the Bridge, and a viable antidote needed to be dispatched from Deck 13 anyway - were Captain MacKenzie and Yalu. The air pressure plan - activated by a series of interfaces on the afflicted decks - worked flawlessly, but Sadar realized that the gas wasn't any simple knockout gas, but instead a cocktail of various drugs - the most problematic of which was Felicium. As such, they needed to make their own cocktail to combat it, and wake their slumbering crewmembers without any lasting effects. Once there, they realized that they'd missed Dakora's team, and after Captain MacKenzie accessed the computer, she found that they and Savel's team were congregating on the Intel Suite, and that the Berlin was currently engaged in combat. The Captain decided that - since the gas had been quarantined, and they'd instructed a medical team to start experimentation to find a viable antidote - her team should return to the Bridge.[8]
While on the bridge, Sadar kept up-to-date on the development of the antidote while the other officers started to provide back-up to the Berlin, which was looking rough. LtJG Jovenan was put in charge of ship phasers - for the first time in her career - as she put out suppressive fire. Most of the Artemis' systems were still offline due to the earlier sabotage, but as they read cascade failures on board the Sarna following a torpedo strike from the Berlin, as well as multiple transports onto their sister ship's Bridge, the Captain gave her final order.[9]

  • Defeating the Boarders

Savel, Lt. Silveira and Ens Kader descended down into the ship in order to search for Dakora, Jones and Osuna in order to join strengths and fight back the true threat. While Dakora's team made first contact with the HMMT - Holographic Medical Muppet Teller - and managed to get in contact with both the Berlin and the Artemis leadership. Deciding to be proactive in their continuing mission, the team left Sickbay via Jeffries’ Tubes and used their tricorders to scan for life signals not immediately recognizable as Artemis’ crew. This identified a group of four Suliban moved towards the Intel Suite on Deck 8. Moving forwards with a goal in mind, Team Dakora encountered the Suliban boarders just outside the Intel Suite that they were hacking their way into. After a short firefight, the Suliban managed to gain entry and barricaded themselves in. Dakora attempted to go in as well, but it turned out that the Suliban’s entry was gained by declaring the resident Chief of Intelligence KIA, and as such, they were currently locked out. This was when Team Dakora and Team Silveira joined up. While one half of the group departed to find equipment for a plausible firefight in anti-gravity, the other half stayed behind to keep an eye on the intel suite, and the squatters within. Dakora initiated a diplomacy attempt, but despite discord within the group of Suliban terrorists, they seemed unreceptive to a peaceful solution when a sudden lurch of the Artemis interrupted their communications. With no other option left to them, the Artemis crew used a joint override to open the doors to the Intel Suite, and engaged the Suliban team in a firefight. Dakora took the brunt of an explosive device that had been set by the entrance while Kader, Jones, Osuna and Silveira got involved in the fight. Two of the Suliban attempted to parlay their way out, but as Dakora and Silveira both fell unconscious to their wounds, they were all enveloped by transporter beams... [10]

  • Dogfight in the Nebula

Realizing that something was likely wrong aboard the Artemis after receiving news from Dakora, the crewmembers aboard the Berlin started brainstorming on how to help their comrades. While preparing a signal buoy that could hopefully facilitate communication between Commanders Adea & MacKenzie, Yellir noticed a sonar signal - an ancient type of communication still in use by some antiquated vessels. Lorana noted that a pathway of sorts through the Nebula not only showed signs of the various gasses and elements naturally occuring there, but also a concentration of ionized gasses that would fit the bill on a number of non-Federation vessels. Captain MacKenzie then managed to use the deployed buoy to communicate the situation to the Berlin, who received their mission: flush out the Suliban vessel.
They managed to locate it by realizing that the Suliban vessel was moving only by maneuvering thrusters. Cmdr. Adea decided to approach the Suliban vessel by firing randomly, so they wouldn't realize that the Berlin had located them. Unfortunately, their phaser fire activated a chain reaction of plasma flares, which in turn rendered the Commander unconscious, leaving Yellir to in command of an ensuing firefight as the Sarna left it's hiding place to attack the small Starship. Ens Kuva arrived on the bridge to deal with damages rendered during the firefight, just as the Artemis joined the fray.
The considerable damage done to the Berlin during the plasma flares and the initiation of the firefight meant that they had few options open to them, and so they decided on deception. Yellir commanded - inspired by Kuva's observation that they still had a full torpedo bay - that the Berlin should "retreat" from combat, covered by the significantly larger Artemis , and thereby maneuvering their aft side towards the fight so they had a direct lock with their torpedoes. Their attacks did significant damage to the Sarna, which triggered a boarding party to transport directly to the Berlins bridge. Yellir, Lorana, Kuva and Lt. Zinn fought back to the best of their ability, but were surely being forced on the defensive, until they heard the familiar sound of transporters. [11]

Conclusion

The Suliban boarders, the Suliban aboard the Berlin and the security team that had been involved in a skirmish with the boarders in the Intel Suite were all beamed directly to the brig. Multiple crew members needed urgent medical attention - Dakora underwent hours of surgery - and Sickbay quickly filled up with both combat injuries and side effects from the antidote gas that had been deployed earlier. The Artemis and Berlin both made it back to Starbase 224 - with Captain Martin not quite pleased with the state of his vessel upon its return - and the Suliban terrorists were offloaded to Starfleet Security as the Artemis departed for a well-earned shoreleave on Cait...

Crew Manifests



MSNPCs

  • Enno, CO of the Sarna
  • Hodga, Tactical Officer and Combat Leader of the Sarna
  • Nirra, Infiltration Expert of the Sarna
  • Malik, Engineer of the Sarna


Enno

Simmed by: Yogan Yalu

  • MSNPC name: Enno
  • Age: 49 (DoB 235104.15)
  • Species: Suliban
  • Gender: Male
  • Appearance
    • Hair: Bald
    • Eyes: Black
    • Height: 157 cm (5'2")
    • Weight: 120 kg (265 lb)
  • Job: Commanding Officer, Sarna
  • Family

Parents: Cralo and Vrpi
Siblings: 4 brothers, 5 sisters
Spouse: Pam (m. 2368)
Children: 7 daughters, 2 sons

  • Bio:

Enno is the commander of the starship Sarna. He was born in the Borderlands and his family were perpetual drifters. He spent much of his younger years hiding out in convoys of Suliban ships inside the Paulson, Azure, and Celendi nebulae. For a brief period during his childhood, his family attempted to assimilate into the landed society of a small, non-aligned colony world. It was the only time Enno felt truly carefree. All Suliban were expelled from the planet less than a year later, however, forcing the family to resume their drifting through the Borderlands.

As Enno grew up, he became dismayed at how few opportunities existed for himself and his people. At 16, he signed aboard a Nyberrite Alliance cruiser. His time with the Alliance taught him discipline, useful skills, and the ethics of command. He also met his spouse, Pam, aboard the cruiser. The couple married and had 9 children. Enno served the Nyberrite Alliance for 20 years until the destruction of Romulus, after which he and his family returned to the Borderlands.

The first years back home in the Borderlands were tough. Enno first served in low-ranking positions aboard cargo ships plying the Celendi Trade Route, but his command experience put him on the radar of the region’s bigger players. To support his family, he ventured into extralegal activity, smuggling biomimetic gel. By 2395, he had earned enough to purchase his own ship, Sarna, and by 2400, he had assembled a crew of experts to take on more complex, more dangerous, and more profitable missions.

His family is unaware of how deeply involved he is in the criminal activity of the Borderlands. And he intends to keep it that way.


Hodga

Simmed by: Addison MacKenzie

  • MSNPC name: Hodga
  • Age: 47 (DoB 235301.11)
  • Species: Suliban
  • Gender: Female
  • Appearance
    • Hair color: Bald
    • Eye color: Black
    • Height: 154 CM (5'1")
    • Weight: 52 kg (115 lb)
  • Job: Tactical Officer and Combat Leader, Sarna
  • Family

Parents: Cralo and Vrpi
Siblings: 5 brothers, 4 sisters
Spouse: None
Children: None

  • Bio

Hodga is the tactical and combat leader of the starship Sarna. She, along with her brother Enno and eight other siblings, was born in the Borderlands to a family of drifters. She spent the majority of her childhood as refugees in convoys. Mostly unhoused and subject to the cruel, unforgiving universe, Hodga spent her formative years being an undisciplined ruffian aboard Suliban freighters and convoys in the Paulson, Azure, and Celendi nebulae. Being the child of genetically modified Sulibans, Hodga received an increased muscle density which made her roughly five times stronger than she would otherwise be.. She became the de facto leader of the gangs of Suliban children that would roam the corridors of the freighters, starting fights. More than once she got beat up by a gang of older children.

For a brief period during her childhood, her family attempted to assimilate into the landed society of a small, non-aligned colony world. Hodga could never acclimate to the idyllic life of farming and colonization that some of her family did. Lucky for her, all Suliban were expelled from the planet less than a year later, however, forcing the family to resume their drifting through the Borderlands.

Hodga was fiercely protective of her siblings, especially her older brother Enno, who she was closest in age with. When Enno joined the Nyberrite Alliance, she felt betrayed, as a fourteen-year old girl might, and became even more of a gangster and criminal.

Hodga eventually ran a successful criminal underground along the Celendi Trade Lane, mostly involved with smuggling drugs, both medical and recreational, to her people to help their pain. She saw herself as a benevolent force in the community and tried to give back as much as she could.

She used the money to keep her siblings safe and comfortable and tried to mostly shield them from the knowledge that she was a criminal, but they had their suspicions.

With the destruction of Romulus, a large influx of Suliban refugees returned to the Borderlands, and also a large number of other criminal enterprises. She eventually had most of her territory and smuggling operations taken over by more vicious criminals and, fearing for her life and the life of her siblings, she reached out to her older brother Enno, who gave her a posting aboard the Sarna, which he used to smuggle biomimetic gel - ironically a racket she was running just a couple years prior.

Nirra

Simmed by: Luxa Lorana

  • MSNPC Name: Nirra
  • Age: 33 (DoB 236702.09)
  • Sex: Female
  • Appearance
    • Body Type: tall and slender, long arms and legs.
    • Skin: Mottled green
    • Eyes: Black
    • Hair: None
    • Genetic Alterations: Skeletal flexibility, aversion to extreme temperature changes (freezing to hot). She is able to alter the dimensions of her face to appear human for short periods of time.
  • Job: Infiltration Expert, Sarna - Nirra is an accomplished Infiltration Specialist for the Suliban Cabal. She is an expert at covert operations, and due to her genetic alterations is able to adapt to many different experiences and environments, as well as the ability to gather intelligence, sabotage, and disrupt. She is trained in a variety of different species computer systems, including Federation's, and is proficient in hacking.
  • Family

Mother: Ranira, deceased
Father: Orat, deceased

  • Bio

Raised within the impoverished, displaced Suliban colony Sha'Tay. Her mother, Ranira, perished of a disease that swept through the Suliban community when she was six years old. That same disease took her father, and he begged his young daughter to end his suffering, as he had her mother's. Once her parents were gone, the disease almost claimed her as well. The disease was preventable, the colony lacked the healthcare expertise and the means to cure this affliction within the Suliban community. Hundreds of Suliban died needlessly. Nirra then spent the remainder of her childhood within a Suliban orphanage. That was a recruitment front for the Cabal. They indoctrinated children to their cause from a young age. Promising a better future for the Suliban people. Nirra was a prodigy to them. A loyal and fierce accolyte. She devoted her entire life to the Cabal, and is now one of their most accomplished agents. She has a taste for violence and cruelty, and a lack of compassion or empathy.

Malik

Simmed by: Savel

  • MSNPC Name: Malik
  • Age:
  • Sex: Male
  • Appearance:
    • Height:
    • Skin:
    • Eyes:
    • Hair:
  • Job: Engineer, Sarna
  • Bio: One of the newest members of the Sarna's crew, Malik was brought aboard to replace another crewmember, though he didn't know for what reason.


References

  1. Impact (Artemis)
  2. 'Drill', Cmdr. MacKenzie, Stardate 240005.26
  3. 'Bamboozled', Lt.Cdr Yogan Yalu, Stardate 240006.13
  4. 'Trouble', Cmdr. MacKenzie, Stardate 240006.26
  5. 'Oh, this just got serious', Lt.Cdr. Yalu, Stardate 240006.26
  6. 'We're Not Playing Games Here', Cmdr. Adea, Stardate 240006.21
  7. 'All Gone Wrong', Lt.Cdr Dakora, Stardate 240006.27
  8. 'Bring Us Around', Cmdr. MacKenzie, Stardate 240007.12
  9. 'Let's End This', Cmdr. MacKenzie, Stardate 240007.18
  10. 'Into the Dark', Lt.Cdr. Dakora, Stardate 240007.18
  11. 'Standing By', Lt. Yellir, Stardate 240007.19