Log Mundy, 22918-2237

[Adele Mundy]

Personal Log, Lt. Cmdr. Adele Mundy, TSN Sabre, 2nd Space Fleet, 4th Lt. Div.
Stardate: 22918-2237

After recovering Prof. McLinley last shift, 4th Light is in Arietis System, awaiting further information and probable redeployment. The Federation is maintaining its high alert status, as we suspect the Skaraans might try to recapture him. Or, for all we know, they might go after some other target. We did find out from the Skaraan prisoners that they were being paid by the Kraliens, but we don’t know why yet.

We started with a simulation, followed by a training exercise on combat formations, with the focus on refining our use of Kappa formations. Both went well, especially considering that we no longer have Lt.Sr. Quinn as Sabre’s Helm Officer. The Ensign who replaced Quinn this shift and last is making great progress, but I miss Quinn, dammit. He vanished pretty much the moment we came back to this universe, and I don’t know if it’s a routine reassignment, or if he requested a transfer because he was sick of the sight of us.

That may be an exaggeration, Computer. Not by much, though. And I know he’s missed by the crew in general.

On a more cheerful note, Lt. Donovan was awarded the Advanced Practical Proficiency Ribbon for Science. And after cheering and congratulations, we gathered around our screen for the Fleet News Service. They mentioned our rescue of McLinley, which was flattering, and the continuing contact with Hjorden authorities. They even mentioned the Hjocoa gelato, which is only appropriate, because, after all, it is a gift to human civilization that we can never fully repay.

They also mentioned that the captured Unukalhai crews have been questioned about Horatio. And that’s the kind of attention I’d much prefer to avoid. Then there’s the whole Nixora Tech political shift, with the sudden election of a new leader, and the renaming of the group as the Ixoran Confederacy of Planets: a situation that could go in a number of directions.

But we concluded that interlude with more good news, as Lt. Cmdr. Morlock received the Distinguished Service Medal, to well-deserved acclaim.

And finally, we received the orders for our first mission, which was intended to track down the instigators of Prof. McLinley’s kidnapping: our intel section had decided to lure the kidnappers by leaking rumours about a high profile meeting about to take place in Arietis System, and we were supposed to go into hiding in nebulas near the site of this meeting, to ambush the Skaraans as they arrived.

From Arietis Command we travelled to Arietis Sector 2, entering the sector under silent running and taking up position in the nebulas near RS-48X and RS-82X. They had been evacuated, and information had been leaked that McLinley was going to be on one of them. However, we were also in the vicinity of two civilian stations, Meera and Kala, which had not been evacuated, being much larger; and there were a number of civilian liners in the area, just to make life interesting. So the first thing I had to do as we hid in the nebulas was send the all the civilian ships Rimwards to keep them out of trouble.

As you can imagine, their captains were not best pleased to have their cruise schedules disrupted with no explanation other than “security reasons”, but they did as they were told, while promising they would lodge protests with Command, and threatening that their shareholders would not be happy… While I am inappropriately amused by the thought of Command’s response to the protests of luxury liner captains, I can only hope the majority shareholders don’t have the kind of clout that might impact Navy resources.

The Fleet Captain set Lancer, under Capt. Jemel, to defend the stations as our fast response unit, while the plan was for Sabre, Viper, and Horizon to stay in formation, but be ready to deploy to deal with separate threats if necessary.

The Skaraans did turn up, under cloak at first, and attacked the stations; but we had a pretty good idea where they were going to be, and we wasted no time. Having destroyed the attacking ships, we then launched shuttles to retrieve the life pods they had launched, so we concluded our mission with two loads of cargo in our holds, and three life pods’ worth of Skaraan prisoners distributed among our terribly comfortable secure accommodations. We did not serve them Hjocoa, though.

We were then sent on to Atlantis Command to deliver the prisoners, and once that was complete, we were sent out on a patrol of Atlantis System, heading to the sectors Trailing of Command. It seemed a routine operation at first, as we approached liners in Sectors 18 and 19 and scanned them for contraband, but a number of Skaraan ships attempted to attack stations. When we retaliated, one ship attempted to escape Coreward, and we chased it into Sector 14, and to the WP52 Gate. We caught it, disabled it and captured a life pod; we destroyed another ship as it neared the Gate.

Then we received warning that more Skaraan ships were attacking in Sector 19 again – which led us to speculate that they might be using slingshot tech to arrive inside our defensive lines; so we conducted a sweep of the surrounding nebulas to search for enemy presence. We did find one Skaraan lurking, and we damaged the ship enough that her captain surrendered, and we were able to capture her crew. A second Skaraan ship was destroyed.

As we searched Sector 19 for more enemies, or survivors, we received a Mayday signal from Sector 18, and made the Spinward transit with all speed. We found that both Elnan Station and A’Aureln station were under attack, and we held back the attackers long enough that by the time the TSN Escort ships arrived from Atlantis Command to support us, all they had to do was to take charge of the surrendered ships and the prisoners.

Not that we’d boast about that, or anything.

That leaves ONI with quite a large number of prisoners to question; and all of us with the suspicion there may be more behind McLinley’s kidnapping than one might expect.

[end log]

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