Bridge Training: Cardassian Conspiracy (Part IV)

Posted on Sun Feb 18th, 2024 @ 6:57am by Cadet Senior Grade Meghan Stefani & Cadet Senior Grade Daniel Weaver & Cadet Junior Grade Tarah Zhanorazon & Cadet Junior Grade Shafin Todenhöfer
Edited on on Tue Mar 5th, 2024 @ 10:26am

1,374 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Cadet Cruise

[PREVIOUSLY]

"I know you weren't and I didn't accuse you of it, either, Tarah. I said 'We don't want them to claim they retaliated on us because they felt us moving was a threat.' You and I both know you repositioning the ship is just strategic. They don't and they aren't exactly known for telling others the truth about a situation especially if it makes them look bad. But all it takes, Tarah, is that Gul seeing us move and assume we were preparing an attack and he already has justification to fire on us. Doesn't matter why it was done or whether it’s to protect us. To Starfleet, we could be seen as instigating an attack. To Starfleet, whether we felt justified or not, we still made the first move." Daniel took a second to looked around, before focusing on Tarah again. "We have to either let them make it or have solid proof they were preparing to attack and, according to our Tactical Officer, they haven't locked on us. They have their shields up and weapons hot but not focused on us. You follow? You're not in the wrong... we just have to make sure we have full justification to engage. If that means taking a hit or two then so be it. As long as they have no room to come up with a story that puts us in the wrong even if it’s nowhere near true."

[CONTINUED]

Tarah scoffed softly, mumbling "I'm not one to be known for being in the right. I guess my communication skills are as rough as a Cardassian too." she kept her finger to the side of the activation button and use a more formal tone "Waiting for your command, Captain"

Daniel smiled back. "It's not a bad idea, Tarah. It's actually a great idea. You're smart to think of it, but we can't give them any excuse to turn us into the bad guys in this situation. We're Starfleet Officers in this situation." He looked over to Shafin for a second before turning back to Tarah. "We have to outsmart them and, if they are looking for a fight, I trust you'll keep us from getting hit while Emma gives them everything we've got. The two of you, working together, makes me think these spoon-." He stopped again, trying to do what Shafin said earlier and not letting his personal feelings get in the way. "It makes me think these Cardassians won't stand a chance."

Meghan gave up trying to get Daniel's attention. He had enough on his plate with the pilot. Instead, she sent the image to both Daniel and Shafin's stations. Then, curious, she decided to check the distress call again. Something about this whole situation bothered her. Weren't these training exercises supposed to be realistic? Why did the commodore use a family member to add more stress on to what Daniel was already feeling?

Daniel heard the alert come from the small console at his chair. He looked down to it and saw it was from Meghan. In all the back and forth with Tarah, he forgot Meghan gotten the probe images back and wanted his attention. He quicky looked over to her and saw she was busy looking into something. He was tempted to shout out to her, but felt Shafin would consider it inappropriate or unprofessional for someone in my appointed position, so he tapped on the small console on the arm of his chair and forwarded her a message.

'Sorry, Meghan. I got caught up with dealing with Zhanorazon that it slipped my mind you were trying to call me over. I'll try not to let it happen again. Good work with the probe. Dinner later to make up for it?' The message read.

He then turned his attention to the images and went through them. Daniel shifted through them one by one, as best he could anyway. Some of the images were hard to make out and he mostly saw bits and pieces of things. It was hard to make out most of them, but then something caught his eyes. He brought the image closer and tried to get it to zoom in, but the image would get more distorted and harder to see. From what Daniel could tell it was a Bajoran ship, but it wasn't a science vessel. It was a Bajoran, but it looked more like a Freighter. Smaller than and Antares Class but still it was Bajoran. However, Bajoran Freighter's weren't only used by Bajorans. According to his grandfather, Cardassians would get a hold of them and use them for themselves. Luring Bajorans into thinking they were dealing with a friendly and attacking them when their shields were down. Because of this, his grandfather said they developed a type of code to determine friend from foe. With communications a problem with the ship inside, there was no way of knowing which one they were dealing with.

Meghan saw the message from Daniel and smiled softly. "It's okay," she replied. "But I'll definitely hold you to that dinner."

Daniel stood up from his chair and called out the Shafin. "Shaf-... First Officer? Meet me at the Science station, please." He said before walking over to Meghan's station. Before Shafin got closer he asked under his breath. "Did you get my message?"

"I did, but my reply just missed you," she replied just loud enough for him to hear.

"Well... I'm sorry I missed it... and you." Daniel whispered back with a smile. "I was thinking. I know someone who could get us into the lounge after hours? Me and you... alone with a replicator and the stars out the window?"

"Anything as long as it's just you," she whispered back, looking down so no one could read the expression on her face.

Daniel smiled back, he looked over as he saw Shafin approaching, before looking back at her and whispered. "I'll make it happen. You won't be disappointed. At least, I hope not." He gave a quick chuckle before clearing his throat when Shafin approached.

Shafin responded promptly. "I'll be there in a moment. To answer the question, no. I found nothing of use in Cardassian law. It was disturbing."

Daniel cleared his throat before walking to Meghan's side. "I need to borrow this for a second." He said before tapping on it and bringing up the image he was looking at earlier. "Do you see this ship design? It's Bajoran but it’s not a science vessel. It's smaller than an Antares Class Carrier. I think it might be a freighter. Maybe assault or scout ship. Anyway, I remember something my grandfather used to say. The one supposedly on that ship. These ships would sometimes get captured by the Cardassians during the Occupation, but not destroyed. He said they used to use these ships themselves and set traps. Sometimes load it with a Cardassian crew and approach Bajoran ships pretending to be friendlies. They would even ditch the idea of a crew entirely and pilot the ship remotely. When a ship would come close to it, they would set the self-destruct. In order to combat this, my grandfather said, they set up a type of code to figure out if there were actually Bajorans onboard or enemies." He looked from one to the other and added. "Problem is with communications not being able to go through we can't use the code." Daniel took a deep breath and let out a slightly defeated sigh before asking. "What about you two? Anything new?"

"That makes sense. It also fits with what's going on. I'm not sure if this is a trap for us, the Cardassians, or both. It appears we're stuck between a trap and the Cardassians." Meghan pulled up the distress call again. "I've been looking at this, too."

(To be continued...)

Cadet Senior Grade Daniel Weaver
Acting Commanding Officer

Cadet Junior Grace Tarah Zhanorazon
Acting Chief Flight Control Officer

Cadet Senior Grade Meghan Stefani
Acting Chief Science Officer

Cadet Junior Grade Shafin Todenhöfer
Acting Executive Officer

 

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