Shadows in Space, Yellow Alert; Possible Intruder, Red Alert

Posted on Sat May 9th, 2026 @ 6:47pm by Lieutenant Junior Grade T'lenn & Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus & Major Clay McEntyre III & Lieutenant Commander Xalanth & Lieutenant Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil & Commander Maxun Spello & Lieutenant JG Sakkar
Edited on on Sat May 9th, 2026 @ 7:45pm

2,056 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: USS Astrea Bridge, Deck 17 Marine Country
Timeline: MD 11, 1300 Hours

* * * USS Astrea Bridge Sweeping for Romulan Shadows * * *

"Commander, I'm picking up an energy reading from the Petrus Cluster," T'lenn announced. "But the asteroids there are frequently mined, it is unlikely that a ship that has been elusive for this long would be careless enough to emit such an obvious power signature."

Hearing this information, Spello decided not to take any chances. "Go to yellow alert. Raise deflectors, bring the weapons online." While he couldn't definitively identify where the enemy vessel was located, he was currently responsible for the lives of every man, woman and child aboard the Astrea, and that was a responsibility that he did not lightly.

[Captain to the Bridge, Situation Report.] Remy's voice came through loud and clear over the open comms on the Bridge.

From the aft station that had since become the mission's command center since the assassination, Jean-Baptiste turned. The Executive Officer appeared to be in conference with the Vulcan science officer.

"Captain, this is Lieutenant Dorsainvil. We've discovered an anomalous reading from the nearby cluster."

The Captain's voice responded without pause.

[Elevate status to Red Alert, have security check for any potential breaches on board Astrea, and dispatch the Marines for a shipwide sweep. We have a person down in Sickbay, and our medical staff suspect possible foul play. Alert me with any updates. I'll be there shortly, but I need to make a few stops first.]

"Understood."

Daynah took a look at T'Lenn's readings. She attempted to clean them up of sorts. Pinpoint exactly what ship they came from. She began to speak from the Operations station almost as if she continued the Science Officer's statement. "That is unless they wanted to hide. Hiding in plain sight is the best plan, and one that is frequently used. They hide in an area that we know is frequented and hope that we will shrug it off and leave. I am working on deciphering the power signatures now. Should have something in a few moments."

As soon as the Captain had given her order over the comm channel, the ship's computer switched the alert level from yellow to red. As soon as the klaxons started to wail, Spello moved down to the center seat and sat down, holding it ready until Remy showed up. He started to issue the necessary orders to bring the powerful starship to battlestations as quickly as possible.

"Bridge to Starfighter Control, launch the patrol fighters and begin CAG operations." Spello ordered after he opened the channel to the correct department.

The turbolift door's opened as the ship's security chief arrived. Giving a nod to the officer at the bridge station, he took over and began scanning for targets.


* * * Starfighter Control * * *

Jason had just exited the head when the red alert sounded. He was already getting his pilots into position when the call from the bridge came down to launch. Slapping his commbadge he replied quickly. "Bridge, Lieutenant Williams. Understood, Commander. Fighters will be launched within the next ninety seconds, Sir! Williams out!" He then sprinted to his waiting starfighter, shouting orders to his people as he moved.

Lieutenant JG Taqqiq Allooloo--Ptarmigan to anyone who'd ever attempted to keep up with her--was already moving. Her helmet was tucked under her arm, flight gloves still on as she pivoted on her heel and took in the motion of Williams' squadron rushing to their fighters.

"Hey!" Taqqiq's voice cracked sharply across the hangar area. "Third Squadron--move it, move it! Clear the damn deck!"

Her three pilots froze for half a second and then broke upon seeing the flurry of activity.

"Now!" she snapped again, pointing hard toward the port staging lane. "You want to be minced-meat, stay where you are! Otherwise, go!"

One of her pilots, Fuzzy, fumbled a helmet latch and another nearly clipped a deckhand pivoting around a mechanical loader. It didn't matter. She stepped forward into the chaos and grabbed the last of her pilots as he hesitated near the starboard side of his fighter.

"Leave it," she said, low and firm, shoving him into the clearing lane. "We're done here. Clear space for launch."

She stood on the edge of the storm, counting the second between launches, watching Williams' pilots scramble. With her pilots clear, she said a silent Inuk proverb for Williams' squadron: ainnaujuq. ("Good luck.")

"Ptarmigan to Flight Control. Third Squad is clear. We're standing by for tasking."

Good to his word, he, and three other starfighters, launched within the ninety second time limit. He formed them up into two groups of two craft, positioning both teams at one-hundred-eighty degree positions from each other, circling the ship in clockwise orbits. He also has the rest of his fighters standing by to be launched, if needed.


* * * Bridge * * *

"New course, one-three-five mark five," Sakkar announced from the helm. The Astrea gently came about until the Petrus Cluster was off the nose.

From the aft of the bridge, Jean-Baptiste remained calm and composed while manning the mission control station--a makeshift command center that had become his home since the assassination of Ambassador T'Varel. Over the past seventy-two hours, he and Fulvia had shared in the task which quickly became a potent combination of communications, logistics, operations, and intelligence.

Astrea was now 120 million kilometers away from Barisa Prime and slowly pushing farther into the outer edge of the gravitationally bound asteroids.

"Lieutenant Williams' squadron is reporting they are in formation and commencing sweep," JB reported.

Maxun nodded at the report. "All sensors on full power," he stated aloud. "I want that Romulan ship found before they can even think to move."

"Scanning now. Shall I flood the area with tachyons? That would reveal cloaked vessels even for a moment." Daynah spoke without raising her head. She was intent on the work that she had to do.

Maxun nodded as he replied with the order. "Do it. We've got to find that ship before they do anything to make things worse." Looking at the viewscreen, he wondered briefly to himself where the captain was.

Sitting at his own console, Keel glanced up at the Main Viewer and licked his lips nervously. It was natural, he reminded himself, that at times like these his anxiety would spike. In space, he had little control over what the ship did in combat. If they had been on the ground he would have felt more useful. To calm himself, he piped sensor telemetry through to his station, partially to see if he could glean some information that could be useful to the Astrea.

Daynah stood at the Ops station. At the moment, all it seemed to be able to do was keep an eye on everyone. It was the calm before the storm; situations like this made a joined Trill exceptionally uneasy. The part of her that was Daynah wanted to crawl under a blanket and hide, make sure that nothing happened, and it would all end. However, the part of her that was Ral made sure that did not happen. Ral levelled her emotions and kept her focus. It felt like the butterflies in her stomach were simply trapped in a net.

Osirin stepped onto the bridge, still a bit unsteady on his feet. He was no longer dizzy and was feeling better than he had for some time, and he wasn't fully recovered, but he was better. He moved to an empty seat and lowered himself down.

T'lenn turned to him for a brief second and gave the sub-Lieutenant a brief nod, acknowledging his presence.

* * * Deck 17 Marine Country * * *

The Marines were already up and moving, ready for action when the yellow alert lights signaled caution. When the Red Alert klaxons sounded they moved more swiftly, each one moving for their gear, strapping on body armor, the glasses and the bottles on the table, forgotten.

Shortly after the alert sounded, the Captain's voice came over Major McEntyre's commbadge, [Major, coordinate a deck by deck sweep for possible intruders. We need identification of everyone aboard, and all areas secured. Pull personnel from other departments as necessary.]

"Aye, Aye, Sir!" Clay spoke as he entered Marine Country.

"YOU HEARD THE LADY, MARINES, SADDLE UP!! I want a full compartment by compartment sweep of the ship! 4 man chalks, do not lose contact with your squadmates!"

Clay barked his orders with precision. "Phasers on Heavy stun! Let's Move! McKenzie, Guns and Mr. Forstringer with me. Martinez take Second Platoon, move in opposite of my groups, oo-rah?"

Clay moved with purpose before stopping before Josef. "I'm goin take a chance on you. Captain said you got combat experience, even if it is a few hundred years out of date. Grab a suit of armor from the racks, Ms. McKenzie will issue you a phaser rifle. Stick to my ass like glue, got me Marine?"

Josef was quickly fitted and armed, a giant leap from being arrested and then reprimanded heavily for carrying his old pistol firearm to the reception a few days earlier.

Martinez led their group down from Deck Seventeen, they'd move swiftly. Main Engineering would be a priority location, but there were several decks to clear before they would arrive.

McEntyre led his group up - there wasn't much on Deck 16, it was a quick clear, but the disc section was massive and it included a lot of civillian areas, vulnerable locations like schools and Sickbay, and of course the intelligence offices and the main armory. Once they pulled enough other crew that they could trust, they'd have to form smaller platoons to make any sort of progress.

One final battle cry of the Marines was echoed as they headed off in their march to secure the ship.

Meanwhile, the Captain ran out of her meeting with Intelligence on Deck 8, but instead of reporting to the Bridge, she made her way down to Deck 12. She needed to find out what had happened to her Chief Medical Officer, and if others were at risk.

---

Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea


Commander Maxun Spello
First Officer
USS Astrea


Lt. Commander Daynah Ral
Chief Operations Officer
USS Astrea

Lt. Commander Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea


Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea


Lieutenant J.G. Sakkar
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Astrea


Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus
Mission Advisor
USS Astrea


Major Clay McEntyre III
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Astrea


& Also:

Lieutenant JG T'lenn
Science Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Remy Johansen)


Lieutenant JG Jason Williams III
Squadron Leader
USS Astrea
(NPC of Maxun Spello)


Lieutenant JG Taqqiq Allooloo
Leader, Fighter Squadron 3
USS Astrea
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)


Mentioned:

1st Lieutenant Ángel Martinez
Marine Officer
USS Astrea


Josef Forstinger
Civillian
USS Astrea

 

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