Getting Up to Speed

[Brian Graham 0]

Acting First Officer's Duty Log

Lt. Brian Graham Reporting

USS Excalibur

Stardate 200505.02

 

The senior staff of the Excalibur had gathered in the briefing room, waiting to hear about the information regarding what was going on. Brian wasn't too keen on having to brief everybody, he always found these situations quite intimidating, and that was just briefing junior officers. Regardless, if no one knew what was going on, they wouldn't be able to take action, and based on what might be happening, action was needed. The Hundred was on the move again, and this time they might snag an important prize.

 

Everyone had sat down, Admiral Day beginning the meeting the way he always did, then turning it over to Brian. Brian swiveled his chair to face everybody at the table and forced himself to speak.

 

"I'm sure you've all had an opportunity to review the message we've intercepted. Lt.'s Chen and Xavier were able to decifer the information, giving us an idea of the Hundred's next move." Brian hit a button on one of the small control pads on the table, activating a viewscreen on one of the bulkheads. An image came up, displaying a picture of a Starfleet vessel, more specifically a Norway-class.

 

"This, is the USS Novgorod, NCC-64956. As you can already determine, it's a Norway-class. From what we've been able to determine from the data provided by Starfleet Command, Novgorod, during the Dominion war, sometime around Starfleet's retaking of Deep Space Nine, had been sent on a information gathering mission into the Gamma Quadrant. The purpose was to locate the new Founder homeworld, since after the Omarion Nebulae incident, Starfleet wasn't sure where the Founders had relocated to. I'm guessing that some sort of Doolittle-type raid would have been planned, but anyway, to complete the mission, the ship was outfitted with an extensive sensor capability, obviously to aid in its search. From what we can determine, Novgorod was attacked by the Dominion. The fact that it still exists tells us the ship was able to dispatch its attackers, but not make it back home. It crash landed, we think here..."

 

Brian tapped the control again, bringing up a map of the Gamma Quadrant. "Starfleet had received some data from the ship at its first few waypoints. Data had been interrupted mid-stream from its fourth waypoint, here in the Torga system." Brian highlighted the appropriate star, zooming the map in. "Starfleet had sent a team to investigate, but they were intercepted by a Dominion patrol. Plus, by this time the Dominion in the Alpha Quadrant was working on a new offensive, so Starfleet's attention was elsewhere. But, now it's important we find it, since the Hundred already has. Their necessity at this time to remain nomadic gives us some opportunity to catch up to them while any other ships of theirs respond. Torga is about 200 light-years from Dominion space, so they are going to keep their activity small, lest they are detected by the Dominion. They probably have the capability of monitoring Dominion frequencies, so an interception by Dominion forces would be difficult to accomplish, but we might be able to catch them. If they can procure the equipment from Novgorod, and figure out how it works, it will give them an advantage in avoiding any Allied vessels. Pretty much, they will always be two steps ahead of us."

 

"But like I said, they don't know that we are coming, so we have surprise. We also have superior knowledge of Federation technology and the layout of Norway-class vessels. If it comes to battle on the ship, we could have the upper hand. All security officers are refamiliarizing themselves with said layout in case it does come to that. Our main goal is to stop the Hundred from getting the Novgorod, and anything on it. I also recommend destroying it. Salvaging a crash landed ship is a big operation and we don't have that kind of time. At least this way the Hundred won't be able to get its hands, pseudopods, whatever they use, on Federation technology."

 

Brian turned and faced everybody in the group around the table. "Does anyone have any questions?"