Episode 2.01: Brushfire!

[Patrick Goodman]

Tann-Tyra looks down the corridor. "Captain!" she called out. "Would it save time to just beam them up directly from the cells?"

[Davy, aka GM]

"It'll take a few trips to get everyone to the ship, but, yes, let's do it. Make the call, Ms. Tann-Tyra. All humanoids in this chamber."

[Patrick Goodman]

"Aye, sir," she said as she flipped the communicator open again. "Tann-Tyra to Drake. We have located the Rostov's missing crew; request rapid beam-out of all humanoids in this chamber with all transporters. Over."

FWIW, I hear her accent in my head as somewhere between Ilia and Deanna Troi.

[Davy, aka GM]

Over the line, Tann-Tyra hears Hudson call immediately after hers, "All teams, I have four locals nearing the bridge."

Gerald, above, responds, "Stand by."

Turning to the captain, he says, "Sirs, two competing requirements for transporters. Request permission to get Cole's team out of danger first, and allocate other transporter resources to begin extraction of the Rostov's crew."

"Make it happen."

"Aye, sir." With a nod, the security officer turns back to his station and hits the comms. "Security overwatch to all transporter rooms. Transporter Room 1, use subcutaneous transponders to beam up Lt. Cole and his team.

"Transporter Rooms 2, 3, and 4, beam up all humanoid personnel in the basement chamber where Captain Styles' and Ensign Tann-Tyra's teams are located; the teams themselves will be last out. Transporter Room 2 will coordinate; Transporter Room 1 will support once their primary task is complete."

All four transporter chiefs acknowledge and Gerald switches over to external comms. "All teams, prepare for immediate beam out."

In the basement chamber, Captain Styles calls out, "All hands, stand by for transport!"

The extraction of Cole's team is first, although Hudson observes the quartet of Apellans were beginning to investigate the missing lock from the powder storeroom at the north end of the bridge. Members of the Rostov crew begin dematerializing in lots; first a group of 18, then 24, then the stragglers. As the stragglers are beamed away, Tann-Tyra's team members can hear someone attempting to break through the outside door; however, it holds long enough for the beams to catch both teams.

The transporter rooms are flush with activity when they arrive, the adjacent corridor becoming a makeshift triage center as medical personnel from both ships examine patients; officers and crew from the science and security departments work as orderlies, moving patients to sickbay and backup locations as needed.

Over the comms, Chief Ma is heard from Transporter Room 1 announcing that all personnel have been recovered, with no locals among them.

Nurse Fernandez sees Tann-Tyra and tells her that Wierzbowski is being looked after by Nurse Brown, who will have him patched up in no time.

Bridge
"Styles to Treyva. I think you're going to want to see what we found."

OOC: Okay, let's get back to the main characters.

[Patrick Goodman]

"I'll meet you in the briefing room momentarily, Captain," Treyva said, rising from the command chair. "Excellent work, Mr. Fryling. Maria, you have the conn." Motioning to Sorak and Tobin, he said, "Shall we?"

Reminder about the tricorder scans Tann-Tyra made of the unexpected forge.

[Doug Burke]

Sorak made a last adjustment to his console before locking it down. "Indeed." He strode across the bridge and joined his CO for the short ride to their destination.

[Davy, aka GM]

Treyva, Sorak, and Mr. Les enter Briefing Room 2.

It's interesting to see people out of their normal situations, and seeing the three team leaders in local Tyreen attire was almost comical. Styles looks like a Severinite from the sixties, his controlled expression completely out of place with his appearance. Cole looks like what the ancient Romans would've called "barbarians," his posture seeming to slip comfortably into the attire. Tann-Tyra looks like a proud warrior woman from the Deltan middle-iron age, when such matriarchal tribes vied for supremacy over a fertile continent, at the same time appearing fashionable in some modern way, especially with a tricorder hanging like an accessory from her shoulder.

In the corner, Reed stands like an old military man, especially cradling that archaic long arm in his grasp. Cole appears to have one of his own, of nearly identical manufacture.

The Rostov's captain clears his throat. "First, Treyva; thank you for helping me get my people back. I'm told that, aside from a few serious infections, everyone's in relatively good condition."

Then, with a nod, Styles has the men place the long arms on the table in front of the newcomers.

"The Apellans aren't at the industrial manufacturing stage, Treyva, but these are rifled muskets with percussion caps. Decades ahead of what they had before," he charges. Treyva can feel the urgency in his voice.

OOC: I brought in Tobin, so that Nolmir can also be in the scene.

[Patrick Goodman]

Treyva picked up one of the weapons and examined it. "My son would appreciate this," he said.

Captain Styles looked at him quizzically. "Your son has an interest in antique firearms?"

The Denobulan chuckled. "No," he replied, "he's an artist. He'd appreciate the craftsmanship that went into these. Aesthetically, they're beautiful." He set it respectfully back down on the table, then took his seat.

Motioning for the others to do the same, he asked, "Are these the same basic weapons we were going to give the Tyreens?" He shook his head, then continued. "I'm getting ahead of myself. Tell me what happened down there; we'll get to these soon enough."

[Davy, aka GM]

Styles recalls their infiltration of the compound, using the opportunity of a pair of passing mugatos to distract the locals. He describes having to split up, due to one his men turning an ankle, forcing him to take a more direct route through the village.

"On the way, we found one of their smithies," he says, "Knowing that it would be important to get information on their recent technological updates, I led Mr. Reed inside, stunned the craftsman before he could notice us, and took extensive tricorder readings of the materials and components; it just so happened a pair of rifled muskets were standing in the corner, so we grabbed one and rendezvoused with Lt. Cole's team at the ox bridge.

"As Mr. Cole's team continued their search for the lost equipment, we moved to the south end of the bridge and were about to execute a coordinated takedown of the four guards in front of our target building, when a noise behind us caused the guards to investigate our direction," Styles continues. Either he honestly doesn't know/recall the source of the noise, or he's purposefully not including that it was a phaser burst. "Ensign Tann-Tyra and her team were able to use stealth to take the four down quickly and quietly. And we proceeded to the two entrances; Tann-Tyra to the west, us to the east."

He pauses for only a moment. "My team breached the outer door and were surprised by a group of three Apellans coming down the stairs; we were forced to respond quickly and phasered them down. The guard in the basement level fired his musket through his door view, striking Mr. Reed's tricorder - your people are seeing if they can recover the data from its remains - and we were able to take him down, as well. We took some time to cut through the door bars and get the guard's door open. When we heard from Tann-Tyra that she was ready to breach, we did so simultaneously and found my crew. The ensign had a good idea to start beaming our people out without having to unlock every individual cell, as we were told the locals were beginning to encroach on our positions."

The captain looks to Cole & Tann-Tyra to give their reports.

[Doug Burke]

The Denobulan chuckled. "No," he replied, "he's an artist. He'd appreciate the craftsmanship that went into these. Aesthetically, they're beautiful." He set it respectfully back down on the table, then took his seat.

Sorak also took up a musket and examined it, nodding to Treyva. "I find it intriguing that most primitive societies find ways to incorporate aspects of positive aesthetic value into even their weaponry."

[Davy, aka GM]

Cole and Tann-Tyra give their reports, sticking to the facts, Cole offering a mea culpa that his disabling of a lock probably drew the outside guards' attention. Styles waves off the apology, calling it the nature of such things.

So, between the three of them, two workshops show extensive crafting of a new type of long arm with technological advances reminiscent of early industrial-level precision, and there's at least one storeroom filled with kegs of black powder. All captured Rostov were repatriated, and all missing equipment accounted for and returned to the ship. What isn't known is how quickly are these rifled muskets being produced, and how many have already been completed and deployed. All of the guards encountered appeared to be carrying older flintlock muskets.

[Patrick Goodman]

Someone else might want to lead off; I've been real busy and this is unlikely to change today.

[Nolmir]

Tobin picks up one of the rifled musket and examines it with an appraising eye. "Given the craftmanship of these weapons, it seems likely to me that the Apellans probably have not developed, or been given, a way to mass produce them yet. I'd guess that only their most elite units have access to them at this point." He shrugs. "Though we'd obviously need more information to confirm that hypothesis."

[Davy, aka GM]

"That depends on how long they've been producing them, Mr. Les, and how many craftsmen they have working on them," Styles adds. "Even a hundred of these will change the course of battles with the Tyreen."

"Our most recent scans have shown as many as 350 of their warriors practicing advanced infantry maneuvers," Reed chimes in. "That may be an indicator of their strength - or, at least, their expected strength - with these new arms."

"Still," Styles counters, "Mr. Les is correct in his assessment that we need more information. We need an accurate count."

"Of course, this still begs the question: How long do we have before the Apellans use their new guns and tactics in an offensive?"

[Renny]

"Captain Styles," Cole asks "Given the readings you took of the material involved in the creation of these weapons, do we have enough to refine the Drake's sensors to give us a better estimate of how many of these weapons we are dealing with, or their location?"