From voyager@massmed.org Fri Jun 19 12:35:47 1998 Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 19:42:33 -0600 From: "Michael A. Natale, MD" To: Dante Expeditionary Force List Serve Subject: [DANTEXF] SB ALIGHIERI: A Light at the End of the Tunnel [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] DANTE Expeditionary Force Official E-mail BEGIN TRANSMISSION Location: SB ALIGHIERI, DS-230 Stardate: 100519.0330 GMT FMD: 4. 0200 Scene: Promenade Tao had been in the science labs for the past several hours reviewing the information LT(jg) Black and LT(jg) Davis had brought back from the front. He was glad to know the missiles had worked. But they still needed a better way to attach them to the fighters. These had been smaller versions loaded into the A-111 torpedo bays since they would be close enough to circumvent the shields. But the other fighters would need something else. He stood at a window on the Promenade watching as a ship departed toward Hulad, no doubt carrying medical supplies and building materials for Fort Necessity. He marveled at the elegance of the moment as the station's docking clamps relinquished their hold on the ship just as it powered its engines and pulled away from the base, streaking out toward the planet below. Suddenly an idea struck Tao. "Windstar to Roebuck," he commanded as he tapped his commbadge and was greeted by its familiar chirp. [Do you know what time it is, Tao? What could you possibly want at this time of the morning?] came a grumpy, not-fully-awake reply from Merlin Roebuck. "Meet me in engineering in ten minutes. I'll explain everything to you there. Windstar out!" he exclaimed as his feet carried him hurriedly down the Promenade toward the nearest turbolift that would take him to Engineering. ***************************************** FMD: 4.0900 Scene: Briefing Room/War Room ***************************************** Yssar Greyclaw walked into the breifing room and saw that others had already arrived. So far in attendance were CDOR Mirtox, LCDR Ulfsson, John Katz, and "Pappy" Miller. Mirtox turned to the Caitian and asked, "Any idea what this is all about?" Yssar shook his head no. "I got a message from Tao asking me to be here at 0900 hours. I trust its something important." Mirtox nodded. "I'm not questioning that. LCDR WIndstar has shown good judgement and enthusiasm since his arrival. I'm just curious as to what he wants to show us." The wait would not be long. The doors opened again to reveal LT Cort O'Wood and LT(jg) Robin Ellery, followed moments later by Tao Windstar and Merlin Roebuck. The last two appeared to have been up all night, and Merlin was looking the worse for wear. Tao nodded to the others present and began his speech. "Thank you all for being so prompt. I'm sorry for the cryptic message but I had little time to leave them." He walked over to the viewscreen and activated it. The usual symbol of the UFP appeared. "Please excuse the way LT(jg) Roebuck and I look this morning. We've been up half the night working on what we are about to show you. Mr. Roebuck and I spent most of the night working on a way to attach the missiles to the fighters for deployment against the Dalriadan ships." You could have cut the silence with a knife. "The idea occured to me last night while taking a break from studying the data obtained on the Dalriadan frigate. I was watching a ship depart for Hulad when it occured to me 'Why can't we do the same thing with the missiles?' " He gave theothers a moment to catch up then proceeded. "We chose class four probes to carry the missiles since they have a propulsion unit and guidance controls. My idea is to modify the designs to ALIGHIERI's docking clamps to develop a smaller version that would fit on the underside of the fighters. Once in place, we could wire the clamp directly into the fighter's onboard computer for launch control. The computer could be programmed to disengage the clamp seconds before the probe's engines fire. And once the missile is deployed, the fighters return to the YORKTOWN where another missile could be easily attached to the empty clamp. Mr. Roebuck and I used the design specifications from ALIGHIERI's docking clamps to design our little unit. The best thing is that wiring the clamp's controls into the onboard computer and developing a launch program would be so similar to what is already in place on ALIGHIERI, it would take only a few hours for ENG and SCI to make the necessary adjustments. And we've already programmed our design into the replicators, so all we need is your approval." Everyone present stepped up to the monitor and scrutinized the plans Tao and Merlin had presented. There was some talk among individual groups before Yssar asserted himself merely by stepping forward. Clearing his throat, he said, "Gentlemen, excellent work. Considering the wolves are lying on our doorstep, I would suggest you get started outfitting as many fighters as possible. If you're lucky, you'll have twenty-four hours at best." A look of pride passed between Tao and Merlin as they acknowledged Yssar's command and made their way toward the door. Before they could leave, CDOR Mirtox called to the two. "Enlist the help of the flight crew engineers. That should speed things up." ********************************** FMD: 4.1900 Scene: Shuttle bay Four ********************************** The work had gone on feverishly all day. Apparently the thought of the Dalriadans just outside the system's perimeter gave everyone an added incentive to work. But amazingly they managed to outfit every fighter on ALIGHIERI with the redesigned docking clamps. Now the flight crews were busy loading missiles onto the bottom of every fighter, preparing for the inevitable battle. And shuttles were busy ferrying additional missiles to the YORKTOWN for her use and for restocking the fighters as they used their missiles in battle. Yssar had been checking on the status of the work all day from Ops. He had put Tao in charge of replicating the necessary supplies and Merlin in charge of the refit of the fighters. They had both performed admirably. But they had been working tirelessly all day after spending the night devising the plan for the clamps. Merlin looked like death and even though Tao would never admit it, Yssar had come to know him well enough to know he could use some sleep as well. Therefore he had ordered them to proceed to their quarters and get six hours of sleep each. Tao stepped into his quarters and heard music echoing from the other room. He stepped over to the door and looked inside. Ethan was sitting on the bed doing his homework while listening to a selection of music Tao had recorded while on the TRAFALGAR and the AURORA. "Where did you find that music?" he asked. Ethan looked up in surprise. "It was in the computer's files. It wasn't marked personal." "That's fine. I'm just a bit surprised someone your age likes this music," Tao replied. "It's great," remarked Ethan. "Who's the performer?" Tao smiled sheepishly as he said, "Me." Ethan's eyes grew twice as wide. "Really! Can you play for me sometime?" "Sure. As soon as things settle down, I'll give you a private performance. Now I'm going to bed. You should, too. And remember, if there is an attack..." "Go at once to SCI and stay with Ryan. I know. Good night," he added. "Good night," Tao responded as he walked out of Ethan's room and into his own, where he collapsed into a much needed sleep. ---------------------------------------------------------- NRPG: All: This gets us to the evening of FMD 4. Feel free to back post anything your character may have done. I'm thinking the battle will probably start sometime on FMD 5, but I'll leave that up the Mike G and David. Mike G: Email me if you want me to begin the battle. I'll be working tweny-four hours tomorrow but can post something first thing Wed. morning to get us to FMD 6 unless you and David have other plans. David: Same goes for you. Timeline: FMD: 4.0200 Tao and Merlin devise a plan to carry the missiles Mike N FMD: 4.0900 The plan is presented Mike N FMD: 4.1900 Tao retires after a long day of work Mike N Respectfully submitted, LCDR Tao Windstar (aka Michael Natale) XO, SB ALIGHIERI, DS-230 voyager@massmed.org This message sent by an official member of the Dante Expeditionary Force Are you also posting your messages to the newsgroup?!!! END TRANSMISSION