Chapter IIa: Absolute Disaster

Moira nods her head. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Though, the Commander raised a good point about striking simultaneously. The increased transporter signatures were risky, but if they could detect 3, they could detect even one. Under the best circumstances, they may only have one shot.

If ah may, Commander Archer. We've no doubt yer scientists are top notch. But are they quiet? This is a stealth mission, after all.

She turns to Marbo.

He raises a good point is all, Doctor Zlam. And I can help yeh if Commander Cassano'll have me. But these folks fight dirty. Yeh may want to prioritize tha ships. You take the worst. But nothin' wrong with askin' fer help on the others.

Cass looks at Marbo, noting his clear unease. If they keep hammering at this, he may become too emotionally agitated to fully apply his mind to the still-pressing issues yet to be resolved. "Dr. Zlam," she says gently, "I understand your desire to prevent more deaths. I think all of us at this table share that desire. But perhaps the best way to minimize the risk of that is to do everything possible to ensure that the gas gets delivered to all three ships, as close to simultaneously as possible."

Turning to Captain Tulak, she says, "Let's set aside, for the moment, the question of how many teams we'll use and focus first on how we're going to deliver them to the hulls of the enemy ships without detection. If we don't have that figured out, none of the rest matters."

"Marbo thinks that each hull squad should include a science officer. Marbo trusts our science officers and medical interns to deliver gas, although they lack skills in EVA."

Marbo is generally inclined to follow his commanders orders, as she is a higher rank and he respects authority and knows how hard command is. He pauses for a short period and then chimes in again.

"Yes.. Three teams, one per ship. Each with a Gas device. Should work. Apologies for hesitation, and defiance."

Cass looks to her acting first officer. "Lt. Commander Darcy, I believe you were working on a plan for that?"

"Question. Antarcticas weapons array. Does it contain Electro-magnetic Pulse weapons? Or long range PArticle Accelerator guns?" Marbo asks, as he begins to formulate a plan on his datapad.

"Potential has advances sensor suite. Smaller silhouette. Could serve as a spotter to mark enemy weapons systems. If things go sideways, long range support from the Antarctica could be beneficial."

Marbo places his datapad on a projector and his schematics fill the air of the room, showing a rudimentaray drawing of the Antarcticas boarding crew riding aboard the potential, and the potential flying in to take cover inside a nearby asteroid field. "Deploy EVA from there. If crew destroys exterior shield emitter, easy targets for Particle accelerator."

Cass caught herself smiling and adopted a more appropriate serious expression. She always loved watching scientists figuring stuff out on the fly like this. Especially Marbo. Something to do with all the arms.

She'd been surreptitiously watching Darcy Jr. throughout the meeting, trying to judge her responses to things. She had a nagging feeling that she shouldn't let her guard down for a second.

"Commander, Permission to take leave?" Marbo asks. He is anxious to return to his medbay and finish up the last few requirements of his department before they engage in the enemy floatilla.