Distress
Posted on Tue Jul 13th, 2021 @ 5:51pm by Ensign L'johk Adams & Commodore Keiben Haistro & Jaas'rah & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Lieutenant JG Sher'ra Verona & Commander Peter Horn & Commander Lillian Carter & Lieutenant JG Anek Tua & Lieutenant Commander Junjie Han & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Stoun
3,473 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Episode 3 - Fear Is Fear Itself
Location: Deck 1 - Main Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 4 @ 1600 Hours
ON
This was Lillian's first shift in 'The big chair'. She had entered the bridge and initially headed for the helm before she remembered and altered her course for the centre seat.
The officer of the previous watch didn't notice her course correction and rose as she approached.
"Good afternoon Lieutenant. Everything is normal, we're still holding relative position to the Andromeda. The repair crews are almost finished and the main deflector appears to be operating normally again. "She's all yours."
Lillian smiled. "Thank you, Ensign." Then formally added, "I relieve you."
The ensign nodded an acknowledgement and headed for the turbolift.
Lillian turned and sat down in the Captain's chair, immediately crossing her legs, almost without realising, and took a deep breath.
L'johK approached, heading to the Mission Ops station on the opposite side of the bridge and in a hushed whisper so no one else could hear said to Lieutenant Carter "Almost seamless!" giving her a smile and a wink as he went.
Lillian returned the wink and whispered back. "Thanks" Before adding in a louder voice, for the benefit of the rest of the bridge crew. "Anything to report?"
"Nothing at present Lieutenant" L'johK chimed in from his vantage point at Mission Operations.
Walking onto the bridge, Sher’ra quietly made her way over to the security station and relieved the crewmen currently there. She was glad to be off her feet for this shift as her volunteering down in the mess hall kept her on her feet for hours, not that she would ever complain about being in a kitchen again.
Minka was sat at the engineering station wondering why she had ended up nominated for the late shift. She was bored and would rather be crawling through jefferies tubes right now. Then something bleeping caught her attention.
“Ma'am sensors picking up a transmission. It looks to be originating from the briar patch.”
“Briar Patch? That’s a dangerous area of space to be piloting through” Sher’ra thought out loud as she brought up any tactical data she had on the nebula.
Lillian's heart started to race, but she forced herself to remain calm. The crew look to the Co for guidance and strength and above all, confidence.
"Can you identify the transmission?" Lillian asked.
It was L'johK that chimed in this time having moved back to his position at Operations, his fingers dancing across the terminal like a well-practiced pianist.
"It looks like it's coming in on a Starfleet frequency sir."
Lillian sat up straight. "On screen."
The screen was filled with static and dancing colours that matched the shape of the EV suited person on the other end of the line. He was breathing heavily, red lights flashing in the background and a hull breach that had exposed the entire bridge to the vacuum of space.
"My name is Jaas'rah... I beamed over to this Starfleet ship from a salvage vessel... everyone is dead and my ship was destroyed. I am unable to restore power to the ship and I am running out of air... maybe four hours left in my tanks... Please, I need help!"
Lillian recognised a distress call when she heard one and realised that it needed immediate action. She stood up and responded, "This is the USS Copernicus, we're on our way to assist. Stand by!" She then started issuing a series of orders. "Helm, set a course for the source of the transmission and engage at maximum warp. What's our ETA?" She turned to Minka "Send a message to the Andromeda informing them we're responding to a distress call near the Brian Patch."
She then tapped her comm badge "Bridge to Haistro. We've received a distress call from a ship near the Briar patch and are responding."
The helmsman was already ahead of Lillian and was engaging the new course as she asked. The Vulcan women checked her readouts.
"ETA three standard hours".
“Message sent and received by the Andromeda,” the petite engineer said.
"Acknowledged Lieutenant. Set course at maximum warp if you haven't already done so" Came the swift reply from the Captain.
Lillian allowed herself the smallest hint of a smile as she responded. "The order has already been given, we should arrive in three hours."
"Three hours you say... Remain on the bridge, inform all relevant departments and I will relieve you in two hours!"
"Aye Sir. Bridge out." Lillian replied. She then addressed the image on the viewer. "Mr Jaas'rah, we're on our way. We should be with you in three hours. Try to conserve your oxygen and find a secure location to await our arrival."
"Thank you!" the line broke up into static before anything else could be said.
Lillian then tapped her comm badge. "Bridge to sickbay, we're responding to a distress call, ETA 3 hours. 1 known survivor, could be suffering from oxygen deprivation when we arrive."
"Lieutenant T'Sehn here. Acknowledge bridge".
Sher'ra checked over her tactical systems making sure they were prepared, "I would recommend we go to yellow alert when we get closer to the nebular. the Patch tends to play havoc with our communications and long range sensors"
Lillian nodded in agreement. "Good idea. Make it so."
“I'm trying to compensate and cut through as much as Interference as possible for as long as possible, ” Minka said keeping an eye on several monitors and dials. “But I concur. There's not much we can do to keep everything close to normal.”
Lillian sat back down in the centre seat. "Keep trying. We'll lose all communication with Starfleet and the Andromeda when we get close enough to the Briar patch.
Engineering
"They want want?" The chief was standing at one the engineering counsels. He looked at the Warp Core and back to his panel and then at the ensign who was telling him, who shrugged. "We haven't had time to fully put it through the testing procedure, this is either going to go great or the shortest trip ever. Alright everyone, hold on to your behinds, be prepared for damage and plasma leaks." The engineer put his hands on his hips.
"I'll head for the bridge Chief and monitor system power usage and try to limit the output of the Impulse and Warp engines... We don't want those metrion clouds exploding on us!"
G'rani offered as she stood from her console, allowing a junior officer continue her work while she went to try and keep Copernicus from exploding while the Chief tackled the same problem from another angle.
Bridge - 3 hours later
They were still just over an hour from the coordinates. Lillian was drumming her fingers on the armrest. Communication with Starfleet was already starting to degrade.
The doors through to the rest of deck one parted and in strode Captain Haistro, coffee cup in hand for both himself and for Lieutenant Carter which he handed to her before dropping down into the first officer's seat, not really standing on ceremony.
"What have we got Lieutenant?"
Lillian rose a little from the Captain's chair but sat back down as he sat down beside her. "Still on course, ETA fifty-eight minutes. The Briar patch is starting to interfere with our long range communications, as expected. We should lose all contact with Starfleet in the next 20 minutes. There's been no further communication from Jaas'rah."
"Adams send a message probe with all of our logs until this point and set to transmit to Starfleet, keep a lock on that probe as well and keep it in our sights for as long as you can!" Haistro ordered, the hybrid Human/Klingon snapping to with the order. "Best get the senior officers up here as well Lieutenant!"
"Aye Sir." Lillian replied before tapping the comm button. "Senior officers report to the bridge!" She then relinquished the Captain's chair and went and relived the ensign at the helm.
Keiben stood again and started to circle the bridge, taking in the sights and sounds and feeling as if the ship was back to its usual feel and operation... if anything she sounded better than before. He took another sip of his coffee when the bridge door parted and his senior officers started to pour in one by one.
Stoun walked in, as usually trying to get himself put together, he plopped heavily in the engineering station chair and rubbed his face "Oh sorry, usually I'm the last one to these, I can leave and come back if you want."
Mel caught the chiefs last sentence just as the turbolift door deposited her from sickbay. "Your not the last chief. We were summoned sir?" she asked.
Jon smiled. "Well, I guess that is a good thing."
Slowly, Peter walked onto the bridge as the next car arrived, a little white pup all but clinging to his legs as though she felt her master needed her support. He held back a little, glancing around the bridge to get a feel of the people present. He still felt off, somehow weak, but he knew he had to get out there or he never would be able to again. "What is going on?" he asked, feeling a little out of the loop.
Keiben couldn't help but notice the dog at Commander Horn's feet making a mental note to speak to him about this. The bridge was not the place for an animal be it a support and mobility animal or not. On this occasion he allowed it, broadcasting to Mel that the pair would need to speak to Horn while at the same time encouraging the officers around them to ignore the animal and continue on with their work.
Mel nodded her eyes connecting with Keiben. She was thinking that Peter was using his dog as a crutch and it was highly inappropriate for it to be on the bridge. They really needed to get Peter speaking to a counselor. He needed to accept his accident and start being ready to discuss options now.
Lieutenant Tua was the next to arrive on the Bridge. The new arrival had been reviewing and learning as much as he could about the Copernicus and had almost missed the call to report. Having reviewed the records he knew a bit about their current situation and mission already, but wondered just what they would find when they arrived and how the survivor was doing. The Briar Patch was a part of space that he had always wanted to see, he just hoped that Tua didn't make it hard for him to embrace the moment.
Tamasaka bolted upright from her bed, realizing that she hadn't set her alarm. It was the broadcast of being summoned that woke her. Bleary eyed she looked at the clock, it wasn't time for her shift but, with the summon she quickly hopped out of bed and raced to get showered and dressed. She arrived on the bridge, to see what was going on.
Junjie arrived on the bridge and went straight to the science station and relieved the person there and began working on boosting the sensors and fine tuning the sensitivity to compensate the electromagnetic interference of the Briar patch.
Keiben made it back to his seat as something started to emerge from the metrion clouds on the viewscreen. It was undefined to start with but soon take form as they progressed into the cloud, finally taking the form of an old Oberth Class Starship, visible wounds torn across her hull exposing almost all of the saucer section decks to the vacuum of space.
"Commander, start getting a team ready. Junjie, what can you tell us?"
Junjie responded without looking up from his equipment. " Captain I can tell you that she's badly damaged. I can only detect only one life sogn at this range currently. There are three sections that have been exposed to vacuum, The Bridge, the shuttle bay and a minor area in the secondary hull near the crew quarters."
Junjie again checked his equipment and scanned the ship further. " There are several areas which seem to have been sealed off, but the atmosphere aboard is toxic." He looked up from the monitor with a grim expression. " If anyone survived that, They'd have to be in a cryotube."
Holt nodded, and started making plans as to whom she'd be taking on the away team. She did stop and stare at the Oberth they would need EVA units to go there. And that damage it reminded her about something else, she bit her lower lip, shoving those memories back into the depths of her mind. This was important, maybe there were others who were trapped there waiting to be rescued, much like they had been before.
The Operations Manager looked at the Oberth on the viewscreen, his mind temporarily going back to the Academy and going over all of the potential ways someone could die during such a disaster. He tapped at the controls of his workstation, looking at the readings himself. Bringing up the shipboard inventories, the Trill sent a message to the supply section to prepare EVA suits for the away team. He wanted to ensure their safety, but he also wondered what led the Oberth to this.
"Tam, full EV and stay safe... No unnecessary risks!" Keiben added, looking at his first officer pointedly, silently conveying his order to remain safe.
"Suppose I'm going over there huh?" Jon was looking over the structural readouts "I need to stretch my legs out anyways."
"And you will need a doctor in case anyone did survive," Mel stated.
'Could we not send that new Vulcan Medic rather than you?' Keiben asked Mel telepathically, thankful that no one else other than perhaps Peter would be able to hear what they were saying.
'No. Tam needs me' Mel told him firmly. 'I'm a doctor and it's my job. I might be becoming your wife but I'm also your Chief Medical Officer. I can be both and you don't need to worry.'
Keiben didn't have to like it but he did respect her resolve and dedication... Just another reason she should be accepting this promotion.
Lillian moved the ship closer to the derelict on the screen and reported. "Holding position at 500 meters for transport. The Briar patch is playing hell with long-range sensors."
Junjie looked at the derelict on the screen and hoped that there were more survivors over there then what they were able to scan. Perhaps the Briar Patch was interfering with the scans, He also knew that they would need to do a thorough check of the ship if there was to be any hope of finding additional survivors. " I'd love to download the sensor logs and find out what they were doing out here and what project they were working on. And what the heck were they doing out here in the Briar Patch? " He stopped speaking, realizing that he was verbalizing his questions out loud and slightly blushed. " Orders? " He asked.
Anek smiled at Junjie's comments as he spoke aloud. Tua had made him do that for a while through their connection and it was, a little, disconcerting at first. He was glad he wasn't the only one who had done it. He listened as the Captain gave orders out and looked up from his panel when finished, "Would you like me to try to interface with the ship and see if we can remote into its computer systems?"
"In that case, unless Tam needs either of you on her team I'll have the pair of you work together to grab the Yosemite's database!" He looked between the two men and then to Tamaska waiting on her placing her team together.
"Alright, Chief Stoun, Doctor D'BrooNi, Ensign Sage, Lieutenant Verona, Ensign Brodie Bain, and Ensign Adams. You're with me". Tapping on her commbadge to let the others know.
From the helm, Lillian reported "Captain, I've located Mr Jaas'rah's life signs. He's still on the bridge but his vitals are weak, his oxygen must be running low. He may be unconscious."
"Can we just beam him over and then salvage the ship from there? Would save some time. I can see about enhancing the pattern buffers to get a better lock on him." Chief Stoun had stood up and was headed for the lift when he turned and sat back at the console. "Be a lot safer for us until we can establish what happened."
Lillian frowned. "He's right next to a bulkhead that has an EPS Power conduit running through it, the transporter can't get a solid lock on him. Someone is going to have to go move him so we can get a solid lock on him."
"Welp... there goes that." Jon looked at the pattern relays.
Anek brought up the sensor systems from his workstation to get to work on trying to access the records from the Yosemite as he said. It was a very delicate process to try to break into a ship's computer systems and, fortunately, it was something that he had had some experience in. Inside his gut Tua was quiet for what seemed like the first time, genuinely interested in what he was doing for the first time and not being snarky toward him. It was somewhat reassuring.
Adjusting the bandwidth he started to interface with the computers. Now came the hard part. Studying the frequencies he scrolled through the different bandwidths to find a suitable amplitude on the subspace radio. Entering a sequence the console flashed a warning in bold red lettering that indicated failure. Typing quickly on the keyboard he tried to find out why.
What he found surprised him. He spoke up, "Sensors are detecting an unidentified energy signature coming from nearby. It's interfering with our ability to interface with the Yosemite's computers."
Lillian chimed in. "Confirmed. I've got intermittent contact with a large artificial structure. Because of the composition of the Briar Patch, sensor resolution is too low for a positive identification unless we can get much closer. That area of the Briar patch is also unexplored, but the gravitation profile suggests a planet in that area."
"I recommend sending a probe," Peter suggested quietly from his position at the back of the bridge. "Something to boost our sensor range." It was the security officer speaking, not the counselor. In times like this, it was sometimes hard to let go of prior experience when one was entertaining a whole new direction in one's career. Still, one could take the man out of security, but one just couldn't take security out of the man.
"Good idea... Junjie, if you would!" The Captain had partly turned to look at his science officer before turning back to Carter. "Once the away team are away move us in, one quarter impulse power Lieutenant. Use your discretion though, if this fog becomes to thick then slow us further!"
"Aye Sir, but it's more like a soup than fog Captain." Lillian remarked from the helm. "This area is filled with false vacuum fluctuations, metaphasic radiation... Not to mention clouds of highly volatile Metreon gas. If a cloud were to ignite while we're inside it, our goose will be well and truly cooked."
Junjie looked up upon hearing his name. " Aye Captain, I would recommend a class three probe. If you could give me ten to fifteen minutes I could modify the probe and boost it's power source for stronger signal source and telemetry. We'd get more reliable and detailed readings, permission to modify Sir? "
"At your discretion Mr Han but sooner if you can please!" The Captain gently nudged the Science Officer just on the off chance he was fluffing his estimates like all good engineers did. "Is the away team safely on the Yosemite?"
G'rani looked around from her station to respond to the Captain. "Away team is away sir!"
" Aye Captain, best possible speed on modifacations." Junjie got up and headed to the turbolift. " I'll let you know the moment it's ready Sir. "Not waiting for an answer he departed the bridge as time was of the essence.
Keiben looked at the Yosemite on the screen, the gash running from bridge to lower deck on the saucer gave him pause but he had no choice but to allow the away team to do its duty.
"Lilly, keep a tight lock on the Yosemite's location but start moving us towards those readings... as slow as possible. Lets not disturb those clouds too much... Who knows what Angels or Demons may be sleeping!"
"Aye Sir." Lillian replied. "Course laid in. The impulse manifolds can't handle anything over 1/4 impulse in the Briar patch so that as fast as we can go."
END
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