The Next Phase
Posted on Sat Apr 27th, 2024 @ 9:44pm by Captain Zseeq & Ensign Seaira Chambers & Ensign Fa Blemni & Lieutenant Commander Sotra & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D'BrooNi- Haistro & Lieutenant Jorik & Lieutenant Zhi'rev
2,357 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Rebirth
Location: USS Saratoga
Timeline: 2401-05-02, 16:00
Captain's Log, Stardate 78333.2:
After two days of travel at high warp, the Saratoga is approaching the Maelstrom Sector and should arrive before the end of the day. Starfleet Command has notified me that we will rendezvous with Commodore Dazad Targaryen - Sector Commander for the Maelstrom Sector - to discuss our mission in person.
In the interim, I've directed the Senior Staff to visit sickbay to complete their physical evaluations. I'm dreading them as well.
"Right then who have we got today," Mel said leaving the privacy of her office. They had a lot of annual medicals to work through and she was hoping the senior staff would follow suit alongside the Captain and show up first to set a precedent to those more "reluctant"
"Doctor" Sotra greeted as she entered sickbay, her hands clasped behind her back as she moved forward with the usual efficiency of movement and grace that seemed to be a fundamental element of the Vulcanoid genetic makeup.
"Please forgive the intrusion but I must request the surplus medical supplies in Cargobay two be inventoried and stored within the medical supply lock up. We will be transporting the final shipments of engineering supplies in approximately two hours and the space will be required!"
"Yes its all the additional radiation meds and what they have sent through for the Crusher Borg solution," Mel nodded. "I'll have them beam it all to my office and we can get that stored away Commander." She looked over at one of her nurses who whizzed off to coordinate with the transporter room.
"How's you head now?" she checked in taking advantage of the fact the XO was in her sickbay.
"It is fine" she contorted the truth rather than lied. It was better but still bothering her. "You have my thanks for your efforts to keep us both alive during the Frontier Day disaster."
"Hey don't forget your fancy flying," the Trill said. "Can I do anything else for you Commander?"
"I will not keep you Doctor!" The Vulcan responded the sickbay seemingly turning into a hub of activity.
"Bridge to Commander Sotra," the voice of Ensign Fa Blemni interrupted.
"Go ahead Ensign" she responded after activating her own combadge. Things certainly were busy.
"Sensors are picking up something incoming, Commander."
Lieutenant Fitzgerald walked in the door, wanting to get this evaluation done and over with.
One of Mel's nurses spotted someone standing in sickbay. He had not uttered a word. Perhaps they were shy they reasoned or perhaps still trying to talk themselves into asking for what they needed. "May I help you sir?" she asked.
As the Lieutenant spoke with the Nurse, the announcement came calling the crew to the Bridge.
At his station on the bridge, Zhi was toying around with the settings of his work station, trying to figure out which configuration worked best for him. A blinking light caught his attention and he turned. "Captain, short range sensors are picking up an object. I'm not yet able to identify it, it seems like an unknown configuration."
Ensign Fa Blemni looked over at the Science Officer, wondering if they were looking into the same thing.
Captain Zseeq's voice came through the comline, "What do you make of it, Lieutenant?"
"I don't know," the Vulcan was forced to confess, "sensors are making a fine mess of it. All I can tell is that it's moving at high velocity and it's coming straight at us. Recommend yellow alert and prepare for evasive maneuvers."
"Agreed, Lieutenant, I will be up momentarily," the Captain approved as he closed the channel.
"Yellow alert!" The Vulcan called out, raising his voice to be heard across the bridge, "captain's orders."
Immediately having left his quarters, it took Captain Zseeq roughly 30 seconds to reach the Bridge. Yellow alert lighting was illuminating the entire bridge, casting the dark room with a golden light. Fastening his uniform tunic as he walked across the Bridge, the Captain approached his chair at the Science Officer, "Report, Lieutenant."
"A UFO captain," Zhi deadpanned, "coming at us at high velocity. Sensors can't tell what it is though..."
"Hold position, Helm," Zseeq ordered as he took his chair.
Ensign Seaira Chambers nodded from the Helm, "Slowing to all stop, Captain."
Looking over his shoulder, the Captain found the Tactical Officer, "Raise shields and put weapons on standby."
"Yes sir. Shields up, weapons standing by." Jorik said, reaching over and activating a larger icon off to the side of his station configuration. Immediately, all the buttons shifted around, bringing combat and defensive systems into better reach and placing less crucial options further out. This was a tactic he had learned in the academy--having three separate configurations depending on operating condition. Each configuration brought required functions closer, to enable quick reactions.
Captain Zseeq looked at the viewscreen, watching as the large window locked onto what was on approach. He wondered exactly what they were getting themselves into as the object approached.
Sensor monitors locked in on the approaching object, "report."
"Sensors can't identify origin," Zhi reported, his eyes fixed on the incoming stream of data. "Hull of unknown composition, we'll need to bring it in for closer analysis. There is, however some kind of signal coming from it, which I can't decipher." looking up, he cast the captain an apologetic look. "I fear linguistics is not among my area of expertise sir."
Zseeq smirked, "We can't all be wunderkinds, Lieutenant. Fortunately, we have Ensign Chambers here to try to figure out exactly what they're trying to say. See if you can decode the message, Ensign."
The young Ensign nodded to the Captain, "On it, Sir."
Sotra finally arrived having had to make her way from Sickbay where she had been when the yellow alert had sounded. Doctor D'BrooNi had started to move swiftly ato prepare her sickbay for any eventuality so she had removed herself so the medical staff had one less obstacle.
The XO moved silently across the Bridge to stand beside the Captain, attempting to catch up without having anyone repeat what they had already voiced.
"While Ops is working on that," he looked to the Vulcan duo, "see if you two can find out where that originated from."
"Sir, a simple long range scan and trajectory tracking parameters hardly needs the attention of both Science and Tactical. There are a number of things I could be working on instead." Jorik said plainly, turning to look at Zseeq. He did not want to be stuck working with Zhi more than he already had to be.
The Captain waved it off, "Lieutenant, with our not knowing the exact origin of this message or what is going on I am more comfortable both Tactical and Science being involved in the investigation." He looked at the Science Officer then back to Tactical, "Please proceed."
He looked at Sotra, "XO, work with Science and Tactical on the analysis." The Captain mainly thought Sotra could be a good buffer between the two.
"Understood" Sotra moved to take the additional seat at the science console, dropping down into it with ease, it feeling familiar given she had risen from Chief Science Officer to take on the role of the Executive Officer on Saratoga.
Zhi grinned excitedly. "You mentioned earlier that science has no business using security measures," he pointed out to the security chief. "In that same notion I have to assume you are of the same mind when it comes to you using my sensors?" He smirked at the man. "Therefore, I'm delighted to help you." He looked up at the captain. "Prediction of the objects trajectory will take a while," he reported. "I still recommend taking it aboard for study. I'm confident Lieutenant Jorik and I can come up with a hypothesis regarding its origin." He did like a good challenge and this seemed like a very intriguing puzzle to him. The excitement was very clear in his features and his eyes seemed to sparkle, conveying even more interest.
"Let us adhere to standard procedure Lieutenant. Analyse and a full threat assessment before we even consider bringing it on board". Sotra interjected, attempting to reign in the exuberance that was just radiating from the younger man... It still made her uneasy!
Captain Zseeq heard the back and forth at the Science Console, trying his best to hide the fact that he was eavesdropping on the trio. He instead chose to send a note to the Chief Medical Officer, requesting her presence on the Bridge.
"What I said earlier, Lieutenant, was that Science doesn't typically handle recalibrations of the targeting sensors. In fact, Starfleet regulations actually dictate that both short and long range sensors are actually not the purview of any one department. Instead, they are handled day-to-day by Science as they have the most use of both sensor types, however Tactical often makes use of them, and any department may supersede control over them if required." Jorik said, it sounded much more Vulcan than even he normally did--almost as if this was not the first time he's cited Starfleet Regulations on the sensors.
"If I may interject this citing of regulations, there is presently a need for us to focus on our work" Sotra again interjected, chiding this two once again.
'Youth has its merits but concentration is not one of them' she thought to herself.
"Ma'am," Zhi acknowledged as he returned his attention to his readings. "Scans so far show it seems to be directly coming at us and it will be in optical visual range in less than five minutes. I am trying to extrapolate its trajectory based on the reading we have so far but the further away we go, the more... muddy the readings become." The younger Vulcan frowned. "It does keep emitting the same signal, it is repetitive."
"Apologies, ma'am." Jorik said quickly, listening to Zhi. "repetitive. Is it on a regular cycle or is it randomly repeating the signal?"
Zhi studied the constant stream of information for a moment, looking for a pattern in the signal. "It is repetitive, the same sequence, over and over."
"There appears to be some form of text on the exterior of the probe" Sotra added as the probe came within visual range and something on the surface of the object had caught her attention "I am applying the translation matrix".
Mel exited the turbo lift carrying a med kit just in case. "Reporting as requested Captain," the brunette Trill addressed the CO.
"Doctor," the Captain called as he motioned toward the seat next to his, "We have an unidentified object not far away. Have a seat, I have a feeling we may need you up here." He glanced at the Helm/Operations console, "Any luck with the decode?"
The young Human nodded, "I'm having some difficulty with the standard decoding protocols through the universal translator, Captain, but the computer's deciphered part of it. It's looking like a distress call."
"A distress call?" The Captain questioned. He looked over at the gathered personnel who were working on triangulation, "Any idea where it came from?"
Slender fingers slid across the smooth but colourful surface of his console as Zhi tried to extrapolate its trajectory. Finally, he made a swiping motion, sending an image to the main screen. "Data suggests this path," he said quietly as he pointed at the image on the main screen.
"The iconography on the surface is not recognised by our universal translator" Sotra called across to the Captain as she added a small image to the bottom left of the main viewscreens display "But it does have a number of similarities to the ancient civilisation once found on Vesuvi II, Draegos I believe it was called before the Vesuvi Supernova".
Mel settled herself in the offered seat watching the interactions of the crew. She waited along with the rest to find out about this distress call.
The Deltan Captain listened carefully as the teams explained what was going on from their findings. Crossing his arms, he considered the implications. Little was known about the civilizations of the Maelstrom aside from the Kessok. This was potentially a monumental find for the Federation and understanding.
"Excellent work," Zseeq said while looking around, "Now where did it come from? Can you trace it's origins point? As much as we need to get to our meeting with the Commodore, I think this takes priority."
There was a brief silence from the science station as the Vulcan studies his readings. "Data suggests an unknown star system, it's close to the Maelstrom,but I can't yet determine whether it's inside or outside it. We need to get closer to get more data," he reported, "all I can tell now is that there's four planets, one of which possibly class M." The Vulcan looked positively excited. "Still recommend we recover that probe for further examination."
"Lieutenant Jorik, please use a tractor beam to bring the probe aboard. Isolate it in the Cargo Bay, please," the Captain directed as he looked at the Vulcan Security Chief.
"Aye sir." Jorik said, turning around in his seat and preparing the tractor beam. As the probe was pulled into one of the Cargo Bays, he set a door lock on the interior door, to limit access. "Shall I have a security detail at the Cargo bay, sir?"
The Captain nodded, "An excellent suggestion, Lieutenant, and I'd like the Science Section to conduct an analysis of that probee" He looked at the path ahead of them and the Helmsman, "I think that this planet warrants further investigation. Ensign Chambers, please lay in a course for the point of origin at Warp 6, unless there are any objections to delaying our rendezvous with the Geronimo?"
Looking around the Saratoga's bridge, and hearing no objections, the Captain nodded to their Helm Officer, "Engage." As the Saratoga jumped to warp, Captain Zseeq walked toward the doors at the rear of the Bridge, "I'm going to go alert Starfleet of our delay. Let me know when we reach the planet, Commander, you have the Bridge."
RSS Feed