A Line in the Sand

Posted on Sun Jan 26th, 2025 @ 4:22am by Captain Zseeq & Lieutenant Commander Eve Hall & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D'BrooNi- Haistro & Lieutenant Zhi'rev & Lieutenant JG Maran

2,050 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Audacious
Location: U.S.S. Saratoga
Timeline: 2401-05-04, 06:45

"Captain on the Bridge," Lieutenant Wogha Moji announced as she rose from the Command Chair in the center of the Bridge.

Captain Zseeq walked onto the Bridge of the U.S.S. Saratoga, looking around the dimly lit room. An old school tradition from Old Earth, at least to his understanding, whenever the overnight crew were in service aboard a starship the vessel entered a pseudo reduced power mode. Lights were dimmed, ambient noise almost completely silenced, and a skeleton crew manned the primary areas of the ship. At any moment they could be pulled to full readiness, and he'd debated ending the practice, but for the most part it was a lot more tranquil. There was something about it that he found almost envious compared to his time on the Bridge.

The Deltan looked at the Bajoran Duty Officer, "As you were. What's happening?"

"All systems normal, sir. We are on course for the coordinates provided by the Khitomer. Engineering is realigning the main deflector dish, Sickbay reports Lieutenant Zêbar broke two ribs during a Holodeck exercise, and sensors continue to gather long-range information on the world we visited while enroute to the Maelstrom."

"Very well," Zseeq answered, "I have the Bridge."

Lieutenant Wogha questioned, "Captain your duty shift doesn't begin for another fifteen minutes. Do you want me to remain?"

"You can if you want until the rest of the Senior Staff arrive. Until then I think I need to be up here," the Captain answered. "So, I have the Bridge."

"Aye, sir," Moji answered as she walked over to the XO's workstation.

Having taken his chair, the Captain looked around the Bridge at many of the personnel he'd rarely seen. Crossing his legs, "Maintain night watch, for now, until the Alpha Shift arrive."

Crewman T'Pral turned from the Flight Controls, "Captain, we are approaching the Romulan Neutral Zone."

"Maybe we should get them up here a little early," Zseeq mumbled at the announcement. "Take us to Impulse, Crewman, standard patrol route along the Neutral Zone for now."

The Vulcan nodded as she started slowing the Sagan Class vessel, "Aye."

Zseeq looked over at the Tactical Station and saw Lieutenant Thompson already there. "Lieutenant Thompson?" He asked more questioning than he meant to.

The young man turned away from the wall mounted workstation. He sent the questioning tone back, "Sir?"

"Launch a series of Class 3 Recon probes across the border," the Captain ordered, gripping the sides of his chair as he issued the order.

"Sir, sending probes over the Neutral Zone could be considered an act of aggression," the Lieutenant explained.

"Guess we'll test just how good their stealth technologies are," Zseeq quipped. "Launch the probes, Lieutenant."

"Aye, sir," the Lieutenant J.G. agreed as he loaded the probes.

Crossing his legs, the Captain waited for the rest of his Senior Staff to arrive.

Carrying a cup of coffee and a half eaten croissant, Zhi used the back of his hand to tap and ensign on the shoulder to get her attention. "I have the station," he announced gently, "you're relieved, go get some rest ensign. I expect a report of your first night shift later today." He smiled as the young woman stood and straightened her uniform. "I do mean later today," he pressed, "not right now, or when you wake up."

He waved her off with a gentle smile then touched the console and saw it reconfigure to his own preference. Only then did he turn to look over his shoulder while finishing his breakfast. "Good morning captain," he greeted politely.

---

Commander Hall checked her reflecting in the holographic mirror, shifting the angle of com badge by a degree, and then swept invisible dust from her tunics shoulders. She had opted to continue wearing her golden shouldered tunic. Primarily because she wasn't wholly comfortable how she got her new position and that she didn't want to aggravate the crew in that regard. If the Captain wanted her to change into the traditional maroon associated with Executive Officer's she would, but for the time being she felt this was the best approach.

She flashed herself a fake smile, before deactivating the mirror and collecting a cup of coffee from the replicator. Eve had replicated her family's own traditional blend that had been handed down generation to generation, but made sure to use a Saratoga branded travel mug. She set out on the short journey from her quarters to the Bridge.

---

"Good morning, Lieutenant," Captain Zseeq addressed the Science Officer. He was about to say more when he heard the doors slide open.

The doors of the turbolift swooshed open, and Commander Hall exited onto the Bridge for her first official shift as the Saratoga's Executive Officer. She stepped forward, taking a slow gaze of the ships command centre and then walked down the starboard ramp towards the view screen. "It's beautiful," she said to no one in particular, but her gaze firmly locked on the outside view shown on the view screen.

Maran exited the turbolift closest to the Helm console and casually walked onto the bridge his hands clasped behind his deck. "Anything to report, Ensign?" He asked politely.

The off duty helmsman shook his head as he stretched and yawn. "All quiet, sir. Have a good one." He logged off and to headed towards the lift that Maran had just exited. The Lieutenant sat down and logged himself to console. He began doing his morning checks of the ship's flight systems.

"Looks like most of the gang's here," Zseeq commented as he looked around the Bridge of the ship "Exec, I think it's safe to say we can end Night Watch and get things going."

Hall gave the Captain a nod, and proceeded to her dedicated terminal. During the night shift, it was unmanned and therefore deactivated. She tapped the console bringing it to life. "Computer, this is the Executive Officer. Commence Alpha Shift." The computer responded with a confirmatory beep. The recessed lighting which had been set to a very low level during the night shift began to slowly warm and come up to standard illumination.

"Lieutenant Maran, keep our patrol route looking as normal as possible. We're just on patrol, nothing more," the Deltan ordered to the Cardassian pilot.

Maran nodded, "Understood, following normal patrol routines and speeds."

Looking at his Chief Science Officer at the workstation next to Lieutenant Maran, "I know it's only been a few minutes, but any readings from the sensor probes we launched?" They knew the Audacious was out there, somewhere.

"Give the poor things a minute captain," the Vulcan responded as slender fingers danced across his console. "I'm not getting anything just yet but I'll let you know as soon as I do," he promised.

Zseeq half laughed, "You'll have to forgive my impatience. I'm not exactly excited to be this close to the Romulan Border." He glanced at his new XO as he said it, almost subconsciously.

"Of course captain," Zhi acknowledged as he kept his eyes on his readings. "Telemetry coming in," he added, unable to keep his excitement out of his voice, "plenty of asteroids... some interesting mineral composition there I might add..." He paused as he waited for more to come in. "Seems we got a ship there too captain, configuration seems to match the Audacious but I can't be sure unless we get closer or wait for more data."

He turned to face the rest of the bridge, eyes sparkling with unsuppressed excitement. "I'll send the data to a PADD for you," he added, "but going on this I'm fairly sure we found her "

Mel entered having caught up with her night staffs report. Evidently she needed to have a chat with someone called Zebar about holodec safeties. "Good morning Captain, everyone," she said heading for her seat. She could already sense Zhi was excited about something.

"Doctor," the Captain greeted as he picked up the PADD containing the information that the Chief Science Officer had uncovered. He leaned forward in his chair as he scrolled over the readings on the small display device, "This does look like the information shared by the Commodore on the Audacious. Commander, confirm," he handed the PADD over to the new XO as he returned to a normal seated position in his chair, knowing that the Chief Medical Officer would probably comment to him on his posture if he didn't. He trusted his Science Officer, but Commander Hall was Starfleet's expert on the Audacious.

Mel smiled at the posture readjustment in the CO. She didn't it seem have to have any chats on cricked necks or shoulders it seemed. She sat down and looked towards the XO as everyone wondered if they had found the ship.

Hall flicked through the PADD handed to her by the Captain. She didn't have time to interrogate the data in great detail, but she the key markers to look out for. She let out a small thinking sound, turned to her own her console, pulled up her own files on the Audacious and ran an on the fly comparison of the two. Her hunch confirmed she spoke, "Captain. Confirmed readings match that of the Audacious... mostly... there is a slight variance in the quantum resonance. We'll need to investigate further."

The Captain considered the options, carefully weighing how to proceed with the mission based upon what he knew about the Romulans and what he knew about the Audacious. "Helm, alter course to 47 mark 315 and engage at Warp 3." He knew that the course would take them away from the border and the Audacious, but they needed to be a little better prepared. On the course they would reach a star system in a little under half an hour. "Once we arrive there, I want a polar orbit over the gas giant."

"Polar orbit, understood, sir." The Cardassian replied as his hands danced over his console as he inputted the Captains instructions. "Course laid in and engaged at warp 3."

"From our current position start scanning for Romulan ships, Lieutenant, use the probes for now," Zseeq instructed. "I'd like you to also begin researching the shield harmonics of the Kobheerian freighter and relay them to Lieutenant Maran."

"Yes captain," the Vulcan acknowledged. "Shield harmonics will take some time. Relaying probe data as it comes in "

"Thanks," Looking between the Helm and the XO, "Exec, you and the Lieutenant will work together to modify the Saratoga's shield emitters so that our harmonics match a Kobheerian freighter. You two have an hour, tops."

Maran glanced at the First Officer and have a respectful nod. "Understood, sir."

Hall nodded, "Maran, grab a couple of crewmen and join in me in deflector control."

"Once all these modifications are complete, we'll return to the border and cross," Zseeq explained. "Any questions?"

Zhi shook his head, he had none right now but was certain to voice them if any would arise along the way.

"I'll coordinate with sickbay that we have medical teams ready in case we do find any survivors Sir," Mel said.

"Thank you, Doctor, let's get to work," Zseeq ended.

Hall tapped her console, pulling out the relevant data she needed to trick Romulan sensors into believing the Saratoga was in fact a much smaller Kobheerian freighter. The Saratoga's tonnage was almost thrice the size of the standard Kobheerian craft and her immediate gut feeling is that this could be fairly difficult request. She began to formulate options in her head, but would take the advice of her team before making any decisive action.

With a few taps of the console, she transferred the data into the Saratoga's cloud, marked it for download and then stopped in her tracks. It was her first day on shift, she hadn't received a full induction into the vessel from the Boatswains and Quartermasters yet.

"Stupid question, but where are the PADDs kept?" she spoke aloud to the bridge, a non-commissioned crewman responded to signal he would retrieve one for her. "Thank you crewman, but I'd rather you showed me."

She logged out of her console and moved across the bridge to follow him, which her to the 24th century version of a supply closet in the corridor that connected the bridge to the rest of Deck 1.

 

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