At the Coordinates
Posted on Fri Dec 17th, 2010 @ 1:41pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Commander Curtiss Drake & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant JG Jason Fisher & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Alessandro Reynaldi
1,050 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Lost Friends
Location: Bridge, Deck 1
Timeline: Current
[ON]
Deck 1, Main Bridge
___________________________________
"Captain, we are approaching the last known coordinates of the Archimedes. Powering down the warp engines. Dropping out of warp in four, three, two, one. Engaging impulse engines at one-half power." Zhukov stated as the Ranger came out of warp and entered "conventional power" mode. He began to scan the immediate area. "Coming to all stop now, Captain." he said as he powered down the impulse engines.
"Mam, I am picking up some minor hull debris in the area. It is...of Federation origin. Most likely...bits of debris off of a hull." Zhukov said as a chill ran down his spine. Had the ship been destroyed? He continued to scan a few seconds more and came to a quick conclusion.
"Good news though, I think. Not nearly enough debris here to be an entire ship. The amount and pattern of debris read more like a small breech somewhere on a hull." Vladimir said.
"That or the start of the firefight..." Drake replied, turning a profoundly worried look to Halliwell.
"Recommend going to yellow alert, Captain," Jason Fisher spoke up from the tactical station, "Just as a precautionary measure."
“Agreed,†she motioned over her shoulder to Jason.
T'kaarch had taken up the main science station in the back, and was constantly working the sensors. "Nothing yet, Captain." He purred without even looking back or turning around.
Halliwell nodded to T’kaarch and then said, “Continue scanning, Lieutenant. The Archimedes shouldn’t be too far, I hope.†Halliwell wanted to remain outwardly optimistic about the Trill and his ship but with each hour that passed, she could feel what little enthusiasm she had wane.
“Commander,†she called out to Zhukov as he twisted around on this chair. “Take us to the probe. We’ll recover it and see if it offers any further help to us." Flicking her head back to Ops., she then added, "Beam it into Engineering, Mr. Blake and notify Reynaldi to investigate.
Zhukov nodded. "Aye, Captain. Moving forward now at one-third impulse power. In range of transporters in fifteen seconds." he said as the Ranger began to slowly lurch forward and glide through the small debris field.
In a few seconds the probe was in range. "Captain, I have a lock on a Class II Federation probe. It's a little too big for Main Engineering. I recommend we send it to Cargo Bay 2 on Deck 8." he said to her.
“Make it happen, Mr. Blake,†she said, nodding whilst remaining perfectly still in her chair. “Cargo Bay 2 it is.â€
"Aye, Captain." Blake answered. "Locking onto target, transport complete."
"Perrrmission to go to the Carrrgo bay and study the prrrobe?" T'kaarch had turned around to face the captain as the probe was beamed out of space and into the cargo bay.
T'mpest was seated in the back, watching the proceedings with interest.
She looked at him with a loaded glance and then silently narrowed her blue eyes onto his. “Meet Mr. Reynaldi down there,†she added after a pause and then turned her attention to T’mpest. “Commander, offer them a hand, would you?â€
"Yes, ma'am," T'mpest said, getting up and walking to the turbolift.
Directing her attention now back to the cat-like Scientist she nodded. “Let’s see what information you can gleam from what we have,†she said. As the two officers left the bridge, Halliwell stood and walked decidedly up to the helm, placing her open palm on the readout surround and looked out on the viewscreen. Turning to Zhukov, she said, “Plot a search pattern, Commander, from this point. If we can’t detect a signature, my bet is that she’s adrift. See if the computer can extrapolate a likely trajectory, taking into account gravitational forces, special eddies... anything.â€
"Aye, Captain. Setting parameters now." Zhukov replied as he tapped several buttons on the display in front of him. He also thought about trying to run a short simulation based on the debris pattern but decided he probably didn't have enough time to program it. He quickly began getting the search pattern results from the computer. He took the computer data and entered it into the helm control. "Search pattern entered, Captain. It will take us by two small asteroids, and near a gas giant with several small moons." he told the Captain. "Total estimated time to complete physical search is fourteen hours, forty-seven minutes. With the additional scanners on the job, we should be able to cut that down to almost half...eight hours, twelve minutes." said Vladimir. For the area of space they had to look through, an eight hour search time was impressive.
“Follow your course, Mr. Zhukov,†she replied and then standing up straight, turned to Blake at the back of the bridge and added, “Continue scanning.â€
Teegan Mar then walked onto the bridge and glanced around it slowly, taking stock of the people on duty. "Captain, have you located the artifact yet?"
As her eyes locked onto the archaeologist’s, Elsie could feel them subtly roll in their sockets as the visage of the formidable woman strode confidently up towards her. “No, Ms. Mar. Unfortunately, the Archimedes is yet to be located. We’re trying our best to do just that.â€
Teegan looked at the Captain, then at the viewscreen and sighed. "I'm sure you are," she said condescendingly. She turned and walked to a seat in the back where she could keep an eye on everything going on.
"I realize it’s your Bridge." Drake whispered quietly over the center console between the two officers, "But why is she here? We don't need any distractions." he asked, casting a quick glance back at the woman.
“She’s here,†she said, disconnecting her glare from her First Officer and shooting it over to the unfamiliar face on her bridge, “to hopefully offer us what she couldn’t Kerr.†She sighed at what she had just said and exchanged a knowing and loaded glance with Drake.
"I guess we'll see, then." Drake replied, heaving a slow sigh. "But I don't like it at all..."
"That's you and I both," Elsie said quietly, raising an eyebrow to him. "You and I both."
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