Finding the QAR - Part 1 (Ranger)

Posted on Thu Jan 27th, 2011 @ 1:44pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Commander Curtiss Drake & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Eliza McAdams & Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd & Lieutenant Alessandro Reynaldi & Lieutenant Gumalt Poxx & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Lieutenant JG Lucy Carter & Petty Officer 2nd Class Davey Coltrane & Captain Alexsa Kendrick

1,999 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Triad
Location: USS Ranger< /i>
Timeline: Current

ON:

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Bridge, USS Ranger

The hue of the nebula surrounded the lonely Intrepid class as she silently pushed her way through the dense stellar matter. Halliwell and whom she had left as senior and junior officers were mainly occupying the bridge, fingers poised over the every control, ready to execute any given command spoken by the captain. Elsie perched on the edge of her chair, the side access panel between her and Curtiss extended and actively feeding through tactical scans of the area.

“We have arrived at our third search coordinate, Captain,†Lieutenant Davizzi said, reading the helm carefully.

“Sensors?†she called out mindlessly.

"Nothing yet Captain," Blake answered from his console, wishing his reply was different from the previous searches.

“Move on to our fourth,†she then said as Davizzi’s fingers danced over the controls.

"Shuttle Leopold signals all clear," Fletcher stated from the tactical station.


Science

T'mpest was in her new office. She and Sammi were digging up every piece of information they could about the QAR. Somewhere there had to be something, a purchase order, an anomalous sighting, something to give them a clue as to what they might encounter in the nebula.


Bridge, USS Ranger

[THREE HOURS AND FIFTY MINUTES LATER]

At first Dylan Blake was certain he'd dozed off at the console for he'd seen a blip on the readings. Rubbing his eyes, sitting an inch taller in his seat, he stared harder and saw it again. Was it the QAR ship? He doubted it, but at least it was something worth investigating.

"Captain," he called. "I'm picking up something on sensors... can't really tell at this distance."

At this moment, the turbolift doors opened and Kendrick walked onto the main bridge. Halliwell and Drake instinctively glanced round, their expressions hardly hiding their displeasure at her arrival at this critical point -- nor were they likely trying to hide their true feelings, both officers had made their feelings on Kendrick's assignment, and indeed on Kendrick herself, quite clear. It didn't take long for Halliwell to get back down to work.

“I need specifics, Lieutenant,†Halliwell called out over her shoulder as she gripped the arm rest of her own chair and then looked again to her own display.

Wishing now he'd not spoken, Blake stabbed at the console to boost the signal to identify the anomaly squinting with the effort. "It's a ship but I can't make anything else."

Kendrick paced around the upper rear section of the bridge looking on everyone as they worked, following orders, pushing those buttons. She didn't say anything to Halliwell, in fact she didn't say anything to anyone - her purpose was to observe, nothing more, whatever happened.

The viewscreen kept purple, without any change. Or was there? The center seemed to be somehow lighter.

“Lieutenant?†Halliwell called out again, now fully turning around.

Blake looked up feeling the Captain's glare strike him like a death blow. He'd screwed up, he could tell from that icy stare and winced visibly.

Suddenly, a Photon Torpedo ripped through the purple haze, and before anyone could respond it impacted on the shields, shaking up the Ranger and sending an eerie ripple effect through the shields.

Teegan was appalled. She'd been on the bridge, watching for any signs of this QAR and the artifact. That no one was capable of finding the ship before it attacked was unacceptable. Weren't these people supposed to be the best? At least, that's what Starfleet claimed. Now, she wasn't so sure.



External

"Whoa!" Shepherd dropped to one knee against the hull as the torpedo plowed into the shields. The blast arced around Ranger's shield-sphere, but the force shook the ship violently.

"No, no No, NO!" Telana screamed, surprised and thrown far off balance by the force of the impact. Shepherd watched in horror as she tried to regain balance, but the impact was too much too fast. She leaned over, over, too far, and her magboots' safeties engaged, clicking off before her leg exceeded tolerance and would have broken inside the suit. Telana floated off the ship, flailing to try and right herself even as Ranger proceeded without her. Because of the odd angle at which the little group had been standing, she seemed to float up rather than directly away—up and back, limned by the glow of the impulse engines. On her course, she'd fall right through the outflow.

Alex looked up in horror as his acting assistant chief floated away from the hull and into the bright nebula. "Telana!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, a necessary step to making some sibilance of an echo over her screams, which could be heard over the open comm.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Watson shouted over the com from within the Leopold.

"Be ready on the switch, Alex," Shepherd called out, starting down the hull at a run. He could hear his boots clank as he took three powerful steps, crouched, and toggled his boots off, jumping away from the hull after the fading Telana.


Bridge

The explosion on the bridge from the torpedo volley blinded Halliwell as she grappled to her seat to right her balance. “This is the Ranger to the Fleet,†she managed over the comm. “We’ve found them and are under attack. Please assist!†The communications channel fell silent as noisy static filled the air of the Fairfax and Archimedes’ bridges.


Main Engineering

Richard "Butch" Dan stood towering over the console of the acting chief in Engineering, his big, sausage like fingers tapping quickly at the controls. He was a propulsion specialist, a man who was astonishingly good at the job he did, but he did not adapt well, especially under pressure. He was a Junior Grade Lieutenant, he was the most senior officer remaining in Engineering, and therefore, he was completely out of his element. He was not a commander, not of a ship, and not of Engineering.

Reynaldi had asked him to do the job so he did it despite his reservations. He'd tried to convince the Lieutenant that he wasn't ready, but Reynaldi met his objections with the usual scowl and simply said: "You're acting chief, Lieutenant, and I don't want to hear another word about it." Dan was an unusually large man. He didn't get the nickname Butch for no reason, yet this man, who despite his considerable height was much shorter than he, intimidated him more than anyone else could. He wouldn't dare question the same order twice.

He looked around at the people now under his leadership and gave a huge sigh. "Divert additional power to the shields."

"But sir," A Vulcan Ensign interjected. "When the QAR use their 'real' weapon, shields will be irrelevant. We should keep emergency power conserved."

Butch looked at the Ensign for a long while, his lack of confidence not being betrayed. He was no where near as mean as he looked, but he supposed he'd have to be just as strong instead. "Right ... of course ... do that."


Sickbay

The distance between the desk and the CMO's office door was all of four paces, but Andreus Kohl still managed to stumble halfway between the two points. There must have been a fraction of a fluctuation in the inertial dampers, but it felt as if the deck and the bulkheads were rumbling and rolling. Kohl would have smashed head-first into the door, if the motion detectors hadn't triggered the door to yank aside. As it was, Kohl lost his footing, but managed to catch himself on the doorframe. The room steadied itself as suddenly as it had gone topsy-turvy in the first place, and Kohl continued his stride into Sickbay's main ward.

"Injury reports coming in, Commander," Poxx shouted across the bay from the communication station. The names and headings scrolling past were reflected on his blue face. "Multiple reports from multiple departments...most appear minor."

For a time, Kohl watched the sole entrance to Sickbay. He supervised the nurses and technicians from a respectful distance and he confirmed the green self-diagnostics coming back from the biobeds, but he kept an eye on the door. There was nothing to watch there, but his eyes kept returning. He didn't detect any motion.

"They don't leave their posts on this ship, do they?" Kohl asked. By his delivery, it wasn't clear if he admired this quality or dreaded it. "We're going to have to go to them..."


Bridge

The purple hue on the viewscreen seemed to slowly break apart as a dark, angular figure came into view.

"Mr. Fletcher!" Drake boomed, "Fire!!"

"I can't get a clear solution," Fletcher's normally prim accent was clipped and strained. "Too much, wait, there! Firing phasers."

The sleek QAR ship came into view as the forward phasers lanced bright against the nebula. It was struck a glancing blow across its forequarter, the beam shimmering along its shields.

It returned fire without visible warning; a beam shot out from the ship, shaking the Ranger violently but not yet draining energy. They seemed to be waiting for something, maybe an opening in the shields.

"Shields are down to," Fletcher checked his board twice to be certain, "30 percent," he breathed, obviously amazed.

Teegan knew coming on this ship was a bad idea. They were just as incompetent as the Archimedes. "Do something," she hissed under her breath. She knew better than to speak loud enough for the Captain to hear her.

“Route all available power to the shields!†Halliwell called out as the bridge still shook with the torrent of abuse she was receiving. “Fletcher! Where’s the bloody Fairfax?

Still reeling from his mistake Blake worked with a sluggish sensation to re-route power to the ships failing shields, then eyed the channel to the Fairfax and Archimedes. "Our communications are being jammed, Captain," Blake called. "Though they should still be in close range to assist."

"Firing pha--" Fletcher was cut off by another phaser salvo that rocked Ranger.

Another trade of beams flashed on the viewer. Then another series of beams leapt from the QAR ship, helixing together into a crazily kleidoscoping braid of seven beams that punched completely through the shields and struck the main deflector dish.

"Of all the stupid, incompetent..." Teegan groused. "Can't you handle a simple firefight?"

Through the commotion, Kendrick had found her way to the science post to the side of the bridge, just catching Teegan Mar's comments. "Apparently not; a comedy of errors isn't it?" she said before moving on to a more forward part of the bridge just as a console blew on the opposite side.

The whole bridge went dark entirely, and a near-audible whine sounded from the power conduits in the walls--a descending and ominous tone. Emergency power struggled to get the ship back online. Lights flickered, LCARS displays flashing and scrambling in the uneven power flow.

As the arm-rest screen before Halliwell and Drake flashed decidedly between them, Elsie tapped with a fury to raise something – anything – back into life. She looked up to the darkened viewscreen with a solemn and pregnant stare as the moment of truth, their only saving grace, railroaded itself into the present. “Ranger to Reynaldi. Initiate the defibrillator!â€

Not even the familiar comfort of static followed as the silent channel remained. Elsie shot a glance to her XO and raised both eyebrows in an expression that projected “Let’s hope the chief is on his game today!â€

To be continued…

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