A Garbled Transmission

Posted on Thu Sep 27th, 2018 @ 9:09pm by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson & Lieutenant Benjamin Chiles & Lieutenant Grayson Hawk & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D. & Lieutenant JG Alastair Hallewell II & Ensign Nadia Jiaying & Lieutenant JG Neza Glenn

2,569 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Klingons on Starboard Bow
Location: Bridge
Timeline: 2261.189 1900

Nadia was sitting at her station during beta shift which she found a bit nicer than alpha just slightly quieter. Most of what beta shift was going through communication logs, marking certain communiques along with keeping eye on essentially air traffic communications. Making some small minor adjustments to help make communications clearer Nadia picked up on a urgent transmission.

"Commander Hudson I am getting a transmission from K6." Nadia said perking up and looking at the command chair where the XO was sitting.

Bec, having slouched down in boredom while reading reports, sat up straighter in the Captain's chair. "From K6?" she was surprised. This was not one of the bases they'd been sent to investigate. What was going on here? "Play it," she ordered.

The transmission came through audio, only. It was garbled. However, the words, "unknown ship," "under attack," and "help" were clear.

Nadia worked on trying to clear it up but it was as good as it was gonna get. "Sorry this is as clear as I can get it but here are the coordinates that it's coming from." Nadia said hading a data padd to a yeoman to gave it to the XO.

A frown formed on Bec's face. Under attack from an unknown ship? This was... not good. "Can you clear it up? Is there anything in the background?" She wanted more information, what else was going on? She leaned forward slightly, adrenaline now coursing through her veins. "Take us to yellow alert."

Neza listened carefully to what was happening and quickly adjusted the sensors towards the area of K6. And unknown ship had to leave something behind that they could pick up, right?

Cindy had been happily bracketing her racquetball league. She posted the first matches on the computer and stuck a piece of paper near the courts with a handwritten copy of the same. She was about to warm up for a match when the yellow alert klaxons rang out. She called up to the bridge, =/\= Cindy to the bridge. What's going on up there? =/\=

Bec hit the comm. "Captain, we've received a transmission from one of the starbases, I ordered yellow alert as a precaution."

Cindy returned back, =/\= Thank you, Bec. Let me know if there is something I should know or something changes. =/\=

From his spot on the Bridge, Hawk listened. Security patrols, in teams of two, were standard operating procedure aboard a starship. He himself had walked thousands if not millions of them. The teams walked computer-generated routes that changed with each shift to prevent the formation of observable patterns and every patrol was required to check in at fifteen minute intervals. Hawk checked the duty officer's logs and saw that everyone was reporting in as per usual. He quietly sent orders to halve the time that the teams reported in and to notify the Chief that the ship was now on yellow alert.

Alastair perked up a bit as the yellow alert signals went off, brow furrowed as he walked by some subordinates getting overly "comfortable" while talking to each other and ignoring their duties. That would have to come to an end, but there were other things to attend to at the moment. His brisk walk stopping at console, he pushed the right buttons as the two previous scientists were pushing his. Thankfully he knew where Glenn was, it was his department after all.

=/\= Glenn, care to explain what the fuss is about? =/\=

Grumbling slightly, Neza hit the com to Alistair. =/\= We're hearing K6 is under attack by an unknown ship. =/\=

"Is there a visual component? Play it on the main screen," Bec took the padd and looked over the coordinates. They seemed to be correct, nothing out of the ordinary there. "Helm, set a course for these coordinates," she called, handing the padd back to the yeoman. "Ensign Jiaying, keep listening for any further transmissions."

"Yes but it's well...." Nadia said hitting a few buttons and pulling it up. The visual was terrifying the station was on fire almost all of the bulkheads were scorched and what made it even worse was the person that transmitted the SOS. They were injured blood was running down their face from a deep cut on their forehead and their right arm was badly burned as well as parts of their chest.

The station still had their view screen activated but there was nothing out there besides the stars and that was it. "T that's a all we have." Nadia said.

The turbolift doors opened and Cole walked out and onto the Bridge. He had been in the shower when the ship had gone into a yellow alert, and after quickly dressing into a fresh uniform, had decided to head up there and see what was happening.

Bec stared at the stars left on the view screen, the image of the SOS sender burned into her retinas. "W...what? That didn't look like an attack from a ship.." she thought aloud. The person's injuries gave her flashbacks and she shook her head. 'Keep it together Rebeccah,' she mentally chastised herself. "Is there any way to identify the person sending the SOS?" Thoughts raced through her head and she wasn't entirely sure they should be heading to the station, but she knew Cindy would want to go investigate. "Ensign Glenn, keep an eye on the sensors, I want to know if anything moves or changes out there."

Looking over at hearing her name, Neza nodded and kept her attention her her monitors. She listened to what was said around the bridge as she did so.

"Wait I I have a live feed," Nadia said putting it up on the screen. This time it wasn't the same person that the original SOS came from.

"Th the ship has gone bu but they insist tha that they'll b be back." The man said obviously very shaken up by everything that has happened.

"Can we communicate with them?" Bec leaned forward in the chair, looking toward Nadia. "Or are we stuck just watching this feed?"

Concern written all over his face, Cole had come on over to stand beside her.

For an answer, the man said, "You must help us! It will be back any minute! Who are you, Federation ship? Most of our sensors are down and our shields are barely operable." The feed was now coming in clearly, as if the starbase was diverting all of its last power to communications.

Bec's eyes shot back to the screen, her mouth opened then closed again. "This is the USS Legacy," she said finally to the man. "We are on our way to assist. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Unknown ship. It just appeared from nowhere and fired and then disappeared again. Some energy weapon. Our shields barely held but so much damage. We cannot take another hit. We think K5 tried to tell us about this but the transmission cut out."

"How long ago was this?" Bec asked, questions swam through her head, but she couldn't get any to stay long enough to ask. "Do you have any description of the ship? Any sensor logs of it?"

"All I can tell you is that it looked like a bird and its attack was approximately 16 hours ago." His voice sounded worried and panicked. "It is going to be back any minute! How much time until you get here?"

Glenn didn’t dare look over at the viewscreen. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see what was there, not until she had to.

Bec looked to the person at helm questioningly. "Helm? ETA?" she asked, attempting to do mental calculations. They'd been attacked 16 hours before, but there'd been no word from K4 and K5 in a few days, both seemingly going down at the same time. Something didn't add up, something wasn't right here. Why would whoever or whatever this was wait so long to attack the next base?

Helm reported, "If we change course from K-5 to K-6 at our current speed, perhaps 15 hours."

"Switch heading," Bec sounded frustrated. 15 hours was not satisfactory. "Are we at full speed? If not how long at full speed?"

The Navigator replied, "Switching heading for Starbase K-6."

Helm answered, "We're at cruising speed, Warp factor 4. At Warp 8, we could at least half our time, perhaps make it in six if engineering could pull some miracles."

"Push it to warp 8," Bec commanded, then hit the comm. "Captain Cindy, could you please come to the bridge?" She was out of her element, she didn't know what to do anymore.

Cindy was just about to start of game of racquetball against a good looking male lieutenant from the navigation department. Disappointed, she hit the comm, =/\= I'll be right there. =/\=

Within a minute or two, Cindy arrived on the bridge. "Status?" she asked curiously.

Bec gestured to the main viewscreen which still showed the unknown man on the station, she stood to give Cindy her seat. "Station K6 was attacked by an unknown ship, one which apparently looked like a bird and appeared out of nowhere, they believe K5 was also hit, but we cannot be sure at this point. The attack happened 16 hours ago and they believe the unknown ship will return at any time. I have switched our course to K6, ordered yellow alert and full speed."

Cindy looked at her crew and asked, "Theories? Thoughts?"

Looking over as the captain walked in and asked the question, Neza spoke up. "We could scan for plasma energy. Might indicate what type of ship it was if we can find anything." She quickly sent a message down to Hallewell, letting him know he might be needed on the bridge with what was happening.

"Plasma energy? Why plasma energy?" Cindy asked confused. "Does a ship run off of that? Or do you have another theory?"

He wasn't a department head, just the guy assigned to man security's bridge station on beta shift, and he (very privately) suspected that the Captain was having a go at all of them. Maybe testing them. Still, questions needed to be answered. "Simple answer, Captain," Hawk said politely, "is yes. Many ships use warp plasma and its possible that could leave a trail ... especially if the vessel was damaged in the attack."

The question was answered before she could speak up, and Neza gave a nod to Hawk. “Exactly what he said. We could find perhaps what type of ship, and if not that, perhaps follow a trail.”

"Alright, check it out," Cindy said. "How long will it take you to do that scan?"

"Give me about..ten or fifteen? It'd go faster if my chief would see his message and get up here to help." Neza started working on it as she spoke, hoping it actually did only take that long.

Cindy gave Neza a nod. "You've got five," she told Neza smiling.

Neza swore under her breath, sending the message off to Hallewell to get his arse up there, though a bit more politely than that, before she kept working.

Cindy then moved over to Bec and whispered, "You made some good decisions, Bec. Proud of you!"

Bec gave a half smile and nodded. "Thanks, Cap..Cindy," she corrected herself and gave a sheepish look. She didn't want to admit that she was not sure what she did anymore and had acted on pure instinct while fighting flashbacks of her time in captivity.

Alastair quickly yet calmly made his way to the bridge and then to his seat. Barely giving Neza a nod of acknowledgement, he looked over her shoulder before started to do his own work as he got seated.

"So, you're scanning for plasma signatures. I'll handle any potential subspace phenomena and discern the nature of our attacker. Depending on the degree of energy still possessed in the area, we may be able to guess how long any assailant have been gone or perhaps are still in the immediate area. We should also scan the degree of degradation of the station's hull plating, types of energy may be determined through that method."

Minutes passed with Cindy watching both of the science officers working. She called out to her helm, "We're at warp 8, yes? Latest estimate on time of arrival at K-6?"

"Achieved warp 8 Captain," Helm had their hand comfortably on the dial, the throttle, with the sort of resting sureness that might high-mindedly trace back the centuries and the bloodlines to when tillers were taken in the same sort way. The USS Legacy had responded to the acceleration order healthily. And a super Connie arriving off the station couldn't come fast enough. Eye on the display to see what that meant for the people on K-6... from the helm time of arrival by the standardized timezone then stardate were called out, followed by "estimate 5 hours 40 minutes until we get there."

"Please see if you can get something more out of this ship, Benjamin. Use whatever natural phenomenon you can without causing us to slingshot into the past. Consult with Engineering, if necessary. Often times they leave themselves a measure of error to minimize risk."

At the helm Benjamin Chiles was looking over his shoulder, ready with a dip to the big chair, and muted "Yes ma'am" that was more for himself than the Captain. She was collegiate, encouraging, and trusting her team would get what she asked done. Chiles internalized his instructions and steeled to deliver. Swung back over his controls, sideways glance to the Navigator... the pair of Goldshirts both took their eyes out the forward window a moment as if to size up the universe. Space was tunneled around the USS Legacy and passing by at high Warp. Space, that to the naked eye was a featureless void maybe flecked with stars, winking- the trace of recognizable constellations or blast of color about a cluster or nebula. By the instrument panel it was richer than that- energy dispersed and concentrated, zones of frightening radiation and mighty gravitational forces, clearer stretches, sensor painted peculiarities, all the give and take that astrodynamics provided.

Chiles had an Engineering sub-window open, detailing max warp performance parameters and how the machinery was handling it; queuing his acceleration orders for emergency power along where it would help set up the 'sling' being searched for. Navigation at the other end of the sweeping console was recalculating the path to K-6. Shaving it, adjusting angles, vectors, accelerating with the tumble of celestial forces rather than beating against it across headings. Making corrections and seemingly by inches capturing time, time that got the USS Legacy closer to the people who needed them. Quietly Chiles took the course, and saw the estimated time of arrival begin to revise itself. They were really galloping- riding in smart and fast.

"Estimate decreasing," Helm called while pushing low volume notifications to the Captain's armrest intercom "time of arrival in four hours."

"Thank you, Ben." Cindy then turned to the viewscreen and announced, "We are on our way. What's your name?"

The man announced, "McDonald. Arthur McDonald."

"OK, Art. We're going as fast as we can. Keep your shield up. Do your repairs and keep your viewscreen on so we can see what you're seeing."

"Will do, Captain. Thank you and hurry. I know they will be back soon."

"We're doing what we can. See you in less than four hours."

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