Rendezvous - Part I - In the Web

Posted on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 5:15pm by Captain Robert Burke & Commander Khiane Mau & Lieutenant Commander Dr. Jeremiah "James" McEntyre, Jr M.D. & Lieutenant Ryssa Dari & Lieutenant JG Austin Faust

1,667 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Klingon-Federation Border - Archanis IV
Timeline: MD029 1030 hours

::ON::

Glancing up from the data slate his yeoman had handed him, Burke caught the viewscreen. The Hecate had come out of warp at the far edge of the Archanis system, near the research station situated on Archanis IV.

Even at this station, Starfleet's state of the art vessel struggled in the radioactive soup of the local area.

Her sensors were being constantly battered by X-rays and the solar winds of an unpredictable trinary star arrangement. Two stars orbited around a stable point at the center of the solar system, while both slowly and deliberately flayed the third that orbited them trailing ribbons of energy across the inky darkness of space.

I wonder what possessed Starfleet to rendezvous here, Burke thought sourly, noting that their sensors only had an effective range of a few hundred thousand kilometres in any direction. They'll have to be right on top of us before we'll see them.

He leaned over in his chair in Mau's direction. 'Commander, how late are they now?'

"Forty minutes," Mau said, her gaze straying to the chronometer on the console, her mouth quirking into a slight smile. "And the sensors are nearly useless. We'd see as much if we stood on the hull in an EVA suit with a pair of binoculars."

"Some more good news, Captain," Lt. Faust reported from the operations console, "Shield systems are intermittent, attempting to compensate for it with a shield remodulation cycle. We also are having trouble keeping a lock on the nearest communications buoy."

'That's splendid, Lieutenant, just what we need right now,' Burke replied with a slight grimace.

"Running scans to see if I can identify the cause of the interference," Ryssa said. She hoped to find something that could help them know how to adjust the shields and comms. It was only a small chance, but anything was better than sitting and waiting.

Nodding Burke, looked towards Science, 'keep us informed. If you can, work with Operations to get those shields working if the re-modulation fails.' He glanced back at the Main Viewer, uneasy. Then he announced to the room, 'take us to Yellow Alert. I have a bad feeling about this.

"Defense fields coming on line sir," Austin reported from the CONN, "No improvement on the shield situation."

'Lieutenant Dari, we could use a few solutions sooner rather than later,' Burke pressed gently.

"Scans are fluctuating, but I think..." She pulled up another screen and set the data to run down one side as she made some calculations. Then she sent the information to ops and security. "Try that. It might get is a little more clarity."

"That helped," Austin responded as the sensor data began to clear up, "Much clearer now, but still not reading much."

In Sickbay, the lights dimmed as the ship went onto Yellow Alert. Looking up from the paperwork on his desk, the New Chief Medical Officer, Dr. James McEntyre purred in concern. He got up, pulling on his lab coat over his medical whites, and headed out into the main sickbay to get things ready in case of incoming casualties. He looked over to Dr. Setek, nodding, wordlessly telling him to get ready for action.

Arching an eyebrow, Setek turned to the Senior Duty Nurse, 'prepare Sickbay for triage protocols per Doctor McEntyre's orders.' His voice had no inflection, not betraying how eminently logical he found the precaution.' Taking his own place in the preparations, the Medical Officer moved with studied efficiency, busying himself with preparing the triage kits that could be needed and dispatching the lower-ranked orderlies to where they were required.

As the hum of Sickbay carried on around him, the newly-drilled crew getting into the swing of things, Setek approached his superior, hands folded behind his maroon-uniformed back. 'Doctor McEntyre, you may inform the Bridge that Sickbay reports ready.'

James nods to the Vulcan, before turning to go over to a Comm panel on the wall and pressing a button.

"Sickbay to Bridge. We're ready to receive patients if needed."

'Acknowledged, Sickbay,' Burke nodded to himself in satisfaction and shut off the com channel.

He turned abruptly as a proximity alert sounded. Four Hiawatha-class transports screamed out of warp dangerously close to the Hecate's hull, passing within a scant few hundred kilometers of the Excelsior-class explorer. Hand momentarily rubbing his shaven skull, he grimaced as he caught the carbon scoring across the hulls of the starship, and the leaking coolant from the third.

'Hail the USS Cato, she's the lead ship. Captained by a Commander Hisashi, I believe,' Burke asked Faust as he leaned on to the central Bridge rail.

"Aye Sir, hailing frequencies open," Austin announced from the operations console. The viewscreen clicked on a moment later.

'You're not Commander Hisashi,' Burke observed sharply as the vision of a dark-skinned man with black shoulder-length hair streaked in white winked into existence on the viewer.

'No sir, Lieutenant Aberlour, sir. Cato's Ex-Oh. 'Fraid the Skipper - Commander Hisashi that is - took a hit when we were ambushed,' Aberlour replied with a frown. 'Orion raiders, at least three ships. Came at us out of nowhere. Last we heard, there was no pirate activity this close to the Archanis system. Cato's taken the brunt of the damage as you can see - we could really do with a hand with repairs.'

Coming off the rail and standing straight, Burke folded his arms across his chest, 'injuries?'

'Bumps and bruises for the most part, but Hisashi and a few of the Engineering crew were hit pretty hard when we were smashed out of warp,' Aberlour said. 'We can deal with it, but these Hiawatha's aren't exactly state of the art any more.'

'Understood,' Burke nodded, 'send across system rundowns and we'll have teams across to each of you as soon as possible. Standby, Burke out.'

He turned to Faust, 'issue orders to have the ships move in closer - we'll form a defensive sphere, circle the wagons so to speak. And prepare teams to get over to them. They'll have to go in shuttles. Head up the team to the Cato, they're the priority here.'

"Aye aye sir," Faust responded before keying in the message into the console. "Orders acknowledged," he responded a moment later.

Crossing the Bridge to Science, Burke put a hand on the chair next to Dari, 'if there's any way we can boost sensors, now's the time to try it, Lieutenant. Any raiders will be on top of us before we could say 'pollo al forno'.

Ryssa nodded. She'd been trying a series of computations, but the readings kept fluctuating. What she needed was a way to basically deflect them from the shields. "I think I have something," she replied.

'Try it out,' Burke urged, 'Anything you can give us will be useful.'

"Yes, sir. Beta testing now." At this point, she really should just give it her best shot and hope for the best. So, she did.

'Doctor McEntyre, I hope you're ready for an excursion. Report to the Shuttlebay with a Medical team for the USS Cato. Your PADD will be updated with the necessary information.'

James looked over to Setek once more, nodding again.

"Aye, Sir. I'm on my way."

He goes back to his office, opening an equipment locker and grabbing his medical tricorder and phaser. it takes him a few minutes to get situated before he comes back out to the main sickbay.

"Dr. Setek, you're in charge until my return."

James was confident in the Vulcan's ability to take charge of the situation in sickbay, giving him a small confident smiled before he headed to the shuttlebay as ordered.

'Aye, sir. We shall endeavour to keep her intact in your absence,' Setek replied as he threw the Vulcan salute in the direction of his superior. 'I'm sure your expertise will be appreciated by our comrades.'

James turns, raising his hand in a Vulcan Salute of his own.

“Peace and Long Life, Dr. Setek.”

'Commander Mau, they'll need a senior officer across there as well until Hisashi can get on her feet. Care to take point?'

"Of course, Captain," Khiane said at once. "Mr. Faust, assemble your team and report to the Shuttle Bay as soon as possible." She turned back toward the Captain at once. "Other than repairs, any other orders, Sir?"

The Chief Operations Officer nodded and was promptly relieved by Ensign Tompkins from the Operations station. Austin quickly stood up and headed towards the port side turbolift.

Looking after his departing officers, Burke allowed a small smile. He had no doubt that they would rise to the occasion here. Returning to the viewer, his smile disappeared. Orion raiders are not a good sign. The transports are too valuable to pass up. Somewhere, a clock is counting down. It was only a matter of time before they returned to claim their prize.

'Well,' Burke observed dryly to Dari, 'it seems you're our Executive Officer for now, Lieutenant.'

"Okay." She wasn't so sure she was the best choice, but she wasn't going to argue with her superior officer. "I mean, yes, sir."

'That's the spirit Dari,' Burke replied with a smile to cover his apprehension. Taking his seat he shot another glance at her. 'I'm sure we'll be underway in no time.'

Ryssa picked up the captain's apprehension and smiled reassuringly. "If not, we'll deal with it, sir."

[To be Continued ...]

::OFF::

Captain Robert Burke
Commanding Officer
USS Hecate

Commander Khiane Mau
Executive and Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant-Commander Jeremiah McEntyre
Chief Medical Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant-Commander Lachlan Lamont
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Ryssa Dari
Chief Science Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Haruka Amami
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant JG Austin Faust
Chief Operations Officer
USS Hecate

Various NPCs
USS Cato

 

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