Losing the Hopper, part 1
Posted on Thu Dec 24th, 2009 @ 7:13pm by Commodore Samantha York & Captain James Montgomery & Commander John Sheridan & Gunnery Sergeant Jethro Hawkes & Colonel Damon Raine
815 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
The Devils Snare
Location: Bridge
Timeline: When the hopper crashes
ON
[OLD[
It all happened very quickly, just as the Away team had started their decent...
A concerned Ensign turned to Sheridan, "Sir the Hopper has lost power and Communications."
Sheridan jumped from his chair and stood behind the Helm Officer. "Go to Red alert and notify the Captain, Helm, All stop. Where are they now?"
The ships nav officer was monitoring the screens at his station, "SIR, there's been a collision involving The Hopper and a Razor. I'm receiving two distinct collision alarms."
[NEW]
Ensign Ronnie Lancaster was manning the science station. "Sir, I've been monitoring the data from the hopper. They seem to have hit some sort of power dampening field. Transmission stopped and I've lost all contact. Before that, however, scans reported over half a dozen ships in the planet's outer atmosphere. All seemed to be dead."
Montgomery stormed onto the bridge, "Report Mr. Sheridan"
Sir, our away team has entered a negative energy field and has lost all power and com. I presume the Razor escorts have suffered the same fate. I have stopped the Ship before we were effected."
"We can't scan the ships from here, so there's no telling what happened to the razors. However, they are smaller and more maneuverable. There is a chance the pilots are alive and stranded in the atmosphere," Ronnie said.
Sheridan knew this was a very bad situation to be in, out of contact with the away team and unable to rescue fighter crews enveloped by the Dampener. "Can we create our own field to negate the dampener?" Maybe on a smaller scale..."
Gunny Hawkes made it to the bridge just after the captain and after hearing the report started to formulate plans for his Marines.
"Sir, I want to use one of our Firefly Hoppers to go in and get our personnel back." Jethro wasn't really seeking permission; he just didn't want to blow out the Hangar doors to do it.
Sheridan saw the Marine Sergeant enter, "Gunny, glad your here. Still no word yet. I would let you go but as soon as you hit the dampener field you would crash too. Can't risk losing you too."
"What if we used a sail or parachute attached to the pod, once we hit the field, we jettison the pod and float down to the planet, we might lose the Firefly but the pod should survive†Jethro knew he was clutching at straws but he didn't want to be losing Marines or Starfleet personnel especially as this was supposed to be a shakedown cruise.
"There's no guarantee the pod would land anywhere near the hopper. Or that the crew would see it, so it would probably be for nothing. However, the idea of a solar sail is feasible," Ronnie said.
The ship gave a shudder, and the bridge illumination and control flickered. "Looks like we may have a problem of our own, anyone tell me what the hell that was?" said Montgomery looking round.
Sheridan had a sinking feeling.. "I think it's our turn Sir... the field must be expanding. If my weak Science mind is correct a spike of energy attracts the dampening field.."
"Power in Engineering dropped by 10%, but it seems to be okay for now," Ronnie replied after running a quick internal scan.
Sheridan looked toward the Captain, "Sir, we need to back off a bit. I fear we're to close and could suffer the same fate as the away team."
"Agreed" Montgomery said, but it was too late. Just as Sheridan gave the order to the helm;
All the lights on the bridge went out for several seconds, then came back on again.
"We've lost our engines," reported the helm officer, "we're not going anywhere!"
John looked a the main screen ~Computer, power status please~
"Power status is at 20%," the computer replied.
John knew they were going to be helpless very shortly, "Helm conserve what we have left for maneuvering, be sure the compressor docking jets are ready to keep us stable." If they did lose complete power the Orion may be able to remain stable using the docking jets... it was a long shot.
"Aye Aye Sir."
Sheridan then turned, "Gunny Hawkes I would have your men standing by shuttle craft and ready. If we do get a break you're going in with everything. Got it?"
"Begging your pardon, sir," Ronnie interjected, "But isn't it dangerous to send a shuttle down when we saw what happened to the hopper? Aren't you asking for another crash? We don't even know if the first team survived the crash."
"Don't deploy them yet, just need them standing by and ready to go if a window event appears."
Just then, the power went out.
OFF
Captain James Montgomery
Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan
Executive Officer
Gunnery Sergeant Jethro Hawkes
First Sergeant
NPCs:
Ensign Ronnie Lancaster (science officer)
Nav Officer
Helm Officer
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