Pulling a Rabbit out of a... hat?, part 4
Posted on Mon May 10th, 2010 @ 9:29am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Commander John Sheridan & Lieutenant Lorne Jaxara & Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Major Leroy Mangalia & Lieutenant JG Erin Tal & Lieutenant JG Nava & Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw
1,498 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Beneath?
Location: Tiberius IV and USS Orion
Timeline: Current
ON
[OLD]
"There's another storm on the planet," Ronnie announced. "Bigger than the last one. Scanners are down, too. Even the ones you set up."
[NEW]
Sam sat down in the center chair and signed. Without the power of the Orion, there was no way the two shuttles would be able to recover the cargo ship. And if they did, she didn't think the Orion was in any condition to tow it back to Typhon. "Okay. Recall the shuttles. Have Kaj and Randy check to be sure there's no debris from the shuttle or the firefly floating around, then have them come in. We'll head back to Typhon as soon as we secure the shuttles."
Kaj had taken the Delta Flyer runabout (despite superficial damage from a certain Marine lieutenant done earlier) and was about to turn around after being recalled when his scanners picked up something. Zeroing on the source he quickly came to a new realization and heaved the runabout over, accelerating hard while he spoke.
"Flyer to Orion, new signal in a debris field approximately 100,000 kilometers in a debris field, bearing 28 by 540 mark 3. Signature matches a standard Federation escape pod. McGraw can you confirm?"
Randy turned to Keller, and instructed him to take station off the port side of the Delta Flyer. "Flyer, this is Congo. I am locked on to the signal, and can confirm it as one of ours. Plan of Action?"
"Bring the pod in and return to the ship," Sam told him. "There's nothing more we can do here."
Erin watched the proceedings with rapt interest, noting everyone's reactions and personality traits as she wondered how she could help.
*****
Leroy arrived in the bay with the 3rd right behind him. "I want protocol followed precisely. Phasers to stun, and make sure that nothing gets in your way men." He set his own weapon to maximum stun, and looked behind him. Battle ready Marines were the terror of the universe, and he knew why. Smiling lightly, he looked back at the entrance to the bay, giving them the hand signal to spread out and get ready.
Nava stood behind the Marine platoon and watched and waited. She looked at the shuttle and the firefly not sure what to expect from either.
*****
Ronnie heard Kaj and began to scan the debris. "It's one of our own escape pods," she told Sam. "And the debris looks like it came from the firefly... Oh." She looked up from her scanner. "And it looks like the debris is from another escape pod. It appears to have exploded."
Sam looked at her, then at Damon. "Exploded?"
"Wait, when were those escape pods launched?" Damon asked with a confused look on his face.
"Lieutenant Jaxara, can you determine when the pods were launched?" It would have been recently. With all the systems failing, it could have gone unnoticed.
She walked over to Damon. "I need to know the state of the crew on the shuttle. If they're dead or alive. All power is dead on the shuttle..." She put her hand on his arm and squeezed gently. She needed to know, but she was half afraid to find out.
"On it Captain." Jaxara noted. "Jaxara to any security officer, I need a report of any, and all activity around escape pod... 21-C."
An Ensign, apparently already headed to his Section Chief with a report on the crossfires between Security, and the Ghezuns, nodded. "Right here Chief." He said, as he handed Lorne a PADD.
"Easily enough discovered, Captain. Reviewing Security's logs, one of the Security Officers found a Ghezun chewing on some power cords near an escape pod. Apparently the magnetic couplings keeping the pod in place lost power during a phaser/tooth exchange between the two beings in question. Ensign Latke, here, notes that the Ghezun in question darted into the escape pod, and the escape pod detected no magnetic cohesion keeping it in place, and a life form aboard, followed it's programming, detached from the ship, and drifted away. The explosion was likely caused by said Ghezun chewing on vital data cords, or power cords from within the Escape Pod, likely trying to find a way out." Jaxara noted, as he read the incident report on the PADD. "Also, it would appear that 19 Starfleet Security Officers, 14 replicators, and a shuttle craft may have suffered minor damage from the cross-fires between man and monster."
Sheridan arrived deck 21C, looking for enough information to put together a good picture of the situation.
Gonzales entered the shuttlebay and almost stopped dead in his tracks. The damage was unmistakable. The thing had been partially crushed due to the weight of the sand which had seeped into the internal workings of the ship. "My God..."
Kenta went in further and entered the shuttle. It was full of sand. Sand and heat. Heading for the warp core, he coughed in the hot, dry air. "Man. Must have been one helluva time for them, poor devils." He opened the panel to the warp core and a flood of sand came out. The Filipino shook his head. "Sorry, sirs, there's no way this is going to work again. Might as well use it for scrap."
*****
On the Bridge, Damon walked to the back of the room and tapped his comm badge. =A=Leroy, this is Raine. What are you seeing down there Lieutenant?=A=
Leroy tapped his badge and sighed. -^-It's vacant down here sir. Nothing's moving inside. I have two men checking out the hulk now, seeing if there's anything that we can salvage. So far nothing. Gonzales is working the internals right now, and I'm pulling the men back to let him work. It is pouring sand all over the deck, so we do have something akin to a show down here.-^- Before he could sign out, phaser fire erupted from one of the newer men, followed by several others following suit. "Cease Fire!" He called to the men, and started moving towards them. Nothing he had seen moved, but someone had seen something. -^- False alarm Sir, one of the men was a little jumpy. A ball of sand came rolling out, and everyone and their mother decided to light it up like a Christmas tree."
Damon frowned as he heard the weapons fire and it furrowed even more when he was told it was just a false alarm. =A= Make sure the Marine who fired first just embarrassed his unit. =A= He said shaking his head. =A= I want you to stay on site until the shuttle has been fully cleared by security. =A=
-^- Wilco Sir. I'll make sure the Private takes responsibility for his actions. Out-^- He turned on the man, his face the face of Satan. "What do you think was going on? Do not fire unless fired upon you nimrod! Iron Chair! Go!" The man groaned as in the air he began to emulate sitting in a chair. "I swear, the next man that fires his weapon without my express order is going to hate life for a while. And find it hard to sit on anything."
*****
Damon walked over to where Samantha stood and gave her a quick shake of his head indicating the condition of the shuttle and it's crew.
Sam bowed her head and closed her eyes. She had so hoped for a better result. Yes, the chances were slim, but if a shuttle could handle space, it should be able to handle sand... She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thank you," she said quietly, giving herself a minute to regroup.
Damon was sure to give her a moment to absorb the information before speaking again. "Sam, I hate to rush you considering the officers who were lost, but, there's nothing left for us to do here anymore. We really should get the crew back to the Typhon before the Orion falls apart and our window of safe return is closed."
"I already gave the order," she assured him. Sam turned to a bridge officer. "Are the ships back on Orion?"
The crewman at engineering turned to her. "We've just about blown the tractor beams to hell, but yes, they're onboard."
"Thank you." Sam turned to helm. "Set a course for Starbase Typhon. As soon as we're all set here, head us out of the system."
OFF
Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Orion
Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion
Lieutenant Lorne Jaxara
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Orion
Lieutenant Karma Sinclair
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Orion
1st Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia
Marine XO
USS Orion
Ensign Walter Cox (NPC)
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Orion
Ensign Erin Tal
Chief Counselor
USS Orion
ieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion
Ensign Nava
Chief Diplomat
USS Orion
Ensign Kenta Gonzales (NPC)
Engineer
USS Orion
Ensign Thomas Keller (NPC)
Squadron Pilot
USS Orion
Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan
Executive Officer
USS Orion
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