Picking Up The Pieces

Posted on Tue Dec 7th, 2010 @ 4:24pm by Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw & Commodore Samantha York

1,577 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It
Location: Space, 10 ParSecs away from the Calypso
Timeline: Current

Randy grimaced as the stabilizers shuddered, threatening to give out again. 'This is the absolute last time I EVER do anything so dumb as to volunteer for any kind of top secret op. I can't believe any of us made it out alive,' he thought to himself, as he tried not to give in to the pain. With the beating they had taken exiting the space of the planet they had gone to, he was very much surprised that they had left him to pilot the wounded bird back to the Calypso alone.

"Calypso this is the Osprey, if you can hear me, I am in dire need of assistance....."

Static answered him as he nursed the fighter craft back into warp, to limp along for a little while longer. He adjusted the strap on the sling holding his arm, and managed to bang the bruised side of his face in the process.

"Blasted space garbage!" Randy shouted to himself for a minute or two as he attempted to fix the comms, keep the ship in warp, tend his many wounds, and keep from swearing about it all as he went along.

~~~~

"I have you now," Fraser muttered as he put the newest fighter aboard the Calypso through her paces, pitting his own talents up against his wingman in a mock dogfight.

"Ummmm, Fraser?" Keller looked down for a moment as he thought he could have seen something on the comm controls.

"What is it now, Keller?" He growled as he thought that this was just another delaying tactic on his wingman's part.

"Never mind, I just thought I saw an incoming transmission spike on the dash. Can we confirm with the Helm on the Calypso, that way we can see if its a glitch in this ship?"

Fraser paused, and looked down at his own console, touched a few controls, and then growled. "Calypso, this is FireHawk, can you confirm or deny some kind of incoming transmission spike? Our communications array is picking one up and we can't tell if its a glitch or just background radiation."

[Bridge]

"This is Calypso. We picked up something, but it was too distorted. We're trying to make contact. If you can assist, it would be appreciated."

"Understood. We will be conducting a series of warp maneuvers in the surrounding space, keep you posted, Fraser out."

"C'mon Keller, let's see what commo ghost you have picked up this time..."

[Osprey]

Mcgraw was starting to sweat bullets. He had been up for far too long, and he knew that the pain was starting to get to him. He headed over to the controls again, having kicked the ship in the slats for the last time. He knew it wouldn't work again, and next time he fell out of warp, he was stuck with non-warp engines.

"Come on sugar, work for daddy one more time." He mumbled to the controls, and as soon as he had slipped into warp, he started setting up the communications array to broadcast at an irregular interval. "Any StarFleet vessel, this is the USS Osprey, I have sustained brutal damage ship wide, am losing power slowly, am about to lose warp drive. Course heading......Turkana IV, unknown distance to destination, USS Calypso. Please respond..."

He laid back in the seat and closed his eyes. Today really was turning into what could possibly be the worst day of his life....

[FireHawk and Falcon]

Keller had taken point, scanning ahead for anything out of the normal. 'Me and my big mouth,' he thought to himself. He shook his head, not really complaining, as it gave them the chance to actually do some maneuvers, and some time away from the ship. THAT, was indeed in short supply. He started to call up Fraser, and tell him that he thought it was just radiation from something out here, when he heard a weak signal come in. "I got something, FireHawk!" As he passed on the information, his fingertips started to race across the controls.

Fraser scanned the frequencies one last time, as he heard his wingman's excitement. "Yeah, I got it......Hang on, I recognize that voice....." He shook his head as he realized who was on the other end. "Falcon, strengthen the signal and prepare to relay to the Commander, she is going to want to hear this one."

"Calypso, this is the FireHawk, can you patch me through to the Commander, there is a slight problem, and it is going to be more than the two of us can get to quickly enough."

"FireHawk, this is Captain York. What's up?"

"Captain, we have picked up a distress signal, and the ship ID is one of the Calypso's. The Osprey. She is badly damaged, we are pin-pointing her location now. If she is as badly damaged as the call says, we are going to need assistance bringing her in, and we may need the Calypso herself if the man is still alive, 'cause we have nowhere to beam him to."

"If he's in transporter range,we'll beam him directly to sickbay," Sam said. She quickly checked to see if the Osprey was scheduled to return. Not yet. But she couldn't discount that it was Ensign McGraw. "If you need me to send a shuttle, I will. Keep me informed, FireHawk. Calypso out."

Sam turned to the science officer on duty. "Scan for the Osprey. We need to tractor it in or transport the Ensign to sickbay."

[FireHawk]

Fraser looked over the sensor readings. "Life support.....10 percent, estimate 10, maybe fifteen minutes before failure. Engines.....toast. Hull damage, geez looks like the fourth of july gone wrong.....multiple sections look ready to fly apart." Ewan shook his head. Miracle of the month, with a ship this beat up. He scanned the life signs, eyes widening as he confirmed the readings. "Calypso, sending the life sign scan your way, Captain, your not going to believe this one.....and we are going to need a shuttle out here time now, this ship won't hold life support long enough for us to try to tow it in range."

[Bridge]

Sam looked over the data as it was transmitted. "Get a shuttle to the FireHawk's location immediately."

"FireHawk, the shuttle will be there in ten minutes," Sam said.

"Pray to whatever deities you believe in that she holds together, we will try to bring her closer so we can get this guy off of here quickly. " Fraser cut the link, and then arranged the two fighters alongside the crippled bird, locked on with a tractor beam from each ship, and slowly eased the speed up, getting the Osprey closer to the Calypso, and an immediate evac for McGraw.

"FireHawk, this is the Yolja. You have a passenger for us?"

"Yep, sending you the coordinates now, let me know when you have him so we can get this bird to warp without fear of losing him."

[Volja]

The pilot locked in the coordinates and began the transport. Two medics waited until he was on board and grabbed him, taking him to a bed in the back and hooking him up to a biobed.

"Firehawk, this is the Yolja. We've got the Ensign. Heading back to the Calypso."

[Osprey]
Randy started to open his eyes as he heard a familiar hum.....

[Volja]

The medic pulled out a hypospray and gave him an injection. "We'll have you back on the Calypso in no time."

Randy looked up at the Medic. "Critical information, needs to be passed on........Captain's ears only.....", and then promptly passed dead away, his body taking over as he blacked out from lack of sleep.

"I'll inform the Captain. However, you'll need to be stabilized first. So, lay down and relax..." The last was said as the Ensign lost consciousness.

[FireHawk, Falcon, and Osprey]

Keller was sweating by the time he and Fraser had wrestled the Osprey back to the Calypso. They had managed to keep her together, but he was unsure of whether they would be able to repair her. It had been, like Fraser had said, the miracle of the month. She was pretty well beaten up.

"Calypso, this is the FireHawk, transferring Tractor Control over to you. We will begin analysis immediately and have a full report by the end of shift for the Captain. Would like to request a science officer to assist if possible."

A tractor beam locked onto the Osprey and pulled her into Shuttlebay 1. "We've got her, Firehawk. Informing science."

Fraser guided his bird in, following both Keller and the remains of their Group Commander's bird. He was pretty upset, both by the condition of the ship, and his commander. He muttered a quick prayer and then landed his bird, jumping out and getting his flight suit off in short order. "Keller, grab up Simpson and get started on this bird. I want to know everything, best hypothesis, and I will let you know whether we are getting a Science officer or not as soon as I know. I am going to see if our commander is doing alright, and will be back soon."

With that, he turned on his heel, and stalked out of the Shuttlebay, headed for Sickbay.

Captain Samantha York
Captain, USS Calypso

Ensign Randall McGraw
Wing Commander, 109th Fighter Wing "BattleHawks"
USS Calypso

Ensigns Ewan Fraser and Thomas Keller
Squadron Leader and Pilot, 109th Fighter Wing "BattleHawks"
USS Calypso

 

RSS Feed