A Remnant of a Time Long Past

Posted on Wed Jun 30th, 2021 @ 4:14am by Willian Targaryen & Captain Ryan Walsh & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Ash Randall & Commander Nathan Hawkins & Lieutenant Commander Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Cyrus Marner & Lieutenant Bissiv th'Zaanaq

1,825 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Messenger
Location: Bridge, Starfleet One
Timeline: 0000-00-32, 09:00

Willian Targaryen looked at the nebula on the static filled viewscreen as he stepped onto the Bridge. It had been a little over a day since he had met with his Senior Staff about what was going on and his decision to take the ship back into open space. Now that the time had come he was wondering if he'd made the right call. With all the dangers and darkness that existed in this era Starfleet One was more than a tempting target for the rest of the galaxy. If their stockpile of dilithium fell into the wrong hands then the entire galaxy would be irreparably changed. If they stayed here longer maybe, just maybe, they'd be able to turn things around before they encountered anyone else or got into any fights.

Then he looked at the Bridge and the people there. While half of the ship was in pieces still and they barely had a skeleton crew aboard the truth was they needed to get on the road again. They needed to look for a new future and maybe, just maybe, try to bring about something positive in the galaxy of fear they now inhabited. This was the right call. They couldn't hide for the rest of their lives.

The Captain walked toward his chair. Typing on the keyboard built into the armrest he looked around, "Anyone else think we should get back on the road?" The question was rhetorical, so he moved on, "Let's get to work people. Senior Staff report in."

At his station Hawkins stood ready, he shelved his mixed feelings about this idea but swore he'd continued to work as best as possible: "Ops ready sir," he called.

Biss stood at the rear of the bridge with his hands behind his back as he watched the Starfleet crew go about their duties. He had been impressed by what he had seen although everyone treated him like an outsider which was fair. He was an outsider on the ship but the ship was an outsider to the time.

"Coaxial is ready, Captain." The disembodied voice of Commander Randall announced over the open com channel. "From inside the nebula we should keep our initial jump to under 100 light years." The Chief Engineer advised and released jump authority to the helm. "Helm has jump on demand." She finished.

“Security is ready, Sir.” Patton spoke from his station. His words were genuine and he knew that his willingness to move forward had come through. He wasn’t a sit and wait kind of guy but one who wanted to face things head on.

Ryan was still feeling his way on board with no real position at present, just the status of a captain who had been displaced due to the absence of his superior. He wasn’t worried however, he would find his way. “Ready Sir.”

"Take the Sensor Station and monitor the nearby environment, Mister Walsh." Willian rose to his feet and looked at the Andorian, "Have a seat down here, Mister Biss."

Biss gave a simple nod before doing as he was instructed.

“Yes Sir.” Ryan headed over to the station and went to work. He thought to himself that it felt good to be working as he began to survey the environment.

"Helm, I preprogrammed a navigational point in our charts. Please lay in a course for that location and prepare to engage at our maximum safe speed."

The Cardassian at the Helm nodded, "Course laid in."

"Engage."

It took only a moment for the engines of Starfleet One to come alive and propel the ship across space. It wasn't a far jump - reality their destination was only a handful of light-years away - but each time they used their drive they lost more of their antimatter reserves. This jump took their reserves down into the mid-thirties for storage. Not many more jumps would be possible.

Interestingly the emergence back in normal space didn't go quite as planned. The ship dropped out of Coaxial speed and emerged in the middle of an asteroid field. A series of micrometeroids and their normal sized cousins began peppering the hull as the ship pushed through. They were far too large to try to navigate to their destination and each impact made their situation even more perilous. Consoles that only had just been restored erupted in showers of sparks as the ship violently shook.

"We've arrived, Sir, but the asteroid field has drifted since our last charts were taken. We're in the field and have multiple hull breaches!" The Cardassian pilot informed.

"Deflectors to full! All stop!" He looked around, "Options people?"

"I took the time earlier today to set up the Static Field Generator for in case we ran into some hostiles and couldn't break away." The Chief Engineer Announced of the com channel. "It'll take 2 minutes to charge the generator to deploy the field. We can't use propulsion once the field is up and we'll have to extend a whisker probe outside the field or we'll be completely blind, deaf and dumb. Good news is, we can do a quarter impulse bump to get moving an instant before the field deploys and we will maintain that motion, straight line, while the field moves with us." She added. "Other options on the table all involve overloading our shields or using systems that, quite frankly, will not hold up in their current condition." She finished.

Willian tugged on his uniform tunic as he stood in the center of his bridge. The asteroids on the flickering viewscreen gave him a lot more pause than he thought they should as they surrounded the magnified view of CS12. Maybe this wasn't the bright idea he had thought it had been. He sighed, "Ash, standby with the static field generator. We'll keep that as a fall-back option. I'm concerned about us being able to get out of here if things go south. With propulsion being unavailable this ship is a mighty tempting target for scavengers," he subconsciously glanced at Biss as he said the last part.



"Might I suggest you to place some sort of scattering field around your dilithium storage facility. As soon as dilithium pops up on scanners it's like a flies to targ dung." The Andorian suggested.

"Understood, Captain." Ash replied, over the com. "Mr. Biss has a good suggestion so I'll take care of preventing our dilithium from being detected." She added.

"Very good. Ops, run a scan of the area and see if we can find evidence that Cold Station 12 is still where it's supposed to be and transfer the coordinates to the Helm," the Commanding Officer ordered as he crossed his arms. "Hopefully the sensors are cooperative."

Tearing his gaze away from the asteroids that grazed the ships sides Hawkins wanted to sigh to frustration at their continued back luck. "I've located the station, sending coordinate to helm." He announced them grimaced at the data. "However, its located in denser section of the field, too compact for us to navigate safely."

He looked at the Security Chief, "See if you can tap in to our lateral array and determine if there are any threats nearby."

Patton went to work and spoke after a moment his eyes not straying from the screen. “I am picking up some shadowy images, Sir. I can’t get a clear reading. It could be a ship or just be images from the asteroids.” He continued to work to get a clearer reading.

Targaryen tapped his communicator, "Bridge to Doctor Marner. How are the crew holding up with our bumpy ride?"

"Well they are doing well enough I suppose." Cyrus drawled out. "I feel like we've been tossed around like a some kernels of popcorn at this time." a hidden smile can be heard in his voice. He then turned back to seeing to his patients.

"We'll do our best to turn down the popper, Doc," Willian answered with his own grin. Turning he looked at Bishop, "How do you feel about an away mission?"

"I'm up for it sir. What needs to be done?" Bishop asked the Admiral.

The Captain tugged on his tunic, "Starfleet One is too large to travel into the field any further; however, we have a garrison ship that is a fraction of our size that can navigate through the region more effectively than we can. We'll send two teams to Cold Station 12 to acquire whatever resources we can muster from the station and get back before we become at risk. Two teams will travel to the station - one will remain on the Galileo and the other will beam over. Volunteers would be welcome."

"Time's wasting Admiral, lets get to it." Bishop replied firmly.

"Love to check things out, Captain." Came the voice of the Chief Engineer over the com. "However, it is going to take a little time to hide our dilithium from prying eyes...about 20 minutes or so." Ash explained, volunteering to go but, not really, as there were very good reasons for the engineer to remain on SF1.

With all that they had been experiencing it probably was a better fit for Ash to remain aboard the Enterprise for this assignment. "Mister Bishop, I want for you, Commander Hawkins, Doctor Marner, Commissioner Haynes, and Mister Walsh to go to CS12." He looked at the Andorian guest that had come aboard, carefully regarding their 'advisor' for a moment. "It is reasonable to assume that Mister Biss is better acquainted with the technologies of the day than any of us. He'll go along for the ride," Willian looked at Patton, knowing that the Security Chief would keep a firm eye on their Andorian guest.

Patton gave him a short nod to indicate he understood and would make certain their ‘guest’ couldn’t swat a fly without him knowing it.

Hawkins nodded mutely at the order he'd be departing to investigate the station, he was however a touch surprised they'd also be taking Biss. Patton certainty wasn't going to enjoy the addition.

The Andorian was surprised by the chance to go. He knew he wouldn't be trusted but he didn't trust this Starfleet crew. Something still felt off about the whole situation but he didn't really have much choice. "I'll help if I can." He said with a nod.

"Good." He answered Mister Biss. He hoped that things did work out with the Andorian guest that they had brought aboard. "Alright everyone let's get the Galileo ready for departure. Departure is in 15 minutes."

"I'd go tactical EVA, Captain, fully outfitted; from demolition charges to transport enhancers." The Chief Engineer suggested. "Good luck."

"Suggestion noted, Commander," Willian answered with a smile, knowing that the Chief Engineer was being serious. With any luck Cold Station 12 would share her secrets with them and it wouldn't come to that.

 

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