Chapter 3.5

Posted on Fri Jul 1st, 2022 @ 1:39am by Admiral Janule Tua & Willian Targaryen & Commander Galatea & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Ash Randall & Commander Nathan Hawkins & Lieutenant Cyrus Marner & Warrant Officer Harris Zim

1,724 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Waiting for the End
Location: USS Stargazer
Timeline: 3189-03-15, 18:00

The Bridge of the Starship Stargazer was unlike anything that Willian Targaryen had seen in his entire career. While the room was similar in design and layout to the Bridge on any other Starfleet vessel he'd ever seen, that was where the similarities ended. The room was as expected size wise, but the workstations throughout the chamber were unlike anything that he had ever seen. Every chair in the room hovered in space above its position on the deck. Not a single computer workstation was prebuilt, instead everyone in the room was working a holographic display panel. As he stood there the Captain couldn't help but wonder if the walls themselves were even real.

A young Ensign in the grey uniform of the era stepped by them, "I don't recall anyone giving you all access to the Bridge."

"You will excuse us, Ensign, but I need to speak with the Admiral," he answered a lot more politely than he normally would've been.

"If you haven't noticed we're dealing with a crisis, Captain, and the Admiral is busy at the moment," she challenged. "Perhaps you should return to the Observation Lounge. We'll get you when..."

Willian interrupted, "I must insist, Ensign."

The Security Officer was undeterred by the Captain, "And I must insist that you..."

They were all distracted by the near instantaneous appearance of Galatea and Chief Zim nearby. Galatea looked at the Ensign, shifting her weight, "It's alright, Ensign Orota, I take responsibility for them."

The Bolian nodded, "Very well, but please don't touch anything."

"Duly warned," Willian said mockingly. For the first time since they'd all come back together he'd actually be excited to see Galatea. "Any idea what's going on?"

"We need to speak with the Admiral," the former Artificial Intelligence replied. "Looks like the gang's all here. Did you leave anyone back on the ship?" It was meant to sound funny, but there was more menace below.

Targaryen glanced at the group, "They deserve answers too. Besides more minds equals more ideas."

"Truer words were never spoken," Admiral Tua explained as she joined them. "You'll have to excuse my officers. Your uniforms make you stick out a bit. We're in a bit of a sticky wicket though. Can we wrap this up later?"

"We deserve to know what's going on and why a shuttle just left your ship, not from a shuttlebay mind you, at high warp," Willian countered.

The Trill sighed, "I suppose he speaks for the rest of you too?"

"He does speak for me, and I do wish to know what in tarnation is going on. I've been getting very strange readings so a bit of enlightenment would be most appreciative. At least for me that is." Cyrus having a bit of a smile.

"I think I want my phase cloak generator back." Ash muttered, while she looked around the bridge and then to Admiral Tua. "It feels like there are parts of this vessel that are out of phase with other parts. It FEELS incomplete, like an orchestra playing the William Tell Overture without a brass section." Ash stated, her eyes and ears focused, intently, upon Admiral Tua. "I'm with Captain Targaryen." She added.

Zim squared his jaw and stood at rigid attention just over the right shoulder of Galatea. He chose to keep his eyes front as he did not want to be taken in by any of the technology or anything of this century. Harris hoped that they would be able to find a way back to their time and chose to make sure he did not assimilate into this time. At the moment he had absolutely no idea why Galatea asked him to come. There would be nothing here that would change his mind.

Her friendly visage changed in the wink of an eye to be far more direct than it had ever been before, "This vessel has been infiltrated by a spy. We don't know which of a half dozen groups the spy could be from, but we do know what they took from our computers and it's damned scary. The spy hacked our system, penetrated the command functions of Battle Group Omega, and downloaded the prefix codes of all ships within our force. They can remote control any ship within my force and there is nothing we can do to stop it. With the prefix codes controlled from our flagbase at DS253 even it is at risk."

Ash shook her head, in wonder, at the admission by Admiral Tua and then shrugged. "All options to mitigate this scenario, suck. The one that sucks the least leaves every vessel, isolated, vulnerable and unable to co-ordinate or communicate. You'll be forced to pull Federation assets from critical, strategic, points in order to protect them and face a long process of resetting prefix codes making every vessel a giant paper weight until the process is completed." Ash stated, thinking out loud. "Assuming your prefix codes didn't include Enterprise, it looks like we may have a job to do." She added, and rubbed her eyes in thought for a second or two before looking, questioningly, to Captain Targaryen.

The Admiral did not give the Captain time to respond, "Precisely. I am assigning your vessel to track down the shuttle, recover our prefix codes, and return the criminals to us for trial." Motioning to her TriCOMM, "The Daystrom was not even remotely close to having your ship upgraded to meet the specifications of this era; however, your Frankensteination of your vessel has given you some advantages that will help you in this reality. Your propulsion already exceeds ours, but we will arrange for your shields and weapons to be upgraded before you proceed. I don't want our shuttle to outmatch you," she said seriously.

With a flick of her wrist the hologram of the Enterprise vanished from view. "Since your Enterprise was launched on a deep space exploration assignment as a sleeper ship we can probably sidestep the temporal accords for now; however, your crew complement is barely standard for your needs. I know your ship, when automated, can operate with a crew of one if necessary; that's not going to cut it these days. Galatea, arrange for a complement of personnel from the ships here to be transferred over to the Enterprise. I, also, would like for their Helm and Science Officer to be transitioned here."

"Admiral," Willian stepped forward, "I would be better served with my crew remaining at their posts."

Janule crossed her arms, "Normally I would agree with you; nonetheless, your Science Officer is exhibiting symptoms of PTSD and hibernation sickness, your Helmsman is a know courier with potential ties to the Emerald Chain. Neither of them are a good choice for this mission."

Willian sighed, "Admiral, they have given no indication..."

"It's an order," she said with finality. "Galatea, how long will it take the Daystrom to upgrade Enterprise's weapons and shields?"

The android stood silently for a moment, her head tilting to the left momentarily as she calculated, "Without interruption it would take the Daystrom approximately 18 hours..."

"They have six and that's pushing it."

She nodded, "I will inform them."

"Anything else?" The Admiral asked toward the entire group.

Bishop muttered under his breath, "A freakin great way to get started, treated and looked like criminals, short staffed and thrown into a clusterf....." He trailed off, looking at the Admiral "Of our own making."

Hawkins' lips twitched at his friends soft muttering voicing the thoughts and words they'd been thinking at least once today alone.

Zim stood sentinel over Galatea's shoulder as the exchange took place. During all of the banter he wondered why the hell she had ordered him to come with her. Harris Zim may not have liked where or when he was but he was a Capellan and would follow protocol to the letter. So rather then question the reason for his presence he simply cleared his throat. He hoped this would bring Galatea's attention to him and shed some light on whatever situation this was. For the record he believed that Bishop was right. This was a fine mess that they have gotten themselves into.

Galatea had not forgotten about the tall Capellan standing over her shoulder, in fact now was the time for why he had asked for the Chief to come along. "Admiral," she called, "Due to the current security situation and the limited available Federaton Security staff, I would like to temporarily transition Mister Zim to Federation Security for the duration of this assignment. He has unique insights as a Capellan and an enlistee that would be beneficial for our mission to be a success."

Janule looked at the Chief, "Galatea does not choose her team on a whim, Chief. What are your thoughts and can he be spared?"

Harris stepped forward as he maintained his rigid attention stance. "Ma'am it is my opinion that Captain Bishop has the right of things. This is a situation of our own making. That said, we are the only ones capable of repairing the situation. In our time all Starfleet vessels are capable of tracking each other. If this is true here then we already have an asset. Ma'am!" He kept his eyes front as he spoke the model enlisted soldier.

After some internal grumbling from the Tua Symbiont the Admiral nodded, "Normally, yes; however, things are not normal. The transponders have been turned off and the Starfleet of this era employs cloaking devices. You're going to have your work cut out for you. I concur with Galatea, she can make the appropriate notations of your transfer to Federation Security."

"Yes Admiral," the Android replied.

"We will return to the Enterprise," Willian informed stepping back from the Admiral. "Ensure your departments are ready for launch in 6 hours."

All this seemed to be going over Cyrus's head but for now the news of being able to get back into medical and seeing what wonders they had brought about, he was looking forward to it. "I will see you on the ship." he remarked then turned to exit, already making plans on ensuring his lucky tackle box would be ready.

Willian looked at the Admiral, "We'll get your codes back, Admiral. You can count on it." He double tapped his communicator and beamed everyone back to the ship.

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