Rescue Gone Awry
Posted on Mon Jun 20th, 2022 @ 11:21am by Captain Devin Hadenbeer & Lieutenant Commander Dorian Sheppard & Lieutenant Commander R'elle & Lieutenant Commander Klarth & Lieutenant JG Alia Fitzgerald
2,362 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission: Into The Void
OOC: I have no idea how half the PCs got unselected for this joint post. :/
KUOKANJOKI/KWANGO
Lionheart's Runabout approached the Kwango. It was dark and unresponsive. Also what was noticed right away that an emergency hatch had been dislodged near the rear. The three life signs were forward in the cockpit but if they did not have access to space suits they were trapped there.
Junix watched the flight path going from the Lionheart to the Kwango, then checked their own life support systems. A worry tickled the back of her thoughts that, perhaps, Hadenbeer would take off on them. Easing her fears was the fact that Klarth was in the shuttle, and Hadenbeer seem to really like him.
"Can we beam them out of there?" asked Klarth. "Or should I start getting a spacesuit on?"
Ull looks at Klarth. "We should don space suits. We don't know what state they are in and if they can be moved safely." He then moves to the back of the Runabout and starts to put on his spacesuit. He also packs up any extras they have, up to three, in case the occupants of the Kwango don't have theirs.
As Ull and Klarth were putting on their space suits, Klarth told him a story to pass the time and lighten the mood. Junix could hear it too. "We once had a young Selay ensign named Ssestar on the Lionheart. The first Selay in Starfleet. As you are aware they are reptile like aliens. Selay was sick one day with a Selay flu but he was too proud to go to sickbay and have it treated, something about disappointing his brood, so he just kept working. Ssestar had to do an EV mission and during the space walk he sneezed so hard that his tongue detached from his mouth and smacked again the helmet of EV suit. You see that's something Selay can do like a tail falling off when attacked by a predator. Then he had to complete the mission with a gross mucus filled tongue hanging to his helmet so he could barely see and he had no tongue so the universal translator could barely make out what he was trying to tell us. He kept saying 'sssissss isssss ssssso embarasssssssssssssing.' Klarth started to laugh hysterically at his own story.
"That's gross," Junix said.
H'orri awoke to find she was sore all over and that she was also in a space suit. It was impossible to remember how or why she was in this state and her muddled mind told her likely she was suffering from a concussion. She saw two fellow Gabriel Station officers in the cockpit of the runabout with her. Dango was in a suit and obviously unconscious, and the Gorn Skargarr was also out and looked pretty beaten up. He was also not in a suit. Glaring red emergency lights littered the control panels, suggesting the small vessel was in a bad way...
H'orri half awakens mostly out of instinct gets up and opens a hailing frequency. Groggily, she speaks.
"Runabout from Gemini station here. Lieutenant Junior Grade H'orri of the Red Fur speaking. We need immediate medical assistance." She gets a little flirty as she gets more groggy. "Preferably a male Caitian Doctor and a female human nurse."
Klarth said to Ull and Junix "I wonder what she'd think of a Klingon doctor and a Vulcan nurse instead...Maybe she'd rather wait for the next ship to come around." At this he started laughing.
Klarth questioned Junix and Ull. "Hey can we extend our shields so they cover the Kwango too?"
Junix looked over the controls and ran a quick calculation. "It will stretch our resources a bit, but we're not far from home. We can give that a shot. Where do you think we should dock?" she asked for suggestions.
"Well the back of the ship is damaged so any hatch in the front will do for me," says Klarth.
Junix looked over the scans, taking back her previous question. "With our shields extended, we don't actually need to board them. We'll use the transporters. Lifesigns are faint... that's probably our best option at the moment. And then if there's anything we need from the runabout later, the Lionheart can tractor it into one of the shuttlebays."
Klarth looks at the EV suit he is wearing "You've got to be childrening me," he says as he takes his helmet off. "I just got into this horrible contraption...Beam them to back room and I'll set up a makeshift sickbay back there." Klarth starts taking the rest of the suit back off.
Ull smiled and turned back to the control panel before him. It was not very difficult to pin down the three life signs and then set the coordinates to the rear of the runabout. He took a moment to insure the trio would not be dropped more than a few centimeters, and then he activated the transporter...
KWANGO
H'orri felt herself ready to pass out, when her blurred vision noted something strange. There on the starboard hatch was...something attached. Some strange piece of equipment mounted in the middle of the door, with several protrusions branching out to connect along the seam.
Because H'orri was already passing out, she was able to notice the strange piece of equipment mounted on the door but can not deal with it.
H'orri slipped into unconsciousness just as she felt the transporter beam, but before darkness claimed her she thought she saw something happen to that device...
LIONHEART
Hadenbeer watched the one shuttle approach the other, she was about to speak when-
"Runabout from Gemini station here. Lieutenant Junior Grade H'orri of the Red Fur speaking. We need immediate medical assistance." She gets a little flirty as she gets more groggy. "Preferably a male Caitian Doctor and a female human nurse."
Devin's eyebrow rose a tick at that...
"Interesting and very specific. I think she is not all the way with it. Perhaps head trauma or lack of oxygen? At any rate, I'm sure Klarth will help her. Well, I am Caitian and I am a medical professional, but decidedly not male. Still, I have some basic medical training. Captain, I will be happy to help in any way I can. H'orri, not a name I'm familiar with; however, I am familiar with the clan, 'Of Redfur.' Not too many of those out here that I know of. Still, a proud clan."
"Appreciated, Counselor. And when the lieutenant is on board she will most likely require your services. But multiple transmissions may confuse her at this time and undermine Commander Junix's operation."
Hadenbeer turned to Ops.
"Lieutenant," she said, "Inquire of Commander Junix as to whether or not they received that transmission, and if so, inform her she is free to act as she sees fit."
Alia triggered the com, "Commander Junix, did you receive that transmission for medical assistance?" She thought to herself, a male Caitian and a female nurse? That's very specific... Instead of saying NOT to send a female Caitian, that might mean it's a very specific situation where knowledge of Caitian xeno-anatomy would be useful.
"We heard it," the commander answered.
"The Captain said you can do as you see fit. We're standing by and ready to provide additional aid as needed."
Hadenbeer waited until Alia had signed off before speaking. Junix had a job to do and she was not going to distract her XO. Turning to Alia, she said, "When a ship attacks another, you leave no survivors. You leave no ship. You remove as much trace evidence as you can. Otherwise you risk discovery and capture. This-"
She pointed her cane at the screen.
"-is a trap, which no doubt you suspected. But this is a trap meant for us, specifically. the Kwango comes from Gabriel Station and I am now beginning to worry about what is happening there, now, while we are stuck here."
She paused, then a look of enlightenment crossed her face as she turned to R'elle. "Counselor, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to call Gabriel station. Lieutenant Fitzgerald can help. I want you to talk to the person and gauge their responses."
Hadenbeer smiled, "And then I want you to...throw them off guard, somehow..."
"Yes, Ma'am." Alia turned toward the counselor. "Would you like to pretend this is a 'normal' call like nothing is amiss and then do something unexpected or shocking? I believe the Captain wants us to shake them up so they reveal something they might not otherwise but I can't be certain."
"I think I can come up with something!" R'elle responded. Turning to alia she says "Yes I like that idea. That would fit puurfectly Alia!"
As Alia took R'elle in hand at the Ops station Devin tapped her comm badge.
"Hadenbeer to Sheppard," she said, "I...would like a plan 'B' in place, in case things go wrong. While we cannot get a transporter lock through the shields, I would like the three transporter rooms to form a 'best guess' and prepare to get everyone out of there should things go terribly wrong. It will take some coordination up here regarding us dropping our own shields, I know."
Engineering:
“Acknowledged,” Sheppard replies, turning to his team. “Dupree, you’re in charge here. Nguyen, you’re with me.” He heads for a turbolift tapping his commbadge. “LaBrea, begin a broad spectrum multiphasic resonance scan in the direction of the Kwango. Yes I know our shields are up. The Captain needs an extrapolation. Nguyen and I are on our way to triangulate,” he explains.
Ninety seconds later Mell’una comms the team. “Subspace data pinging off the known coordinates of the KUOKANJOKI is giving inconsistencies,” she states.
“A fourth sensor would give us three dimensions,” LaBrea comments.
“Obviously, but we only have three transporter bays,” Mell’una retorts.
“T’Spall, get to the Holodeck,” Sheppard orders. “I’m sending data to program Sheppard A2. Run a four dimensional quantum analysis, stat! I need those parameters confirmed NOW!”
“Did he just say ‘stat’?” Nguyen mutters under his breath.
“He’s been spending too much time with Klarth,” LaBrea snickers.
“Less joking, more calculating, people,” Sheppard scolds mildly. “Lives are on the line. This isn’t a simulation.”
“
“Sorry, sir,” Nguyen concurs, modifying his output protocol and rerunning with the new algorithms.
Sheppard compares his initial data with secondary inputs, manipulating the controls in point oh two increments.
“Chief,” T’Spall comms. “Simulations show improved accuracy if we maneuver the ship to one oh four, mark two twelve, oh oh six, mark four one.”
“Good work, Cadet,” he compliments the young Vulcan, then taps his comm. “Captain, contingency plan B coordinated. We need to reposition the Lionheart to one oh four, mark two twelve, oh oh six, mark four one. I have a seventy six point nine percent confidence,” he explains.
"Let us hope that does not mean we beam over seventy six point nine percent of our people and the survivors," Devin noted wryly, "Thank you, Mister Sheppard, we are moving now. Have the three transporter rooms standing by. Monitor shield status; if it drops implement the plan immediately without my verbal instruction," she turned to helm, "Toelau, if you please?"
"Aye, Ma'am," Toelau replied, hesitated, then tentatively inquire, "Ah...do you mind being called 'Ma'am'...Sir?"
"It's not the honorific but the tone, ensign. And your tone has been exemplary despite my teasing. Mister Fitzgerald, if you would take the science station and reconfigure it to suit your needs? We may be dropping shields and raising them quiet suddenly and I want you on that."
"On it!" Her hand flew across the keys while she subvocalized commands to the computer. She configured three keys for different scenarios and hoped she had guessed right with at least one of them. "Ready, Captain!"
Meanwhile employing the direction Alia had provided R'elle had made contact with Gabriel Station. There was a long, long pause, then someone's image appeared on the screen at the Ops station.
"Hello, Lionheart!" a young, attractive human stated with a smile, "What can we do for you?"
To R'elle something was immediately...off. Maybe it was the smile, or the tone, but something rang false. There was an ancient human term that came to mind: Uncanny Valley...
Something was off. The image wasn't quite right. Perhaps was just an artificial image! "Pardon me we are in need of supplies. My engineer tells me we need Grey Poupon! Says the engines won't run without it. Something about the framistat needs lubrication. We all need lubrication from time to time don't you think so?" She said in a sultry voice. She was curious to see the reaction. It could help determine if this "Human " was real or not! She suspected that this person was not who or what they appeared to be. Grey Poupon. She remembered that from her roommate in the academy during her first year. The girl would go on and on about 20th century including advertisements. Apparently, this was one of her favorites as she mentioned it! Many Times!
Alia noted the shift in her behavior immediately. Is this what the captain was asking for? Trusting that the more experienced officer knew what she was doing Alia chimed in, using what she hoped was a seductive voice. "Oh, ummm, yes, we need lots of lubrication. Can you send us some, ummm, pretty please?"
The person at the other end paused and then smiled. If anything it made her face look even more fake.
"Of course!" she replied, "The Grey Poupon. I am certain we have some in storage for you. I..." she glanced down at what was presumably her console and the smile faded. She glanced up at R'elle and there was something in her eyes, her expression went curiously blank.
And then she cut the connection.
And that was when the Kwango exploded on the main viewscreen...
TO BE CONTINUED...
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