Debriefings Abound

Posted on Tue Aug 2nd, 2022 @ 2:03pm by Captain Devin Hadenbeer & Lieutenant Commander Ull Arkyn

1,050 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Into The Void
Location: ready room

Devin reached the bridge and strode over to the helm. Toelau looked as alert as always and the captain suppressed an urge to tease the young woman further.

"Ensign," she murmured, "In less than a minute you will bring the ship up to past warp nine. Push to her whatever Engineering will give you. Same heading, understood?"

"Sir?" Toelau replied in a questioning tone, although her hand was already hovering over the acceleration panel.

"Sheppard and his people have either worked a miracle, or we will be dead in space," she paused and added, "Or dead, I suppose. Ah, there we go?"

Toelau's eyes flashed back to her board, saw the potential speed indicator. She immediately 'floored it' in the ancient parlance and Devin felt a rush of elation. Lionheart was running again. Satisfied things were normal, she set her minds to other matters as she entered her ready room.

Qetzal had met up with Arkyn in the turbolift as they returned to the bridge and so when the chime at the ready room door sounded, the captain was greeted by both officers. "Captain," Junix acknowledged while taking a seat.

Ull nodded to Qetzal as she entered the turbolift. He then stepped out of the turbolift just behind Qetzal.

Music was quietly playing, it sounded like a piano concerto. Devin murmured, "Computer, end music."

She regarded the pair a moment, then quietly asked, "Did we lose anyone?"

"Not on our team," Junix said, "Though, I'm not certain about the crewmen from the other shuttle. The doctor was too busy to give a status report as we returned to the ship. Were sensors able to detect what caused the explosion?"

Hadenbeer gave a little shrug, "We are still going to have to analyze the data but I think it is safe to assume it was a booby trap. Ideally-for them-we would have beamed the runabout directly into the shuttle bay, which would have torn a hole in Lionheart and disabled us enough for a quick kill. All of this was to delay our getting to Gabriel Station; Counselor R'elle contacted them again and determined whomever was on the other end was playing false."

Ull looked between Captain and Junix. "There has to be some reason they are trying to delay us. Do we know what is at Gabriel station that they want?" Ull frowned slightly. "We got lucky this time that the booby trap did not get us. I will try to make a better analysis next time to search for such things "

"Yes," Devin murmured as she idly rubbed the side of her nose, "Lucky. As for Gabriel Station, all I can assume is the only items of any worth are the probe and the book. Other than that, the station is one of the most boring posts in this sector of space.

"Were we able to collect any information from the shuttle before leaving? Do we have any idea what the shuttle was doing out here?" Junix asked.

"I am afraid we will have to wait until one of the people on board is able to speak," Devin replied, "Gabriel Station has three runabouts assigned to it. If I were going to stage an attack ideally I would want to strip the facility of all protection. Gabriel Station has no weaponry and is dependent on the runabouts for protection."

She took another breath and continued, "A more immediate concern is Commander Sheppard found evidence of sabotage. It is possible there is a saboteur aboard, but the device designed to blow us up after it received a sub space activation code malfunctioned. By the way, we are traveling at well above warp nine right now and we will reach Gabriel station in two hours. If the ship does not come apart due to our improbably high speed, that is."

"I suggest we run a full internal security scan to account for all crew and manually check all areas where scanner echoes might be able to hide someone. How was the device discovered?" Junix asked.

"Commander Sheppard can explain it better than I," the captain replied, "But it appears that once it was activated by the sub space transmission-the first one we engaged in with Gabriel Station, I am assuming-this dynaural gravimetric detonator would have caused a four induction relay overload and a warp core breach. Something involving the power drain off the phaser banks, apparently caused the device to malfunction. Either it was improperly placed or," she shrugged, "We were lucky."

Ull grimaced some at the talk of a saboteur and that Lionheart could have been destroyed. "I'll start on the security scans and get teams out patrolling the ship looking for anyone who isn't supposed to be here."

Devin nodded, "Yes, that would be best. It is possible that there is yet another unpleasant surprise awaiting us, once our unknown antagonist realizes their second attempt to lay us low has failed."

The captain shrugged, "We will be arriving at Gabriel Station in less than two hours, where I am expecting the absolute worse. I will call a red alert five minutes out and if our 'luck' holds perhaps we will still find someone on hand that could answer some questions."

She glanced between the two, "Unless there is anything else...?" the 'dismiss' went unspoken.

"Do you have any thoughts on who might be trying to sabotage the ship?" Junix asked.

"I have my suspicions," Devin replied after a moment, "But I think we need more information. Anyone could have discovered that crate and left it there for use at a later time. You can purchase out of date Klingon ships on the black market. We need a warm body to interrogate, and I am hoping we might be able to catch our enemy unawares by showing up at Gabriel Station early."

The captain stood, signaling the meeting was at an end, "In any case, we will conduct the search and perhaps one of our patients will awaken and give us some insight regarding what we are dealing with."

Junix nodded and finally acknowledged the silent dismissal. She had another person she wanted to speak with before arriving at the station. Standing, she returned to the bridge, looking for the little feline.

Devin led the pair out onto the bridge...

 

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