Answering the Distress Call
Posted on Sun Sep 10th, 2023 @ 12:57pm by Lieutenant Callan Armidale & Lieutenant JG William Verhoeven & Petty Officer 3rd Class Brix Saad & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Commander Lorut Vila & Lieutenant Commander Sydney Reid & Lieutenant Commander Frasier Greene & Lieutenant Dovenice Nyx & Lieutenant S'Tera & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor & Lieutenant Wara Tête
3,973 words; about a 20 minute read
Mission:
First Contact
Location: USS Intrepid: Bridge
Timeline: MD1: 1400 hours
Max looked up as senior officers streamed onto the bridge from turbolifts on either side of the aft bridge. He was pleased that they had all responded so quickly.
One thing he had changed out - before leaving Ihhuein ei'krih - was the vast Observation Lounge with a tiny table for a much more comfortable room with a table large enough for his entire team. Instead of knickknacks and unnecessary shelves for trophies, Max wanted something more functional.
Standing, he looked at the youngest member of his bridge crew, Ensign Verhoeven. “Will, you have the bridge.” Max tried to hide his smile as he turned his back.
“Senior staff, in the Observation Lounge, please,” Max ordered as most had already assembled.
Brix took the moment to hand a small PaDD to Max. “Coffee, black, Captain?”
Max accepted both items with an appreciative nod. “Thank you, Brix. I’ve noticed you’ve really stepped it up these last few weeks. I wanted to let you know it hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
Brix turned a darker color green as she blushed. She knew the captain was in a relationship with another man, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that he was still outrageously attractive. If she had followed her parent’s wishes, she might have taken him as a concubine. Saying none of this, she just said, “Thank you, sir.”
Max was confused by the rush of embarrassment that covered any other emotions she was feeling. With his mug of coffee, he turned his back and entered the Observation Lounge. Finding the head of the table still open, he settled into his seat, a comfortable high backed chair.
S'tera came in and got a hot mocha and sat down. She was still adjusting to being a Starfleet officer although Rena was helping just by being her. She was a wonderful girlfriend and their relationship was growing all the time.
Wara simply sauntered in, a very strong presence to her. Like she was a model who stomped down runways in her previous life, but nothing in her file as Chief Security and Tactical Officer implied she’d done any modeling before Starfleet. She settled quietly in her seat, her assessment of the tiny ship was that it posed no real threat to the Intrepid.
In contrast, the Chief Engineer who followed in the wake of the model, was small and indistinct, and completely unnoticed as she found a seat. She watched the officers around her, all strangers - except for what she managed to glean from the crew records. She tried to put names to the individuals. Rank pins and uniform colors helped narrow down her mental list.
"Morning, all!" Aurora chirped as she skipped into the Observation Lounge, grabbed a peppermint hot chocolate, and found a chair kinda in the corner.
"Mm , morning Aurora, Brix, Max!" S’tera sipped her mocha, trying to wake up. She anxiously awaited Rena's arrival. Rena made things better!
Aurora grinned back at her friend, suppressing a giggle at her sleepy tone.
“No Mad Max this morning?” Max joked with the Caitian. He had to admit, she looked smart in blue.
"Oh you're asking for it now! Ok Mad Max! You want it, you'll get it!" S'tera said.
Max smiled at the newest officer at the table. With a bit of a chuckle, he reminded her, “It’s Captain while on duty, Lieutenant.”
Vila was right behind Aurora, having come from the Mess Hall. The Captain's message had caused her a bit of distress-she was a bit hungover (again), and was trying to stave off the worst of it with carbs and coffee. She carried a ceramic mug, steaming, and settled in at the Captain's right hand.
"Good morning, everyone," the Bajoran said. It was her morning; she usually took the afternoon shift to cover for Max. It was quiet, usually, and kept her out of trouble and busy. A win-win for everyone.
Aurora nodded to Commander Vila.
Following shortly behind, Doctor Greene arrived and sat in a vacant seat. His eyes traced the faces already gathered before turning his thoughts to whatever it was Max had summoned them for at short notice.
Rena hurried in. Her morning had been BUSY. "Sorry I am late; I had a bit of an emergency with a crew member. I'll get with you, Captain, about it. Everything is fine, though," she said. One of the new Ensigns was a bit homesick, and not adjusting well to Fleet life and needed a quick session. Later, she had her first session with the XO and that was going to stink. She got herself a mug of Jumja tea, and settled in. "Sir, ma'am," she said. She was sitting next to S'Tera, and smiled at her girlfriend.
S'tera smiled back. "Morning!" The morning just got brighter!
Rena smiled, but shook her head. "Same for me!" She said. She looked sheepishly at the Captain and XO. They didn't seem to mind, luckily. She'd have to gently remind S'Tera that they needed to be professional now.
Max nodded as each joined the long, obsidian table. “Good afternoon. Some of you are coming on shift and some of you were going off shift. Emphasis on were.
"Ops detected three warp signatures leading away from our Class H planet in the Helivan system. For us, this was meant to be a simple survey to determine how the Helivans were doing on their slow march to death. That said, the Helivans seem not to have gone slowly into that good night.
"Mister Armidale?”
Callan stood up and touched the large central display screen. The additional small screens and PaDDs displayed the same information. “What we see here are three launches from the planet into space. Each design seems to have improved on the last. For example, we know the first ship was a warp one capable starship. The second seems capable of warp two point five. Their last, and the one we’ve just approached is capable of warp five. Or, at least it was.”
Max stood up as Callan took his seat. “Cal says 'was' because that ship is at full stop off our starboard hull. She’s been emitting a distress call by radio, but it’s unlikely anyone but us will be coming to their rescue. Since they don’t have advanced technology beyond a warp drive, and they may even have traded for that, we’ll board the ship using the ship-to-ship docks.
Vila sighed audibly. "Alright. I can put together a boarding party. I'll work with departmental heads, and we can beam over in an hour. Any signs of life besides the distress signal?" She asked.
“I’ll be leading a team…” Max stated.
Vila looked at him, and chuckled. "The hell you will. The Captain stays on the ship with the crew. HIS ship. HIS crew." The tone of her voice said she'd not entertain any further conversation, if he knew what was best for him. "With due respect," she added, for emphasis.
Aurora pulled her head down between her shoulders...it was scary when those two butted heads!
Chief of Security and Tactical, Wara Tête, managed to suppress her laugh, but not her smile. She almost wanted to replicate a bowl of some popcorn and a big bottle of Coca Cola. Instead, she leaned back so as to be out of sight.
Max knew he’d just been put in his place and he certainly wasn’t going to argue regulations with his somewhat feral-at-times Executive Officer. He knew the Cardassian Occupation clung to her like a dry wetsuit. S’tera distracted the second of tension.
"Oh boy! Now I know we're in trouble! OK ship-to-ship docking, sounds like fun! I assume there is an atmosphere inside since there are lifesigns so no need for EVA suits? You did scan for lifesigns!?" Lieutenant S’tera asked eagerly.
"What's the condition of the vessel?" Greene asked next hoping to relieve the tension the Commander had created with her tone of voice. "Has it sustained damage?"
“Well, no one said we didn’t have an eager crew,” Max said with a smile. “Lieutenant S’tera, to answer your questions first, the Helivans live on a former M class planet which is now H class. Their atmosphere is still oxygen/nitrogen with a touch higher oxygen content. You might clear a headache,” he paused, considering he could use something for a slight headache.
“To your second question, we are detecting life signs indicating a small crew. Maybe eight to twelve people, a command team and their engineers? But that’s supposition. What isn’t supposition is that they are in some sort of stasis, based on their low level life signs.”
Turning to the doctor, Max answered, “There is nothing externally wrong with the ship which would indicate it took enemy fire, if that’s the concern. Operations seems to have narrowed it down to an issue with their warp drive that they weren’t able to repair. Hence the stasis pods and distress call.”
Vila listened, nodding. "Great. I will lead the boarding party. I will need one of the crew from Science, one from Medical, and Security. I don't care who, but report to transporter room one in one hour or you get left behind AND put on my list. And I don't like to have people there, so. One hour," she warned. That was just enough time to sober up more and figure out what the hell she was doing. That was still the big question, though, wasn't it?! That damn Caitian Admiral!
“Sorry to correct you, Commander, but you’ll be using the docking procedure, so your team will meet at the starboard airlock. One hour will give the ship more than enough time to maneuver into position and stabilize the gangway,” Max reminded Lorut.
She gave him a LOOK, but nodded. "Ok, one hour at the Starboard Airlock, or you're left behind, and forced to explain why you were tardy," she said.
Aurora nodded, still intimidated by the tension in the room.
“Commander, considering the nature of their warp innovation, I’d like you to take Chief Engineer Dovenice Nyx, and maybe a couple of her people, over,” Max suggested, but they both knew an order when one was given.
Vila nodded. That, at least, was reasonable.
"You don't want us to repair the engines?" Dove checked for clarification of orders. The mission goals weren't very clear. Meet and greets with unknown aliens wasn't something she had experience with for a number of years.
“I’d like you to make your assessment first, Lieutenant Nyx. If this is something you can fix in a matter of hours, I’d prefer we wait and find out what these people are up to. If it’s going to take longer, go ahead and start fixing them. The Helivans will have no choice but to be our guests.”
The engineer gave something between a nod of understanding, but a shake of confusion. "I can't say I've ever heard of Helivans. I wouldn't want to mess around with the Prime Directive... Are they a member of the Federation?"
“No,” Max answered. “But neither were they a republic of the Romulan Star Empire. Too costly to save this many lives. Considering they’ve developed warp engines from warp one through five means we can approach them, bring them out of stasis if needed and repair their ships if requested. That’s a lot of ifs, Lieutenant Nyx."
"A First-Contact situation needs to be handled with care and delicacy," Vila reminded them. "As we don't believe they are hostile, neither are we certain they aren't. So...keep your head on your shoulders, follow orders, and you'll be fine," she said. She just realized that she was a red-shirt now. Goody. "And of course, those are questions that we will need to answer as we go. Please send me who you are sending, if it's not yourself, to my PaDD within the hour."
Nyx looked at the XO, identifying the telltale signs of inebriation lingering on the officer as she gave her pep talk. The CEO looked at her data PADD before her judgement was betrayed by her expression. The captain trusted the XO for a reason - Nyx tapped through a list of engineers - it was not her place to question the chain of command... yet. But, she would do as suggested - be careful and watch the situation closely.
"Well, I'll go as the science officer. I am curious to check things out," S'tera said.
“I’ll be leading more than one security officer over there. You’ve just indicated a fair number of people. Who knows what they brought into those tubes when they were flash frozen, not to mention what kind of powers the duress of losing their planet may have induced,” the Bolian suggested.
"One hour, understood," Greene acknowledged wondering what punishment Vila would issue should they fail to met her deadline.
“Oh!” Max exclaimed, short of smacking himself on the forehead. “Lieutenant Armidale, will you play the radio transmission now that we’re close enough for a good signal, please?”
Callan nodded. “Of course, Cap’n,” he answered with his bright Australian attitude.
”Attention to any Helivan ships within range of this message, the Helivan Imperial starship, HRM Queen Edriga, requires immediate engineering assistance. Our warp 5 engine has failed and though we are making best time at full sublight speed, still, this will take thousands of years to reach system S227-4039.
“It is our deepest hope that you have not yet traveled out of range, or that the comet has not caused significant interference between us that our radio transmissions are lost to its traversing our system. It is our deepest hope that you receive this call of distress before it is too late for us.”
“The message repeats from there,” Cal added solemnly. “It’s on an iteration that implies they’ve been traveling like this for four months, so their people presumably never got the message.”
"Four months," Greene said thoughtfully, "Makes you wonder how long they waited before going into stasis."
Aurora shuddered. Stasis was NOT something she wanted to go into...she was claustrophobic...NOT that she was that way all the time, just under certain circumstances.
“Are there any mission related questions?” Max asked, knowing someone had to be holding back a question or two.
Vila sighed upon hearing the SOS call. "My only question is...what is the plan if we find them alive? Stasis is only meant to keep humanoids alive for a certain period of time. Since this is a first-contact situation, we don't have any information about that." She looked at the Captain.
Despite her charming personality the XO had a good question in Greene's opinion. "Say that we repair the stasis chambers if required, what next? Send them back to their intended course? What of the other Helivan ships mentioned in the message, where did they go? Would they come back looking for the stricken vessel?"
"Also...what do you think will be on the ships? I mean...er..." Aurora wasn't sure what she was thinking would be on their ship...but yeah...it was just something she'd been thinking about.
Max looked around as the first barrage of questions battered him. He decided to answer them one at a time. “Commander, we know the Romulans had direct contact with them within the last fifty years according to their terrible paperwork and map keeping, so this isn’t a matter of the Prime Directive. We can awaken them and repair their engines.
Turning to the doctor, Max added, “I suppose that answers your questions as well, Doctor. The ship needs its crew as much as Intrepid needs hers, probably more. Probably a lot more…
As for their other ships, if they were capable of warp one and warp three as Lieutenant Armidale has mathematically concluded, and given the time they’ve been away from Helivan, they can’t hear the radio distress call. Still, we’ll want to help these folks and make sure the other ships remain warp stable."
As for Aurora, Max didn’t have many answers. “To be honest Aurora, the only thing we can expect to find is a bunch of stasis units with humanoids calling out in distress. It’s been four months, so we should assume no one is left behind; one generational ship, one ark ship for terraforming, this last ship was meant to see everyone got off and then follow. Well, shit, it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. If my planet was dying…”
The sentence seemed to die off the way El-Auria had. “Any other questions?”
Greene shook his head as he didn't have any more questions, at least for now
The doors to the Observation Lounge swooshed open as a familiar yet sometimes infrequently available member of the Senior Officer Team walked in; her eyes already slightly glowing to a golden hue as the fingers on her right hand swiped gently up and down in the air. Pausing at the end of the table she'd seemingly forgotten had been added, the Lieutenant Commander looked up to scan the faces before settling her gaze on the Captain to apologize, "Sorry, Sir. The teams are still working out a few of the bugs in the system to ensure we're running at maximum efficiency. Would have been here sooner, but didn't want to leave them with the coding half done." The look on the Ops Chief's face showed clearly how much of a mistake she thought that would be.
Coming around the table to come up behind Callan, she rested her hands on the back of his chair, still focused on Max, "I suspect Mister Armidale was a suitable replacement and was able to brief you all sufficiently?" It wasn't a question that needed answering, as everyone knew she had full faith in her Assistant Chief. "I was just going over the logs on my way in, getting caught up, and must find I'm in disagreement with Commander Lorut. Even though the Helivans have had prior encounters with the Romulans, this would appear to be Starfleet and the UFOP's first official contact with the species, meaning First Contact protocols should be in effect."
Letting that thought linger for only a moment, Sydney already knew she was going to say the thing Vila would loath the most, "I think it is vital that you accompany the Away Team, should we find any of their people conscious or choose to awaken them from their stasis. No offense meant, Commander," she said turning to look at Lorut briefly, "but I believe the Captain is our best representative for such protocols. I can man the Chair and have Intrepid keep a watchful eye on you and the team; ready to beam you all out if something seems amiss." Glancing around the table, but focusing her gaze on the two commanding officers, the Ops Chief was clearly curious how things would play out given her opposing suggestion.
Max’s eyes moved from one hellbound personality to a spitfire personality. “Lieutenant Armidale has always been a great deal of help from the Ops department standpoint.”
“As far as your suggestion that I should join the boarding party,” Max paused and pulled apart his interlaced fingers, “I don’t think my joining would do much more than add another body”
“If we choose to restore these people from stasis, it would be best achieved with Intrepid’s advanced medical bay. Don’t you agree, Doctor Greene?”
"That would be my preferred choice," Greene replied with a nod.
She had at least tried, "Understandable, Captain. I should go, then, to aid Commander Lorut with any necessary translation to ensure safe handling of these Helivans, whether we leave them in stasis or not," Sydney offered.
Vila simply shrugged. She knew how to handle this type. Either kill them with kindness or dish it back out. She had the attitude and tenacity to do either. "Sure. As I was telling the others, before your....interruption, one hour from the time of adjournment. I expect a full Departmental roster of who is coming to my PADD by that time, as well. Captain?" She turned to her side, looking to Max to adjourn them.
The Ops Chief had been prepared. With a simple flip of her fingers, Vila's PaDD chimed having received a message from Sydney. "There you go, Commander, including a list of suggestions, but the roster is ultimately your decision," she answered acting as respectfully as possible to the XO, knowing well Vila's hangover tended to make her extra testy.
Vila's PaDD lit up. She gave it a cursory nod, and fixed her stare on the wall behind the woman. It wasn't time to react. Not yet. That got people killed, and she had no interest in that, unless she, herself, was doing the killing.
“Alright, ladies,” Max interrupted the pair. He could see Wara’s smile just barely tugging at her lips. He expected that she expected to have to stop these two from coming to blows. As she leaned forward, he could see her blue fingers lingering on the hilt of her phaser.
With a small smirk of his own, he added, “Commander Lorut requires a roster of people from you departments joining her on the mission. As this is an unknown, and a rescue mission, I expect security and medical to have the biggest teams. Commander Lorut will adjust your teams to fit her expectations. Understood?”
Giving a sharp nod, "Of course, Captain," Sydney answered before adding as she turned to glance to the XO, "Only suggestion of importance from Ops is myself. Wouldn't put any of my people in harm's way if I don't have to."
"Well that isn't any of my concern, however I will send you who is going from science department!' S'tera said, not liking the XO's attitude. "You should have it shortly."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Vila said to S'Tera, with a small smile. She wasn't upset at S'Tera. She actually really liked the science team - the young Auora was a bit of a headache - but otherwise nice, and did her work without having to be told twice. Vila was a scientist by training - her XO role was secondary to her heart. "I would advise to prep the auxiliary botany lab, too, and maybe a quarantine room, in case they have any animals with them," she said. "That's just what I would do, but you can choose to do it later," she said. Were they done yet?
“Agreed. Assign your teams to that as well, Commander Reid. Cargo bays six and nine are open and available. They should be ready in under two hours,” Max ordered.
"Aye, Sir," Sydney said with an affirming nod before turning to the Chief Science Officer, "Mister Armidale will coordinate with your Science Teams and Engineering to have the areas ready in time."
“If there’s nothing else, can we consider this meeting completed?” he asked, trying not to sound exhausted by the last lengthy bit of arguing and annoyance.
The Ops Chief shook her head to the Captain before glancing around the table to see if there was any other business to discuss. She was already thinking about the tasks ahead.
Max waved, nodded or gave no response as each person exited the room. Noting the few lingering officers, his eyes landed on two without assignments. He smiled as the thoughts ran through his mind.
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