-= Bridge, USS Lone Star =-
“Get Lieutenant McKenna up here now. Put it on the viewer. Patch Freelove in when she’s hit the engine deck. Let’s go.”
Felix’s words entered the bridge before he did. Striding in from the aft
turbolift, he took a vaulting shortcut over the metal bar that
part-surrounded the command podium. Lester followed him, settling into a
seated, but alert position on the XO’s chair. The captain was at the
room’s centre when the viewscreen illuminated a second later.
“Captain.” Kreik, the admiral who’d given him the Lone Star’s latest
orders, had no time to waste. “The Argus Array received a distress
signal from the USS Dumas in the Nebari sector fifteen minutes ago. We
lost her transponder moments later.”
de l’Isle’s brain did the recall and the calculations. Captain Kosuemo.
Two hours after her scheduled departure from Kincardine. A sudden,
violent attack that took out comms and main power – possibly life
support, too – in one go. Desdemona Sovanae. His heart sank further.
Desdemona. His first CMO on the Lone Star. A friend, as it were, of the
family.
“Are there any early indications, Admiral?” he managed.
“None. First responders are the Curie and the Vigilant, but they’re a
few hours away. All they’re reading is debris. It’s not looking
hopeful.”
Tonx arrived on the bridge just as the news about the Dumas came in. She
saw something change in Felix. He knew someone on that vessel, and it
was someone he cared about. She frowned as she moved to her station,
relieving the ensign who’d been on duty.
Edie had been patched in and had visual and audio of the bridge. She
could see the reactions of the staff there but was sure her own was
quite readable to those in Engineering too. "Such a terrible loss..."
She said this too herself quietly as she shook her head. A quick and
silent prayer for those who were presumably lost followed.
“Take the Lone Star and get a full sensor sweep before the scene
dissipates.” If he didn’t know better, Felix would have said that Kreik
hesitated, the briefest of shudders in front of her impersonal, burgundy
and deep grey surroundings. “Take her at slipstream. Make chase if you
find who’s done this. If not, I want your full report before you hand
over to the Curie."
Felix blinked. The V3 drive hadn’t been tested in the field. Edie would
protest, but be delighted. Tonx would chew his ear off. They didn’t have
a full staff. It wasn’t, really, the most sensible choice. But that was
probably why she was asking him.
“Will do, boss.” Wisest not to question it further, he reckoned. Kreik didn’t think so, either.
The comm line closed, there being no more to say. de l’Isle spun to face his chief of security.
“All hands, this is the Captain. Black alert for slipstream. Man your
stations. This is not a drill.” Felix repeated it for good measure. Most
of the onboard crew weren’t even assigned to the Lone Star; it was
unlikely they’d served on a V1, let alone a V2. “All ship’s operations
come into – Lieutenant McKenna on the bridge. Commander Freelove, I need
Lonie ready to jump as soon as you can get him there.”
"I'm already on it. He'll be ready..." She said this with confidence
through the COMM panel but then muttered under her own breath, "I hope."
Her hands glided across the control panels in front of her with
precision. She jumped back and forth between a few stations and shouted
out several orders to her engineering crew.
Felix closed the comm. He still hadn’t broken his look with Tonx, as
though transmitting to her what needed to be done. “Get interim
department heads in place. Weapons to ready. Full sensor intake when we
get there in the shortest time. And a damned good tactical sweep the
second we arrive.” There were more besides that she’d know,
instinctively, after all these years. It also assumed they'd arrive in
the right place. “Capiche?”
The Captain realized Tonx was on the bridge moments after he requested
her presence, and locked his gaze on hers. He was on high alert, and not
messing around. He’d either explain when he was ready, or he wouldn’t. .
.an explanation didn’t matter. Right now she just had to do her job.
Giving him a nod, she replied, “Capiche. Consider it done.” She didn’t
like they were going to put the new drive through its paces without
adequate testing, but sometimes, it was trial by fire. She turned her
attention to her console and started sending out alerts to those who
would be the interim department heads.
The joy of being captain was that you didn’t have to be polite to
everybody. Secure with Tonx’s reply, Felix turned and marched up to the
conn. A Bajoran man sat under the dim, flashing monochrome, for a moment
unaware of his CO’s presence over his shoulder.
“Ensign.” Felix tapped his shoulder. “You’re relieved.”
Now, he thought. How did this work again? His fingers stroked the air, millimetres above the console.
“Oh lord, you’re flying Lonnie? Freelove know this?” Tonx teased.
The captain’s fingers spaced out, each fluttering to find its position
on the control. “She will when I start flying her,” Felix grinned.
-= Main Engineering =-
"Edie. I'm not happy with these alignment parameters for the deflector
dish." One of her technicians brought her a PADD with several diagrams
on it, and various matrices. She politely took it from him and looked it
over. As she did, her mind went a fury with several possibilities and
algorithms - her hand moved over to the console and used the computer to
verify some corrections.
The computer chirped back. "Just what I wanted to hear. Contact
operations and coordinate these modifications. I am almost done with the
core matrix adjustments, that in itself should improve those parameters
by at least zero-point-four percent." The technician took the PADD back
and swiftly made his way back to his station.
Edie shouted several more orders and received verbal spouts of data from
some of her crew. Overall - things were going well, considering the
immediate change in atmosphere. "Freelove to Bridge. You sure you want
to use the Slipstream core?"
Felix looked at Tonx. He was fairly certain she shared his apprehension.
“It was a direct order from the Admiral, Edie. It’s not too big a
jump.”
There was several simultaneous beeps and confirmations from various
areas in Engineering, all of which seemed to coincide with the proper
activation sequence of the quantum slipstream drive. "Very well then.
The drive is active." She was about to verbalize some joke about not
being to blame if they were pulled apart and their atoms scattered
across the quadrant. Her better judgment held her tongue as the thought
of the Dumas came to the forefront of her mind.
"Time and place, Edie... Time and place..." She nodded to herself.
-= Bridge =-
Quantum slipstream wasn’t new technology, but this system was new on the
Lonnie. Tonx found her heart was pounding a bit harder than she might
otherwise expect, and she chalked it up to apprehension and
anticipation. She teased Felix for flying, but she knew he was more than
a capable pilot. She trusted him more than she’d trusted some of their
previous helm officers.
“Engaging in five,” Felix called. On the few occasions he’d piloted the
Lone Star at slipstream he’d realised at this point precisely why
‘slipstream mode’ called for a greyish lighting. It neutralised the
visual effect: a streaking rainbow of glitter and pattern that often
made novice travellers nauseous.
Every helmsman who’d flown the ship – Lonnie, Loner or Lonie, depending
on who you asked – in the stream had told him that being cross-phase was
a surreal experience. Felix felt it, too. He seemed to be
physiologically in union with the vessel and perhaps something beyond
it; like going too fast down an icy slope on a tray and realising you
had no brake.
Down in Engineering, the crew continued working away from their
respective stations. Edie had entered several phase variant corrections
in by hand and adjusted the computer algorithms as needed to follow up
on future changes automatically. The tension was thick but thankfully,
the drive was working and the stream was holding.
This was a short jump. The coordinates were precise and the physical
experience didn’t last too long. It was still damned weird, Felix
thought, to feel his body stretched out behind him, pulling together at
the end like rubber. He realised that Lester had been unbothered
throughout, even pulling off a silent yawn as the ship began to settle
again. The dazzling streaks started to settle.
“Report,” Felix called behind him.
Finally, the ship dropped out of slipstream, and as soon as that
happened, Tonx was scanning the area. It wasn’t long before she started
relaying her findings. “Picking up debris.” She punched buttons on her
console, “I’m picking up a transponder. . .looks like it belongs to the
Dumas.” She furrowed her brows, “We’d need a metalurigical scan to
confirm, but I’m picking up evidence of phaser fire and explosives.” Her
head snapped up, “Captain, I’ve found very faint evidence of a warp
signature traveling away from here. It does not line up with the flight
path of the Dumas.”
de l’Isle sprung from the conn. An Ensign – Willis, he remembered –
slotted himself into the chair after him. “Are there any survivors?”
Tonx shook her head, “No, Captain. I am not detecting any escape pods.
There is . . . There is organic matter mixed in with the debris.”
Not willing to accept the answer at face value, even if it were true,
Felix swung into his central position on the command platform. He often
tended to stand in front of his chair on the rostrum, as he did now.
“Push our sensor aperture to full,” he called to the ops officer. “We
want as much data as we can. Lieutenant.” Felix rounded his upper body
toward the security panel. “Any trace element matches on the weapons, or
the warp trail? How far have they gone?”
They'd already pushed the sensors, but pushed what she could even
further. Tonx was looking for something, anything that could be good
news. She’d seen things like this before, and the news was never good.
She shook her head again, “We’d need more than my sensor sweep to get
trace element matches. The warp trail is too degraded, and I’m not
picking up anything on the end of what I can see.”
Licking the inside of his cheek, Felix did the maths. On that general
heading but with no fixed coordinates, the Lone Star couldn’t just jump
to the location. Besides, this jump had been a risk. A second on a
virgin drive without analysis would go beyond unwise. That meant that
the Starfleet sensor net was their best bet – then dispatching a ship to
follow up. But that ship wouldn’t be the Lone Star.
“Survivors?” Felix asked Tonx, hopefully.
Looking from her console to Felix, Tonx shook her head, “I’m sorry,
Captain. I don’t see how it is possible. The Dumas. . .it was
obliterated.”
Returning to his chair, de l’Isle paused for a second, his hand
spreading slowly on the armrest. Everyone knew what that particular kind
of dust cloud meant. Every Captain would grimace, if internally, as
they hoped never to be found like this – with all hands lost.
“Bridge to Engineering. How’s he doing, Edie?” Felix’s voice could never
hide its sadness, not totally. He needed good news, and a bust-up
experimental slipstream drive would not be it.
"Surprisingly well. Must be happy that his Captain is home." Truthfully,
the jump had gone better than even she had thought it would. Sometimes
things just worked out and it was wonderful when it did. "I'd recommend
giving us some time to analyze the core and analytics before we make
another attempt go at it, if possible."
“Understood, Commander.” Felix looked back to Tonx, whose station
chirruped that the advanced sweep of the area was concluded. Although by
preference the Lone Star would have continued the research on this one,
the crew had only a fraction of its proper complement and other fish to
fry. This one would have to be finished off by the Curie – which was
just arriving in the sector.
“Lieutenant. Send all our sensor data to the Curie. When we’re underway,
get Admiral Kreik on subspace and patch her through to my ready room.”
de l’Isle took a couple of steps back, lowering himself into his chair.
He’d considered Desdemona Sonavae a friend and, as with many former
Gamma Fleet officers, he had tracked the news on the Artemis closely –
perhaps more than most, as he’d been the ship’s XO.
“Ensign Willis. Set a course for Kincardine Station, warp 7.” Felix blinked. “Engage.”
After slipstream, warp barely seemed like a change of speed from stationary.
-=-=-
by Commander Edie Freelove, Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Tonx McKenna, Chief of Security
and Captain Felix de l’Isle, Commanding Officer