An Outlier

Posted on Thu Feb 9th, 2023 @ 9:00am by Captain Charlotte Rhodes & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Knight & Lieutenant Callie Knight
Edited on on Wed Mar 29th, 2023 @ 6:03pm

1,514 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: New Sheriff in Town
Location: USS Defiant, Patrolling Rim of Carina Nebula
Timeline: MD 5, 1145 Hours
Tags: story

Captain's Log, Stardate 2266.023,

Defiant has been on patrol for about 3 days now. In that time, things have been quiet. Exceedingly so. Defiant's presence in the region seems to have scared off the majority of pirate activity. Can't say I blame them. If I were flying a ramshackle raiding ship, I wouldn't want to tussle with a state-of-the-art Heavy Cruiser either. Starfleet's plan with our deployment seems to have been well founded.

The refugee ships continue to be puzzling though. Every few weeks, another wave seems to appear from the depths of the Carina Nebula, though from exactly where, we have yet to determine. The most we've been able to glean from our brief encounters with them is that there is a 'passage' of some sort that they are going through. Whether that is a naturally clearer path through the nebula or something more extraordinary remains to be seen, though I am inclined to thing the latter. But what exactly could it be? A wormhole? Subspace conduit of some sort?

I've requested permission to take Defiant into the nebula, but Starfleet is reluctant to send us in with no back up. Perhaps once Arcadia gets its footing.

For now, we'll content ourselves with stabilizing the region. Or more presently, at studying a passing comet. The science team seems quite excited.

--Bridge--
Captain Rhodes emerged onto the bridge. Outside the viewport, the massive Carina Nebula dominated the view screen. In the foreground sat a unique methane based comet, the subject of numerous onboard experiments. Amid its patrols, Defiant had stopped to conduct several surveys, the latest of which was centered on the icy object in front of them.

As Rhodes decended into the bridge pit, the young crewman seated at the Operations station turned around. "Oh uh, Captain. I wanted to...um...We've got a message for you from Arcadia. Admiral Denovitz sent a sealed communication."

Charlotte was about to tell the nervous young man to take a breath and relax, but the words he said caught her by surprise. Her brow furrowed for a second, but it passed as she gestured to her chair. "Thank you crewman. Send it to my panel."

She took her seat leisurely, tapping the inset panel so it raised to an inclined position where she could read it from her chair. She might be feeling anxious but that was no reason to alarm the crew. A moment and a few clicks later and the text popped up on her screen. 'USS Howard Carter (Oberth-class), missed two check in windows. Last check in was 18 hours ago. Location: Vela IV. No responses to hails. Investigate with caution as soon as possible.'

"Shit..." The words had escaped her mouth before she thought about it, causing a stare or two from the crew. There was that other shoe. It'd been too quiet while they were on patrol. Now she knew why. Without a moments hesitation, she jabbed the intercom button. "All science teams, please make immediate preparations to go to warp. We will resume our observations at a later time."

A brief protest arose from the Barzan seated at the Science Station, but a calm raise of the captain's hand ended it. Charlotte's eyes locked onto the helm station. "Mr. Knight, I need a travel time estimate to Vela IV. Assume maximum warp."

Ryan input the navigational plot to Vela IV as he wondered why the name of the planet seemed so familiar. He was sure it would come to him, but at the moment he had a job to do. "Estimated time for arrival at Vela IV is three hours thirty eight minutes at warp eight. Three hours one minute if we push the engines to warp eight point five."

Three hours? They hit them right under our noses, Charlotte thought. They didn't know for sure that this was a hostile actor. But a Starfleet vessel suddenly going dark without any signal? She had a hard time believing it was anything else. What was worse was the fact that Defiant had already been on patrol when the ship went dark. "Take us to warp as soon as the Science Teams are done. Ops, get a message to the rest of the senior staff. I want to meet in my Ready Room in 10 minutes."

--Ready Room---

Callie was in her office going over crew files, and sorting appointments when the senior staff call came through. Putting the files away safe she headed for the Ready Room, it didn’t take long to get there, entering she offered Charlotte a polite smile as she took a seat.

Ryan was the last one to enter on the heels of Kenna. He had remained on the Bridge after Charlotte had disappeared into her Ready Room being the Bridge Duty Officer of the Watch and also needing to remain at the helm until the relief helmsman arrived. He glanced at the others in turn with a nod, his gaze finally landing on Charlotte. "What's the new mission Captain?"

Charlotte's eyes drifted for a moment to the rapidly passing streaks of light outside her Ready Room windows, as she chose the words she was going to say. "Officially? We're going to check in on a missing ship. The USS Howard Carter was in orbit over Vela IV last we heard from them, picking up an archeological dig team who had been stationed there. We're being sent to check in on them and assist as needed."

Her expression got a bit more serious. "Reading between the lines? This is an investigation. Search and rescue for survivors, and looking for clues as to the attacker. The USS Howard Carter is an Oberth-Class Science Vessel. She's not heavily armed, but she's a recently built Starfleet ship. By specs, her shields, sensors, and comms array are very robust. For a ship like that to simply silently vanish...My suspicion is that they were attacked. Her attacker needed to be stealthy enough to go undetected by a state-of-the-art scientific sensor suite and deadly enough to disable or destroy the Howard Carter before they could even get a message off. The list of factions in the region capable of such a hit are pretty short." Charlotte shot Kenna a look as she finished her sentence.

Callie looked towards Charlotte. “Captain, what do we know of those aboard ship? Do we have personnel files?”

The mention of the Howard Carter picking up an archeological team from Vela IV triggered the reason the planet's name was so familiar. "I don't know anything about the officers and crew of the ship, but the two senior archeologists are Doctor David Ross and Doctor Samantha Knight. Their mission to Vela IV was supposed to be ending about now."

Callie looked towards Ryan. “Samantha Knight? I’m guessing she’s your sister?”

Ryan nodded with a glance at Callie. "My twin sister. She completed her Doctorate studies a little over two years ago with double majors in anthropology and archeology with a minor in xenolinguistics."

Callie nodded. Ryan had mentioned his sister over dinner, but now wasn’t the time to offer solace, she’d comfort him later when they had time alone.

"If your sister was on the ground team, then there's a chance she wasn't on the Carter when it was hit. And for all we know, the ship is still out there, just damaged. We're a few hours away. Let's put our faith in their ability to hold on a little longer," Charlotte said. She wasn't sure how much she believed it herself, but she knew she'd have wanted someone to say the same were the positions flipped. "So let's plan assuming we're going to have a lot of people we need to bring aboard. Medical is prepping sickbay for mass triage as we speak. But it likely won't just be physical. Lt. Vali, what can I do in the next two hours to make sure you have what you need for a wave of new patients?"

Callie paused for a moment before answering. “Well I could use the assistance of any crew members who may have a background in Counselling, or psychology. I know it’s a pretty specific ask, but at present it’s just me here to help those who need it.”

"We'll make sure anyone on board with the relevant experienced is tasked over to you," the Captain said. She turned toward the Chief of Security. "That brings me to you. We're possibly in for a fight. And definitely in for some degree of away team deployment. We've got barely over 2 hours to get prepped. Let us know if anything changes lose is needed. And with that, I’m going to wrap up this meeting. Work fast everyone. Dismissed.”

Ryan was about to return to the bridge, but he paused and turned to Charlotte. "Captain, if I may have a word in private?"

The Captain nodded. “Of course.”

Callie gave Ryan and Charlotte a polite nod, and headed out of the Ready Room so they could talk in private.

 

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