Change of Plans

Posted on Wed Mar 29th, 2023 @ 4:46pm by Captain Charlotte Rhodes & Lieutenant JG Teh'dri Caix & Lieutenant Commander Kenna Wolff & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Knight & Lieutenant Jackson Rutledge II & Lieutenant Alex Drake & Lieutenant Callie Knight
Edited on on Wed Mar 29th, 2023 @ 6:05pm

2,154 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: Runner
Location: Bridge, USS Defiant
Timeline: MD 2: 1500 Hours
Tags: story

The star lines passed the Defiant's main viewscreen as the vessel hurtled through space. Despite the blinding speed, you'd never know. Charlotte always found the visual effect to be hypnotic and peaceful. The silent rushing of space around them had a certain unreality to it that made any extended warp journey surprisingly relaxing. Or at least relaxing when there wasn't some world shaking consequence hanging in the background.

She'd nearly lulled herself into a momentary daydream when a telltale chirping sound issued from a console to her right, drawing her eye.

"Captain, we are being hailed," reported Rutledge.

"I'd gotten that impression," the Captain teased. She checked her chair's display of the ships sensors. There were non on even the wider sensor sweeps. "Who is it from? It has to be coming in on long range."

From where she was sitting Callie looked across at Charlotte, she was wondering what the message from Starfleet was going to be about.

"The message is from Starfleet Command, Admiral Yates." Jackson paused. "On screen, captain?"

A message from Command. It was indeed coming in on long range comms then. Rhodes nodded, swiveling to face the view screen. "Yes, on screen."

The cascading star lines were replaced by the face of an elder officer in admiralty grays. "Good afternoon, Captain. I apologize for the sudden interruption, but we have a bit of a situation on our hands."

Captain Rhodes sat up a little straighter as she replied. "Not an issue, Admiral. What can I do for you?"

"It's...a very peculiar one," Yates said, as his brow furrowed a little. "I'm sure you're well aware of the Sentinel outposts in your neck of the woods. Scientific research colonies with embedded listening posts to keep an eye on the neutral zone. Well, Sentinel 13 in the Eta Halix system was recently hit by a fairly powerful Ion Storm from the Carina Nebula."

"Those are pretty common in this region," Rhodes replied, still not entirely sure what would warrant this important of a call. "We've had to weave around a few recently. They're a hazard for traveling ships, but the outposts out here are pretty prepared for such a thing."

The man on the screen nodded. "That was our thought too. Except, this storm hasn't exactly behaved normally. The storm hit Eta Halix about 4 weeks ago. And its still there."

Kenna had been listening carefully and frowned now. "Is there something different about that system?" She asked curiously "Is there an element in the system that could draw the Ion storm?"

Ryan pulled up a chart of the star system in question and transferred the image to a split screen on the main viewer. "Ion storms, much like comets, travel in predictable orbital patterns. The only thing that I can think of that could cause an anomalous shift in pattern is some sort of uncharted gravity well."

Callie looked towards Ryan curiously “Even so, would a gravity well hold an ion storm for this long? Surely a storm would dissipate over time as it uses up it’s energy?”

The Admiral held up a hand to quiet them, but his face showed no frustration. He knew these sorts of questions were bound to arise. "All excellent points. To answer your questions, no there is no known gravity well that could have caused this nor any unusual substance in the system as far as ground crew were aware of prior to the storm. As far as we can tell, the storm simply stopped dead in space and lingered. Unfortunately, our last contact with the station whatsoever was four weeks ago, when the storm hit."

"This...this doesn't seem right." Alex said, pulling up the latest intel from the area--several weeks old at this point. "A listening post should not be able to be taken down by a simple Ion storm, even one that lasts four weeks shouldn't take it down so suddenly. The intel they gather is vital."

"We felt the same," Yates continued. "Regardless of storm severity, the planet's ionosphere alone should have provided a good deal of protection. And these bases are built to survive actual orbital assault for a time. So there is no reason a facility like this should have just gone down. The base should have been intact. So Starfleet Intelligence did what they did best and used some failsafes. They waited for an ebb in the density of the storm and utilized a backdoor program to tap into the onsite security feeds. And what we found..." The man's decades of trained calm cracked for the tiniest of instants, belying some genuine unease.

Callie looked at Yates feeling his unease. “I can feel your unease Admiral, Exactly What are we walking into?”

"This," the Admiral continued, "was Sentinel 13, four weeks ago on the eve of the Storm." Beside his face, the image of a shiny newly constructed outpost was visible. Some portions of the base were built on the surface, others set within larger hills or outcrops. But it looked much as expected, a newly minted Starfleet Listening post. The surrounding plant life was noticeably peeled back, with trimmed fields, dirt pathways, and cleared sections of brush making way for the new construction.

"And this..." He said with another pause, "was Sentinel 13 yesterday."

No amount of command training had prepped Charlotte Rhodes for the next image. It was very clearly the exact same location. The same camera angle and all. But the two images couldn't have been more different.

The scene in front of them now looked like a station that had been assaulted by a powerful enemy...and left sitting abandoned and empty for 40 years. Gone were the pristine conditions, the trimmed foliage, the new dirt paths. Now paths were replaced by established paved walkways, long since eroded and brimming with overgrown grass. Trees, vines, shrubs, and all manner of undergrowth had overtaken the cleared landing field, the loading docks, the terraces. Vines and all other manner of stems, lianas, and runners crawled across degraded Starfleet facilities, all around and over the buildings. The facilities cut into the rock faces and hills were nearly obscured completely. And even the main command tower had a fully established trunk rising 3 full stories out of its second level windows. Windows long since smashed in served as avenues for the natural world to enter the manufactured. The overall effect was one of stumbling upon the scene of a crime that had taken place years before most of the crew were even born.

The Captain's now slack jaw barely managed to fumble out her response. "What the hell?"

Alex looked on in horror. "This...this isn't possible." He wanted to pull his eyes away but couldn't. "It's like it's been abandoned for decades or centuries. But we just..." He turned back to his terminal and furiously looked up information, shaking his head. "Admiral, apologies for speaking out of turn, but could we be dealing with some form of weapon? This cannot be normal. And are there any other listening posts in this sector, I'm unable to find records of any."

“No such thing as out of turn right now, Lieutenant. We’re in uncharted waters,” Yates replied, trying to lessen tensions but failing. “No, our other Sentinal posts are spread out. Close enough to pass a message but not much more. As for how? We haven’t a clue what could have done this. But as far as any of us can tell, it doesn’t just look like Eta Halix has experienced years of wear in weeks. It actually has. The feed on this camera footage? It thinks it’s 2302.”

“Wait a minute... 2302!? The probe timestamp is recording as being 36 years in the future!?” Callie looked astounded. “How do we investigate that without suffering harm ourselves? If I remember my temporal mechanics lessons we can’t just enter an area of space that’s in flux.”

Alex couldn't help but shake his head. "I understand we're the closest vessel, but isnt this a serious security breach that should be investigated by Starfleet Intelligence? If something--or someone, possibly--can accelerate one area of space like this, shouldn't we be dropping off specialized investigators?"

Yates nodded. “I know. This is quite sudden. But we’re reaching out to Defiant because we believe we have a plan, but a possibly finite amount of time to pull it off. Our feed is cutting in and out, but the date and time have proceeded at real time since our last connection. Whatever caused the effect has either dissipated or stopped temporarily. There is a pathway through the Ion Storm that is traversable. It’s narrow, but it’s there. And we don’t know how much longer that will be the case. We need Defiant to go because you’re not just the closest ship. You’re the fastest, most heavily armed, and most equipped for extended operation in half the Quadrant. If the field comes back on, Defiant stands the best chance of getting out.”

The Admiral folded his hands. “As for the Intelligence portion, you are going to be Starfleet Intelligence’s eyes and ears, Lt. Drake. We’re sending a data package of possible midifications to the ship to help shield you from the effects of the field if it reinitializes. Defiant’s orders will be to enter the Eta Halix system, traverse the Ion Field, identify the cause of the disruption field and disable it if possible, then investigate the system.”

Alex blinked at being told he was going to be the eyes and ears of Intelligence. He smirked a little, "Yes sir. Should I submit a copy of our findings directly to Starfleet Intelligence or simply attach it to my report?"

“I suppose that will depend on what we find there,” Charlotte said, tapping her chair’s console as she was reviewing her sensor reads of the region near Eta Halix. “The Ion Storm isn’t going to be fun to traverse. We’ve got a few gaseous body mapping drones on board. Might be able to configure those as a bit of a buff to our existing sensor capabilities.

"Captain," Jackson spoke up, "I'll have to divert some power from other systems to enforce the shields."

“Agreed, though we’re going to need to be choosy about what you’re pulling from. We’ll discuss possibilities en route. We’re going to want to make sure sensors are at maximum among other things. Impulse too. Defiant is going to be pulling some tight turns if she’s going to thread that needle,” Charlotte added, looking up at several of her bridge crew. “Knight, Caix: you two are probably going to want to figure out a system for how best to communicate with each other and the rest of the ship as we get through the storm. Wolff, I imagine we’ll want to have shield redirects at the ready. Possibly even some phaser capability to diffuse energy bursts before they come at us.”

Ryan glanced at Teh'dri for a moment before turning to Charlotte. "Navigating through the ion storm is going to be a priority for Lieutenant Caix and myself Captain. I would recommend avoiding the use of hand communicators in favor of wall mount comm panels or desk mount circuits." He turned to the screen. "Admiral Yates, is it possible to get the latest stellar cartography charts for the sector?"

The Admiral nodded to someone offscreen. "I'll have my office send it your way immediately."

Kenna was already running simulations on her console. "I will have those ready Captain." Was all she said.

"Captain, if I might be dismissed, I'd like to head back to my office to see if Intelligence has anything on anything similar to this occurring." Alex said, he was doubtful, but anything that would give them an edge would be helpful.

"Dismissed," the Captain replied without hesitation. "Find anything you can. And Admiral, please send over every last piece of intel you've got. If I'm taking my crew into this, I want to know what we're getting into."

Yates nodded. "You'll have it within the hour. Good luck, Captain. Yates out."

Alex nodded, jogging to the lift, he didn't want to waste any time he could be using to figure this out.

Rutledge had been rerouting backup power for the shields from areas around the ship. No vital departments would be used for the shields. Life support, sickbay and weapons were top priority.

As the screen switched back to the warp lines outside, Rhodes checked her star maps. "Alright everyone. Change of plans. Mr. Knight, alter course for the Eta Helix system and take us to Warp 8."

Ryan input the course corrections for the Eta Helix system and brought the Defiant to warp eight. "Course set, Captain."

Charlotte nodded as she felt the Defiant accelerate. “Time to see what we’re up against.”

 

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