A Cry for Help

Posted on Sun Jun 30th, 2019 @ 5:38am by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant Commander Magnus Grey & Lieutenant Iona Vrell & Lieutenant Shri Thais & Lieutenant JG Brian Pendragon & Lieutenant JG Liliane Olivier

1,051 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 7 - Aenerth for an Earth
Location: En Route to Aenerth
Timeline: 2296/02/19 - 1000

There was perhaps another day of travel, if that to Aenerth. O'Connor sat mildly bored in the Captain's chair, her feet not quite hitting the floor. She made a mental note to have someone adjust the chair. However, that boredom was short lived. A weak signal came in from somewhere. She heard the beep on her Chief Communications Officer's console. It grated on her that he would be the first point of contact. What would that bloody academic know?

Listening intently to the message, Magnus Grey worked hard to get a complete picture before relaying the details to his Captain. After their argument two days ago, he didn’t want to do anything to annoy her too much. Details were coming in, though the signal was garbled. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get a perfectly clear message. “Captain, I’m getting a distress signal from a ship identifying itself as the Kaliya. It’s a civilian transport registered to Aenerth. They report their nacelles are leaking drive plasma and their warp coils are cracked. They’re asking for assistance.”

O'Connor professionally said, "Put them on the viewscreen."

He looked over his shoulder at the woman in the command chair. “Sorry, Captain. The signal is too weak. I think the drive plasma is interfering with their comm array. Visual is out of the question.”

"What do you mean that the signal is too weak?!" O'Connor railed. "Well, give me audio."

“Yes, ma’am,” Magnus replied. He turned back to his console, adjusted some dials and pressed some keys to improve signal strength as much as possible, “I have Captain Lon Aurel of Kaliya on audio for you.”

"This is Captain Kelly Jean O'Connor of the USS America, Federation Starship. We have received your distress signal. How many we be of assistance?"

Captain Kailya responded, "Thank you, Captain, our ship has radiation leakage and it may be due to a problem with our warp drive. We are ill and we do not have anyone qualified to repair it."

Another voice, a female one whispered harshly enough to be picked up by the audio, "Lon...the cost.... Think! Can we afford?"

Lon whispered back, "Can we afford to die?"

Potentially oblivious to the fact that the side conversation was picked up, the Captain responded again, "Any assistance would be appreciated. We are far from home."

O'Connor responded, "Of course, we will provide you with some assistance as soon as we are in transporter range. We will let you know when to lower your shields. O'Connor out."

Shri had been listening, and frowned when it came up that there was no visual. She looked back to the sensors to see if she could figure out what might have happened to the Kaliya and to see if there were any other ships possible in the system.

O'Connor looked at Shri and her Executive Officer. "Thoughts?"

“One of them was worried about cost,” Magnus observed. “Is she afraid we’ll take some valuable cargo? Or charge them for helping them?”

"It sounded to me like a fee they expect to pay. Other thoughts?"

Shri looked over after hearing the question. "I honestly am not sure. I agree with the thought that they are afraid that we may request something for helping them. But I wasn't seeing anything on sensors yet to explain what happened to them."

Returning to the external audio, O'Connor said, "We are happy to assist. This is humanitarian service. There is no cost."

The other end of the communication went dead for a moment but it was shortly followed by muttering. "We welcome your aid. We have radiation leaks. Everyone is ill. Containment seems to have failed. Thank you again, Captain." The communication ended.

"This is very odd," O'Connor told her bridge crew. "Maybe there will be something interesting about this mission, yet."

“Captain,” Magnus began, “I’m concerned that the drive plasma leak will interfere with the transporter. It’s already interferes with the comm system.”

"I have to agree, on top of that I'd be concerned about the radiation making everyone sick. Even with prevention, long term exposure..." Shri never liked the feeling of radiation of any type.

"Very well, take a shuttle," O'Connor told Magnus. "Set your away team and take care of that ship. Find out anything you can about their culture and their ship without being obvious. Make sure you take the doctor with you."

“Yes, ma’am,” Magnus said. “Ms. Olivier, prep a shuttlecraft for launch. You’ll be piloting.” Rather than risk further alienating his Captain, he looked back to her for approval on other choices. “In addition to the doctor and pilot, I recommend Lieutenants Thais and MacLeod. And if we’re going to try to repair their ship, I suggest someone from engineering, but you know them better than I, Captain. I would be grateful for your recommendation.”

Shri looked over and nodded, "I don't mind tagging along."

O'Connor looked at Magnus skeptically. Why was he sucking up to her now? "Take Pendragon with you. He's capable."

Magnus nodded sharply. "Understood." He looked to the woman sitting at the helm station. "Olivier, get started on that shuttlecraft. The rest of us will meet you down there in ten."

"On it," Liliane replied, vacating her seat as someone else filled it. Her characteristic smile evident, going along with the bounce to her step as she headed for the turbolift to prep the shuttle.

With a few buttons pressed on his console, Magnus Grey opened comms channels to sickbay and main engineering. "Doctor Vrell, Lieutenant Pendragon, report to the shuttlebay at 1015 hours. Prepare to treat radiation casualties and repair damaged nacelle warp coils." He stood from his console, nodded to junior officer to come relieve him, and then gestured to Shri and Raine. "Thais, MacLeod, you're with me." He walked towards the turbolift, which had just returned following the helmswoman's departure.

"Understood," Shri said as she made sure someone was there to take over for her before following along.

"Understood," Iona's voice came over the comms.

"Aye sir," Brian responded, logging a request for any schematics available on the vessel in question and beginning a shortlist of appropriate tools and potential spare components he could source.

 

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