WARNING SHOTS

Posted on Jun 05, 2014 @ 7:53am by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Edited on on Jun 05, 2014 @ 7:56am

Mission: All Our Yesterdays

"WARNING SHOTS"

(Continued from "Khitomer Blues")

*******************************
*******************************

"Beware the fury of a petient man."
- John Dryden

*******************************
*******************************

Captain's Log, Supplemental - Our salvage efforts on the CENTURY are proceeding well. Life support and artificial gravity have been reactivated. It is my hope that we will soon have access to her memory banks, so we can find out how she ended up way out here...

********************************

Location: USS DISCOVERY, orbiting K-60-Alpha-Twelve
Stadate: [2.14]0603.0045
Scene: Conference Room


Michael Turlogh Kane and his shipboard senior officers sat down in conference for the second time in twenty-four hours, except that the intervening time had not been kind. The constant jostling and rocking of the DISCOVERY as she was battered by atmospheric turbulence was now beginning to grate on her crew as a whole. It was difficult to get comfortable, and you could forget about concentrating on one thing for very long. Yellow alert status was still being maintained, but Kane for one wished he could just order the ship back through the asteoid belt to the edge of the system, even if it meant abandoning the away teams working to salvage the CENTURY.

"Let's get started," he said. "Our engineering away team has succeeded in restoring the CENTURY's artificial gravity and life support. Our next task is to start the ship's impulse engines and reactivate the main computer. How difficult is that likely to be?"

Byte responded first. The android's features were as impassive as ever - it did not show any of the weariness permeating the faces of the others in the room. {{It will depend on the viability of the CENTURY's power networks, Captain. After a decade stagnating in shutdown mode, there is likely to be serious degradation of her ODN relays, and the organic connections of her bio-regenerative hull matrix have long since lost their cohesion.}}

"She's in a sorry state," nodded Solomon Arn. "Even if we restore power to impulse and critical systems, making a cold start of the warp core is something else entirely. And even if we manage that, there's no guarantee a skeleton crew could achieve enough power to break out of the moon's gravity well. We've come a little way up the mountain, but make no mistake, the toughest part of the climb is still ahead."

Kane sighed. "That's not encouraging, Lieutenant."

"No, sir," agreed Solomon. "You should be prepared for the eventuality that we seize as much information from her memory banks as we can, then abandon or scuttle her."

"A sad end to one of Stafleet's flagships," said Lex Calvari. "You might be interested to know that her weaponry is mostly intact. Sensors show her carrying a normal torpedo complement and there doesn't seem to be any damage to her phaser arrays. Of course, there's nothing to power them with even if we wanted them working."

"Our priority is getting her memory banks online," said Kane. "Everything else can wait until after that happens. Now that gravity and a modicum of life support is back, we can begin sending over more engineering away teams."

"I would recommend regular rotation of away teams," said Bonnie Reardon. There were dark rings under her eyes. "Remaining in our present position is taking a toll on the crew. There have been a number of light accidents around the ship - people stumbling into things mainly - and nobody can get any sleep. Will you consider moving the ship down into a lower orbit closer to the CENTURY?"

{{That would not be advisdable, Doctor,}}said Byte. {{The CENTURY's position may be turbulence-free, but she is also much further into the gravity well of the moon. While her orbit is stable, that stability is the result of strong exterior forces acting on her. If the DISCOVERY was to move into a lower orbit, we would then need to increase our power in order to break out of its orbit - I estimate by a factor of between eight and ten.}}

"But you're saying the CENTURY could break orbit?" Bonnie asked.

{{Yes, if her engines are fully restored. Her power systems are much stronger than ours.}}

"We'll just have to ride out the rough water for the time being," said Kane. "I don't like it either, Doctor. We'll hold off on making a final decision on the CENTURY's fate until after we access her memory banks. Agreed?" He looked around the table. Nobody voiced dissent. "Good. Dismissed."

************************************************

Location: USS CENTURY, orbiting below
Scene: Access tunnel


Jake Crichton and Stonn climbed down the ladder, arm over arm, step after step, following the newly-reactivated Exocomp as it hummed its way through the dark veins and arteries of the CENTURY. Without the outside lights of their environment suits and the flashing colours of the Exocomp's exterior panels, they would have been in total darkness. Life support was taking its sweet time in filling up the CENTURY with breathable air, so they were still suited up, although the addition of articial gravity to their descent was a welcome relief.

Jake moved as quickly as he could, but climbing downward on a ladder in an environment suit was tiring. He kept having to look down below his feet to see where the Exocomp was. Several times he lost sight of it, but the beeps and chimes it made eschoed through the midnight tunnels like an orchestra.

Above him, Stonn kept a measured pace like a machine. Both of them were breathing heavily inside their helmets.

"How far do you think we've come?" wheezed Jake.

"I know we have descended through fifteen decks," said Stonn pointedly. "By my calculation, we have left the main bridge far behind and are now approaching the forward bow of the ship."

"Oh." Jake looked down to see the Exocomp hovering in the air tens of metres below. "I wonder where he's taking us."

"It is leading us to the main deflector dish," said Stonn. "We would arrive much faster if you did not use precious energy by speaking."

"Sorry."

"That counts as speaking."

Jake rolled his eyes. Below, the chimes of the Exocomp changed - now it emitted a series of high-pitched stacatto beeps like it was seeking attention. Jake could see why - they had arrived at an airlock. He put his mag boots down on the ground while the Exocomp hovered nearby. While Stonn watched from the ladder, Jake knelt down and opened the airlock. The doors parted with a hiss of long-stale air.

"It's the main deflector control room," said Jake. Chirping happily, the Exocomp buzzed through the opening into the room while the two officers climbed down.

***********************************************

Scene: Main Engineering


Kass and Cindy held their noses as the marines assembled the decaying corpses into piles for transport to the DISCOVERY's medical lab. Like ghouls, her medical staff were going to analyse each one of the recovered bodies of all these Neo-Essentialists, and find out who they were before they deserted Starfleet. Half the wanted list would probably disappear overnight once they were all identified.

Shimmering walls of cobalt blue light appeared to shroud the bloated bodies, beaming them away, taking their stench with them.

"I guess I'll get back to work on the engines," said Cindy.

Kass's curled lip hadn't disappeared for an hour. They might be helmet-free but that only meant that there was nothing between her eyes and the daggers she was staring at Cindy. "Whatever, princess. Just let us know before you turn anything on again, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hey!" Kass stormed over and stuck her finger in Cindy's face. "I'm warning you here!"

"I got it!" Cindy took out her tricorder and started scanning the local ODN relays again.

*************************************************

Location: USS DISCOVERY, high above
Scene: Bridge


Kane sat in the centre seat, monitoring the reports coming and going and trying to ignore the occasional shuddering of the ship. He was beginning to feel queasy. He hadn't been on a starship in two years before coming back to the DISCOVERY and was surprised to find his space-legs letting him down. Swallowing hard, he tried to concentrate on the stream of information scrolling down the screen of his seat's arm-rest.

A heavy jolt slammed him forward, doubling him up. He grabbed the arm-rest to steady himself as the red alert klaxons blared into life. "Report!" he yelled.

{{Our upper port nacelle has been struck by asteroid!}} called Byte as the ship rocked to and fro. {{We are venting drive plasma!}}

"Bridge to Engineering!"

[[Engineering - Maynell here! Stand by, Captain!]]

Kane swore aloud. "Damage report!"

{{The nacelle has suffered a moderate stress fracture,}} called Byte. {{Forcefields have sealed the breach. Ablative armour absorbed most of the damage, but warp power is now down to seventy-one per cent.}}

The awful shuddering rolled by, like a spent wave. The red alert klaxons died down, but the flashing yellow wall bars remained.

Kane was livid. "Engineering, what the hell is going on down there?" he bellowed.

Johnathan Maynell's voice was strained, filtering up through the decks. [[There's been an asteroid hit on - ]]

"I know what happened!" snapped Kane. "How did that asteroid get through our navigational shields?"

[[Captain, our shields have been under constant strain for hours now. We're expending a sizeable chunk of our engine output just to keep them regenerating. It came in on an unexpected trajectory - we were just unlucky, sir!]]

Kane stood up as the turbulence resumed. "Anyone hurt down there, Ensign?"

[[No, sir. I'm organising a work crew to make a detailed inspection of the fracture now, but major systems are unaffected. You still have warp power at your command.]]

"Understood," said Kane. "Bridge out." He turned to Lex Calvari at Tactical. "Armour status on the upper port nacelle?"

Lex's purple eyes ran like rivers over the data stream in front of him. Finally, he looked up and shook his head. "It's gone, sir. We'll need extra shielding on that nacelle."

Kane shook his head. More drainage on the ship's engine, more drainage on the power networks. Things were happening too quickly all of a sudden. The DISCOVERY's near-flawless design still left her with a significant weak spot - because of the enormous amount of power they put out, the four nacelles were by necessity the most heavily shielded parts of the ship. In combat, it was critical not to be flanked by the enemy, to present the bow forward at all times in order to minimise disruptions to power. When the DISCOVERY was reactivated last year, ablative armour was retro-fitted to the nacelles as a means of extra protection, giving the ship a lean, hungry look. Now that extra protection was gone, on one nacelle at least. It was like taking a heavy body blow - the DISCOVERY had been staggered, but she was still moving forward.

"We were lucky, huh sir?" said Russ at the conn.

Kane looked out at the main viewer. The forward view was of the CENTURY far below, her interior lights now sporadically illuminated against the sea-green backdrop of the moon. He wished there was a way to snap his fingers and make everything just happen. Instead, they just had to wait for the CENTURY's away teams to finish their jobs. That data was simply too important to let go.

"Luck had nothing to do with it, Lieutenant," said Kane grimly, as another bout of turbulence shook the bridge. "That was a warning shot."

*********************************************

Location: USS CENTURY
Scene: Main Deflector Control Room


Jake and Stonn removed their helmets as their suits' atmosphere monitors changed from red to green. They both couldn't speak for a moment, but not because of the lack of air. They were now standing directly behind the CENTURY's towering main deflector dish that rose up above them by some fifteen feet. From the side they were standing on, it was enormously concave, with a rounded central channel that jutted out into space. At the very edge of the channel was a clear transmission bulb that was catching the outside sunshine and reflecting it brilliantly into the room. Through it they could see the vast bulk of the green moon roll on by.

"What a view," Jake said.

The Exocomp made a noise like a musical electronic tinkle. It rose off the ground on its antigrav landers and headed towards the room's computer console. It landed beside the console, emitting a series of chimes and beeps.

"You want me to look at that?" Jake crossed the room to see. It felt good to have his helmet off. Behind him, Stonn crouched down for a better view out of the viewing bulb.

The Exocomp materialised a screwdriver in its work socket and proceeded to pry away the main panel on the console. "What is it you want me to do, boy?"

"Mister Crichton," said Stonn pointedly, "that is a piece of equipment. It is a tool, not a terrestrial canine. I do not see why you continue to pretend it is."

The Exocomp made an electronic fart. Jake took out his tricorder and ran a scan on the console. "Maybe," he frowned, "but I think I know what it wants. Tricorder's showing a residue of power in this unit and a clean ODN network. Someone's remotely connected this console to the main deflector dish and programmed it to - Commander Stonn! This console is where the original signal was sent out from!"

The Vulcan stood up, removing his suit's gloves and primly attaching them to his belt. "How is that possible? The atmosphere was vented. Everyone was dead."

The Exocomp trilled brightly.

Jake plugged his spare power pack into the deflector dish console as Stonn approached from behind. "I'll bet I can jury rig a local connection to the nearest main computer processor," he said, grinning with delight as the console powered up with a hum. "We can access local power through this, send signals into the main network. Hell, we might even be able to access the memory banks directly. This is great! I'll just - "

He never finished his sentence.

***********************************************

Captain's Log, Supplemental - Engineering reports that the asteroid strike on our nacelle caused only moderate hull damage. No major systems were affected and although there is extra strain on the other three nacelles, full warp power is still available. This means we can keep our focus on the CENTURY...

*************************************************

Location: USS CENTURY
Scene: Main Deflector Dish Control Room


Jake came to. His head and neck were groaning with pain, and as he tried to turn his head, pain flared down his back. Beside him, the computer console sparked and fizzed, it's interior ODN network overloaded and burnt out.

As his vision cleared, he saw Stonn's demonic face loom over him. "Do not try to move, Mister Crichton," said the Vulcan.

"What happened?" asked Jake. With shock, he saw the Exocomp lying broken against the wall. Its lights still blinked, but one of its landers was shattered and its outer casing was badly dented.

Stonn knelt down and helped him sit up. "There was a circuit overload in the console. You suffered some kind of electrical shock. The Exocomp attempted to repair the damage but was unsuccessful."

"Impossible," groaned Jake. The back of his neck was on fire. "Localised power network, everything looked clean - "

"Do not exert yourself," said Stonn. "He touched the communicator stud on his suit's forearm. "Stonn to DISCOVERY.

[[Kane here. Report, Commander.]]

"Mister Crichton has suffered an injury while attempting to repair a computer copnsole, Captain. It is minor, but I am requesting that he be beamed to sickbay."

"No!" said Jake, trying to stand. "Not when we're so close...!"

[[Acknowledged. Transporter room, beam Commander Crichton back.]]

Jake staggered to his feet and picked up the Exocomp. He felt very woozy. "Commander, there's no need. A few minutes and I think I'll be able to access the mem - "

"Energise," said Stonn calmly.

The world disappeared from Jake in a haze of blue.

************************************************
************************************************

NRPG: Moving things along a smidge. The main thing I'd like you to take note of is the damage the DISCOVERY has suffered to her nacelle. As I said in the post, it's not in any way threatening, so don't go trying to blow up the ship.

SHAWN: What the hell just happened?

ALL: One more post (at least) from each of you before the mid-story two-parter. Use it to wrap up any CENTURY/DISCOVERY subplots you have going on, because we're approaching THE POINT OF NO RETURN (dum-da-dum-dum!)


Jerome McKee
the Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS DISCOVERY


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1, Scene 1.117

***************************************************
***************************************************