Dead in the Water
Posted on Tue Feb 15th, 2022 @ 12:17am by Captain David Hawkins & Commander Liala Ziyal & Commander Khelev ch'Koro & Lieutenant Commander Mel Torma & Lieutenant Commander Timia Svidi & Commander Raiden Kosugi & Lieutenant Josey Wales & Lieutenant JG Eira Cortez & 1st Lieutenant Kyle Walken & Emmah (Svidi)
Mission:
The Goddess
Location: Bridge - U.S.S. Arcadia
Timeline: MD 7
4763 words - 9.5 OF Standard Post Measure
IC:
The holoscreen dissipated as Captain Hawkins took in the new report from Deep Space 27. Some new news was better than no news, but deep down, the knot in his throat was rough to force down as he tried to swallow. Had all this happened if he had fought to stay on the Gladiator and refuse the transfer and position promotion? Would he had done the very same thing as Tayla if he was on the ship? Where was the rest of her crew at?
The questions continued to flow even after the chirp of the small padd on the table lit up with the new information in which he had gotten. He tapped a couple commands into the device and sent some of the data out to their respective sections as he walked out of his ready room and onto the massive bridge of the Arcadia. As he did, he made eye contact with some of his bridge officers as he walked over to the helm station.
"Raiden, I sent you new coordinates. Make the course correction and get us there as fast as possible. Let me know ETA when you have set your new navigational route," David ordered as he patted the man on the shoulder. "We got people to save."
Raiden noting the new coordinates gave a nod in acknowledgement to what Captain Hawkins related. "Acknowledged sir." Raiden entering in the coordinates and the course they would be needing to take. "It will be about two hours from now sir." he responded, turning to look at the Captain. Then he turned back to face the front.
He walked to his chair, he watched his executive officer stand and move over to her chair. "Got a report from Deep Space 27. Gladiator's saucer section made it there safely not fifteen minutes ago. They contacted me and I have routed the information on to the Resolute, as it has already launched from Memphis Island. I gave them an order to make a course correction. Hopefully both ships will arrive at the same time to a simply disabled ship. But we shall see," he explained as he took his seat.
Liala could see the concern on David's face and as he approached she moved to the edge of her chair. As he sat she moved back in hers to meet his gaze and receive what information he passed on. "That's a relief, well only a little. She must have thought it the only way, to separate the two sections and it make me feel slightly better knowing there will be two of us, the Arcadia and the Resolute, there to help if needed. What do you think made her separate the sections?" Liala asked curiously.
"Even though the ship is designed to separate, its not like the Galaxy, Odyssey, and Prometheus classes where they can reintegrate without a stardock or repair facility of some sort. The explosive bolts would need to be replaced and all areas recertified..." He mumbled to himself as he shifted slightly as he remembered the box in his pocket as he started to explain to his XO. He pulled out the small box and signed before shaking his head as he looked at it. "... sorry." He handed over the padd to her and looked at the box as he spun it slowly between his fingers as he continued. "From what information that the report I got, they lost their communications array, and so not all the personal knew what was going on. Something or someone caused the Captain to order an evacuation of all non essential crew to the saucer, blow the hatch and get out of dodge. The only communication that got out was from that saucer section making it to DS27."
Liala nodded. "I see. Much to find out then." she said as a statement in place of a question. She then noticed the small box in David's hand and gave a little smile.
"I forgot earlier, but we need to knock this out before I space again," he remarked as he waved the small olive box. David stood, with the commander in his shadow and walked over to the center of the bridge. "Alright, I know we are in a rush to investigate what is going on with another starship in the fleet, but I hate waiting and spacing on these things. Lieutenant Kosugi, if you don't mind stepping up here."
Raiden's eyebrows raised, as he had no idea what was going on but as the Captain commanded/requested so shall he do. Rising from his seat, Raiden walked up to where Hawkins was at. "Yes sir?"
"I know this isn't as fancy or as formal as many expect, but I'm not the type of captain that cares about dressing up and making people take time out of their day for hours on end for every ceremony. If that is what you'd prefer, I'm fine with it, but most like to be recognized among those he or she works with. So that being said, I can do something bigger for you all if you'd like..." He stepped up to the helm officer and took a deep breath before speaking out loud to the bridge crew. "I am pleased to announce the promotion of Raiden Kosugi from Lieutenant Junior Grade to Full Lieutenant. Raiden has been with the U.S.S. Arcadia for a couple months now but has worked in Starfleet for several years now proving his piloting capabilities and professionalism both on and off duty. He will be gaining all the rights and responsibilities that come with this to make sure to prepare others below him with his leadership and team skills."
Raiden's eyes widened and then he smiled, "Thank you Captain and this is sufficient for me, I am not into big celebrations. " Raiden felt pretty good about this. "Now I'll return to my station sir, if I may, and thank you."
"Well done, Raiden." Liala smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You should be proud, and I am happy to see you rewarded for all your work. I think we can have a glass of wine or two to celebrate quietly later if you'd like." she said with a smile before turning back to sit down.
"That sounds like a plan, Commander." Raiden giving a smile, he also realized that he'd be getting a new pip, it was still boggling his mind at that aspect.
Couple hours later...
Emmah was standing near the Ops station, trying to stay out of the way. As the ship dropped out of warp the screen activated and the Gladiator loomed before them. Home. Gladiator was where she was born, she missed it, which was a strange concept considering she was an AI.
She shifted her attention back to the bridge, trying to keep up with the activity.
Mel was riveted to her science station, scanning almost every square inch of the region around them. Even deep into bands of radiation and parts of the spectrum that no listed species even had the decency to use. Just In Case, as folks would put it. She muttered a Dalacari curse under her breaths as she started the scans over again, confounded by the results and seemingly unsatisfied by them.
When they arrived at their destination, the image on the view screen caused Raiden to suck air through his teeth. The Gladiator wasn't whole. What happened to the beautiful ship? He remembered her being whole.
"What the heck happened to the Gladiator? Why is just the engineering section there?" Raiden turning towards the Command Chair. "Last I saw of the Gladiator, she was whole and flying like a dream!"
Liala stood from her chair and moved closer to the viewscreen. She did not know why, it always felt like an unnecessary compulsion. "Scan for lifesigns? Damage assessment?" she ordered.
Mel focused the sensor array onto the remains. "There's a lot of unusual background radiation here, and I suspect some of it isn't exactly 'background'." she layered filter on top of filter. "I'm getting lifesigns, but the..."
"... moment I try to focus to find out more, they're just... gone. Like echoes of signatures. I... I can't get anything substantial at the moment."
Walken finally added in as the lone Marine stared at the viewscreen, "Say the word Captain, I will have every Marine on board ready to board and secure. Just say the word." He understood why this was hard for some people, a small flash of watching the Wyoming being destroyed entered his mind before he was captured by the Gorn for a short time.
"Noted, have your marines on stand by, we may need them," David replied as he stood up himself, and walked up next to the executive officer. What they saw before them really dug deep into his mind and even his heart to see the ship dead in space, and half gone. There weren't any major signs of damage, but she was dark and rotating slowly. "Take us to yellow alert and get us up closer. Lock a tractor beam on her to get her stabilized."
Liala turned to the tactical station, "Yellow alert please Lieutenant." she said before turning back to David. "Still looks like she has minimal power." she said pointing to quite dull but obvious light. She brought up her PaDD to her front and tapped a few buttons. "Life support is still operating but only barely. We should take a power source over, just in case."
It still struck Raiden hard with seeing the Gladiator like that. Who are the villains who would do such a thing?!
Taking in a deep sigh, the captain looked at the screen before them. The civilian cargo ship was a little further away but was stable and just like the Gladiator, dead in the water. At the front of the bridge was his newly assigned Operations Chief, Lieutenant Cortez, who had a secondary in operational systems. What little he had heard, she was smart and well trained. So earlier that morning, he had met with her and reassigned her as the Operations Chief. At the very moment, they needed a qualified Operations officer, and with little to no time in requesting from outside of the ship, he chose his own crew. He noticed that she was quite capable and seemed as though she had found something.
So he walked over to stand behind her. "Eira, what do you got?"
"So." Cortez looked at her Captain and then back to the console she had been working at. "Comms are out on both ships so I can't get a signal no matter what I try. Basically, they're both disabled." Her fingers flew over the console as she looked up at the screen and brought up the schematics of the Gladiator and pointed to the navigation system. "I can bring the navigation system online if given a chance," and then pointed to the warp core, "This too. There is only one downside though."
"What is the downside?" David asked as he looked over the partial layout of the Gladiator. He knew that there were going to be issues, but what. He left that to his department specialists.
She looked at him with a concerned look, "If I bring these online, from what I know, there may be a chance of a warp core breach and everything going to hell. What should I do?"
"Let's not blow up the ships, but do what you can to get these ships mobile. I expect you on the Gladiator away team. Don't let me down," Hawkins replied as he nodded at her.
Timia arrived on the bridge and walked over to the small medical station and looked things over, trying to see the scans. "We gotten a scan for life signs yet?" she called out as she powered up the station.
"Yes and no." Mel mentioned from her station. "General scans show lifesigns, but focusing on anything makes the readings go away. It's like scanning for an echo." she related. A pause, before her twin took over, "It's the oddest thing, and no matter how I try to account for it and counter it, the readings still make no sense. Best I can figure is it's a quirk of the region's..."
"... background radiation, but I'm having trouble accounting for THAT as well."
Raiden was listening to everything happening, and also concentrating on what was left of the Gladiator.
Commander Khelev ch'Koro was sitting in the CO's chair of the Resolute, a furrow on his brow as he watched the sensor readouts on his console. His antenna twitched slightly before lashing at the air. His yellow uniform didn't feel quite right, but this was a temporary command. He was an expert on the Gladiator, having helped design parts of her and been her chief engineer for several years.
To his left was a dark haired, blue eyed man in a red uniform with Lieutenant Commander Pips on his collar. His name was Akav Ostov. A Russian born human, he was tough as nails and Khelev liked having him next to him on the bridge.
"We are approaching the coordinates now," Akav said out loud. "Should we go to yellow alert Kapten?"
Khelev's antenna thrashed at the air, "No. The Arcadia is already on site. Take us out of warp."
The blonde Trill who was sitting at the conn station nodded, she had bright blue eyes that were focused on the main viewer and her console. Her name was Sozi Roix and she'd been working with Khelev for the last few years. A good officer and a damn good pilot. "Dropping out of warp now."
Khelev's stood up from his seat, as the first images came on screen, his antenna bent back and nearly touched his head. A merchant ship and the star drive section of the Gladiator, both appearing dead in space. "Give me a full sensor sweep and hail Arcadia."
"I'm getting some strange radiation which is messing with our sensors," called out a young enlisted male Bolian at the operations station, over ch'Koro's rear left on the bridge. "Looks like the Arcadia was able to lock onto the ... Gladiator, but its unstable as well. We if we go in, we will be basically in a dead spot for communications. Recommend launching a transmitter beacon just outside the radiation. It may help us link up to the outside."
"Launch the beacon, crewman," Khelev nodded, before looking over at Akav. "XO, take the ship to yellow alert. Havethe SPeaR team to gear up."
"Aye Keptan," Akav replied from his side. "Condition yellow. SPeaR team gear up."
The color on the bridge changed to a distinct yellow as the alert noise sounded. The shields were raised as they prepared to move in, "Take us in Roix. Science, analyze the radiation. See if we can cut through it. Tactical, stay alert."
"Aye Captain" Ensign Eileen Romanoff responded, as she turned to her viewscreen and checked the readings.
"Aye sir!" called out a young Andorian lieutenant named Isher Th'kotrok (Hawkins) standing at tactical. His blush tinted fingers seemed to dance across the controls before him as he activated the Resolute's tactical sensors. He was looking for anything out of the ordinary. Working with the other departments, not looking to call out much unless it was a threat, he scanned the ships before them finding no exterior damage . Power was minimal and so shields and weapons were offline. This made things very curious. What happened here to have a sovereign class starship to emergency evacuate half her crew. There were clear signs of the explosive bolts at the top of the engineering section showing that the automatic detachment system worked flawlessly as they were designed. This caused the Saucer section to detach cleanly, besides blowing out the hall, which was designed as such.
The bridge viewscreen flashed and standing before the Resolute crew was an older human and a younger female in red command uniforms. The image was unstable but clear enough to hear and see one another.
"Been a long time, Khelev. Didn't take you long to arrive," Captain Hawkins spoke up as he nodded respectfully to the old comrade. "Glad you got that data burst I sent you."
"As soon as we saw it we got underway, this ship has speed on her side," Khelev said with a nod. "I've brought a full SPeaR team and a few Russians with me. Have you sent a team over yet?"
Akav chuckled softly, but didn't say anything. The Russians grew up in one of the coldest places on earth and Andorians on an actual ice planet. They were certainly kindred spirits in some ways.
There was a slight pause as David made a clicking nose with his tongue as he thought to himself. "So one can assume you brought a cargo bay full of Vodka with you as well. May need it after we go over to the Gladiator and this cargo ship. No I haven't sent over a team to either location yet. We were able to stabilize the Gladiator's rotation and trying to get a clear scan but whatever this damn radiation is, its playing with our sensors. Unless you have an idea to clear all this up, I'm not willing to risk transporters. We have more than enough shuttles and the Resolute should be able to dock with her as well. Arcadia is to big to safely do at the moment. Thoughts?"
"I've got my science team working on a way through, I'm sure you do too," Khelev answered him. "We might be able to pull off docking, but we're going to have a lot better shot with shuttles. We've got my shuttle, a SPeaR team shuttle and a few others. I also think we both know what we're going to find over there. You need to warn your crew, it won't be pretty."
Ensign Romanoff after looking for areas that have less density of radiation, found one. looked up from her view screen. "Captain, I have found an area that is not as dense in the radiation. I am sending the coordinates now." her hands doing so as she spoke.
"Sir, I am not detecting the remains of the protective hall used to cover the separation section of that sovereign class," Lieutenant Th'kotrok reported after the science officer. "Where ever she disconnected, its nowhere here. She flew here before going dead in the water."
"Sounds like she flew into danger or away from danger. This is something to look into," David spoke up overhearing what was said on his ship. "ch"Koro, prepare your teams and I'll have mine prepped. I recommend we send one team each to both ships to reduce the traffic. I want the marines to clear the area before securing the ships. I'm not risking more death."
"I don't like either team going in to radiation zones without me getting a clear look at it and inoculating first." Timia said as she walked up near the Captain and folded her arms looking at the other bridge, trying to gauge her own opinion on them. "I assume you have a medical team who would express the same concerns?" she asked with a raised brow.
"I have a much smaller crew compliment, but I'm sure my medical team will have the same concerns," Khelev gave the woman a look for a moment, before letting out a grunt. "I'll head for the Gladiator with a small support team and send another to the cargo ship. I know Akav, a Captain shouldn't go into danger but that's my ship. You'll have the bridge."
"Of course Keptan," Akav said with a nod. "We'll be ready to pull you out at a moments notice."
"Your ship, my ass... David mentally counted as he took in a deep breath. "Liala, get your team ready and get to the shuttle bay. Meet up with ch'Koro on the Gladiator. Take Lieutenant Walken and his marines along with you and doctor Svidi as well. Secure that ship, and give ch'Koro and his engineering team a chance to get her back up and running."
"I'm going with as well," John spoke up, already geared up as was his younger counter part, Lieutenant Walken who was not to far away.
"No, you are leading a team of marines to the civilian cargo ship," David countered as he shook his head and stepped back to his chair on the bridge.
"To hell with..." Hayter countered on the edge of raising his voice, but was quickly cut off.
"... Lock it up, Colonel. I gave you an order," Hawkins snapped as he sat down before looking over at him. "You know very well what we are about to find over there. I need you focused, and getting the job done, not hunting for one member. You either follow my order or I will lock you in the brig until the ships are secured. Do I make myself clear?"
The Lieutenant Colonel gritted his teeth before nodding. The Captain was right, and he was out of line. That was the honest truth and David wasn't wrong to say that his emotions were starting to cloud his judgements. Hell, who's wouldn't? So the marine adjusted himself and looked around the bridge. "Apologies. Walken, if its good with you, I'll take Charlee unit with us."
Walken was a little taken back at the Colonel's loss of control but he understood, "Go ahead, Colonel."
"Thanks," John replied and looked at the tactical station and helm before looking at Hawkins. "If its alright with you, I'll take Solid Snake wanna be and the new kid on the block up there." Pointing up at the new security chief.
David looked over his shoulder at the new officer and nodded before looking at the colonel. "That works. Take Captain Verra as well."
"Will do," the colonel replied and started up to the turbolift as he tapped his ear comm while talking. "Hayter to Verra, get your furry tall geared up and meet me in the primary shuttle bay. We got baby sitter duties securing the cargo ship."
Verra's ears perked at the chirp, and then fully rose at the order, "This is Verra, confirmed. Shuttle Bay Primary, five minutes." and the rabbitess got to work, suiting up for the op. Only reason to go to the shuttlebay was a combat drop, so she put on her flight suit and made good double-time to the shuttlebay. Much to the enjoyment of the crew in the hall, who enjoyed the view as Callisi ran past them.
"Raiden, Wales, you are with Hayter. Get going," Captain Hawkins spoke up before looking at his executive officer. "Liala. You get your team going."
Josey nodded and acknowledged the order. " Aye Sir! " He got up and followed the team off the bridge.
Liala blew her cheeks out a bit at the sheer show of unnecessary male bravado and for a moment caught herself staring at her Captain for a little bit too long before snapping herself back into the present. "Yes sir. Cortez, Walken and your entourage, and Timia." she stated in half an order to follow. As she stood she just finalised the order that went down to the shuttlebay to prep a shuttle for their journey across to the Gladiators drive section.
Walken was quick to tap his comm badge.
=/\= Alpha and Bravo teams gear up and great ready to lay out the welcome mat on the Gladiator, Charlee gear up and link up with Lieutenant Colonel Hayter you are assigned to him during this op. Walken out. =/\=
"Captain! I would like to go on the away team. Gladiator is my home, and I can be useful as I am EMH still as well Captain." Emmah said eagerly.
"No, Holograms stay here." Timia snapped. "I don't have the bandwidth to make sure you don't fizzle out in an emergency and cause loss of life, if we even find any over there." she grunted.
"I'm pretty sure I can handle any problems Emmah might have, you're welcome to come along Emmah," Khelev's antenna wiggled in irritation at the Doctor, but explaining that Emmah was basically his daughter wasn't something he wanted to do over comms. "Commander, tell the Master Chief to split his men into two teams with engineering support on one and to meet me down in the shuttle bay. I can handle the other. Keep the ship at yellow alert, anything out of the ordinary, you contact us."
"Aye Keptan," Akav nodded. "Tactical, please ensure we are ready for anything."
Timia humphed at the Andorian Captain. "Just who the hell does he think he is." she grumbled to herself, not caring if it was heard over the comms. "I'll be in the shuttle bay in ten minuets. Make yourself useful Lightbulb and grab an emergency medical kit." she grunted and stalked towards the lift.
Khelev let out deep hmmm, before he folded his arms and decided to respond, "I'm one of the few people in the galaxy who's qualified to work on the hologram and knows what we're going to find on those two ships. I'd say that makes me uniquely qualified."
"Knock it off, all of you!" David snapped almost yelling as he stood up. "Damn people are dead on two ships, and you are all trying to piss on the damn ground to mark your territory. Well how is this. I am the ranking officer, there for stow it. As the ranking officer and the one with the larger ship, by regulations, I am the mission commander. That being said, Commander Ziyal is in charge of the mission. Captain ch'Koro, you are to assist her and get secure the Gladiator. Get her back online and find out all you can with what is over there. Its obvious that there is more to this then meets the eye. Hayter is in charge of getting the cargo ship secure. You all know your mission. Go... NOW. Otherwise I'll go to the Gladiator myself. Go know and act like trained professionals and do your damn jobs!' Hawkins held nothing back. He took a lot of things but in this instant, they all could see the lower half of the Gladiator there, almost lifeless. That was his legacy out there. Something needed done now.
Romanoff bristled a bit with how her captain was being treated, but held her tongue she'll wait for his orders once things got cooled down.
Khelev held back his comments, David must have been under a lot of stress or was just not in the mood. Either way he'd antagonize the man later, without so many ears. He let out another Hmmm, before his antenna arched backwards in irritation. Good luck getting him to do something he didn't want to do, "I'll see you on the other side Commander. Resolute out."
Ensign t'Rhenn walked onto the bridge carrying a large metal wrench and her engineering kit over a shoulder. She walked to a panel on the port side of the bridge opened it, placed the wrench on the ground and sat crossed legged on the deck, using a tricorder and scanner in the panel.
Raiden looked over towards where the Engineer walked in, just gave a shrug. "Okay I'll be seeing you Captain." rising from his seat, and heading towards the turbolift. "Times a wasting right?"
Clearing her throat a bit Liala saw Raiden stand, "Quite right, Lieutenant. We need to find out as quickly as possible what happened on the Gladiator and help who we can. Let's go." she added before moving towards the same turbolift as Raiden.
As they walked to the Turbolift Josey spoke up. " I've done some missions involving radiation. Sickbay should have some hypos on hand to counteract it's effects. Perhaps we can be treated in advance or take some with us? I believe they gave us Arithrazine the last time I had to work around Radiation. It's only a suggestion of course Colonel, your the one in charge of the mission. "
"Whatever, lets just get going, shall we?" John countered irritation in his words making sure that Hawkins and the others could hear. Though that honestly didn't matter as they were all under lot of stress.
The moment of silence that hung in the air was broken by the comm chirp, "This is Verra in Shuttlebay One. Prepped and ready for dust off."
"Away teams... you are dismissed. Get on it."
