Ludus Incipit, Part 4

Posted on Mon Dec 17, 2018 @ 9:13pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers

3,671 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: Varied

[On the surface of Heouron V: }

"Head to the loading docks," Nicole said. "We need a one-man delivery ship with warp capability, not a multi-crew transport vessel."

Alec nodded at her suggestion, "Will do. Um one person? Where are you going to be? In the cargo bay?"

"Well we are technically the cargo," she said. "That or standing room only."

"Ahhh." He replied with a nod of his head as he understood what Nicole had in mind. "You mean I can't fly it?" He bantered before continuing "Your going to have to give your 'subject' complete instructions as far as contacting the Victory."

"I'll figure it out," she assured him as they approached the spaceport's cargo area. "Let's find our new friend."

"Of that, I'm sure of." He agreed. "Um, we should act like we like each other, you know as to not draw undo attention to ourselves." He looked at her, "It's just a suggestion."

"I'll take it under advisement," she said as they drove up to a freighter with a single crewman loading boxes on. Nicole threw open the hatch on her side and jumped out, walking up to him purposefully.

The pilot stopped mid-carry, seeing a police vehicle pull up and swallowed hard, wondering what they could possibly want with him. He put his crate down and tried to make himself look presentable as a woman approached. "Ma'am," he said.

"Look me in the eye when you speak to me," Nicole barked. The man's eyes immediately flew up from her figure-hugging body suit to her eyes, blazing red and his face immediately went slack.

From the vehicle Alec watched as Nicole worked her voodoo on the pilot. Realizing time was of the essence he jumped out of the vehicle and hurried over as Nicole 'talked' to him.

As Alec approached, Nicole thumped the man in the shoulder. "Well?" she said.

The man shook and blinked, gathering his wits. "Well...what? Sorry?"

"We need your help," Nicole said. "Can you be of service?"

"Absolutely!" the man said, eagerly, looking at both of them, then looked at Alec. "Your Honor!" he said in sudden recognition, saluting. "My humblest apologies for not recognizing you sooner," he said. "My ship is at your service."

"Excellent," Nicole said. "All aboard."

Alec dispassionately eyed the man up and down before returning the salute. "Yes, well see it doesn't happen again." He looked at Nicole, "We have business, lets get started."

"Get us into orbit," Nicole said.

"Yes, Ma'am," the pilot said, closing the hatches as the three of them walked inside the ship's cockpit. The pilot sat in his chair and graciously offered Alec the other as he started the pre-flight sequence. Nicole stood behind them, watching the readouts. The deck vibrated hard as the engines fired up and the ship lifted off. They watched the ground disappear just as three more police vehicles came into view. *Just in time,* she thought.

Alec slid into the copilot's chair; he knew approximately where to look for the Victory. He tapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Plot this course."

The pilot nodded and soon they were moving towards the Victory's last known position.

"Ship isn't there," Alec said to Nicole as he did a quick sensor scan. "Ah, found her! She's moving toward the Arcturus Cluster."

"We'll have to push the engines hard to keep pace with her," Nicole said and looked at the Pilot. "Can we match their speed?"

"I believe so," he said. "They've got an hour jump on us but we'll catch up once they stop."

"Then get after them," Nicole said.

"Right away," the pilot said, setting the course and engaging.

{Concurrently, aboard U.S.S. Victory:}

(Engineering)

With Miguel currently serving as First Officer, that left the general operation of Engineering tasks to Lt. Raylen. The ship was operating normally without any fault alerts at the moment, though they remained on yellow alert status even though the Captain had returned.. the majority of the away team had not and word was, the Captain's mood was decidedly dark. Further rumors indicated it was partially due to failure to follow orders.. And if that was the case Sam was glad she wasn't one of those who would fall under the Captain's ire upon returning to the ship!

Another rumor had her quite surprised..Word was, Miguel had cold-cocked the man whom the away team had gone to retrieve the moment he laid eyes on him, knocking this Nathan Torrance out cold on the hanger deck floor!

Not quite able to help it, she sent a written message to Miguel knowing he'd see the notification on the console there on the Bridge where he was currently standing watch.

::Did you really flatten that guy they went to so much trouble to retrieve the moment he set foot on the flight deck?::


{Bridge:}

At the comm station, Ensign Kim was currently on watch. His attention was on the flood of comm traffic coming from the surface of Heouron, sifting through the myriad transmissions searching for any indication that their missing crew were attempting to reach the ship via sub-space transmission. So focused on his task, he didn't notice the small indicator which flashed to indicate another message had come in from a distant source.

Lt. jg Camille Lévesque left the Captain's ready room and proceeded to the science station. She nodded at the Ensign, who told her that she had watch. A bit nervous, she thanked the Ensign and the two got back to work.

Penny turned from the conn and smiled. "Hi! So did you survive your meet-and-greet?"

“Well,” replied Camille, “if you’re the pilot, you’ve probably heard the saying about ‘any landing you can walk away from’? I’m glad I could walk away.” She deeply exhaled.

"Eh she's always like that," Penny said. "I think torturing us low-ranks is her pastime. I'm Penny by the way."

Camille gave a little wave from her station. “I’m Camille, new Chief Science Officer. Enchantée.”

"Ditto," Penny beamed. "Enjoy the watch. I take over in six hours so you won't have to hold it down long." She snickered and turned back as the Ops panel demanded her attention.

It was Camille's first day -- first hour -- aboard the ship, and there she was on the bridge, looking at sensor logs for any sign of a ship. She saw nothing, but she did notice an unusual subspace pattern. She rose from her chair to find the Ensign at the comm station, and directed him to open it.

"This is USS Victory," she said to the open comm channel. "Identify yourself, please."

Alec's voice came back through the com. "The lost sheep have returned. This Commander Alec Hunter. I have Doctor Nicole Anderson with me."

"Just so you don't have me confused with all the other Doctor Andersons we have on board," Nicole said, dryly.

Alec turned in his seat and shot her a look, "Doctor, please."

"Hot damn!" Penny said.

Miguel had just finished making all the preparations that the Captain had ordered him to do. The Ranger as well as the Valkyrie fighters. Fortunately he already had made many of those preparations while waiting to see if they needed to fly into the rescue. It seemed as if some of those plans were still needed to be used. He stepped onto the bridge just in time to hear the XO's voice on the com. "That's good to hear Commander. Would you like me to patch you in with the Captain?" he asked as he stepped over to the command chair.

Alec's voice floated back through the com. "Miguel, it is good to hear your voice." He said honestly then continued. "I think that is a good idea. Might keep her from punching a hole in a bulkhead or someone."

Miguel smiled and almost let him know that it was him that did the punching. Instead he simply said "Standby." with that he put the commander on hold and then contacted the Captain. "Bridge to Captain, we just received a communication from the XO, he's standing by whenever you want to talk to him."

Penny rerouted the signal but kept the line open on her end as well just in case.

SCPO Summers kept her eyes on her board on the Bridge. So much had happened recently, she was still trying to digest it all. She raised an eyebrow in an "?" and realized to herself that is was becoming to common a 'thing' to do..she knew that she was becoming more Romulan in her way of thinking and 'doing,' but it didn't frighten her. ' Perhaps the good Doctor is right,' She thought. Scanning the Bridge, Summers' eyes fell on the Science station. She looked at the chair's occupant. " Hmmm, new crew person, " She thought to herself.

Once Miguel saw that the signal was routed to the Captain's ready room he sat in the command chair and began to look at the current ship's status. It was then that he saw the text message from Sam. He shook his head as he had forgotten how fast the ship's rumor mill moved. He typed a simple reply. ::Yes:: and then went back to work until he was relieved by the Captain or something came up.

In engineering, Sam was a little shocked. Miguel was one of calmest, more level headed and rational men she’d ever met, What the hell could have made him just flatten this guy less than 2 minutes after he’d come aboard?.

At that point, the Captain's voice came over the comm as she responded to his earlier message, "Have them transport aboard and report to sickbay for a medical check. I am currently occupied with other business.."

"Understood Captain." Miguel said and then reopened the com to the XO. "Commander, the Captain is busy with something in the ready room. She has ordered that you beam on board as soon as you get within range and report to sickbay immediately for an examination."

Alec sighed, bit his tongue he could just imagine what Rhea was busy with. Two platters to put his and Nicole's head on. "Understood Miguel, we're about two hours behind you at the moment."

"Kindly inform her that we're not the only ones getting checkups when I get back on board," Nicole said, promise in her voice. She leaned over the pilot and checked his readouts. "We'll be there within the hour."

"Understood." Miguel said and then closed the channel. "Keep their ship on sensors. I want to know immediately if they run into any trouble." He then sent the Captain a text message with the update since he didn't want to interrupt her again.

As the channel closed, Alec nodded his head in agreement at Nicole's statement though inwardly he was a little disappointed that Rhea hadn't taken a moment to speak but she probably was busy he just hoped it wasn't with Torrance.

Miguel didn't get a long break. The comm system chimed again, this time the tone was different. A distinct, quick beeping sound that indicated they were receiving a distress call.

There was always something he thought to himself. Miguel reacted however with the calm that experience had taught him. "Locate the exact position of that signal." he ordered the science officer. "Penny as soon as we have those coordinates get me an intercept course. Summers hail the source of the signal and see if they can reply or if it's automated." Then he opened the com to the Ready Room. "Bridge to Captain, we've just received a distress call."

"You got it, boss," Penny said, gearing up the helm and double checking the signal.

“Aye, Commander,” said Camille, “the signal is coming from a system bearing two-seven-three-mark-eight. Range twelve light years. Looks like a ship orbiting a gas giant in the Tsoukalos star system. I can’t resolve lifesigns from this range.”

Summers opened a channel to the stricken ship. " This is the USS Victory to the Maharshi Krishnayreya. Can you give us your current status? We are standing by to assist. "

Dislike repeating the hail, no response came.

Summers turned back to the Commander. " No response, shall I continue?"

“Keep trying.” he replied.

Less than a minute passed and the door to the Ready Room opened, the Captain immediately walking toward Torres while Major Crowe and LT Cmdr. Holbridge followed.

“Report..” she said as she reached Torres’ side.

"We've picked up a distress signal from a vessel identifying itself as a commercial freighter, the Maharshi Krishnayreya, currently located some 12 light-years away. As of yet we haven't been able to get any response from our hails." Miguel told her. "We can be there in about 18 hours 56 minutes at maximum warp." he told her after easily making the calculations in his head. He knew their duty was to reply to the distress call, however they also had a mission and an incomplete crew. They were still just under two hours before Commander Hunter and Doctor Anderson were supposed to rendezvous with them. He said as he stood up from the command chair and stepped to the side should she want it.

Pacing to the command chair, she said "Transfer the distress signal to me here.."

"On it," Penny said, her hands flying over her Ops boards.

Sitting on the edge of the seat, the Captain pulled the display screen set into the seat up from it's stowed position and looked at the display as the information appeared. A slight frown crossed her features, and she entered a series of commands into the touchscreen display and then studied the resulting information.

"The message was partially corrupted.." Kennit said to no one in particular. "After clearing up the signal.. it indicates they are carrying raw materials, equipment, and food supplies to support the continued development of the outpost under construction in the Tsoukalos system.. Research Station DQ-X7Tango."

She paused, reading. "Damn.. lots of medical data here which doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot to me. Of course Dr. Anderson is out gallivanting around the cosmos when she's needed. Wait.. our course to rendezvous with the Krishnatreya takes us on a heading back toward where the XO and Doctor are currently inbound. We can pick them up on the way..."

Flipping the display back into stowed position, she said "Helm. Set course and engage, maximum warp."

"Aye, Captain," Penny said, kicking the engines up. There was a momentary shift as the inertial dampeners adjusted and she made a mental note to fix that during her extra hours.

Rhea stood up, turning to look back toward the comm station. "Send a confirmation signal, let them know we are on the way with an ETA of approximately 19 hours. Then hail Commander Hunter, tell him to expect to be beamed aboard as soon as we are in range."

Alec received Miguel's message, he informed Nicole of what was being planned and now waited.


[A few minutes later, transporter room 1]

The good thing about the fact that Commander Hunter and Doctor Anderson were now directly ahead of where they needed to go was the fact that they would be there in minutes. The bad part was that they were going to jump out of warp just long enough to beam them and guest on board, and then jump back into warp so that they could still arrive at the distressed ship with as little loss of time as possible. Of course that meant that Miguel had to handle the transporter himself. Near warp beaming wasn't something you wanted to put on shoulders of a junior officer or lower. Miguel looked everything over and when he got the signal that they were ready he energized the beam. It was the longest five seconds of his life as he waited for the transport cycle to complete.

Nicole's head was spinning as the transporter beam left her and she turned a distinct shade of light green for a few seconds. "What in Providence's name was so urgent you had to beam us over at warp?" she said, clutching her stomach.

"Near warp, Doctor." Miguel corrected her.

"You were at near warp, we weren't quite there yet," she hiccuped. She knelt down and opened her bag, pulling out her tricorder and scanning herself and Hunter quickly.

Alec stood next to Nicole, as they materialized in the transporter room. He imagined he looked like she felt. That was the down side of warp beaming. It left you with the feeling that your insides were playing catch and lagging far behind. Looking at Miguel he repeated her question, "What's the hurry?"

"Distress signal from a ship some 12 Light-years from here." he told them as he checked the scanners to make sure everything was fine with the the new arrivals. "The freighter in trouble was delivering key resources to the further development of Research Station DQ-X7Tango in the Tsoukalos system when they reported an illness."

"Casualties?" Nicole said, her voice hardening as she forcibly pushed her nausea aside.

Stepping into the transporter room in time to hear the Doctor’s question, still in civilian clothing and looking pale, the Captain answered from behind Torres. “Forty-five dead out of eighty-seven aboard according to the distress signal. Unless we’ve received a reply to our hails and no one has bothered to inform me, we have been unable to raise the freighter on the comm.”

While speaking, she walked directly toward the XO, her dark eyes looking even darker against the pale cast to her skin. Reaching him, not giving a flying rats ass about doing so, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace as she asked, “You okay?”

Nicole's eyebrows shot up near her hairline but she held her tongue.

Alec was surprised, but only briefly, as his arms came up to give Rhea a return hug. He nodded and replied in a low voice. "Up until a few moments ago I wasn't sure, but right now I've never felt better."

“Good...l she answered, then said in a sharper tone, as she pushed him back with a shove to lock eyes with the doctor for a moment, “Exactly what part of don’t miss the pickup rendezvous time wasn’t clear to the two of you? You could have been captured or worse!”

Alec was stunned by Rhea's sudden change in mood, he stood staring at her and then as if a small boy he raised his hand and spoke, "Um but we weren't."

Her eyes narrowed, flashing darkly as she answered in a very soft, yet quite spine-tingling tone of voice “Not the point..”

Alec met her gaze,he heard her soft yet spine tingling tone, "I stayed to assist the Doctor, I told you. I wasn't going to leave her on her own." His own voice going hard.

"And I informed him that was stupid," Nicole said.

“You endangered yourselves for what?” She retorted. “If you’d been captured you could have placed the entire mission at risk!”

Alec wasn't going to back down. "She is a crew member and a valuable one. I wasn't going to leave her behind." His voice even but hard. "I understand." He continued in a softer voice, "You were worried and I'm sorry for causing you worry but it doesn't change the fact I wouldn't leave her behind."

“What was going on that you would have had to leave her behind...” the Captain demanded. “She doesn’t look incapacitated to me!”

"I was busy taking care of an assailant who had a knife to someone's throat," Nicole said. "And let's be honest, if we'd be captured, the only people at risk would be the guards. The mission was at risk the moment someone decided to punch and shove their way in with all the finesse of a--"

"Uhm I know that debriefing the Commander and Doctor is important...." Miguel said butting in. "... but not only do they need to get to Sickbay as per the Captain's orders, but this really isn't the place for such... heated discussion." he suggested.

Alec glanced at Miguel and then returned his attention back on Rhea. "She went to take care of a problem and disappeared from sight. Not knowing if she was injured or would need help. I stayed to help and I won't apologize for it!"

“You have your orders. Sickbay for a medical checkout.” Kennit answered. “I have work to do...”

She turned on her heel, a shadow pulsing under her skin as she turned away, refusing to give into the raging demand that said to bind them.. bind him..to her mind. The implants in her body were designed for one thing, and she wanted to give in. To close the distance and lock his mind to hers, engulf him into One ...

Which she would not do.

Instead, she exited the transporter room and headed back to the Bridge and her Ready Room where she could change clothing finally while the ship streaked toward the stricken freighter.

Alec bit his tongue to keep from incurring any more of Rhea's ire but gosh darn it, he wouldn't apologize for helping a crew member. Rhea would have done the same thing, had done the same thing yet she was giving him hell for doing the same. Such were the perks of being Captain. Curbing his own temper he managed a stiff and stilted, "Aye Captain."

Nicole glowerd as the Captain walked out and huffed. "Let's get this over with," she said, tapping her combadge. "Anderson to Sickbay, prep beds one and two for exams."

"Yes, Doctor," Dr. P'k'ala said. "And welcome back."

Nicole rolled her eyes and walked out of the transporter room.

Alec looked where Rhea, then Nicole had exited the transporter room, he shook his head looked at Miguel. "Crap. It's true, no good deed goes unpunished." Then followed Nicole out of the room.


~Fin~

 

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