Mission 03: Unearthing a Frenzy

[Deleted]

Steve was nicely sound asleep in his bed in his quarters. It was the best night's sleep he had had for a long time. He was dreaming of being in an open field on the countryside of England back on Earth. He was having a picnic with Arya and little Renora. The sun was shining and it was quite a hot day. While Arya was fussing over Renora, Steve was just laying on the ground, taking in the sun. He closed his eyes and listened to the gentle breeze that was blowing. All of a sudden there was a persistent beeping coming from somewhere. He sat up to see where it was coming from, but noticed that Arya didn't seem at all bothered by it.

"What is that noise?" He said to himself, totally confused. Steve stood up....

.....and then joined the real world. The beeping was actually coming from somewhere in his quarters, but in his still half-asleep state, he couldn't work out where. He reached his arm out to turn the light on by his bed, but he ended up falling out of the bed altogether.

Steve quickly stood up, and then realised his mistake....the light was on the other side of his bed, so where he was reaching, there was nothing there. That little adventure to the floor shook him back into a fully alert state, and at once he recognised that the beeping was from the transmission console on his desk.

He approached the desk and tapped the button to turn the beeping off. It was a Priority One transmission from Starfleet Command, text only. Steve quickly read through the contents. It seemed the Olympia was being sent on a new mission.

'It's about time' He thought, 'Been going crazy stuck here.'

He read through the contents again, and downloaded the mission data to a padd. He intended to show it to Crystal before the rest of the senior crew, so she had a bit of time before anyone else to come up with any ideas....and to see first-hand how she would react with her first task as XO.

Steve got up and took a shower, then found a fresh new uniform and put it on. He went to his replicator and ordered a cup of tea. He set it down on the desk and pressed the communications button to open a shipwide comm.

=/\= Captain Smith to all Senior Staff. Report to the briefing room in 30 minutes. Commander Rose, please meet me there in 15. Smith out. =/\=

Steve cut the comm link, took a sip of his tea and then headed out of his quarters to make his way to the bridge.

<Tag All>

[David Tan]

The medical had gone well. Much better than he'd expected if he was honest .. The doctor on Bellicose had cleared him for duty .. There were things he'd have to watch, but nothing that was going to cause him a problem ..

~~~~~~~~~~

Waking, David got out of bed and began his required fifteen minutes of exercises to ensure his back muscles wouldn't stiffen up due to the stabbing. Once done, he showered, feeling the five centimeter scar on his lower back. Then he fixed himself a light breakfast ..

Checking the PADD, he made sure everything was there .. He was planning to bring the new Exec up to speed on systems status etcetera. It was simply to make her more at ease as she took over the role .. The ship-wide COMM activated suddenly ..

=^= Captain Smith to all Senior Staff .. Report to the briefing room in 30 minutes .. Commander Rose .. Please meet me there in 15 .. Smith out =^=

'Well, so much for bringing Crystal up to spec' David thought, throwing down the napkin and heading toward his bedroom for a uniform ..........

[Crystal Rose]

Crystal was up if not a 100% awake early and sitting in her quarters staring at a PADD with a half ignored breakfast by her elbow and not at all ignored mug of coffee in front of her. She was attempting to read the ship's status reports. They didn't all make a great deal of sense. She gulped down more coffee and got back to the reading.

=/\= Captain Smith to all Senior Staff. Report to the briefing room in 30 minutes. Commander Rose, please meet me there in 15. Smith out. =/\= The comm startled her out of a paragraph on quantum torpedoes that had just started to make sense she sighed. She gave herself five more minutes on the reports before gathering up her PADD and putting the remains of her breakfast back in the replicator. She quickly checked her appearance in the mirror, it still surprised her to see herself in red.

She arrived at the briefing room with about 30 seconds to spare. The Captain was all ready there. He looked quite serious even for him. Crystal took a seat and let him fill her in on the mission. It didn't seem a particularly difficult mission but that didn't really mean anything. She read through the information supplied by Starfleet command and just about had time to make a few notes before the rest of the senior staff started arriving.

Tag: Captain Smith / rest of briefing

[Deleted]

With the rest of the Senior Crew due to arrive in about 5 minutes, Steve went over the briefing one more time. Their orders were to depart from Bellicose immediately, but Steve was going to delay that for a short while, so he could check in on Arya before they left.

He was glad to be sent out on a mission, because with him out here doing something, it would take his mind off Arya and back on the job at hand. Out there, he made a difference. Here...he was just worrying, and that wasn't helping anyone, much less himself. He walked over to the replicator and ordered his customary cup of tea and took it back to the table and sat down again.

Suddenly, an idea hit him. Crystal is going to get a quick crash course in how it works in the Command track. He turned his chair to face her.

"Crystal. I know this is going to be your first mission as my First Officer. I am hoping you will go on to surpass your predecessors and stay in that position for more than one mission!" Steve smiled, before continuing; "One of the things that you will be required to do is handle mission briefings from time to time. On this occasion, I would like you to take control of the briefing. Start as you mean to go on, as they say. I'm not going to be judging you, but I feel it would be best to get certain things like this out of the way. What do you think?"

<Tag Crystal>

[Crystal Rose]

"Crystal. I know this is going to be your first mission as my First Officer. I am hoping you will go on to surpass your predecessors and stay in that position for more than one mission!" That gave Crystal pause for a second. Steve smiled, before continuing; "One of the things that you will be required to do is handle mission briefings from time to time. On this occasion, I would like you to take control of the briefing. Start as you mean to go on, as they say. I'm not going to be judging you, but I feel it would be best to get certain things like this out of the way. What do you think?"

Crystal's first thought was 'never, not in a million years', she hated public speaking. Then she thought rationally, a senior staff meeting was hardly public and as the Captain had said, an FO was expected to handle such things. She nodded formally. "Okay," she said. Hoping that her voice didn't betray her nerves.

The rest of the senior staff arrived and Crystal took a moment to scan the faces. The Captain and David she knew, Timok Var she was starting to know and Lieutenant Huebner she had seen once. She swallowed hard and began the briefing.

"Welcome everyone. The Captain has asked me to give the mission briefing. So here goes. Five weeks ago contact was with an archaeological team on Ganash III. The five person team, from the Federation Archaeological Institute, have been investigating the ancient ruins on the otherwise uninhabited world for nearly three months now.

Yesterday there was a short transmission from the team's base camp. However it doesn't clarify matters." Crystal rose from her seat and switched on the screen. The transmission had shocked her when The Captain had first shown it to her, she doubted a second viewing would make it easier.

A youngish dark haired human male mostly fills the screen. His hair is wild and unkempt; his face is muddy and his eyes wide. He is dressed in a tattered and torn coverall. Over his shoulder a female Vulcan can be seen but she is sitting hunched over, possibly sobbing.

Crystal pressed play. As soon as the transmission starts the man starts screaming. “They’re coming.” “I don’t know what’s happening.” He glances over his shoulders “They’ll be here soon.” He stops and stares into the recorder for a while “Are you sure you’re not them?” “You are” The transmission ended. Everyone in the briefing room is left staring at the logo of the Federation Archaeological Institute. Crystal turned the screen off and returned to her seat, taking a second to try to guess how the others were taking this. She did not have much luck.

"That was Peter Garrett, the leader of the expedition. The woman in the background is T’Sen the team’s anthropology expert. There has been no sign of the other three members of the team." She paused again gathering her thoughts for the next step in the briefing.

"Ensign Var, could you go through the team's medical records and see if there's some sign there of what could have caused this."

Tag: Ensign Var

"Lieutenant Heubner, The Olympia received a near complete offensive and defensive overhaul and upgrade while we've been at Bellicose. Please check all those systems over and report back to me before we reach Ganash III"

Tag: Lieutenant Heubner

"Commander Tan," Crystal had gone into formal mode now. "You and I get to go over the rest of the Olympia's systems."

Tag: David.

Crystal took a deep breath, so far so good. She was pretty sure she wasn't actually shaking and her voice wasn't quivering either, although she wasn't far off doing both. "We leave starbase in an hour. Any questions?"

Tag: All at briefing.

[joelhuebner]

Lt Huebner was getting adjusted to his quarters aboard the Olympia slowly. He had experienced a lot of changes recently with his mysterious appearance aboard the Hanson, getting acclimated to that ship and now learning the Olympia. The Olympia was one of his dream ships, he had always wanted to be aboard a Prometheus Class ship and looked forward to seeing what she was capable of.

Huebner had just received word that his family would be sent to meet up with him for this assignment when his comm went off.

=/\= Captain Smith to all Senior Staff. Report to the briefing room in 30 minutes. Commander Rose, please meet me there in 15. Smith out. =/\=

Quickly putting down a padd he was reading on the Olympia's tactical specs Huebner rose to his feet hopped into the sonic shower. After a refreshing 10 minute shower he put on a clean uniform and headed for the briefing room.

Arriving at the briefing room Huebner tried not to let his nerves show. He was fearful that he would have to wait to meet his family as it seemed that they finally had a mission to complete. First Officer Crystal Rose started the briefing.

"Welcome everyone. The Captain has asked me to give the mission briefing. So here goes. Five weeks ago contact was with an archaeological team on Ganash III. The five person team, from the Federation Archaeological Institute, have been investigating the ancient ruins on the otherwise uninhabited world for nearly three months now.

Yesterday there was a short transmission from the team's base camp. However it doesn't clarify matters." Crystal rose from her seat and switched on the screen.

A youngish dark haired human male mostly fills the screen. His hair is wild and unkempt; his face is muddy and his eyes wide. He is dressed in a tattered and torn coverall. Over his shoulder a female Vulcan can be seen but she is sitting hunched over, possibly sobbing.

Crystal pressed play. As soon as the transmission starts the man starts screaming. “They’re coming.” “I don’t know what’s happening.” He glances over his shoulders “They’ll be here soon.” He stops and stares into the recorder for a while “Are you sure you’re not them?” “You are” The transmission ended. Everyone in the briefing room is left staring at the logo of the Federation Archaeological Institute. Crystal turned the screen off and returned to her seat, taking a second to try to guess how the others were taking this. She did not have much luck.

"That was Peter Garrett, the leader of the expedition. The woman in the background is T’Sen the team’s anthropology expert. There has been no sign of the other three members of the team." She paused again gathering her thoughts for the next step in the briefing.

"Ensign Var, could you go through the team's medical records and see if there's some sign there of what could have caused this."

"Lieutenant Heubner, The Olympia received a near complete offensive and defensive overhaul and upgrade while we've been at Bellicose. Please check all those systems over and report back to me before we reach Ganash III"

"Commander Tan," Crystal had gone into formal mode now. "You and I get to go over the rest of the Olympia's systems."

Huebner left the briefing with a feeling of dread. Upon arriving at the bridge he took over the Tactical console from a young ensign, whom Huebner didn't recognize. Looking around furtively he quickly accessed the communication protocols and sent a short message to his wife.

"Jenny, would you please remain on Starbase Bellicose and wait for me. We have received an new assignment and are departing before you will have a chance to arrive. I miss you all very much and love you all. Please give Arik and Bryn each a kiss for me."

After he completed the message he began running diagnostics on the Tactical systems and running simulations to test their capabilities.

~3 Hours later~

Huebner finally had a firm grasp of the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Olympia as well as how they worked. He had also completed a full diagnostic and simulation on every Tactical system on board, even taking a short recess to the armory to check the phasers and phaser rifles. Everything appeared to be in working order.

=/\= Huebner to Rose, I have completed the tests of all Tactical systems and everything seems to be operating within normal parameters. I would like to research more in depth what the purpose for the expedition was and about the Ganash system, to look for possible security threats or other helpful information.=/\=

<Tag Rose>

[David Tan]

David listened intently to the briefing. On one hand to understand their mission, but also to see how Crystal coped with her first mission brief as the Olympia' Exec .. He was pleased, she seemed to have steeled into the role with ease.

As she ended her portion of the brief, she asked the Captain if he had anything to add ..

"No Commander .. I'm sure we know what we have ahead .. Carry on." Steven said, glancing at Tan and nodding briefly .. He too was pleased with the XO .. Crystal began to assign tasks before the ship actually departed the Star base ...

"Ensign Var.. Could you go through the team's medical records and see if there's some sign there of what could have caused this .. Lieutenant Heubner .. The Olympia received a near complete offensive and defensive overhaul and upgrade while we've been at Bellicose .. Please check all those systems over and report back to me before we reach Ganash III .. Commander Tan .. You and I get to go over the rest of the Olympia's systems."

"Aye Sir." David said, as each Officer nodded confirmation of their assignments.

"Then .. Dismissed everyone." Crystal said, smiling, and somewhat relieved.

As everyone began to file out of the briefing room, the Captain motioned for Rose to hold back ..

"Well done Commander." Steven said, "The briefing went very well .. I'll be in my quarters if you need me." he finished, leaving her alone ..

"David." she said, joining Tan on the Bridge, "I know you've already ensured we're ready to leave .. But i thought assigning the department heads to readying the ship would give them a boost before we depart."

"Good idea." Tan replied.

"We can run through everything here if you like." Crystal said ..

Tan moved toward the Command seats ..

"After you .. Sir." he said, grinning and making a grandiose bow ..........

[Crystal Rose]

OOC: Apologies for length and delay in posting.

After the briefing the Captain gave Crystal a few encouraging words and then retired to his quarters. Crystal was just relieved that so far she had screwed up. The rest of the senior staff went their separate ways to prepare for departure and to get on with the tasks they had been assigned. That left Crystal and David on their own. They talked for a minute or two and then th work had to begin.

"We can run through everything here if you like." Crystal said.

Tan moved toward the Command seats. "After you .. Sir." he said, grinning and making a grandiose bow.

Crystal smiled in an exaggerated manner, bowed in reply and led the way forward. She still wasn't used to being called 'sir' even in a joking manner by someone who until recently had been her superior. It was something else she would have to get used to. They began their diagnostics and systems checks. There were various fluctuations in the systems which was hardly a surprise given the amount of (very necessary) repairs the Oly had had while she had been in dock. Still, none of the fluctuations were out of spec, some of them would need watching.

She sighed silently to herself as they finished up, they still had a few minutes to go before they were shipping out but the bridge crew were arriving. V'Sel was on science; an ensign Crystal didn't know took ops before David dislodged him; Lieutenant Heuber was at tactical and another person Crystal didn't know had conn. Crystal and Timok were settled in their seats next to the Captain. All was ready.

"Why don't you get us under way?" the Captain said. Crystal's heart plummeted wondering how many more of these surprises he was going to spring on her before this mission was out.

She nodded her assent to the suggestion, it wasn't as if there was another option after all. "Bellicose Ops, this is the USS Olympia. Permission to leave dock."

"Permission granted Olympia, clear skies to you." Crystal smiled and felt a slight shudder go through the ship as the docking clamps disengaged. "Mr Patterson," Crystal said, pleased that she had managed to check the lieutenant's name on the duty rostas. "thrusters until we're clear of the station. Lay in a course for Ganash III, Warp 6."

"Aye, sir" The stars streaked as the Olympia sped off into space. The Captain left the bridge leaving Crystal in charge. She remembered the last time she had been left in charge, she'd been scared witless. Of course that had been her first trip out on the Oly and she'd been an ensign then.


Two Hours later:
=/\= Huebner to Rose, I have completed the tests of all Tactical systems and everything seems to be operating within normal parameters. I would like to research more in depth what the purpose for the expedition was and about the Ganash system, to look for possible security threats or other helpful information.=/\=

=/\=That's good news Lieutenant=/\= Crystal said =/\=I'll forward to you the information we received from Starfleet but there isn't that much. No sentient life for for at least 5,000 years, if I recall correctly. The dominant life form seems to be some sort of feline predator. I'd be interested in what you find out=/\=

Tag: Lieutenant Huebner

[Deleted]

Before the USS Olympia's departure

When the briefing was over, all the senior staff left the briefing room, leaving Steve in there all alone. He sat in thought for a couple of minutes and then left and headed back to the bridge. Upon entering, he noticed Commanders Tan and Rose working on the final preparations for departure, so he headed silently to his Ready Room.

Steve sat down at his desk and began to work on a few reports. His mind kept on wandering, and he just could not concentrate on anything....and he knew why. The Olympia was about to head out on their mission, and Arya would be still in her coma on the Starbase. If something went wrong, Steve wouldn't be there to look after her.

In an effort to get the thought out of his head, Steve stood up and looked out of the window. But that didn't work....the only thing for it was to go and see her. Before he went, he pulled out the padd that he stored away the last time Arya was ill...the one that held his resignation from Starfleet. He left it on his desk and headed towards the door.

"Computer, if I am not back onboard within one hour, play the contents of the padd on my desk to the entire crew."

"Acknowledged." Replied the computer.

Steve then headed back onto the Bridge and into the turbolift almost as silently as he entered. He took the shortest route down the the Starbase infirmary. He stopped outside the door, took a deep breath and walked in. Arya was in the same location she was since she was admitted there. Steve slowly walked up to her and sat by her side.

He took her hand in his and held it for a long time, while he slowly fell asleep next to his wife. Steve woke up some time later, still with Arya's hand in his. He felt really sure about leaving Starfleet this time..he just couldn't leave his wife while he went off elsewhere. He thought about what Arya would want, and he knew that she would want him to carry on with his life as normal. If anything were to happen, he would be contacted and he would make his way back as soon as possible. Plus, she would never forgive him if he gave up his career for her.

So that was it then, Steve was going to go back to the ship and try to continue with his duty as best he could, with Arya always in the back of his mind. He stood up and lightly brushed her cheek before kissing it.

"Goodbye, my love. I will be back before you know it. Just hang in there.....please." Steve said softly, placing Arya's hand back on the biobed. He turned and walked back out of the Infirmary, and headed straight back to the Olympia.

He stepped foot onboard ship with mere seconds before his resignation was played. Realising this, Steve breathed a heavy sigh of relief and headed towards the Bridge


After the USS Olympia's departure

Steve had been working on the reports for a couple of hours in his Ready Room. Since he returned from seeing Arya and saying goodbye, he was able to think much more clearly and was therefore able to get the reports done. He placed the final padd on the pile.

'Guess I should really show that I am still alive.' He thought to himself, getting up out of his chair. He walked around his desk and headed out to the bridge.

He stood in the doorway to the bridge and leant on the frame. "What's our ETA?" He asked, randomly...mainly to see if his sudden presence surprised anyone.

[David Tan]

They had been in space for almost a day .. Ganash III was getting closer, but they had still failed to make contact with the station ..

Everyone seemed to have settled into their respective roles, the Olympia making good time but allowing for minor tests and checks to be run .. It was always safer to double-check something if you had the luxury of time to do so, rather than take it for granted ..

David had been assisting Commander Rose during this time, but he could see she was now settled into her new position, and seemed relieved that the 'congratulations' had ceased ..

David left the Exec' with several status reports she would be required to sign-off on, and moved to the Operations station. Telling the duty Opps Officer to stay where she was, he looked over the console for any abnormalities, but found none, but he was surprised when the young Officer again rose from her seat, this time to be replaced by someone else .. Tan looked up at the chronometer above the view-screen, and realized that Gamma Shift now had the Bridge ..

As he moved toward the turbo-lift he leaned over to whisper to Crystal ..

"You planning on Commanding 'every' rota'd shift ?"

"What .. Oh no .. Sorry I was ju ...." Crystal began, then realized he was joking, "I'll just finish this then I'll leave them to it .. I promise." she said, waving him away with a grin ..

"OK .. Then I'll say good night Commander." Tan said.

"Good night David .. And thank you." she said, smiling again ..

David returned the smile then entered the lift .. he sorely needed a hot shower and some sleep ..........

[joelhuebner]

Huebner woke with a start. He had been dreaming again, nightmares really. Looking back he remembered why he left Starfleet the first time, it was hell being away from his family. Shoving the memories back deep into his subconscious he rose and went to the shower.

As the sonic rays pounded the dirt, grime and sweat off of his body he thought of his research. "I still haven't gotten any useful information about the Ganash system or what is there."

Huebner put on a clean uniform and resumed his post on the bridge at the Tactical/Security station. So far into the voyage everything was running smoothly. He typed up his daily security report and sent it to First Officer Rose.

*Nothing new to report Commander, no security breaches or threats detected. Diagnostics of all systems have been run and everything is running at optimal settings.*

Seeing that Captain Smith was not on the bridge he queried the computer as to his location. "Captain Smith is in his ready room", the computer replied. Huebner strode over to the Ready Room door and chimed. "Come in", came Smith's voice from the other side of the door. Huebner entered and the Captain asked him, "What's on your mind Lieutenant?"

Huebner said, "Permission to speak freely, Sir?" Captain Smith smiled wearily and said, "Of course, Lieutenant" Huebner said, "Sir I've noticed that you are not seeming to take a real active role so far in the mission. You had First Officer Rose give the briefing and I haven't hardly seen you for most of the voyage so far. Is there something bothering you Sir? I know that I'm certainly no counselor, but I wanted you to know that if you wanted to share anything that I'd be more than willing to hear you out."

<Tag Smith>

[Deleted]

To say that Steve was surprised by Huebners questioning was an understatement. He said nothing in reply and just narrowed his eyes, looking directly at Huebner.

He slowly stood up, any sign of emotion was gone from his face. "Let me make a few things clear, Lieutenant....I do not have to explain myself to you. But as a matter of courtesy just this once, I shall. We are still en route to the Ganash system, and as we are en route, there is nothing for me to do on the bridge that I cannot do in here. It's not as if the ship has been left commandless." There was no anger in Steve's voice, but he did feel it inside. Being questioned by a junior officer, and a NEW officer no less, was not something he was happy with.

"Secondly, I asked Commander Rose to take the briefing as she has only just been given the First Officer's position...I thought I would see if she could rise to the challenge start off in her new position positively. Of which I am happy to say that she did."

He rounded his desk and sat on the front of it.

"Now, is there anything else? Or would you like me to sit on the bridge until we arrive at our destination?"

[Crystal Rose]

They had been hailing the team on Ganash III but the communications went unanswered. The Captain was spending a lot of time in his ready room or in his quarters. Crystal was starting to get a little worried about him. She sighed silently and started to read over the status reports she had been given. She was working hard to familiarise herself with the Olympia's systems but she was aware that there was a long way to go before she felt that she was on top over everything. She had so far managed to stay out of the science lab and thus out of the aCScO's hair.

"You planning on Commanding 'every' rota'd shift ?" David asked. Crystal checked the chrono and sighed again.

"What .. Oh no .. Sorry I was ju ...." Crystal began, then realized he was joking, "I'll just finish this then I'll leave them to it .. I promise." she said, waving him away with a grin ..

"OK .. Then I'll say good night Commander." Tan said.

"Good night David .. And thank you." she said, smiling again ..

Crystal did as she had said and made it back to her quarters fairly promptly. She threw herself in the show before heading to bed. It seemed like only moments later that the computer was beeping to inform her that they would be arriving at Ganash III shortly. A clean uniform, coffee and several slices of toast and Crystal made it up to the bridge. She was on duty in a little while anyway.

Ganash III was a large green ball on the main viewscreen. "Enter standard orbit. She said to the young conn officer. "Aye, sir"

Crystal turned to the CTSO who had just come on duty "Start scans, please. Let me know what you find"

Tag: Lt. Huebner

=/\=Bridge to Captain Smith, we are in orbit of Ganash III, scans are underway.=/\=

Tag: Captain Smith.

[David Tan]

David glanced over to the Helm as the duty Officer guided the Olympia into a high orbit ..

He double-checked the readings Helm was receiving and nodded ..

"Standard orbit achieved Sir."

"Thank you Helm .. Mister Heubner .. Keep scanning the surface .. If anything moves I want to know it before 'it' does." Crystal said, glancing at the ready room door .. She tapped her Comms badge and spoke ...

=^= Bridge to Captain Smith .. We are in orbit of Ganash III .. Scans are underway =^=

=^= I'm on my way Commander =^= Tan heard the Captain reply, as he studied the planet below them ..

An 'M' class. It was almost identical in size to Earth, with more area devoted to dry land, and subsequently less water. But unlike Earth, this planet was devoid of life ..

"Commander ..." said Tan, now at the Science station, "I'm picking up something .. It may be nothing .. Just a sensor anomaly .. In the northern hemisphere .. Could we adjust our orbit to take us over the poles .. I'd like a better look ?" he finished, nodding to Heubner to concentrate his own scans in that area ..

"Helm .. Adjust to a polar orbit." the Exec' ordered instantly, trusting her Operations Officers' instincts ..

The planet below changed orientation as the ship began her flight over the southern pole .. Tan waited patiently for the northern hemisphere to come over the horizon ..........



< tag: All >

[David Tan]

David watched his sensor readings closely as the Olympia reorientated herself to a polar orbit ..

As the ship rose above the horizon, it was able to scan the northern pole, where Tan thought he'd seen something .. Yes .. There it was again. Miniscule against the vast snow-capped wasteland, but there all the same !

"I think I can see it." Tan said, "Mr Huebner .. Can you lock sensors on the co-ordinates I'm sending to your station ?"

"Locked Commander." Joel said, checking the readings himself.

"What do you have David ?" Crystal said from her Command chair .. She was struggling to stay-put, as her 'instincts' told her to go look at the readings herself. She had people to do that for her now, She 'was' still wondering where the Captain was, and decided to give him a few more minutes before having him contacted again ..

"It's an escape pod ....." Tan said, frowning at his readout, "Well .. It's whats left of an escape pod to be precise Commander."

"Any signs of life ?" she asked instantly.

"No .. There's not enough left of the pod to have sustained life .. It was shot to pieces in space and must have fell to the surface unguided." David said, "I would suggest beaming part of what's left into a cargo-bay for analysis."

Crystal tapped a button on the arm of her seat ..

=^= Bridge to Transporter room .. Lock on to the wreckage on the surface and beam several large pieces into the cargo-bay =^=

Several seconds later, she got a reply ..

=^= Transport complete =^=

"Mr Huebner .. Get a team down there .. I want a full report ASAP." Commander Rose ordered, "Keep scanning .. I want to know if there's anything else we can salvage that will help explain the teams' disappearance !"

"Aye Sir." Tan replied, getting to work ..........



< tag: All >

[Crystal Rose]

Crystal wanted to get up and pace but, realising that this might not create a good impression, she restrained herself. Lt Huebner was examining bits of an escape pod and she was waiting for Commander Tan to complete the scans of the planet. Hopefully that would give them a starting point for the search: a campsite would be good, some lifesigns...

She itched to do something be held herself back. people didn't work well with an FO breathing down their necks she knew everyone was more than capable of doing their jobs she just had to let them get on with it. She also wondered how the Captain was but resisted the urge to comm him again. Something would show up but until then she just had to keep hold of her impatience and desire to be running the scans herself.

[joelhuebner]

Smith: "Let me make a few things clear, Lieutenant....I do not have to explain myself to you. But as a matter of courtesy just this once, I shall. We are still en route to the Ganash system, and as we are en route, there is nothing for me to do on the bridge that I cannot do in here. It's not as if the ship has been left commandless. Secondly, I asked Commander Rose to take the briefing as she has only just been given the First Officer's position...I thought I would see if she could rise to the challenge start off in her new position positively. Of which I am happy to say that she did. Now, is there anything else? Or would you like me to sit on the bridge until we arrive at our destination?"

Huebner thought to himself, "Wow, what did I just do?" He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He stammered a little then was finally able to say, "Sir, I meant no disrespect, I was only trying to help. There is nothing else so I believe that I will return to my duties on the bridge, with your permission of course."

Smith nearly growled, "Dismissed."

Huebner beat a quick exit back to the bridge with his face beet red.

Later...

Huebner was standing watch at his post when the Olympia reached Ganash III.

Crystal turned to the CTSO who had just come on duty "Start scans, please. Let me know what you find"

"Aye, Commander", said Huebner who began scanning the planet for threats or anything else he could detect.

Huebner was still a bit embarrassed by the confrontation in the Captain's ready room and though to himself, "I hope that I will be allowed to continue my posting here. I really like the Olympia so far, but I'm not sure what the Captain will think of me."

Huebner was suddenly roused from his thoughts by Commander Tan, "Mr Huebner .. Can you lock sensors on the co-ordinates I'm sending to your station ?"

"Locked Commander." Joel said, checking the readings himself.

"What do you have David ?" Crystal said from her Command chair .. She was struggling to stay-put, as her 'instincts' told her to go look at the readings herself. She had people to do that for her now, She 'was' still wondering where the Captain was, and decided to give him a few more minutes before having him contacted again ..

"It's an escape pod ....." Tan said, frowning at his readout, "Well .. It's whats left of an escape pod to be precise Commander."

"Any signs of life ?" she asked instantly.

"No .. There's not enough left of the pod to have sustained life .. It was shot to pieces in space and must have fell to the surface unguided." David said, "I would suggest beaming part of what's left into a cargo-bay for analysis."

Crystal tapped a button on the arm of her seat ..

=^= Bridge to Transporter room .. Lock on to the wreckage on the surface and beam several large pieces into the cargo-bay =^=

Several seconds later, she got a reply ..

=^= Transport complete =^=

"Mr Huebner .. Get a team down there .. I want a full report ASAP." Commander Rose ordered, "Keep scanning .. I want to know if there's anything else we can salvage that will help explain the teams' disappearance !"

Huebner said, "Aye, Commander!" Huebner quickly stepped off the bridge, thinking to himself, "Now I have a chance to prove myself to the Captain." Hitting his combadge he assembled a Security team and quickly arrived at the Cargo Bay. Grabbing a tricorder he and his team began scanning the remains of the escape pod. It appeared to be of Federation origin and had plasma burns on areas of the hull. Residual traces also indicated that the pod had been shot down. Not being a scientist he quickly passed the information to Commander Tan for a more scientific analysis.

<Tag Tan>

=/\= Huebner to Commander Rose and Captain Smith. My team has completed analysis of the escape pod. It appears to be of Federation origin and based on the information as I understand it I believe that it was shot down by a Romulan Plasma Torpedo. I am going to begin a Tachyon sweep of the system to search for cloaked Romulan vessels and would recommend going to Yellow Alert until further notice.=/\=

<Tag Rose and Smith>

Turning to an Ensign, Huebner said, "You're in charge here keep myself and Commander Tan appraised of your progress. I'm returning to the bridge."

[Deleted]

The turbolift doors to the bridge opened, and Steve rushed out of the lift and onto the bridge. His face was red and he was sweating and breathing very fast. It would be clear to anyone that he had been running...quite fast at that.

He walked over to Crystal. "My apologies on taking so long. Just after your call, I got caught up with an incident outside my quarters." The thought flashed through about why he had to explain himself, but he let it pass.

"So, what have we got?"

<Tag David, Crystal>

"Right, well lets hope that Mr Huebner and his team find some answers." He said after he had been updated. "The more answers we know, the better...There just seems to be something off here...I can't place it though."

Not two seconds had passed when Steve's commbadge chirped:

=/\= Huebner to Commander Rose and Captain Smith. My team has completed analysis of the escape pod. It appears to be of Federation origin and based on the information as I understand it I believe that it was shot down by a Romulan Plasma Torpedo. I am going to begin a Tachyon sweep of the system to search for cloaked Romulan vessels and would recommend going to Yellow Alert until further notice.=/\=

=/\= What? Romulans?? That's all we need. Find out anything else you can Mr Huebner then I want you back up here on the double. Smith out. =/\=

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse." Steve said to himself, though loud enough for someone standing next to him to hear.

Stepping towards the front of the bridge, he turned to Tan. "David, I want you to run a sweep of the system as well. Do a full sweep across the entire spectrum. I want to know if there is anything out there. With any luck there wont be, but when the Romulans are concerned, you can never be too careful."

<Tag David>

He then went and sat down, with Crystal next to him. "Well, that would complicate matters if there ARE hiding." He said, grimly. "You are doing a good job, by the way." He added, with a soft smile.

<Tag Crystal>

[Crystal Rose]

The turbollift doors hissed open and the Captain arrived. He had obviously been running or doing something similarly vigorous. Crystal got out of the command chair and stood as he came over to her.

"My apologies on taking so long. Just after your call, I got caught up with an incident outside my quarters." he said Crystal simply nodded in response
"So, what have we got?" he asked "No life signs so far and one escape pod recovered. Lieutenant Huebner is examining it now." Crystal reported.
Commander Tan had a bit to add as well. "Right, well lets hope that Mr Huebner and his team find some answers." He said "The more answers we know, the better...There just seems to be something off here...I can't place it though."
Crystal agreed, there was something off here.

=/\= Huebner to Commander Rose and Captain Smith. My team has completed analysis of the escape pod. It appears to be of Federation origin and based on the information as I understand it I believe that it was shot down by a Romulan Plasma Torpedo. I am going to begin a Tachyon sweep of the system to search for cloaked Romulan vessels and would recommend going to Yellow Alert until further notice.=/\=

=/\= What? Romulans?? That's all we need. Find out anything else you can Mr Huebner then I want you back up here on the double. Smith out. =/\=

Crystal looked up at the ceiling for a moment. She was nearly positive she heard the Captain mutter "Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse." under his breath. She didn't say anything but agreed with the sentiment.

Crystal settled into the FO's seat as the Captain gave out orders. He sat down next to her.

"Well, that would complicate matters if there ARE hiding." He said, grimly. "You are doing a good job, by the way."
Crystal smiled. "Thank-you," she responded. "If there have been Romulans here then there has to be some reason for it. I doubt they'd come this far out of their way just to shoot an escape pod."

[Crystal Rose]

Aboard the IRW Erkana

Centurion Tanara was worried, this was supposed to be a simple information gathering mission and now a federation starship had shown up. This complicated matters. Of course, it wasn't her place to make suggestions Commander Danath did not tend to take suggestions well. She had been told to continue her scans and try to find out exactly what that ship was doing here. She hoped it was coincidence but doubted it. Even she knew starfleet did not send ships this far out on a whim. Tanara kept her worries to herself and continued her scans.

[joelhuebner]

Upon returning to the bridge Huebner quickly assumed command of his post at Tactical. He quickly began setting up the Tachyon sweep of the system, hoping against hope that he wouldn't find what he thought was out there. The search was going to take some time to complete so he racked his brain on other methods to detect a cloaked vessel. The only other options he could come up with were an antiproton beam, which was not very effective, or a tachyon detection grid, which needed more vessels to work properly.

Huebner thought, "What can I do? I need more ships...Wait a minute we have probes aboard, perhaps they could be modified to work with a tachyon detection grid."

Checking the inventory listing he discovered that the Olympia had 26 probes aboard. Setting up the detection grid would virtually wipe out that reserve.

=/\= Huebner to Captain Smith and Commander Rose. I have not yet gotten any results from the Tachyon sweep, but I have some other ideas that may work. I can set up an antiproton beam, though I would have to be very focused on a specific area in the system to detect anything. Secondly I could set up a Tachyon detection Grid, much like Captain Picard used in the Klingon Civil War a few years back. The only problem is that I need about 20 ships to implement that grid. 20 ships we don't have. I had thought about trying to use probes in place of other ships, but that will tip our hand if there are Romulans out there. In addition it would almost exhaust our supply of probes. Permission to proceed?=/\=

<Tag Smith/Rose>

[Crystal Rose]

"I have not yet gotten any results from the Tachyon sweep, but I have some other ideas that may work. I can set up an antiproton beam, though I would have to be very focused on a specific area in the system to detect anything. Secondly I could set up a Tachyon detection Grid, much like Captain Picard used in the Klingon Civil War a few years back. The only problem is that I need about 20 ships to implement that grid. 20 ships we don't have. I had thought about trying to use probes in place of other ships, but that will tip our hand if there are Romulans out there. In addition it would almost exhaust our supply of probes. Permission to proceed?" Crystal rose from her chair in the center of the bridge, she was glad for something to do. The tachyon detection grid sounded very interesting. She sighed to herself, you could take the officer out of science but not the science out of the officer.

Captain Smith seemed to be letting her handle this at the moment, no doubt he would have something to say if she screwed but though. "Make plans for the net Lieutenant," Crystal said "but don't launch it yet. I want to know where we stand with the planet first."

She turned to leave tactical then a thought struck her. "Has that escape pod been check for organic residue?" What she meant of course was did anyone die in it but that wasn't a diplomatically phrased question to ask.

Tag: Lt Huebner

Crystal, still feeling that she had an excess of nervous energy walked the long way round to speak to David. "Any on the scans yet?" She asked despite knowing that he would have said something if there had been.

Tag: David

"Five people can't just vanish and not leave some trace behind," she sighed as she started back to her seat.

[David Tan]

Stepping towards the front of the bridge, Smith turned to Tan.

"David .. I want you to run a sweep of the system as well .. Do a full sweep across the entire spectrum .. I want to know if there is anything out there .. With any luck there wont be .. But when the Romulans are concerned you can never be too careful !"

"Already on it Captain." David said, studying the reading's on his panel, plus the reading's Heubner had sent over from the Tactical station ..

Tan took control of the sensors, and running through a wide-arc spectrum, he scanned the space around the USS Olympia ..

"Helm .. I need you to rotate the ship on her axis .. Through a full three hundred and sixty degrees .. Remain on this heading." David ordered, not expecting any query from the Captain or XO ..

The ship continued on her present heading as requested, and executed a perfect pirouette on her axis .. All the while, Tan scanned every band and wavelength available to the sensors ... Suddenly, for what seemed like a nano-second, there was a 'spike' on the reading .. Instantly, Tan brought up the portion of the sweep .. He sent the information over to Heubner, then almost ran to the Science station, which could give much more information ..

It was impossible to say if there was a ship out there or not .. The readings were inconclusive, but nevertheless, David knew he had seen something ..

"Captain .. I need us to come to heading two one five mark zero .. Now."

"Helm .. Alter course !" Steven ordered instantly.

As the ship came round, David focused every sensor at his disposal on the co-ordinates he'd seen the 'spike' .. But whatever was out there had moved, or had detected the scan, however brief, and had moved out of range again ..

"Damn !" Tan said, frustrated, "It was there .. I'm certain .. We could head in the general direction Sir .. But I'm not sure what use that will be."

"Keep scanning Commander." Crystal said, "Helm .. Stay on heading two one five mark zero .. Full impulse .. Let's go visit." ..........



< tag: All >

[Crystal Rose]

There had been a spike on the sensors, that much Crystal knew. V'Sel was ably handling the science station so there was nothing she could do there. She stayed in her seat and glanced down noticing that she was clutching the armrests so hard her knuckles had turned white. She took a deep breath and forced herself to let go, hoping desperately that no one had noticed how twitchy she was. Captain Smith seem ed perfectly calm as he sat beside her, Crystal guess that he wasn't calm but he was a lot better at not showing it than her.

"Go to red alert," Crystal said. Anything that was hiding out here probably wasn't friendly.

This had seemed an easy mission, now though there were far too many unanswered questions, the archeology team were still missing, that escape pod had to have come from somewhere and now there was another ship here... It was all giving Crystal a bit of a head ache. She waited.

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

Aboard the IRW Erkana

Centurion Tanara was now really worried, the federation ship had come about and was now flying in their direction. As far as she was aware their cloak was working fine, but that wasn't her main concern right now. Her main concern was that Commander Danath had just arrived on the bridge. There was a slight spatter of red on the hem of his tunic, Tanara's keen eyes picked up on it at once. She hoped one of the prisoners had told him something useful or else he might find someone else to take his mood out on.

Commander Danath was very angry, the prisoners still claimed to be archeologists. Still, there was no way they could hold out much longer. He glanced up at the viewscreen which was filled with a reverse angle image of a federation starship.

"And how is that tracking us?" The sublieutenant on the engineering station spoke up nervously.

"The mineral dust surrounding the system caused the cloak to fluctuate for 0.01 millicycles [about 0.02 sec], sir, I believe i have compensated for it." He breathed a silent sigh of relief as the Commander looked away from him.

"Engineer Tirel, report to the bridge" Commander Danath said over the comm system. The rest of the bridge staff went very quiet, they knew what that meant when he was in this sort of mood. "Yes, sir." came the prompt but resigned reply.

[joelhuebner]

"Make plans for the net Lieutenant," Crystal said "but don't launch it yet. I want to know where we stand with the planet first."

Huebner made a few quick adjustments to his console. "I have the basic net set up, though I'll have to have Engineering modify the probes for this kind of use. I'll contact them immediately, Sir."

=/\= Huebner to Engineering. I have some specifications that I'm sending you on modifying probes to act as part of a tachyon detection grid. I need them as soon as possible. We have been authorized to prepare the net at this time, thought we are still awaiting authorization to launch it. If you need any further information you can contact me or check the computer banks for information on this net. Commander LaForge used a similar net using multiple ships during the Klingon Civil War.=/\=

Rose asked, "Has that escape pod been check for organic residue?"

Huebner knew instantly what the commander was getting at. He hadn't seen any readings on that as he had been mostly focused on the method of the pod's destruction. Checking with the Officer in charge of the continued scanning he was stunned to hear that there was residue from Human and Vulcan organisms in the debris. Suddenly a thought struck him and he contacted the Officer again. "Are those Vulcan or Romulan signs Ensign?" The Ensign said that he wasn't sure, but would have Science look into it. Huebner said, "No time Ensign, send the information you have to me at the Tactical station and I'll see what I can unearth with it."

His console chirped a split second later with the uploaded information. Not being an expert on Vulcan or Romulan Physiology he forwarded the information to Commander Rose, Commander Tan and the Science Station on the bridge.

"Commanders Rose and Tan, I think you should take a look at this. There was in fact organic residue inside the pod wreckage. It initially shows that there was at least one Human and one Vulcan on board when it was destroyed. Due to the circumstances I am having further analysis done on the Vulcan residue as it may in fact be Romulan residue. I have made the data available to Command, Operations and Science staff for more detailed analysis."

<Tag Tan and Rose>

After taking a brief look at the information Commander Tan returned to his post to work on a more detailed search for the suspected Romulan Vessel.

"Helm .. I need you to rotate the ship on her axis .. Through a full three hundred and sixty degrees .. Remain on this heading." David ordered, not expecting any query from the Captain or XO ..

The ship continued on her present heading as requested, and executed a perfect pirouette on her axis .. All the while, Tan scanned every band and wavelength available to the sensors ... Suddenly, for what seemed like a nano-second, there was a 'spike' on the reading .. Instantly, Tan brought up the portion of the sweep .. He sent the information over to Heubner, then almost ran to the Science station, which could give much more information ..

It was impossible to say if there was a ship out there or not .. The readings were inconclusive, but nevertheless, David knew he had seen something ..

"Captain .. I need us to come to heading two one five mark zero .. Now."

"Helm .. Alter course !" Steven ordered instantly.

As the ship came round, David focused every sensor at his disposal on the co-ordinates he'd seen the 'spike' .. But whatever was out there had moved, or had detected the scan, however brief, and had moved out of range again ..

"Damn !" Tan said, frustrated, "It was there .. I'm certain .. We could head in the general direction Sir .. But I'm not sure what use that will be."

"Keep scanning Commander." Crystal said, "Helm .. Stay on heading two one five mark zero .. Ahead warp two." ..........

"Go to red alert," Crystal said.

Huebner instantly hit the button for Read alert raising shields and charging weapons. Checking the status of the shields and weapons he smiled. "This is where I really shine", he thought. Looking quickly he determined that the full complement of 100 quantum torpedoes were ready for his command to fire.

"Red Alert, Aye, Commander. All tactical systems functioning within normal parameters."

=/\=Engineering to Huebner, we have been able to program the probes to act as part of your detection grid, everything is now ready on our end.=/\=

=/\=Thanks Lieutenant, I am happy to hear it. Give your crew a pat on the back from me for working so quickly. When we hit base remind me to buy you a drink! Huebner out=/\=

"Commander Rose, The probes are ready and the detection grid is set up. I only await your authorization to begin the sweep with the grid."

<Tag Rose>