tbd.... (USS Essex)

Posted on Wed Oct 8th, 2014 @ 11:23pm by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & Colonel Danny Lennox & Admiral Deela T'Lar & Captain L'Verrem & Commander Jonathan Coleman & Commander Tressa Brislan & Captain Jack Solomon

3,109 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Mission 86 - Discovery
Location: USS Essex
Timeline: MD 3, 1830hrs (Following 'Recovery and Discovery')

ON:

Alien Ship

L'Verrem cautiously stepped around the twisted remains of the derelict. He surmised this was the engineering deck of the once great ship, judging from the nexus of interconnects from all directions to a single place. But that nexus was empty, which immediately caught his attention and fueled his curiosity. He wondered why there was no intermix chamber, like on Federation and Klingon starships, or a singularity containment sphere like on a Romulan ship. He approached the nexus to investigate, and all the while his tricorder showed an increase in radiation. He reached the empty nexus and indeed found it bare, but he was certain something must, at one time, have inhabited the space. He peered up, and then down the gaping void, where he found an open hatch and, beyond that, stars.

"It appears they jettisoned their primary energy source. This action would have only been taken if there was an imminent failure," L'Verrem said.

After a long pause, the lack of replies started to make him uncomfortable. He looked back for his compatriots and found them still wandering the vast cavity. L'Verrem concluded the radiation was beginning to affect communication. They had come a long way and whatever they found here could explain the presence of the tetryon reactor on the world the Essex orbited and what likely caused a war amongst the inhabitants. Time was of the essence, so he decided to press ahead farther into the ship. He moved as fast as he could and arrived at a hatch. It was as he expected sealed shut. He knew from the scans they made of the ship before they arrived there were no life signs, so he had no reservations with reaching for his phaser and using it for cutting through the hatch. It was slow going and while cutting, L'Verrem thought it was logically a bulkhead and reinforced to protect the rest of the ship from an accident, much the way any ship in the Federation was designed. He thought it interesting how beings seemed to think alike with the design of their starships.

His thoughts were cut short with the beam from his hand phaser reaching the beginning of the circle he had cut with it. He removed his finger from the trigger and placed the phaser back on his belt and then gave the piece he had cut a light tap, sending it drifting past the bulkhead and farther into the ship. There was a rush of white mist as the atmosphere on the other side crystallized and jetted out. It rapidly receded and there was empty space again. L'Verrem peered into the hole, now illuminated with the lamps in his helmet. He stepped through and began plodding down a corridor. It was tube shaped, and he could see doors as thin outlines and conformed to the curve of the walls. Each door was marked with a text he did not recognize. He chose one at random and tried to pry it open. To his surprise, he found it easy to slide open. He stepped through to find the mummified remains of beings he did not recognize floating about. He carefully evaded them so as not to disturb them and send them careening around the room. This was their final,resting place, and he would honor them by leaving them in peace. They were about his height, including his environment suit, and thin, leading L'Verrem to think they were from a low gravity world. The room was lined with consoles, all dark, except for one with a single, blue light flaring and casting the room in an eerie light.

Billy trotted along the derelict with the away team wondering what he was thinking coming along with this away team. The eerie environment sent chills through him. He focused on keeping his composure and reading his tricorder, not wanting to freak out and gain a reputation of a coward. Looking at the sole console with a blue light and asked, "What is that?"

Tressa stepped gingerly, holding her tricorder at her side. A low beep caught her attention and she held the unit closer; the radiation detector. She looked up and realized the figure of L'Verrem was almost out of sight. She quickened her steps.

"Lieutenant?" she asked as she walked up to the young diplomat. "Did you pick up a change in radiation readings about twenty meters back?"

"I believe so," Billy looked up his scan history log with a few taps on the screen of buttons and showed it to her.

"The radiation increase caused interference with our suit communications. They are restored now that we are closer together," L'Verrem said.
Now that his away team was together once again, he approached the console and the singular blue light. His Caitian curiosity had taken over completely. He reached out and touched the stud that emanated the light and the screen that was recessed into the console came alive, bathing the room in light. He winced as his highly sensitive eyes were suddenly assaulted with the bright light, then was able to look at the screen as they adjusted. A being like the deceased ones floating about the room sat at a chair, presumably a command chair and speaking as if it was making a log entry. The room was in vacuum, so he could not hear what was being said. He commanded his tricorder to begin recording all electromagnetic radiation coming from the console. The message lasted a few minutes and faded in and out several times, indicating it was snippets and boosting his theory it was, indeed, a log. A scene then appeared that was radically altered from the previous ones. The room (the bridge, perhaps?) was dark and the being was leaning forward, as if doubled over in pain. There was one more entry after that, where he could see in the being's eyes it was dying. The recording then ended. L'Verrem picked up his tricorder and turned to his team mates.

"Let us get back to the shuttle and run the recording through the universal translator. It is impossible to do from here with the radiation interfering with communication. It must hold the clues as to what occurred here," he said.

Back in the shuttle, L'Verrem was glad to have doffed the confining environment suit. He and the away team now all sat in their seats facing a computer screen. L'Verrem commanded "Computer, download the recording on my tricorder and translate."

The computer chirped and a few moments later the translation was complete. L'Verrem then commanded the computer to run the recording on the screen. The being appeared once again and they were able to hear his voice for the first time. At first, the information seemed routine. The beings arrived at this star system on an exploration mission and were interested in observing the primitive sentient race on the inhabited world. L'Verrem instantly felt a kinship with them. They were peaceful explorers like themselves. The being, L'Verrem now assumed was the ship's captain, was making seemingly routine reports about entering orbit and scanning the world below. He mentioned that they would have some trouble getting around on the surface, as they were used to much lower gravity, and would have to have frequent resting periods in a low gravity area at the camps they planned to set up. Then the final scene came.
"If you have found this recording, then you are in grave danger. You must leave and not return. The radiation is at fatal levels. Our tetryon reactor experienced a leak in its containment system. The failure cascaded occurred so fast we could not repair it before it collapsed. My chief engineer believed a particle of interphasic matter became lodged in the containment field after we dropped from subspace and eventfully reacted with the tetryon core. But, that hardly matters now. We ejected the core, but it was already too late. The ship is now flooded with radiation. I am commanding the survivors to go to the planet, find a remote location away from the primitive sentients, and await rescue. As for me, it is too late. I will complete my duties as Captain here. I set the ship on an orbit that will continuously sling shot it around between the planet and its moon. It was all we could do before the impulse drive failed. The solution is not ideal, but it will protect the planet and, more importantly its inhabitants, from the radiation and social contamination by the fact brings from another world visited theirs. They will eventually find our ship when they achieve space travel. All we can do now is pray they will be ready for that revelation and rejoice in the fact they are not alone in the universe."

The being was suddenly racked with coughing. He fought for control, then resumed. "The survivors are taking a portable tetryon reactor to power the survival camp and subspace beacon. The chief engineer already verified its core was pure and had no interphasic matter. This is my last entry. I entrust you with rescuing the survivors and sanitizing their camp area of any trace of us. The sentients must not find evidence of our presence. If you are not from our homeworld, know this: we came in peace and exploration and I hope our races meet one day in peace and mutual friendship."

The message the faded out.

L'Verrem felt a wave if grief at the message's conclusion. These beings were much like themselves-explorers and careful not to spoil the natural development of other civilizations it crossed that had not yet made contact with other races. He bowed his head in respect, then lifted it up again. He pressed a control on the panel beside him to activate the subspace communication system.

"Shuttle Acadia to Essex. We believe we have found the reason why the tetryon source was on the planet," L'Verrem said.

"Very good. What did you find out?"

L'Verrem quickly retold the alien commander's story.
"It is not clear what happened to the survivors. However if they were rescued, surely the tetryon source would have been taken as well. Therefore, I surmise they must have died awaiting rescue. It may be expedient to return to the surface and discover the remains if their camp and remove the remains. I know this may an offensive idea, disturbing the remains of the departed, but the commander made it clear they wanted to avoid being discovered by the indigenous race. They clearly had an ideal similar to the Prime Directive," L'Verrem said.

"Understood. Do you have any idea where they came from?"

"We were not able to determine the ship's origin," L'Verrem replied. "It is my recommendation we tractor beam the ship to the nearest Starbase for study and, perhaps, discover its owners. It will also remove the evidence the evidence of other intelligent life in the universe until they are prepared for First Contact."

"I concur. Captain L'Verrem. Once we get close enough, we'll initiate the tractor beam. Begin making your way back to the Essex." T'Lar out.


Essex

After securing the Tetryon Source in Science Lab Two, Jack had confirmed through his preliminary scans that it held no danger to the Essex. With this in mind he left Coleman and the others to get on with their work. Jack had always admitted to being an Engineer first and a terrible scientist further down the order. However Enthusiasm he never lacked. After a quick trip to his quarters for a fast shower and a fresh uniform, he made his way to the Bridge, where he found Ensign McKay holding the Ops position. Jack relieved him and signed onto the Ops Station. Once confirmed, he began a level one diagnostic of the internal sensor grid and kept an eye on the Information being reported from Science Lab Two.

He sighed as he ordered a raktajino from the nearby replicator. "Its good to be back," he mumbled.

T'Lar walked over to Jack, "Good to see you again. Any problems securing the Tetryon Source?"

"Admiral," Jack said, looking up to acknowledge her. He was getting used to being on a starship and with a familiar CO and ship name to serve on this mission, that made it easier. "Its good to see you too, although its a little weird seeing the name Essex on the hull of an Intrepid Class...but thats growing on me," he explained.

Deela smiled, "It also took me a while but you will get used to it."

After checking the instrument panel again, he nodded looking at the results. "As far as the Tetryon Source is concerned, its safely secured in Science Lab Two and the preliminary scans confirm its safe and in full working order down there," he confirmed. "How are you holding up?"

"Good. As for me, I am fine. I just hate waiting. So as soon as the shuttle gets back, we will go on our way."

"Yes, Admiral," Jack answered as she walked off. He kept an eye on the sensor data from Science Lab Two whilst getting back to his duties. The last thing he needed was another problem after the fun he went through on the away mission. However he was glad he'd gotten a chance to work with some of the other crew members and that had helped him feel more settled.


Essex, Science Lab Two

After Jack left the Science Lab, Coleman began to run tests on the device to make sure that it was stable and wouldn't harm anyone on the ship. He looked over at one of the Ensigns from the Engineering department and asked him to hand him a tricorder.

Scanning the Tetryon Source, he looked to make sure that it wouldn't blow the ship up. Coleman noticed a few minor problems, but nothing out of the ordinary. As he was going over the device, he noticed some markings in an alien language. He looked over it for a minute because it appeared to be similar to another language he had studied at the academy years prior. He scanned it and sent it to the computer to be studied and translated.

After Coleman made an entire scan of the device, the translation of the language was complete. Coleman pressed his combadge and said, "Computer, display translation on console Beta 3-1 in Science Lab Two." He walked over to the console nearest to the device and read the translation. It was the name of the species, the ship, and type of device it was.

"Coleman to Vice Admiral T'Lar. I've just completed a survey of the device to make sure it was stable before securing it and I found some alien writing on the device. I had the computer translate the information and found out some things that you might want to take a look at."

T'Lar was intrigued, "On my way." She left the bridge and made her way to Science Lab 2, "Commander, What do you have for me?"

Coleman looked up from the device, saying, "Well, I was doing some scans of the device, to make sure that it was stable and throughout, I noticed some markings that didn't make sense to me right off hand. They just look like a jumbled mess, but then, I put them through the translation matrix and patched them together. It just got back a few minutes ago and found this out."

He led the admiral to the console where the translation was displayed. Coleman said, "I believe that we are looking at the species called the Neyel. They are an offshoot species of humans from the 21st century from around the time of warp flight. I need to confirm this with Captain L'Verrem when he gets back, but the last I heard about the Neyel, the Starship Titan was sucked from Romulan space into their territory, so I could see the possibility in the past decade or so, the Neyel making strides in starship technology or another alien lifeform that is similar."

Bremer had spent his time locked away in his Quarters since returning to the Essex...filling out report after report. But now, he was ready to get back to Starbase 400. He left his Quarters and started for the Bridge until he learned T'Lar was in Science Lab Two, so he headed there first.

He walked in just as Coleman said 'the Starship Titan was sucked from Romulan space into their territory, so I could see the possibility in the past decade or so, the Neyel making strides in starship technology or another alien lifeform that is similar.'

Bremer waited for Coleman to finish then said, "Let's get back to the Station, we can contact Captain Riker and the Titan enroute to verify these findings too, they may have little more insight to add as well."

Coleman nodded and said, "We should also contact Starfleet Command as well. Admiral Akaar was on the Excelsior when they first made contact with the Neyel, as well as when the Titan went to the region. His expertise on this topic would also be beneficial."

T'Lar nodded in agreement. She was about to say something when her train of thought had been interrupted, "Bridge to Admiral T'Lar, the Arcadia has arrived."

"Acknowledged. On my way." She looked at both Bremer and Coleman, "Excuse me gentlemen." She walked out and made her way back to the bridge.


Essex, Shuttle Bay

The Acadia softly came to rest on the shuttle bay deck. L'Verrem powered down the shuttle's propulsion system, then opened the hatch. He grabbed his tricorder then alighted from the shuttle. He made his way to the bridge to make his report. Entering from the turbolift, he stepped onto the bridge and found Admiral T'Lar. He bowed his politely, then said "Admiral, we have returned with the scans of the derelict as well as a recording the ship's crew left behind."

"Very good. Get together with Admiral Bremer and Commander Coleman. Coleman has found some information attaining to the alien ship." She sat down in her chair, "And welcome back."

"Aye," L'Verrem replied. He then turned to enter the turbolift once again.
"Computer, what is the location of Commander Johnathan Coleman?" the Caitian queried after the turbolift doors shut behind him.
"Commander Johnathan Coleman is in Science Laboratory One," the computer's feminine voice replied flatly.
"Deck 4", L'Verrem commanded.
The turbolift then began to descend into the ship toward the science lab's location.


Several minutes later, the Essex was on her way home at Slipstream...


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