Someone's Out There pt3
Posted on Sat Mar 16th, 2019 @ 1:44pm by Captain Paul MacLeod & Lieutenant Commander Clint Cross & Lieutenant Heath Carter & Lieutenant Karl Ballard & Lieutenant JG Aidan Murphy & Lieutenant JG Victor Clayton & Lieutenant JG Marshall Robinson & Lieutenant JG Tenu
992 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 97 - Cultural Exchange
Location: USS Vanguard
Timeline: MD3 1230hrs
ON:
The Vanguard had been searching for the unidentified ship for over a day. They had spent the last eighteen hours following the path Lieutenant Tenu had discovered. Meanwhile, repairs to the ship’s power grid were still ongoing.
Bridge
“We managed to find one problem, the EPS conduits from fusion reaction three were…gunked up.” Robinson explained to MacLeod.
“What do you mean?” Mac asked.
“Well sir, it looked like they made of poor quality material and not cleaned in some time…which is odd for a brand new ship. I suspect the shipyard used materials from one of the decommissioned vessels or the manufacturing of the conduit itself was just poor quality.” Robinson explained. “We replaced it, and power was restored to normal levels, but that blew out several power couplings. We’re working to replace them now. You should have full tactical systems if you need them, but Multi-Vector Assault mode is offline until we get this resolved.”
Mac nodded. “Understood. Keep up the good work, let me know when repairs are completed.”
Robinson nodded then left the Bridge.
“Captain, we’re receiving a distress call from a Nyberrite Alliance vessel. It’s a small scout ship returning from an exploration mission. They closest Cruiser is over a day away.” Carter reported from Tactical Two.
“How fast can we get there?” Mac asked Murphy at Flight Control.
“Little less than two hours at warp eight.” Murphy replied.
“Do it.” Mac replied. “We’ll go to red alert just before we drop from warp. Carter, let the Nyberrite ship know we’re coming and our ETA.”
The Prometheus class vessel turned to port and angled up before jumping to warp.
One Hour and Fifty Minutes Later
The Vanguard dropped out of warp. Shields were up and weapons ready.
“Sensors are only showing debris sir.” Metsker reported from Tactical One. “There’s also something odd about these readings.”
“Agreed sir. I believe the attacking ship is hiding within the debris field.” Tenu added from the Science Station. “I’m detecting traces of monotanium in the field, but Nyberrite ships don’t use monotanium in their hull construction.”
“Debris for the attacker?” Patel asked.
“I don’t believe so. The location of the monotanium traces are near the center of the Nyberrite ship’s explosion and it is too minimal to be another ship.” Tenu replied. “I’m also detecting the signature of a dicyclic warp system.”
“Metsker, run a tachyon sweep of the debris, see if there’s a cloaked vessel in there.” Mac ordered.
Metsker nodded then tapped a few buttons, “I am detecting a ship. It’s not cloaked, but there hull has material that makes them hard to track on sensors. It’s small, about sixty-five meters in length.”
“Tactical on viewer.” Mac said as he stood. He looked over the display for a few moments. “Monotanium hull, dicyclic warp system, very small. It’s not from around here.”
“They’re moving sir, very slowly.” Metsker added.
“I remember something about a ship like that.” Cross replied from the Intel position as he typed in commands. One the main viewer data appears for a ship. “Hirogen Hunter Vessel, encountered by USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. Information about them was in the packet we received for the Talaxian expedition last year.”
“No beam weapons, only torpedoes. Decent shielding for a ship of the size. Very, very good sensors. A typical crew of two.” Metsker added as he read the data.
“Open a channel.” Mac ordered.
“Open sir.” Carter replied.
“Hirogen vessel. This is Commander Paul MacLeod, commanding the Federation Starship USS Vanguard. We’re responding to a distress call from a Nyberrite scout ship, and now you’re sitting within its debris. Please respond.”
“No reply sir.” Carter reported.
“Hirogen vessel. We have your ship locked on sensors. Respond of you will be fired upon.” MacLeod said.
“They are responding.” Carter said after a moment.
“On screen.” Mac ordered.
“Federation Starship USS Vanguard, I’m the Alpha. The other ship was destroyed as an…accident by the former Beta. We were tracking them, hurting, but they were not our prey.”
“An accident destroyed another vessel?” Petel replied.
“We were training a young warrior, showing him how to track prey when the Beta decided to attack and disable the vessel. His attack was reckless and poorly executed and the small weak vessel was destroyed.” The Alpha explained.
“That’s no excuse for attacking another ship, much less destroying them. You will lower your shields and prepare to beam over to our brig. We’ll take you to the closest Nyberrite Alliance Cruiser and they will deal with you as they see fit.” Mac said in reply.
“Surrender? Like Prey?” Another voice said over the comm. The Alpha looked over to the side for a moment.
“We are not prey, and will not be treated like prey.” The Alpha added.
“They’re insane. Their little ship is no match for the Vanguard. We have every advantage.” Patel said to MacLeod.
There was suddenly an intense white flash that blinded everyone on the bridge for a moment, as well as the sensors.
“They cut the channel.” Carter reported.
“They’re also moving off, warp nine point two. Heading two-one-five mark zero-two-one.” Metsker reported.
“Pursuit course Mister Murphy. Metsker, do you have them on sensors?” Mac asked.
“Yes sir, once we knew what to look for I was able to re-acquire them.” Metsker replied.
“What’s out this direction?” Petel asked.
Tenu tapped in a few commands. “There’s an asteroid field ahead. It’s not been explored before.”
“Their small size we could lose them in there.” Clayton added from Ops.
“They’ll arrive at the field about two minutes before we do sir.” Murphy reported.
“Steady as she goes, keep an eye on ‘em.” MacLeod said as he took his seat and watched the viewer.
tbc….
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