Bridge Crew

Posted on Thu Nov 5th, 2020 @ 8:54pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Diplomatic Masquerade
Location: Bridge

The Bridge was a bustle of activity, crewmen manning their stations and attempting to outwit and outsmart the Cardassians on the planet below. There were several pieces of the puzzle to contend with - the missing away team, the fact the Captain had beamed down herself to negotiate for the away teams’ release, and the strange energy signature emanating from the other side of the planet, that had until a few moments ago been invisible to the Liberty’s sensors.

"Commander. Those energy readings we were getting from the other side of the planet have returned. They appear to be moving in our direction. Im getting two distinct signatures now." Came the call from ops.

"The Guls ship has moved into an attack position and is powering up shields and weapons. Damnit, I thought we had five hours left." Came a response from tactical.

The Gamma shift officer of the watch looked up from the command chair, taking in all the information.

"Shields to maximum, maintain our position over the away teams last known location at all costs" he ordered, watching the three warbirds move into position on the viewscreen. "Any news on the away team?"

"Negative Commander. In fact they have missed their regular scheduled check in. And there has been no active comm signal since the Captain beamed down." Bonnie replied from the communication station where she had been studying the alien ground based relay system.

"Hrmmmm" The officer rubbed his chin thoughtfully, no captain, no XO, most of the senior staff on the planet. Things were getting out of control very quickly. A calming breath focussed his thoughts.

"Lt Durnell, scan the location at the coordinates Gul Maccet provided. Are there any locations that could be shielded using natural means? Cave systems or the like?" He instructed, turning around to the resident computer genius. "Can you squeeze a little more out of the sensors?"

The cardassian warbirds took up an offensive posture but neither hailed nor opened fire. They were waiting for an order or an imaginary line to be crossed.

Bonnie mused at the concept of squeezing a sensor relay like one would a lemon to get more lemonade. The idea was silly but not impractical. There were always tricks and designs that could tweek certain components to work beyond their design specs. Some would work. Others would cause a complete systems failure. But if the boss asks for lemonade, you give them lemonade.

"There are the three cave entrances we found before. It is close to the coordinates the Captain used to transport down. I suppose there could be another cave outcropping nearby. I'll focus my search a bit tighter." She turned back to her console and muttered to herself. "Lemonade coming right up."

"Lemonade Lieutenant?" The watch officer queried with a raised eyebrow.

Good ears on this one. "Nothing sir. Just thirsty is all." She slumped down further in her seat. 'Nice recovery Bonnie' she thought to herself.

"Any energy signatures?" He prodded, wanting nothing more than a big fat distress signal to scream through every comms channel the Liberty had.

Bonnie tightened her search parameters, focusing on the various heat and local fauna which there was little of. A deep infrared scan penatrated 100 meters into the rock revealed a small cavern with several heat signatures. But as she tried to get a better reading as confirmation her panel lit up like a neutron star. She looked over at the ops station, "are you reading this?"

"Commander I am reading a signal from the surface. And a massive electrical build up near the caves and the crystal formation. There is so much static discharge coming off those rocks they're stirring up an electrical storm in the atmosphere." The operations tech reported.

Bonnie chimed in, "it's an over charge relay. It is emitting so much electrical charge it has to be venting somewhere. But it is transmitting the distress call again." She scanned the brewing storm. "I estimate five minutes before the storm interferes with transport operations."

The Commander pondered his options - send down another away team to retrieve the first, or wait just a few minutes and attempt to gather further information to effect a rescue.

He didn’t have to wait long, within that few minutes the was a call from their Captain requesting beam-out. And their signals were once again visible to the Liberty’s sensors - although not for long.

“Ops - transport them out of there. Bonnie - you have the bridge” He rose from the command chair and strode towards the turbolift doors - presumably to discuss the situation with the senior officers now returning. He left in his wake all eyes on the computer technician.