Building Bridges

Posted on Thu Aug 19th, 2021 @ 8:56am by Commander Grace Vetur & Captain Elijah Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Marian DuBois & Lieutenant Commander Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii & Lieutenant Robin Maxwell

2,176 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Out of Time
Location: IRW Relentless

ON

Commander Romana and two of her guards greeted the away team as they materialized in the transporter room. Both guards held weapons. "A precaution. I wish to know why your ship is more advanced than any we have seen and why our scans do not make sense."

To her left was her XO, Subconmander Derok he remained silent and stoic as he waited for answers with the Away Team. He too was curious about all of this but he let his superior continue with her questions.

Looking round his team, Yiv slowly realises that this really was down to him. He frowned and wondered how honest he should be. The Efrosian sighed, and regarded the Romulan captain square in the face. 'Our ship is a prototype,' Yiv responded smoothly, 'one of Starfleet's latest models. She's designed to disrupt your sensor readings and return scans that make no sense.' He smiled disarmingly, and shrugged, 'the Corps of Engineers will be interested to know that their design has worked.'

The commander frowned. "More Starfleet subterfuge. Then why are you here?"

'We saw two vessels in distress. The Ontario was the closest ship, either Federation or Romulan so we decided to help. It would be the less than honourable thing to do if we left you stranded here. It would be a waste of your considerable talents,' Yiv banked on flattery to help soothe the Romulan captain.

Derok remained silent as he stared at Yiv. The officer who seemed to be in Command of the Away team. "Noble as always from the Federation."

'Practical, more like,' replied Yiv, matter-of-factly, looking at the Commander, but addressing the Subcommander. 'The Star Empire would not be pleased to hear that a Starfleet vessel ignored one of yours in trouble. Indeed, it could lead to an escalation of tensions which is the last thing we would want. The Romulan Navy has proven a formidable foe in the past.'

"Well spoken, Starfleet," the Commander said. "We will allow your people to assist us."

'Thank you, Commander. It would be our pleasure.' Yiv inclined his head out of respect. 'If you would lead the way. We'll naturally not waste time by quibbling over an escort. Time is short after all.'

The Romulans then escorted the Starfleet Officers through the Ship. It was a fascinating glimpse into 23rd Century Romulan Technology. Because not many if any Starfleet Officers had a chance to see this before. Yet here was the Away Team doing just the thing.

"Weapons and shields are the primary concern," the commander said. "Followed by engines. We did not sustain the damage the other ship did."

Maxwel kept his hands in full view yet at the ready; long as Romulans had weapons, Maxwell would be ready to return any hostilities; a couple of inert chemicals minus the catalysts would be a last resort; he figured on losing his 'Obvious weapons and the fact he had not was just a sign of mutual trust. In this case Maxwell was hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. It is always best to accept good luck and not press it. He was vigilant but not aggressive, stoic of course, but not aggressive in any expression as he followed along.

From a metallurgical vantage Maxwell glanced at signs of metal stress at joints and bulkheads, metals have a funny way of acting and Maxwell was just trying to look like he might belong here aside from as a guard.

'Weapons and shields are sensible priorities,' replied Yiv evenly as he flicked a glance in Maxwell's direction. 'We're happy to help of course.' If this were a comparable ship in the 24th Century, Yiv would be worried that it would place the Romulans at an advantage. But the Ontario was fully uprated to current specs, and should be able to take on any challenge they posed if double crossed.

"Thank you," Romana replied. She signaled for two of her guards to approach. "Take the doctor to help the wounded and the engineer to help with repairs."

Doctor Marian Dubois, medikit and ER field supplied in Sac, nodded politely to the Romulan escort. She followed quietly. When they arrived to the injured, she, scanned the most critical case first and then began the appropriate treatment.. she, administered hypo spray for infection, pain and to give the patient more concentrated 02 . She used the dermal healer on wounds, and placed broken hip into the bone reknitter. She smiled and said quietly. "Everything will be fine. Just relax, I am here to help you..." She nodded to her team as they scanned the others and treated wounds and injuries.

She turned bak to Yiv and Robin. "And you? How are you to be of help?"

"I have done research and know metals." Maxwell said in the stoic tone that seemed most diplomatic. "Been on post action crew checking structural damage and how to note metal fatigue or damage, checking the stress points that could buckle."

"It did not have to be mentioned these same points are the best places to put charges for effect. Reverse engineering of skills one might say, that is why he studies so much, to know how to bring something down is part of his job so checking those points also might be effective in keeping them from failing in an unwanted manor. And he would see parts of the ship that interest him.

"We also wish communications would be on the priority list as well." The Romulan XO said. "We may wish to contact our superiors and inform them of this situation."

The Efrosian thought for a moment. If comms were re-established then the Romulans were more likely to find out that their situation was more precarious, and outlandish, than first thought. 'Well, yes, of course,' Yiv said in the end, not able to think of a creative way out of the situation. 'We'll work through the tasks in the order proposed.'

Romana had been watching the Marine. He was analyzing her ship in a way that made her suspicious. Just the willingness to help was unusual. "What do you see that needs to be repaired?" she asked the Marine.

These two archways have a few degree alignment roll, not uncommon when a ship had had the structure incident." Maxwell pointed out. "Impacts that shook the hull violently or could be very bad workmanship." He supposed. "Think of it as the hull taking a hit and while shaking was stretched to a degree and the archways did not come back to 'True' He shrugged. "Simple heating of the metal and a few whacks with a hammer in the right place will fix it, But closer to where the 'incident happened' there might me more metal fatigue or bending, if structural fields are up have the crews check for stress cracking also."

Romana looked them over carefully. "You have a good eye, Starfleet."

She signaled for another Romulan to join them. "Stay with him and take note of everything he finds wrong."

She nodded to the Marine. "My thanks."

Yiv looked at the interaction, then turned to the Romulan Commander, 'you wish to split up our group? It might be quicker that way.' He was hopeful that the Romulans would at least leave them unharmed so long as they were useful. It was a gamble ... but the ships did not have much time, and the longer they stayed here, the more chance the crews would find they were quite literally out of time.

"I wish my ship to be repaired," she replied. "It does not require you to stay as a group." She looked carefully at the Ephrosian. "How can you be of help to us?"

'Most of my Away Team has at least some basic Engineering or Operations training. We can identify the problems with your systems, identify the replacements, have them machined out in our shop and transported over in a matter of hours.' Yiv shrugged. There were Twenty-third Century Warbird schematics in Starfleet's databases. He knew that much. 'Feel Free to scan them when they come back over.'

"It might be prudent for me to look along the outer hull as a lot of the brunt of the encounter would be found there and if they buckle or damage the ship it would be best to work from outside in." Maxwell suggested. "FOllow the waves of force you might say?"

"The outer hull?" Romana asked, her suspicions again piqued. "The Starfleet vessel took more damage than we did. If your own ship's sensors are as advanced as you imply, can they not scan the hull?"

"Allow me to rephrase." Maxwell said. "The inner side of the hull's corridors and such for similar damage to what I pointed out. Our ship can tell major damage, but not so much the subtle fractures. Sensors are generalized in the range of assessment. If the hull is holding the sensors might not pick up a stress crease as it has not 'failed' yet and thus not damaged yet. Nothing can compare to the sentient being's observation and senses; that gut reaction to a situation that cannot be programmed into a computer."

"And how do you propose looking for stress fractures?" Romana asked.

"Sensors would see a plane of the hull, but some small indents or creases might not break the plane to a degree that is detected, thus the 'Human Eye' in this case, could more readily note the inconsistency and point it out for better scans and readings." He shrugged. "Micro fractures are not 'Dangerous in many cases but if in kept places they can be... annoying if left unchecked."

Romana turned to another guard. "Take two engineers and two security. Go with him and make sure he does nothing but observe and take notes."

She turned to Maxwell. "All your notes and scans stay with us."

Turning to the 'escort'. "Lead on McDuff." He gesture towards the corridor. "Your ship, I am along for the ride."

Tag

'That is reasonable,' Yiv sighed with feigned regret. Starfleet already had plenty of information about centuries old starships, but they weren't to know that.

"And your name" Romana asked, turning to Yiv. "How do you wish to help us?"

'My name? Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii. I am the officer in charge of this mission of ... assistance,' Yiv chose his words carefully, not wishing to cause offence to their hosts and knowing that his technical skills were negligible when it came to a repair job like this. 'My function is to ensure a smooth point of contact between yourselves and my team here. To ensure if there are any misunderstandings due to cultural differences that we are able to iron them out and get you on your way.'

She nodded. "Very well. I will trust that you will keep your people from doing further damage or stealing any of our technology. Apart from that, I welcome your assistance."

'That is fair,' replied Yiv with a winning smile. The Romulan commander was quite attractive. He even liked the icy arrogance she exuded. Pulling himself back together, he sternly reminded himself he was already in enough romantic trouble without having to add a time travelling adversary to the list. 'We look forward to improving our rocky relations with the Star Empire so we're happy to help.'

"Excellent. We could drink to the success of this venture," Romana said. She raised an eyebrow. "Or do you not like Romulan Ale?"

'I'm afraid I've ever had the pleasure,' replied Yiv cautiously. He had had Romulan Ale of course. Of all the contraband items in the Federation, it seemed everyone had tried it at some point. Shame for him he couldn't remember the rest of the night, just the Jupiter-sized hangover the next morning. 'Perhaps you'd care to enlighten me?'

The Commander turned to head down a nearby corridor, then paused. "Make sure the other one is not alone for a moment. I don't trust him."

Then she turned to Yiv and smiled. "It would be my pleasure to introduce it to you. It is the finest drink in the quadrant."

====

Marian, continued treatment on a critical patient. She, ask one of the Romulans who had brought her here for access to the blood bank / synthetics in order to give the patient units of their blood type to replenish what they had lost with the arterial wound they sustained.

As she worked finishing up the REGEN, process on that artery , closing the surgery cut... she continued to treat ...

In the corner, the Romulan security officer continued to watch her, careful to stay out of her way.

____
OFF

Commander Romana
Romulan Commander
IRW Relentless
NPC by Grace Vetur

Lieutenant Yivliph Ra-Gruvlovii
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Ontario

Sub Commander Derok
First Officer
IRW Relentless
NPC by Elijah Michaels

Lieutenant Robin Maxwell
Marine CO
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Commander Marian DuBois
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ontario

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