When It Rains...

Posted on Thu Jun 30th, 2022 @ 11:19am by Commander Grace Vetur & Lieutenant JG Peri Valeri & Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova & Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara & Ensign Rishi Chabbra & Petty Officer 2nd Class Evangeline St. Clair

1,745 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Bandits of Black Rain
Timeline: One day after Ferengi Fix-Up

ON

The Ferengi ship was repaired--at least enough for it to get safely to the nearest Federation starbase. It would take at least a week there to get everything running properly. All the data on the attack was now in the hands of Intel for analysis and the Ontario was back on course for the colony to see what other information they could gather.

They were still three days out when there was another distress call. Grace was in the center chair.

Ensign Rishi Chabbra was feeling a bit ragged, his uniform was not nearly as fresh as it once was, but the man had pulled a double shift to make up for the lack if not having the Chief Science Officer aboard. As much as Lieutenant Bálor could annoying, he pulled his weight enough for it to be noticeable when he was gone.

The science officer was manning his station when sensors picked up something. "Uh there's something or someone..." he began to say when the communications transmission was received. "Federation distress signal " Rishi proclaimed. "It is coming from a nearby class T nebula - hydrogen, helium, and argon, a respectable place to conceal a starship at least briefly."

"I suggest caution, Commander." Anahera said from Tactical. "Pirates have been known to fake distress signals in order to capture their prey."

"Especially lately," Grace replied, nodding in agreement. "Anahera, scan for any ships in the area. Mr. Chabbra, work with her to see if you can find any signs of ships within the nebula."

"Of course, Ca-" Rishi had to stop himself quickly, slightly embarrassed. He was so used to Lieutenant Commander Vetur's presence and voice that he nearly addressed her as Captain. "Yes, Commander" he added, correcting himself.

Anahera smiled. "Aye, ma'am." She said as she tried to clear up some of the EM interference from the nebula.

Grace nodded to the security officer to indicate that she heard her.

Then she turned to operations. "Ms. Valeri, where is the distress call coming from?"

"Aye, ma'am," Peri said, pulling up the information. "It's coming from the SS Manatee, a Federation merchant ship."

Grace pulled up the data on the ship on her own screen. She wanted to find out what sort of cargo it carried and who the captain was. "Open a channel." She agreed with the security officer that they needed to be careful, especially as they couldn't scan the ship at the moment, but they also couldn't ignore a distress call.

Peri nodded and turned back to her console and contacted the ship.

The SS Manatee had taken significant damage to her starboard side, but the old starship had held together. It was nothing short of a miracle. When their distress signal was detected, the Manatee was quick to respond to the hail, a woman's voice coming through static interference from the nearby nebula.

"USS Ontario, we request assistance....attack...Federation starship" the interference was causing a bit of a communication barrier. The woman's voice cut back in through static "Crew are dead....Klingon..." There was definitely a tone of urgency in the woman's voice.

Rishi cleared his throat "There's too much interference from the nebula, Commander Vetur. The SS Manatee looks to be an old Curry type starship, if this were a trap the Ontario has the advantage, I believe Commander Chernova would concur."

The captain of the Manatee was a woman, according to the data. Grace turned to Anahera with a raised eyebrow for her opinion.

"With all this interference we can't pick up its transponder code, but from the we have it appears to be the SS Manatee." Anahera replied. "That said, it could still be a trap, I suggest we go to Yellow Alert, before approaching further. I've heard of pirates keeping the captains of prey vessels alive in order to make the distress calls sound more believable."

"Manatee, we're on our way. Ontario out." Grace activated the yellow alert. They had to help, but they had to be careful at the same time.

Haruna who had been sitting at the engineering console on the bridge, mainly because it was her 'turn' to sit there turned in her chair. "Hey Capt'n" she blurted out loud. "Don't you think it’s a bit weird that they know our name?" she asked curiously. "I should go play with our transponder..."

"We can discuss that later," Grace replied. "We did reach out to them, and we aren't hiding."

The Manatee was left lingering, damaged and in need of assistance.

Rishi's console revealed something underneath all the commotion. He swiftly cut through discussion on the Bridge. "Wait," said the science officer. "There's a second distress signal, Commander, an automatic transmission from a Federation type 14 shuttlecraft" he reported as he quickly scrambled to get more information.

"It's coming from the Carta Marina!" proclaimed Ensign Chabbra. "That's our shuttle, the one Lieutenant Bálor took out."

"Life signs?" Grace asked.

Rishi breathed a small sigh of relief. "Three life signs consistent with our away team, Commander, but one is definitely faint. There is something strange, but it could be interference from the nebula. There seems to be six signals reading as comm badges, Starfleet issue. Orders?"

"Status of the shuttle?" Grace asked Rishi. "Helm, take us closer. We can't get a transporter lock from here. Security, be ready for anything." Both the ship and shuttle could need a rescue, one of them could be pirates, or a pirate ship was hiding nearby. Whatever they did, they would need to be careful.

"Damaged," Rishi replied. "Life support should still be operational, but it does appear as though they are adrift. Engines could have been disabled. We may need to tractor the shuttle in ourselves after the occupants are transported to Sickbay, if you determine that to be the right course of action."

"Erm..." Haruna said as she held up a hand, her index finger pointing up. "I can try and see if I can extend our transporter range to lock onto them?" she asked. "I can perhaps boost by routing our transporter beam through the navigational deflector... technically it’s not the same type of power or signal, but with a few tweaks here and there, I could possibly lock onto something..." she pondered for a few seconds. "I would need to access the transporter controls from the primary transporter control panel, transporter room one where all primary transporter computer functions are located..." she paused again. "The only risk is that we beam back only part of them? Maybe just their Skeleton or something... that wouldn't be good, would it?"

"You are not quite right in the head, Lieutenant," blurted the ensign. He was a bit emotional and losing control of his otherwise professional demeanor, but the man he had worked closely with and under was on that shuttle. "There are pirates attacking ships, a Federation merchant vessel has requested our assistance, and our shuttle is disabled in space transmitting on an emergency signal" Rishi added shaking his head and turning to concentrate on the science console.

"Lieutenant Mizuhara, transporters are under the control of operations, not engineering," Grace reminded her. "And I am not going to put our people at risk while you improvise something that is not your purview."

"I'd make a fantastic Operations officer..." Haruna replied with a grin. She then frowned. "Nah, Engines are my babies not computers" she added. She turned to Zero's station. "Hey, Mister Ex-Borg San. What do you think?"

"Umm," Peri said, raising an eyebrow.

Rishi cleared his throat "Been drinking on the job there, Haruna? Lieutenant Zero is on that shuttle. You know, the one you wanted to see if you may or may not be able to transport our back in one piece or as skeletons."

"I didn't notice he had gone" Haruna sulked. "I just presumed he'd be there you know... I'm too busy being a girl genius to realise who's actually in the room..."

Grace shook her head at Haruna's comment. She thought, briefly about high IQ and low EQ, but said nothing. "We are going in to offer help and to retrieve our crew," Grace stated. "We will do so on yellow alert as there are pirates in the area." She turned to Haruna. "Lieutenant Zero makes an excellent Operations officer. We will get him back."

"Sorry," Rishi said aloud and took a deep breath. "When it rains, it pours, and right now it is pouring on us all."

"It's fine," Grace assured him. "Continue to monitor the nebula. Let me know as soon as we can scan both vessels."

Rishi nodded. "Yes ma'am, it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Anahera," she turned to the security officer. "I'm still not sure there won't be a pirate attack, so be ready."

"Aye, ma'am." Anahera said. "Watching for hostiles."

Then she turned to Peri. "Keep trying to reach the shuttle and let me know as soon as we can get a transporter lock on the shuttle crew."

"Yes, ma'am," Peri replied.

"Would it be easier just to launch another shuttle to retrieve the crew and tractor the shuttle back to the ship?" Williams asked

Grace looked at the distance and the interference, then nodded. She turned to Anahera. "Do you want to take a shuttle to get them?"

"Yes." Anahera said. Then turning to Williams, she added. "Good idea, Lieutenant, tactical's yours." With that she left the Bridge and made her way to the shuttle bay.

Petty Officer Evie St. Clair, the Captain's Yeoman had been walking over to deliver a PaDD with a report to Captain Michaels when she heard Lieutenant Commander Vetur and Lieutenant Commander Chernova. "Commander," she said to Grace.

"Starfleet Away Team regulations state: 'Away teams must be composed of more than one crew member' and I would be negligent if I did not bring that up" stated Evie in regard to Chernova evidently venturing on a solo run in a shuttle.

"Okay, Petty Officer, I'll take Lieutenant Summerby with me."

"Good," Grace said. "I agree you shouldn't go alone. Good luck."

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Grace Vetur
Executive Officer
USS Ontario

Ensign Rishi Chabbra [NPC - Ray]
Science Officer
USS Ontario

Petty Officer 2nd Class [NPC - Ray]
Yeoman
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant JG Peri Valier
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara
Chief Engineer
USS Ontario

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