Dangerous Waters (Part I)

Posted on Tue Jul 26th, 2022 @ 11:33am by Commander Grace Vetur & Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova & Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara & Lieutenant Percival Bálor Ph.D & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Stone & Lieutenant JG Jason Williams & Ensign Rishi Chabbra
Edited on on Tue Jul 26th, 2022 @ 11:51am

1,110 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Bandits of Black Rain
Location: Various

ON

The shuttle had returned safely and Ontario was finally approaching the Manatee. So far, they had yet to find any sign of the pirates, but the nebula was making it so that they couldn't be sure. Even with the uncertainty, they couldn't ignore the distress call without proof that it was a trap. shields were raised and the ship was still on yellow alert.

Captain Michaels had come down with a bad case of food poisoning that led to an allergic reaction and was currently in sickbay. That left Grace to once again take command.

"Any signs of other ships on sensors or comms?" the New Icelandican asked for the tenth time since the shuttle's return earlier. It wasn't that she was paranoid. It was more that she couldn't shake the feeling that they were flying into danger.

Rishi Chabbra knew how tense the situation was, but he had been monitoring the nebula closely. He couldn't and wouldn't make any promises. "I've been observing the nebula closely, Commander Vetur. So far, I haven't noticed any differences. There have been no signs of ships other than ourself and the Manatee."

"Nothing on comms to indicate any local chatter, except for us," Peri added.

"Thank you." Grace expected no less, but she couldn't stop her unease. Or was it paranoia? Hard to tell. "Valéri, open a comm channel to the Manatee."

"Aye, ma'am." Peri quickly opened the channel.

Receiving a hail from the starship Ontario, the S.S. Manatee was quick to respond, the communications channel was opened and the closer proximity of the two ships made for better stability. "Ontario, I am glad to see you haven't forgotten about us over here," Lieutenant Commander Randgrid said cutting directly to the point. "We could use that assistance, this crew isn't exactly Starfleet mint. Frankly speaking, I'm a little surprised they kept this ship together."

"In my experience, most merchant ships are held together with chewing gum and bailing wire," Grace replied. "It works surprisingly well for them." She gave the woman a polite smile. "A team will join you shortly."

The woman laughed a bit at the response. "No truer words have been spoken. Thank you, Commander."

A textual message came through to the Ontario's engineering station on the bridge, but this was not an external communique; from somewhere within the Ambassador class starship Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara was receiving a crucial bit of information, a brief conversation to ensue.

Girl genius - Vor'cha class has to be in the nebula. The Manatee is the bait, it is a trap. Nebula is Mutara class. High levels of static discharge and ionized gasses. Plasma wake? - Clever Boy. the message read, the last bit an inquisitive theory and signed a way that Haruna could likely narrow down the sender. The information was there for her to mull over. Would it work?

Haruna who was sitting at the Engineering Station on the bridge opened the message. She quickly read it, and its source showed it was from inside the Ontario itself. "Erm..." she said turning to Grace. "We shouldn't go in there. That’s a Mutara Class Nebula, we'll lose shields and sensors"

Rishi Chabbra turned in his seat when the Chief Engineer spoke. "Yes, it is Mutara class, Lieutenant. I have been monitoring it and scanning it. I do not believe we have any intentions of entering it, we have a clear path towards to Manatee for the time being at least."

"I..." she wasn't quite sure how to tell them that she had a 'secret message' from someone she didn't know. "I've been scanning the nebula... Those ionized gasses don't look right... It looks like some sort of plasma wake" she said. "Maybe a cloaked ship could be hiding?"

The ensign felt mildly defeated and embarrassed. "Commander," he said addressing Grace. "I did not calibrate the sensors to sweep for a plasma wake, but the lieutenant is onto something. A starship of significant power to its warp engines would leave a plasma wake while traveling into or through a nebula such as this one."

Rishi was quick to clarify his initial response "We cannot know where exactly a ship or ships are in that nebula, but we can get an approximation of where it may be lingering about."

It was at this point that Siren walked onto the bridge, cold as a cucumber, and headed straight for the helm. The poor Ensign at the helm had no chance against her very pointed look and minute head nod, that clearly said 'get the hell out of my chair'
She remained silent, taking a quick glance at her console to get her bearings and readying herself for whatever might happen next.

Williams kept his eyes on the tactical console, ready to call out if even the slightest anomaly appeared.

Anahera entered the Bridge but indicated to Williams to stay at Tactical while she took a seat at one of the Aft stations.

"Re-calibrate the sensors and scan the nebula," Grace said to Rishi. "If you don't find anything, we'll have to go in."

Grace then turned to Haruna. "Regardless of what we think is in there, we would be accountable if we failed to render assistance simply because there might be pirates waiting for us. We have to have proof. Even then, we have an obligation to rescue the crew of the Manatee." But they didn't have to be reckless about it. There were steps they could take to protect themselves. But she could wait for another scan of the nebula before committing the ship to action.

Rishi was willing to stand by this mission. The S.S. Manatee needed assistance, but his gut had been telling him something was out there. He adjusted the sensors once more. "There is something there, Commander. We cannot exactly see it, but the plasma wake is there...sort of like an unexplained impression on a bed."

"On screen," Grace said. They needed to have a look at the plasma wake. She was keenly aware that there were likely both pirates and civilians in the nebula. They couldn't ignore them just because there were pirates. They had to do something.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Commander Grace Vetur
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Percival Bálor
Chief Science Officer
USS Ontario

Ensign Rishi Chabbra [npc]
Science Officer
USS

Lieutenant JG Peri Valeri
Assistant Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Commander Randgrid
Manatee (NPC - Percy)

Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Stone
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant JG Jason Williams
Assistant Chief Security Officer

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