A rock among pebbles

Posted on 07 Nov 2023 @ 9:42pm by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Ron Bumble & Commander Amelia Fox & Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins-Stevens & Lieutenant Vott Panns & Lieutenant Syvar MD & Lieutenant JG Ren Kannu & Lieutenant JG Cihl Theidi & Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari

Mission: Time changes everything
Location: Bridge
Timeline: MD7
832 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Jon exited his ready room and walked onto his bridge. They had just got to the system.

"Report number one?"

Amelia stood from the Captain's chair. "We've just dropped out of warp near the coordinates provided by Starfleet intelligence. Sensors are picking up a nebular and planetoid nearby. There's also quite an extensive debris field. No spooks or spirits though." she added with a wry smile.

"Like I said, I don't believe in ghosts. Only goddesses," he nodded taking a seat. "Although I can't shake the feeling we are not alone out here," he muttered.

"So a bit of a ship graveyard then. Be ready in case there's some sort of defences. You would think there would be more information here as people would be ransacking the debris for pieces.

Cassie had been ambling around the bridge, really taking it in for the first time. Given her new rank it was time she focused on expanding her duties so she intended to learn. She already had the bridge officer examination under her belt from her time at Cold Station 7 but Starship Operations where at their core similar enough to be recognised but also different enough to mean there was still something of a learning curve. It had also dawned on her that herself and Doctor Syvar, given all the recent changes in the command structure of this ship, had now landed as the next most senior officers directly after Commander Datari. She needed to raise her game to support the Captain, hence her self imposed learning and observation.

She stopped by tactical to take in the vista now displayed on the view screen. It was breath taking. Asteroids and stellar bodies, a single dwarf planet all intermingled with enough ice shards and dust creating a single planetary ring which was reflecting the light coming from the systems central star giving it a blue hue, a deep purple nebula behind it framing it in the image displayed. It was only now she began to notice the derelict vessels dotted between the larger Kuyper belt objects, large, small... Each one as charred and beaten as the next.

"It's beautiful in an eery sort of way".

"Indeed," Jon commented.

"Captain incoming transmissions. Both written and verbal. It's alien. The translators only picking up a couple of words, that's to recent entries by the second officer.

"Lieutenant," Jon turned to his second officer already sensing an excitement to hear this language spoken.

The Trill listened intently, his eyes betraying his excitement. "I need some time to decipher this," he announced as his fingers danced across his console to access various linguistic programs. "It sounds like a warning," he added slowly, "I can't get the exact words down just yet but I think the general idea comes down to 'go away', sir "

Fox turned to Reynolds. "Captain. I recommend we go to Yellow Alert and raise the shields..... As a precaution." She added for justification. "This isn't exactly a welcoming place."

"Agreed, yellow alert," Jon ordered on his XOs recommendation.

Normally, Lieutenant Cihl Theidi chose to work from Engineering instead of the Bridge, but now that he was on the Andromeda he wanted to work toward changing some of his earlier proclivities. Stepping off the turbolift, the Ventaxian overheard the Captain as he approached the Engineering console. Inputting his login code, the Chief Engineer watched as the monitors awoke to display detailed information about Andromeda's status.

Amelia was looking over the sensor information coming in on her monitor. "Captain, there appears to be some artificial structure on the planetoid. It's hard to get a clear reading at this range. I recommend moving into orbit of the planetoid. It might give us some clues about the alien transmission."

"Move us in slowly Lieutenant Kannu," Jon said. There were far too many asteroids for his liking.

"Engineering, science get what you can as soon as we are in range. If there are life signs Comms. open a channel," Jon said.

Ren couldn't help but smirk at the Captain's genuine mistake with his name. 'Why can't humans grasp Bajoran names?' He asked himself. "Understood, Captain. It is a dense asteroid field but I should be able to plot a safe course through it."

Vott used the science console to run a scan. Frowned and did it again. The Bolian turned in his chair, "Sir, I am getting some life signs, but it is erratic. I am not able to get a good reading from it right now. I would need to be on the surface to get a proper scan."

"Bridge" Ron Bumbles voice came over the comm up from Science. "Reading strange energy signatures. It looks like another shi ....."

He wasn't able to finish that sentence as suddenly they were hit by an energy weapon.

"Red alert," Jon barked.

OFF:

Captain Jonathan Reynolds

Commander Amelia Fox

Lt. Commander Aidan Datari (pnpc Syvar)

Lieutenant Ren Kannu

Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins-Stevens

Lieutenant Vott Paans

Lieutenant JG Cihl Theidi