The Search for Venture (Part 3 of 4)

Posted on 06 Aug 2013 @ 12:58pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant JG Jacrux & Ensign Natalie Chevalier & Ensign Ariadne Fleming & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Amril & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis

4,227 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Main Bridge, Various
Timeline: MD 01 - 1020 hrs

Previously, on The Search for Venture (Part 2)...

With all preparations now complete, Lirha turned her attention back to the viewscreen in front of her. "Helm, lay in a course on vector 117.214, warp seven." she instructed.

"Roger that Captain," Dea replied as she put the commands into Galileo's computer, "Flight vector 117.214, warp seven confirmed." Double checking their course to ensure all systems were performing nominally.

The sleek Nova class came about and finally broke orbit from the last planet in the system, Rojar VI. The survey had officially come to an end and it was now time to depart on a more pressing mission...one which held a great deal of concern and uncertainty in Lirha's mind. Why Venture had not returned yet was a mystery, as was the lack of any communication Galileo's nacelles glowed bright white and flared, and the tiny ship elongated then snapped into high warp as it departed the system.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Even at high warp, it had taken almost two days of diligent tracking to follow Venture's warp trail and arrive at the edge of the Setisar Nebula. As Galileo dropped out of warp, the crew was presented with a brilliant display of blue and cyan swirls through the viewscreen which signified the entrance to the large reflection nebula. An awesome sight to be certain, but one which would pose certain difficulties for the crew due to the cloud's disruptive nature.

Once again sitting in the command chair on the bridge, Lirha anxiously drummed her fingers on her seat's armrest. "Report." came her curt, official voice.

From his position in the XO's chair, John could see his captain was a little more than agitated - after all, it was not every day that a science vessel had to go after a large Galaxy class, and indeed if something had befallen the larger ship, the resources on the Galileo were limited at best if assistance was required.

"We've arrived at the edge of the nebula captain. All systems appear to be functioning normally. Helm, please confirm our location?"

"Right ahead of us is the Setisar Nebula Captain. We're holding position 150 meters from its entrance," Dea replied directing her attention to Lirha momentarily.

"Mister Pendleton - any sign of that ion trail we were following?" John looked towards the secondary science station with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Jacob worked furiously at the console. "Adjusting parameters... increasing sensitivity..." His brow was furrowed as he muttered under his breath, "Damnit Venture, give me something... please give me something.." He widened the scans, double checked and crossed checked everything he could check. He soon realized the horrible truth. He slowly turned in his chair and faced the Commander; his face was drawn, his expression was one of great disappointment in himself, "Commander Holliday, I... I apologize.. but I have tried all solutions.. but I have nothing to report Sir.. I fear.. I fear that the Venture's warp trail... has been lost Sir..." He hung his head.

Lieutenant Amril cleared his throat. "Oh, Captain, we are receiving a signal. I believe it is a 'distress beacon'? Mister Graysan, analyse the signal please. I've patched it to your console." Distress? Maybe in the signal, but not in the vorta's effervescent treatment of the discovery. It was exciting, after all, the chance to see a Starfleet rescue mission!

"Sirs," said Keval looking up from the Ops console, both antennae standing straight up, almost rigid, "That distress beacon belongs to the USS Venture. It seems to be genuine."

Ariadne fumbled with her controls. Her readings were convoluted, confused. Now, what's wrong--wait...

"Captain," she reported, raising her voice somewhat timidly "we have degraded sensor range due to the nebula's interference."

John formed a fist at the mention of an emergency beacon having been fired by the Venture - there was no good reason to do such a thing unless there was something seriously wrong aboard ship. Reaching down to the control panel between the two central chairs, the XO quickly verified for himself that the beacon had definitely come from the USS Venture.

"Lieutenant Pendleton, Lieutenant Cho, please feed the necessary data to the helm - Miss Mialin set a course to intercept the beacon."

"Aye sir, immediately." Jacob quickly sent all he had and then looked at Kiri and nodded.

There didn't appear to be a higher than normal residue in the space around them, neither were there any subspace fields. It was unlikely that the ship had changed direction much or stopped for any length of time, so the direction should still be forwards. Silently focused she passed on her information, not looking up.

"Roger that Sir. All necessary data received. We're on course to intercept the beacon." Dea carefully piloted Galileo towards their objective. Unable to shake the uneasy feeling that had formed in the pit of her stomach.

This time the XO looked towards his captain, hoping that she would at least have the same idea as him - that they could not ignore the plight of a fellow Starfleet vessel, no matter the risk.

Glancing over at her XO, Lirha gave him a swift nod. Her initial concerns had just been greatly elevated with the discovery of a distress beacon, and she feared for the lives of Venture's crew. There was no time to waste, and John's quick decision was an appropriate and prudent one.

"It might be a good idea to also relay our findings to Marina." she suggested to him. "Instruct them to assume tactical formation on our wing...we cannot be sure what we will discover once we arrive at the coordinates."

John nodded in agreement, knowing what was going to come next. Looking up towards his Bridge crew, he raised his voice to get their attention.

"Very well. All hands Yellow Alert - raise shields, bring weapons to standby mode and secure all primary systems."

Keval nodded and began running a check of the various ship's systems, monitoring them to make sure they were all running in sync with each other and at optimum efficiency just in case, or rather when the shit hit the fan.

Aria had come onto the bridge moments earlier, whispering something in Rhodes' ear. Something else required his attention, so Aria took over his station. She looked over at the console for a moment before her training set in and she got the weapons ready, making sure they could act on any order.

As the yellow alert lights came on, John felt a little more secure knowing that at least the Galileo's shields would be in place to protect from any unexpected surprises. Tapping on the communications controls next to his chair, he opened a channel to the smaller support craft.

=^=Galileo to Marina - we are moving to Yellow Alert. Match our status and position yourselves off our bow. =^=

Willis began making some changes to match the orders as Quinn responded. =^=This is the Marina. Copy that, Galileo. Yellow Alert and matching speed and course off of your port bow, over.=^=

S'Ranna responded as requested and programmed in the course adjustments Willis had set. The yellow flashing lights did not distract her keen golden gaze: she was focussed in on the job at paw, and it would take more than a mere yellow alert to break that intensity.

Ploughing ahead through the nebula's concentrated hydrogen, helium, and oxygen particles, Galileo was forced to move at low warp while it closed in on the source of the distress beacon. Several uneventful hours passed until finally, the ship and crew reached their destination.

At one of his least favorite assignments (yet still tolerated because no Ensign could pass up a chance to log hours on the Bridge), Astrometrics, Jac struggled to account for the interference caused by the nebula. This was no place to be charging in blindly, yet that was exactly what the Galileo had in store.

"Captain," Jac began reluctantly, "I can't get a good reading because of the nebula. I will try to correct for the static if given a moment."

"Hold on," Nat cautioned, raising a single finger aloft. "I think I can correct for that." Gazing at the screen with intense focus, her fingers ran through the sensor diagnostic subroutines as quickly as though she were sorting through seed samples. After narrowing the EM band and adding a .3% compensating phase variance, the sensor functionality returned to optimal levels. Nat grinned at her work, pleased with herself, and added, for the benefit of anyone wondering how she of all people had figured out a correction, "Little trick I picked up on Regulus III; their long range bioprobes come with this kind of compensation as standard." She gabbled on, only falling silent as she caught a glance at the viewscreen; then a hushed pallor descended on her features.

Jac narrowed his eyes at his fellow scientist, biting back a territorial retort as she stole his chance to show his worth. The halfbreed shook his head tersely and looked to the terminal to memorize exactly what the other had done. They would likely need more tweaks such as that in the coming days.

Nat gave Jac an embarrassed half-smile: she hadn't meant to show him up, but had simply been too excited to contain herself.

Victoria's eyes narrowed at the screen and she sucked in a tense breath. There was something near the distress beacon that was definitely not supposed to be there. With increasing dread she scanned the debris once more. Upon closer examination, she confirmed that the debris near the beacon wasn't just rocks and other space junk, but the shattered pieces of some kind of spacecraft.

"Captain, there's some debris near the beacon. It appears to be what's left of a large ship."

Quickly, Ariadne began running a scan of the debris, desperately hoping, praying, it wasn't what she thought it was. As her data returned to her, she analysed it, filled with tension. Please, no, please, no...

"Captain," she said, trying to suppress her horrid feelings "the hull composition of the debris matches that of," she paused and swallowed. "That of the Venture."

Jacob remarked immediately as the data came in, "Captain, sensors indicate ten to twenty escape pods with life signs but the nebula's energy and stellar emissions are interfering with getting accurate data. I surmise that attempting to beam anyone to our transport bays would prove extremely difficult Sirs." He looked again over at Kiri, "Lieutenant Cho, would you please help me increase the power of these scans? Perhaps we could redirect some of the stellar energy via the deflector dish."

"Launch a probe, class one," Kiri looked at Jacob," The scans at their end could be focused but there was no need to risk the lives of those on board, doing that and launching a probe to relay scans meant there was a safety net, there was less that could go wrong. Working to refine the scans on their end she looked up, taking a breath.

"Immediately Lieutenant." Jacob made some fast configurations and entered the data necessary. "Probe away an working to specifications Lieutenant. We should have data coming in quickly."

Lirha listened to the multitude of reports coming in from the science alcove with much concern. If what she was hearing was true, all indications pointed to a disaster of sorts which had taken place aboard USS Venture. Surely the crew would not have abandoned ship in escape pods had there not been a very serious reason to.

"On screen." she called out, and watched as the holographic viewscreen materialized in front of her and presented the entire bridge crew with a terrible scene.

Against the sparkling blue backdrop of the nebula, the entire debris field could finally be seen. Twisted and mangled chunks of hull plating floated aimlessly in space, casually colliding into each other with seemingly no concern. Larger pieces of what appeared to be sections the internal hull could also be identified, and several ruptured EPS and plasma conduits were still sparking and bleeding flames out into the zero gravity atmosphere. In the background, a single massive Galaxy Class nacelle - almost twice as large as Galileo itself - was mostly intact yet floating free from its structural pylon which appeared to have been sheared off. It, too, leaked its contents out into space, and tendrils of warp plasma streamed from a large hole in its side. Finally, in the far corner of the screen, was a small cluster of square objects neatly formed together in a loose circle. The escape pods.

Standing from her seat to view the carnage, Lirha bit down on her lower lip as she attempted to quell the alarming panic which was beginning to rise within her. "Dear spirits..." she whispered.

Keval looked from the view screen back to the Captain. "Sir," he said in a tight voice, "I hope I'm not violating protocol in asking this, but I'd like permission to be on the Away Team."

Lirha shook her head trying her best to snap out of her dazed sorrow. The voice of the Andorian at the Ops station to the left of her was a sharp reminder of her duties, and she took a deep breath then turned to him. "After we assess the situation." she curtly responded, wanting to first get a clear picture of what she was seeing before she began deploying away teams.

"Aye, aye sir." he replied. He was tempted to remind her that as an Andorian he could withstand a hostile environment better than most races, but decided not push his luck.

Dea didn't like what she was seeing. As a Starfleet Officer a mixed array of emotions were at war within her. Professional training allowed her to hide anything that would get in the way of duty. But she wanted to do something more than just sit here watching. Anything at all to try and help the crew of the USS Venture

Nat swore under her breath at the glittering destruction sparkling on screen like some beautiful terror. She had been aboard the Venture for two weeks before joining the Galileo; she had friends there, colleagues, people she'd passed by in the corridor, the names she'd never got to know...Choking back a horrified sob, she turned back to the panel, unable to look at the viewscreen any longer, trying to lose herself in the meaningless babble of sensor readouts on cosmic dust and particulate emissions.

Victoria watched the screen in stunned silence. Dear God, what happened? Her hands balled into fists at her sides, the only outward signs of her distress. It looked like the ship had just been carelessly ripped apart and thrown away by giant hands and the little group of escape pods looked so pathetic and lost. Shaking her head she turned back to her own panel, trying to find any more data that could help.

Keval's antennae were now perfectly rigid and his face a much darker blue than normal. He had to force himself to focus on the console in front of him instead of the carnage playing out before him on the view screen,

Ariadne glanced up, noticing the sudden silence falling all around her, and immediately wished she hadn't. Nothing she thought numbly There's nothing left. She felt neither great distress, nor a confused anger; only dull shock, and heavy sorrow, as if her insides were now a lump of cold lead. All those people...all those poor people.... How had they failed them?

Aria stared at what was going on, her eyes wide before her jaw set. She looked down at her hands, seeing them ready to fire. She forced her hands back, shaking her head firmly. Angry. She felt angry. She felt like getting something sorted. She shook it off. Not now.

One sheared nacelle--avoid, leaking warp plasma--not too dangerous, possible camouflage if the enemy still lingered, countless patches of debris, some that must be avoided, others that only the shuttles would have to be cautious of, and several dozen escape pods; Jac quickly documented the scene in a very different way than his fellow Fleet observers, his childhood training in full force in the face of the unusual situation. The first priority was their own safety, and Jac quickly returned to the terminal to send the sensors searching for any sign of another ship in the vicinity. No thoughts about the safety of his ex-crew mates in the escape pods crossed his mind.

Amril looked away from the Venture's wreckage. There was not much to see there, in his analytical eyes; the ship had been destroyed by unknown forces. Anything not visible on the screen would be picked up by sensors, which of course he was making sure ran at optimum efficiency. The reaction of the officers was what really fascinated him. They were dynamic, their emotions washing over their faces like a canvas splashed again and again with different paints. He did his best to follow them all, eyes flicking from one face to the next, squinting slightly since his eyesight was hardly exceptional. How concerned they all seemed, though really such emotions did not surprise him, they were standard according to Dominion records and his own experience, if not ideals of duty-oriented Starfleet officers.

It took his vorta brain only a few brief moments to get bored and so he turned his attention to his own emotions, trying to discern how the revelation of the Venture's demise affected him. Curiosity was the main emotion he felt, if curiosity was a proper emotion at all. He knew plenty of factual information about the Venture, but he had not created personal relationships with any of them, and absent such ties, the death and destruction indicated on the screen existed only as so many inputs in his mental algorithms, Which Amril thought, are woefully unreliable considering the lack of reliable information I have and in the absence of speculation. Having completed even that thought process in under a few seconds while he checked the ops console, he focused on trying to feel a negative motion regarding the destruction of the Venture and the death of its crew, leaving the Galileo's bridge crew to its own devices until he was called upon again.

Mor'an stared blankly at the field of debris before her eyes. She knew that many of the people on this ship were feelings dread, sadness and maybe a little bit of fear. She, on the other hand, wasn't feeling any of those emotions. The ship would be a loss to Starfleet, but if they were able to save the lives of the crew, why was there a need to be sad or afraid? If some of the crew didn't make it, than she would feel the loss of another being, but at the same time, that was the way the universe worked -- some made it and some didn't. It wasn't that she was immune to the death of a fellow being, it was just that she had a different mind-set on the matter than most others. Turning back to her console, Mor'an went back to work.


Sickbay

On the widescreen LCARS monitor in Sickbay, the shattered carcass of the Venture was just as harrowing a sight. Lieutenant Andreus Kohl had been crossing the intensive care unit, striding from his office to... somewhere, but the image on the display stopped him in his tracks. He couldn't remember where he was going, couldn't remember what he was doing. He felt like the entire nebula had punched him in the stomach and all the air was blown out of his lungs. The Venture, there on the display, was a starship like any other. A starship was like a home, like an entire city filled with homes, and Kohl's conscious mind struggled to understand a concept like an entire city razed to the earth. A starship destroyed was just as incomprehensible as every house in his hometown being blown apart.

Kohl stumbled, he literally stumbled, when he tried to move his legs again. He didn't speak. He knew Galileo's last Chief Medical Officer would have said something right now. Pola always knew just what to say to motivate the troops. Pola would have said something. Right now, though, Kohl had no words. All he could do was move. He could act. He strode over to a cabinet to start pulling out standard medical kits and a couple of mobile trauma bags.

Allyndra like most of the staff had stayed on. It was when what remained of the Venture star drive section came into view that she knew suddenly work was cut out for them. It was not all that long ago she had been aboard that now ill-fated ship.

Kohl seemed to be stunned and she noted he seemed almost physically assaulted by the sight. She shook her head and said, "Alright, we need to set up triage. Nurse," she called out. "Request one of the loading bays please, so we can set that up and do field work there." Allyndra suddenly remembered she was not in charge and touched Kohl gently, "Do you concur sir?"

Turning to the nurse, Kohl sucked in a deep breath, and it sounded like it hurt. He nodded and he said, "Go ahead, Sandywyne." Once the order had been given, Kohl angled towards Allyndra and spoke to her in an undertone. "You're the Assistant Chief here," Kohl said. "I'm not going to have time to approve all of your orders. Do what you think it right. I won't undercut your authority."

Allyndra shook her head. "I do not want to undercut yours, sir. It is just natural reaction. However, that being said, I will get triage set up and request a cargo bay or two."

She waved a hand at the screen. "If the number of lifeboats is any indication a fair amount got away."

Kohl followed her hand to look at the images on the display. His voice low, Kohl said, "I'd like to think so."

Turning away Allyndra pressed her comm badge. =^=Ops, Lieutenant Allyndra here. I need to requisition at least one possibly two cargo bays in order to set up triage.=^=

=/\=Make preparations to receive injured personnel.=/\= Amril's voice said over the comm, =/\=Standby for location. Please submit recommendations for suitable locations to the computer.=/\=

"Where do you want me, Lieutenant?" Alexis finally spoke, quietly, gruffly, his body still. He'd stared like the rest. And his mind had gone to his son, Laeon, for a moment, knowing he'd be upset. They had lived on Venture, the lad had friends there. It hadn't been long since they were transferred to Galileo. He had to trust Laeon would be alright for now. They needed to get the resulting casualties under control.

Kohl was staring, again, at the image on the viewer. He could only nod at first, to acknowledge Wylde's question, and then he turned his back on to the LCARS panel. The look in Kohl's eyes made him look like a lost child, but as soon as he made eye-contact with the much older man, it didn't take long for grim determination to set in. Kohl set his jaw. "You've got Sickbay," he ordered Wylde. "Doctor Warraquim will manage triage in the cargo bay with Carlisle. Varek and I will support the away teams aboard the shuttles."

Alexion gave a firm nod before slapping his hand against Kohl's shoulder in a comradely fashion. "I've got it covered. Go and get out there."

Allydnra had turned and begun to get round up orderlies for getting prepared. It appeared there would be little time and she directed what was turning into a gentle chaos of getting supplies to the cargo bay.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Im'er Mor'an
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant jg Allyndra illm Warraquim
ACMO
USS Galileo

Lt Commander Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor/2XO
USS Galileo

Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh
Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jacrux
Anthropologist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Aria Rice
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
USS Galileo

PO First Class Keval Grayson
Operations
USS Galileo
NPC'd by

Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Ariadne Fleming
Oceanologist
USS Galileo

LCDR Scarlet Blake
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

MCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

LT Dea Mialin
Chief Flight COntrol Officer
USS Galileo

LT Kiri Cho
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Asst. Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

WO Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Scarlet Blake

SCPO Arthur Willis
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Markum Quinn

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