Signals

Posted on 25 Apr 2018 @ 11:36am by Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Ensign Callin Mastrel & Chief Petty Officer Crispin Snow & Crewman Valentina Gagarina & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Ensign Mimi & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews
Edited on on 21 Aug 2023 @ 2:06pm

1,782 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 16 - A Far Sun
Location: USS Schofield - Various
Timeline: MD 01, 2000 hours

[ON]

The away team had beamed down and had called back. Allyndra had not forgotten the prime reason but also the fact that already there had been reports of a major flare.

=^=Away team,=^= she called, =^=Taking the ship into high orbit so we can keep a watch on the flares. We will be out of transporter range in two more hours time.=^=

"Acknowledged," Sandoval replied.

"Mister Shizn please take us into high orbit. Science let's get some readings on the state of the star."

“Yes Ma’am”, the Helmsman replied causing the vessel to increase speed and transferred the Schofield to a higher elevation.

Allyndra had a thought and pressed the comm again, =^=Crewman Gargarina please report to the bridge.=^= She figured that she would give her a bit of time at tactical.

Snow had been watching the star on the scanners. Now fully in system, the short range sensors were picking up petabytes of data every few seconds. "It looks like the Star is building up HE-III again, Commander. It’s likely to flare again soon. We might lose comms to the surface."

"Thank you," she should contact the team, but depending on where they where it might not be a good idea.

Shizn piped up from the Helm, “That will also effect some of our injector alignment in the warp core unless we increase shielding or get further away when the time comes.” Tris knew that that was Engineerig’s call to report, but he really didn’t want to loose warp capabilities.

Allyndra nodded, "Shields to full then, and go to red alert!"

“Shields to full,” the freshly stationed crewman parroted back. It was odd to put the new guy at a bridge-situated console, but Valentina was sure not to disappoint. The shields came up after only a moment of her eyes wandering over the console. She had it in spades now. "Red Alert." Let's do this.

=^= Engineering, where do we stand with the flare coming at us?=^=

=/\= At this distance the shields will take the brunt of it, but not for too long. We would be better with something between us and the sun, putting the ship on the other side of the planet would be the best.=/\= Came Donald’s voice after a few moments.

Shizn agreed with the Engineer’s comment and turned to Allyndra, giving her a serious nod of approval, but turned back to his controls not waiting for a response or confirmation.

"Wait until prudent and then take us out. We need to get as much readings as possible. The next planet out should be sufficient shield Mister Shizn." Allyndra trusted that the Andorian would judge properly when they needed to retreat with sufficient time. She meant that they needed the make the observations, but the reality was she did not want to strand the away team either.

Tris was very pleased that the Commander had taken his advice, but he knew there were more factors than just what he was thinking about for her to consider. At the Helm he made a few calculations of his own, based on the distance to the next planet, the anticipated velocity of the solar flare, and how responsive the Scofield had been during the last 10 days.

Allyndra turned to the science station, "Estimated amount of time until safe to return?"

Callin spoke up, sounding perhaps a bit too enthused about the impending flare. It was all so exciting, getting a chance to bear witness to the development of this kind of star, though he could feel the tension in the air too; knowing that there was life in this system where it most definitely should not be should have been enough to sober him. "That'd be three hours, give or take, Allyndra," Callin answered without looking down at his readouts. He paused for a moment, realized that they were most definitely not in Sickbay, and corrected himself as his cheeks turned scarlet, "I mean, Commander."

She smiled and nodded. This was one of the situations in which she knew formality was called for.

"They'll have to manage until then," Scarlet Blake said firmly as the doors to the bridge closed behind her, having just caught the last question and answer. She'd been reading the reports coming through, despite the tussle with medical staff over it, and it would have taken a broken neck to keep her off the bridge in red alert. She had been sick, not dying, and she wasn't about to sit around as the red siren wailed. She nodded to Allyndra, having been happy with the reports she'd been reading over their current status. An away team had been the only real option with such conflicting scientific data on the table. "Contacting the Away Team could compromise them."

Allyndra got up from the chair as the captain came on the bridge leaving it for her. "Indeed, but the worry of a sudden loss of contact without explanation might be worse Captain."

"I trust their instincts to keep low if they don't hear from us for a few hours," Scarlet said quietly, moving to the seat, letting out a long breath. It could prove dangerous for the team if noise from a communicator drew attention to them.

"Indeed Captain, but I worry with so little preparation time," she stayed on the bridge.

Blake looked to Allyndra and gave a slight nod of understanding. She felt the same way. But when caught between a rock and hardplace, it was just a case of trying to pick which one wasn't quite as risky as the other.


2030

Watching the timer tick down on his screen, Callin was only a little disappointed when sensors starting squealing for attention seventeen seconds ahead of his estimates. "Not bad," he muttered under his breath as he tapped a few panels, bringing up the new feed of data that confirmed it.

"Commander!" Callin called out loudly, typing as quickly as he could to adjust the main viewer and put up a visual of what was happening. The picture was too bright at first, washing the bridge with intense orange and yellow light. He scaled it back so everyone could see a vast coronal mass ejection accompanying the flare, lifting from the surface of the star like a fiery scimitar. "Solar flare is commencing!"

Tris shielded his eyes, raising his left hand as he squinted at the brightness coming from the viewscreen.

"Very impressive," Scarlet frowned as she leant against the arm of her chair, her hand lifting to her forehead to shield her eyes. "Now get us out of here..."

“Aye Sir!” Ens. Shizn responded with his hands moving quickly across the controls, while still squinting from the brightness. “Setting course for the fourth planet as recommended.”

The Schofield accelerated to full impulse as it raced through the blackness. The position of the fourth planet was not directly out from the third planet. They would also need to transition about one tenth or closer to 34 degrees in the clockwise rotation of the planetary system to reach the fourth planet. Tris made the calculations and found they could arrive behind the 4th planet with about 2 minutes to spare before the flare reached them.

The flare erupted from the surface of the star and accelerated away. Fortunately the main trajectory would only make a glancing pass of the inhabited planet. The aurora though would be spectacular. It took only a few more minutes to pass by the planet the Schofield was behind and head on out into space.

"We'll be encountering levels of radiation that might interfere with sensors in about eight minutes, Commander," Callin added from his post. He had been staring at the main viewer since the show began, and still didn't look away. A little distractedly he said, "I'll uh...start making some adjustments now to compensate."

=^=Engineering here, no problems, shielding and engines are fine=^=

Luke who had mostly remained a silent observer during the past few minutes turned his attention to the tactical read out or lack there of "I'm sure if we actually had any proper weapons they'd be green across the board commander."

"My systems show green." Mimi reported from the ops console.


2050

The Schofield had arrived in time with minutes to spare. Ens. Shizn positioned the ship behind the fourth planet in a low orbit position. He had to keep a tight circle about a portion of the planet on the backside. He knew he had to keep the ship on the downstream position of the planet until the flare passed.

The flare headed out and dissipated as it went. Slowly scanners and more could start picking up other signals.

Just then Valentina piped up at tactical. "We got a distress call coming in. I'm putting it up now."

The distress call was on the main speakers for the bridge. "Anyone, this is the Federation freighter Ballan. We are under attack by Maquis, shields failing, we cannot hold out much longer" It was repeated over and over.

"God damn Maquis," came a curse from the tactical station. "We're four hours out from them, minimum. I say we get there aysap and put this tac station to good use!" It was time to test her proverbial chops.

That word. Maquis. A cold feeling crept over Blake, and she held her breath tightly in her chest for what seemed like days as her stomach tightened into a sharp knot. "Agreed," she got out, her voice tight. "Set a course for the freighter, get us there, stat."

“Aye Sir,” Ensign Shizn replied as he began to revise the flight control panel before him. He completed punching up the course and tapped the button that sent the Schofield to warp speed. “On course and stable warp function. And now at Warp 6.”

"I suppose I best see if this old girl has any tricks up her sleeves" Luke said standing "If you don't mind I'm going to brain storm with my department and see just how much of a punch we can pull." Luke nodded before speaking, "Commanders" giving them his queue to leaving.

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Acting XO and Chief Medical Officer
USS Schofiled

PO3 John Hollenday
Engineering Mate
USS Schofield
[PNPC Warraquim]

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Schofield

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer

Po3 Donald Andrews
Engineer
[PNPC Mimi]

CPO Snow
Operations Officer
USS Schofield
[PNPC Derani]

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief of Security
USS Schofield

Ensign Callin Mastrel
Science Officer
USS Schofield

Ensign Tris Shizn
Helmsman
USS Schofield

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