Crossing the Threshhold.

Posted on Mon Aug 15th, 2016 @ 11:30am by Captain Elijah Michaels & Lieutenant JG Elliot Keller & Commander Cor Cordale & Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Lieutenant Ishan Satele & Lieutenant Valeria Mordin

Mission: Do Not Follow
Location: Bridge, USS Victory
Timeline: Night Shift, 03:00 Hours

Victory had been proceeding at Warp 8 to the last known location of the USS Seattle, with news that the Ship had been out of communication with Starfleet since visiting the Gollum Expanse it had gotten a few people a little on edge.

Lieutenant Tarlee had the Bridge, the Bolian was sat in the Command Chair of the Victory during the Night Shift. He preferred the quiet of this Shift rather than the rush of the daytime. He was chosen by Captain Michaels because his record indicated he was a man who had the potential to be a great officer. Giving him the Night Shift seemed fitting.

"Sir, we are approaching the Gollum Expanse." The Helm Officer said with a glance towards the Bolian.

Tarlee nodded. "Take us out of Warp, and down to half impulse power." He sat back in the Chair and felt the Ship drop out of Warp. "What are we getting? Anything?"

The Ensign on Ops nodded. "A signal, Federation based it looks like an automated Beacon of some kind." The Officer then examined his Screen. "Sir, its the Seattles last Log....."

Tarleet looked to the Ensign and got up from his Chair, he read through the Data. "Wake the Captain......"

Elijah woke up from his slumber and rubbed his eyes as he got a message on his terminal calling him to the Bridge. The Captain had not done up his Jacket as he stepped out of his Quarters and into the Turbolift of the Victory. He knew that Tarlee had woke him up for a reason otherwise he would still be asleep. The Lift stopped and Elijah stepped onto the Bridge of the Victory and onto the Bridge. "Report?"

Tarlee got up. "Captain we have detected a Beacon for the USS Seattle, it looks like her last Log." He said handing Elijah a PADD.

Elijah took a moment to adjust as he examined the PADD. "Bollocks, wake the Senior Staff."

Tarleet nodded and watched the Captain take the Chair. "All Senior Officers report to the Bridge."
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=/\= All Senior Officers report to the Bridge. =/\=

The chime of the comm woke the rabbitess up. Nothing like a startle, just a change from 'asleep' to 'awake'. She rose from the bed, covers sliding off as she rose in the dimly lit confines of her quarters, the only light coming from a flower under glass that was giving off a soft blue glow. Bright light bothered the flower, and to a point it bothered the rabbitess as well. Neither saw fit to complain. She covered the glass of the flower with a heavy cloth before bringing the lights of her quarters up to a comfortable level and snatching up the comm pin. "This is Valeria, acknowledged. I'm on my way." she replied to the summons before getting into uniform and going through the steps to make herself presentable.

Half a ship away, someone else was having an entirely different approach to the transition from restfulness to alert. The lone Thux sat on the edge of his bed, having been awake for the past ten minutes. A dream, was all it was, but when you're there it feels like so much more. Dreams can't bother you, you say? Say that to the engineer who turns the power cell to his left arm off before bed as a precaution. The summons to the bridge arrived a solid five minutes after he was already awake. He took a breath, and power cycled up his prosthetic and took it through the motions. Make a fist, release, make a fist, release, twist the wrist, relax. It became something of a mantra, a reflex, as he reached to the wall to answer the call. "This is Cordale. Thux on the move." and the Thux dragged himself up from seemingly the depths of Hell, though this task he chose for himself. He reminded himself as he looked in the mirror and splashed some water on his features. Some people say you're a slave to your job. No one says that to Cordale.

Meanwhile a man in the Chief of Security's quarters was trying to work out why he was lying on the floor. It was dark and he was chilly. Not cold exactly but uncomfortable. He tried rolling on his side. and found he could just about make out a room around him.

"Computer, lights," he croaked. He grimaced at the glow but at least could make out his room. Ah, yes his room. That was where he was. And he was Bertrand Cuprum. Why was he on the floor.

He managed to sit up and found he was entangled in bedclothes that had been dragged off the bed with him. So, deductive reasoning engaging. He had rolled of the bed and onto the floor. Apparently he had been so deeply asleep he hadn't noticed. He tried to remember the last time he had slept that heavily without sedation.

What was that beeping noise?

His eyes came to focus on the message on his wall screen. Urgent summons to the bridge.

Something clicked finally into gear in Bertrand's brain and he leapt to his feet, jumping into a uniform that had been lying in a pile next to his bed, discarded from the day before. He jumped into his shoes as he was hopping towards the door. He was still tucking in and doing himself up when the Turbo lift opened for him in the hall.

"Commander," the young crewman tried to suppress a smirk at the sight of him when he embarked.

"Lieutenant," Cuprum responded gruffly, trying to plaster his hair down with his hand. "Bridge!"

Asleep in her quarters, Satele was woken by the call and gave a sigh. She had been up late the previous night and only had about 5 hours sleep. Rolling out of bed, Satele gingerly made her way over to her closet, took out a fresh uniform and started to get dressed, "another day in Starfleet"

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Valeria arrived on the bridge bright and attentitve. It was hard to imagine that she was asleep, or even unkempt, just a few minutes prior. She took her station along the wall, turning to the center of the Bridge beforehand and giving the Captain a nod. "Valeria Mordin, reporting."

Cordale came a minute or three after the rabbitess. To his credit, he was awake and upright as he took up the Engineering station and brought up the readings on the reactor, as well as several other key systems. He gave the Bridge crew a once over, and to the center chair he gave a nod.

The turbo lift opened and someone who looked remarkably like Bertram, if Bertram had slept in a hedge for a week stepped out. He moved quickly to Tactical to blinking his eyes to wake himself up.

"You look like hell." Elijah commented to with a chuckle to Bertrand before letting out a yawn himself. "Urgh I need Caffeine."

"Grab a cup of Thux Blend. Coffee with a kick of cinnamon." the Thux offered while motioning to one of the bridge replicators.

Bertrand just grunted, his attention already on the tactical data. Nothing obviously hostile in the area, but there were compressed subspace pockets moving around that would play havoc with targeting and navigation if it came to a fight. No wonder no one had bother exploring here before.

"What..." he croaked, cleared his throat and tried again. "What's the emergency, Captain?"

The Captain looked towards Tarlee. "Lieutenant, this is your Watch so feel free to inform the Commander."

The Officer nodded. "At approximately 03:03 hours we made our approach to the edge of the Gollum Expanse, as per standing orders we made all stop and observed." He then uploaded additional information. "We detected an automated Beacon of Federation make, it contained the final log entries of the USS Seattle." He said playing the log to the Bridge Crew.

=/\= Final Log Entry, USS Seattle. We have been engaged by an unknown and hostile race during our survey of this Space.....Commander McMillan is dead and we have severe damage across all Decks. If you are receiving this message, stay away....Do not follow..... =/\=

Kevin entered the bridge from the turbolift just at the point Lt Tarlee was giving his brief to the Senior Staff. He moved round to be about four or five feet from the CO's chair and stood silently.

"I suggest we hold position." Valeria spoke up, "Broadcast on all ranges and frequencies our intent of peaceful exploration and non-intrusion. Recognize that this is their territory and see if we get a response." the rabbitess paused, "From our perspective, with all the evidence presented thus far we can only conclude that this unknown faction attacked the Seattle without provocation. Now, another vessel... larger but flying the same colors and the same design aesthetic arrives. The first conclusion I could draw, from their perspective, would be revenge: We're here to destroy them."

A pause, "We need to send the message that we are not."

"Why don't we send in a small team in a shuttle? That way we don't have a massive ship entering their territory so it's not as much of a threat. Plus a shuttle is far more manoeuvrable than a starship" Satele suggested, believing it to be an acceptable compromise to taking the Victory in

"As Chief Tactical Officer, I am disinclined to agree with those suggestions, sir," Bertrand provided. "There is no indication that this race can be placated. They may attack just for the joy of combat, in which case a shuttle will be a momentary distraction. We need more information to determine a course of action, and the only way to get that is by accessing any data that remains in the Seattle. We should take the Victory to the source of the beacon, down load sensor logs and withdraw to a safe distance to properly analyze them. We may also find survivours. I recognize that we have been warned away, but that log is from a junior officer, and even an Acting Captain's recommendations cannot override Admiralty."

"Unfortunately, with the subspace disruption in the area, we will need to get quite close before we can get a clean lock on the Seattle. Well inside weapons range of whatever attacked them. We will just need to be ready to withdraw at the slightest sign of trouble. Given we are significantly larger and better defended than the Seattle, I expect to be able to effect a withdrawal safely. "

"This is only a suggestion" Kevin said "but could we possibly send an automated shuttle, rigged by our Engineering team to emit bio signatures, to collect the beacon? That way we're not actually risking any lives, and if it is a trap and the shuttles attacked, we only lose a shuttle. If it's not attacked, and we're able to bring the beacon back, we can download it's logs and determine our next course of action then."

Satele shook her head, "I don't think that would work. The subspace disruptions would interfere with the computer link between the shuttle and the Victory, and that could send the shuttle off course. We'd need someone onboard to keep the shuttle on course to the beacon. I volunteer as pilot"

Kevin nodded and replied "As I said, it was only a suggestion. With that being the case if we do send a shuttle, you'll probably need another volunteer pilot just in case Lt Ishan gets injured. I'm happy enough to volunteer as well."

Bertrand looked at the two in surprise. A week ago he wouldn't have put it past them to pull a knife on each other. Now they were volunteering for dangerous missions together. A step forward.

"I am still opposed to sending a shuttle at all, at least until we have ascertained a little more about the risk we are facing. Captain? Your decision?"

Elijah looked at the eyes of his Crew, looking ot him to make a decision. All the suggestions had their merits and their failings but it was he who had the final say. "Red Alert, all hands to battlestations!" He then looked at his Crew. "We go together...."

"Satele, welcome back now if you wouldn't mind taking the CONN?" He nodded towards her.

Satele nodded, "ofcourse captain" She said, standing from her seat and heading back to the bridge.

"Valeria, take your Station and try and pinpoint the last known position of the Seattle." He looked at the Rabbitess. "If there is something there, we bring our people home."

Valeria gave a nod, "If there's something out there, it will be found."

"Mister Kilbane, I hope you're still a dab hand at Tactical Analysis?" Elijah looked at the Lieutenant. "Take the Secondary Station and work with Tactical."

"Aye Sir, I'll try my best as always" Kevin replied, taking up his position at the secondary Tactical station as requested.

"Cor, I need you up here to work with Val and Satele, we need a way to find our missing ship and not attract attention."

"Hide and seek, emphasis on the hide... I may have something in mind." the Thux mentioned from the Engineering station.

"Mister Tarlee, until Lieutenant McClane is fit for Duty you are taking Ops." He nodded towards the Bolian.

"Aye Sir." Tarlee said before taking the Station."

"Bertrand, you have the Bridge until the XO arrives." He nodded towards his close friend. "I will be in my Ready Room to inform Starfleet of our situation."

Bert nodded, moving from tactical to the command chair, but standing instead of taking a seat, "Shields up. Weapons to hot standby. Sensors at maximum sweep. Helm, take us in; Half Impulse."