Carrying On

Posted on Sat Sep 8th, 2018 @ 4:09pm by Ensign Geoff Martinsen & Lieutenant Commander Arthur Talbot & Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Batchelder & Lieutenant T'merron

Mission: Light is Dark
Location: Bridge
Timeline: MD 04 | 0800

Geoff sat at the helm, still trying to process what had happened earlier. While Chief Dedeker seemed to enjoy pushing boundaries, the Bajoran scientist didn't seem the type to swing first.

What do you know? he asked himself. He had had little interaction with either man; they were senior staff and he was just an Ensign.

"Sir," he said aloud, looking over his shoulder, "let me know if you need the ship repositioned. For better sensor coverage, I mean."

Artie, instead of sitting down, was actually standing over the science station, hovering over the poor ensign who had replaced the chief who'd just a few minutes ago resorted to fisticuffs. His eyes had remained fixated on the sensor data and the telemetry coming from the probes. He was only slightly satisfied. "Let's move two kilometers, bearing zero-three-five, mark zero-zero-six. Commander Batchelder? I'm seeing some static in the uplink from Probe Number Three. Anything we can do about that?"

"Maybe," Jon said, wrinkling his brow. He danced his hands across a console, trying to boost the data transfer as best as he could. "It could be something's interfering with the uplink. Hard to tell unless we're out there with the probe, and I don't think anyone wants to pilot a shuttle out into that mess. Let's see if...this works." He rested his fist on the console, and watched as the data began to slowly clear up.

"It's clearing up a bit. Give it a minute or two, and you should get a clearer image."

Artie watched with baited breath, even though he didn't understand much of what was coming through. He recognized the presence of several gases, as well as the amount of electromagnetic radiation that was being discharged through its beam. Sadly, as one of the images was getting clearer, another started to fizzle out. "What's going on with Probe Three, Commander?" Artie asked, turning to look at the Chief Engineer.

Jon furrowed his brow and looked at the readout. By all accounts, it should be working fine, and there was no rational explanation as to why it wasn't.

"I'm not sure, sir," he replied. "Probes aren't really my field of expertise, more the field of the science officer who was just conveniently thrown in the Brig. Not that I don't agree that two angry pissbabies should be thrown in time out, but...doesn't help me presently. Without taking the thing apart and putting it back together, I'm not certain I could ascertain why the probe isn't sending the information back. Definitely a head-scratcher."

The Executive Officer was definitely not going to touch that statement regarding the senior officers, or the situation no less, with anything less than a fifteen-meter shock prod. Still, it was because of them that they were in this situation. "We do have other probes. What if we switch them out? We'd have to replace it anyway since it no longer seems to be transmitting."

"The thing is, the probe says it's working fine. All the telemetry says it is too. I'll launch another, see if that helps, but I'm not so sure it will," Jon replied, gesturing calmly at his console. He pressed the command sequence to launch another probe, this time one of a different type. "Probe away," he announced.

The class eleven shuttle carrying Lieutenant T'merron was just moment away from catching up to the Lieutenants new assignment, the USS Altai. Openning a hail to the Altai "Shuttle Venus to USS Altai" came the standard hail in the typical Vulcan tone, perhaps she miscalculated and should have hailed sooner. The USS Altai was rather impressive as the shuttle dropped from warp not far away from the Steamrunner Class Starship.

"Well I guess timing is everything," Jon said. He tried to suppress his laughter, but it erupted out of him before he could stop it. The mental image of a tiny little shuttle being battered around by a pulsar was too rich for him, and added to it, the typical stoic Vulcan response to being battered around...he couldn't help himself.

"Should I uh," he began, starting to calm his tone a bit, "should I bring the shuttle in, Commander?"

Artie looked up to see the shuttle appear on the viewscreen. "That's not a bad idea," remarked Artie. "Lock a tractor beam on the shuttle and pull us both away from the pulsar just to make sure there aren't any accidents."

Jon nodded, and punched in the requisite commands to engage the tractor beam. "Locked on, sir. Should make for a somewhat less bumpy ride."

Why is there a shuttle all the way out here? Geoff thought. Must be important, whatever it is. Regardless, he complied with the Commander's orders and began to move the ship further from the pulsar.

He then nodded to the Ops officer on duty to open a channel. "Shuttle Venus, this is the Altai. Our proximity to the pulsar has placed your arrival in a little bit of danger. Please standby while we bring you aboard. In the meantime, what brings you out here?"

"Lieutenant T'merron, Starfleet Security reporting as ordered" came the reply from the shuttle.

They didn't waste much time getting us a replacement, Geoff thought. Hopefully this one won't be as terrifying as the last one.

Because of his time working in the shuttlebay, Geoff could almost hear the large doors opening to allow the shuttle entry. Three months of shuttlebay duty was enough for a lifetime. He was much happier at the helm of a ship than dying of boredom down below.

Artie resisted the urge to grunt a response. If only the Vulcan had been here a couple hours ago, they might have avoided fisticuffs. Of course, such thinking was vanity anyway as it was likely Dedeker still would have mouthed off, and Kemm throwing the first punch. "Welcome to the Altai, Lieutenant," he replied over the comm. "Sit tight and wait to be brought aboard. As soon as you're in, report to the bridge. We'll send someone to stow your gear for you."

"Affirmative" the Vulcan replied and did as instructed.

Vulcans are definitely better than bears, Martinsen said to himself.

Artie moved back to his vantage point and feigned a sigh. Fisticuffs, new and unannounced arrivals on shuttles, and faulty probes. What else could go wrong this mission?