'Defiant' to be found!

Posted on Wed Sep 20th, 2023 @ 9:25pm by Commander Lucy Heartfilia & Lieutenant Georgette Lemare & Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Commander Marc Kitchner M.D. & Lieutenant T'kara & Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & Lieutenant Shinobu Miyake & Lieutenant JG Marcel Knowles & Chief Petty Officer Meredith Corden
Edited on on Sat Oct 28th, 2023 @ 1:02pm

1,086 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 4: Through a Glass, Darkly
Location: Bridge
Timeline: M4 MD03 (2268.07.12) 1745

The USS Midway proceeded through the depths of space. The majestic Constitution Class was proceeding at low warp, trying to keep a low profile. Commander Heartfilia had relived Captain Faust, allowing him to go to the ship's mess and get something to eat. She herself had already taken a break and was now sitting in the center chair on the bridge.

Since that morning the Midway had been actively scanning for the stolen USS Defiant. It was logical to assume the ship was en route back to Earth. Such a highly advanced starship for this era would no doubt be a crown jewel in their fleet. She crossed one leg over the other as she read through the latest results of the ships long range scanners on a clipboard.

So far they had picked up some minor fluctuations in the upper subspace bands, a few comets and a lot of space dust. Not exactly what they were looking for. She sighed as she placed the clipboard down.

Suddenly a beeping indicating a warning began to sound on the Science Console. Lucy immediately turned to face the officer manning what would usually be her station.

"Report?" She asked.

"Long range sensors have detected what appears to be high powered weapons fire," the science officer who was standing in for the XO reported. Lucy jumped out of the captain's chair and crossed to the console. She immediately looked through the sensor scope. "Yeah, I see them too. Those energy readings are far too high fir this century. My best guess is that the Defiant is using her phasers."

"Ok, helm. Set course for those co-ordinates. Best speed. Red Alert!" Lucy ordered.

"Shielding grid is up and operational, Commander," Shinobu reported from the security station. "Phaser banks are being primed as we speak. It may not be the cleanest of fights, but it'll ensure the reclamation of the Defiant goes off as smoothly as possible."

Darrod had come up from Engineering to check on the situation with the Bridge. He heard the Red Alert just as he was stepping out of the turbolift. He glanced around, keen eye already telling him what he needed to know from the Engineering panel, nodding to Lemare who was working there. Walking over to the arm of the command chair, he watched the viewscreen but still spoke to Lucy. "Commander, if we exceed five-five we'll break cover, but I can definitely give you nine point seven for that range, with full phaser and torpedo control. Page and his teams are already on standby for damage control. I'll be back to the engine room shortly, sir."

Lucy pondered the situation. "Keep us at a steady pace for now. If they are engaged, we'll soon catch them up." She ordered. If the Defiant was attacking, another ship of the same configuration could easily be mistaken as an enemy.

After Lucy and he were were done speaking, Darrod walked over to Lemare at Engineering, speaking softly. "Looks like we're running well, Lieutenant. Good job on the rebuild up here. Keep an eye on those external sensors - anything you see that indicates a power fluctuation, call it out to Tactical. I bet they've let their maintenance get away from them."

The turbolift opened and the Captain stepped out onto the bridge stopped behind the command chair, "Report Commander," he said to his first officer before looking at the viewscreen.

"Long range sensors have detected weapons fire" Lucy reported as she looked over from the science console. "They are reading as the same power signature and output as our own. So its looks like we've found the Defiant."

"Keep out of range the best you can, the last thing I want to is waltz into a war," Tristan responded as he took a seat.

Aze was holding tight to her console as the Midway headed towards the Defiant. She was trying to lock on to any communication coming from the Defiant. She hoped that it would give them some useful information.

"Ready phasers just in case Mr. Knowles," Tristan said to the helmsman. He looked back at the screen, "In a situation like this we don't know who is friend or foe."

"One step ahead of you, Captain," Shinobu called out. "Phasers should be ready in just a..."

the tactical console chimed. "Ah, there we are; phasers are online and ready to engage at the drop of a hat."

She looked over at Marcel and nodded. "Ceding control to Helm, Lieutenant."

Lucy turned from the science station. "I have an idea. We can use the deflector dish to extend the range of our transporters." She said as she toggled a few switches on her console. The viewscreen changed to that of a top-diwn diagram of the Midway. "The Constitution class sensors are advanced, and use a 'pulse' system. One forward pulse, followed shortly by pulses outwards. There is then a three second window while the sensors reset. That gives us just enough time to beam aboard." Lucy showed them as the diagram showed then how the sensors worked on the viewscreen. "I doubt they know this yet, so it's an advantage we have."

Darrod hadn't yet left the Bridge for the Engine room, so he turned back when Lucy explained the sensor layout. "We can have the transporters synced between the sensor pulses. We'll just need to pass logic across and send the ACB with the initial sensor. Given the way transporters worked in this time period, they won't even notice unless an automated alert goes off. And I think we can get around that if we get the FOF codes from Comms."

"Let's keep that in our back pocket," The Captain responded, "We don't know who or what we are dealing with... He'll get close enough and then try the Defiant's prefix code." He looked at the CONN, "Lt. T'Kara stand by photon torpedoes, it sounds like we may need to fight our way in and out," he said.

T’kara listened to the conversation and focused on her controls. She didn’t like the idea of firing on the Defiant, but she also didn’t care for the notion of someone from this era having that leap in technology. Destroying the Defiant to keep it out of the hands of someone who didn’t deserve it, well…that was a different matter altogether.

“Photon torpedoes, armed and ready, sir,” she responded smartly.

To be continued...

 

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