Through The Gate

Posted on Sat Oct 8th, 2016 @ 7:44am by Colonel Damian Highsmith M.Eng & Captain Luke Smith

Mission: Bad Moon Rising
Location: Main Bridge, Deck 1
Timeline: Mission Day 1, 1500

ON:

Damian sat in his ready room reading over old mission reports from various commanding officers detailing their encounters with various species in the Delta Quadrant. The most interesting by far was their reports on an unnamed species- they were warp capable but anytime a ship came close or attempted to open communication, they vanished from sensors and jumped out of the system. They were almost completely untraceable and seemed to be determined to keep to themselves. Continuing to read, he stopped as his desk console beeped and the voice of Lieutenant Maledon spoke out.

"Sir, we've arrived at the gateway." Maledon said before he closed the channel. Damian walked out onto the bridge and assumed his command chair. "Miss Yamaguchi, bring us to Yellow Alert and put this thing on screen." he said quickly. "Helm, send us through the gate at full impulse."

Yamaguchi had been at her post all day and she was due to be relieved shortly except she had no intention of going anywhere. "Going to Yellow Alert." she responded, as the various lights around the bridge suddenly flashed yellow. The ships intercom also sounded across the ship except on the bridge as it wasn't needed.

Plataea regarded the gateway before her. "Mmm..." as she narrowed her eyes in thought. "I wonder what it would take for me to build one of those." she mused softly, almost to herself.

As the external feed appeared on the screen, Damian regarded it with a sense of awe. The Epatha Gateway was similar to the Bajoran wormhole but shimmered in a visual cacophony of hues- from a dull silver to flashes of angry coral red and flurries of blues. From what Damian knew, the gateway was highly unstable and there was no guarantee that they would come out to their intended destination. There had been reports of ships simply disappearing or randomly reappearing, nearly destroyed. "How about that, hm? Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" he asked the assembled crew, his voice tinged with a sense of wonder.

Yamaguchi regarded the whorl of energies as they seemed to spin before her. "Or anything so lethal." she said quietly. "I got homework to do..." the tall woman smiled before she scanned the gateway itself as she was highly tempted to raise shields. "Captain." Naval parlance had the skipper of the ship be addressed as 'Captain' regardless of his or her present rank and at the present time. Plataea herself was glad for the tradition. "The gateway is highly unstable. I recommend we raise shields before going in.."

Checking the display on his armrest, Damian could see that the shields were powered and ready. "Commander, you do know that Yellow Alert raises shields right?" he asked.

Yamaguchi regarded the back of Highsmith's head. "See.. This is the penalty I pay for not paying attention." she responded quietly.

Lee chuckled hoping he did know but the stand in at tactical looked like she was itching to press the yellow alert tab, He navigated through sensors and increased power so that the science officer was able to scan the gateway, "Seems okay doesn't it?" Lee said to the ensign on duty.

"Gateway at maximum power output."

Damian leaned forward. "Alright, people. Let's push through. Mister Smith, divert all available power to sensors, shields, and engines. Helm, let's get in there now.

Janet looked at the Colonel and shook her head. "Is that what you say to all the nice ladies you handle?" she asked with a small teasing smile. "Be gentle with your starship, you only get one at a time" she added.

Yamaguchi held her silence as she watched the gateway grow larger on the screen before the view changed because the Hammersley had entered the gateway. "Five seconds to the other side." Yamaguchi commented.

"One Andoria, Two Andoria, Three Andoria..." Janet began to count as she waited for the Hammersley to exit out on the other side. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and then opened them. "Well, we either made it to the other side or the after life is pretty damn boring" the Second Officer professed.

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow. "If this is the afterlife... Then I feel cheated." she responded. "I demand my money back.." as the inside of the gateway vanished and the stars reappeared as the Hammersley exited the other side of the gateway.

Damian stood from the command chair and looked around. "Helmsman, what's our current location?" Damian asked, walking over and placing a hand on the back of the command chair.

The helmsman gulped slightly as his fingers danced frantically across the keyboard. "Sir, I don't know. The wormhole destabilized as we exited, we were slated to come out near Aether but I'm not detecting any planetary bodies within the next 200 light-years."

The Colonel's hand rested on the back of the chair as he shook his head. "Scan around and get us our bearings back, Lieutenant. We don't have time to get lost, especially now. People are depending on us." Turning over to the crew, Damian motioned sarcastically. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Delta Quadrant."

Yamaguchi meanwhile was busy looking over the sensors and results she was getting from the scans were not encouraging. "Skipper.. I think the best question is... Are we still inside our own Galaxy?" she inquired. "I am only reading slight amounts of trace gasses out there." she explained. "

Lee saw his panel start changing it's personality, Lee liked to treat his panel like a living part of the ship where the lights and options in one state is where the ship was happy. What he saw in front of him was where the ship wasn't happy, "Sir I'm getting power fluctuations here. The properties in the galaxy is affecting the ship. A two per cent drop but re-routing power in the affected areas to give maximum output."

Yamaguchi tapped at the display before her. "Mmm..." as she was running a long distance scan of the stars ion the area and names were popping up. "Alright. I have good news and bad news.." she explained. "Okay the good news is... I've been able to get a fix on our location... Also we are still in our home Galaxy.. The bad news is that we are about six hundred twenty four light years from where we needed to be.."

Damian looked to the Captain Smith and then to Commander Yamaguchi. "Are we detecting any signals from any Starfleet vessels or stations in the area?" he asked. Wishing and hoping with all his might that someone might still be out there. There was always a glimmer of hope that someone could still be alive and floating in space, waiting for rescue.

"Negative." Yamaguchi responded quietly. "Tactical sensors are clean.."

"Don't look at me, all systems nominal, if we're that far away from where we need to be then I'd suggest we'd better get a move on......wait, power fluctuations decreasing....hmmm not sure why. Hmmmm." Lee saw his panel begin to cause him some discomfort; he liked the panel as it was before but now, it's doing whatever." Lee tapped through and make some adjustments, "Hmmm, whatever that was, it's gone now. Systems normal."

Damian frowned. "Boost the sensor strength. If a fly craps in a crater, I want to know about it!" he said, the edge in his tone becoming readily apparent.

Yamaguchi tapped the display before her as she was already working on it. "Hang on... I'm getting something... its very faint.. Multiple voices... several dozen sources.." as her main hardened. "Escape pods... definitely Federation in origin."

Damian nodded solemnly, a sense of dread washing over him as he knew what those voices could be. Steeling himself, he gave the command. "Yamaguchi, turn that off. Can we detect any life signs?" he asked, holding back an anguished sigh.

Yamaguchi muted the audio which was distressing to her as well. "Not from this range sir." she answered quietly.

Walking back to his seat, he gently lowered himself into his chair and looked forward. "Do whatever you need to to get a lock on those signals and if possible, respond and let them know that we're on the way. Helmsman, lay in a course for each of these pods once we receive the coordinates. Maximum warp, if you please." he said, feeling a chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the ambient temperature.

Yamaguchi nodded her head. "Aye Captain. We're on it." she nodded to Smith.

:OFF