Taking A Leap

Posted on Sat Jan 21st, 2023 @ 8:41am by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Commander William Gerhard & Ensign Michael Sloan & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz & Ensign Vincent Marlow & Chief Petty Officer Nish Karalo

Mission: Sojurn
Location: Deck A - Bridge
Timeline: Day 333
2729 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The Bridge was quiet as Beth had ever seen it but the low level of lights to conserve power and the general low mood of the ship was not exactly filling anyone with the need to talk. Beth turned from looking at each individual member to looking at the never-ending damage report. It was the same issues all over the ship from power relays damaged to the list of issues in engineering. It was never-ending at the moment but she was glad for all the issues most crews had not had the opportunity to get some much-needed sleep.

Beth thought back to the last time the crew had been this low in mood and it had been a similar situation when they had been drifting searching for food when they had first been transported across the universe. At least this time things were a little more secure in what was happening. That was the biggest change in the last 333 days that Beth for the most part was stable at the top even if she did not always feel like it. She turned as someone spoke up having missed it at first.

“Pardon?” She asked.

"Sorry," Michael replied from his posting at the Engineering station. He rubbed some of the tiredness from his eyes and fought back a yawn. "We just got the results of some diagnostics and I must have been reading aloud to myself," he explained. Knowing that a follow-up question relating to what the reports suggested, he went ahead and preemptively replied, "Backup power generators are holding and stable. Simulations suggest that some degree of impulse power could be available by the end of tomorrow."

The Captain turned in her chair to look at the engineer as she pinned down who had spoken. Beth shook his apology away and listened to the explanation of what he had been talking to himself about. Impulse by tomorrow was something positive in her mind. “Sounds like positive news.”

Knowing to temper expectations, Michael replied, "Some impulse power. Ten percent is probably pushing it for now." Even he had to admit that even that much was a small miracle. His team had really come together to do something special.

Nish was leaning on one hand with the dead helm controls in front of her. There was minimal power and no impulse as of yet so she was just staring into the field of stars in front of her with nothing to do. Not quite what she had in mind when she took up helm responsibilities. Still better than having to dodge incoming fire from an unknown adversary, but only by a slim margin.

Tapping on his blank console, Vincent Marlow regretted volunteering for shifts on the Bridge. If he wanted nothing to do, he might as well have just stayed in his archaeology lab. "Nothing to report," he calmly said aloud.

"Quiet on all frequencies," Diaz reported, herself somewhat subdued. The damage to internal communications had been further compounded by limited power to spare for the external receiver and, as such, it was starting to feel like she'd have more luck holding an empty glass up to the viewport and listening for communication chatter that way.

William sat in his seat and was preparing to report when a small blip popped up on his sensor panel. He furrowed his brow as he input the commands to boost the range so he could get a better look at it. The power signatures were unusual to him, and the computer couldn't find a match in their database. He input another series of commands to plot the unknown vessel's course which, as it turned out, was on a direct intercept. "Captain, I just picked up an unknown vessel. Bearing 317 mark 224. They are nearly out of range, but appear to be on an intercept course," he said looking towards Beth in the centre chair.

Beth reacted by bringing up the information on her screen and then turned to Sloan "What do we have?" She asked quickly.

Hearing the news about the incoming bogey, Michael shifted a little uneasily in his chair. "I can't give you much. I can give you enough for thirty seconds of hull polarization and a photonic torpedo launch, but that would fry the backups and set back all of the repairs we've made so far back to zero."

"Well let's..." Beth was about to add hope when the ship suddenly rocked and a green-tinged ship like nothing Beth had ever seen before and like most of the crew, she had seen a ship from the future appear on the view screen. . "Tactical alert." She declared quickly not letting the surprise of the ship suddenly being just out of range to it being beside them in moments rock her resolve. She felt the sudden rising realisation that the hip was quicker than them but she knew that her crew were well prepared but the ship not as much as it had been at previous interactions.

Gulping a bit at much of the work Engineering had done being reversed in order, Michael tapped some command on the console that gave tactical control over what limited power the ship could muster. The Chief Engineer gave a nod toward William as if to say, make it count.

William had watched his console intently but looked uncharacteristically startled as the ship had intercepted them in the blink of an eye. At the command, he pressed the appropriate commands into his console as he brought the ship to as much as a combat stance as he could. The Phase cannons responded by coming to a full charge after Sloan had boosted some of the power. He returned the nod from Sloan before looking towards the centre chair. "Standing by Captain, but I'm not reading any increase in power levels from the unidentified ship," he reported.

“How quickly did they move?.” Beth demanded. The power levels not increasing was a good sign.

Nish looked around her controls, they still wouldn't allow them to go anywhere fast but some manoeuvrability might give them an opportunity to survive. The question about the speed of the unidentified vessel landed on her. She knew she should know this. But the telemetry had been sub-par at best. She looked over her shoulder to face the Captain. "I'm sorry. I don't know. Faster than anything we've seen before."

"Captain," Diaz's voice cut through the speculation for the first time to interrupt. Deep in her own personal struggle with imperfect instrumentation, the comms. the chief stared intently at her monitor a moment longer before turning in her chair to fix Leroux with a look of partial disbelief. "They're hailing us."

“Oh, they are hmm? Onscreen.” Beth ordered as she stood from her chair to meet the ship that had appeared next to them in an instant. The viewscreen changed from the view of the other ship to an image from inside what had to be the other ship. On the screen was a creature unlike Beth had ever seen before. He or she looked almost insectoid compared to other species that had been met so far. Four eyes stared at her and they had blueish/greenish skin. “Greetings I am Captain Bethsabee Leroux of the Earth Starfleet Ship Atlantis,” Beth announced thinking that this was the first time she had ever said her rank and position that way in a first-contact situation.

On the screen was an alien that looked like a Humanoid insect with four eyes. From the angle of the viewscreen, it could be seen that the individual was about the size of a Human child. "Greetings, I am Captain Lascosh of the starship Glatrywr. I represent the Releanian United Stars," his voice sounded a little deeper than his frame would have pictured and there was a small echo behind his voice that a seasoned communications officer would have picked up as him using a more advanced universal translator. Each being hearing the message would have heard it in their native tongue. "Our sensors indicate that your ship is significantly damaged. The black void can be a dangerous place, can we assist?"

Beth glanced at Calthane but could see she was not doing anything at all that spoke to the level of tech that they had at their disposal. She looked quickly at William and indicated for him to relax on the tactical alert for a moment returning the ship to its normal lighting. "I am not sure Captain how could assist us right now?" Beth said knowing from scans there were no planets nearby to sustain life or useable for them at the moment.

"Our sensors indicate that your power grid is fluctuating and that your propulsion engines are non-functional," the other Captain explained. "According to your technological level, it would appear that you need a drydock and stable power," Lascosh stated. Getting to his offer, the Captain generously proposed, "My people value hospitality and service to the galactic community. The Glatrywr can offer a tow to drydock with a power tether until we arrive. It should be enough for you to stabilize anything until more extensive repairs can be arranged."

Beth glanced at William and shrugged a little. The offer was generous and they had not fired on them, unlike other species and situations. “Are we stable enough for moving Ensign?” Beth asked turning her question to Sloan.

"We are stable enough to move, though we will need to pull power from other systems to compensate," Michael offered. Under normal circumstances, the ship would have been able to do almost anything. However, its primary power generation was shut down and many of the electrical systems were in some state of repair.

William listened to the exchange as he glanced down at his monitor. While he had returned the interior lighting to its normal levels, he still keep the weapons at full charge and ready. In their situation, he didn't want to let their guard down.

In her own seat, Cal's eyes drifted sideways for a brief moment as the prospect of aid, of alien encounters and first contact, aroused a conflicting barrage of emotion. With effort, she flicked her gaze back to monitoring the translator's uptake of the new linguistic structure and forced herself to concentrate on the interpretative processing rather than the confusing mix of excitement and dread that had already put her several sentences behind.

“And what will you need in offer for this assistance, Captain?” Beth asked finally wanting to know the price for help when people had not been quite so helpful in the past. They seemed to want to help but there was always a price.

Giving the Releaian version of a confused look to the screen, the other Captain paused for a moment. "Our homeworld is about to celebrate our most important holiday, the Ice Festival. We view it as a time to reach out to the galaxy at large to help foster good relations in the vast dark sea. It would be my honor to escort your crew to see it so we both can begin a better understanding of each other's people."

Beth could feel the eyes on her, wondering what she was going to say in response to the kind offer of passage and safe harbour for a while. Thoughts whirled around in her head. If she did not take the chance her ship could perish and if she took the chance the ship could perish either way, neither was the desired option, but these aliens gave them the best chance. “I appreciate the offer and accept your hospitality. “ She finally said.

"I am happy to hear," the Captain of the Releaian vessel stated with delight. He motioned to a couple of bridge officers as he gave orders that the universal translator did not pick up entirely. Looking back toward Beth, Lascosh said, "My crew will be connecting power tethers to your ship. It will take the strain off of your ship's failing power grid during the tow to drydock. Are these the correct connection points?" As he asked the last question, a series of coordinated of external power supply points that had been used when the ship was being constructed appeared on the screen.

"Sloan?" Beth asked gently defaulting to him as chief Engineer and the person who would know best.

Squinting a bit to read the screen due to fatigue. Michael slowly nodded as he went through the list. "Those are correct," he replied at the end. He cast a shrug toward Beth and then to William. He was all for the strain to be lifted from the ship's damaged power systems, but he was also wary of the fact that anything could be sent into the Atlantis from those access points. While he knew there was almost no choice, he still worried about the possibility that this help could be weaponized.

“They are correct Captain,” Beth confirmed watching on the smaller screen next to her as tethers came from the much bigger ship and attached to them with barely any indication that it had happened. There was so much to learn about these species when they were so much more advance than them.

As a side effect of the almost immediately available abundance of power, the Atlantis' lighting briefly became brighter as the systems compensated for the new supply of power. Nodding toward Beth, Michael said, "Captain, main power has been restored to one hundred per cent."

Beth could not quite believe it and quickly brought up the readings on her screen. “Thank you, Ensign.” She smiled a little looking around at the full power now restoring sensors readings to several stations. “Thank you, Captain,” Beth said nodding at the other Captain on the screen.

With a nod and what would have had to have been a Releaian smile, the Captain responded, "It is our pleasure. I believe it is time for me to sign off to give you time with your crew."

“Report status,” Beth asked muting the communication channel to check in with her crew. “We can move if they tow us?”

Nish simply sat back in her seat, the structural integrity field was holding and with a tow, they'd be fine. Struggling against it would probably be a bad idea, but it seemed safe to simply hitch along to wherever they wanted them. If given control they could probably muster a short jump away but the speed with which the vessel had approached meant that there was not a snowball's chance in hell that they'd make it out without the aliens catching up to them. It wasn't her place to report on any of these things anyway, that was the purview of Engineering and perhaps Tactical.

Shrugging a bit, Michael replied, "It depends on your definition of moving. We can move with them anywhere they want to take us with no problem. However, if we disconnect the tethers and fight against the tractor beam," he pause for a moment as he read the sensors. "If we did that, I can't hold the ship together. We are too broken."

William checked his status display before looking towards the captain. "All tactical systems are fully operational. However, polarizing the hull plating may be an issue. As Ensign Sloan can attest too, power supplies are limited. With our current reserves i can give you 50% hull polarization, not any more," he said with a quick glance towards the engineering station.

"The communications network is secure, Captain." Diaz squinted at her readouts. "With the power grid stabilised, I can remap the active relays and give us back direct access to lower-priority areas." Operating purely on high-priority primary locations hadn't been particularly efficient but they'd had no choice. There was also a significant amount of information sitting in the communication logs, an entirely new language for extrapolation so that the translator could be formatted. That didn't seem as relevant to the Captain's immediate decision, however.

“We are ready when you are,” Beth said hoping science was going to work out how they were able to hitch a ride like the Releaian‘s were suggesting. Every duty station was reporting ready for where they were going to take them to get repaired. Whilst Beth was concerned she was making a big mistake she had no choice but to take the leap.