[Act 1] Captain Addison MacKenzie - Be Careful What You Wish For - Part 1
Addison MacKenzie
(( Captain’s Quarters – Deck 2, USS Artemis-A ))
(( 0146 hours ))
The Commanding Officer of the Artemis sat behind the small desk in her
quarters reading the latest issue of the SFMJ, her legs propped up by one
corner of the desk with her feet lazily hanging off the edge. Insomnia wasn’t
new to Addison (nor was it to many of the other COs she knew), and her way of
combating the malady was to use it as an opportunity to cram as much into her
brain as possible. What else did she have to do, after all? Unfortunately, they
were making good time back to Earth, having only just gotten underway several
hours before, and at their current pace, they were due to arrive in plenty
of time for the Frontier Day ceremony.
Great.
“…techniques for repairing arterial disease in Bolians…”
Her head jerked back up.
Blinking several times, she looked at the chronometer. Perhaps this was a sign
of good luck – she’d get to turn in before her usual 3 AM bedtime. An extra
hour of sleep in the cards? What a gift…
Tossing the PADD down, Addison moved across the room, turned
off the light, and crawled into bed. She tossed and turned for what felt like
an eternity but in reality was probably only ten minutes, until finally she came
to rest in a comfortable position on her back. She felt her eyes get heavy, being
weighed down by sleep and not by force, and then she felt her breathing start
to slow and deepen, until finally…
=/\= Captain MacKenzie to the Bridge. =/\=
She blinked her eyes open, and they quickly darted around the room. There were
no alerts, no sign of imminent danger, or reason to panic… Delta shift was in
charge, but she didn’t recognize the officer’s voice and couldn’t remember which
duty officer was covering this evening’s shift. After taking a deep breath, the
red-headed CO drug herself out of bed, pulled a sweatshirt with the Artemis
logo on it over her head, and made her way out the door.
(( Bridge – Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))
((0210 hours))
Addison came bounding out of the turbolift, an air of annoyance
and curiosity informing the pace of her gait.
MacKenzie: Someone better have a good reason for waking me up.
Sitting in her seat was a blond human wearing a blue
uniform. Lieutenant Alexis Edgington, whose typical assignment was as one of
the assistants in the science department, had the unlucky charge of overseeing
the night watch. Upon hearing Addison’s voice from the rear of the bridge, the
woman rose to meet her, a look of apprehension and confusion on her face.
Edgington: Yes, ma’am. Apologies for the interruption, but we’re picking
up some unusual readings I thought you’d want to see…
Addison followed the woman over to one of the science stations. Edgington sat
down at the console, and Addison peered over her shoulders as she walked her
through the data.
Edgington: We’re just outside the Badlands and sensors picked up
residual traces of transwarp activity…
Addison’s eyebrows raised. Trying not to jump to conclusions based on the
implications of the readings, she forced the scientifically-minded portion of
her brain to begin an inquiry.
MacKenzie: Where?
Edgington: Inside the Badlands, ma’am.
MacKenzie: You’re sure? You’ve confirmed the readings.
Edgington: I think so-
MacKenzie: You think so?
She didn’t have to be able to see the woman’s face to be able to see the tension
– offering bad news to the captain on a whim wasn’t something you wanted to get
wrong, but it was clear that the junior officer was trying to be proactive in
her reporting.
Edgington: Yes ma’am. We detected the signal fairly deep in the
Badlands. It’s a hostile region, ma’am – between the radiation and other gases,
and the degradation of the transwarp signal, it would have been very easy to
overlook.
MacKenzie: Well, Lieutenant, you’ve officially captured my attention…
Reaching over the scientist’s shoulder, Addison relayed the coordinates of the
signal to the helmsman. According to her calculation, they’d be at the perimeter of
the Badlands in under an hour, but the closer proximity would allow them to get
a better picture of what they were looking at.
MacKenzie: Helm, change course to intercept these coordinates. Warp 8.
She could feel the vibration of the deck plating increase almost imperceptibly,
a sign that the order had been received and executed. She looked around for an
empty stool – they were easy to come by, given that the bridge was relatively
empty during the overnight hours. Pulling one from the nearby console, she
wheeled her way over to sit next to the blond woman.
MacKenzie: We’re on one of the most scientifically advanced ships
Starfleet has to offer - let’s see what we can find out… Activate the
long-range sensor array and target the source of the transwarp signal.
Hopefully that big sensor pod we’re lugging around will prove useful…
Edgington: One moment ma’am…
The sounds of the scientist’s fingers flying across the console were an
indication that the woman was efficient at her job. Whether the results would
prove conclusive, at all, was anoth-
Edgington: We’ve got preliminary images coming in now, ma’am. Routing
results to the main viewscreen…
Addison stood and moved toward the center of the room. Her gaze was fixed on
the main viewscreen, currently displaying the darkness of space sprinkled with bright
stars streaking past. After a moment of anticipation, the image changed. While the
object in the center of the screen was distorted due to their distance, the ominous
object surrounded by the orange-pink swirling plasma storms was unmistakable.
A Borg Cube.
Addison’s eyes narrowed as she ran through various scenarios. While she was
hoping for a distraction from the Frontier Day celebrations, this wasn’t exactly
what she had in mind.
Be careful what you wish for.
MacKenzie: Lieutenant, open a channel to Starfleet Command.
There was a moment of silence before the scientist responded, confusion in her
tone.
Edgington: Ma’am, the external communication array is offline. I’m
showing that the array has no power.
Addison’s eyes narrowed as she moved back over to the woman’s console. Looking
at the results, she entered a few commands into the computer to get to the reason
for the malfunction. When the results of the diagnostic came back, her eyes
narrowed.
MacKenzie: Someone severed all the power couplings connected to the external
communication array.
Edgington: Purposefully, ma’am?
Addison stood and nodded slowly, her voice now fully steeped in irritation.
MacKenzie: Purposefully…
She took a deep breath through her nose before releasing it quickly through her
mouth. The time of a breath was the only time she needed to plan their next
steps.
MacKenzie: =/\= Senior staff, report to the bridge for an emergency briefing
in ten minutes. =/\=
Addison turned her attention back to Edgington.
MacKenzie: Lieutenant, I need all the info you get in the time it takes
me to throw on a fresh uniform…
The commanding officer didn’t wait for a response before retreating to her
ready room.
TBC…
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Captain Addison
MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A
Captains Council Member at Large
V239601AM0