Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie - Hypotheses
Addison MacKenzie
(( Bridge – Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))
The Artemis had officially been catapulted back into active duty. They’d
arrived in the Borderlands in pursuit of the Tritorian, a civilian freighter
who’d issued a distress signal days before, but hadn’t been heard from since. Captain
MacKenzie had a host of theories about what might have happened to them: they’d
been kidnapped or destroyed by pirates, they’d had a systems malfunction and
were incapable of answering, they’d crashed on a neighboring world… They were
innumerable, and it would be easy for them to get lost in the range of
possibilities without having data to hone their hypotheses. Unfortunately for
them, the Celendi Nebula was experiencing a particularly active period,
throwing off gasses and radiation that made it difficult to pinpoint specific
sensor readings. Their search and rescue efforts were likely to take far longer
with limited use of their equipment.
MacKenzie: Ensign, plot a search and rescue course along the Celendi
Trade Line, factoring in any planets in close proximity to the trade line where
the Tritorian may have crashed. How many planets might that
be, and how long will it take us to cover them?
Lyara: With a search and rescue along the trade routes we’re looking at
twelve planets in close enough proximity to the nebula assuming it crashed.
::She pressed on her console and frowned:: The radiation is likely to mess with
the sensors so it’ll take up to five days to scan every planet.
She shook her head. Too long, too much time. They were already fighting against
the clock as it was – it had been three days since DS 224 received the call for
them to even get to the area, let alone start their search. If the
freighter was in trouble, or even worse, if it had crashed
somewhere, the window for them to potentially locate any survivors would be
quickly closing.
MacKenzie: Very well. Helm, lay in a course and engage at warp 5.
Science, pay careful attention to sensors – if there’s any space debris that
might correspond to a freighter, or potential crash sight on one of these
planets, we need to find it quickly.
Lyara: Yes sir, plotting a course.
Jovenan: Aye, Captain.
MacKenzie: Tactical, be on the lookout for any pirate activity. I think
it’s highly unlikely that anyone would choose to provoke the Federation’s
flagship vessel in the region, but you never know.
Silveira: I pity the fool who tries, Captain
MacKenzie: ::turning to Dakora:: Let medical know that we might be
encountering increased levels of radiation, and they should start replicating
enough Hyronalyn to inoculate the entire crew with multiple doses… ::flatly::
and to prepare for the possibility that we might encounter wounded who need our
assistance.
Dakora: Aye Captain. We’ll be ready.
Making short order of things and proving her efficiency at her station, the
helm reported their progress.
Lyara: We’re approaching our first stop shortly, should be in sensor
range.
Silveira: Looks like its quiet here.
MacKenzie: ::smirking, shaking her head:: It is never quiet in the
Borderlands, Mister Silveira. (beat) Anything on sensors?
Jovenan: There’s nothing much yet. We could send out a probe for a
larger coverage, but the radiation would damage its systems, and we might lose
contact to it due to interference from the nebula. I’ll try to set the sensors
so that we can detect the signs of the Tritorian.
Dakora: Maybe we can find a way to harden the probe to last as long
as possible. I think a lost probe is worth the possibility of locating the
ship.
MacKenzie: Good idea. See what you can do, Commander. Other thoughts, Lieutenant
Silveira?
Silveira: Anything that can help narrow our search or get a positive
location would be nice.
Jovenan opened a channel to one of the other members of her department.
Jovenan: =/\= Jovenan to Lieutenant Gnai. =/\=
Gnai: =/\= Response =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= We’re facing heavy sensor disturbance from the radiation.
Could you grab someone from the engineering or ops and head to
the sensor pod and see if you could clear some of it out? =/\=
Gnai: =/\= Response =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= We’re looking for a missing ship, so focus on long and
mid-range scanners, anything that could detect hull components, warp trails or
something similar. ::pause:: The scientific inquiry needs to be postponed for
another day. =/\=
Gnai: =/\= Response =/\=
When the communication ended, Talos stood and walked over to
the helm station, stopping just behind Lyara. He rested a hand on the headrest
of her chair.
Dakora: Ensign Lyara, can you give me a list of planets within
reasonably low warp range along the Calendi Trade Route? I want to start
looking into any potential diplomatic complications, just in case.
Lyara: Thankfully for us, we won’t run into anyone outwardly hostile.
::She points to the map again:: So far our search parameters will bring us to
11 planets after this one.
He nodded his appreciation to the new red-headed pilot.
Dakora: Thanks. Let’s focus on the Class M planets first. I’m
feeling optimistic at the moment.
Lyara: I always appreciate optimism, sir. I’ll pull up data on any Class
Ms we have. ::She typed on the console::
Silveira: We will try not spoil that mood Commander.
Addison looked over her shoulder at Vitor.
MacKenzie: ::sarcastically:: Speak for yourself.
The computer beeped to signal it had finished collecting data on planets within
the search perimeter. Lyara offered the information to Talos.
Lyara: Commander, the computer shows four Class M planets that fit the
perimeters for our search.
Dakora: Response
Lyara nodded swiped across the console to transfer the data to MacKenzie’s
console.
Lyara: Here ya’ are sir. They’ll be on your console.
Vitor frowned and turned his chair to face her.
Silveira: Captain, do we have access to the Tritorian transmission?
MacKenzie: Yes, but there’s not much to go on – it was very brief.
Dakora/Lyara: Responses
Jovenan: Response
Silveira: Considering we don’t have the ship on our database, why don’t we
work on that as well, aside from our search?
Dakora/Lyara: Responses
Jovenan: Response
Silveira: No matter how short it was, we might try and figure out who the
crew of the Tritorian might be. What communication systems do they use? How
stressful they sounded? Anything that might give us some clue. ::He
instinctively looked at Nan for validation, since she was their Chief Science
Officer.:: Makes sense?
Jovenan: Response
Dakora/Lyara: Responses
Silveira: I’m just saying we also work on finding the bottle from the
message.
Jovenan: Response
Addison listened to them bat options back and forth before reaching down
and pressing several buttons on her console.
MacKenzie: On the viewer now.
Her eyes lifted as she brought everyone’s attention to the
viewscreen. There, a humanoid male appeared on the screen. The background behind
him appeared dark, as though their bridge was very dimly lit – possibly the
sign of a power failure. She pressed the button on her console to start the
recording. As it played, the sound was garbled and riddled with static, but the
captain’s voice was distinct and still audible.
Tritorian Captain: This is the freighter Tritorian. To all
within the sound of my voice, we require immediate assistance. We are transporting
goods alo-
The message disappeared from the screen and returned to the image of the
starfield.
MacKenzie: ::flatly:: The message terminates…
Dakora/Lyara/Jovenan/Silveira: Responses
Addison shook her head.
MacKenzie: The sound of weapons fire wasn’t evident, nor was the sound
of any chaos, which leads me to believe they weren’t under attack. Thoughts?
Dakora/Lyara/Jovenan/Silveira: Responses
She nodded slightly.
MacKenzie: So what hypotheses do you have?
Dakora/Lyara/Jovenan/Silveira: Responses
The commanding officer of the Artemis gave a long look at the starfield
on the viewscreen as she considered what they had to say.
MacKenzie: Anything on sensors yet? Is that probe ready to launch?
Dakora/Lyara/Jovenan/Silveira: Responses
Tag, and TBC!
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Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A
Captains Council Member at Large
V239601AM0