Lt. JG T’Fearne - Please Leave a Message After the Apocalypse
Teayl Thorn
((Stellar Cartography, Deck 10, USS Ronin))
T’Fearne: So far I have a work-in-progress theory with several glaring holes. The Kurosawa seemed to have already reached Starfleet Headquarters, discovered something catastrophic, and somehow came back to warn us. Linguistic analysis and extrapolation of their final transmission suggest a warning not to enter Ross 580. Possibly…even that the federation has fallen. The timeline just doesn’t add up—and that worries me most. We haven’t received any reports or sub-space warnings of a catastrophic event. Also, it’s only been two weeks since the Kurosawa left. It took me three weeks to travel from the Academy to DS33, where the Ronin picked me up. Even with the direct route and better speed than the several shuttle hops to different spaceports to get to the Alpha Isles, there hasn’t been enough time for anything to happen. So, how have they had time to arrive even? What has happened to send them to us? What does anything have to do with Ross 580?
Solana: What’s the phrase the Captain liked to use? Wibbly Wobbly? If we’re dealing with chronitions then that means time space crap, which stands to reason that while it’s only been a couple of weeks for us for all we know the Captain and Commander could have been doing whatever they were doing before they showed up to give us the warning for months, or years.
Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne straightened.
T’Fearne: I think Esot was right. We need to go have a closer look. :: Looking to Dekas:: Commander, permission to take a team to approach the anomaly. I know there are crews out there collecting debris, and we can set a secondary objective to follow the extrapolated black-box trajectories, but to get more answers, we need a closer look…With full precautions, transporter locks on us at all times. Esot has bravely already volunteered.
She passed her own dark-eyed grin at the Cardassian woman, more vulpine than reptile.
Solana: I think someone beat you to it, T’Fearne.
Dekas/Esot: Response
Just then, some fresh data from the Flight Deck poured into their observation feeds. The black Box had been found, but a rescue operation may now be required as one of the shuttles, the Shinano, had disappeared.
T’Fearne raised a Vulcanoid brow at the Lt. Commander.
Solana: Good news, we have the black box but now we’ve got a missing shuttle. The Carl Sagan is bringing us the box but the Shinano is no longer on sensors.
She noted the Orians' self-restraint.
Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne: ::turning back to the console swiftly:: I’m checking their last position and status before they dropped off our sensors. This interference is making the reading appear faulty.
Solana: As much as I’d be the first to volunteer to go after them, we need to focus on getting the black box in here and studying it. The bridge will no doubt be focused on recovering the Shinano from that hole in space.
Dekas/Esot: Response
Slightly leaning forward on the console and letting it ground her in her task, T’Fearne nodded. She let her eagerness to be on the front line, looking for her crewmates, bleed into the work in front of her. This was important.
T’Fearne: You're right. We have to figure out as much as we can. Treat this like any critical investigation. I’ll keep working on reconstructing Kurosawa’s flight data.
Solana: =/\= Stellar Cartography to the Carl Sagan. As soon as you’re in range, beam the black box directly here. We’re awaiting your transport. =/\=
Sagan: =/\= Understood, Senior Chief. We’ll be in range in two minutes. =/\=
Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne was already deep in the Ronins' comm logs from the last two weeks. Isolating any incoming or outgoing transmissions from the Kurosawa.
Then—there. A recent subspace exchange.
In the last few days, someone had sent a subspace transmission to the Kurosawa and Niac or Raga had responded. It was probably something innocuous. She imagined Kel asking a logistics question or Niac checking in on his 2O, but with that connection came a wealth of data, including the Kurosawas' spatial coordinates from the transmission.
Still en route to Earth and by the distance they had yet to travel, not likely to have arrived.
oO What had Jenta said about the chronitons? Wibbly Wobbly? It could have been moths…years! Oo
Solana: We should make use of the overlays we have to assist the bridge and the other shuttles in locating the Shinano, I imagine piping the feed of what we have here to the bridge science station would suffice?
T’Fearne: ::slightly distracted data:: Comander, did you have a subspace call with the Kurosawa a few days ago?
Dekas/Esot: Response
A moment later, the thrum of a transporter beam filled the room, and within moments, the blue shimmer that appeared at the designated spot on the right faded, and there, sitting, was the vibrantly red black box. The colouration was a holdover from old Earth aircraft and nautical vessels, so they would be easily spotted visually. A silly thing since it was useless in space, but handy when a shuttle or starship crashed on a planetary body.
The casing of the black box itself was oddly rough.
Solana: In Yar’s name. That thing’s taken a beating. Is it just me or does it look old?
The imorphous idea that was trying to form suddenly worked itself out, hope and joy she dared not believe hit her system and sorely tested her control. T'Fearne looked up at the others as Jenta was speaking, dark eyes bright. Listening to the conversation.
Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne: Jenta. You said before that the presence of chronitons here meant that time could have passed differently for the Captain and Raga? Correct. Esot, look at the temporal reading of the black box and the core. What do you make of that?
Solana/Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne: I don’t want to alarm anyone or falsely raise hopes, but I think we need to make a subspace call…now…to the Kurosawa.
She gripped the edge of the console, looking at the faces in the room, weathering the storm of rising and falling emotions, clamping down on even the small hope until it could be confirmed. She dented the edge of the console slightly under her grip.
Solana/Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne: I don't want to give false hope. They may yet be alive, in the now. If so, we might be able to change their fate. ::pointing at the core:: The readings say this device is out of temporal sync with us. It's not our Kurosawa's computer core.
Solana/Dekas/Esot: Response
T’Fearne: If the interference is blocking a subspace call, I recommend retreating to a safe distance from the anomaly and at least trying to contact the Kurosawa.
Solana/Dekas/Esot: Response
[Tags / TBC]
===============================
Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14