Status Unknown Pt 1

Posted on 29 Oct 2016 @ 5:23am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell

1,381 words; about a 7 minute read

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Lieutenant Commander William Mitchell, second officer on the scout vessel USS Blackbird sat at his terminal in his quarters, listening to Def Leppard in the background while doing his report. One of the few things the Mitchell family had in common was their love of old music, even into the "classic" rock territory. As the playlist rolled over from "Animal" to "Love Bites", Will was just about to go into the final paragraph of his lengthy report when his console beeped. This was the third call he had received today, twice from the engineering department regarding a slight malfunction in the main systems.

He rolled his eyes, and without even looking he pressed the answer button on the console. "Malick, for the last time. I don't know squat about the engines, you are the Chief Engineer. If the Captain says you are good to run tests, then you are...." He turned to the console and his sentance was cut off as he saw who the caller was.

A young lady, about 27 or 28, filled the view. She had brunette hair and blue eyes, a very attractive young woman. Her collar held the rank of Lieutenant and she wore the blue color of the medical field. "I believe you may have the wrong person, sir." she began.

Will dropped his PADD on the desk and wheeled around to face the person. "I apologize, Lieutenant. It's been a long day." He looked down at his console and noticed that it was a long range transmission that he was looking at. Strange, as anyone who would be calling HIM from long range would be family, which she was not. "How may I help you, ma'am?" He asked.

"I'm looking for a Lieutenant Commander William Mitchell. Is this who I am talking too?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am, it is." Will replied.

The woman inhaled as she thought of the words to say. "I am sorry to bother you sir. I am Lieutenant Morganstern. I am a counselor aboard Starbase 418."

Morganstern....why do I know that name? Will pondered. "Yes, the outpost near the Romulan boarder. I believe my brother was stationed there temporarily between vessel transfers."

"That is correct, sir. I met your brother after his tour on the USS Ohio."

At the mention of the Ohio, Will cringed slightly. He knew full well what his brother had to go through during that incident and how it had affected him afterward. Also, this key piece of information suddenly sparked his mind. Counselor Morganstern....aha!

Will had to keep a smiled down. Not long after his brother had experienced the Romulan incident, he had been cleared for duty by this counselor. Obviously Greg was in no clear mental state to be given the ok to leave that quickly. And knowing Greg's past with women....

"You were the one who counseled him after the incident?" Will asked.

Dr. Morganstern looked embarrassed for a moment. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't talk about that."

"I see. Yes, I've heard about you ma'am. Greg speaks highly of you."

"I'm sorry?" Morganstern asked.

Crap, did I say that too sarcastically? "I mean, he informed me that you were a very professional counselor.

"....uh huh. Anyway, I was calling because I seem to be having trouble getting in contact with your brother."

Will sat forward. "What do you mean?"

"Your brother and I....I mean, we have been communicating back and forward ever since. You know, just to see if he's ok and everything." She blushed.

"Yah, I see why." Will mumbled.

"What? There's that tone again." She looked at him, "Forgive me sir, but what are you insinuating?"

Son of a.... Will looked at his chronometer, then back at her. "Ma'am, I hate to rush this, but we are about to enter a nebula that is going to distort communications. I'm gonna need you to get to a point."

"Yes sir, I apologize. A few days ago, I got a message from Greg stating his ship had been re-routed to answer a distress call. That's the last I heard from him. I attempted to contact him a few more times. I would have checked in sooner, but I was busy." Morganstern had a worried look on her face.

"Distress call?" Will mumbled, "Do you know where?"

"No, he didn't say. He didn't know at the time, because he is just Security. I told him to get back to me when everything is alright and to be careful. I haven't heard from him since. I have tried to contact the Galileo but I haven't been able to reach the ship." She brushed back her hair with her hands as she continued, "I was hoping you had heard from him."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't say that I have. We also communicate back and forward a lot, but I haven't heard anything for a couple of days. I assumed he was busy."

Even Will found it odd. Greg was always good at keeping the family updated on his whereabouts in case something went wrong. Not contacting him was out of the ordinary.

"I've tried a few ships that were in the area at the time, but none have reported any contact with the Galileo. I was hoping that...." She took a deep breath before she continued, "I was hoping that you could use your authority as Second Officer to try to get better contact with him. I want to make sure he's ok. I...." The doctor trailed off.

Will quickly jumped in, smiling to hopefully make her feel better. "Ma'am, I'm sure he's just busy. I know my brother. He should be contacting us soon." He sat back in his chair, "But I promise, I'll do all I can to get in contact with him to see if he's ok. I'll let you know when I get him."

Dr. Morganstern smiled back, "Thank you, sir. I'm worried about him, that's all."

"Yes, I'm sure you are...." Will mumbled aloud again.

The doctor looked defensive again, "Now wait a minute, sir. What exactly do you mean by..."

Will cursed himself for not keeping his inner monologue quiet and quickly jumped up, and pressed a few buttons on his console, causing the transmission to begin to fade, a modern version of the 'I'm going through a tunnel' trick. "Oops, sorry ma'am. We must be going through the nebula. I'll get back to you soon. I promise. Take care. Blackbird out."

"Sir, wait...." she began, but was cut off as the transmission cut.

Will sat back down in his chair. "Huh.....". He thought for a minute. For Greg to not let anyone know where he was, let alone not answer in any way, was different. And he obviously had a thing going with this counselor, something Will and the rest of the family had suspected for some time. For him not to return her calls was weird. Mission or not, Greg would have somehow found a way to call back, even if it were just to say 'I can't talk right now.'

"Computer, relay a transmission to the USS Galileo for me." he asked.

"UNABLE TO COMPLY. UNABLE TO ESTABLISH COMMUNICATION WITH USS GALILEO AT THIS TIME"

Will stood up, "What do you mean, 'unable to establish communication'?"

"CONTACT WITH THE USS GALILEO WAS LOST ON STARDATE 67958.0, SHORTLY AFTER ENTERING PAULSON NEBULA TO INVESTIGATE DISTRESS SIGNAL"

"Distress signal? From what ship?"

"THAT INFORMATION IS UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME"

Will paced the room. Now he was beginning to worry. "Do you not know? Or are you not allowed to tell me?"

"FULL DETAILS ABOUT USS GALILEO'S MISSION WERE UNABLE TO BE RECIEVED BY THIS COMPUTER BEFORE CONTACT WAS LOST. ADDITIONAL AUTOMATED QUERIES WERE SENT WITH NO RESPONSE BY GALILEO COMPUTER."

Will leaned forward onto his desk. "So, you're telling me you don't know where they are, you don't know who they are investigating, and you don't know if they are ok?"

"THAT IS CORRECT"

Will stood in silence for a few moments, taking in the information he had recieved, before finally responding out loud. "Well that's....problematic."

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