The Search for Venture (Part 2 of 4)

Posted on 06 Aug 2013 @ 12:36pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant JG Jacrux & Ensign Natalie Chevalier & Ensign Ariadne Fleming & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Amril & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis

2,192 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Main Bridge, Various
Timeline: MD 13 - 0810 hrs

Previously, on The Search for Venture (Part 1)...

Albeit a little late, John quickly emerged from the turbolift and headed down to take his place along with his captain. He was a little embarrassed that he was one of the last officers to find his way to the nerve centre of the Galileo, but after the amount of time he had spent in sole command of the Nova-class starship during the previous week, he felt it was only fair he be allowed one slip up every once in a while.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Sickbay

Allyndra made her way to sickbay still suppressing a yawn. The call had gone out from the Captain for a meeting and briefing. "Tea," she thought, "strong and hot and sweet." It would be her first item on her agenda as she made her way to the medical replicator. A few moments later, she savoured the steaming brew as it began to lift the fog away. The place was thankfully still empty of patients currently and she took a spot on one of empty biobeds in the ICU to listen in.

Before joining his team in the Intensive Care Unit, Andreus Kohl entered the Sickbay complex from another corridor access. He stopped into his office to access the LCARS panel, and quickly review the most current status reports. Catching his reflection in the panel, Kohl could see his honey-brown hair was tousled unevenly, and his stubble was approaching a full beard. There hadn't been time to tame it this morning. He took down his pale blue medical smock from its hook on the wall and he shrugged it on over his uniform. Kohl logged off from LCARS and then he rushed into the ICU. He took up position beside the large display screen set into the bulkhead. Kohl crossed his arms over his abdomen, and leaned against the wall.

"Good morning," Allyndra lifted her cup of tea toward Andreus.

Kohl smiled weakly in return. He wondered, idly, if the Captain's next words would make him wish he had his own tea in hand, or perhaps something stiffer. He nodded at Allyndra, and he said, "Good morning," too.

"Hi all," Delainey offered with a wan smile. She took a last swig of her raktajino before tossing it in the reclamator as she entered.
She took note of the new ACMO whom she recognized from her personnel file and offered her hand and a smile. "I'm very pleased to meet you. I'm Dr. Delainey Carlisle."

Allyndra stood and smiled at the blonde haired woman as she made a general greeting. She transferred her cup to her left so she could use her right hand and took the other woman's offered one. "Pleased doctor. I am Allyndra."

Alexion Wylde moved into the others from where he'd just released a patient back to duty. He'd been here for hours, his shift just drawing to an end, but it seemed he'd have to wait before he could get back. His sleeves were rolled up and he was drying his hands off on a small towel as he moved to the rest of them. He knew his son, Laeon, would know how to take care of himself on a ship by now, and that included not being stubborn and disliking having to wait with other civilians. Well, sometimes anyway. He didn't kick up a fuss about it anymore at least, just grumbled. "Morning."

Delainey shook the new ACMO's hand. "Very nice to meet you. If you need help learning your way around here, just let me know. Rumour has it I split my time between counselling the crew and patching them up."

Allyndra nodded, "That is a difficult task, trust me. Anyway, pleased doctor and thank you for the offer."


Shuttlebay

Willis was inside one of the shuttles, putting the navigational equipment back where it should go...mostly. After finishing and admiring his work he activated the console and frowned as there was no activation. Looking around to be sure no one was looking he kicked the base of the console and it lit up. "Damn, it does work." he said more to himself than for anyone else.

Quinn entered the Shuttlebay and immediately noticed the Virginia's hatch opened. Turning to look at Scarlet. "Let's hope one of these are operational."

Quinn walked over to the opening of the Shuttle. "You put the cover on backwards, son. "

S'Ranna had been working towards the back of the shuttlebay, but her acute hearing pricked up at the sound of voices, and she strode out to find some officers gathering around. She'd not been briefed on the mission, but knew her role was apparent.

"I have the honourrr of being Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Krarh," she introduced herself. "And I am being your pilot today. Which crrraft are we to be taking on the mission?"

"We'll take Marina," Scarlet nodded over to the vessel, already moving over towards it with a firm stride. At least they'd be able to get a good sweep of the area with her.

S'Ranna smiled and nodded: the Marina was already a personal favourite, even if the other flight stuff laughed whenever she said the name. She moved to the runabout and seated herself at the helm, flexing her paws and curling her tail into a comfortable position.

Willis looked up and sneered at Quinn. I got your..." he stopped as he looked at Scarlet. "Commander Blake, ma'am. Sorry." Willis watched her walk away. In a quick motion Quinn closed the gawking man's mouth. "You're drooling, son. Let's roll."

Both men followed behind the 2nd Officer, while only one was watching where he was walking. The two NCO's climbed into the Volga-Class, starting the preflight checklist.

S'Ranna confirmed the pre-flight checks as they fed the information into her flight console; she think uplinked to Flight Control and downloaded the mission parameters, programming in the target coordinates and studying the route with interest. It did not look taxing, but perhaps she could find a stray meteor to dance around along the way.

As the preflight was finished, Quinn looked over the instruments and began the launch sequence. Only moments later the runabout was out of the hangar and in front of the Galileo.

=^=Galileo, this is Runabout - Marina. We are in position, over.=^=

S'Ranna had smoothly guided the runabout out of the shuttlebay; she leaned back in her seat and swished her tail absently as she awaited further orders.

"Acknowledged, Marina." came the Orion captain's swift reply over the crackle of the runabout's comm. "Stand by for further orders."

S'Ranna put the runabout into a holding pattern a safe distance from the Galileo. The Caitian female then arched her back and stretched her paws, letting out a throaty yawn, her tail stiffening. Wiping her eyes, she looked round at the others in the runabout. She had got to knew few people on board the ship thus far; if nothing else, this mission might be an opportunity to do that, even if the actual flying seemed unlikely to test her skills.


Bridge

Back in the ship's command center, Lirha felt the time was finally appropriate to take action. Her crew had come to full readiness, reported to their stations, and had obtained as much information as possible regarding Venture's whereabouts from a distance. It was time for closer investigation.

Looking over her left shoulder towards the operations alcove, she began to prepare for departure from the Rojar system. "Notify Venture's saucer section that we are proceeding to locate their stardrive. I also want any additional available power routed to our long range sensor arrays."

"Aye, m'lady," Mor'an said from her station. Focusing her attention on the panel and buttons before her, Mor'an made contact with the other ship. A moment later, the long ranger sensors were receiving extra rerouted power.

"Long range sensors are receiving all available power," Amril announced a moment later. The amount of cheerfulness accompanying the comment was disproportionate to the level of excitement usually elicited by extra sensor power. As things progressed on the bridge, he continued to tweak the power flows on the ship as opportunities presented themselves.

Lirha glanced over her other shoulder at the science alcove and the full complement of blue-collared officers present. "Recalibrate our long-range sensors to scan for Venture's ion trail and warp signature. Hopefully as we can gather a more precise location as we close the distance."

Victoria nodded and sat down at the nearby panel. Excited as she was to be on the bridge- not a place she'd ever spent much time- she wasn't as comfortable around the controls as some of the others and that made her a bit anxious about making a mistake. Saying a silent prayer to herself, she adjusted the sensors as the Captain had ordered.

Not wanting to impinge on others' work, Nat concentrated on just one specific duty: programming in the distinctive signature of the Venture's warp plasma so that the long range sensors could detect any venting. Though a little out of her customary sphere of influence, Nat's familiarity with warp plasma emissions stemmed from an extensive study of their effects on low orbit space dwelling microorganisms during her EVA training at the Academy. The memory helped her resist the urge to roll up her sleeves: uniform can be a drag, but at least it's not an EVA shell.

The sensors weren't picking up that much of anything useful, cutting through the background interference wasn't easy. Cycling masks for UV, Radiation and Glestog Constants Kiri was able to slowly build up more and more of a picture as they scans from everyone else were coming together. The upgrades that were sucking more energy than before from the ship were earning their weight. Work that would have taken three times as long was surprising even her, there were several possibilities but only one real direction. They had a search pattern at least.

"Engineering, it seems we may be encountering radiation spikes and EM interference once we enter the nebula. Is there anything we can do to reinforce our warp field?" the captain proceeded to ask the Scottish engineer directly behind her.

The excitement of being allowed on the Bridge so soon after his assignment to the Galileo was almost too much for the young Scot to bear. Flicking his hands over the engineering console, he began throwing together a few precautions that might help keep the system together in the event of the nebula deciding not to play ball.

"Aye cap'n - I've reinforced the warp core containment with a thoron field that should keep any nasty surprises from findin' their way back to the core. As for the warp field itself...well leave that to me as we go."

With all preparations now complete, Lirha turned her attention back to the viewscreen in front of her. "Helm, lay in a course on vector 117.214, warp seven." she instructed.

"Roger that Captain," Dea replied as she put the commands into Galileo's computer, "Flight vector 117.214, warp seven confirmed." Double checking their course to ensure all systems were performing nominally.

The sleek Nova class came about and finally broke orbit from the last planet in the system, Rojar VI. The survey had officially come to an end and it was now time to depart on a more pressing mission...one which held a great deal of concern and uncertainty in Lirha's mind. Why Venture had not returned yet was a mystery, as was the lack of any communication Galileo's nacelles glowed bright white and flared, and the tiny ship elongated then snapped into high warp as it departed the system.

To Be Continued...

[END EPISODE 03]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Im'er Mor'an
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant jg Allyndra illm Warraquim
ACMO
USS Galileo

Lt Commander Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor/2XO
USS Galileo

Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh
Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jacrux
Anthropologist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Aria Rice
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
USS Galileo

PO First Class Keval Grayson
Operations
USS >Galileo>
NPC'd by

Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Ariadne Fleming
Oceanologist
USS Galileo

LCDR Scarlet Blake
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

MCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

LT Dea Mialin
Chief Flight COntrol Officer
USS Galileo

LT Kiri Cho
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Asst. Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

WO Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Scarlet Blake

SCPO Arthur Willis
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Markum Quinn

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