Lessons Learned (Part 2 of 4)

Posted on 24 Aug 2014 @ 5:43pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain T'Zera

2,328 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Renown - Main Bridge
Timeline: 2381 [Flashback]

[CONTINUED]

Lirha listened to the tactical cadet's proposal but her first instinct was to look for any other starships in the area who might be closer and better able to assist. Looking down at her armrest console and tapping her fingers against the controls to bring up an operational sector map of all nearby Federation ships, she soon realized her ship was the closest and fastest one.

"Thank you for reporting this incident, captain. Do you have any sensor data from your encounter that you can transmit to us which would be helpful? Weapons signatures, hull schematics and the like?" she asked the Rigelian captain. "And what exactly is your cargo?"

"Uridium ore," the Rigellian answered. "Twenty-five hundred tons. Very valuable on the black market. We're transmitting our sensor logs now." He nodded to someone out of frame.

T'Zera cut in with an urgent report. The navigation sensors had just picked something up. "Captain, vessel decloaking off the port beam!"

The small raider was on top of them before anyone could react. Since she was still on a short distance from the starbase, Renown's shields were down and her weapons on cold standby. If the raider had decided to fire she would have caused great damage. Fortunately that wasn't the case. She swept over the top of the Defiant-class vessel and then accelerated away.

"Captain!" Someone on the bridge exclaimed. Everyone turned to see Commander Gerhardt and Lieutenant Casey being carried away in a swirl of glittering red light. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

The yelling on the bridge quickly put Lirha into a mild panic. Everything was happening so fast. At first she'd attempted to look through the viewscreen to catch a glimpse of the new ship that had just materialized, but then the whirring sound of transporter beams behind her followed by shouts from the crew caused her to spin around in her chair and catch a fleeting glimpse of her de-materalizing instructors.

"Ops, establish a transporter lock and beam them back! Red alert!," Lirha yelled over the commotion.

The lights dimmed on the bridge while the red lanterns recessed into the bulkheads glowed, and on every deck the electronic klaxon blared.

"Unable to find their signals, sir," the ops officer said, the tenor of his voice higher than normal.

The Rigellian captain decided to take his leave. "We're heading for safer space. Good luck to you, Renown!" He cut transmission and was replaced by the image of his freighter, which made a hard turn and accelerated towards open space.

A hail came in from Starbase 247, which was still in visual range behind them. "Starbase Ops to USS Renown, report!"

Flustered and agitated, Lirha looked around the bridge as if somehow there was a secret clue to uncover that would magically solve the situation and return their instructors. At this point she had no idea if this was still a training operation, but her gut instinct told her something was very wrong.

"Saalm to Starbase 247....our instructors have just been beamed off the ship against their will by a cloaked vessel. Unknown classification," she responded through the comm. "We are standing by at red alert and I request permission to pursue and retrieve Commander Gerhardt."

"Renown, hold your position until we can deploy the garrison ship. Stand by for further instructions, but for now don't move!"

All personnel on the bridge turned and looked at each other, then at Lirha. Every second that they sat still meant precious time lost as the ship carrying the kidnapped officers got further and further away.

T'Zera turned her chair around and faced Lirha. "Assuming their garrison ship is even pre-flighted and ready to go, it will take them around seven and a half minutes to assemble a crew, cast off moorings, and clear the space doors."

Lirha ran a green hand through her dark hair in frustration. As an operations cadet, she knew T'Zera was correct, and her knowledge of starship operational procedures put her own guestimate at closer to eight or nine minutes due to intangible factors. It was far too long a time to idly hold position, but at the same time, she had just been given a direct order. Lirha was also conscious of the fact that she was one of only a handful of Orions serving in Starfleet. Her species had a reputation for being impulsive and emotional, and she had worked hard throughout her Academy training to try and break that stereotype and show she could be a good officer with a respect for the chain of command. This particular decision, however, was one of the most uncomfortable one she'd ever faced in her short career.

Thumbing the comm switch again, she finally spoke up after a short period of silence. "Renown to Starbase 247, request clarification of orders. The garrison vessel will take time to launch. We are able to pursue and intercept immediately." The Orion cadet glanced around at the other cadets on the bridge hoping they all shared her sentiment.

"Cadet, you are not to take a ship full of kids into a combat situation. You will wait for us and then be employed in a support role only. Acknowledge."

Lirha's crew sat frozen in place, not certain how to respond to such an unexpected order.

T'Zera looked around the silent bridge with a raised eyebrow, then addressed Lirha. "Captain, if I may be permitted to quote regulations. Article 1.5 states that in a situation where the lives of Federation citizens are at risk, Starfleet personnel must take all measures necessary to come to their aid and defense." Watching as Lirha turned that one over in her head, T'Zera decided to add another one to strengthen the ground. "Furthermore, Article 2.8 states that the authority of a ship's captain can be superseded only by the authority of a recognized superior. I submit to you, Captain, that the person speaking to us has not stated his name or rank. Nor has he made a visual transmission on the viewer."

If there was one thing T'Zera was adept at and Lirha was lacking, it was full understanding of the multitude of pages of Starfleet rules and regulations. Thankfully, her best friend and roommate was here on the bridge with her, and her advice was much appreciated though it did agitate the young Orion even further when she realized she was being given stand-down orders through improper procedures.

"Starbase 247, request you identify yourself through visual communication. To whom am I speaking?" she skeptically asked through the comm while giving T'Zera a thankful nod of acknowledgement. If it turned out she was being given orders by anyone other than a commissioned officer, she was ready to set a pursuit course and track down the raider and the instructors herself.

There was a momentary pause before the reply came. Still audio-only. "Cadet, this is Captain Ericsson, commanding officer. I just left Ops and I'm on my way dockside to get the Pretoria underway. I don't have time to establish visual communication, so stop asking questions and do as you're told! Ericsson out!"

With an audible huff, Lirha clenched her fingers into her chair's armrest clearly not pleased with the result of the communique. She didn't have much of a choice in the matter, it seemed. Her options were to either disobey a direct order from a superior officer, or sit and wait until Pretoria arrived...however long that would take.

"Any more words of Vulcan wisdom, T'Zera?" Lirha asked, wondering if there was another regulation that might work to their advantage.

T'Zera stood and crossed her hands behind her back. She looked around at all the other young faces on the bridge, then directly at Lirha. Several other regulations came to mind that might be applicable in this situation, but she knew she wasn't here to play JAG officer. Simple logic should suffice. "Captain, Commander Gerhardt and Lieutenant Casey have been abducted by a ship that can go into cloak. Every second we wait increases the difficulty we will have in retrieving them. Captain Ericsson's refusal to let us pursue is based on a flawed assumption: that our youth and relative lack of experience is a guarantee that we will fail, and therefore we must wait for him and the Pretoria. I believe we are indeed capable of undertaking this duty. I'm sure everyone on this bridge feels the same way, including you." She began pacing, as was her habit when she was deep in thought about something. "Of course, if we are as professional as we believe ourselves to be then we must obey the lawful order of a superior officer."

"Is it really lawful?" The tactical officer asked. "An officer who hasn't properly identified himself has just told us not to act as we are mandated to do by regulations."

The cadet at the engineering station spoke up. "I'm sure if we hail Ops they'll confirm that it's him. We can't simply disobey orders."

"Even if they're absurd?" The tactical officer shot back.

"Mind your tone when speaking of a superior, Cadet," T'Zera said darkly. Then to Lirha she said, "Captain, whatever you decide to do we're behind you. As Commander Gerhardt said, you are in command of this ship."

Lirha mulled over her options one last time even though they were still the same as they were several minutes ago. "Fine. We will wait for Pretoria..." she finally decided. Every inkling in her body told her it was a bad idea, but ultimately she was also not the type of cadet to defy orders and go against her superiors. "Captain Ericcson better know what the hell he is doing," she added, then rose from her seat and moved next to T'Zera's console.

"In the meantime, just because we are waiting does not mean we cannot search for the commander and lieutenant." She looked around the bridge at her fellow cadets then began to delegate tasks. "Ops, I want you to coordinate with science and go over every piece of sensor data we recorded starting from our communique with the Celestial Pride. Look for anything out of the ordinary...anomalies, sensor ghosts, tachyon spikes, residual anti-protons...anything we might have missed. Engineering, I want to configure our deflector for a wide-range metaphasic sweep. If the raider is still nearby, maybe we can get a fix on its location. Tactical, I'd like a handful of photon torpedoes reconfigured with high-energy burst warheads. Let's find this ship!"

"Aye, Captain," each cadet said as orders came their way. The bridge crew went to their duties with urgency and purpose.

T'Zera returned to her seat and made sure thrusters were at station-keeping. The Renown would stay put just as Captain Ericsson had ordered. Then she began performing her own scans with the navigational sensors. The raider was nowhere to be seen, having probably engaged its cloak. Finding the two missing officers would be difficult indeed. The larger, slower Celestial Pride was still there, moving away at best speed.

Lirha remained standing by the forward console. T'Zera, still looking at her scope, spoke quietly so that only her friend could hear. "So is this a test of character to see if we can obey orders? Or a test of initiative to determine if we are able to think on our own?" She looked up at the stars on the viewscreen and raised an eyebrow. "Or perhaps this is really happening and there is no test involved?"

"I was wondering the same thing," the Orion cadet replied in a hushed voice. "I think if this was a test...it would be a very inappropriate one. Would Starfleet really fake this whole abduction just to see how we react? What if we'd decided to go after the ship and start shooting? Someone could lose their lives or end up seriously injured." She pondered the situation for a few more seconds before finally shaking her head. "No, I think this is no test. And why would Captain Ericcson's starship be deployed if it was?"

T'Zera shook her head. "It does seem overly elaborate, unless we're part of something much larger." She went back to tapping out commands on her LCARS display. "So much of it doesn't make sense. Why would pirates want to abduct two unremarkable Starfleet officers? Why do it in front of a fully-armed Starfleet vessel? Why not some secluded location on the starbase? Why launch an attack on an unarmed freighter and then abandon the attack?" She shook her head again. Those were just a few of the questions she was pondering.

Lirha began to think about the situation again, this time to reflect on some of the points T'Zera had just mentioned. "Something does not seem right here..." she mumbled in agreement. "Can we hail the freighter? Are they still in short-range communications range?" she asked, then continued on with her current train of thought. "Maybe they can reveal more information for us. The captain was...strangely in a hurry to leave the area even though he would have been safer staying close to us in a Defiant-class starship."

T'Zera had another look at the nav sensors. The Celestial Pride was moving away at warp 6 but still within hailing range. She opened a channel. They waited several seconds and received no reply. T'Zera hailed again, this time adding her voice to the transmission. "Starship Renown calling MV Celestial Pride, acknowledge."

The Rigellian captain appeared again on the main viewer. "Yes, how can I help you?"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

Captain T'Zera
Commanding Officer
USS Crown

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