Lessons Learned (Part 3 of 4)

Posted on 24 Aug 2014 @ 5:44pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain T'Zera

1,929 words; about a 10 minute read

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

[CONTINUED]

Smiling politely at the freighter captain as she did the previous time, Lirha began to speak to the man. "My apologies for bothering you again, captain. However, I...we are having trouble with our investigation and have not been able to locate the raider so far despite our best attempts. And...the sensor logs you were sending us were apparently cut off during the recent abduction. We would like to request that you return to our position and allow us to gather more data from your vessel to help with our search. We can, of course, compensate you for any time lost," she proposed with friendly green eyes.

The Rigellian stiffened visibly. "I...I'm afraid I can't spare the time, Captain. Compensation or not. We'll re-transmit our sensor logs and I'm sure you'll find them. You Starfleet types are quite resourceful." His eyes darted from hers to something or someone off screen.

Once again, something didn't seem quite right to Lirha. She had grown up on an Orion trade vessel herself, and knew full well that fellow freighter captains were always motivated by profit unless they were involved in shady business. "I understand," she replied. "Then since you are in a rush, I can have my ship set an intercept course and we can rendezvous with you inside the hour. Our top speed is warp 9 and it will not take us long to catch up. That way you will not lose any time." Lirha smiled politely again and conveniently didn't mention her orders to hold position. At the moment, she was more interested in watching the Rigellian's body language and facial features which were beginning to seem suspect.

"W-We are conducting trade that is very important to our homeworld," the Rigellian said testily. "We don't have time to rendezvous and aid your investigation. You're Starfleet. That is your job. Last I checked the raider went in the opposite direction. Why don't you go that way and stop bothering us? You're wasting time!"

Lirha frowned at the Rigellian's sudden defensiveness and tilted her head curiously at the man through the viewscreen while briefly flicking her eyes down to T'Zera to subtly indicate something wasn't completely right. "I am sorry, I did not mean to agitate you or delay your mission," she began to reply. "You seem to misunderstand me...we do not require that you alter your transit plans. I am simply informing you that we will set course to intercept your position so we can gather the appropriate data we need in order for us to do...our job. We require nothing from you except for you to remain on your present course. That should not be a problem, no?"

"Yes, it's a problem!" The Rigellian snapped. "We are very busy, captain. No time to answer any more of your questions. As I said, we'll re-transmit what we have and I advise you to use that information to hunt down that band of criminals, rather than hassle law-abiding citizens. I warn you, if you attempt to intercept us our diplomats will file a grievance at the highest levels of Starfleet. That's not the kind of trouble a cadet-level officer needs. Good day to you."

The transmission cut, leaving Lirha and T'Zera looking at the field of stars.

"Possibilities," T'Zera said, leaning back in her chair. "He is genuinely concerned with his flight itinerary, he is being coerced by someone else, or he is somehow a participant in this crisis."

Adamantly shaking her head to dismiss the first notion, Lirha looked at her friend and roommate with sincere eyes. "T'Zera, I grew up on my family's freighter...this captain is not concerned about his itinerary. Something else is going on and we need to find out what."

"Agreed," the Vulcan said with a nod.

The Orion cadet turned on her heels and quickly made her way back to the captain's chair where she took a seat and promptly began to issue a new set of orders to the crew. "Helm, lay in a pursuit course and engage at maximum warp. Ops, contact Captain Ericcson and inform him that we have a lead in our investigation and are pursing the trade vessel."

The Ops manager looked at her apprehensively. Then did as she was told. "Aye, Captain." She turned back to her station and opened a channel.

Cadet T'Zera laid in the course and advanced the throttles on her LCARS display. "Intercept course laid in. Engaging now."

The Renown came about to her new heading and was soon gone in a streak of light.

The starbase finally replied to Lirha's message, ordering her to stand fast. It was already too late.

Minutes later the Renown caught up with the Celestial Pride and settled directly astern of the slower freighter.

Lirha fidgeted in her chair again and decided to abandon it in favor of standing. She was nervous again, and this time for a different reason. "Go to yellow alert and scan the freighter," she said to her bridge crew.

"Aye, Captain," the tactical officer said. A moment later he frowned and shook his head. "Scans are being diffused and scattered by some kind of jamming device. Attempting to compensate." He tapped on his console with his fingertips.

The comms officer swiveled his chair to face Lirha. "Captain, Celestial Pride just transmitted a text hail. They're warning us to move off or we risk provoking a diplomatic incident."

T'Zera glanced at her nav sensors and added her own report. "Captain, USS Pretoria has just departed spacedock."

Another cadet, eager for some action, turned in his chair and asked, "Boarding party, Captain?"

Before Lirha could answer T'Zera chimed in again. "Pretoria is hailing, Captain."

The multitude of reports and suggestions being thrown her way all at once was overwhelming. Everything seemed to be happening so fast that Lirha's brain had trouble keeping track of it all, let alone formulate the correct responses.

"Um..." she paused for a moment to think about her options. "Hold tight and continue scanning," she said to the young man who wanted to board the freighter, then turned back to look at T'Zera. "Put Pretoria on audio only." She knew she was probably about to get a tongue lashing and preferred to not have to look at Captain Ericcson's angry face.

"Aye, Captain," T'Zera said. She opened the channel.

Captain Ericcson's voice sounded calmer than anyone would have expected. "USS Renown. You were ordered to hold your position. What kind of 'lead' do you have that justifies disobeying a direct order?"

Meanwhile the Celestial Pride began pushing her velocity up by almost another warp factor. Doing so was no doubt over-stressing her engines. T'Zera wanted to report this but knew better than to interrupt the conversation between Lirha and Ericcson. She pushed the throttles forward to match the speed. The Renown could easily overtake any civilian merchantman so T'Zera had no concern yet.

Lirha began to explain to the other Federation starship captain as plainly as possible, "I have reason to believe the captain of the freighter we are pursuing is withholding information from us about the abduction of Commander Gerhardt. We are attempting to scan his vessel but they have put up some sort of jamming field to block our sensors."

There was a silent pause on the other end of the transmission. Then Ericcson said, "Cadet, we're heading in the opposite direction to track down that raider. I'm giving you two minutes to figure out if you're dealing with a real criminal, or someone who's simply smuggling harmless contraband for a friend and doesn't want to get pulled over. If it's the latter then you'd better be on your way to join us at best speed. Is that understood? We'll discuss this more when it's all over. Ericcson out."

"Freighter is increasing speed," T'Zera reported as soon as the transmission ended.

The young green cadet was beginning to lose her patience now. The Rigellian was being less-than cooperative and was now attempting to make a run for it, both of which were the opposite signs of innocence in every law enforcement text she'd ever read.

"Stay with them and open a channel to the freighter. I am getting sick of this man and his antics," Lirha replied to T'Zera.

"Channel open."

"Celestial Pride, you are ordered to cut your engines and disable your jamming field in accordance with Federation inspection policy. You have ten seconds to comply or we will take appropriate measures." Lirha then spoke to T'Zera again in a quiet voice. "I think by now we have ample reason to interdict this vessel...whether the captain is transporting contraband or trying to withhold information from us, both are probable cause to stop and search his ship."

"Agreed," T'Zera said. "They've increased speed again. Now up to warp 8.2, which is well past their engine's red line. Why are they doing it? They must know they have no hope of outrunning us." She looked over to the cadet manning Ops. "Are you monitoring their engines?"

The Ops manager nodded. "Just like you say. Their plasma manifold is exceeding its operational limits. I'm also reading a build-up of theta radiation in their engineering spaces. If they keep it up they'll need a tow."

"I am not sure what the captain is trying to hide, but it appears he is panicked enough to risk disabling his own ship in the process," Lirha quietly thought out loud. She briefly considered deploying a tractor beam to attempt to slow the freighter, but at such high warp velocities, the hull stress could possibly tear the ship in half.

"Options?" she asked the bridge crew cadets, hoping for some sound advice or a less-dangerous way to bring the freighter to a halt.

"If we destabilize their warp field it will make them drop out of warp," T'Zera said. It was the obvious answer. How to accomplish it without using weapons was the next question.

The engineering officer turned his chair and offered his opinion on that. "We could come alongside very close and modulate our own subspace field to create disturbance waves. It might do the trick. It'll be risky, though. We'd have to come within a few meters. One little mistake and we're rubbing hulls."

"I can do it," T'Zera said confidently.

"A few meters??" Lirha looked wide-eyed at her roommate. Despite T'Zera's confidence at being able to perform the maneuver, it was terribly risky. "If the other captain so much as flinches or panics and attempts to change course, both of our ships could collide," she said with much concern in her voice for the idea.

The tactical officer spoke up. He had succeeded in getting a sensor read through the jamming. "Captain! I'm getting a reading!" He grinned despite what he had to report. "They have two extra lifeforms aboard."

Lirha quickly turned in her chair and locked eyes with the tactical cadet before hastily replying. "What kind of lifesigns? Are they Human?"

The young man studied the bio signs and nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Again, I recommend we assemble a boarding party."

Suddenly a hail came over the open channel. "Pretoria to Renown, we are under attack! Requesting assistance immediately!"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

Captain T'Zera
Commanding Officer
USS Crown

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