All For Many

Unofficial Literary Challenge 28 - "Abandoned"  Prompt 3

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All For Many

Continued from To Look No Further

Solonae Dyson Sphere, 2409

“We’ve reviewed your recommendation, Captain Beringer.” Admiral Janice Mathers smiled and paused to lace her fingers on the desk. “To be honest, I’m a fan of the proposal. There is merit and moxie in it.” Her smile slowly faded. “But others on the panel are not convinced resources should be used toward the endeavor.”

Kathryn nodded appreciatively. “Fair enough Admiral Mathers. I was hoping maintaining radio silence during the search would be a deal sweetener. As you know, the proposal seeks to find missing crew that went out to explore a strange new world.”

“As you know, it’s rare for ships to go missing, but the galaxy is a big place and exploration has it’s challenges. They knew the risks involved. ”

Undaunted, Kathryn continued, “the difference is that the Misericorde disappeared within a confined area.”

“Past the shield barrier,” countered Janice. “It’s like the Wild West out there. Your proposal is effectively abandoning Solaris to the mysteries and dangers that got Misericorde lost in the first place. Without some support, Starfleet may as well strike another ship off the list.”

Kathryn pressed on. “Anything is possible. Yet, Solaris is a fast ship for his age and my crew is more than capable to handle this mission. We’ve been conducting sorties against Voth and Undine predation fleets for several weeks now. We have gained a lot of experience dealing with them. My ship is equipped with state-of-the art sensors and weapons. There have been very little roster changes in months. Morale is high over here.”

The Admiral sat back and drummed her fingers before asking, “why Solaris, why now?”

Sighing under her breath, Kathryn then realized the Admiral was vocalizing the review panel’s discussion. “I understand the panel’s concerns. But the reality is that Solaris is not a front line vessel. Even though we’ve been combat active at Dyson Command, before that we were transporting material and personnel more than usual the past year. You’ve seen the latest ships out of SCE: the Avenger is warfare in art form! But it’s not like Solaris by an Astronomical Unit about general capabilities. Save the latest and greatest against the here and now. Send me and my crew to find the Misericorde.”

Admiral Mathers tightened her lips. “I support you, Captain. But tell me something the panel hasn’t heard already.”

Kathryn looked away for a few seconds to look at a blank section of wall in her office before looking back to Janice. “In my observations, sir, I think the Undine threat is a precursor to something bigger and we are going to need every ship in the fleet. If there is a chance the Misericorde is intact, then we’ll need it. More importantly though, there are over three hundred Starfleet person’s missing out there. They deserve to be found. Their families need them to be found. In my line of work, ‘risks involved’ is a mediocre response to complacency.”

The Admiral’s eyebrows lifted again and Kathryn quickly added, “respectfully, of course.”

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Cast for crew: - Audrey Marie Anderson
Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols

To Look No Further

Literary Challenge 55

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Solaris turned to Starboard, and toward the enemy's ventral side while increasing speed. Bright beams of orange light laced from Spiral Wave beam banks and struck the Voth cruiser's port shielding, itself bright blue flashes of light as the shielding absorbed the attacks. The Federation vessel crossed the ecliptic and more orange beams quickly filled the space between the ships. The Voth shielding was strained, then failed, as beams chewed into the armored underbelly near the engines. The Bastionclass ship was wounded as internal explosions bubbled the exterior plating. Solaris banked to port and deuterium vented from the impulse engines, accelerating the ship away.

The Voth cruiser stalled and started to fall from the sky. Seven kilometers away, Solaris coughed a quantum torpedo from its aft launcher. It impacted against the nose of the enemy cruiser, further disfiguring the sleek hull. Explosions continued detonating and ripping the ship to pieces. At its current altitude, debris will take ten minutes to fall to the surface, all the while trailing smoke, metal and death.

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"Well done. Return to Yellow Alert. Helm, plot a course back toward the Allied Zone." Captain Kathryn Beringer smirked as she stood from the command chair. She pulled at her jacket as she watched the aft video of the Voth cruiser disappear from view, then turned to the Engineering station. Chief Engineer Thel Ythysi sat looking at his console. Images of the Excelsior-class ship had red dots scattered in various locations, some turned blue then green as Kathryn walked up behind him. "How's he doing Chief?"

Thel didn't pause. "The ship sustained minor damage overall. The Voth anti-proton weaponry is not impressive and their ships, although quick, are like flying aluminum cans."

Kathryn smiled. "After that fight, I agree." She patted Thel's shoulder then stepped to the Science station where Omazei sat looking over her console. Trill marks were visible from her neck due to short brown hair before disappearing under the color of the uniform jacket. She looked up when Kathryn approached.

"Omazei, may I see you in the Astrometrics lab in fifteen minutes?"

"Of course, sir."

With that, Kathryn nodded and looked toward her First Officer, "Anthi, you have the conn." She entered the turbolift to make sure she was at the lab before Omazei arrived.

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The doors to the lab swished open and the Science Chief entered the darkened room. A translucent image of the Solonae Dyson Sphere rotated from the center console and it's light illuminated the room, casting dark shadows in every direction. Kathryn was hunched over looking at a screen from the center console then looked through the image at Omazei as she walked toward her Captain.

"Thank you for being prompt. I'm looking at our mission parameters and I'm going to make a recommendation to change them. I wanted your feedback before I send the request."

Omazei nodded then looked at the screen Kathryn was standing over. The ship's current position was dotted on a detailed map with a blue triangle. Various other ships were represented as either green or red triangles for the Romulan and Klingon factions at the Sphere. Whenever Voth ships were reported by real-time feed, then a purple triangle would appear. The Solaris was in the relatively quiet Allied Zone, having just recently exited the orange tinged Contested Zone.

Kathryn looked toward the floating image of the Sphere above them. "What can you tell me of the progress for the Sphere's exploration?"

"It's proving to be a challenge due to the Voth's technical supremacy, thus the efforts of Joint Command have been to maintain control of the Allied Zone." Omazei tapped onto controls at a nearby console and brought up various data. "Yes. Twenty ships have been dispatched to conduct further exploration of the Sphere beyond the Allied and Contested Zones to date. As you know, this is a massive structure that will take many years to fully explore properly. All scientific research is delayed due to the conflict."

"Have they been successful?"

"Relatively. Progress is slow because of the scale. It's easy to chart a star system using long-range sensors and probes. But the Sphere is something completely different: there's the external and internal surface of the shell, with the atmosphere above and space between it and the star it encompasses. There is still argument if the Sphere will require using a new system to measure coordinates! Then there are the Omega Particles -"

Kathryn raised a hand to interrupt, "I see. If we used standard planetary coordinates, could you show me where Dyson Joint Command would be?"

"Yes, sir, but we have to make some assumptions, the first being that the Sphere has poles relative to the galaxial-plane. Given that- ", Omazei entered more commands and the image of the Sphere added a cylindrical line making an axis showing theoretical north and south poles. Then very small areas became highlighted toward the zenith pole. It expanded as Omazei zoomed-in, forcing the Sphere's borders to disappear. "- DJC is approximately at 36 degrees 10 minutes 30 seconds North, 115 degrees 8 minutes 11 seconds West in the northern hemisphere. Give or take several seconds, if not minutes because of the scale."

"Interesting. By chance, have any vessels been catalogued as missing?"

"Yes." More commands were input and more data scrolled on a screen. "The Misericorde, and Kerg'kak. Both deep space science vessels. The Misericorde was sent toward the western border of the Allied Zone and expected to have a 50 degree parabolic arc, whereas the Kerg'kak went north with a 30 degree arc."

Kathryn nodded. "Thank you, Omazei. This will help with my recommendation."

"If I may, sir. What is your recommendation to Command?"

Kathryn's eyes almost sparkled. "To go looking for the Misericorde.

 

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Cast:

Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols
Thel Ythysi - Kevin Sorbo
Omazei - Gemma Arterton

Mentioned but not seen:
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Helmsman - Random extra #1

Dangerous Relic

Literary Challenge 8 - Unknown Anomalies
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"Captain." Kathryn Beringer turns her command chair toward her Science Chief's station. The Trill's eyes reflected the data scrolling on her screen as she hunched over the console table extension. "Sensors report a large asteroid is within the Sathir System, 33 parsecs from our position. It's on a collision course with Sathir III, an M-class planet." Omazei's voice is tinged with concern.

Kathryn's curiosity pulled her toward the Science station. First Officer Anthi Ythysi approached as well, the Andorian's professional demeanor could be heard as she walked across the bridge. All three officers reviewed the data as it crawled across three separate monitors.

Kathryn stood straight and crossed her arms. "The asteroid is large enough to do significant damage. What is known about Sathir III?"

Omazei looked up, "records show there is a pre-flight culture established. The USS Misericorde catalogued the system in 2405. I ran a deep space scan and the planet does not have any artificial satellites in orbit. They may be aware of the asteroid though."

Anthi looked away from the console to Kathryn. "Captain, we are expected at Corinth IV and our schedule is already tight. Naturally the Prime Directive prevents us from helping."

"I know. I hate to say it, but we can only hope they don't know what going to hit them. We will have to resume our course and notify Starfleet to conduct a follow-up mission to update records."

A beeping sound chirped from the Science console capturing the officer's attention. Omazei tapped a few keys before looking back to Kathryn. "Captain, new telemetry suggests the asteroid in emitting an energy signature."

Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "That's unusual. Any further details?"

Omazei turned to the station and tapped even more keys. "Unusual is right. It's a nuclear energy source, fission-type and faint but detectable. It's leaving a trail."

"Can we determine where the trail leads?"

Omazei shrugged. "Not yet. More time is needed to evaluate."

Kathryn stood in thought for a few seconds before turning to the Helmsman. "Mister McKinnon, if we accelerated to Warp nine and included a Transwarp jump, how much sooner would we arrive at Corinth IV?"

Ian McKinnon used his console to recalculate travel times. "Three hours, sir."

Anthi stepped closer to Kathryn. "Based on protocols that’s still close, Captain."

She returned Anthi’s stare. "I agree, but an asteroid emitting nuclear fission is not natural. I don't perceive the Prime Directive protects us anymore." Looking back to Ian, Kathryn raised her voice. "Mister McKinnon, change course to heading six-three-seven mark two, warp seven. Omazei, continue scanning that asteroid, I need to know why it's leaking nuclear fission as soon as possible."

+++

"Captain, telemetry indicates the nuclear energy is emanating from a metallic structure embedded on the surface." Omazei sounded incredulous. "Analysis shows the nuclear particles are only a few hundred years old."

"What about the source?" Kathryn’s mind was reeling from the possibilities. The Solaris was on an intercept course and the further he moved away from their expected course the more likely the treaty negotiations with the Kromrif were going to be difficult, at best.

After a few seconds Omazei reported, "details are sketchy but it's a power source on an artificial satellite. I can presume it crashed on the asteroid."

Kathryn's brow furrowed and she looked to Anthi, who only shook her head slightly. "Can we determine who constructed the satellite?"

"If these readings are correct … it originated from ... Earth."

Everyone on the bridge looked to Omazei. Kathryn said what they were all thinking. "What?!"

"The closer we get, the more detailed the information becomes, but I"m reading this was one of the Fesenkov series."

Kathryn raised a hand to her mouth as if trying to avoid saying something. "Omazei, given the relative sizes of the Fesenkov satellite and the asteroid is it possible the asteroid trajectory could have been affected by the impact?"

"Yes, Captain."

"So, technically," Kathryn looked to Anthi. "We're responsible for what's going to happen to Sathir III if we don’t act."

Anthi nodded a few times in thought before responding. "Agreed."

Looking around the bridge Kathryn could see everyone concurred. "Then it is settled. Mister McKinnon, increase speed to warp eight and recalculate for a second Transwarp jump to Corinth IV. Captain to Engineering."

"This is Engineering," replied Chief Engineer Thel Ythysi.

"Thel, I know we are pushing Solaris for this mission, but I am going to need extended maximum warp to get back to Corinth IV with two T-jumps as well."

"It can be done, but I may need to conduct a few repairs at Corinth after this, as well as a promise not to do it again ... ever."

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Cast:
Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Ian McKinnon - Ben Browder
Omazei - Gemma Arterton

Heard but not seen:
Thel Ythysi - Kevin Sorbo