Interlude II – The Cursed Ship - Part 1
by Lieutenant Commander Caden Aldrex & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant Commander Amia Telamon & Chief Executive Officer Wayne Bradshaw & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Post Details
[ON]
Lt. Commander Caden Aldrex exited his quarters and looked both ways down the curving corridor of deck 4. There was no one in sight. That wasn't surprising given that it was 0400 in the morning. The next duty shift wasn't due to start for another couple of hours so those not working were probably trying to get some sleep. It was probably also due to the fact that the USS Helios was carrying less than half her normal crew complement. Less people aboard meant less people to be roaming the corridors. Such was the nature of a simple ferry mission. Half the corridor lights had been shut off to conserve power, which only added to the lonely, abandoned atmosphere aboard.
Aldrex didn't know why he had come out in his robe and slippers. Just bored mostly. He hadn't been able to sleep and didn't want to wake his wife Amia. They had been aboard the Helios for a week and a half already, ostensibly as "advisors" to the all-cadet crew, but really they weren't much more than passengers.
The cadets were taking the old Springfield-class vessel to Deep Space Five for a major refit and overhaul. She was to be converted into a new training ship. It was their class project and they were all very excited about it. So excited that they didn't mind working extra shifts to keep the ship running in the absence of a full crew. And boy did this ship need a lot of work. Many years previously she had been heavily damaged during a mission and was relegated to the fleet boneyard to be used as a source of spare parts. Her condition had become so decrepit that she was finally given an appointment with the cutting torch before a handful of Academy cadets with a "can do" attitude had taken up her cause. After much lobbying and begging everyone from the superintendent to the President himself, the powers that be had handed over the Helios to the Corps of Cadets with the reasoning that this would be a good learning experience for them, be it a success or a failure.
And so a bit of restoration work had been done at Utopia Planitia. Just enough to get the ship underway and back within safety standards. Now it was up to the cadets to find a shipyard somewhere that was not too busy to spare a drydock and some helping hands. In the end they settled on Deep Space Five's Dyson Repair Yards, a facility that had everything they needed and was not often used because of its distant location.
On the way the Helios had been asked to pick up two people, the base's new XO as well as the new head of the Border Research Institute. Some of the cadets had groused when they heard this. This was supposed to be a fun trip with no stuffy senior officers about. Fortunately, they had found that their two new passengers were honeymooning, which meant that they would want a lot of "alone" time.
"Not much of a honeymoon," Cade said in a low voice to himself as he stood in the darkened corridor. He turned and went back inside, but the doors did not swoosh shut behind him. They remained wide open. With a sigh he began studying the mechanism to see what the problem was.
Suddenly the doors motored closed. Aldrex pulled his fingers away quickly so they wouldn't get caught. "Dammit," he muttered. With another sigh he headed back to the bedroom to shower and change.
An hour later the turbo lift doors opened and Aldrex stepped onto the small, spartan-like bridge of the Helios. No one noticed him at first. He crossed his hands behind his back and studied the master systems display on the rear bulkhead.
Mrin Caraway looked down at her padd and back up to the screen as she tried to make sense of the readings - it was odd for a Betazoid to go into Engineering, but in all truth she had more affinity with the machine than other people.
The hiss of the door registered in her subconscious but she didn't bother to turn ... she was on the verge of tracking down the vibration that had been eluding her since they got underway - she didn't want to lose it now.
James was working on one of the engineering stations as well. Though his normal station was at the helm right now that station would not give him the information he needed or let him track down the problem that was currently vexing him. At any speed over about warp one the ship wanted to veer to the left and was in a near constant state of needing adjustment. He had already written a program that should at least allow for an hours time when he or another pilot cadet would not need to be at the station and he really wanted to get this damned alignment problem fixed. The sooner the better as far as he was concerned. He had heard the lift open and had honestly assumed it was one of the younger cadets coming up to either relieve him or work on another station so he did not pay them any mind. After all if they had a question they could damn well ask it.
Cadet Tralian Isen strolled out of the conference loung studying a PADD. He looked up momentarily and spotted Aldrex right away. "Good morning, sir!" He called out, standing ramrod straight with his hands at his sides.
"As you were, Tralian," the Trill officer said with a wry grin. "Just thought I would see what's going on. Couldn't sleep." He looked around. "I don't suppose you have a pot of raktajino up here?"
"I'm afraid not, sir," Tralian said with a befuddled look. "I can make a pot in the conference lounge," he said, tossing a thumb over his shoulder.
"No, no, I'll do it myself," Aldrex said, giving the young Risian a clap on the shoulder. He started that way then turned around. "Why are you up? I thought you went off duty at 2200? You didn't pull an all-nighter, did you?"
"No, sir. I slept for a while. Just wanted to get an early start on that lateral sensor array."
"Ah, I see. Well, I'll fetch you a cup too. Anyone else?"
Mrin was screening her mind from all interference as she concentrated - so much that she hadn't even heard the call to attention. The suggestion of a warm drink somehow reached her, "An uttaberry tea would be lovely," she said absently. Mrin blinked then flushed and stared a little harder at her padd when she realised who she was talking to. "Sorry Commander," she said turning to deliver her apology, "I was lost in the machine ... don't worry about the tea," she added before turning back.
"I think this damned thing is cursed" Muttered James under his breath he had not heard anything about the officer on the deck nor the offer for a drink till Mrin mentioned something "Raktajino and scotch for me cadet." said James coolly as he worked his way through the latest trace again. He could not believe what the display was telling him and wanted to double check it personally
A few seconds later he pushed back his chair and exclaimed "Got you you damned targ now let's see if this ship will fly right." he got up from the engineering station and walked the short distance to the helm station where he again sat down and started running diagnostics on it just to make sure. Since the engineering side was fixed now the second half would start and then would be the test
Mrin picked up his thought. "Don't touch it," she said in a voice firmer than her 5'2" suggested she possessed, "you'll overload the circuits and have us hanging here for three weeks."
"Play nicely children," Sharma purred as she strolled onto the bridge. The Rutian managed to make the impossibly conservative uniform in Medical teal look slinky. She stopped at one end of the tactical station and rested her elbows on it. "Sickbay is is running at minimum spec, but it is running. Is there anything interesting happening up here?"
James was getting more and more flustered by the second "Mrin I am not going to do anything more then run a diagnostic on the system to see if the problem has been solved. If we can not get this ship to fly straight and the drift get's any worse then it already is this ship will be stuck running at impulse speed till we get to DS5. I do not know about you but I have family on that station and I would really rather not have to call my dad and ask for a tow." Said James firmly he might not be exactly on the command track but as a 4th year cadet in his last semester he was not used to others telling him what to do.
"My personal feelings are neither here nor there. Just do your job and let me get on with mine," Mrin replied ~What an arrogant ****er~ she thought resisting the very tempting temptation to project her feelings.
Aldrex held a hand up. "Alright, alright, wait. First of all, Mister Bradshaw, I'm not serving you scotch while you're on duty. Second, work the problem together. Bickering about it gets us nowhere. Who's managing Ops for this watch?"
James looked up at the strange voice before he spoke. "Sorry sir and I am honestly not sure the ops station sparked and died last night at least according to the memo that was left in our mail boxes so I am assuming that whoever is manning that station is probably doing his job from the operations department." Said James calmly
Aldrex turned and looked questioningly at Cadet Isen, who was the acting CO for the flight. "Captain, if I may 'advise' I would say that getting the bridge back in working order is the top priority here. The lateral sensor array can wait."
The tall, lanky Risian looked at the others and then nodded his agreement. "Yes, of course. We'll see to it right away."
"So then who's the Ops manger this morning?" Aldrex asked him.
Isen looked at the deck in front of him as he recalled the correct answer. "Hutchins, I think?"
The Trill officer arched an eyebrow. "Hutchins you think? Or Hutchins you know?"
Isen swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded rapidly. "It's Hutchins, sir. He's down in the operations room like Bradshaw said."
"Alright, then," Aldrex said, giving Isen's shoulder a squeeze and steering him gently to the captain's chair. "Let's get Mister Hutchins up here with a tool kit and whatever else he needs to get the ops console back online. Then we can prioritize ship's resources without overloading anyone's circuits. Mister Bradshaw, it's important that you remain at your post, especially if we're having flight control issues. Tell Caraway what you need and let her handle it." He nodded to Sharma who had been largely ignored since appearing on the bridge. "Welyn, if you're not busy can you sit at Science I and help with scans? I would hate for us to run into a comet while we're fixing the bridge. Oh, and is there anyone at tactical?"
Mrin smiled to herself ~a voice of reason~ she thought as she increased the level of diagnostic. "Odd," she said to herself as the protocol ran and terminated early, "Why are you doing that?" The only reasons she could think of were a malfunctioning part interfering with the program or more farfetched and worse - a device!
"Could someone help me prize this panel off?" Mrin asked loudly.
"I'll give you a hand," Aldrex said, moving that way.
Mrin already had her finders wedged in the top of the panel - it should have been easy to move but it just wouldn't budge, "Thank you, sir," she replied to the Commander's offer of assistance.
The panel came away hitting the floor with a thunk.
The bridge gave a shudder that would have sent anyone not braces to the floor. "Sir not sure why but we have just dropped out of warp reason is currently unknown. Our current speed is one quarter impulse and decelerating." Said James calmly.
"Scanning now, sir!" Sharma was quick to look for an external source for the stop.
Isen stood up and walked forward to the helm. "All stop," he said, a puzzled look on his face.
"All stop sir." Said James calmly he wanted answers as much as the next person though he was also afraid that the crew would not like those answers.
[TBC]
A JP by:
Cadet Kram Davis
Human/Klingon
Security
(NPC Jools)
Cadet Mrin Caraway
Betazoid
Engineer
(NPC Louise)
Cadet James Bradshaw
Human?
Helm/Engineer
(NPC David)
Cadet Tralian Isen
Risian
Command/Science
(NPC Bert)
Cadet Sharma Welyn M.D.
Rutian
Medical
(NPC Notty)
Lt. Cmdr. Cade Aldrex
Advisor
by Lieutenant Commander Caden Aldrex & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant Commander Amia Telamon & Chief Executive Officer Wayne Bradshaw & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Post Details
| Title | The Cursed Ship - Part 1 | |
| Mission | Interlude II | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Commander Caden Aldrex & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant Commander Amia Telamon & Chief Executive Officer Wayne Bradshaw & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin | |
| Posted | Sun Nov 30, 2014 @ 9:13am | |
| Location | USS Helios | |
| Timeline | MD 03 - 0400 |
Lt. Commander Caden Aldrex exited his quarters and looked both ways down the curving corridor of deck 4. There was no one in sight. That wasn't surprising given that it was 0400 in the morning. The next duty shift wasn't due to start for another couple of hours so those not working were probably trying to get some sleep. It was probably also due to the fact that the USS Helios was carrying less than half her normal crew complement. Less people aboard meant less people to be roaming the corridors. Such was the nature of a simple ferry mission. Half the corridor lights had been shut off to conserve power, which only added to the lonely, abandoned atmosphere aboard.
Aldrex didn't know why he had come out in his robe and slippers. Just bored mostly. He hadn't been able to sleep and didn't want to wake his wife Amia. They had been aboard the Helios for a week and a half already, ostensibly as "advisors" to the all-cadet crew, but really they weren't much more than passengers.
The cadets were taking the old Springfield-class vessel to Deep Space Five for a major refit and overhaul. She was to be converted into a new training ship. It was their class project and they were all very excited about it. So excited that they didn't mind working extra shifts to keep the ship running in the absence of a full crew. And boy did this ship need a lot of work. Many years previously she had been heavily damaged during a mission and was relegated to the fleet boneyard to be used as a source of spare parts. Her condition had become so decrepit that she was finally given an appointment with the cutting torch before a handful of Academy cadets with a "can do" attitude had taken up her cause. After much lobbying and begging everyone from the superintendent to the President himself, the powers that be had handed over the Helios to the Corps of Cadets with the reasoning that this would be a good learning experience for them, be it a success or a failure.
And so a bit of restoration work had been done at Utopia Planitia. Just enough to get the ship underway and back within safety standards. Now it was up to the cadets to find a shipyard somewhere that was not too busy to spare a drydock and some helping hands. In the end they settled on Deep Space Five's Dyson Repair Yards, a facility that had everything they needed and was not often used because of its distant location.
On the way the Helios had been asked to pick up two people, the base's new XO as well as the new head of the Border Research Institute. Some of the cadets had groused when they heard this. This was supposed to be a fun trip with no stuffy senior officers about. Fortunately, they had found that their two new passengers were honeymooning, which meant that they would want a lot of "alone" time.
"Not much of a honeymoon," Cade said in a low voice to himself as he stood in the darkened corridor. He turned and went back inside, but the doors did not swoosh shut behind him. They remained wide open. With a sigh he began studying the mechanism to see what the problem was.
Suddenly the doors motored closed. Aldrex pulled his fingers away quickly so they wouldn't get caught. "Dammit," he muttered. With another sigh he headed back to the bedroom to shower and change.
An hour later the turbo lift doors opened and Aldrex stepped onto the small, spartan-like bridge of the Helios. No one noticed him at first. He crossed his hands behind his back and studied the master systems display on the rear bulkhead.
Mrin Caraway looked down at her padd and back up to the screen as she tried to make sense of the readings - it was odd for a Betazoid to go into Engineering, but in all truth she had more affinity with the machine than other people.
The hiss of the door registered in her subconscious but she didn't bother to turn ... she was on the verge of tracking down the vibration that had been eluding her since they got underway - she didn't want to lose it now.
James was working on one of the engineering stations as well. Though his normal station was at the helm right now that station would not give him the information he needed or let him track down the problem that was currently vexing him. At any speed over about warp one the ship wanted to veer to the left and was in a near constant state of needing adjustment. He had already written a program that should at least allow for an hours time when he or another pilot cadet would not need to be at the station and he really wanted to get this damned alignment problem fixed. The sooner the better as far as he was concerned. He had heard the lift open and had honestly assumed it was one of the younger cadets coming up to either relieve him or work on another station so he did not pay them any mind. After all if they had a question they could damn well ask it.
Cadet Tralian Isen strolled out of the conference loung studying a PADD. He looked up momentarily and spotted Aldrex right away. "Good morning, sir!" He called out, standing ramrod straight with his hands at his sides.
"As you were, Tralian," the Trill officer said with a wry grin. "Just thought I would see what's going on. Couldn't sleep." He looked around. "I don't suppose you have a pot of raktajino up here?"
"I'm afraid not, sir," Tralian said with a befuddled look. "I can make a pot in the conference lounge," he said, tossing a thumb over his shoulder.
"No, no, I'll do it myself," Aldrex said, giving the young Risian a clap on the shoulder. He started that way then turned around. "Why are you up? I thought you went off duty at 2200? You didn't pull an all-nighter, did you?"
"No, sir. I slept for a while. Just wanted to get an early start on that lateral sensor array."
"Ah, I see. Well, I'll fetch you a cup too. Anyone else?"
Mrin was screening her mind from all interference as she concentrated - so much that she hadn't even heard the call to attention. The suggestion of a warm drink somehow reached her, "An uttaberry tea would be lovely," she said absently. Mrin blinked then flushed and stared a little harder at her padd when she realised who she was talking to. "Sorry Commander," she said turning to deliver her apology, "I was lost in the machine ... don't worry about the tea," she added before turning back.
"I think this damned thing is cursed" Muttered James under his breath he had not heard anything about the officer on the deck nor the offer for a drink till Mrin mentioned something "Raktajino and scotch for me cadet." said James coolly as he worked his way through the latest trace again. He could not believe what the display was telling him and wanted to double check it personally
A few seconds later he pushed back his chair and exclaimed "Got you you damned targ now let's see if this ship will fly right." he got up from the engineering station and walked the short distance to the helm station where he again sat down and started running diagnostics on it just to make sure. Since the engineering side was fixed now the second half would start and then would be the test
Mrin picked up his thought. "Don't touch it," she said in a voice firmer than her 5'2" suggested she possessed, "you'll overload the circuits and have us hanging here for three weeks."
"Play nicely children," Sharma purred as she strolled onto the bridge. The Rutian managed to make the impossibly conservative uniform in Medical teal look slinky. She stopped at one end of the tactical station and rested her elbows on it. "Sickbay is is running at minimum spec, but it is running. Is there anything interesting happening up here?"
James was getting more and more flustered by the second "Mrin I am not going to do anything more then run a diagnostic on the system to see if the problem has been solved. If we can not get this ship to fly straight and the drift get's any worse then it already is this ship will be stuck running at impulse speed till we get to DS5. I do not know about you but I have family on that station and I would really rather not have to call my dad and ask for a tow." Said James firmly he might not be exactly on the command track but as a 4th year cadet in his last semester he was not used to others telling him what to do.
"My personal feelings are neither here nor there. Just do your job and let me get on with mine," Mrin replied ~What an arrogant ****er~ she thought resisting the very tempting temptation to project her feelings.
Aldrex held a hand up. "Alright, alright, wait. First of all, Mister Bradshaw, I'm not serving you scotch while you're on duty. Second, work the problem together. Bickering about it gets us nowhere. Who's managing Ops for this watch?"
James looked up at the strange voice before he spoke. "Sorry sir and I am honestly not sure the ops station sparked and died last night at least according to the memo that was left in our mail boxes so I am assuming that whoever is manning that station is probably doing his job from the operations department." Said James calmly
Aldrex turned and looked questioningly at Cadet Isen, who was the acting CO for the flight. "Captain, if I may 'advise' I would say that getting the bridge back in working order is the top priority here. The lateral sensor array can wait."
The tall, lanky Risian looked at the others and then nodded his agreement. "Yes, of course. We'll see to it right away."
"So then who's the Ops manger this morning?" Aldrex asked him.
Isen looked at the deck in front of him as he recalled the correct answer. "Hutchins, I think?"
The Trill officer arched an eyebrow. "Hutchins you think? Or Hutchins you know?"
Isen swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded rapidly. "It's Hutchins, sir. He's down in the operations room like Bradshaw said."
"Alright, then," Aldrex said, giving Isen's shoulder a squeeze and steering him gently to the captain's chair. "Let's get Mister Hutchins up here with a tool kit and whatever else he needs to get the ops console back online. Then we can prioritize ship's resources without overloading anyone's circuits. Mister Bradshaw, it's important that you remain at your post, especially if we're having flight control issues. Tell Caraway what you need and let her handle it." He nodded to Sharma who had been largely ignored since appearing on the bridge. "Welyn, if you're not busy can you sit at Science I and help with scans? I would hate for us to run into a comet while we're fixing the bridge. Oh, and is there anyone at tactical?"
Mrin smiled to herself ~a voice of reason~ she thought as she increased the level of diagnostic. "Odd," she said to herself as the protocol ran and terminated early, "Why are you doing that?" The only reasons she could think of were a malfunctioning part interfering with the program or more farfetched and worse - a device!
"Could someone help me prize this panel off?" Mrin asked loudly.
"I'll give you a hand," Aldrex said, moving that way.
Mrin already had her finders wedged in the top of the panel - it should have been easy to move but it just wouldn't budge, "Thank you, sir," she replied to the Commander's offer of assistance.
The panel came away hitting the floor with a thunk.
The bridge gave a shudder that would have sent anyone not braces to the floor. "Sir not sure why but we have just dropped out of warp reason is currently unknown. Our current speed is one quarter impulse and decelerating." Said James calmly.
"Scanning now, sir!" Sharma was quick to look for an external source for the stop.
Isen stood up and walked forward to the helm. "All stop," he said, a puzzled look on his face.
"All stop sir." Said James calmly he wanted answers as much as the next person though he was also afraid that the crew would not like those answers.
[TBC]
A JP by:
Cadet Kram Davis
Human/Klingon
Security
(NPC Jools)
Cadet Mrin Caraway
Betazoid
Engineer
(NPC Louise)
Cadet James Bradshaw
Human?
Helm/Engineer
(NPC David)
Cadet Tralian Isen
Risian
Command/Science
(NPC Bert)
Cadet Sharma Welyn M.D.
Rutian
Medical
(NPC Notty)
Lt. Cmdr. Cade Aldrex
Advisor