Derelict - Part 1
Posted on Tue May 5th, 2015 @ 1:46pm by Lieutenant Commander Le Austin
[[BAJORAN SCIENCE COMMITTEE MISSION LOG 364-B]]
[[INCIDENT: Derelict D'jandib-class Colony Freighter Balditar Recovery]]
[[LOG RECORD - Le Austin, on-loan Starfleet Command]]
{{Begin Recording}}
Chief Engineers log, Stardate... uh... I don't know... Computer, insert stardate. [[STARDATE: 67890.2]]
So from what I've been able to gather we don't exactly know where this ship is. The goal was to send the colony ship about six light-years away to Regulak and try to lay down a temporary colony there to... i don't know, setup a resistance or something like that. They lost contact with the Freighter about four light-years into the journey and haven't been able to find it since.
They know it didn't crash land, and there's no evidence in the normal spacial drift routes of the ship having broken down or exploded or anything... it's just not where it's supposed to be. We're trying to figure out what happened with it now, but... it's like a needle in a haystack. The galaxy is immense and that ship - big as it is - is small. I guess we'll just see what happens.
We launch tomorrow to start looking. Hopefully we won't be out there for the next ten years looking.
{{End Log}}
Austin stood with a gaggle of junior engineers from Bajor, all of them looking perky and excited in there monotone Bajoran flight suits. He stood out like a sore thumb in his Federation gold, but it didn't seem to be deterring anyone away from him. Most of the Bajorans were happy as could be when Fleeters were around, they were still seen as heroes by most. There was a small faction though that felt they could have handled things just find by themselves and the Federation should have stayed away. Thankfully, they seemed to be in short supply on this crew.
"Alright, listen up!" A man bellowed as he appeared from inside the exploratory vessel atop the gangplank, "We've got a long dredge ahead of looking for the Balditar, so we're going to get real cozy on this tin can. You're all here because you're the best of the best, and if you're in charge of your team, then you're the best of the best of the best. So make sure you act like it. We launch in thirty minutes, so if you need to get some nervous energy out, now is the time to do it. Run laps, do some push-ups, find an inexpensive lady of the evening for a ten minute thrill ride. Don't care, just do it now and get it out of the system. You can't exactly run laps on the hull," He explained. "Move out or come on board," He called as he stepped down the gangplank and stepped out of the way of a few that headed straight into the ship.
Austin chuckled as his gaggle of engineers disappeared to do their last minute high-energy activities. He wasn't too worried. He'd spent most of his younger life living in caves or under houses during the occupation. The idea of being cooped up wasn't all that horrible. In some ways, it was comforting.
"A lot of young ones," He called to the CO as he approached.
The CO looked him over with a smirk, "You should talk."
It was fair enough, the CO was at least a good ten years Austin's senior, but that meant the only difference was that he'd been on the front lines instead of running covert missions in the middle of the night, "I'm not much older, but I was old enough to know what sleeping in a cave seven nights a week, and finding rocks to be your favorite toy," Austin replied. "I knew how to dismantle a Cardassian explosive at the ripe old age of nine years old, and was building my own explosives by the time I turned ten. Helped cause all manner of trouble for the Cardies before I was a teenager," He explained.
The CO's eyebrows rose as he spoke and finally a sad chuckle escaped his lips, "I forgot how young soldiers were back then, I guess," He said, offering Austin a hand to shake.
Austin accepted with a smile and a nod, "I think we all like to. It's easier to remember the bad when you only remember the adults in the line of fire."
The CO nodded gravely, "Indeed it is. Lim Cardiss. CO of this bucket. You must be Lt. Le Austin from Starfleet," He said.
"The one and only. How likely are we to actually find this freighter?" Austin asked, hoisting his duffel higher on his shoulder.
"Pretty likely, but it's still going to take a while. Come one, dump your stuff in your bunk and I'll show you what we've got," He said, heading back into the ship.
Cardiss and Austin were sitting in the cockpit of the vessel - calling it a bridge would be for too much of a stretch - looking over a display. Cardiss had highlighted specific locations that might house the missing freighter.
"...but the ship was starting to drift from it's original course already, prior to the four lightyear mark," Cardiss was explaining.
"How long prior to that the contacted you last," Austin asked.
"Hours. I'd say at least eight hours. Which wasn't unheard of, but we were sure starting to get antsy. And then they started drifting, and finally disappeared. By that time, we had to focus on the occupation more than this ship, so..." Cardiss let his words trail off and sighed.
"Yeah... It looks like they were course correcting to heard more toward the Galactic North. Toward Cardassia maybe?" Austin asked, looking at projected possible trajectories. One of them went straight to the Cardassian homeworld.
"It's not impossible," Cardiss replied. "It's one of the options we've had to consider, but... it just doesn't make sense," He offered with a sigh.
"No... it doesn't," Austin agreed, shaking his head.
"Sir, all hands are aboard and ready to launch," A crewman said, sticking his head into the cockpit.
"Lock this bad boy down and prepare to launch," Cardiss said to the crew man, who quickly disappeared to comply.
"I'll get settled in," Austin said, standing. "Let's go find ourselves a ship."
