A Missing Ship

Posted on Wed May 18th, 2011 @ 1:01pm by Captain Alexander Gunning & Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Lieutenant JG Kili Dell & Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D. & Senior Chief Petty Officer Gilbert Bones [PNPC] & Lieutenant JG Kili Dell

Mission: In Defiance Of Orders
Location: Ops - Deck 12, Main Bridge - USS Jackal

[ON]

Gunning sat quietly with his head in his hands. What the hell did she mean that the Thaden had gone off sensors? They had the most powerful long range sensors Starfleet could spare. They could have picked a stray hair off an Admiral's shoulder over two sectors. Ships didn't just disappear. Not these days at least.

"Ensign," he addressed the young operations officer, "how exactly do you manage to lose a ship that has an entire sensor palette assigned to keeping tabs on it?"

She didn't know. He could see in her eyes that she had absolutely no idea how she had managed to misplace it. She hadn't misplaced it at all. One minute it was there, the next it wasn't. No other contacts, no interactions besides that of the nebulae. Just... disappeared.

Gunning suddenly had a horrific thought. What if she'd taken her eyes off the screen long enough to miss a Ritorian cruiser decloak and blow them to smithereens. Before he knew what he was doing, he was moving towards the turbolift and striking his commbadge.

"Gunning to Reinhart, Dell, Daniels and Funkhouser. Be on the bridge of the Jackal and ready to deploy in ten minutes." He said abruptly and cut the channel connection. "Gunning to Bones. Have the Jackal ready for launch five minutes ago." Again, no time for the Chief to answer.

He turned back to Ops and pointed at the young Ops officer. "You're with me, kid."

The young trill security officer was just finishing one of her patrol rounds on the promenade when the call came. Within a minute, she was back at her office, handing a PADD to her second and grabbing the extra uniform and personal grooming accessories she kept in a bag for a situation just like this. Another two minutes and she was ready with a phaser rifle strapped over one shoulder and a pistol holstered at her hip.

Kili had timed how long it would take to get to the docking ring from her office and knew she needed to be fast. A brisk walk would be five minutes under ideal conditions. Considering the added scrambling of support crew scrambling to the Jackal as well, conditions would be far from ideal, so she set off in a sprint, dodging civilians and other Starfleet personnel along the way with shouts like "Coming through" and "Make a hole" any time she noticed a gathering that would slow her down.

Dietrich set down his coffee on the Operations center console. His eyes were tired enough. The trials and tribulations of running a 60,000 person city-in-space and military port were catching up with him. Reinhart replied, "Aye, Captain." He directed his focus into calling up the secondary watch to run the station's operations center in his absence.

Down a hundred decks and in his squadron ready room, Funkhouser had been overlooking maintenance projection for his twelve assault fighters. Of all the 60,000 people onboard, he was recently listed as qualified pilots for the USS Jackal, the garrisoned Defiant. He cursed the fact that he took the role, but the extra credits for additional duties was extra credits. The money flow to back home was good, and his retirement account was getting better every month. But the fact of the matter was that he was the only Squadron CO besides Reinhart, the Big XO and CAG, who could fly the Jackal. And that put him on the short-list for last minute orders. He posted a notification to his squadron that the XO was in charge until his return. Peter stood from his desk and made his way to the Jackal's berth in the main docking bay. Sitting for the next period of time with two up-and-coming stars in the fleet? Fracking cut-throats are abound.

Just one minute before the end of the ten minutes the captain had given, the security officer was already standing next to the tactical console of the Jackal, ready to take over from the cadet stationed there during off hours.

Gunning swept onto the bridge quietly. "Take your station, Ensign." He ordered without any real emotion in his voice.

Kili wasn't exactly certain if she should take the console, considering she wasn't really a tactical officer. Still, she knew plenty to be more than capable if the situation called for it. With a nod, the trill relieved the cadet already stationed there and took up her position, patiently waiting for further orders.

Reinhart and Funkhouser reached the bridge at relatively the same time. A glance was exchanged, mostly a wonder why they were there together. Funkhouser towards Reinhart because the station needs an executive in charge, even though Reinhart's core competency was piloting. Reinhart to Funkhouser because of his recent apperance at the Airwing Morning Briefing, probably still drunk and definitely disheveled. Reinhart knew that Funkhouser was the only other qualified senior-officer aboard to pilot the Jackal, though. It was not the best situation at all. Dietrich and Peter rode the turbolift up to Deck 1 and rounded the corner to the escort's bridge.

The officers assembled around him weren't necessarily the best crew for the Jackal. Funkhouser, for all his positives, was a fighter pilot. Reinhart was the perfect pilot for the mission but he needed someone to man the incoming information from the sensors.

He glanced at Ensign Dell. She was quite something, this kid but he had no idea if she'd ever even seen the tactical console of a ship like this. He didn't have the time to find out. He needed as much seniority as he could get on the ship.

"As you may be aware, our sensors lost contact with the USS Thaden around half an hour ago." He began, "I don't know what the hell happened to her but we need to make sure that the ship and her crew is okay. Take your stations. Reinhart, communicate our emergency departure clearance to the dockmaster."

Ensign Dell was busy looking over the console controls, so beyond a nod, she didn't acknowledge what the captain had said. Formalities could wait, but in case they were heading out into battle, familiarity with the console would certainly come in handy rather than her having to search for the firing controls while the ship was being attacked. In such a situation, a second could decide the difference between disabling an enemy and getting blown to bits.

"Are we clear for departure?" Gunning asked tersely.Reinhart finished tapping away and opening up communications with Station Departure Clearance. They should be well aware that something was going on when the CO, XO, and backup Jackal crew were summoned to the station's garrison defense ship. Finally engaging the communications array, Dietrich tuned it to the appropriate frequency. "Archanis Departure Command, this is USS Jackal."

"Jackal, Archanis Departure. Proceed."

"We request an emergency and expedited departure. Search and rescue mission starting at last known location of the USS Thaden," the XO elaborated.

A pause. "Jackal, emergency departure approved. Departure channel #4 is cleared."

"Take us out, Lieutenant. Quick as you can, please."

"Aye, sir," Funkhouser replied. He disengaged the station's hull clamps, having already detached the umbilical. A thud echoed through the ship as the Jackal was now free from SB332. Chemical thrusters gently nudged the small escort out of its position. They needed at least 20 meters of maneuvering room for safety, something that could not be ignored even with the emergency departure. After the slow drift, the acting helmsmen fired the port and aft thrusters, accomplishing a straight and level flight path towards the station's massive Number 4 door. As they transitioned to normal space, Funkhouser engaged the impulse drive and reported. "Archanis Departure, Jackal is clear of #4 departure channel. Proceeding on course."

"On course, Jackal. Good luck," came the reply.

With that handoff, Lt. Peter Funkhouser activated the impulse engines. Normal-safe operations dictated that Star Fleet registered vehicles limit themselves to .25C, or a quarter of the speed of light. But during declared emergencies, there weren't such rules. After making sure the inertial dampeners were activated, the helmsmen brought the small ship into a quick acceleration to .5C. "Laying the hammer down, Commodore."

Bones had been rushed into action from doing a full over-haul on the Photonic Flux System but had managed to get the Jackal back to pretty much full whack before the Commodore's foot had touched the hull-plating. "Engineering to Bridge. You have warp speed whenever you need it."

________________________
[Some Time Later]

The navigational console flashed with a warning that they were approaching the last known coordinates of the USS Thaden. "Commodore, we're here." Checking out the navigational sensors, there weren't any vessels in the proximity of the Jackal. Not a good sign for the crew of the Thaden, Funkhouser thought. Mentally, he prepared for the worst news possible.

"Acknowledged, Lieutenant. All stop." Gunning said, rising from his chair. "Full scans of the area. Scientific and tactical. Divert all auxiliary power to the sensor palettes. I want the Thaden found and I want them found now."

The trill security officer ran a full sensor sweep, giving the sensors a simple, unfocused search that would take seconds to run through. That would usually be the best course when heading into unknown, possibly hostile territory. It could detect foreign objects that could be identified shortly after with a more focused scan and it sure beat having to wait for a fully focused sweep. Still, it came back with nothing, so she let out a sigh and ran the longer scan. "Nothing to report as of yet, Sir. Either the nebula is interfering with sensors or there really is nothing there." Of course, the question of whether it was interference or not would be better left to the person manning the science console.

Reinhart sighed. This was never a great situation. Sitting in the back seat of the Bridge, the XO monitored communications and continued sending out an open hail hunting for the Thaden.

Up in front of the Bridge, the acting helmsman kept watching as the spacial drift picked up. The Auto-pilot was no longer in control, and he was only making minor adjustments to the ship's controls. But the drift soon overtook the Jackal's thruster output. Then the impulse engines. Funkhouser pounded away at the controls. It was not long before a bead of sweat formed over his brow and dripped down onto the panel before him. "Uhhh," he mumbled. "Commodore. We're going in."

"What do you mean, Funkhouser?" A hint of anger to the CO's voice.

"The drift is too powerful for the Thrusters and impulse." Peter reached around and grabbed the safety harnesses and strapped himself in. This was going to be a bumpy ride. The inertial dampeners started to go first, with gentle shudders as the gravitational force tugged and pulled the little ship into the nebula.

"Red alert!" Gunning shouted, clipping his underused seatbelt into place as the Jackal's floor began to tremble. "We're going in! All hands! Brace for impact!"

[OFF]

Commodore Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

Commander Dietrich Reinhart
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels
Chief Medical Officer

Ensign Kili Dell
Chief of Security - Starbase 332