How many Klingons does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Posted on Wed Apr 7th, 2010 @ 10:25am by Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Captain Alexander Gunning & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax & Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D. & Lieutenant JG Callaigh Roland

Mission: Commissioned
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 4, 2045 Hours

::ON::

"Sierra, Sierra Madre del Sur! Sierra, Sierra, Madre! Oh-Oh!" On a ship that ran on a skeleton crew, which was nearly entirely automated in some matter or another, there was absolutely nothing to do when pulling night-shift bridge duty. And so Dietrich passed his time by singing drinking songs from Oktoberfest, sparking memories of days he spent growing up, sneaking into tents in Munich during the festival and drinking straight from the keg. "Sierra! Sierra!" he sang to himself, looking at the view-screen and the diagnostic charts next to it. Engineering was fine, there were no deviations in the warp field or the deflector dish field. Ammo... still full, unfortunately. Since departure, four days ago, the Chief Pilot and XO rotated through double-shift duties, pulling 16 hour days on the bridge before passing out immediately in his rack. It was becoming mundane, and he could not wait to pick up the two extra helmsmen from 11th Fleet Headquarters in five days. "Sierra, Sierra Madre..."

His song was interrupted by a blip. A single, odd sounding blip on the long range sensor display. He checked his navigational chart, to see what else was out there. They weren't by anything, really. The Lembatta Nebula was widely uninhabited by anything nearby. But the computer knew that Yucca-17 was an uninhabited planet, and hence it should have recognized not to alert him of its proximity to the Jackal's course. Using his executive authority and pilot's discretion a simple course alteration would do nothing to the time frame of the mission, and he might be able to figure out why the computer beeped at him.

"Turn to port," he said, punching in the next numbers, "three degree roll and two degree descent." That should bring them well within sensor range in ten or fifteen minutes to figure out what was this"unrecognized anomaly" that the computer deemed so important.

He started to pay more attention to the Real-Time sensor data, which was compared with the navigational charts for the region. This was a regular route for Federation military traffic heading to 11th Fleet, but one had not gone through in the last two weeks. And even so, it was only an cargo-modded Nebula. Not a significant amount of data would've been produced on that worthless piece of titanium and steel. As Yucca-17 slowly grew in the scope, he started to read more signatures from tachyons and warp trails. Something was there, or had been there within the last day or two. Close to the the Lembatta Nebula, a stones throw from Klingon territory, in a relatively untraveled sector of space. Warp Trails, tacyhons, and a distinguished sensor reading not in sync with navigational charts. "What the hell is going on," he said, as he worked the navigational and sensor controls.

Dietrich cut the warp speed in half as they got closer. He needed to allow sensors more time to work, and the processor to spend more time on what they were getting on the echo returns as opposed to catching up to the echo returns. But as they closed within a three and a half billion kilometers of the Yucca-17, it became clear that there was something there that had not been there before. Or at least was not picked up before. Until now. When he was on the bridge. And so the XO knew it was time to delay their arrival at 11th HQ. "Computer, set course for Yucca system. Bring us within 500 million kilometers and bring us out of warp."

The computer complied, and the Jackal's course changed.

"Bridge to Commander Gunning," he called, triggering the automatic messaging system. "You might want to get to the bridge, and science. And maybe tactical. Maybe have med-teams standing by," Reinhart suggested.

Gunning awoke with a start as the chirrup of the comm came through the speaker. It had not quite been properly configured yet and the high-pitched wail nearly blew out on of his eardrums. "Acknowledged, Commander."

He pulled himself out of bed and pulled on his trousers. He tapped his comm-badge and drowsily announced. "All senior staff, report to the bridge." He came out of his quarters and, in a delightful change from the Heath he was almost on the bridge. He rounded a corner and stepped through the Port Egress.

"Report, Dietrich." He said, beginning to shake himself awake.

The XO gave up the chair and moved to the larger display on the starboard side of the bridge. "Fifteen minutes ago, sensors picked up a deviation from the navigational charts by Yucca-17. I altered course to bring us closer to the distortion, and we started picking up more anomalies. Tachyon emissions, warp trails that are no where near the Lindon's, the last vessel to pass through here. And with the proximity to the nebula, and that it is uninhabited, I figured we needed to check this out. We are hanging outside of the system right now, and we are not within visual range."

"Okay, Commander. Take us into the system when everyone's assembled." Alex sighed, nothing was ever simple. "Any idea what the signatures are from?"

"I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine, Comm-" he said, interrupted by the sound of a hydraulic door opening.

The starboard bridge door slid open, followed by a flustered Lieutenant Von. She had just settled down to do some reading after a long hot shower, only to be interrupted and called back to duty. She quickly put her uniform back on and was out the door. She was still putting her hair in a ponytail when she arrived on the bridge. "What's our situation?"

"I'll brief you when everyone's assembled, Lieutenant." Alex said lethargically. Much as he was intrigued by the readings he was seeing on his sensors, he was far too tired to have to repeat himself as the crew joined them on the bridge.

The engineer entered the bridge and didn't look up, PaDD in one hand and raktijino in the other. She'd only slept one proper night since the ship had launched and whatever optimism she might have been feeling a few days earlier was long gone. She was tired, she was even crankier than usual and she was right pissed to be called away from the demands of the central computer core, which seemed to need a complete overhaul. She moved immediately to her station and slid into place, still reading the PaDD.

The door opened and Melissa walked in. She was already awake and doing follow-up work on the Crew Physical Scans. That and there was the usual requests for everything from a dermal regenerator for the usual cuts, scrapes, and bruises that came from a Defiant Class Escort.

Cal breezed in, PADD in hand and a smile on her face. The past few days had been pretty busy for her; or maybe it just felt that way, reaccommodating her belongings to yet another new surrounding. Her eyes sparkled in anticipation as she sat. Her new situation seemed to just become more curious with every passing hour.

Nilani was last to arrive, though looked as if she was the most awake and alert out of the senior officers who had just been called to the bridge. Nodding her greeting to Alex and Dietrich, she moved to take her post.

When everyone arrived, the XO went ahead with a SITREP. "Yucca-17. Uninhabited. Close proximity to Lembatta Nebula. Last vessel to pass through this sector was the Nebula-Class, USS Lindon, outfitted with a cargo pod. They followed a similar route, Fleet Tango-Route 200-C-178-V-7." He paused, looking at people who probably had no idea what he was talking about. Dietrich realized he needed to explain, "That's a fleet route number. The one connecting the Antares Sector to 11th Fleet HQ and Galactic South. We were on it before I deviated course. There have been no reports of anomalies. Navigational charts show no anomalies in this area, but as we were passing by, sensors picked up tachyon emissions and a faint warp trail out of the area. We are within a stone's throw of the Klingon border. That is about all I know. I was hoping to get the crew together to start a full spectral analysis of the area."

"Lieutenant Von, take us to yellow alert." Alex said, hoping beyond hope that Mara had managed to ensure the shield generator would not overload. "Take us into the system, Commander."

"Aye, Captain," the security chief responded. She relieved the officer at her station, and brought the ship to yellow alert. Defense fields were energized, and the deflectors were brought to full power.

The Lt. Cmdr. walked forward on the bridge and took his place. A few clicks on the control panel, and Reinhart took manual control over propulsion. Even though a warp into the system would be a quick transition, it was a terribly inefficient process. Impulse it is, he said to himself. "All ahead three quarters," which in this situation was .19 C, almost a fifth of the speed of light. It was "rushing", but they were well within safe boundaries.

"I'm picking up something on sensors..." Nilani said, tapping at her console as the readings began to make themselves known. Accessing the sensor array, she instructed it to focus on the areas where it found anomalies and display details of them on her screen, before processng through a series of different display formats to find the one most appropriate to the sensor data being received on that specific area. "I have a number of ion trails, in varying states of decay. I'm also picking up some radiation signatures which could be a sign of activity, and-" she paused, as she focused on the latest bit of data to be displayed for her on the screen. "There's a starship here. Klingon Bird of Prey, K'Vort refit class. Looks like it is dead in space."

The surrounding space having received its first scan, Nilani set the system to conduct another with the secondary array to find anything that she had missed first time round, whilst she directed the primary towards the planet itself. "There's a structure on the planet. Configuration looks like it's a small outpost. I'm picking up life signs.... five of them, all Klingon. I can't get any more data at this distance, but at least one of the signals looks to be weak."

"Lieutenant Allein, get to Engineering and make sure we're ready in case whatever did this comes back." The Commanding Officer ordered.

The engineer immediately shut off her station and nodded to the Captain. "Aye sir." In a moment she had disappeared from the Bridge.

"Any life signs on the Bird of Prey?" The Commander enquired.

Nilani checked the real-time readings again, then the sensor logs, and then directed another scan at the ship. "None," she replied, shaking her head. "Dead in the water."

"Open a channel to the surface." Gunning ordered, not entirely sure what he was going to say. He had tapped himself into the scientific database of Starfleet and it turned out the Klingons had been given special dispensation to have their people on the planet. That still didn't explain why there was a neutralised warship in orbit.

"Aye Captain," the Trill tactical officer responded. "Channel open."

"Klingon Research Station, this is Commander Alexander Gunning of the Federation starship Jackal. We have detected unusual activity in this system. Do you require assistance?"

The Commander looked around the bridge at the faces of his crew. This was really the last thing he needed. Assisting bloody Klingons. Knowing them they would beam down and get shot in their faces.

"There's no response, Captain," Liarra reported. "Either no one is home, or they don't want to talk."

Melissa studied one of the Auxillary Consoles. "I'm picking up a life sign on the base. Very faint."

"Okay, doctor. Get to sickbay." He ordered. "Commander Reinhart, lock onto that lifesign and beam it directly to sickbay."

Melissa left the Bridge, running toward Sickbay without another word.

"Yes, sir," he said, not knowing exactly how to work a transporter. At least it would be an experience, the multi-tasking and all. Somewhere pilot and executive and transporter chief, he needed to draw the line at once. He decided he had no qualifications for transporting people aboard, and allowed one of the on duty engineers handle it from Engineering. Within a minute, the somewhat-of-a-klingon-lifesign was in sickbay. "It is aboard, sir," he called out, as he continued his approach.

"Congratulations, Reinhart. I was wondering whether you'd be able to do that or not." Gunning said with a smile, impressed at his XO's ability to multi-task. "I'll note it in your file under expertise. Lieutenant Prax, work on determining what caused the damage to the Bird of Prey and report to me in sickbay. Reinhart, you're with me. Von, you have the bridge."

Nodding silently, Nilani directed the sensor array to conduct continuous variable scans on the ship, before locking down her console as she prepared to head to the science labs, where she would be better able to display and decipher the different readings coming in, as she would be running more scans than were typically required on a normal focus scan - she didn't want to miss anything, afterall.

"Aye, Captain." Liarra decided that it might be best to stay at her station at the moment, so she didn't rush to take the center chair. If something did happen, she wanted to be able to have defenses up in a hurry.

"Damn," Reinhart replied. He thought he really needed to be piloting the Jackal right now, rather than visiting a mysterious lifeless Klingon. Despite having no shortage of things to do, he still could not help but wonder who was their new Klingon guest. "I will tell him that you guys and gals said nuqneh," (which roughly translated to What do you want?, which was the closest thing to hello in the Klingon language.

After hearing the acknowledgment of his orders, the commander stood and made his way through the port egress. This was going to be a far longer journey than they thought.

::OFF::

Commander Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Dietrich Reinhart
Executive Officer / Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant Liarra Von
Chief Security / Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Allein Mara
Chief Engineering Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Nilani Prax
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Melissa Daniels MD
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Callaigh Roland
Chief Counselor