What's Going On Now?

Posted on Thu Mar 5th, 2015 @ 2:47pm by Lieutenant JG Allison Price & Lieutenant Colonel Edward Maxwell & Lieutenant Commander Morgan Kelly & Lieutenant JG Erica De'Havean

Mission: God Complex [Incomplete]
Location: USS Jackal Bridge

Ed was doing his best to get used to the situation he found himself in. He had taken the CAG position on 332 so he'd be around for his son. Now in addition to his duties as CAG he found himself sitting in the 'big chair' of the stations Defiant class garrison ship. Granted trading in the gold oak leaf for a silver one certainly had helped him change his mind about the position, but still now he was away for days, possibly weeks at a time and there was no way to bring his son with him. Luckily, Lynsi had agreed to stay at his place and keep an eye on Ryan while Ed was chasing around the sector. That was another thing he had to adjust to, being on a ship while Lynsi was still back on the base running the Wing in his absence. He did as much of his usual work as he could from the ready room of the Jackal, but she still got stuck picking up the slack.

"How did we make out on those calibrations to the controls and sensors Lieutenant De'Havean?" Ed asked looking up from the PADD he was idly scanning to keep himself occupied.

During the shake down run when Ed had first taken command, some minor irregularities had come to light in several of the ships systems. He was assured they would be taken care of, but he wanted to double check now that they were actually underway and operating independently from the station.

"Calibrations are working out fine," Erica spoke in her soft professional voice with a slight undertone of a purr. "Rear array of sensors are still effected by the ship's warp field." As her paw like hands flew over the helm console, weaving the Jackal through a nearby asteroid field. "I can stop using the warp field for sub-light maneuvers. It would clear up the distortion." Exiting the asteroid field on the opposite side from where she had entered.

Lieutenant Commander Morgan Kelly kept a close eye on the slight variations in the readings as they came in. He was delighted with the results- the new CO and De'Havean had really got their heads in the game.

Price was glad to see that things were going smoothly. She took a lot of pride in keeping her systems running well, so it always made her feel good to hear that there were no problems.

"It would also cut back on our maneuverability as well." Ed commented as he thought it over. "But knowing what's coming for us is a bit more important. We can't dodge what we can't see. Until we can get the warp field distortions to quit messing with the array let's stick to impulse engines and thrusters for maneuvers. If we pick up something we can slip the warp field back up in seconds." Ed ordered in his usual quiet, almost bored tone. "So what's everyone want to find while we're out here? I'm hoping for a roadside stop with a decent chilidog and burgers." He said with a wry smile as he tried to break up the monotony of staring at screens and sensor readings.

"Next stop, Mom's n Pop's coming up!" De'Havean hands flew around the her console, then the stars steaks briefly as the ship slid into FLT flight at warp-6.4, for a three minute flight. "You'll have your chili- dog in within 10 minutes." She knew the spot as a few of the higher brass liked to take a shuttle ride out this way for some discrete recreation away from their spouses. In doing so, Eica had discovered the Planetary spaceport had some nice fast-food joints lining the spaceports terminal concourse. The field could easily handle the Jackal. Besides the planetary government liked the periodical appearance of Starfleet personnel.

Allie was a little confused by the exchange. "Wait, are we really going after chili dogs and burgers?" The redheaded engineer glanced back and forth at the other officers on the bridge. "I thought that was just supposed to be a joke."

Erica shook as chuffing sounds came from her, "Merrrrowa! Captain wants, Captain gets! It'll do you some good to get away from the ship for awhile." Giving Allie a quick glance over her shoulder. "They do have some nice asteroids that occasionally stray into the space shipping lanes we can test the weapons on."

"I was only making light of the situation, Lieutenant." Ed said shaking his head with a laugh. "But, what the hell, let's go reassure the locals with our presence in the area. With any luck we can even get in some target practice while we're there too."

"I'll be sure not to put the fried food in the mission log." Commander Kelly chuckled. "That being said, we might have to come clean if we all end up with heart disease."

[Ackeriod Star System]

The star system had a few planets that orbited around the star, with one planet had life on it as its orbit was the proper distance from the star. Only thing that made the area very hazardous was the billions of asteroids that also surrounded the star. It was a very strategic place as it held untold wealth in just raw materials alone. One could see there was a lot of mining operations going on various larger asteroids and smaller ones alike. The planet had a planetary shield to keep the stray asteroids becoming a threat to the population of Space Miners and prospectors seeking their fortune in mineral wealth, business that catered to them, plus the local populace that liked living there. There were designated ship routes through the field and any ship that was armed could fire on any asteroid that drifted into the shipping lanes in helping the locals to keep the routes free of hazards.

Erica brought the Jackal out of FTL into high impulse, darting towards a mass of moving rocks of various sizes. She was already speaking through her dedicated comm with the systems Flight Control to enter the maze of asteroids along the prescribed route to the Ackeriod II.

"Nice and easy Lieutenant." Ed said as he watched the main viewscreen. It was nice to be able to see what was going on outside the ship. The viewscreen was almost as good as looking out the cockpit of his fighter, but not quite. There wasn't much for peripheral viewing on the Defiant class ship as he had in his Valkyrie. "Any asteroids to shoot at?"

"There's a couple on a course to overlap with the shipping lane." Kelly reported from the tactical station. "If we come about to two-seven-zero mark zero-one-niner, we should have a clear run at the first one."

With an ear flicker of acknowledgement, Erica had the ship on course that Kelly suggested, working as a well oiled machine to give Commander Kelly his first target. Erica seeing his plan of attack by what her scanners was showing her also, but without the tactical overlay he had at his station. She had enough on her plate in keeping Jackal on course and avoiding the more obvious threats and even the hidden ones. "Course two-seven-zero mark zero-one-niner." Erica spoke in her easily heard soft voice to let everyone know of the course change and that the Jackal was in position and on the attack run.

Allie wasn't really into the machismo of shooting up rocks, though she did acknowledge that it gave them something to do. She continued to monitor ship systems, even rerouting power as needed. "You have weapons at your command, Colonel."

"They're passing into weapons range, Sir." Kelly reported.

"Fire when ready Commander. Big stuff first and then we'll keep making them all smaller until all we've got left is space dust." Ed said looking to his XO/Tactical Officer.

Erica flew the Jackal steady, giving optimum steady platform to fire the ship's weapons at the stray asteroid invading the route through the asteroids, making minute adjustments to the ship's course of flight.

Kelly's hand fell on the fire command and the massive, near-deafening thud of the pulse cannons echoed throughout the whole ship. "Target disintegrated, Captain. Targeting sensors are working overtime and are already processing the smaller debris. This calibration is really impressive."

Without really having much to do while the others shot at asteroids, Lieutenant Price just took to monitoring the ship's systems. She was confident that everything was in working order, but since they were doing weapons tests, it was only natural that she should be watching the power levels. While she was pulling up different subsystems, she discovered a blip on sensors. It was a short wave subspace transmission, low power. Allie decided that she better interrupt their fun. "Colonel, I'm picking up some sort of transmission. It's on an odd carrier, possibly some sort of distress signal. It's garbled this far out, but I think I can clean it up."

"Clean it up the best you can and put it on speaker Lieutenant." Ed said as he straightened up. He felt the familiar jump in heart rate as a quick shot of adrenaline shot through his system. Not as much of a kick as jumping to warp in his fighter, but then he was more of an observer when he was the CO rather than one of the pilots in an attack.

The engineer worked on the signal as best as she could, making some progress, but not much. "I think this is the best I can do, sir. Putting it on now."

The bridge speakers came to life with heavy static. "...questing assistance. Our planetary shield...ctioning. Without it...posed to...adiation. ...repeat, we are requesting...stance."

Price shook her head. "I'm not sure I can do much better than that, sir. It sounds like they are having issues with some sort of planetary shield."

"Can you figure out where they are? Hard to render any assistance when they don't tell us where they are." Ed commented.

"I think I can track the source of the signal." She took a moment to work with her controls. "I think I got it. The signal is originating from a pulsar system about five lightyears from here. According to the star charts, the system is uninhabited. If they are in a pulsar system, that could explain the need for a planetary shield to protect them from radiation. One would almost certainly be needed."

"So much for lunch." Ed grumbled and shook his head. "Set a course Lieutenant. Warp 6. Let's go play the cavalry coming to save the day."

Erica had the ship, moving back the way they had came. Back out into the vast expanse of space. She imputed the course with ease and soon the Jackel was streaking towards the system that held the pulsar. "ETA... 5 days and a replicator lunch."

"If theres time." Ed sighed and leaned back in his seat, humming an old earth song about saving the day.

---

Lt. Colonel Ed Maxwell
Commanding Officer
USS Jackal

Lt. Commander Morgan Kelly
Executive Officer, Tactical Officer
USS Jackal

Lieutenant Erica De'Havean
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Jackal

Lieutenant Allison Price
Chief Engineer
USS Jackal