Commemorating the Dead

Posted on Thu Aug 27th, 2009 @ 1:57pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Lieutenant Commander Abigail Valera & Lieutenant Bradley Openhouse

Mission: Into a Devil's Heart
Location: USS Iapetus - Bridge
Timeline: MD03 1000hrs

As the ship's senior staff stood arrayed on the bridge, each in their crisp white and grey dress uniforms, Vorn stood in front of his chair, looking straight ahead at the viewer. They had dropped out of warp for the ceremony, and the viewer showed the blackness of space, spotted with pinpoints of light from the stars in front. Set out in front of the officers were torpedo cases, one each for the officers who had died on the last mission.

"Today, we honour those who have gone before their time," Vorn began. "They died not only doing their duty, but they gave their lives so that others may live. Chief Petty Officer Ranoke, Petty Officer 1st Class Byers, Petty Officer 1st Class Ajuni, Petty Officer 3rd Class Junix, and Crewmen Illius. They all lost their lives performing honorable service, against those who would dishonour their deeds. They will be well remembered."

He paused for a moment, glancing at the expressions on the senior staff's faces, before continuing.

"And probably most heroic of all; Lieutenant Maxwell Reynolds, whose life was freely given, so that his fellow officers could live, and complete their task. For his service, he will be posthumously awarded the Tasha Yar Medal of Honour." He stepped forward and placed the deep red and gold medal on top of the blue flag which was draped over the casket.

Stepping back, he nodded to Acle, who was standing next to the operations console at the front of the bridge. The Lieutenant Commander stood stiffly at attention and snapped a salute at the caskets before he turned and keyed in a sequence on the console behind him. The six caskets were beamed off the bridge, to the probe launching bay on sub-deck B, above the bridge. As the boatswain sounded his whistle, six thumps could be heard through the hull, and the caskets could be seen as they appeared at the top of the viewer, and sped off into the distance of space. Vorn had ordered that the minute silence be observed by all the crew, beginning on the conclusion of the boatswain's whistle, and he had resolved to spend the minute watching the caskets for as long as he could. As the minute of silence began, the mournful melody of Taps wafted throughout the ship.

Annalyn stood at attention. Reynold's death had been so unnecessary, she could have delivered the explosive without having to put anyone in danger, if only she had known what he had planned. Sometimes keeping abilities hidden was a very big pain.

Brad thought back to when he controlled the transporter. He did all his best to try and get Reynolds back.

Abigail had tears in her eyes thinking back to when she had first met Reynolds on their first mission together. She, Reynolds, and Raging were almost ambushed and Annalyn had pulled them out in time. She would miss the man even if she barely knew him. Abigail knew that Reynolds would have been a good friend.

Acle again stood stiffly at attention. He stared out into the space as the caskets began to drift away. In his mind, he thought back to the moment of these men's deaths. He had been there to see them all. His thoughts turned to the other ceremonies like this that he had witnessed. There had been to many of them, and he would not delude himself with thinking that this would be the last.

As the last fading notes of Taps sounded, indicating the minute was over, a light on the operations console interrupted his thoughts. It blinked incessantly to attract his attention. Acle frowned, and while still standing at attention, stiffly moved one hand slowly to enter in a command. Upon reading the text that was displayed, his frown disappeared, replaced with the customary granite.

"Captain." He said softly, shattering the silence, eyes still reading the raw data of the report. "The main sensor array has picked up a automated distress beacon from heading 19889. It is squawking a Federation IFF. The report seems to indicate that is of military origin, although the host vessel cannot be identified."

Acle finally looked up from the report, and turned to look at the captain. For the ceremony, the bridge had been cleared of all, but essential staff and the Funeral Party, as such, the regular helmsmen was not on station. He stood ready to program the course into the ship.

Annalyn teleported out of the bridge, to her quarters to change clothes.

Abigail left the bridge and went to her office. She sat in silence for a few moments remembering the short time she had been around Reynolds.

Not really needing much thought as to what he needed to do, Vorn turned and walked to his chair in the centre of the bridge, sitting in his place. "Set an intercept course and engage, Commander. How far out is it?" His voice was much more sober than it normally was, and he either didn't mind, or had forgotten all together that they were all still wearing their white and grey dress uniforms rather than their normal duty uniforms.

Acle plotted in the course and executed the command. The ship was soon set on a new heading, on a direct intercept with the unknown distress signal. "We have an ETA of 45 minutes Captain." Acle replied.

"Can we get any readings on what it is yet?" Vorn asked, curious as to what would be emanating a distress call in this region of space. They were close enough to Starbase Ronin to be well inside secure territories, and so the most likely explanation he could think of was a systems fault.

"Negative Captain, nothing so far... We are to far out for sensors to detect any signs of mass related to the craft, and the distress beacon is uncomplicated at best. What that could mean is a very small craft had an emergency. It is off of any usual lanes of traffic though." Acle paused for a moment, consulting his board, then looking back at the captain. "Sir, anything I can offer at this point is sheer speculation. We are simply not close enough."

---45 minutes later---

"Captain, we are within visual range," William reported from the Operations console. None of the bridge staff had yet changed out of their dress uniforms. It was technically their shifts, and so with this distress signal coming up right after the funeral ceremony, none of them had thought it wise to ask to leave the bridge to go and get changed like the others had until the Captain did himself. Vorn, for his part, seemed perfectly happy to sit there in his dress whites.

"On-screen," he commanded. As the order was carried out, the viewscreen snapped to a view of an escape pod, drifting and on a default power conservation mode - only the odd thrust of a maneouvring jet to keep it on a straight course visible. "Is there any sign of any other ships within the pod's range? Any sign of an attacker, which could have caused it's launch?"

"No, Captain. There isn't any traffic until we start getting towards the standard trade lanes around Starbase Ronin. Nothing anomalous detected."

Vorn sat and rubbed his thin beard thoughtfully. Systems fault still seemed the most plausible explanation, but with no parent ship around in the vicinity... "Tractor it into the shuttlebay," he ordered. "Acle, you're with me."

"Aye Aye Captain." Acle said, standing and leaving the console where he was quickly replaced by his relief. He moved to follow the captain as they both left the bridge.

--------------------------

Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Commander Acle Walex
Acting Executive Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Annalyn LaToon
Chief Medical Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Abigail Valera
Chief Science Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant JG Bradley Openhouse
Chief Counselor
USS Iapetus