Course Diversion

Posted on Thu Aug 19th, 2010 @ 1:11pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Commander Abigail Valera & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer & Lieutenant JG Jourdan Abbott & Ensign Erich Ciliax & Lieutenant JG Christopher Rogan

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: USS Iapetus - Bridge
Timeline: MM2 MD27 2139hrs

Jourdan saw a red light bleep on her console. She glanced at it and hit a few buttons.
"Sir, we're picking up a long range hail from the Regula System" Jourdan said outloud looking down at her screen to identify the caller. "Its the USS Marconi"

Lieutenant Commander Gunning was thoroughly enjoying the feel of the plush, red leather underneath him as he stared at the largely featureless viewscreen. The hull of the Marconi hung gracefully in space. "On-screen, Lieutenant." He ordered for the first time.

"Good evening, Commander," came the reply of the Captain on the other end of the communication line. "I'm Captain Kaldor, of the Federation science vessel Marconi."

"Good evening to you, Captain. What can we do for you?" He asked as a number of reports on the system began to flash on the console in the arm of his chair.

"Are you familiar with the history of the Regula system, Commander?" The captain asked, by way of response.

Jordan thought for a moment. He didn't know half as much about this region of space as he would have liked and his opportunity to read up on the history was all but ruined by the Captain giving him command of the nightshift. Not that he didn't appreciate it of course. "Not as much as I should, to be honest."

Abigail turned towards the Captain, "The Regula System was where Doctor Marcus and her team were working on the Genisis Project?" Abigail recalled everything she could from Kirk's era. "And wasn't the device used for the wrong purpose and a planet was formed in the Mutara Nebula?" Abigail was a little unsure.

"That is correct," Captain Kaldor nodded in the direction of the science officer. "Follow-up research has been conducted based off the records of the Genesis project ever since. The Marconi is only the latest ship to be assigned duties here."

Sara decided to speak up from her station. "I don't believe that was intended to be common knowledge, Captain Kaldor, due to the sensitivity of the Genesis project. I, however, was aware of your assignment. Seeing that isn't very relevant to our mission, I suggest you get to the point."

Jordan cocked his head towards the seat of the Executive officer where Archer was sitting. He caught her eye but remained silent. Too stand-offish, Sara.

She returns a look of her own that could be best translated to Sorry, I'm trying.

"We have detected some anomalies in the system which we can't identify," the Captain responded. "We'd like to ask you to rendezvous with us, so that I can speak more about the matter with your Captain. Frankly, your sensors are much more advanced, and may be better able to determine what the readings are coming from than our own."

The Tactical officer tapped a command on the chair. "Gunning to Walex. We've been hailed by the USS Marconi. They're requesting assistance in finding the source of some anomalous readings they've been picking up in the Regula system. Should I change course?"

Acle immediately awoke at the sound of the chirp. Years of training allowed his mind to become instantly attuned to his surroundings. The chirp of the communicator sounded again, slightly louder then before. Every time the call went unanswered, the sound became louder. Acle swung his arm up and slapped the button to answer the call, audio only. He listened to the Commander and paused for a moment.

==Walex to Gunning. Roger, change course. I will alert the Captain and be up to the bridge shortly.== Acle said, already turning from the LCARs console built into the wall and swinging his legs over the bunk.

"Understood, sir. Gunning out." He turned in the chair slightly to allow him a better view of the young ensign sitting in front of him. "Mister Cilliax, plot an intercept course to the Marconi and engage at warp factor 6."

"Aye aye, intercept course with the Marconi plotted and laid in," Ensign Ciliax replied. "ETA to rendezvous one point five hours."

Within fifteen minutes, Vorn and Acle both stepped onto the bridge via one of the crimson doors to the turbolifts. "Report," Vorn said, as he moved to take his place at the centre, Jordan smoothly leaving the chair to take his own post at the tactical console.

"We've received a communication from the USS Marconi asking for assistance in ascertaining the cause of an anomalous reading in the Regula System. We've diverted course, sir." The Tactical officer reported as he took his position.

Jourdan kept her eye on the Marconi as the Iapetus sped towards them. She had a funny feeling about why they were called, and why they had to make such a huge diversion.

"What was the USS Marconi's mission?" Acle asked as he took his own seat.

Archer, who had just vacated the first officer's chair and moved to the mission ops station was the first to respond. "The Marconi is a research vessel assigned to the follow up studies on the Genesis project. Due to the high degree of practicality of the device, and the large amount of instability, the project has been treated with a great deal of secrecy. Naturally, most of the work is classified. The knowledge that Starfleet was even working on the project is need-to-know only. I will try to find more information, though I can only release that information if it is critical to the mission."

Acle offered a wry smile. "Understood Commander. I'm familiar with star fleet classification protocols." he said somewhat dryly. His face returned to its seemingly natural neutral expression. "It would be logical to assume that these anomalies have something to do with the project then?"

"I believe that is a safe assumption, Commander," Sara replies, nodding. "I will have to re-read the reports to be sure, but I will let you know if I find anything useful."

Vorn reached up to rub his chin, fighting the urge to instead rub his eyes. "Anything that you can get would be helpful," he said, looking out at the viewscreen. The situation was a bit of an unexpected one, and hopefully it would turn out to be nothing, but Vorn couldn't help but get concerned when mentions of Starfleet Intelligence were abound. "Run continuous scans, on all bands and frequencies," he ordered. "Alert me of anything unusual."

Vorn turned towards Acle. "Have the rest of the senior staff on standby," he ordered. They had a good half of them awake and on the bridge already, but if this did turn into a more complex matter, he wanted to be able to pull all of them on duty at a moment's notice.

"Aye Aye Captain." Acle said, already tapping instructions into a PADD. He finished sending out the standby orders, then looked to the Captain. "Sir... I would recommend the use of extreme caution. I'm sure the commander," Acle nodded towards Archer "Would agree with me in the fact that this system was closed for a very specific reason."

"Agreed," Vorn said. "Raise shields, just in case, and keep a close eye on our sensors, Commander," Vorn turned his head slightly towards Jordan as he spoke, before leaning closer towards Acle. "Start running any active sweeps you can think of which may give a hint of a 'soft return'," he said. "I don't want to take any chances."

Acle nodded slowly, his mind clearly already beginning to think through the process. "I'll see to it." he said. Acle then stood up from his chair and went over to an auxiliary station where he began to tap into the science station and operations. A studied look of concentration crossed his face as he began to manipulate and fine tune the controls.

Jordan failed to acknowledge the request of the Captain. He was sure that Krace would know he would follow orders unquestioningly and therefore went about his business quietly. The shields activated with a slight pulse variance of .03 microns but it was nothing to worry about, just the computer being a busybody. He turned his attention to the tactical sensors. He had already cut out most of the erroneous information which would likely be pouring into the Ops station by now and was looking for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

Everything was quiet for the hour and a half it took the ship to cruise over to the Marconi. As they came within transporter range, the Ops station beeped with an incoming hail. "On screen," Vorn said, before the officer even had chance to inform him of the call.

"Captain," Kaldor said, smiling welcomingly from the bridge of his ship. "Thank you for diverting to us. If I may beam over to your ship to discuss the matter further? As I'm sure you're already aware, the work going on here can at times be of a sensitive nature."

"Of course," Vorn said, nodding to the other captain before speaking over his shoulder to Jordan. "Inform transporter room two to prepare to receive the Captain."

"Aye, sir." Jordan tapped out a message into the text input of the console and sent it through to the Transporter Room. The chirp of the console sounded a moment later as the Transporter Room responded. "Transporter Room Two standing by, Captain."

"Thank you," Kaldor responded. "Marconi out."

"Captain," Sara spoke out after the the channel was broken. "With all due respect, due to the sensitive nature of the Genesis project, it may be prudent to include an intelligence officer in that meeting."

"Yes, I think you might be right there, Commander," Vorn responded, not quite turning to look at her as he mulled over his conversation with the Captain.

Acle raised an eyebrow from where he was sitting. "Captain, might I have a brief word with you?"

Looking up from his thoughts, Vorn nodded, before standing and leading the way into his ready room for privacy.

Acle followed the captain into the ready room and gently slapped the lock button on the hatch. "There are a lot of unexplained circumstances occurring around here... But, can we really afford to get involved with it? Our mission is to proceed to our next duty assignment. We can signal for help and have another vessel on station within a few days at most."

Rogan rang the door chime and waited to be allowed in. "Sirs I have a feeling that the two of you are discussing our current situation. Regulations state that when we receive a distress signal we're obligated to respond. It supersedes all duty assignments."

Vorn nodded, though quietly noted to speak with Jameson about getting the lock on the door fixed to ensure that others couldn't just walk through. "You're right," he said to Acle. "We do have a mission, and though technically we didn't receive a distress call, merely a request for assistance," he continued, looking at the Ensign, "we're one of the only ships in the region, and we have the most powerful sensor suite on board. Hopefully, it will prove to be nothing, and we can be on our way. If it isn't nothing... then I'll make the call whether to send for another vessel."

He looked at each of them in turn. "If there's nothing else, we have a rendezvous to make. Dismissed."

---------------------
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

Commander Acle Walex
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Tactical/Security Officer
Duty Night Commander

Lieutenant Commander Abigail Valera
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant JG Jourdan Abbott
Chief Operations Officer

Ensign Christopher Rogan
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Ensign Erich Cilliax
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Iapetus