Pick Up, Pick Up, Pick Up!

Posted on Wed Jun 29th, 2011 @ 1:24am by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex & Lieutenant JG Martin Cook & Lieutenant Elena Valdez & Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: USS Iapetus / Union Star System
Timeline: MM4, MD3 0847hrs

With a bright flash of blue-white light, the streak that appeared rapidly slowed down to the discernible shape and hull features of the Luna-class starship as the Iapetus reverted from warp to sub-light speeds. The system that they emerged into was a critical one, and as such had a lot of tech about it; Starbase 911 the second most prominent after the planet it orbited, Union III, and various subsidiary smaller stations throughout the system. Various patrol craft were employed in the system permanently, with passing starships assisting system defense whenever they were present.

"Report?" Vorn Krace said, as he emerged from his ready room onto the bridge, strolling towards his centre chair.

"We have arrived in-system Captain" Acle replied, relinquishing the centre chair and thereby ceremonial command of the ship.

"Very good. Inform Starbase 911 that we'll be pulling within transporter range momentarily; request them to have our new crew standing by for beam-out."

"Aye Aye Captain." Acle replied, moving over to the communications console and briefly conferring with the officer stationed there.

On the station Elena Valdez had just changed into a clean uniform when she was informed the Iapetus was on its way and in a rush. The timing was perfect; the encounter with her errant husband had soured her desire to explore the station any further. It only took a moment to repack what few items she had removed from her bag before heading to the base's transporter room.

Meanwhile Martin Cook was sat in the departure area, eating a freshly made cooked breakfast, like he was used to at home. It was his way of making the most of the day he had before going strictly onto replicated food. Though he was just over half way through his meal when his comm badge beeped, informing him of the change of plans. He sighed before replying, "On my way."

The lieutenant stood up and pushed his chair under the table, removing his case from underneath before sneaking another mouthful from his plate, then promptly disappearing after. He made his way to the transporter room to board the Iapetus.

Emily was in the cargo bay regenerating when the station's computer disrupted her cycle. Emily opened her eyes and stepped out of the unit.

"Computer, clarify why my cycle was interrupted." she ordered and awaited patiently for it to reply.

"The USS Iapetus has arrived. All crew members awaiting to board are required to go to transporter room 2." the computer replied.

"Understood." she replied and immediately left the cargo bay. When she got to the transporter room she saw other crew members waiting, she recognized Doctor Elena immediately.

"Doctor." Emily said and nodded to her before she walked over to a crew member of the station. "How will my regeneration unit be transported to the ship?" she asked.

"Its already been disconnected and awaiting to be transported, ma'am." he replied.

"Thank you." Emily replied and nodded in satisfaction before she walked over and joined the Doctor.

As the ship glided closer to the station, set on a course which would take them past it, before arching out towards the empty region of space - the unusually empty region, in such a busy system - that held the hidden Iconion Gateway. As soon as they were in transporter range, Vorn turned towards Drex. "Lieutenant, begin transport when ready."

"Aye Captain."

Drex slid three blue fingers down the panel, activating the primary energizing coils. Three columns of cascading blue and silver hues swirled around in the mix before the forms of the three new crew members took their place. The whirr and hum of the transporter's workings gave weigh into momentary silence as they materialized on their respective pads.

Martin quickly made his way out of the transporter room, nodding with a quick smile to the Bolian operating the transporters. Just outside the door he met a crewman who volunteered to take his case to his quarters, but Martin was in a rush and almost walked right into him. He thanked the young man and made his way to the bridge.

Emily left the transporter room and headed straight to the bridge. She had memorized the entire ship's schematics and knew where she was going. She had to enter a turbo lift, give a command to the computer before she could leave the lift and enter the bridge.

Once the three were onboard, Drex tapped his commbadge. "Drex to Lieutenant Stikes, bring them in."

Four gold shirts accompanied the prisoner and the large piece of equipment. "Iapetus to Starbase 911, preparing to transport one prisoner and one piece of equipment."

His commbadge replied in a nasally voice. "We're ready, Iapetus."

Drex gave the security team a nod as they boarded the pad.

Stikes nodded in return. "Excellent work, Lieutenant. Have fun in the Delta Quadrant..."

"Energizing." Drex slid his blue fingers across the transporter controls. Stikes' grinning face dematerialized in a blue and silver cloud of dispersing particles along with the data core, and the Romulan. He knew the Captain meant to get going with the mission, and if he didn't make it to the Engineering station straight away he knew the Captain would be saying 'Take us out' and the Iapetus would just sit there. He tapped his fingers on the controls for a moment and then turned the station over to the Transporter Chief before heading out the door and straight to the turbolift.

Elena, on the other hand, wasn't entirely sure what sure what to do with herself. Was she supposed to report straight to the bridge? To sickbay? Drop her bags off in her quarters, wherever they were? Apparently she had been playing hooky when the Academy held the lecture entitled 'How To Look Like You Know What You're Doing Your First Day On The Job.'

The transport officer left in the room after Drex's departure noticed the doctor's moment of hesitation. He cleared his throat politely to get her attention. "All new officers are to report to the bridge, Doctor Valdez. We'll make sure your things are stowed in your new quarters."

"Thanks," responded Elena gratefully. She soon walked onto the bridge and into a sea of unfamiliar faces. Suddenly the doctor was extraordinarily grateful to have already met Hamson. Knowing even one person made this all a bit less intimidating.

"Welcome aboard, Lieutenants," Vorn said, smiling at their newest arrivals amongst the senior staff as they came onto the bridge. "I apologize for the quick pick-up and move off, but we're running rather behind schedule."

"Hello sir." Emily replied and walked straight to her station on the bridge.

"Thank you, Captain," responded Valdez. She moved to the side where she could quietly observe the well-practiced motions of the crew until they passed through the wormhole.

Martin stood up right when the Captain addressed the other lieutenants and himself. An old academy habit that hadn't faded away yet. "Thank you sir," he said as he quickly made his way to the helm, relieving the petty officer sat in the chair.

Acle nodded his greeting to the newcomers before turning to the Engineering/Science console. "Scanners to high power. Locate the highest concentration of Chroniton Particles and feed the coordinates to helm. Prepare the energy beam to open the gateway. You will fire the beam on my mark." Acle also tapped a control. An old fashioned boatswain whistle sounded before he spoke "All hands, this is the XO. Prepare to enter the gateway."

Emily began conducting scans till she located the Chroniton Particles and transfers the coordinates to the helm.

"I have transfers the coordinates to the helm." she stated.

Martin turned to Emily and nodded before relaying to the captain, "Coordinates received sir." Only now he realized how preoccupied he had been, to fail to notice the science officer's borg implants.

Drex wheeled into his chair at the Engineering station, relieving the young Ensign that had been manning the post in his place. A few quick taps at the side of the console and he piped up. "Diverting warp power to the main deflector. EPS taps online and charged to 900 teradynes. Ready to fire at your command, sir."

"Mister Cook," Vorn said, feeling a little odd referring to their new Lieutenant in the same way as he'd been referring to Petty Officer Cook for so long. "Coordinate our course with Starbase 911, and prepare to pass through the gateway."

"Aye sir."

Martin shifted his hands across the panel, bringing up the flight plans around the station, provided by the Starbase flight control team on board. He plotted a course that would take them past the right side of the starbase and towards the coordinates Emily had provided him. "Increasing speed to one quarter impulse, we are on our approach."

He was actually very impressed when he felt no tug from the Iapetus when he increased the ships speed. She handled much more smoothly than he had anticipated.

"Mr. Drex, Ms. Hamson, fire the beam in three... two... one... Mark!" Acle ordered.

Emily activated the beam by pressing a button on her console.

A quick tap on Drex's console, coinciding with the other bridge officer's inputs was executed seamlessly, and the deflector dish glowed white hot before the beam discharged suddenly toward the hidden Iconian aperture.

As the bright beam emerged from the ship's deflector dish and out from the ship, stopping on seemingly nothing in the middle of empty space, the maw of the gateway opened as a blue-green blossom several kilometres in diametre. It looked even more impressive than the views Vorn had seen of the opening of the Bajoran Wormhole at DS9, and he couldn't help but simply sit and look at it for a few seconds.

Emily thought it was beautiful but she wasn't interested in the site, she began conducting scans of the gate away to get readings of the gate way. She found it pointless to simply admire a scientific event when you could conduct scans and analyze it and gain data.

Acle gazed at the gateway for a moment. Just when he thought he seen everything...

Drex was more impressed with the mathematical readouts and gravitational harmonics displayed on his console, than the breathtaking visual display on the main view screen.

"It's beautiful." Ensign Johanson said, peering into the marvelous abyss. The cerulean, chartreuse and gold waves crossed her rigid Vulcan features.

"Yeah." Drex replied, awestruck and staring at the numerical representation of the event horizon. The yellow topographical lines of the display panel crossed his pale blue features concurrently.

Elena's breath caught as the wormhole flowered before them. Suddenly it all became very real to her - being on a starship, in space, ready to explore the farthest reaches of the galaxy. She had a feeling it was going to be one hell of a ride.

Martin just stared at the screen in front of him. "That's a sight I'll have trouble doing justice in my log later," he said, smiling to himself.

"Mister Cook, take us through."

He turned to his new commanding officer and nodded, "Aye sir, taking us in." He turned back to his console, opened the engine throttle controls, and used two fingers to push the sliders up, increasing the ships speed until they entered the gateway.

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

Commander Acle Walex
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Zim Drex
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant JG Martin Cook
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant JG Elena Valdez
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson
Chief Science Officer
USS Iapetus