Onward and Upward

Posted on 13 Nov 2015 @ 2:32pm by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Captain Maia Sterling & Lieutenant Commander Sheela Swiftpaws
Edited on on 22 Nov 2016 @ 7:44pm

3,775 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Season 2 Episode 1: The New Frontier
Location: Bridge/Starbase 51/UnExSys 2355874
Timeline: Mission Day 10

[ON]

It took the ship seven days at maximum warp to reach the Mira sector, the USS Tomcat drops from high warp and approaching the Nav markers around the partially constructed Starbase 51, it was currently mainly framework and some auxiliary work and recreation modules for the crews working on building it. There was also a large Starfleet ship contingent, mainly the older ships, but there was some Post Shinzon incident in the mix.

As the ship, neared "Lieutenant Sheela onscreen" Jasmine said indicating that she wanted those on the bridge to see the construction.

Sheela dutifully put the view of the Starbase 51 onscreen while communicating with the station intelligence department to glean whatever information she could get on the Sector they would be operating in.

Without looking at anyone and speaking to all, "There you have it people the Starbase that will when complete being our new base of operations in this sector. Over time there are plans for a repair shipyard only and an increased defensive screen, but for now what you see is a skeletal frame with a few habitation modules and some recreation ones all for the work crews. We will not be visiting but just passing it" She said.

"Perhaps we should give the construction crews a wide berth, Captain". Maia suggested,

"Exactly, Mr Barker adjust heading and communicate with flight control and take us past the base and out into uncharted territory"

"Yes Captain" Ensign Barker replied and got to work.

"Ship wide," Jasmine said and heard a click indicating she had it. =/\= Bridge to all crew if you can take you all a gander outside the left windows of your locations, you will see what will eventually be our new base of operations in this sector, bridge out =/\=

-Lower Decks -

Ensign Jorah Nervough heard the captain's announcement. The young Bolian botanist was in the arboretum when he looked out of a portside porthole and noticed the Tomcat had dropped out of warp. He could see a large construction going on but could not quite make out specifics, but he knew that this would be home away from home for the near future. Work bees and construction drones zipped all over the place like bees building a hive. Already the basic structure was done. It was more than a skeleton but not quite fully operational. Jorah knew that this must be an important mission for Starfleet to build a base here. He wondered if anyone would get shore leave.

-Astrometrics lab -

Commander Sterling was in the lab calibrating the sensors to look for Borg footprints in the Mira sector. She thought that there might be a Trans-warp aperture in which the Borg appeared. Why travel at warp speed for 70 years when you had access to a trans-warp hub system was her thinking. She knew there were at least seven trans-warp hubs in the known galaxy from the information gathered from the USS Voyager and from the debriefings of her crew. Finding a Borg footprint in the Mira sector might provide some answers to the mystery of this mission. Maia was enjoying the use of her upgraded systems, and even now was scanning the system designated 2355874 with special emphasis on the 4th planet in the system.

-Mess hall-

SWO K'Muss took a bite out of his Reuben sandwich when he heard the CO's voice pipe through. He set it down for a minute as he walked to the nearest window. “Beautiful," he said as he caught his first glimpse of the Starbase currently under construction

Dr Cahill looked out at the space station. It was a good thing she had requested updated medical equipment for the station and had gotten more supplies than they had requested. They were going to need them. Cahill turned to her Head Nurse Lt. Jamison, "see all supplies and equipment we brought to them for the station is transferred ASAP."

Cahill walked into her office, placed some items on her desk, and went to the Bridge. She passed her report to Captain showing that all supplies and medical equipment we brought to the space station is in the process of being transferred and that it should take about an hour in time to complete. Also, all replacement medical personnel are readying to go to the space station at this time as well as she handed her report to the Captain.

Jasmine was back in her ready room working on stuff when Cahill entered and passed on her report on the current resupply. The ship had briefly docked with the partially constructed Starbase 51 to pick up some supplies that were left there for the Tomcat; she looked up "Thank you, Lieutenant Cahill, how is Medical looking at this precise moment in time? Also, how are you coming along with disguises for when we get to the Class M planet?" She asked giving the report a quick scan and signing off on it before handing the Padd back.

"We will be ready Captain, for when the time comes" Cahill responded before returning to her tasks.

-Astrometrics -

Commander Sterling had finally found traces of what was once a Borg trans warp conduit, but it was severely degraded as if the conduit was destroyed at some point within the last 8 years, possibly when the USS voyager had destroyed the Borg trans-warp hub in the delta quadrant. Still, Maia had also found traces of what looked like an Omega particle detonation in the surrounding area, an area of space that was already cobwebbed with subspace phenomenon. The detonation had happened at least three centuries ago. Maia had found the Borg point of ingress /egress and it was less than .005 light years away from the target system. The Tomcat had no trans-warp capability, but the new Vesta class Starships did. It would be a benefit to the Federation to be able to explore the entire trans warp network. Maia continued her work making sure to log every detail. Still, it didn't explain why the Borg suddenly left the system a century before hand. Maia had also found traces of decayed Tharalon radiation. She was developing a working theory for what happened here.

-Captain's Ready Room - Bridge -

After Cahill had left it had taken an hour and finally Jasmine completed what she had to do then returned to the bridge. Major Donovan who was currently in charge vacated the centre seat as Jasmine sat back down in it. She tapped some things into the interface on her chair arm.

"Status of extra supplies and personnel?" She asked.

"All aboard Captain and airlock door is sealed, no external doors open, Stardock reports we can depart when ready, with, " Barker said.

"Okay, disengage all moorings, speed one-quarter thrusters until clear of the Starbase then go to full impulse until we clear the border marker then warp six" Jasmine ordered.

"Aye Captain, I take it our heading is for UXSys 2355874?" Barker asked.

"Yes, at your discretion Ensign"

With that the Tomcat undocked from the Starbase and left the immediate area; when they were a safe distance out Barker took them to full Impulse. It took them six hours but they got to the beacon that indicated the border of Federation space and beyond the little known New Frontier, the moment they entered neutral space the Tomcat went to warp 6. Jasmine was curious as to why they would send a combat ship on a survey mission, what was really out there that would warrant a ship that was well armed, granted the Borg traces were faint and so old. The Tomcats Science lab was not that extensive, despite recent upgrades, so Jasmine had to wonder why!

As they sped through the warp, she pressed the Comms. =/\= Bridge to Sterling how are the findings on our destination? =/\=

=/\= "We are making progress Captain, I've been utilising the Astrometrics lab to great effect. I think I know what happened here, however, I would have to confirm my hypothesis by doing a planetary survey. From what I have been able to ascertain the Borg took over the entire Mira sector three or more centuries ago, however, a sufficiently advanced spacefaring civilisation was able to defeat the Borg or at least drive them off. I theorise that the species used a combination of an omega bomb and Tharalon radiation to drive the Borg away from both the planetary systems and the Mira sector. I also theorise that once the planets were abandoned and rendered useless they were reseeded. By whom, I am guessing whatever indigenous species or perhaps the preservers I will not be able to prove my theory until we actually investigate the planet first hand, Captain. We are now charting any subspace anomalies in the system, its slow going but we should have a navigable map for you by 1900 Hrs". =/\=

=/\= Excellent keep at it Commander, bridge out =/\= Now she swung around to look at Sheela "Lieutenant Sheela, we are now unclaimed space keeps on those Comms and Sensor scanners, I do not wish to be caught unawares"

Sheela wiggled her tail in acknowledgement as she listened to the communications, deep in conversation on a very secure channel. She spoke in soft tones that didn't carry very far. She made notes on a separate independent PADD of what she as listening to. "Squee-squee!" She killed the connection, went to work scanning frequencies "Yooz are dismissed," She spoke to the secondary Communications Officer. She commandeered the secondary console and set up a scan on Known Borg Frequencies and those within certain parameters.

Sheela perked up suddenly as she began to fiddle with the communication console before her. Unsure whether to alert the Captain, she kept quiet as they already had the assignment to check out a planet in unexplored space. She fiddled for a bit wrinkling her muzzle, she let out a soft "squeak". She stood up and scampered off the bridge after turning the com's console to the primary Comm's Officer.

With all that was going on around her, Jasmine took a look to see how far they had gotten and was pleased to see they were over half way to their destination. Feeling antsy, she stood up.

"Donovan you have the bridge, I am going to see how the XO and Doc are doing,Dr." She said.

"Aye, aye Captain" Major Donovan replied and moved to the centre seat while another took over at tactical as she watched the Captain leave the bridge.

Dr Cahill was working hard and she was doing all she needed to get ready also she was looking into some other things she was reading about. She was looking into a lot of the old records and was amazed how much the people of the planet resembled life on Terra (Earth) before the development of Warp technology. They were nearing the point of developing deep space technology in the near future. but still had a long way to go.

-Astrometrics lab-

Maia had just finished her calculations and astral map

"Computer tie the Astro-metrics database in with the Navigation database command code Sterling two theta one".

"Working" the computer responded.

"Chart all subspace instabilities in the Mira sector and overlay that with the current navigational chart". Maia instructed.

"Working overlay will take approximately 1 hour and 43 minutes" the computer replied.

While the computer was complying with her instructions, Maia decided to head to sickbay, to see how far Dr Cahill had come in designing workable prosthesis for the away team mission.

-Bridge-

K'Muss walked out of the turbo lift and made a beeline for his environmental and sensor station. On the way there, he checked in with the officer in command. " Major, sir." he said.

Swivelling in her chair "greetings Chief" Donovan said as the marine NCO returned to his station on the bridge.

"And the same to you." he replied. " Sensors show fully operational, Major." he added. As he was working he noticed something off. " You okay. skipper?" he asked.

A short time later Jasmine returns to the bridge status Major?" Jasmine asked.

Donovan swivelled in the chair "we are one day from arriving at the first of three class M planets. We need a system name for UXSys 2355874 Captain" Donovan responded and gave up the center seat to Jasmine.

"We will in time Major, we will," Jasmine said then looked at the Major who was sweating "you okay major? You are sweating" Jasmine asked.

Donovan wiped her forehead and looked at the sweat, then her face took on a look of anguish and surprise, followed by her hands going to her head and her collapsing to the floor with a scream, that was bone-chilling. All on the bridge looked, some were startled, Jasmine rushed to the Major and checked her pulse, found it erratic, she tapped her Commbadge.

=/\= Somers to Cahill =/\=

Tapping her Commbadge =/\= Cahill here Captain =/\=

=/\= Medical emergency on the bridge beaming Major Donovan directly to sickbay, she is in a coma and has an erratic pulse =/\= Jasmine reported.

=/\= Understood Captain, Medical is ready =/\= Cahill responded.

=/\= Understood, Somers out =/\= Now all she had to do was beam the Major to sick bay, after she did that she looked to Sheela "El tee scan all frequencies, the Major had a strong telepathic ability, it might have been subsonic noise above what we can hear or it could be a stronger telepath" Jasmine instructed.

"Squeee..It ain’t subsonic or Iz would be like Major Donovan." Sheela spoke up as she looked up in time to see Donovan be transported off the bridge. "Just normal space radio radiation. Not even a glimmer of subspace transmissions unless it's coming from this ship Captain."

Nodding "Understood El tee, thank you," Jasmine said.

- Medical -

Sickbay moved quickly and was ready when Major Donovan arrived; the sensors started checking things out as Donovan arrived in sickbay. All was good except her telepathic brainwaves was showing increased activity and it seemed she was in overload with what was going on.

Dr Cahill tapped her Commbadge, =/\= Captain is there any report of other telepath species her in this quadrant. I found an increased activity in the brainwave activity associated with telepath activity in Major Donovan's brain scan. =/\=

Sitting there Jasmine was startled when the Comms came to life, she pressed the button to make the two-way connection. =/\= Thank you doctor, do your best, Somers out =/\= Jasmine closed the link and sat back thinking.

Cahill then called Commander Sterling, =/\= Commander can you please check all subspace readings for other telepath transmissions. See if science section can find the reading I need.=/\=

=/\= "Checking, I'm detecting High gravitational pulses but very little mass, However I am not reading alpha or delta wave transmissions doctor. Odd what I am picking up is more like a cosmic filament or grouping of them." =/\= Sterling replied.

Cahill placed a neural block on Major Donovan's temples in an attempt to ease her suffering and put it at a low setting in the hopes it would reduce the influence of brain activity going on in the Majors head.

Dr Cahill had been working hard to determine why the effects on Major Donovan was so severe. Everything she tried to ease the effects was failing she was at her whits end and got frustrated. She threw her pad against the wall and then threw some other things around to vent her frustration.

It was a good thing all stuff she did was saved tot he main frame medical section. She was ready to go to the planet on her own, see what was going on, and try to stop it from there.

-Bridge-

"Beginning a sensor sweep, Captain," K'Muss said. =/\= Doctor, this is K'Muss. I am performing a sensor sweep now. What should I look for specifically?=/\= he added. His hands swept across the console while he waited for the reply.

=/\= On it. =/\ the Caitian replied. After some time had passed the console came to life. "We have a winner! Strange readings coming from a mountain range on the largest continent on the planets surface." he briefed the CO.

He briefed the CMO immediately after.

Jasmine listened to all this quietly, while she feigned being preoccupied with her chair arm interface she was all ears at the report of strange readings, she allowed her First Officer to deal with things, if anything serious was required they would ask.

- Sick Bay -

=/\= Roger that, perhaps Engineering can filter the readings to a point that we can bring Maj Donovan to where she can at least be awake and communicate with us. I can filter part of it with the Neuron Stimulators but we will need a more permanent solution if she is to be able to help in anyway with this mission.=/\=

*pause*

=/\= Also there was some reports made referencing a telepathy sign from an unknown source the last time the Federation was here. The sensors were unable to lock down what was causing it or where it was located. With advances in our sensors it is possible we can do what they could not do and find a safe way to limit the effects. =/\=

- Swiftpaw's Den-

Sheela entered her den and sat her worktable, powering up her systems and linking into the Communications system and ships sensor array. Soon she was busy running the weak signal through filters and bringing up what could pass for language. Multiple clicking's and snaps in rhythmic burst patterns as if picking up multiple people talking at once, except it was clicking and snaps. She leaned back, making a copy of the transmission.

She broke the link to the ship's systems once she had enough to work with. Now that she knew what frequency the transmissions were on, she could now pinpoint the transceivers stations on the planet below.

- Bridge -

Sheela entered the bridge and moved over to Science station, "Iz need yooz to focus any sensor arrays yooz have available to pinpoint the source of this frequency." She held out the PADD showing the radio frequency to look for.

Maia looked up at the Mousian intelligence officer. Took the PADD and looked it over.

"Did you say radio frequency Lieutenant Sheela"? Maia asked incredulously.

Maia reset the sensor A-band grid to the radio frequency Lt Sheela had requested..

"I am receiving a certain amount of distortion at that frequency, but nothing like a message. What is it you are looking for"? Maia asked.

Lt Sheela Swiftpaw’s listened intently, then nodded. "Squeee. Find the source of that distortion and carrier band. That distortion is their language." She taps in commands and brings up audio recording. This time it is much clearer multiple clicking and snapping that lay behind a more pronounce dominant clicking and snapping in a speech like pattern. "Run a filter on waveband 1400.5 megs hertz. Yooz will hear the same thing. Iz ran this through the UT and other cyphering programs. Came up blank"

Jasmine was sitting in her chair beginning to feel the malaise of a rut beginning to kick in when the mention of a radio signal perked her ears up "okay this is interesting, we should only get solar radio waves out this far from the inner planets" Jasmine said.

"The source of the distortion is the entire field of quantum filaments, what we can do is run a parametric scan at that frequency then analyze the entire carrier band". Maia said.

Maia made a few changes to her sensor calibration then put it up on the upper monitor of science one.

"Here is the distortion, Maia said pointing at the upper monitor displaying her parametric scan. It's being cause by the gravimetric oscillation of the radio waves bouncing off the quantum filaments. Its actually causing micro-rifts in the upper subspace domain. In layman's terms Captain, this distortion is actually causing multi-spatial micro ruptures in the local real space domain. Its an interesting phenomenon that we should study further". Maia said.

"Squeeee.." Sheela spoke softly and thoughtfully. "A Defensive measure?" Showing interest in another field besides the cloak and dagger stuff she had cut her teeth on. "What better to render a place inaccessible?"

She looked at both women and looked first at Sterling with a smile "Keep scanning Commander the more information we get on this out planet and its surrounding area the better"

"If these clicks and snapping's are some form of communication we could run it through the Universal Translator, as long as we have a clearer transmission, it might work". Maia suggested.

"Sounds good," Sheela smiled warmly at Maia.

Then looking at Sheela "El tee I have a task that is right up your street, I want you to come up with a new algorithm that is extremely hard to bypass. In case we need to find an alternate way into an otherwise locked Computer system, I do not want to be caught unawares so far from heavy support," Jasmine said.

Sheela nodded as she had a few that would give her the backdoor into the computers. "Iz would need the current coding for the current security system to set one up. Captain Somers." It almost was like handing Socio-Psychopath the keys to a weapon storage area with enough weapons to cause ultimate damage to an unsuspecting society.

"Not our Lieutenant, any opponent we may encounter as we venture further into this system," Jasmine said.

Once Sheela had gotten what she wanted and on a separate computer, went to work, producing the backdoor of her own creation that would blend in with the current Security Codes, yet give her the access into any computer, to include the Main Computer Core, on the ship once it was uploaded to Main Computer Core.

After several hours of working, Sheela came back with the two disks. "Upload these under yooz authorization." Then she handed over the electronic notepad she used. "The Best way to remove mez work is to destroy the notepad. Even one skilled with a computer can retrieve mez work. But Iz did everything to erase what you've given mez from it. "For better Security between mez and yooz I'll know the bypass code if Iz leave the ship and do not return. Yooz will find it when needed."

Taking the disks Jasmine nodded "Thank you Lieutenant, keep up the good work" She responded with a smile and allowed Sheela to return to her duty station.

[OFF]

Captain Jasmine Somers
Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

Captain Jasmine Somers
Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

Commander Maia Sterling
First Officer/CSO
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Sheela Swiftpaw’s
Chief Intelligence Officer/Communications
USS Tomcat

WO1 K'Muss
Acting Marine Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

 

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