From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jun 26 2008 - 01:25:26 PDT
=Hide And Seek=
(cont'd from "130")
LOCATION: USS CHANTICO
SCENE: Bridge
STARDATE: [2.8]0626.0034
Crichton had been tasked with coordinating a search-pattern with the COMMENDATION and what was left of the MATACO in order to locate the rogue vessel that had attacked the GATEWAY just before his arrival. The effects of the Lantar Nebula were making things hard on the ships' sensors, having a tendency to reflect a ship's own sensor image back at it, forcing the work to slow down as each ship wound up chasing sensor-ghosts. Also, disruptions in the gravimetric field made locating a ship based on its effects on the surrounding space tricky, so it looked like this game of hide-and-seek was going to take awhile.
Crichton was just glad the Dominion hadn't stuck around. They'd had several ships in the area when the CHANTICO had scanned the nebula with long-range sensors, but those ships had apparently bugged-out when they'd seen Starfleet reinforcements en route. Still, a nagging doubt lingered in the back of Crichton's mind- retreat wasn't in the Dominion tactics handbook. Unless the life of a Founder was in danger, the Dominion preferred fighting to the death, inflicting as much damage on their opponents as they possibly could before defeat. Of course, it *was* possible that this particular Dominion task force was overseen by a Founder, but still, Crichton was keeping an eye out for more than just rogue interdimensional ships hiding in the nebula. He didn't want to get caught with his pants down by a brace of Dominion battlecruisers.
Crichton blinked. He'd thought he'd seen a blip on the sensor screen, but it had disappeared almost immediately. The Lantar Nebula was notorious for this kind of sensor-noise; chances were that it was just a distortion in the gravimetric field. But just to be sure, Crichton did another sensor sweep of that area.
Nothing.
Crichton frowned. He was *sure* he'd seen something, and even if it was a gravimetric distortion, there should be some kind of reading on the sensors. The gravimetric field inside the nebula was in a state of constant flux, but he'd caught it pretty quick. He doubted that the field had shifted again in the space of a few seconds. He recalibrated the sensors and tried again, still coming up with nothing.
"Something the matter, Crichton?" Kate MacNeil asked, noticing Crichton's expression.
"I'm not sure, Commander," Crichton said, trying the scan again with a new calibration, once again turning up nothing. "I thought I saw something a moment ago, but it looks like nothing's there."
Kate shrugged. "It's probably nothing. This place is known for giving ships' sensors some trouble."
"Hmmm," was Crichton's only reply as he recalibrated the sensors once more.
Kate furrowed her brow. "You think it's something else? We have a lot of ground to cover, Jake."
"I don't know," Crichton frowned. "Keep the COMMENDATION and the MATACO on the normal search pattern. I just want to make sure we're not missing anything."
-------------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: BFOV SHIV
SCENE: Bridge
Captain Daisy Byrne narrowed her eyes as she watched the Starfleet vessel on her viewscreen. Even at several hundred-thousand kilometers away, it was too close for comfort- she did not want to be discovered. Even if the denizens of this dimension appeared to be a bunch of peace-loving fools, Daisy doubted that the SHIV could stand up to three of their ships in a concentrated attack effort. Besides, there was still the matter of the three Dominion vessels hiding in the nebula as well; she'd ordered a scan of them and found their vessels to be equipped with enough weaponry to implode a small star, and a confrontation with them was also fairly low on her wish-list. It appeared that Ana was correct- the Dominion in *this* dimension appeared to be a far-cry from the utopian idiots of her own.
Daisy spun around, a scowl on her lips. "You're *certain* they can't see us?" she hissed.
"Quite certain, actually," the man at the engineering console reported nonchalantly.
"How?" Daisy frowned, not convinced. "It looks like they're bearing down on our position."
"Shall I bore the captain with a detailed explanation on the operation of our sensor-systems?" the man almost yawned. "Or does the captain wish to simply take my word for it?"
"Watch it, Crichton," Daisy snapped. "You're dangerously close to overestimating your value."
"Then kill me," Crichton shrugged, turning to face her. His face was still handsome, even in spite of the deep scar that bisected his missing eye. Daisy occasionally wondered why he never had the eye replaced- certainly, technology could have provided the young engineer with an eye that was superior to the one he'd once had, but Crichton insisted on leaving the socket empty. He didn't even cover it with a proper eye-patch; the empty socket was in plain sight, for everyone to see.
Daisy assumed it was all part of the young engineer's rebellious attitude- ever since he'd been "recruited" from a mining vessel a few years back, he had always chafed under Daisy's leash. He was constantly insubordinate, as if his every word was a challenge, daring Daisy to kill him. But, he knew that she wouldn't. In addition to being exceedingly irritating, Crichton happened to be the best engineer she'd ever seen. Her attempts to "domesticate" him had proved fruitless- even cutting his eye out had only seemed to sharpen his wit and strengthen his disrespectful attitude. Jake Crichton was a man who seemed to long for death, but didn't particularly care when or where that death found him.
"I take it that means I've won another stay of execution," Crichton shrugged, turning his back on Daisy once more. "Lucky me."
"Just pray they don't discover us," Daisy scowled again. "You forget, I don't have to *kill* you to make my displeasure obvious."
"You know I love it when you get rough," Crichton said, the boredom apparent in his voice. For a moment, Daisy considered having him returned to his cell and scheduling some "personal" time with him, but dismissed the thought. If they *were* discovered, she'd need Crichton on the bridge. Still, like always, she promised herself that he would pay for every disrespectful word that passed his lips.
**All in good time,** she thought, smiling with satisfaction.
==================================================================
NRPG: Thought I'd introduce the other-Cricthon into the mix.
The SHIV is hiding from our scans, but Crichton is hot on Crichton's tail. It's just a matter of time before Crichton discovers Crichton's trick and figures out how to expose Crichton for Crichton to see.
....now my head hurts.
Shawn Putnam
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 19 2008 - 03:10:53 PST