From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jul 09 2008 - 22:04:59 PDT
=Helping Hand, Part 1=
(cont'd from "Anaqueen Vs. Captain Spankryz, Part 1")
LOCATION: SHIV
SCENE: Main Bridge
STARDATE: [2.8]0709.2002
TIME INDEX: Before Taylor's "132" post
Crichton stepped onto the darkened bridge and looked around. The SHIV appeared to be operating on minimal power, as most of the viewscreens around the bridge were currently turned off. The ship's configuration was not one he'd ever seen before, but there was a familiarity to it that made it easy for him to find his way around. He quickly found the engineering console and powered up, smiling with satisfaction as the several screens around the console came to life. One of them showed a diagram of the entire ship, as well as several meters along the sides monitoring power levels to various decks. He'd been right- the power levels were all at their minimal level. Apparently the crew didn't want to ring up a huge electric bill during their "vacation" in GATEWAY's brig.
Cochrane Stepehens, meanwhile, had wasted little time in finding the FCO controls. He eased himself down in the chair and raised his hands over the controls. Before he let them actually touch the console, though, he glanced back over his shoulder towards the young CEO.
"You're sure the power's off, right?"
"I'm sure," Crichton nodded. "Looking at the readout screen now."
"Will you be able to get it back online?" Cochrane asked, letting his hands lightly brush the controls of the FCO station. Crichton could tell the pilot was eager for a chance to see how this ship from a parallel universe could perform in *this* one.
"From what we've seen so far, I'd say so," Crichton said, turning to lean casually against the console and folding his arms across his chest. "It's similarities to most Federation ships are pretty striking. There's some differences, of course- more emphasis on weapons and defense, less so on friendly exploration- but I can't see any reason why we can't get this baby working again."
"The Captain should be glad to hear it," Cochrane said, rising from the station to stand near Crichton. "She's been after everyone for whatever information we can get on our visitors. I guess seeing that double of her shook her up, so soon after her own clone problem."
"I've heard we've got doubles of our own, too," Crichton nodded. "Their Crichton must have been the guy playing tag with me back in the nebula. I know they're dangerous prisoners and all, but I'd like the chance for a face-to-face with him."
"I wouldn't hold your breath," Cochrane said. "I heard they're all to be quarantined until they can be thoroughly debriefed by people from Starfleet Command. I guess they want to explore whatever advantages technology from a parallel universe might give us against the Dominion."
Crichton started to reply, but was interrupted by an incoming comm.
[[Lt. Crichton,]] came the voice of T'kel, the power-distribution specialist. Crichton had her working in Engineering, making sure the power system was still working.
"Crichton here," the CEO said.
[[I've completed my diagnostic on the power systems,]] T'kel reported. [[As feared, towing the ship at warp-speeds caused a power overload of the SHIV's major systems. The ship has been functioning on minimal power because main power has been taken completely offline.]]
"Understood," Crichton nodded. "I'll be down there shortly. Crichton out."
---------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: BAD WOLF, in space around GATEWAY Station
SCENE: Cockpit
"It's not *my* problem if he escaped from the prison transport," a red-faced Raxl Dreyton yelled into the small viewscreen mounted into the cockpit controls. The screen was filled with an insectoid-face; large, multifaceted eyes stared back unblinking, and two ant-like antennae waved rapidly over the creature's head, covered in gold rings capped in rubies and emeralds. The creature's speech was normally a series of clicks and whizzing noises, coupled with pheremones and antennae-movement, but the universal translator was programmed to interpret all these and translate the message. The computer read off this message in a flat, emotionless voice, but at least it was in a language that humans could understand.
It was known as a T'hr'zzian, similar to ants of earth, though obviously far more advanced. The creatures lived mostly underground on their homeworld, in enormous underground cities carved out of rock and dirt. They were larger than Earth insects, about the size of medium-sized dogs, which was thanks to the low gravity of their home planet. They were technically a Dominion protectorate, but since their space-travel was still in its early stages and they did not perform very well as laborers outside their homeworld, the Dominion paid them very little attention.
Raxl had been contracted by the T'hr'zzians to capture a miner who had illegally detonated seismic charges on a nearby moon of FALDEN IV, causing severe damage to a budding colony the T'hr'zzians had started there. Raxl had heard that T'hr'zzian courts were very harsh on bipedal offenders, and didn't blame his quarry for giving T'hr'zzian authorities the slip after Raxl had turned him over. But now the T'hr'zzians were refusing to pay, and if there was one thing Raxl Dreyton believed in, it was collecting what he'd earned.
{{The contract was clear was agreed upon was not fulfilled,}} the T'hr'zzian replied, its dialect making him a little hard to understand.
"Not fulfilled?" Raxl frowned. "How was it not fulfilled? I gave him the T'hr'zzian authorities on FALDEN IV. From there, its *your* job to get him back to T'hr'zzia Prime! If he escaped from your custody, how did *I* not do my job?"
{{Contract was clear was clear!}} the T'hr'zzian replied, its antennae-waving becoming more agitated to indicate its impatience. Raxl was about to give it a few choice-words about insectoid society when a sudden blinking light on his console distracted him. He frowned at the T'hr'zzian.
"I've got another call," he said. "*Don't* hang up. We're not finished talking."
He quickly switched over, angry that his chewing-out of the T'hr'zzian had been interrupted but doing his best to be polite, not wanting to scare off any potential clients. He gave a faux smile and said, "Raxl Dreyton, Registered Bounty Hunter. Who can I hunt for you today?"
The man on the other end spoke quickly. {{Budo Pumbular would like to see you at your earliest conveniences, aboard his ship, the KING MIDAS. It's concerning the capture of one Martin Anders.}}
"I only take bounties from official law-enforcement organizations," Raxl said, holding up a hand to stop him. "No private contracts. Too much of a headache."
{{You misunderstand,}} the man said. {{Martin Anders is wanted by official law enforcement. Budo Pumbular simply wishes to give you the details of this contract himself.}}
Raxl frowned. This was very irregular. "Why?"
{{He didn't say,}} the man shrugged. {{At your earliest convenience, aboard KING MIDAS. Can my employer expect you to attend?}}
"Yeah, sure," Raxl said with a shrug. "Might as well hear what he's got to say."
-------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: SHIV
SCENE: Engineering
With T'kel's help, it didn't take very long to track down the problems in the power system. They'd rerouted power from the rest of the ship to engineering, and had started to work on repairing main power when it suddenly happened.
T'kel was in the middle of routine systems-checks when, without warning, her console exploded. She was thrown violently backward, her back slamming hard into a workstation behind her, and slumped to the floor. Cochrane ran to her quickly, checking her pulse- she was alive, but unconscious, and Cochrane didn't like the way her back had struck the workstation. Not wanting to move her, he looked up at Crichton.
"We need to get her to Sickbay immediately," he said.
"SHIV to GATEWAY," Crichton said. "GATEWAY, respond please."
There was no reply.
"Aren't they supposed to be monitoring us?" Cochrane asked.
"That's what they said," Crichton nodded. He tried his comm-badge. "GATEWAY, respond please."
"Crichton, look!" Cochrane was pointing towards another engineering workstation, who's display had changed to a blinking "UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS- COUNTERMEASURES IMPLEMENTED!" message in block, red lettering. Crichton moved quickly to the console clearing the screen and ordering an immediate diagnostic.
"What's going on?" Cochrane asked.
"Somebody rigged the ship to guard against unauthorized access to it's vital systems," Crichton said. "We must have triggered it. It's accessed a reserve power system that has been kept offline, and is trying to raise shields!"
"We're docked with GATEWAY," Cochrane said gravely. "If they get the shields up, the damage it causes to the docking pylon is going to be extreme."
"We have to find a way to contact GATEWAY," Crichton said. "Get them to release the docking clamps." He quickly called up the communications systems, and frowned. "The countermeasures program has cut-off all outgoing transmissions. We need to get *them* to hail us!"
Cochrane smiled, an idea forming in his head. "Do we have power to the SHIV's running lights?"
"Yeah, why?" Crichton asked.
"Because," Cochrane said, his smile widening. "I know morse-code."
--------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station
SCENE: Operations
Lt. Ganesh blinked in surprise. She'd been watching the parallel-dimension ship on a monitor, marveling at its alien (yet strangely familiar) construction, when she'd noticed its running lights flashing on and off. At first, she chalked it off to the CEO, Lt. Crichton, having some fun with the SHIV's power grid, but the more she watched, the more she noticed that the lights weren't blinking randomly, but at regular intervals. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought that the SHIV was *trying* to get her attention.
"Commander," Ganesh said, looking over at Lt. Commander Kate MacNeil. "I'm getting some... interesting readings from the SHIV."
---------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: SHIV
SCENE: Engineering
"Incoming hail!" Cochrane reported, grinning.
"SHIV here," Crichton said, answering the hail quickly. He didn't even wait for whoever was on the other end to identify themselves. "Disengage the docking clamps, immediately!"
He was pleased when whoever it was on the other end didn't question. A second later, the docking clamps disengaged, and the SHIV began to drift away from GATEWAY station, just before the SHIV's shields sprang to life. They'd avoided heavy damage to the docking pylon by nanoseconds, but they weren't out of the woods yet. The countermeasure program continued to systematically isolate the SHIV's major systems, and Crichton couldn't figure out a way to stop it.
[[Crichton, this is MacNeil,]] the voice of Lt. Commander MacNeil came over the comm. [[You want to explain what's going on?]]
"The ship was booby-trapped, Commander," Crichton said. "Apparently, they didn't want anybody poking around their major systems. We've lost the ability to transmit messages, and I can't get the shields to deactivate."
[[So we can't beam you out of there,]] MacNeil said.
"Right," Crichton nodded. "One of my team, T'kel, was injured when the tap went off. She's in need of medical attention. Also, the trap isn't finished yet- life support is deactivating all over the ship. I managed to isolate the engineering section, but if I don't find a way to stop this countermeasures program, it won't last."
[[Understood,]] MacNeil said. [[Keep this channel open so we can remain in contact and standby. We're going to see what we can do from here.]]
Crichton glanced over at Cochrane and, despite the gravity of their situation, managed to smile.
"To boldly go, huh?" he said.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: GATEWAY
SCENE: Operations
"Lieutenant, will a tachyon burst disrupt the SHIV's shields?" MacNeil asked.
"Unlikely," Ganesh said. "The shields appear to be on a shifting frequency, causing them to constantly remodulate themsleves. Any transport window would close before we could beam them through it."
"What if we target their shields?" MacNeil asked. "Use GATEWAY's phasers to knock their shields out without damaging the ship itself?"
But she immediately heard a tinny-sounding voice shouting [[Don't do that!]] and realized it was Crichton, yelling through the still-open channel, having obviously overhead what she planned to do. She returned to the comm console.
"Why not?"
[[Any surge in power in the shields will cause a critical overload to the power system, blowing the ship apart,]] Crichton said.
"Right, so shooting is out too," MacNeil said.
[[Commander, I think this is a problem we have to fix from our end,]] Crichton explained.
"Can you do that?" MacNeil asked.
[[With enough time, sure,]] Crichton said. [[But we don't have enough time. I'm going to need help.]]
"You're the best engineer aboard the station," MacNeil said. "If you can't figure it out, who's left?"
[[I think I know just the guy,]] Crichton said.
===========================================================================
NRPG: Cochrane and Crichton are trapped on the SHIV, and power is failing rapidly. If only there was somebody as smart as Crichton who had an intimate knowledge of the SHIV's systems...
Shawn Putnam
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Stations, GS-2
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 19 2008 - 03:10:54 PST