'They Did What..?'

Posted on Fri 30th Nov, 2018 @ 7:08pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro
Edited on on Thu 10th Jan, 2019 @ 5:35pm

956 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Deck 12 - Main Operations
Timeline: MD 19: 1645

"That's great, lieutenant - keep up the good work." Commander Mikaela Locke stood next to Alora Baro's station in the main operations room reviewing the upgrades to the external sensor array that had happened while she had been off-station. By Alora's calculations, sensor efficiency was up by three percent. Initially Locke had mused that that didn't sound like a lot, but once Alora explained just how much space the station actually scanned on a moment-by-moment basis, she began to appreciate just what a difference three percent made.

She moved away from Baro's station, nodding briefly in the direction of Andrew Eberstark, the station's strategic operations officer, as she headed back towards the main command dais. While 109's operations module did contain a seat for the duty commander, surrounded by a semi-circular console, providing the on-duty officer with space to attend to day-to-day duties, as well as simplified versions of the read-outs various station systems, Mikaela sat down fairly infrequently, preferring instead to move around the room, talking to the various officers and crew and getting their perspective that way. She had already negotiated less command shifts in ops to give more time to her administrative duties which, she had argued, were much more effectively completed when she wasn't trying to double them up with monitoring the station's operational status.

Nodding back at the Commander, Andrew kept running standard checks on the Station's defensive systems on his console. There was nothing of note from his last few shifts, which was welcomed by him. Between upgrading the Station's defenses and coordinating with the Captain on the pirate situation in the system, it was nice to stand at his station and go through a routine day once in awhile. As he continued to ponder, he heard an alarm coming from another station that he recognized as a proximity alert. Knowing there were to be no scheduled ships docking at this time and the one that was supposed to arrive had been delayed, Andrew's face darkened.

Lt. Baro had nodded politely as the Commander moved around the stations but quickly returned her attention to her console after the Command had moved on. Even on a slow day like right now there was a lot of routine. Fortunately she could delegate and her command team did well but as Chief there were still a great deal that flowed to her desk, even if it was just informational. She was settling in well though, the size of the command no longer concerned her and she juggled the balls like a pro. It did mean though she couldn't slack off too much or stuff piled up, paperwork would never be her most favorite thing. Her attention was diverted as Eberstarks station bleeped an alarm and she called up information on her own console to see what it was.

The young woman at communications spoke up. "Commander, we're receiving a distress call. It's distorted as if it's being jammed."

"Put it through," Mikaela ordered, noting Eberstark's reaction as she moved around toward the communications station.

There was a lot of static, but some words were clearly audible.

"This... ... ... Falcon ... ... ... under attack... ... pirate... ... ... ... losing... ... ... Please... .... assistance..."

And then the transmission ended.

"Can you clear that up any more?" Locke asked the young communications officer.

"I'll try, sir," Ensign Strauss replied, not sounding at all confident.

Mikaela nodded and turned her attention to Eberstark. "Was Falcon on its way here?" she asked. She assumed that it was, but sought the clarification none the less.

Looking back, Andrew answered, "They were to arrive earlier today based on the last scheduled communication from Captain Grax."

Mikaela nodded and tapped her comm-badge. "Captain Suzuki, please report to main operations."

The door on the "south" side of the deck which led to the Captain's offices opened, and she stepped out. "Report," she instructed.

Baro was focused on improving sensors, she sent a report to the damage control field teams to be on hot stand by, concern on her intent features as she worked.

"Don't everybody speak at once," Suzuki said dryly.

Seeing Commander Locke distracted at Lieutenant Baro's station, he assumed looking at the sensor data, Andrew responded, "We just received a garbled at best distress call from USS Falcon. Trying to clear it up now but it appears they are under attack by pirates en route to the Starbase. They were scheduled to arrive earlier in the day based on their last scheduled transmission. "

"Thank you, Guns." Suzuki descended to the lower level of the operations center. "Scramble the ready fighter squadron, give them a bearing and a range if you can extract it from the signal. It sounds like those preventive measures we discussed may soon be tested."

"We can do a little extrapolation based on their scheduled flight plan and the jammed signal to get the fighters close enough," Andrew replied pulling up the relevant data on his console, "We should have visual contact shortly if they are able to maintain a constant velocity."

"Always a sizable risk when under attack," Suzuki noted dryly. She turned and looked at the repeater from PriFly. "Fighting 114 is up," she noted. "They're the ones who have the new hardware?"

"Sensors are at 100%, I'm fine turning to improve efficiency. Let me know if that helps or not please Lt. Eberstark." Baro spoke up intent upon her station, "Commander, Damage Control teams are ready and standing by." She reported to Commander Locke.

Andrew nodded before responding aloud, "Yes, they do. I have a fix on Falcon. Transmitting the coordinates to the fighters," adding, "They are entering visual range as well."

"Good hunting," Suzuki murmured, turning to watch the feed from the battle.

 

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