Posted by Lieutenant Hegush Falz (Chief Operations Officer) in Side Sim: Runabout Rescue

Posted by Lieutenant Izak Waryn (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim: Runabout Rescue

Posted by Ensign Wyatt Blackford (Security Officer) in Side Sim: Runabout Rescue
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
=/\=”This is Flight Control, you are clear of the Ark Angel. Good luck on the mission… we’ll see you back the starbase.”

A few moments later the ship went to warp and left the Fulcrum-class Runabout on its own.

A distress call had come in while the Ark Angel was returning to the starbase. A freighter was stranded and in need of repairs. The crew indicated they were in no immediate danger, so it was determined a runabout could be dispatched rather than rerouting the ship.

The only concerning part was the fact that the distress call cut out. That’s one of the reasons Security was part of the mission crew.

The Fulcrum-class runabout was in its Engineering Lab/Repair shop configuration and was loaded with as many tools, repair parts, and medical supplies as it could hold.

Even though Starfleet answered hundreds of distress calls a year, there was no such thing as a routine mission. The runabout’s crew needed to be ready for anything.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Izak stood in the cockpit of the Runabout and watched the Ark Angel go to warp through the the windows.

He was a little nervous to leave his department unattended, but he knew the Crewmen were skilled. It had taken time and effort, but he’d also developed some solid Shift Leaders over the last few months. And getting an infusion of experience from personnel transfers doesn’t hurt either.

He was about to head back to Engineering but turned to Lt Hegush first. “Sir, I crunched the numbers before we left. The freighter is .86 light-years away. If we push Warp 6 for a full 12 hours and then maintain Warp 5 afterward, we can reach her in 25 hours.”

It was never easy on a ship to run at maximum velocity, but Lt Waryn figured the Chief Operations Officer would want to get to the freighter quickly. Izak was confident he could handle the system realignments and minor repairs the stress would put on the runabout.

Lt Izak Waryn - Chief Engineer - U.S.S. Ark Angel

The corner of Hegush’s mouth twitched in amusement, “We could Lieutenant Waryn, but I know as well as you do that that would be pushing the limits. I personally would like to make it home. The call didn’t indicate any sign of danger before it cut out. There could be a lot of reasons as to why it did. Moreover, if there is danger, I’d prefer to have the ability to run away, not limp.”

“I suggest Warp 6 for 8 hours instead of 12. We’ll keep trying to hail the freighter and get back into contact with them again if we can. Any sign of anything amiss then at least we won’t have a runabout trying to fall to pieces around our ears.”

Lt. Hegush, COO

Izak let a faint smile show on his face. “If this was the Ark Angel, I’d tell you that she could handle 12 hours at max Warp easy… but I haven’t spent any time on this particular runabout. Playing it a bit safe is probabaly a good idea.” He reached down to the console he was standing by and plugged in a new calculation. “That would get us there in 26 hours and 51 minutes.”

Not a big change all things considered. If the freighter is fine… 2 hours should be no big deal.

Vaarek considered himself honoured to have been invited on this away mission. He was not quite sure why – had he served on a fully Vulcan ship, he would likely not have been chosen. Perhaps there were perks, after all, working under non-humans. But what had their purpose been? There were more qualified physicians – and Vaarek was only a cadet. Perhaps all the other physicians had declined.

Then again, was it important to know? He had been chosen. He needed to prove himself worthy.

Looking out of the porthole, seeing the Ark Angel warp out, Vaarek was confronted with the experience of being in a small cramped space in the middle of nowhere. He noted an emotion from his gut – fear mixed with loneliness – and suppressed it, the good Vulcan he was. Yes, he was nervous.

He paced to the medical console, double-checking again that everything was in order. Like the last time, he checked, it was.

Cadet Vaarek, Medical

Wyatt listened to them quietly as he carefully checked over the phasers one more time, making sure every setting and power cell was functioning correctly. His fingers moved across the controls with practiced precision, running diagnostics he had already completed twice before. Most people would have probably called it overkill, but Wyatt had learned a long time ago that preparation kept people alive. You planned for the worst and hoped for the best. That was how you survived in Security.

They weren’t expecting trouble on this mission. Officially, this was supposed to be simple—investigate the sudden loss of communication, Repair the ship, and return home. Easy. Routine. The kind of assignment officers joked about while drinking coffee afterward.

And that was exactly what bothered him.

Wyatt frowned slightly as he checked the readout again. Everything looked fine. The phasers were fully charged, safeties operational, targeting systems calibrated perfectly. Still, the uneasy feeling twisting in his stomach refused to go away.

He leaned back slightly, glancing around at the others as they prepared. Some looked calm, others mildly annoyed at having to suit up for what was probably nothing more than a damaged relay or ion storm interference. He wished he could believe that was all it was.

There were dozens of harmless explanations for a transmission cutting out so suddenly. Damaged communications arrays. Electrical failures. Plasma interference. Solar radiation. Even simple human error.

But there were worse possibilities too.

Far worse.

Wyatt swallowed quietly and pushed the thought aside before it could settle too deeply in his mind. He had spent enough time in Security training to know that instincts mattered. Ignoring a bad feeling usually ended badly. Still, instincts weren’t evidence, and he didn’t want to be the nervous rookie jumping at shadows.

He secured the phaser back into its holster before checking the second one just to be safe. His movements were calm, controlled, though the slight tapping of his fingers against the weapon betrayed his nerves.

“I’m probably overthinking it,” he muttered quietly, more to himself than anyone else.

But even as he said it, he didn’t fully believe it.

Something about this mission felt wrong.

And Wyatt was really hoping he was wrong about that feeling.

Ensign Wyatt Blackford

Security Junior Officer

U.S.S. Ark Angel

Lt Waryn saw Blackford and Vaarek were busy at their stations, and didn’t think he was needed in the cockpit snymore. Still… he didnt know if the Chief Operations Officer had any guidance for them before the mission started in full swing.

“Sir… if there’s nothing else… I’ll head back to Engineering to monitor ships systems for the first part of our trip, then get familiar with the repair shop’s features.”

OOC: Since its over a day… do we have any particular duty rotation to man the cockpit/pilot the Runabout?

This also might be a good time to determine the specialties of the 4 nameless crewmen with us.

Lt Izak Waryn - Chief Engineer - U.S.S. Ark Angel

OOC: I definitely agree with the suggestion of two engineers since this is expected to be a “simple” repair mission and at least one more security officer. #4 I’m not fussed about what their specialty is.

I suggest we do one hour of settling into the shuttle, making sure everything is running and then 8 hour shifts after that, then be in the first two hours of shift #4 when we arrive, that way all our characters will have had a chance to be rest at some point along the journey.

Lt. Hegush, Chief of Operations.

The Fulcrum-class runabout jumped directly to Warp 6 and, at Falz’s orders, the crew was alert for any potential problems or system failures. A few alignments were required to stabilize the warp field and balance the draw on the EPS grid, but soon the ship was humming along and the team settled into their watch rotation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The ship was halfway into Gamma shift, approximately 21 hours into the mission overall. The Chief of Operations had instructed them to continue to monitor for the distress signal, but comms had been uniformly quiet. The entire shift had been quiet, actually. Mind numbingly quiet.

Nights on the Ark Angel were slow… but still held plenty of activity. There were typically dozens of people still moving around and working, from Engineering doing a critical repair or overhaul to Science attempting to monopolize the sensors for their research. Without any of that background activity, the crew on the Fulcrum-class runabout had to find ways to keep themselves busy and alert.

Until now.

The console chimed alerting the officer on duty that they were receiving the automated message again. It cut in and out at first… as if there were interference or some sort of equipment malfunction, but then it stabilized. A quick glanced at the chronometer showed there was only 6 hours left until they reached the stranded freighter.

OOC:
I’m not sure who would be on watch, but with 3 engineers onboard I’d say Waryn is asleep and one of the NC (Nameless Crewmen) is back in Engineering.

Lt Izak Waryn - Chief Engineer - U.S.S. Ark Angel