Posted by Commander Wulf Baumann (Intel Officer) in MAIN SIM pt 1: Intriguing Nebula - Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Kenneth Fleet (Helm) in MAIN SIM pt 1: Intriguing Nebula - Bridge

Posted by Commander Jonathan McKnight (Executive Officer) in MAIN SIM pt 1: Intriguing Nebula - Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<Snip>

Elizabeth was working on the signals hoping to find something more to show Baumann when he returned. Seeing the results of the Morse Code, she was elated. Realizing it was something they may see more of, she downloaded the Morse Code alphabet and files on the code to her personal files to study later. Next time it will be better to know it and not need it, she thought.

Prescott
Sec/Intel

“Agreed Captain,” Jonathan said as he followed Ari. “We should be able to tell pretty quickly just how much activity is on the ship. And hopefully gauge just how long the distress signal has been going out. And if nothing else comes out of it, we can still move the Bonaventure closer to the ship for further investigation. So we aren’t standing to risk losing anything but time.”

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Ari nodded as they all reappeared on the bridge. “Helm, launch a probe in the direction of the signal, then take us around the outer edge of the nebula at impulse. Let’s not leave a bigger trail than we need to. Shall we?” She sat in her chair and tapped her heel in agitation. She was usually the one to rush headlong into a situation with this kind of intrigue. But with command came responsibility. And this time, she could lose more than her rank for pulling such a stunt, and failing. So this time, it wasn’t an option.

“Baumann, see if there is anything more to that message, please. Or if, perhaps anyone else is listening and responding. Last thing I want is someone else showing up as a ‘rescue’ ship on our tails.” She didn’t want to voice that her biggest fear was that rescue ship could be another of the century ships they were avoiding. One was bad enough. If more were here, things would get a lot more complicated.

Ari
CO

“Aye aye, Captain.” the big German replied. He watched the incomming comms and monitored along with the Communications officer.

Baumann, Intel

Jonathan moved to the back of the bridge and stood towards the side, watching as the rest of the bridge crew worked. He was still getting to know the crew, and was wanting to see how they would perform as they carried out their tasks. Plus, at least until the probes data came back, there wasn’t a lot he could do.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

“Aye, Cap’n,” Fleet replied, sending the probe and slowly increasing the speed of the ship so she began to approach the nebula.

Fleet, Helm

Ari moved to her chair. If she remained standing, she would pace. And after all this time, she knew it bothered the crew when she prowled like a caged animal wanting to pounce on something. She glanced at the XO and smiled with a nod towards his chair as if to let him know he could sit if he wanted.

Turning back to the viewscreen, she watched them skirt the nebula as the probe went to see what it could find. “Baumann, anything more on the code we can get?” She glanced over her shoulder towards him and hoped one of two things… it was an old message bouncing around in the nebula debris and there was no ship, or that the ship was one they ‘could’ rescue without worrying about putting everyone in jeopardy.

Ari
CO

Baumann shook his head and said “Nothing yet, Captain. But I think we may have a way of narrowing our search area. Mr. Fleet, if you could do a broad crescent manuver parallel to the nebula with the apex of the crescent closest to it, we can probably determine where the strongest signal strength is coming from. That will at least narrow down the search area.” and he turned and looked at Ari. “Unless you want to send a response message, Captain. Not that I am suggesting you do so.”

Baumann, Intel

Fleet listened to the input from Baumann, then frowned in concentration as he pushed and pulled at the controls to do just that, fine-tuning his nav controls to pilot the old girl just so. It was a beautifully smooth ride for the crew.

“How much area are we looking at having to cover? What if we were to launch the shuttlepods to help expand the triangulation area?” Jonathan said as he stepped forward. The shuttlepods wouldn’t be able to go as fast at the Bonnie, but it would allow them to go in multiple directions at once.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Ari nodded in agreement with Baumann and if Fleet turned around, she would nod for him to do it.

As the XO spoke of the shuttle pods, she shook her head. “I like that idea, but let’s wait till we can narrow it down a bit more. With their limited capabilities, I don’t want to leave them stranded if they get caught up. But once we have a better idea of the area, I think a smaller craft would definitely make a better choice than this behemoth.”

Ari
CO

Liz watched what Baumann was doing and smiled. Using his trajectory, they could narrow the field faster. It was odd to think that merely experience watching could be a teacher. But she knew, next time they had to do a similar sweep or search, she’d have this idea in her head even if no one else did. She watched the scans of the probe and the ship as they others talked around her.

Prescott
Sec/Intel

Baumann entered the directions and sent them to Fleet. “Helm, see what you can do with that. Prescott, scan all frequencies and try and lock the signal coming in. If you cannot, tell me when signal strength increases and when it begins to consistently decrease.”

Baumann, Intel

Ari listened and watched the console at her hand as the ship moved in the route Baumann had suggested. She was already playing ‘hot or cold’ with the signal as she heard his voice tell Prescott to do the same. She smiled to herself as once more, their like minds clicked. Sometimes she wished he had been willing to step away from intel and be her XO. But this was where he excelled. He had never asked her to step away from the science or the Command chair, so she couldn’t ask him to do the same with his choice of path.

Glancing at the new XO, she shifted her smile, but it remained just behind her eyes. He was proving to be supportive and out spoken. He had suggestions and didn’t just ‘yes ma’am’ her when she said something. It would be interesting to see how he did, being tossed into the mix, so to speak.

Ari
CO

Jonathan smiled back at the Captain from where he was watching the bridge crew. This was definitely a unique assignment so far.

Prescott nodded to Baumann and set her console to mark the incoming frequencies. Setting the ship to play the child’s game of getting warmer was an interesting choice on how to catch the signal if she couldn’t pinpoint it.

After a few moments, she frowned. “Sir,” she glanced at Baumann. “The signal seems steady.” She gave him the coordinates from the last several minutes and frowned. “I thought I heard a difference in the message that had been repeating earlier. But I can’t get it back.” She wasn’t sure if she had heard it so many times that she was missing or inserting her own mental tones into the cadence, or if it truly had changed for just a moment.

Prescott
Sec/Intel

“How was it different?” he said as he stepped forward. “And how long ago did you hear the change? Maybe we can pull it back from the computers buffer before it gets purged.”

Hopefully it hadn’t been that long ago, because every minute they waited the more that was getting purged from the computers memory. Especially if they were going to try and recover whatever it was that Prescott heard.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Fleet slowed down the ship a little, thinking that if they moved back to where Prescot had sensed the odd signal they might be able to catch it again. He careully monitored the probe’s position and status.

Fleet, Helm

Baumann looked at the readings and then sent Fleet the location of where the signal spiked momentarily. He then began filtering the background noises and isolating anything that may be unnatural noise.

As the ship got close to the spot, Baumann said “There… yes… There. I have it. Playing now.” and he tapped a few commands and rhe bridge speakers activated.

At first it was the first signal they received, Morse Code that translated as ““Earth ship Macalister. Distress. Distress. Please… save the children.”. But after the short and long beeps came a verbal communication. A man’s voice, speaking the Earth language English in an obvious recording. “Mayday. Mayday.. This is Captain Nelson of the Earth colony ship Macalister. We are without primary propulsion and are adrift. Secondary power has been diverted in its entirety to the cryo-pods. If anyone is receiving this, please… we have dozens of children on board. Please assist.”

Baumann, Intel

“Is there anyway to tell how long the ship has been sending out the distress signal? I will have to look at the specs for that class of ship to understand just how long a distress signal could last.

“Is there any indications that there is anything else out there, or anything trying to scan for us? Because it would be nicer to get closer to that ship so we could get some actual scans of it.”

Cmdr. McKnight - XO