[snip]

=^= “I am on my way.” =^= Lt. Sanks stated as the lift doors opened and he walked in. “I’m here, be safe down there.” He continued.

As she always did Cross stepped onto the bridge ,she knew the team had been transported to Ardan V .Looking at the view screen she asked ‘’Cmdr any news from them?’‘.

An Ensign who was sitting at Ops turned in her chair to answer the CMO. “No, nothing yet, Doctor. But I have been following them on sensors when I can. The scans are intermittent but less so in the colony itself.” As the Ensign was speaking alarms started sounding around the bridge and an urgent call came from Engineering.
=^=Engineering to bridge. Bridge, we are getting error messages all around the ship! The engines just went off line and systems are going on and off all over the ship.=^=

Cross moaned she wished she had stayed in sickbay =/\= Bridge to engineering can you find the source of what is disrupting the system through out the ship and most importantly is the transporter being effected as well ? =/\= the doctor asked as she looked at the Cmdr .

There was no reply from Engineering.

Cross came to the decision to inform the Captain ,clicking open her transmitter =/\= Captain Cross from bridge …according to an engineer I have just been informed we are getting error messages all around the ship ,apparently the engines just went off line and systems are going on and off all over the ship. We are trying to find the source of the disruption =/\= taking a deep breath she continued =/\= Sir its not wise to use the transporter for now as it might malfunction =/\=.

The CMO realized there was no one at the comm system ,it had been a long time since she used it .With a sigh Cross sat down ,with the ear piece in place the female doctor switched-on to the comm concentrating on the different sounds which she knew were mostly from space itself still hoping she’ll hear something tangible .

Glen replied =/\= ** =/\= but all Cross heard was Static, and Glen hadn’t even heard what she had said.

Cross rolled her eyes and said something in her native language which no sophisticated translator would translate .

=/\= Captain to Captain , some more bad news the klaxons are blaring all around, the warp core is not working …I have put the ship on red alert since we have no idea what caused it .The guy in engineering doesn’t sound like he has much experience ,it was a mistake to take an engineer with the team down there.. please advice =/\=

There was no reply.

And with that Cross spoke as she sat at the comm station =/\= Anyone out there who is capable of speaking damn it! =/\=

Cross thought that she was lucky she had gotten through to the Captain when she did, as the outside ship comms hissed with static. It seemed they were down.

Cross stopped it was like she was looking at an imaginary spot ,then slapped her forehand and took out her cell phone.

=/\= Joe its me, the Captain ordered you to come to the Bridge immediately ..so get your pretty behind down here its urgent =/\= she said somewhat out of breath while wondering why she didn’t think of it before. Surely as a ex Cmdr he had the experience which she lacked and he would know with the klaxons blaring that something was wrong.

It was several moments later that Joe twinkled into existence with a grand flare on the bridge. He materialized at the corner of the bridge control console. So that when he started to walk, he whacked his leg on the console and nearly fell. After a very warm stream of curses Joe looked at Cross and asked her. ” Miri , who’s pushing the buttons around here anyway? Nothing in the Dragon is working properly, the lifts aren’t working, and I had to use the transporter to get here. ”

Then turning to look behind him at the offending place he had materialized Joe Milligan groused as he admitted. ” I think that that one may have been my mistake. So what do you need exactly?”

Cross turned around ‘’You used the transporter !’’ she exclaimed ‘’ You’re one lucky guy to materialize whole ,what I need is an ex Cmdr for I don’t know what is happening with the warp core.....I’m a doctor not an engineer !’‘.

The bartender was indeed lucky that the transporter signal worked as diagnostics on it would show it was being effected by the unknown electrical signal as well.

Joe scratched his head and asked Miri as he headed toward the bridge engineering station.” Who do you have down there Miri? This shouldn’t be that big of an issue. ” He sat down then and looked at the readouts and laughed saying.” It shouldn’t be bad unless you let it be one anyway. ”

Joe then turned toward Miri and told her,” If you can communicate with your guy down there, I can help you out. But I can’t tell him what to do. You have to do that. If you have no comms down, there. ” Joe paused then puffing out his cheeks as he spoke saying,” If there are no comms down there, you’re going to have to draft me into service on some sort of emergency order or something.”

Joe paused trying to think things through. ” Then of course I’m going to have to find a way to get down to engineering or find a way to do everything from up here using manual overrides. “

Any communication device will have the same trouble given the interruption signal. Communication would need to be done by runners in the maintenance tubes.

‘’For all I know that the engineer is trying to find the source of the disruption ,apparently he has not been successful up to now,’’ she continued ‘’Why Cmdr have you forgotten the jeffrey tubes ,we use them to get from one deck to another,’’ Cross reminded him.

Joe looked at Miri as if she were insane and asked her.” Trying to get rid of me that easily missy? You have power fluctuations caused by something we don’t know about and you want me to go crawling around in there? I don’t relish the idea of getting fried thank you.”

Cross took off the earpiece she had in place ‘’ This is useless there is nothing too listen too and all it did was give me a headache ‘’ and without looking at Joe she continued ‘’Really ? And you were dumb enough to use the transporter ! Thank your lucky stars that your son won’t see who was his biological father just a heap of pulp’’ .

Then the doctor had an idea or so she thought ‘’Engineers climb the ladders of the Jeffrey tubes to fix something or another ,do you think it would be good idea to at least try?’‘.

“Um no I don’t Miri,” Joe replied. “As we just found out there’s a perfectly good engineer down there as it is. Although it would make me feel better if they took the warp core offline to check it out. We can just as easily flounder about on impulse power as we can with the warp core. The impulse power would give a smaller bang when it blew up at least.”

• Joe Milligan Barman

At that moment, the service crawl-way panel unsealed and a head come out of the Jefferies Tube.

“Hey malam ayn’ suurr. Ay done came up ta fix the communications ayn’ the turbolift wasn’t wawking! George Sherridan!” said George. “Actually, darn nothing seems ta be wawking in engineering today!”

• George, Eng

Cross took a moment to figure out what the engineer was saying , she wondered why not everyone spoke a clear English language.

’’ So we either have to wait for the team to stop the interference or find a way to get the ship out of orbit for the time being ,there was no disruption then ‘’ the CMO looked at both man ‘’Can it be done manually ,at some point there was no problem for the team had been transported safely?’’ .

She could not help but think that this was being done perhaps by someone on purpose for why all was disrupted when the team did manage to materialize on the plant ?Why was it that there had been no problems until now?.

Cross CMO.

Joe looked over to George and then then back to Cross, ” Miranda. Are you saying that the helmsman didn’t put the ship into a stable orbit when we got here? And more to the point, why wouldn’t he? ” Joe scratched his head before he said idly. “I mean if you’re in any sort of decent orbit you don’t need to worry about anything for a week or so.”

Joe Milligan Barman

‘’Joe what I meant was getting further away from the orbit ,as there was no interference then ‘’ Cross stopped gathering her thoughts ‘’ Can it be done manually? if not I cannot think there is much else we can do and we are unable to make contact with the team at all’‘.

Cross CMO.

” Miri. ” Joe began. ” Think about it. The only way we can help the away team is if we ourselves don’t need help. At the moment we’re in a stable orbit. What we don’t have is reliable power source to do what you want. We might get the warp core to behave for few moments only to have it change its mind. We might wind up spiraling downward or we could go shooting off into space with no control and wind up drifting away to nowhere. If you can get George to try the pulse power that would be a help. It would at least give us some idea of our options if any.”

Joe Milligan barman

It took some time before Cross responded ‘’ You’re the Cmdr right now, so any orders you give we go by ‘’ now looking at the engineer the doctor said ‘’ George you heard him try the pulse power ‘’ .

George replied, “Yes, the impulse engahn should still wawk… Ay’m nahwt sure weez gunna speral out av control though… But ayy highuurr awbit… a bit furthuurr away frawum that there planet done might help us. Ay’m only a comms engineer though.”

George, Eng

She saw Joe not as the barman but at this time the Cmdr ‘’ The transporter had a lock on the team which is now lost and they cannot make contact should they be facing any danger ‘’ Cross shook her head sadly , her sole aim to get further from the orbit was perhaps another ship was in the vicinity knowing the Klingon’s had been on the planet and they could make contact with them in the hope of the Klingon’s knowing what was going on and the source of the interference.
True it was a long shot but it was the only tangible hypothesis she could come up with.

Cross CMO.

Joe could see that Miri was not satisfied yet. He could only smile. While she might be excellent doctor there were time that she wasn’t as good at other things. All he could do was to ask her,” Miri you really don’t want me to try to explain orbital mechanics to you, do you? Why don’t we move around the bridge and just start rebooting systems . Maybe one or two will come online for a bit at least. “

Joe Milligan Barman

Cross looked at him as if he had just sprouted a pair of antennas ,for he was asking her to do something that he as a previous Cmdr had knowledge off .

‘’You know what Joe we are sitting ducks right now and it seems you relish it ‘’ the CMO spoke with cordiality not giving away what she was really felling inside .

Cross CMO.

Looking around and realizing the turbolift did not take him to the bridge, he tried calling it back, but it wouldn’t open back up. =^= “Commander Sanks to bridge”=^= He called on the comms, but there was static and no answer. After a few minutes, he opened up a panel to a jefferies tube and started climbing his way up to the bridge. He came out of a tube to the side to the entrance of the Captain’s ready room and stepped onto the bridge.
He surveyed the area and saw the CMO.

“Can I get an update? Comms and the turbolift is down, what’s going on?” He asked the bridge crew.
Lt. Cmdr. Sanks, Number One

George looked to Dr. Cross to reply. He hadn’t even had a chance to look at the Comms yet, what with all these questions.

George, Eng

Cross was about to tell Sanke where the hell have you been but then she changed her mind ‘’Well Cmdr glad to see your presence on the bridge ,now we have an ex Cmdr and you ,all I know is that the warp drive is down due to interference either from the planet or from some other source .All communications are down we cannot get through the landing party and they cannot make contact with us ‘’ she paused making eye contact with Lt Cmdr Sanks ‘’ In a few word nothing is working ‘’.

Then she turned her attention to the Engineer ‘’I wish you can communicate in simple English ,have you said you can take the ship further away from the planet in the hope that it would solve the interference problem ? ‘’ the CMO asked.

Cross CMO.

George now had his head under the Comms station, but he popped out again and replied, “Using, the impulse engahn? Yes, it darn well oughta still wawk…”

George, Eng

’’ Hope so ‘’ Cross replied back ‘’ If you need help just ask but you have to tell me what to do ‘’ she offered.

Cross CMO.

Joe gave himself an invisible pat on the back. For he was pretty sure that given enough time the ship’s engines might actually be nudged for enough time to make them lose what was now their stable orbit and put them into an unstable orbit which would only end in a a wonderfully brilliant way to die. All flame and explosions as Merrimac fell through the sky and crashed into the planet below. A magnificent ending to one’s life if you were a character in a novel but Joe was neither a character in a novel or some fool who didn’t want to live anymore. With nothing else being said Joe broke the silence of the bridge by looking at Cross and asking. ” So Miri how’s the baby business going?”

Joe Milligan Barman

‘’Eh?’’ Cross asked looking down at her protruding abdomen as if seeing it for the first time ,she pressed it with her finger and got a kick back ‘’Guess he’s enjoying the drama’’ the doctor replied with a chuckle and a smile.

Cross CMO.

George came back out from under the Comms console. “Thanks, but ay’m okay,” he replied to Cross. “These here transceiver circuts still wawk… Ay’m nahwt sure what’s wrong! The self-diagnostic routeen should have done fixed it, but there is no power!”

George, Eng