Hush Hush, Zap Zap?
Posted on Sun Oct 28th, 2018 @ 6:11am by Lieutenant Teneca Quinn & Lieutenant Rachele Lamberti
Edited on on Sun Oct 28th, 2018 @ 11:32am
1,669 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: Lower Pylon 3, Runabout bay
Timeline: MD004 1430 hrs
She managed to hide all but the smallest of a smile. "It's a damn sham 'at Ah was suppose tae transfer tae th' pioneer, Ah woods hae liked it aroond haur." She got up taking the PADD with her, after all it would not do to actually have it left behind. "It's a damn braw plan, aam glad Ah thooght ay it. If there's nae anythin' else sairrr. i'll go gie mah search team ready."
"You do that Gunny. Inform the Quartermaster that you are leaving on a SAR mission. Take the runabout Williamette" Hood stood up and smiled at the woman. "Oh and Gunny Happy Hunting"
She gave him a simply two fingered tip of her Nonexistent hat before heading out of the office and to the turbo lift out of ops.
October 14 2395 1430 hrs (actual time)
The intra station message system had delivered a short message to Lieutenant Lamberti some time ago, 26 standard hours before it asked her to meet The Gunnery Sergeant at the docked runabout. A number of marines finishing up loading the runabout at the moment, the Gunny herself sitting on a crate finishing up a sandwich.
Having received the message from Gunnery Sergeant Wilson, Rachele had organized her department and found someone to look after Carlo, cat.
She also reviewed the Marine's personnel record. If possible, she liked to know as much as she could about a person before meeting them. From all accounts, Wilson appeared to be a exceptional Marine.
Arriving at the appointed time and place with her gear, she noticed the Gunnery Sergeant finishing a snack. "Good day, Gunny, I'm Lieutenant Lamberti." She said.
When she caught sight of Lamberti she practically stuffed the rest of the sandwich in her mouth. "Oh, good yer haur. Ah was wonderin' if ye woods like tae join a wee expedition? Ah hae instructions tae tak' a team an' a runabout an' search fur th' uss pioneer.. an' ur 'er crew ur evidence as tae 'er whaur abouts. an aw as... any other information ay interest." The last part might have been the least subtle 'something under the table' delivery Lamberti had ever seen. A secret agent the gunny was not.
"Captain Hood did mention something about you needing a guide to Cardassian space. I've left my department in the hands of my 2-i-C, and I'm ready to lend what assistance I can, Gunny." Rachele replied.
"Aye glad tae hae ye, coz aam nae pure th' subtle type. weel Ah mean not in this case, aam actually am th' sneak up an' shot ye type."
"I had to learn to be subtle, myself, it didn't come naturally. We Italians are known for our fiery natures." Rachele replied.
"Aye, Sae first question is thaur anythin' else we need tae dae a th' station itself? or we ready tae lave?"
"I'm ready to leave, when you are." Rachele replied.
She gave a nod motioning to one of the marines. "Ye can fly th' bludy thin', ye don't want me te' do it. unless th' lieutenant wants tae."
"No, I happy to observe." Rachele said.
The group piled into the runabout, one of the marines a Tellarite taking the controls. "So Lieutenant? Is there anything we want to take a look at in space around the station, or we heading straight out to the search pattern."
"Let's get straight on with the search pattern, Gunny." Rachele replied.
Mina gave a nod, punching the readout a few times. "We shoods start in g8 an' heed straecht up th' line. it's th' leest looked at part ay th' search pattern."
"Looks like a good place to start." Rachele said bring up what data there was about that area.
The runabout turned a bit then headed into warp for a short time, the search pattern would take them a good distance away from where they needed to be to check up on what the Cardassians had been doing. But it would also let them slowly ease into that part of space as they did there sweep.
"There's an asteroid field in this area, the search vessel did a few light scans, of the field and found nothing, perhaps we should try some more in depth scans, in case they missed something." Rachele suggested. "There's also a Cardassian unmanned observation station nearby, that we should try and keep clear of." She added.
The pilot and the gunny would both work controls for a moment adjusting heading and coming out of warp. "how far awa'? I'm nae up on scanner information for ootposts myself. an' nae sure how interested they would be in what we ur daein'... yet."
"Approximately 5000 kms from our current position." Rachele replied.
"Ye heard 'er. keep at leest twice 'at distance, an' try nae tae scan th' damn thin'."
At the science station, Rachele began a wide spectrum scan.
After several minutes data began to come in. "I'm detecting a faint trail of chronotons and tachyons originating from the other side of the asteroid field." Rachele reported.
"Weel ah dunnae know what 'at means, Ah know chronotons an' tachyons hav somethin' tae dae wi' time right? weel let's move 'at way an' keep awa' frae th' listenin' post." The pilot adjusted coarse skirting alone heading for the other side of the field.
"Yes, time or interdimensional travel." Rachele replied glad she'd managed to stay awake in her temporal physics elective. "I'm also picking up the Pioneer's transponder signal, its weak and a little garbled, but its definitely there."
The gunny moved over into the seat on the other side of the pilot from Rachele. "I cannae dae much from a science standpoint, but Ah can use th' deflectors an' uir auxiliary power tae make us harder tae fin' fur 'at blasted ootpost. mebbe git us a bit closer. mebbe ten fifteen percent closer" The lights in the runabout dimmed a bit, and the craft inched in a bit closer to the outpost and the reading, the outpost seaming to be none the wiser.
"Good idea, Gunny, I can access data from the station and get a better picture of what happened here." Rachele said with a smile.
"Ha, sneakin' in an' steelin' information. jist like bein' back in special operations." The runabout came to a gentle stop, the gunny leaving Rachele to do the rest, but keeping the controls at the ready, just in case they needed to move.
Rachele sent a message to the station that contained an override code. As far as the Station was concerned it was communicating with a Cardassian vessel, so allowed unfettered access to its data. "I'm in. Downloading data now." She said with a smile.
"well tha' was quick. Nae body is on that thin' rite?" Mina leaned forward to look out the window at the outpost, it was big enough to have two or three people. But it was the kind of outpost that the federation would use as a unmanned, or a real 'punishment assignment' but she didn't think there was any crew on her.
"Its totally automated." Rachele assured her. "And when I'm done, no one will even know we've been here."
Mina addressed the pilot. "when whaur done, back awa' from tha' ootpost, keep tha' deflectur array pointed directly at 'er." She manned the deflector ready to keep the runabout nice and 'quite' as soon as Rachele gave the go ahead.
Moments later, Rachele said. "I'm done." and the pilot eased the Willamette away from the outpost.
When they were at a safe distance, Rachele began pouring over the data. It didn't take long for her to realise she was out of her depth. "This is a bit out of my wheel house, I'm going to have to contact Lieutenant Quinn at Empok Nor."
"Willamette to Empok Nor."
"Empok Nor here, go ahead Willamette." The duty Operations officer replied.
"Patch me through to Lieutenant Quinn's office." Rachele ordered.
"Aye, patching you through now."
"Lieutenant Quinn here, how can I be of service?" Teneca Quinn asked.
"This is Lieutenant Lamberti of Intel, I have some data I need you to look at regarding the loss of the Pioneer." Rachele said.
"Okay, send it through and I'll give it a look." Teneca replied.
"Thank you, transferring data now." Rachele replied.
Moments later
"This is very interesting." Teneca said. "Its just a preliminary overview, but it appears that there was some sort of spatial-temporal explosion, that caused a fracture in space-time and that the Pioneer was sucked into this fracture." Teneca said.
"Can we get them back?" Rachele asked.
"Theoretically, if we can replicate the explosion, there is a possibility that the Pioneer will return." Teneca replied.
"Well then let's do it ." Rachele said excitedly.
"Not so fast." Teneca said. "I have to go carefully through the data to see if it's possible and if it is, its going to take more power than a single runabout can provide." She explained.
Hours Later
The Willamette joined by fellow runabouts USS Thames, USS Tigris and USS Severn, were set up to recreate the explosion.
When the order came they fired antiproton beams from their defectors in unison.
Slowly there was a build up of energy, until time-space exploded into a fracture and the USS Pioneer appeared.
The antiproton beams were turned off and Rachele operated the runabout's comms. "Willamette to Pioneer, come in Pioneer?" She said.
A Joint Post By
Gunnery Sergeant Wilhelmina Wilson
First Sergeant/Rifle Fire Team 2 Leader, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Rachele Lamberti
Chief Intelligence Officer, Empok Nor
Lieutenant Teneca Quinn
Chief Science Officer, Empok Nor
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