Out Of The Rabbit Hole

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 11:28pm by Captain Jane Saulitis (P) & Lieutenant Commander (P) Angus Murphy

Mission: Torn- Parallel Majestic
Location: Bridge
Timeline: PMD 1
1218 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Jane had waited for the relevant people to show up on the bridge before she'd made her announcement. Mostly senior officers whose duties carried them to the bridge on a daily basis but also the princess and the mission advisor. She waved Cassie down onto the bridge when she saw her poke her head out of the turbolift, no use for pomp and circumstance at the moment about bridge rules. "I have some interesting . . . . facts to share with you all and for the time being I'd like to you to keep this as quiet as possible. I don't think we are." She paused. "No that's not right. I'll start with this. I contacted my husband this morning. Most of you have met him and it's a generally well known fact that he is not normally insane. He insists that no one is alive on Sozon II and hasn't been for a hundred and seven years. He also appeared different to me and although he answered my communication something appeared to be off with him. It was almost as if he nearly didn't recognize me. He's sent coordinates to us and is asking for a rendezvous. I have no reason to believe he was lying. He truly looked as if he believed everything he was saying."

"It seems consistent in the fact that subspace comms in general are..." Lieutenant Commander Murphy shrugged from the engineering station, but kept his arms folded across his chest, "Empty. We're not receiving updates from Starfleet Command and we haven't been able to get messages out that I know of. Are we still in the anomaly?"

The declaration about the captain's husband's sanity had caught Commander Hanover off guard, but the inference made by the ship's chief engineer nearly floored him. Not much had passed since he had heard the change in pitch from the ship's engines kicking into high warp, which was what brought him to the bridge in the first place. Hanover tapped a sequence of commands into a console and called up the situational awareness page to the viewscreen, expecting to see the familiar, blue speckling of Federation transponders dotted across the screen.

No such sight was waiting for him. What the hell? he thought to himself. He looked up at Captain Saulitis, raising his eyebrows to ask a question without using any words.

The somewhat silence of most of the crew wasn't encouraging. But she did catch Hanover looking at her. "Seeing copies of ourselves. The meeting you and I had in your quarters." She said to him knowing what she was talking about. "Were we in some kind of anomaly? Did we emerge at the wrong point? Regardless I've agreed to meet with Hak. I don't believe he's a danger to us and he may provide valuable information."

"Well, that would explain things," Cassie interjected. "I've sent yet another request for a short conference with political advisors on Sozon II. I've usually gotten automated confirmations of receipt, but no actual response. This time, nothing, which was most strange."

“Surely there must be something out there? How did you contact your husband in the usual way then there must be something out there surely?” Barr asked after clearing his throat and giving a small tug at his uniform jacket.

"You're welcome to try Mr. Barr but I have contacted every department of Starfleet command that I could think of and have not had one response. I've also tried several of the most loyal federation worlds. Nothing. So, I think we should meet with him. Hear what he has to say. Are there any objections?"

Lieutenant Sullivan looked around, waiting to see if she would have to change course from the high warp factor route that she had already laid in for the rendezvous. Having had some time to recover from her injury, she was looking and feeling more like her usual self. The break in the discussion afforded her some time to think about the implications of having no contact with not only the Federation, but anyone at all.

"Thinking aloud for a moment, Captain Saulitis's conversation with Hak proves our communications equipment is not the issue. If so, then when we left whatever anomaly was back there, I mean," Lilith looked around. "Cassie hasn't been able to reach anyone, neither has Captain Saulitis. The map Commander Hanover put up should be littered with blue dots representing other ships, but there's nothing. Too many coincidences, at least for my simple pilot brain."

Jane nodded. "Exactly my thinking. He may not be right but I think it's worth hearing what he has to say on the matter. Because something is definitely wrong here."

"Seems like we have another problem to solve. It's what we signed up for, right?" Commander Hanover had made his way around to stand beside Captain Saulitis. "Here's what we've got so far. Lieutenant Sullivan has us on course for the rendezvous already, so we have a tentative deadline of sorts to get some early returns. Captain, with your permission, I'd like to oversee more diagnostics on our own communications equipment. That will eliminate the most likely source of the issue."

"Well, assuming our comms equipment is working, then what?" Lilith's stream of consciousness escaped into the conversation.

"One step at a time, lieutenant," Hanover warned. "I know it's tough, but speculation right now isn't going to do us much good. Keep us on course and get us to our destination safely. That much we can control."

Danny listened to the conundrum that unfolded in front of him. He wasn't much of a scientist but what he could immediately recognise from the available information is that they were entering situation with unknown variables. One thing that was absolutely clear was that if contact with starfleet had been lost then calling for aid would certainly be difficult should the ship run into trouble. His instincts were telling him that something wasn't right and experience had taught him to prepare for the worst.

"Captain if I might make a suggestion, we should maintain Yellow Alert for the foreseeable future, and post an armed guard at all critical areas of the ship. We may not be in any immediate danger but I shouldn't have to tell you the amount of times federation ships have been caught with their pants down by an enemy attack disguised as some new and strange phenomenon." Danny tentatively suggested.

"I would also feel a lot better if we switched the internal sensors to an active scan sweep, there are plenty of alien races that have access to personal cloaking technology" he added.

"I think yellow alert is warranted, at least for now, until we know of their intentions. As for the internal sensors, let's not get paranoid just yet. These people may simply need our help. Be watchful but don't clamp the irons on just yet." She turned to the rest of the bridge. "We should be arriving in a few hours. We'll have more answers then."

---

Captain Jane Saulitis (P)
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy (P)
Chief Engineer

Commander Jared Hanover (P)
Executive Officer

Cassandra Leblanc-Reed (P)
Chief Diplomat

Herbert Barr (P)
Mission Advisor

Lieutenant (jg) Daniel Lawless (P)
Assistant Chief of Security