Another Routine Patrol

Posted on Fri May 6th, 2011 @ 3:57am by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson & Lieutenant JG Malia Jacy & Ensign Matthew Lessly & Ensign Bok

Mission: Episode 2.2 - "Resistance"
Location: Main Bridge, USS Pandora
Timeline: Mission Day 03, 0945

ON: [[Main Bridge, USS Pandora, Mission Day 03, 0945]]

Matt sat at the science station along the edge of the bridge. For just over a month, he had been concentrating on trying to simulate the astrological ramifications of the supernova in Romulan space. The problem was, no one had ever witnessed a supernova like that of the Hobus star and so it was hard to determine what the variables would be. Now, however, he had been requested to be on the bridge to run analytical scans of the star systems they were passing by.

Glancing at the latest scans from the navigational sensors, Robert (NPC) made another slight adjustment to the Pandora's heading so as to keep them on the Federation side of the border. They still had quite a bit of breathing room before he needed to be too concerned about crossing into unclaimed space, but it didn't hurt to stay on top of things now rather than having to adjust them later. He had gotten used to piloting patrol routes over the past few months and, mundane as they might sometimes be, there was a certain element of comfort in the routine, even if he didn't always appreciate that.

Malia shifted in her seat, uncrossing and then recrossing her legs in the opposite direction. For some reason the normally cheery Ops officer had the dragging feeling that this would be the longest bridge shift of her career. Since her return from Earth, the ship had made her feel ... well, caged, in a way; which was not normal for her. Facing forward, her eyes were on the screen but her thoughts couldn't have been further from it.

Ensign Bok had mixed feelings that the Pandora wasn't going to look in on the devastation caused by the Hobus star. Things had to be total chaos near the Romulan border. There were liable to be some very desperate individuals out there and others who preyed on the unprotected. This was going to have some very serious consequences for years.

As Joe looked around from his position in the center chair, he nodded in satisfaction. In his experience, the dullness of routine patrol was exceeded only by the drawn-out procedures of ambassadorial duties or politics, but he was pleased to see that the bridge crew was handling it fairly well. He knew many of them probably had their minds on other things besides their work - especially the events surrounding the Hobus star - but as their performance was not greatly impaired Joe didn't feel the need to call anyone out on their musings.

A single beep sounded from the science station before Matt. Turning his attention to the smaller screen below the main display, Matt quirked an eyebrow and tapped the lower left corner of the screen to acknowledge he had seen the report.

Looking around and noticing that a few of the bridge crew were looking at him, Matt shook his head. "It's nothing to get excited about. The port sensors detected a small gravitational flux... probably left over from a micro-wormhole."

Her gaze lingered a bit on the science station before she turned back to her own. Maybe that was part of the issue - there really wasn't anything to get excited about. Mali fought a yawn, settling instead for stretching her arms up above her head until she felt a small crack near the middle of her back. She wondered when the last time was that the starcharts had been updated and if that crew had felt at all like she did.

If micro-wormholes and particles of space dust were the only thing out here, Robert had a feeling this shift was going to be just as long and monotonous as every other he'd worked since they left Deep Space Five. "Are you sure it isn't worth a look," he asked somewhat sardonically, "I mean, it's not like we're going someplace anytime soon."

Matt shrugged. "There's really nothing there to look at." he said, apologetically. "Judging by the decay pattern, it probably closed at least six months ago. I suppose the good news is that where there's one there's normally others near by, so I'll keep an eye out."

Joe repressed a sigh. "As boring as this may seem," he said aloud, "it's not as bad as you think. It's understandable that you want something more 'exciting', but if you're thinking that kind of wishful thought then you have to keep this in mind: 'exciting' usually ends up escalating into 'frightening' and 'terrifying', and it's not all that long of a jump in between. At any rate, this is an essential job that someone has to do; that someone might as well be us. And as long as we have to be out here on patrol, we might as well do things thoroughly."

Truth be told, the longer a patrol went without any changes, the more on-edge Joe got. If this were a holodrama, the action would start just as the crew started getting complacent; even though it wasn't a holodrama, it was still essential to keep everyone from relaxing too much. As the old saying went, complacency kills, and Joe had seen enough of that before to know how bad things could get.

Matt glanced down at the console and his heart skipped a beat as he realized what he was seeing. Looking up from the console, he looked at Commander Thompson and gulped slightly. "I think you might be more right than you know, Commander."

Joe frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked warily.

"The upper EM band sensors are detecting a signal." Matt responded. "The computer... the computer's identifying it as a Borg transponder signal."

Robert immediately felt a chill go down his spine and he stiffened slightly when he heard Lessly mention the Borg. "That's...that's just not possible," he said, turning slightly from his position at the helm, "Everyone knows Voyager put the Borg out of commission when they came back from the Delta Quadrant."

Malia, too, had straightened and turned toward the conversation. Technology had a way of surviving, reviving, and usually it came back stronger; so long as there was time to correct previous flaws.

Matt shook his head, wishing Robert was correct. "The only thing we know is based on speculation. Voyager destroyed the transwarp conduit which, presumably, caused a chain reaction that destroyed that particular transwarp hub. There's no reason to presume that the destruction of a single transwarp hub would destroy the Borg entirely."

So much for routine, Joe thought. "Go to yellow alert," he ordered. "Bridge to Iluvar: we just picked up on a Borg transponder signal." It was times like these, Joe reflected, that made the phrase 'I told you so' seem so inadequate.

Ensign Bok now wondered if anything on the Romulan frontier could be worse than this. Too late to change course now. Their course had been set. He thought momentarily about making a funny comment to break the ice. He thought better of it.

There was a momentary pause before the familiar voice of Captain Iluvar issued from the ship's intercom. =^= Maintain yellow alert =^= he replied, his instructions brief and to the point =^= I'm on my way. =^= Despite the sense of agitation which so often accompanied the mere mention of the Borg, the relative calm assurance of the captain's response seemed to at least imply that the situation was under control.

"Alright," Joe said. "Let's not get too excited. How accurate is that identification? What can you get off of it?"

Matt shook his head in frustration. "It's just barely registering as it is. It's on one of of the lowest frequencies I've ever heard of the Borg using. It's so low that the sensors are having trouble keeping track of it. It seems like it's coming from the system on course 045 mark 271, a little over a lightyear away."

"Only a lightyear," Robert exclaimed, looking over his shoulder, "might as well be right on top of us for all the difference it would make. Shouldn't we have detected them earlier?"

"There are any number of reasons why our sensors would not have detected a Borg transponder signal, Mister Johnson," Iluvar replied calmly as he emerged from the turbolift. He paused a moment to survey those present on the bridge. "Mister Lessly, see to it that all of our sensor data is transferred to my ready room immediately," he continued, turning his attention toward where Thompson had just started to rise from the command chair, "We will maintain yellow alert and hold position here until further notice. Continue scanning for Borg activity and keep me appraised of the situation. You have the bridge, commander."

OFF

A Joint Mission Post by:

Captain Iluvar
Commanding Officer
USS Pandora

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Pandora

Lieutenant JG Malia Jacy
Chief Operations Officer
USS Pandora

Ensign Bok
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Pandora

Ensign Matthew Lessly
Chief Science Officer
USS Pandora

and

Ensign Robert Johnson (NPC)
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Pandora
Played by: Capt Iluvar