"How are we going to get out of here?" Sylvia asked Fred. "Egrets can only hold one person, and mine doesn't even exist anymore."
"That'll take some thought," Fred said, basically because he didn't know what else to say. He went over to the hill to sit down on one of the rocks near the bottom.
"That's all dirty," she said. She still hadn't gotten all of the dust out of her clothes.
"Who cares," he said and sat down anyway. She immediately joined him. He looked at her, remembering back to when he first met her at the Academy. He thought of how much their lives had changed since then, but was very glad to still be with her, even on a hostile planet. "We'll need some way of contacting Earth," he said. "We can try the Egret's comm system, but it won't reach all the way back to Earth. Unless we get lucky and there's a Federation ship nearby, we're going to need some other plan." She picked up a small rock, got up, and threw it into the river. She watched the water splash up from where the rock went in.
She turned to Fred. "Did you see anything on your sensors coming here? There were two Romulans here a few minutes before you got here."
"Yeah, I picked them up. They've got a small ship nearby, or they did. It oughta still be here. We'd have heard it if it left." They heard a loud roar come from the forest across the river and saw a small green ship rise up out of the woods. "Speak of the devil."
"Can you catch it?" she asked him. Fred then began to question the sanity of the girl he had known so well for at least five years.
"Hold on a minute. What are you trying to say?"
"If we could take their ship, we could leave the planet."
Fred seriously doubted the success of any such plan, but then he remembered how she had been right about the true location of the sensor grid transceiver. "How do we take the ship?" he asked.
"You've still got your Egret," she said.
"Yes, but their ship won't do us any good if it's damaged too much."
She thought for a minute. "Can't you just take down their shield and then beam them off the ship?"
"Assuming I had a runabout, I could. Egret transporters only work in one direction." They sat there for a while. "But I supposed it might be possible to reprogram it. It doesn't have the filtering devices and stuff that starships have because it wasn't designed to beam things in. I supposed that doesn't matter though. The targeting scanners are very specific, and that's what we need."
"So you can do it?" she asked.
"Not alone. You'll have to come back and help. And I don't like the idea of leaving you here alone while I go after that thing." He put his arm around her.
"One of us will have to do it," she said. "I will if you want."
"Do you want to?"
"I should be alright here," she answered.
"Okay. Let's get started on the transporter."
Fred showed Sylvia the way back to his fighter and they began the work on the transporter. The transporter was programmed to transport the pilot out of the fighter to a safe location nearby in an emergency. In space, this would be most likely be another ship. It could also be to a point in space if the pilot was wearing a sealed suit or a planet if the fighter was closer enough, but the range was far less than a starship transporter. They had to reprogram the targeting scanners to lock onto life forms in a location other than inside the fighter, which took some time. After that, they had to program it to route the signal to a location other than the fighter. The whole process took quite a while. When they finished, they began to discuss how this plan would actually be carried out.
"So after I take down their shields and beam them out, then what?" Fred asked.
"Can you beam yourself to it?"
"Now I can. But even if do, what happens to the Egret? We can't just forget about it."
"That's true. If we just leave it here, the Romulans will get it. But what else can we do?"
"One of us can fly their ship and one of us can fly the fighter. An extra ship may come in handy. We're still behind enemy lines even after we leave the planet."
"Yeah."
"I know. I'll tell the Egret's autopilot to fly back here and then I'll activate the autopilot right before I beam to the ship."
"What'll it do when it gets here?"
"Just stay here. I can't make it to land. I don't know anything about autopilot programming. It's possible to, of course, but Starfleet didn't do it ahead of time. It can land at starbases and starships, but not random locations on jungle planets."
"Yeah, I guess nobody ever thought that would be needed."
"Really."
"Then how do we get back to it?"
"One of us'll have to beam to it, I guess. Or we could program it so that it'll beam one of us to it upon combadge activation. " There was no need for a combadge while piloting an Egret, but it wasn't necessary to remove it either, so nobody did.
"That sounds like a good idea. We shouldn't play around with the Romulan transporter unless we have to."
"Yeah. Okay, let's do that." They then proceeded to do even more programming of the Egret's transporter, but this time it didn't take very long. Since it had been dark on the planet for a few hours now and they were both tired, they took turns sleeping and keeping watch.
When it was light, Fred got into his Egret to go find the Romulan shuttle. It was safe to assume it was still on the planet looking for Sylvia. She just stayed where Fred had landed the fighter before and tried to avoid open spaces, although they didn't expect the Romulans to come back because they had already been there. Fred didn't know how long it would take to find the shuttle, but he refused to leave Sylvia alone for too long at time, so he told her that he would return every few hours until he found it. He wondered whether there were other Romulans on this planet, or even in the system.
"That'll take some thought," Fred said, basically because he didn't know what else to say. He went over to the hill to sit down on one of the rocks near the bottom.
"That's all dirty," she said. She still hadn't gotten all of the dust out of her clothes.
"Who cares," he said and sat down anyway. She immediately joined him. He looked at her, remembering back to when he first met her at the Academy. He thought of how much their lives had changed since then, but was very glad to still be with her, even on a hostile planet. "We'll need some way of contacting Earth," he said. "We can try the Egret's comm system, but it won't reach all the way back to Earth. Unless we get lucky and there's a Federation ship nearby, we're going to need some other plan." She picked up a small rock, got up, and threw it into the river. She watched the water splash up from where the rock went in.
She turned to Fred. "Did you see anything on your sensors coming here? There were two Romulans here a few minutes before you got here."
"Yeah, I picked them up. They've got a small ship nearby, or they did. It oughta still be here. We'd have heard it if it left." They heard a loud roar come from the forest across the river and saw a small green ship rise up out of the woods. "Speak of the devil."
"Can you catch it?" she asked him. Fred then began to question the sanity of the girl he had known so well for at least five years.
"Hold on a minute. What are you trying to say?"
"If we could take their ship, we could leave the planet."
Fred seriously doubted the success of any such plan, but then he remembered how she had been right about the true location of the sensor grid transceiver. "How do we take the ship?" he asked.
"You've still got your Egret," she said.
"Yes, but their ship won't do us any good if it's damaged too much."
She thought for a minute. "Can't you just take down their shield and then beam them off the ship?"
"Assuming I had a runabout, I could. Egret transporters only work in one direction." They sat there for a while. "But I supposed it might be possible to reprogram it. It doesn't have the filtering devices and stuff that starships have because it wasn't designed to beam things in. I supposed that doesn't matter though. The targeting scanners are very specific, and that's what we need."
"So you can do it?" she asked.
"Not alone. You'll have to come back and help. And I don't like the idea of leaving you here alone while I go after that thing." He put his arm around her.
"One of us will have to do it," she said. "I will if you want."
"Do you want to?"
"I should be alright here," she answered.
"Okay. Let's get started on the transporter."
Fred showed Sylvia the way back to his fighter and they began the work on the transporter. The transporter was programmed to transport the pilot out of the fighter to a safe location nearby in an emergency. In space, this would be most likely be another ship. It could also be to a point in space if the pilot was wearing a sealed suit or a planet if the fighter was closer enough, but the range was far less than a starship transporter. They had to reprogram the targeting scanners to lock onto life forms in a location other than inside the fighter, which took some time. After that, they had to program it to route the signal to a location other than the fighter. The whole process took quite a while. When they finished, they began to discuss how this plan would actually be carried out.
"So after I take down their shields and beam them out, then what?" Fred asked.
"Can you beam yourself to it?"
"Now I can. But even if do, what happens to the Egret? We can't just forget about it."
"That's true. If we just leave it here, the Romulans will get it. But what else can we do?"
"One of us can fly their ship and one of us can fly the fighter. An extra ship may come in handy. We're still behind enemy lines even after we leave the planet."
"Yeah."
"I know. I'll tell the Egret's autopilot to fly back here and then I'll activate the autopilot right before I beam to the ship."
"What'll it do when it gets here?"
"Just stay here. I can't make it to land. I don't know anything about autopilot programming. It's possible to, of course, but Starfleet didn't do it ahead of time. It can land at starbases and starships, but not random locations on jungle planets."
"Yeah, I guess nobody ever thought that would be needed."
"Really."
"Then how do we get back to it?"
"One of us'll have to beam to it, I guess. Or we could program it so that it'll beam one of us to it upon combadge activation. " There was no need for a combadge while piloting an Egret, but it wasn't necessary to remove it either, so nobody did.
"That sounds like a good idea. We shouldn't play around with the Romulan transporter unless we have to."
"Yeah. Okay, let's do that." They then proceeded to do even more programming of the Egret's transporter, but this time it didn't take very long. Since it had been dark on the planet for a few hours now and they were both tired, they took turns sleeping and keeping watch.
When it was light, Fred got into his Egret to go find the Romulan shuttle. It was safe to assume it was still on the planet looking for Sylvia. She just stayed where Fred had landed the fighter before and tried to avoid open spaces, although they didn't expect the Romulans to come back because they had already been there. Fred didn't know how long it would take to find the shuttle, but he refused to leave Sylvia alone for too long at time, so he told her that he would return every few hours until he found it. He wondered whether there were other Romulans on this planet, or even in the system.