Chapter Two: Answers.
It didn't take Evans long to reach the bridge, the mood was frenzied, she still didn't know what was going on, but she knew that it wasn't good. She took her spot at the helm and began running systems checks and communicating with engineering for systems status. Her eyes left her console only when the turbo lift doors opened again to admit the captain and a tall female ensign in navigator colors.
They had been running shakedown cruises for weeks mostly to pick up members of the crew who had transferred from distant colonies and outposts, like today's trip to Tayos IV to retrieve the first officer and chief consoler, among others. By this time Cara recognized most of the crew members she saw and she certainly recognized all the members of her own staff.
"Incoming message from Starfleet headquarters, priority one."
"Transfer it to my ready room Mr. Zale. Ensign Li, take the helm. As soon as you get clearance from UP take us out and set a course for the Tayos system, maximum warp. Commander," he finally looked to Cara, "you're with me."
Cara turned over the helm and followed the captain, "What's going on, Harry?"
"I'm not sure but we're about to find out." He sat at his desk and motioned for Cara to join him. She stepped up behind his chair as he responded to the message with a few commands to his data terminal. The UFP symbol faded to reveal Admiral Paris, his expression was strained.
"Captain, Lt. Commander. I'm sure you're wondering why we've dispatched you early," this went without saying so the admiral didn't wait for a response before continuing, "Tayos IV was attacked this morning at around 0700 hours. By the time we received the distress call all communication had been lost. All we know is that they struck suddenly and with out warning."
"Do we have any idea who it was?" the captain asked.
"No. the colony's sensor net didn't register any approaching vessels. But they were attacked from multiple vectors, colony operations estimates that there were dozens of ships." Paris shifted uneasily for a moment but regained his composer in an instant. "I wish I had more to tell you, but that's all we know. Good luck, Captain, and keep us informed. Paris out." As the screen faded back to the UFP logo the pair sat in silence, letting the news sink in.
"Do you want to talk about this?" Harry asked, afraid to let his gaze meet that of his friend's.
"What is there to talk about?" she said simply as she backed away from the captain's chair and sat heavily on his couch.
He closed his eyes for a moment as if he was fighting off a headache, "Cara, your parents are on that planet."
"I know this is hard for you to understand, Harry, but not all families are as close as yours." She stood up suddenly. "Now with you're permission, I'll go inform Dr. Schneider. His sister lives there also and as I understand, they are close It would probably be best it he didn't find out by way of ship wide announcement."
"Agreed," he nodded and she started for the door. "Oh and Cara," she paused at the sound of his voice, "I know you're more affected by this than you let on. If you want to talk, you know where to find me."
She stepped forward causing the doors to open automatically and left with out saying a word and with out looking back.
=/\=
"I never questioned the logic of her taking her family out there." Dr. David Schneider sighed and gazed out the window in his office into the sickbay. The staff was keeping busy, rushing around, but he knew that they were just doing busy work, "They should be told, so they can prepare," prepare for what? They had no idea what they were going to find, but he began to stand anyway. He was stopped by Evans hand on his arm.
"The Captain is going to make a ship wide announcement in a few minuets and we won't reach the Tayos system for several hours, there's plenty of time to prepare."
The doctor sighted and sat back down, "She was... IS my little sister, I never should have let her go ... out there in the middle of nowhere with no back up for days. "He rubbed his hands over his face and then smiled faintly, "but she always had a mind of her own, if I had tried to stop her it only would have made her more determined.
"Captain Kim to all hands..."
=/\=
Captains Log, Star Date 69840.3: The waiting is always the hard part. Amery glides thought space with an ease and a speed unlike any starship before her. But aboard her crew is restless, uneasy. We're flying blind. We have no way of knowing what we will find when we get there but we can be sure it wont be good. Minuets pass like days, hours like years. Waiting, always waiting.
=/\=
"Captain, we're within visual range."
Kim straightened a slightly in his chair, "on screen" the planet loomed on screen as if it was much closer than it actually was. The devastation was obvious even from space.
"Is anyone out there?" he asked softly
"Scans show no evidence of any vessels in the area."
"Of course not. Raise shields and bring weapons systems online." The captain ordered, "just because we cant see them doesn't mean they're not there." He looked at the planet for a moment, "Can you read any life signs on the surface?"
Ensign Zale worked the controls for a moment, "I'm increasing power to the sensor array." He paused then looked up with a woeful expression, "I'm only reading a twelve lifesigns. I'm also reading traces of some sort of biochemical agent."
"Send your findings to sickbay; we need to find out what we are dealing with. Commander prep an away team, our first priority is to find the survivors and get them out of there. Lieutenant Taine," The Captain turned to the half Batazoid chief of security, "I want you to see if you can access the colonies visual logs remotely. Maybe they will reveal something."
=/\=
Ensign Li reported to the shuttle bay as she had been instructed to by the security chief, as she crossed through the shuttle bay she recognized some of the shuttles shed test flown herself in her few short months at Utopia Plantain. She ran her hand over the sleek lines of a fifth generation Delta Flyer class shuttle, still cutting edge, no further out of the test runs than Amery herself. She found the chief along with a large security team at the far end of the bay and they were soon joined by a few stragglers.
"All right, now that were all here, we can begin. The colony's visual logs show one of the alien shuttle crafts going down some where just out side of the colony," Lt. Brier Taine began, "now since we cant see it with the sensors and the tree cover prevents us for searching with shuttles we're going to have to do this the hard way." She took a few steps so that she was standing next to an Argo and she placed her hand on its hull, "This is an Argo, I'm sure your all familiar with the schematics. Were going to split up into five groups of three and search sector by sector. Unfortunately we're short pilots. Commander Evans is already on the surface helping with the search and rescue mission. Ensign Li and Crewman Klag will pilot the first two shuttles," Mitsu glanced over to the only other pilot present, a full blooded Klingon male, "Foster, T'Mil and Grant, you'll pilot the other three. Volar you're with me on team one. Teel, Claiborne team two; Hawkins, Tag team three; Ra'cho, Briggs, team four and Endsley, Williams your on team five. We will stay in constant communication, understood?" The crew nodded, "good, move out."
"One last thing," Everyone looked at the sound of Dr. Schneider's voice, his shoes clicking softly on the shuttle bay floor as he approached them, "The agent they released on the surface a fast acting neurological virus. It has a short life span out side of a living host, and it seems to have run it course. But just incase, I'm inoculating all the away teams with an antiserum."
"Fine, once your inoculated, Move out."
=/\=
It didn't take Evans long to reach the bridge, the mood was frenzied, she still didn't know what was going on, but she knew that it wasn't good. She took her spot at the helm and began running systems checks and communicating with engineering for systems status. Her eyes left her console only when the turbo lift doors opened again to admit the captain and a tall female ensign in navigator colors.
They had been running shakedown cruises for weeks mostly to pick up members of the crew who had transferred from distant colonies and outposts, like today's trip to Tayos IV to retrieve the first officer and chief consoler, among others. By this time Cara recognized most of the crew members she saw and she certainly recognized all the members of her own staff.
"Incoming message from Starfleet headquarters, priority one."
"Transfer it to my ready room Mr. Zale. Ensign Li, take the helm. As soon as you get clearance from UP take us out and set a course for the Tayos system, maximum warp. Commander," he finally looked to Cara, "you're with me."
Cara turned over the helm and followed the captain, "What's going on, Harry?"
"I'm not sure but we're about to find out." He sat at his desk and motioned for Cara to join him. She stepped up behind his chair as he responded to the message with a few commands to his data terminal. The UFP symbol faded to reveal Admiral Paris, his expression was strained.
"Captain, Lt. Commander. I'm sure you're wondering why we've dispatched you early," this went without saying so the admiral didn't wait for a response before continuing, "Tayos IV was attacked this morning at around 0700 hours. By the time we received the distress call all communication had been lost. All we know is that they struck suddenly and with out warning."
"Do we have any idea who it was?" the captain asked.
"No. the colony's sensor net didn't register any approaching vessels. But they were attacked from multiple vectors, colony operations estimates that there were dozens of ships." Paris shifted uneasily for a moment but regained his composer in an instant. "I wish I had more to tell you, but that's all we know. Good luck, Captain, and keep us informed. Paris out." As the screen faded back to the UFP logo the pair sat in silence, letting the news sink in.
"Do you want to talk about this?" Harry asked, afraid to let his gaze meet that of his friend's.
"What is there to talk about?" she said simply as she backed away from the captain's chair and sat heavily on his couch.
He closed his eyes for a moment as if he was fighting off a headache, "Cara, your parents are on that planet."
"I know this is hard for you to understand, Harry, but not all families are as close as yours." She stood up suddenly. "Now with you're permission, I'll go inform Dr. Schneider. His sister lives there also and as I understand, they are close It would probably be best it he didn't find out by way of ship wide announcement."
"Agreed," he nodded and she started for the door. "Oh and Cara," she paused at the sound of his voice, "I know you're more affected by this than you let on. If you want to talk, you know where to find me."
She stepped forward causing the doors to open automatically and left with out saying a word and with out looking back.
=/\=
"I never questioned the logic of her taking her family out there." Dr. David Schneider sighed and gazed out the window in his office into the sickbay. The staff was keeping busy, rushing around, but he knew that they were just doing busy work, "They should be told, so they can prepare," prepare for what? They had no idea what they were going to find, but he began to stand anyway. He was stopped by Evans hand on his arm.
"The Captain is going to make a ship wide announcement in a few minuets and we won't reach the Tayos system for several hours, there's plenty of time to prepare."
The doctor sighted and sat back down, "She was... IS my little sister, I never should have let her go ... out there in the middle of nowhere with no back up for days. "He rubbed his hands over his face and then smiled faintly, "but she always had a mind of her own, if I had tried to stop her it only would have made her more determined.
"Captain Kim to all hands..."
=/\=
Captains Log, Star Date 69840.3: The waiting is always the hard part. Amery glides thought space with an ease and a speed unlike any starship before her. But aboard her crew is restless, uneasy. We're flying blind. We have no way of knowing what we will find when we get there but we can be sure it wont be good. Minuets pass like days, hours like years. Waiting, always waiting.
=/\=
"Captain, we're within visual range."
Kim straightened a slightly in his chair, "on screen" the planet loomed on screen as if it was much closer than it actually was. The devastation was obvious even from space.
"Is anyone out there?" he asked softly
"Scans show no evidence of any vessels in the area."
"Of course not. Raise shields and bring weapons systems online." The captain ordered, "just because we cant see them doesn't mean they're not there." He looked at the planet for a moment, "Can you read any life signs on the surface?"
Ensign Zale worked the controls for a moment, "I'm increasing power to the sensor array." He paused then looked up with a woeful expression, "I'm only reading a twelve lifesigns. I'm also reading traces of some sort of biochemical agent."
"Send your findings to sickbay; we need to find out what we are dealing with. Commander prep an away team, our first priority is to find the survivors and get them out of there. Lieutenant Taine," The Captain turned to the half Batazoid chief of security, "I want you to see if you can access the colonies visual logs remotely. Maybe they will reveal something."
=/\=
Ensign Li reported to the shuttle bay as she had been instructed to by the security chief, as she crossed through the shuttle bay she recognized some of the shuttles shed test flown herself in her few short months at Utopia Plantain. She ran her hand over the sleek lines of a fifth generation Delta Flyer class shuttle, still cutting edge, no further out of the test runs than Amery herself. She found the chief along with a large security team at the far end of the bay and they were soon joined by a few stragglers.
"All right, now that were all here, we can begin. The colony's visual logs show one of the alien shuttle crafts going down some where just out side of the colony," Lt. Brier Taine began, "now since we cant see it with the sensors and the tree cover prevents us for searching with shuttles we're going to have to do this the hard way." She took a few steps so that she was standing next to an Argo and she placed her hand on its hull, "This is an Argo, I'm sure your all familiar with the schematics. Were going to split up into five groups of three and search sector by sector. Unfortunately we're short pilots. Commander Evans is already on the surface helping with the search and rescue mission. Ensign Li and Crewman Klag will pilot the first two shuttles," Mitsu glanced over to the only other pilot present, a full blooded Klingon male, "Foster, T'Mil and Grant, you'll pilot the other three. Volar you're with me on team one. Teel, Claiborne team two; Hawkins, Tag team three; Ra'cho, Briggs, team four and Endsley, Williams your on team five. We will stay in constant communication, understood?" The crew nodded, "good, move out."
"One last thing," Everyone looked at the sound of Dr. Schneider's voice, his shoes clicking softly on the shuttle bay floor as he approached them, "The agent they released on the surface a fast acting neurological virus. It has a short life span out side of a living host, and it seems to have run it course. But just incase, I'm inoculating all the away teams with an antiserum."
"Fine, once your inoculated, Move out."
=/\=