Based on feedback, I've decided to go with Jadzia Dax. I've also placed the
episode as taking place durring the forth season.
----
The Defiant flew through the corridor, its brilliant swirling blue and yellow energy a sight both beautiful and terrifying. The entire ship shook near continuously, her shields getting a mighty workout from random energy discharges.
"Report!" Sisko barked as the ship shuddered heavily sparks flying from the set of consoles behind him, a crewman having to duck and take cover to avoid being struck.
"Shields down to 65 percent; the entire conduit is full of random discharges and energy fluctuations," Dax reported.
"Can you compensate?" Sisko asked, the ship shuddering heavily and even more sparks flying from consoles to his right, narrowly missing Worf.
"If I adjust the frequency of the warp engines to match those discharges, it should stabilize the conduit," O'Brien reported.
The Defiant obviously couldn't take this abuse for long, so Sisko gave O'Brien the go ahead. As a testament to his engineering skill, he managed to carry out the order within seconds. The Defiant stopped shaking as the discharges ceased, making the ride much smoother.
"Excellent work Mr. O'Brien. Dax, how long until we're clear of the conduit?"
"Approximately one minute and thirty seconds," she reported.
The rest of the trip through the conduit went smoothly and the Defiant returned to normal space through a similar fold of energy they entered from. It closed behind them seconds after they cleared it.
"Damage report," Sisko requested.
"Shields down to 50%, there's minor damage on decks two and four. No injuries or fatalities noted," O'Brien reported.
"Dax, can you get a fix on our location?"
Jadzia went over sensor readings, at first astonished at the distance they had traveled in such a sort period of time.
"Captain, we've traveled over 3500 light years! I'm reading a system three light years away with six planets, two of which appear to be M class," she reported.
"Captain, I've further analyzed the Oregano's logs. Their sensors recorded an ion trail from the ship that attacked them. It lead right to the conduit," O'Brien reported.
"Confirmed, a matching ion trail leads directly to the third planet in that system," Dax responded.
"All right, Mr. O'Brien see if you can rig a probe to go back through that conduit to upraise Starfleet of our situation. My Worf, once the probe is launched, engage the cloak and we'll set a course for that planet at maximum warp," Sisko ordered.
--
Twenty minutes later, O'Brien had configured a probe to survive the trip through the conduit and was in the torpedo bay to launch it. The probe was not large, only two meters long and half a meter wide. With the help of another engineer, O'Brien loaded it onto a launcher. He contacted the bridge to inform Sisko.
"Bridge, the probe is configured and ready to launch at your command," he reported.
On the bridge, The Captain smirked, always impressed with the efficiency of O'Brien's work.
"Dax, launch the probe,"
Jadzia complied and the probe launched, heading directly for the conduit before disappearing into it in a flash of yellow and blue light.
With the launched confirmed, Worf cloaked the ship and Jadzia set a course for the system, engaging at maximum warp.
--
Halfway to the system, the senior staff were in engineering studying the scans of the ship that attacked the Oregano.
Displayed on a console was the diagram of the ship with side, top and bottom views with indicators pointing to what the sensors had determined as various systems.
"Their phasers had little effect on the ships shields. However, those transports are only equipped with type six phasers. Ours should suffice," Worf reported.
"If the passengers and crew are onboard that ship then we may have to board it. Work on a way to disable their shields long enough to get a team onboard without doing too much damage," Sisko ordered.
"It's also possible that they're somewhere on the planet, we should scan the surface once we're in range," Bashier suggested.
"Agreed; in the meantime, we don't know what condition our people will be in. Doctor I recommend setting up triage stations and being prepared for the worst," Sisko said, Bashier responding with an aye sir. Looking to Worf, Kira and Odo, he continued, "Major, Mr. Worf, set up security teams in preparation to board that ship if it becomes necessary. Constable, I'd much rather solve this without bloodshed, your abilities could come in useful if you can impersonate one of their officers to gather information. Dax when we're in range, see if you can get some scans of the ship and find out what these people look like, it may be possible we can deceive them." Odo and Jadzia nodded. Turning to O'Brien, Sisko continued, "Chief, do what you can to boost the shields and weapons; if diplomacy fails then we may need them." O'Brien nodded.
Sisko dismissed everyone and they went to work.
--
Captains log stardate 49524.3, after tracking the unknown vessel to the 3rd planet of a six-planet system, we are dropping out of warp and preparing to determine the status of the oregano's crew and passengers.
The bridge dark, red alert klaxons sounding and pulsating, the crew was at full alert. They watched, as the planet slowly grew larger on the view screen. Looking much like a marble, the swirls of white clouds over blue oceans was a beautiful site to behold. Had they been on a sight seeing or scientific mission, Sisko was sure they wouldn't be disappointed.
Approaching a planet while under cloak was almost normal for the crew but the feeling of trepidation in not knowing what they were going to encounter was still there, creating considerable tension.
"Dax, are you picking up the ship on sensors?" Sisko asked.
"Sensors are picking up multiple ships in orbit of the planet, there are at least fifty of them," she reported. It wasn't looking good; one of these ships would be more then a match for the Defiant, fifty of them.... Dax chimed again, providing some relief. "Many of the ships appear to be of different design and judging from their warp signatures also from different species. I am however, picking up three ships of similar design to the one we're after, including our ship in orbit around a northern continent."
Three against one was better odds then fifty against one. However, it was still unacceptable. Sisko was hopeful that with all those other ships in orbit that they'd have potential allies if a firefight broke out.
"Take us within scanning range but be ready with evasive maneuvers in case we're detected," Sisko ordered.
Jadzia took the Defiant closer and closer to the planet and ship they were after. As it loomed closer and closer on the view screen, the already high- tension level near doubled.
When they were as close as they could get without being detected, Jadzia initiated the scans. It was not a pleasant scene seeing that ship so close to them and having to sit and wait, not knowing if it knew their people were out there or not.
"I'm not picking up any human life signs aboard the ship, however scanning is limited while we're under cloak," she reported. Sisko sighed deeply, unsure of what to do next until Jadzia's console beeped again. Looking at the readings, a very confused look crossed her face. "Captain, you're not going to believe this, but I'm picking up readings of Terran wildlife on the planet," she said.
"How's that possible? Could they simply be similar species?" Sisko asked.
"I can't get an exact reading, but from what I'm seeing they are definitely not indigenous to this planet," Jadzia responded.
Sisko wanted to know what was going on and it looked like they were going to have to send away teams down to assertion the situation. While this wasn't solving the problem of locating the Oregano's crew and passengers, had the ship also taken non-humanoid species, it could provide clues as to the location of the others.
"Mr. O'Brien, is there any way we can decloak the ship long enough to beam two away teams down to investigate those readings?"
O'Brien went over readings from the planet and came up with a plan.
"If we take the ship to the southern polar region, we should be able to decloak for 20 seconds without someone detecting us. It'll be long enough to beam two teams down. I'll need to rig communicators so they won't be detected if they contact the ship while it's under cloak," he reported.
"All right, let's do it. Jadzia, take us to the southern polar region, Chief, rig six communicators. One they're ready, you, Dax and Lieutenant Peterson will form the first team. Kira, Odo and Doctor Bashier will form the second. Go down in civilian clothing, something that won't attract attention. Bring medical tricorders and phasers with you but keep them concealed. We'll try to locate our people from here," Sisko ordered.
--
An hour later, the two teams of three were in the transporter room. All were dressed in light clothing that based on scans of the area with the animals would blend in well with the populace. They had arranged to beam down in an area that would have the least chance of being seen transporting down.
O'Brien's team went first, waiting on the transporter pad for Sisko to give the go ahead from the bridge. Once he did, the cloak was dropped and the transport performed. Once the transporter operator confirmed a successful beam down, Kira's team stepped onto the pad. The operator wished them luck and beamed them down, informing the bridge once their cycle had successfully completed.
On the planet, Kira, Odo and Bashier looked around their immediate area, confirming no one had seen them materialize. It was chilly where they were, a breeze blowing across the area. In front of them was a wall, on the other side a habitat for wildlife with several trees and a lake. They appeared to have beamed into a zoo or wildlife refuge.
Looking into the habitat, they all were shocked to see it populated by Beavers and River Otters!
----
The Defiant flew through the corridor, its brilliant swirling blue and yellow energy a sight both beautiful and terrifying. The entire ship shook near continuously, her shields getting a mighty workout from random energy discharges.
"Report!" Sisko barked as the ship shuddered heavily sparks flying from the set of consoles behind him, a crewman having to duck and take cover to avoid being struck.
"Shields down to 65 percent; the entire conduit is full of random discharges and energy fluctuations," Dax reported.
"Can you compensate?" Sisko asked, the ship shuddering heavily and even more sparks flying from consoles to his right, narrowly missing Worf.
"If I adjust the frequency of the warp engines to match those discharges, it should stabilize the conduit," O'Brien reported.
The Defiant obviously couldn't take this abuse for long, so Sisko gave O'Brien the go ahead. As a testament to his engineering skill, he managed to carry out the order within seconds. The Defiant stopped shaking as the discharges ceased, making the ride much smoother.
"Excellent work Mr. O'Brien. Dax, how long until we're clear of the conduit?"
"Approximately one minute and thirty seconds," she reported.
The rest of the trip through the conduit went smoothly and the Defiant returned to normal space through a similar fold of energy they entered from. It closed behind them seconds after they cleared it.
"Damage report," Sisko requested.
"Shields down to 50%, there's minor damage on decks two and four. No injuries or fatalities noted," O'Brien reported.
"Dax, can you get a fix on our location?"
Jadzia went over sensor readings, at first astonished at the distance they had traveled in such a sort period of time.
"Captain, we've traveled over 3500 light years! I'm reading a system three light years away with six planets, two of which appear to be M class," she reported.
"Captain, I've further analyzed the Oregano's logs. Their sensors recorded an ion trail from the ship that attacked them. It lead right to the conduit," O'Brien reported.
"Confirmed, a matching ion trail leads directly to the third planet in that system," Dax responded.
"All right, Mr. O'Brien see if you can rig a probe to go back through that conduit to upraise Starfleet of our situation. My Worf, once the probe is launched, engage the cloak and we'll set a course for that planet at maximum warp," Sisko ordered.
--
Twenty minutes later, O'Brien had configured a probe to survive the trip through the conduit and was in the torpedo bay to launch it. The probe was not large, only two meters long and half a meter wide. With the help of another engineer, O'Brien loaded it onto a launcher. He contacted the bridge to inform Sisko.
"Bridge, the probe is configured and ready to launch at your command," he reported.
On the bridge, The Captain smirked, always impressed with the efficiency of O'Brien's work.
"Dax, launch the probe,"
Jadzia complied and the probe launched, heading directly for the conduit before disappearing into it in a flash of yellow and blue light.
With the launched confirmed, Worf cloaked the ship and Jadzia set a course for the system, engaging at maximum warp.
--
Halfway to the system, the senior staff were in engineering studying the scans of the ship that attacked the Oregano.
Displayed on a console was the diagram of the ship with side, top and bottom views with indicators pointing to what the sensors had determined as various systems.
"Their phasers had little effect on the ships shields. However, those transports are only equipped with type six phasers. Ours should suffice," Worf reported.
"If the passengers and crew are onboard that ship then we may have to board it. Work on a way to disable their shields long enough to get a team onboard without doing too much damage," Sisko ordered.
"It's also possible that they're somewhere on the planet, we should scan the surface once we're in range," Bashier suggested.
"Agreed; in the meantime, we don't know what condition our people will be in. Doctor I recommend setting up triage stations and being prepared for the worst," Sisko said, Bashier responding with an aye sir. Looking to Worf, Kira and Odo, he continued, "Major, Mr. Worf, set up security teams in preparation to board that ship if it becomes necessary. Constable, I'd much rather solve this without bloodshed, your abilities could come in useful if you can impersonate one of their officers to gather information. Dax when we're in range, see if you can get some scans of the ship and find out what these people look like, it may be possible we can deceive them." Odo and Jadzia nodded. Turning to O'Brien, Sisko continued, "Chief, do what you can to boost the shields and weapons; if diplomacy fails then we may need them." O'Brien nodded.
Sisko dismissed everyone and they went to work.
--
Captains log stardate 49524.3, after tracking the unknown vessel to the 3rd planet of a six-planet system, we are dropping out of warp and preparing to determine the status of the oregano's crew and passengers.
The bridge dark, red alert klaxons sounding and pulsating, the crew was at full alert. They watched, as the planet slowly grew larger on the view screen. Looking much like a marble, the swirls of white clouds over blue oceans was a beautiful site to behold. Had they been on a sight seeing or scientific mission, Sisko was sure they wouldn't be disappointed.
Approaching a planet while under cloak was almost normal for the crew but the feeling of trepidation in not knowing what they were going to encounter was still there, creating considerable tension.
"Dax, are you picking up the ship on sensors?" Sisko asked.
"Sensors are picking up multiple ships in orbit of the planet, there are at least fifty of them," she reported. It wasn't looking good; one of these ships would be more then a match for the Defiant, fifty of them.... Dax chimed again, providing some relief. "Many of the ships appear to be of different design and judging from their warp signatures also from different species. I am however, picking up three ships of similar design to the one we're after, including our ship in orbit around a northern continent."
Three against one was better odds then fifty against one. However, it was still unacceptable. Sisko was hopeful that with all those other ships in orbit that they'd have potential allies if a firefight broke out.
"Take us within scanning range but be ready with evasive maneuvers in case we're detected," Sisko ordered.
Jadzia took the Defiant closer and closer to the planet and ship they were after. As it loomed closer and closer on the view screen, the already high- tension level near doubled.
When they were as close as they could get without being detected, Jadzia initiated the scans. It was not a pleasant scene seeing that ship so close to them and having to sit and wait, not knowing if it knew their people were out there or not.
"I'm not picking up any human life signs aboard the ship, however scanning is limited while we're under cloak," she reported. Sisko sighed deeply, unsure of what to do next until Jadzia's console beeped again. Looking at the readings, a very confused look crossed her face. "Captain, you're not going to believe this, but I'm picking up readings of Terran wildlife on the planet," she said.
"How's that possible? Could they simply be similar species?" Sisko asked.
"I can't get an exact reading, but from what I'm seeing they are definitely not indigenous to this planet," Jadzia responded.
Sisko wanted to know what was going on and it looked like they were going to have to send away teams down to assertion the situation. While this wasn't solving the problem of locating the Oregano's crew and passengers, had the ship also taken non-humanoid species, it could provide clues as to the location of the others.
"Mr. O'Brien, is there any way we can decloak the ship long enough to beam two away teams down to investigate those readings?"
O'Brien went over readings from the planet and came up with a plan.
"If we take the ship to the southern polar region, we should be able to decloak for 20 seconds without someone detecting us. It'll be long enough to beam two teams down. I'll need to rig communicators so they won't be detected if they contact the ship while it's under cloak," he reported.
"All right, let's do it. Jadzia, take us to the southern polar region, Chief, rig six communicators. One they're ready, you, Dax and Lieutenant Peterson will form the first team. Kira, Odo and Doctor Bashier will form the second. Go down in civilian clothing, something that won't attract attention. Bring medical tricorders and phasers with you but keep them concealed. We'll try to locate our people from here," Sisko ordered.
--
An hour later, the two teams of three were in the transporter room. All were dressed in light clothing that based on scans of the area with the animals would blend in well with the populace. They had arranged to beam down in an area that would have the least chance of being seen transporting down.
O'Brien's team went first, waiting on the transporter pad for Sisko to give the go ahead from the bridge. Once he did, the cloak was dropped and the transport performed. Once the transporter operator confirmed a successful beam down, Kira's team stepped onto the pad. The operator wished them luck and beamed them down, informing the bridge once their cycle had successfully completed.
On the planet, Kira, Odo and Bashier looked around their immediate area, confirming no one had seen them materialize. It was chilly where they were, a breeze blowing across the area. In front of them was a wall, on the other side a habitat for wildlife with several trees and a lake. They appeared to have beamed into a zoo or wildlife refuge.
Looking into the habitat, they all were shocked to see it populated by Beavers and River Otters!