Episode 1: Search for Roosevelt, Part II - Into The Mist

USS Dawn Treader was racing, or perhaps treading, through the fabric of space-time at high warp speed, with two skeletal vessels on their tail. One of the vessels struck a direct hit with its plasma weapon, temporarily disabling the computer systems, but T'Val's quick reaction allowed Yorkin to move them out once the helm control re-engaged. The vessels did not outrun the Dawn Treader, but her engines were pushed to the limit, just to keep the pace.

"And without a proper shakedown cruise." a bitter thought had crossed T'Val's mind.

Commander Farah was sitting in her chair, going through the logs retrieved from the freighter, looking for any clues that could help unravel the mystery of the freighter. Captain McAuliffe, on the other hand, was walking between various stations, as if he wasn't sure if there was anything he could do. Formerly Chief of Engineering, there was always some antimatter undulator, isolinear chip, biogel pack or part of EPS system to be fixed with a hyperspanner, sonic driver of isolitic decoupler. But now, he was a captain and no engineer's tool would be available to occupy his mind. That's why he spent many times in Engineering, much to the dismay of his Chief Engineer, Lt. T'Val.

Silence on the bridge was broken by a bleep from a Main Tactical console. "Captain, both vessels began to leak plasma. They are not losing their speed, however." Lt. Fortune reported.

"We are straining them." McAuliffe concluded.

As he did, a tall, blond woman of youthful look, dressed in command uniform, popped into existence beside Lt. T'Val. "As you are straining me, Captain. This running is very uncomfortable." she said.

Farah, Yorkin and Niissil turned around to see the person behind this new voice.

"Dawn, it's a bad time." replied T'Val with a sharp tone, "We are trying to outrun..."

"What you believe to be Scourge vessels, yes." Dawn finished T'Val's sentence, "And you are doing it very poorly, I might add. That plasma discharge hurts."

McAuliffe intervened, ignoring the blond. "T'Val, how long can we keep this speed?"

"Quarter of an hour. An hour, maybe."

"And, Mr. Yorkin, what is our ETA to the nebula?"

"Twenty minutes, Captain." Yorkin replied and turned his attention to Dawn, "Forgive me, Miss, but – who are you?"

Dawn disappeared from T'Val's console and appeared beside Yorkin, sitting on the helm station, with her legs crossed. "Asking 'who' instead of 'what'? My my, someone treats me as a person, for change." she commented nonchalantly, "I am Dawn Ey-Ay, but Dawn will do. And you are…?" she asked, extending her right hand.

"Lt. Cmdr. Yorkin Sinderion, ad hoc helm officer, otherwise CO of USS Mendeljejev." he introduced himself and shook hands with Dawn.

"I see. That explains why you don't appear on the personnel registry." she concluded, "Well, Commander, you better drive more carefully next time. That plasma discharge bruised me."

"I will do my best, Ma'am." he said with a chuckle.

"Dawn, leave him alone. We are busy!" said T'Val, almost growling. Without a word said, Dawn popped out of existence. "Did you just flirt with the ship's AI?"

Yorkin turned to T'Val and grinned mischievously. "There is an old wisdom that Captain Data passed down to me from a certain Admiral, Lieutenant. 'Treat her like a lady and she'll always bring you home."

Dawn Treader had dropped out of warp just at the edge of the nebula, and at half of impulse delved deeper into this uncharted area of The Outback. Navigating through was a rather demanding task, due to the unexpected ion storm discharges and high concentrations of metreon gas which would be set off by the former. Lieutenant Fortune and Ensign Nissil, however, were able to sketch out a less harmful route that Yorkin, being at the helm, could follow. On the other hand, Lieutenant T'Val and Commander Farah were working on another issue.

"With all these storms, metreon particles and what-not, sensor signals are reflecting and refracting back and forth. There is no way that a Scourge ship will find us easily, unless they really poke us with a finger." T'Val explained to Farah, "The problem is – same goes for us."

Farah massaged the edge of her forehead with both arms. "In essence, we are wandering around like a blind targ." she said bitterly, and then turned around to Science station, "Ensign Nissil, can you trace them by that plasma leak they had?"

Caitian nodded. "No harm to try. Could be a little hard to fil..." he began to explain, but was interrupted by the ship shaking.

"Mr. Sinderion, I hope those were not your bad driving skills." Farah said.

"No, Commander. These were not supposed to be dangerous spots." Yorkin replied.

"I can support that. The metreon detonations were too intense for that particle concentration." Fortune added as the ship shook again, more violently.

"They are pretty good at guessing where we are. So much for their blindness." McAuliffe commented shortly. "Lt. Fortune, can you triangulate their position, based on these two firing sequences?" and the ship shook again. "Make that three."

"Captain, I have something regarding that plasma leak. But it is only a glimpse, not accurate." Ensign Nissil said. "Sending to the Tactical."

Silence befell the bridge again, and the ship shook three more times, as Lt. Fortune was attempting to pinpoint the most suitable targeting location. Farah's and McAuliffe's eyes were focused on her. She didn't feel the pressure, but the staring didn't help either. Soon enough, she addressed Yorkin. "Commander, we need small course correction for optimal performance of firing sequence."

As Yorkin received Fortune's input, he turned around to see her and frowned. "Lieutenant, that will bring us very close to a highly concentrated pocket of metreon particles. Are you sure about this?"

"It is our only option, Commander." she replied briefly.

Yorkin stretched and cracked his fingers and focused back on the helm. "Alright, everyone. Hold onto something. It will get bumpy."

"Preparing a gravimetric torpedo load, full spread. Locked on coordinates. Captain?"

"Fire when ready, Lieutenant." McAuliffe said.

"Aye, sir." Fortune replied and started the countdown "Three… two… one… Torpedoes launched."

As the ship approached her turning point in a wide arc move, four warheads left from her aft launchers at high speed and detonated some three seconds later. The explosions initiated a yellow-white-coloured shock wave that propagated quickly through the nebular volume. The Dawn Treader increased to full impulse and then returned to the previous course when the shock wave dissipated.

Captain McAuliffe turned his attention to Lt. Fortune again. "Any effect?"

Fortune was tapping on and across her consoles for a good two-three minutes, making her Captain stressed. And Commander Farah wasn't in a better mood either.

"The explosion volume cross-section is difficult to interpret, Captain." she began to elaborate. "Based on these readings, something big DID explode. But whether it was a large pocket of metreon gas or a vessel, I can't confirm."

"I am sure you did your best." Commander Farah commented. "If the screening effect was ba..."

Farah was interrupted by Nissil' science console. "Now what?"

"Ma'am, I am detecting another faint bleep-bleep." Nissil said.

"Another bleep-bleep?" Captain MacAuliffe repeated sarcastically.

"It's a..." Nissil paused. "Different bleep. Energy signature is not conforming with the previous one and… it is ahead of us, roughly one million kilometres." Nissil explained.

"They couldn't overtake us THAT fast." MacAuliffe replied. "Helm, lay in the course for that… bleep. Full impulse."

A dozen minutes later, Dawn Treader was holding position in front of a Federation nav-beacon. Its emission signal was indeed faint, almost hidden in the nebular background. "Lady Luck must have been sitting on our right shoulder." Yorkin thought. "Or Lady Fortune at the Tactical. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to spot it."

It was left by USS Roosevelt, which gave hope that the ship was still intact and her crew alive. While no hostiles were observable by Dawn Treader's sensor systems, Yorkin could feel tension was rising by second. He only read the reports on the Scourge, prior to his arrival to The Outback, but he had yet to experience and understand what made many of present officers so tense. If the Outback, also known as Futara Mundi dwarf galaxy, was such a hostile environment, why did Starfleet Command reassign him and his little Rhode Island-class science vessel here? Ignorance? Amusement?

"Captain, Commander." Lieutenant Fortune called senior officers, "I have downloaded the data. It had coordinates encrypted, relative to the beacon. I'm patching it to the helm."

"Coordinates received, Captain." Yorkin confirmed.

"Move us at full impulse, Mr. Sinderion. Lt. T'Val, how is the ship holding up?" MacAuliffe turned his attention to chief engineer. Her facial expression, her half-Cardassian heritage giving it away, was already implying much.

"Impulse propulsion and thrusters are working, but that high-warp run left matter-antimatter flux control strained, sir. Had we had a proper shakedown cruise…" T'Val explained but was interrupted by Farah.

"We are aware of the issue, Lieutenant. Weapons and defences?"

"Nebular ion discharges are draining shields minimally, phaser banks and torpedo loads are on stand-by." T'Val answered with what Yorkin heard as a disgruntled voice.

"Sir, we are reaching the nebular perimeter in 30 seconds." Yorkin informed. As the deflector shielding dispersed dense nebular content aside the ship, in a way which would remind a casual outside observer of seafaring ships used to – cut – through the waves, the image on the main viewer began to clear out and show interstellar space, with little dots – stars of The Outback. However, the Sovereign-class USS Roosevelt was nowhere to be seen.

"Lt. Fortune, open the hailing frequencies." MacAuliffe ordered.

"Sir, that will expose us." a junior officer protested.

"I am aware, but my gut feeling tells me they already know we are here. Roosevelt, on the other hand, does not. Open the hailing frequencies." MacAuliffe repeated his order to which Fortune complied. "USS Roosevelt, this is USS Dawn Treader, Captain Jackson MacAuliffe in command. Please respond."

"No respo..." Fortune began, but was interrupted by her console. "Sir, we have a contact. It is one of the hostile ships."

"One?" Farah asked shortly.

"Confirmed. They are charging weapons." Fortune replied.

"Helm, evasive manoeuvres. All weapons, fire at will." Farah issued commands. Dawn Treader moved forward and slided aside, barely avoiding the first fire of plasma energy weapons. The second salvo, however, was a direct hit to the starboard quarter of the saucer section, just a few metres from the starboard impulse engine. Aft dorsal shielding dropped almost by half, but T'Val was quick to compensate for the loss. As the ship turned around in a forward loop, exposing shortly its ventral side, Lt. Fortune fired a salvo of photon torpedoes, as well as both ventral and dorsal forward phasers. The fire seemed to have barely scratched the enemy vessel. The ship spinned around its lateral axis as the enemy made a fly-by, discharging another plasma blast against the Dawn Treaderr's port side. Captain MacAuliffe gave the order to keep the ship at distance.

"Sir, that last hit just disabled dorsal phaser array. Shields are at 47%, structural integrity is holding." T'Val replied.

"There is some shield fluctuation in their… engine section, I guess." Fortune reported. "Another contact, sir, coming out of the nebula."

"Oh sh..." Yorkin commented for himself.

"It's Roosevelt, sir. They are hailing, voice only."

"Open the channel." MacAuliffe said. "Captain Adams, your timing is as impeccable as ever."

A soft female voice could be heard over the comms, responding. "Thank you, Jack. I see you ran into our friends. We've been battered, but we can still put up a fight."

"Good to hear, Stacy. I will have my Tactical coordinate with you." MacAuliffe said, signalling Lt. Fortune at the same time.

The elegantly elongated and sleek Roosevelt joined the fray and fired a salvo of quantum torpedoes at the enemy vessel which was still chasing Dawn Treader. Dawn Treader spinned again and came about as the enemy vessel suddenly became preoccupied with Roosevelt. After a few more chases and fire exchanges, the enemy vessel began to show the signs of wear.

As the crews coordinated their attacks, the enemy vessel finally found itself between the two Starfleet ships. Roosevelt deployed a full salvo of her tricobalt torpedo complement and Dawn Treader opened a barrage of photon torpedoes from their point defence systems, followed by continuing merciless phaser fire from both ships. Within seconds, the enemy vessel blew to pieces in an energetic explosion, which left very little debris around.

"Woooah!" Yorkin exclaimed and then turned around. "Sorry, Commander.", he addressed Farah. The Orion woman let out a small smile.

"I think the 'woah' is an appropriate reaction this time." she said. Tactical console signalled again. "Now what?"

"Commander, another contact incoming." Fortune reported with a voice of relief. "It's USS Destiny. ETA – three minutes."

Captain MacAuliffe's face frowned. Commander Farah looked at him questioningly. "That is Admiral T'Molina's ship. Everyone, be ready for a staff meeting. Commander, you have the bridge." he said and retreated to his ready room.