Chapter 2 Distress call
Joshua intended to start some traditions. Off the main mess hall, was the Captain's Mess. This was a small room with a table for four at most, and a view out the side of the saucer. Joshua intended to get to know his crew and to have them get to know him. One way to do that was over dinner. Leonaidas always ate with him, and 3 times a week they had the computer randomly select a crewman to come have dinner. Today, it was Science Officer Ensign Dietrich.
Leonaidas was finishing up his dinner "Why were you getting a lie detector test?"
Dietrich leaned back "Well, sir, it was a new experimental algorithm. They expanded the hand plate's sensors and were working on the new algorithms. The designers wanted to test it on as many new people as they could, side by side with the old hand sensor. They arranged with Starfleet to supply some 'raw material' to get a large sampling on."
Joshua smiled "You volunteered?"
Dietrich shook his head, "Didn't get the chance, one day as class was breaking the Drill Instructor showed up and said follow him. The deal was if we beat the test, we didn't have to run the rest of the week."
Leonaidas took a sip of water "Who was your DI?"
"Sergeant Ulundi."
Joshua was amazed "He's still a DI? He was my DI back in the academy! That's got to make him, pushing 70?"
Dietrich swallowed hard, "I don't know sir, but he can still run all of us into the ground."
All of them laughed, Joshua looked at Dietrich "So I can see you were motivated, did you beat the test?"
Dietrich sipped his water "I convinced myself I didn't care of the result. The techs were really mad at me."
Leonaidas asked "What kind of questions did they ask you?"
Dietrich shrugged "they started with standard stuff, and I started messing with them right away. 'Where was I from?' 'Black hole 41 in the Cygnus stargroup'"
Josh looked from Dietrich to Leo smiling "There's no black hole anywhere near Cygnus"
Dietrich smiled embarrassingly "I didn't know and didn't care; I was just talking. They kept on like asking when was I born and I said 40 years in the future, I'm a regressive time alien."
Leo had a quizzical look on his face "What's that?"
"That was the next question, I didn't know, didn't care but said something like 'one who lives time backwards' you know 'my future is your past'"
They all started laughing, then the comm beeped. Joshua said before pushing the button "I can see why they were mad; did Sgt Ulundi get mad?"
"He acted like it, but I think he hates techhies worse than plebes."
Josh pressed the button "Jacobs here"
"Lt Jareau, we've picked up a distress call, USS Beluga, a cargo ship."
"I'll be right there." Pushing the button again "Nice dinner with you Mr. Dietrich, Leo, let's go" and the two of them got up and left.
USS WISCONSIN MAIN BRIDGE
Stepping on board the bridge, Hotchner stood up in his typical, formal Vulcan fashion from the Captain's chair and said simply, "Captain on the bridge."
Jacobs started walking to his chair, "Update."
Hotchner stepped over to the science station, relieving the standby officer "We picked up a distress call from USS Beluga, a cargo ship registered to operate in this vicinity. They are approximately 12 hours away at warp 8. Currently they are beyond sensor range, nothing unusual down that bearing."
"Thank you. Dom, can we do warp 8 for the time?"
Santini looked up from his displays, "We should be able to do that."
Jacobs turned "Carter, Helo, set intercept course and speed Warp 8. Miss Jareau, contact Starfleet, update them with what is happening, we are intercepting for possible boarding action. Mr. Hotchner, you have the bridge. Leo, senior officer meeting in the briefing room 15 minutes." And Jacobs got up and went to his ready room.
USS WISCONSIN BRIEFING ROOM
Meeting in the briefing room, Jacobs and Leonaidas came in and sat down "Mr. Hotchner, Please bring everybody up to date."
Hotchner looked up and pushed a button on the table. "This is the USS Beluga, Cargo ship running this sector. About a half hour ago we received this transmission from them:"
The speaker crackled to life "..SS BELUGA, NCC 1209, …. PIRATES BOARDING….. USS BEL…"
Hotchner continued, "All contact has been lost, so far sensors can't reach that far, we will be in range in a few hours. The attack occurred in open space, light years from the nearest star system."
Jacobs turned to Lt Agathon, "Time to intercept."
"Ten Hours, Thirty Minutes"
Jacobs looked around "We need to plan a possible hostage rescue with casualties. Dr. Mallard, your status in sickbay?"
Dr Mallard looked up "Fully operational, we'll be ready, will you want medics with the boarding party?"
Jacobs looked at Bauer, Jack responded "Assuming transporters are operational, not on the first beam over. My priority is to establish beam-in security. We should have a pair of medics ready to beam over within the first minute. Do we have any status on the ship? Type of Cargo?"
Hotchner easily recalled, "Cargo is approximately 1000 tons of colony supplies, heavy equipment, tooling, small arms, building supplies. Crew of 45."
Jacobs looked at the clock "Give me a plan in 2 hours, coordinate with Medical. Dismissed." All rose and started heading to the door Jacobs looked at Leonaidas "Leo, a moment."
Leonaidas turned "Sir?"
After everybody left "Leo, I want your assessment of our personnel. We just were commissioned. Are we ready?"
Leo sat down and thought a minute "We have been declared ready for launch by Starfleet. Overall, we're just like every other Starfleet vessel that just launched with two exceptions. First, we have the Badgers. Second, we have the re-engineered Assault Raptors. I think that in this case those will make up for the crew's lack of experience with each other."
Jacobs nodded, "Good, let's a little rack time, see you in 2 hours."
USS WISCONSIN
8 HOURS 30 MINUTES TO INTERCEPT USS BELUGA
Jacobs walked into the briefing room, all stood "Thank you all, please be seated. Mr. Bauer, what is your plan?"
Bauer pressed a button and the viewscreen came alive. "This is the latest we have on the USS Beluga. It is a 40-year-old cargo ship powered by the previous standard stardrive. Assuming we have hostiles on board with hostile ships in the area, our priority is to beam on with minimal exposure to the ship. Mr. Agathon had the idea that we approach from the opposite of any hostiles in the area, and as we pass beyond the ship, he will drop the aft shields to allow the transporters to operate. We will transport 2 teams into the engineering area and establish site security. Backups to that area is the mess hall and then hangar deck. Wherever we beam into, we will immediately proceed to engineering, verify life support, engine integrity, and lockdown entire ship. After that, using the Beluga's computer, our people will be able to move through the ship freely searching for hostiles. Medics and other personnel will beam over into the secure site at this time assuming the Wisconsin can drop shields."
Jacobs nodded "Any medics on the initial beam in?"
Bauer shook his head "No, we have Badger team members that are cross trained as field medics, and they will be in each first team. Starfleet doesn't consider them as medics because they are not doctors, but they can handle first aid plus triage. I've coordinated with Dr. Mallard to have medics ready to beam over after we can assure their safety."
"Very good, Ben, status on weapons?"
Ben Grimm was a realtively chunky man. His head was bald, which somehow made him appear tough, not someone to be trifled with. His expertise and time with Captain Jacobs went back to the Wolverine. He leaned back "Everything operational."
Jacobs went around the table for status, finally he turned to Jennifer Jareau, "JJ, time until earliest possible reply from Starfleet command?"
"Approximately fifteen minutes."
"Anything else?"
Doctor Mallard looked at the Captain, "Permission to turn Cargo bay 3 into an extended sick bay. With 45 possible casualties, we won't be able to handle it."
"Granted, anything else? Very good, get some rack time. I want to have one final meeting at T – 1 hour to intercept."
EARTH, STARFLEET COMMAND
Kirk was walking to Admiral Warren's Office with the latest communiqué from the Wisconsin. He was just thinking of his time on Enterprise during its heyday. What he wouldn't give to get back in command again. Now he may be an Admiral, but it is just a glorified pencil pusher.
Stepping into the office, the aide waived him right on in. Admiral Warren commanded a starship for ten years before making admiral and overall was a good boss to work for. Kirk could see that the price of Admiralty is having to do with politics, and that tends to distract from what's needed.
"Jim, good to see you, please sit down. I wanted to let you know what is happening concerning Starfleet and the Federation council. Basically Senator Jameson is hopping mad about the Wisconsin."
Kirk was surprised "What is he mad about?"
Warren folded his hands "Two things, both which hit him in his district. First, these old Raptors that Captain Jacobs appropriated and rebuilt. Jameson is mad that we aren't using normal shuttlecraft."
Kirk frowned. He realized what was going on. A representative is mad because his district lost some business because some shuttlecraft supposedly weren't made. "Craig, first, those Raptors were destined for the scrapheap. I think they actually pulled one out of the junkyard. They either found old parts or fabricated their own to get them space worthy. If Senator Jameson is mad that two shuttlecraft weren't built, that's simply not true. Wisconsin has its full complement of shuttlecraft standard for its mission. I allowed Joshua to do the Raptors because I found it intriguing what he was proposing."
"And that is what?"
"Starfleet shuttlecraft may not have the capability of certain missions. His Raptors have the capability of total manual flying with no EM emissions of any kind. Totally dark. Also, he can force-board a ship with the Raptors as well as paradrop with them. They are slightly longer than normal raptors and they call them Assault Raptors."
"Why did he do that?"
Kirk shifted "He thought that the Starfleet standard starship setup was inadequate concerning security. His background was tending and in preparation for the exploratory mission he researched the history and came up with some interesting facts."
Warren looked surprised "Such as what?"
"He thinks that as a readiness, Security training is inadequate. We've been teaching our kids not how to survive, such as expect the unexpected, etc."
Warren looked at his pad "That leads into Jameson's other complaint. He says that Starfleet is now becoming a military organization. He doesn't like the security force on the Wisconsin."
Kirk was getting uncomfortable, "Craig, you know what it is like out there. We may not be officially military, but in all practicality we are. We carry weapons on board that can devastate the entire surface of a planet. We are organized into fleets. We've fought the Klingons, Romulans, and countless others. I don't know how you can say we aren't military. Also, how many security people have you lost? I'm surprised we get people to volunteer for the redshirts. It's almost a kiss of death and the security division has been demoralized the last few years because of the horrible attrition rate."
"Yes Jim, but Joshua has gone overboard. He's turned away people trying to get on his ship. His whole security staff has undergone this special training and they call themselves what?"
"Badgers. It's good for elite units to adopt names."
"But it's not official. He doesn't have the right to turn people away if they don't want to do the extra to be a 'Badger'."
"A Captain has the right to turn away any member from becoming his crew. This sounds personal. Who did he turn away?"
Warren looked at the pad "Jameson's nephew. Claims that he was turned down for no reason. Claims that Starfleet security is good enough to serve on a starship and that he shouldn't have to do anything special."
Kirk chuckled "Craig, if I recall right, you turned down an engineering officer because he wouldn't be willing to go along with your modifications on your ship."
"That was different."
"No it's not. Joshua feels it's important. We now have an opportunity to see his vision in action. He's come across a situation now. The USS Beluga sent out a distress call and he's answering it. Sounds like pirate action."
