Chapter 3 USS Beluga
USS WISCONSIN CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM
INTERCEPT T-2 HOURS
Joshua Jacobs was lying on the couch opposite his desk looking aft through the large windows. This ready room was a great idea Dom had. Starfleet vessels used to have them, but somewhere in the period of great exploration where ship space was at a premium, it was taken away. Dom had the idea to reinstate it in the area immediately aft of the bridge, replacing the VIP docking port. Again, Joshua looked at Starfleet records and found out that there were vessels with the new design which had never used the docking port. A couple of meetings later to reconsider the altered design, the Captain's ready room was reinstated. It offered an impressive view of the aft dish area, impulse dome and of course the new warp engines.
Jacobs was drifting in and out of sleep trying to get a good nap when the comm whistle sounded. Reaching over, he pushed the button and said, "Jacobs here."
"Lt. Jareau here. Incoming message from Starfleet command."
"I'll take it here JJ. Thank you." Jacobs got up and walked over to his desk. Activating his computer screen, he typed in his password and selected the message.
Kirk's image came up. "Joshua, we have received your message and approve deviation of your flight plan for investigation of USS Beluga. Update when able. Also, let me know how your ship and crew perform in its first real action. Starfleet is interested in how your security staff performs. Unofficially, I'm getting some flak from above. Just to give you a heads up, there was a nephew of a Senator that got turned down trying to join your crew. The Senator who is harassing Starfleet is the same Senator who gave us problems when we were conceptualizing the Wisconsin. Just to remind you of my position, you are the Captain of your ship, and you run your ship the best way you see fit. I'm not going to let politics interfere with you out there in space. Good luck."
Jacobs leaned back. He remembered the Senator well. He pushed the reply button and said, "Admiral Kirk, thank you very much. We will send reports as necessary. Off the record, please send me the specific crewman's name you were referring to. Thank you for your support. We aim to please." He pushed the send button and thought for a bit. Definitely not the time to distract Mr. Bauer's attention.
He didn't feel like sitting anymore. He couldn't get a nap and didn't feel like sleeping. It was time for a walk. He left the ready room which opened directly to the back of the bridge. He looked at Lt. Jareau and said, "JJ, I have a communiqué in the queue for Admiral Kirk. Send it out with the next dispatches, please."
"Aye Aye, Sir."
Jacobs pushed the comm button ending the call. He stood up and walked to the bathroom. After splashing some water to wake up properly, he walked out the door onto the bridge. Looking around he saw all was in order.
"Karl, time to intercept?"
"One hour, fifty minutes."
"Very good, see you at the meeting." Jacobs turned and entered the turbolift.
The doors closed, he twisted the handle "Security."
Getting off the turbolift, he walked the short way to Security's main office. Jack Bauer and Teal'c were inside looking over schematics. Teal'c was a human, about six feet tall and stocky. He was built like a very muscular football linebacker. Lt Teal'c always had a quiet strength about him, and a formal demeanor. Teal'c was standing behind Bauer looking over his shoulder at the schematics. Bauer stood immediately "Captain."
"At ease, Jack. Teal'c. How are the men?"
Jack nodded "They are due to wake in 30 minutes. I'd be surprised if they are asleep right now."
Jacobs nodded "I was having that problem myself. What are you looking at?"
Jack pointed to the desk; the top was lit up with schematics "This is Starfleet's records of the USS Beluga. Lt. Cdr Hotchner has reported that Beluga is on the sensors, so far it seems like its alone."
"The pirates probably are already gone."
Teal'c spoke, "A valid assumption Captain. However, we are preparing for combat." Teal'c always stood and sat at something like attention, his manner very formal. Part of his Jafar heritage.
"Good to assume. Jack, just to make myself clear, whatever assets we can provide, they are yours to assure safety of the Badgers."
"Thank you, Captain. They will appreciate that."
"I'll leave you two alone, see you at T-1 hour."
Both Teal'c and Bauer responded "Aye Aye sir"
From security Jacobs made his way through engineering, the hangar bay, sick bay, and then on to the briefing room.
USS WISCONSIN BRIDGE
INTERCEPT TIME
The Wisconsin was fast approaching the Beluga. Scanners were picking up more and more details every minute. It was looking like the pirates had already left.
Jacobs was looking over the bridge. He liked the design that he and his Bridge crew had worked. Very efficient and good for giving him the big picture. "Alan, standard approach."
"Aye aye sir, going to impulse power now."
Hotchner looked up from the science station "All clear, no other ships other than the Beluga."
Jacobs turned to him "Life signs?"
"Weak ones, all human."
"Alan, bring us to 5 miles from the Beluga. Karl, be ready for shields"
"Aye Aye sir." Carter slowly started rolling the Wisconsin to match the 'waterline' of the Beluga. It was standard practice to do this to give everybody a sense of 'up.'
Hotchner glanced up from his displays "Captain, I have a count, looks like 30 souls on board."
Jacobs glanced over to the security station, currently manned by Lt. Thomas Magnum. "Tell them 30 and get them over there now."
USS BELUGA ENGINEERING
Jack Bauer and the first wave materialized in the dark. Bauer never liked beaming into the dark, it was a moment of disorientation that a bad guy can take advantage of. "Fan out" and the team spread out from the beaming point with phaser pulse rifles up. Jack touched his left ear where the communicator ear bud was placed "We're good, it's a go."
The next wave of six materialized with Teal'c in charge. "Teal'c secure this area, Mr. Tyrol, if you please."
Tyrol went to the main panel and started working on it. "Engines are safe, they are already shut down. Life support is minimal. Locking down the ship." He pushed a few more buttons. Turning to Bauer he nodded.
"Bauer to Wisconsin, Engineering secure. Proceeding forward, beam over medics now."
Ensign Sam Hanna pulled out his tricorder and started scanning. "No traps, clear. Life signs next room."
Bauer and another Badger forced a door open that was warped due to something like a blast. The rest of team 1 went through with rifles at the ready. Entering the room, the team quickly swept the area and found two of the Beluga crewmen lying on the floor. Jack turned around and shouted, "MEDIC!" A Medic showed up and started treating the crewman. Shortly later, the medic placed a transponder on the crewman and flipped open their communicator and said, "Wisconsin, one injured to beam up." They then stood and backed away while the casualty was beamed over to the Wisconsin. Bauer looked at the other Badgers. "Keep looking for more crewmen." And the teams continued their search.
On the Wisconsin the casualty materialized in the Transporter room. Dr. Mallard had a tricorder out and started scanning. Motioning to another medic he said, "Third degree burns, probably from an energy weapon. He also has dehydration, and, of course, fatigue. Get him in and get started." The medics whisked him out of the transporter room on a gurney.
Up on the bridge, Jacobs was standing in front of the helm/nav console looking at the main viewscreen. The USS Beluga had numerous weapons-fire damage, including hull breaches. He walked over to the security station where Lt. Magnum was monitoring the security teams. Magnum was on the com talking with Bauer. Magnum was coordinating the movement of team 1 to secure different areas of the ship. Looking across the bridge, he could see Hotchner with the scanners running. Jacobs thought to himself, "So far, nothing on long range scanners and no return of the marauders." Captain Jacobs kept looking around the bridge, partly taking in the information and marveling at how nice this bridge was on presenting information and keeping everybody in the loop. Most of the bridge personnel were turned towards the center of the bridge to monitor their own consoles. Behind each console were large displays showing that person's information to others on the bridge.
Leonaidas had a list of the Beluga's crew, those who were rescued as well as sickbay status on his screen. Jacobs then looked at the Security screen, which showed a diagram of the Beluga along with dots indicating the away teams and secured areas. The operation was nearly complete now.
Jacobs walked around Navigation and back to his seat. He said to Lt. Jareau at communications, "Get me Commander Bauer." Later, she nodded when the link was established. Jacobs pushed his com panel button. "Jack, how are things proceeding there?"
"Very good sir, no hostiles. It seems like it was a hit-and-run operation for them."
"Any indications on who it was?"
"No, sir. I'll have the teams look everything over carefully. It may help to have Commander Hotchner's people look for evidence for the attackers. They have better equipment than Security."
"Sounds like a good idea. They will beam over right away. Anything else?"
"No, sir."
"Very good. Wisconsin out." Jacobs said to Hotchner, "Hotch, assemble a team and find out who attacked the Beluga."
Four hours later, the first evidence turned up. Ensign Dietrich picked up his communicator. "Dietrich to Wisconsin"
Lt. Jareau answered, "Wisconsin here."
"Connect me with Cdr Hotchner, please."
Hotchner answered, "Hotchner here. What did you find ensign?"
"I'm on the bridge. We found some hairs on the deckplating. They don't appear to be human. All the ship's complement were human. There is some blood associated with the hairs. I've samples of both."
Hotchner responded, "Beam the samples over. I'll have them taken to Dr. Mallard. What are your first impressions on who it might be?"
"Norsicans."
"Thank you. Report when you are done."
Hotchner listened to Dietrich's suspicions and narrowed his scan. Now that they had an idea of what species, it would be a lot simpler to look for trace signatures. Also adding a bit of guesswork would quicken the search. Pretty soon, he found something. Doing some quick computations, he was certain that the DNA would show Norsican. Lifting his head from the display he said, "Captain, I have a lead."
Jacobs asked, "What is it?"
Hotchner turned to the screen immediately behind him and brought up a picture that Dietrich sent over. "This is a strand of hair found on the deckplate of the Bridge. Notice the blood on it. Ensign Dietrich suspects Norsican and I agree. Dr Mallard can confirm that later. Using that suspicion, I started searching for Norsican warp signatures. I found one here." Pushing a button, he brought up a nearby star system. "There is a Norsican warp signature that touches the Oort cloud of that star."
"Recently?"
"Within the last day, and I also have an approximate heading."
Using Lt Agathon's callsign Jacobs asked, "Helo, how about it?"
Agathon checked his console. "Getting the coordinates now. That heading information does look like it's good enough to follow."
Lt Magnum chirped in, "Bauer reports Beluga secure."
Then Leonaidas said, "Final tally done. 3 people missing, the Captain plus 2 officers. We haven't had time to check cargo manifest."
Jacobs nodded. "Very good. Have Mr. Tyrol put Beluga's salvage beacon online. All personnel to beam over immediately. Dom, can we hold warp 8?"
Santini looked at the engines and said, "Yes sir. It depends on how long. I can give you a day at warp 8 easily."
Jacobs stood up and went to the turbolift. "That will buy us some time. Alan, Helo, pursuit course Warp 8 once everybody is onboard. I'll be in sickbay. Leo, you have the bridge."
