A voice in the dark...

Posted on Tue Apr 5th, 2011 @ 8:56am by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts (KIA)

Mission: Renegades
Location: Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: Shortly after 'Just Cheting In'

Captain Nathan Cowell arrived on the bridge after being assaulted by the security minion from Major DeVries' old posting. It was an ordeal, to say the least, and one he didn't look forward to repeating any time soon. In fact, he'd been accosted by several people already today, a far cry for the usual absence of people pestering him. It must have been something in the water on DS10. As Nathan sank into his chair, he leaned back and heaved out a sigh.

"Have you gotten everything aboard yet, Roberts?" Nathan asked.

Aiden found himself sitting at the Mission Operations station in the rear of the Bridge, preferring to let one of his junior officers get in some face time with the first shift crew. They were docked, and there wasn't much going on. However, he didn't want folks tossing jokes towards his people like they did with that stuttering ensign at the Conn.

"Everything is stowed and secure Captain. Still awaiting a recall on some of our folks on the station, but we should be all accounted for in about ten minutes..." Aiden replied, turning in his seat towards the center of the Bridge.

"Good," Nathan said, taking a quick survey of the room around him. The bridge was a little less occupied thanks to the ship being docked. Fewer systems were active, hence there was less need to oversee certain aspects of the ship. Even the Tactical console was vacant, for obvious reasons, which meant that when the console began to chirp at the insistence of an incoming hail, no one immediately answered it.

"Mister Roberts, get the damn phone..." Nathan grumbled. He was perfectly capable of doing it himself, he simply had no desire to.

"This... USS Temperance... we're... attack! Request... immediate assistance..." was the only part of the message that was clear enough to be made out.

Nathan bolted out of his chair, snapping his fingers as he spoke, "Who are they? Where are they? How close are we to them?"

Aiden pulled up the the Temperance in the database. He skimmed the information quickly, he standing and moving towards the front of the Bridge to his normal chair. The junior officer stood, relinquishing the station to the Lieutenant. "Looks like is an old supply courier, one of ours..."

Roberts paused while pulling up the sensor telemetry, trying to be as exact as possible with his figures. "We have about forty minutes between us and them at maximum warp. They're in a soupy sensor area through, long range sensors cannot get definite fix on their position, nor their attackers.."

"Red Alert! Mister Roberts, get us unhooked from this station ASAP. Once we're back under our own power, set a course for their location, maximum warp," Nathan demanded.

The Lieutenant swiveled in his chair to face the Captain. "We still don't have everyone on board, Boss."

"I give a shit, we've got a distress call needs answering. We'll either pick them up afterward or they will have to hitch a ride with someone else. Make your preparations Mister Roberts," the old man barked.

Aiden knew the argument the Captain was going to make before he made it, after all it was the same one he would have made had their roles been reversed. Nonetheless, he felt compelled to keep the Old Man appraised of all the little things. Less surprises were always better, he figured.

Tapping a the communications controls on his console, Aiden first opened a channel to Station Operations. "Deep Space Ten Operations, this is the Arizona requesting priority clearance for departure." He closed the channel, and opened another, this time for a ship wide announcement.

"All hands, prepare for immediate departure. Secure all airlocks and prepare for umbilical separation." As he closed the channel, he mumbled something about keeping a tray tables in the upright locked position.

Nathan returned to his chair and watched as the bridge again burst into the lively compartment that it hadn't been moments before. Personnel literally came out of nowhere to fill the empty consoles that were left unmanned during docked operations. Before the docking latches had been confirmed detached, the entire bridge didn't have a single vacant spot... save one.

"Let me guess, Commander Mantell didn't make it..." Nathan said, observing the empty seat.

"No sir, he and five others were still on board the station at the time of departure..."

Nathan sighed and shrugged, "Guess you're filling in until he makes it back to us. Try not to fuck it up..."

Aiden gave a curt nod, before turning back to his console where he was still trying to scan through the interference while still monitoring departure procedures, or what was left of them. "All sections report readiness, and Engineering has given us the green light for warp capability."

"Set course and engage warp engines," Nathan ordered. Even he knew the value of time in situations such as this...