An unexpected meeting

Posted on Thu Nov 1st, 2018 @ 12:04am by Captain Andreas O'Shaunessy & Lieutenant Commander Anders Odegaard & Lieutenant JG Daisy Skie-Cloud & Lieutenant JG Dave & Lieutenant JG Judah Taggart

Mission: Shakedown Cruise
Location: Bridge

After a good night's sleep, Andreas headed to the bridge to start his duty shift. He was happy with how the ship was faring so far on her shakedown cruise. There were a number of little things that popped up along the way, but the crew handled most of them quickly and efficiently What they couldn't deal with while in the field had been added to a list that would be fixed when they returned to Iota.

As he entered the bridge, he grabbed himself a coffee from the replicator. Nodding to the duty officer in the captain's chair, he sat down and pulled up the previous shift's logs.

Most of the shift was uneventful, but the last hour had a couple of unknown blips on the long range sensors. "Lieutenant, what are these blips on the sensors?"

"We couldn't trace them, sir. They disappeared as quickly as they appeared. There was no appearance of a threat, so we didn't think anything of them."

Andreas nodded, but looked at the pattern of the blip's appearance. The distance from the Alabama remained the same and followed the course that the ship was on. 'It would appear someone is shadowing us.' He thought to himself.

Checking their location, Andreas saw that they were passing the Ankari system and wondered if it could be one of their ships.

Not wanting to take any chances, he tapped his comm badge. "Senior staff, report to the bridge, please."

Dave made his way to the bridge. As the turbolift let me out, he muttered, "This must be big. I don't called up here very often."

A few minutes later, Daisy exited the turbo lift onto the bridge and moved immediately to the helm and did her own checks as she relieved the on duty helm. She spun her seat around to face the Captain. "We're still on course, Sir." With a warm smile as she pun her seat back to facing the helm again.

Judah was standing in the armory with his Master at Arms (MA) conducting an impromptu inspection. They were discussing the security and tactical training of their current department members when Judah's comms badge beeped. He replied with a brisk "Aye Captain" in his thick southern accent.

"Thank you MA we will continue this conversation later." Judah stepped into the turbolift and arrived on the bridge moments later. He stood discussing the possible threats with Ensign Mims, while reviewing the results of the Longe Range scans.

Andreas rose from his chair and looked around the bridge. Seeing that the majority of the senior staff had arrived, he nodded in appreciation. "Ok folks, long range sensor have picked up ... something. I wish I could be more specific at this time, but that's all I can say based on the readings. The 'blips' started just as we came to the edge of Ankari system and have essentially shadowed us as we follow the outer perimeter of the system. Our knowledge of the Ankari technology and ship structures is limited, so I want to be prepared for anything."

Looking at the Tactical station. "Lieutenant Taggart, I want you to continue with the long term scans and clean them up as much as possible. I want to know if you can identify whatever seems to be following us."

"Aye Captain," Judah replied quickly. "Engineering boost the power to the rear long range sensor, we need to get a solid read on this."

"Okay.. I mean, Aye, Sir." Dave answered, fingers already dancing across the sensor controls.

As the engineers boosted the sensor's capabilities Judah was able to detect a rough outline of the ships following them. With the quick press of a button Judah spoke, "Captain, the view screen," as a rough, grainy image appeared on the screen.

"This is the best I can do for the moment Captain, there appears to be an electrical anomaly interfering with our long-range sensors. It is also prohibiting the computer from making a positive identification of the ships behind us. I would recommend going to a Yellow Alert sir, and open hailing frequencies."

"Agreed, Lieutenant." Andreas replied. "Send a general hail on all channels. Give them 2 minutes to reply and then I'll send out a greeting if they don't respond."

Odegaard looked around. The XO was doing his standard patrol of all stations and examining the work of his staff. "All Stations I want constant progress reports, have them directed to the Captains chair and my station."

"Need I remind you Sir that as the Ship is at Yellow Alert regulations dictate we raise shields." He said returning to his seat.

Andreas nodded, looking up to the Tactical station. "Raise the shields, Lieutenant."

"Aye sir, shields are up," Judah said as his fingers raced across his terminal's screen.

Odegaard monitored from his seat. "Whatever it is on our heels, it's matching us speed for speed and movement to movement almost like a reflection of ourselves." The XO was methodical in his examination of the sensor data. "Ankari aren't known for being hostile based on what Voyager reported about them."

"Agreed, Commander. I'm hoping that that remains true now. If we can make contact and establish a starting point for Iota Command to follow up on, we'll be golden." Andreas replied.

Odegaard nodded in agreement of his superior. "Let's just hope they answer our hails."

Daisy suddenly slowed Alabama down quickly, to bring the following ship closer within range of the scanners of the Alabama, then resumed normal cruising speeds to force the following ship to maintain the distance or be lost in the vastness of space.

Andreas looked towards the helm. "Thank you, Lieutenant, that should get their attention." A moment later, a voice came through the open communication line.

=/\= Federation vessel, this is Captain Amardeon from Ankari. What is your purpose for violating our space?=/\=

"Captain Amardeon, I am Commander Andreas O'Shaunessy. We are on our first mission in this quadrant and are simply testing the systems on our ship while flying a circuitous route around the Turei system. I apologize for entering your space and mean no disrespect to you or your people."

=/\= I'd like to believe you, Commander, but your defensive systems have been activated. If your intention were peaceful, why have you done this? =/\=

"Our sensors showed some 'blips' that we could not identify. It is standard operating procedures for us to raise our shields until we determine whether the readings are good, bad or otherwise." Andreas replied. "As an act of good faith, I am willing to lower our shields if I can get some assurances it will be received as intended without an act of violence on your part."

Andreas nodded towards the Tactical Station. "To further our good will, Captain, I would like to invite you and two of your officers to join us aboard the Alabama for a brief meet and greet."

=/\= That is acceptable, Commander. Please provide us with the coordinates and we will beam over in 30 minutes. =/\= Captain Amardeon replied.

"Understood, Captain. See you in 30 minutes."

Once the channel was closed, Andreas turned to his crew. "Thank you all for your diligence and time. Time to get back to your regular duties."

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Lieutenant Commander Anders Odegaard

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Lieutenant JG Daisy Skie-Cloud

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Lieutenant JG Judah Taggart

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Lieutenant JG Dave

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Commander Andreas O'Shaunessy