--Part 3

Posted on Wed Feb 8th, 2023 @ 1:32pm by Lieutenant Commander Diane Doctrine & Lieutenant Geiger Zaal

Mission: Starship Side Quest
Location: Runabout Cuyahoga
Timeline: Current.

==Runabout USS Cuyahoga==

Diane sat in the co-pilot's seat watching the stars flit by while wondering what Rutherford might be doing. She was also keeping an eye on the navigational sensors. They'd be arriving at the boneyard soon.

Finchley came into the cockpit area, Kilbane in tow "...so to expedite the process, I told Fanji that putting her foot in her mouth was no excuse, admit she was wrong and move on!"

Finchley looked at Kilbane, then turned to Diane "This is Kevin Kilbane Sir, he's the one I was telling you about..."

"Eh, that's Kevin, LORD Kilbane of Sanquhar if you please, Kerr," he said, and turned to Diane. Taking her hand lightly in his, he kissed the back of it and said, "Enchanted Commander, I'm at your service," and then let go of her hand again.

Finchley just rolled his eyes and sat in the pilot's chair.

Diane grinned while wondering if she would go and wash her hand. "Pleased to meet you," she answered pleasantly. "You are an engineer also?" she asked wondering just who she was working with on this trip.

"Good heavens no, nothing so mundane Madam" Kevin replied "I am...

~An arrogant arsehole~ Finchley said under his breath.

"...an historian" Kevin replied, banging the back of Finchley's chair with his fist "and dare I say, savant of Starfleet vessels past."

Diane grinned at Kerr needling Kilbane. Her eyes gave Kerr the 'yeah, I heard that' side glance. "A historian?" she asked Kilbane, "You ought to be able to tell us something about each ship we assess then." There was a hint of mirth in her eyes, but she really was testing Kilbane's knowledge to see just how much of a historian he really was.

"Well, since I believe you're asking out of interest Commander, rather than being a troglodyte like some," Kilbane began, throwing a withering look at Finchley, "It's interesting to note that the Gagarin Class, such as the one and only USS Gagarin itself that we're heading for, came from humble beginnings. They were actually based off of the Moskva and later Wasp classes of vessels. Not particularly known for their weapons prowess, they were basically patrol, survey and science vessels. You must understand, at that time, exploration was vital to the Federation, but the Gagarin Class wasn't really equipped to go out much further than Federation held territory. You also have to understand that at that time, the crew weren't particularly large, around sixty to seventy mostly, and in comparison to vessels today, oh, woefully slow. Most Gagarin classes had a maximum speed of warp five point five so you can see why they didn't really venture far and wide."

"Interesting," Diane cooed to egg him on. Of course, she knew all of that already. That was basically the stuff taught in History of Starfleet classes at the Academy. She figured Finchley knew that already also. "What of the other vessels we may find? There's quite a variety for us to look at."

"Well, being as I believe we would require ships that can basically 'fetch and carry' to allow better armed and faster vessels to be move up to frontline duties if required, it will depend on how far back Starfleet has mothballed its ships rather than sell them of or destroy them. I would hasten to think, as I'm not a betting man, that's just crude...betting I mean, not that I hasten to think...that we could come across a few Loknar Class ships, the odd Daedalus class, I dare say a Dreadnaught or two...but the truly wonderful find would be a Farragut Class or a Tannhäuser or even a Conqueror Class. If I may turn the question back to you Commander, what vessels do you think we'll find?"

Diane smiled a small smile, she swiveled in the co-pilot's chair to face Kilbane directly. "I know exactly what we'll find. I have a database of every ship in the boneyard we're visiting. We simply need to verify that the database is accurate and correct."

"Okay," Kilbane replied "I'll ask a different quest. Of the ships that are there, which one's do you wish to have a closer look at?"

Diane let out a low, wry chuckle, “So, what we’re supposed to be looking for are any space frames still in good enough condition that can take on a modern warp engine and modernized weaponry and shields. We need ships that can fight because Headquarters is suspecting a conflict with the Dominion especially since it looks like they’ve picked up the Cardassians as an ally on this side of the Bajoran wormhole. So really, even if a ship has to be cut up and used as parts for another ship, it’ll be good.”

"You didn't particularly answer my question Commander," Kilbane replied, "Don't you have 'favourites you'd like to have a closer look at, surely you must have?"

Diane’s expression fell a measure, “Sadly, I don’t,” she admitted sounding somewhat ashamed of the fact, “I don’t have any ancestors that served in Starfleet… well, that I’m aware of.” she held her hands up in surrender. “Sorry to disappoint.”

"We're coming up on the Gagarin now Commander, prepare to dock the shuttle on the port side docking bay," Finchley said to Diane. He'd been monitoring the vessel as they approached "Mister Kilbane, you're up...which is both true and euphemism!"

Another withering look went Finchley's way from Kevin, but then the historian turned back to the situation at hand.

"As with all ships in any boneyard, minimal power output has been kept running on vessels so that vital systems don't degenerate," Kilbane began, "The Gagarin is no different. Prior to us leaving the Resolution, I asked for the code that'll allow us entry onto the ship. I'll now remotely send the code to the ship's computer which in turn will open the hatch once we dock. Commander, you may begin your docking procedure."

Diane tapped a few keys at the co-pilot's station. She glided the runabout into position until a dull 'clunk' was heard and felt throughout. "Hey, I didn't crash, how nice," she complimented herself. "Now we just need the gangway to pressurize, and we can go on over."

"Fear not good Lady, I shall be the advance guard, I shall ensure that there are no requirements for one's cloak to be led down for you to walk across" Kilbane replied, walking to the door of the runabout.

Finchley quite literally cringed in his seat, Kilbane was being excruciatingly oblique.

"Hey, Sir Walter Raleigh, park your arse, this is where we make the first crossing," Finchley said to Kilbane.

Kevin flourished his hand in the air and gave a deep bow "Of course, I was merely..."

"...showing off" Finchley finished.

Diane giggled with her hand covering her mouth.

Finchley looked at Diane and said, "Well Sir, as you're the ranking officer, it's my duty to protect you so I'll go first," he added as the runabout computer gave a chime to say the pressurisation was now complete and it was safe to open the hatch and enter the Gagarin.

"Mister Kerr," Diane said in her official on duty tone with a winsome smile, "Be careful." Despite the levity, she meant it.

"Aye Sir" Finchley replied, half smiling back. A few minutes later he was in a pressure suit and at the runabout hatch, opening it and then closing it. He moved forward and almost with reverence he touched the hull of the Gagarin. This vessel, this very piece of history, was about to come back full circle within his family. He took the PADD he'd brought with him and selected the code sequence that would open the hatch to the ship, allowing him access. Once entered, there were a few seconds delay then with a torturous squealing of metal, the hatch opened allowing Finchley to walk onboard. His excitement grew as he looked around the dark interior and as he lit the torch on his arm, he felt a shiver of anticipation as the walls of the corridor were lit up. He took out a tr-corder and began scanning the area around him and to his surprise, he found that the ventilation system was on...there was breathable air!"

He tapped his COMM badge, "Kerr to Doctrine, Sir, I can't explain it, but the ventilation system of the ship is active, there's breathable air..."

“All right, we’ll join you in a bit,” Diane replied over the comm, “I think we’ll keep the pressure suits on just in case, keep your helmet close by.”

Moments later, Finchley had the rest of the team with him in the Garagin’s corridor. “Why don’t Kilbane and I head to the bridge, you and Geiger check out main engineering. How odd is it this ship still has active life support systems?” Diane asked.

"Not quite odd. The environmental systems aboard ships are pretty self contained and can operate at very low power. I'm assuming there is probably a non-decommissioned hydro or aero ponic science system running. With the older ships, it was common to supplement the artificial systems with more sustainable old school method of doing things," Geiger stated, looking between the two of them. "It is also common to keep a positive pressure to reduce the energy drain on the structural integrity field. Easier to keep that pressure with keeping the life support at minimal."

"A very plausible answer Lieutenant" Kilbane began, running his hand along the corridor wall "though I would think that in the Gagarin vessels, structural integrity is maintained through the ships shielding. Low yield you see, so it serves to keep the hull braced and balanced, there's no 'shrinkage' one would say."

"And how do you account for the environmental systems being active then?" Finchley asked.

"Did you access any of the ships systems prior to us arriving?" Kilbane replied.

"Yes, remote scans were used to check to see if it was safe for us to come onboard" Finchley said.

"Voilà, vous y êtes" Kilbane replied "You are aware that Starfleet has a specialised team that visits the boneyards every so often to make sure those vessels contained therein are still safe."

Finchley shuffled his feet a little but didn't reply.

"We can assume from your silence you were unaware" Kilbane continued "I would say that the scans you used would trigger the environmental systems to come on at minimum power as they would be the same scans the specialised team would use. The ships computer would have been programmed to do this. Anyway, regardless, why don't we proceed as the Commander has suggested, let us see what we find?"

“Let’s keep an open comm channel,” Diane suggested as she checked her tricorder, “If we find anything interesting, sing out.”

"Absolutely Commander" Finchley replied. He moved a little closer to Kilbane and said "Remember, you're a civilian invitee on this away team. You do as you're told by the Commander, if I find you've been lecturing her or stepping out of line in any way whatsoever there'll be hell to pay, am I clear?"

"As if I just wiped the dirty windows myself and let the sunlight in Chief" Kilbane replied.

Finchley just shook his head, he could already hear Kilbane giving a lecture to Doctrine on whatever he found.

Turning to Geiger he said, "Shall we go Lieutenant?"

"Let's," Geiger responded as they made their way towards where Main Engineering was.

With the turbolifts being offline, it took a little while to get to engineering through the Jeffries tubes. Finally, coming out onto the corridor where it was, they soon arrived at the doors to Main Engineering. Of course, they were closed so Finchley located the manual opening operational system and used it. Slowly, the doors opened allowing access inside and he entered the extremely dim lighted section. Finding the main operational console, he saw that the emergency power was still running so he used that to connect to the main operating system and within seconds the lighting was on "Well, at least that's something" Finchley said out loud.

He then managed to locate the breaker switch for main power and remarkably, it was all still intact, as if someone had just set it and left five minutes before. Re-setting it, he tried the power converter and it immediately worked...main power came on instantly and all the surrounding consoles sprang to life.

"Well I'll be" he said, looking around happily. He began checking on main systems and they all seemed to be online, but without actually directing a power output anywhere, they were on 'hold'.

"Kerr to Doctrine, have you reached the bridge yet Sir?" he said into his COMM.

"We're almost there," she replied over the commlink, "It looks like you switched on main power? We seem to have lights now, thank you."

Kilbane, being ahead of Diane, was first to enter through the hatchway and onto the bridge. His joy at what he found was uncontained "Looooook at this!, and he began running his hands over the nearest console. Yes, in comparison to a modern day vessel, the bridge was much smaller and compact but he found it compelling.

"Commander, this is magnificent," he said "What I wouldn't give to just stay here for a month or so and study this ship."

"It's certainly nostalgic," Diane commented. She made her way over to the main science station and tapped a few keys to test the console. "I wouldn't mind taking some extra time for study as well." One of the displays lit up showing the current internal sensor readings.

Kilbane moved over to the Operations console and seeing it was working tried a simple command, bring up the ship's crew manifest. Sure enough, the names appeared. In schoolboy fashion, he began running his finger down the list saying each name as he passed it "Holt..Istner...J'man...Kerr" and he then stopped, perplexed at what he saw.

"Commander, look at this," he said, pointing at the screen he was at "There appears to be an active file index next to the name Kerr."

"Really?" Diane walked over from the science console with her analytical hackles raised. "Did you hear that Kerr?" she spoke over the open comm-link. Curiously she looked at the list of names on the screen and sure enough, there was the active file next to the name Kerr. She looked to Kilbane, "The game is afoot, eh? I wonder what this is?"

Finchley stopped what he was doing when he heard what Kilbane said.

"The active file index, does it have a reference?" Finchley saked.

"Yes" Kilbane answered "S...I...F and the numbers four two six" he finished.

Finchley's eyes widened "I'm on my way up, whatever you do, don't open the file, if it's what I think it is I need to run and diagnostic to make certain."

"Of course" Kilbane replied, standing back from the console.

Turning to Geiger, Finchley said "If I can leave you to carry on here Sir, I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that he made his way up to the bridge, and once there he made his way to here Kilbane was and began reading what was on the screen. The technology was obviously well out of date, but essentially, what he needed to run the diagnostic was still viable to use. He began the sequence to try to decode the file, but then stopped, his suspicions confirmed.

Turning to Diane he said "Sir, this reference S...I...F, it's a Starfleet Intelligence File, the forerunner to the indexes we use now. Commander, this is also my Great great great Grandfathers file. I have the clearance to open it, but it's whether or not you want me to?"

Diane wasn't about to tell Finchley not to open a file left by an ancestor, however, their safety was paramount. "Is there anyway to find out if it'll do anything? I mean, what kind of file is it? Perhaps we should isolate it and find a way to take it with us?"

Finchley set about trying to isolate the code to see if it could be accessed in parts, but to no avail.

"It's an encrypted code Sir, it can't be downloaded from the computer's mainframe without it being fragmented."

He looked again at the sequence of the encryption then said, "We either open it as it is, or we leave it closed, those are the only options Commander."

Aw shit, she thought to herself. "Our own safety is first and foremost," Diane told him, "Is there any reason at all you can think of that would have your great great great grandfather doing something like this? Are there log entries we can look at to maybe get some clues as to what this file is about?"

Finchley touched his tunic just under his neck "In order to absorb and end a war..." he said and turning to Diane he grinned like an idiot and added, "Now it makes sense!"

Diane tilted her head with an expression that said, don't keep it all to yourself.

"The first born of every generation since my great great great Grandfather has been passed down a medallion and told to keep it safe. We were taught the phrase 'In order to absorb and end a war' but never told what it meant" Finchley said, reaching down inside his tunic and taking a chain that hung around his neck out. He took it off and looked at it, then removed the chain so just the medallion was in his hand. He looked at the console, then his medallion then back at the console again "Could he have meant a war with the Dominion, was he really that forward thinking?" he rhetorically asked out loud.

He smiled as he reached forward and slid the medallion into a slot on the console. At first the medallion just sat proud of the slot, then slowly, after a click, it dropped down into the slot. Suddenly the bridge lights dimmed, and a voice came over the intercom.

~Welcome to the Gagarin my descendant, what you're about to become part of has been foreseen and planned for. I hope you have the desire and stamina to see this venture through to the end.~

Finchley's head whipped up and he looked at Diane and said "Venture, what venture???"

At that moment, the Helm console came to life and the familiar hum of a warp core beginning its start up sequence came through their COMM badges.

"Finchley!" Diane exclaimed, "What have you done? We can't just leave the boneyard with a ship! Lieutenant Zaal, can you shut down propulsion!"

Geiger's fingers ran over the console as quickly as he could move them. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins, making him hold his breath inadvertently as he was working. "I can't get it to stop," he said through the open commlink. "Whatever this is, my general skeleton codes aren't working."

"I haven't done anything, whatever this is must have been a pre-programmed!" Finchley retorted.

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle," Kilbane exclaimed, "Isn't this just exciting, I wonder what happens now?"

Diane was at the operations console tapping away at a furious pace trying to find out if anything could be stopped, or at least paused. "If we can't stop this we should send a message to Captain Carey and at least let him know what's going on. If we can't do it from here, we'll have to get back to the runabout."

Kilbane was at one of the secondary consoles, as Diane spoke. A look of surprise registered on his face as he said "Yes, the runabout, we can...oh, actually, we can't go back there...the docking lock just disengaged, the runabout is eh...well, it's not an option anymore."

Finchley had a look of disbelief on his face "How, could he know...he served here two hundred years ago!"

~The ships destination has been pre-set, if the systems haven't been changed, this will take you to the orb, and there, your answers will be found~

Diane was still at the operations console tapping away at the controls. "I think I can get the runabout to follow us remotely... I think... at least the other systems on this ship appear to be working normally. One of you take a look at navigation and see if we can find out where we're going. I'm sending a message to Carey... perhaps the Resolution can meet us at the destination." She didn't sound angry, just not in the least happy.

~On the journey, first you must search your heart and your soul, how far are you willing to commit, the same as we have done...or more still. Find out what drives you, that's where the true answer lies~

"He's really beginning to annoy me" Finchley said "Why not tell us what's happening, why not prepare us instead of this mumbo jumbo cloak and dagger stuff?"

Then he realised "He was SFI, that means he wouldn't have been openly able discuss it. But if he couldn't openly discuss it, how could he communicate what was going to happen, how could we tell that we'd arrived at our destination?"

At that point, the gold medallion re-appeared from the slot in the console, once again sitting proud. Finchley picked it up and looked at it.

"This is gold, what do we know about Starfleet and gold, it wasn't a commercial commodity any longer in his day?" he said thoughtfully. He began pacing back and forth "Gold...what was gol..." and he snapped his fingers "Gold was the then uniform colour of the Commanding Officer, but that changed to red and gold became the Operations department...and Engineering!"

He looked at Diane "Commander, the answers not here on the bridge, I think it's in Engineering...I think that whatever he's trying to tell us is in Engineering, he told the Captain and I think he then left instructions for us to follow!!!"

"Your logic seems sound," Diane answered after a few seconds of consideration, "Let's head to engineering then."

As they made their way to the engineering deck, Diane asked, "I'm assuming that was your ancestor's voice in the recording, Kerr, do you think he was talking about one of those Bajoran orbs?"

"I can only assume it was him Commander, I've never actually heard a recording of his voice" Finchley replied as they walked.

Entering Main Engineering, he looked around. In his mind's eye, he was trying to put himself in his 3 x Great Grandfathers and his Captains shoes and work out what they'd have done next. They knew the ships warp core would fire up, they would have then had a pre-set course for it to follow, so...

"This is at the beginning of auto helm control, they'd have had to work out way that the ship would navigate to their course" Finchley said.

"Computer, last known location of Captain Drexler and Commander Phelonias Kerr in Engineering" Finchley asked.

There was a chirrup and the reply came back ==^==Console six==^==

Finchley looked at Diane "Computers were more direct back then as they were new as well."

Counting out the consoles from the main one, Finchley walked across to console six. Sure enough, a similar slot to the one on the console on the bridge was there. Taking the gold medallion, he placed it in the slot and once again the medallion disappeared.

~The ship encountered what we came to know as a Bajoran hide away on Calistan. These Bajorans were trying to escape from a brutal overseer, though we have no idea who they were. What we did find out however was that a war was coming and they needed to find someone to help their cause.~

Diane's brow furrowed, "The Cardassian occupation of Bajor didn't start until the late 2320's. This recording has to be from at least four generations ago... What overseers is he talking about?"

"The generations would put the time of the overseers around the late twenty two hundreds," Geiger commented. While their symbionts were long lived and had different generational lineage, their hosts had similar generational lineage as the other humanoid species within the Federation. "We, the Trill, didn't have much contact with Bajor pre-occupation."

"Maybe we can look in the ship's logs for more information?" Diane suggested, "I don't believe they wipe the computer cores completely clean when they mothball a starship. Do they?"

Geiger started working on the computer core logs just as the commander had suggested and was met one after another with resistance and heavy encryption. "Your codes may work, Commander. Otherwise, it's going to take time for me to get through the heavy encryption. This is beyond my skill level," Geiger admitted knowing that he was well out skilled right now by whatever was going on with this ship.

"Wait a minute... wait...a...minute!" Finchley said, snapping his fingers, "Bajorans on the run, a brutal overseer... surely they can't have meant... no, that would be too fantastical to consider... surely. Can they have been talking about Wraiths?"

“Do you mean pah-wraiths?” Diane asked unsure if she pronounced it correctly, “I thought they were just lore, stories to scare children into being good. Are you serious?”

"Every story has it's roots in truth Sir" Finchley replied. He was just about to add something else when he looked at the warp core, it had begun to speed up.

"The cores mix is increasing Commander, we're moving, the deck plates feel different... we're definitely moving," Finchley added, "If you're going to contact the Captain, I suggest you do so now!"

"The message is already sent," she replied, "I couldn't get the runabout to follow us but I also have a viridium patch in my pocket. They should be able to scan that from four sectors away in case anything crazy happens." Diane watched the warp core readings on a nearby console, "It looks like we're speeding up. I wish we could find out where we're going." 'Also wish I knew more about engineering,' she thought to herself.

[The Boneyard]

The USS Gagarin slowly began to turn ninety degrees and move away from its previous stationary setting. Its impulse engines ensured it moved at a steady pace as it cleared the outer markers. Once past the markers it kept its heading, and in its wake a smaller craft could be seen lagging behind, the runabout. Finally, the runabout stopped moving but the Gagarin kept on going, heading into open space.

The tips on the nacelles off the ship began to glow a brighter blue, increasing in intensity, then...the Gagarin went to warp!

[Back inside the USS Gagarin]

Finchley looked at the readings on the main engineering console. His grasp on engineering wasn't vague, he knew enough to see that the ship had set a course and was now at warp speed, that speed increasing all the time "Warp two...two point five...three...three point five...four...four point five...staying steady at warp four point five."

He ran a check on the inter mix of the core and it showed as a constant run "Commander, it appears that we've reached cruising speed at warp four point five."

“That’s typical for a ship of this vintage if memory serves,” Diane replied, “It sure would be nice to know where she’s taking us.”

~The ship is now back on the heading that it was on when we first met the Bajoran colony on Calistan~ the voice said ~beware the overseer, but be trusting that whatever you find there, help is also within reach, good luck~

Diane looked up at the speaker where the disembodied voice of Kerr’s ancestor came from, “Thanks for that,”

"I need a star chart!" Finchley called out, "and a tracking of the heading we're on, we need to know what's ahead of us and how we can get the Resolution to help us."

“Star charts should be accessible on the bridge… we should also be looking into regaining control of this ship. I know just enough about actual engineering to be dangerous but I might be able to help Geiger… a little.” she was feeling useless and hated it. While she did know basic engineering, Diane was largely inexperienced in that field.

"We also need someone to scan the logs, both ships and crews personal, for anything that gives us any insight into what happened at Calista. So, searching for words like Pah-Wraith, Wraith, oveseer, orb, celestial beings, prophets, things like that. If we can co-ordinate them into a timeline it can give us some clues" Finchley said "Any thoughts as to who can do that?"

"Ah, that's in my wheel house," Diane felt better now. "I don't know why I didn't think of that. Collecting data, collating and cataloging it, that I can handle. I'll head to the bridge and get Kilbane to help me. If you and Geiger can make any progress here, give a holler."

"Actually, whilst it's lovely for you to consider my help Commander" Kilbane began "I believe I'd be more helpfu..."

"Will you just do as the Commander says you pompous pain in the arse, you're not at Oxford now!" Finchley retorted to Kilbane.

"Actually it was Cambridge you heathen!" Kilbane replied in the same tone "If you're going to be obstreperous, at least get the reference to my university correct!"

"Look your Lordship..." Finchley began.

"Actually it's your Grace" Kilbane interjected quickly.

Finchley closed his eye and counted to five "Well then your Grace, can you just stop being a pain in the arse and go with her!"

"Please" Kilbane said, raising his eyebrows.

Finchley's hands closed in fists then unclenched "Will you please go with the Commander and help her corollate the information."

"Certainly Chief, all you had to do was ask" Kilbane replied.

Diane shook her head with an amused expression on her face. These two really were entertaining and if it weren’t for the dire situation they found themselves in, it would almost be a stand up routine. “All right then, let’s get going your grace,” she was only half serious.

"Absolutely Commander" Kilbane replied "I'm sure the Chief will be a lot happier tinkering about down here."

Finchley just sighed, as much as Kilbane was a good historian, he was hard work. Once they'd left, he turned to Geiger and said "Well Sir, let's see if we can get this ship stopped or at least slowed down."

While listening to the diatribe that was going on around them, Geiger kept working on trying to figure out where they were heading, and what was going on with the auto programming on the computer. After they were all done, he chimed in. "Not to disappoint, Commander. Most computers are wiped to prevent hostiles from gaining access to our records once a ship is put into the bone yard prior to the computer being fully gutted. These old ships don't have a computer core like we do on the Resolution, but they have something similar further down the deck. You might be able to use your intelligence codes to be able to try to recover some of the wiped data." He took the one PADD that he had and typed in some stuff. "Here's some codes that might assist you with it. I think it be prudent that I remain in Engineering trying to figure out what's going on while you are up at the bridge looking at star charts, and you're in engineering," he said looking between the two of the officers. "Your grace," Geiger stated, "I think that we could definitely use your expertise on the possible ideas on recovering wiped data, or maybe seeing if anything is left in quarters like written logs?" 'Yeah that was a valid solution to all of this.' he thought to himself.

"Written logs, now that's a fascinating aspect to consider" Kilbane replied "Yes, if there's any of those, they could yield important information'"

TBC