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Day 26 [0930 hrs.] A Freighter Alone

Stardate 57621.43
Day 26 - April 5, 2381
0930 hrs.

[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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And they thought it was a good idea to let him get back behind at helm. After what happened last time, Logan thought it was a brave decision to let him take control of a shuttle so soon. It was only right for him. Logan smiled as he piloted the shuttle towards the abandoned freighter, he had only recently discovered on a patrol flight. It took a short warp to reach the freighter in the asteroid field, but the journey there would remain relaxed. At least until they reached the asteroid field. Then it would get a little rough again.  But he was sure he could handle it. This time Logan was not only travelling in pairs, but with a complete away team. Then it would get a little rough again. But he was sure he could handle it. This time Logan was not only travelling in two pairs, but with a complete away team. With him were nine other men and women on board the shuttle. He had been told that the freighter might contain clues to experiments on the Gestalt, aldean clones, and this group here should find those clues. Logan knew from his last visit to the area that they probably would not meet much resistance, but the possibility still existed. That is why they had sent the patrols of his comrades in the fighters through this area. Logan was very sure that this shuttle trip would be much quieter than his last one.
"The scrambler works. We are cloaked," the pilot explained routinely. "Our path will take us first towards Epsilon Mynos V, then VI. From there it's just a short hop to our destination." He entered a few more parameters into his console before turning around to see how people were preparing for the job. Logan seemed to many people to be nothing more than a better cab driver. He turned to the man sitting next to him at the science station He was a tall man. Logan estimated his age to be between forty and fifty years. His bald head and the light, well-groomed goatee contrasted with his dark skin color.
"I'm Logan, by the way." He reached out his hand to the man, and as he introduced himself, the pilot went on to ask, "So? What will your job be when we reach our destination?"

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #1 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

The science officer looked up and nodded to Lt. Hale. "I'm here to ascertain if any of the equipment on the freighter can further our theories on the Aldean cloning or the Gestalt. I also want to take a metallurgical analysis of the hull to determine if there is anything of value to take back to Theurgy." It was good to get off the ship. While starships and space stations were deeply familiar friends to Okafor, there is nothing like leaving safety and going into the void.

The nightmares regarding the Borg had subsided, replaced with more pressing ones. Tyreke hadn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks, but that was to be expected. His work on the analysis of Borg components had taken much of his time. At this rate he'd need an engineering degree in order to continue his work.

He shook himself free of this thoughts. "Tyreke," he replied. "Good to meet you Logan."

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #2 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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"Nice to meet you," Logan said. "That explains why you brought all those EV suits." He looked over his shoulder and saw some of the technicians preparing the suits. "It's certainly not a bad idea to wear them right from the beginning. Who knows if the atmosphere inside wasn't depleted long ago and if not toxic." When Logan discovered the freighter together with Zeke, the sensors of the Valravn could detect something like an atmosphere but could not analyze it further. They only knew that someone had been there at some time. How long ago that was, the fighter's sensors were unable to determine.

The pilot grabbed the console that was mounted above him and accessed the sensor data of his fighter. The superficial scans Zeke had made of the freighter were telling. They found some interesting metallurgical compounds on the hull of the freighter. It would certainly be worth investigating the hull of the freighter. But that's not why Logan accessed the scans. He was pointing to a spot on the underside of the freighter. "This is where I'm going to drop you off. As the scans show, you'll have to cut through the hull to get aboard the freighter." He enlarged the image and placed it on the monitor of the person sitting next to him. "This is the thinnest part of the hull. According to the scans, there's a space behind it that should be large enough for your team." Logan called up some of their equipment, which, when assembled, formed a mobile airlock. "You can place this there to keep the room pressurized. This will give me time to study the freighter from the outside with the shuttle's scanners." Logan was aware that Tyreke had heard this part of the briefing several times before, but there was no harm in repeating it.

Outside the shuttle, Logan recognized Epsilon Mynos VI passing them. He concentrated again on his controls and opened a channel to the rear of the shuttle. „Attention! Warp jump!"  Logan flipped the switch and the visible stars outside the canopy began to form white stripes. The planet beneath them also stretched to infinity. This was always a sight to behold. He loved it. The shuttle disappeared into warp, before it returned to its usual emptiness only a few seconds later. In front of them, however, was the Kuiper Belt, a huge collection of asteroids. Now the fun part begins, he thought.

Logan reached for the controls and entered the same course he had taken with his Valravn before. This would lead them straight to the ship.  But it was not so easy. Logan had to dodge some large stones again. But this time his vehicle was not as agile as his original fighter. The pilot had to avoid the rocks even more carefully. Eventually he succeeded and they reached, more or less unharmed, the calm sea in which the freighter had hidden itself.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our destination." Logan began the landing approach and prepared the docking clamps. Then he turned back to Tyreke. "There's the beauty we spoke of, Tyreke. Now it is your turn. If you need anything, let me know. Good luck.”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #3 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

Tyreke nodded as he secured the helmet of his EVA suit. "Thank you, Logan." He turned back towards the hatch. "Team Alpha, prepare to disembark,"

After the group double checked their suits, they left through the airlock and walked the hull in magnetized boots. Tyreke pulled down the visor on the EVA suit as the freighter rolled slightly through space. The metal of the hull was strange. The metal looked different, as if it was smoothed past normal metal to almost a glass like sheen. This gave Tyreke pause. What actually happened to this ship?

The team engaged their phaser cutters and started to create an entry point on the hull.  After the first breach, sensor readings from the interior poured into Tyreke's tricoder.

"Lieutenant Hale. We've made entry. Even if we could have beamed over, it was a good call for the EVA suits. There is no atmosphere in there. I'm reading several power systems still online, but life support isn't one of them. We're going to proceed inside. How does it look from out there?

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #4 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Logan dropped the group of scientists and security personnel on the hull near the point of entry. Slowly, taking care not to catch anyone with the nacelles, he lifted off again and first made a simple visual inspection of the freighter's outer hull. The ship seemed to have been drifting in the area for some time, although it was surrounded by rocks weighing several tons. Either the ship was just incredibly lucky not to have been hit all this time, or something was preventing the asteroids from crushing the ship under their weight. What secrets are you hiding from us?

The surface of the ship seemed to be made of glass. Smooth and level. Almost as if it had been exposed to a constant stream of fine sand over the years. Logan watched as the group cut through the steel and took initial scans of the interior. He started his scans and kept the Type-11 in a stable position in front of the freighter. The first data flowed over the displays of his console. Metallurgical composition of the hull, types of wiring and slowly the structure of the freighter began to emerge.

Logan heard the radio message from the other lieutenant and nodded affirmatively, taking another sideways glance at the scans of the surroundings. "I'm getting the first results from the sensors, but nothing more precise. However, there is a lot of interference from the asteroid belt that will affect our communications," he checked some more data, "and it will prevent our transporter from targeting you safely.

Logan looked through the windows and saw people starting to enter the freighter.
"It looks like we're about to lose contact." Logan noticed an increasing static pop on the line.
"Fuck." he muttered as he realized that the connection was severed.
"Good luck in there, Tyreke."

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #5 –
"Please erect a level 3 force field to seal the breach, and let's see about getting life support going in here." Tyreke said to one of the engineers as he walked over to one of the command consoles. It appeared that they came out near the engine room, which served them well to getting main power and life support online. The consoles were smashed and the systems were a jury rigged mess. The engineering team would have a difficult job just getting marginal power activated.

The EVA suit restricted movement, especially when the artificial gravity was still working. He felt heavy and encumbered. "I'm getting some strange readings from the ship's engines. Some sort of dark matter seeping from the core. Doesn't fit any conventional engineering designs or principles."

The engines flared to life. "I'm getting a power surge in the engine core, we're starting to move. I'm trying to boost power to the communications. Lt. Hale, do you read?"


Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #6 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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"Not good," Logan quietly noted when he saw that the freighter slowly began to revive itself and set off immediately. "Computer, analyze the course of the freighter."
He knew that was just a formality. As a pilot with years of experience, he knew the ship was headed straight for the asteroids. A collision would not be long in coming. Hell, even a blind man with a cane could see that. So, the Type 11 shuttle's computer gave him the same result.
Logan got up and moved to the communications console. His fingers slipped across the controls, trying to pierce the interference field. He tried various radio ranges, from the low-frequency range to the high-frequency band. Logan tried to find a suitable channel, but all he got was static in all directions. Frustrated, he punched the console. "I'm not going to get anywhere like this."
He switched back to the pilot's seat. "Computer, time to the freighter collision?" He put his hands on the controls.
"The freighter will collide with the asteroid field in six minutes, fifty-three seconds. Warning: Sensors show life signs aboard ship. Urgent action is recommended."
"You don't say..."
Logan steered his shuttle a little closer to the freighter. Again, and again he tried to reach Tyreke. Again, and again he had little success. "Computer, can we use a tractor beam to pull the freighter off its collision course?"
"Negative. The mass of this vessel is insufficient to divert the freighter from its course. Warning. Sensors show life signs aboard the ship. Urgent action is recommended."
"I thought so. Okay, something else..." Logan set his course parallel to the freighter. "Computer, armament status?"
"Phasers at full power. Torpedo bearings at one hundred percent capacity. Shields at full capacity if necessary."
"Very good. Computer, can we use the torpedoes to divert the freighter using targeted explosions?"
"Negative. This procedure is not recommended. Warning. Sensors show life signs aboard ship. Urgent action is recommended."
"Yes, yes, yes. I'm working on it."
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small cone of light from inside the ship. He steered the shuttle to the windows of the presumed bridge.
"Computer, send the following message in Morse code through the main front lights: This is Hale Stop freighter on collision course Stop. Message over. Then append current timer until collision and send message in continuous loop."
"Understood. Executing."
Logan looked out the window and saw the flash of his headlights. He hoped his message would get through and people would understand Morse code. Finally, a few precious moments passed, then the radio cracked and woke up again.
["Lt. Hale, do you read?"]
Logan started smiling. It was the voice of the scientist.
"Hell yeah. I can finally hear you. Did you get my message? The freighter is on a collision course with the asteroids."
He paused for a moment to ask the computer for the current timer.
"Four minutes and forty-one seconds."
"Four minutes to collision. Tyreke, If you don't pull your brakes soon, you're in trouble.”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #7 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

color=limegreen]“Acknowledged.” [/color]Tyreke replied as he started rushing towards the engine room. The various away team personnel started working on the various consoles and systems, in a vain attempt to get the engines offline.

Get to the port side of the ship and look for escape pods!” The LT said with a shout. The ship had a semi circular design, and small energize signatures were discovered on the port side. They could have been maneuvering thrusters or they could be escape pods. There wasn’t time for a greater detailed analysis. They had to act.

Tyreke didn’t follow. He rushed to the main deflector array. Unlike a Starfleet ship, this freighter has an integrated array attached to the main engine superstructure. It made for an effective grounding, but made it very difficult to get to in a crisis, of which this definitely qualified.

“The engines are stuck open and we are rolling in a spin.” Tyreke said to himself. “The engines and the navigation deflection are on the same EPS conduit. If enough power is released, it should trigger a skip in the engine array... halting the power and allowing main engine shut down.”

He found the main engine cut off. If he pulled this, the energy wave might just cook him in his suit, but that was preferable to just slamming to a planetary body and near c.

“Initializing main deflector power up sequence. Boosting to full... over clocking to crash levels.”

A faint hum cackled. The window was discovered. “Pulling the main engine shut off.”

There was an explosion, but the freighter stopped its forward motion. There was static on the line.

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #8 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Logan could hear the tension in the field team's voices. His eyes kept wandering from his displays to the timer and back. It was an oppressive feeling. A feeling of helplessness. The freighter was far superior to the shuttle in terms of mass. Yes, his shuttle could stop the freighter, but it would take time. Time, they did not have. The pilot increased the distance to the freighter. Not because he wanted to be out of the path of any debris, but to give the people on board the freighter room to maneuver. If they wanted to maneuver, the shuttle should not be in the way.

Three minutes, twelve seconds left.

Logan continued to track the course of the freighter on his displays. They were still relentlessly heading for the asteroids. By now, the freighter had entered a rotational movement. Logan saw the different alloys of the hull reflect in the sunlight. A dark grey play of colors. He listened spellbound to the radio and when Tyreke mentioned that the ship's deflector and the main engine were hanging on the same EPS line, he had the same idea as the synthetic specialist: Overloading the deflector systems would cause a catastrophic drop in energy in the EPS system, which would allow the engine to regulate itself and shut down.

One minute and forty-eight seconds left.

From his observation point, Logan agreed with the scientist. They had to act, and they had to act fast. Logan would rather go home with a few burns if he were in his place, than not go at all. Tyreke was starting the deflector power-up sequence.

Thirty-six seconds to go.

The scientist unloaded the deflector. Logan could detect a violent shock wave consisting of volatile energy leaving the freighter's main deflector. It caused some of the smaller rocks in the asteroid belt to be thrown off course and pushed deeper into the void The pressure wave was reflected back by the large boulders, which counteracted the freighter's inertia and caused it to actually come to a halt. Logan cheered and raised his hands. "Yes, damn it. You did it, Tyreke."

Then the shock wave hit the shuttle and knocked Logan out of his seat. The pilot's head hit an unlucky ledge and sent him into the land of dreams for a moment. The shields and inertial dampers could not resist the shock wave much, so the shuttle was thrown around like a plaything and Logan felt like the inside of a child's surprise. Slowly he came back to his feet. He felt violently shaken. Everything was hurting as he lifted himself back into his seat. He briefly checked his position, then that of the freighter. Both were unchanged. "Good news. You stopped, Tyreke."

Logan went through the shuttle's first-aid kit to find the medical tricorder. After a quick scan of himself, he noticed lots of bruises and a slight contusion of his shoulder. The small, bleeding wound on his head was nothing worse than a scratch. He did not have a concussion. All in all, he had gotten off pretty well. The pilot applied the hypo spray and the pain was quickly forgotten. The contusion would last maybe another day or two, but it would not stop him from working. Logan grabbed the dermal regenerator out of the box and looked for a reflective surface. The scratch was deep, but the device had closed it within seconds.
"What a ride," he sighed as he dropped back into his seat once again.
"Tyreke, do you hear me? Anybody?"
Static noise.
"Great." Logan cursed softly. "Here we go again."
The pilot assumed that the discharge had fried the radios on the freighter. He hoped that the boys and girls on board were okay and that they were just shaken up like he was.
"Come in, please."

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #9 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

The buzzing from the comms stirred Tyreke as he staggered back to his feet after the explosion. His evac suit had a crack in the glass which spidered it’s way up above his head, but otherwise it’s integrity was intact.
He took a look around. The main bypass worked, but the conduits paid a heavy price for it. While he would eventually be able to get the engines back online, this would take multiple hours just to clean up the damage.

““I’m here, Lieutenant,” Tyreke said into his comm. “Good to hear your voice. Glad to see the brakes actually worked. It’s a pretty big mess over here, but give me a few minutes and I should be able to get helm control over here.”

He sent his team over to the other side of the ship thinking that there were escape pods over there. “There are a few thruster pack injectors still attached to the far side of the ship… escape pod engines. I think we could use them to get this ship going in case we end up in the same situation as we were in before.”

He looked outside and caught a glimpse of the shuttle. The light cascaded and refracted against the glass. “I can’t believe that actually worked,,” he said to no one in particular.

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #10 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Logan took a deep breath when he heard the scientist's voice. He cheered and showed it to the outside world. Then he noticed that nobody would see him.
"Yes! Good work, Tyreke. Good to hear your voice. This is definitely going in my report." Logan laughed as he thought about decorating this report with so many adjectives that it made his commanding officer puke.
Again, the pilot ran some scans: "Looks like the freighter has stopped for now. Some smaller chunks from the ring have gone ad Astra, but they shouldn't bother us further. The big rocks are still where they should be. I think that for now we can work on the freighter freely."
He looked at the escape pods the scientist mentioned and took a closer look at them.
"Yes, I think we can use them as temporary auxiliary engines. To move them, the mass of the shuttle should also be sufficient." His wink could not be seen, but certainly heard. "Give me points where I should best place them and I'll take care of the rest, so you can finally search the ship."
At last he switched off the automatic Morse code and let the computer calculate how strong the phasers had to be set to weld the escape capsules to the hull.
“Tyreke, when we are back on the ship, you will pay for the beer.”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #11 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

Tyreke chuckled in relief as the adrenaline started to diminish in his system. "Understood. I'm sending several lock points now. We'll start working to get the deflector array back online after the mess we made of it... it should definitely help us complete the surveys."

His tricoder whirled as it assessed the best points of connection between the engines of the escape pods and the ship. "I'm sending the best points based on the ships radial movement now. As the crews on board are doing that, I'll take a little time and continue the exploration."

He started walking through the corridors and resumed the initial surveying exercise. "Beer, huh? I haven't had anything not Starfleet issue since I was stationed on Bajor. What do you drink Lieutenant?" He chuckled again. The shuttle could be seen from one of the exterior windows now, as the soft radial movement of the freighter kept it into view. Tyreke was on his way to the control center. He hoped that once they restored power to the main conduits after the incident with the engines, he'd be able to get at the logs and start downloads of the ships details. Also, having the access may help assist the work that Logan was doing in welding the escape pods to the ship.

Definitely not a standard Starfleet practice, but in this case it couldn't be helped.

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #12 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Logan calibrated the phasers and had the computer help with the calculations. His fingers slid across the console and brought the shuttle with the escape pods into the correct positions. Short phaser pulses welded the capsules to the outer hull of the freighter and transformed the vehicles, which were actually intended to rescue the crew, into temporary engines. Some of the scientists from the away team managed to connect the capsules to a remote control on the ship so that they could stabilize the ship in case of an uncontrolled drift. The freighter looked more and more like a porcupine stranded in space than like a ship, but the optics did not matter out here. The only important thing was that the boys and girls on board were safe.

"Oh, I like to drink a lot of different things, but when it comes to beer, there's nothing like real, earthly beer of the German nation." Logan looked forward to the taste that would run down his throat when they were back on board the Theurgy. "Did you know that German beer is brewed according to a tradition now almost nine hundred years old? Three ingredients. Since 1516. Barley, hops and water." Logan wallowed in longing. "Sounds simple, doesn't it? Behind it, however, hides a craft that has been perfected for more than five hundred years. I think you'll love it."

At some point, however, he realized again that it was difficult to get hold of the wet gold because of where they were at the moment. "That is, if we find anything on board. I'll suggest an alternative: As an option, you pay for the first round in the Below Decks Lounge.”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #13 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

Tyreke walked across the deck plates and stood on the other side of the hull from the escape pods and monitored the weld points from the shuttle, as well as ensuring that the freighter hull itself maintained structural integrity as the phasers fused the two together.

I don't think I've had the pleasure of actual Earth alcohol... the Bajorans had this drink which was a loose comparison, but I must say it was an acquired taste. They added a sweetener to the bitter, and while they enjoyed it, it tasted like maple syrup coating the bottom of a guiness.

The tricoder in his hand whirled in affirmation that the fusing was complete and the structural integrity was sound enough to get the freighter moving.

"I've been saving some holodeck rations for some research I've been doing for shield harmonics and potential enhancements to the warp drive. You know... maybe we can grab a like minded group of individuals and create a still and brew our own. We can adjust and modify the passage of time to create the perfect batch. Might be an interesting exercise. Either that or we can certainly have me pay for the first round at Below Decks."



Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #14 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Logan grimaced when Tyreke told him that he was never to enjoy Earth alcohol. The pilot was a little hurt inside, but he was also looking forward to showing the tall man with the goatee and his light hairdo how good beer really tastes. The grin crept back to his lips. Tyreke had suggested that they could program a brewery on the holodeck to make their own beer.
"That actually sounds like a good idea, Tyreke. We can do that. You know what? I'll throw in some of my holodeck rations, too."
Logan programmed a new course that would put his shuttle into a gentle orbit around the freighter. His scans of the hull were only a quarter complete. He now had some catching up to do. His fingers slipped over the controls. Once the shuttle had gained enough distance, he would continue the scans.
"Nevertheless, you'll pay for the first round when we get back," he joked.
A thought did not let him go. He had already thought about it when he had discovered the freighter on its patrol flight together with Zeke earlier. Why is a spaceship drifting masterless in the middle of an asteroid field? Maybe it was a smuggler's hideout that was now discovered by luck by some patrolling police officers? Or maybe it had been left behind because it no longer worked. But then how did they explain that the ship was still intact and hadn't been crushed by one of the rocks a long time ago? Magic? A secret energy source that kept the rocks at bay? Logan had been in space for a long time. Such an anomaly would not be his first and definitely not the most unusual. But strange it was. Logan continues the sensor sweep. He now had the shuttle search for unusual properties of the nearest rocks.
"What's it like over there? Were you able to find out what the freighter was doing here? Why was it abandoned?”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #15 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero
"Outstanding!" Tyreke said with a laugh. "Best news I've heard all day. Who knows? Maybe we can see about getting a group of us going if this takes shape. One thing we can all agree on is Synthahol is not worth consuming except under dire circumstances... but yeah, first round is on me in the interim, definitely."

He liked the LT. He was good people. Reminded him of many of the pilots he knew from his time on Bajor. Serious, professional, but had a cavalier spin to them... probably required for the job, Tyreke theorized.

Finally reaching the command console, Tyreke started to work through the log entries. Most of them was encrypted, so he set to the task of downloading them. It would require more processing power than was available in his simple tricoder to translate and interpret these readings. Interesting though, the command subroutines weren't encrypted... like they were being accessed when the pilot evacuated or perished.

"The internals are in surprisingly good shape, except for the areas exposed to hard vacuum. Contemporary materials... duranium, tritanium... looks aligned to a Federation technology level. There are significant energy fluctuations though... it looks like there is no antimatter reactions... if I had to guess, I'd think this was a singularity powered ship. Looks like... there it is... the singularity is still active, but the output of the core was being used to reinforce the shield array. As for why they left the ship... I'm not sure they were... looks like the remnants of a baryon sweep inside."

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #16 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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"But the circumstances must be very dire for that, Tyreke," laughed Logan, who actually found the science officer's suggestion quite interesting. He could already see the man with the goatee beard in the thick leather apron in front of him. It would certainly be a picture for the gods. The smile on his face was mischievous.
Slowly his sensors brought him new insights. Parts of the hull were broken... no, they were open, not damaged or destroyed. It was strange. So, he intensified his scans of the areas and when Tyreke told him about a baryon sweep, the confusion was great. At least for him.
"A singularity would suggest a Romulan design. But the configuration of the outer hull contradicts that. And the baryon sweep? Sounds almost like someone's trying to cover something up."
Logan discovered from his scans of the Type 11 shuttle that the open hull must be part of an airlock. A pretty big one. Apparently, the ship could be expanded modularly over large areas. The opened area reminded remotely of the old NASA space shuttles from the twentieth century from Earth. A large, rectangular, and long room with a movable ceiling, which was now open about one hand wide. Again, he activated the spotlight. He tried to catch a glimpse into this hall. But through the gap he could not see much. As something human-like drifted through his field of vision, Logan suddenly had to swallow hard and flinched back in shock.
"Um... Tyreke? Here is a larger room that you might want to take a closer look at. I'm sending you the coordinates."
His fingers flew lightly trembling over the consoles, and with a few flicks of his wrist he had informed the scientists on board which room he was talking about.
"Even if there was nothing living there anymore, I think I saw someone there. Call me crazy, but I think it was someone in an EV suit."
Whatever they were going to find down there, the pilot knew they would find the crew. Or at least parts of them.

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #17 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero
"Coordinates received. I'm heading that way now." Tyreke double checked the atmosphere in his suit, making sure that none of the initial systems had been compromised. "Are you aware of any other civilizations that use a singularity design? I can't think of any and I agree with your assessment... maybe my tricoder is malfunctioning. I'll put it in diagostic mode on my way to the section."

Move through this part of the ship clearly didn't show a Romulan aesthetic. The smooth, almost organic feel to the interior was the antithesis of the Romulan way. Tyreke didn't have a ton of experience with the Romulans, aside from doing some work with Romulan scientists during the end of the Dominion War, but he appreciated the alternate approach to warp technology.

"I've reached the console to the main area. I'm having some trouble scanning the interior from here, but I think I can access the modular control system. I should be able to open the main doors from this console. Coming up on the access door now... I see the EVA suit through this apeture. Oh..."

There was a pause as Tyreke shined a light on the interior window. What reflected back at him was horrifying. "There are several bodies in here, Lt.... a few are intact, a few of them are in pieces. The main computer is still offline and the manual release values are fused solid.  I can't get this door open without using my phaser. Any suggestions?"

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #18 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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"No. I don't know of any other races that use a singularity core, Tyreke." Logan turned to the various consoles. He called up the computer entries for this and they too all referred to the Romulan civilization. Except for them, probably no other species had ever succeeded in controlling a black hole. But apparently, Federation scientists and engineers were also toying with the idea of trying out such a project. Certainly, there were others out there somewhere who were trying, but at least in the Federation, these kinds of projects were largely scaled back or put on hold because the risks of possible radiation with devastating gamma rays had been too great. Obviously, the cores of the Romulan warbirds were better shielded, but the way Logan had gotten to know this culture so far, they probably did not care if their people would be contaminated with gamma radiation over time.
Logan ran another shiver down his spine when the science officer reported that he could see several bodies. That some of them had been torn to shreds did not necessarily make this ghost ship any more inviting. The pilot flew over the data and realized that he could actually scan behind the door through the open cargo hold.
"I think I have an idea, Tyreke," the pilot reported. "If I amplify and focus the containment beam from the transporter accordingly, I should be able to beam you through the door."
Logan did some calculations. "One moment." His fingers flew across the console and determined the ideal bearing. "If you move one more foot to your left, I should be able to..." Logan corrected the angle of the shuttle by a few degrees. "Now! Energize."
The gauges told him that the transport was working. Through the gap he could see the science officer materializing again on the other side of the door.
"Everything still there and where it belongs?"

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #19 –
[Lt. Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

The reintegration took a touch longer than normal, which gave Tyreke pause, but as his senses emerged from the beam he took a quick scan of his biosigns, just to be safe.

“All clear, Lt. I’ve made it through the doorway. There are multiple remains in here... there’s quite a lot of interference to the sensors, but it does indicate some serious weapons fire... disrupt or technology most likely... but set to strange settings... wait, yes... there are bladed weapon wounds as well.”

Tyreke moved over to one of the samples. The expressions of the dead were mostly masked by the deep shielded visors of their own EVA suits. He felt fortunate that he didn’t need to see their final moments.

“Lt... these wounds are... wait... confirming. There is organic residue in some of these wounds. They didn’t use blades, or if they did, then they were natural weapons. I’m going to take a sample from one of the wounds to analyze.”

After getting a sample and setting the tricoder to scan, He walked over to the doorway. “There is a manual release here... should open the outer door. Should we do so, LT?”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #20 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Slowly Logan's hairs started to stand up. The scientist Logan beamed into the half-open storage room a few moments ago explained to him that he found many remains of corpses. Tyreke described to him the many fatal injuries he saw. Many were probably caused by disruptor fire, but others seemed to have wounds from blade weapons. All in all, to the pilot, it sounded like a Klingon boarding party that had either shot or slashed the crew of the freighter. The bodies should be probably simply blown into space and then the ship could be examined in peace, which was strange for the Klingons. Logan was sure that the Klingons would not have cared where the bodies lay. For them, the main thing would have been that they did not block any routes. Disposing of the corpses would surely have been done by the Bekks only when they had arrived in a safe haven or shortly before that. Had they perhaps been marauders? Logan thought about it. Why wasn't the ship taken along but left behind here in the asteroid field? Had a tragedy occurred?
But when Tyreke explained that he found organic residue in the wounds of the slain victims, it also explained the tension that was building up in Logan. Natural weapons were rare. The only ones he could think of were the Caitians, who had their claws. But he did not assume that it was a Cait. He could not rule it out, but from the pictures he received from the scientist's tricorder, it must have been a pretty big cat.
Logan was quite surprised and rubbed his neck. The tingling disappeared. He looked at his displays. Because there was no gravity in the compartment, there was still a lot floating around inside, which was due to the uncontrolled drift a few minutes ago. Logan did not want it to contaminate his flight space. He pondered for a second.
"Hold on. I'm modulating the tractor beam."
His fingers flew over the console and adjusted the tractor beam to a low setting and to push rather than pull.
"This should work like a lid, holding everything in the cargo bay."
With the temporary control jets attached earlier, Logan knew he would not seriously jeopardize the position of the freighter. He aligned the shuttle and activated the tractor beam, which would now function like a roof.
"Okay. Go ahead, Tyreke."

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #21 –
Lt Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

“Acknowledged, moving to the access panel.” Tyreke walked over to the portal and opened up the access panels there. A beep alerted him from his tricoder. “LT... I have an analysis of the wounds. This is interesting... the wounds which appear to have been caused by natural weapons... those appear to have been made by some sort of stabbing or slashing implements... not claws or teeth. If I had to guess, they were weapons which were fashioned from bones of some sort of predatory creature... and...” another whirling beep. “confirmed... the creatures are native to the Klingon Homeworld. Some sort of ceremonial knife, or perhaps a series of hunters looking for better prey. I do see some blood specimens floating in the zero g which appear pinkish... like Klingon blood as well. I will see about getting a sample.”

He moved out back to the console. He set the calibrations and did a small systems check to make sure that all of the servo motors would align as this derilict ship would strain. “Openeing outer bay doors.”

The system whirled to life and the seals opened, causing the light from the tractor beam to reflect against his visor. “So far so good, LT. Can you double check the phase variance? Looks good from this end.”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #22 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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The cargo hatches opened slowly and seemed to falter in between, as if the mechanism had not been operated for a very long time. Logan looked at the spectacle through the shuttle's viewport and wondered how long it had been since anyone had been here. Add to that the dismembered bodies. Something gruesome had happened here.
"Ritual weapons?" the pilot asked with interest. He was glad that he didn't have to stand in this sea of body parts and didn't envy the scientist right now. On the other hand, he was fascinated by the picture that presented itself to him and he still wanted to somehow clear up the background to it.
Logan smiled for a moment when Tyreke asked him to check the phase variance of the tractor beam again. "Sure, I'll do it right now," he replied. With practiced hand movements, he worked the console in front of him. All the inputs went almost by magic and the pilot was quickly finished with the check. "All within tolerances." he declared a moment later, as an audible alarm indicated that the shuttle's sensors were now picking up much more from inside the freighter.
"Tyreke, I can now detect the singularity core. The sensors are suddenly picking up a lot more from inside. It's almost like...," Logan checked the readouts more closely. "...It's like a seal has been broken. Hey, I think we can find some useful stealth technology here. I'll cut a piece out of the hull on the way back. Are you able to find anything in the freighter's logs about this?"
Logan looked out the window and recognized the scientist standing in his EV suit in the floating mountain of bodies. Suddenly, he almost felt sorry for his question. "I don't want to seem cold-hearted, but I'm afraid we can't help the dead here anymore. Maybe we can find some clues to what happened in the logs."

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #23 –
Lt Tyreke Okafor| Space | Freighter | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Nero

The Lieutenant was right, of course. Spending all this time with the dead wasn’t going to bring them back. It was just delaying the inevitable. If they could get this ship fully operational, maybe they could figure out how to handle the burial of these poor souls.

“Acknowledged Lt. I’m working on interfacing with the freighter’s logs now. The encryption is significant, but I think I can break through it with a little luck.”

The access panel roared to life as the trickier interfaces with the internal systems and did the handshakes to align and download the logs. Blueprints and long form analysis results were coming through.

“The stealth system is there all right, with a very confusing configuration... I half expected this to feel like a Romulan ship but this looks nothing like the cloaking details I’m familiar with. There is some sort of polarized anti sensor material on the hull... to your point, taking a piece back would be a fantastic item for analysis. The core though... LT... this thing is a work of art. If we could replicate it, I wonder how many of Theurgy’s power management problems could be solved. It’s a beast of a engine system. I’m downloading everything I can. Hopefully it will be enough.”

Re: Day 26 [0930 HRS] – A Freighter Alone

Reply #24 –
[Lt. JG Logan Hale, callsign "Wraith"| Cockpit | Shuttle Type-11 | Epsilon Mynos System ] Attn: @Elaurianpaladin
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Tyreke was beamed back to the other side of that blocked door, so he could get some more scans of the singularity core and uncover that mystery. Logan on the other hand got more and more readings from the inner systems of the freighter. He scrolled through the feeds and looked for something interesting about the cloaking technology involved in this ship.
“Come on, there have to be something.” He sighed but couldn’t find anything valuable.
The shuttles tractor beam still covered the cargo hold and Logan decided he would not leave until the rest of the away team wanted to have him elsewhere. There was something tingling his Spider-Senses, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on it. So, Logan laid back into his seat and watched the scanner and sensor feeds. There was a ton of data to process and Logan was sure that the bulk of it will occupy the scientist aboard the Theurgy for quite some time. All he could uncover would still be the tip of an iceberg.
Then something got his attention. Logan straightened and scrolled back. There was an unknown power surge in one of the secondary systems. Logan investigated further. His fingers slid over the consoles keyboard and he entered additional commands. The origin input and start for the surge was the activation of life support. Logan scanned deeper that secondary system and found the reason for his bad feeling soon after.
“Fuck!” he shouted.
“Tyreke! You have to get out of there asap!” Logan fired up the engines of the Type-11 once again and deactivated the tractor beam. Many parts of the dead Klingon bodies where now free and started to float around the shuttle and leave the cargo hold.
“There is a power surge in one of the secondary systems that remained undetected until I could use the computer of the Shuttle. Some electrical capacitors will blow up in the next three minutes. It will destabilize the singularity core and lastly blow up the whole freighter!”
Logan piloted the Shuttle back to their first entry point. It was the fastest way to extract the whole team. Since the cloaking broke, he could easily beam them out, but the process would take more time than simply pick them up.
But on the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt to just beam some over. Logan calibrated the sensors and found the two scientists who were the most far away. Even if they were top athletes, they would never make it in time. Some seconds later, they materialized back on the shuttle and took over their stations which speed up the processes by a lot.
“Come on, Tyreke! Move dammit!”
 
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