Welcome to the DQ Part 3

Posted on Tue Oct 15th, 2019 @ 6:09am by Lieutenant Commander Arianna Sky Kamar & Major Naomi Sylan Griffiths & Lieutenant Commander Yarinna "Fanthom" Hawkins & Lieutenant Tree Woods & Lieutenant Commander James Trallos MD & Lieutenant Cyrin Xanth & Chief Petty Officer "Chief" Alpha I CSH

Mission: Onboarding & Departure
Location: Bridge

Frank stared at the empty view screen as he sat dejectedly in his chair. His temper had calmed and he began to listen to his officers discuss the reasoning behind why they hadn’t detected the engines fire up as the Hirogen ship left. “Listen up please,” Frank asked his officers, he wasn’t shouting and his voice was deadly calm, “We lost a good man today and possibly more. He will be posthumously promoted and awarded a Purple Heart and a bravery award but now we must focus on the task at hand. Security brings us down to yellow, Helm takes us back to the Iota system. Engineering and Ops try to determine what that scan was. We need to focus on keeping the Penn out of danger as we plan our next move. The last thing I want to do is to warp blindly into a trap.” Frank strokes his beard in frustration as if accepting defeat but wanting to say more “Once we are back in Federation territory, I want every one of you who feels the need, to speak with our Counselor. Now Carry on.” He turned and sat back down in his chair as he finished speaking.

Tree's frustration was evident to anyone who knew her - which wasn't many people on this bridge, to be honest. She gave an annoyed snort, a scowl on her face, as she inputs her commands. The bridge lit up more, normal light returning, with yellow lights pulsing in portions of the walls. "Yellow alert, Aye Sir. Shields up, weapons cold," she replied, a matter of factly.

"Laying in a course, Captain," Cyrin said. He was shaken but glad to be getting them out of there. "Warp 5." The pilot intentionally didn't look back at the Captain. Had his protest missed them the shot at the Hirogen vessel? Had he ruined a chance at justice for their fallen? The young man's shoulders were tense as he engaged the engines and got the ship underway.

"What I want to know is what dampening field they used to fool our systems into showing the ship disabled and the fires in their engineering section. It had to be some type of new technology to do that", Arianna stated. It was clear she was pissed at not having been able to see through their trick. She now wanted to swear a blood oath but now was not the time.

"If they can fool us that well," Cyrin turned to look at Arianna at least, "then we might be being tracked right now. If we can't see their vessels even at warp they're as good as cloaked. Does it work anything like the Romulans?" He wasn't sure himself yet, would need to look the data over with the others. Now he felt guilty about Oscar - he'd not shared the drink he'd promised with the security chief.

Chief thought about what Cyrin had just asked, he didn't detect anything that would suggest Romulan cloaking technology and there was nothing to indicate the Hirogen ever coming into contact with Romulans. "There could be any number of answers to how they evaded our sensors, but it is worth studying." He said looking over to the Trill man, he then turned to look at Commander Kamar "With your permission Captain, I would like to go through our sensor data with Commander Sky and Lieutenant North, we may be able to figure out how the Hirogen were able to fool our sensors"

“Proceed Chief, but alow Lieutenant Grun to assist, he is the Chief of Operations,” Frank replied

At this moment in time, Griffiths was watching the CHO work the controls, she listened with half an ear but remained silent if she was needed to respond they would address her.

[Medical]

James did not have time to wait. As soon as he finished informing the Captain that one of his officers and senior staff died, he could not spend another second thinking about it. He had the technician rush his body off to the morgue to free up the main biobed. He glanced at the other three members of the away team laying on ICU beds. The nurse that had been attending to them while he was working on the Lieutenant shook her head. He glanced at the monitor displays above each of the crewmen, all flat and gone. Two were shot in the head and killed before they knew anything had happened. The other crewman had severe burns on his neck. If he was alive for transport, he died before anything could have been done. Cold comfort but James knew all three felt nothing before death. He made a final entry to the computer for each of the crewmen and glanced over to the other wall. At least their deaths were not in vain, they did save two prisoners.

James walked over to the two now released prisoners. The technician was able to get each of them onto a bed and start a sensor sweep. They were beaten, battered and looked half-starved. James was unsure if they were asleep because of relief or from sheer exhaustion. The girl was in good enough shape, mostly superficial cuts and bruising but malnourished. At her age though, what she had gone through would be traumatic. James was going to make sure he notified Lieutenant Bancroft so he could see her when he thought she had the strength to talk about all that happened.

He moved over and scanned the man. Multiple broken or fractured ribs, numerous lesions and a little internal bleeding. Nothing that would kill him, but would make for a lot of pain. It was clear that the Hirogens did not want him to die, but to feel as much as he possibly could. The scan also showed lots of scaring and healed bones from some time ago. It was clear, this was not the first time he had been through whatever the Hirogens did to him. This was at least the second time he had been treated like this, and enough time in between to fully heal and scar over. He tapped his scanner, some reason he was not getting a clear read on his age. He looked like he was in his mid 30's, but nothing was provided. James recalibrated the scanner and got a match on DNA flags. This man was an El-Aurian. Made sense why he could not get an accurate read on his age. No way to tell with a basic scan his exact age.

=/\= Sickbay to Captain Kamar. The away team was able to get out the two prisoners. They are going to be alright with a little time and treatment, but I think you better come down here as soon as you can sir. =/\=

[Bridge]

=/\= I’m on my way=/\= Kamar replied, “Major, you have the conn.” He stepped into the turbo lift and headed to Medical. Frank was hoping the other casualties would make it. With a deep breath. He braced himself for the worst and stepped into the Medical Bay.

[Medical]

Frank was unready for the scene that was before him, the beds each held patients with varying degrees of injuries including a child. Frank's heart aches for the small blonde-haired girl. He lost his wife June while she was still pregnant. This child needed someone to care for her. A voice drew him back from his reverie, and with a glance, he spotted the doctor. “Doc, what can I do?”

James was next to the man, holding an Osteo-regenerator near the man's ribs. He nodded over to the girl. "Only thing I think we can do right now Captain is to make sure lieutenant Bancroft sees her tomorrow morning. Poor thing was out like a light during treatment. She was pretty banged up. She also needs a good meal but I think she knows she's safe for the moment and all she's been through caught up with her."

“Thanks, Doc,” Frank said as he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I trust you’ll let me know if there are any changes?” He said more as a statement than a question.

"Of course Captain. However, there is more. I did not want to broadcast it over the open com, the bridge has enough going on. Johnston, Carpenter and T'Pon didn't make it. It was fast, they didn't feel a thing. Also our John Doe here." James gestured. "This isn't his first rodeo with them. He's got lots of scaring and healed bones. He's been through a whole lot at least one other time before this. They're old scars and bones fractures, but the funny thing is, I can't tell how old. He's El-Aurian." James said as put the regenerator down.

He nodded as he listened to the doctor speaking, more deaths but they saved two lives. Somehow Frank hoped those two lives were worth saving. “When will the older one be awake for questioning?”

"I could give him a stim and wake him up. He'll be a little sore, but he's out of the woods. I would just limit the questions to a few minutes. Rest will do him some good." James said glancing at a monitor.

“Let him rest for now, but I will keep security posted here around the clock. If there is nothing else Doctor I will return to the bridge.”

"That's all I have Captain. Thanks for coming down. I wish I could have done something more." James said as he put his hands into his lab coat and glanced at the two monitors of his patients one more time.

Frank nodded, "I didn't do much Doc, you've done your best and I appreciate that. I will check back in later."

[Bridge]

Commander Kamar stepped back onto the bridge, he stood in the centre for a moment to confirm their speed and heading. Comforted by the thought that they were out of danger he spoke,” I regret to inform you that there were no survivors from our away team, including our Security Chief. Their brave sacrifice allowed us to rescue two Hirogen prisoners, one of them was a young child. Lieutenant Woods, please keep a guard posted outside medical until we can verify the identity and intent of the rescued adult. I will expect after-action reports, I will also like to discuss how we can prevent this in the future, but for the next 48 hours, we will remain in the Iota System. We will go to minimum manning on the watches, so everyone has time to pay their respects. I will allow leave for people during that time to anyone who wishes to visit Iota.

"I will go over the scans and see what we can dig up", Arianna said.

"Constant security presence in sickbay, Aye Sir." Tree replied calmly. The news that she'd not only lost her chief but three security officers as well hit her hard.

Four dead. Cyrin winced at the news. Not a good omen for this mission's start, and he tried to focus on what he could do to stop that from happening again. Logs, from the Voyager's encounters with the Hirogen in the past might prove useful to study the hunters' tactics in battle.

Frank sat in his chair as the events replayed through his mind, he was deeply saddened by the loss of the crew members, haunted by the face of a blonde haired little girl, and concerned about the well being of his crew. He hoped the 48 hours of shore leave would help prepare them for whatever came next.