Into The Danger Zone
Posted on Wednesday 13 April 2022 @ 12:56 by Captain Melody Jones
Mission:
Disaster!
Location: Fox squadren / USS Merlin
Timeline: MH09:00
2314 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure
ON:
Pete Mitchel sat in the cockpit of his Talon Class Fighter. His hands gripped the twin maneuvering sticks with a little more intensity than usual. Pete had been used to flying into a combat zone and striking precision targets and then getting out. However, he was not used to rescue missions, and all things being what they were this mission required the CAG. "Talk to me Goose..." he spoke into the internal comm.
Since their launch from the Iwo Jima Nick Bradshaw had not really known what to expect. They launched with a gutted fighter to make room for four engineers. Their mission to get the Engineers to the Merlin safely. The fighter lurched and rolled through the infected area of space. Nick knew that Pete was avoiding these pockets of space that could cause them to come to a complete stop and leave them stranded. When Maverick asked Nick knew the drill. He spun his head in the glass dome that made for a cockpit roof and looked to see if there were anyone out there to attack them. Thankfully there was not. He then looked down at his console. "The area is clear and all weapons are on standby, shields are raised and the Merlin seems to be awaiting us. However, their bay doors are closed."
Pete opened a channel to the Merlin. "Merlin this is Maverick aboard Fox 2. Calling on the emergency channel. I have repair team one. Please open your bay doors to receive."
The immense ship looked dark and very foreboding. After a long silence, there was a burst of static over the comm channel. Then... several more bursts. Some long, some short in a pattern. Too regular to be background interference.
Pete was unsure what was happening, he thought that perhaps they had not received it. "I say again this is Maverick aboard Fox 2. Calling on emergency channel..."
"Mav cool it for a sec..." Goose called from the back. There was something to this message. "Listen for the pattern it is Morse code." Nick played the message that they had received on a loop so that he could translate it. "They hear us but cannot transmit. They are glad to see us and the Iwo Jima. But main and auxiliary power is down. That includes their comm system and the bay door system. We are being requested to board the Merlin EVA."
Pete removed his breathing apparatus for a second and wiped the sweat from his face. He knew that they were not frakked yet. He reconnected his mask which housed the internal comm mic and spoke to the engineers in the back. "Ladies and gentlemen I hope that you have all passed your EVA test because we are going to have to walk aboard the Merlin. Suit up we are going in and will be down on her hull in five." He closed that channel and continued to speak on the private channel that he and Nick used. "Right Goose get me the best place to set down."
Pete Mitchell connected back with the Merlin. "Captain Jones if you can hear this. Your message has been received and we are going to approach from the starboard side. We are going to board the Merlin via the starboard torpedo maintenance hatch. Eta to touchdown five minutes."
The Morse code message from the merlin changed.
***MESSAGE RECEIVED AND UNDERSTOOD. ADMIRAL JACKSON IN COMMAND. BRIDGE ISOLATED BY EMERGENCY BULKHEADS. ATTEMPTING TO CUT THROUGH. LOCATION OF CAPTAIN UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME. CAUTION. GRAVITY FLUCTUATIONS REPORTED ON ALL DECKS AND REPORTS OF INTERNAL EXPLOSIONS. LIFE SIGNS IN MAIN ENGINEERING BUT UNABLE TO CONTACT. THANKS AND GOOD LUCK***
"Right team suit up and be ready for anything. We will touch down and board the Merlin. Once in Goose and I will escort you to Engineering. Here we go." Maverick switched his communication to the private channel that he shared with Goose. "Right Goose keep your eyes up. I don't think they know what did this to the Merlin yet. So be ready... The worst is getting caught out here with our pants down." "Right Mav for the time being there is nothing in our sky." Nick replied as he looked all around through the 360 canopy.
Maverick laid in a course and took his fighter toward the Merlin. There was a small amount of ducking and weaving as he maneuvered past a small amount of debris that came from the Merlin after the impact. As he aligned his vessel with the Merlin he could see the small hatch in the view screen. "Right here we go standby to engage docking clamps." Pete engaged full reverse. "three... two... one... mark." There was a soft thud as the two ships collided gently and a second thud as the clamps engaged. "Lets suit up."
A few minutes later Nick knelt at the rear hatch with a phaser. He used the phaser as one would use a blow torch, the maintenance hatch was not meant to be opened from the outside. "Activate locater beacons, and mag locks. Stay together on the Merlin." Pete ordered the team, he was the senior officer and even though they boarded a friendly ship there was still a lot that was unknown. He wanted to make sure that they all got back together. "Here we go..." Nick called as he stood up and the hatch was opened.
Peyton had made her way to the get more tools to fix the problems that the ship had came into... well she said ship but truthfully she was more concerned with her own fighters and how they'd fared on the bouncy castle that had became the Merlin.
As she made her way towards the quartermasters for requisitions but heard a clunk, a small almost impermissible noise like something attaching itself to the hull. She made her way to the sounds of some not very discreet boarders and stood over the hatch as it opened. She went to swing something heavy at the first person that entered but heard them shout to stop.
"Hey there slugger we come in peace..." Maverick pushed his hands out to show that he was unarmed. He had no idea what happened on the Merlin but apparently it left the crew on end. "I'm Maverick and this is Goose..." He motioned toward Nick who had just slid through the hatch. He also pointed to the name tags with a smirk. "These four are Guerrero, Ptak, Marg, and Littlefoot. They came for the ride and perhaps to lend a hand with fixing your floating death-trap here. We are fresh from the Iwo Jima..." He paused for effect. "Now if you would care to put the conduit down and not bash in our heads and perhaps show us to Engineering that would be great."
Peyton hesitated for a moment, the conduit hung in mid-air as the man still spoke to her. It was almost like a clown car how many people kept coming out of the hatch, but eventually Peyton's arms just got tired of holding the heavy conduit above her and let it fall slowly. "Slugger?" she asked with some attitude. She had 2 older brothers, she knew how to handle herself. Sometimes she wondered if that was why she chose a less 'delicate' form of work. "You know even boarders can wear name tags..." she commented still a little fidgety. She'd been working for hours to try and fix the damaged fighters on the bay... no-one really expects a loss of gravity these days. Her blue uniform was a little dirty, some hairs were out of place and she hadn't slept for a while...
Pete saw the ragged dirty blue uniform and realized that she must be a member of the Merlin's flight. He nodded a little in supplication. "Listen, I am Lieutenant Pete Mitchell, and this is Lieutenant Nick Bradshaw. You the CAG round these parts?"
Peyton chose to drop the conduit at this point and the internal feelings of embarrassment surged through her, she fought the urge to go red in the face. "Sorry sirs..." she said almost immediately standing down from her position. "No sir, we don't currently have an active CAG on board at the moment. I heard we were picking one up soon... I am Senior Chief Petty Officer Peyton Santos." she said indicating her rank on her uniform. "Boatswains mate, and all around 'grease monkey'." she added.
"At ease... Glad to meet you Chief. You can call me Maverick. Now I am sure the rest of my team could use you as well. We need to get to Engineering. So Lead on..." Mav signalled the rest of the team to fall in step with him. This Peyton had spunk, she could make Deck Chief in no time Pete thought. He continued to speak while they walked. "So any idea what hit ya. I mean a ship of this magnitude does not just stop working."
"No idea." Peyton replied. "I was trying to grab some rack time, I'd been working on one of the fighters and got to into it... before I knew it, it was 2300 and my shift had been finished for 3 hours." Peyton laughed a little to herself. "Before I knew it I was thrown out of my rack and everything went to Hell... I was hoping for more information by now... Follow me." she said leading them to Deck 26. "If you have anything to share sir? Now would be ace."
"We caught your Captain's distress call a few hours ago and rushed in. This area of space is so unstable we could not get a stable warp bubble. Whatever hit you guys wiped out FTL for lightyears in all directions. We burned our thrusters to impulse a boost to get here quicker. Do you know if any of the systems are fully operational. I mean I hope you have life support at least stabilized." Maverick kept his head on a swivel as looked around for any sign of well anything. He could see Nick doing the same.
"If we don't have comms... ah she must have used a shuttle." Peyton nodded to herself. "The Captain is an impressive woman, even when pregnant she is saving us." she smiled. "But it's funny you said that the space is unstable, its almost as if I can feel the energy, the vibrations are different here... I'm happy someone reached us."
There was moment when even Maverick was impressed. A pregnant woman still at her post in a situation like this. There were a lot of words and questions about that. However, Pete gave none of them voice, instead he simply whistled. "Right well once we complete our mission Goose and I will head to the flight deck and see what we can do to help get the ship moving again. Even thrusters at the moment would be good, I would imagine." He maneuvered through debris and in some cases deceased crew members as he made his way. There was so much carnage, Pete could not remember when he saw this much crap. As a fighter pilot any situations like this usually meant that you were not going to see the aftermath.
"We aren't that far from Engineering. Couple of decks, little more of that tube crawling you seem to love." Peyton replied as she too walked with the group. At moments she stopped and looked at the bodies of former crewmates, of friends that lay in the halls. "If we muster enough fighters and shuttles we could possibly move the ship out of the zone... but I'm not sure of the physics of all of that." Peyton admitted.
Maverick gave a look to Nick. Bradshaw was the Tactical Systems Operator and a lot better at crunching things like physics. The man they called Goose immediately went to work on a wrist mounted key pad. It uplinked to the fighter's computer and allowed for quick and accurate computations. "It can be done, but it is going to be closer than a shave. I think with the help of the Chief here and perhaps a few other people we can get it done."
"Great work Goose. We will drop off the Engineers and then get to the flight deck. What do you think Chief up to giving us a hand." Maverick said with a smile.
"Will need to dust off my flight suit sir, but yeah I'd be happy to get back in a cockpit again." Peyton almost smiled, and she would have if it had not been for the situation they were in. "Oh we are just coming up for Engineering now." she commented pointing at the larger somewhat imposing doors.
"Right..." Pete turned to the Engineering team. "I believe the Chief Engineer on this boat is a Vulcan named Seklar. Seek him out I am sure he can put you to work. Remember the briefing we have to get this ship moving, the Captain will stand for nothing less." Turning back toward Peyton and Nick, Maverick continued to speak. "Lets get up to the flight deck and see what we can do."
Nick nodded in agreement. "We should try to recruit people along the way. We are going to need everyone that we can get our hands on if we are going to make this crazy plan work."
"Right to the Flight Deck Chief... And lets get the call out to any able bodied pilots." Mav said with a devilish smile. This was the kind of thing he lived for. Performing pilot maneuvers that have not even been heard of yet.
"Let's go." Peyton replied.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Peyton Santos
Boatswains Mate
USS Merlin
Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell
Chief Flight Control Officer
Commander Air Group
USS Merlin
Lieutenant Junior Grade Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw
Tactical Systems Operator
USS Merlin
Captain Melody Jones
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin
