Talk:Fan Fiction/03

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Once Serendipity's personnel had been successfully beamed back, Captain Preast stood aboard Pegasus with his crew plus other essential personnel. Finally, all preparations had been made for Pegasus to fly once more, like a Phoenix.  
 
Once Serendipity's personnel had been successfully beamed back, Captain Preast stood aboard Pegasus with his crew plus other essential personnel. Finally, all preparations had been made for Pegasus to fly once more, like a Phoenix.  
 
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Tapping his comm badge, Greg spoke solemnly but firmly.  “All Team report status” One by one all eight volunteers added in their latest updates.  It seems that, as could be expected, some systems were either totally offline or acting sporadically with floating blackouts and brownouts randomly occurring all over what parts of the ship they could monitor.  However there was nothing apparent which would prevent or jeopardize their mission.  
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Tapping his comm badge, Greg spoke solemnly but firmly.  <font color=red>“All Team report status” One by one all eight volunteers added in their latest updates.  It seems that, as could be expected, some systems were either totally offline or acting sporadically with floating blackouts and brownouts randomly occurring all over what parts of the ship they could monitor.  However there was nothing apparent which would prevent or jeopardize their mission. </font color>
 
<br> <br>  
 
<br> <br>  
 
"Alright everybody, lissenup. We've managed to get the old girl patched up good enough to fly this coop. We get one shot at this. Let's make it count. Y'all are the best, and I know it. Thank you for sticking with me through what many called a madman's dream. If we pull it off, it will make our place in Maquis history. If not, well, the Maquis get to blame me for something one last time. Good luck. Here's to us.  Anybody else got anything to say at this point?"
 
"Alright everybody, lissenup. We've managed to get the old girl patched up good enough to fly this coop. We get one shot at this. Let's make it count. Y'all are the best, and I know it. Thank you for sticking with me through what many called a madman's dream. If we pull it off, it will make our place in Maquis history. If not, well, the Maquis get to blame me for something one last time. Good luck. Here's to us.  Anybody else got anything to say at this point?"

Latest revision as of 02:23, 8 June 2009

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Contents


[edit] Asteroid Gamma 601

THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE PEGASUS SAGA

 ::OOC:: - The last relevant post to the story ended with:

On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 6:12 PM, Greg Preast <gregpreast@yahoo.com> wrote:

Once aboard Serendipity, 10 looked aghast. "Only yourself, Greg?"

"Aye, sir. I have the most engineering experience of my crew, " then with an admiring grin, he declared, "plus, I couldn't pass up a chance to work with you. Determined is in good hands with Rob and Blue. As for myself, I'm ready to get this show on the road. Mind if I get some coffee while we wait?"
Greg Preast


 ::IC:: -

As Ten-of-Nine sat in the command chair of Serendipity's bridge, his outward appearance was calmly confident and reserved. Weeks of planning seemed like months or more and this was the entry point to the culmination of that planning. However, inwardly Tens mind was processing scenarios one after the other, working through things that could go wrong. He didn't like the lack of information he was getting from the relatively large security force that was tasked with overseeing the safety of this operation. Even his special "ace-in-the-hole" assets had gone silent. He knew he should abort the mission and send everyone home, but at the same time he had a reckless, livewire, hotshot Captain whom was chomping at the bit to get this ship regardless of the risks. Somehow Ten intuitively knew that the best chance they all had was to move forward. He didn't want the loss of Determined and its crew weighing on his mind. Captain Preast was walking a fine line and Ten didn't want him to stumble again.

"Helm, take us into the asteroid fissure carefully. No more than 1/4 impulse. All scanners and sensors at maximum sensitivity. Viewscreens up. Exterior lighting on. Keep us away from the walls."

"Lizzie, leave a string of comm buoys starting just outside and following us all the way in. I want to have maximum warning if something goes wrong."

"Engage"

The chasm was reported to have been large enough for the Enterprise to navigate. In the ensuing years, magnetic and gravitational stresses along with who-knew-what other forces had resulted in significant collapses along the way. Ten doubted that the Enterprise from that time could still fit within. Serendipity was much smaller however and was able to navigate the debris with relative ease. About the time they had calculated they should be near the two kilometer mark, sensors indicated a significant mass just over three hundred meters away. Rounding one more twisting outcropping, they suddenly set sight of the goal...Pegasus.

Scans of the hull and the surrounding area indicated no one was present. However there was a significant discovery. Someone had been working to free Pegasus from the rock face. By the look of it they were almost completed. There also was some sort of straight shaft approximately ten meters in diameter heading off in another direction from which they had entered. That same someone had apparently used the shaft for access to do the work. Ten guessed that the opening was concealed on the surface or perhaps tied to another chasm entry point.

Ten hit the touch point on his chair for "All Hands" and tied in a secure link to the outside via the comm buoys. Looking at those in the bridge, he started by bringing the crew up to date on the situation, then... "We don't know yet who has been working here, what they have done, when they might return, or what surprises they probably have left for us. We are going to attack this problem with the idea of speed and safety. Lizzie..."

"Sir?" as she linked eyes with Ten.

"I am leaving you in charge of Serendipity. You know I expect you to protect her. If something bad happens, get her back out of here. In the meantime, watch over us as I know only you can do. Clear?"

"Yes Sir!" Harker replied but her eyes showed the pain of the possibility of running from a fight.

"Alright. Away Teams. As planned, full environmental suits. Everyone armed, but try not to be too jumpy. Do keep an open eye to booby traps."
"Team One will be headed up by Doc Evans, a medic, an environmental engineer, and two security officers. Your primary task will be to evaluate the status of the environmental systems. If you can, see if you can quickly restore those systems. Your secondary task will be to survey the accessible portions of the ship starting with the areas in which we need to work. See what you can do to secure any crew remains that might be within."
"Team Two will be headed by Capt Preast, two engineers, and two security officers who will head for main engineering. Your primary responsibilities are to get engineering running well enough to operate the helm, comm, structural integrity, maneuvering thrusters, the plasma conduit system, and maybe limited impulse if you can swing it."
"I shall lead Team Three with two engineers and three security officers. We will be the first ones aboard Pegasus. Our task will first be to sweep as much of the ship as we can quickly do to evaluate damages and detect any sabotage or traps. Once we have cleared enough spaces, the other two Teams can follow. Our secondary tasks will be to install supplemental power units to help the Pegasus along, install the IPCD, and assist the other Teams as needed."
"The remainder of those aboard Serendipity will man the bridge at the ready at all times. The remaining engineers will assist from this end transporting the power units, spare plasma relays, and whatever else we'll need to the Pegasus."
"Questions...? Good. Let's get started. Lizzie, you have the bridge" as he closed the comm links.

"Team Three to the transporter. Teams One and Two at the ready." as Ten moved out of the bridge, triggering his communicator. "Let's go!"


 ::OOC:: - Please remember to leave the new thread Subject as it is to keep the closing threaded properly. This SIM is ending soon. It would be quite nice if the other absent members of the SIM would speak up...

[edit] Prep to Secure Peagsus and bring Her systems back to Life...

Captain Preast was, as any good captain would be, thinking of his ship. What he was thinking was that Determined was in good hands with Commander Shultz as acting CO being backed up by Blue. Enough time spent on a situation already under control.

Rob knew to continue monitoring the comms buoys dropped by Serendipity for the first sign of trouble, while maintaining a steady scan of the vicinity around the asteroid.


Team Three, led by Ten-of-Nine, transported aboard first starting just outside of Main Engineering. Scans still indicated negative lifeforms. Starting with engineering spaces they located and neutralized several primitive monitoring tell-tale sensors that were not part of the original ship as they worked to ensure everything was safe for the other Teams. Sensor readings showed a thin atmosphere remaining, however the environmental systems were currently offline. As they moved throughout the lower hull Ten contacted Serendipity.

“Ten to Lizzie. While you are waiting, try running some micro scans of the external hull. Someone has been working here and I’d like to NOT be surprised by any beacons, transponders, or other nasty gifts they may have left to stake their claim. Also go ahead and send Team One and then Team Two to the cleared areas we’ve mapped so they can get started. Tell them to maintain sealed suits. Ten out.”

Recent debris identifiable as originating from over two dozen species complicated the search for whomever it was behind the excavation and repair work. Sections of the ship which obviously had been blocked by the minerals and such making up the asteroid were apparently now cleared. Sections of the hull had rudimentary patches and repairs. A few passages had been sealed off due to extreme damage. Some obvious explosion and fire damage was evident in areas containing plasma relays and conduit trunks. Sick bay had been breached, but it was still full of the remains of the former crew… most likely the injured. As the Team reached the bridge access, they found it sealed. Scans indicated why. Most of the Bridge was gone or destroyed when some sort of rupture tore open the hull there.

Completing their sweep, Team Three returned to the engineering areas having previously located a small cargo hold adjacent to both main engineering and some convenient plasma conduit access points. Working with those still onboard Serendipity they transported six auxiliary power units (APUs) to the hold and rapidly made connection to the ships power grid. Supplemental power was always helpful.

Ten then called the engineer working the transporters aboard Serendipity, “Send the detonator” speaking a prearranged code. Ten was operating on the premise that they might be watched or monitored somehow. A few moments later, another incoming shimmer came and went—leaving behind the Inter-Phase Cloaking Device or IPCD. Taking it, they moved to the auxiliary upper engineering control room where the original IPCD was installed. Thankfully the interface and couplings were still intact. Ten installed it and configured the controls to run remotely along with some other subroutines. He then activated the anti-tamper circuits. It was ready to go. Once activated four of the six APUs would do nothing but supply power to the cloak. Not bad for just over six hours work.

“Doc, report” sent Ten.

“Team One collected and preserved all major remains of the crew in the lower half of the ship—at least in the main areas we are working in. My engineer and one escort split off to bring environmental back on-line. This was fairly easy as it has been in use recently. She had to make some adjustments to correct some irregularities deviating from normal human preferences. We also have activated the bio-filters in those areas where they still work. Eventually the micro-remains of the crew will eventually be filtered out of the air and collected. But that should take up to three days before it is considered effective and complete. Until then, suits are required. Doc out.”


On arrival Greg had led his team directly to main engineering. It was relatively clean, except for the remains of, well, remains. Scanning the area, all weak areas of the hull were identified and secured. Greg's engineering background came in handy on this endeavor as several hours passed.

"Preast to Ten," inquired Greg.

"Go ahead,Greg. What's she looking like?"

"Well sir, we managed to get what we used to call 'aft steering' in the Terran Navy operational. Impulse...well, maybe we can get 'er runnin' enroute to the yards once we're free, but don' hol' yer breath. We also will have to maintain comms on this channel. Pegasus's comms system is down hard. Maneuvering thrusters will be full up-round within the half hour. The plasma conduits should hold. We've, ahem, uhhh...worked a few miracles to keep them 'conduiting.' In this case, we con-do-it, Cap'n!"

Ten's eyes rolled. However, he did manage a grin. A weak attempt at humor to lighten the burden of the situation.

"Right, Admiral. Bad joke."

"At this point, Greg, anything to break up the tension. Nevertheless, do please stay focused."

"Roger, sir. Now, let's get this great bird ready to somewhat fly again, and give Rob his big surprise."

“Right Greg. I’ll have all the Teams converge on Main Engineering for preflight planning. We shall determine who goes for the ride and who goes back to Serendipity. Ten out.”


Ten was getting worried. So far things were in much better shape than he had expected. At the meeting Greg conducted a quick memorial speech concerning the crew remains and asked for their spirits blessing as their bodies were being transported home. Ten assigned Greg’s entire team to remain aboard Pegasus plus the medic, the environmental engineer, and two additional security officers who would be assigned to safeguard the IPCD. That would be nine crew. All navigation would have to be done from main engineering. Assuming the cloak works correctly. Serendipity must safely traverse back out before Pegasus can engage for her exit.

“Ten to Serendipity. Seven away team to beam back over.”



[edit] The Last Gasp and the End


OOC -- NOTE
This last bit is authored by Greg in YELLOW text and
Authored by Steve in RED text



Once Serendipity's personnel had been successfully beamed back, Captain Preast stood aboard Pegasus with his crew plus other essential personnel. Finally, all preparations had been made for Pegasus to fly once more, like a Phoenix.

Tapping his comm badge, Greg spoke solemnly but firmly. “All Team report status” One by one all eight volunteers added in their latest updates. It seems that, as could be expected, some systems were either totally offline or acting sporadically with floating blackouts and brownouts randomly occurring all over what parts of the ship they could monitor. However there was nothing apparent which would prevent or jeopardize their mission.

"Alright everybody, lissenup. We've managed to get the old girl patched up good enough to fly this coop. We get one shot at this. Let's make it count. Y'all are the best, and I know it. Thank you for sticking with me through what many called a madman's dream. If we pull it off, it will make our place in Maquis history. If not, well, the Maquis get to blame me for something one last time. Good luck. Here's to us. Anybody else got anything to say at this point?"

"Impulse will be ready when you need it, Captain."

A bit startled, Greg looked around trying to determine who had made the remark. No indication whatsoever.

"You are the only one who can hear me, Captain. I was Chief Engineer aboard Pegasus when the disaster happened. Impulse is my gift to you. With your permission, I'd like to remain aboard, and help out.

"Who am I to argue?" mumbled the Captain, grinning.

<<Serendipity to Pegasus Team. You are clear to engage in 30 seconds. Good Luck and God Speed. See you on the outside.>> a familiar voice sent.

"All stations, Captain Preast. Stand by, prepare to initiate the IPCD on my mark. 3, 2, 1...mark! Engage thrusters...now."

Somewhere in an out of the way Jefferies Tube Junction, a circuit sputtered and a local failure took the artificial gravity and inertial dampers for this section off-line. An undiscovered decaying corpse in an engineering uniform drifted up and into an open plasma relay panel. There was an arc-induced bright flash as part of the corpse temporarily bridged a damaged circuit junction…

As he had been told, the impulse controls sprang to life suddenly. "Engaging 1/4 impulse, now!!!"
With that, Pegasus soared out of the asteroid.

Moments later, the circuit junction once again overloaded and burned thru the temporary short in the circuit junction as the artificial gravity randomly returned to this area. The circuit went dead again as the recently burned remains dropped to the decking once more…

The moment she broke free from the asteroid, impulse dropped. The thrusters and leftover force of impulse were carrying Pegasus through space.

As programmed by Ten-of-Nine, the IPCD automatically shut down once free of the Asteroid and went into a password protected diagnostic mode. What was left of the Pegasus, substantially intact but with significant damage visible, was now back in-phase with normal space.

However now Pegasus was in deep trouble. Exiting at impulse speed was not is the plans especially now that the impulse drives were once again off-line and could not assist in deceleration. Fluttering shields on Pegasus presented a new danger as the ship pummeled her way through small, medium, and large chunks of rock and debris from the asteroid field.

MFS Scavenger, MFS Serendipity, and other smaller vessels from the Pegasus Recovery Force--but not including MFS Trinity, which seemed strangely silent and inactive--in the vicinity quickly moved, as they were able, to clear the way for Pegasus. Shields for the two Maquis Raiders were extended to the max to provide protection as the ships alternated momentarily dropping shields using their Borg adapted tractor/cutting beams to move as much debris as they could from the path. Still Pegasus’s tired, damaged hull was taking a significant beating from the near constant pummeling from what did escape the makeshift “flying Vee” formation.


"Determined, Pegasus."

"Good to hear your voice, Captain."

"Go long, Rob! Go long!"

Determined matched the flight path of Pegasus, which was diminutive compared to her immense hull. Passing Pegasus and getting ahead of her like a wide receiver reaching for a football, Determined gently embraced the smaller ship in a tractor to slow her down, finally bringing Pegasus to a stop. Shouts and cheers of relief broke out among all the ships.

Ten came across comms: "Greg! Flamboyant as ever, although I am tempted to use other words!! Do you ever do anything low-key and by-the-book?"

"It was a team effort, Admiral. As to low-key--no sir, not if I can help it.”

About this time an extremely broken, static-filled transmission came up on the task force emergency channel. Aboard Serendipity, Harker reported, “It’s Trinity , Sir”. At first there was no audio. After a minute or so, broken bits of audio slowly, steadily improved until it was mostly clear as was the improved video. Logan’s face filled the screen. He was not happy at all. In fact the Caitian’s long hair/fur was singed and matted with what appeared to be blood.

“Admiral, sorry it took so long to get through to you. I have urgent news to report. LCDR Huff pretty near killed Trinity, not to mention the rest of my crew.” Everyone listening was momentarily struck speechless by the news.

Ten was the first to respond, “I am glad to hear that you are too tough to kill, Logan. Please report in more detail what he did and how. But first, do you need any immediate assistance?”

At times Logan’s voice sounded like a snarl as he continued, “Sir, we are putting things back to normal as we speak. For now, we are doing fine, thank you. The first to spot trouble was Trinity herself. She noticed that parts of her operating system and subsystems were becoming blank to her. As if they didn’t exist. Investigating the problem, she was able to determine that rogue sub-routines were using an ever-increasing percentage of her capacity. I was working to counter the programming and believe that much of the long-range sensor data that our recovery group had been following was actually a complicated fabrication originating from this ship. At that time I still did not suspect Huff, but once your Team entered the asteroid, the problems multiplied ten-fold. We lost all control of bridge and ships systems including all comm. False fleet chatter was being transmitted to mask our difficulties. Environmental controls were manipulated to incapacitate most of the crew and other systems were actively working to trap and imprison others. Our support fighters, shuttles, and smaller ships were vectored on wild targ chases to keep them away from the ship.”

“Huff and I were working on the problem when he attacked me from behind. I don’t really know what he did.” You could see the injured pride in Logan’s eyes as his nostrils flared with anger. “When I woke up, it was just in time to see an unknown, unmarked ship decloak and recloak parked on the flight deck of Trinity. An isolated transporter log shows he transported there off of Trinity. The mystery ship is gone. A short time later we received the transmission that you were exiting with Serendipity. We only now are starting to bring systems back on-line including the comm. Trinity is being reloaded from an isolated backup that was apparently untouched. So far the crew is recovering unharmed as well.”

“One more thing, Admiral. Now that our long-range sensors have been restored we have detected a weak, coded transmission from a message drone sent by your “ghost” asset, LF-9. It seems that she detected a group of cloaked ships heading this way. Coincidentally,” giving a suspicious look at Ten-of-Nine, “her sister squadron ships were patrolling nearby. They somehow managed to intercept the CLOAKED ships and engage them in a rather protracted, fierce fight. The ships were driven back, but not before doing significant but survivable damage to the squadron. I believe that battle is the one that Lt Harker detected earlier. If you don’t mind Sir, I still have more work to do. We will coordinate any assistance we may need. By your leave…” as he signed off.

The next three days were quite busy as emergency repairs were made to Pegasus. Pegs backup warp core was installed and restarted restoring limited warp below warp three. Half impulse was restored as well along with minimal shields. Pegasus still had portions of the ship missing or destroyed, including the main bridge. Months of repair time in a yard facility would be required to set her straight, however the battle bridge was made operable for the slow journey to the yards, escorted by Determined. Logan up-loaded copies of the main computer core and both aux backup cores into special isolated storage for future analysis. LT Harker and her teams scanned the entire ship once more, in triplicate at Lizzie’s insistence, but no unusual systems, spaces, or programs were found that shouldn’t be there.

Doc Evans headed the effort to finish recovering and processing the remains of the original Pegasus crew, assisted by teams from all of the other ships present. They were transferred to Determined for storage and eventual return to the Federation via friendly sources. Another memorial service was held for the entire Pegasus task group to honor the memory of the fallen spacefarers.

Trinity was back to normal, apparently no worse for the experience with the exception that Trin seemed to be… well… sulking.


Finally, all involved gathered onboard Determined for final debrief and celebration. Ten and Greg shook hands. The IPCD was safely stowed aboard Serendipity again, much to Ten's relief.

Ten spoke "Congratulations, Determined Team. You lived up to your name as well as your reputation. We anxiously and cautiously look forward to Pegasus joining the Maquis fleet. Rob… Greg, take care of her. She’s been though trials that most ships never see. She deserves some pampered TLC."

Greg replied, "Will do, Admiral. Request permission to depart for the previously agreed-on repair facility."

"Granted. While both ships are undergoing repairs, refits, and upgrades max liberty is recommended and authorized. See what you can do about recruiting more crew as well."

"Aye, aye sir."

"Carry on, Gentlemen. Maquis Forever."

"Maquis forever, sir."

Back in Determined's center chair, Greg gave the order taking Determined and Pegasus to her place of restoration.

"So, Cap'n," asked Rob, "...how did you get impulse operational so quickly?"

Grinning knowingly Captain Preast replied, “Help from a friend ol' buddy, is sometimes just the thing you need."

"In other words, you'll tell me later, right?"

"If you're lucky..."




END, FIN, FINALE, DAS IST KAPUT!

UNLESS… someone wants to do an epilogue WITHOUT Pegasus, Determined, Greg, Rob, and a dog named Blue present…
They are gone now… LOL… at least for a while.


[edit] FINAL Character Comments, etc… OOC…



As we finally bring this sim to a close I want to make note that this is the FIRST sim we have taken to a proper conclusion. Many, many thanks to Greg for sticking through to the end. However the process and path took far longer than any of us could have anticipated. I can’t stress enough that future sims need to be attended to and participated in by ALL players on a much more regular basis.

One thing that Greg insisted on early-on was having us play our characters using our current MFI rank. I still feel that this should not be the hard and fast future policy UNLESS everyone agrees to it beforehand. I for one [and there are others] enjoy the challenge of playing either alternate characters or our persona character at different points in our lives. It adds variety and richness to the experience.

Greg’s MFI persona has shaped itself in part by the way he has chosen to play his role. He certainly is a motley persona—Greg played his part as a sort of reckless, throw-back, retro, risk craving, space red-neck, who only really recognizes his own authority with certainty. I see him as a necessary sort of renegade who has an angel watching over him to keep him just out of crossing the line into ruin. However he does try the tolerance level of the role-played Maquis Command. I think that is indeed a unique character to be nurtured. In no way is any disrespect intended or implied about our friend and fellow rebel Greg. <GRIN>

I also wanted to comment on LCDR Chis Huff’s role. Early-on in the sim he inspired some excellent role-play by all participants that really made the beginning of this sim “sing”. Other priorities forced him to all but eliminate his direct input but his character was already woven into our story. We may never know what might have happened had he stayed active. I truly missed his input and creativity. The twist at the end of our story is simply a way to wrap up most of the loose ends that were left when our participants dropped out one by one. We do not know why his persona did what was written. He can still turn out to be a loyal good guy, driven by unknown factors. Perhaps Section 31 still had some control over him either involuntary or thru coercion. The fact is he was written to have avoided doing any lasting harm to anyone or anything. Chis…all is forgiven… please come home…<SMILE, LOL>

Last is our own Mr Bibb. His character, the DOC, was included because Sam kept promising to join us. Unfortunately REAL LIFE reared it ugly head. Some creative writing was required to keep his character standing-by at the ready. Sam, I hope our limited use of Doc Evans as an NPC met with your satisfaction.

Logan, we LOVE your character and your ship. Trin and Barb as well. Wish you had been able to actively finish with us, my Friend.

Last but by no means the least is our stalwart, hell-on-wheels Security Chief and acting XO… LT Lizzie Harker. CD, I love your inputs when you find the time but sometimes I think you are infected with blondness… LOL. I know between home, work, and school you are stretched WAY too thin so it is “All Good.” You are the best right arm an old Borg could have … say… that’s an idea… I could really make you my right arm! All of the other Borg would be so jealous!!!

To the rest of you who are wondering if I will ever shut up… Why don’t you all join us in our next sim and see if you can do better? Or at least have some fun…


“Have a pleasant night and a better tomorrow!”

VADM Steve “Ten-of-Nine” Lackey


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