Rescuing Logan

Posted on Tue May 7, 2019 @ 6:49pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant JG Zander Devereaux & Lieutenant Martha Cusack & Lieutenant Commander Kelani Tetanal & Lieutenant JG Logan Hunter

Mission: On Slippery Ground
Location: USS Victorious
Timeline: MD 1 || 1700 Hours

Once the Victorious was launched, Michael turned to Kelani. "Lieutenant, I need you to focus on Lieutenant Hunter. You said you feel he isn't dead, but we can't find him even with your sensor improvements. Do everything you can."

“Yes, sir,” Kelani replied and closing her eyes, she began to concentrate.

~Imzadi~, she called to him, ~Show me where you are! Let me see what you see!~

Her breathing roughened as she stretched her awareness farther and farther....

“That way,”. She said breathlessly, pointing to the left. “He is on a small habitable body—perhaps a planetoid or something of that size....”

She looked up at Michael. She was breathing hard, as if from a long workout. She told him breathlessly, “He is at the extreme limits of my abilities, Commodore, but as we get closer, I will be able to tell you more.”

Michael nodded. "Keep trying. Ops, what the status of the scans?"

"I've checked the database and there's a number of formerly inhabited asteroids and a couple planets that were used by the Maquis during the Dominion War, but none of them are listed as being inhabited now. There's also a lot of interference from the plasma storms," Baker said.

"Lieutenant Cusack, what's the status of the weapons and shields?"

Martha had already checked the status of the Victorious' tactical systems - but she checked again just to be sure. After receiving the same result as last time she reported this to the Commodore.

"They're ready to go when you need them Commodore" Martha replied

"Engineering, what's our status?" Michael asked.

"As long as we don't need to push her too hard, she'll do what you want, Commodore," Zander responded from Engineering.

"Acknowledged." The Commodore turned to Kelani again. "Can you be more specific than a direction, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"I will try, Commodore," Kelani replied, then closed her eyes and begann to concentrate. As they were moving closer, it was becoming easier, but still something of a strain.

A few moments later Kelani opened her eyes and said, "He crash landed on an old Maquis outpost directly along this heading. I got the impression that there were others there--and I have a feeling of unease--as if something or someone approaching his location...."

She looked up at Michael, saying, "I did sense urgency in Lt. Hunter...."

"Can you be more specific, Lieutenant?" Michael asked before he looked at the helmsman. "What outposts lie along this route?"

"Just a designation, Commodore," the Bolian said. "Delta One Four Nine. It's listed as abandoned, though sensors are giving uncertain readings."

“I will try, sir,” Kelani replied. She closed her eyes and concentrated, calling in her mind, ~ Imzadi! Try to speak to me! Help us to find you! Tell us what is happening!~

She opened her eyes, telling Michael, “We are getting very close to
him—I could sense his thoughts this time.... I am hopeful that he will respond to me.”

Logan reached out with his mind to Kelani. ~Imzadi, Orions will be transporting to the base in the next five or six minutes. Hurry.~

Aboard the Victorious, Kelani stiffened and drew her breath in sharply. "Commodore, we are very close--I can sense Lieutenant Hunter clearly. There are Orions within five or six minutes of transporting to his location." She looked up at Michael, hoping the strain was not showing in her face as she said, "We must hurry!"

Michael ordered the helm to take them in as fast as they could travel through the storms. The Victorious surged ahead as the pilot navigated The Badlands thanks to the enhanced sensors, but they were still not going as fast as they would in normal space.

"Weapons ready, Lieutenant Cusack," Michael ordered. "If we're going to have guests, I want to be ready."

Martha brought the weapons to a state of readiness as instructed.

"They're ready if we need them Commodore" Martha reported.

The ops officer looked up from his console. "Sir, there's an asteroid a hundred thousand kilometers ahead of our position. I'm getting lifesigns."

"Is one of them Mister Hunter?"

"I'm unable to pinpoint him, Commodore. I'm not getting any combadge signals or information from his fighter unless they were both destroyed."

Michael nodded. "Understood. Lieutenant Tetanal, can you pinpoint exactly where Lieutenant Hunter is on the asteroid?"

"He is easier to link to now, Commodore," Kelani replied as her eyes lost focus...she remained quiet and still for a few moments, then said, "He is on the upper level, near what I think had been a landing bay. There is another with him--Lieutenant Hunter appears unworried by is presence..."

Two Orion Raider-class corvettes emerged from the far side of the asteroid and took up position to block the Victorious from approaching while still remaining within transporter range themselves.

Kelani gasped and bit her lip. She turned to Michael, saying, "Lieutenant Hunter and his companion are fighting a holding action, sir. They have retreated as far as possible." In spite of her desperate attempt at control, her chin trembled as she said softly, "He bid me good-bye."

Kelani closed her eyes, ~I love you, my Imzadi. We will be together soon. Please hold on, my love.~

"Open hailing frequencies," Michael ordered and the Ops officer complied.

"This is Commodore Michael Aravan of the USS Victorious. Stand down your weapons and allow us to pass. We have no trouble with you and merely seek to retrieve one of our people."

=^=Victorious you will maintain your distance. We are engaged in the apprehension of a terrorist who destroyed two of our ships. Attempt to interfere and you will be destroyed.=^= The Raiders turned to the Victorious, their shields and weapons now fully charged.

"I assure you that we're not here to interfere," Michael responded calmly. "We're here to rescue one of our personnel." He muted the comm and looked at Martha. "What are their capabilities, Lieutenant?" he asked.

Martha scanned the Orion vessels to gauge their tactical capabilities. Orion raiders were capable vessels - particularly in groups - but two of them wouldn't be a match for the Victorious.

"They've got a decent armament but I'm confident we can disable both of the raiders if they don't comply" Martha reported.

Michael unmuted the com after a nod to Martha. "Orions. I'll give you a choice. You can leave of your own free will and let me continue to get my crewman, or you can make a mistake in taking on a ship that's much more powerful than both of yours combined and end up as more junk in The Badlands. Which will it be?"

There was no response from either vessel for a full minute. Suddenly both vessels peeled off and fled in the direction of Orion Space at full impulse.

Kelani’s eyes lost focus and a smile appeared on her face. Turning to Michael, she said, “The danger is past on the asteroid, Commodore. The Orion’s there have been subdued.”

She reached out to Logan, ~I am so very glad my Imzadi. We will join you as soon as may be. Stay safe—you and your benefactors.~

"That was easy enough," Michael said, a bit surprised. It was true that the Victorious was designed for war, but he had figured the Orions would have put up a fight. "Hail the asteroid," he ordered.

"Hailing frequencies open," the Ops officer said.

"This is Commodore Michael Aravan of the USS Triumphant. One of our crew is in the base and we're here to retrieve him."

A moment later Logan appeared on the main viewer flanked by two of the asteroids inhabitants, a young man and young woman. He appeared in generally good health, but perhaps a little haggard. "Lieutenant Hunter here sir. I can't tell you how happy it is to see you. I'm here with about three dozen young people and eight Orion prisoners. We could really use a lift out of here."

"Three dozen young people? Prepare to beam aboard." Michael ordered.

On screen, Logan looked at the two people standing next to him and spoke briefly about transport options. Logan looked back to Michael and nodded. "There's a large dining hall that can fit everyone. We'll muster there with transport enhancers set up in ten minutes. Security should be standing by to take the Orion prisoners into custody first and the rest of us can beam up in groups."

"Signal when you're ready, Lieutenant," Michael said. "Lieutenant Cusack, prepare the brig for prisoners."

Martha nodded and sent a message to instruct the officer in the brig to prepare it for the arrival of the Orion prisoners. She was surprised at how easily the Orion vessels had simply disappeared after Michael's warning - but Martha wasn't prepared to relax until they'd returned to the Triumphant.

A few minutes passed and then Logan's signal came back that the transport enhancers were in place and the Orions were ready for transport.

"Energize," Michael gave the order and the Operations officer began transporting them up in small groups. Soon, they were all aboard. The Commodore went to the transporter room where Hunter was and looked at him and the other two young people with him.

"Welcome back. Mister Hunter," he said. "Care to introduce me to your friends before we get out of here?"

Logan snapped to attention out of habit when Michael addressed him. He gestured to his companions. "This is Brian and Amanda, they are two of the survivors that have been living on the asteroid since the Dominion War."

Michael nodded to the two humans. "Well, let's get you settled in and I hope you won't find the accommodations too unreasonable," he said. "For the time being, that will be our brig for Security reasons, but you'll be treated as guests, not prisoners."

Brian flinched at the news that his people would be incarcerated in the brig. He flashed an angry look at Logan. "You lied to all of us! You said we weren't your enemy! That we wouldn't be imprisoned!"

Logan stepped between Brian and the other Starfleet personnel in the room. "I didn't lie to you Brian." He kept his eyes on the young man as he cocked his head towards Michael. "If they are to be placed in the brig sir. I am going to remain with them until we return to the Triumphant."

"You aren't prisoners," Michael said. "It's a safety precaution. I haven't earned this boxed in pip on my collar by just letting anyone run around on my ship. You'll be treated fairly, but restricted access."

Brian looked from Logan to Michael and back. He didn't have much choice and he knew it. Amanda placed a hand on Brian's arm. "Logan promised we would be treated well. We have to trust him."

"You will be," Michael said. "Lieutenant Cusack, assign a quarters for them, but place it under guard."

Martha nodded. "Yes Commodore"

Martha instructed the relief tactical officer to take the tactical position before leaving the bridge to go and assign quarters and guards to their guests.