It Could Be Worse

[DrDMatthews 0]

So here they were, in trouble again. And this was one doozy of a mess! Debbie sat at one of the science consoles on the bridge of the USS Hawking and stared at the view screen. It wasn't what she saw that disturbed her. It was what she didn't see. And what she didn't see was the USS Reaent.

 

       Debbie was only half aware of the conversation Commander Ridire was having with the Reaent. She couldn't even determine who he was talking to on the other ship. But she did grasp enough to understand they were now on their own.

 

       It could have been worse. At least the ship they were stranded on was capable of holding an atmosphere. Debbie wondered what else it was capable of. Then she heard the Commander order McLean to fire up the engines. It took a second for the words to register but when they did, Debbie turned back to the console and offered a silent prayer for their survival.

 

       She had been asked to locate the ship's logs. It was obvious someone had been aboard the Hawking. There had been serious damage to the ship's nacelles and engines which was probably the reason the Hawking was assigned to a salvage yard in the first place. Somebody had repaired most, if not all, of that damage. When the away team arrived on the bridge, some of the consoles were actually up and appeared to be running diagnostics. Someone was preparing this ship for something.

 

       Debbie had no doubt why the ship was being prepared. There had to be a connection between the Hawking's unauthorized repairs and the USS Olympic. The big question was who. Who was responsible for surreptitiously boarding and repairing this ship? Who had planted sensor blocking devices in engineering and on the bridge to mask their activities?   And if Hawking was to meet the same fate as Olympic, what was her intended target?

 

       Debbie focused on retrieving the logs. Whoever was behind the repairs may not have taken the time to delete them. They probably weren't finished with their work otherwise they wouldn't have left the diagnostics running. And they certainly weren't expecting company. She pressed a few keys and held her breath.

 

       At first, nothing happened. Debbie was just about to try again when the screen in front of her suddenly came to life. She leaned back in the chair and studied the text.

 

       The first signs of life on the Hawking were recorded just three weeks earlier. That's when the ship's batteries were initially activated. That surprised Debbie. For having worked on the ship for only three weeks, the clandestine crew had made significant progress. She moved a bit closer to the screen.

 

       There were numerous entries indicating power had been rerouted to a handful of essential systems. It also appeared that several engineering upgrades had been downloaded. Debbie chose not to delve into the details of those upgrades. She wanted to review the entire log first.

 

       Behind her, Debbie could hear Adian Ridire issuing orders, his voice quiet yet firm. She continued to peruse through the data until she found a curious entry. She'd half expected to find it so she wasn't all that surprised. Debbie swiveled the chair around toward Ridire.

 

       "Commander," she called and waited until he turned to look at her. "This ship has power to essential systems. That includes life support although its minimal in many areas. The computer seems to be functioning well enough to handle all of the activated systems.  At least a dozen engineering upgrades have been downloaded and the diagnostics are just about complete. I think we could safely power up the engines but Mr. McLean would have to verify that and the veracity of the physical repairs on the nacelles."

 

       Debbie paused and glanced back at the console. "There is one more thing. If I'm reading this correctly, the Hawking has been rigged to run from a remote location. Before we power up these engines, we may want to restore helm control to the bridge."