Red Alert

Posted on Mon Nov 5th, 2012 @ 8:11am by Ensign Kai Sarkozi & Commander Sakkath & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Commander Patrick Leroy

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Admiral Wegener's Office
Timeline: Current

* * * Admiral Wegener’s Office * * *

The noise and the smell got Kai’s attention in the next office. Admiral Hawke’s outer office doors were open and there was no mistaking either one. She was on her feet in an instant and out the door and into the next one.

“Hope? Is everything alright?”

"No!" she said, now in tears. She didn't know why it was bothering her so much, but Admiral Wegener meant so much to her. He was more than just the guy she worked for--he helped her, gave her advice and would even listen to her for anything from general irksome items to relationship issues. "They're gone, Kai. Disappeared. I don't know if they've just disappeared or if--" she stopped, afraid to say what she thought.

“If what?” Kai hurried over and wrapped her arms around Hope. She had to think straight here but the word ‘disappeared’ stuck in her mind. “First, tell me if Security has been called, then tell me what happened.”

Trying to compose herself and act more like a Starfleet officer, she embraced Kai a moment and choked back the tears and dread. "I was sitting at my desk when Commander Hawke and some guy from below decks named Suresh came to see the Admiral. They went in, the doors closed, and about 5 minutes later I heard this...I don't know what it was, but it was loud. I came running in and all three of them were just gone! The only thing I found was this gaping hole in the Admiral's desk."

She teared up again. "Kai, I'm afraid that they may have been...disintegrated or something." She shook her head at how silly that sounded, but stranger things had happened. "I don't want them to be dead."

“I heard it too.” Kai peeked into the admiral’s office but stopped at the threshold. “I think if they had been disintegrated, there would be some evidence. That hole isn’t burned away, it’s just...missing. The edges are perfectly smooth. The explosion didn’t do that.”

"Oh, I forgot. I did call security. That's why we're at red alert now," she said, reaching out to touch the missing edges of the desk, but quickly pulled her hand back thinking that she may mess up any evidence that could be left there.

She was still trembling, though she didn't know why. "I need to sit down, Kai." Sitting in the chair in front of Rick's desk that she preferred for their talks, she swallowed. He throat was dry. She looked to Kai. "Could you please get me some water?"

“Sure.” Kai moved over to the replicator and requested a glass of ice water. She turned and as she started back, a chunk of the water glass just...vanished. Kai froze immediately, not taking another step. “Umm...Hope? Don’t move, and put in a call to Science. Look at this glass.”

She had zoned out for a second but looked up at Kai, saw that the water and ice were falling onto the floor because of a hole in the glass. She tapped her communicator. "Lt. Beckman to the Galileo Center. We need a team to Admiral Wegener's office immediately. I don't know what's happened but things are just kind of disappearing."

=^= Understood, Lieutenant. We're on our way. =^=

She heard a commotion from behind her and turned to see several security personnel running in. Moresi was leading the security pack and he came in, phaser out, ready to shoot anyone unfamiliar. “What’s the situation?”, he asked in a hurry, looking around and seeing only the two aides present. Obviously the phaser wasn’t necessary.

“Stay right there!” Kai ordered from where she stood in the middle of the room. Something’s not right in here. Hope can tell you what happened before I got here.”

Usually it was security yelling for someone to ‘stay right there!’ Nevertheless, Moresi got the urgency in Kai’s voice and stayed his team. “Lt. Beckman, what happened?”

She quickly retold the story of what happened after Suresh and Li entered the Admiral's office, what she found when she entered and then what happened with the glass of water. "I thought that they had been killed somehow, or just disappeared," she said. "But I have no idea what did that." She pointed to the glass in Kai's hand. "It's like there's some sort of tiny black hole here."

“That was my thought too and why I still haven’t moved. What could cause this?” Kai looked at Moresi, still not moving from where she stood.

He shrugged, though he’d been around enough (mostly in Security Training Courses) to recognize what might be disruptor-style damage on the desk. “Phasers don’t cause damage like that, ladies. Maybe an older-style weapon, like a disruptor. We’ll know more once Science gets here. Till then... stay put,” he suggested, hoping that the ‘tiny black holes’ were stationary.

He tapped his commbadge and reported in to Oralia, quickly, then switched to someone else in Security, to determine whether any transporter signatures were detectable in the room. None were. “Oz’ll be here in a couple of minutes,” he said.

The room fell silent as no one moved and they waited for Oz and the crew from science to arrive. In the silence, Hope began fearing the worst again. More tears.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her face on her sleeve since she was unable to get up for a tissue. She looked to Kai. "I'm trying." Then her face turned angry. "I bet that Suresh did this! He's supposed to be the chief scumbag around here, or so I hear."

“Wouldn’t surprise me. Offices just don’t go boom on their own,” Kai commented. “It’s usually some weapon, like the time that those hoodlums phase shifted Kh’ali, remember?”

“Good god, I hope this isn’t the same,” Oralia walked into the office in time to hear Kai’s comment.

"Me too," Kai agreed. "And someone needs to call Sakkath. He's gonna be in the big chair for now and we need to tell him his wife is....missing."

* * * Operations * * *

Sakkath had been perusing a paper published out of Starfleet Academy on the nature of starship operations and a theoretical means of increasing the efficiency of EPS conduits by 4.3% when Red Alert had sounded. Almost instantly, the PADD was at rest on his desk and he was amid his staff in Operations.

"Report," he demanded immediately.

"All systems report optimal, Commander," Thornton responded from his station. "We're not entirely sure why the klaxons are sounding."

Sakkath's right hand went to his communicator. "C&C, this is Sakkath. What is the station's status?"

The delay was longer than usual. That, in and of itself, made the Vulcan slightly nervous, though his control prevented that from showing outwardly.

=^= Commander, you'll want to come up here. =^=

Cryptic. Worrisome. Those were the words that came immediately to Sakkath's analytic mind, but his body reacted before his thoughts could. He was already on his way to the turbolift.

* * * Science * * *

The two molecules, trapped in the magnetic field, kept dancing one around the other. They almost seemed to have found an agreement into frustrating Patrick. It had been hours of close observation now and the experiment, much to Patrick’s disappointment, was leading nowhere.

“Time wasted.” he exhaled in a breath standing from the microscope. Sipping from his coffee cup he gestured to Rutheridge to get his attention.

“It’s better to dedicate to some practical job. What’s on schedule? Do we have some urgency for Science department today?”

Rutheridge scrolled down his ever-present PADD furrowing brows “Let’s see. Cataloging USS Centaur survey data… More analysis on plasma particles behaviour under tetryon bombardment…”

“No Sir.” He ended after a while “Just plain stuff. Nothing urgent today, Sir.”

The sirens of red alert chose that moment to sound their call proving the precipitous consideration wrong.
And it was not long after that a hurried request came for a Science team to be bound directly to the Admiral’s office.


* * * Command and Control * * *

The Vulcan Commander strode into Command and Control, an area of the station he was well accustomed with, and could tell things were not as they should be. The majority of activity was not in the central command pit, but rather situated around Admiral Wegener's office. Sakkath immediately thought that his darkest inklings of the reason for Red Alert were now woefully underestimated.

He made his way towards the throng, and impulsively he opened his mind to reach out to Li, knowing she would be involved in a situation of this magnitude.

The solitude that greeted him stopped him in his tracks.

The doors behind him swooshed open again, led by Lt.Commander Leroy, the Science team entered the room: three ensigns with a full complement of tricorders and other scientific equipment.

“I’ve come up as fast as I could.” He said directly addressing Commander Sakkath. “Do we have more information about what happened?”

"Don't move!" Hope shouted from the chair. She gave the new arrivals a run-down of what had occurred, this time more in control of her feelings, and finished with the mini black hole theory eating a hole out of the glass of water. "We don't know where this thing is, but apparently it's still here or it wouldn't have done that to the glass."

"Well, all unnecessary personnel is better to go out of here now" Leroy advised the various Security and Ops ensign crowding around then he took out his tricorder and started a thorough scan of the locale. "Mmm... That's interesting" he muttered. With a nod addressed one of the ensign who put down his bulky equipment and started working on the settings.

Kai looked to the door from where she stood and noticed Sakkath. He seemed to be rather shocked by something and suddenly Kai realized that someone should address him. She spoke to him now, though her voice shook.

"Commander Sakkath, thank you for coming. I regret to inform you that both Admiral Wegener and Commander Hawke are missing." She glanced at Hope only a moment. "As of now, you and Commander Zeferino have charge of Starbase 900. Once I am out of this room, I will summon Admiral Hawke back from Archadia and he can assist in transferring control over to you." Kai's voice softened now, became more personal as she tried to be reassuring. "This isn't over yet."

Kai's words washed over the Vulcan as waves wash over stone. Outwardly, they seem to accomplish nothing, but in reality the rock can do nothing but yield to persistent water, insidiously seeping into every crevice, wearing down what seems to be an eternity of armor. So it was with his emotional control, but Sakkath clung to his mantras. He was in command now. He had to act the part. Through sheer force of will, he mastered himself.

"No, Ensign, it is not. Commander Leroy, I need to know precisely what transpired in this room, and whether or not it represents a threat to the station at large."

Oz was glad Sakkath was right there when Kai said that, otherwise, she might have burst out with a wail and a 'Oh no! I am not in charge here!' Fortunately, Sakkath's stoic manner rubbed off on her and she, too, stayed calm. She was the Station's XO, temporarily. Recalling the conversation with Jackson just the night before, she blinked; she had jinxed herself, and them, by saying Li could keep the Exec job - Oz didn't want that kind of responsibility. Her musing was broken by Leroy.

"I have good news and bad news," Patrick said watching the readings of his tricorder. "There are no micro-singularities present here. That means no black holes. Still a handful of tiny anomalies are lingering in the room. I'm not sure what they are, could be some kind of rifts in the very fabric of our continuum this could be the reason for what happened to that glass, I need a little more time. In any case we're going to get you out of there. These anomalies are moving, albeit very slowly... Well to be correct it's us and the station that are moving along with the rest of the universe."

Patrick knelt near the projector that the ensign has finished setting and typed some commands on its console. A broad bluish-violet beam swept all over the Admiral's office where a dozen of tiny stars appeared, one of them dangerously close to Sarkozi's head.

"The anomalies are visible now, you can come out safely." Patrick reassured them.

Hope slid out of her chair and walked back towards Sakkath, followed by Kai. They stood together behind Sakkath thinking it the safer spot of the office.

Sakkath gave a nod to the CSciO, a nonverbal thanks for his extracting the Ensign safely. "You mentioned the orbit of the station causing the anomalies to change position," the Vulcan said. "Is the hull in any danger of," he wasn't even sure how to quantify it... phasing? being consumed? ceasing to exist? "vanishing?"

“These rifts are not tied to the base as solid bodies like us or furniture and even if they’re following SB900 orbit they’re doing that at a different speed. A slightly lower one, so it seems to us they’re moving slowly in the same direction.” Leroy kept scanning as he spoke, moving very close to one of the anomalies “To answer your question, Mr. Sakkath, should they be greater they would present a serious threat to the hull of the starbase able to suck matter out of our reality to… Somewhere else, leaving great holes in their wake. But, at their current size, they’re merely a nuisance. Their effect is diminishing, in a few minutes the anomalies will close vanishing from our continuum.”

Once the women got out of the office Patrick moved closer and kept recording data while the beam kept spanning the room.

Lt. Beckman gasped when the translucent phantoms appeared: the admiral sitting at his desk, now whole and slightly transparent in the missing part, with an expression definitely not welcoming and Commander Hawke in front of him. Held by a disruptor-armed Romulan. They seemed to be talking.

"They're not the real ones nor spectres." Patrick advised seeing Hope's wide eyes "They're echoes of the energy of their bodies. It seems we have a glimpse of what transpired even if we can't hear their voices"

Moving closer to the desk the Romulan pointed the disruptor pulling the trigger. He opened his mouth in surprise as no beam came out and with a sudden move cast the disruptor on Wegener's desk then a flash of light engulfed them.

The room was empty again.

Sakkath resisted the urge to scowl. Suresh. "Commander Zeferino, I want that disruptor identified. Knowing the makings of the weapon could go a long way towards helping us understand what transpired and how. I will also expect briefings from each department regarding any outstanding command actions within the hour. Excuse me," he added, turning and walking down to the main Ops console in C&C quite suddenly.

"Computer," he spoke aloud, after activating a series of commands on the console, "recognize Sakkath, Commander." A chirp was the only affirmation before he continued, a cryptic verse from an old Earth proverb that he had felt appropriate for this situation. "The bird hunting a locust is unaware of the Hawke hunting it."

Somewhere, decks below, Li's warnings and preparations went into effect, summoning the man called Lazan in the event of her disappearance. Suresh, a Romulan bird of prey, had hunted what he wrongly considered to be his locust. Now he would face the true predator, a fiercely protective Vulcan who had needed to defend Li before and would do so again... a hawk in terms of metaphor, and a Hawke by marriage. He only wished the situation allowed him to appreciate the literary poetry.

For a brief moment, Oz, who had followed Sakkath out of the Admiral's office, stared at him, wondering if he'd actually lost it. "What's with the cryptic crypt-key?"

The Vulcan turned his eyes towards the station's acting XO. "Simply put, she who is my wife did not judge this to be an... unexpected occurrence," he explained. "I am going to meet with one of her contacts. It may spread some light on our predicament."

__________________________

Commander Sakkath
Acting CO

Lt.Commander Oralia Zeferino
CPO Moresi
SB900 Security


Lieutenant Hope Beckman
Admiral's Aide

Ensign Kai Sarkozi
Admiral's Aide

Lt. Cmdr Patrick Leroy
CSO