Establishing Contact
Posted on Thu Sep 26th, 2024 @ 5:45am by Lieutenant JG Kikua Mahone & Lieutenant Kyan Mackenzie & Lieutenant Alan Harrison & Lieutenant JG Tamra Pren
1,037 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Crossed Wires
Location: USS Atala, Bridge
Timeline: Concurrent to Shuttle Post
"You know, I guess it could be worse." Kikua tilted back in the communications seat he chose for this little venture. Sure, his brother had disappeared and now he had an alternate reality version of his sister pulling some stunts (that were hopefully unrelated), but at least he was on a ship now. Staring at a slow-moving, overly-glorified asteroid.
Maybe that was an insensitive way to look at it. Twirling around for a moment, Kikua set his sights to the others gathered. "Scans are indicating that any attempts we've had at communication are getting scrambled, by the way."
"A most curious situation," Tamra replied, not taking her eyes off her console, "I am doing a search on known non-standard communications mechanisms. It is possible they could use a different technology than most species."
"What a bummer," Kikua admitted, before brightening up, "But that could also mean we get to gander at a buncha tech that someone else is using. Could be useful for both parties. If they're nice."
"The overall caution on their part may indicate peaceful intentions," Tamra suggested, "They may be as concerned about provoking us as we are them."
While the others threw out their theories about the asteroid ship thing, Kyan remained unusually quiet as he sat cross-legged in the captain's seat. He was still processing the fact that for one of the few times he could remember, he occupied the big chair at the center of the bridge. And it wasn't just until the Captain or the XO got back, but for real. It was... weird.
They'd left this part out of the pre-mission brief. Or had they? Honestly he rarely listened much past "We're going to do some science thing, or whatever other boring boffin stuff that most Federation ships get up to. Things that didn't center on his department usually didn't hold the Onlie's interest for long. He knew that Haumea's CO was missing and that there was now this asteroid looking ship thing coming toward the colony. But thus far it hadn't shown any hostility. It was probably gonna be a first contact thing or something.
"Oh Merry Met to ya aliens, We're the Federation. We dinna got no money and we're super friendly. Come see our cool technology an have some ice cream." is how he reckoned it would go. And that being the case, why put him in charge? Why not one of the boffins? Or Naota? Yeah technically he'd been a Lieutenant longer, but the other Onlie was older. And he had to be better at talking to new people. Right? Maybe not. Maybe the whole chain of command here lived with their collective arses out the window as the saying went.
And if that were the case, Kyan reckoned he might like it here. After all, it definitely beat getting stuck on a ship with some buttoned up, shiny shoed grup with a tree stuck up his arse. Or worser still.... a Vulcan.
Since he wasn't prone to sit still for long, Kyan hopped off the chair and looked around. Naota was at the helm, which was the only person on the ship that he really knew at all. The rest of them looked like pretty standard Starfleet grups, except for the Captain's brother. But then he was still just a baby grup, probably didn't even have to shave his face every day.
"Well...I guess the fat admirals would prolly get their underwear twisted up if we dinna try everything besides shootin at least two or three times." the Onlie noted to no one in particular. Then to Kikua, "D'ya think they canna talk to us, or dey dinna want ta talk to us?"
"I know the base station and the Marines have tried contacting already, so they don't do long range - if they can." He squinted at the console with a disapproving frown. "But if the guys in the shuttle can get to them, then-"
He stopped, watching the readings go on and off, before looking over to the viewscreen. Sure enough, the ship's force field was flickering on and off. "... Readings don't show a power issue enough to make that go on the fritz."
"I did not activate it, but the universal translator is attempting a translation," Tamra reported.
After another pause, Tamra continued, "Many Ancient Earth societies used a long-distance communication system based on long and short characters. I believe they referred to these characters colloquially as 'dots' and 'dashes'. I have noted a similar pattern in the output of this force field."
"Dots and dashes?" Kikua looked over to the pair of Onlies, then to Tamra, "What's that-"
Before he got the rest of his thought out, the familiar trill of the hail notification echoed through the Atala's Bridge.
Tamra, in her role as communications specialist, answered the hail, which appeared to be coming from the acting Captain back on Haumea.
="It's Captain Seong,"= came the voice over the comm. ="What is our status report currently?"=
Before anyone could immediately respond, another hail came through from the shuttle.
="Lieutenant Harrison here. We've found Commander Nikedoros safe and sound - it looks like there were just some issues with... cross-cultural communication,"= came the new voice ="It looks like their ship needs some engine repairs. It runs on something... unusual... but we're making some headway in figuring out exactly what that is."=
"Ma'am, looks like we got the situation under control. Sent a shuttle off to see what we could provide, and they've just told us the Counselor is on the ship." Kikua piped in with a hand on the comm.
="Good to hear,"= came the Captain's soft but direct tone. ="Keep us updated with the situation. Seong out."=
Kikua seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "I dunno if this thing's got all it's weapons attached yet. Dunno if we'd be able to take an all out battle without going for help."
Tamra's console chirped. She glanced at the display and then interjected, "The computer reports that translation quality has improved. We can establish more formal communications if desired."
That garnered a smirk out of Kikua. "Gotta love it when the plan comes together."
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