Shuttles converge

Aboard the Firebird the silence was all-encompassing as they awaited any type of response to emanate from the spheroid anomaly traveling steadily before them. Instead, all of the ambient sounds occurring throughout the small vessel seem to resonate in its place; as if somehow amplified by this crisis.

Then from the console, a sensor was triggered. Kalynda Hunter immediately engaged the controls as she captured the invisible transitorily signal emanating from the anomaly.

She immediately turned to the commanding officer of the Captain's yacht leading this rescue mission.

"Sir, I just received a signal back from the anomaly! I am feeding it into our computer now."

The small crew awaited in anticipation as the computer swiftly analyzed what they hoped would be a communiqué from the Sagan.

Moments later a static-filled sound began to emerge from the console in bits and pieces.

"Firebird... this is the Sagan.... message received... we have wounded...    time running out...    vesicle enclosing in on our ship..."

The remainder of the message was unintelligible, but that was irrelevant at this point. They confirmed that they had found the ship and that the crew was alive.... even if some were injured.

"This is worse than I thought" Riker thought to himself

Not even taking a moment to compose himself Riker activated the comms panel and sent a message to the other shuttles

"This is Commander Riker.  We have found the Sagan and they are in trouble.  We have no time to waste and must rescue them immediately.  No one breathes until we have an idea of how to get them out of the collapsing anomaly.  I need suggestions and fast!"

Looking around at the members inside the Firebird Riker spoke up

"That includes us come on everyone put those big Starfleet brains to work.  I need an idea and I needed it five minutes ago."

Their next task was obvious: They must somehow get this shuttle and crew out of their collapsing enclosure before it was too late.

*             *             *

Kalynda Hunter working her science console received the message from the Phoenix. After looking over to note a confirmation nod from Commander Riker, she engaged communications.

"Phoenix. This is Kalynda Hunter aboard the Firebird. Message acknowledged. Inform Captain Syntron that we have found and just established communication with the Sagan. They note that there are injuries aboard the Sagan... however, as concerning as that is... this is not the primary concern at this moment."

The science officer then explained to the best of her abilities everything they surmised about the phenomenon encapsulating the Sagan, and the decreasing amount of time remaining to somehow extract the Sagan from this anomaly. She then sent a data file with all of the information they've gathered about the situation along with their current coordinates and velocity. Afterward, she breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the Phoenix and her crew would be arriving to help resolve this problem with them.

"Acknowledged Firebird. Message and data packaged received. Standby for additional communications."

Syntron listened in and checked the information transmitted. Once the message was complete,  Ensign Valerous closed communications.

Looking up afterward, the captain addressed the human helmsman.

"Lieutenant Traynor, add in the new coordinates. Then increase our velocity to warp 9.8... after you confirm their trajectory, our rate of travel, and a projected point of interception."

Syntron then looked over to his undersized science officer who only recently returned to the bridge.

"Well Lieutenant Decatur, it looks like we have another challenge for your team to work out. Coordinate this data with Commander Rogers and see what your teams can work out."

*             *             *

As the discussions continued among the small crew of the Firebird, Doctor Nasaro-Myth felt rather useless and helpless, a feeling not to his liking at all. But as he listened to them talk around him, something was creeping at the back of his mind until it came out in a sudden exclamation.

"Tuning fork!"

They all turned to face him, surprised by his sudden break of his silent stance. He looked at their blank faces then spoke up more clearly what had come to his mind.

"OK I'm not an astrophysicist but I've been around the best; Syntron, K'Leysha... and I remember what had been discussed about the Azimuth Horizon, how it had come from another universe... heck I've been even there myself with the Artemis once! Anyways... I remember that someone at one time talked about quantum signatures... the specific... frequency of each dimension of reality..."

Kalynda's face then lit up.

"I got you, Doctor! Whatever this... pocket universe or anomalous reality this is, it can only be part of the overall quantum reality... or realities... else it could not even exist for a fraction of a second, even like this, in our own universe. Thus, it must have a specific quantum signature. Now, if we can measure it with our sensors and then adjust our shield harmonics to it..."

"We could get in... just like the Sagan accidentally did... but in our case deliberately," completed the Deltan doctor with a smile.

"And keeping on record our own normal quantum signature, we could then move out with the Sagan and back to normal space," finished the science officer.

"Just don't forget that last part," added Elliago with a wink.

With a smile Kalynda added "If you don't mind Doctor, I would prefer to get them out of that thing rather than be squeezed to death with them."

She concluded with a wink back to the Deltan doctor before turning back to her science console.

With the frequency and phase variance established, the scientists focused their attention on finding the appropriate quantum signature that could possibly help them create an opening in this anomaly.

The more minds working on this situation, the more likely we have a solution in place on time, the Andorian scientist thought to herself.

After a few moments, Kalynda Hunter sent another message to the Phoenix and the other two shuttles informing them all of their current plan. 

"Alright you healers, snap to it!" then ordered Elliago as he rose to move in the aft compartment where all medical personnel and material were waiting. " We've got injured people out there; get everything and everyone ready!"

*             *             *

Ensign Valerous informed Captain Syntron as soon as the message was received from the Firebird.

With hands clasped closely near his face, Syntron silently pondered the overall situation.

"Helm" the captain inquired "Estimated time of arrival to the shuttles and this anomaly?"

Rechecking his calculations first before responding, Lieutenant Traynor announced "Twenty-three minutes, Sir."

"Lieutenant Decatur" the captain addressed the small trill officer occupying the science station,  "Work with Commander Riker and science officer Hunter aboard the Firebird to exchange information and ideas. We need a working solution ready to test within twenty-three minutes."

Nervously, the trill officer responded.

"Understood Captain. We'll keep Commander Roger's team informed on this situation as well... until he arrives back on the bridge."  

As he sat there stoically in the center seat, Syntron began to reflect on all of the hazardous aspects they dealt with involving the Azimuth Horizon anomaly. He knew from experience that dealing with phenomena from another universe, no matter how small, was nothing to be dealt with complaisantly. Regardless of how this was going to be handled, he had to keep the safety of his ships and crew in mind as they attempted any rescue of the Sagan and her small crew.

*             *             *

From her science station aboard the Firebird, Kalynda Hunter continued experimenting with the sensors; striving to match the precise quantum signature of the anomaly. She used the known frequency and phase variance to send pulses into the spheroid. It was however, a one-way trip as the pulses were just absorbed into the phenomena once they crossed the threshold of its perimeter.

Then another idea came to her. Perhaps it would work... maybe not.

She then checked the Firebird's resources.

Bingo!  the Andorian thought to herself.  She then addressed Commander Riker again.

"Commander, I would like to send a Class VI comm-relay probe into this anomaly. This probe has a  9,270 channel RF and subspace transceiver which operates at 350 megawatts peak radiated power. We could configure this probe with the known frequency and phase variance to allow it to penetrate the perimeter of this spheroid and take readings inside of it and then transmit the data to us using its high-gain antenna. Hopefully, this will provide us with the elusive quantum signature of the anomaly."

Nodding Riker responded.

"Do it.  And keep an eye on it.  If that thing even pretends like it is going to do something I want to know immediately."

Seventeen minutes later, the probe was set-up and ready for launch.

As a precaution, Commander Riker ordered the three shuttles to fall back before the probe was released.  Tapping the console Riker sent out a message.

"This is Commander Riker.  We are about to launch a probe I want you guys to fall back to a safe distance and await further instructions."

After the shuttles were repositioned further away from the spheroid, Riker gave the order to launch the probe.

"Launch probe"

It traveled slowly toward the anomaly, although from their viewscreen, it appeared to just be traveling in empty space. But with the graphic overlay added to the screen by Kalynda, they could now see a virtual representation of the spheroid as the probe approached it.

The size of the probe diminished to the point where they needed to increase the magnification of the viewscreen in order to see it.

As the probe approached the perimeter, it slowed significantly to an almost complete stop.

Then as it entered the virtual membrane of the spheroid, it came to an absolute stop.

The probe immediately began to shake violently; almost simultaneously as its sensors activated while the device struggled for stability in its precarious position between their space and whatever was inside that anomaly.

Kalynda was remotely engaging the probe's Microfusion engine with its high-output MHD power tap to compensate for the tremendous forces being placed on the probe.

"Commander" she exclaimed. "I have the probe using maximum reverse thrust... but the strain is too much! The probe is being sucked into that..."

With a blinding flash the probe was ripped apart before it completely disappeared within the anomaly.

Everyone on the Firebird and the other two shuttles just stared in disbelief at their viewscreens at the void space which once again existed before them.

"Glad that wasn't us" someone muttered from somewhere on the bridge; yet no one acknowledged the comment let alone responded to it.

This is going to be tricky indeed, Kalynda thought to herself as she disengaged the overlay.

She then checked on any data received from the probe.

There wasn't a whole lot of data transmitted from the sacrificial probe, but there was something there.

As she investigated the limited data, Kalynda's eyes suddenly lit up.

She looked over to Riker who was still staring at the viewscreen.

"Commander," Kalynda stated with a tinge of satisfaction "The loss of our probe was not in vain. We have the quantum signature of that anomaly!"

----------------------------

After sending a brief response back through to their universe, the officers on the Sagan stopped for a moment, glad that help had arrived before they were crushed by the universe. However, Commander Vincent only let a small smile through.

“This is great news, but we’re not out of this yet,” Josh said to the crew. “Would adjusting our shields to the same frequency as that transmission allow us to squeeze back through to our universe?”

“That might work, but I’ll need to do some research,” Kathleen replied. “I’ll get right on it.”

“Excellent,” Josh responded. “Mr. Foster, we should see to the injured as best as we can, so that they can be transferred to a proper medical bay as soon as we are on the other side.”

Vincent and Foster walked over to the two injured security officers and the journalist and began tending to them. Vincent looked over his security officers, while Foster checked on the journalist.

I haven’t used my medical training in a while, Josh thought. They don’t seem to be getting any worse, but they’re certainly not going to heal on their own; I just hope we can get them to a doctor soon.

“How is she doing Mr. Foster?” Josh asked.

“She’ll live for now,” he replied, “but I think she’s got internal bleeding. She needs a doctor.”

“Same with these two,” Josh replied. Then turning to Kathleen in the back he said, “Did you find anything regarding using the shield modulation to free us from here?”

Kathleen held her response for a moment as she was still experimenting with the shield frequencies. Then the sensors detected something occurring beyond the stern of the shuttle once again.

"Uh... there's something going on behind us..." Kathleen muttered, as she immediately switched their viewscreen to check if there was anything to observe.

She then increased magnification to pinpoint the precise location of the disturbance.

After studying for a moment, to her surprise she exclaimed "I think it's a probe of some sort."

Aboard the Sagan they could see that the device was only partially entered into to their realm.

Kathleen could read that it was scanning the region as it began to violently shudder.

She jumped out of her seat.

"Raise our shields!" she yelled, as she then instinctively reached over and engaged them at full-capacity.

Before any protests could occur about expending the precious energy that they were trying to conserve, an enormous blast rocked the ship and sent the four conscious officers flying in reaction.

Fortunately this time, none of them sustained the level of injuries that occurred when they entered this realm, but they each added to their growing collection of bruises nonetheless.

Kathleen picked herself off of the floor and immediately disengaged the shields once she reached her post.

Turning to Josh Vincent who was just picking himself up from the covered deck-plate, she noted "Perhaps that was a sign to us Lieutenant Commander that we better be cautious in our attempts to leave this confounded bubble-verse... else we end up with the same fate as that probe."

*             *             *

Down below in the main engineering room, Rogers watched carefully over his engines. The call for warp nine point eight was beyond the Phoenix’ maximum cruise speed of warp nine point four and just slightly below her maximum speed of warp nine point one seven five. The ship could hold here at this speed for almost sixteen hours, but increasing wear on the structural integrity field and warp nacelle’s would also increase as time went on. So David watched over his engine’s, tweaked where he could with what he could, and hoped that the captain would not need to continue this warp factor for very much longer.

As he oversaw all this, he also kept a running tab, via the information being sent to him from the science station on the bridge, on the situation concerning the shuttles Sagan, Firebird, Torch and Inferno. Hearing about the destruction of the Firebird’s probe, Rogers brought up a panel display alongside the MSD and configured the parameters of the class six communications relay probe. Looking over the specification’s, David surmised a problem linked between the radiated power of the probe and the known characteristics within the area of space the Firebird was located, as well as to the surmised quantum frequency of the pocket anomaly.

“Bridge, engineering! Captain! I may have a solution. On my way up!”

"Acknowledged Commander Rogers" Syntron stated, before he closed communications. 

Sending the data to the main bridge engineering console, David patted master warrant officer Bradley Carroll on the back to signify his taking over in main engineering and left for the turbolift. Ninety seconds later he walked out on the bridge of the Phoenix and made his way directly to engineering console one, port aft of the captain, opening dialog with the Vulcan commanding officer as he approached the station.

“Sir, the subspace transmitter of the probe interfered with the background tetryon radiation while entering the bubble, resulting in an epsilon radiation spike. In order to safely penetrate the threshold of this pocket, we need to stay below five megawatts radiated power. We need to set up around the pocket in a polyhedral  pyramid. Specifically, a tetrahedron, with the Phoenix stationing as the fourth point. Then, once configured, we use a combined quantum signature burst from all four deflectors, at the frequency established by the Firebird crew, to open a door in the bubble. Then the Sagan can exit under an impulse burst. Warp dynamics within the bubble may disrupt our burst, so they need to engage max impulse then shut down before egress and coast through our doorway.”

While he rattled all this off, David had been sending subspace dynamic information to the main screen for all to follow along. Signature charts and subspace tetryon radiation specifics flowed alongside the known region surrounding the trio of Phoenix shuttles. An overlay of the projected tetrahedral signature burst graphically superimposed onto the elusive bubble. The four beams forced open a hole into the proto universe anomaly, and this small door was the only hope for the Sagan right now. She would need t hit the barely large enough doorway exactly ninety degree’s perpendicular to the direction of travel … or be erased in less than the blink of an eye. The quantum threshold would not allow any deviation off the perpendicular. It was sheer luck that the angle of incidence of the Sagan’s initial entry into the bubble had occurred at all.

Captain Syntron meticulously perused the data transmitted from David Rogers as his engineering chief spoke to him. As he finished analyzing all aspects of the information gathered from the Firebird coupled with the chief engineer's information and proposal, he allowed a few additional moments to reflect on all of this data before responding.

"This seems like a reasonable course of action Commander Rogers. However, once we arrive and have the shuttles and the Phoenix appropriately positioned as recommended,  we will first send one of our probes into this potential opening... to test the effectiveness of this approach without risking injury to the Sagan or its crew. With the quantum signature received before the first probe was destroyed, this may add to the stability of this unpredictable opening as well... as this next probe enters into this spheroid threshold."

*             *             *

The plan established on the Phoenix was immediately transmitted to the Firebird, Torch and Inferno.

It would then be up to the Firebird to convey this plan along with the accompanying information to the Sagan as well.

Upon receiving the data, Kalynda announced "The Phoenix will be arriving in about ten minutes Sir. That gives us time to set up our shuttle formations to create an opening within the anomaly before the ship arrives. I'll send a message to the Sagan and apprise them of this plan and our approximate timetable until implementation."

She then added "This way their crew can be prepared... in case things don't turn out according to our expectations... like last time."

Scratching his beard slowly Riker spoke slowly.

"We need to keep at equidistant intervals to create the largest most stable pattern for the shuttles.  Tell the other shuttles we will use a delta search pattern and I want at scans and checks with the other shuttles every five minutes.  We have to keep an eye on each other while we do this.  Also minimize or eliminate all unneccessary power consumption and reroute power to shields and sensors to compensate as best we can for power reductions."

When the command was understood Riker nodded the approval to send out the message.

Moments later, the shuttles then all moved into a temporary Delta formation around the spheroid and then synchronized their velocity to match equal distances from the proposed opening.

While the crews of all of the shuttles awaited the Phoenix's arrival, they verified the reduction of their power output on their intended combined quantum signature burst from their deflectors at the frequency and phase variance previously established by the Firebird crew.

Kalynda Hunter then peered slyly at the commanding officer once again.

"We are ready Commander Riker!"

Rolling his shoulders slightly Riker attempted to lighten the mood.

"Well then lets do it.  If we fail drinks are on me because if this plan does not work I am so fired."

((tag to everyone on the shuttles and the ship))