USS McKenzie: The Distress Call

 Having been on route for a few weeks, the crew of the McKenzie had become more familiar with their stations and, more importantly, with each other. As Captain Riker and Commander Schyssyllyss ran drills and paired the crew against each other, the teamwork and competition seemed to be paying off.

This day was like any other day during their travels as the crew manned their stations and all seemed to be routine. As Riker thumbed through a PADD reading a series of reports, the routine was broken by a confused Lieutenant JG Simmons.

“What the hell?” Simmons mumbled to himself.

Hearing the comment, Riker placed his PADD down and almost simultaneously turned to face Simmons as Lieutenant Argyle and Commander Schyssyllyss did the same.

“What is it, Simmons?” Riker asked inquisitively.

“Sir... for a brief moment, there appeared to be a communication on sensors.”

Pressing a few buttons, Simmons continued to work the ops station as he continued.

“Yes Sir, it is. It appears we received part of a Starfleet encoded transmission.”

“A part? Was it not directed at us?” Riker inquired.

“No, Sir, it would appear not. It was a very direct and narrow subspace band.”

Before Simmons could continue, Riker interjected.

“A signal like that is short range. Helm, bring us around to the location of the message, we might be able to pick up more of it.”

As the McKenzie’s engines hummed, the ship turned back around towards the location of the message. Simmons waited for the brief exchange to end and then continued.

“It does not appear to be directed at us, Sir. As I was saying, it was a narrow and directed subspace communication. The only reason we picked it up was because it intersected our flight path, and I happened to be running the broad spectrum analysis checks on comms.”

Gently punching Commander Schyssyllyss in the arm, Riker smiled.

“One in a million chance of that, must be our lucky day.”

The Saurian completely ignored the punch unfelt through he thick, scaly skin but not the voice of his captain, even if hearing was not among his good assets.

"Or theirs; sensors report no other ship within at least several parsecs. Such a short range call and this weak and this brief would not have been received by anyone else."

As Riker returned his attention to Simmons and the Operations stations, Simmons continued to work the console.

“Sir, it appears to be very narrow. It was clearly sent on a specific channel. Wait… that is interesting”

Simmons frantically pressed more buttons.

“Captain, it appears this message is coded level 10.”

“Coded level 10?” Lieutenant Argyle said surprised.

"This means this message was definitely sent from a Starfleet vessel or facility," flatly stated the red and blue scaled XO of the McKenzie, "and it is not a routine transmission. But there are no Federation facilities or vessels in the nearby area. Both Starbase 23 and Starbase 157 are twelve light years away, just as far from us as Starbase Lotus is."

“A coded level 10 message is for Captain and above. It would be in violation for any of us to attempt to read what is on that message.”

Glancing down almost sarcastically at his rank pips, Riker smiled.

“Captain and above eh? Well, good thing we have one of those on board.”

Changing his tone to a more serious one though, Riker continued.

“Who would send a coded subspace communication this far out? And on such a narrow band? Simmons, I am going to need you to work with Mister Argyle and get that message decoded as quickly as possible. Ensure the encryption is decoded, but I will read the contents and brief everyone accordingly.”

With a nod Argyle walked over to the ops station and began to work with Simmons on decoding the mysterious message.

"Mister Simmons," then asked Schaell; "do you have the exact point of origin for this transmission?"

"Not exactly, Commander; it came directly from the direction of the Paulson nebula."

The saurian's ovoid head bobbed from side to side before he looked back at his commanding officer.

"The heavy interference from the nebula would block or at least distort a signal, especially one this weak, despite the narrow band. But again, sensors do not register anything in that specific direction... unless they would be inside or on the other side of it."

"Indeed, it would appear that way sir."

As Simmons worked quickly at his station he pointed to several different features before sending sections of the coded message to be run through the security station. Looking over Simmons' shoulder, Argyle nodded and then hurried back to his original post working as well. After only a few minutes, the two looked at each other and nodded almost in unison. 

"Captain, I have the message decoded. It is clearance level ten so your access code is the only one aboard that will play it."

"Understood" Captain Riker responded while standing up.

"Send it to the station in my ready room. Number One, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Ssir."

As Simmons entered a few console commands, Captain Riker walked towards the doors and exited the bridge.

 Commander Schaell had barely had time to sit down when his communicator beeped.

"Number One, this is the captain. I will fill you in on the details in a moment, but this message is a distress call from a Federation ship. Take the McKenzie to the Paulson nebula. Stay outside the nebula for now, but I want us headed towards the region this message came from."

"Aye, Ssir," the towering reptiloid answered before lifting his bald scaly head to the rest of the bridge crew. "Lieutenant Leône, plot a coursse to the nearesst point of the Paulsson nebula following the coordinatess of the received transsmisssion and engage, emergency warp."

Glancing over to Simmons Schaell nodded and Simmons sent the coordinates to the helms station. Within a matter of moments the McKenzie was on its way to the Paulson nebula.

"Bearing 341 mark 10, maximum warp," the orion woman acknowledged just before the stars stretched even more and then moved as rapidly dancing points of lights. "ETA four point four hours to the edge of the nebula."

As the door to the bridge opened Captain Riker stepped onto the bridge. Commander Schaell stood from the chair and Captain Riker sat back down.

"En route to nebula periphery at besst posssible sspeed, Captain; esstimated time of arrival, lesss than five hours."

"Very good number one"

Breathing a heavy sigh, the Captain addressed the bridge crew.

“I have read the message and will convey what information I feel you need to know. The message that we received was a distress call sent from a Federation vessel.”

“Who would send a narrow band distress call?” Asked Simmons.

“My thoughts exactly, Lieutenant.” Riker responded.

“I wonder who would send a distress call that you could almost guarantee would not be heard. The mysterious nature of the distress call aside, we must respond. The distress call comes from an experimental new Federation ship which apparently came under fire during its test flight.”

"That might explain the encoding," Schaell noted outloud," although not really; whisspering for help and in a way no one can undersstand you is more than illogical; it is abssurd."

"Absurd is a good word for it number one. There is something here that my guy is telling me is wrong, and I worry we are about to stumble into something"

“Under fire from whom, Sir?” Inquired Argyle

“I do not know. The message was fragmented and the identity of the attackers was lost. We must be on our toes because we do not know who was out there. The ship suffered damage during the attack and drifted into the nebula rendering their primary systems inoperable. They are reporting multiple hull breaches and hundreds of casualties.”

"Ssince the Neutral Zone is nearesst to the nebula, the mosst likely candidatess are of coursse the Romulans," Schaell said; " They did try to ssteal Federation prototypess before; although anyone trying to commit ssuch an agresssion might in fact try to exploit thiss presumption to hide their true identity and motives. I recommend yellow alert, Captain... and to expect the unexpected."

"Agreed. Yellow alert"

Argyle entered the command at the tactical console and the bridge light dimmed slightly as yellow indicators began to flash at several points.

Glancing around the bridge Riker continued.

“We must remain vigilant and respond to this message. The crew of this ship is untested, and it appears fate has put a large test in our laps.”

Turning towards Commander Schaell Riker continued directly.

“Commander, I want you to find anything you can on a project that would have created the USS First Legion. The message went out of its way to be vague and I would like at least some idea of what we are flying into.”

"Acknowledged," the Saurian stated. "Ssir, sshouldn't we contact Sstarfleet about the ssituation? If one of our prototypess is being threatened by unknown forces, esspecially Romulans in violation of Treaty, thiss might esscalate into ssomething much more sserious than a ssimple resscue operation."

Simmons answered before their commanding officer had time to even think much about it.

"We are already close enough to the nebula that it is interfering with long range communication, as shown by their own garbled message. And we are getting closer still. Even if our own transmission would come through better than theirs, we will be soon unable to receive an answer anyway."

"We are going to have to send our update to Starfleet as best we can. This is a priority distress call and we can't turn around from the nebula in order to talk to Starfleet about it. If we boost our signal using a probe than we can at least let them know where we are going, and let them know that receiving a response would be damn near impossible."

"A log buoy will be ready to send out at your command, Captain," Simmons assured him.

"Launch it when ready Lieutenant"

Simmons launched the buoy and monitored the launch on the console.

Schaell went to the science station and worked with the officer there. The computer banks of a Defiant class were not as large as those of other starships, but data about ships and their technologies were tactical information mandatory for her type of missions. So if there was anything relevant and useful, it would all be there.

They were still an hour before reaching the border of the particle and energy expanse when the first officer of the McKenzie reported to his commanding officer.

"Ssir, I have conducted a thorough ressearch about Sstarfleet current sstarsship projects in general and anything related to Firsst Legion in particular. I even went back as far as when the Excelssior classs transwarp project of the mid 23rd century. I am ssorry to report that I could find nothing related to the name Firsst Legion, outside of the ancient Terran Mediterranean army of what was then called the Roman Empire... and there is no sstarsship prototype or project asssociated with that name. According to the latesst reportss we got jusst before we launched from Sstarbasse Lotuss, the Lotuss classs was the latesst fielded prototype, of which only the USS Diamond Sstar and our current flagship, the USS Horizon, have been launched. All other new designs or refitss are either sstill in consstruction or on the drawing board."

The Saurian stood up to his full towering height.

"It sseems, Ssir, that thiss USS Firsst Legion does not exisst. The firsst conclusion that comes to mind , of coursse, is that thiss is a trap."

Despite his lack of inflexions, it was obvious in his voice that he did not fully beleive what he was himself saying. And then, he sais as much.

"However, if thiss is indeed a trap, it is either a very clumsy or a very elaborate one... and needlessly so. With Sstarfleet's well known general order 6 prioritizing ssearch and resscue over any other sstanding order, a sstandard disstresss call would have done the trick. Ssending out a sshort range, encoded ssignal in a disstorted area of sspace iss even chancier than the proverbial bottle thrown into the ocean... unlesss we are the sspecific target of that lure. And even then... why all the mysstery? Everyone in the quadrant knows that we always go out of our way to help anyone in need, even alleged enemies. Ssomething doesn't add up, Ssir."

Captain Riker nodded in agreement.

"Frankly I don't like the sound of that. Off the top of my head I can think of half a dozen classified Starfleet projects that were at least in the database. It may not have contained locations or schematics, but it at least outlined something. It is very unlike the Federation to completely hide a project. Whoever, or whatever, is in that nebula is something that we were not supposed to see."

Riker sighed slightly before continuing.

"You are right, Number One; something doesn't add up."

"Neverthelesss, Captain, whatever ssecret we may sstumble upon, General Order 6 compels uss to intervene and no field order whatsoever can put blame on us or take that ressponssibility from uss... unlesss another sship with higher authority comes and releives uss. But in the present circumsstances and esspecially with the alleged urgency of the ssituation, thiss is mosst unlikely. From the moment we accidentally intercepted thiss dissstresss call, we were committed."

Then, his snake-like face, perpetually locked into a rigid smile, seemed to genuinely offer amusement.

"As you Humans say, in for a sshilling, in for a pound."

"Indeed number one."

The crew turned to their stations as they prepared for the McKenzie to arrive at the nebula. Glancing around at the anxious yet nervous crew Riker could not shake the sens that something was amiss.

"Report from our firsst ssenssor ssweep, Captain," First officer Schyssillyss announced. "No artificial sstructure in the immediate area. No new trassmisssion received. No debris field nor warp residual trace that could account for any starship in the vicinity."

He lifted his two large bulbous eyes towards the image on the viewer showing a blue and white haze of sparkling fog blotting out the stars ecept at it's fuzzy edges.

"Lieutenant Leône; how much time to circumnavigate completely the Paulson nebula?"

"The Nebula is roughly four light years accross," the Orion woman answered from the helm. "At warp 9, it would take us six point three days to come back all the way around on one plane of the ecliptic. If we were to cover the entire volume with our sensors at full, we would need to make at least three complete revolutions around it each in a different plane, so that we're looking at a minimum search timetable of nearly three weeks."

"And any ship could slip by unnoticed from any opposite side without us ever detecting it," Argyle pointed out.

"We're looking for a ship in distress, Lieutenant, not a hiding smuggler or an enemy warship," the Saurian reminded him.

"We should always be looking for an enemy... especially when we are but four parsecs from the Neutral Zone."

"Point taken, Lieutenant. That will be your job."

Schaell turned towards the science station.

"Details about the nebula?"

"This is your standard stellar dust and radiation concentration that gives birth to stars after millions of years of cooking. Mostly hydrogen with some helium, traces of oxygen and barely any of carbon and negigible atomic clusters of all the others. Gravity is high but very diffuse while atomic weak and strong forces and especially electromagnetic energies are so high that many of our systems would be hampered if not put offline would we to enter it. Shields and weapons lock would not function, sensors and engine efficiency cut at least to a quarter effectiveness... except for the space sonar which would be at fifty-three percent efficiency."

"And all that would worsen the longer we would stay within the nebula," Simmons added. "There would be cumulative strain on our hull, engines and power sources, not to mention ourselves if exposed for too long a duration to all this radiation."

Schaell nodded and looked down at his seated commanding officer.

"Thiss means that, if this USSs Legion is damaged and insside the nebula, sshe and her crew will be quite hard to find... and won't have three weekss, Captain."

"It would appear not number one. We have to find that ship, and we have to do it quickly."

Turning slightly towards the ops and tactical stations.

"Make what adjustments we need to the deflector, sensors and shields as quickly as possible."

"I may have an idea, Captain," Schaell said then. "If we move in and out of the nebula jusst long enough to ssend a get back a pulsse from the sspace ssonar, we sshould avoid any significant damage and yet might determine at leasst if the sship is insside the nebula and her general location... before fully plunging in. It will at least possibly shorten time for our ssearch compared to flying all around it sseveral times. And we could alsso launch our two sshuttles to widen our ssearch grid outside the cloud. Even if they have a sspeed limit of warp 6, they will sstill help cover a bit more volume of sspace around the nebula while we peek in."

"Good idea, Number One." Riker responded.

The Saurian first officer ordered launching of the pair of class X stealth combat shuttles the Polaris sported in her small shuttlebay. Originally developped for the similar-sized Defiant class, these two-seat bullet-shaped crafts had not only phasers and micro-torpedoes but a jamming sensor suite that hid their warp signature and distorted sensors and weapons lock. Although far from the effectiveness of an actual cloaking device, it made them, because of their small size and maneuverability, most difficult to detect and target even at close range. With their own state of the art sensors, they could search the area effectively and securely.

On the bridge of the Polaris, a regular echoing pinging sound was heard as the ship made a sounding with her space sonar. In the silence of the search, it recreated the atmosphere of the antique Terran submarines as they looked inside the foggy depths of the vast stardust cloud.