A turn of events

Posted on Saturday, 24 June 2023 - 6:17pm by Commander Soral & Captain Pippa Whitley & Emerick

Mission: Operation: Lobes & Liberties
Location: Ready Room | USS Standing Bear-A
Timeline: 2396

ON:

Soral paced the length of the bridge. He had a headache forming and the fact that the ship was working with so little senior staff....in truth none didn't help. "Coms get me a channel to the captain. I'll take it in the ready room." He turned and hurried off the bridge. He needed to let the captain know what was happening. By the time he hit the chair the computer screen was already morphing into a familiar face. "Captain my apologies for bothering you but this is an urgent situation."

Captain Whitley and the others were being escorted to the throne room in the castle on Luria when the communications call came through. Being that it was Soral, of course Captain Whitley took it. "Go ahead Number One. What sort of urgent situation do you have?" asked Whitley hoping that it wasn't something to do with the Ferengi.

"We have received priority one distress call from the USS Light Seeker. Captain Ivy Grams. We are on route to assist."

"Understood, Commander," Whitley replied. The Captain did not need to commend him on following protocol, but nevertheless as Commanding Officer, Whitley was pleased that he had done so by promptly responding to the distress call. "Proceed to the Light Seeker and see what assistance you can provide. You may run into some communications issues and be careful out there. Those Ionite nebulae are nasty. There's an old Federation Relay Station on the other end of it, Bellwether Station. You may be able to utilize it to boost your comm signals."

"Understood," There was a pause. "Be careful. We shall return for you as soon as we can....pending that the Acting CO of the Light Seeker does not vent me into space."

"Commander," Whitley said with a bit of concern in their voice. "With these two away teams off the ship, I'm afraid I've left you in a bit of a pickle. None of my senior staff are aboard the Standing Bear right now. You'll have a ship of junior officers and enlisted personnel at your command. Some of them are relatively untested. Do keep that in mind."

"I am sure the crew will prove themselves." He paused "I shall do my best. I also...require your command permission to active the EMH as my XO."

Pippa took a deep breath. "Oh..." Clearly that was not something Pippa had ever thought about doing. "Commander, Starfleet and the Federation have been very clear on the use of synthetic lifeforms. We have a ban on Androids for a reason, and Emergency Medical Holograms have been for a lack of better word, neutered ever since. We purged files and locked away those command subroutines" added Pippa a tense unease in their voice.

The Captain made an audible sound of frustration. "When Emerick erased himself, Captain Stillwater was able to have the Bynar recover all of his memory files which is why he has been the Emerick you all are used to, but there's more that Stillwater did not tell any of you. He was able to remove 'the collar' that Starfleet and the Federation had put on the Emergency Medical Hologram program. Commander, you activate the ECH with your command codes, but we are going to have a long explanation to Starfleet Command when they go through our logs."

"I see. I believe this will be a time for me to wish Hamura was here on ship...they would have a creative solution to the logs. However,...I shall take responsibility for Emerick. While I dislike the holo-program he can be of great benefit since this is a medical emergency call."

"Young mister Joral in the science department may also be of service to you, Commander. The lieutenant has the unique insight of being joined and one of his previous hosts was a Starfleet Captain. I would recommend you utilize him on this rescue mission."

There was a pause. Help from the very man he wanted to airlock. "I see. And you do not worry that I would airlock him?"

Pippa scoffed. "Commander, I trust that you will hold onto your humanity and not allow the cracks to reflect the mirror side that you are carrying around."

He grinned. "Yes well I think both sides do not like the idea of the young Lieutenant hanging around Alex, however I shall keep them both in line..."

Pippa laughed at the Vulcan's jealousy. "Commander, you haven't spent much time with Lieutenant Joral. He's a science officer. Your wife is the Chief Science Officer. If they did not 'hang around' her, I'd be concerned."

"Yes...I shall invent an Emergency Scientific Hologram." He sighed. "I should go. I do have one other thing. I do not trust myself to make this call."

"As my son would say when he was a teenager, Commander, 'tough shit'" quipped Pippa. "I trust you to make all necessary calls. You have command experience and I have left you in command of the Standing Bear."

"Not on this but there is time when you return to discuss this. Good luck Captain I shall report back to you as soon as I can."

"Understood, Commander. Captain Whitley out." Pippa wondered what exactly Soral had in mind, but they did know that he could take care of this distress call just fine.

Soral sat back a moment. This was going to be difficult. His mind ran through the crew lists of who was left and he started picking the cream of the crop. Perhaps the CO was right about the EMH Command but he needed the best medical knowledge he could get.

Sighing he headed to the bridge to do one last check in and get the crew lists to ensure all he needed were on shift. This was certainly going to be interesting with a junior crew, it would be almost like a cadet voyage but he needed to get to the ship and get them secure for personal reasons as much as Starfleet ones.

OFF: