A Feast of Crows

Posted on Fri Feb 28th, 2020 @ 1:12am by Commander Jiao Anderson-Smithson & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Commander Luhanna Wintersnow & Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan

Mission: Mission 28: Those who Remain
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 1400Hrs - February 24th, 2391

Commander Torilla Yamaguchi was suddenly thankful that she was sitting down when Jiao Anderson turned her head. "Captain, we're getting a hail from Deneva, Spacedock control... they say that the USS Tolkien never arrived." she commented.

Torilla regarded the attractive looking Asian woman who looked distressed. "Is that all they said?"

"Yessir.. nothing else." Anderson responded.

Yamaguchi turned to Tane. "Sir... I request permission to get underway... and look for our missing people immediately?" Normally she would be more subtle about it but this was her daughter on that mission, her interest was obvious.

"Recall all our people, XO." Zara looked at Torilla with sympathy, but went about the request in a way that let her know she understood. "Let all those on shore leave on the station know they have four hours to get here. If they aren't they are AWOL."

Yamaguchi wanted to do anything then just sit here as she tapped her combadge. "Yamaguchi to Phoenix... We have a problem..." she said quietly. "The Tolkien has been posted as missing. She never reached her destination."

"I'll be on the bridge soon then," Phoenix noted in a deadpan.

Yamaguchi looked at the Cardassian woman seated at Operations. "Tamtha, recall all of our personnel and get this ship ready to get underway please."

"Aye Commander," Tamtha responded. She opened the comm to the starbase. "Attention! All USS Roanoke are required to report back on the double." Tamtha looped the command into the star base's comm system.

"How'd this happen?" Aryssa asked Zara while she scratched as her uniform collar. "Siaxx took a safe route to the colony... at least I thought."

"We have four hours to pool ideas from the people we have left," Zara both answered and ignored the worried teen. "Go fetch me a coffee, Crewmen Sullivan."

Aryssa glared for only a moment, and then went to the ready room to replicate said order.

"XO? Once Colonel Sullivan gets on the bridge, I want you to pair her with Wintersnow and look at that flight course with a fine comb," Tane ordered.

Yamaguchi nodded. "Yamaguchi to Wintersnow. Luhanna we need you on the right RFN."

"I heard Commander. I'm on my way.."

A few minutes later, the turbolift doors opened and out walked Luhanna Wintersnow. "Kommander, Vat do you need zir?" she inquired as Phoenix approached from behind her.

Yamaguchi regarded the two women. "Look over Siaxx's flight plan and give us something to work with..."

Phoenix nodded and looked to Wintersnow. "Firebird would only move off course if an unexpected drift pattern emerged. If so, that would only put the shuttle no more than three light-years in radius off their original course."

"Your coffee, Captain Tane." Aryssa spoke as she handed the cup to Tane and then moved off to stand beside the door the ready room.

Wintersnow went over to the back of the bridge. "Lets go over it together... I am not a pilot.." she admitted as she called up the flight plan. "There are fourteen planetary systems in the area allotted between here and Den'ava.." Wintersnow's accent sounded either Russian or eastern European.

"We'll need to contact the bases on those two planets ta see if the Tolkien came up on long-range," Phoenix agreed.

Luhanna tapped eight of the systems which quickly disappeared from the list. "I will contact those three bases and make sure.." she explained to Phoenix. "I'll also contact the colonies.." she commented. "the rest is uninhabited." Luhanna smiled. "What do you think... start here?" she inquired.

"Looks as good as any," Phoenix agreed.

"Alright... Keptain, I have our first destination... designated Karadour." she explained. "Helm, once we leave zhe dock. Lay in heading eleven mark three sixteen."

Zara watched Aryssa out of the corner of her eye. The girl looked like she was dying to say something, and yet she was brooding with the appearance of Phoenix on the bridge.

"You can speak, Crewmen Sullivan." Tane prodded.

"Siaxx is still out there, an' we're waitin' for folks ta arrive," Aryssa pointed out. "Every second wait, we stand higher chance of loosin' her an' the rest."

"What would you have us do?" Tane deliberately baited the teen, for which Phoenix turned around her in her chair to watch.

"We need to leave now and travel the way they did," Aryssa answered simply.

"A couple things wrong with that, Kid." It was Phoenix that interjected. "We don' know where they are and we don' have all our birds. Nor do we got a search grid established."

"So do it," Aryssa pressed with a level of panic in her eyes. "You love Siaxx. I'd expect you ta be pushin' for that."

"Aryssa..." Tane sighed with sympathy. "Don't think none of us care. Because we all do. It's just we have limited resources. If we deploy too wide a grid, we can't really be effective. We'd miss a lot of area. So we have to work in a small unit and we have to pick the most likely areas where they'd of gone. And doing that takes time."

Aryssa nodded vaguely to that, but did not say more. She felt they could do more, they just did not want to.

"Lieutenant Kurzkai? I need you to get with Ra'vak and find out what the signature of the runabout is. Then try and see if we can't pick up her warp trail," Zara ordered to the Ops officer.

"Aye Captain. I'm sending a message to Commander Ra'vak now to realign the sensors." Tamtha told Zara.

Down in engineering, Alyssa whom was back on her feet, told Ra'Vak what was going on, as she got the message form the bridge, prompting Ra'Vak to say," Well, hopefully our sensor array won't explode on us when we try to realign them." Ra'Vak then looked at Alurian, saying," Wait, which runabout did they take."

Alurian looked at the flight roster, saying, "They took the Tolkien."

Ra'Vak facepalmed, saying, "Oh crap, why did they take that one. Well, at least a faulty warp coil will give it a rather distinctive warp trail."

Yamaguchi sat in her chair in silence, her thoughts in a mad swirl as she looked at the view screen which at present was turned off. "We'll find them."

Tamtha worked away at her station. "Captain, sensor array has been realigned to pick up the Tolkien's warp signature."

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow. "Can you find anything?" Even as she asked the question, she knew that the chances were slender at best.