Eclipse hesitated a moment before shi spoke up in answer to the Captain.

"Back home I try to avoid having people know about my ability. But thats just because I don't want to be harassed by the teleporter research program to quite my current career and become a live in research assistant at their facility. As to blocking one, in three hundred years the only method so far found, has been to keep the teleporter from ever getting a clear image of an area. We can't teleport blind, but with my Astral Projection I might be able to 'see' aboard the longship to find a place to put us if we use my ability to get us over there. But like I said, the more mass the more it tires me out. But that also makes me wonder if my ships transporters would be effected like yours would be by those materials."

Quinn had risen to her feet before even realizing it. If a steady hand could help, she would provide one.

"Glad to, sir. Never met a snafu I couldn't counter!" she said, as Captain th'Valla and Eclipse conversed.

" It might help to have a shuttle captain. Built in Cover if a fight occurs. "

"That's good to know," the Captain says to Eclipse. "Does this Bridge now count as a place you have a clear image of?"

"So, it'd make more sense to transport over and then, if it becomes necessary, you could try to teleport everyone back to here. Although, I don't suppose it matters if you teleport to your ship instead."

"So, if that's settled, then Commander T'Shran, assemble your away team in the transporter room. Transport over when you are ready."

Miranda nods, and then quickly looks over her team.


" Team to the transporter room. "

Miranda spins on a heel and walks to the lift.

"If we have to leave quickly I should be able to bring everyone back here to the bridge or even to your transporter room which would probably be easier as there's more clear space there then here."

Eclipse then nods to the Captain before following Miranda to the transporter room.

>>to transporter room>>

The captain and Eclipse enter the Bridge, and Anther looks around just to make note of who is on duty.

"Helm, resume our previous course," he states. "Continue scanning and mapping the area as we go."

"You still have the Bridge, Commander Blackthorne. I'll be in Science."

The Captain then led the back to the Science Department.

Since this wasn't a Search and Rescue mission, the course wasn't intended to cover an entire search grid. That would have taken years to cover an area the size of the Expanse. Instead, an irregular zigzag course was being used, based on a random exploration algorithm.

Nothing turned up on the sensors for two days. Then the long range sensors picked up three different objects at extreme range but in different directions.

"Commander," Lenaris said to Commander Blackthorne, "long range sensors are picking up three objects... in different directions. Object One appears to be a planetoid off the port bow, heading away from us. Object Two is not registering clearly at this range but it is straight ahead. Object Three is... an anomaly is all that the sensors can say at this range... to starboard dorsal."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Sat 11 July 2020.

"Ensign Quinn. Would you please set a course between Object Two and Object Three," R.T. directed Elle.

He was more interested in the 'anomaly' but couldn't ignore the object dead ahead. The course he chose should bring both objects closer so that the sensors could get a better reading on them.

He was well aware that either one of those objects could turn into a threat, even at that distance, but he wasn't yet ready to go to Yellow Alert... not until there was an obvious threat potential.

"Aye, sir," said Quinn, making sure to keep the Mongoose's plotted path as equidistant between the two anomalies as was possible.

"And I'll start long-range sensor scans going at regular intervals, in case one of these two decides to show their hands first," she added informally. "You know, in case we need to... uh, call?"

Then, before her fumbling words dug her an even deeper hole, Quinn sent the ship on its way.

It isn't long before the sensors begin giving a clearer picture. The object that was straight ahead now appears as a derelict ship. It appears as a cross between a blooming onion and a spider. There's a spherical core with 8 'appendages hanging off of the sphere. The engine seems to be between the appendages, meaning the appendages hang down like they might be landing gear.

There is no power registering from the ship. It's about 1500 feet across, maybe another 100 feet longer.


The third object, the 'anomaly' now registers as a star system. Details are vague, but it appears to be huge... with a red super-giant at the center.

Miranda comes off the turbo lift and walks to the conference room.

Petty Officer Starbird passes by her as he heads onto the bridge, standing guard with his trusty ‘heater’ (phaser rifle).  No one would raid their crib on his watch.

He watches the view screen with great interest, simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by the strange derelict ship.  “That thing’s uglier than Uncle Vito’s meatballs,” he mutters.

"Really?" the white-haired Efrosian communications officer responds to Pacomio as he tries to picture what Uncle Vito's meatballs might look like.

"Are they all shiny and spindly like that? If it was sitting on my plate, I might think it was some sort of crustacean. That ship looks rather intriguing. And graceful. As well as practical. Of course, in space, ships don't really need to look all that graceful."

“Not shiny, but they were kinda spindly, yeah.  Always had things sticking out of them.  He said they was peppers, but we wasn’t sure.  Might have been rat guts or somethin’.  Uncle Vito could be real creative when the price of meat went up.”

Kelm didn't know if Pacomio was pulling his leg or not. It sounded like one of those old Earth joke stories where each step got more outrageous... like, 'the tree fell on the house... because we had to chop it down... because it caught fire... from the burning house... because when the car crashed into the garage it started an electrical fire... because I was trying to avoid hitting the dog that I ran over... because I was upset because my wife was dying, etc.'

"And you still ate his meatballs? I think I'd rather eat gagh," Kelm replied.

Roland wasn't sure about the course of action that the Captain might want to pursue. Both of these options held equal appeal.

"Blackthorne to Captain th'Valla," Roland said, activating the comms. "We've got two objects to investigate. One appears to be a derelict alien ship of unknown origin; it bears no resemblance to the whaling longship."

"The second is a star system, still rather distant, but it's a BIG one. Any preference for which one you want to explore first?"

Without acknowledging R.T.'s comm, the Captain strides onto the Bridge a few seconds later as his answer. He stands behind the commander chairs and looks at the image on the main viewscreen along with the sensor data displayed along the bottom.

"I see the conundrum, Commander," he informs R.T.

"I can't decide which is more interesting myself. I think I'd start with the ship, since it's more likely to vanish than the star system. Out here in the unknown, though, that's not a guarantee."

He lets R.T. continue his command and heads back to his ready room.

After the captain leaves, Starbird says, “Yeah, I ate the meatballs.  What was I gonna do?  Insult the man to his face?”

"You heard the Captain, Ensign Quinn," R.T. says. "Set a course for that strange ship... half impulse."

"I want sensors on continuous scans. I don't want to get surprised. Better go to Yellow Alert. If that thing suddenly comes alive cause it was playing possum, I don't want to be caught with our collective pants down."

"Lieutenant Commander Blackthorne to Commander T'Shran. We are approaching what appears to be a derelict alien starship. You might want to start assembling your Away Team."

Miranda comes out of the conference room..

" Quinn, let's swing get a couple of Security, an engineer, and a medic from sickbay. Suggestions? "

Miranda stands by the lift.

Starbird suggests himself, thus filling one of the security spots.  Besides, he’s already carrying a phaser rifle.

"Aye, sir," Quinn answered. "Course computed and laid in," she continued, having set the Mongoose on its way toward the derelict ship at *just* a shade over one-half impulse.

After all, if there were survivors to rescue, people to otherwise aid, and/or other strangeness to investigate, getting there slightly sooner was better than later, no?

And so, with their flightpath set, Quinn perhaps too quickly rose to her feet to join Commander T-Shran, reacting immediately to the half-human half-Andorian's prompt, and allowing her eagerness for another Away Mission to surface more obviously than she'd have liked.

She nodded to Starbird as the armed Security officer likewise stepped forward.

" Well let's head to medical. "
Miranda enters the turbo lift.



>>>To Medical Bay>>>>
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Mon 20 July 2020.