S3:E1 CLONES

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

48 HOURS LATER
[USS Challenger - Ready Room>Bridge]

The Captain had been toiling through PADDs she needed to sign off on and decided to take a break, she was starting to fret about how long the Redav was taking to arrive, of course she had the personal reason, two of them, to be worried, but she shouldn't let that cloud her professional resolve. She needed a break, something to take her mind off it once and for all, or, something to calm her fears for her siblings and the fate of the Redav once and for all.  With that she stood and strode out of the Ready Room onto the Bridge like a woman with a mission, for anyone looking at the Captain, if would seem that she definitely got out of bed the wrong side that morning and hadn't had enough coffee. I minor scowl crossed her face as she was annoyed with herself for feeling so helpless.

"Ops, do we have anything from the Redav yet?  I hope the Admiral hasn't run into Leyton and co, I'm getting a touch worried especially with reports of cadets going missing." the Captain asked a worried look on her face.

"And did Security send up the proposals for manning Customs?" she queried "I'm wanting those on my desk like yesterday." she added a with a touch of exasperation.  The worry about her sisters on board the Redav and the cadets was starting to stress her a little.

She took the centre chair, remembering what Judy had said, and silently agreeing with her.  "With the projected arrival time of the Redav, are they within hailing distance? If so, open a secure channel."

[Lizzie Vaughan]

48 HOURS LATER
[USS Challenger - Ready Room>Bridge]

The Captain had been toiling through PADDs she needed to sign off on and decided to take a break, she was starting to fret about how long the Redav was taking to arrive, of course she had the personal reason, two of them, to be worried, but she shouldn't let that cloud her professional resolve. She needed a break, something to take her mind off it once and for all, or, something to calm her fears for her siblings and the fate of the Redav once and for all.  With that she stood and strode out of the Ready Room onto the Bridge like a woman with a mission, for anyone looking at the Captain, if would seem that she definitely got out of bed the wrong side that morning and hadn't had enough coffee. I minor scowl crossed her face as she was annoyed with herself for feeling so helpless.

"Ops, do we have anything from the Redav yet?  I hope the Admiral hasn't run into Leyton and co, I'm getting a touch worried especially with reports of cadets going missing." the Captain asked a worried look on her face.

"And did Security send up the proposals for manning Customs?" she queried "I'm wanting those on my desk like yesterday." she added a with a touch of exasperation.  The worry about her sisters on board the Redav and the cadets was starting to stress her a little.

She took the centre chair, remembering what Judy had said, and silently agreeing with her.  "With the projected arrival time of the Redav, are they within hailing distance? If so, open a secure channel."

Sickbay

Lizzie had finished her review of the new Cadet that was joining her department as well as the others that were joining the crew. There would be medicals to complete, but otherwise there was nothing that needed doing. She decided to head up to the Bridge to make sure she was present when the Redav arrived. She left Sickbay as a brisk walk, heading for the turbolift.

Bridge

Lizzie stepped out of the turbolift and saw Ruth sitting in the centre chair.

"Any news on the Redav?" She asked.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

Sickbay

Lizzie had finished her review of the new Cadet that was joining her department as well as the others that were joining the crew. There would be medicals to complete, but otherwise there was nothing that needed doing. She decided to head up to the Bridge to make sure she was present when the Redav arrived. She left Sickbay as a brisk walk, heading for the turbolift.

Bridge

Lizzie stepped out of the turbolift and saw Ruth sitting in the centre chair.

"Any news on the Redav?" She asked.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Negative, Doctor.  I've just been asking that myself.  I've had Ops see if we can hail them.  They should have been docking about now.  I have both ship and station Ops on the look out on long range scanners, the scanners at least should pick them up soon, if not...."  Ruth gave out a long sigh and gave Lizzie a look of almost helplessness.

She didn't want to give up on them but it was looking more and more like the Redav had sadly succumbed to some foe, likely Leyton.

[Sukal]

[USS REDAV]

{Posting as Rear-Admiral Alexander d'Arth}

An explosion in the shuttlebay. The damage the exploding shuttlebay had seriously hurt the starship's structural hull integrity, and it had even damaged the Bridge and ability to saucer separate.  It had been bad enough to lose his Second Officer, but now he had just lost his Assistant Chief Engineer:  Lieutenant Sevek.  The man had just come to him before leaving for this mission about Leyton's people trying to recruit him.  The Admiral understood the pressure the man could put on people to get them to trade sides, but now Sevek was dead.  He had been a first-class Assistant to Lt. Commander Misty Dubois in Engineering for three years.  The man didn't make mistakes, and yet somehow he had been in the shuttlebay when it exploded.  The initial report said it was Sevek's error, but Alex didn't buy that for a second.  On top of that, for reasons he could not fathom; the external communications was still down after the attack.  That had been one of the top priorities for Engineering to fix, but Chief Dubois still hadn't been able to find the cause.  He had noted she was putting in some rather long hours to personally look into the issue, but still hadn't been able to determine why the system wasn't functioning correctly.  In the end, she had reported that it would have to be looked at more closely at the outpost.

Alexander was just about at his wits end.  Between the ambush, the supposed accident in the shuttlebay, the lack of the external comm, and his own private problems - the man was constantly frowning and scowling.

Yet, they were now approaching the outpost at last.  Perhaps some answers would be forth coming, but there was no way to currently communicate with the outpost.  That only made it more frustrating for him, but he took a deep breath and did his best to remain calm.  Though the explosion had happened over seventeen hours ago; the Bridge was still not in the best of shape.  Tactical was glitching consistently, and the Secondary Engineering station was still down.  It could have been worse.  Had it not been for Chief T'Sel catching the strange surge of power in the shuttlebay and sealing it off; the damage would have been far worse.  Indeed, it could have been the end of the ship and crew.  He hated to think it, but the more he thought about it...the more it seemed likely.  This was a dismal thought, but he could think of no other explanation for losing two good officers along with other personnel that had served faithfully.  This latest incident had cost him nine more lives.

"Admiral, sensors are picking up the outpost and USS CHALLENGER are coming into range.  It would appear we are eagerly expected," his XO noted from the Ops position.

"Good!  About time!  I don't know about anyone else, but this ship needs some repairs.  Besides that, I want to be ready to go back after Leyton's forces for that ambush," Alexander growled a bit before taking a calming breath.  "Without our comm system up externally; I want a probe sent out to broadcast.  Link it directly to the internal comm system so we can talk.  Might be a bit sketchy, but at least we can talk to the CHALLENGER," Alexander ordered.

"Working on it now.  Chief Dubois already has one such probe ready.  Launching probe and syncing up.  Here's to hoping," Commander Jessica Thompson stated.

"REDAV to CHALLENGER.  We could use your assistance as soon as possible.  There has been some trouble on our way to you,"    

[Lizzie Vaughan]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Negative, Doctor.  I've just been asking that myself.  I've had Ops see if we can hail them.  They should have been docking about now.  I have both ship and station Ops on the look out on long range scanners, the scanners at least should pick them up soon, if not...."  Ruth gave out a long sigh and gave Lizzie a look of almost helplessness.

She didn't want to give up on them but it was looking more and more like the Redav had sadly succumbed to some foe, likely Leyton.

Bridge

Lizzie nodded. She could see the concern on Ruth's face that Leyton had something to do with the delay. She could offer no comfort, so she took one of the empty Mission Ops seats, sat and waited. Hopefully the Redav would be along soon.

[Judith Eastman]

[Bridge]

Over the course of two days, Judy had checked in on a variety of places and departments. Sickbay, main engineering, the security offices, the science labs - none were missed by the older woman with the glasses. She tried not to get in the way, but she happily engaged with anyone who wanted to talk with her.

Now, she was on the bridge, seated in the left-hand chair reserved for counselors and other visitors. A pair of rimless reading glasses (she didn't need a distance prescription - the bifocals from before had a flat lens for the top half) sat low on her nose as she observed and took notes. The complaints from Ruth, for one, spoke to a level of exhaustion. This ship needed a proper XO - that much was evident.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO2 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Bridge]

At Lt Sukal's direction, Lahr set to work at the Tactical station looking for possible issues.  It was soon discovered by Sukal that Lahr, like their Captain, had a tendency to talk.  While he had his head tucked under the Tactical console he woefully regaled the Vulcan half-breed on how poor his love-life was at the moment.  "I thought for a minute I'd found someone perfect for me when we took on the Klaha delegates.  But Cesia ended up being a complete bitch, bombing her opponents planet even while she and her mother were in the midst of peace negotiations.   What's wrong with me? I always pick the bad girls..."

This went on throughout most of that shift.  If given a reprimand to 'shut-up' or 'focus on your work', Lahr would obligingly quieten down for a maybe a half hour before having to offer his thoughts on whatever had his thoughts at the moment.

[Two Days Later]
The Bridge consoles had been checked and rechecked and Lahr couldn't find a single thing wrong with any of them.  He did note some chewing gum stuck on the bottom of the helm control panel which he jokingly remarked at the time 'What? and they didn't offer some to the rest of the class?'  It got a chuckle from a few.

But today, Lahr wasn't crawling on his hands and knees underneath consoles. Nope, he was scheduled today to the Bridge Ops station.  Yay -  more transporters and comms!  Since they were still docked to the Outpost, Lahr had been taking it a bit easy.  He had the communications go through the earbuds - which was currently playing some Andorian classical music.    It was one of the few times Lahr seemed to be quiet... knowing that if he talked he'd be humming along with the music... a dead give away that he was listening to something on the earbuds other than space chatter.

Once more he had his console set up to flash when a comm signal was being picked up.

Of course today would be the day when not just the Captain came to the Bridge but the SO and shrink as well.   Lahr was just about to discreetly turn off his music and wipe his playlist from the recent history, when his console flashed.  An incoming call.. but very weak.

"Ma'am, I've got an incoming message.  Very weak and broken.. audio only.  It's from the Redav, I believe but it seems like its an internal comm not external.  Opening on a secure channel."

[Lek]

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

Lek sat in his office as he spoke with Lieutenant Gianetti as he delivered his latest update on the repairs to the space station.

"Good news and bad news Chief. Sensors weren't as bad as we thought. Those are back online and so far, three full level one diagnostics have not found any issues."

"And the bad news?"

Gianetti's smile dimmed as he continued.

"The primary communications array is about as crispy as my ex-wife's attempts to cook bacon. The backup is salvageable, but we are going to strip the replicators bare to get them fully operational.

"Can't save any of the primary?"

"I think we might be able to keep the some of the screws."

Lek winced as that meant it was really bad. He'd given the system a once over himself and had knew the damage was extensive, but not as bad as Gianetti was saying. He sighed as he would have to let the captain know that the primary was going to need a complete replacement or a class four industrial replicator to make one. He sighed again and tapped his commbadge

"Engineering to Captain Sigurdsdottir, we've run into a problem."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

PO2 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Bridge]

At Lt Sukal's direction, Lahr set to work at the Tactical station looking for possible issues.  It was soon discovered by Sukal that Lahr, like their Captain, had a tendency to talk.  While he had his head tucked under the Tactical console he woefully regaled the Vulcan half-breed on how poor his love-life was at the moment.  "I thought for a minute I'd found someone perfect for me when we took on the Klaha delegates.  But Cesia ended up being a complete bitch, bombing her opponents planet even while she and her mother were in the midst of peace negotiations.   What's wrong with me? I always pick the bad girls..."

This went on throughout most of that shift.  If given a reprimand to 'shut-up' or 'focus on your work', Lahr would obligingly quieten down for a maybe a half hour before having to offer his thoughts on whatever had his thoughts at the moment.

[Two Days Later]
The Bridge consoles had been checked and rechecked and Lahr couldn't find a single thing wrong with any of them.  He did note some chewing gum stuck on the bottom of the helm control panel which he jokingly remarked at the time 'What? and they didn't offer some to the rest of the class?'  It got a chuckle from a few.

But today, Lahr wasn't crawling on his hands and knees underneath consoles. Nope, he was scheduled today to the Bridge Ops station.  Yay -  more transporters and comms!  Since they were still docked to the Outpost, Lahr had been taking it a bit easy.  He had the communications go through the earbuds - which was currently playing some Andorian classical music.    It was one of the few times Lahr seemed to be quiet... knowing that if he talked he'd be humming along with the music... a dead give away that he was listening to something on the earbuds other than space chatter.

Once more he had his console set up to flash when a comm signal was being picked up.

Of course today would be the day when not just the Captain came to the Bridge but the SO and shrink as well.   Lahr was just about to discreetly turn off his music and wipe his playlist from the recent history, when his console flashed.  An incoming call.. but very weak.

"Ma'am, I've got an incoming message.  Very weak and broken.. audio only.  It's from the Redav, I believe but it seems like its an internal comm not external.  Opening on a secure channel."

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Ruth smiled as she heard Lahr humming along, so long as he was also doing his job and able to pick up any messages, she could turn a blind eye to listening to music while they were still docked.  She didn't want to be seen as a Captain who ruled with a rod of iron.  It was a fine line, but so long as she got obedience and respect to her station and in following orders, she could give a little.

She was confirmed in her appraisal of Lahr when he immediately picked up an incoming message.

"See if you can clean it up any Petty Officer, as for internal comm... could be an old trick I learnt about.  Link a probe up to internal comms, fire that out to broadcast... It could be a desperate plea for help.  I'm only speculating here.  See if you can make any sense of it Petty Officer, in the meantime have everyone and I mean everyone called to duty stations.  It could be we might need to go and assist.  Also locate coordinates of original message, send coordinates to helm."

Ruth answered both relieved and concerned at the same time.  Relieved that there was the possibility that they were out there and relatively close, concerned because if they were having to use the probe trick, their external comms were out and that meant they'd sustained damage... presumably in battle, were the twins ok?

"Lt. Sukal, see if you can find them on long-range scans with the coordinates provided, please.  If they need our assistance then I want to be able to go out as quickly as possible." the Captain said with some resolve.

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

Lek sat in his office as he spoke with Lieutenant Gianetti as he delivered his latest update on the repairs to the space station.

"Good news and bad news Chief. Sensors weren't as bad as we thought. Those are back online and so far, three full level one diagnostics have not found any issues."

"And the bad news?"

Gianetti's smile dimmed as he continued.

"The primary communications array is about as crispy as my ex-wife's attempts to cook bacon. The backup is salvageable, but we are going to strip the replicators bare to get them fully operational.

"Can't save any of the primary?"

"I think we might be able to keep the some of the screws."

Lek winced as that meant it was really bad. He'd given the system a once over himself and had knew the damage was extensive, but not as bad as Gianetti was saying. He sighed as he would have to let the captain know that the primary was going to need a complete replacement or a class four industrial replicator to make one. He sighed again and tapped his commbadge

"Engineering to Captain Sigurdsdottir, we've run into a problem."

Go ahead, Chief... tell me the worst, also please let it be something that's not going to affect me going to assist the USS Redav, we may be heading out to assist them, they have problems with their external communications it seems. 

Turning to the doctor she gave a wry smile.  "Have Sickbay ready, we don't know what casualties they might have sustained if my gut feeling is right and they've run into Leyton, I know they'll have a sickbay there but, we have to be prepared, they may be overwhelmed."

[Lizzie Vaughan]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Ruth smiled as she heard Lahr humming along, so long as he was also doing his job and able to pick up any messages, she could turn a blind eye to listening to music while they were still docked.  She didn't want to be seen as a Captain who ruled with a rod of iron.  It was a fine line, but so long as she got obedience and respect to her station and in following orders, she could give a little.

She was confirmed in her appraisal of Lahr when he immediately picked up an incoming message.

"See if you can clean it up any Petty Officer, as for internal comm... could be an old trick I learnt about.  Link a probe up to internal comms, fire that out to broadcast... It could be a desperate plea for help.  I'm only speculating here.  See if you can make any sense of it Petty Officer, in the meantime have everyone and I mean everyone called to duty stations.  It could be we might need to go and assist.  Also locate coordinates of original message, send coordinates to helm."

Ruth answered both relieved and concerned at the same time.  Relieved that there was the possibility that they were out there and relatively close, concerned because if they were having to use the probe trick, their external comms were out and that meant they'd sustained damage... presumably in battle, were the twins ok?

"Lt. Sukal, see if you can find them on long-range scans with the coordinates provided, please.  If they need our assistance then I want to be able to go out as quickly as possible." the Captain said with some resolve.

Go ahead, Chief... tell me the worst, also please let it be something that's not going to affect me going to assist the USS Redav, we may be heading out to assist them, they have problems with their external communications it seems. 

Turning to the doctor she gave a wry smile.  "Have Sickbay ready, we don't know what casualties they might have sustained if my gut feeling is right and they've run into Leyton, I know they'll have a sickbay there but, we have to be prepared, they may be overwhelmed."

Bridge

Lizzie listened as Lahr informed them of the garbled transmission. Her fist thought was that the Redav had run into Leyton's forces and she would likely have casualties. She was was just about to get up and inform Ruth of her intention to head to Sickbay when Ruth made the connection herself. Lizzie nodded in response.

"Aye Captain." She replied, getting out of the chair and heading for the turbolift and Sickbay.

Sickbay

Lizzie walked in and gave a piercing two fingered whistle.

"Listen up." She said once all attention was on her. "The Redav appears to be suffering damage and we suspect they may have more casualties that they can handle. Therefore I want us ready to receive casualties ASAP." She paused. "Call in all off duty personnel and prepare the wards for use. Let's get to it people!" She ordered.

While her staff began to call in the off duty staff and prepare for casualties, Lizzie went to the surgical suite to make sure it was ready for immediate use. She hoped she was being over prepared, but feared not.

[Lek]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Go ahead, Chief... tell me the worst, also please let it be something that's not going to affect me going to assist the USS Redav, we may be heading out to assist them, they have problems with their external communications it seems. 

Lek hated when he couldn't fix something, he took it as a personal affront to his considerable engineering talents when a machine defied him, but this was one time not even the greats of Starfleet like Scott, LaForge, or O'Brien could make carbonized components work.

"Ma'am, the primary communications array on the station is beyond repair. It has to be replaced in toto. Either via a new one shipped in or replicated by a class four industrial replicator. The backup system is salvageable, but it is going to deplete the station's replicators bulk mass storage. Even if we do go that route, the backup only has 40% of the range of the primary. Either way, I need your approval to deplete the bulk mass storage or to requisition a new primary."

Lek waited for the captain's response as he knew that there really wasn't a choice, she had to do both. She had to accept the fact that the station's replicators would be offline until the station was resupplied and for the array to be replaced. The real question was, could Starfleet manage the requests.

[Mondo'li Nari]

The Pickled Pakled

It had been two days since Lark's arrival at the outpost, and it felt like it had taken nearly all of that time to get his Romulan Ale cleared through customs.  It always sent up red flags when he brought 'certified non-transported' goods onto a station or world.  Transporters were designed to detect all manner of dangerous contaminants and outlawed tech.  Whenever a merchant tried to get around the use of a transporter, it was often a sign to people of authority that a smuggler or terrorist was trying to evade detection.

That meant there would be security personnel with tricorders inspecting every inch of the shipment.  Picking up bottles for visual inspection.  Checking transfer certificates.  Eyeing him with suspicion.  Asking him the same question in ten different ways to see if he gave an answer that didn't link up with the others.

In the case of Romulan Ale- for which there was a thriving black-market trade alongside the legal trade, there were additional background checks.  Ever since the Hobus supernova, there had been illegal salvagers sneaking around Romulan territory and picking up random pieces of Romulan equipment and goods that had been on the edge of the destructive wave.  It was a fine salvaging horizon where people had been killed, but objects had survived.  The Romulans themselves hadn't managed to find and retrieve everything.  And so, much got picked up and smuggled illegally out of Romulan space.   It got slapped with fraudulent transfer certificates and made its way from the black market to the gray.

The only way to be sure the certificates were valid was to send subspace messages to all the ports of call claimed on the certificates themselves, and certify with customs all along the route that this good had passed through their checkpoints and received a legitimate holostamp.  Responses could take hours, or even days, depending on how far the merchandise had traveled.

But then, all of that tedious business was part of the reason that such goods could claim so high a price at the end of their journey.  All so that a wealthy collector or connoisseur could claim to have legitimate, non-replicated, non-transported, original consumables.

After all of that effort to bring someone a drink, Lark needed one, himself.  He sidled up to the bar.

"Slug-O Cola, Please."

There was nothing like the cool slime of a good cola coating one's mouth and throat.

[Sukal]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Ruth smiled as she heard Lahr humming along, so long as he was also doing his job and able to pick up any messages, she could turn a blind eye to listening to music while they were still docked.  She didn't want to be seen as a Captain who ruled with a rod of iron.  It was a fine line, but so long as she got obedience and respect to her station and in following orders, she could give a little.

She was confirmed in her appraisal of Lahr when he immediately picked up an incoming message.

"See if you can clean it up any Petty Officer, as for internal comm... could be an old trick I learnt about.  Link a probe up to internal comms, fire that out to broadcast... It could be a desperate plea for help.  I'm only speculating here.  See if you can make any sense of it Petty Officer, in the meantime have everyone and I mean everyone called to duty stations.  It could be we might need to go and assist.  Also locate coordinates of original message, send coordinates to helm."

Ruth answered both relieved and concerned at the same time.  Relieved that there was the possibility that they were out there and relatively close, concerned because if they were having to use the probe trick, their external comms were out and that meant they'd sustained damage... presumably in battle, were the twins ok?

"Lt. Sukal, see if you can find them on long-range scans with the coordinates provided, please.  If they need our assistance then I want to be able to go out as quickly as possible." the Captain said with some resolve.

Sukal had been on the Bridge keeping an eye on the Science station as Lahr was on duty at Ops, and when the static call came in announced by Lahr from the REDAV -it immediately put the Vulcan/Betazoid officer on alert.  The fact that Lahr had mentioned the incoming starship using their internal comm made him believe there was trouble coming.  He believed the Captain had the right of it, and that Admiral d'Arth had used a probe to generate a link between external and internal in order to broadcast.  It was a brilliant idea, but the transmission was not clear.

"Sensors have the USS REDAV coming into the system now, Captain.  She is travelling at only one-third impulse power, and seems to have sustained heavy damage.  I am doing a full sweep of her now at bearing 115 mark 036," he reported as he scanned the approaching Galaxy-III class.  The ship had indeed taken a pounding from what his scans were revealing, but one of the things which puzzled and alarmed him the most was the damage to the starship's shuttlebay.  "Captain, they have been attacked to be sure.  Damage is consistent with them being outnumbered at least two-to-one.  There is damage to her primary forward phaser array lower, external communications, at least one forward torpedo bay out, impulse drive damaged, part of the rear section of the bridge, and the main shuttlebay.  But, I need to show you something at my station as well," Sukal continued with a deep furrow to his brow along with a rather serious scowl as he continued to monitor the starship's approach.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

Lek hated when he couldn't fix something, he took it as a personal affront to his considerable engineering talents when a machine defied him, but this was one time not even the greats of Starfleet like Scott, LaForge, or O'Brien could make carbonized components work.

"Ma'am, the primary communications array on the station is beyond repair. It has to be replaced in toto. Either via a new one shipped in or replicated by a class four industrial replicator. The backup system is salvageable, but it is going to deplete the station's replicators bulk mass storage. Even if we do go that route, the backup only has 40% of the range of the primary. Either way, I need your approval to deplete the bulk mass storage or to requisition a new primary."

Lek waited for the captain's response as he knew that there really wasn't a choice, she had to do both. She had to accept the fact that the station's replicators would be offline until the station was resupplied and for the array to be replaced. The real question was, could Starfleet manage the requests.

Bridge - USS Challenger

Ruth let out a long weary sigh.  That was all she needed and had they been operable would they have got in contact with the Redav sooner.

Acknowledged Mr. Lek, you can requisition both, however I don't know if Starfleet Command will sanction both, so be prepared for them to send one or the other.  Hand over to SCPO Kossura, I need you back up here pronto, we're potentially set to be going out to rendezvous with the USS Redav.  Sigurdsdottir out.  

That was before Sukal got the heading and confirmed her suspicions.

Sukal had been on the Bridge keeping an eye on the Science station as Lahr was on duty at Ops, and when the static call came in announced by Lahr from the REDAV -it immediately put the Vulcan/Betazoid officer on alert.  The fact that Lahr had mentioned the incoming starship using their internal comm made him believe there was trouble coming.  He believed the Captain had the right of it, and that Admiral d'Arth had used a probe to generate a link between external and internal in order to broadcast.  It was a brilliant idea, but the transmission was not clear.

"Sensors have the USS REDAV coming into the system now, Captain.  She is travelling at only one-third impulse power, and seems to have sustained heavy damage.  I am doing a full sweep of her now at bearing 115 mark 036," he reported as he scanned the approaching Galaxy-III class.  The ship had indeed taken a pounding from what his scans were revealing, but one of the things which puzzled and alarmed him the most was the damage to the starship's shuttlebay.  "Captain, they have been attacked to be sure.  Damage is consistent with them being outnumbered at least two-to-one.  There is damage to her primary forward phaser array lower, external communications, at least one forward torpedo bay out, impulse drive damaged, part of the rear section of the bridge, and the main shuttlebay.  But, I need to show you something at my station as well," Sukal continued with a deep furrow to his brow along with a rather serious scowl as he continued to monitor the starship's approach.

Ruth passed a hand over her face partially in despair, partially to surreptitiously wipe away the tears that had started with the worry for those on the Redav, especially her sisters.

"Helm prepare to undock. Lay in a heading to rendezvous with the Redav at 115 mark 036, Ops send message to the Redav that we are on our way. As soon as you can confirm we have the minimum crew contingent on board - bearing in mind we have teams working on the base, request clearance from Base Ops."

Attention all hands we shall be departing to rendezvous with the USS Redav which has sustained severe damage, please have your departments prepared to assist them.  Dr. Vaughan, Lt. Sukal, Lt. Lek select 1 person each to form an away team to assess damage and injuries. Sigurdsdottir out

[Lek]

Bridge - USS Challenger

Ruth let out a long weary sigh.  That was all she needed and had they been operable would they have got in contact with the Redav sooner.

Acknowledged Mr. Lek, you can requisition both, however I don't know if Starfleet Command will sanction both, so be prepared for them to send one or the other.  Hand over to SCPO Kossura, I need you back up here pronto, we're potentially set to be going out to rendezvous with the USS Redav.  Sigurdsdottir out.  

[Engineering  - USS Challenger]

Lek knitted his eyebrows to hear of the need to meet the admiral's ship, that meant something had to be wrong.

"Aye Ma'am, I'm on my way."

Lek turned things over to Kossura and headed for the bridge. He exited the turbolift and headed for the engineering station. Once settled, he spun his seat around to face the captain.

"What is going on Ma'am?"