Section 57 and a Third

Posted on Mon Sep 21st, 2020 @ 10:19pm by Captain Dick Sprague

Mission: Section 57 and a Third
Location: USS Wayfarer
Timeline: Current

OFF:

Mission Time! As a reminder, this sim will officially go from Open to Traditional role playing on October 1st. Also:

- Captain Sprague is the Commanding Officer of the USS Wayfarer, but doesn't know it.
- The Wayfarer is en route to Earth from Starbase 57 to drop off several passengers.
- Captain Sprague thinks he is going to Earth for his retirement.

Now, on with the show...

ON:

{USS Wayfarer, Bridge}

#SNIP#
Sprague took a step forward and cleared his throat. "Take us out."

Sprague then remembered more of his history... Captain Kirk didn't make it back from the Enterprise-B's maiden voyage. He quickly left the bridge before anything else could happen.

Akeno watched Sprague leave. "Commander, you have the bridge," she said, addressing Zoey. "I need to talk to our non-present Captain..."
#SNIP#

"Before you go, ma'am, we have received transfer orders for our Counselor, Lieutenant Commander Whistela Au’rel and Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Ithi Deritan," O'Donnell piped up from the Ops station.

"Now? That's odd," Akeno replied from the opened door to the turbo lift.

"There's more... they're both transferring to Section 31."

Akeno crinkled her nose. "Section 31, the shadowy clandestine organization of which there are only rumors of its existence? That Section 31?"

"Yes, that Section 31. It appears they forgot to use quantum encryption on the direct orders to Lieutenant Deritan and Commander Au’rel... and then inadvertently broadcast them on the general federation channel."

"Ouch," was all Akeno was able to manage. "I want them both off this ship pronto."

"Yes, commander," continued O'Donnell, "Lt. Dampfish is already on it."

{Corridor}

"Captain!" Akeno called as she caught up to Sprague, who already had an ice cream sundae in his hand.

"Yes, Commander?" he asked before taking a bite.

Akeno cleared her throat. "Captain, ETA to Earth is 5 days."

"Excellent," Sprague replied. "But you don't have to be so formal with me, especially now with my orders and such." He took another bite. "You can call me Dick."

Akeno knew it was common for Captains to refer to their officers by their first names, but never for the officers to do the same with their Captains. "Well, um... uh, Dick. Is there any training you would like to see en route? Would you like to address the Wayfarer crew?"

She's mighty pushy, Sprague thought. Can't they run their own ship? "Ah, I see, some advice from a Captain finishing his career to the crew. I like it, but nothing formal. If you put on a Parrises squares tournament, I'll be there. Thanks, Commander!" he said as he turned and left.

Akeno had non-intrusive bosses in the past, but never anyone so uninterested in doing their job.

{VIP Quarters}

Sprague awoke to an eerie silence. The hum of the ship was gone. Sprague wasn't a good officer, but even he knew that was off. Or maybe this Captain was even more incompetent than he was and somehow let the engines go offline? He looked out the window, and sure enough, the stars weren't moving. They definitely weren't at warp.

{Corridor}

Sprague peeked his head out and didn't see anyone in the hallway, which was a little odd. Starships always have people in the corridors! Still in his bathrobe, he decided to explore.

{Bridge}

"Hello?" Sprague called as the doors opened. It too was completely empty. "Main viewer on," he said.

The inside of spacedock appeared. "That's impossible! We just left Starbase 57 yesterday?!? We couldn't be there already." He sat in the Captain's chair, not realizing it was his. "Well, we're at Earth, I guess I'm retired now." A smile slowly materialized on his face, the grin nearly extending beyond his cheeks.

{USS Wayfarer, Bridge}

"What was that?!?" Zoey asked from the command chair. "That blue flash that just happened???"

"All systems normal," O'Donnell replied from ops.

"Dampfish, anything on tactical?" Zoey asked while the others pecked furiously away at their stations. "Lt. Dampf--" she said as she turned to find the tactical station unoccupied. "Computer, where is Lt. Dampfish?"

"Lt. Dampfish is not onboard."

"What? He was just here."

Zoey tapped her comm badge again. "Commander Misaki." There was no response.

O'Donnell didn't believe her display so she refreshed it. Again. And again. "Commander Perkins, I think we have a problem."

"I believe we already have a problem, Lieutenant, but please tell me more."

"Well, it's not just that... only half of our crew and passengers are onboard. The others... their bio signatures disappeared exactly one minute ago."

The warp engines powered down on their own before Zoey could even give the command to all stop.

=/\=Commander, I think you'd better get down here,=/\= Tyvok said through the speaker.

"What is it, Engineer? We've kind of got our hands full up here."

=/\=Better hurry.=/\=

{Starbase 57, Chapel}

Akeno, Morrow, Dampfish, and Lee, along with many others, listened as the speaker listed the names of everyone who had perished on the USS Wayfarer. She had been transferring a dangerous criminal to Earth, but never made it. The debris was discovered after the ship failed to report in its daily position.

Many in the audience hadn't planned to attend the service. In fact, many of them weren't even planning to be on Starbase 57. But something had pulled each of them there.

OFF:

That's it! We're dealing with three distinct realities:

A) The Wayfarer is already in Spacedock at Earth with no one onboard except Sprague. Sprague went to sleep with a 5 day ETA to Earth, and woke up already there.
B) Half the crew just disappeared in a blue flash. Of our playing characters, Zoey Perkins, Tyvok, and Rosaleen O'Donnell are still here. Tyvok also has some news from engineering.
C) The Wayfarer was destroyed during its last mission. Akeno Misaki, Rob Morrow, Basil Dampfish, and Robert Lee are attending the memorial service on Starbase 57.

Moving forward in this mission, I think it might be best to indicate which reality (A, B, or C) you're writing for in the location tags, unless you have a story reason not to. I didn't do it here just for general flow. I have no plans or preconceived ideas on how this is to eventually be resolved, so have at it. It's completely open ended.

Except for one rule: No Section 31 stuff. That was just to write out those characters.

Other than that, let's have some fun!

Captain Dick Sprague
Commanding Officer
USS Wayfarer NCC-72113