Following the Phase Shift

Posted on Sat Oct 31st, 2020 @ 5:46pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Caleb Stone

Mission: Section 57 and a Third
Timeline: Reality A

Petty Officer 3rd Class Caleb Stone glanced at his Tricoder. The readout looked fairly normal, but something just wasn’t right. He scanned the USS Warefarer hull again. His eyes narrowed and he read the data. The ship was missing mass, ever so slightly. Perhaps the molecules were out of phase. There seemed to be a phantom reading.

Gaining access the Engineering, PO3 Stone started running diagnostics. The mass shift could definitely be mapped using ship functions. It appeared to shift into a linear trail leading into space.

“I think this is my solution to the disappearance of the crew,” Caleb muttered to himself as he sometimes did instead of relying on internal monologue.

Caleb played back the mission logs as he worked. The last crewman log before dead silence was a description of a warp malfunction. The log broke off in mid-sentence.

This ship must have navigated back to dock on auto-navigation. Caleb was no pilot. He had been trained to operate older vessels, but this was an Intrepid-class starship, a high tech and agile vessel equipped with state of the art equipment. PO3 Stone shuddered. He would have to rely on auto-navigation to pilot the ship back to the point of origin.

Certainly that is what the phantom mass trail was indicating. It stretched down the route the USS Warefarer had used to come to dock.

“Computer, set a course to the last known location before auto-navigation was engaged.”
* “Unauthorized access, access denied”*
“Computer, am I the ranking Starfleet member on board?”
*Negative, two other human life forms are present.”*
“Computer, name them.”
*“Captain Dick Sprague and Ensign Deborah Bennett.”*
“Computer, were these individuals present during the previous auto-navigation.”
*“Negative, they both just entered the ship.”*
“Computer, am I the ranking Engineer on board?”
*“Affirmative.”*
“Computer, unlock the emergency manual override station.”
*“Emergency manual override station, unlocked.”*

PO3 Stone resolved to set the ship on a course to this unknown destination. He boarded the turbolift to the bridge.

“=/\=This is Petty Officer 3rd Class Caleb Stone, I am requesting that all crew report to the bridge. I think I have discovered something of interest.=/\="

The turbolift opened. Caleb proceeded with steadfast determination onto the bridge. He approached the emergency manual override station. As the engines powered on, Caleb received a hail from a shuttle. It was the shuttle that he arrived on, and the pilot was in a state of panic.

A nervous lieutenant appeared on the viewscreen.

“You are not hijacking the ship, buddy, are you?”

Caleb’s face held a stoic expression.

“I have opened the shuttlebay. Dock inside. I think we can save the crew. PO3 Stone, out” Caleb did not know how to properly end a viewscreen dialogue. He wondered if he breached some sort of protocol as he registered a shuttle landing in the bay.

With the press of a button, the USS Wayfarer was under way to the anomaly point of origin.