Dead Zone

Posted on Mon Nov 25th, 2024 @ 6:34pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant Commander Kelly Kerrigan & Ensign Karri

1,130 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: USS Arcadia | Bridge

Dispatched on special orders by the United Federation of Planets' Secretary of Commerce, the Federation starship Arcadia and her crew were using flight itineraries, communication relays, and any and all 'eye witness' reports they could come by in search of what was happening to the Federation cargo convoys that were going missing out in deep space. The increased Gorn presence and looming threat had caused the Federation to pivot, to adjust courses and shift trade routes, but had these changes that were made for safety caused the cargo vessels to fall victim to someone or something worse? These were among the many questions that Lieutenant Commander Kelly Kerrigan and crew had to answers. The problem was, evidence was hard to comes by.

A Dead zone Thought Kerrigan as he stood beside Lieutenant Baciami's station. The Chief Communication's Officer held the second highest security clearance aboard the starship right behind Kelly and Fang. Into her ear piece often came sensitive information, through her console, highly encrypted data files containing strategically critical messages. Her expertise and unique skillset had made her an asset to the Arcadia. "What do you mean exactly?" asked Kerrigan.

"Si, a dead zone," Adrianna nodded, "they happen for several reasons. Science anomaly, a form of tech that blocks it or just being triangulated in an area to far to the nearest repeater. The fact of the matter is that once we enter this dead zone, that's it. We will be unable to communicate back with Starfleet-- or anyone else for that matter. If there is something out there, we're on our own. Completely off the grid. We disappear."

The explanation was a piercing blow to Kelly, but what the cargo convoy had undoubtedly faced was now something the USS Arcadia was about to face if they were going to go down this 'road' any further. He had just come out of his office and took a lift up to the bridge because only a matter of about ten minutes prior, he had been in direct communication with Rear Admiral Snu'Pi, the seventh fleet's Deputy Director of Logistics, Fleet Supply & Ordnance when the signal grew weaker and the channel went dead. This would certainly explain things. The Federation had made the changes to adjust courses out of safety concerns regarding the Gorn, but had not had the time to properly survey the region. They were at the threshold of stretch that Federation Communication relays could not reach.

"Ensign," Kerrigan had called out tot their Supply Officer. The Caitian had stepped up to acting Chief Navigator for this mission due to her expertise with cargo vessels and logistics. "These cargo vessels probably lacked communication systems as updated as ours. They undoubtedly would have experienced the same issues we are and their new 'path' pushes them further into the dead zone."

"I'd say so,sir" Karri began. "A lack of communication, so all they know is to keep going in. Like the "Cats Meow" On multiple occasions we had to figure things out in our own without communication. In a dead zone sometimes some ancient charts"

Kelly's own background was Communications, so he understood dead zones. What he couldn't grasp was why the Federation or Starfleet for that matter would not run through the new route end to end several times. If they had, they'd know a stretch of it would leave the convoy without a means of reaching them.

"This was a rushed job" he commented. "But why?"

"Any number of reasons, sir" Karrri began. "They could have been in a hurry. Or fleeing something. Or both"

Lieutenant Commander Kelly Kerrigan knew as much as Ensign Karri could name off, but there had to be more to this than any sort of incompetence. There had to be more reasons why they rushed into this route. "Lieutenant? Thoughts?"

"I have one, just from experience," Baciami replied, "when I was undercover, we used to lure ships to dead zones. Strip them for parts and whatever and leave. Have us plenty of opportunity to run before anyone found them. It takes a lot of careful planning though, you need to know that you'll win the fight because there's no backing out. I would suggest that an excuse was found for the new route. By the time anyone would investigate, all damage is done."

That was a possibility especially if a bit if an inside job, get the course adjusted to take them through the dead zone. "Point taken. Now, adjust your calculations for this - if the Federation willingly and knowingly chose to go through this dead zone as a new route, why would they do so?"

"They added heavier armed security escorts and changed the route because of the Gorn threat. At least that was the premise 'on paper'."

"We actively showed our cards, sir," Adrianna replied, "we have actively shown the length that we will go to in order to protect our ships. If they went into the dead zone, and were overwhelmed, the actual enemy would be able to see our weapons, our technology, our manoeuvres. Consider this all a training exercise."

Kelly muttered about no risk, no reward. He took a data tablet that the supply officer was holding. He skimmed through it. "Heavily armed escorts and the risk of a dead zone route for....fabrics and tools?" He shot a look at Adrianna.

"Either, they're actually carrying something else and not listing it as such for the sake of security, or an enemy is just practising. Once they've perfected their assault, they'll aim for a bigger target in a place that may not have a dead zone. Just my opinion though and what I would do."

"Perhaps our answers are within the cargo" commented Kelly. "What would the Federation not list on the cargo inventory that would merit such an extremely risky course?"

He thought about the situation. "They specifically tasked us with this mission, a Constitution class heavy cruiser, closet available one. They could have sent more scientifically equipped starships."

"All the more reason to assume it's not a science anomaly," Adrianna commented, "I was looking at the manifest and there were a lot of symbols and acronyms written by some of the listed items. I have tried looking into what these could mean, but I'm coming up empty. I do not recognise them from my years undercover and I cannot find anything on record. I've tried asking around, but struggling. I don't know if it's code or perhaps someone's initials, but the same codes are used consistently across all of the ships that have gone missing."

"Ensign, assist the Lieutenant," Kelly instructed. "Keep searching, dig deeper. Compare it with anything the Klingons have shared with us. Maybe there will be something in their databases."

 

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