Part of USS Los Angeles: Wartime Patrol and Bravo Fleet: The Lost Fleet

Allies to the…Rescue?

Federation-Dominion Territory
2401
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“Approaching designated co-ordinates now.”
Lieutenant Stuart announced from the helm. “Picking up the USS Los Angeles on long range scan” added Tholakath.
“Signs of a recent engagement within the last 24 to 36 hours.”
As they dropped out of warp close to the other ship the young Cardasian spoke again. “She’s powering up her weapons and preparing to fire!”
“Who at?” Devron yelled.
“Us!”
“Shields!”
Devron turned his head to the left.
“Ensign Cho, can you raise them?”
The young Korean woman sent out a general message to establish contact with the other Federation vessel. But not before a phaser blast from the Los Angeles had struck them.
“I have them, Captain.”
“On screen.”
A head and shoulders view of Captain Oteng appeared on the main viewer at the front of the bridge.
“This is the USS Jaxartes, Lieutenant Devron, commanding.”

Captain Oteng exited the ready room after a brief meeting with Lt. Commander Pearse. They had been discussing the recent events and more notably, their most recent engagement with Dominion forces. Fabien barely had a chance to sit down when more drama occured.
Saoirse spoke up, her voice clear but excited. “Contact, ship bearing 233 mark 17; configuration unknown! Sensors can’t make heads or tails of it…approaching at high speed.”
Captain Oteng looked up, gripping both sides of his chair. “Tactical, can you identify?”
“No sir, sensor readings are scrambled, transponders offline.”
“Dammit. We can’t take chances. Red Alert! Raise shields and ready phasers! Target the inbound ship, and fire when ready.”
“Aye sir. Phasers hot; firing!” The phaser beam fires and hits squarely, showing the shields for a brief moment.
Saoirse calls out the weapons discharge report. “Direct hit sir, shields at 90%.”
Tom readies for another volley. “Captain, should I prepare anothe…” He looks down, tilting his head. His antennae move, betraying confusion. “Sir, I have an incoming hail from the ship. It’s a Federation starship, Raven-class.”
Brooklyn and Fabien exchange looks. “Well then; it’s a Federation starship, hopefully its crew will have some answers. It doesn’t look like any Federation starship I’ve ever seen.”
“Agreed. Well, let’s see what they say. Mr. Spencer, onscreen, if you would?” His tone was terse, betraying his emotions.
The viewscreen switched from the exterior view of the ship to the bridge of the Raven-class ship. Fabien inhaled sharply, then exhaled. It WAS a Federation Starship, and the commanding officer…was only a Lieutenant. Something strange was happening. But he would have answers soon. The Lieutenant spoke first, identifying himself as Lt. Devron, in command of the Jaxartes.
“I am Captain Fabien Oteng, of the USS Los Angeles. What do you think you are doing, Lieutenant?” Captain Oteng spoke with the controlled umbrage of someone who almost blew a friendly from existence.
“Fourth Fleet gave orders to rendezvous with you and give whatever assistance you required.” Jason replied slightly hesitantly. “We took the liberty of using an extra drive to get here as quick as possible given the current circumstances.”
“Right; makes sense. That explains the bizarre shape of your ship.” Captain Oteng took a deep breath, then continued. His tone had softened quite a bit, but it was still terse. “Lieutenant, you scared the wits from all of us here; but I’m glad to see a friendly face. Why don’t you beam over, that way we can talk face to face and get things straightened out? Los Angeles, out.”
Captain Oteng turns back towards Lt. Spencer. “Tom, why don’t you pull the logs. I want to know if we missed the orders from the Fourth Fleet advising us that a ship was joining us?”
“Aye sir, I’ll get right on it. I’m not sure if I’ll have it ready by your meeting, but I will pull it as soon as I can.”
“Thank you. Brooklyn, why don’t you go greet our guest in the transporter room? Bring him back to my ready room. Also, make sure he is who he says he is. It could be a changeling in disguise. I want to cover all angles, just in case.”
“Aye sir. Permission to take Commander Pearse with me? I think her background as an investigator will be an asset in this case. And if nothing else, there’s an extra profiler.”
Captain Oteng nods, and Saoirse gets up to join Brooklyn in the transporter room. They both made two stops, the armory, and Sickbay, to get Dr. Rehman. A blood test would probably be administered, which would be more efficient if the Doctor himself did it. Once the three of them were ready, they went to the transporter room. Brooklyn tapped the console after dismissing the operator.
Jaxartes, this is Los Angeles. We’re ready for transport.”
In the transporter room of the Jaxartes, Devron; PADD in hand, signalled to the crewman operating the controls that he was ready to beam over to the Los Angeles. Every atom of his body was disassembled and sent racing across the empty void between the two vessels, only to be reformed a second or so later on the a transporter pad aboard the Los Angeles.
“Lieutenant Devron reporting as ordered, ma’am.” He announced once is body was completely materialized. “Permission to come aboard?”
Brooklyn looked at the transporter controls, sending a message informing the other ship that transport had been completed successfully. As they wrapped that up, they looked up at Lt. Devron. He looked human enough, but could not tell just from the outset.
“Lieutenant, welcome aboard the Los Angeles. I’m Commander Brooklyn Abramov, First Officer of the Los Angeles. This is Lt. Commander Siobhan Pearse, Chief Operations Officer, and our Chief Medical Officer, Commander Kadin Rehman; though he does prefer the title of ‘Doctor’ to his rank. It’s a pleasure to have you onboard.””Before we head to the bridge, I’m going to request that you submit for a blood sample; a routine precaution, considering. Doctor Rehman will administer it, and we can be on our way.”
Lieutenant Devron looked incredulous. “This…this seems irregular! I am who I say I am.”
Commander Abramov looked at the Lieutenant in an unimpressed manner. “Lieutenant. Consider what’s going on. Now, you can either take the test or you could make it exceedingly difficult.”
With that, Siobhan put her hand proactively on the phaser currently in its holster. “Lieutenant…” she said with an even tone.
At this, Lt. Devron nodded. “I will take it, Commander.”
“Wise choice. Doctor, you’re up.”
Doctor Rehman extracts a vial of blood, running it through his medical tricorder.
“Commander, the DNA checks out. No changeling ‘goo’ insofar as the test is concerned. He’s exactly who he says he is.”
Everyone exhales in relief. “Lieutenant, glad to see you here. I’m glad we’re not alone. I’ll take you to Captain Oteng; he’s quite anxious to meet with you.”
“Thank you Commander. I’m very glad I could come assist.”
With that, Brooklyn escorts Lieutenant Devron to the Captain’s ready room.
Captain Oteng sits behind his desk in his ready room, playing with the soccer ball he keeps in there. He’s still waiting for word from his First Officer on whether or not Lt. Devron was the real deal. Suddenly, his combadge chirped.
“This is the Captain.”
“Sir, Lt. Devron checks out. We’re headed up now.”
“Thanks, Brooklyn. See you soon.”
He again began to juggle the soccer ball; it wasn’t to practice for something in particular…rather, he juggled to keep his mind occupied. The last few days had been difficult to say the least, and though things weren’t back to normal (hunting smugglers near the Trangle), he couldn’t wait for the moment when the Los Angeles was pulled off combat patrol and sent back to doing what it did best: finding smugglers and enforcing the law.
Soon, he was interrupted with the standard chime at his door. The moment of truth had arrived. He put the ball back on its pedestal, and turned toward the door. “Enter.”

Comments

  • I could feel that everyone was on edge. The whole ship seems like it's in pressure cooker just waiting to explode. Thr bit with the soccer ball was great. You could just feel that nervous energy of the captain. I am suspicious of Lt. Devron though. He had to know and expect a blood screening was coming. It was standard operating procedure during the Dominion War. He ought to be happy the Los Angeles' XO isn't Klingon. I'm sure he would have freaked out completely having to slice his hand to show that his blood doesn’t revert back to Changeling goo. I am curious how the LA crew didn’t recognize a Starfleet ship. Something feels off here.

    May 27, 2023
  • A wonderful interaction between the two Captains and great introduction. There is so much going on and it keeps a reader hooked to the story, Devron should have seen that blood test coming, so it makes a person wonder why he resisted at first. Maybe its a new thing for him?

    May 28, 2023