"Captain might I suggest Commander th'Chiaqis be our liason with them if we establish visual communication. Like the survivor on the planet they may think someone seeming to be human could be a Romulan ploy... An Andoran on a design of ship they aren't familiar with may seem more plausible."
"I am not certain they would trust an Andorian any more than a human but I will certainly participate in this endeavor." Thoss replies.
Reeves considers the suggestion, but considers that deception now is just as likely to cause trust problems in the future. But then he has an idea.
"That's a good idea, Kerensky. But I have a wrinkle of my own to add. Security, escort Commander T'Karra to the bridge."
He looks at Thoss and Kerensky. "I don't like deceiving the crew of that ship, but if we can possibly return them to their own timeline, it won't do to reveal too much of the future. I'm going to try to let on that this is a Vulcan research vessel. The Vulcans of the time were positively disposed toward Earth, and possessed technology well in advance of Earth's."
Reeves regards his old friend levelly. He knows she will neither appreciate nor approve of any reference to his feelings about having to suspend her from the command roster, so he speaks to her in practical terms.
"Commander, we have a situation you may be able to facilitate. We have just retrieved an twenty-second century Earth vessel from a time warp. They don't know who we are and I am not ready to reveal to them the existence of the Federation. They'll figure out that the temporal shift soon enough but that doesn't mean we have fill them in just yet. I don't want to lie to them but I do want to give them the impression that they have been rescued by a Vulcan research vessel. Would you mind playing the part?"
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T'Karra comes up arms folded primly behind her back and eyes scanning the view screen and Captain Reeves and she says succinctly logic dictates a careful approach Captain, however, in order to do as you say and represent a Vulcan vessel either every Vulcan besides myself would need to be brought to the bridge, or those on the bridge would need to be disguised. I am unsure of time constraints and the ability of any of you to effect being Vulcan if asked to speak in any regard. Also I am unsure of my ability to preform this task to leave them any impression besides of my Vulcan nature itself.
"I think we'll just get out of the shot," says Reeves.
As you connect communications between the two vessels, you see a Caucasian human woman with dark brown hair pulled messily behind her head. Her jumpsuit style blue uniform is worn, dirty, and torn, and she looks there are enough lubricant smears on her face to suggest that she has not had the resources to wash up for a while. She is not on the bridge, but maybe in some sort of recreation area. You see rudimentary cots set up in the background.
"Valiant, this is the United Earth Vessel Atlantis, acting Captain Caitlin Mallory speaking. Two months ago, we suffered severe damage in an attack by multiple Romulan vessels and then encountered this spatial anomaly. We would appreciate any assistance you can offer."
Reeves regards T'Karra, nodding for her to continue playing the role.
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Captain, we are able to effect some tractor beam and will be able to bring you to a location where we can effect some repairs and assist with resources brought to your ship, however the anomoly has also damaged us in our rescue attempt as well as some Romulans mines. We will let you know when we are at a suitable location to effect resource and repair logistics. T'Karra out.. T'Karra signals for communications to be ended
"Nicely done, T'Karra," says Reeves. "Thank you."
"Okay, people, I want some answers. Has that ship really been in a time bubble for more than a century and a half? If so, what are our chances of returning them to their own time?"
"And get me some estimates on what they'll need to repair their damage."
"Those areas are outside my area of expertise however I do have a few preparations we could make to prepare for if we have to have any face to face interactions. The easy part would be fabricating some vulcan clothing and uniforms from the time. For some of us I believe mild cosmetic surgery could help us pass superficially as Vulcans though it would be more of an involved process for certain species. I would hope we wouldn't have to avail of that option but I could alert the quartermaster and sickbay to make preparations."
(Testing a Theory)
(Testing a Theory)
"Scanning now Captain..." Lance leans over the Science console and studies the instrument carefully before compiling the results here.
Based on the chronal signature of the vessel, it is out of alignment with the shuttle on the planet by nearly six years. The shuttle appears to have crashed 6 years ago, but the Atlantis has only been trapped in the wormhole for two months, suggesting a substantial difference in the flow of time.
Many of the Atlantis’ non-essential systems are off-line to conserve power for the engines and life support.
The hull plating is polarized, apparently in an attempt to strengthen the the vessel’s structural integrity against the gravitational forces, but this is not a permanent solution.
Numerous fissures in the hull have formed, forcing the crew to seal off whole decks and the outer areas of decks that have not yet decompressed. Structural integrity collapse is unavoidable.
Thoss turns to the Captain here, "Finding the other aperature of the wormhole would be the best option here Sir."
Reeves mulls this over. "It occurs to me that if Atlantis was never found, she has no further part to play in the history of that time. If we managed to return her to her own time and somehow eject her from the anomaly, she would begin to alter history. I don't think we can allow that. I'm beginning to think that they may be permanent residents of our time now."
"Nonetheless, we don't have complete data. Mr. Thoss, please find us that aperture. It will give us options while we consider what to do."
"Mister Kreskin, see if you can transfer the Atlantis navigational logs to the Helm controls. I can then extrapolate their ship movements to determine where they first entered the wormhole."
"If we do send a probe through we should be careful to have two fail safes. One if it does not receive orders from us from an extended period it should attempt to return... that will likely destroy it. If that fails or it reaches another deadline it should purge memory banks and then self destruct. The problem is with the time distortion how long to tell it to wait would be tricky."
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the current starfleet records report all lost as well as the Atlantis. We could land them to a class M planet out here and leave them marking the planet with jamming technology in the atmosphere to ensure an amount of time until their civilization moved on. Bringing them into time again could have unforseen consequences T'Karra says standing on the bridge
"Mister Kreskin, see if you can transfer the Atlantis navigational logs to the Helm controls. I can then extrapolate their ship movements to determine where they first entered the wormhole."
"Let's see. Ships of that era didn't have prefix codes. But we should be able to break their security easily enough."
It is a matter of a few minutes to remotely access the main computer of the Atlantis
The Atlantis was actually in this system when it encountered the Romulan ships. During the battle, there was a bright blue flash and the anomaly appeared. Records beyond that are encrypted at a higher level.
"Sending them home would change our timeline and be against the Temporal Prime Directive but they might have always ended up in this time period. But thats if they can be extracted at all." Kerensky clears his throat "At least thats my interpretation."
"I think it's unlikely that the "correct" timeline involves Atlantis at all. They've been stuck in the anomaly for two centuries. So far as their era knows, they were destroyed. If they were "supposed" to have done something in the past then they have done it. If we didn't interfere, they'd be stuck in the anomaly for all eternity, never doing anything again. I'm reasonably certain that their connection with the past is finished. We can't return them to their time without risking the present. Therefore our options are to leave them or to rescue them."
"Therefore, we will rescue them. I suppose our subterfuge will prove a waste of time."
"It might help them get out of the current situation without the extra pressure of the concerns of being in a different time."
"Sir, one option we have here is to leave the crew on one of these planets, like T'Karra said," Thoss offers, "however that is a long term solution. Since we need to evacuate the Atlantis may I suggest we place them on the planet we discovered the shuttle on for now."
Reeves considers this. "Are there any threats to life or safety that we know of in the area?"
"None that I can discern Captain, no issues in this area of the neutral zone currently."
"Hmmm. Very well. For now, we'll do as Commander T'Karra suggests. Mr. Thoss, begin towing Atlantis towards the planet. You have the Conn. I'm going to report to Starfleet."
Reeves gets up and goes to his ready room to make his report.
"Aye, Sir." Thoss smoothly maneuvers the Valiant into tractor beam range and engages it, setting a course at half-impulse for the planet.
As you engage the tractor beams and begin towing the Atlantis, the sensors panels suddenly light up with warning lights. The ship is locking targeting sensors on you!
[ooc]What happened? I know the holiday weekend is disruptive, but we've had a week without response.[/ooc'
