Star Trek: Eleventh Fleet

Ep2: Chapter 7: Signals

Bonita, Brian, and Kal transported up to the station's command level and met Commander Pestridge and Scotty in the operations center. Scotty stood behind the communications console, working the controls along with the ensign.

"Aye, now see if you can narrow the band... that's it. Anathing?" Scotty peered at the readings.

The Bolian ensign shook her head. "No, sir. We still do not show any contact with the post."

"All right, lass, now... oh, Hello Captain, Admiral." Scotty just noticed them looking at him.

Kal asked, "What's going on?"

Scotty gave the ensign one last command, "Keep work'n on that bandwidth and see if you can get through with something."

"Aye, sir."

Scotty joined them. Scotty joined them and said, "We still have a good mess with the subspace transmissions."

"What?" Kal looked over at Commander Pestridge.

"Sir, we're having issues with the subspace communications. All long-range comm traffic is dead. We cannot pick up any of the relays to send or receive anything."

Scotty added, "An it's not the towers on the station. I checked all of them personally."

Bonita asked, "Have you checked with my ship or any of the other ships?"

"Aye. We tried the Challenger right away. Nothing."

Kal asked, "Have you scanned for any subspace anomalies?"

"Aye, first thing, an this you gotta see." Scotty pointed to the officer at the controls and the window to space dock changed to a sensor reading.

Kal's mouth hung open as he watched the space readings around them change in a two-hour loop. "This... can not be."

Commander Shepard asked, "What is it? I don't understand those readings?"

Kal looked at Brian and said, "These readings are almost exactly like those in the Okari expanse. Not as intense yet, but they resemble the same subspace interference there."

Bonita asked, "Do you think this is natural, some kind of progression of the anomaly in that system?"

Scotty shook his head. "I thought that could be the case. But, just about that time, the doctor told us the signal she's been observing has grown stronger."

Commander Pestridge said, "Dr. Selar reported that the trans-warp signal being received by the assimilated people has grown significantly stronger in the past two hours, correlating precisely with the depression in the subspace in the area."

"That is no coincidence," Kal said.

"We need to get down there and see what she has found." Bonita said, "Where is this signal being studied?"

Commander Pestridge directed. "The science labs are on deck seven."

Bonita asked, "Is this stopping warp travel?"

Scotty said, "Far as I can tell, it isn't strong enough for that. But, give it time, it will stop us up like cold molasses."

"Commander Shepard, get back to the Challenger and have our communications work on the subspace problem. Prepare the ship for departure. We will leave and get out of the interference when we have something to tell Starfleet."

"Understood." Brian left for the transporter pad.

Scotty said, "I'll stay here and see what I can do."

Kal was already heading for the turbolift. "Come on, we need to get to the lab."

Bonita joined him, and they sped away for deck seven.