Where did it go?

Posted on Thu Jul 18th, 2024 @ 11:08am by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Lost in Space
Location: Engineering

Commander Jennifer Baldric sat on one of the stools surrounding the engineering work table, along with the others who were involved in the probe launch.

"So where is it?" She asked, hoping that in the time that had passed the brilliant minds surrounding her would have an answer.

Bonnie was busy moving from one station to another, scanning, analyzing, trying to figure out the answer to Baldrics questions. She had hoped she could discover the answers 'before' Baldric asked but that wasn't always able to happen. In fact it was a rarity, suggesting Baldric was thinking ahead and asking all of the right questions. Pretty good for an upstart such as she.

"We're still collecting data, ma'am. The recovery crew will be transporting the probe, or what's left of it, into the cargo bay shortly." She was talking as she worked, but now turned and looked directly at Baldric. "The initial results suggest the probe did enter the slip-bridge and traveled several lightyears before 'something' catastrophic happened. We won't know what until we can do an in-depth analysis."

She was about to feel sorry for not being able to offer more when the comms chirped. =^=Commander Baldric to cargo bay 3. Commander, you're going to want to see this.=^= The ambiguity peaked their curiosity immediately. Bonnie stood up right and a chill went down her back as she waited on Baldrics response.

"On my way" Baldric replied, rising from the stool before casting a glance at those gathered around the work table

"Come with me, all of you" She said simply, having a feeling that the prove had been beamed into the cargo bay and would answer some of the questions she had been asking.

Bonnie nodded, "Ma'am." Respectful as usual, not that she would miss the opportunity to witness the failure that was her work and the cause. She followed in step, trying to keep up without tripping.

The trip to cargo bay 3 was fairly quick, Baldric's stride eating up the distance between her and possible answers. The doors parted at her approach and she immediately searched for the team leader.

When they entered, they were greeted with a scattered debris field in the bay. None of the pieces in and of themselves were immediately recognizable aside from an outer panel Bonnie noticed with the word FIRE on it indicating the ship that it had come from. She made her way over to the team lead shortly after Baldric.

"Ma'am. From what we can tell, the probe managed to travel several light years in only a matter of moments before we lost her. The recovery crew found the debris field floating across several sectors indicating she was destroyed even while in a state of high warp speed."

"So the probe was....partially successful.. apart from the whole remaining intact thing. It did travel through the slip bridge" Baldric remained hopefully, eyeing the debris strewn in front of them. "But it ran into...Species 8472?"

"Yes, you heard correctly. From what we can tell, there is a bio-phase weapons signature reminiscent of the records we have on Species 8472. Our current formulated theory is they detected the probe, as small as it was, and destroyed it without hesitation."

Bonnie piped up, "That means, if we attempt the same thing, we could end up like that probe?" Her stomach churned over at the though of being a speck of frozen debris on the floor of a cargo bay one day.

"It just means that this attempt ended up being shot down by Species 8472. Can we use another route?" The Commander asked nervously.

Bonnie clammed up, mistaking Baldric's nervousness for confidence in the plan. Meanwhile, Bonnie was afraid of the idea, to say the least and was starting to doubt the Slip-bridge plan. Would it still work, maybe, but not without risk and not without an alternative. Maybe the whales would play a bigger part in this afterall.

Jennifer noted Bonnie's silence and interpreted the expression on her face as fear or guilt. "This is not your fault Bonnie, just because this attempt was not successful doesn't mean we won't come up with a plan that does. I have faith in every person in this room. We WILL find a way out of this." She surveyed the carnage on the cargo bay floor. "What can we learn from this attempt?"

"Besides how NOT to mess with Species 8472? Um..." Bonnie was trying to find the silver lining. "I mean, we did enter the slip-bridge, and the probe did travel a calculable speed. With the telemetry we can at least determine IF it will get us home within our lifetime, right?" It was of course rhetorical. She was asking out loud so her brain could then process the question asked.

"Sometimes more is learnt from a failed attempt than from a successful one" Baldric placed a comforting hand on Bonnie's arm. "We will learn and refine and learn more and refine more. Until we are either successful or find another way home"

Bonnie nodded while thinking We can't learn if we are dead. Instead she offered, "Even Thomas Edison once said 'Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.' Maybe we just need to try again and see what happens."

"If the whales can move swiftly through space, I wonder what it is that allows them to do so whilst our probe could not" Baldric mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if an organic component may be the key here. Something that registers as native to this region that doesn't raise the red flags to species 8472."

It felt rhetorical, but Bonnie replied anyway, "I bet Kit would know. I mean it's not like we can just hitch a ride in the mouth of a whale or on it's back or something and have it carry us all the way home. Right?"

"What if we could travel WITH the pod of whales, you know, like hitching a ride." Baldric continued, wandering over to the nearby monitor. She looked up the file that showed what they knew about the whales. Frankly it wasn't much though.

"I guess that would depend on them really. Have we heard back from them on their choice yet?" Bonnie asked as the rest of the workers began to filter out, their work nearly completed and their reports needing made. "It would be nice if it could work out that simply."

" I haven't heard since Commander Savar and his team returned. But now we have established communications I don't see any issues with simply asking them." Baldric replied with a shrug. " care to join me?"

It felt like a request, from a friend, but a quick check reminded Bonnie that Baldric was 'in charge'. She smiled, being friendly, "Certainly Commander." she replied before adding, "I've never talked with whales, not natively anyhow."

The two headed for the bridge.



TBC