allmhadadh | Hailing Frequencies

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Hailing Frequencies

Or: How to make poor Captain Kirk (the new, that is) go batshit from stress.

After some time -- still he didn't know how long -- Lieutenant Uhura reported back to the bridge in her coveralls. She looked tired and disheveled (didn't they all?) but there was a gleam in her eyes and he knew right away what it meant.

"All done, then?" Scott asked, relieved to have something to distract him from the tracks of his own troubled thoughts.

"Yes, sir, we are," she replied, repressing a smile. "You know, your division likes me quite a bit. I might just apply for your job."

"That mean I'll have yers? Aye, that'd go down well." He grinned back. "Startin' four or five intragalactic wars because I accidentally insulted someone's mum, nevermind the mess I'd make just with the standard-speakin' civilizations."

"Mm. You may have a point." She sat down in her seat, turning towards the panel. "Ready at the order."

The grin faded and Scotty took a breath, nodded to himself and composing the message in his mind. "Go ahead an' launch the probes."

It took about ten minutes (relatively) for the sensor probes, now acting as something more akin to subspace relays, to align themselves along the temporal band. But even though they had no proof that the message would be received, there was only about fifty percent signal degredation between the first of the string of ten and the last. A lot, but still better than he expected it to be, given what they were facing.

"On your mark, sir," Uhura said, as the entire bridge crew sat still and waited tensely.

"Go ahead," Scotty said, then squared up automatically in front of the Captain's chair, even though visual was out of the question.

He took one more breath, then tossed out the message he sure as Hell hoped would be received:

"This is Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, in temporary command of the USS Enterprise, hailin' the Enterprise we're currently tied to through the temporal anomaly with a message for Captain Kirk. Our Enterprise is currently runnin' near sensor blind, and repairs cannot be completed without an estimated two months in dry dock at the nearest starbase with facilities. We have discovered a way to break the temporal band tyin' these ships together and will do so within the next forty-eight hours if this message is not received. The situation with Doctor McCoy is of a potentially life-threatenin' nature, and we are seekin' orders on how to handle that. Transporters here are non-operational and will be until repairs are conducted. Any transport'll have to come from that side, and risks are extremely high. We'll stand by long as we can awaitin' orders. Scott out."

And now all they could do was sit back, and pray for the reply.

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After her discussion with Leonard, she couldn't bring herself to return to her quarters. So dismissing the Ensign on communications, Uhura settled down and began to check the frequencies for something, anything to distract her puzzled mind.

There was so much she had missed just by attempting to perform in the same, efficient manner she did every day. Something with the Prime Universe versions of Spock, Kirk and McCoy she didn't didn't quite understand. Really, it was best not the think about the technicalaties of having a temporal link to another universe's version of your ship. If thought on too much, your mind would explode. At least that was her theory and the reasoning seemed sound.

Then of course her Spock, Kirk and McCoy - as well as George - just had to get into yet another dangerous away mission. The repercussions of that were only now settling in. Not to mention the other Pike on the bridge and god knows how many personal spats between Sulu, Chekov and that double running around.

Oh, and a female Pavel. Couldn't forget that one.

So when something broke through the regular silence she was hearing in her earpiece, Uhura could have kissed the console for some relief to her thoughts. She pressed her hand against her ear with a slight frown as she listened, quickly replaying the message when it was done.

Oh, the Captain was going to love this. Quickly she ordered the computer to locate him before beginning on the reply.

"Lieutenant Commander Scott," she began, recording the message to send back to them on the same frequency. "This is Lieutenant Uhura. I am currently attempting to contact the Captain, so stay right where you are." There wasn't much else she could say, even though she felt a slight colleague-like affection for the man she knew yet didn't. With that she sent the message and attempted on communicating with the Captain, sending out a ship-wide comm for him to report to the nearest comms station or the bridge.

(OOC: By the way, I don't think it can be said enough that your Scotty is amazing!)

It was a bit of time before Lieutenant Uhura turned, her eyebrows drawn together, "Sir, we're... getting a transmission encoded along the same frequency we sent ours out on." A beat. "From their Lieutenant Uhura. I've cleared the subspace interference, and managed to pull in the whole thing."

Scotty managed to both wince internally sympathetically at the surprised note in her voice, and to steel up outwardly. "Put it on speakers, Lieutenant."

The message played to the rapt attention of the bridge crew, all of whom were watching their own native Uhura. To her credit, once the initial shock and wonder had passed, her features calmed again and she tipped her head up slightly, raising an eyebrow at them and sending them to turn sheepishly back to their own stations.

Scott just nodded when it was over and looked at the viewscreen, showing very little out there. "Send back: Acknowledged; standin' by."

[[OOC: Thank you! I'm honored.]]

There was a curious part of her that wondered if the other Uhura, the other universe version of herself was on the recieving end of her communication. She could imagine how strange it would be if she was, hearing her own voice yet different coming through subspace.

Once she had contacted the Captain, she settled in her chair and waited for confirmation from either party, fingers tapping impatiently against the console top. The confirmation from the other ship came through, informing her that they had acknowledged the transmission. She could only hope that Spock or Kirk would be along shortly so she would have better news for the other ship, sympathizing with how frustrated she was sure they were feeling.

Kirk came up onto the bridge, still burn-pink like a bad sunburn, looking well, exhausted and harassed. "Uhura." He said, walking straight over to her. "Still have them on the line?" He just wanted to get straight to the point, frowning slightly.

Taking one look at the Captain made Uhura feel slightly guilty. The man definitely needed rest, anyone could tell. But then again it wasn't anyones place but his to make these sort of calls so his presence was required. No way around it. However she said nothing about his short tone, attempting to finish this as quickly as possible so he could get the rest he needed.

"Yes Captain." she returned, her fingers pressing a few buttons so the message would replay over the speakers for him to hear it. Once it was done, she turned in her chair to face him. "We don't have direct contact, but I can relay messages through this channel."

"Can you record a reply for me?" Kirk looked to her after he listened to the response in silence. "How stable is that connection we have?"

He sucked on his lower lip for just a second, "...Bones' in danger..." He murmured. "And we have their crew here... we just need to send them home, right?" Talking to himself.

Uhura gave an affirmative nod, swivelling back round to her station to record whatever message Kirk wanted her to send back to the other ship. "Of course," she answered, tilting up to look at him and wait for a course of action. "Do we want to risk transporting them over?" She couldn't help but ask, not with everything that was going wrong and Scotty's warning about the high risks.

"We might have to. I have a feeling I know what's going on with their Bones... a good feeling." Kirk rubbed his brow slowly, trying to think quickly. "Alright, hit record."

"This is Captain Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise, replying to your transmission, Scotty. I know what's wrong with your Bones, and the only thing we can do is have him back here or the rest of your crew there. If we can send the last of your crew back home to your ship, you can break free and we'll be in our own universes again. Whatever information you have about breaking free, we need it too. Anything you can pass back about how your crew beamed you off the ship we could use too. But your sensors-"

He hesitated, closing his eyes for a moment. What can we do? We can't get over there to help them with repairs because we don't know if we can come back? He thought to himself.

"All we can do is offer parts, and little else. I can't risk sending over members of my crew in case they can't return. Awaiting reply, Kirk out."

The bridge all listened as the other Kirk's voice replied; there were even more shocked faces at that. Down at the helm and nav, Sulu and Chekov exchanged glances. On the upper deck, even DeSalle turned to watch. Uhura listened intently; some of the message was garbled, but again she pulled a communications miracle and cleared it up.

Scotty bowed his head, thoughtfully, back to pacing again. But after a moment, he stopped. "Send this back, Lieutenant, if ye could?"

"Ready."

"Captain Kirk: Given the nature o' the temporal distortion, ye may have better luck pulling our McCoy back to yer ship than tryin' to send our Kirk and Spock back here. Less people, less risk. I dinna remember much o' what happened while I was over there, but I should have left notes and yer own chief should be able to piece together what I was doin'. Ye may be able to have him get a lock on through the subspace relay we jury rigged here to communicate, if we equip our McCoy with a high-band communicator, but until our sensors are repaired, we willna be able to pull him back. It's still a mighty risk, but less risky than tryin' to beam two than one."

The bridge listened in turn, all turned towards the communications console. Kirk closed his eyes, letting out a breath. He gestured lightly for Uhura to record again, searching for the words.

"Scotty: If you send him here, the only thing I'm worried about is that all of this could suddenly stop and they would be locked over here without any way home. I think your Captain would absolutely lose his mind if it happened. How likely do you think it'll be that you'll get your transporters back up and able to transport all THREE of them home."

Well, obviously there were no guarantees. Still, at this point, there was also no way to do anything more than to ease as much risk as possible. And although the entire crew winced almost as one at the idea of losing Kirk, Spock and McCoy to another universe...

Scott nodded to Uhura and replied:

"No guarantees, sir. Provided this temporal anomaly doesna dissolve, should we be able to repair our sensor arrays and get back, we likely could pull them back. But if one of 'em dies in transport over there, I'm told we'll lose them all anyway. The safest thing we can do is send McCoy, and hope for the best. Regardless, sir, so long as the three of them survive, then at least there's a possibility they can return in the future, even if we lose this particular anomaly."

Edited 2009-08-03 01:38 (UTC)

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for his decision. Kirk's eyes opened, and he let out a sigh. Dammit, no matter which choice he made, lives hung heavy in the balance. If he had Bones come back, he could die on transport and they would lose all three. If he made it, they might never get home. Scotty was right, though. If they were here, they lived. They had a chance at least.

Another nod to Uhura.

"Send him, Scotty. It's the chance we've got right now with the lowest risk. Just tell me one thing. If something happens, and they're here for good... can you handle it? Staying as Captain?"

The last question actually made Scotty blink in surprise. He wasn't expecting it, not at all; partly because most people never did think to ask that kind of question, and partly because... well, it just never occurred to he himself that anyone might.

It didn't help that his crew was watching him expectantly, either.

After a moment, he nodded, corner of his mouth creeping up slightly at the reassuring smile Lieutenant Uhura offered to him.

"Aye, Captain, I can. I dinna know if Starfleet would allow it, but I can. This'll take us probably about two hours; if ye could ask yer Chief Scott to please be standin' by on yer end for our signal to pull him through, we'll do our best to help here." There he paused briefly, then added, "And if ye could pass along this information as well as our regards to our own Captain Kirk and Spock, I'd be in yer debt. Tell 'em we'll do our best to get 'em home as soon as we can."

Edited 2009-08-03 01:55 (UTC)

A grin tugged up at the edges of Kirk's lips with that reply. "Good, Scotty." He whispered quietly. "Good man."

"Two hours. I'll tell Scotty soon as we're done here, and make sure everything's ready to go. And you know I'll tell them everything that's going on..." A hesitation of his own, "...When Spock wakes up. I know it has something to do with whatever the three of them have going on, but he's unconscious. He needs Bones. His Bones. After I tell Scotty, I'll go talk to your Kirk."

The answer was a simple one:

"Thank ye, sir. Scott out."

Kirk sat back from the console and gave a small smile to Uhura. "...Thanks." He said quietly to her, then rubbed his chin. "I'm going to go talk to Scotty." A wink to his beautiful lady manning the console, and he quickly headed off the bridge to go find Scotty.

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Hailing Frequencies

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