Interference
Ship's Communications of the USS Rendezvous
January 1998
Welcome to the Seventh Fleet.
The start of the new year also heralds the start of a new era for the Rendezvous and its members. We have always been a part of StarTrek, now we are going to be part of a regional organization based on StarTrek.
What does this mean for you as individuals? Well it increases the access you have to information regarding StarTrek, gains connections with other clubs and their members, increases the size of our group of friends and family.
There will not be a lot of changes in regards to how the club operates with the formation of the Seventh Fleet. We are going to, however, become more consistent in the area of promotions, having some very basic guildelines to expand the ability of individuals to advance in rank.
Instead of having one meeting a month and that is it, we will now have two gatherings... one will be the standard meeting were we will discuss club business, the other will be a social gathering were we have an activity planned. We will also be aiming at keeping the standard meeting time held to no longer than one hour. A social hour will follow the meeting, but we want to make the business portion of the meeting run smoothly without interuptions.
I know that this is a very brief description of what is going to be happening but there is still a lot to sort out. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to come to me or Commander Trowbridge and we will be happy to answer them for you. We hope that you will all find the changes to your liking and feel that this will benefit the club in general.
Current members of the Seventh Fleet (The Founding Members as well) include, The U.S.S. Kelly commanded by Admiral Dennis Hollinger (also head of the Seventh Fleet); The U.S.S. Ticonderoga commanded by Captain Carl Stark; The U.S.S. Retributer commanded by Captain Rex Rouviere, and of course the U.S.S. Rendezvous.
There are many of you who have been highly active with the Rendezvous and have not yet been given a position on the ship. This too shall change. I would like to find out from each of you what your interests are for a department. It does not have to follow your real life job, or career, but should be an area you would like to learn more about or explore, or just that you have fun with. If you would get me this information as soon as possible, by the next meeting we should have things worked out.
Wish us luck. We are starting out in new territory and on new ground. But then, we have been there before and it has never scared us in the past :)
I look forward to having you represent the Rendezvous and the Seventh Fleet. I feel there is no better crew than that which I have assisting me with the operation of the Rendezvous..
Sincerely
Captain Brindley
February 7th- Activity... Rocket construction.
February 21st- Club meeting at 10:30 am in foods and Nutrition building on campus.
March 7th- Activity... Rocket Launch :) Yeah!! Lundstrom Park -Weather pending. 10am.
March 21st- Club meeting at 10:30 am in foods and Nutrition building on campus.
Captain's Log. Stardate 9801.1
With the defeat of the Dominion forces, Starfleet Command has quickly begun to rebuild. Many new starships are already under construction. However, there is a great shortage of manpower at this time. Because of this, the Rendezvous and other ships of the 7th Fleet are embarking on a goodwill tour of the Federation. Each ship will visit several different planets.
Our first stop is the planet Dahlgren IV. The Dahlgrenians are a quiet race which have only recently joined the Federation. Because of this, not much is known about their culture. This should be a learning experience for us all.
Derrick Hughes' hands danced over his console with a flourish. "Now entering orbit of Dahlgren IV, captain."
Captain Marla Brindley glanced up from the PADD she had been reading towards her helmsman. "Thank you, Mr. Hughes. Commander Trowbridge, would you be so kind as to open hailing frequencies with the planet?"
"Already working on it, captain" came the quick reply from her first officer. "I'm receiving a signal now."
"On screen."
The figure of a tall, gaunt man appeared on the main view screen. Behind him stood several others with the same stature. The man in front began to speak.
"Welcome, Captain Brindley. I am chancellor Hedding of the Dahlgrenian senate. These are some of our more prominent senators."
Marla stood up and bowed slightly towards the viewscreen.
"It's an honor to meet you chancellor. I look forward to seeing you in person."
"So do I, captain. So do I. I'll transmit the coordinates for you to beam down to. However, I must insist that there be no more than five in your party. Is that understood?"
Marla nodded. "That is acceptable, chancellor. I'll see you on the surface. Brindley, out."
The screen returned to its view of the planet.
She turned to her first officer. "Why would they limit the number of our away team?"
Ross thought about it a moment. "Anything would be conjecture at this point. Maybe they're planning some sort of ceremony and only had time to make five 'galactic plumb' awards."
Marla laughed. "Another ceremony? That's all we need. Anyway, I think we had better hurry and change into dress uniforms."
Commander Trowbridge grimaced. "Dress uniform? Do you know how much I hate that thing?"
The captain gave him a hard look.
"All right. All right," he said, raising his arms. "I'll put it on. You know me...Andorian See, Andorian Do." He headed towards the turbo lift.
Marla turned to her chief engineer. "Mr .Wall. I'd like you to come along on this trip. Your input may be beneficial. Matt, the ship is yours."
The turbolift doors closed behind the three officers.
Marla and the others were met in the transporter room by Shirley Adams and Jesse Briggs from security. They were also in dress uniforms, but they still wore phasers.
The captain glanced down at the weapons. "Shirley, this is a diplomatic mission. I don't think the Dahlgrenians will be too pleased with a show of force. Lose the phasers."
"But captain," interjected the security chief. "Regulations require an armed escort whenever the captain leads an away team."
Marla grimaced. "There are times when I really hate regulations. Very well, bring your phasers. But bring Type II phasers. They'll fit under your uniforms."
The two security officers quickly switched the phasers for the smaller weapons. Ross and Steve picked up tricorders for the trip to the surface.
The five of them took their places on the transporter pad. Marla looked at the transporter chief.
"Energize!"
The familiar whine of the transporter filled the room and they dematerialized.
The chief glanced down at the control panel to confirm a successful transport. Everything looked fine, then suddenly all readings went blank. He quickly changed settings and looked again. Still no readings. The away team had vanished. He tapped his comm badge.
"Transporter room to Bridge."
"Chism here. What's up chief?"
"Sir, I think we've got a problem."
A look of surprise crossed Marla's face. She had been expecting to see the Dahlgrenian chancellor and his retinue. Instead, all she saw was a bare wall. She quickly turned around, only to see the equally puzzled expressions on her comrades' faces. Behind them was another blank wall. Actually, it was the same wall. The room was cylindrical so it had no corners. There weren't any doors or windows of any kind. There weren't even any markings of any kind. The ceiling had a single light fixture in the center, but was otherwise as bare as the rest of the room. The floor was made of the same material as the walls.
She tapped her comm badge. "Brindley to Rendezvous. Come in."
There was no response. She touched the delta again. "Rendezvous, please respond."
The comm badge remained silent.
Both Steve and Ross had pulled out their tricorders and were scanning the room.
"I can't scan outside of this room, captain," said Steve. "There's some sort of force field enclosing this area. It must be jamming our comm signals."
Ross glanced up from his tricorder. "This room is made from a hardened duranium alloy. I wouldn't recommend firing a phaser in here. It would bounce off the walls until it found one of us."
"Understood, Commander," stated the captain.
Shirley had been inspecting the wall up close. She came over to the captain. "So the question is...What do we do now?"
"We wait," responded the captain. "At least for a little while. If nothing happens in a half hour, then we'll decide on further action."
"What do you mean 'be calm,' chancellor?" exclaimed Matt Chism. "Five people from this ship, including my captain, beamed down twenty minutes ago, only to disappear on your world. I demand to know what's happened to them."
The chancellor's image filled the main viewscreen. "Commander, I can assure you that your people are perfectly safe, for the moment. However, should you, or anyone from your ship interfere, that would change instantly. Furthermore, as chancellor of Dahlgren, I would consider this an act of aggression by the Federation and would immediately remove this planet as a member of the United Federation of Planets."
"Now see here, chancellor. It was Dahlgren that has committed the act of aggression by kidnapping an away team on its way to meet you."
"Commander, Dahlgren is very new to the Federation and its ways. My people of very distrustful of Starfleet propaganda. If your captain is truly a hero as your press tells us, she will find her way safely to me within the next two hours. If she is a fraud, she and those with her will most probably die in the attempt. Again, if you attempt to interfere with this test, she forfeits automatically. Understood?"
"I understand, chancellor. But understand this, Mr. chancellor. No matter what the outcome of this test of yours, I plan on submitting an official protest to the Federation Council when this is over."
"That's your prerogative. However, I think you should keep an open mind on the subject. Now, I will let you see your captain's progress. This is also being made available through our planetary broadcast networks."
The image of the chancellor was replaced by Captain Brindley and the others sitting in a small cylindrical room.
Marla glanced at her chronometer then stood up. "All right, people. It's been thirty minutes. I think we're on our own. Any suggestions on how to get out of here?"
Jesse pointed up to the light. "The only break in the duranium seems to be behind the light fixture."
The fixture was in the center of the ceiling, about four meters from the floor. All they could see was the covering, which was just under a meter across. However, the force field around the room prevented them from scanning beyond the cover.
"Very well," said Marla. "Let's take a look."
Ross glanced over to Steve. "You're the engineer here. Do you want a closer look?"
"It would sure help. Any ideas on getting up to it?" replied Steve.
"Andorian turbolift, at your service," he said with a slight bow. "Stand next to the wall, facing towards it. I'll lift you up the wall until you're on my shoulders. Jesse, act as a spotter in case he loses his balance and falls backwards."
With that, Ross went and crouched behind Steve and grabbed his ankles. With only a slight effort, he began lifting the engineer upwards. He was careful to keep Steve's feet farther from the wall than his head. This made it easy for Steve to walk up the wall with his hands, maintaining perfect balance.
Once Ross was fully standing, he placed Steve's feet on his shoulders and grasped both of Steve's legs. Steve was now only inches from the ceiling and had both hands against it. Together, they walked slowly towards the light fixture.
"Nice trick, Mr. Trowbridge," commented Jesse. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"It's easy," laughed Ross. "Andor has a gravity of about one and a third earth gravity's. You guys are light."
Steve examined the light covering with his tricorder. "Captain, this is made of a simple polymer. I could cut right through it with a phaser set on heavy stun."
Marla smiled. This was the first small piece of good news they had since beaming down. "Shirley, toss him your phaser."
A few moments later, the cover crashed to the floor below. The light fixture was now exposed. It was a round fixture in a recessed housing just smaller than the cover which had been over it.
Steve checked out the light and pushed on it. With a little effort and a small curse from Ross below, the housing pushed up through the ceiling exposing an opening above.
At that moment, the light popped and went out.
They stood frozen in the darkness for a few moments.
Shirley had an idea. "Steve, open your tricorder and turn it on."
A moment later, a small light appeared at the ceiling, about the same brightness as a small candle. It was working!
Shirley spoke up again. "Ross, now turn yours on."
"My hands are kind of full at the moment," he responded. "Jesse, it's on my belt. You'll have to do it."
A second light quickly appeared in the center of the room.
Steve set his tricorder on the ledge above him and finished pushing the light fixture out of the way.
"Steve," said Marla. "Climb up and tell us what you can see."
He grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up. The light from above disappeared momentarily then came back.
"I'm in a narrow hallway. It dead ends here at the light and branches off about 5 meters from here."
Marla knew what she had to do. "Mr .Trowbridge. Do you feel up to operating your turbolift for the rest of us?"
"Any time you're ready, captain."
Ross took each one of them in turn and repeated the procedure to get them on his shoulders. He then walked them to the opening where Steve pulled them up. When it came to be Marla's turn, she could just barely reach the ceiling.
Once they were all up except for Ross, Steve hung down through the opening as far as he could while the others held his legs. Ross jumped and grabbed for Steve's hand. He missed on the first try, but they connected on the second attempt, and Ross was pulled up through the opening.
They moved to the hallway junction. As they looked each way, they saw lights at ten meter intervals along the walls. Marla had them go right. After a short distance, the hallway was crossed by yet another hallway. It too was lit. They had taken up a single file walking order with Jesse in the front and Shirley covering the rear. Marla, Ross, then Steve walked in the middle.
Steve shook his head. "This is ridiculous. This place is like a maze. Our tricorder signals just bounce around and can't tell us what's five meters in front of us."
Marla stopped and turned to her engineer. "Did you say a maze?"
"Yes, sir."
Marla nodded her head. "You're right, Mr. Wall. You're exactly right. This whole thing is beginning to smell fishy. We're rats in a maze. For whatever reason, the Dahlgrenians have decided to test us. I don't like this one bit. So does anyone know how to solve a maze?"
Jesse chimed in. "Don't you just keep turning right at every intersection?"
"Very good, Mr. Briggs. We'll keep turning right. Eventually we'll find the exit. Let's go." They continued in this manner for about fifteen minutes, always turning right.
As they made a turn, they could hear a noise coming from around the next corner. As they approached cautiously, two small robots came around the corner.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," exclaimed the captain.
No sooner had she said this than a beam of light flashed out from the first robot. It just barely cleared the top of Marla's head and hit the ceiling behind her. Jesse immediately fired on the robot. The phaser glanced off, doing no damage.
Shirley ran up at this point, adjusting her phaser's setting. Jesse was doing the same. The second robot fired at Jesse, but missed. Both members of security aimed their weapons at the robots and fired almost simultaneously. The two robots were knocked backwards and began to smoke. Electrical sparks danced around the two robots and followed the phaser beams back to the phasers. Both Shirley and Jesse were thrown back, dropping their weapons. Neither robot moved. They had both been destroyed.
The others helped Shirley and Jesse to their feet. They were unharmed, except for small burns on the hand which had been holding the phasers.
Ross picked up one of the phasers and dropped it immediately. It was still hot. A quick tricorder scan showed both weapons had been fused and could not be repaired.
Marla felt the top of her head where the beam had just passed. There was a warm spot and she could detect the faint smell of burning hair.
"You see," she laughed. "Sometimes being short isn't such a bad thing. Any taller and I would have bought it."
They walked over to the two smoldering robots. The phaser fire had damaged them badly. Whatever weaponry they had was no longer usable.
Marla pointed to the long metallic arms on each robot. "Take those. They're not much but they'll have to do as weapons."
It didn't take long to remove all four arms. They carried them as clubs and continued down the hallway.
The group advanced for another twenty minutes without incident. They turned yet another corner and found themselves entering a large chamber. At the far end of the room was an ornate double door. However, in front of the doors was a large robot guarding the exit. It was similar in appearance to the ones they had fought earlier, but this one was much larger. Two large electrodes flashed and sparkled on top if its head. A bolt of electricity shot out and hit the floor in front of them. They quickly jumped back behind the corner.
Marla pulled the group into a huddle. "All right, people. How are we going to get passed this thing?"
Nobody spoke for a moment, then Steve suddenly brightened up. "I think I've got an idea."
"What is it?" asked Marla.
"I think its weakness is the electrodes on top of its head. If we can short them together, it should bring it down."
"So how do you suppose we're going to accomplish that?" asked Shirley. "It will take a shot at us as soon as we peek around the corner."
Marla thought about this. "We're going to have to create a diversion of some sort. If we rush in all at once and split up, it won't be able to target all of us. One of us can then rush it and hit the electrodes with one of these robot arms."
"Sir, I volunteer. I'll charge the thing." It was Jesse that spoke.
"Mr. Briggs, do you know the risk you're about to take?"
"Yes, sir. But it makes sense. You're all command officers. I'm not. That makes me the most expendable."
"Jesse, no one on my ship is even slightly expendable. Understand?"
"Yes, sir. But my offer still stands."
"Very well. Mr. Briggs will go for the robot. The rest of us will be the decoys."
Ross spoke up at this point. "Captain, we can easily set the tricorders to emit false signals and echoes. It will only take a couple minutes. Then we can slide them across the floor to any location we want."
Marla smiled. "Good idea, Mr. Trowbridge. Make it so."
True to his word, it only took Ross and Steve a couple minutes to modify the two tricorders. The group moved back towards the corner and quickly glanced around the corner. The robot hadn't moved from in front of the door.
They rushed around the corner and Ross and Steve slid their tricorders towards the two far corners of the room. The robot turned one way and then the other. The five starfleet officers ran into the room and scattered. The robot fired two or three bursts of its energy beam ineffectually between different crewmembers. It then decided that the tricorder to its left was the greatest threat. It bent over and blew it to pieces.
While it was still bent over, Jesse landed on its back. It spun quickly to try to throw him off, but it was too late. Jesse brought the arm he was carrying down onto the two electrodes. There was a huge flash from the top of the robot and Jesse was thrown to the floor. Shirley and Marla quickly ran over to him.
The robot continued to thrash about wildly for only a few seconds more. It came to a stop and smoke billowed out of the ruptured electrodes on its head. Jesse was sore and a little charred, but he was able to regain his feet.
They walked around the robot and approached the doors. To Marla's surprise, they opened without a problem.
On the other side of the doors was a large room. Marla immediately spotted Chancellor Hedding. He was smiling and applauding. His retinue was also there and they too were clapping their hands.
Marla stormed over. "What's the meaning of this, Mr. Chancellor? We could have been killed in there!"
"Captain Brindley, I sincerely apologize for what you have just been through. But I assure you it was necessary. Before you came, only twelve percent of our population felt good about your Starfleet. I needed to show them you were as good as they've said. Congratulations! You've set a speed record on solving the maze."
Marla was still indignant. "We're not lab rats to play in your maze. You had no right to pull this stunt."
The chancellor looked a little hurt. "I can only tell you again that I'm sorry. But I had to do this. The way you solved the maze was incredible. It was broadcast to everyone on the planet who would watch. Preliminary results should be coming in any time now."
He led her over to a large computer console. Displayed were the tallied results of 'for' and 'against.' To her surprise, the 'for' column displayed ninety-two percent, with only eight percent in the 'against' column.
Chancellor Hedding was positively beaming. "Congratulations, captain. That's the highest rating ever for the maze. I don't think you'll have any problems finding new recruits for your Starfleet now."
He led them away to a much more comfortable reception.
Captain's Log. Stardate 9801.8
The experience on Dahlgren is one I don't think I'll ever forget. Chancellor Hedding showed me the entire maze. We were very lucky. If we had gone into the maze, we would have run into quite a few more 'nasties.'
The chancellor was right. There have been a flood of Dahlgrenians signing up for Starfleet. It's running about three times our expectations. I still don't fully approve of how he did it, but I have to admit that it was effective.
After seeing the video of our adventure recorded here on the Rendezvous, I think I might have a career in show business if I ever get tired of Starfleet. But then again, how can one ever get tired of Starfleet.