Fragments: Interference, Part 1

Posted on Mon Jul 28th, 2025 @ 2:33pm by Captain T’Kal & Lieutenant Commander David Erickson & Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis & Lieutenant Karane Inda & Chief Petty Officer Chloe Delacroix
Edited on on Thu Oct 9th, 2025 @ 7:49pm

1,989 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X03: The Listening Post
Location: Station Delta IV Sensor Array
Timeline: Simultaneous with "Fragments: Data" and "Fragments: Subterfuge"

On the landing deck of the USS Ark Royal's shuttlebay, Shuttlecraft 01, the Swordfish, sat getting ready for launch, its aft loading hatch open as deck officers brought diagnostic and repair equipment and parts aboard it. The Launch and Retrieval Director was barking orders and making the process as smooth as possible, waiting for the flight crew to arrive.

"This thing ready to go yet?" Karane asked as she carried her engineering kit into the shuttlebay.

"Nearly," David said, giving her a polite smile. "Just finishing up loading and then we can get going. Waiting on a couple more folks too." He slipped into the pilot's seat and began the pre-flight checklist.

As if on cue, the doors to the bay opened again and Cid practically skipped in with excitement, new jumpsuit and coveralls unusually spotless, toolbelt loaded and repair kit in hand. "CPO Delacroix reporting, Ma'am!" she said, snapping a salute to Lieutenant Inda and grinning ear-to-ear.

"So it would seem." Karane replied crossing her arms.

"Well then, it looks like we're all here." Valerie stated with a smile as she followed the senior non-com through the shuttle bay doors and patted her on the shoulder on her way past towards the shuttle, as she could care less about decorum most of the time. "If we don't need any supplies loaded up? Honestly, I don't know why I'm going along, I know about as much about what we're going to do as the mouse in Cargo Bay One."

"Well, Commander, I would think that would be obvious," David said, grinning as he spun around in the pilot's chair. "If you weren't here, that would leave me in charge as the ranking officer, and that is a prospect too horrifying for even a Vulcan to consider."

“Back in my day, Sonny, putting me in charge would be just asking for trouble!” Valerie pointed out. “Big capital T, but then I joined the Fleet and they kinda gave me a reason to follow the straight and narrow, and I had a good mentor who got me to believe that yes, I could actually be a proper officer, so here I am, Little Mrs. Responsibility!”

"Given your day and my day are virtually the same, I have to wonder if we had similar mentors," David mused.

Karane scoffed. "You. In charge." She laughed looking over at David. "What's your next joke?"

David looked at her and gave her a warm, friendly smile. "I outrank you," he said, then imitated a drum hit. "Bah-dum. Tss."

Karane scowled at him. "Corny." She said simply turning away with a sigh.

Cid slipped into a seat, looking around the shuttle with interest, appreciating the new model. "Maybe I could peek under the hood when we get back..." she said to herself, pulling her tablet out of her coverall pouch and pulling up some specs for a project she was working on.

As the last of their equipment was put in place, the bay crew left and David closed the rear hatch. "Sealing rear hatch, pressuring cabin," he said, all trace of affection or banter gone as he focused on the job. "We're cleared for launch."

Valerie slid into the co-pilot's seat a little miffed that she wasn't able to be the pilot itself. It wasn't that it was hard to fly, in fact, her fingers ran the engines up with a more practiced ease than most tactical officers would typically have at the controls, "Countergrav is active, engines are powering up to thirty percent and normal." It was a part of the standard preflight checklist and she prepared to activate the controls to fly them out before pausing and giving a guilty look over at David before withdrawing her hands from where they were poised.

David gave her an understanding smile. "I keep saying...you rank up, you lose out on all the fun." He brought the engines to full and they lifted off. They passed through the forcefield protecting the bay from the void of space and he banked sharply, heading for the array.



After only a minute or two, the shuttlecraft Swordfish reached its destination, a point along the spire of sensors and antennae jutting out from the station. David brought the shuttle alongside the base of it, turning it backwards and bringing the rear hatch as close as possible before holding position. "All right," he said. "We're in position. We can suit up any time."

"You know what?" Valerie cringed at the thought of being out in hard vacuum, suit or not, "I think I'll let the three of you go out and handle whatever's going on. We really need someone here with the shuttle in case something goes wrong and someone needs a rescue, don't you think?"

David looked at her, but the look in her eyes quelled any jest he was about to make. "Aye, Sir," he said without argument. He stood up and turned to face the two engineers. "After you, ladies. I'll carry the extra luggage."

Karane made her way to the aft compartment. "I can carry my own tools..." she said to David.

"And here I thought you'd enjoy making me your valet," he said. "I guess I'll have to settle for chaperone."

Cid jumped out of her chair eagerly and bounced on her toes. "Now I wish I'd finished that new life-support belt I'd been working on," she said, following them to the rear compartment.

David brought up the rear and as they entered, he closed and sealed the door behind them. The suits that had been loaded onto the shuttle seemed too thin to actually protect them from the dangers of space, but he often thought that of every space suit he'd seen, going back to the dawn of the human space age. He took the one with his name on it and removed his boots before working his way into it.

Cid grabbed her far smaller suit, looking like a child trying to put on a halloween costume. She hated having to leave her precious tablet behind, and her tool belt, but she wouldn't dare risk hurting them while out there.

Karane wasted no time, stripping off the maroon tunic and down to her undershirt and undershorts in the rear compartment. Her shirt was a tiny bit short, exposing the bottom 'dip' of her navel as she reached for one of the EV suits hung up in the lockers. She then pulled on one if the EV suits and grabbed her toolkit, securing it with a line to her hip. She checked its systems before looking up. "Ready."

David looked up and found himself caught off guard as he saw Karane. He realized, too late, he'd been staring a bit too long and blushed harder than he would have liked, but with his pulse elevated and his mind whirring, he wasn't in a position to focus. He thanked whatever gods were watching that he was behind her and prayed she didn't notice his attention. He took a few breaths to steady himself and finished putting on his own suit, checking his oxygen supply and all the seals. "Ready," he echoed.

"Ready!" Cid said excitedly in her own suit, kit in hand.

The his of extracting air filled the cabin but quickly died as without air in the room, there could be no sound. The silence was oppressive, but the glow of the lights in their helmets helped stave off the fear all planet-based species felt going into the vacuum. The rear hatch opened silently and ahead of them, a meter away, was the spine of the array.

"All right," David said, stepping forward. "I'll get there, secure a position, you two follow when I give the signal," he said.

"Understood," Karane responded simply, nodding inside her helmet.

"Aye, Sir!" Cid said, less excited and now looking distinctly intimidated.

David stepped to the edge and pushed off, the candle thrusters in his suit steering him towards the array. He landed relatively smoothly, catching a handle and pulling himself into position. He stood up, activating his boots and attaching himself to the array. "All right," he said. "Ready to receive."

Karane floated over, also guided by her own suits thrusters. Her tool kit trailed behind her, pulled along by its line. Slowly Karane pulled it around and pulled out her engineering tricorder. "I'm starting baseline scans." She explained over the open comm network.

"Here I come!" Cid said. She jumped out, flying towards them, trying to navigate, although she aimed a bit higher than she'd planned. She let out a squeal of fright, but felt David's hand grab hers and pull her down to join them.

"Got you," he said, smiling. "We all overshoot our first jump," he said, reassuring her.

Cid gulped, looking a bit pale, and nodded. "Yeah...thanks," she said. She activated her boots and pulled her kit along towards her. She opened her tricorder as well, turning her back to the Chief Engineer and scanning the other side of the array. "This thing is cool!" she said, some of her usual energy coming back. "I wish we'd have more time to look inside it."

"Stay on task Petty Officer." Karane reminded her in a firm yet soft tone. "Mistakes or being distracted out here ends up in one result. And I intend to go home breathing today." She added. Her fingers pressed at the buttons on her tricorder. "I'm picking up an unusual on that sensor pallet." Karane's arm pointed out to the neighbouring sensor pallet that spanned out opposite them.

"Aye, Ma'am," Cid said, holding herself together more. She turned and trained her tricorder to the same spot. "I can't get any readings past it," she said. "Nor inside it..."

"Should we have the shuttle bring us near?" David said. "Or do you want to approach on foot?"

"Approach on foot. If it's being planted there it could be booby trapped if a ship approaches it." Karane told them.

"All right," David said. "Tricorders on passive scans as I approach. Keep ten paces behind me until I reach it." He slowly began to heel-toe his steps along the array, making his way towards the pallet.

"Nice and slow," Karane said. "It could have motion sensors. The last thing we want is it to go bang." She told the others through her comms.

Cid swallowed nervously. "Aye, Ma'am," she said, keeping pace behind Lt. Inda. She held her tricorder up like a shield, looking at the readings. "Whatever dampening field it's using appears to be directional," she said. "If it's meant to act as a screen, maybe approaching it from a perpendicular vector would be safer? It wouldn't 'see' us as easily."

"Lieutenant?" David said, nodding to Karane. "What do you think?"

Karane floated over. "Well it's not of Federation design." Karane observed. "The power signature doesn't match anything that we use."

"Okay, so we can assume we aren't booby trapping our own equipment, good to know," David said, then frowned. "Can I see the power signature?"

Karane turned her tricorder so that David could see the screen. "Does it look a little like... Klingon to you?"

"A little," David said, looking at it. "Some Klingon tech may have been kludged into it, but look at the frequencies for the interference screen. That's got Starfleet written all over it. Someone's trying to make it look like either our tech or Klingon tech or both, but someone's trying to pull a fast one on us."

"Hard to do, since our technology is incompatible..." Karane explained.

"Which means I'm about to do something grotesquely stupid," David said, resuming his walk towards the device. "Tell me if it does....something."

"Got it. Proceed." Karane responded simply.


To be continued...

 

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