Post 006 " Shine Bright Like A Diamond "

Posted on Sat Aug 20th, 2022 @ 6:57pm by 2nd Lieutenant John Dallas

Mission: Mission 7 Life is but a Dream
Location: Runabout French Broad
Timeline: Concurrent

Mission to begin

(Runabout French Broad )

Captain Deke Rivers waved the two officers aboard and took off from Starbase Mercury under the cover of no lights on.

He knew John Dallas but did not know Lt Herculoid the science officer for this mission.

Once the shuttle was out of range from the Starbase Deke addressed the crew.

"So we signed up for this sort of. Starfleet wants us to investigate a probe that seems to have gotten lost near a system soon to be enveloped by the black hole. We have six months. The probe produced great data then stopped." Deke told them.

" I have the tactical signature sir." Dallas told the Captain.

" Here and now it is Deke, John and Tara."

"If the probe is too close to the black hole it won't have the power to escape it," Tara said "I'm wondering why a probe was even launched that close knowing an entire system is going to be enveloped by a black hole."

" The probe showed signs of life on a planet and then a large composite of dilithium." Deke replied.

"What signs of life? But in any case they need help and an approaching black hole is not something to take for granted," Tara commented. "Does anyone have an idea of where this black hole originated from?"

" Sagittarius A. We are just to get in the system.and try to free up our probe." Deke replied.

Tara turned to the science console and ran several scans "Captain I can get a tractor lock on the probe and pull it free."

" We are not a starship Tara. A Runabout doesn't have that kind of power. We will need to get closer." Deke replied.

"You forget who you have here. I can modify the tractor beam to get enough power to pull it free," Tara said "But if you'd rather I not try that's fine."

Deke smiled as he liked her savvy..
" Go for it. " Deke replied.

The Runabout teetering on the edge as they prepared for the tractor beam. A pin point grab as the probe seemed to be lodged inside of a large asteroid.

" That things a large diamond Tara. A compressed Carbon based diamond. Damn!" Deke told Tara.

"Ten seconds captain," Tara said as she worked to modify the tractor beam "I have it! Back away slowly, the tractor is holding."

Suddenly the power shuddered as the Runabout started losing power.

" We're losing power drop the tractor and get us out of here." Deke yelled.

The intensity of the hole was increasing the deeper they got as the g forces increased.

"Dropping the tractor," Tara said as she let go of the probe, the probe vanished into the black hole.

The pull from the tractor now left the French Broad swirling in the same cone the probe had been.
" Damn."

"Let me see if I can get more power to the engines," Tara said.

" The Runabout is a tugboat we just need to ride the wave and pull out at the weakest turn. Maybe if we repulse that diamond thing toward the funnel we can spinn around and tractor the probe ." Deke smiled. " Tara prepare the tractor on my mark."

The Runabout went along the wave and as soon as Deke felt the g forces go down he verified with the screen and pulled a one eighty giving Tara a second shot at the probe."

"Here goes nothing," Tara said scanning for the probe "Got a lock on it, locking tractor beam, it's deep but I have it."

Deke pulled away and the tractor held the probe and in a minute they were at a safe distance out of the gravity well.

" We did it. Course back to Starbase Mercury installed ." Deke said with delight. " Tara is the probe functioning?"

"It's transmitting, it suffered minor damage but nothing that will hinder it's readings," Tara responded.

Deke smiled but Dallas made a large discovery.

" Captain a chunk if that Carbon fiber is still attached to the probe. It us causing a major drain on our engines. When we are safe enough away from that hole we need to try to detach it or drop the tractor. ." Dallas warned.

" Of course, why would it be easy to go get our probe." Deke replied.

"We can detach it and save the probe, a narrow beam on the phasers should do the trick." Tara said after studying the readings

" Tara you're a genius. Why don't you join us on the Bohr? I need your brains . I promote you to Lieutenant Commander and make you my chief science officer." Deke told Tara

"It's a very tempting officer, let me think on it and I'll give you an answer by the time we dock," Tara said.

It took a major fine tune of the phaser emitters to loosen the grip of the carbon diamond from the probes shell but it worked. To boot Deke then beamed some of the fragments aboard for them to study back at the station.

The rush back seem to pass fast enough and with hope more data on the soon to be dying abet could be studied before its demise into the black holes funnel.

" Estimated time back at present speed is one week Tara. Do you prefer rations or supplements?" Deke asked as he walked back to the replicator.

"What ever you get is fine with me," Tara replied "I'm not overly picky."

Tossing her a packet of something Ala king Deke prepared the warp drive.
" Tacking Care of Business."


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