<USS Avalon> The Meeting

The Meeting
by Cpt. Ketchum, Cmdr. Skyler, Cmdr. Sierra, Sr.LtC. Shimbrodus, & Lt. 2nd 
Class Garrity
 
 
The lift made it's way to deck two, Anthony still couldn't breathe right. If 
only Marks would just listen to him, things would be a whole lot better, and 
easier. There was a gentle stop and the doors wisped open as Anthony refocused 
his thoughts and stepped into the corridors. He suddenly felt a little weary, 
noticing he was the only one on this deck. Quietly sighing, Anthony tugged on 
his uniform- again- and headed for Ketchum's office.
 
But the meeting wasn't his main concern. It was Elissabeth and her persistence 
to unravel everything. Which prompted Anthony to get Alder on the bridge and 
keep tabs on Mark's activities while maintaining his normal duties. The codes 
still worked, well.. partly. It was a split in attention Anthony wished he 
could help with.
 
Standing at the doorway and quickly ringing the chime, Anthony was given 
permission to enter. His eyes were set on three people. Two with their backs 
facing him and Ketchum sitting across from them. Skyler and Sierra sat there, 
and Anthony forced a scowl look from flashing as the doors wisped shut. He 
shifted his eyes, and noticed a third person, but wasn't familiar with the man. 
 
Josh remained standing in the corner he'd placed himself before everyone began. 
He hadn't been ordered to sit yet, and hoped he wouldn't be. He really didn't 
want to be in the room long enough to have to try to get comfortable. Already, 
it seemed to be filling up quickly. How could such a large conference room seem 
so very crowded already? He glanced up from his PADD as the man entered, then 
noting the scowl, refocused his attention back to where it had been. He 
finished the last of the notes he'd been working on, having spent the majority 
of his ride home in Copernicus working on a possible solution to the problem 
that had been presented on the station, then looked around for some spare PADDs 
to copy it to. It would be a lot easier for him to just give it to everyone in 
writing than to try to explain it to them aloud. 

Sitting in her seat Skyler could see the quiet engineer diligently working away 
on a PADD. She knew he was the new Chief Engineer but she had rarely heard him 
speak. She tried to see what he was up to but he kept everything close to his 
chest. 
"Lt. Garrity, please have seat next to me. I would very much like to see what 
you are working on so diligently.

"Yes, Mr. Garrity, please sit."  Keith stood up from the end of the table, and 
walks over to a screen and pulls up a picture of the Badlands.  "Our next 
mission, to locate a wormhole in the Badlands, and destroy it."  He paused for 
a moment.

"Surely, there must be a reason behind the destruction of a wormhole", Anthony 
asked.

"Well, actually, there is.  And don't call me Shirley."  He paused for a 
moment, "The wormhole is in breech of the Temporal Prime Directive and a 
renegade group of Maquis are using it to gain technological advances, for what, 
I am not sure, but that is not our mission."

He looked around the room for questions and continued, "Also, if possible, we 
are to destroy this technology, if we can find it.  And, Mr. Garrity was in the 
meeting, and I'm sure that he has some ideas on a way to destroy the wormhole." 
 Looking hopefully at him for any ideas.

"If the Maquis have such a high regard for this technology and their wormhole, 
it won't be easy to either locate or destroy it.  I've been involved with the 
Maquis directly before in intelligence missions - they have a sense of duty 
unsurpassed."  Javan made a few quick notes on the PADD he was holding.  
"However, whatever remnants of the Maquis are left cannot be that large.  I 
don't foresee this being too incredibly difficult."  

Josh took a deep breath, fighting the quickly building panic, and nodded, 
passing out the PADD he'd just finished copying his computations to. Focus on 
the work, he told himself, setting the image of what he'd been doing in his 
head and proceeding from there. In a voice so quiet even those closest had to 
strain to hear, he began at last, fully focused on the PADDs rather than the 
people in the room, " To find it...just...adjust the scanners to...to look for 
...those..." He pointed out a complex series of equations on the main view 
screen, which he linked to his PADD, representing chroniton emissions, then 
looked back at his PADD, seemingly unable to look at anyone in the room, and 
continued in that same nearly inaudible tone, " and ...those..." he gestured to 
another set of equations denoting temporal distortion waves, then continued in 
the same way"..compensating for... the effects of time dilation... and other 
types of special relativity...as you reach each shift, "He showe
 d
 several diagrams showing the various mathematical aspects of special 
relativity, as though believing they would make everything as clear to those in 
the room as they now seemed to be to him, drawing another breath, forcing 
himself to finish. He blinked once without looking up. Twice. Drew another 
breath. Forced himself to finish, still in that same painfully quiet tone. 
"Shutting it down...well...you just...you can't remote the charges in...or use 
the phasers ...because of the temporal distortion waves. And you 
can't....well...you need to set the charges inside....within the wormhole....to 
destroy it. So...." here goes, he thought. "You need ... someone...with 
sufficient science and engineering knowledge...to make any necessary ... 
adjustments ... along the way ... to allow them... to navigate a shuttle 
with...modified plating and shielding...into the temporal distortion waves... 
to the wormhole...and then to...place and detonate charges...and then... 
navigate... the collaps
 ing
 waves ...back out ...as the wormhole is destroyed." Okay...that's it, he 
thought. Done. He finally looked up from his PADD at Ketchum as though waiting 
to be excused then, having said all he could possibly ever be expected to say. 



Skyler looked at the PADD and listened to what the engineer had to say, yet she 
still couldn't believe it. "Captain, you can't really be considering sending 
someone into the wormhole, have them blow it up, and hope they make it out 
alive? There has to be another way."

"It wont have to be on hope," Anthony replied. When eyes turned on him, he 
simply explained, "if we can time it right, the Avalon can swoop in and 
transport him just before the explosion and make it out. If we readjusted our 
shields as well, we should be able to snag the pilot out."

Josh gestured to the PADD, where the calculations were drawn out carefully to 
show how the shuttle, properly shielded and equipped, should be able to ride 
the temporal distortion waves into the wormhole itself, then ride out under the 
current as it closed.
 
"Ok, we have our work cut out for us.  Mr. Manson or is it Shimbrodus now", 
smiling, "make sure that everyone is aboard.  Mr. Garrity, good ideas, please 
work with your team to make sure that all calculations are precise, and work 
with Anthony to coordinate any details.  If there are no other questions or 
comments, then Dismissed."
 
It was all Josh could do to keep from running out of the crowded room. Instead, 
he simply walked out, head down, as swiftly as his long legs would carry him 
toward engineering. He could check and recheck his calculations again, as he 
had repeatedly on the shuttle ride home, while he and his department began the 
refit of the ships sensors and weapons to protect agaist the temporal 
displacement waves. He'd also need to work on refitting his shuttle for the 
mission, but he could do that in his off hours.


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