A Helping Hand

Posted on Mon Jul 14th, 2025 @ 9:51am by Captain Michael Murphy & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan

1,612 words; about a 8 minute read

The Montana continues to wait for either a message from Starfleet or a resupply ship from the Federation for the mines of Janus VI.

ON:

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USS Montana Bridge

It had been two days since the disturbing discoveries in the command center down on Janus VI. Captain Murphy didn't mind babysitting duties, but he was ready for the Federation to send another ship so they could move along.

An alert began sounding at the communications console.

"Troubles..." commented the XO while acknowledging the inbound transmission.

"Inbound transmission, sir" he reported "heavily disturbed and interfered, seems like a request for help" he tapped on his console trying to filter out the background noise and the various interference and then piped the comm into the bridge's speakers.

"This -- the --thena, we requi-- --medi--- assist---"

Steve then turned towards the CO.

"Do we know where they are?" Murphy asked.

"Hmm" the XO pondered while tapping on the comm console "Probably yes, at least I can give you an area to search" he concluded by feeding the probable area to the navigation console. "90% chance that the distressed vessel is in that area" he concluded.

"That's good enough for me," Murphy said. "Set a course, Janus VI will have to wait. Let's go to yellow alert until we know what caused the distress."

The yellow alert klaxons sounded throughout the ship.

As the yellow klaxons kicked off, the XO liaised immediately with sickbay and security, getting them up to date with the few information they had at hand. Once in the area, having security and medical teams on the ready might play a crucial role in the first aid of the distressed vessel.

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A little over an hour later, the Montana arrived at their destination. The viewscreen showed a freighter a short distance ahead of them was listing slowly. Damage was visible on the outer hall.

Murphy didn't like the look of that. "Do they have life support?"

Lt. Commander Ryan stood beside the captain, arms folded tightly across his chest, eyes locked on the flickering silhouette of the freighter. The damage was bad, uneven scarring along the hull, a venting nacelle, and what looked like a buckled forward section.

Ryan stepped forward, voice steady but firm. "lieutenant, please run a scan of the vessel" he asked Lt. Tiller, the blonde tactical officer on duty on the bridge. She tapped a few commands into the tactical station. The console hummed as it gathered data. After a moment, she frowned. "Minimal life signs... maybe a handful, scattered. Life support is fluctuating, barely holding in a few compartments. Whatever hit them, it was sudden, Sir."

Tiller turned towards the senior officers. "I'm not picking up any active weapons systems. No signs of power in the engines. It doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere soon. But Sir..." she pointed at a faint energy signature overlaying the freighter, "—there's residual plasma distortion around their hull."

"Weapons' fire?" asked Ryan with impassible voice.

"Could’ve been weapons fire, but not standard Federation tech...but that's not the only thing that might leave such scan distortions so I wouldn't be too sure it's weapons' made." she replied.

"Well, let's get an away team together and check it out," Murphy said. "We'll wear environmental suits. Let's bring Lieutenant Mitchell with us to work on their life support, and Lieutenant Smith from Security as well, just in case."

Lt. Commander Ryan gave a short nod of acknowledgment, already shifting his mind into tactical and investigative mode. He turned to Tiller first.

"Continue scans, wide spectrum. I want to know if anything cloaked, jammed, or dumped power trails in the vicinity. Look for ion signatures, warp trails, anything that doesn’t belong. Something hit them hard, and I want to know if it’s still out here."

Without waiting for a reply, he turned to follow Captain Murphy toward the turbolift.

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The unknown freighter

Having left Lieutenant Mitchell to work on the life support, with Lieutenant Smith watching over him, the rest of the away team cautiously moved through the freighter. They passed several casualties as they went. Their priority was to get to the Bridge to set up a base of operations and determine any threats, and then they could start sweeping for survivors.

As they entered the Bridge, the lighting brightened. Murphy's communicator chirped, and he flipped it open.

=/\= Mitchell to Cap'n Murphy, life support is back online. Give it a minute and then feel free to remove EVs. =/\=

"Great job, Lieutenant!" Murphy replied, flipping the communicator closed. While mentally counting down the sixty seconds, he used a panel to check on the ship's status. "Doesn't look like an attack. Some kind of system overload in the plasma conduits. Seems like it started in the engine room." He flipped his communicator open again. "Murphy to Lieutenant Mitchell, can you and Smith head to the engine room? Some kind of power overload started there."

=/\= Yes, sir. =/\= came the response. Murphy closed his communicator again.

"Strange," Murphy said aloud, still reading information from the computer. "This vessel's name and registry information aren't showing up."

Before they could do much more, the doors to the Bridge opened again, and a tall, portly man with a receding hairline and a thick mustache quickly approached them. He was wearing an orange tunic, blue pants, and he had a large brown belt.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" the man proclaimed of the Montana crew.

Murphy was stunned. This wasn't the welcome he had been expecting. "We responded to your distress call. Our Engineer fixed your life support."

The man's demeanor changed instantly, "Charitable assistance? Why, thank you! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Harry. Perhaps you'd be willing to further assist me?"

Murphy was cautious. "We will do what we can."

"Ah, good," Harry replied. "Who will take this list of supplies I'm short of?" He held out a PADD towards the crew.

Murphy nodded towards Ryan, indicating for him to take the list.

Lt. Commander Ryan stepped forward, the faint hiss of his suit's environmental seal disengaging as the timer expired and breathable air returned. He pulled off his helmet, tucking it under one arm, and studied Harry with narrowed eyes as he accepted the PADD.

“Commander Ryan,” he said evenly, his voice carrying that careful edge that Starfleet officers adopted when diplomacy and suspicion had to walk the same line. “Let’s have a look at what you’re short on.”

He glanced down at the list and immediately frowned.

“Captain,” he said without looking up, “this inventory request includes high-yield plasma regulators, isolinear encryption cores, ... There's some restricted tech in this list, even in civilian shipping lanes.”

He raised an eyebrow and finally looked back at Harry. “Care to explain why you’re requesting Starfleet-regulated components after a supposedly internal systems failure?”

Harry was unphased by the question. "I assure you, any problematic things on that list must have gotten there in error."

Harry turned back to the Murphy. "How long before my ship is up and running again? I have a schedule to keep."

Murphy frowned, "We haven't finished evaluating your damages yet. Aren't you concerned about the crew you've lost?"

"Of course!" Harry said. "That's what I meant about my schedule. I'll have to handle the unpleasantness that comes with the loss of crew before I can return to normal operations."

"We'll meet with our team in Engineering and get back to you," Murphy told him. As if on cue, Murphy's communicator chirped again, and he flipped it open. "Captain Murphy here."

=/\= Captain, this is Lt. Mitchell. I'd like to meet you in person to give you the results of my evaluation. =/\=

"I understand, Lieutenant. I think it'd be best if we do this back on the Montana. Contact them for beam out and we'll discuss this on the Bridge. Murphy out." He closed the communicator.

He turned to Harry. "One last thing, before we go. We'll need to see credentials proving we can leave this freighter in your care."

"Absolutely!" Harry responded, pulling a small PADD from one of his many pockets. "You never can be too careful!" He presented it to Murphy.

Murphy examined it, and then passed it to Ryan. It read Harry Fudd, and showed he was Captain of a civilian freighter called the Athena. There was even a picture of the freighter. Murphy had concerns, but didn't want to bring them up in front of Harry.

Steve went through the PADD with an impassible face even if it was clear something was going on on his mind.

"It may be unnecessary to say but, even if you manage to patch up the motors, you cannot leave until we clear you to do so" the XO reminded the sketchy owner of the Athena before handling the PADD back to him and prepare for the transport back to the Montana.

"I wouldn't dream of leaving without proper clearances, Commander," Harry said, unconvincingly. "How long do you think that would be?"

"Shouldn't be more than a few hours," Murphy answered. "Don't forget, you've got more damage we would be happy to help you with before we leave."

"As soon as I saw you, I knew you were exactly the kind of people I would want in my time of need," Harry said.

Murphy stared at Harry for a moment before replying, "Sure." He signaled the crew to form up for beam out.

As the Captain gave order, the away team dematerialized and materialized again on board the USS Montana.

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Captain Michael Murphy
USS Montana

Lt. Cmdr. Steve Ryan
USS Montana

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