The Athena
Posted on Wed Jul 16th, 2025 @ 4:54pm by Captain Michael Murphy & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan
755 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Maintaining the Status Quo
Location: USS Montana
USS Montana – Bridge
The hum of the transporter faded, replaced by the familiar quiet efficiency of the Montana’s bridge. Captain Murphy and the away team stepped off the platform, still in partial EVA suits, helmets tucked under arms. Lt. Commander Ryan immediately handed off the suspect PADD from Harry Fudd to the nearby ensign Fernandez for verification.
"Keep an ear out for any inbound or outbound communication traffic of that stranded vessel, I want you to inform me of anything that happens out there" the XO ordered to the female Ops ensign.
“Aye aye, Sir” the redhead confirmed.
“Oh and double check Starfleet registry to see if the vessel’s ID and documents do match what we have in the database” Steve doubled, obviously not trusting the civilian they just met.
The Ops ensign started tapping, querying Starfleet database and matching data while Steve closed in to the Captain and Lt. Mitchell to hear what the Chief Engineer had to say.
“Commander,” Lt. Mitchell acknowledged him before beginning. “Some things are going on that aren’t above board. That engine has some modifications made that no Engineering professional would approve. It essentially overloaded while in use, probably throwing them violently out of warp. What’s more, some of that tech is Klingon, some is Orion, and other incompatible tech that I’m not sure how a freighter like that would acquire. I recommend we speak with their Captain about removing the incompatible tech as soon as possible.”
“How dangerous would you say it is?” Murphy asked.
“My professional opinion is the engine would fail during the next warp jump, leading to the destruction of the Athena this time.” Mitchell’s face was deadly serious.
Murphy nodded, “Let’s get a tractor beam locked onto them and hail Captain Harry—“
“Captain!” Came a voice from the Bridge. “She’s going to warp!”
The XO rolled his eyes "we would never dream of leaving without your permission" he mocked Mr. Fudd voice while reaching for the nearest console."
"Tractor beams online, trying to acquire the target" Steve notified the captain.
Murphy flipped his communicator open, “Transporter room, beam anyone living off of the Athena possible.”
The view screen showed the tractor beam initializing, and the Athena erupting in fiery explosions. The Montana was rocked by the force of it. The standing officers were thrown. Murphy was not lucky enough to grab into anything and found himself on the ground.
Steve's proximity to a console allowed him to grab ahold of it and keep standing even when the Montana rocked by the explosion. Alert klaxon kicked off and red alert light started flickering all around the bridge.
"Are you ok?" Steve asked Murphy while lowering his hand towards the senior officer to help him up.
"Sir" the operations officer's voice recalled Steve 's attention "Transporter room report they managed to take only two survivors on board"
Steve only nodded without adding anything to it.
Murphy accepted Steve’s hand, and got back onto his feet. He was embarrassed, but attempted not to bring attention to it by getting straight to business.
“Someone escort the two survivors to Sickbay,” Murphy said. There might have been as many as two dozen people on that freighter before the initial disaster. Now only two remaining. Thinking about how Captain Fudd should have been looking out for his crew, but instead probably was looking to maximize profits, made him angry.
“Let’s find out how much damage we’ve sustained, and then do a full analysis of the area so we can provide as much information about this incident to Starfleet.” Murphy ordered. “After that, we need to get back to Janus VI.”
A simple glance from Steve to the Ops console specialist gave the needed results.
"Captain, moderate damages to the external fields. A couple burnt isolinear chips here and there but the only real damage is in the tractor beam. Engineer will have to work on that one" the redheaded ensign reported.
"Sickbay reports our guests are being taken care of. We'll get scans of the area and then we can leave"
“Good,” was all Murphy said. He knew his annoyance was showing and so he now took slow breaths in an effort to push it away. He knew his crew would take care of what was needed, and before too long they’d be on their way to Janus VI.
OFF:
Captain Michael Murphy
USS Montana
XO Steve Ryan
USS Montana
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