Joint Duty Log - SFCO & CO - FAdm Malone & LtCmdr Rhodes - Change of Command

Posted on 241406.16 @ 11:30am by Acting Captain Mark Rhodes & Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

=*=Captain's Ready Room=*=

Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes sat behind Captain Eric Carpenters desk in his ready room. 20 minutes before, Captain Carpenter had been sitting behind this very same desk when the ship came under attack and Eric was taken. Mark was lost as to what to do. He had no idea as to how to contact anyone, they were 1100 LY away from the nearest Federation planet. He sat there a moment in total silence.

Mark started to open the desk drawers. They were the Captains effects, but he was thousands of lightyears away at this point, he was sure he would be forgiven. In the third drawer down he found a red folder stamped "CARPENTER, ERIC: ENTERPRISE". Mark flipped it open and shuffled a few papers around, these days putting things on paper meant it was a secure form of communication.

After sifting through the papers he found one which only had a few things printed on it "CONTACT TO M-----: Freq. 201.222.3334-OMEGA-3". Mark looked the page a moment. He tried to plug the number into the comm panel to which it pulled up a black screen with 1 word printed across the center in small white print: "CONNECTING...". A few moments later the confused face of Kerry Malone appeared on the comm panel.

Mark looked in silence at the Admiral flabbergasted a second before speaking, "I... ah... Greetings sir."

"Who the hell are you, and how the hell did you get this frequency Commander?!" Malone snapped, clearly concerned that one of his secure frequencies had been cracked.

"I found it sir, in Captain Carpenter's desk," said Mark plainly. "We were stopped by the USS Interceptor and Captain Carpenter was taken into custody, our XO is severely injured. When the Captain was taken off of the bridge I assumed command and did my best to get us out of the situation in one piece. The Interceptor fired on us and I brought the Slip-Stream Drive online and made an emergency jump. We ended up about 1100 LY away from Federation borders. We are in Sector 676x223,54. I did not know what to do, who to contact. I thought maybe there would be some kind of protocol for this kind of thing in Captain Carpenter's personal effects, and I found this folder," said Mark quickly to Admiral Malone.

That was a lot of information to take in, but fortunately for the both of them - it wasn't the first time Malone had needed to absorb information quickly. Its a trait fighter pilots learn, and never really forget either. The crucial factors were that the UFP had abducted Captain Carpenter, right off his own bridge, but failed to secure the Enterprise. The XO was badly injured, leaving whoever this Lieutenant Commander was, in command.

This man had then had the presence of mind to go routing around in the CO's private drawers to find this code. Then there was the fact that the Enterprise was 1100 light years from where it should be.

"That is quite a story, Commander." Malone said, looking impassive. "Although, you'll have to forgive my scepticism, but you could easily have lead a mutiny against a Starfleet loyalist, and be a UFP agent yourself. Since I have no idea who you are, or what your intentions are, perhaps you would be so good as to tell me."

"The Captain of the other ship said he had the highest authority of the UFP to take Captain Carpenter into custody. They activated our prefix code to shut us down. I took the time to disable their hold on us and ended up in the hot seat. I can send you the data tapes of the exchange sir, if thats what it would take?" suggested Mark. He understood the Admiral was skeptical, hell he would be too.

"By all means." Malone said, but in the meantime he had a problem. This guy, whoever he was, hadn't even introduced himself. He was getting more and more suspicious. Worse was, there was nothing he could do about it.

Mark quickly sent the transmission logs of the comm chatter and the data tapes of the battle. "I forgot to mention sir," he said as he sent another piece of sensor data, "I am Lt Cmdr Mark Rhodes, service number 199208-13. I would have preferred to meet you under better situations, but it is an honour sir." He sent one more piece of info. "There you are sir, all of the data from our engagement with the USS Interceptor."

Malone turned to a second monitor to review the data transmitted. He nodded appreciably as he reviewed it. "So, it does seem like a challenging situation. From all accounts, you appear to have handled things well - although once you had command and control again, you didn't attempt to rescue the Captain?"

"The rate of fire we were under did not allow us the opportunity to attempt a rescue attempt. Had we not used the slip stream to make the jump we may have been overcome by the Interceptor," said Mark.

"An Odyssey class battle-cruiser would've been overcome by a Sabre Class starship." Malone said, flatly. "A state of the art cruiser, utilizing some of the best weaponry Starfleet has developed - against an ageing ship designed for patrol duties. Tell me Commander, where did you learn your tactical skills?"

"Starfleet Academy sir, same place as you I would hope," retorted Mark somewhat irritated. "They used our prefix codes to shut us down the first time. God only knows what sub routines they may have installed while they had control. Their torpedoes essentially went straight through our shields, if you noticed in the playback. How were we suppose to effectively defend ourselves when our primary defences were useless?"

"You're an engineer, are you not?" Malone replied. "Remodulating your shield frequency would've negated their advantage. But in any event, you put the preservation of the ship and its crew above that of one man. Strategically, that was the correct call to make - and one I am reasonably confident that Captain Carpenter would've approved of."

"Understood but remodulation would have proved ineffective with an addition of a subroutine," said Mark speaking as an engineer. "The only choice I had was jump with the Slip Stream Drive. We didn't have time to bring the navigation array online, we just point and clicked and ended up here. What would you like us to do now that we are here sir?"

"Well, under normal circumstances, I'd tell you to get your butt back here and help me out with my problems." Malone said. "But given that you're 1100 lightyears away, and Captain Carpenter's decision to keep Enterprise out of the fight - and continue our mission of exploration - it seems right to keep you out there. Despite my need for every ship, and how much its annoying the hell out of me - I'm going to let you stay out there."

"And as to Command of the vessel?" asking Mark. "Commander th'Zarath would be CO now correct? Lt Lucus as his XO?"

Malone frowned. "No, I'm not sure I want Mister th'Zarath as Captain of the Enterprise, and Lieutenant Lucas isn't ready for a command billet yet." He said, reviewing the service jackets for each. "No, for the time being at least - I'm giving you command of the Enterprise. You're already in command, and it makes no sense to mess things up. I hereby grant you the brevet rank of Captain, until such time as we can sort all this out. I'll allow you to decide on your First Officer."

"So what do you want me to do with th'Zarath?" asked Mark out of curiosity.

"I'm sure you can find a use for him." Malone said, casually. "He's your problem now, Captain."

"I shouldn't have to worry about him, should I? I mean Captain Carpenter trusted him, so he should get the same respect from me right?" asked Mark feeling somewhat cautious.

"He's got a past history of issues, but Captain Carpenter seemed to believe he could handle him. Its entirely your choice on what you do with him." Malone said. "I need to cut this transmission short, else it could be tracked. If you need me again - you can reach me on this frequency. God speed, Captain."

"Understood, thank you sir," said Mark. The transmission cut as he uttered his final syllable. He sat there looking at the black screen with 2 small white words in the center "END TRANSMISSION." He sat there a moment, letting the whole situation sink in. The desk he sat at was no longer Captain Eric Carpenter's, but acting Captain Mark Rhodes', and the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Time to get to work.

--

Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone
Commander-In-Chief
Starfleet Command

Acting Captain Mark Rhodes
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F