Richard stepped out of his quarters and was putting his gray and black tunic on when he turned to see Commander Loran. "Morning, sir," Richard said kindly.
Garek looked like he hadn't sleep in almost a week. He yawned when he tried to speak to Richard. "Morning, Lieutenant. Here, thought this would be nice to read while eating breakfast." Garek handed him a PADD.
Richard took it and finished putting on his tunic and walked behind Garek.
The two entered the mess hall and Garek ordered coffee and Wallace ordered juice and eggs. Richard sat at a table and started to read the PADD. He smiled when he read it.
"Well, Commander, it seems you're getting somewhere for all this hard work," Richard said to Garek sitting across the table.
"Well, 56-hour-days aren't my idea," Garek replied.
[Lieutenant Wallace, Major Chee here.]
Wallace tapped his com badge. "Wallace here, go ahead."
[You better get up here. There's something up here that needs your attention.]
"On my way. Wallace out"
Richard stood up and looked at Garek and said, "Well see you later, Commander."
Major Chee was the officer in charge of Delta shift and was not experienced with matters such as the present one. Lt. Wallace stepped out of the turbo lift and went to work quickly.
"Major, what's up."
"We are receiving a message from an unknown source, it seems to be jammed. I need your help in breaking through."
Wallace shook his head and walked over to tactical and played the message but the message was badly garbled. "It's being jammed at the source. Words are mixed up and phrases are mixed up as well. Wait, I am clearing it up. It will come through on audio only, can't say for sure how much. Here it is."
[This is the Federation Starship USS Hawthorne. We are under attack. Our position is bearing 045 mark 123 if you read us please help.]
Richard tried to see if he could get more but he couldn't.
"Captain Maruu, Major Chee here. We have received a distress call from a Federation Starship."
[What the...?! I'm on my way.]
Wallace tried working on the message but was only able to get how old the message was. It was two hours old. He then worked on the location the ship was in and the class of ship it was.
Captain Maruu walked in and was informed by Wallace and Chee what was going on.
"Captain, somehow the USS Hawthorne is here in the Gamma Quadrant and is, or was, under attack by the T'rais," Chee said. Maruu walked over and looked at the ship's dedication plaque.
"Mr. Wallace, what was their last location?" Captain Maruu asked.
"Here, sir, a system that has three L-class planets and an M-class moon on the third planet. Sensors do pick up six T'rais warships in that sector. It's 7.5 light years away."
Maruu wanted to help but didn't want to go charging off into battle just yet. "Lieutenant, what's the ship's upgrade status?" Maruu asked
"The ablative armor is 49% finished and the forward torpedo launcher is complete. Our shields would only be effective for about 13 minutes in battle."
Maruu then said, "And the Hawthorne?"
"It's a steam runner with a crew of 432. Captain Korvlick is in charge. He was Chief Tactical Officer on board the Repulse while I was there."
Maruu then gave a look of authority and said, "Then let it be noted, we fight not for fame or glory but hope. Hope that we can save lives, live another day, and destroy the T'rais. Let's get cracking. All hands, red alert. Senior officers to the bridge. Mr. Wallace, see if we can hold our shields a little longer than 13 minutes."
"Aye, aye, sir."