Alyana Ryat
Commodore
Registered: Sept 5, 2007 16:34:56 GMT
Posts: 347
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Post by Alyana Ryat on Jul 19, 2015 22:00:40 GMT
OOC: Well, once again I find myself apologising for my absence. My RL issues relating to work have settled down now, I have a new job although I donβt start for a while and have to move cities for it. I hope this means imagination and impetus to post is back online.
Alyana blinked once and then slowly pulled herself off the deck, le last thing she remembered was the Excal in conflict with a group of Zorastics ships. And then, well... The viewscreen had whited out⦠then nothing until opening her eyes on the deck with a headache.
Her ship was in trouble, that was clear from the smoke in the air and the flickering displays. The lurch her stomach gave as she got to her feet suggested that the artificial gravity wasnβt quiet at its normal levels. She walked forward carefully, so far everyone else still appeared to be unconscious, at least, she hoped they were just unconsciousβ¦
ALyβs thoughts raced as she moved towards Ensign Matthews who was slumped over the helm, bridge crew, rest of the crew, find out where we are, get home. She doubted it would be that simple but it was comforting to think about. Not as comforting as the strong pulse she found in the Ensign Matthewβs neck. She moved over to check Petty OfficerCollins at Navigation.
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 21, 2015 21:29:45 GMT
Karka returned to Earth orbit aboard a shuttle, with several other officers in tow. He'd easily adjusted to not having Excalibur officers around him... Several had been appointed from the Engineering Corps - most of them personally selected by him - so there was extra reason for being comfortable with who was boarding the Joyeuse with him.
The Miranda class Joyeuse crawled into view from behind one of the docking pylons, the pilot steering the shuttle at standard thruster velocity. Karka sat in the co-pilot's seat, folding his arms in satisfaction as the shuttle was aligned with the longitudinal axis of the Joyeuse, approaching its aft-facing shuttlebay. Cabin lights flickered to either side, the shuttle cabin eventually falling into the shadow of the great starship as the bay's outer edges cut off view of the sun.
Disembarking the craft with his six fellow officers - four from the Corps, two from the Joyeuse itself, the human-disguised Hybrudean approached the landing signals officer. "Ensign," he handed the officer a padd with his orders: official advisor to Captain Toshika and Chief Engineer Robertson. "Is Commander Schirra aboard yet?"
"Yes, sir, he arrived several hours ago."
"Several hours? Hmm." Karka looked around at his accomplices and headed to the bridge as quickly as possible. He was surprised by the similarity of the layout of the Joyeuse to the Constitution class Excalibur.
"About time," an oriental-looking man said, rising from his command chair and turning to the turbolift, as if he'd been able to identify the newcomer with some form of extra-sensory perception. "Commander Psonoir, I presume. I am Captain Toshika. The man you search is in the conference room, briefing the rest of the senior staff."
Psonoir nodded, making his way to the ward room, "I see you know me, sir. Why are you not present at the briefing, may I ask?"
Toshika was visibly annoyed. "A Captain knows his ship's mission. He needn't be reminded of it by his 'advisors'," he said, glaring at Karka.
"Our assignment as advisors has been approved by Command," Karka said, looking back just before entering range of the ward room door's motion sensor, "It came from the Federation President himself, so I hear, sir. You command the ship. We command the mission."
Toshika returned to his command seat, "So it would appear, Commander."
Karka smiled and stepped into the ward room. Schirra paused, acknowledging his presence as he took a seat at the table, before continuing with the briefing. Three days had passed and the Excalibur hadn't reappeared... It was time to hunt it down.
Three hours later, two hours after they had jumped to warp, they were approaching the Excalibur's last known coordinates around the planet where the five dead scientists had been discovered, poisoned by the Craylon Gas Derivative. Psonoir was surveying long range sensors, looking over the shoulders of three officers manning a bank of consoles not dissimilar to those on the Excal's bridge. He hoped the Zorastics ships the Excalibur had been in a firefight with had disappeared, "Reading no vessels in orbit of the planet..." he half-turned to Schirra and Toshika. "Only scattered debris, amounting to the mass... of three vessels, all of common mercenary design, probable Zorastics vessels."
Toshika leant forward in the command chair, propping an elbow on his leg, "Where is she?" he searched the tactical display that had been put on the main viewer, the Joyeuse still approaching the system at warp 7.
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 25, 2015 0:48:36 GMT
Lana knew all about the disappearance of the Excalibur, it was common knowledge apparently ..... So when Daniel brought up the subject of a possible search and rescue mission, she was ready for it: "You have to go obviously." she had said as he tried to explain why he would need to cut short their time together, "I am sure she would do the same if you were missing, though on second thoughts, you hardly have the monetary value of a Star Ship." she finished, eyeing him up and down like something in a sale, before digging him in the ribs and laughing. He vowed to spend the rest of the day and that night with them and would leave in the morning ..... oooOOOooo Zero seven hundred hours ::The shuttle from Star Fleet Command took him out of Earths atmosphere en-route to the orbital Space Station where several vessels were docked, including three Constitution Class Star Ships in various stages of completion. A fourth, the USS Joyeuse, had undergone warp trials and had been signed over to the Fleet only days earlier. Her assignment, to map gaseous nebulae, had been postponed due to the disappearance of the aforementioned Excalibur ... Stepping from the docked shuttle, Schirra approached the young Ensign: "Permission to come aboard Sir ?" "Permission granted Commander. The Captain is on the Bridge." "Thank you Ensign." he said, heading out of the shuttle bay ....... He hadn't been looking forward to meeting Captain Toshika, Set for his own long-term mission to the outer rim, he had suddenly found himself, and his 'ship' commandeered ! ... While this wasn't exactly the case, it didn't stop the resentment against the two 'Advisers' from welling to the fore every few moments. But Dan neither had the time, or the inclination to pamper to the man. He could either undertake the mission at hand, or wait at the Space Station. Handing the Captain a PADD he stood almost at attention while the Senior Officer read, then re-read the orders. "You realize that this ship could fall apart half way to where we're going." "I doubt you would allow that, Captain." Dan replied, motioning to the PADD, "Additional photon torpedoes are coming up from Earth, I suggest we store them in one of the lower cargo bays. I'm still waiting on one more then we can get underway at your convenience Captain." "Hardly at 'MY' convenience, Commander." the Japanese Captain said, almost shocking Dan with the tone. He expected more of the man and was somewhat disappointed. He stepped closer and lowered his voice: "With all due respect, Captain, I have no intentions of prying you out of that seat. Just so you are aware, it was offered to me, I turned it down, respectfully commenting that this was 'your' Command and should remain so. Now, with you're permission I'll oversee the ordinance storage, then I would like to brief your Senior Staff if that would be possible ?" "I will have them assemble in the Ward Room at zero ten hundred ... If that is convenient." Dan thanked the man then left the Bridge, he almost regretted his decision not to take the center seat, but only for a fraction of a second ..... oooOOOooo To say the three day journey had been pleasant was somewhat erroneous, but eventually Toshika had accepted the interlopers on his ship and had even arranged a dinner to formally welcome them, but now they were back to serious mode as the Joyeuse approached the System where the Excalibur was last seen ... Long-range scans were inconclusive, showing wreckage of numerous vessels but nothing related to the Constitution Class Excalibur ... "Where is she ?" Toshika said, leaning forward as if willing the ship to suddenly appear. Dropping from warp and closing in the flotsam it was clear that the Excalibur was nowhere to be seen, nor apparently the smallest fragment of her or her crew: "Can we scan for a warp trail ?" Dan asked, but Toshika's Tactical Officer ruled out a confirmed trail due to degradation over the period the ship had been missing, but he did say that 'in his opinion' the Excalibur did not warp out of the system under her own power, and as far as he was aware, there was nothing that could have simply dragged the ship off into the unknown ! "Scan for any unusual signatures Lieutenant." the Captain said, glancing at both Schirra and Psonoir for a second, as if asserting his authority yet again. "I have something Sir ... Faint and degrading by the second ... Sir, whatever it was it was big, and I do mean 'BIG' Captain. I have sent the heading to Helm." The Joyeuse made an almost lazy turn to the heading supplied and jumped to warp once again, but within minutes the Tactical Officer was urging caution: "Captain ... These readings can't be right ....." he said, frowning. Dan nodded to Karka to go look, despite the Captain's obvious annoyance, but he too seemed confused. "Well ?" Toshika asked impatiently. "Sir. Either this thing had dozens of warp nacelles, or their equivalent, or it was damn big." "Yes, Lieutenant, you said that before, a little more accuracy would be appreciated." the Captain said, obviously annoyed at his crews' performance in front of the two Excalibur Officers. "Sir, At a guess ..... It would have to be somewhere in the region of ... Allowing for warp field dispersion in the wake of a vessel ...." he said, glancing at the Captain and wondering if he would still have a job seconds after speaking, "It would need to be approximately one thousand five hundred meters in width. Proportionally it could mean the vessel is over three 'kilometers' in length !" Dan looked at Karka, who's almost imperceptible nod confirmed the young Lieutenant's reading of the figures on screen. "That is ridiculous !" Toshika said, almost jumping from the Command chair as if electrocuted. "Karka ?" but the Engineer couldn't expand on what the younger man had already said, Dan turned on Toshika, finally reacting to the mans arrogance and resentment of them being aboard, "You have a more 'plausible' explanation Captain ? ... Because if not, that I don't think we have any option but to go with what we have ... Don't you ?" He knew, the second he had begun speaking that any fragment of cooperation from the Captain was lost for ever. He had effectively ridiculed the man in front of his own Senior Staff, and that was, and had always been, a cardinal no-no in any Military, let alone a fleet of space-borne vessels. He considered apologizing for his rudeness, but in his opinion the Captain had brought this upon himself for isolating the Excalibur Officers from the moment they came aboard ... He could see Karka looking at him: "Commander, Captain. I may be able to refine the sensors to give us more information. With all due respect to you're Chief Engineer. There are a few things I have done on the Excalibur that helped increase accuracy and range." "OHHHH ! ....... So now my 'ENGINEER' is incompetent, whatever next, the Galley ?" "Captain. If I could have a word ... In private ?" but it seemed Toshika wasn't finished so Dan stepped right in front of the man forcing him to fall silent, Dan spoke in a lower tone, "I think this is best in private. Before someone says something they are going to regret !" As far as he was concerned, he could hear what Dan had to say in private, or be ridiculed in public. At this point in time Dan could not have cared less which option the man took. "Who the 'HELL' do yo ...." Toshika's Executive Officer began, but a hand on his shoulder from Karka stopped him continuing. "Clear the Bridge." the Captain ordered. Dan and Karka waited until the four of them, The Joyeuse Captain, his Exec, Karka, and Daniel himself were alone, then continued: "I imagine most of your Bridge Crew are writing out transfer requests as we speak ...... I would be that's for sure ......" Dan began, seeing Karka looking at him with a 'calm down' expression on his face, he heeded the advice and changed tack, "Look Captain. There are over four hundred Officers and personnel out there somewhere. If it were your crew, this crew, would you go after them or right them off in favor of a new batch ? ... Me, I think you would chose the former, and do everything in your considerable power to make it happen. Well, that's what Commander Psonoir and myself are doing, and we need your help to achieve that goal. Do we need your cooperation, no, make no mistake Captain, if need arises we 'will' get our way. So .... Your Bridge Crew can return to their stations, and be as cooperative as their Commanding Officer is going to be, or they can return with me in that seat ... You're call." Toshika looked at Dan for a full minute, then came to some internal compromise ... He tapped the Comm button on the Helm Station: =^= Chief Engineer .. Report to the Bridge .. .. Duty Bridge Crew .. Return to Stations =^= he said, then with all the dignity of such a honorable race of people, he took his seat, head held high. "Increase speed to warp six." he said, eyes locked on the massive window as the stars streamed by. Daniel was going to regret his actions. Not 'officially' of course, but conscience always weighed heavy .... Alas, their efforts may have been for naught as the trail ended suddenly ! ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 27, 2015 23:43:40 GMT
The Hybrudean waited in nervous anticipation as Schirra faced off with Captain Toshika. He glanced at the latter's XO, seeing almost exactly the same look on the man that Karka guessed he was exhibiting in his own features. Eventually the tension eased and normal operating process was resumed, the senior officers and other bridge staff filing back to their stations from the turbolifts and deck 2.
Standing beside the tactical officer again, the man seemingly irked but also mildly intimidated by the inscrutable human-disguised Hybrudean looking over his shoulder - the officer was making mistakes, his fingers fumbling over the console's switches and buttons. "Try not to fire a photon torpedo," Psonoir said, showing uncharacteristic dryness as he moved off to Chief Engineer Robertson's station on the port side bank of consoles.
"What's your average matter-antimatter to plasma conversion efficiency over the last 48 hours?" he asked Robertson, taking the chair next to him and leaning in to the green, orange and red flashing displays.
"Well, sir..." Robertson shifted datapadds around, flipping switches and surveying his readouts. The two men set to work, Karka listening to Robertson intently. Contrary to his expectations, the Joyeuse's Chief Engineer turned out to be a capable, even mid to highly competent officer. The only thing he lacked, which was manifestly clear, was experience. A lieutenant junior grade, he seemed to make up for his mere three years of active service with enthusiasm and original thinking.
"Increase to warp factor six confirmed, sir," the navigator reported. "Holding steady. Fluctuating, and falling! Warp 5.9... 5.85... 5.7..."
Schirra looked questioningly at Toshika as the oriental man put his head in his hand. "Explanation, Captain?"
"I told you we could fall apart half way there!" Toshika snapped, then realised he'd stepped out of line - it was uncharacteristic, not to mention contrary to expected Captain's etiquette to lose one's cool like that. It was also not very reassuring a thing for his bridge staff to hear.
"Don't worry, I've got it..." Robertson leant into the engineering console, the information on the core's performance being fed up from the engineering decks. "Extra plasma energy re-routed to the nacelles. It was a malfunction in correct distribution of warp core energy, nothing more serious, sirs."
"Nothing more serious," Toshika said heavily. "Well..."
Karka glanced at the forward viewscreen, the stars still shooting by - silver nimbii of light not true stars but the result of the 'warping' effect of the warp bubble and the locii of what was incorrectly deemed stellar matter, distributed seemingly at random across the bubble's surface area. He surveyed the rest of the bridge, then shot a look back at the viewscreen. A wall of blackness had appeared, like a velvety curtain lowered across their view of the vacuum.
"Speed decreasing," Karka reported, nodded to Robertson to take over and headed over to stand with Schirra behind Toshika's command chair. "It wasn't just the warp core power distribution... I'd make an educated guess it's that... nothingness out there."
"We've lost the trail of the 3km ship... if ship it is, Captain," tactical reported.
Toshika rose from his chair, pushing off it and stepping forward to his navigation and tactical officers so that the chair rebounded slightly into Karka and Daniel, who glanced at each other unimpressed. Toshika said, "Could it have vanished behind that... curtain? Or could it be responsible for the curtain, its crew knowing they were being pursued?"
"Pure conjecture at this point, Captain," Karka said, the Joyeuse first officer behind him stepping forward with an arm across Karka's body, pushing him back temporarily - Karka imagined he'd been going to say approximately the same thing.
"Let's push into that wall," Karka suggested, pushing the XO's arm aside. "Scanners show it to be nothingness; theoretically then, no different from a vacuum. There should be nothing preventing our passage through it."
"If it's just vacuum, then why did it eclipse the stars, Commander Psonoir?" Toshika said. Karka looked over the man's shoulder at Schirra, who shared with him a similar look of disbelief at Toshika's continued belligerent attitude. Toshika huffed, "Advisors, I'm not forcing my way forward through whatever that might be. If there's a way around it, then yes, perhaps. But we've lost the trail of the object anyway - "
"Sir," tactical reported, "The... 'wall', well you're right there's a way round it, but sir, it matches the dimensions of the unknown object... 3km long, 1.5km width!"
Karka returned to his station next to Robertson. He nodded at the man, finding the latter working over projections regarding the minimum length of time it would take to bypass the obstructing object. The current figure was three minutes, seventeen seconds - if it was the chosen course of action, they'd be past in no time. Unless... this 'object' was somehow intrinsically linked to the Excalibur itself. He recalled his suggestions of earlier that he might be able to refine the Joyeuse's sensor range and accuracy, and depth of penetration through 'apparently' solid objects like that which they found before them - even though the giant 'ship' had the canny ability of disguising itself as the exact opposite of its nature: vacuum.
Five minutes later, after boosting the sensor range and probing inside the goliath vessel, "There's... definitely something beyond that wall," Karka said, returning to his position as part of the triumvirate behind the command chair. "Registering several small objects - relative that is, to the overall size of the 3km vessel - in a large internal chamber within it."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
They were about to return to their stations to explore further options when the bridge, the whole ship clattered and vibrated. Metallic shearing sounds coruscated along the reinforced lines of the ship's chassis, detectable through the deckplates and bridge support struts. A quick scan over the tactical console confirmed what Karka had already suspected. They were locked in a tractor beam!
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 28, 2015 20:57:09 GMT
He had stood up to better men than the Captain in his time, but for some reason he actually felt for the man. He hadn't donned the Captain's rank on a whim, he was a seasoned Officer with many years behind him, so to see him seemingly falling apart before his Senior Staff was unfortunate, and while he would never put the Captain, or the Excalibur's Chief Engineer in the position where he took Command, it wouldn't hurt Toshika to believe he would do so ...
Their speed issues seemed to be increasing as they pursued the massive vessel far ahead, then the Tactical Officer informed them he had lost contact ..... Instead, something much more worrying faced them.
"All stop. Hold position here." Toshika said, apparently back in control of himself, at least, for the time being.
~~~~~
After ten minutes of discussion where numerous theories were presented, Dan made an observation:
"As we approached, albeit slowing, it appeared on your sensors as a 'wall' rather than spheroidal, is that right ?" he asked the young Lieutenant.
"Well, yes, Sir ..." the man said, glancing at his Commanding Officer for a fraction of a second before continuing, "It covered a full forward sensor sweep, but as we neared it seemed to, change configuration."
"The power needed to produce such a massive would be incalculable in our terms then, would you agree ?" he asked.
"Even 'if' we had the knowledge to design and construct the field generators, we would need a hundred, a thousand warp cores." Karka answered for the younger man. Dan walked to the massive 'window' now clear of all tactical information it almost looked like he could step onto the hull with ease. If the Excalibur was inside, behind, that shield, then they needed to get inside too, but could he risk the Joyeuse ? ..... Ultimately it was the Captain's decision to make, he and Karka were there in an advisory capacity only. He turned to face Toshika:
"We have to go after the Excalibur Captain." he said simply, and surprisingly, the man agreed instantly.
"Commander Psonoir, please scan the shield once again, try to find a weak spot if any ..... Helm, take us out to five thousand kilometers and take us around the 'ship' for want of a better description."
"There is ... Definitely something beyond that wall." Karka said, returning to his position as part of the triumvirate behind the command chair. "Registering several small objects - relative that is, to the overall size of the three kilometer vessel - In a large internal chamber within it." This time though, there was a definable reaction to their curiousness ... Metallic shearing sounds coruscated along the reinforced lines of the ship's chassis, detectable through the deck-plates and bridge support struts. A quick scan over the tactical console confirmed what Karka had already suspected.
~~~~~
"We are being held in a tractor beam Captain." the ever-eager young Tactical Officer informed them needlessly, "We are being pulled toward the shield Sir !"
"Is there any sign that an aperture is opening to allow us to pass through ?" Dan asked quickly.
"Non that we can detect Commander."
"Navigator ... Full reverse ... Hold our position." Toshika ordered as the 'nothingness' neared.
"No good Captain, we don't have anywhere near the power to break away, even at warp." Karka informed the man.
"Distance to shield ?" the Captain said, changing tack instantly.
"Four thousand kilometers and closing."
"I don't suppose you are going to allow me to fire into the shields to see if we can weaken them enough to actually let us pass through rather than being crushed to death on impact ?" Toshika asked wryly, "Thought not." he said, giving the impression he was resigned to whatever fate awaited them. Dan looked at Karka:
"Hypothetically, could we weaken the shields enough to get a torpedo through to the the tractor emitter ?"
"They can hardly expect us to come cap in hand." the Excalibur's Engineer said shrugging.
"Captain ?" Dan queried expectantly.
"Tactical ... Arm full spread of photon torpedoes, fire on my mark ... Parallel trajectory, one hundred meter radial proximity, detonate on impact with the shield ... Immediately fire a second volley, parallel trajectory twenty meter radial proximity through whatever gap we manage to produce. Helm, stand by ... If we get clear of the tractor go to warp. One point five second burst then hold station and scan the vessel."
The Tactical Officer began to call out the distance to the shield:
Two thousand kilometers .... Eighteen hundred .... Sixteen hundred .... Fourteen hundred .... Twelve hundred ....
"Fire !" the Captain ordered.
Six photon torpedoes lanced from the Joyeuse and streaked across the airless void seeking their target, then the screen reacted faster than the human eye could when protecting itself to a sudden bright light ... Darkening they could still see the results of the torpedoes' impact on the unknown crafts' shields. something told Dan that they had never come across the matter/antimatter photon torpedo before as the massive 'hole' in their shields testified to. One point three seconds after the first volley was dispatched, the second arced across the gap punching through the already collapsing shields to the vessel beyond ... The Joyeuse shuddered as the tractor beam released it's grasp and the ship yawed to port, the inertial dampers coping with the lateral direction change easily before jumping immediately to warp for the prescribed duration.
Dropping from warp almost three hundred thousand kilometers from their previous position, the Tactical Officer began scanning for the other ship .....
"Captain. If I'm reading this right, we have inflicted a moderate amount of damage to the ship. Shields fluctuating but holding ... Sir, they are going to warp !"
"Helm ... Pursuit course ... Hold station one thousand kilometers astern ... What is their speed ?"
"Warp two point four Captain."
"Match it."
"Captain, I'm reading several explosions from within the vessel. It's possible we did more damage than first thought." the young Tactical Officer informed them.
"That, or whatever ships that thing has taken in are going up one by one." Daniel said, with a sense of foreboding, "We need to get on that ship Captain ... Now, before the Excalibur is endangered further !"
"No ....." Toshika said with a sudden dominance that was missing only a short time ago, "We will shadow the ship and continue scanning ..... Any and 'ALL' information we can get prior to ingress will be useful to the Away Team. Inform me immediately if there are any changes." he said, handing the Con to his Executive Officer and leaving the Bridge.
Dan looked at Karka, who shrugged. It was obvious that he didn't like the instructions, but Toshika was the Captain, and what he said, goes ..........
< tag : Karka and Rose >
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 4, 2015 21:03:03 GMT
At Warp 2.4...
Aboard the SS Mimosa the crew's command staff had only just realised the nature of the environment they found themselves in. Captain Jobson had been rendered unconscious along with the rest of the crew of the cramped freighter when they'd first detected the object on long range sensors... It was the last thing the sensor array operator remembered seeing on his display before he'd collapsed to the deck.
"What would happen if we went to warp, Captain?"
That was the third time Jobson had been asked that question in the last half hour, being the only person aboard with any scientific or engineering expertise. The ship's engine room was run on automatic, overseen by an 'engineer' whose knowledge of his charge barely surpassed that of a man Captain Jobson knew, whose specialty was 20th century automobile design.
Both of the times the warp issue had been brought up thus far had ended in arguments, with Jobson throwing objects across the bridge, or flight deck, at his three officers. He'd tried to explain that a warp bubble opened inside another warp bubble would do nothing if it wasn't of sufficient size or strength (given by the amount of energy put into forming that particular bubble), and there was no way the Mimosa could match the power, crude in source though it seemed to be, of the thing they were inside.
What they had managed to come to some agreement on was that they were indeed trapped inside a larger vessel, with at least half a dozen other ships. At their best estimate their new 'mothership' was at least 2.7 km in length in the direction of travel. There had been a few explosions a bit earlier, an hour ago perhaps. Several blooms of light in the darkness out of the forward viewer. Jobson's sight was still marred by green blotches on his retina where the explosions had lit up the night. Out there, there was at least one Starfleet ship of considerable size. Their obsolete magnification devices had failed to identify it, though it was almost certainly a cruiser of the Constitution class.
Jobson reacted angrily, "I told you before, we have nowhere near enough power to alter the warp speed trajectory of this... monstrosity we find ourselves in. We would need to generate a warp bubble larger than the mothership itself." As he spoke to his disgruntled and confused officers, he noticed a change in the barely discernible architecture beyond the dimly lit vessels trapped here along with the SS Mimosa. The mothership was rotating; they could all feel it, too; a slight vibration in the behemoth ship. Something was causing it alarm.
<Tag Ryat>
The Joyeuse in pursuit...
Karka woke from a short nap - not that his augmented human body needed it - prior to his studies of the pursued vessel's internal layout. He had left engineering to Robertson, trusting the officer enough with his own engine room and staff not to look over his shoulder - which often proved to be more distracting for the observed officer than a facility to help them work better.
In his own assigned quarters - a VIP suite as it happened, as afforded to official advisors to a Captain of a starship appointed by the Federation President himself - he tried to make sense of the data being recorded by the Joyeuse's sensors. Yes, the Joyeuse had done considerable damage to the 3km ship's defence systems, if not to the ship itself, and it seemed there had been a chain reaction of internal explosions that may have been the result of several independent warp drives - in close proximity to each other - detonating in short order.
He couldn't make sense of the other read-outs... some transphasic technology that meant the ship was partly phasing into other dimensions and therefore making it completely absorbing of all light incident on it? Why it should necessarily follow that transphasics were absorbers of all visible light however was beyond him; it was merely a theory. Why was the vessel almost invisible though, just discernible from the depths of the vacuum behind?
It was built big, but with - other than the transphasics that may have saved it from destruction at the hands of the Joyeuse's photon torpedoes - old technology. There was a large power source of impressive output, but that too was primitive in design and type of fuel used, and it was still only able to accelerate the vessel to warp 2.4 - unless they were holding something back...
What Karka was looking for was some sort of door, a window into the vessel... for those trapped inside - if Commander Schirra was correct - had to have been brought into it somehow. He briefly entertained the idea of a transporter mechanism that could dematerialise an entire starship and reconstitute it inside its vast interior space, quickly dismissed it however as he didn't think it was within this race's power. That raised another issue: who was controlling this huge vessel? Scans had revealed no lifesigns, and it wasn't an issue of penetrating that multi-hued shield that at first had made the ship appear kaleidoscopic in its chromatics, before they had punctured the bright visage and found the night within.
No entrance, nothing like landing bay doors that were recognisable as such revealed themselves. The Joyeuse would have to get much, much closer.
An alert came from the door. "Yes?" Karka said, turning expectantly towards the entrance to his sizeable quarters. The doors slid aside and Captain Toshika walked in, immediately looking around disapprovingly.
"Captain, sir," Karka got to his feet standing at attention. While he was an advisor and wasn't strictly a part of the vessel's chain of command, Toshika was still the ranking officer.
"I wish I was given this assignment by the President," Toshika said dryly, gesturing to the seat to indicate Karka could sit again. The Captain himself took a seat on the nearby lounge chair.
Karka waited, studying Toshika for a few moments before glancing back at his studies of the 'possibly alien' ship. "Is there something I can do for you, sir?"
"Yes, Commander. I want you to take over my engineering room. The engineer," Toshika waved his hand dismissively, "He's useless, he doesn't know much more than a 20th century automobile owner I know."
Karka paused, raising an eyebrow and rotating back to Toshika. "Robertson, Captain? From what I've seen so far he's a capable officer. Several matters I wanted to raise with him he preempted me on, explaining in detail the procedures of how he wanted to set them right. Every single one, sir."
"Then set the engine on automatic. I want both of you on the away team, when it comes, to the... 3km vessel."
Karka was puzzled. Toshika had not only immediately changed his mind about an officer whose abilities he surely must've known for a good amount of time longer than Karka had, he had also failed to realise that the Miranda class Joyeuse's warp core couldn't be run on automatic, at least, not without close supervision when misalignments, irregular plasma flows arose - issues that were fairly frequent occurrences aboard starships of this era.
Psonoir cleared his throat, "Captain, I know you haven't held this assignment for very long, but engineering cannot be run completely automatically. You must surely know this, sir. Sir, are you alright."
The man dissolved, just like that, from the lounge chair in Karka's quarters. That was no site-to-site transport. "Psonoir to bridge. Captain Toshika, are you there?"
"Yes, Commander, what is it?" the voice responded amicably.
"Were you... in my quarters a few seconds ago?"
Toshika seemed condescending, as if he was expecting Karka was making a joke. "No, Commander."
"I see..." No, he didn't see, not yet. "It seems we have a problem, Captain. I was just paid a visit from you... you said you wanted me on the away team. Then you disappeared." A phantom? Karka thought, Something phasing out of real space to another dimension, via transphasic...? It was starting to make sense.
<Tag Schirra>
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Alyana Ryat
Commodore
Registered: Sept 5, 2007 16:34:56 GMT
Posts: 347
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Post by Alyana Ryat on Aug 5, 2015 21:58:58 GMT
It had been hours since Aly had woken on the bridge deck plate. It seemed that most of the crew were in one piece barring a few injuries sustained when falling abruptly unconscious in a dangerous situation. Of course that did not change the fact that she was two of her senior staff missing. Aly felt their absences keenly as she pored over the later reports. Internal comms were working again which made things much easier and Lt Wilkins and her team were working on the external array. Whatever had happened to the Excal had really bashed her up, comms and sensors were down. Shields and Deflectors were only at 20 percent. Aly itched to help with the repair work but she knew that she was more use coordinating things.
It was all a mystery. So far they had learned that they were definitely not where they had been. Learning this had involved looking out of viewports, but it was still good inforrmation. It had been suggested that they had been transported in some manner to a ship graveyard. Bits of wreckage were visible after all . Although, even in her current state no one she be able to mistake the Excal for a dead ship, she was holding atmosphere just fine and main power was working. Engines were functional but there was no way they could go anywhere until they knew where they were and what was out there. The main priority was getting the sensors back online. Or at least some method of sensing their surroundings. As Aly understood the situation the difficulty was the sheer scale of the damage. Most of the networks had been fried which meant fixing it was possible but it would be time consuming. A repair team spanning engineering, science, communications and anyone else who was available was on the case and it was hope that some of the passive seniors would be back in the next hours or so.
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 6, 2015 0:12:33 GMT
OOC :: Sorry for the size of my posts, I seem to be getting carried away ...
They had been shadowing the enormous craft for almost sixteen hours, following the Captain's example, both Dan and Karka in turn had taken the opportunity to grab some rest. Dan was on the Bridge looking at the overwhelming 'lack' of information coming from the continuous scans. Given the damage they had caused with the initial attempt to slow the vessel, he would have thought they would have more to go on, but alas, wishing wasn't working ...
"I think we have no option but to attempt to get inside that ship Captain." Dan said.
"When I deem it safe enough to do so, you will be the first to know ...... Commander." Toshika said, rubbing his temples. Then, before Schirra could comment the Comm chirped to life:
=^= Psonoir to bridge .. Captain Toshika .. Are you there ? =^=
=^= Yes Commander .. What is it ? =^=
=^= Were you .. .. In my quarters a moment ago ? =^=
=^= No Commander =^=
=^= I see .. .. .. It seems we have a problem Captain . I was just paid a visit from you .. .. You said you wanted me on the away team .. Then you disappeared =^=
=^= Report to the Bridge Commander .. Toshika out ! =^=
He looked at Dan as his Executive Officer began issuing orders to scan the ship for intruders, as less than a minute after the Comm was closed, Karka stepped out of the turbo-lift. He glanced at the Security Chief, who seemed a little out of his depth, and receiving a nod from Daniel he moved to that station to assist. Despite the Captain's glare they needed answers and needed them now, not when this raw Bridge Crew could manage to supply them.
"Nothing." Psonoir said, thinking hard.
"Hologram technology ?" Dan asked.
< tag : Karka >
"Why contact you and request 'you' be on the Away Team, or was it simply that they need us over there ?" Dan asked, continuing before anyone could offer an explanation, "It is obvious that one of two things have happened ..... Either we've been thoroughly scanned and our records investigated, or ...."
"Or .... Whoever has the Excalibur has the Crew, and the Commodore, and extracted the information from them directly." the Executive Officer stated, making everyone look in his direction, "It has occurred to me Captain, that if we delay the Commanders' request to get over to that 'ship' or whatever it is, there is the possibility that they could effect repairs and reinforce their shielding, effectively closing our window." Karka shrugged, unable to comment. As they were discussing options, the Tactical Officer interrupted suddenly:
"Captain, several small spheres have appeared between us and the vessa ..... SIR ..... MINES DEAD AHEAD !"
"Helm ... Evasive NOW !"
"Well, we've got their attention again, maybe they're annoyed that you didn't RSVP." Schirra said as the ship dropped below 'Zee' in a powered dive to pass under the mines.
"Drop back to ten thousand kilometers." the Captain ordered, forcing both Excalibur Officers to spin to face him, "I have no intention of getting this Star Ship blown into atoms Gentlemen. You can still reach the breach in their shields if I authorize the awa ......"
"Captain, their shields are coming back on-line, thirty one percent and climbing, albeit slowly. They are increasing speed .... Warp three, Warp four, warp six .... More mines !" the Helmsman informed them.
"Evasive ... Match them for speed. Take us out to three thousand meters off their Port quarter." Toshika ordered.
"Captain." Daniel said with a quick glance at Karka before continuing, "We're running out of options, and quickly. It is obvious they can hold us off while they complete whatever repairs they need to. If we don't get over there now we could loose them." A third volley of mines fell from the fleeing leviathan and once again the Helmsman had to manually 'fly' the Joyeuse out of harms way, "How the hell is something that big reaching high warp ! ... Can we pass them ?" he asked, his comment being met by a seemingly confused silence.
"Passing them isn't the issue." the Exec' commented, "It's the likelihood that that thing will run right over us without breaking stride if we get in the way."
"Mind explaining your thoughts on getting past them Commander ?" the Captain said, some sort of joint skepticism apparent between the two Senior Joyeuse Officers.
"Well, unless that ship is radically different from anything we know, and granted, it is just that, but I'm betting it has certain vital components in the usual places ...." Dan said asking for the theoretical external schematic of the ship they were chasing, "I'm guessing Bridge towards the front, drive systems towards the rear, with maybe six or more nacelles or their equivalent ... Allowing for the vast 'hanger bay' for want of a better description, we can 'guesstimate' where various systems would be located ... We begin our approach as if attempting to reopen our previous section of their shields, at the last moment we drop below them and increase speed. Target their lower shields and hit them hard. With luck we'll damage something vital to their survival. While they are keeping themselves alive we'll work our way through a secondary seemingly random, breach with a shuttle ......."
"Wouldn't hitting their life-support kill everyone, including our own people ?" the Exec' asked.
"Actually, I was hoping not. I'm guessing they don't remove crews from the vessels they take, so rupturing the Mother crafts life support would not affect any ships they have captured." Dan said, hoping he was right, but he could see the looks he was getting, "We begin our approach, fire and then drop below them as if expecting them to drop another cluster of mines ... The away team will be in the shuttle. When you make your run beneath them and weaken their hull shielding, the shuttle will back out of the Joyeuse and fall back, your secondary 'full' attack should keep them off us while we pass through their weakened shields ... Hopefully."
He and Karka looked at the Captain and waited ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 6, 2015 23:03:31 GMT
Karka arrived on the bridge, a little fazed by what'd happened in his quarters and now not sure he could absolutely trust anyone he came across while in proximity to the large vessel. He stepped up to the security officer's console to help with the internal scan. "Nothing," he reported after a few seconds. He brooded, clasping his hands together and tapping his lower lip with his index fingers.
"Hologram technology?" Dan asked.
"I don't believe so, sir," he said after a moment, "Although we shouldn't rule out the possibility. I do have a theory though, and it relates to why it has been so difficult to scan that ship out there, for power output, lifesigns, defence capability, even its exact size." Karka paused, aware that people of this era were not aware of or had not invented transphasic technology yet.
"It's possible the ship is using some sort of... transphasic technology to put itself partly in subspace at warp speed, why I don't know, but it would explain the readings. It might also explain the apparent intruder in my quarters a few moments ago, how it was able to negotiate the vacuum between us and its ship by way of subspace, using its transphased state as a shield against both vacuum and subspace vacuum. As for the Toshika 'entity's' words to me, I cannot explain."
It may well have made it back to the pursued craft by now, he thought, unless it was not detectable on internal sensors. As Schirra elaborated two ideas - one that the Joyeuse and its crew had been fully scanned, the other that the offending vessel had the Excalibur amongst its captives, if there were captives - Karka accessed the external sensors again, dictating to the console's controller a set of instructions for narrowing the parameters of the sensors to seek a very particular set of energy outputs. As the bemused officer entered the necessary commands, assuming that this advisor must've been appointed from some advanced R&D section of Starfleet Science, the bridge burst into activity as mines were found to be inbound from the ship ahead.
Karka focussed, helping the science officer complete the scan, and found a clear spike where he'd expected it to be in the spectrometry analysis. The ship was definitely using transphasic technology, and Karka was willing to hazard that the reason they were dropping mines was because their 'envoy' had returned to the ship and reported the news. Some sort of probe it had been perhaps, not actually wanting Karka to take over engineering and then instead choosing a random instruction when Karka had told it Chief Engineer Robertson was an able officer. It'd probably discovered during its short visit that Karka had discovered a way of potentially scanning the ship a lot more closely and at that point had vanished to warn its invisible, also likely transphased colleagues, unless it was the lone controller of the ship, or a representative, an avatar of the ship itself...?
The Joyeuse manoeuvred - the starfield rotating and yawing in hypnotic fashion on the viewscreen - ducking and diving away from the homing mines and eventually banking to a position several thousand kilometres to port of their quarry. Schirra outlined a plan to infiltrate the vessel, to find out perhaps if there was indeed a cluster of captured ships inside. It was almost quixotic in its ambition, Karka thought, but well thought out.
"Very well," Toshika announced, returning to the command chair and rotating to face the viewscreen leaning forward intently, "We shall do it your way. Helm, drift on a course slowly to starboard, so as not to appear suspicious or at least as little as we are able. Forty seconds passed and the behemoth 'ship', for it started to look less and less like a conventional mechanical vessel, was less than five hundred metres distant, or about twice the length of the Joyeuse.
Karka nodded to Dan, the two exiting the bridge to take the shuttle - that Karka felt it necessary to be on - into the gap that would soon be opened up, he hoped, by the Joyeuse's attack. The Hybrudean summoned Robertson from engineering for the shuttle journey, considering the irony - and the possible warning associated with it - that he was after all following the 'Toshika envoy's' instructions: he and Robertson both on an away team, of sorts.
With the advisors gone below, Toshika nodded at his XO, the XO having developed a telepathic understanding of the exact course of action Toshika intended to enact Schirra's plan. The XO stepped forward to the front two consoles, "Jump to warp 6, simultaneously manoeuvring to position us directly under the ship." They could see very little, only dark architecture in blues and greys but predominantly black that blotted out the stars above them. "Fire sequential volleys into different sections of the ventral side, then jump ahead to maximum warp velocity."
"We'll observe the shuttle's efforts from a distance of 200,000 kilometres," Toshika said, "Then fall back when we ascertain their situation. I needn't remind you it will be to either assist them or in the event of their loss, to evaluate our options, in which case we should get working on a contingency plan." The bridge set about their instructions.
Karka, Dan, Robertson, a science officer and two security officers boarded the shuttle Telemachus. The craft powered up in short order, it was backed out of the Joyeuse that was dwarfed by the uncertain form of the vessel above them. Two rapid volleys of phaser and torpedo fire from the Joyeuse predetermined the shuttle's course: towards the second weakened hull section. The question would be - in these instants when lightning quick judgement was required - whether the attack would've pierced only the shield or would've drilled right through the hull of the vessel itself.
The Telemachus was guided to the second hole in the shields, the Joyeuse it'd disembarked from already a rapidly shrinking dot out the forward viewer. Karka got the sense that the 3km ship was pondering, deep in thought as it observed the vessel that'd been hounding it disappear into the depths of warp before it; he wondered if it (or its crew) knew a small craft was about to enter through the ruptured shields of its underbelly.
<Tag Schirra>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 10, 2015 19:27:40 GMT
Guided to the rupture in the shields, the Telemachus watched the Joyeuse moving away ..... Sat beside Robertson, who was acting as Pilot, Dan wondered what they would find once through the shield.
"Fifteen seconds." Robertson informed them. Each subconsciously strengthened their grip on whatever they were holding, there was no way to know how the shield, or the shuttle for that matter, would react when they came into contact, "Five .... Three .... Hold tight." the Pilot said as they made contact with the enormous yet weakened shield ...
Half expecting to be thrown around the shuttle, they were somewhat surprised when the craft passed smoothly through, or more accurately 'entered' the barrier.
"I don't understand this, have we passed through ?" Robertson asked, checking his readouts with a puzzled frown.
"Scan ahead." Karka ordered, from the Tactical Station directly behind the Pilot's seat.
"According to this we're ....." Robertson began, pausing to re-check his readings, "We are 'INSIDE' the shield itself ... If I'm getting this right this barrier is almost five hundred meters in depth !"
"That can't be right surely ?" Dan asked, watching the milky whiteness outside the plexi-glass forward windows, "For a shield to be this deep would need almost limitless power generation, the logistics alone are staggering." he said, looking at the Chief Engineer who could only nod in agreement as he too scanned the area around the still travelling shuttle.
"Inner barrier wall in ten seconds." Robertson confirmed. Everyone fell silent this time as the Telemacus breached the inner 'wall' of the force field protecting the leviathan. To say they were dumbstruck at the sight that greeted them once through was the ultimate understatement ! ... Slowing to a complete stop, they looked out in awe at the sight ... Hundreds of vessels, countless designations, most of unknown origin. Dan wondered vaguely if these were holograms, or even miniatures of the original vessels, but Robertson quashed those notions quickly:
"We scanned the ship at what, just over three kilometers in length right ?"
"Yes ?" Dan said, turning to the Pilot.
"Then unless our sensors are completely off, our estimation was somewhat short."
"How short ?"
"Well, initial scans are picking up three thousand nine hundred plus ships, from one-man size craft, to things that would dwarf the Excalibur ... The furthest I have so far is ..... Eighteen point six 'million' kilometers." both Karka and Dan took turns trying to refute Robertson's readings, but despite all their efforts it seemed there was no errors, "Twenty one point four million kilometers, and I'm getting more craft, further out still, by the second, this just isn't right." he had been making further scans and finally asked them to look at something.
On screen there was a tactical view of their position in relation to the last known coordinates of the Joyeuse. Expanding forward of their position the 'funnel' neck, in which they seemed to be located, expanded exponentially.
"Oh hell !" Dan said quietly, then realizing everyone had turned at his comment, he continued, "Is it possible that 'The ship' .... Is not a ship in the sense we know it, but a portal, or doorway ? ... I know this sounds totally ridiculous, and feel free to break out the straight jacket, but hear me out for a moment OK, look at that profile, we're in the neck, so to speak, which at our location is approximately fifteen hundred meters in diameter, we know that as we're here and scans confirm the outer or rather inner wall of the force field, and this section,going off our external scans is approximately three thousand meters in length, again confirmed 'IF' we can believe our own equipment ... Yet, one hundred kilometers ahead of us, the neck begins to widen into, what, a limitless void ship of some form, another Universe, another Galaxy, another Dimension ?"
Lieutenant Vance, the Scientist assigned to the Away Team had thus far remained silent, but he had been working at his own station and offered his opinion:
"Rather than speculate, I suggest we search out the Excalibur and retreat, we can debate the philosophy of this craft, if indeed it be a craft and not what, with all due respect, Commander Schirra fancifully believes." he said, voice quivering as panic began to set in. Dan eyed Davis and Adams, the Security Officer's, who inconspicuously inched closer to the man, just in case.
"Robertson, any sign of the ship ?" Dan asked, still eyeing the Scientist.
"No, but I'm picking up something on, long range scanners." he said, still having trouble believing where they were, "Small craft, bigger than us and heading our way."
"Have they, it, picked us up ?" Dan asked quickly.
"Not as far as I can tell Sir, but hell, they could be looking right at us for all I know." Robertson said, shrugging.
"Can we maneuver ?" Schirra asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from the Pilot, "Right, move us behind that ship off our Port quarter, Keep that ship between us and them OK."
For ten minutes Robertson edged the Telemachus along the hull of the much larger vessel, so close that Dan feared he would collide on a couple of occasions. unable to relax they waited for the newcomer to either make it's presence felt, or depart when there was a sudden and unexpected explosion. Unmistakably a warp core or equivalent going critical. Robertson had to work quickly to stop their cover ramming right over them in the shock-wave. Finally he picked up the craft retreating back the way it had come. He moved the shuttle around the stern of their cover until they were clear ... The sight that greeted them was horrific...
One of the vessels, much larger than the Excalibur had been destroyed ... What their visitor wanted was unknown, but there was no words to be said as they watched hundreds of bodies, some untouched by the explosion, some burned beyond recognition, some with limbs missing, but they all had one thing in common .... They were all dead !
"We need to find the Excalibur and get the 'HELL' out of here." Vance said ..... No-one argued ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 17, 2015 22:15:27 GMT
.......... "We need to find the Excalibur and get the 'HELL' out of here." Vance said ..... No-one argued .......... oooOOOooo
Dan sat watching the almost hypnotic ballet of the hundreds of dead as they drifted around the Telemachus, he wanted to move, wanted to get the hell out of the area of deceased, but somewhere beyond the funnel was the Excalibur, or at least, he hoped so .... From what little they knew, there was a malevolent, hostile force taking ships seemingly at will. He needed to voice his thoughts .... "OK ... Before we go any further, I think we should all have our say on our situation ... As Ranking Officer I think I should go last, that way, each of you can have your say." "Sir, with respect, I'd like to hear what you have to say first." Lieutenant Vance said, the others nodding in agreement, so Dan continued: "Well, from what we have seen thus far ......" he began looking at them in turn before continuing, "The 'SHIP' is a physical construct, that much we know because we've damaged it ... My frustration due to a lack of knowledge on this topic is this, What I 'think' we are seeing is one end of a stable or, artificially generated Wormhole ! ... Be it from somewhere else in our Galaxy, or further it is impossible to ascertain at this point. But the obvious fact is that someone has the technology to not only keep a stable wormhole in place, but have, for all intents and purposes been able to link the furthest end of that conduit to a construct ... The power to hold open a wormhole is way beyond my knowledge so ..." "There is nothing known that can dictate the actions of a wormhole Commander." The Scientist Vance confirmed. Daniel continued: "First and foremost, our objective is to find and if possible, recover, the Excalibur .... Going off what our sensors are saying, we are possibly looking at the furthest end of our Galaxy, or, something else entirely. At this point we're in what I'm calling the 'neck' of the wormhole, but if we attempt to traverse further away from out ingress point, how will that affect us ? ... Will our weapons function ? ... Sensors ? ... Most importantly, our Engines !" "Sir ?" Lieutenant Adams, one of the Security Officers asked quietly, seeing all eyes focus on him, "If we turn about and leave, can we go back ? ........ What I'm getting at is, if we choose to go further into the, abyss, are we likely to get home ? ... Even if we find the Excalibur, who is to say that whoever is 'controlling' this thing, will not move the exit elsewhere. We could end up back here, or millions, billions of light years from home. I have a family Commander and would like to see them again. So I guess what I'm asking is, should we turn around and get help, or ...." "We can't go back." Robertson interrupted, "Whatever breech we produced to get in here has vanished. I couldn't tell you if we were mere meters from the inner shell, or in the center of next Galaxy or further. Our sensors cannot analyse the weapon used to destroy that ship and, kill, her crew. My opinion is, we go look for the Excalibur ... Once we find it we go stop this once and for all. God knows how many vessels, large small, unmanned, massively crewed, thay have taken, but it has to stop. Sir." he said, resignation of their situation oozing from his statement. "Anyone else ? Daniel asked, waiting for the next to voice their thoughts .......... < tag : All on the Telemachus > < tag : Commodore >
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 18, 2015 12:50:08 GMT
Karka thought about their situation... a possible other dimension - seemingly limitless space inside this behemoth of a vessel? That would certainly fit with the theory the ship was using transphasic technology. A wormhole, in the conventional sense, was more difficult to explain, as transphasics unless applied to another technology weren't capable of generating such a phenomenon. The transphasic method tended to induce an effect where the subject transcended the various phases matter could be placed in, and from there it carried that a portal into subspace in which lay a theoretically unlimited supply of energy could be created.
He said, "It's possible that this wormhole, if wormhole it is, is a portal not to another region of the galaxy or beyond, but a door into subspace... As Commander Schirra posited earlier, another dimension the size of our own universe, except one whose vacuum substance is that of what we call subspace."
Science officer Vance blustered in frustration, "Where are you getting this from, sir? Transphasics? There's no such thing. With respect, I'm not sure we should trust an engineer's fantasy which, it seems, is a rather... complex place. I wasn't chosen for the assistant Science Officer position on the Joyeuse for nothing, Commander Schirra... What Psonoir suggests has no basis in science."
Karka swung around to face Vance with a wry smile, "R&D at Starfleet Engineering Corps is a complex place, Lieutenant." It wasn't a lie, but SCE knew little if nothing at all about transphasics. "It's how the 'apparition' of Captain Toshika appeared in my quarters, who was from, I would suggest, the same place from which was detonated the warp core of that vessel out there."
"So, a suggestion...?" Vance asked, waving his arms in exasperation.
"We push on," Karka answered, "Using the ships out there as waypoints, yardsticks if you will. If we get lost, we can be sure at least that we're getting lost along with all the other vessels, or the ones we're closest to. I agree with Robertson, there's no way back, but then if I'm right, we won't be travelling far in space, and it's immaterial if we've materialised into another galaxy in these last few moments, as a dimension constituted entirely of subspace doesn't work by the same physical laws - in terms of distance, speed, properties of subatomics - as our normal universe. We could travel half a parsec and then in real terms find ourselves less than a micron from our starting position."
"One thing, if we do decide to progress, I recommend we deactivate our warp drive and run solely on impulse." Karka explained after the questioning looks, "It would remove one method of destruction the hidden commanders of this vessel, or realm, have used against the ships they'd apparently captured."
<Tag Schirra>
SS Mimosa Captain Jobson was beginning to boil with fury. His fingernails dug into the leather arm rests of his command chair, his face was red, squinting with his eyes bulging at the same time - virtually frothing at the mouth if his flight deck crew were to complete the picture.
"What do you mean the starboard rotational thruster is out?! I want to see that vessel. The first bit of interest we've had from that forest of lights out there and we can't damn well see it!"
The helmsman shrugged; there was little use repeating that the thruster was disabled, he couldn't put it any simpler.
The sensor controller intervened, "I'm sorry, skipper, we do have sensor data on it though. When it passed along our port side and put itself about 10 metres from our hull near the impulse engine, the ventral sensor array was able to make one comprehensive scan."
"And?!"
"It's a Starfleet shuttlecraft. Fully operational, besides some hull stress from passing through some sort of energy field. Six persons aboard," the sensor controller paused, "It's gone. Disappeared, in exactly the same way as the Constitution class did."
Jobson put his head in his hands. It frustrated him that the small shuttle had rounded his ship like a minnow round a whale and escaped without the Mimosa being able to make a visual identification. Could it be from that Constitution vessel? Were they being played with? Starfleet ships appearing and disappearing like phantasms in the dark. "The comm transceiver's still working I hope," he said, "Broadcast on a Starfleet frequency, the most current one we have, this distress signal in all directions: SS Mimosa, Federation chartered freighter previously en route from Starbase 47 to Purgatorio II, requesting urgent assistance. All main power out, warp engine non-functional; functioning on auxiliary. Please respond." He looked at the comm operator, "And repeat."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 19, 2015 22:18:22 GMT
"We push on." Karka answered, "Using the ships out there as waypoints, yardsticks if you will. If we get lost, we can be sure at least that we're getting lost along with all the other vessels, or the ones we're closest to ....." Dan listened to his Engineer and had to agree with his statement. After all, they had little choice but to push forward and find both their ship, AND a way out of this, thing they had entered. "OK, Mister Robertson, begin a track of our course, use the larger vessels as markers. Let's move further into the, abyss and see if we can find the Excalibur, keep sensors at maximum and keep a wary eye out for that visitor." For five minutes they moved from one vessel to the next, tacking much like old sixteenth century schooners moving against the wind. they tentatively scanned each ship for life-signs but could find none as they moved to their next way-point. He was already thinking that this method was going to take too long when Robertson suddenly spun to face the others: "Commander ! ...." he said, tapping several inputs in succession before the comm sprang to life. =^= SS Mimosa .. Federation chartered freighter previously en route to Purgatorio II .. Requesting urgent assistance .. All main power out .. Warp engine non-functional .. Auxiliary only .. Please respond =^=
=^= SS Mimosa .. Federation chartered freighter previously en route to Purgatorio II .. Requesting urgent assistance .. All main power out .. Warp engine non-functional .. Auxiliary only .. Please respond =^= "Mute." Schirra ordered, "Where's that coming from ?" =^= SS Mimosa .. Federation chartered freighter previo ...... =^=
"Sir, it is coming from that large vessel we hid behind earlier, but when we scanned there were zero life-signs, I'm sure of it." "Are we visible to them at this point ?" he asked, thinking quickly. "No Commander, there's a small derelict between us." "All stop ! .... Hold position here, and keep that wreck between us and them." he turned his seat to face the others, "There was no indication of life on that ship ten minutes ago, so how are they suddenly transmitting a distress call ?" "Automated ?" Robertson suggested. Lieutenant Adams, one of the Security Officers began checking the database: "Confirmed ... SS Mimosa ... Crew compliment eighteen. Lost contact en route to Puratorio II nine days ago." "So, theoretically, they have been in here for over a week, yet 'only' attempt a distress call minutes after we arrive ?" Lieutenant Davis, the other Security Officer glancing at each of them in turn skeptically, "I would recommend we ignore the Comm and move on ....... I imagine it is more than possible our destructive little friend will have picked that message up as we did and could be heading right back here as we speak. The last thing we need is to get into a fight we cannot hope to win ... Sir." he finished. "I agree !" Vance said quickly, but Dan held up a hand: "I appreciate the input Gentlemen, but someone has to make the decisions, and on this occasion, that's me." he said, eyeing the sensor display that was still showing only stationary or drifting vessels of all sizes, "I think it is obvious we cannot simply 'ignore' this distress call, but we need to ensure 'our' safety first and foremost. Is there 'any' way we can contact the Mimosa without giving away our own position ?" "For heavens SAKE !" Vance said, his earlier frustration emerging once more, "I am sure one of our 'Security' personnel are adept in covert communications, could we not allow one of them to make himself usefu ....." "We are 'Security' on a Star Ship, not covert operations in the field." Adams began, approaching Vance dangerously, but Davis put a hand out to stop him as he had a thought: "I'm not too sure how this would work in our current situation, but what about the emergency beacon ?" he said, working through his idea in his head before narrating it, "We deactivate the beacon itself but keep the transmitter active. Transport the deactivated beacon to our maximum range and allow it to triangulate on the incoming signal. Meantime, we hide. With a little luck, and ingenuity, we should be able to narrow our transmit signal enough to use it much like a laser, We find numerous 'reflective' surfaces, and we're obviously not short of them, then transmit a short, quick, reply to the message, just enough to confirm 'who' we are talking to." "Impossible !" Vance spat, "You will reveal our position and we will be floating along with those others. I will 'NOT' permit it, do you hea ...." Dan's fist impacting with his chin punctuated the end of the rant nicely. "What about the phasers ?" Davis suggested as he and Adams dragged the unconscious Scientist into the rear of the shuttle, "If we use them as a 'carrier' on their absolute lowest output setting, we could, theoretically, bounce the signal over any number of directional changes, and unless whoever is watching is looking for the exact frequency and directional vector, they could never trace back to the source. Karka ?" he said, looking at the Engineer for his opinion. < tag : Karka >"You have five." Dan said after Karka and Davis told him it 'could' be done but would take thirty minutes to make the modifications to the transmitter and targeting array. "Due to the fact that the phaser will be at it's lowest output setting, and allowing for nominal refraction from the intermediate surfaces, we are looking at less than five percent of the original message reaching it's target." Davis said, seeing the Engineer nod in agreement, "I hope they have someone watching their panels, because otherwise it will go completely unnoticed." "Just a Security Officer eh." Dan said, seeing Karka grin. "Sir, the message needs to be short and to the point." Davis said, ignoring the comment from Schirra, "We're ready to transmit when you are." "Just out of curiosity, how many times has this been bounced off other things before it 'hopefully' reaches the Mimosa ?" Dan asked. "Twelve, Commander, and there are two that will refract any incoming signal or trace attempt out into, whatever that is." Davis said, pointing out of the plexi-glass window, "Your message Sir ?" he said, firing the shuttles' phaser invisible at the power setting, but hopefully adequate to do the task required: =^= Cease transmission .. .. NOW ! =^= Robertson confirmed the carrier was sent and shut down the phasers, immediately restoring full operational status without asking as they waited nervously to see if their ingenious plan had worked .... Four times the message repeated then suddenly stopped. Dan asked Robertson to check long-range sensors. ... Nothing suddenly coming for them, death foremost in their minds, and now Dan realized they had another decision to make ... Do they go back to the Mimosa, or push on hoping the former wouldn't attempt anything following their decision .......... < tag Karka / Ryat (somewhere) >
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 20, 2015 18:39:37 GMT
"Why would they do that?" Jobson asked, peering in frustration at the message the ship had just received. "An attempt at communication, this stricken cramped heap of a vessel needing assistance... Some Starfleet officers they are! Unless, unless it's been hijacked... In which case, we're alone out here."
As Jobson considered this, a frown on his face as he sat back in the command chair, a grizzled voice from behind him spoke, "Hey! Skipper, sorry, but I've served on this ship since before you were born. Show some respect for your own ship and maybe she and her crew will start to respect you."
The man that'd spoken was a freight hauler veteran, had served on the Mimosa since its commissioning some thirty years ago. Jobson replied, "I was unaware, Mr Halmsley, that I was not respected."
"Umm, sir, it's possible," the comm officer spoke, "That the Starfleet craft knows something about this place we don't. Meaning, sir, that it's found evidence to suggest that comm silence is an absolute necessity. Something could be out there that reacts badly to any attempt at contact between vessels, perhaps to prohibit organisation of these vessels against it."
Jobson considered this, "Yes, you mean like the ship that was annihilated about half an hour ago, by the other ship that sped back towards the far wall of this... darkness." The sensor controller was about to interject but Jobson wouldn't allow him this luxury, "Well, I'm not willing to wait to find out exactly why our mysterious Starfleet craft found it necessary to silence us. Locate them, but repeat the signal ominidirectionally as before, adding this identification request, 'Transmit Starbase 47 Universal Identification Code.' If they're in this sector, it's a good chance they've come from Starbase 47."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
The Mimosa creaked about them, metal pipes that ran back along the ceiling from the front of the almost conically shaped flight-deck vibrating with some unknown mechanical turmoil below. Drops of sizzling plasma mixed with liquid helium coolant were released from the leaking valves in the pipes, striking the deck and burning through. It was lucky no one was hit by the lethal mixture.
Meanwhile, somewhere in a parallel subspace dimension, the Mimosa that the shuttle Telemachus had scanned drifted as a lifeless hulk, toppling end over end. No lifesigns remained aboard. Energetic plasma flowed from its near-depleted nacelle and spiralled out behind it in the internal space of the Great Machine, as the Mimosa fell towards the gravitational sinkhole and the sickening miasma of lurid colour that circled about it in a dance as slow as time.
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 20, 2015 18:42:03 GMT
OOC: See previous post for the Capt. Jobson on the Mimosa angle
Karka weighed up what was being said, finding that indeed Joyeuse officer Davis was proving much more a resourceful security officer than might've been thought. He could give Crewman Prescott from the Excalibur 'a run for his money' - another popular human idiom - when it came to knowledge above and beyond what duties should be his normal purview.
"The calculcations involved to bounce the minimal power phaser off several targets to reach the beacon will require some time to compute," he said, "Add to that the time to make the necessary modifications to the phaser bank... Could be thirty minutes, sir."
"You have five."
Karka smiled as he set to work - the same smile he'd given when Schirra had dealt Vance the upper cut that now had him out cold and recovering in the aft compartment. This race never ceased to amaze him - accounting of course for their multi-species Federation - in their often contradictory manner, from their sudden barbarity to their all humanist universal understanding, from the darkest nightmares of their real history to their quixotic dreams of the future. They should, he thought, be satisfied with this fine alliance of worlds and cultures they'd crafted over the last century, but their curiosity knew no bounds and they seemed ever willing to push at that final frontier, much, Karka had recognised, like his own race the Hybrudeans even in that distant 29th century.
"Five minutes since transmission of message, sir," Karka quietly alerted Schirra from the console behind engineer-turned-pilot Robertson. Schirra nodded and folded his arms. In the silence of the virtual vacuum they found themselves on the lip of, they had to trust in the Federation freighter to obey the instructions.
Davis nearly jumped from his console behind Schirra, "Commander, she's moving! If I've got the right ship, that is. The Mimosa is moving out from the 'tunnel' section where we first hid behind it. And they're transmitting back!"
Before either Joyeuse CO advisors Schirra or Psonoir could react an imposing craft shot out of the night ahead of them - a steely graphite grey dagger of a vessel with a pointed nose and angular hull surfaces running along its overall smoothly-shaped but jagged edged exterior. "Like a hedgehog," Karka heard Adams murmur.
Robertson, in a sort of angry resignation, "It's the same one as before! The one that obliterated that vessel's warp core." He checked over several alerts on his helm console, hands flicking switches and compressing buttons, "They've closed to within 7km of us, though not directly facing - "
A diffuse build up of white light in the middle prow section of the enigmatic vessel silenced them, then, as they were debating in murmurs about what to do, an arc of multidirectional phaser-like blasts shot out from the ball of spiralling light. One impacted, quite noticeably, on the upper surface of the shuttle, near to the cockpit section. Karka, rattling in his seat from the insane vibration and wondering how the weapon had so easily pierced their shields, was suddenly flattened to his console. The bulkhead above Karka's head had caved in and struck him on the back of his cranium; blood spattered about his tactical console.
<Tag Schirra>
Consciousness slipped away from him and he emerged as if he was on a turntable on a flat plateaux with highways cast in a dusty virtual blue. Hardly seen travellers - mostly vigilantes he guessed, disguised in their milky bubbles of anonymity - streamed back and forth along these wireframe-outlined conceptual avenues of the hyper-real - or the hyper-abstract, whichever terminology one wanted to go with. These were the spacetime highways, those passages through the four recognisable dimensions that were conceptually elevated from the bewildering matrix of particular spatial and temporal coordinates - in his mind, he'd just been separated and elevated from one such location: the... the... Telemachus? He couldn't rightly remember.
"He returns! Hahahaha!" Lirwa's hands were squeezed together in positive delight. Karka turned to face his Earth Middle Ages-obsessed friend with a look of drollness approaching boredom as Lirwa approached. "Well, Karka, either you're here because you've finished something or other, you want out of the game, or you've messed up. Royally - as, particular monarchic institutions in 17th century Earth would put it - messed up. Well?" he asked after Karka had refrained from responding.
"I... I can't remember. Something's wrong. The body I inhabit, it's losing brain function. I wouldn't be here otherwise. Something hit me... I saw human blood... My blood."
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 29, 2015 20:30:06 GMT
"It looks like they were listening, five minutes since we sent the message and ......" "Commander ! ... She's moving. If I've got the right ship, that is. The Mimosa is moving out from the 'tunnel' section where we first hid behind it, and they're transmitting back !" "Sir, we have company. The ship from before, it's back and seems to be arming whatever they use for weapons." "Shut everything down, including inertial dampers and life support ... NOW !" Dan hissed, watching the black ship begin to rotate on it's axis as if turning to return the way they came, but then the shuttle began to yaw to port and they lost sight of the behemoth. Suddenly they were hit ! ... Fires broke out on consoles and everyone grabbed extinguishers, but out of the corner of his eye he had seen Karka fall forward just before the upper bulkhead collapsed on top of him. Dan dragged the Engineer out and towards the rear of the shuttle. Artificial gravity was fluctuating wildly and one second he had purchase on the deck, the next his feet would lift away, only to be snatched back a second later ..... It took fifteen minutes to douse the fires and another five to ascertain Karka's injuries and treat the substantial wound on the back of his head. Lieutenant Adams was confident the Commander would recover, but informed Schirra that he needed rest for the next twelve hours. Dan knew they didn't have twelve hours to spare, and instructed Adams to do whatever he deemed necessary to get the Engineer on his feet in the next hour. Despite his protestations he began repairing the damage as quickly as he was able. Before they began to suffer from oxygen deprivation Dan ordered life support brought back on-line but nothing else. They were working by palm-light only and even though he knew it was difficult he couldn't risk the shuttle being discovered. Once Psonoir was stable, or as stable as the Security come Medic Officer could, Dan ordered the shuttle brought back up to full operating capacity. As internal lighting returned they could see the shuttle beginning to realign itself with the Galactic Plane ..... They quickly dragged the wrecked upper bulkhead away from the partially damaged Pilots controls. "Mister Robertson. See if we can still move this thing." Robertson sat in the Pilot's seat and checked the controls, satisfied he had control he confirmed this with Schirra, "Good ... Rotate the shuttle through three sixty degrees, we need to make a visual search for the Mimosa." Dan said, leaning close to the plexi-glass forward window, Vance and Davis took the side ports as the Telemachus turned full circle. Unfortunately there was no signs of the vessel they had warned to remain silent. "I'm not seeing any debris." Lieutenant Davis said from the Starboard port, "Maybe that destroyer vessel didn't hit them ?" "It is a possible yes. Bring sensors on-line. Make a passive scan of the area. Did we get a fix on where that thing came from ?" Dan ordered. "No sir, it appeared less than one hundred kilometers from our original position, some form of cloak maybe." Robertson confirmed, forcing Schirra to make a decision. "Set course for the interior. Half impulse ... We'll head in and see if we can pick up any signs of the Excalibur. Keep a close eye on those sensors Lieutenant, if our 'Destroyer' vessel reappears kill everything, let's hope they won't bother with a small drifting craft. Lieutenant Vance, check on our patient, I'd like him up and about as soon as possible." he said, turning away from the Scientist before he could voice his opinion, "Take us in Mister Robertson." ~~~~~ One hour later ~~~~~ The 'neck' was far behind them now, and Daniel was beginning to realize they their search for the Excalibur was getting harder and harder by every kilometer they traveled. They had scanned literally hundreds of vessels, some the size of the Telemachus herself, some a dozen times the size of the constitution Class Excalibur. Some were seemingly intact but lifeless, other's had obviously suffered various levels of damage, almost all seemed to be open to vacuum ! ..... His hope that Commodore Ryat had been able to leave evidence of their presence was gone, so it would be up to them to search out their vessel, or hope that they could do something themselves. Davis informed them that the 'Destroyer' had reappeared far behind them and he fired on two more of the vessels in the neck before vanishing without trace. Dan had no idea if any of those ships they hadn't scanned still had anyone aboard, and he didn't have time to worry about them. Their priority was the Excalibur ... Something else had been niggling at the back of his mind, and that was: even if they were to find the ship, intact and with the ship's crew safe and well, how would they return to their own Universe ? He could hear Karka, moaning in his sleep as his treatment took affect, and he pondered the thought that they may need to get closer to the 'Destroyers' than they wished ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 3, 2015 18:44:59 GMT
"Here, look at this," Lirwa said and regarded the overlit plain, seeing the low-domed structures on the other side and wanting to make off there. Karka who'd been looking upwards, at the white-gridlined blue of this plane's mathematical construct given pseudo-physical form, looked at the object that'd been placed in his hands - a wafer-thin slip of silicon, not unlike the device his Archive had used to implant the Evokes' computational matrix into his ganglia when he was six years old. Lirwa laughed, "It's a new thing. An innovation from the 31st. Given the right set of coordinates it can be transplanted into the mind of any living, roughly humanoid non-Hybrudean species."
Karka realised the potential of the device in an instant, "I can save the mission." He studied the silicon slip a moment longer, then frowned and put it to one side.
Lirwa suppressed a laugh, still regarding the far-off domes where this false temporary reality housed drop-outs, vigilantes, 'people of greater learning'... and the like. "The mission," he repeated. He turned back to Karka, rubbing his hands together, "You still want to go back there, to that very time, in that... machine with its multitudes of parallel realities, orthogonal overlapping constructs, mazes like an inverse game of Go, paradoxes denying 0 is not a prime -"
"The Starfleet officers trapped in that machine, in that gateway, are my friends. My comrades-in-arms," Psonoir spoke firmly.
Lirwa, intrigued raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Well, if you're so insistent on putting yourself back in that heinous ship-swallower then why not place yourself a few minutes before the catastrophe, avoid that unfortunate incident that put a dent in the back of your cranium and bring about their rescue that way?"
"We... rather I, during my time among them have played by their rules, mostly. I can't break them now just because their ship, the shuttle is in danger. It defies both Federation law and might I add, Hybrudean guidelines."
"Then there's only one alternative as I see it, Karka! Use that implant, put yourself in a colleague's body, take over their mind. They won't know the difference; they'll continue believing they control their own actions, their own destinies... What? Don't tell me. Free will? As long as they think and are sure they're making their own decisions, what's the difference? The two minds become identical, inseparable, much like the silly logic debated over 'identity' of people who use their transporters."
"It's immoral."
"By whose standards?" Lirwa demanded, sitting up, for the first time seeming to take serious interest in this exchange.
Karka opened his mouth but shut it again as soon as he'd formed the thought. Lirwa spoke calmly, "State the coordinates, I'll see to it you're taken back there." Karka took up the device, spoke silent words to his friend as the world space melted and dissolved around them, back into infinity to take up its place in the great Standing Wave.
Lieutenant Vance walked back into the main compartment of the shuttle, making to sit in the tactical console chair at first before remembering his allocated seat next to Lieutenant Davis who sat on the starboard side. "We're heading deeper in." It was half-phrased as a question.
Schirra and Robertson glared back at him, their responses exactly echoing each other, "Where the hell have you been, Vance?"
"No time to explain. What's that?" he asked, looking out the viewscreen that displayed an aft view and maintaining this officer's state of ignorance. Inside, the real Vance was satisfied with his actions - not overcome with the feeling of complete self-control, but then Karka doubted he ever really was. Actually he sensed panic in Vance, an agitated officer thrown into a situation beyond his control - Karka could only hope it was because of where he found himself, confronted with these ships that appeared out of the dark in a quirk of quasi-metaphysics, all signs of an exit lost; rather than the loss of his free will and having his actions from now on predetermined by Psonoir's invasive will. It would be a temporary arrangement, he decided, he couldn't let Vance's life go on like this.
Robertson's patience was being severely tested, "That, is the ship that's been decloaking and destroying vessels in here. We don't know why they're doing it, possibly because the destroyed vessels are communicating with one another and trying to organise, possibly they're being annihilated at random, possibly both. One thing we do know is that both the Destroyer vessel and its targets vanish completely after the attacks have been carried out, as if they never existed, going by our scanners."
"May I?" Vance asked, lowering himself into the tertiary chair (behind the pilot's) the bulkhead above which was still partially caved in - a sickening reminder. Schirra and Robertson looked at him askance. "I minored in Supralight Electrodynamics at the Academy," Psonoir/Vance explained, wincing at the pithy lie.
Schirra looked on with a sense of mild outrage, tracking with narrowed eyes the man he thought to be the scientist Vance as he worked the tertiary sensor console. "What's the condition of Mr Psonoir?" he demanded.
Karka/Vance turned from his station delicately (he would have to explain this all later when/if he was back properly in a new body), "I'm sorry, sir. Lieutenant Adams couldn't save him..." Everyone was silent for a few moments, disbelief pervading the cockpit. After several switch and dial adjustments Karka spoke again, "Sensors are reading an emission of tachyons of roughly the same dimension as the vessels that've been destroyed... Might indicate a cloak," he acknowledged, "However there's also a high concentration of tetryons binded to those tachyons... suggesting that instead of being destroyed utterly they may have passed through a layer of subspace, along with their destroyers... That's where the destroyers could be coming from."
"Any explanation for the Mimosa?"
Psonoir - in his blue uniform shirt - leaned back in his chair, "We may have to face the possibility, sirs, that it never existed."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 3, 2015 23:08:03 GMT
They were travelling at half impulse, a microscopic crawl in the scheme of things, but he wanted to be sure they could 'play dead' as quickly as possible if the need arose ... Scan after scan revealed nothing, each ship showed zero life-signs, no-one was left to help, or indeed, hinder, the Telemachus in their quest for the Excalibur. Dan was beginning to question the decision to pursue their current course of action ....
Lieutenant Vance suddenly appeared in the forward section of the shuttle, after inexplicably vanishing during their recent issues.
"Where the hell have you been, Vance, and what is the condition of Mr Psonoir ?"
"I'm sorry, Sir ..... But Lieutenant Adams couldn't save him ..."
Dan looked toward the back of the shuttle, knowing his friend was there, dead. Had he put these people in danger, 'YES !' ... That was part of being Star Fleet, and part of his role as Executive Officer. He'd sent men to their deaths before during Intelligence operations. He almost got up from his seat to go back and confirm the Engineers' death, but knew it would be futile and worrying to the remaining people on the shuttle, who after all, still had a job to do !
"Any explanation for the Mimosa?" Robertson asked, dragging Schirra out of his reverie. Psonoir, in his blue uniform shirt, leaned back in his chair:
"We may have to face the possibility, Sirs, that it never existed."
Daniels laughter reverberated throughout the shuttle, making everyone fall silent. He shook his head as if appreciating the funniest joke he had ever heard and acknowledging his appreciation of the teller. The very 'idea' that the Mimosa was a figment of their imagination was nothing short of preposterous ! ... After a full minute he managed to stem his laughter and focus his attention on Vance. For a second he wanted to jump out of his chair and throttle the man for his nonchalance and obvious belief in what he was saying, but he spoke to Robertson, eyes still locked on the Scientist:
"Do we still have a fix on the mimosa Lieutenant ?"
"Using passive scans only Commander, the mimosa is currently eight hundred seventy three kilometers astern. Minimal life-signs and it appears to be drifting uncontrollably." Dan looked at Vance, who seemed to be casual in his demeanor.
"From here on in, 'MISTER' Vance, keep your opinions to yourself." Dan said, trying hard not to punctuate the comment with a right hook, "Lieutenant Robertson, scan ahead, follow the tetryon / tachyon trail, but look for anything remotely comparable to the Excalibur. If you find anything change heading accordingly. I'll be in the back." he said with one last withering glare at the Scientist.
He couldn't, wouldn't believe that Karka had died, but his inert body there in front of him. He was still contemplating what had happened when Lieutenant Davis came back:
"Sir, you are needed up front."
"We are picking up what could be the Excalibur's transponder signal." Robertson said as Dan approached the cockpit area, "I can't be one hundred percent Commander, but I'd stake your life on it being our ship."
"Life-signs ?"
"No Sir, but at this distance, and the fact we're using passive scans, we could be missing a lot."
"Head for the Excalibur." he ordered instantly.
~~~~~
"Sir, I am picking up a .... Not sure but I think ..." Robertson was saying as his frustration was understandably building due to the passive scan order, "I can confirm that the ship is the Excalibur, but there is a vessel docked on her Port Saucer Section .... Identification .... Unknown." It was the first time since entering the bottleneck, that they had seen two ships joined, so why now, and why the Excalibur ?"
"Is the Excalibur's warp core on-line ?"
"No Sir." Robertson confirmed.
"Head for the ship .... Over-ride automated docking procedures, use authorization: 'Schirra Delta Two Two Omicron' ... Initiate docking at the Starboard Engineering Section forward port. Let's go see who is visiting." ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 4, 2015 21:27:03 GMT
"Head for the ship .... Over-ride automated docking procedures, use authorization: 'Schirra Delta Two Two Omicron' ... Initiate docking at the Starboard Engineering Section forward port. Let's go see who is visiting." ...... ooo000ooo The Telemachus was closing on the Excalibur as Lieutenant Robertson piloted ... Dan was still concerned at the absence of the Scientist Vance, and his mind continued to wander into the rear of the shuttle, and his friend. He watched the Constitution Class Star Ship still appreciative of her lines, the superb design, and the raw power she could harness. Yet here was a shadow ...... "Hold position here Lieutenant." Dan instructed Robertson, "Scan the Excalibur for life-signs, I want to know what's happening on there before we interrupt anyone." "Sir, passive scanning is showing us next to nothing." Davis said as Lieutenant Adams came up from the rear of the shuttle, resignation of not being able to save the Chief Engineer etched into his face, "I'll need to go to active scans if you want internal information." Dan placed a hand on Adams' shoulder for a second before replying. "No, we can't risk being discovered, it's bad enough that the Mimosa decided to come looking for us, and we dodged that 'Destroyer' vessel this time, but our luck won't hold out indefinitely. Proceed with docking Lieutenant." he heard a snort of derision and spun to face the man responsible: "You have another option 'Mister' Vance ?" he said, trying very hard to hod his annoyance in check, "If so, then please feel free to share it with the group." but the Scientist remained stolidly silent. Dan nodded for Robertson to continue. Schirra's override code, one obviously unfamiliar to the others, ensured that the ship did not notify any Bridge system's that something had established a hard-dock, thereby allowing anyone entry unannounced. Arming themselves with phasers from the armory safe, they waited while the lock cycled and the inner door signaled equalization of atmosphere. With Davis and Adam's in front, they opened the inner and outer doors, crouching as they stepped onto the Excalibur covering the inner lock from all angles before nodding for the others to exit the shuttle. He knew they could access the ships' computer from one of the Auxiliary Control Stations, the closest being only meters away, thus his choice of docking port. They moved quickly ..... "Try to access internal sensors." he asked Lieutenant Davis. "No go Commander, the ship is on minimal power for some reason. Life support, artificial gravity, and little much else Sir ... Guess we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way." he said with a wry grin. "So you are just going to roam around the ship hoping 'NOT' to run into whoever got here first, and by the way, could be responsible for the disappearance of the Crew !" Vance said almost unbelievably. Dan turned to look around the room and found what he was looking for: Picking up the stool he slammed it into the deck in front of the Scientist. "Feel free to wait here." he said, then turned to the others, "OK, let's do this with the minimum of fuss ... We'll head to Engineering first, while we're already here, then climb up to the Bridge ... Keep your eyes and ears open, whoever is on board may not be as fussy about going the 'shoot first and ask questions later' route. He glanced at Vance then motioned for the two Security Officers, Davis and Adams, to go first ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 10, 2015 19:40:29 GMT
Psonoir had found the best way to appear inconspicuous was to act in the manner of the body he'd inhabited, that of science officer Vance - unfortunately then he had to behave in the most annoying way possible, and had necessarily raised the ire of Commander Schirra. He bemoaned the fact it was Vance he'd had to take over, who'd not helped his situation by having already been punched in the face by the good Commander on this assignment.
Keeping up appearances - such as sneering when the order was given to dock the shuttle, and protesting about walking through the ship with potential enemies about - was proving dangerous to Karka and Vance's physical health. The chair that rebounded off the floor and narrowly missed him as it clattered down the corridor was a ready reminder, though he couldn't let it deter him...
With Schirra leading the two security officers to engineering, Karka/Vance looked back into the airlock where Robertson was still shutting down the shuttle's systems - the reason being, a powered-down shuttle, hard-docked with a lifeless Federation starship, wouldn't readily reveal itself to scans from beyond, would seem at first glance as just another part of the ship.
He tapped on Robertson's shoulder, "This way, Lieutenant... You're not staying with the shuttle are you?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" Robertson said, looking into the corridor scanning left and right.
Karka smiled inside; he couldn't help enjoying this though he would make full apology to Vance afterwards (and somehow swear him to secrecy). "They're gone, Lieutenant, off to engineering. Now, while I don't particularly want to follow them into this monstrosity - whatever it is, parallel universe or no... - " Robertson was staring at him in disbelief "- I do think exploring the ship's our best chance of ascertaining how exactly it got here and most importantly how to get it out. That ship docked on the other side, I didn't say this to the others, but it's a merchant craft; little in the way of internal space or defensive systems, however looks can be deceptive." He paused, smiled and continued. "The Destroyers as we've aptly named them, have shown themselves to be useful cloak and dagger operatives, disposed to stealth, therefore I suggest it's a possibility that they could be using that ship - "
Robertson pushed past him, "Yes... I get it. Where shall we go?"
"Towards the other docking port, and the merchant ship," Karka said it as if it was obvious.
Robertson stopped as Psonoir caught up to him. "Wait, just a moment ago you were making it abundantly clear that you wanted to stay as far away from potential hostiles as possible. Now you want to walk straight into the lion's den? This doesn't seem much like you Vance, I've got to say..." his eyes narrowed, "What game are you playing here?"
"No game. Only that I fooled the others regarding my cowardice because I didn't particularly want to go to engineering," he lied, "I have no problem going after the other ship... I was trained to a basic level in tactical studies just like everyone at the Academy." He was surprised Vance carried this reputation aboard the Joyeuse, of being an untrustworthy sort, a manipulator who avoids trouble.
* * * * *
They covered each other through each stretch of blind corridor and intersection 'til they reached the port side and were nearing the section where the 'merchant vessel' was docked. "I do respect you, Lieutenant." Karka/Vance said, speaking as one engineer to another. "Your work on the - on our ship, as engineering chief has been exceptional."
Robertson raised his eyebrows and readied his phaser, knowing this was a crucial phase - they'd detected lifesigns ahead, having been masked somehow (perhaps, Karka thought, because of passing through subspace... it was possible the ships in this region were flickering between different dimensions, the Mimosa being one of them, and possibly the Excalibur), "Well, let's hope you can begin, or continue," Robertson allowed, "To live up to the agreeable standard of your work on our vessel, Mr Vance."
His words died in his throat as several crouching figures approached from the other end of the corridor; the engineer immediately ducked behind cover. "Four of them, definitely merchants..."
"Though we don't know what the Destroyers look like," Karka said. He leant into the corridor slightly, seeing that the ragged and dark-clothed people approaching seemed much more interested in the detritus littered about this stretch of passageway, and appeared not to have noticed the two officers. "They're after supplies, whatever else they're doing..." He took out his phaser, pondering over what he might have to do... his ability to accelerate his consciousness had remained intact in transferring from his own body to Vance's; he'd be able to experience events unfolding in slow motion... the only down side being that he couldn't physically move any faster and would be stuck in the same slow motion as everyone else, but he would be able to evaluate real-time everything that was taking place, decide upon the correct course of action while the merchants were still stunned by their sudden appearance.
"I recommend you take the two on the right," he whispered to Robertson, "I'll take the two on the left, so you can watch my back."
Robertson rolled his eyes, "Right... Wait, what?! Are you mad?"
"No time to argue, Lieutenant. Non-lethal," Karka/Vance rose off his haunches and dived into the corridor, his immediate surroundings blurring in lines of perfect symmetry then slowing immensely into the surreal gradual movement of limbs and the decelerated vocal patterns as consciousness acceleration took hold. He aimed his phaser at the first merchant, who was just slowly withdrawing his weapon, and stunned him to the deck. The man's weapon rolled loose from his palm; Karka blinked, a Starfleet type II phaser. He ignored it, hearing the slow phaser discharges, hopefully of Robertson, from behind him, and pushed onto the other stunned 'merchant'.
Definitely strange - underneath the ragged furs and typical merchant wear - Karka could see patches of a red Starfleet uniform. He looked at the woman's face - it could be one of his engineering staff! he realised - but didn't recognise her... This was definitely one of the marauders - not the Destroyers, presumably - and the marauders had turned out to be Starfleet officers, by the looks of it, stranded here for a long time.
He knocked her to the ground with an upper-cut, apologising immediately afterwards as the vocal tonalities went up octaves and the disengagement sound of the consciousness acceleration drowned out his voice and her reply.
"Robertson!"
"Vance, these are Starfleet officers!"
"Yes..." Karka pulled back from the woman, allowing her to sit up against the wall. Oily grime covered her face and her eyes were sunken in their sockets. "Lieutenant Vance, USS Joyeuse. And yourself?"
"Tamarika... Ensign Tamarika Sulla, USS Tycho."
"How long have you been in here? Where is the Excalibur's crew?"
"I don't know why I should answer any of your questions..." Karka shook her by the furs she wore. "Four years! The Excalibur... It was deserted when we got here. We only came for supplies, rations, weapons, as we always do, in the effort to survive against..." she started coughing.
"Against whom?"
"Against that." Karka turned to look where she was pointing - a wall schematic, showing a rotating wireframe view of a Destroyer vessel and, next to it, an image of one of the lifeforms that presumably flew them. "They exist beyond a layer in subspace, another universe beyond that and which this mothership provides a gateway to... the further you go into that abyss, the more of them you encounter. We called them the Devastators, until we managed to decode a quick communication received by them while we still had the Tycho... They call themselves, roughly translated, the Whal-Riritika Mehhn."
"We called them the Destroyers," Karka/Vance said.
"The Destroyers," she echoed, smiling weakly.
"What happened to the Tycho?" Karka asked gently. Robertson, surprised by Vance's assertiveness, approached saying the others were unconscious. Karka nodded, replying they could wake them all in a moment once he'd had a chance to contact Schirra.
"That same comm where they revealed their name... It was a computer virus. It worked its way through our ship, augmenting the computer core with new subroutines... Ones that would issue commands that would irreversibly start a self-destruct sequence, by detonating the warp core."
Psonoir/Vance put in the necessary call, informing Schirra of the situation.
<Tag Schirra>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 12, 2015 0:42:39 GMT
Schirra, Davis, and Adams began heading for Engineering, Robertson would shut down the shuttle but in such a way they could restart and be gone if the need arose. He was more than happy to leave the annoying Vance with Robertson, though he did feel a little tinge of guilt for doing so ... The lighting was subdued, which didn't help, but they were cautious and well trained. Reaching Engineering, Lieutenant Adams headed straight for the core, turning to Schirra after only a few seconds and shaking his head while running a finger across his neck. The core was either dead, drained, or fully shut down, which explained the reduced lighting throughout the ships sections that had passed through.
"Any chance we could do a restart ?" he asked the Security Officer.
"You would know more than me on that Commander, but looking at these readings, the dilithium crystals are completely depleted, we would need to find replacements. To be honest, I'm surprised that even the basics are still operational." Davis said looking around the large area, "Artificial gravity, life support, they take some power ... I'd be tempted to get off while we have the chance. Reaching thw shuttle in complete darkness, no gravity, and loosing life support, could prove, problematical."
"How much time do we have ?" Lieutenant Adams asked.
"Thirty minutes, thirty hours, it is anyone's guess given the readings are showing reserve power was depleted over a week ago." Davis answered.
"Hold on. That can't be right." Dan said, moving to the console the two Security Officers were at, but according to the ships own systems, to all intents and purposes, the Excalibur died nine days before it even arrived, "Can you access anything else, records, ships logs ?"
"No Sir, they would have been locked out as the power began to be a problem." Daniel's Comm chirped to life before Davis could continue:
=^= Where are you Vance ! =^= Dan asked, listening with increasing annoyance at both the Scientist, and Robertson for going along with the man after being given orders to follow !
=^= How many ? =^=
=^= Four so far .. They say they are the only ones left and were just trying to survive .. Ensign Sulla of the USS Tycho is conscious and talking =^= Karka/Vance said, eyeing the woman.
=^= Has she they had contact with the Destroyers ? =^=
=^= They managed to decipher some text on that Commander .. They are called the 'Whal-Riritika-Mahhn' .. Bit of a mouth-full if you ask me =^=
=^= That's an understatement Mister Vance .. OK .. We'll designate the Destroyers as the 'Whal' from here on in .. As for Engineering it's the proverbial 'non-starter' .. .. .. Crystals are shot .. We're on reserve power though that apparently ran out over a week ago .. Stay where you are we will come to you .. And Lieutenant Vance .. .. .. .. Be there .. No more roaming .. Understood ! =^=
He closed the Comm then looked at his two companions and was about to say something when Adams' eyes widened ... Mistakenly, Dan thought he had seen something behind them and he dropped, spinning to face the way the Security Officer was looking, but the area was clear. Had he remained looking at the initially startled Adams, he would have seen the orange green bipedal form as he slammed something into the mans back before vanishing into the shadows. Adams fell to his knees, shock beginning to override his autonomic systems. Thankfully, Schirra and Davis got to him fact and stemmed the flow of blood and ensuring the mans life. Within minutes he could stand and move, albeit unsteadily ... They retreated into the Chief Engineers' office and closed the door ... Dan opened his communicator:
=^= Schirra to Robertson =^=
=^= Robertson Sir =^=
=^= Be aware Lieutenant .. Mister Adams has just been injured following an attack .. We believe it was carried out by a single unknown we designated the Whal .. There is at least one of them still aboard ..As much as I would like a talk with our attackers set your phaser to maximum .. If you need to fire then do so without hesitation .. If there is one left here there could be others .. We are en-route to you now .. Schirra out =^= He looked at Adams, who was back on his feet.
"Lieutenant, how are you feeling ?"
"Sore ... Whatever that 'thing' stabbed me with wasn't lethal, if I had to guess it was something improvised from what he, it, could get hold of, he hit the shoulder blade first, so no appreciable damage. I'll be fine with the meds Commander."
"OK, good. Let's join the others then get back to the shuttle."
"We're leaving ?" Davis asked, stunned.
"This isn't out Excalibur Lieutenant ... Lets go." Dan said quietly, hoping he was being convincing, because deep down he seriously doubted his own conviction on that statement ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 13, 2015 22:53:55 GMT
=^= ...If you need to fire then do so without hesitation .. If there is one left here there could be others .. We are en-route to you now .. Schirra out =^=
"One left, could be others...?" Karka murmured, "What does this mean?! Robertson, I know you're not a security officer but - "
"Calm down, Vance," Robertson approached, "I wouldn't worry about it. You've saved the day already, you don't need to show us any more of your heroics..."
Karka sat nearby the maintenance junction they'd emerged from when shooting the Tycho crewmen. It was an interesting game to play... When not to overextend himself, not to make it too obvious that something wasn't quite right with the - from what he'd gathered - timid Lieutenant Vance; when he should display a basic level of courage and security as would be expected of a Starfleet officer, and when he should go beyond his means in the event of strife to save these officers' lives - like with the Tycho crew just now, and like with the Whal-Riritika Mehhn they may soon encounter.
"But what if, if..." he started, before shaking his head and heading back to check on the Tycho crew. All were conscious now, and had been given rations out of Vance and Robertson's supplies - they were grossly malnourished. "Ensign Sulla. Tamarika?" he crouched down, smiling, "How is the food?"
"Better than the last three months, though old memories are coming back... Starfleet rations," she shook her head, then looked up at him, regret etched on her features, "I - We, are all deeply appreciative."
"We're Starfleet remember," he patted her on the fur-coated shoulder, his grin perhaps leaving Sulla with a sense of unease, "It's our duty to help those in need, right?" He got and stepped past her, "Oh, are there problems with your vessel's life support? Temperature regulators? I... or Lieutenant Robertson, may be able to help."
"We were hoping," one of the others, Crewman Parry spoke, "That we'd be able to join your crew... Our vessel is -"
Sulla silenced him, "We haven't agreed on that!" she rasped.
"Vance, if I may," Robertson approached him again, "We're wasting time. If we're to hold out here until Excal's XO arrives, we need to prepare for hostile contact; survey down either end of this passageway, consolidate our defensive position in case any of those... Whal-Riri..."
"Whal-Riritika Mehhn."
"Any of those... Whal decide they'd like to tackle us now instead of being kind enough to wait for Commander Schirra's team to arrive. Let's get these people organised. Hey, listen up, Tycho crew. Who is your CO?"
"I am, now," Ensign Sulla said, sitting on the floor with her back turned.
Robertson felt piercing sympathy for her position, before becoming stern again, "Are you Starfleet officers or aren't you? You're hungry, desperate, fighting for survival, we can understand that, but you've been here 4 years, only 4 years. Now, would be a good time to remember your oath to Starfleet. Get on your feet, muster your weapons and prepare to defend yourselves."
With just a couple minutes remaining until Schirra was due, an unearthly scream reverberated down the corridor, from the direction Karka and Robertson had approached the Tycho crew. Then, before they had a chance to react, a green-orange thing - a lifeform, dropped down from above, out of the maintenance junction's vertical Jeffries' Tube hatch... Karka pivoted, raising his phaser and shot the lifeform in the chest... The creature looked conspicuously like the diagram of the Whal on the wall panel next to the Destroyer ship. He was alarmed as his two second burst became a sustained beam of fifteen seconds - the force of the weapon only just holding the screaming monstrosity back - until it eventually started drilling through the Whal's torso after which it slumped to the deck a mass of sticky limbs from amongst which escaped a pitiable groan.
Robertson was staring at him in shock, caught between appreciation of the action and revulsion at what Karka/Vance had to do to the Whal. "Only kill setting works," Psonoir offered, turning back to the unfortunate work and feeling a strangely potent empathy for this species.
Green globular, gelatinous pellets were being pelted into their defensive area, exploding seconds later; two had struck Tycho crew who rolled about screaming - blood scarlet marks had been left in their furs and skin, perhaps some sort of corrosive agent. Phaser fire was exchanged with the pellet lobbing, screams of the Whal drowning out all.
"Little chance of us holding out here... Come on, Commander..." Karka murmured, twisting and firing on the run at the insurgent Whal, thinking where Schirra might be. He weighed up the options, their probability of survival... Perhaps there was something his Starfleet colleagues weren't seeing. He eyed the next section, just down the passage, seeing the airlock to the Tycho crew's raider vessel and shouting back, "I'm not hanging around, Robertson. The Tycho ship's our best chance to get out of here alive!" and he ran off down the corridor.
More Whal came out of the Jefferies' Tube hatch; once dispatched, Robertson withdrew a phase grenade and at the next opening of the hatch, lobbed it up inside and then slammed the 'hatch closed' button. A snap of multidirectional phaser energy was heard within. He turned, furious at what he'd just heard from the scientist, "You bleeding coward, get back here!" Robertson stumbled after him while the Tycho crew kept up the valiant defence effort, "Vance!"
<Tag Schirra>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 19, 2015 23:38:04 GMT
Rushing through the ship, Daniel had the feeling this wasn't going to end well ....
They heard the inhuman screams well before they reached the area and he held up a hand for Adams to rest while he took out his Communicator and flicked it open:
=^= Schirra to Robertson =^=
=^= Robertson Sir .. We're under fire here from those 'Whal' characters .. They can resist all but the highest setting on our phasers =^= the Comm went quiet save for the sounds of phaser-fire then what sounded like a muffled bang.
=^= Who's with you now Lieutenant ? =^= Schirra asked.
=^= Myself .. Lieutenant Davis .. Two of the Tycho crew .. Ensign Sulla and Crewman Perry .. .. .. Lieutenant Vance took off a few seconds ago but we were pinned and couldn't go after him Commander =^=
Daniel swore under his breath as Lieutenant Adams shook his head, hardly surprised at the conduct of the Scientist. He was no field operative and truth be known he had been thrown headfirst into this situation, that didn't excuse his actions, and his fleeing leaving his fellow Officers to fend for themselves was tantamount to ...
=^= Any chance we can find him ?" Schirra asked.
=^= He was heading for the Whal vessel Commander .. God-knows why .. Maybe he thought if they were here killing us they wouldn't be there killing him .. You're guess is as good as mine on that Sir =^=
Leaning against the bulkhead, frustration seething through every fiber of his mind, Dan had to make a decision: Go after the Scientist and risk possible capture or worse, or order Robertson to get to the shuttle with the other's then they could leave, come around and blow the 'fake' Excalibur to kingdom-come ! ... But he had to consider the possibility that even though this was not 'their' Excalibur, it could prove to be the only way they had to return from the funnel ... He seriously doubted the shuttle had the power to break out, and wasn't convinced the warp core of the Constitution Class Excalibur had either ... One thing was certain, he wasn't leaving a fully operational Star Ship for anyone to acquire, he would set the self-destruct and blow it to atoms first !
"Sir ....." Adams said, "This Excalibur has power, albeit reduced. I think, if we can get to the transporter room we could locate Vance. Transport him direct to the shuttle then hoof it there ourselves."
=^= Did you get that Lieutenant ? =^= he asked Robertson.
=^= Yes Sir .. Though we are closer to the Transporter room than you are .. My suggestion would be you meet up with the Tycho crew midway to the Telemachus .. I'll go to the transporter room and snatch up .. 'Mister' Vance .. I can beam us both back from there .. .. As long as the Lieutenant is 'cooperative' of course =^= he finished darkly.
=^= Denied .. you'll ge =^= Dan began, but Robertson interrupted him instantly.
=^= With 'ALL' due respect Commander .. I am thirty meters from the transporter room .. My best guess puts you almost three hundred meters .. My chances of getting their and 'back' are exponentially better than yours are .. Especially given we have zero idea just how many of those Whal are on board .. There could be dozens between you and the transporter Sir =^= reluctantly, he had to agree with the Security Officers' assessment, Adams confirming his colleague was right by nodding.
=^= OK .. Agreed Lieutenant .. Send Davis and the Tycho people to the Telemachus .. Lieutenant Adams and I will set proximity mines in the adjoining corridors just in case the Whal try to follow us .. If .. And 'ONLY' if .. You have a positive lock on both yourself and Vance signal us you are on your way .. We'll uncouple from the Excalibur and move away .. I want to destroy their ship once we have everyone aboard .. I doubt they could operate the Excal' even if it had full power so let's make it hard as hell for them to come after us OK .. .. Good luck lieutenant .. Schirra out =^=
He closed the communicator and returned it to his pocket:
"How you feeling Lieutenant ?"
"Well, I have lost all feeling in the shoulder and my arm is getting number by the second ... Oh, and I need a haircut." Adams said, a worried grin forming as he got to his feet and headed down the corridor. Schirra shook his head then followed, checking behind him every few seconds 'just to be on the safe side' he thought to himself as they moved off. Ten minutes later his communicator chirped to life:
=^= Davis to Schirra .. .. Commander .. My tricorder shows two life-signs both Human fourteen meters away from my location .. I am hoping that it is you and Lieutenant Adams or we are about to step out of the proverbial frying pan and into .. .. .. =^= he stopped speaking as he cautiously glanced around the corner of the junction they had reached, relieved to find himself looking at the business end of two Federation phasers. He stepped out into the open as Daniel and Adams lowered their weapons.
"Good to see you both." Davis said, "Ensign Sulla and Crewman Perry of the Tycho ..... Commander Schirra and Lieutenant Adams." Davis said making the introductions, but Sulla was looking at Adams, or more specifically, at the bandaged wound to his shoulder. She approached him and began to check the area. Schirra nodded to Adams to allow it. She pulled back the webbing and stepped back:
"How did this happen, were you attacked physically or hit by projectile fire ?" she asked urgently, but lost patience inside the first second, "Knife wound or something else ... 'NOW' Lieutenant, our lives depend on it !"
"Some sort of knife, but it didn't do too much dama ......" Adams began, but Sulla was already stepping away, eyes darting left and right in fear.
"What does the nature of the wound have to do wi ....." Dan began but Sulla spun to face him.
"The 'Feeders' as we called them, 'mark' their target hoping it will return to the group, thus providing much more for their community. This is eighty percent speculation of course, but the facts don't lie. We were either extremely unlucky, or the feeders knew exactly where we were at all times, and simply picked us off one by one." she said, but seeing Schirra's doubt she continued, "From what we could gather, before the rest vanished of course, is that they implant some sort of pheromone into the subject. Once in a group, the pheromone is transmitted to others by proximity, most likely through the sweat glands we think. Either way, anyone coming into contact with a wounder colleague is pretty much fodder the second they breath in the victims air, or transfer sweat while trying to treat the wound."
"It wasn't that bad. The Whal hardly scra ..." Adams said, with a sudden sense of foreboding.
"Exactly ...." Sulla confirmed, "They don't want to kill you outright, just injure you enough to go seek help .... We need to get the hell out of here Commander, and quickly !" she said darting glances left and right constantly.
"Let's go." Dan said without hesitation ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Sept 25, 2015 23:18:26 GMT
Karka had managed to get to the raider vessel without incident; he knew Whal were in the immediate vicinity from the incessant screams that pierced the air. The thundering footsteps of Robertson following him had quickly receded, and now he had what he presumed to be the Tycho's raider ship's airlock before him. Entering, he found an abandoned storage room, then thinking the vessel to be empty, he stepped into the cockpit - pushing back sticky cobwebs, and found a live pilot! His gold uniform blazed under the heavy furs he wore... Clearly another member of the Tycho crew.
"So they left you to guard the ship," Karka/Vance said, lowering his phaser, "A rational decision."
"Who are you?!" the man cowered, backing up against the starboard side console and the window into space beyond. The other side of the cockpit showed the duranium grey surface of the Excalibur the Tycho ship remained in hard dock with.
"Pull yourself together," Karka ordered, making the man stand up, "Name and rank." If they could see me now, he thought, smiling wryly and likely confusing the Tycho pilot further.
"Ensign Harty, second ranked helmsman of the ill-fated USS Tycho."
"Lieutenant Commander Karka Psonoir," he answered, "On assignment with the USS Joyeuse as..." Face suddenly frozen in a sort of mock muted horror, he retracted his statement, "Sorry, I have a strange imagination. That man is recently deceased so please forgive me and don't speak of it in front of my fellow officers. I'm Lieutenant... Vance. That will have to do. Of the USS Joyeuse... We've come to find the USS Excalibur, and apparently," he said, sitting in the co-pilot's chair, "So have you."
"We came for supplies," the pilot said grudgingly, "We're grateful for your rescue."
"Please, don't mention it. I had to fight off half the Whal on this vessel, cut off from the others, managed to dispatch twenty of them while holed up in a Jefferies' Tube." Karka looked blankly at the console, "Ensign Harty, I don't know where you got this craft, but I'm ordering you to undock it, now. Before you object, your fellow shipmates are safe."
Harty sat back and folded his arms. "What assurances do I have of that?"
"My word only. Please, excuse me a moment," he turned to the console on his left, "I'm guessing this is this ship's navigational deflector control?" he said after a moment. Receiving an affirmative he nodded and began accessing the system that allowed rotation of the deflector dish, aiming it towards the Excalibur.
Harty looked suspiciously over his shoulder, "What are you doing?"
"If I direct a tau neutrino burst through the navigational deflector, sustained for twenty seconds and modulated according to the Excalibur's shield frequency, I should be able to stun all the Whal on board, paralysing them for roughly a minute. Their brain synapses seem to work in such a way that they're susceptible to heavy mass neutrinos, petrifying the neurons for a short amount of time, hopefully long enough to allow both the Joyeuse and Tycho crews to escape."
Harty sat back, dubious, "And how did you work this out? How much access have you had to the Feeders...? We took a dead one aboard the Tycho, dissected it and forty minutes later all the medical staff working on the autopsy in our sickbay were dead."
"That's tragic, obviously, Ensign." Karka/Vance swallowed, "I'm sorry for the loss of your crew. Let's just say I, or we, have access to certain information regarding brain wave patterns of exotic species from alternate dimensions such as these. The Whal-Riritika-Mehhn appear to be a dangerous form of life, as you've discovered..."
A transporter effect started rippling across his body, "Oh... No, not now..." he murmured, working at the controls faster. "Ensign, can you try blocking that transporter beam?" Harty grunted in the affirmative, still unsure whether or not he was being misled, and soon the effect began dissipating from Karka's body. "They're trying to get me back... Just let me finish." Then as the transporter came again Karka input the final command and gripped on to Harty's arm as both were washed away in the transporter's golden haze...
* * * * *
He blinked, seeing Robertson before him - they were in the Excal transporter room. "Vance. Sorry, I don't know what happened, I had trouble stabilising the beam. No, stay right there." Robertson jumped out from behind transporter console and joined him and Harty on the pad, "You're in a lot of trouble... You risked your neck and ours, for what?" He glanced at the Tycho officer, "I see you've brought a friend."
They arrived back on the Telemachus, Karka taking one of the passenger seats, glad to see that all had made it relatively unscathed. "Commander," he addressed Schirra, "We now have a weapon with which to fight the Whal... A quite effective stun weapon if I may say so, if you saw it in action." Karka's attempt at showing Vance's self-satisfaction seemed to work quite well.
Meanwhile, out in the space where dimensions began to merge, became entangled with one another on the quantum level - deep into this other universe accessed by the 3km ship - the Whal vessels continued their crossing back and forth from the core of the region of space they'd subsumed to the ship/tunnel that led ships into this realm, dispatching the vessels beached there, for sport, for growing their population, and for preparing an invasion of unprecedented scale on the inhabitants of the Milky Way galaxy.
The SS Mimosa drifted silently into this expanse, Captain Jobson knowing their time was limited as those mysterious dagger-like ships started materialising out of the vacuum ahead of them. "Prepare point defence weaponry," he ordered, "Take out as many of them as we can."
"Aye, skipper." The Mimosa pitched on its rotational thrusters, manoeuvring, hunkering down as it drifted at high velocity into the core of Whal territory, dagger ships and twelve limbed lifeforms that could survive in vacuum floating before them eclipsing the strange stars, and clamping themselves onto the hull, metallic thuds heard throughout the beleaguered freighter.
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Sept 27, 2015 20:07:41 GMT
Having barely made it back to the Telemachus, Daniel was in no mood for Vance's sarcasm. So when he 'boasted' about having a weapon that would kill the Whal he spun on the man:
"I am going to say this once, and once only 'MISTER' Vance ..... If you have a suggestion, or actual fact regarding a means to kill or incapacitate the Whal, then please feel free to share with the group. But if you speak so condescendingly to myself, or any member of the crew, including our guests, I will place you on charges of insubordination and instruct Lieutenant Davis to secure you at the rear of this craft for the duration. Do we understand each other ?"
"I believe we do .... Commander." Vance said neutrally, "Now, if I may divulge my system for dealing with the Whal ... I used a ...."
"We're past putting them to sleep Lieutenant Vance. I too have an idea for killing off the Whal, at least those on board the duplicate Excalibur." Dan said, turning to the man in the Pilot's seat, "Lieutenant, open a channel to the ship."
"Open." Adam's confirmed. Dan entered the ships' five digit numeric override code, hoping that too was duplicated from their own Excalibur, a gentle beep confirmed he had assess:
=^= USS Excalibur .. Commander Daniel Schirra Executive Officer .. Request tie-in to main Computer =^=
=^= Request acknowledged =^= the ship replied.
=^= Computer .. .. Initiate Self Destruct protocol =^=
=^= Three Command Officers are required to initiate thirty second countdown .. Please state Name .. Rank .. Command Authorization to initiate =^=
"You can't blow it up !" Vance shouted, trying to stand but feeling Lieutenant Davis' grip on his shoulder tightening, "It might be the only way we have of getting out of here you fool !"
"If he speaks again, knock him out." Schirra said.
=^= Daniel Schirra .. Commander .. Executive Officer .. Authorization .. Pi-Sigma-Four-Seven-Lambda =^= he looked at Adams:
=^= Mark Adams .. Lieutenant .. Security Officer .. Authorization .. Delta-Nine-Three-Omega =^= Dan looked at Davis:
=^= Steven Davis .. Lieutenant .. Security Officer .. Authorization .. Delta-Two-Seven-Theta =^=
=^= Awaiting confirmation code to initiate =^= the Excalibur's computer said almost casually. Dan looked at the others then replied:
=^= Authorization .. .. .. Omicron-Omicron-Red-Two-Two - - - Initiate =^=
=^= Thirty second countdown has begun .. There will be no further warning .. .. .. Caution .. .. .. Vessel is in close proximity .. Recommend minimum five thousand kilometers for safe detonation =^=
"Move us away." Dan said quietly.
The explosion was more intense than he had expected. Maybe it was the fact that the other ship was still docked, he didn't know, but either way he thought that the next Excalibur they encountered 'had' to be their Excalibur.
"You realize that ever ....." Vance began, but was cut short by the blow to the back of his neck which knocked him out cold. Unfortunately, or not, depending on you point of view at the time, Lieutenant Davis couldn't prevent the obnoxious man from falling face-first into the deck ... He awoke maybe ten minutes later and realized they were underway. Tentatively, he swung his legs off the bunk as Davis eyed him.
"He's awake Commander." the Security Officer said without taking his eyes off Vance. Dan came back from the pilots seats:
"Ahh, you're awake, good. Now care to share your idea with the group ?"
"You incompit ....." he began, but sensed rather than saw Davis inching closer, so changed tack, "You realize every Whal vessel will have picked up the explosion I assume ?"
"Yes, but why would they care, it's just another destroyed ship as far as they are concerned, and unless the Whal on board managed to get a message out, no-one knows we're still around .... Do they." Dan said, hoping his outward confidence hid his inner concern at their situation ..........
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