Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 2, 2015 3:41:11 GMT
"Are you sure this is what you want, Karka?" Lirwa looked down concernedly at his friend. The lights of the Archive around them seemed terribly distant all of a sudden - an effect of coming temporal displacement, Karka knew. The objects moving silently through the giant atrium surrounded by its cerulean pseudo-glass complex seemed to draw the eye all the more.
He sighed, "There's little other choice." Makar had left their company some minutes ago, Karka and Lirwa intuitively being able to tell that he planned to make the trip to the 23rd century in the coming minutes. In light of the realisation, they immediately set about preparing to have Karka taken back there as well. He lay on the transparent surface, light pulsating in hypnotic rhythm up through it and into the nodes at his back, sustaining his life. Humans were not designed to live in archives.
He felt the throb through his back fading and the light dimming as his body levitated and began entering, head-first, a Being Tunnel.
He heard Lirwa's ever more distant voice, "You know, friend, these things remind me of submarines, human made submarines. Their torpedo tubes, are delivered their deadly cargo in order to fire it against the hull of another ocean going vessel... Aim for the USS Confederate this time." He heard the Hybrudean's laugh fading as he fell down the infinite tunnel and then his mind vanished.
He barrelled through nothingness, an absence of reality given form only by its enfolding of itself within his own mind. Closing his eyes, he waited for the experience to be over - he had been through this many times and each was as dissatisfying as the last. Such emptiness! Not even the feeling of air rushing past, raising hairs on his skin, due of course to the absence of anything to resist his literal perpetual motion.
Now voices and the sounds of machinery rushed about him, fleeting to his sensorial experience; his psychic imprint was left on all of it as he continued his spaceless journey.
He made a sharp intake of breath, seeing the transparent aluminium of the cryo-stasis unit. Somewhere, banished to a dimensionless vacuum, there hung suspended a dead and frozen human body. The unit thrummed around him; he felt its icy cold, and pushed the button in the interior to halt the cooling process. Then releasing the catch, he sat up and stepped onto the floor of the bridge of the Federation class dreadnought. A turbolift door opened. Karka looked up, seeing standing there silhouetted against the luminous background...
Vance clawed his way along the corridors of the Confederate, tears streaking down his face as the borderline psychosis that'd seemed to envelop him reached a frightening crescendo. He was heading in the direction of the bridge, the word 'bridge' - in Karka Psonoir's voice - repeating again and again in his mind 'til the point where it had lost all meaning.
Something dark and unknown dwelled beneath, passing silently through the corridors in a conceptual maze. Its presence frightened the scientist away as if by its very nature it repelled - a magnetic opposite to the entity of Psonoir that had set itself up in Vances' head, had even taken it over for a brief time.
This was his plan, he thought then, fighting through the haze of the alternate internal monologue that sparred didactically with his own. Psonoir plans to return, but to fight Makar from within my own body. He steeled himself, knowing that very soon control of his motor functions even his thoughts would be stolen from him once again, yet also knowing it was essential for the survival of his shipmates, of Commander Schirra and his CO, and of the Tycho's survivors. If Karka in Vance's body couldn't stop Makar, all the Whal within a radius of a hundred lightyears would close on this position to receive their figurehead god, the divine messenger of the long dead Lletia - likely an ancient species whose own laboratory creations had outlived and subsequently deified them. The Telemachus, the Bell and the Excalibur itself wouldn't stand a chance before so much gathered might.
As he neared the port turbolift the most liberating thing happened; the voice in his mind faded, dissipated as if it was receding from him down a long and narrow tunnel. He knew his freedom would be short-lived; this was surely the precursor to Karka's renewed dominance over his body. He closed his eyes, wiping away the tears as a silence descended all around him, all the sounds of the ship muted themselves and the corridor seemed deserted, as if there was such a thing as negative-emptiness. The dread enveloped him, but not from the source he expected; the silent presence of the unknown was running a course parallel to him, rounding a corridor, a dark gaze, a menacing spectre approaching the ship's starboard turbolift.
The calmness of the terror was disrupted by a sudden shunt Vance heard from far down the corridor, and all of reality was brought into needle-sharp focus. He looked around in horror as the blown hatch sprung into the vacuum. Air gusted out of the breach in the hull lifting Vance from his feet, and along with all the breathable air he was evacuated through the breach into the starless infinity. He was dead before the transporter took him.
The Telemachus received a hail from the Confederate - the shuttle's phasers now locked onto the unshielded dreadnought's engineering section, while the body of Lieutenant Vance was being covered with a sheet and taken into the aft compartment - and Karka Psonoir's weak voice came over the comm, "Commander Schirra... Psonoir here. You may me beam me aboard. The Whal's messenger deity has been defeated. They will not be bothering us, for at least the time it will take for us to get back to the Excalibur."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Nov 8, 2015 15:54:49 GMT
"Rotate us one eighty degrees. Lock phasers on the Confederate' Engineering Section." Dan ordered, "If anyone but Vance attempts to leave that ship, blow it the hell up !"
"Sir, with all due respect ...." Davis began, but Schirra interrupted him:
"Thirty minutes Lieutenant, then we blow the Confederate and get out of here."
~~~~~~~~~~
They had had no contact with Vance, or anyone else and he was beginning to think they would need to destroy the other ship to at least give them more chance to reach the Excalibur. He glanced at the chronometer which told him they had less than ten minutes before his imposed deadline. They had retrieved the dead body of Lieutenant Vance moments after witnessing the sudden decompression of a section of the Confederate and were placing it into cryo-storage when the Comm crackled to life:
=^= Commander Schirra .. .. Psonoir here .. You may me beam me aboard .. The Whal's messenger deity has been defeated .. .. They will not be bothering us for at least the time it will take for us to get back to the Excalibur =^=
Everyone turned to face Schirra, who was understandably reluctant to believe what he was hearing. After all, the Commander was, was what, dead ? .... He replied to the Comm tentatively:
=^= Commander Psonoir .. .. Hearing your voice has come as somewhat of a surprise over here .. Mind explaining how you managed to be up and around given your condition thirty minutes ago ? =^=
= It's .. .. A long story Dan .. One I am more than willing to narrate once we are free and safe .. But my killing of the Diety 'will' eventually be discovered and I have the feeling the Whal will be most anxious to apprehend those responsible .. .. .. I assure you there is no danger in recovering me but if you prefer to air on the cauti .. .. .. =^=
"Lieutenant Davis, establish a Level Four containment field around the transporter ... Lock onto, Commander Psonoir and beam him aboard." Dan said quietly as the Psonoir persona continued to speak.
"Caution, I am more than willing to remai ....." Psonoir stopped talking as he realized he was now aboard the Telemachus. He reached out tentatively until his finger tips touched the force-field.
"Is it him ?" Sulla asked, eyeing the newcomer up and down.
"Scan's confirm it 'is' Commander Schirra." Robertson confirmed with a shrug.
"Drop the confinement field." Dan said, nodding to Lieutenant Davis' sidearm. The Security Officer took the phaser from his belt but held it behind his back, knowing he could act instantly should 'this' Psonoir turn out to be the wrong one.
"Daniel ..." Karka said, "We need to move away from the Confederate. If any of the Whal turn up they won't be too happy about what I have done." It took Schirra a long moment before he replied:
"Lieutenant Robertson, set course for the Excalibur, full impulse until we're well clear of of the Confederate, then go to warp three ..... Dan said, sitting himself back down and nodding to Davis to relax, "You 'ARE' going to need to explain this in some detail once we get the opportunity."
"I will ....." Karka said, sitting himself at one of the vacant stations .......
Sixteen hours later ::
"I'm picking up a Constitution Class vessel Commander." Robertson informed him, "Nothing else on long-range scans ... I can't pick up any Ident' from the ship so it's transceiver may be off-line."
"Are you picking up any power signature at all ?" Dan asked, glancing back at the still lethargic Commodore Ryat.
"Nothing ... I can check again as we close the distance, but I have the feeling we'll need to hard-dock and check internal systems then."
"OK ... Head for the main dorsal docking hatch ....."
After agonizing moments, the Shuttle Telemachus finally docked with her home vessel ..........
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 10, 2015 13:34:15 GMT
He boarded the Constitution class; it was indeed the Excalibur, this body had reached its true home. His opponent had put up a worthy fight - their minds going through several layers of spacetime to get at each other, darting back and forth seconds into the past and future, trying to outguess each other; at one point he'd almost thought he might be defeated, but the opponent had tried calling upon the others and had been dispatched swiftly.
He was surprised to be rescued so quickly; he had half-expected to be detained on the Confederate - perhaps even until the Whal started closing in, to test his nerve and his claim that he was really Karka Psonoir - but the shuttle crew had accepted him back aboard, albeit behind a forcefield.
He maintained his silence during the journey to the Excalibur, a dim Constitution class shape in the distance. He would reveal all to Daniel Schirra and others once he boarded the unpowered vessel. Now that point had arrived he requested of the Commander if he could head to engineering to evaluate the ship's systems situation, and start power-up if it was required.
Robertson and Davis of the Joyeuse looked at him warily as they started on their way with him through the ship, not trusting that he was Karka, and rightly so - an apparent human brought back from the dead. Scattered here and there were the unconscious bodies of Excalibur crew; he imagined that a similar situation existed all over the ship. The Excalibur was drifting and on auxiliary power from batteries only; something had befallen it while the shuttle Bell had been gone from the ship.
"What happened to Vance? The poor man went through hell, with your presence in his head," Davis was saying, "If he wasn't completely crazy."
Was it true? he asked himself. Yes, it was, Vance had endured a Hybrudean's overlaid psyche on his own and it had punished him the same as when it could only speak from the background of Vance's consciousness as it had while it had been in control.
"The Whal deity forced a decompression and flushed Vance out into space. There was nothing I could do," he answered Davis. They were right to fear or at least have reservations about his presence here, and would of course have their theories regarding the fate of Lieutenant Vance, why he had been blown into space, and who exactly was responsible - out of the other two people on the vessel at the time.
The three officers arrived in engineering, finding red-shirted officers and enlisted personnel sprawled across consoles and on the floor. "Mr Robertson, if you'd like to study the deuterium tank control interface... Let's see how much warp fuel we have," he ordered.
Robertson didn't move, staring directly at Karka, until the latter was forced to look back at him. "Yes, sir," the Joyeuse officer answered finally and started climbing the red ladder to the upper level to ascertain deuterium levels.
He himself accessed the magnetic constrictor cap's console. Minimal power levels given the status of the warp core, though sufficient antimatter to make reactions should there be enough deuterium available.
He began a quick start-up procedure of the core once receiving positive news from Robertson, then commed the bridge, "Psonoir to Commodore Ryat, Commander Schirra. All main power offline; I have initiated a quick-start of the warp core to give us full power in thirty minutes. We could initiate warp power, but only go as far as the tunnel that leads into this place. From then on we're effectively inside the 3km vessel which has a warp bubble of its own as it traverses our own universe. We'd still need to find a way out from there at impulse or even thruster speed only."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
He turned round, seeing on the floor near the master console an officer with Lieutenant Jr. Grade insignia. This was Lieutenant Unwin, the assistant chief. "Lieutenant. Lieutenant!" he called, slapping his subordinate on the face and shaking him, "Wake up, Lieutenant."
Robertson was still working the deuterium control console on the upper level, "Robertson, can I trust you to supervise the core start-up alone?" The Joyeuse officer nodded, still watching Karka warily.
"Then I'll be in sickbay." He lifted Unwin onto his shoulder and made his way out of engineering, Davis following in a hurry and looking at Karka slightly stunned at the man's strength. Sickbay was dark, only four or five medical staff were present, all unconscious. He dropped Unwin onto a biobed and hooked up several cortical devices to his skull. The vital signs from the readout above his biobed fluctuated wildly, some in the far red, some the other end of the spectrum - though theta waves, the brain frequency of sleep, remained at a stable level. At least the crew were dreaming quite normally.
"What in the name of?" Davis murmured, pointing at the reading of Unwin's frontal lobe section designated the Broca area, the place responsible for formulation of language. His brain's language centre was in a state of hyperactivity.
"Some overload of words in his subconscious; it would usually be indicative of consciousness... He must be dreaming lucidly. Such a state usually wakes the dreamer as soon as they realise that what they're experiencing is REM sleep. Something is preventing him from waking. He wants to break free from the dream and tell us."
"How can you know for sure?" Davis asked cautiously.
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Nov 14, 2015 1:20:52 GMT
=^= Psonoir to Commodore Ryat .. Commander Schirra .. .. All main power offline .. I have initiated a quick-start of the warp core to give us full power in thirty minutes .. We could initiate warp power but only go as far as the tunnel that leads into this place .. From then on we're effectively inside the 3km vessel which has a warp bubble of its own as it traverses our own universe .. We'd still need to find a way out from there at impulse or even thruster speed only =^=
Daniel looked at the Commodore. She was sat in the Command seat as if it was the first time she had been on a bridge. She was looking around seemingly attempting to take in everything around her. He sat beside her and spoke quietly:
"Commodore, we have to get out of here, we're going to do a quick-start of the core ....."
"Yes, quick-start, that should help. We'll make our way back to the entrance once we can. See to it will you Dan." she said, returning her gaze to the inoperative view-screen. Schirra replied to the Comm:
=^= Commander .. Bring the core on-line but I want you to ensure we have power for all systems before we attempt to make a move .. Let's not advertise our presence either .. .. Turn off 'ALL' external running lights as well as all rooms or departments with ports on the outer hull .. I want us to look dead to anyone getting curious .. Bring systems on-line in this order: Sensors .. Then weapons and shields need to be your priority Then the rest .. .. Schirra out =^=
~~~~~~~~~~
The thirty minute deadline had expired, not through any fault of the Engineering Staff, but because Schirra had insisted on a specific order for restoration of power throughout the Excalibur ... As power was finally restored to the Bridge, Dan assigned Officer's to their normal stations, some had plenty to do while others ran thorough diagnostics. The Helm Officer had been checking her console every thirty seconds,but thankfully there was no signs of the Whal or anyone else approaching the ship. He opened a Comm to Engineering for a progress report:
=^= Schirra to Engineering =^=
=^= Lieutenant Robertson Commander .. .. .. =^=
=^= Robertson .. Where is Commander Psonoir ? =^=
=^= Sick-bay Sir .. We had an incident with one of the crew .. Commander Psonoir accompanied him to the Medical Center .. .. Start up procedure is proceeding as ordered Commander .. Power levels have increased exponentially .. Which could have something to do with this Universe for all I know Sir .. We have re-established power to all systems and you will have full warp capability in fifteen minutes =^=
=^= Thank you Lieutenant .. We will be moving on completion of the start-up procedure .. Inform me when Commander Psonoir returns to Engineering =^= he closed the Comm before waiting for any reply, then turned to his Commanding Officer.
"Commodore .... I want you to accompany me down to Sick-bay. Power will be restored throughout the ship and we'll be able to go to warp in fifteen minutes. with all due respect Commodore, given your recent, well, it is possible you suffered some traumatic episode during your flight from the Whal, I think it would be prudent, for the crews' sake, that you get checked out before we make any attempt to get out of here." Alyana looked at him for a long moment before suddenly rising out of the seat and heading off the Bridge.
Within ten minutes it had been confirmed that the Commodore was fit for duty. It seemed that she may have been exposed to something as yet undefined, that could have directly affected parts of her brain, the Medic could only surmise it was a form of toxin that had practically dissipated when they boarded the shuttle. He administered a broad-spectrum antidote and within minutes the Commodore seemed to be regaining her former demeanor. Given they were going nowhere fat at this point Dan persuaded her to remain in Sick-bay until she was clear of the toxins ....
~~~~~
=^= Engineering to Bridge =^=
=^= Go ahead Commander =^= Schirra answered.
=^= We can start whenever you are ready Bridge =^=
=^= Thank you Lieutenant .. .. .. Stand by =^=
"Helm, do you have the frequency of the beacon locked into the navigation control system ?"
"Yes Sir."
=^= Engineering .. We're moving .. Keep a close eye on things down there =^= Schirra said before closing the Comm. He hoped Ryat would feel well enough to return to the Bridge and take har seat back in due course, but for now:
"Helm, bring us about ..... Half impulse ..... Let's head for the beacon."
The Excalibur moved, slowly turning until it was heading directly for the beacon they had established what seemed so long ago ..........
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 15, 2015 20:52:51 GMT
OOC: I've split this post into two considering its overall length. Sorry eek.
"How can you know for sure?" Davis asked cautiously.
"I don't." He stepped back, "Doctor, perhaps you can help us." He let the CMO through to see Unwin, the man's eyes darting back and forth quickly under his lids as the theta wave sleep continued. This seemed to be a shared condition with Commodore Ryat, who had visited sickbay a minute before with Schirra and had remained behind to be kept under observation by the CMO.
"Perhaps I can," the Doctor said, looking at the biosigns above the bed, checking with his tricorder periodically, "So that we don't leave it in the hands of the Chief Engineer, who might want to dissemble the poor man for all I know."
"Is there any identification between what's happening with him and the Commodore's recent condition?" he asked, looking - irritatingly he could tell - over the CMO's shoulder at his tricorder scans.
"I've found proof of it if that's what you mean," the CMO pointed at the readout for blood pressure. "Mr Unwin is getting an irregular and decreased rate of blood flow to the brain, which matches with the condition of the Commodore whose symptoms were actually quite different, those of trauma and the like. Don't worry," he saw Karka's look of concern, "The blood flows to their heads are not dangerous in terms of sufficient oxygen being supplied, there is no immediate risk to their lives. But something has affected both officers in the time between the Commodore's journey out to the ship they - very luckily I might say - found you on, and your return here."
Unwin was not a member of the away team on the shuttle Bell, while Ryat of course was. "How can... whatever it is, single out both the commander of the ship and a junior engineer?" Davis asked. "Or perhaps a better question might be, why would it do that?"
"I'm investigating." The CMO seemed more than irritated now. "While the Commodore is awake perhaps she can be questioned on what might have occurred if at any point she was unconscious. Perhaps that would be a similar experience to Lieutenant Unwin's dream."
<Tag Ryat>
"I need to return to engineering," the Hybrudean said, having Davis follow him although the man hardly needed to be asked as he'd been tasked with 'escorting' the mysteriously reincarnated Karka Psonoir as he walked round the ship.
Back in the nerve centre, the red tunnel of the main plasma conduit glowing off to his left, he took to the upper level and accessed the remote link with the bridge engineering station. Usually he would head up there but he had a warp core quick-start to oversee, and while it'd virtually been completed these things required meticulous attention to detail from start to finish. He was now being fed information that was also being shown to the assistant CEO on the bridge. His eyes widened; how the assistant couldn't have spotted this he didn't know.
"Bridge this is Psonoir. The beacon, sir, it's been reconfigured, its broadcast frequency disrupted to emit a negative signal, a negating vector. Effectively when we lock onto what we think is the beacon, we are locking onto a point in space exactly opposite to the direction of the true beacon, further into Whal space."
"So we need to lock onto a point in deep space, the opposite direction to where we're reading the beacon?" Schirra asked, seeming incredulous.
"Yes, sir, I know it's counter-intuitive and seems insane, but there are signs that the beacon has been tampered with. Whal vessels, those dagger ships from earlier perhaps, closer to the tunnel leading into this universe, could be responsible."
<Tag Schirra>
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 15, 2015 20:53:51 GMT
OOC: See above for first part of post, sorry for overall length!
Karka reeled in the chasms of the Archive. After much spiralling, his sight blurred as he was spun about by the centripetal anti-acceleration that ran down the central atrium of his birthplace. He found firm footing, steadying himself and diving forwards into the low-ceilinged room with its dark-marble surface and cerulean ambience at the far end. The Hybrudeans' equivalents of biobeds lining each side. A dark figure at the end, silhouetted by the rest of the Archive, saw his approach and put down his control pad.
"Karka," he grimaced, "I had a suspicion this would happen. So how did he beat you - not that I don't know already of course."
"Too powerful... Took me by surprise, killed Vance."
"Who?"
"Vance, the scientist from the Joyeuse I was forced by 'you' to inhabit. Well, I did take to it willingly, eventually," he reached the biobed and rested against it.
Lirwa seemed to be concentrating, furrowing his brow, "Hmm, must be a different world-line, or it hasn't happened to me yet. Determinism however, as we know cannot exist in one universe alone, one world-line. It takes two or more universes, preferably in close proximity to each other in a particular subset of quantum fields, to allow for one to see one's future."
"Yes, yes. I must get back."
"But you've already gone."
Karka slammed against the temple of the impostor, already having learnt upon his emergence into these particular coordinates of spacetime what the impostor planned - the psychic impact forced the man to his knees, and Karka's essence prepared itself for another attempt, knowing that if he could wrest control for a second he would be able to banish Makar and have him never return, at least in this timeline.
He forced himself into his new body, the partitions of the mind set in such a way that it would've caused him mental trauma if he hadn't already anticipated the configuration - from his previous clash with the rogue Hybrudean on the bridge of the Confederate. Rapidly the now-foreign presence was banished and the psychic reverberations of his takeover faded.
"Commander, Commander Schirra, disregard what I said about the beacon. Makar the Whal's deity was trying to mislead you," he commed as soon as he could to the bridge. He settled back in his chair before a feeling of unease layered itself over him. The presence was not at all banished! He wrestled with it in his consciousness but despite his efforts it came to the fore again:
"Do not listen to this impostor, Commander, he's trying to achieve the exact same thing, lead us away from our goal to get out of here, reverse course into 'seemingly' empty Whal space but trust me, heed my first suggestion that the beacon is being disrupted, set a reverse course and it will lead us to the beacon. This something has invaded my skull. It's trying to gain control, I can't understand it, how can us humans be susceptible to such -"
Karka continued his sudden fit of split personality disorder, answering his apparent alter ego this time, "Vance was susceptible, to me, and then killed by you, Makar. No, Commander Schirra, Daniel, I am Karka Psonoir! I joined the ship along with you. Stay on your current heading.
"No, I am..."
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Nov 19, 2015 23:36:40 GMT
OOC :: Sorry for the length but I just got a little carried away ... Travelling at only half impulse, it would take almost eight days to reach the area where the beacon was known to be ..... Each time they detected a vessel on long-range sensors, be it a derelict, or something moving under it's own power, they themselves had to cut all power and drift. The last thing they needed in their condition was to be forced to confront any Whal vessels patrolling the region ... ~~~~~~~~~~One the third day, they had been under power for almost four hours when once again they were forced to shut off all power. Fearing discovery, they cut life support and artificial gravity to a minimum, they also disengaged the inertial dampers, so each drop from half impulse caused the Excalibur to spin ... Sometimes it would seem to corkscrew, while other times it simply rotated end over end. Seasickness, or rather, space-sickness, was a thing of the past, but the minimal gravity combined with low oxygen levels caused most people to succumb at one time or another. Dan was still worried over the issue caused by Karka and his apparent 'split-personality disorder' but at least the Engineer seemed to be more himself of late, that at least was one positive ... Could he trust the man ? ... That was debatable. Could he allow him to remain in charge of their only source of power ? ...... "Commander. I'm picking up two vessels approaching at high warp." the Helmsman informed him. "Here we go again." Dan said, "You know the drill ..." he activated the seats restraints so as not to 'float' out of the chair, then watched the now clear plexi-glass 'window' .... "Sir, just before we powered-down, I detected the ships dropping from warp." "How far ?" Schirra asked, wondering what whoever it was was up to. "Two hundred thousand kilometers Commander." the Helmsman confirmed as the stars began their inevitable rotation. "Hell !" he said, slamming his fist into the armrest. They were effectively helpless now. If those ships didn't decide to move on, then the Excalibur would have to continue her drift, and every kilometer put them in more and more danger. Without power to the sensors they could be approaching anything and not know it until they ran right into it, and given the very nature of vacuum, they wouldn't have long to ponder the ramifications of the collision, "Did you detect them scanning us ?" "No Sir. They appeared to simply drop from warp to approximately half impulse, then we shut everything down ... So ....." "Inform the ship .. everyone is to remain in their quarters or at their stations until further notice. If they throw up, hard luck." Three hours fifteen minutes later ::Even strapped into the Command seat, the nausea was beginning to take it's toll on Daniel and he seriously wondered if he would eventually throw up. They had no way of knowing where the two ships were now, or even if they were still shadowing the Excalibur. hell, for all he knew they could have moved on minutes after they shut off power. He had little option but to check. trying to ignore the stars, which were now passing the window almost diagonally, he spoke to the decidedly green man at Tactical: "Bring passive sensors on-line but don't commence scan ... Helmsman stand-by to bring power to the drive systems on-line. Let's hope Engineering haven't thrown up over the warp controls, we may need to run ... Fast !" "Ready Commander." "OK ..... Port Aft quarter ..... Scan once then shut down. With luck anyone catching the scan will dismiss it as some anomaly if we're dead in the water." The Tactical Officer sent out the twenty first century equivalent of a submariner 'ping' while attempting to check the range to a given target, but the level was so low as to hopefully be easily missed. Schirra sat quietly watching anything but the massive window as he waited for news: "They're still there Commander." "You're sure ?" "Yes Sir. Unlike us they are moving under power and slowing exponentially to match our rate of decay." "What are they playing at ?" Sulla commented, frustration getting the better of the Ensign, "And is there 'NO WAY' we can stop this rotation, I've lost my stomach contents twice over already." "Unfortunately, the smallest change in our somewhat roller-coaster traverse would bring them a runnin." Robertson said, and we don't have the power to figh ......" Hold on." the Navigator interrupted, "Sorry sir, but even though you specified the region for the scan, we had other contacts, though non-mechanical in nature. Ahead is a dense hydrogen gas cloud. We'll pass through the edge but those two ships will enter deeper and take longer to traverse. We may have a window Sir." "Don't mention windows, lieutenant." Dan said with a wry grin, "OK, suggestions ?" "Let them get into the nebula. Once out of sight we'll power up and back-track. With luck we'll come out directly behind those to and hopefully have the jump on them ?" Robertson offered up, "One well-placed photon torpedo should incapacitate both vessels enough for us to get clear." "Anyone else ?" Schirra asked, but it seemed Robertson's idea was unanimously approved, "Fair enough, let's get ready ......" They spent the next hour preparing. Ensuring by word-of-mouth only, that everyone was appraised and that Engineering would need to be ready. Two Officer's manually loaded the photon torpedoes ready for launch, then Dan had little option but to visit Sick-bay ... On arrival he asked how Commodore Ryat was and was told the toxins in her system were still present, would the Doctor release her for duty, no he wouldn't, not at this point. He went to the private room off the main area and spoke to his Commanding Officer ... drowsily she agreed with his plan, though Dan had the distinct feeling that she didn't fully understand the consequences should the plan fail. he decided it was better for her recovery if he didn't put too much pressure on her at this point, besides, if their plan failed it would make little or no difference to her in the long run ..... Bridge ::"Entering the periphery of the cloud now Commander." Robertson informed him, "The two unknowns will be inside the cloud in five minutes, we will then have a maximum of twenty minutes to get into position and fire. Any later and their sensors will work better than ours and they will have a firing solution on us before we can react Commander." Dan waited patiently until Robertson gave the signal: "Lieutenant Robertson. Bring inertial dampers on-line. Stabilize our forward momentum ... Helm ... Once we're stable, full impulse, hard to starboard and back on our previous heading. Five minutes then reverse our course allowing for drift and trajectory plot of the two vessels shadowing us." The Excalibur came to life ! Turning hard right the ship began to back-track her topsy-turvy tumble until clear of the gaseous cloud. minutes seemed like hours as the ship headed away, then, finally, the Helmsman began to turn the ship once more. They entered the cloud at full impulse and Dan watched the myriad of colour like countless streaks of liquid floating aimlessly atop a heavier medium. Dan knew full well that their own sensors would be useless so he allowed Robertson full control of the firing sequence. Suddenly the outlines of two Whal Dart ships appeared, not electronically or computer enhanced, but there, ahead of them ! ... Schirra almost jumped out of the Command seat as he realized just how close they were, one thousand, maybe two, but far too close to fire on as the Excalibur would undoubtedly be destroyed herself as a result of the detonation. "For'ard thrusters. Slow us down !" Schirra demanded. Agonizingly slowly, they began to drop away from the two Whal vessels. Dan hoped that they could manage to make enough distance to fire, alas he was disappointed as the two ships ahead began to slowly move apart. Had they detected the Excalibur coming up behind them and not as thought ahead and ready to be taken. Or were they simply being cautious, hoping if one was somehow damaged the second would be able to extract revenge ? "Sir, if they get much further apart we'll loose our opportunity." Roberton informed him. Dan didn't hesitate: "FIRE !" he ordered, tapping the ship-wide Comm: =^= Brace for impact .. .. Brace for impact ! =^= The high-yield photon torpedo lanced from the Excalibur and into the void. It dissected the paths of the two Whal vessels as it closed in on it's detonation point. It was clear that they had detected the weapon and were attempting to take evasive action, but it was too late ..... The torpedo detonated, and before the Excalibur was thrown from the nebula like a rag doll, they witnessed the destruction of their two Whal pursuers ... The Constitution Class Excalibur tumbled end over end for minutes until the Helmsman could finally stabilize her. Dan watched the data streaming across the 'window' before acting: "Helm ... Plot course for the relay signal." "Plotted Sir." the man replied. Dan tapped the Comm: =^= Engineering .. Do we have warp power available ? =^= =^= Aye Sir .. But given our location I wouldn't recommend it =^= =^= Thank you Engineering .. Bridge out =^= Dan said, acutely aware that he hadn't asked to speak to the Chief Engineer, nor had it been him who answered the Comm. "Helmsman. Warp four ...... Engage." He sat back as the massive Constitution Class vessel entered the nether-realm of warp speed, wondering if rather than getting the jump on the Whal, he had in fact advertised their position to the proverbial inch. Either way, on arrival at the relay signal, they would need to find a way of not only returning to their own Universe, but of preventing the Whal-Riritika-Mahhn from ever accomplishing what they had already ! ..........
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 22, 2015 22:03:18 GMT
Karka emerged from his quarters, lurching in the doorway one way then the other before heading out for engineering. He loped into the turbolift and rested against the wall, "Engineering." There was a stinging pain in his temples; he sweated profusely and shrunk from the light. It was, he believed, the Hybrudean equivalent of the humans' migraine. Now that they had reactivated the dampeners and gone to warp much of the nausea and lightheadedness had disappeared, however what he thought had been a side effect of the powerless flight had turned out to be its own issue.
Returning to him in stabs of memory were scenes of the battle on the bridge of the Confederation, his split personality crisis in engineering and the internal conflict between the two sparring essences. He had forced his way into Makar's brain, taking the body that should rightfully be his, however the entity had forced its way back several times, most notably in engineering when trying to correct Schirra on the course they should take. Karka had won out in the end, and now the Excalibur was almost upon the beacon the Telemachus - now in the shuttlebay - had dropped as it'd plunged deeper into Whal space. However, Makar still lurked, somewhere barely under the level of consciousness... It would take a force of will to dispose of him forever.
Upon reaching engineering he was informed of a misalignment in the anti-matter injectors. He had Unwin - now returned from sickbay, though still experiencing fugues of memory, being reinserted into his dreams that'd taken him from engineering in the first place - take over the master console while Karka read aloud the misalignment to enlisted personnel. His words caught in his throat as he read out a particular sequence of numbers, the enlisted technicians pausing in their inputs and turning to him in confusion.
"This isn't a misalignment... It's a message," he murmured, flicking rapidly through the pages. The same sequence repeated in several configurations depending upon the syntax of the programming language in use... "Enter these coordinates, tell me what they point at," he instructed of Crewman Berecz, handing him the paper.
"Nothing as far as I can see, sir," Berecz reported moments later, "Empty space for as far as our sensors can see. It could end with the wall of the ship that brought us in here."
"Really?" Karka tapped at his lips, pacing around engineering, the lights piercing and seeming to scream, making him look away. "I'll have to give this some thought."
He, Unwin and the other deputy sat around a table. Karka went through the pad, pinpointing the sequence and tapping a finger at it, pushing it towards his two assistants. "That's a Starfleet subspace communication frequency."
Unwin puzzled over it, "But, sir... It's just random characters." He eyed his Chief suspiciously, or at least with concern; they all knew he was not in the best of shape, following his apparently inexplicable episode in engineering before the encounter with the two Whal ships. "So you're saying it's a code. How did you decipher it?"
"Recurring patterns throughout the entire data sequence," Karka replied. "This when spoken aloud fits the right number of diphthongs for a special Starfleet communication frequency. I'm going to suggest to the bridge we tune the transceiver to receive it, and have them open a channel..."
He was on the bridge minutes later. "Commander, I believe a Starfleet vessel from outside this universe is attempting to make contact. They may have detected that we are a Federation starship, or more to the point, the USS Excalibur. A communication signal is coming from the wall of the 3km ship that we used to enter this space. I believe through some interference pattern piggy-backed on their subspace carrier wave, they were able to shape the comm frequency to have it interfere through the lattice framework of the 3km ship's outer hull."
"We're coming up on the beacon," the helm officer reported. Robertson nodded in confirmation from the engineering console.
"Tune the transceiver to the frequency," Schirra ordered, "Open a channel." Karka thought the Commander had cast him a wary eye before making the order, not surprising given the recent personality split that'd shown itself to nearly quite devastating effect. He would explain it, so that at least he could declare the presence of Whal deity Makar in his mind.
A Federation starship bridge appeared on the viewscreen. Karka's eyes gleamed as he recognised the ship immediately. "Commander... Commander Schirra!" the man on the screen said; it was Captain Toshika. Robertson straightened at the sight of his CO, smiling. "The Joyeuse has been trying to make contact for the last fourteen hours," Toshika said, "We had some difficulty breaking through the ship's outer hull to make this communication... We're not sure how much time we have, so I suggest now that you run. Run fast. An armada is on your tail... We can't identify the ships but power signatures indicate their weapons are armed."
Karka looked inwards: Surely the Whal... If this is your doing, Makar...
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
|
|
Alyana Ryat
Commodore
Registered: Sept 5, 2007 16:34:56 GMT
Posts: 347
|
Post by Alyana Ryat on Nov 24, 2015 22:08:42 GMT
OOC: I hope this makes sense, rather than trying to catch every tag I have missed I have made a point of it.
Even in retrospect Aly couldn't exactly pin down where things had started to go wrong. Possibly it was when she had started assuming after fifteen days of no contact that she and her crew were the only living things out here. Possibly it was her insistence on leading the boarding party that had found what turned out to be an automated beacon that had been rigged to respond to another vessel's hails. Certainly things had been going well and truly wrong by the time of their third encounter with the Whal. That was when Jenni had got her arm broken and Aly had had her first dose of poison. She had lost track of the numbers by the time she had picked up the concussion and the skull fracture, it was either seven or eight. She remembered tackling Ensign Mendoza out of the line of fire, and then things got a bit hazy. She had been told that she had gone into a bulkhead and there was certainly enough blood to make the point. She caught her third dose of poison at the same time and had woken up in sickbay a day later.
It was then that she had had to face facts. The Excal and her crew were sitting targets, it even seemed that they were attracting the Whal. It broke her heart but Aly knew if they were going to get out of this that they were going to have to go into hiding. It hadn't taken long. Despite the fact that by that time thirst percent of the crew were walking wounded as the medical staff had to deal with a never ending stream of casualties. Under other circumstances Aly doubted that she would be allowed up and around but the space in sickbay had been needed for other injuries. So she wasn't,t going to complain, in fact she was going to take advantage of it. She had recorded a long of her crew's deeds before the evacuation was completed. Then it was simply a matter of continuing to search for a way out.
Aly blinked, shook her head and then regreted the abrupt motion. She was standing on the bridge of her ship. To an untrained observer it could have been any Constitution class vessel but Aly knew it was the Excal. She was standing with Dan and Karka. She wondered how long she had been gone for this time, it had to have been a while, maybe even hours. She had been having periods that she couldn't remember, it was very scary even Ryat didn't remember. The doctors had told her that she was functioning normally during those times but knew to the still healing damage short term memory was not reliably getting progressed any further. They had said that she would heal with time. They had wanted to take her back in for observation after her first check out but there hadn't been the bed or staff available so she was carrying a tricorder at all times as trying to keep a record. It didn't help much. She must have lost hours this time rather than minutes.
She looked around slowly suddenly aware that she was probably gaping like an idiot. She was relieved to see her two missing officers again, although clearly they had all ready been reunited.
"I'm assuming you have been filled it about my injury. I' expectations just lost time again. Last thing I remember I was on the Bell talking to Lieutenant Psonoir but I assume that was hours ago? Is sickbay fully operational now? If so I shall go down there at once, this is ridiculous."
Tag:
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Nov 25, 2015 17:56:27 GMT
Closing on what they hoped was the nearest point to where they initially entered the three kilometer portal they began to slow ....
Suddenly, a static-laden communication spluttered from the Bridge audio system. They quickly tried to clear the signal and were finally successful. Captain Toshika, Captain of the USS Joyeuse appeared in the middle of the 'window' ...
=^= Commander .. .. Commander Schirra .. .. .. The Joyeuse has been trying to make contact for the last fourteen hours .. .. We had some difficulty breaking through the ship's outer hull to make this communication .. .. We're not sure how much time we have so I suggest now that you run .. Run fast .. .. A small armada is on your tail .. .. We can't identify the ships but power signatures indicate their weapons are armed =^=
=^= Captain .. It there any way you can open the portal from your side to allow us to pass through ? =^= Dan asked, eyeing the lethargic Ryat again.
=^= No way at this point .. But we are working on it .. For now I suggest you make yourselves scarce .. .. We'll attempt contact again in six hours .. .. Joyeuse out =^=
The 'window' cleared to show the stars beyond. Robertson was already checking for the apparent armada that was heading their way. Unfortunately, he found it !
"I'm assuming you have been filled it about my injury." Ryat suddenly said, seemingly unaware of the previous few moments, and not for the first time, but Sick-bay had been overwhelmed with injured and the Medical Staff had practically thrown her out, expecting her to return to her quarters, and not in fact to the Bridge, "I, expect I just lost time again .... Last thing I remember I was on the Bell talking to Lieutenant Psonoir but I assume that was hours ago. Is sickbay fully operational now, If so I shall go down there at once, this is ridiculous." she finished, half-dazed. Schirra motioned to one of the Security Officers assigned to Bridge duty:
"Lieutenant, accompany the Commodore to Sick-bay. Inform the Doctor she is under 'NO' circumstances to be released unless one hundred percent fit for duty. Otherwise, if they need the bed, get her to her quarters by force and lock her in there if necessary. Understood !"
"Yes Sir, the man said with a side-on glance at the Flag Officer to his left.
"OK, we need to get the hell out of here." Dan said as Ryat was accompanied off the Bridge, "Worst case, they catch up to us and destroy the ship. Best case ....."
"They don't even see us, open a portal and look the other way while we quietly slip through ?" Robertson asked wryly, falling silent as he received an unimpressed look from the Exec' Officer.
"Overlay tactical ....." Dan said, walking to the 'window' and looking at the color-coded tactical view. It showed the Excalibur, and still light years away, fourteen vessels that were heading towards them in a hurry, "What's that ?" he asked, pointing to what seemed like interference in the upper left quadrant of the plot. Robertson checked, making minor adjustments to the screen as he did so.
"It looks like some sort of graveyard. approximately four thousand derelict vessels ranging in size from a shuttle up to something a damn-sight bigger than ourselves." Dan looked at the tactical view again and made a decision:
"Helm. Full impulse ... Get us over to that graveyard and find some way of getting us into the middle of that melee of ships. Orientate us so we don't stand out like the proverbial sore thumb."
The Excalibur moved away as Dan watched the tactical readout closely. If they had been detected moving then the armada would obviously change course to intercept, but as the ship closed on the graveyard their pursuers remained stolidly on their original course. The Navigator informed him that it would be a close thing getting the ship deep into the wreckage but Dan told her to take the paint off if necessary, but get them in and hidden, quickly ! ... The ship dropped below 'Zee' before beginning to climb again. They were passing through an ever-narrowing tunnel of jagged, torn, derelict vessels. The first impact was on their Port nacelle, followed by a further four in quick succession, the Starboard quarter of the Saucer Section, the Starboard nacelle, and two other impacts .... The Navigator tried her hardest to minimize the damage to the Constitution Class ship, but Dan knew that the damage was actually going to help them hide in plain sight. A pristine, properly orientated ship would be spotted by the nearest blind man, so he held his tongue as the woman did her job.
After ten minutes of gingerly teasing the Excalibur into position, it was stationary. Pitched forward at roughly twenty degrees and yawing to Port at roughly the same angle.
"Cut all power to non-essential systems." Dan said, sitting himself down for the long wait.
"Sir. If we're still here in six hours, the Joyeuse will attempt to contact us again." Ensign Sulla commented.
"I'm more worried 'they' will be here in six hours Ensign." Schirra said, motioning toward the group of ships approaching on the tactical plot.
"They should have seen us on their long range scanners." he said, "Maybe they aren't here to get us ....."
"Then what ?" Robertson asked.
"Maybe they're here to go fishing." he said as the armada continued on it's course toward their original encroachment point ..........
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 27, 2015 23:06:42 GMT
The Excalibur nestled in among the graveyard of starships, left by the Whal's dagger vessels no doubt, this being very close to the 3km tunnel that led from this place to the outer universe, or as the Whal would have it, the other universe. Karka watched an aft view of the Excalibur as it switched off its running lights, the starfield finishing its rotation as the ship set itself at a realistic orientation. Beyond the view of the engineering section and the nacelles fourteen brown-grey shapes became distinct from the vacuum.
"The Whal ships are drifting into the graveyard," Robertson reported. "One vessel is significantly larger than the others, three times the size of the Excalibur approximately."
If that was Makar's doing, Karka was not aware of it; the entity had left his mind for good now he felt, perhaps joining the fleet that now approached them, taking up residence on the 800 metre flagship. He felt that, involuntarily, he'd led the Whal vessels here, the fleet having been cloaked by unique properties of space in the Whal's universe, allowing them to slide into a 'gap' in the vacuum. Once they'd jumped to warp after leaving the nebula, the Whal had broken cover, charging after the escaping starship.
The navigator's hands flew across her console, "They're disturbing the wreckage, just as we did."
Karka moved across to the science station, seeing that Robertson had engineering covered. He peered through the blue-lit viewer at sensor data from scans pertaining to the movement of debris due to the Whal ships' incursion, "Reading a build up in the density of wreckage immediately behind us; it's moving in on our starboard nacelle..."
Had the Whal managed to track them down because of him, or was it a further consequence of the poisoning of some of the Excalibur's crew - just as with Lieutenant Adams who continued his cryo-sleep so that the Whal virus didn't spread further in his body, were the Whal able to track the Excalibur because of pheromonic tags left in some of the crew's bodies?
"Recommend we move with the debris that the Whal are shifting, pitch down half a degree and yaw nineteen degrees to the right," he spoke, "It should maintain our appearance as a derelict vessel." It would also lessen the force of the impact on the starboard nacelle; if they remained stationary, it could cause catastrophic damage to the warp coils. Perhaps fortunately, it would also move them closer to the edge of the debris field; if they needed to make a quick break for it they'd be more able to do so.
Karka watched as the Whal ships slid by the Excalibur and its attendant wreckage, believing - or so the Excal bridge crew hoped - that they had forced only a collection of derelicts out of the way, continuing their search presumably for the ship they'd followed in here. The Whal ships banked to port, deeper into the wreckage that was closer to the 3km tunnel/ship, then slowed as they came upon a badly beaten Soyuz class vessel. Tractor beams and other scanning equipment burst forth from the ships, the white light passing over the Soyuz's bridge, the holes in the light cruiser's saucer section and its one remaining nacelle. With four tractors locked onto it, the Whal flagship started reversing course, out the way it'd come with the Soyuz class in tow, the Whal escorts in attendance.
"It seems we've got away with it," Karka looked back to his console, shaking his head in near disbelief. It couldn't be a coincidence though, surely. The Whal wouldn't change course - admittedly they'd only done so after a while - to match the Excal's own as they'd entered the debris field, unless... The Excalibur was being masked to the Whal's sensors, making it appear as if it was one of their own?
"Ensign," he addressed the officer at navigation. "How many days had the Excal been under attack before our two parties coincided?"
"Four," she answered, keeping her eyes fixed on the viewscreen, pitching the ship every now and then to maintain its appearance as harmless wreckage.
"It's possible then, given the number of incursions by the Whal against this ship, that the poisoning of the crew and of the systems by biovores and other pheromonic structures, could - at long range - give the impression of a Whal vessel to pursuing hostile vessels?"
The navigator shrugged minisculely, hands glued to the console and tapping lightly at the thruster controls.
"It would make sense," Sulla spoke. Karka shot a glance at the chronometer. They had four hours, thirty two minutes until Toshika attempted contact again - hopefully with good news regarding their potential breakout. "Such a concentration of Whal poisons and biochemical agents in the same place could give off such a signature... Their own ships are largely organic, giving off similar signatures to Whal lifesigns."
"Our 600,000 tonnes of duranium isn't going to help us."
"No but the biosignatures within will give the desired impression, especially if the hull has been transmuted to a sufficient extent. A similar thing happened with the Tycho, shortly before we had to destroy our vessel." Sulla stepped forward to look at the viewscreen, peering at the spot where the last Whal escort had disappeared behind debris, "It seems we got lucky on account of looking like a Whal starship. They thought we were a member of their fleet, perhaps."
"In which case, once they realise they're one vessel short - which won't be long I imagine," Karka said, "They'll be coming back for another look." Was this the time to make a break for it? Perhaps so, yet only a quarter of the time 'til Toshika's new attempt at contact had passed.
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Nov 29, 2015 2:03:13 GMT
As the time passed excruciatingly slowly Dan wondered just how this latest encounter would play out ... Frankly, he was admittedly struggling to convince himself that they would actually free themselves at all .....
~~~~~~~~~~
They watched, from their admittedly precarious position, as the dart ships moved among the derelict vessels. Every now and then they would fire on one, then turn their attention elsewhere. Frankly it was beginning to royally annoy him on two counts, but alas, stemming from the same issue ... Commodore Ryat, the Commanding Officer of the Excalibur, was both fit and well, while at the same time suffering indeterminate blackouts. This wasn't acceptable given their current situation. He handed the Con to Lieutenant Robertson and headed for Sick-bay ::
"How is she Doctor ?" he asked on entering.
"Professional opinion, free to return to duty." the Medical Officer said, placing a hand on Schirra's arm turning him away slightly, "Personal opinion, for what it's worth, I'd keep her off the Bridge, at least for the next few hours."
"Is that what you recommend ?" Dan asked, glancing at his Commanding Officer, who seemed to be fixated on one of the bio-readout screens. The Doctor nodded, so he made a decision, "Keep her here for the next three hours. I need to be able to work without worrying about her."
"You want to take Command on Medical grounds ?" the doctor asked.
"Three hours, Doctor ..... After that you can escort her to the Bridge yourself OK." Dan said, turning to leave without waiting to see if the Doctor would actually comply with his request. He was en-route to the Bridge when Robertson contacted him. Two minutes later he was in the Command Seat, watching the tactical display he recognized the dart ships instantly. What surprised him was what they seemed to be up to :: While the majority had now retreated, holding position one hundred million kilometers away, while the twelve remaining had orientated themselves into a circle some six hundred meters in diameter. Once in position they seemed to connect with each other. Dan was frankly loosing patience and had decided they could defeat the twelve here and take their chances with the rest. but again his 'ideal' plan was subject to the ever=present outside influence:
As he watched the darts maneuvering into place, he was somewhat surprised when they simultaneously began to transmit a sub-space carrier wave.
"What the hell ...." Someone commented, as the ships emissions converged into one stream before beginning to interfere with the fabric of space itself. He was about to order the sensors off-line when the Comm chirped to life !
=^= USS Joyeuse .. Attempting to contact the USS Excalibur .. Excalibur .. If you read please reply .. .. .. =^=
=^= Joyeuse to Excalibur .. Do you read ? =^= Daniel was about to reply when the Whal darts suddenly showed a massive increase in power output .. Seemingly linking together, they themselves opened the portal. Almost unable to believe it, Dan jumped out of the Command seat and stepped right up to the 'window' currently showing a tactical view of the Excalibur's immediate surroundings. The portal, the means by which the Whal-Riritika-Mahhn acquired their 'fodder' was blatantly evident. But knowing was one thing. He was about to reply to Toshika when all hell broke loose !
"Spatial anomaly Commander ! ... Eight hundred thousand kilometers off out Port ... "Robertson shouted, excitement getting the better of his professionalism, "Commander, I'm picking up the Joyeuse."
"On Comms ?" Dan asked.
"No Sir ..... THERE !" Dan looked at the 'window' and true enough, some sort of spacial anomaly, or wormhole, or conduit, whatever you want to call it, was open, and there, right before their eyes was the USS Joyeuse, still in her own Universe, yet as every second passed it was obvious that they too would be drawn into this nether-realm and lost forever. but something was going wrong, terribly wrong. The comm chirped to life, suddenly filling the Excalibur Bridge with a nightmare scene of screams and terrified pleadings. People were dying on the Joyeuse, and rapidly. Obviously, the Whal's attempt to bring the vessel into their realm had gone wrong. This time, unfortunately, it wasn't going to work. The Joyeuse had been ready and was fighting, albeit a loosing battle, but it was fighting. the garbled, static-wriggled Comm from Toshika confirmed that his crew were dying, he needed the Excalibur to intervene ...
=^= Sorry we couldn't be of .. .. .. More .. .. Assista .. .. .. =^=
"Can we beam them off there ?" he asked, hardly surprised when the reply was negative, "OK ......"
"Sir, we should at lea ......" Dan silenced the woman with a glance, then made a decision :: The portal was open, but the Joyeuse was in the way, but dying quickly ..." Sir, with all due respect, the portal !" Dan nodded, then made the only choice open to him:
"Helmsman ... Stand-by ... Lieutenant Robertson, bring 'ALL' weapons on-line, lock onto the USS Joyeuse ... Stand by to fire photon torpedoes on my Command ... Bring all drives on-line and stand by."
"Weapons lock confirmed. But there s a lot of scrap between us and the opening Commander. Should we not attempt to conta ......" With a glance at Karka, Dan interrupted:
"FIRE ... NOW !"
The two photon torpedoes lanced from the Excalibur, en-route to their destination, and sealing the fate of countless others in the process. As the Joyeuse was hit, the Excalibur, and was now moving towards the portal with only one aim in mind !
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Nov 30, 2015 23:29:08 GMT
Robertson hesitated for a fraction of a second, closing his eyes tight not wishing to see the connection of his finger with the button that would fire the torpedoes. The Joyeuse was his home, and while many of his shipmates were dying - and he would be saving many more them from the prolonged anguish by finishing the ship quickly - he still couldn't bear witness to what could turn out to be a court martial offence. Or something that at the very least would need a good deal of explanation to Command.
With the lieutenant at weapons control, Karka moved over to the engineering station, pressing buttons in quick succession and checking the display before turning round to Dan in the command chair, "We have 0.8 impulse, power reserves have been depleted from Whal attacks. Warp drive is still available should we need it."
The anomaly was getting closer, obscured albeit by the mass of starship debris they still had to push their way through.
"Critical damage to the Joyeuse," Robertson reported, "Reading a collapse of anti-matter containment..." He looked up at the viewscreen, agape as a blinding light flashed in the aft of the Miranda class's saucer, where the antimatter pods were stored...
Karka gripped the edge of his console, "Brace for impact!"
A shockwave rippled through the debris field, battering pieces of starship towards the Excalibur - which dug in with its impulse drives ignited and - for better or worse - fought the storm that'd been unleashed ahead of it. The ship remained in place as the shockwave passed over it, being shifted in its attitude slightly and having its hull scraped by hundreds of pieces of debris and several hundred thousand miniscule fragments.
"The twelve Whal ships have been destroyed, sir," science officer Mallory reported.
Karka confirmed that structural integrity was intact. He looked ahead, the debris field was now significantly reduced between them and the anomaly, though, he quickly realised, the anomaly would now be collapsing after the annihilation of the twelve Whal ships that'd supported it. Theoretically... they could jump to warp and travel through the anomaly, and would presumably appear in real space with their warp bubble in the same configuration as before... While in transit however the spin vectors at the bubble's boundary would be rotated by 90 degrees, meaning the ship would undergo severe torsional stress in the anomaly if only for a matter of seconds.
"Recommend, sir, we go to warp - the spatial anomaly won't last much longer and we'll be stranded here in the same position we were before. The navigational deflector will repel the debris immediately in front of us."
What if however, the anomaly's destabilisation as the Whal had tried to bring the Joyeuse through would continue, would in fact only allow one way travel? The Joyeuse's fight against being drawn in (i.e. their attempt to remain in their own universe) was what'd caused the death of many of its crew; the Excalibur's escape attempt into its own universe may bestow upon them the same fate as enjoyed by the crew of the Joyeuse. But they had no choice, the order had already been given and besides, there was no way the Excalibur could escape otherwise - the Telemachus had managed to enter the tunnel to the Whal's realm by sliding through a small gap in the 3km ship's hull; no such space existed for the Excalibur.
They barrelled towards the collapsing anomaly, soon surrounded by a static-like grey, ghosts flickering on the viewscreen as the lit warp engines illuminated the close fuzzy subspace around them. After interminable seconds dominated by hull stresses and collapsing shields, Karka turned his eyes back to the viewscreen as the grey curtains drew back to reveal a star-studded blackness.
"Scanning for Whal vessels," Mallory said.
In the last moments, Karka felt a psychic presence tearing towards him, nearly overtaking him as it charged up through the ship and buffeted against his psyche. The screams like a cyclone reverberated in his skull, a howling presence of ash and bone that seemed subtracted from the universe around him and could no longer bring itself to bear within the etchings matter made in spacetime. The presence was dampened to nothing, extinguished as it was banished to its own realm as the Excal headed away from the anomaly, and Karka had a feeling he knew what the results of Mallory's scan would be.
<Tag Schirra, Ryat>
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Dec 1, 2015 19:21:50 GMT
The ship accelerated towards the remains of the USS Joyeuse ... It was going to be close, too close. If the Joyeuse didn't completely break up, there was every chance that impact with one or more of the larger sections could be fatal for the Excalibur. Dan could see the spatial anomaly, or more accurately, the 'area' of distortion caused by the temporary melding of two opposite regions of space time. If the Joyeuse didn't explode, then the Excalibur would impact the rim and be torn apart rather than escape .....
He watched the 'window' as the grayness continued. The Navigator informed them that they should be approximately two thirds of the way through. He consciously had to prevent himself from squeezing the armrests beyond recognition. Then there, one, two, six, 'STARS' ! ... As the gray veil was finally penetrated the Excalibur passed back into her own Universe at last.
"Checking for Whal vessels." Mallory said as Dan requested the Aft View ... The anomaly or portal was still there, fluctuating, almost as if fighting the very forces that endeavored to collapse it. Mallory confirmed that no Whal vessels remained detectable, alas, no other vessels could be seen either. Dan knew that everything for almost half of one light year would have been destroyed on the Whal side of the portal and prayed that their side would not suffer any undue effects.
"Bring us to a full stop and rotate us to face the anomaly." The constitution Class Excalibur rotated until it faced the way they had come. While the event horizon was fluctuating, it seemed to be trying, somehow, to stabilize itself. That couldn't happen and Dan stood, walking until he was only centimeters from the 'window' peering into the constant night as if hoping beyond hope to 'see' something to expl ......
"SIR ! ... VESSELS ......." Mallory suddenly said. Dan spun on him:
"Where ?"
"The portal Commander. I'm picking up two, no three, and they are 'BIG' Sir ... Bigger than anything we've encountered so far. They are emitting some form of phased-graviton beam towards the opening, Sir if I didn't know better I'd say they were attempting to reopen the portal !"
"What do we have left ?" Dan asked, turning to Commander Psonoir.
"Torpedoes, Phaser cannon ....."
"..... and ?" Dan coaxed.
"The warp cores." Karka said, eyes flicking to the anomaly every few seconds. Dan could see he was nervous, by why .....
"How close is the nearest ship to the portal ?"
"Approximately two hundred thousand kilometers Commander."
"Can we get a lock ?"
"No chance." Mallory replied, "The gravitational eddies would take the torpedo's off course, we'd be lucky if they even passed through the whole of the anomaly before running out of power."
"Drop the cores. Send them into the anomaly ?" Karka commented, wondering if he had an idea what Schirra was planning, and getting confirmation immediately:
"eject the cores. send them into the event horizon, as they enter we'll fire all we have into them. The matter anti-matter explosion should destroy whatever is on the other side, close the portal once and for all, and with a little luck push us well out of harms way before the shock-wave obliterates us in the bargain." Psonoir and Mallory got to work, it would take exceptional timing but hell, they had little to gain but everything to loose should it fail, so there was no option but to try ... Finally all the calculations that could be made, had been, it was now or never !
"Eject the cores now." Dan ordered.
They watched as their source of power achingly slowly drifted towards the event horizon of the portal. numerous tiny specs seemed to appear from the other realm, but fortunately, none reach their target. Dan sat in silence as the cores began to vanish from sight and ordered the Excalibur fire.
"Several of the photon torpedoes lanced harmlessly into the other universe, but then two, almost in unison, slammed into the cores. the matter anti-matter containment fields, held until now by reserve emergency power, ruptured instantly. The resulting explosion threw the Excalibur away, tumbling end over end as it's unconscious cargo was thrown around like rag dolls. It was their very lack of consciousness that saved their lives ..... Eventually, the Excalibur brought emergency power on-line, restoring life support and very slowly orienteering the ship on the Galactic Plane. Dan opened his eyes slowly, aching in every fiber of his body as he pulled himself into a sitting position, back against the 'window' ... Other's too were beginning to regain their senses as the Comm crackled to life:
=^= USS Excal .. .. .. ing to conta .. .. .. Come in Excalib .. .. .. Captain Tra .. .. =^=
Karka reached up from the deck, pulling himself to his knees and hit the Comm link:
=^= Thi .. .. ibur .. .. Try to clear up trans .. .. =^=
=^= Excalibur .. This is the USS Fleming .. We saw what happened .. .. My God .. How did you manage to get out of that .. .. .. We're en-route and will be with you in four hou .. .. =^=
=^= Fleming .. Commander Schirra .. Exec' Officer .. .. =^=
=^= Commander .. We are heading towards you at maximum warp =^=
=^= You saw the explosion ? =^= Dan said, finally managing to get to his feet and stagger to the Command Seat.
=^= Saw it ! .. .. We were Six point eight 'light years' away and were thrown around like a leaf in a hurricane ! .. .. That was fourteen hours ago .. We have been trying to contact you ever since =^=
=^= Did you scan anything following the explosion Captain ? =^= Dan asked with a sense of foreboding.
=^= Scan anything ! .. .. Commander .. There is nothing left for there .. Everything in three light year diameter of ground zero has been obliterated .. You were extremely fortunate to get out of there in my opinion =^=
=^= Well .. You are entitled to your opinion Captain .. We look forward to your arrival .. Excalibur out =^= Mallory cut the Comm as Dan slumped in his seat.
They needed to regroup, find out how many were injured, how many fatalities if any. But most importantly, they needed to go back. They 'HAD' to see the portal gone for themselves ! ..........
|
|
Alyana Ryat
Commodore
Registered: Sept 5, 2007 16:34:56 GMT
Posts: 347
|
Post by Alyana Ryat on Dec 1, 2015 21:13:22 GMT
It had only been twelve hours since Aly had been completely medically cleared and allowed to return to duty. It had been 18 hours since the Excal had escaped the void, or Whalspace, there was some debate about an appropriate name. Aly herself favoured the former but no one had asked her yet. She knew it had been touch and go for her for a while, if there had been any more injury then Ryat would have been at risk and she would have had to talk to the doctor about Trill biology. She was glad she hadn't.
She had read the reports three times now and as waiting for her XO arrive so they could have a proper catch up. The door chime went. He was right on time as always. "Enter", she called. Aly looked up at Daniel then back at the reports that covered much of her desk, she guestured to the other chair. "Please have a seat."
"I'm not sure if this the craziest thing that happened since I took command of the Excal but it's definitely in the top five. I'm not sure if I should give you a commendation or a reprimand. Or both." She sighed deep and sank further into her chair. She knew that if there were any reprimands coming down from on high then they would stop with her. "Thank you, Dan. You saved my ship and you saved me."
Tag: Dan
Aly knew the damage to the Excal was extensive but it would be repaired. She would be back out among the stars soon. Aly was still in a state where she was looking out of every viewport just to watch the stars. Turns out, you didn't know how important they were until they weren't there anymore.
"Even with what happened when we were back on Earth I would guess they'll offer you a command when we get back." Aly knew he deserved it and she would miss him if he chose to take up the offer. Yes she might have had some reservations about him initially but they were long past that. "I know I've never asked you if you want a command of your own, I'm asking now, I think you,d be a great captain."
Tag:
OOC: I guess we're close to wrapping this one up. Anyone got any ideas for the next mission?
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Dec 1, 2015 22:57:10 GMT
The ship had been immobile for almost thirty hours while a transport tug was sent out from Star Base Fourteen, the closest to their location. Once it arrived the USS Fleming departed, while the tug Commander came aboard and made arrangements to get underway ... With no warp core, the Excalibur was running on emergency reserves only, more than enough to keep life support and artificial gravity working. The tractor beam took hold, caressing the Constitution Class vessel almost twenty times her gross tonnage, but the tug was a strong little craft, and three minutes into their acceleration, the Commander informed them they were about to jump to warp ..... Daniel had been on the Bridge once cleared by the Medical Officer, but commodore Ryat was noticeable by her absence. Having been cleared she had took some time to begin the one task any Commanding Officer dreaded, writing to the Families of those crew that had been lost, over one hundred in total. She had come to the Bridge several times but soon retreated to her ready room to continue her odious task. Finally, she had time to read through the myriad of reports, including the Executive Officer's, which she had gone through several times. Finally, she requested he join her: "Please have a seat ......" she said, looking back at the report he had filed yet again, "I am not sure if this the craziest thing that happened since I took command of the Excalibur, but it's definitely in the top five. I'm not sure if I should give you a Commendation or a reprimand. Or both ..... Thank you, Dan. You saved my ship, and you saved me." "I did my job Commodore." Dan replied, "Not well enough given the losses we suffered to the Whal ... As for you, you were injured and suffering from the Whal's manipulation, we're just lucky that they left you for dead, otherwise ...." he didn't finish the sentence, given the obvious result had the Whal succeeded. "Even with what has happened, I would guess they will offer you a Command when we get back to Earth." Aly knew he deserved it, and she would miss him if he chose to take up the offer. Yes she might have had some reservations about him initially but they were long past that, "I know I've never asked you if you want a Command of your own, and while I'm compiling my own report, including Commendations for several members of the Officers and crew, I'm asking now, I think you would make a great Captain." Dan looked at the woman opposite, wondering vaguely if she was being serious, or just trying to boost his self esteem. Truth be told, he hadn't thought about a Command of his own, nor did he desire one at this point. Officially he was still an Intelligence Officer, if he had been mulling anything over career-wise it would be whether to return to Intel' or ask to be permanently reassigned to the Excalibur, it occurred to him that Ryat's comments were 'hinting' at him leaving her ship at the earliest opportunity, 'but hell I he could be wrong' he thought to himself as he pondered on his reply. "I intent to recommend you in my report regardless Commander, so you don't need to decide here and now." Ryat said with a genuine smile. "To be perfectly honest Commodore, I was giving some serious thought whether to ask if you would allow me to remain aboard in some capacity, or to return to Intelligence ... I'm still weighing the options." < tag : Commodore >After leaving the Commodore's ready room, Dan returned to his quarters to shower and change into something with a little less 'odour' for the first time since they had escaped the portal to what Ryat had nicknamed 'Whalspace' ... He quite liked the name, though he hoped he would never have to hear it again once this was over with. He had fully intended to request the Excalibur be allowed to return to the region to confirm the fact that the Whal no longer posed a threat to this Universe, but the Science Division had already dispatched a vessel for just that ... It was going to take almost two weeks at warp two to get back to the Sol System, and Home. They wouldn't be sat on their haunches in that time though. There were countless repairs to be carried out, and while replacing the warp core and their anti-matter, and almost seventy percent of the hull plating, couldn't be tackled until they were cocooned in one of the orbital shipyard gantries, other things within the ship herself, could be done, and while still the Executive Officer, he intended to keep everyone busy. The main cargo bay had been cleared and converted into a makeshift ward for those suffering from stress or other related ailments, while the physically injured took up Sick-bay. He fully intended the Excalibur to look her very best, at least, internally, when Fleet Admiral Foale visited her .......... OOC ::
As Commodore Ryat has mentioned, we're coming to a close on our current mission. Feel free to continue writing your POV of our journey home. I'm sure we can get a few more posts in for good measure before the final curtain
Regards,
Commander Daniel Schirra. Executive Officer.
|
|
Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
|
Post by Karka Psonoir on Dec 5, 2015 5:19:04 GMT
The navigational deflector had suffered from the ship's journey through the debris field and the subsequent traversing of the curious subspace layer the Whal had opened to allow them passage back to their own universe. How kind of them, Karka thought, amused as he worked at the deflector's maintenance panel. In pushing all the debris clear of the ship as it made the trip to the distortion in a fraction of a second at warp speed, the deflector had suffered irreparable damage to some of its secondary power units. Thus, if there was a failure in any one of the primary units, there was a chance that a redundant system wouldn't be available to take over - which could spell doom for the vessel should they come upon anything larger than a pebble.
Being towed at warp 2 wasn't the most gallant way for the Excalibur to return to Earth. The warp core had been rendered inoperable by the constant attacks while in Whalspace and finally, by the journey through the subspace layer - it also seemed that the explosion of the Joyeuse's warp core and its loss of antimatter containment had caused an abundance of antimatter in the Excalibur's drive systems - collected via the ramscoops accidentally as they'd shot past the stricken Miranda class - and thus the core had shut down when it'd detected an abnormally high concentration of anti-deuterium particles in the lower segments of the constrictors.
Now he had time to turn to thoughts of the future once again, as he continued his idle work on the deflector - the work didn't require too much attention, he could simply go onto automatic and thus free up his mind for more important matters. Now Makar would presumably return to the 29th century, shamed for his role in manipulating the Whal - having them believe he was their deity - by the consenting Hybrudean majority. As for Lirwa, he would doubtless continue his exploits in Earth's distant past, playing with the timeline to his content, throwing up all manner of different futures with each incursion each of which could only be followed by one world-line, one instance of himself.
Should Karka remain with the ship? Or would the future beckon him back again, where he'd be welcomed by the archives that with grace glided round the Hybrudean homeworld, the planet and its surrounding sectors caught in their perpetual state of temporal flux - some parts of his race's space were two hundred or more years in the future, some were in the past, however always fluctuating, so that the same point in space in the 27th century would - after the next whole vibration of the Standing Wave - be in the 31st. Equilibrium of equal entropy on macroscopic scales would never be found outside of a few hundred kilometres.
An issue, of which there were many, was that while the Wave endured in its current form, no progress could be made beyond the 31st century - except for those few experiments where those, at the very edge of time in the 31st, used the experimental technique of superstring teleportation to break off from the Wave's temporal effect and barrel headlong into the future. Of course, those who elected to stay outside the Wave's influence - vigilantes for instance, of whom Karka was one - were not prey to the Wave's influence, and, if they were willing never to return to Hybrudea but to jump in time via that special access route on the Highways, to a time past the 31st, they too may free themselves and search out the future, discover what is to become of the Hybrudean race.
He decided to stay for now, in this current body - allowing for a couple hundred years to pass, or close to, would loosen his recent memories of the Whal, of his near death and taking over of Lieutenant Vance, of Makar in his deitic guise, of the current situation on the Excalibur; he wished to stay close to events, having developed an affinity for these people in his time here. He smiled and continued his work on the nav deflector. "Just remember, Karka, trouble awaits he who tarries in times long past. Retreading what has been done, what has been said... is fine for the historian, but it won't save our people."
"If only you'd told me yesterday," he replied, collapsing against the maintenance panel, falling to his knees and trying to gather his thoughts. Every time it took so much energy out of him to send such replies.
|
|
Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
|
Post by Daniel Schirra on Dec 5, 2015 11:41:51 GMT
At a maximum speed of warp two, it took the tug almost two weeks to return to the Sol System. Thankfully, more to save her dignity and pride, Karka had managed to reestablish impulse drive and the tug released her caress as they both past Neptune, the blue planet bringing back some unwanted memories for those on the Excalibur ...
Now, the ship drifted deeper and deeper into her home System en-route to Earth and Space-dock.
Dan had been working along with everyone else to repair or replace as many damaged systems, consoles, even corridor paneling, in time for their arrival. Subsequently he had spent little time on the Bridge save for his assigned duty shifts. This was also true of Commodore Ryat ... Her absence had been noted by more than himself, and at one point he had been forced to speak to members of the crew who seemed to have their own explanation for the Commodore's absence. he had spoken to her daily during their return but the meetings, if they could even be called 'meeting' were quickly over. He knew that she, like everyone else, was affected by their mission and it's outcome. They had lost almost one hundred of the crew to the Whal, and Alyana held every one of those losses on her shoulders. He knew why she had secluded herself away, no-one would want to write that letter to a Mother, Father, Brother, Sister,but to have to write one for each of those lost was almost unthinkable.
As they passed Mars, Dan was sat in the Command seat watching the tiny blue green speck that was Earth grow ever larger. The Commodore left her ready room and waved for her Executive Officer to remain seated.
"How long before we dock Commander ?" she asked, Dan looked at the chronometer set above the massive window:
"Fifteen minutes, give or take ... The Station is readying a dock for us as we speak."
"I'll be in my ready room. Let me know when docking is complete Dan." with that she turned and left the Bridge, several sets of eye following her as she did so. Dan looked at the Con Officer, who, catching herself being watched quickly returned her gaze to her console, other's following suit immediately. Ten minutes later the Space Station contacted them.
=^= Dock-Master to USS Excalibur =^=
=^= Excalibur =^= Schirra replied.
=^= Excalibur .. Transfer Navigation to our control now =^= Dan nodded to the Navigation Officer who confirmed the transfer.
=^= Sit back Excalibur .. We'll bring you in softly .. Welcome home =^=
=^= Confirmed Dock-Master .. Thank you .. Standing by for confirmation of docking .. Excalibur out =^=
He sat back as tractor beams lanced from the Space Station and caressed the ship. He could see at least two more Constitution Class refit vessels ready for departure, the USS Constantinople and the Asahi. Compared to the battered and bruised Excalibur, they gleamed as the sun reflected off their immaculate hull plating. The ship began to slow and he could see booms extending from the dock, power, air, water, and a large sealed gantry to allow maintenance crews access to the ship. Off to their Starboard, seemingly hanging in space, was several platforms, worker-bee shuttles seemed to buzz around the pallets that contained the new hull plates for the ship. Further our, he could see the new warp core assembly. something they sorely needed ... He sensed rather than actually felt, the umbilicus attaching to the ship, the lighting seemed to increase fractionally as they switched from internal to external power ... The Comm chirped to life:
=^= Dock-Master to Excalibur .. .. Docking complete .. Shut down all Systems now .. External power transfer confirmed =^= he looked at the Chief Engineer who turned to his panel and made numerous imputs before turning back and nodding.
=^= Thank you Dock-Master .. Shut-down confirmed =^= He stood up and stretched, suddenly realizing his back was aching. Reaching down he tapped the Comm activation:
=^= Schirra to Commodore Ryat .. Docking complete =^= The door to the ready room opened and Commodore Ryat stepped onto the Bridge.
"Assign everyone immediate Shore Leave Commander ... Commander Psonoir, you, and Myself will need to be available during the re-fit, but make sure you 'both' set aside some time to get home ......" she asked Dan to open a ship-wide Comm then turned to face everyone on the Bridge before continuing:
=^= Attention Crew .. This is the Captain .. .. We have taken a massive hit and lost some good people .. Everyone will be receiving Commendations for their work during the mission .. Get home .. See your Families .. Friends .. Get drunk while you can .. Unfortunately Department Heads will be required to oversee their refit .. But that doesn't mean you need to stay aboard .. Station personnel can do most of the work so let them .. .. Just make sure we don't set off and fine we're a Navigation Console missing .. OK .. Thank you everyone .. Ryat out =^= She placed a hand on Dan's arm for a split-second, then returned to her letter-writing. Dan reopened a ship-wide Comm:
"Attention crew .. .. .. Shore Leave is now open for all crew .. Department heads please co-ordinate with myself regarding re-fit schedules .. .. Exec' out =^=
He closed the Comm and walked to the 'window' wondering what the future held ..........
|
|
Alyana Ryat
Commodore
Registered: Sept 5, 2007 16:34:56 GMT
Posts: 347
|
Post by Alyana Ryat on Dec 8, 2015 19:12:36 GMT
"To be perfectly honest Commodore, I was giving some serious thought whether to ask if you would allow me to remain aboard in some capacity, or to return to Intelligence ... I'm still weighing the options."
Aly had to smile in response, "There is certainly a place here as First Officer if you want it." There was a lot unspoken, Aly knew there was a chance she could get court martialled over what had happened, and if that happened she could lose her command. She certainly hadn't been fit for command at least some of the time she had been commanding. She had read her logs and watched some of the recordings, it had been very strange. She hadn't been properly fit for command, but had there been another option - she didn't think so but that didn't mean there wasn't. She swallowed hard and then turned the conversation back to more immediate matters.
************************
Aly didn't think she had ever been quite so pleased to get the Excal into dock. It had taken two weeks and what her crew had achieved was nothing short of miraculous. Still, all of them were close to burn out, herself included. She had been writing letters in every available moment, condolence and commendation alike and she still wasn't done. In the early part of the trip she had spent several hours helping with the comms array science Communications were short staffed and Engineering were short staffed and over stretched. It had all come together and she didn't think it would be possible to be prouder of her crew if they were her children and she could say that with authority.
After their last trip to Earth Aly knew that Dan had people to see. She wasn't sure about her engineer though, and she certainlly wasn't sure about herself. She didn't have family here and most of her friends were duty Starfleet so they were all out there somewhere. Still she could manage to follow her own orders well enough to get some sleep.
OOC: Shoreleave thread now available.
|
|