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Post by Savot on Feb 4, 2018 19:31:58 GMT
[El Salvador: Main Bridge]
As luck would have it, on his way from the Ready Room to the Briefing Room, Savot was present for an incoming signal from the U.S.S. Enzio regarding their encountering 1 of the 2 missing tugs. Acknowledging and thanking them for their data, Savot added that to what little else he'd manage to collate and met with Deis, Karysta, Zhegras, Zakryn, and Lieutenant Alexi Tamarov in the briefing room. Rather than be seated at the captain's head of the table position the vulcan immediately divulged what he'd just learned, punching up coordinates on the conference viewscreen as he did so. The readouts were visible to everyone from their seats at the table, but the conference table also was designed to bring up individual readouts at each occupied chair's table surface. Slaved to the main viewer, each occupant's table space showed them a personal view of what the main viewer displayed. "The U.S.S. Enzio, during the reconnaissance mission, encountered 1 of the 2 missing Warp Tugs, the U.S.S. Amto at these coordinates. They report a Bajoran female identifying herself as Nara Yurden seemingly in charge of the vessel while the rightful Ferengi owner of the ship was aboard in captivity. The Enzio managed to utilize the Amto's library-logged command codes to lower her shields and retrieve the Ferengi captain; but the Amto herself managed to escape after ejecting their destabilized auxiliary warp core at a nearby nebulous life form. The Enzio rightfully opted to focus their efforts on shielding the lifeforms from the core's blast and the Amto used this window to flee back into warp, obscuring their warp trail so pursuit was impossible", Savot reported to his gathered officers. Pausing to allow any comment or inquiry.
*Deis didnt even bother to sit down, able to see her screen and datapads easily enough standing. No comment to make but an inquiry. "Wha th bleedin 'ell is a 'nebulous life form' Sir? Granted tha is nae important at th mo, but tweaks me interest anyway. As fer th information ye asked for...lil enough t be goin on. From all reports, opinions, speculations an prolly fortune tellin, Kret Nomal simply lost his shite, Sir. Or iffen ye prefer a more professional definition, panicked. Medics heard him mutterin bout bein confined, bout th station bein doomed an th like. All indications point tha he took tha tug outa sheer "gotta get outa 'ere." He wasnt alone. ::finally taking a seat and bringing up a series of faces on the overscreen:: A family jumped station wi him. Human, oddly enough. Bonnie an Trevor Lightner an their 3 children. One cadet Spencer, a toddler named Bette, an a newborn, Tamra. 2 weeks old, sir. They apparently managed t make off wi an assortment o goods. Coupla phaser rifles, bulk matter fer replicators. Dry emergency rations. Medical supplies.*
Savot clasped his hands at the small of his back as he explained what very little else he knew regarding the lifeforms, "I have yet to review the Enzio's full report as the lifeform's nature thus far appears unrelated to the Tugs; however, it seems the Enzio encountered some lifeform or lifeforms comprised of sentient nebulous vapors that gather themselves in spherical configurations. It is unclear if indeed the vaporous material itself is alive or if it served as a communication buoy of some sort, perhaps conveying telepathic thought the way air carries the soundwaves of our voices." He raised an eyebrow at the news of the human family, "Curious that parents with very young children would flee the known variable of a Starfleet space station to the complete unknowns of unfamiliar space... Though innumerable emotional variables may be at play I think it also wise to consider the possibility of mental distress. Vast areas of Starbase 47 suffered radiation exposure that has only recently been fully purged. The cause may be something as simple as their faculties being compromised; however, that means we must be prepared for completely irrational behavior should we encounter them. Even if we force them into a position of surrender we cannot be sure they will make the wise choice and offer it."
Cadet Zhegras spoke up then, with Commander Delbridge present via the newly-repaired holo-projectors in the briefing room from his office in Engineering many decks below, "Well the good news there is that having already chucked their auxiliary core; they'll be a lot easier to best through simple atrition. We can wear them down with relatively tame methods that present less risk to the tug; keep them from getting themselves blown up."
*She gives this faint, yet obviously pleased, little smile as he explains about the life form. She wishes she had seen it with her own eyes. She puts on a more serious face though once the fantastical nature of the life form has been explained. When that eyebrow raises, she gives an immediate nod. These two may not have a telepathic link, but they do think similarly from time to time* Twas me thought as well, Sir. Mental distress. But then given th situation, be there many o whom that cannae be said? Wha confuses me, above an beyond takin ones babies into "exile" is...th Cadet. Most cadets on-station at th time o th "thing" tend t be pretty gung ho bout helpin out. ::Quieting down as Zhegras and Holo Delbridge weigh in on the situation, nodding after speaking has finished.:: Up our shields an let em pound away. Nae a bad strategy, that. ::Then looking to Tamarov: Sensor readings on the other tug? :The officer answers succinctly: Probable locations where we could pick up the ion trail are logged into navigation; should be easily tracked once we pin it down. ::Deis then looks to Captain Savot:: Well then...wha say ye t gettin this show on th road...th lead be only gettin longer.*
Delbridge's holo-form merely nodded, needing to say nothing beyond what his bridge representative cadet had already voiced. Savot gave a nod of his slightly tilted head, "The cadet's participation also stood out to me based on your same reasoning. Though it is an unwise thing to fully rely on, perhaps we will be fortunate and find we have an ally aboard when and if we encounter the Amto. The cadet may well have accompanied her family to do what she could to safeguard them in spite of their compromised rationality." Tapping further controls, Savot overlaid the estimated trajectory of Kret's tug, along with the 3 most likely avenues of departure from the Amto's last recorded coordinates, narrowed down based on the nearby stellar bodies and spatial phenomena. Savot nodded to his First Officer, "Indeed, take us out Commander. We shall keep this astrometric overlay up on the Master Situation console at the rear of the bridge, refining it as we record new data en route. We should be able to narrow down the position of at least 1 tug, though ideally they may try to regroup for strength in numbers and we can encounter and render aid to both, whether or not it is desired. Take us out, Commander, warp 7."
(Joint Post by Savot and FO Irae)
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Post by Savot on Apr 9, 2018 2:04:32 GMT
[El Salvador: Conference Room, Present]
The Red Alert klaxons having long since been silenced via command override, only their constant pulsing of red illuminating every corridor of the El Salvador bespoke the increasingly dire situation into which they had landed themselves in pursuit of their quarry. The ever-reliable Tamarov manning the Bridge briefly, Savot, Deis, Delbridge, and Acting-Cadet Karysta sat around the long table in the briefing room at the aft of the Bridge going over the details of their current statusâŚ
Delbridge pulled up power output graphs that showed a steady surge of power being produced from the Warp Core, âIf we had bio-neural gelpacks instead of the biolinear chips in our systems weâd already be dead. We managed to shift the chips to their solid state which prevented further degradation, but unless I can purge this stuff from the Warp Core the increase in engine output is going to accelerate us right into one of those parting gifts out there. For now we can steer to avoid them but the faster we go the smaller that navigational window is going to getâŚâ
As Savot listened to his Engineer and XOâs reports, his mind kept a constant tally of events beginning with their initial launch on the pursuit and recovery mission, resulting in the initial contact 19.2 hours earlier after which events triggered with increasing alacrity that lead to their current state of affairs: a crisis that after all the El Salvador and her surviving crew had managed to endure thus far since her launch, threatened to destroy them quite utterlyâŚ
******************************************************************************* [El Salvador: Main Bridge, 19.2 hours Earlier]
Karysta spoke up from her duty station at Ops, âCommander Irae, I suggest altering course to the following trajectoryâ, she spoke as she input commands that would instantly relay the coordinates in question to Commander Deis Irae presently manning the helm, âThe pair of ion trails we believe to belong to the stolen warp tugs crossed briefly then appeared to divert no longer paralleling each other as we have been during our pursuit. Both trails have since been completely dispersed by an as-yet unknown phenomenon, though 1 of the ion signatures intensified just prior to contact loss. Iâm running sensor diagnostics to rule out malfunction.â
Savot, hearing the report from his captainâs chair, activated his arm consoles to review the readings himself even as he spoke towards the helm, âCourse change approved, Commander Irae, please take us to the coordinates in question, reduce speed to Full Impulse as we arrive. Yellow Alert, Raise Shields, give me a continuous sensor scan of that area with updated telemetry displayed on the Master Situation Screen.â The Vulcan captain gave his instructions, referring at the last to the large console at the rear of the Main Bridge that served to give any personnel easily visible âbig pictureâ updates as their various ship systems acquired the relevant data.
While they had been pursuing what they believed to be the stolen warp tugs for a number of days as contact would drop, trails would turn out to be paths of stellar dust or detritus from long-abandoned probes left to drift through the eternity of space, arriving at a stationary set of coordinates took very little time and soon they were approaching the last known contact with their target ion trails. Sensors had been able to reveal almost nothing new as they approached, except to partially outline a general line at which the sensor beams would be dispersed by some unknown cause. Unable to give any report via sensor scans, Karysta opted to put their approach on the main viewscreen with medium magnification.
It wasnât clear what they were seeing precisely, only that there appeared to be a large span of space populated by a multitude of objects whose precise appearance couldnât be made out at this distance. Savot pondered the wisest approach before ordering, âFull Stop. Prepare a Class 5 Probe and launch into the field of objects.â Then a further idea came to him, âCommander Irae, select a specific coordinate location for the probe to reach and hold position; if we lose telemetry contact with the probe weâll know where to find it should we decide to follow it in.â
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Post by Savot on Jan 28, 2019 2:10:05 GMT
[Several Months Previous]
The El Salvador had lost contact with their probe approximately 27 seconds after it entered the minefield. Prior to that moment their brief telemetry readings were of the metal comprising the mines, alloys that were entirely unknown to Federation databanks. Savot made a mental note to attempt to disarm and secure a mine for metallurgical analysis to update the periodic table even as Commander Irae rose to enact the fall-back plan. Theyâd set the probeâs destination to specific coordinates and preprogrammed it to activate station-keeping thrusters to maintain its position there so they could find it if theyâd lost contact with it as had just happened.
Heading into the unknown of the minefield, Commander Delbridge had accompanied her to provide an on-hand technical well of expertise as they had every reason to believe that communications between to Mini-Sal and El Salvador would fall victim to the same interference that had silenced their probe. Gathering the rest of her selected crew Irae departed aboard the Mini-Sal and made for the probe rendezvous coordinates, deftly working the shuttleâs helm to keep well away from the alien mines as they were unable to determine if they had magnetic properties to draw towards ships within a given proximity. As they likewise had no data on the span of the proximity at which a mine would go off, it was a tense but steady trudge until they reached the probe.
They reached the probeâs stationary coordinates in about 27 minutes of flight at Âź Impulse. It hadnât suffered any external damage and once they approached it the Mini-Sal was able to remotely receive its telemetry at such a reduced distance between them. Deis noted with some wry bemusement that the coordinates they had selected for the probe to stop itself had placed it at rest within 3 feet of one of the mines.
Downloading the probeâs data, Delbridge frowned as it wasnât as illuminating as theyâd hoped due to the minefieldâs interference disrupting sensor scans. âWhat I can do, Commander, is reel the probe in and affix it to the Mini-Salâs hull. Using the probeâs recorded data as a reference I can set its sensors to filter similar readings out, while our sensors scan through the sifted data. Itâll mean we wonât pick up anything new that our computers arenât familiar with⌠which is the main goal⌠but maybe itâll let us pick up something a bit more hum-drum like another vesselâs probe or maybe some of these minesâ victims whose databanks we can scour to see if they managed to glean any good info of this areaâ, Delbridge explained apologetically.
Happy to take something over nothing, Deis set him to it and near the extreme range of their now filtered sensors they picked up something that read akin to a space vessel but couldnât determine energy readings or life signs at their current distance. Setting a course, Deis maneuvered the Mini-Sal towards the mysteryâŚ
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Post by Savot on Jan 28, 2019 23:46:20 GMT
What they finally came across was indeed a space vessel of unknown type, seemingly dead in space but with no external damage consistent with mine explosion. The Mini-Sal detected no life signs but couldnât be sure if that was due to the age of the ship or ongoing interference from either the strange energy within the minefield or due to properties of the unfamiliar vesselâs construction.
Prepping EVA suits and portable power units that could be attached to power individual consoles if the other ship was fully without its own power, Deis and her team boarded the other ship with the First Officer taking the lead wanting to be the first to face whatever potential risk lie in wait for them, if any. There was no life aboard, what bodies they found looked desiccated for ages; Deis felt that just bumping into one might cause it to crumble to dust. Upon finding an area that looked analogous to a Bridge, Commander Delbridge hooked up one of the power packs to try and access one of their consoles.
Four consoles failed to respond, having been rendered inoperative by a long-ago power overload as near as Delbridge could tell. The one functioning console accepted the power transfer and began to divulge its secrets to the Engineerâs inquisitive tricorder, downloading anything he could for later evaluation back on the El Sal. Deis looked for the physically largest corpse to tag for transport into stasis aboard the Mini-Sal for delivery back to the Sickbay labs for post-mortem; even desiccated the largest body had more dried tissue available for examination than the smaller bodies and as making a return trip to this dead vessel wasnât high on her list of things to do, she wanted to shoot for the most potential intel they could gather in the here and now.
Amidst its downloading, Deis asked Delbridge if he could access what looked like the last shipâs log and play it through the Universal Translator. After a few moments of sifting through the unknown user interface he had reached what seemed the likely candidate. The next instant, the consoleâs speakers flooded the cold, echoey alien Bridge with a soul-wrenching scream of pure and concentrated horror, agony⌠or both. As Delbridge reached his fingers back towards the consoleâs face to deactivate the playback, the portable power pack burst in a shower of sparks and a flash that left everyone whoâd been facing it blinking away colored after-flash for several seconds.
As if the timing of the scream and its end marking the âdeathâ of the power pack hadnât been ominous enough, Delbridge raised a gloved finger within his encounter-suit glove, âThat⌠shouldnât have happened. And not just for my piece of mind; I mean technologically that shouldnât have happened. That console isnât a power source, so there shouldnât have been any feedback coming from it that could ever be even a little bit capable of shorting out a power pack.â
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Feb 23, 2019 4:04:17 GMT
First Officers log...Doctors log...ive bloody lost track. What we saw in that ship shouldna be possible. Twas was days ahead of us...a week at best. There simply wernt time fer th ship itsself to be so drained...nor th bodies to 'ave the look of ancient dessication. They could have been there fer centuries by the look o things. At the risk of soundin unprofessional...the place gave me th collywobbles. We were able t bring back one of th bodies, yet i had t spray em wi anatomical fixative like a bleedin archaeologist just to lift th poor man. Then stasis.
By th time Delbridge n meself left, th ship was wholly wi'out power o any kind...and our eva suits were drained as well. Th Minisal did our breathin on th way back. 3 consoles on th Minisal shorted before we made it back into th shuttle bay o th El Sal...yet when we arrived, th power issues had ceased.
Didna realize until i got th corpse back t sickbay that i, meself, was nearly exausted. Shut meself in th CMO's office an ate from th replicator fer nearly an hour after reports was made. Stranger...i think i lost 7 solid kilograms. has t be radiation...but its sucked th life en power outa everthin anywhere near that ship.
Delbridge played back th last o the ships logs for me...and i wish tha he had not. I bet he wishes th same. Ive never heard such a sound. Pain...terror...both? Somethin more? I was grateful when th power pack shorted out, possible or not.
I am nae a coward. Havnae ever been. But i admit fear 'ere an now. May as well get it on record...i be afraid o whats out there. But ill do me duty no-thless. Time fer autopsy.
Computer, close log.
=============================== 3 hours later ===============================
::A freshly scrubbed, and fed, Cmdr Irae steps onto the bridge newly fortified with the blackest coffee she could get the ships computer to replicate for her. It was almost tarry. Wonderful. Even so she cannot quite banish the faint scowl that marks a line between her eyes.:: Reports ready, Capn.
Savot sat on the bridge, running roughly 2/3 of the basic bridge functions through various switchable arm control configurations on the Captain's chair as the entire rest of the bridge crew had been dismissed to get some rest. Karysta had requested permission to remain at Ops and knowing her Vulcan-Romulan biology, Savot knew her fortitude was equal to the task for multiple shifts in a row though he didn't intend to let her go that far. Lieutenant Tamarov had acquiesced to getting some sleep but opted to do so on the emergency medical bed at the rear of Deck 1 across from the Conference Room so he'd be right there if an Alert was called. The vulcan turned, giving Deis a nod of welcome, "I've reviewed the Mini-Sal logs and Commander Delbridge uncharacteristically gave his verbal account within 17 minutes of your return. He seemed to believe that "getting the weevlins" out of his mind via speech would make them my concern and free him from their disconcerting impact", Savot's brow rose in bemusement at this before returning his usual countenance to his First Officer, "I stand ready to offer similar aural relief to you, Commander." He gestured with his left arm for her to take pretty much whichever bridge chair seemed most appealing as the majority of them were vacant at present.
Aye well he would, wouldnt he? Why did i nae think o tha? ::Lifting up fingers to rub at her temples as she sits down in the closest chair:: Could use a lack o weevlins. Delbridge filled ye in on th technical aspects o our trip...an seemed t do well enough a' th "weevlins" parts. ::Lowering hands and leaning back in the chair, at least trying to relax and achieve aural release:: Tis th second freighter out there, an no mistake. Looks like its been there fer a couple hundred years an we know tis been no more than 7 or 8 days at th maximum. Th...young man we brought back likewise seemed, visually, t be ancient. Tis'nt. Th DNA wasna even fragmented. Analysis tells me tha th person in me morgue has been dead nae more than 2 days. Th weevlin part is this...ever single resource th body has is depleted. Tis called autophagy. Tha man was so starved tha his own body consumed itsself. Takes months t starve t death like tha, Capn. Longer if regular fluids are taken. ::Taking in and then releasing a rather unsteady breath:: I think ye'll find tha th freighters bulk matter be completely gone. They woulda consumed anything wi th smallest amount of nutritional value. ::then looking at the man, taking a bit of comfort in his lack of strong expression:: When i got back t sickbay wi th body...i ate an drank enough fer two people. For a day. Im fine now...am bettin twas th same fer Delbridge.
Savot listened calmly throughout, not interrupting as he actually understood that sometimes just talking over a subject could be helpful to the speaker without any ongoing input from the listener. At the end; however, he did arch his right eyebrow with concern, "Autophagy. The body consumed itself despite every resource on the ship, including Life Support, being shunted to the replicators to produce excessive amounts of sustenance. And both yourself and Mr. Delbridge reported extreme hunger and thirst upon your return; though you say you aren't feeling ravenous at the present time. And the medical evaluation of your entire Away Team came up negative for any ailments, so your stamina drains could be explained by the exertions of your Away mission... Nonetheless I'd like all of you to undergo cellular scans as frequently as possible while still allowing for REM sleep. If at least one member of your team sleeps in Sickbay the EMH can perform continuous monitoring of them without disrupting their rest. As you said, whatever afflicted the warp tug took very little time to do its damage so if the same should befall us we need to catch it as quickly as possible."
Righ, Sir. Scans came up fine. We are in, fer lack o a better word, perfect health. In fact it seemed like we had just been workin for a day wi'out pause or sustinance. We do nae feel deprived a'tall. I...at least do feel as tho i could sleep fer a day so i think ill take th first scan nap. ::Standing to do just that but then pausing, offering the Captain down a faint little smile:: Once im up, Sir...do take a turn at sleep, mm? Even you need rest.
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Apr 27, 2019 19:28:48 GMT
[El Salvador: Several Months PreviousâŚ]
It had taken only 5.7 hours following the Away Teamâs return for the situation aboard the El Salvador to approach disaster. A heretofore un-encountered form of radiation was what flooded the ancient minefield, presumably emitted by the mines themselves: either as their intended purpose, or containment failure in the minesâ housing over the untold span of time the field had been in place. The El Salvador had remained on station outside the minefield and had therefore been out of the radiationâs reach⌠until the Away Team had unintentionally brought some of it back with them. As a completely unknown type, none of the radiation filters either technological or biological at the El Salâs disposal had cleansed the returning crew of that to which theyâd all been exposed during their excursion into the field. Like a new sickness that no current medicine could impact, so too had this new radiation begun to spread from the Away Team, their equipment and clothing, the Mini-Sal itself now once again resting in the main shuttlebay⌠and most especially from the highly concentrated source that was the body Commander Irae had brought back from the discovered and crippled warp tug.
At the late hour, Savot manned the bridge alone with his Mirrorâs daughter Karysta seated at her Ops station. Sheâd been going through the data the Away Team had been able to pull from the warp tugâs console before it mysteriously overloaded. Most of it was ship power consumption data, confirming what the Away Team had surmised that the tug had actually transferred power completely out of the Life Support and Shield systems to shunt it to the replicators, frantically consuming as much sustenance as possible to fuel their bodies that were burning themselves out due to some radioactive effect. Shutting down Life Support would have been bad enough on its own, but once they had dropped the shields, even the minimal radiation deflection they provided had ended and their exposure went off the charts leaving their bodies the nearly mummified husks that Iraeâs team had found.
The acting-cadet also discovered that the tugâs crew had had the same idea the El Sal had employed, launching a probe further into the field trying to get more data with which to analyze their situation. She found the coordinates of the probe, and took 1 and a half hours to piece together the remote access codes so the El Salvador could tap into the other probeâs telemetry, but after 10 full seconds of reading dead air the 2 vulcans concluded with regret that the probe had either sustained damage or possibly was simply too far into the minefield for them to access through the fieldâs interference.
Commander Delbridge woke to the sensation of the starship leaping instantly to full impulse speed from a dead stop approximately 4 times more quickly than the system was designed to make that transition and as a result the inertial dampeners were overstrained and everyone aboard felt the lurch. He ran to Engineering in his pajamas, his mouth going agape and eyes widening in confused fear as they beheld the primary Warp Core and saw that its normally blue nebulous swirl had turned purple with green flecks of spark lightning seeming to make short leaps between clumps of warp plasma. A brief glance at the primary systems console showed that the engine systems had started overpowering themselves and were at 107% of normal maximum output.
Back on the Bridge, Savot had sprung to the helm station immediately as the ship lurched to full impulse, putting his hyper-focused concentration and reflexes to work on piloting the Excalibur-class starship through the minefield, ducking under and around eons-old stationary weapons meant to destroy enemies that could very well have been dead for millennia by now. He mentally counted off seconds, allowing Delbridge and his staff time to assess the situation in Engineering before comming to ask for a report⌠------------
::Deis had gone to her quarters after speaking with Savot and passed straight out, face down, on her bunk without bothering to even take her boots off. So it was in exactly this position that she woke 3 hours later as sickbay pinged her for emergencies. More than several of them. Part of her dearly wants to whimper for 5 more minutes...but time, tide, and space medicine waits for no woman. So she is up and chugging down a cup of heavily sugared coffee within roughly 5 minutes time, taking the cup with her at a quick clip of a walk. This becomes a jog when the ping comes again:: "Commander...Doctor...we have 8 more people just arriving due to fainting on duty." ::Deis tends to be professional if somewhat cool at times...but she so wants to snarl at the nurse comming her. Instead she says:: On me way, already. 2 minutes woman!
::And it is about that long before she strides into sickbay, cursing the massive accident that took the rest of her doctors...and not for the first time:: Computer activate EMH! ::The nurse comes to her, Deis just takes the chart and moves to the first patient:: Get tha' EMH workin, an we need stimulants all round. Ever'one, yerself included. Just do it, woman.
::If the nurse thought to argue, the last bit growled would forstall any such intent. It is with grainy feeling eyes that the old El Sal doctor gets to work, reviving those unconsious, stimming them up once they wake. We wont be able to do this for long, but we need everyone on their feet. She knows what this is...its the same thing that caused those peoples bodies on the tug freighter to eat themselves up and burn out.::
::This goes on for some time and then everything comes to a screeching halt when the ship bucks hard enough to roll 2 people off biobeds, onto the floor. Deis herself stumbles back and bumps rather hard into a diagnostic console. Its almost like hardcore turbulance...shite, hes got us going through that minefield. She loves Savot dearly but he dosent have the reflexes for this. She pushes off the console and takes one of the hyposprays herself, ramping it up a few mils and pressing it to her neck. Her heart immediately begins jumping and the world snaps into focus around her. Calling to the nurses and EMH as she goes doorwards:: Get everone stimmed an make em stay hydrated. Strap down th unconsious ones...this is gunna be rough.
::Not for the first time, Commander Irae feels the tug from too many points. She wants to be helping keep people on their feet. But she HAS to get to the bridge. Savot needs her expertise with the holodrive system right now. She wasnt even sure that we were moving through the minefield until she finally arrives on the bridge, which happens minutes later. So it is with slightly wild hair, a mussed sickbay coat, and a scowl that Deis arrives. She immediately tosses the hypospray to the first human she sees* Take it then pass it on. Capn, ill take helm. --------------
The Emergency Medical Hologram had been one of the few things salvageable from the El Salvador-Bâs Prometheus class hulk following the accident that crippled the mighty vessel, so his memories and personality were intact as his body moved with computer precision in no way hindered or slowed by his vocal display of attitude as he worked, rolling his eyes since that action in no way actually took his optical sensor subroutines off of the patients, âAlways something with this shipâŚâ At least he hadnât projected into being garbed in Hawaiian shorts.
Savot could feel Deisâ presence without turning to look at her as he heard the turbolift doors whoosh open, and he held the helm station only long enough for her to reach it as they swapped out like they were exchanging partners at a group dance. As Deisâ hands entered the holographic enhanced helm control orbs that allowed her to pilot with more finesse than the standard LCARS interface, Savot moved to the captainâs chair, turning towards the rear of the bridge to activate a shipwide status overlay on the Master Situation screen. As his finger descended towards the comms button Commander Delbridgeâs voice pre-empted him, calling the bridge to make his report, =^=Engineering to Bridge! Captain weâve got whatever got those poor [word deleted] on the warp tug; power levels in almost every system are surging and Iâve got no way to stop it. Managed to slow it down by switching the bio-linear circuits to their solid state but the radiationâs still getting to them just a little later. Iâm turning on every piece of equipment tied to the shipâs power supply to try and bleed some off but weâre heading towards drop-in-the-ocean levels of impact here.=^=
Savot noticed that as the Engineer spoke, all the light levels on the bridge were increasing as bright as they could get without negatively impacting the vision of the crewmembers there, and he assumed that similar effects were going on throughout the ship. Thinking the computer banks needed something to do to keep them churning through energy anyway, Savot swiftly worked the controls on his arm chairs to tie the external sensors into the navigational array and provide Deis with an auto-updating analysis and display of all mines that entered a window of distance around the increasingly fast El Salvadorâs flight path to help guide her pilotage. ----------------
::Sometimes it amazed her just how in tune her Vulcan Captain can be with her. Right now shes just grateful for it. Hes barely cleared the chair when she takes his place with just enough extra mental backbrain to be glad that the seat is warm. They had been smooth that way for a very long time so it really was like passing off a dance partner. Her hands have settled inside the orbs before she had even touched bottom to seat though with as tense as this already was she wishes she could have just kicked the seat out of her way and done this standing.::
::She leans back and glues eyes to the screens overlay, thanking Savot silently for this. He knew she needed something like this without even asking. She knows the score...were just moving without destination...the ship simply cannot stop. God...this happened to that family too. Its amazing that they made it. No time for that sort of thing...if she dosent focus, we end up in the worst single ship wreck this side of...wherever the hell we are currently. Its almost good that the propulsion systems are maxing themselves...otherwise there would be no way in hell she could keep from clipping these damn mines.::
::reaching her left hand foreward, flattening the palm and rotating at the wrist, tilting her head in the same direction just as force of habit. Her right is on a swivel left and right. In this way she controls the pitch and yaw without having to stop to think about angles and buttons. She cannot manage a full 360 this way, but anything lesser than that is quick and precise. She can see it comming though...there is a mine drifting out of position in relation to the others. Damnit.:: Delbridge, i need full foreward shields, all ya got. Shite, NOW NOW NOW!! ::Praying to God that he gets it up in time as she shifts and pitches the El Sals "nose" to clip the thing rather than hitting it straight on, gritting teeth while she does so.:: ---------
Savot keeps quiet as Deis begins speaking to Delbridge with the frantic need that imminent explosive demise tends to place on oneself. Delbridgeâs fingers dance across his work screens as he shunts more energy than they would normally have at their disposal into the forward shields less than a full second before the mine struck, making the El Salvador shudder though noticeably less than she should have under normal circumstances, =^=Iâve put the shields on a domino cascade, strongest at the front then streaming backward along each successive shield array as our momentum pushes us through the rest of the explosive, and reinforced both the dampeners and structural integrity with some of the excess power but at this rate the buildup will be more than I can do anything about in about 4 minutes!=^=
Karysta, without terribly much to do once Savot had begun assisting Deisâ navigation, had been using her Ops console to help with using up as much energy as possible according to Delbridgeâs instructions. Having reached the full extent of what she could contribute⌠she almost out of random half-vulcan curiosity pulled back up the view of the warp tugâs probe telemetry, her lips pre-frowning as she expected the same blank readings she had first witnessed⌠but then her eyebrows frown-furrowed instead as where before thereâd been nothing⌠now there were approximately 6 seconds worth of telemetry readings. Unsure of what precisely was happening with it, she shunted her screenâs view to one of Savotâs armchair projectors for him to see as well, âCaptain we have telemetry from the other probe now; but our link was established over 2 minutes ago and the telemetry only covers 6 seconds!â
Savotâs right eyebrow rose in scientific fascination at the time discrepancy, even as the rest of his mind simultaneously picked up on the most important variable in those 6 seconds of telemetry: wherever that probe was, the surrounding space contained absolutely no concentration of this radiation whatsoever, âCadet, transfer probe coordinates to the helm; Commander, get us to those coordinates.â With a hypothesis already formed in his mind as to what was causing the odd time discrepancy between themselves and the probeâs telemetry data, Savot spoke towards the ceiling, =^=Mr. Delbridge, prepare to activate multi-phasic shielding at Commander Iraeâs command, at which time you will transfer all available power to structural integrity.=^=
Delbridge replied with an increasingly tense tone of voice even as he kept working his utmost, =^=Roger that, bridge. Commander Iâm sorry but I canât hold the engines back any more than this, sheâs gonna start speeding up on you until weâre either out of this radiation, or she blows upâŚ=^=, Delbridge informed Deis regretfully, as the starship began surging forward slowly increasing speed into that zone that was just shy of Warp 1⌠-------
::The mine hits, and thankfully its a glancing blow as a full on frontal would have set off other mines. Which does actually happen. Behind us. THe mine had clipped and slung around the bare edge of inertial dampers, keeping it from being sucked in behind us. Deis isnt even aware that shes making noise like "Ooohooohh...hooooly, son of a...haaahh..." just out of relief from it not blowing right in our faces. Aaaand then she discovers that were going faster. She cant help but say:: Not s'posed to use this at warp!
::but we are finding out the hard way that you CAN actually use holodrive in warp...or near warp. One just needs to keep the corrections and movements a lot smaller and sharper. She is able, just barely, to spare an eye for the coordinates sent to her console and thrown up on the overhead.:: Hit me! ::Thats all she shouts in response to multiphasic shielding. Just give it to me. Riding this tiger because jumping off will get you eaten. You can ride it and maybe live, or leap off and definately die. Ride it.:: When we punch through, cut propulsion if yer can!
::streaking through the remnants of ancient war, the El Salvador dances in something of a spiral. Deis has to leave yaw as it is to place her hand in the pitch orb to keep that spiral going, then snapping said hand back to yaw before we become unstable and just flip out into however many mines are in range. At least 3 other mines tumble against our shields, two of them flying off elsewhere, one of them bursting right on our nose. The extra power is actually good right now.::
::As we reach the edge of that "null" sphere everything seems to come to a halt...for everyone. There is a split second of...stillness. Not a breath moves. Then everything speeds up for those experiencing all of this. Words come far too quickly, movements seem snappily unreal. There is the feel of something stretching...reality itsself...then snapping back, threatening to leave people disoriented. Deis certainly is, for a second...or was that minutes:: Cut it! -------------
Both ship and crew pass through some kind of spatial barrier separating where they were, from the radiation-free pocket in which the warp tugâs probe resides. The barrier sweeps over the El Salvador like a sieve, letting everyone and everything pass through it⌠except the damning radiation. The gamble had paid off. Though there hadnât been any other options on the table truly speaking. At Iraeâs word, and the blissful visual confirmation of the Warp Core returning to its normal blueish swirl of plasma, Delbridge gladly shut down the engines and a few taps of thrusters were sufficient to bring the starship to station-keeping inside this strange area of respite. The El Salvador and her crew would now have time to pick up the proverbial pieces, and try to get some more answers to their growing list of questions. As a matter of fact, they might have plenty of time indeed⌠--------
::That is about when Deis just collapses back against the helm chair, taking hands from the orbs and putting them right on her face. She just...needs a minute.::
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Post by Savot on Jun 4, 2019 23:29:16 GMT
[El Salvador: Main Bridge, Several Months Previous]
âMs. Karysta, coordinate with Cadet Zhegras in Engineering and perform a diagnostic scan of every shipâs system to confirm all minefield radiation has been purged and collate a full damage control assessment for Commander Delbridgeâs reviewâ, Savot spoke to his counterpartâs daughter at the Ops station as the El Salvador finally came to a stop within the seemingly safe pocket of space they had entered. Data flooded the Situation Screen at the rear of the bridge as now real-time telemetry was coming in from the Warp Tugâs probe, âIt would seem we are sharing the same rate of time passage as the probe now. There must indeed be a temporal component within the signature of the radiation either by coincidence or design so that passing through a field of temporal imbalance nullifies it.â
As he spoke, Savot tapped at his chair arm to run a local sensor scan of the area, routing readings to the Main Viewer overlay and the helmâs scanners, painting a visible envelop of the boundaries of this time pocket so they knew how much room they had to work with. Karysta reported after roughly half an hour that the primary systems requiring repair were the Engines, which had understandably been pushed to overload during the El Salvadorâs enforced velocity increase, the Main Deflector, which blew out several relays as it was forced to deflect a far higher amount of molecular debris than it was designed for since the ship was exceeding normal speeds, and all Transporter systems since the power overload of the radiation had de-calibrated all of the primary and backup signal buffers and targeting scanners.
The Deflector repairs would take less than a full day, the Warp Engines would take at least a week before they could be brought to meet Starfleet operating standards, and the Transporter systems would require nearly 2 weeks of re-calibration, targeting alignment, buffer re-sequencing, and several tests of each before they could be signed off on for safe usage again.
Savot had his chair spun to face the rear of the bridge and the Master Situation screen, furrowing his brow as the boundaries of the time-envelop updated, âSomething must be the source of this time-dilation pocket, be it a natural or created phenomenon. Given its presence at the center of minefield and having properties specifically suited to neutralizing the deadliness of said mines, probability suggests this area is artificially created. Therefore something must be generating it. Sensors have detected nothing aside from ourselves and the Warp Tugâs probe, but given the level of technology required to create a stable non-expanding temporal pocket itâs likely the device or facility is being hidden by cloaking of some kind.â
Karysta tilted her head, face scrunched in confusion, âHow do you know the pocket is non-expanding?â
Savot clasped his hands behind him at the small of his back, âNothing I was not personally privy to can be certain, but I find it extremely probable since there are no disabled mines inside this bubble. If the bubble was expanding it would likely have had sufficient time to expand far enough to envelop the nearest mines nullifying their radiation as the temporal field passed through them.â
The Vulcan captain turned to Deis, âCommander, organize crews to run maintenance checks on our shuttlecraft to ensure spaceworthiness then prepare a search grid to slowly pepper our time bubble with inert particles until they encounter resistance, which should be the cloaked facility weâre looking for. Keep speeds very low to avoid collision until we find a way to render it visible. I will direct the repair efforts here aboard the El Salvador.â
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Jun 21, 2019 22:14:05 GMT
::Deis picks her head up from her hands at the helm and sloooowly turns to look at the Captain. She actually goes so far as to open her mouth and prepare the protest...and then just lets out her breath in a tired...: Aye, Sir. ::Thus getting up from the chair and striding off the bridge and into her office. From there she takes a moment, making sure the door is closed, rakes fingers into her hair, and yells. Just once. One loud unintelligable yell of frustration and the exaustion from the sudden drop of adrenaline. Then she orders the strongest coffee that the replicator can provide. Once this is in hand she is sitting in her chair which is still a little wobbly. The poor maintenance crews have been overextended just like everyone else aboard. She hasnt bothered them with the smaller issues like chairs and the like. Knock a crew down by a certain number and little things can happily fall by the wayside. She manages to call up two crews on double shifts already to check out the shuttles, giving it priority over anything that isnt life threatening. Because we ARE in a very wierd space here. All space is wierd...this is just a bit moreso than usual.::
::Grainy eyed and with a bit of a headache from the blood pounding "drive" that is just over with, she sets things in motion as is her duty to do so. But she promises herself that once she is back onboard from this partical mapping mission thing, she will pull the man aside and address her very real concerns. Not only for herself and for the rest of the crew, but for him. Sure, hes vulcan, they can go longer and harder than most. But even they can lose focus if they dont recieve proper rest. And hes barely had any. Shes had more than he has and she feels like her brain is a little on the mushy side. That isnt even considering personal issues. A Soognian android couldnt handle the pace that we have been set to without downtime for diagnostics. It isnt that he or she or anyone else are making wrong choices...no, duty is being dealt with as best as everyone possibly can and for that she is proud of this crew. But every engine runs out of fuel.::
Safety first...then we can bloody well sit here in wierd-space fer a day or ill know th reason why nae? Aye, aye ye see? Yer talkin t herself, woman. Nae a good sign, innit? Occourse nae Doctor. Means yer losin yer sh... ::And she stops...realizing that her console just recorded all of that as she had tapped into the thing for vocal orders:: Computer delete orders log. ::The confirmation bleep of the deleted log is somehow comforting. She takes a moment, a deep breath, and then the rest of her coffee. THEN she sends out the various orders to get this done. Then she prepares to suit up to go and run the inert particle peppering sweep herself with a small handfull of others.::
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Post by Savot on Jul 29, 2019 0:14:47 GMT
[El Salvador: Within the Time-Dilation Pocket at the center of alien minefield, Several Months previous]
Deis, despite her understandable moment of disbelief, attended to Savotâs orders without voiced question. Savot actually understood her initial response and was appreciative of the fact that the El Salvador crew was certainly strung out and in need of a good few proverbial moments of respite to rejuvenate themselves. Unfortunately, though they had escaped the problem of immediate destruction, their situation was by no means stable and safe now that they were within the temporal pocket. In addition; they knew based on the discrepancy between the duration of their contact with the Warp Tugâs probe versus the actual duration of their received telemetry from it, that the El Salvador and all aboard her were now experiencing the passage of time approximately 20 times slower than the rest of normal space. While their own safety was important, Savot felt additionally motivated to investigate quickly as a single day here meant that roughly 3 weeks passed for the rest of the marooned Starbase 47 personnel and the El Salvadorâs absence left them even more vulnerable than theyâd been already.
*************************************************************************
With the Cadets assisting the diagnostic teams it took just under 73 minutes to confirm the spaceworthiness of the El Salvadorâs complement of 6 shuttecraft. They deployed under Deisâ command, herself aboard the Mini-Sal, immediately thereafter, each with a pilot and a crewman to run the particle dispersion fields along the grid search pattern that had been established.
Lieutenant Alexi Tamarov piloted shuttlecraft Huron, with Cadet Zhegras manning the sensor console. The going was extremely slow due to the methodology they had to use to detect the hidden facility, beginning from the outermost edges of the time dilation pocket and working concentrically inward as a group. Likewise, Savot had ordered every member of the grid search team be garbed in an EV suit in case any of the shuttles struck a cloaked physical object before they could detect it and potentially suffered a hull breach venting the shuttleâs atmosphere. Thankfully they could hold off on donning the helmets until such an emergency actually occurred, merely keeping them within armâs reach so theyâd be readily accessible when and if needed.
Commander Iraeâs Mini-Sal was a larger craft than a standard shuttle and as such allowed for the slightly larger command team appropriate for the lead vessel of the search effort. With the damage the El Salvador herself had sustained, Commander Delbridge was needed aboard but Lieutenant Kelbren, a Klingon member of the Engineering staff, joined Irae, as had Chief Zakryn the El Salâs Gorn head of security, and Cadet Yulâryas a Corvallen security student. The search was long and uneventfully dull for approximately 5.4 hours⌠and then the El Salvador crew found what they were looking for.
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Lieutenant Tamarov worked the piloting controls as they neared the final 5th of the search grid, and a ping from Zhegrasâ station caught his attention even as sheâd begun speaking, âContact reported⌠hold. Contact lost⌠contact again!â Alexi looked over at her station, then she overlaid her sensor readings over the shuttlecraftâs cockpit HUD and extrapolated a rough approximate image of the contact points⌠the image appearing like those old Earth toys that were a large square filled with small metal cylindrical rods that children would mash down over their hands and faces, leaving said object roughly sketched by the depressed rods and outlined by those still in their original places.
=^=Commander Irae weâre picking up solid contact but itâs moving⌠best guess is some kind of rotating ar-=^=, Tamarovâs voice disappeared abruptly⌠as did all sensor and visual contact with shuttlecraft Huron.
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Oct 2, 2019 19:36:10 GMT
*The concentrated scowl on the Cmdrs face was such that noone aboard the Minisal said a word that wasnt mission oriented. Not that Deis had a reputation for being snippy or snappy. The two with her simply understood and were understandably as tired as the Cmdr was. One could almost call the lack of conversation with the occasional "section mapped, negative" professionally companionable...if it wasnt for the feeling that we could run into an invisible wall at any given moment. Well...they couldnt because of the particle dispursal, but still. If possible, the Klingon doing the actual mapping looked more irritatedly grim than the Cmdr herself, but, well...Klingon. They look that way while smiling. And the gorn? Having a reptilian aspect does help one look grimly intimidating. Thankfully the Minisal is a bit larger than the other shuttles, so three people in EVA suits wernt bumping into one another. Deis does become aware, after roughly 4 hours and some change, that there is a strange grating noise behind her. What the hell has gone wrong now? Do we have a grinding joist somewhere in the Minisal? Turning her head around to quickly look...she sighs* Zakryn, wake up Yulâryas. But kindly, if ye please? If i wasnae pilotin, id be doin th same bleedin thing.
*Indeed as the peppering of wierdspace continues, Deis decides that the most comfortable looking spot on the Minisal would have to be one of the "between the seats and consoles" aisles and wonders just how quickly she could pass out there. Probably with a gorn foot for a pillow. This makes her perk up just a bit and laugh as quietly to herself. Kelbren turns and looks to her quizzically* Commander? *Deis shakes her head* Isna important, just had a thought about... *And her rendition of napping in space is cut short by the chime of comms...and the abrupt ending thereof*
=^=Commander Irae weâre picking up solid contact but itâs moving⌠best guess is some kind of rotating ar-=^=, Tamarovâs voice disappeared abruptly⌠as did all sensor and visual contact with shuttlecraft Huron.
*Unexpected and expected at the same time. But thankfully they know enough about this area now that Deis knows whats happened without any feeling of panic* Kelbrin, plot our coords t coincide wi where th Huron just vanished. Tha's wha we be lookin for. *No static, no impact, that shuttle just passed through the wall of blindness that is part of the trap keeping us here.*
=/\=El Salvador. Minisal will be losin comms and position plots for a wee bit. Our Huron found wha we seek.=/\=
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Post by Savot on Oct 23, 2019 0:37:00 GMT
[El Salvador: Location Unknown, External Stardate Unknown]
The Huron had disappeared before anyone from either the other shuttle teams or the El Salvador herself could even respond. But using their last recorded position as a starting point, the remaining shuttles were able to roughly outline the installation generating the temporal pocket. Placing buoys around the outer edges of the station, the El Sal then moved into range of the Huron's disappearance point, and began firing a steady phaser stream at the station's hull beginning at the lowest power setting and gradually raising it until they had managed to find the seams of the opening that had enveloped shuttlecraft Huron.
With the cloaking field still active, the El Salvador's crew unfortunately were forced to use a bit more brute force than they wanted to when interacting with unknown advanced technology but they had to get inside that structure. Commander Irae's Mini-Sal entered the open portal as it was better equipped to defend itself against potential resistance than the other, smaller shuttlecraft. Strangely; however, no such resistance came, and within 30 minutes Irae's team had secured a landing zone, ascertained there was breathable air inside the station, and setup transporter beacons to allow Savot to transport over and take over the station exploration efforts.
Deis wasn't pleased being aboard the El Salvador while Savot was aboard an advanced and unknown facility that had already nabbed 2 of their people, but it was a matter of who could do the most good where. While Delbridge's engineering background would make him suited to exploring unknown tech, he was more familiar with Starfleet tech and thereby would be best utilized supervising the repairs to the El Salvador. Savot, on the other hand, while not as specialized as Delbridge, had encountered far more non-Starfleet technology over the years and was better suited to explore the unknown. And while Deis had equal, if not superior, leadership ability compared to the vulcan, she had the medical training to treat the remaining wounded and maintain command of the El Salvador in Savot's absence and they couldn't risk both of them being off-ship and at risk of loss simultaneously.
Savot had waited for Deisâ successful transport back to the El Salvador to make sure the stationâs structural composition wouldnât cause interference before hefting his Away gear and transporting over to the unknown civilizationâs installation. Wielding a phaser rifle modified with an angled slot attachment on the side of the weapon to hold a reconfigured tricorder for hands-free scanning during potentially violent exploration, Savot nodded to his Gorn Security Chief, Zakryn, and they moved towards the first doorway with their weapons in the lead.
Reaching forward to access the controls on his rifle-mounted tricorder to try to remotely access the doorâs mechanism, Savotâs brow arched in fascination as a seemingly smooth section of wall opened and began reconfiguring itself at Zakrynâs approach. Looking back at his captain momentarily, the Gorn then slowly raised one of his taloned hands to the newly-configured control panel and found that the control entry nodes were perfectly spaced to suit Gorn talons.
âIntriguingâ, the Vulcan spoke softly. Summoning Zakryn back from the door with a silent gesture, Savot watched as the panel broke itself down reforming into solid wall. Nodding to the Gorn to be prepared, Savot allowed his rifle to hang from the shoulder strap and he approached the door with a hand outstretched. True to his rough hypothesis, the Away Team watched as this time the panel resurfaced but was configured to suit standard humanoid hand structure. Taking the phaser rifle back in hand, Savot once again allowed Zakryn to proceed a few steps ahead of him to allow the security chief to do his protective duty over his commanding officer though Savotâs preference was always to face the greatest risk himself in protection of those under his command.
As they moved through the first doorway following Savotâs manipulation of the coalesced control panel, lights began automatically powering on to illuminate their journey but there was no sign that any crew or personnel were active aboard the station as they ventured furtherâŚ
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Post by Savot on Nov 17, 2019 3:56:55 GMT
[El Salvador: Captain's Ready Room]
=^=Captain's Log: Stardate unknown due to the El Salvador's current presence within a time-dilation pocket of artificial creation. It has been 7 weeks since we took refuge within this field in order to purge the unknown radiation leaking from the millenia-old minefield surrounding this pocket and discovered the advanced space research station constructed herein=^=, Savot paced slowly within the Ready Room's bounds, the vulcan commodore speaking to the ship's recording mechanisms as he strode.
=^=Our priority upon entering the field was to confirm the complete absence of the minefield radiation and begin repairing the damage we'd sustained from the system overloads resulting from it. Ensuring our continued safety was my next goal, towards which I dispatched teams of shuttlecraft into the surrounding space to diagram, as precisely as could be determined, both the extent of time-dilation field and its source. The latter became abruptly known to us as the shuttlecraft Huron under Lieutenant Alexi Tamarov's guidance was seemingly enveloped by a space station of unknown origin which possessed extremely sophisticated cloaking technologies.=^=
=^=Using the Huron's last known coordinates as a reference point; Commander Deis Irae located an access port into the station and established a proverbial beachhead within the structure, setting transporter pattern enhancers to assure a reliable means of travel to and from the station. At this point I assumed command of the investigatory teams while Commander Irae returned to command the El Salvador. We noted immediately upon beginning our reconnaissance that not only did control panels appear to reconfigure themselves at a moment's notice to a given user's physical structure to allow for the most efficient manipulation of the controls in question, but screen readouts appeared in common Federation english language.=^=
Savot paused momentarily, reliving the shared moment of surprised fascination shared between himself and Zakryn, the El Salvador's Gorn security chief, as they'd encountered the aforementioned consoles and readouts. Continuing his pacing, his speech resumed likewise, =^=While the shuttlecraft Huron was recovered immediately by Commander Irae's foray inside the station's superstructure, it would take my team 3.7 hours to come upon a medical bay of sorts wherein both Lieutenant Tamarov and Cadet Zhegras who had been with him aboard the Huron were found to be alive and unharmed. Cadet Zhegras appeared to have suffered nothing aside from being rendered unconscious. Lieutenant Tamarov; however, continues to suffer from what Commander Irae in her capacity as El Salvador's senior medical officer believes is temporary amnesia.=^=
=^=Mr. Tamarov's learned skills and muscle memory appear to be fully intact; and while it is far from certain given the lack of complete supporting evidence, my working hypothesis is that upon the station's seizure of him, Lieutenant Tamarov's mind underwent an intense scanning process by the station's medical systems. I surmise that this scan is what enabled the station to near-immediately provide screen readouts to us in Federation standard, though as-stated this theory may be inaccurate.=^=
=^=The El Salvador herself has been restored to full functionality and it has since become our primary goal to ascertain a way of leaving this time-dilation field safely in order to rejoin the remainder of our forces at Starbase 47. I am concerned with events that may have befallen the station or our fellow starships in our absence though it is my firm belief that the duration of our presence here has been unavoidable. Leaving back through the minefield would simply expose the El Salvador to the radiation once again which even the records we've accessed on the alien station indicate is impossible to purge by any means aside from exposure to temporal flux.=^=
Savot turned towards the viewport window in the Ready Room that faced the now rendered-visible research station, his hands clasped behind him at the small of his back as his brow furrowed with discontent, =^=Because we have no means of re-creating the temporal flux exuded by the alien station... it is my regretful conclusion that the only way for us to escape this minefield safely is to extend the reach of the station's temporal field outward concentrically to nullify all of the radiation within the degenerating minefield permanently. Using the station's system to generate the output necessary to achieve this will result in an unavoidable overload that will destroy the station itself. Both as a scientific discovery and as a potentially still-living people's property I am loathe to take this course of action, and have spent nearly 2 months time attempting to discover another solution. However, 7 weeks time for us has been nearly a full year for the rest of Starbase 47's populace and I cannot remain delinquent in our responsibility to them any longer so we will proceed with the field-extension tomorrow morning, ship's time 0600 hours.=^=
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Dec 5, 2019 0:00:55 GMT
[El Salvador: Bridge Conference Room, Stardate... Variable]
"The remote tie-in with the station's computer system is enabled and we can trigger the field expansion on your command, boss", Commander Delbridge explained, seated at the conference table amidst Savot, Irae, Zakryn, Tamarov, and Cadets Zhegras and Karista. Knowing the, albeit necessary, expansion of the time-dilation field would result in the advanced research station's destruction gave everyone but the cadets a moment of pause at the loss of such a trove of potential discovery. Karista; however, had initially joined Starfleet merely as a ruse to get close enough to assassinate Savot and though her mind had changed on that particular point of interest, she had yet to cement the mindset of the explorer within herself. Zhegras, having been abducted by the station, was entirely in support of destroying the "creepy cog coffer", as she referred to it...
Savot, nodded to Delbridge's report, then joined the others in turning their gazes towards Commander Irae who was the highest rated pilot aboard, "Commander, as you are aware, the time-dilation field must be extended to the edge of the minefield in order for its passing to eliminate the radiation leaking from the derelict mines. There will be 2 side-effects of this field extension: first is the overloading of the station's reactors that will destroy the station and create an outgoing wave of destruction. The El Salvador must remain ahead of this wave to avoid being destroyed by it ourselves. Unfortunately, the 2nd effect will be the time-dilation field itself undergoing rapid and abrupt fluctuation. Unlike our entry into this pocket of space, were we to pass through the field on our exit flight, our ship would not be fully and equally enveloped during the transition through the field's edge. This means that should the foremost tip of our vessel exit the field, it would immediately exist in a timeframe passing several times slower than the timeframe for the rest of the El Salvador, and so the ship's fore would essentially stop while the rest of the ship flew through it destroying us instantly... and given the instability of the field we could actually exist in the moment of our deaths for several minutes before our life functions cease."
Savot spoke this matter-of-factly as if he was merely telling someone if they overfil a cup while holding it the spillage will moisten their hand. This was due in equal parts to his being vulcan, his faith in Deis Irae's abilities, and the simple truth that the facts were the facts whether unpleasant or not so no sense dancing around them. The Gorn tactical chief; however, felt compelled to add his own thoughts towards Deis, his scaly arms crossed as he spoke bemusedly, "Ssso... no presssure."
Delbridge and Zhegras wore quiet smirks in the wake of Zak's sentiments, and Karista bore an introspective look that Savot had the unfortunate suspicion indicated she was considering the potential merit of being able to prolong a hated opponents' demise so as to extend their deserved suffering. Her countenance quickly returned to normal; however, and she appeared as focused on the problem before them as everyone else. Savot began to dole out orders, "Ms. Karista, your task will be to utilize sensors to plot the location of all mines that lie potentially within the El Salvador's flight path and route those positions to Tactical. From there, Chief Zakryn, you will perform a secondary positional plot of any mines that become moved by interaction with the unstable time-dilation field during its expansion. You will determine if any recorded mines will be moved out of our flight path and thereby no longer be of concern, or if any previously unobtrusive mines will present a threat after shifting position. Your final evaluation will then be sent as quickly as possible to the helm for Commander Irae's navigational use. We won't be able to make extensive turns in any direction and still remain ahead of the explosion but any minor course corrections you can make to avoid impacting with the mines will be to our benefit", finishing his commentary facing Deis once again.
::It isnt the first time shes had to pilot this ship since we arrived in this area of space...but listening to all of this she cant help but think, "How did we get here?" She used to be just a doctor. Then she was a command officer. First. Then Captain. Then a bit back and forth. Not even to mention the "other" bits of training shes had for various reasons better left to the imagination. Helmsman wasnt ever a job she thought she would be good at. But...here we are. She keeps an even expression though one of those sculpted brows raise an increment higher the longer the talking goes on. Having spent years around at least one Vulcan does help with this. So heres what we have. Go too quick, disaster. Go too slow, also destruction. She had opened her mouth to speak, but thankfully the Gorn speaks up for her in the exact words she would have used. Perhaps the same accenting, why not? So she gives the Sec chief a grateful inclination of the head:: Righ' then. Send sensor readins directly, try nae t verbally report. Capn...you too. Willnae be time tween speakin an hearin for me fingers. Safety harnesses, allo ye, aye? This'll be rough.
::She says all of this, looking at each person as she does, while slowly pacing the length of the table once and then back. Is there worry in her stance? No. Strangely not. Weve gone too far and lost too much since arriving in this area of space for worry to really be useful anymore. The crew might not get it but the Captain would certainly recognize a certain spark of "hell yeah" in her sharp eyes. Adrenaline. It can be a good thing. She didnt used to be a thrill seeker. Its also obvious when an idea occurs to her:: Capn...i would like to administer a hypospray of inaprovaline to each of us before we begin. Neuro and cardio stimulant. It allows for faster cognitive and reaction timin and tends to promote focus. Short actin, runs through th system in a half hour at low doses. If we ar'na outa this field by then...we wouldna be gettin out.
Indeed, the recent events faced by the entirety of the surviving Section 47 personnel, and in this instance especially the crew of the El Salvador, has fostered in the crew a noticeable decline in occurrences of: 'Is that even possible?' or 'Isn't that too risky?'. Every moment of time since the nebula's explosion has been one that by all rights none of them could've expected to live through, and indeed has forged an unspoken, perhaps even unrealized, but nonetheless present sense of 'we've survived too much to fail now', so there is no outward worrying and truth-be-told very little inward either. None of the looks aimed towards Irae are 'can she do it?', all are 'thank god that's her job and not mine'. Though they all intend to do their jobs to the utmost in hopes of making hers even slightly that much easier on her.
Savot tilts his head for a mere moment in consideration of the request to administer stimulants before nodding, "The Captain concurs with the recommendation of the senior medical officer", said angled a bit towards the ceiling so as to record it for the ship's logs in case the black box is the only part of the El Salvador-C to successfully leave the minefield. Zakryn waves his dose off, as it would counteract his Gorn physiology's own glandular responses evolved by his predatory genome for precisely this sort of reaction-elevation. Savot declines as well, having set aside the previous 14 hours for silent meditation to prep for this upcoming effort that would last approximately 97 seconds in its entirety.
"I do not suggest the situation before us is trivial, but I state honestly that I fully expect we will emerge from it successfully, and while we have suffered losses and many of you may at times feel overwhelmed... I would have you know that were it in my power to choose any officers, anywhere, to perform these tasks this room would contain precisely who it does at this moment", the vulcan commodore then stands, giving a nod to dismiss the others as each lines up for their shot. Delbridge, promising to make sure Deis will have every scrap of ability the ship can give her, hops in a turbolift to head to Main Engineering as he'll liaise via Cadet Zhegras who will take the Bridge engineering station.
::Extremis does tend to create a feeling of equanimity. In this instance its spread through the whole group and thats a good thing. It enables the ability to look foreward while in the middle of possible disaster. One adapts, regardless of species, race, or sex. Recieving permission from the Captain, Deis does wave Zakryn off with a little quirk of a smile. She cant help but like the Gorn. Hes just got charisma. While the Captain speaks to the group, giving his evenly spoken pip talk, she steps to the replicator, calling up the appropriate dilution of Inaprovaline and a new hypospray. Using her boot hypo wouldnt be appropriate for this as its loaded with a paralytic hallucinogen. That bad boy came in useful a long time ago when she ended up stuck aboard a romulan ship. But thats neither here nor there...its funny the things you suddenly remember in the course of a new duty.::
::To each in the room, save Zak and Savot, Deis goes to and presses that hypo beneath the line of the jaw. Slight sting and then the momentary pinpricking of pupils. Immediate quickening of breathing that evens out with the slight pickup of heartbeat. Going from walking to jogging, as it were. She catches Delbridge before he can escape and gives him a "we got this" wink. One by one, dosed, she waits until they are all gone before applying the last dose to her own neck. This is recieved with a quickly indrawn breath, a slight widening of eyes and a shake of the head. The body gets used to the feeling quickly as its not an enormous rush. Just from a walk to a jog. Once the room has emptied out, she turns to Savot and says:: Ye always know just what t say to em, Sir. To us.
::With that she strolls closer to him in an almost predatory fashion...its just how she moves these days.:: Now ive nae doubt tha we will be fine...but, just in case we die. ::Going up on tiptoes to give the Vulcan a quick kiss on the bottom lip. Its all she can reach being as shes a little on the teeny side heightwise. Quicksoft, there and gone, but it had to be done. So, thusly fortified for the task ahead she steps back and tucks hair behind her ears so it wont get in the way while screaming through the cosmos, dodging radiation riddled ancient mines.::
::Stepping out of the conference room with that pleasant fwoosh of doors and heading for her spot at the helm. She takes the seat and taps the small armrest console. This retracts the armrests completely and flickers the holographic interface to life even as the safety harness snaps out from the shoulders and seat of the chair, cinching her tightly but comfortably in place. Comming Engineering:: =/\=Mr. Delbridge...'ave us ready fer warp n standby...gunna start us off at full impulse. Goin t nonverbal communication now.=/\= ::Giving a look around to the bridge group, giving a nod of respect to each one and then the last to the Captain:: On yer word, Sir.
Savot watches his longtime friend and more inject those personnel who can benefit from it, then exchanged the all-too-brief kiss with Deis. Giving a tilted bow of his head in acknowledgement of her good sense in giving the 'just in case' gesture, the vulcan clears his throat as she walks towards the conference doors to halt her before she opens them, 'A sensible precaution, Commander. However, see to it that we do not die... and I will supplement the gesture with a suitable escalation." The ever-so-vulcan method of saying 'there's more where that came from'.
Karista sits at the Ops station beside Irae's helm, working her fingers in the air as though to ensure her knuckle joints are loosened for maximum mobility but most likely simply a method of venting some of her pent up extra 'oomph' courtesy of the hypospray. Her mental focus is without question; however, as she takes the idea of others suffering due to any failure on her part very seriously. Zakryn and Zhegras take their seats at Tactical and Engineering respectively. Moments later Delbridge comms in that he's in position and ready when Savot is.
The vulcan captain, having developed the plan that would result in this base's destruction despite regretting the necessity of doing so, put the responsibility of its destruction upon his own shoulders and had the time-dilation field's extension protocol linked to a control on the right arm of his captain's chair. Hearing Irae's readiness, Savot nodded as he spoke, "I will endeavor to tractor the most problematic mines out of your flight path, Commander. Full impulse, now."
As the Excalibur-class vessel took to forward motion once again after several weeks of station-keeping, Savot monitored their closing proximity to the present edge of the temporal pocket... and activated the field extension control.
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Dec 9, 2019 23:34:58 GMT
::Deis neednt worry about the triggering of the outpost...just staying ahead of the destruction and just behind the time bubble. Shes already recieving sensor sweeps on one of the floating holo screens. This she overlays over the entire "visual" field. That way she misses nothing and neednt take her eyes from where shes going. There is a moment that probably more than a few helmspersons recieved upon being given the order for something iffy. Caught between "oh god" and "rrrraaaahhhhh!". The very second she recieves the word from the Captain, her left hand slips into the propulsion holo, pressing "sliders" fully forward in a snap of a motion. This does give a small immediate lurch that everyone seated can feel. No slow winding up into full impulse, but full motion.::
::There is no way to feel the massive explosions that begin behind us, not yet, and Deis discovers that she WANTS to punch us into straight warp...which would run us into the edge of the bubble preceeding us. It takes quite a bit of control to not just "run our behinds off". Sensor flashes run through her transparent consoles like waves of sonar, painting the space before us in hollows and the brightness of mines. A hand slides into the holo field and after that its difficult to keep track of sensor and motion, from thought to activity. Its almost like a strange dance of sign language through the fields. A twist of wrist slanting the El Salvador downward portside with the other hand yawing in the opposite direction. Its like the most insane tokyo drift, if one also had to consider vertical nosing and lifting. There is a moment where she mutters...:: Shiiiiite... ::just as the Captain kindly tractors a mine from the path that she couldnt have missed if God had been driving::
::And thats about when we start to feel the rumble from behind us, shuddering through everything and everyone::
[El Salvador: Main Bridge, Stardate... Now]
Fortunately the scenario in question lent itself to the non-verbal communication needed to aid Deis' focus; every potential problem they could encounter was already known and would be accounted for as applicable by each individual officer. Were a Breen cruiser to come out of warp on an attack vector at them right now... they wouldn't be a threat for very long for a minimum of 3 factors presently in direct opposition to a prolonged and fruitful life. Each bridge officer knew their job, and each attended to it with their utmost diligence and ability; several finding that the hypospray injection was indeed a noticeable boon to their reaction times under the circumstances.
Savot truthfully had full confidence in the capabilities of those under his command; his words of reassurance to them had not simply been empty bolstering in order to have something pleasant be the last thing they heard from their captain before meeting their fates. Nonetheless, the captaincy and its resulting burdens of responsibility were still his to bear. Being unable to do anything further to assist his crew in carrying out their orders; however, he cemented his focus on what he could contribute: the tractoring of any unavoidable mines out of their flight path.
Savot saw the first mine to present a problem and his hands went to work at his controls. He had set the tractor beam to a tapered intensity, the most minimal deflective resistance provided at the extreme end of the beam, then rapidly but carefully increasing the pressure by degrees of intensity the closer the mine came to the ship. Then approximately 2/3 of the way through the deflection manuever, Savot would cut beam intensity gradually on one side and increase intensity on the opposite edge of the beam, ensuring the mine would be steered in the direction of the lessened beam intensity.
The first major hurdle managed, the El Salvador began to shake more and more vehemently as the research station behind them burst in a visual marvel of destructive energies radiating outward in every direction and began its inexorable attempt to catch up to and engulf them. Keeping his eyes forward to focus on the mines, as there was nothing they could do about the explosion's progress towards them, Savot noticed the bridge and each of its occupants begin to very slightly blur as Deis' scalpel-precise adjustments to their speed were bringing them up as close to the time-dilation wave ahead of them as she could without fully catching up to it...
::There is no time to give compliments, but somewhere in the back of her mind, Deis is proud. Recieving information before she needs it, mines moved right when they would have become a problem...its as close to a "collective" as a group of individuals can manage. She dosent feel seperate in this instance...shes just directing the efforts of everyone else. They are the eyes and the hands...shes the racing heart, the speeding wings. Even so she realizes that we cannot keep up with the leading edge of the bubble with impulse alone. It picks up speed as it grows. Thats when things get a little weird. Warp 1 is a little too much. Full impulse is just barely too little. And there isnt time to inform everyone that this might get a little more hairy::
::Quickly, she plots a small course change between a larger gap of mines and then waits for Savot to grasp the closest one. Hoping Delbridge will forgive her for what shes about to do to his engines, she takes in the last sensor sweep and triggers warp 1. Then less than 2 seconds later, she drops us back into impulse. This creates something of a stutter between warp and impulse that streaks the El Salvador forward between mines that swirl into mad wake behind the nacelles, joining the conflagration. She didnt even ask anyone if this was a good idea or possible, shes just following survival instinct. The ship is able to maneuver with more dexterity while impulsed, so that is how its done. Aim and course while slowed, then goosing engines to streak through the coursed area. Three times she does this before we are closer to the outer edge than the inner explosions. Someone should be yelling out of sheer "OMG", but the bridge is nearly silent beyond the beepings and chimes of consoles and sensor sweeps.::
::In the midst of all of this, strange visuals begin to creepe in to those working their little hearts out. One second there is consoles shattering and the flashing of flesh to vaporized near screams. The next, all is in a kind of hyper stasis, forms slumping over consoles seemingly drying out to mummies that fall in a coughing of dust as ice shimmerstrikes over everything. Trapped between a moment of glorious flame and the rupture of time working far too quickly and consuming the energies of each. Or perhaps they are all having flashes of hallucination. The body feels no different. Adrenaline and inaprovaline sped hearts, tension sweat, and faint breathlessness accompanied by the tremmoring from behind. Ship shaking so hard as to distort vision further. Thats when the last warp is initialized. The instability of the bubble ahead indicates that it is now or never.::
::The outer bubble is too far from its origin to remain a stable "wall" against time whereas the massive explosion behind has plenty of energy and is gunna do it til its satisfied. Goosing the El Salvador to a full Warp 2, Deis is able to let out the heavy breath she had been holding. All one can do at that point is keep going until the destruction is left behind. Which turns out to be a count of 20. Then she kills warp and impulse both, using only stabilizers to keep us from flipping arse over teakettle and tumbling for a while. We havent even fully stopped before Deis flips to comms* =/\=Delbridge...sorry bout tha, mate.=/\=
Savot was actually a bit surprised as to how smoothly, all told, things were going with their rough-rod escape flight. Deis' instinctual piloting sense was impeccable and the ship seemed inclined to give her whatever she asked for in a trust-fall kind of sense; the El Salvador seemingly believing Irae wouldn't try to put her through something her structure and systems couldn't weather. Though of course that was a quite illogical projection of anthropomorphic qualities onto an inanimate mass of hull plating and computers.
The shields would be useless against the closely pursuing explosion and so Savot deftly shifted their power output back and forth between various segments of the ship to lessen their buffeting by nearby mine detonations. If they'd been going at extended warp within the minefield the detonations would likely have de-stabilized their warp field and yanked them back to sublight quite violently, but with Deis' short though engine-taxing warp jumps they avoided that potential wrinkle.
Though the vulcan captain had to force himself to ignore them and focus on his manipulation of the shields and tractor beam, he too shared brief visuals of ghostly nigh-incorporeal versions of themselves and the El Salvador bridge. Stretching both forward and behind, the specters behind them burst in sudden and total overload as apparently in their existence the ship was being overtaken by the wave of destruction and consumed despite their best efforts... while ahead of them their ghostly doubles became dessicated husks, crying out as hair and fingernails grew to outrageous lengths but their screams were silent as their tongues crumbled to dust as the instability of the time-dilation field put some parts of their body through months and years per second... and other parts through decades per second. In stark contrast to the reality of their timeline, as the present El Salvador soared clear of the now emptied minefield, the last image of their potential future selves showed only Savot and Zakryn still alive due to the longer lifespans of their races though even they had scant seconds before their own ends, quivering skeletal fingers worked the captain's chair controls to steer the ship directly into the last mine, ensuring a quick end for any crew still aboard suffering the prolonged but still quite inevitable deaths ahead of them.
All extraneous visions cut out immediately as the time-dilation field finally reached the point beyond which it could no longer maintain cohesion and completely dispersed. Free of this forward threat, Deis leapt the vessel into sustained warp long enough to get fully beyond the pursuing explosion until they had exceeded its reach as well. The wave of destruction consumed every mine from the forgotten battlefield and all of the threatening radiation from the minefield had been neutralized by the temporal wave. As Deis brought them back to impulse and commed Delbridge down in Engineering, his voice filled the bridge speakers with relief, =^=Hey we're not an explosion, Commander, so you're good in my book. Do try not to do that again though, yeah?=^=
Savot inhaled deeply, his chest swelling slightly in his command jacket as he slowly spun his chair a complete rotation to address the full bridge, "All of you, your performance was most exemplary. My words are insufficient to the task of adequately praising each of you. Cadet Karista, analysis of local constellations based on recorded movement for this spatial region, what is the differential between ship's chronometers and real-space time?"
It took a few moments longer than it normally would given their relatively unfamiliarity with this region of space, but after a brief enough time his Mirror's daughter responded, "Ship's time is... approximately 10 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, and 13 hours behind..." Having already made general calculations with the limited sample data available from the probe they'd used to discover the time-dilation pocket in the first place, Savot was not surprised by the incredible span of time they'd been out of contact from the rest of Section 47... but to hear it confirmed was nonetheless a blow.
Nodding, Savot gave out his orders, "Commander Irae; you are relieved of your piloting duties for a well-deserved rest. Cadet Zhegras you will assume the helm; plot and engage a course back to Starbase 47's previously known location at full impulse power only. I don't want to delay our rendezvous any longer than circumstances have already forced us, but I want full damage assessment of the engines before we return via warp. Maintain communication silence until further notice as well; until we know the El Salvador possesses an equal capacity for flight and flight, I don't want to risk contacting the starbase when unknown hostiles could potentially intercept and trace our communications. Again, well done all."
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