Posted by Fleet Captain Drudoc Andone (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim - Bridge - Where Are We?
[snip]

With confirmation from NE Bills on their maneuvering ability Drudoc nodded, “..Alright Ensign Bills. Set a course at 1/2 impulse to follow our probe. Let’s hope we can find the edge of this nebula and get a better bearing on where we are.” She said.

”..Aye ma’am. 1/2 Impulse.” Bills said as the Ark Angel began to maneuvering slowly but surely. On sensors that just had fully come back online they got a read on the edge of the nebula about 20 minutes ahead. “..ETA to nebula boundary 20 minutes at current speed..” Bills said carefully maneuvering them away from larger asteroids in their path.

GM CockRoach / Drudoc Andone CO

Cmdr Bray took some comfort in the knowledge that others were tied up like Christmas presents the same way she had been—although, if not done right, it could be threatening to their well being. Looking at the CO she commented. “I feel pretty useless just sitting here while the ship isn’t at 100%. I know we have teams working on everything and searching for others that Q saw fit to restrain, but still…”

—Bray, XO

Having gotten the ‘message’ to load and play, Sharah headed back to the bridge. She arrived and moved to her station and linked into it from her office console. “Captain I have the message and can play it for you. I have the UT working on trying to decipher their language. It looks like a news briefing to me, and the speakers seem to be in disagreement about something, but interpreting body language, tone, and inflection is not my area of expertise. It’s ready to play whenever you are ready.”

Lt jg Fayth, CSO

Riley stared at the floor as though it could give him the answers to the multitude of questions flying through his head. He half hoped it could. In reality, he didn’t even see the carpet, or the walls around him; his mind was light years away. He did still notice the lift slowing, and raised his head as the doors opened to the bustle of the bridge.

He spotted Fayth right away, at her station, and he caught the tail end of what she seemed to be saying to the captain about playing a message as he approached. She cracked that signal, he realized, a smile coming to his face. Maybe we’ll be okay after all. Even if we are… far from home. The thought sobered him and wiped the smile from his face.

“Lieutenant,” he said softly, trying to keep it low enough only she could hear him. “I… know where we are.”

• Ensign Riley, Science

Fayth looked up at Riley. “Good job, Riley.” She stood from her chair and walked back to one of the science stations and waved for him to load the information. She looked at it, and was certain he had double checked the results. Riley wouldn’t be up here if he hadn’t. “Captain, Commander, you will want to see this.” Fayth had the same instinct as Riley. The captain would want to see this and decide how to tell the crew before rumors ran rampant. After they approached she nodded to Riley. “En Riley has been working on determining our location as well as napping the information the probe is sending back.”

Lt jg Fayth, CSO

Telana rose and walked over to the station, eager to finally get a location about where the AA was.

Drudoc herself rose from her center chair, a look of expectation was on her face as she came over to the science station. “..How did you manage to ID our position, Ensign Riley?” Drudoc inquired.

Riley nodded as the heads swiveled toward him. “I used known pulsars as a positioning system,” he explained softly, pointing at a few of the spots on the expanded interstellar map. “Using their known periodicity and other non-variable factors, the computer estimates us to be…” The image panned swiftly across the stellar depths and zoomed on a single blue Starfleet delta. “… here. With an error range of… a few kilometers. We can probably improve that with more readings,” he added quickly.

Drudoc was quiet taking in the results. Her look turned stone faced, though a flicker of worry was also in her eyes before that too faded for now.

She was shocked. “Wait…are you positive?” She looked from one officer to another and then to the CO. “Captain, this means we’ll never make it back home in our lifetimes.” Hearing the words was overwhelming—for everyone, and it would be a tremendous shock to the crew. The announcement would require some special handling and finesse.

Telana felt her chest tighten up with anxiety and was sure the others around her were experiencing something similar. “Maybe he’ll send us back?”

—Bray, XO

He stepped back to allow the officers in closer, and looked around the room at the various other personnel there. People who had now traveled further than anyone ever dreamed possible in this, or several hundred, lifetimes. Attempting to get back home would be foolhardy. Fifteen point nine million years at maximum warp, he thought, and immediately felt the enormity of that number wash over him. He placed a hand on the bulkhead to steady himself, trying to make it look like he was simply leaning against the wall. He knew the boss would know, but he’d feel better if the other two didn’t.

• Ensign Riley, Science

“You’ve got to be kidding me....” Trainor muttered to himself as he pulled the data onto his station HUD. Tenzing heard a soft ringing somewhere inside his head, and a feeling of dread covered him head to toe. The Operations Officer gulped and rubbed his eyes, trying to see if they were playing games with him. He at least knew that Riley was feeling the same way he was at the moment.

”....Q really out did himself this time.” Lieutenant Commander Trainor announced.

Trainor Operations

Fayth hadn’t had the opportunity to actually meet Trainor but like him she knew how everyone on the bridge was beginning to feel. She glanced over at him and nodded in understanding. It occured with to Fayth that with the number of telepaths/empaths on the ship, things could get really out of hand very quickly or was going to make things in a crisis run extremely well. It was a toss up at the moment though.

Standing next to Riley she squeezed his shoulder in understanding. He’d done very good work, and he’d worked fast too considering the systems problems. She reminded herself to put a note in his file as well as his team’s before she finished for the day.

”..Sadly I feel this is no joke, and I have no reason to doubt Ensign Rilely’s findings. I want them confirmed of course, but....” Drudoc shook her head, obviously taking her own moment to take this news in. It certainly matched Q’s ‘extreme’ comments of how they might handle something. Taking a breath she paced the length of the bridge, taking a moment to review ship status. Power was stable for now, impulse reaction was online, shields and weapons were at the ready if needed, and computer damage seemed about to be bypassed and the primary and secondary cores brought back online. Despite the situation Drudoc smiled. She had one of the best crews one could ask for, and just like other times of danger and challenge they would figure this out together as well. Leaning on the railing next to the NE at tactical, Drudoc looked to her bridge crew then. “..But for now we need to focus on getting all primary systems back online. As well as informing the crew of our current status. Hard as this may be for everyone to take in and cope with we are a solid ship and crew, one of the bests and I know we’ll overcome this challenge like we have any other..” She said patting the NE next to her at tactical on the shoulder for a second which seemed to relax the NE somewhat.

At the captain’s request for confirmation, Fayth leaned over the console, “Computer confirm location results.” She knew Riley had confirmed the results himself and that he had done his work exceptionally well. She also understood the psychology behind the captain asking for confirmation. It took only a moment and the computer trilled. “LOCATION CONFIRMED.”

”..Commander Trainor open a ship wide comm..” She said.

GM CockRoach / Drudoc Andone CO

The distance and the state of the ship hit her, as well as the growing anxiety on the bridge, and as soon as the captain was done the feeling on the ship was going to sky rocket and Sharah braced herself for it. At the same time her mind was racing. She needed to get down to Arboretum 3 and make sure the food and medicinal plants were growing like they should. They had no idea how soon they might need those reserves. She’d need to check in with Dr Marshall about medicines and the lounge about food supplies. They might even be able to start a hydroponics bay as well. There should be room somewhere on the ship for that.
Lt jg Fayth, CSO