Piper listened to the report and pulled up a map on her data padd in front of her , her engineering background taking a step forward for a moment “So let’s look at a list of suspects. Who in the neutral zone has access to something that would be able to emit electromagnetic or magnetic fields like the one we are seeing? Is it coming from outside the station or inside…that could mean several things, depending on which answer we think is most plausible.” She said outloud without thinking, she thought she was talking in her head, unfortunately as usually happened, what she was thinking made it’s way out of her mouth before she realized it was said loud enough for everyone to hear.

COO

Cross leaned forward as he listened to the other officer’s reports. This was an important point, finding out where the interference was coming from. It would be the deciding factor for the psychology of the perpetrators and how they dealt with them.

Counselor Alex Cross

“I agree. I do want to know who, besides, is within the Neutral Zone border here. The Starbase is between Klingon and Romulan Space. However, with the away team still over there, we don’t know what’s really going on. So we also need to figure out how we can get the away team back without anything happening to them. Any suggestions?” Captain Becket asked. Most unsure about what is going on at the station, as he hasn’t heard anything from his XO. In fact, he was unsure why they were given this mission in the first place. But he cannot disobey direct orders from Starfleet command. He took the mission and was expecting to get his people back. He looked back at Lieutenant Cross. “Counselor, what is your suggestion on this course of action? Shall we take another away team and find Commander Yoshida with a security team, or wait?” Becket asked Counselor Cross.

Captain Alex Becket
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Ark Angel

Wyatt cleared his throat, buying himself a second to organize the thoughts racing ahead of his words. He kept his posture straight, but there was tension in his shoulders, the kind that came from knowing an idea might be their only chance—and also knowing how easily it could go wrong.

“I was thinking about that, sir,” he began, his voice steadier than he felt. He glanced briefly at the tactical display before looking back to his commanding officer. “If we can copy the field frequency and relay it back through our own systems, it may repel enough of the distortion for us to get a lock.” He gestured toward the interference patterns flickering across the screen. “Just long enough to punch through and extract our people.”

He hesitated, jaw tightening as the risks caught up with his explanation. “But it’s risky. We don’t know if someone’s actively monitoring the field. If they are, they’ll notice the fluctuation the moment we mirror it.” His fingers drummed once against the console, a nervous habit he quickly stilled. “They could correct it—or worse, trace it.”

Wyatt drew in a slow breath. “We’d have to do it fast. No room for trial and error. One clean shot.” His gaze shifted around the room, briefly meeting the eyes of the others gathered there. “If the timing’s off by even a few seconds, the field could collapse or spike, and we’d lose our window… maybe for good.”

He swallowed, then added more quietly, “But if we don’t try, they’re stuck out there. And we’re running out of alternatives.”

His attention returned to the officer. “So… if we’re going to attempt it, we need everyone ready before we start. No delays once the signal goes live.”

Ensign Wyatt Jacen Blackford

Security Junior Officer

U.S.S. Ark Angel

He had sat there to think about it. “Ensign have you done any type of simulation to see if it works or not. I mean the extraction?” Captain Becket had asked. “If so how long do we have to get in and get out?” He asked another question. As he was still completely unsure about the whole situation.

Captain Alex Becket
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Ark Angel

The Ready Room door slid open and the bridge met her head-on.

Sound rushed back in not chaotic, not sharp, but dense. Consoles murmured in overlapping tones, LCARS interfaces chimed softly, voices carried in clipped bursts of command shorthand. Beneath it all, the ship’s deeper hum threaded through the deck plates, steady and immense. It pressed at the edges of her awareness, familiar now in an unwelcome way.

Nala stepped out anyway.

Excitement buoyed her just enough to keep the pressure from cresting. She focused on motion, on purpose. Walk. Count steps. Don’t listen to everything at once.

Her ears flicked despite her effort to hold them neutral, tail tightening behind her as she crossed the bridge with measured strides. A few heads turned brief glances, curious but not unkind. A Caitian ensign was still a novelty on some bridges. She ignored it, eyes locked on the science station.

There.

The console waited, its interface already alive with sensor feeds and scrolling telemetry. Familiar shapes. Familiar logic. Something she could grab onto.

She took her place, setting the PADDs down with deliberate care. Fingers claws carefully retracted hovered for half a second before she touched the console, as if asking permission.

Then she began.

The noise didn’t vanish, but it reorganized itself. The bridge’s hum became background radiation, something to be filtered rather than fought. Data flowed across the screen long-range scans, subspace readings, stellar interference patterns and her mind snapped into alignment with it, fast and hungry.

“Science station ready,” she said, voice still quick but steadier now. “I’m pulling current scan baselines and comparing against the last recorded sweep.”

Her ears angled forward, intent. Her tail stilled completely.

For the first time since stepping aboard the Ark Angel, the ship’s volume had a shape she could hold translated into numbers, patterns, meaning. The overload lingered at the edges, waiting its turn.

But for now, Ensign Nala Shai’Mori t’Liriena stood at her console on the bridge, exactly where she wanted to be working, useful, and proving, moment by moment, that she belonged.

Ensign Luna

=/\= “Ensign Nala please report to the conference room. We have been expecting you here.” =/\=. He said talking his combadge.

Captain Alex Becket
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Ark Angel

Nala froze.

Heat rushed up beneath her fur before she could stop it sharp, immediate, mortifying.

Conference room.

Of course.

Her ears flattened hard, tail curling tight behind her as she tapped her combadge a fraction too quickly.
“=/\= On my way. =/\=”

Her voice was brisk. Too brisk. She didn’t give herself time to hear anything else before turning and redirecting, boots carrying her off the bridge with a precision born entirely of embarrassment.

Stars above, Shai’Mori, she scolded herself. First assignment. First five minutes. Wrong room.

The ship seemed louder again, as if personally offended by her mistake. She kept her gaze forward, jaw set, willing the heat in her face to fade as she followed the signage to the conference room just off the bridge.

She paused outside the door only long enough to breathe once.

In.
Out.

Then she slipped inside.

The room was already occupied. She felt it immediately—not by sound, but by presence. She moved quietly, deliberately, head dipping in a subtle, apologetic nod as she crossed to an open seat. Her movements were careful now, smaller than before, tail tucked close as she sat and folded her hands neatly in front of her.

She did not meet anyone’s eyes.

Her ears angled forward again, attentive, contrite, determined to be invisible for exactly as long as necessary. The embarrassment lingered, hot and sharp, but she locked it down the same way she had everything else today by sheer force of will.

Sit. Listen. Learn, she told herself.

Ensign Nala Shai’Mori t’Liriena took her place in the conference room, quietly, properly, and very aware that the ship and her future aboard it were already teaching her lessons whether she was ready or not.

Ensign Nala

OOC: sorry put the the wrong thing in the wrong place and confused myself
Christina

OOC: It’s okay. It happens to most of us.

IC: Becket sat there thinking. What is it that they could do to get them out right?

Captain Alex Becket
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Ark Angel

When Ensign Waryn contacted the bridge he was answered by NE Rodney. “This is Helm, how can I help you Engineering?

Izak smiled from his station down in Main Engineering. Finally. He thought. I was beginning to wonder if anybody was on watch up there.

“Well Helm, its actually about what I can do for you. We received a few calls for sensor support, but we haven’t heard anything in a while. Is that good news, or are you still looking?”

“Still looking as far as I know.” The NE responded with a note of frustration. “Some of the other stations might have found something, but my multiphasic scans aren’t giving me much.”

Ensign Waryn raised an eyebrow at that. Multiphasic scans were often used to sort of… brute force their way through areas of strong interference. But in this case it wasn’t working. “We’re at Yellow Alert but there aren’t a lot of demands on the power grid right now. How about I reroute power to the sensors to boost their efficiency, and then allocate additional bandwidth as well? If that doesn’t help you pick anything up on sensors, I’ll brainstorm some other ideas with you.”

“That would be great, thank you.” NE Rodney said.

“No… thank you. I’m dying down here without anything to keep myself busy.” Izak paused and then quickly added. “Not that I want anything to go wrong down here. I’ll… talk to you later.”

Worried he might have jinxed himself, Ensign Waryn reviewed the plant status board to ensure nothing was amiss. With no pressing alerts, he began boosting the efficiency of the sensors to support the duty officer on Helm.

Ensign Izak Waryn - Engineering Officer - U.S.S. Ark Angel