Posted by Gamemaster Alias Smith N. Jones, Esq. (GMT) in Main Sim - Bridge - Two Days Out

Posted by Gamemaster Alias Smith N. Jones, Esq. (GMT) in Main Sim - Bridge - Two Days Out

Posted by Captain Molly Holloway (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim - Bridge - Two Days Out
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

The Dresden was sailing smoothly along at Warp 5. The comms panel had remained lit up for several days after their departure, but suddenly (roughly forty-eight hours into their journey), the activity dropped to nothing but official comms from Star Fleet and Special Projects.

It was the early morning hours, still some time left on the night watches shift when the sensors pinged. Long range scans were picking up the station… and something else. At that range, the automated sensors couldn’t identify what it was, but the readings were very odd… and not at all stable from one moment to the next.

GMT

Lieutenant Commander Renveer, quite the morning person, was brushing his teeth as he reviewed the comms from the night before when he noticed the drastic drop in traffic. With his toothbrush still hanging out of his mouth, Renveer picked up his PaDD and frowned at it, muttering “That’s odd” through a mouth of foaming toothpaste.

A couple moments later, Renveer exited the turbolift to the bridge dressed in full uniform, his gaze immediately swiveling to whoever was manning the comms panel. “Report, please.”

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)

Priscilla had been up early as well. She couldn’t sleep and figured she would see what was happening around the ship now that the mass of incoming interview requests and story bugs had subsided. She was in her office going over the communication logs, to be sure she hadn’t missed anything vital, when the anomalous message traffic struck her as worth investigating.

She arrived on the bridge a few moments after the XO. Just in time to hear the NE at the comms station.

“I’m not sure, Sir. The station is easily distinguishable. But there is … something else. I can’t quite figure it out. It’s another sporadic reading on the sensors. I mean, well… just that. It’s like there’s something just off from reality. Like it’s on a worm hole evet horizon. It flickers but it’s there.” The confused young man turned from his station to glance at the others in the room as if to confirm he wasn’t the only one noticing this.

Priscilla immediately moved to the science station and tried to get a better reading on both the station and the odd secondary reading. As she did, she glanced at the XO. “Sir, should we call Drillek up here?” She wasn’t sure about bringing him onto the bridge. But this may be more up his alley than her own.

Lt Priscilla Simms
CSO

Renveer’s eyes narrowed in thought as he absorbed the information. He gave a swift nod at Lieutenant Simms’ suggestion. “Indeed. If this is an abnormal reading coming from the station’s location, he would know.”

The executive officer pressed his comm badge deliberately. =^= Renveer to Holloway and Drillek. We’ve got the station on long-range sensors, but another anomalous reading as well. We’re currently investigating on the bridge if you’d join us here. =^=

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)

Drillek responded with a somewhat concerned tone. =/\= Um, yes. Absolutely. Im on my way. =/\= and a few minutes later the turbo lift doors opened and Drillek stepped onto the main bridge.

Looking around, he saw the XO and made his way to him. “Commander. What have you got?”

GMT

Renveer motioned for Drillek to follow him to the science station so that he, Drillek, the chief science officer and the science NEnsign were all huddled around the display.

“It sounds like we’re not sure,” Renveer said in response to Drillek’s question. “But Lieutenant Simms can probably explain what we do know a bit more concisely than I could.” Renveer nodded at Priscilla to share the sensor readings with their guest.

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)

Holloway was finishing her morning routine when the commcall came through. Eyeing the steaming cup of coffee sitting on the replicator with a sigh, she tapped her commbadge. =/\= On my way, Commander. =/\=

Taking a fast swig of the hot liquid, Molly coughed slightly as it burnt her tongue. It had been hotter than she had expected and now she was going to feel it for the next couple of days. She sighed again, straightening her hair and blowing on the coffee to try and cool it off. Renveer had talked of an anomaly… she wondered for a moment what it could possibly be. With another swig of her morning coffee, Holloway placed the cup back on the replicator and recycled it. She could have another one when she finally sat down at her desk.

It didn’t take long for Molly to walk through the Bridge’s doors, spotting the small group of people gathered around the science station. “Good morning, Commander. What is going on?” Her words were directed at Renveer, but a reply from any of the three officers would do.

Holloway, CO

Priscilla had been about to say what she thought was happening, when the CO arrived on the bridge. It didn’t occur to get the XO was standing right there. Asked already taken the breath to explain.

“We’re getting signals from the direction and proximity of the station. The trouble is, there’s a secondary signal that’s intermittent and close by.” She paused a moment to glance at the others as she realized her outburst. With a shrug she finished with her gaze returning to the Captain. “It’s almost like it’s stuck between dimensions. Here, but there, as well. Buy we can only read it when it teeters to this side.”

She wasn’t sure if it was a good suggestion or not. “I mean, we can’t get a good reading on it. The computer can’t make it any clearer. It’s like it’s trying to explain what a koala bear is to a blind person, two days before going to the sanctuary. The description isn’t making sense.”

She bit her lip realizing she was staring to ramble.

Priscilla
CSO

Molly’s gaze would reflect her confusion. Glancing at the information displayed on the panel didn’t make it anymore clear. “I am not sure I completely understand what you’re saying, Lieutenant…” Her tone was apologetic. “I assume we can’t pinpoint the signal’s origin? Could it be a wormhole, perhaps? What about the signals we’re getting from the direction of the station? Are they related, or two different events?” Holloway wasn’t sure what she was asking, and she didn’t really like the feeling. But on the other hand, the few introductory science classes she had taken at the Academy had been some of her worst ones.

Realizing that Drillek was present in the group, she addressed the Engineer. “Dr. Drillek, is there anything you can tell us about this phenomenon?”

Holloway, CO

Drillek leaned 8n and looked at the readings, and his brow furrowed in confusion. “That’s… weird. And I’m not sure… hang on.” and he pushed his way to the console and began tapping commands.

His fingers flew across the interface in manner that suggested not only practice and knowledge… but also a rarely seen familiarity with the sensor system interface. He tapped away furiously for a few minutes, every now and then asking Simms to adjust a reading or input a finding. Finally he said “Oh… ok… I think… yes… yes. There we go.” and he tapped the display and the readings coalesced into something slightly more understandable.

“Not two signals. One… coming from the station. The other was a sensor echo, is all. But something is off at the station, sensor-wise. Nothing is static. All the sensor readings are all over the place. And they just don’t makes sense. It’s as if I can see the station, but then not, but the I see it before I saw it the first time. It’s just… screwy.” and he took his eyes off the display. “Maybe the system is damaged. Or there could be a corrupted isolinear relay between here and the sensor itself. I’d be happy to help the Engineers troubleshoot if you would like, Captain.”

GMT

“Of course. The more heads on a problem, the better.” Molly was still trying to understand the issue, and while she had felt some relief in knowing that the second signal was nothing but a sensor echo, the worry had return as the Engineer mentioned what was off with the sensor readings.

Priscilla looked at the readings and frowned. “Dr. Drillek, were they working on anything having to do with temporal shifts? Perhaps artificial wormhole creation?” She looked at him as she asked. This section of space had unique energy readings. Out wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities to think at least one person, besides herself, had thought along those lines. “And do we need to take the discussion off the bridge?” She was sure the rescue and retrieval, or repair, of the station wasn’t secret, whatever they might have been working on, could be.

Priscilla realized though, in all honesty, till they reached the station, it would probably be all guessing.

Priscilla
CSO

Drillek shrugged and said “Not that I’m aware of. There wasn’t any kind of specific temporal sensing equipment installed. And again, they are there to observer the star, not much else.” He looked at Simms and his eyes lit up for a second. “But once we get closer, we should be able to run a sweep for chroniton particles. See of there are any anomalous readings. But we’d have to be within… say… a hundred thousand kilometers for an accurate reading.”

GMT

Priscilla bit her lip and glanced around at those present. “The question is, how close can we get to get those readings, and maybe help, without being sucked into whatever it is they are stuck in.” She leaned back over the console. “I’m going to set the readers to look for chroniton particle readings starting now. If something is wrong, I don’t want to start the readings at 100k only to find out we’re already in the thick of it.” She laughed and waved her hand. “I know… I know… we are way too far out. But it won’t hurt. And it will ease my mind.” She didn’t look up this time guessing that the faces looking at her would be rolling their eyes at her ridiculous over cautiousness.

Dr. Drillek nodded in agreement. “That’s a really good idea, Lieutenant. Even if we find nothing between here and there, we can establish a baseline of chroniton saturation in the sector. That will make any anomalous readings that much easier to find. Good job.”

The idea that the station was stuck in a temporal flux wasn’t very comforting. If they were experimenting and something went wrong, that was one thing. If this area turned out to be a naturally occurring place for such things… she didn’t want to think about it. Her science mind screamed as she reined it back in. The idea of it being natural also led to the fact that this likely wouldn’t be the only place. And temporal holes, like black holes, weren’t something anyone wanted floating around the universe.

Priscilla
CSO

GMT

Forgrave had quietly stepped onto the bridge a bit ago, remaining content to sip his coffee and listen. The discussion on the mystery sensor readings was both worrisome, and thought-provoking. “Pardon me for interrupting; but seems like we want ta figure out what’s going on without getting too close? Could we load up a probe with sensors and and transmitters, and toss it at the source? Or hell, toss a couple dozen if we got them to spare. I’d rather spend some time and resources pokin’ at it from far away as possible iffin’ it could save our hides. Granted, we gotta balance that with time, but… I sure don’t want ta add our names to the list of missing.”

Issac Forgrave, CoS

Renveer nodded along as Lieutenant Forgrave spoke. “Leuitenant Simms, Dr. Drillek… do these readings give us any reason to believe that the station is in eminent danger? Should we increase our speed and/or be prepared to launch a rescue mission immediately after coming out of warp?” Renveer liked Forgrave’s cautious approach… but he too was worried about how much time they really had if something was indeed wrong at Julian Echo station.

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)

Drillek looked at the readings and said “I wouldn’t be comfortable giving you answer to that question, Commander. With these readings, there is just too much awry to tell you yes or no.”

Holloway listened in silence, her own eyes focused on the mysterious readings as the others spoke. Both Forgrave and Renveer had good points, and if necessary, both could be done in parallel. She liked the idea of sending out a probe, as it would ensure that they would stay away from the event while still taking readings on it. “Also, Dr. Drillek, is there any chance that these anomalous readings might be tied to the star the station is observing? Are you aware if Julian Echo might have recorded any readings that could explain what we are seeing?”

Holloway, CO

Drillek nodded. “Oh, absolutely. The massive amounts of radiographic radiation and gravity fluctuations surrounding the star could definitely be a factor in what we are seeing. From where we are, we are looking past the star to see the station.”

GMT

Bump to move along.

Renveer nodded in thought. The executive officer suddenly realized that they were all standing around thinking, rather than doing. He turned to Lieutenant Forgrave. “Can you work with engineering to outfit a probe? If we’re going to send one out, we should make sure it’s prepared for anything. Lieutenant Simms, please advise Lieutenant Forgrave and Lieutenant Mason on what types of protection the probe will need, and help them tune the sensors to account for that radiographic radiation if possible. I want the scans of that radiation sent to sickbay so we can prepare to effectively treat radiation poisoning for the Julian Echo crewmates immediately when we arrive if they’ve been exposed.” Renveer looked to Captain Holloway for approval or additional orders.

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)