Posted by Captain Dira Myqian (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim - Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Koria Sutret (Chief Engineer) in Main Sim - Bridge

Posted by Commander Brad Walker (Chief Of Staff/Second Officer) in Main Sim - Bridge
<snip>
The sensors picked up another blip during the scan, it was there for a millisecond and then it vanished again.

GM Budgie

Dira turned to face the tactical station, her brows pressed against her ridges. This is all we need,” she thought, taking a deep breath and adding this newest variable to an already complicated situation. She dropped her gaze to Brad. “Can’t have things be simple, now can we?”

Captain Myqian, CO

He gave a small snort. “Simple is boring, anyway,” he said. “I do think yellow alert is a good idea, though. And maybe we can ask the Keeper if her own ship is picking up anything?”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

=/\=Kane to Walker. Triage is prepped and ready to recieve.=/\=

Lt. Cmdr. Kane, AMO

=/\=Understood. We’ve reached the ship in distress, so it shouldn’t be too much longer,=/\= Brad replied.

“Can we get a life sign check?” he asked the science station operator.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Ensign Corruthers nodded “Aye Sir, scanning again now.” The computer beeped and then came back with an update.
“There’s currently, 290.... 289 onboard. Sir.” Corruthers replied.

GM Budgie

Brad paled. “That’s down sixty people in just the last, what, twenty minutes?” he asked.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

The Ensign nodded.
“Aye sir.” She wanted to comment more but it wasn’t her place.

GM Budgie

There was no way to ease people’s worries in this situation. It was a terrible situation and they could only do what they could do.

“We do the best we can. It’ll be all hands on deck. As soon as the first runabout is heading back with patients we’ll get down to the triage deck.” Yes, she was including herself. She had the requisite skills and though she wasn’t keeping her full medical qualifications up to date, she was keeping up on the learning as much as possible.

Captain Myqian, CO

“I suppose we also don’t know what stage everyone on board has it,” Brad added quietly. “Those sixty may have barely been hanging on at end-stage at the last scan. The numbers only tell one aspect of any story.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Dira nodded, trying unsuccessfully to not tap her fingers on the armrest of her command chair. She didn’t want to be sitting here waiting,- she wanted to be down there in the action with everyone, helping. “The first priority will be getting info from our guests about the symptoms and staging. Once we know the timeline we’re working with, triage will be easier.”

“We should also make sure the biology labs are ready to receive samples to study and try and come up with a treatment, if not an outright cure,” Brad said. “I know science is already busy studying the nebula, but this should probably take priority.”

“Agreed,” Dira said. “See to it. We have biomedical staff so they crevices the samples. It might be worth getting Dr. Solomon Kane in on it too. He’s got a knack for seeing things from different perspectives.” An understatement of course, but Dira understood the man a bit better than many. He might be difficult for some to work with but when it was crunchy time she knew he’d get the job done. Right now they needed every advantage since time was most definitely not on their side.

“If anyone’s able to crack this nut, it’ll be him,” Brad said in agreement, tapping out orders on his console for the biomedical researchers… and Mr. Dr. Kane.

=^= Bridge, this is Lt Sutret. We’ve finished modifying the shuttle and they are good to launch. We are working on modifying the runabouts next. =^=

Lt Sutret - CE

=/\=Acknowledged, and good work. We should have patients aboard hopefully soon. Pay close attention to the environmental and biohazard systems. We don’t want any issues once we have these people on board,=/\= Myqian said.

Captain Myqian, CO

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

=^=Understood Captain. We’ll get right on those systems right after we finish with the runabouts.=^=

Lt Sutret - CE

“Thank you , Lieutenant. Bridge out.” Dira retook her seat in a bid to not pace across the bridge. Instead she looked to Brad. “I’ve always hated this part,” she said softly. “The waiting always felt interminable.”

Captain Myqian, CO

“It is,” Brad agreed. “But then once patients start rolling in, we’ll forget about how anxious we were waiting and become anxious about saving lives.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Seeing the blip a second time on her screen, Zoi ran a full range of scans on that area including sending over her information to the science officer on duty to have them run their scans. She didn’t trust inconsistencies and this one had her hackles raised on the back of her neck. “Captain, I am seeing something odd on my screen. Running a few extra scans on it to make it out, but I don’t like it.”

Haven, CoS

“Captain, the away team’s shuttle has reached the Celestial Whisper. All readings nominal.”

Myqian gave a nod. “Good,” she said as she moved over to Zoi’s station. “I don’t like it either. The situation is precarious enough in this nebula,” she said to the COS.

The ensign at the science station gave Zoi a nod of confirmation and ran some deeper level scans on the surrounding area, including a metaphasic sweep. “Confirming, there’s soemthing there. Can’t be sure, but it’s larger enough to be a vessel. It’s disturbing the EM background. Must be some sort of cloak, or maybe the nebula is masking their signal some how.”

~Mischief Maker

Dira frowned. “Take us to yellow alert,” she told Zoi and turned to face the view screen. They couldn’t use transporters, and they knew so little about these people and this nebula. “Can we disrupt that are of space enough to let them know we know they are there, but not cause any harm?”

Captain Myqian, CO

“If we’ve detected them, however fleetingly the contact has been, it’s likely whatever is in this nebula is interfering with their masking as well,” Brad chimed in as the alert lights began pulsing yellow. “Can we call over to the Whisper and see if they have an escort that they know about?”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Dira turned her gaze towards the view screen, taking in the nebula, and the stricken ship they were desperate to help. She nodded and looked over at the comm station. “Open a channel to the Celestial Whisper.”

“Channel open, captain.”

=/\=This is Captain Myqian on the Ogawa. We’re detecting some unusual signals and are wondering if you might have another ship nearby.=/\= She had no way to know how much of her message came through clearly, but at least their last conversation had been a bit clearer.

Captain Myqian, CO

Bump for Tom

OOC: Well, with there being no Tom for the time being… Linds?

IC: Brad took note that the away team had reached the Whisper, sending up a little prayer that they’d be able to quickly get to the bottom of this.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

OOC: Yep, lol. Here we go.
IC:
The screen shifted and a man appeared. He had the same pale blue skin. \Greetings. I am Assistant Keeper Jusetith Zor’ell. Keeper Vell’kor is greeting your people. You say you detected unusual signals?\

Dira nodded, relieved to note that the interference seemed to be less currently. Whether that would stay that would remained to be seen. “Yes. There seem to be something near our two vessels that is disturbing the EM background. We can’t identify it, and it comes in and out of our detection.”

Zor’ell was still, with no expression crossing his face for several seconds. He looked off to the side and nodded before he looked back to Myqian. //Captain. that is most unusual. It is possible it could be a ship. We are checking to see if we can also detect it.// He looked away again, the voice of someone else on the Whisper’s command area too soft to make out.

Dira shot Brad a look. Well, at least no one was panicked. That was good, right?

The Assistant Keeper looked back at the screen. //We cannot detect anything unusual, but your ship does seem to interact with the nebula in interesting ways. Perhaps you are detecting something we cannot because of this uniqueness.\

“It’s quite possible,” Dira said. “If it is a ship, should we be concerned. Is it one of yours.”

Zor’ell’s mouth opened and then he clamped it shut. //No, it is not here with us. We are on a pilgrimage. It is sacred. If it belongs to my people, then we have ways of detecting them and are trying to do so now. But some types of our ships can veil themselves. It is… unusual, however. And I have no idea why one would do so here.\

Zoi watched the Assistant Keeper’s body language and facial expressions for anything that could be suspicious. They were a foreign race and culture but she watched nonetheless. She didn’t like the unknown of a possible ship nearby. It could be whomever or whatever instigated the illness, or were simply waiting for a ship to become prone in this nebula and ready to be scavengers. There were too many possibilities to name and she had to wonder if they somehow got themselves in a trap.

Dira nodded. “We’ll stand by and wait for your results. Meanwhile, I need to confer with my crew. We have people visiting you and we are preparing to take on any of yours that you need us too. I want to make sure everything is safe.”

He nodded and the screen returned to the view of the intense and chaotic nebula and the Celestial Whisper before them.

Myqian blew out a breath. “Just to make things more fun, right?” she said towards Brad and Zoi, before turning to Haven. “Let’s be proactive and assume there is a ship and if it’s hiding in plain sight, it doesn’t mean us well. We have hundreds of ill people on that ship, plus we’ll have our own people going back and forth. Make sure we can keep everyone safe.” Her gut said that is someone didn’t want them interfering with the Whisper, they would have objected by now.

“I agree,” Brad said. “Including with their statement that any ‘veiling’ of ships in this area is unusual. Unusual situations usually mean ‘someone’s up to no good.’”

=/\=Bridge to Engineering. Is it possible to improve our sensors any further? We’re detecting distortions in the EM background but we can’t pinpoint further. We might have company and our friends are helping to confirm if that is the case, but I don’t want to rely on that.=/\=

Captain Myqian, CO

Zoi nodded and relayed all readings from her investigation on to Engineering including all the diagnostics so they wouldn’t think it necessary to rerun them and waste time. Though she had the feeling the mystery guests were not yet ready to make themselves known, they would soon enough. It is better to be as prepared as possible especially given the contagious nature of the illness. They had no way of knowing yet if it would be contagious to the crew of the Ogawa and every precaution should be taken. Hurrying along those precautions because of some malcontent could be the difference between life and death for the crew.

Haven, CoS

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

=^=Engineering here Captain. Maybe? It depends on what is causing the interference. Um… let me try a few things and I will get back to you Captain.=^=

Lt Sutret - CE

=^= Engineering to the Bridge. We were able to clear up the sensors using the same field pulse we used to get the engines working. I recommend that we don’t spend too much time in here, because it’s only a matter of time before we have further system impacts. =^=

“Captain, sensors are cutting through the interference. Whatever they did down there worked,” the NE at the science station said.

“Good. Anything?” Myqian said, turning to Haven.

Zoi would see that there was indeed some sort of large object sitting just off the starboard bow of the Celestial Whisper. It was large enough to be a ship, though it was about a third the size, just a bit bigger than the Ogawa’s runabouts.

The comm chirped an incoming call. “Captain, The Whisper is hailing us.”

“On screen,” Myqian said.

Before them appeared Assistant Keeper Zor’ell. ||Captain, we have investigated the signal, and we can confirm there is a vessel that is veiled. It is an Aetherian vessel, but no other Aetherian ships should be here. This is The Pilgrimage. It is a sacred trip. Only authorized vessels are allowed to enter the nebula. They have not answered our calls, but they have not shown any offensive actions thus far.||

Well that was finally an answer to the name for these people and Dira filed that away. This was still a first contact, after all, despite the emergency, and while they were focused on the plague, it was important to get to know and understand these people quickly. Details might make a massive difference to the outcome of the situation. “If your ship is the only one allowed in this nebula, then this other ship would know this. Do you believe they mean harm?”

Zor’ell seemed conflicted, but Dira was cautious to ascribe body language signs to a people they just met.||It is possible. Sadly, not all believe The Pilgrimage is worthwhile. They would rather pretend it isn’t necessary.||

“Can you tell me about this Pilgrimage and why it is so important to your people?”

He looked away, casting his gaze to someone off screen. Looking back, Zor’ell nodded. ||It is a long story, but a long time ago we were foolish and there was an accident. There was much destruction and we were forced to relocate our home to a new world. We return to remember the past so we do not make the same mistakes in the future.||

As a cultural feature, it made sense, but it certainly only added to her list of questions. “But only one ship can be authorized? And presumably only so many people. Can anyone go on this Pilgrimage?”

He shook his head. ||There is a lottery open to the public for some of the slots, but the rest are chosen by our government.||

Warning bells sounded in her mind and Dira understood exactly how this situation could possibly go. If there were disgruntled people on that ship, then they might not care there were people ill. Or, since they were not responding, it was possible they were experiencing issues as well. “Would you be alright with us trying to reach out to them if we are able?”

||You can certainly try. Just, be cautious Captain. This is not a normal occurrence here.||

Dira nodded. “I understand. We will take all precautions.”

||Captain, we’ve also gotten word from the lower levels that you might benefit from info on the illness. We’ll send over all the data we can while your team collects samples. Let us know if there is anything more you need from us, and know how grateful we are you are here.||

She gave him a warm smile. “We appreciate the info and I promise we’ll do everything we can to help. Ogawa out.”

The screen went blank and Myqian blew out a breath and turned to look at Brad and Zoi. “Presuming we can figure out how to hail them, we’re in a difficult position. We can only split out resources so many ways, and we don’t know if they are here to cause problems or not. But my instincts tell me that a ship showing up unexpected on an important cultural journey is about people feeling left out of something and resenting it. Thoughts? Ideas? Other concerns?”

Captain Myqian, CO

Lt Sutret - CE