Posted by Commander William B. Grey (Chief Science Officer / 2nd Officer) in MAIN SIM: “In the Badlands” – Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Quentin “Q” Dawson (Communications Officer) in MAIN SIM: “In the Badlands” – Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Kastarak (First Officer / Navigation Officer) in MAIN SIM: “In the Badlands” – Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (38) by the Post Ghost! 👻
OOC: You can choose whether your character is on the Bridge for now or in their station elsewhere. Respond accordingly. Let’s get this party started!

The viewscreen displayed turbulence beyond familiar classification. Not disorder, precisely. After all, true disorder did not exist. But it was a complexity so dense that even pattern-seeking logic struggled to extract structure. Vast tendrils of ionized plasma arched across the void, glowing in unstable pulses of various colours. It was reminiscent of the rainbows back home on Vulcan. Kastarak’s mind shifted momentarily to the memories of seeing the rainbow on one of those rare occasions when rain had poured and left the arid atmosphere moist for a short while.

Kastarak returned to the present. Electromagnetic interference crackled along the ship’s hull in irregular rhythms. The irregularity was more disconcerting than regularity would have been. Radiation spikes fluctuated with no harmonic baseline. Again, the chaos was more unsettling than anything else. If there were any kind of noticeable patterns, then logic could help. But logic failed to help him now.

There were moments, brief andfragmented, where the storm almost seemed to respond to itself, as if governed by a logic not yet understood. Kastarak watched in silence, cataloguing each observable anomaly. The Badlands had always been volatile, but this storm exceeded previous parameters by orders of magnitude. It was not simply dangerous, it was unique. Perhaps artificial. Perhaps natural but rare beyond recorded history. That distinction would matter later. For now, what mattered was stability, survivability, and data acquisition. His thoughts turned to the Science Department. Grey, Nightroad and their colleagues across the Federation would find much to study here, for years, perhaps decades. But in this moment, the storm was not a research opportunity. It was a threat that masked other variables. The unknown nested within the unknown.

Kastarak looked around the bridge. The bridge was quiet, but not still. The subtle shift in lighting, the muted flicker of console alerts, the background hum slightly altered by emergency power distribution all confirmed what he had already deduced: warp drive was offline.

That was expected, given the intensity of the discharge. The warp core had shut itself down automatically. No breach. A logical response. Still, the interruption added complexity to an already unstable scenario. He was certain Mr Batario or Ms Lovejoy would relay a report as soon as they had the chance. Their expertise was sorely needed now.

Sensors were failing across multiple arrays. Forward sensors had gone first, predictable, given their exposure vector. The remaining lateral and dorsal systems delivered fragmented telemetry. What little they offered, however, was extraordinary. Subspace fractures behaving like spatial eddies. Charged particles oscillating at variable phase states. Readings so far outside standard parameters they bordered on theoretical constructs. Kastarak mentally filed each anomaly under categories for later classification.

The storm was likely ongoing. But was it stable? Increasing? Cyclical? He turned his focus to the scientists. Mr Grey might begin constructing a temporal decay model. Mr Nightroad could isolate chronometric irregularities and compare them to historic Badlands events. Perhaps even extrapolate a safe operational window. In the background, he noted with discipline that shields were holding, strained, yes, but functional. Seventy-three percent. Declining. Rate tolerable for now. That, too, would need monitoring. But the key unknown remained the storm’s behaviour.

Kastarak looked at the map on his screen. He was the navigations officer as well, so he took a special interest to this job. He saw a distress beacon, where one had not been only minutes ago, with an estimated location of 20,000 km away.

That was close, dangerously close, given the current sensor blindness. Half the diameter of Earth. A short distance by starship standards, but in this environment, it was at the same time vast and uncertain. Kastarak remained still, but his thoughts moved quickly. A distress signal where one had not been before. Was it new, a starship suddenly in distress, or an old beacon suddenly reactivated by the charges?

All possibilities had precedent. But logic dictated a structured response, not speculation.

First: assess mobility. Could they reach the source under impulse power alone? Impulse was active, but degraded systems demanded confirmation.

Second: determine visibility. Could sensors be redirected, reconfigured? Perhaps a partial forward sweep via lateral redundancy. Perhaps something more improvised.

Third: risk evaluation. Shields remained stable—just. But without visual or sensor contact, any movement was effectively blind. And yet, the distress signal altered the equation.

“Colleagues,” he announced. “There is a distress signal, 20 thousand kilometres to our starboard side. Suddenly activated. I am ordering a yellow alert condition.”

“Mr Batario: how long until warp is back online? Ms Lovejoy, what about our impulse drive? Can we traverse that distance?”

“Mr Dawson: Can you isolate the signal and gather more data of what it is?”

“Mr Grey, Mr Nightroad. Anything in this storm that can help us recalibrate our shield to make it stronger, and withstand, and get our sensors back to full operations?”

“Drs Symar, Lynset. Prepare for non-ship casualties. Coordinate with Mr Valharra for on-ship security.”

“Mr Forster. Are our weapons still online? Can we defend ourselves in case of a hostile situation?”

Finally, he turned to the captain. Ones they had the report, the final decision on what to do rested in the captain.

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Chris never saw a storm like this in all his life. He wondered if this felt like the sailors of old navigating very treacherous ocean waters. He has a boat and had been in many storms but nothing compared to this.

Rising out of the Center Chair he nodded to Kastarak while trying to maintain his balance. “That is very good Commander. I want to see if we can launch a short probe towards that other ship and then use that to boost our comms and then try to hail it.”

“Secondly I want all of this data we’re collecting on this storm to be sent to Starfleet Headquarters and have NE Johnson look into the archives about this sector. Maybe there is something about this in the past.”

“Thirdly. When Mr. Forster is done with his immediate duties, have him and Science get together to see if we can use our photon torpedoes to maybe neutralize the ionic stability of this storm and allow us to pass through. “

He walked a little closer to the view screen and just looked out at the storm amazed.

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

John was at the tactical station “yes sir weapons and shields are still online but I don’t wanna fire a torpedo in this area intill I have more data on this storm” his fingers danced across his console inputting commands and checking data.

Lt. John Forster (CWO)

Chris slowly turned his head toward Lt JG Forster so that he could see him clearly and with a slight bit of irritation in his voice, “That’s what I just said Mr. Forster. Get with Science and see if it is possible. I didn’t say fire one.” In a calmer voice he added, “But thank you for the information on the shields and weapons systems. That’s good information. Run a diagnostic on them both and see if there are potential issues with them.”

He turned back to the view screen. “I wonder how long those lightning bolts are? They must be thousands of kilometers long. Fascinating.”

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

Dawson began adjusting the scanners to hone in on the distress signal. “The storm is offering a great deal of interference,” Dawson said, “But it does seem that sending a probe as a kind of signal booster should help with cleaning up the transmission.” Dawson braced himself against the turbulence of the ship as he worked the controls. He was trying to see what he could make out from the signal before launching the probe to hopefully get a sense of what they were charging into.

Lt. Dawson, Comms.

Adam was on shift at the bridges science console and as he heard the Captain’s voice, he went to work trying to identify what was happening our there. After a moment, Adam said, “Sir, we should get some type of reading soon.”

Nightroad, Scientist

“Very good Mr. Nightroad. Please send all data in real time back to headquarters. They may need to put beacons out on the fringes to warn passing ships of the dangers of this area.”

“Aye Sir,” Adam replied

He looked back towards Mr. Forster. “Anything yet on the diagnostic Mr. Forster?”

A violent clash outside and the ship rocked hard. Chris got back into his chair and pressed the com. [O] Bridge to the entire ship. If you are not on duty and are not essential personnel, then secure your area either sit, strapped into something or go back to your quarters and strap yourselves in. I don’t want any unnecessary medical emergencies while we are trying to handle this situation. Oh! And only have one light on in your quarters and read a book or play a game. We need to conserve energy right now. Captain Taggart out. [O]

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

The turbolift opened and William practically jumped out, the last time something went wrong during a trip in that specific Turbolift William had been thrown against the door and broken his nose. He quickly smoothed out his jacket and moved to sit in his designated seat and strapped in, giving Nightroad a brief nod before checking the readings.

CSO, 2O
Adam looked over at the CSO and said, “Sir, here is the data so far.”

John just got done with his diagnostic “phaser are offline due to damaged relays, shields down to 60% and holding. Structure integrity fields are at 80% and dropping fast. hail bridge on deck 8 emergency forcefield are in place security is moving survivors off deck 8”

Lt.John Forster (CWO)

“Good Lord!” Dawson said as he braced against his station. He could understand why that ship would be sending out a distress signal, caught in this storm. Dawson quickly strapped in and began to work on isolating the signal, with minimal success. He readied and launched a probe out in the direction of the signal in the hopes that it would strengthen there receiving capabilities. “Probe launched in direction of the distress signal captain. That should help us decipher what they’re sending out.”

Lt. Q. Dawson, Comms.

The probe’s data feed had begun to stabilize. Kastarak observed the telemetry streaming in. First, it was noisy. Plasma interference remained high, but the probe’s signal relay allowed for partial sensor reconstruction. On the viewscreen next, they could see clearly a small damaged transport vessel, Denobulan and civilian in configuration. Shields inactive. Life support weak but functional. Eleven lifesigns. Kastarak marked the number mentally. Eleven beings, alive, in distress, and within reach — if their ship could hold together long enough to reach them.

He turned slightly toward Communications.

“Mr Dawson, prioritize the comms channel to the Denobulan vessel. If they can respond, we need confirmation of their status and environment.”

Dawson gave a nod and turned to focus on the comms station. Opening a hailing frequency to the Denobulan ship, he sent out a transmission, =/\=Hailing Denobulan vessel. This is the Federation Starship Chernov responding to your distress signal. Please respond.=/\=

Without hesitation, he addressed the science station next. “Mssrs Grey and Nightroad, update your projections using the probe’s real-time readings. I want confirmation of ion flux cycles. Identify the safest vector, and the quietest timing. Even ninety seconds of relative stability would suffice for us to get close enough. I believe we would not be able to use our transport beams, but rather shuttle the survivors across. Options?”

William frowned at the readings “Transporters are a no-go unless we get far too close and expend more power than we should. Shuttles are a risk, Helm should be able to give a better estimate on how close we can get but we want to stay outside any potential blast zone.” Will tapped the console “I’m checking to see if the tractor beam is viable but I doubt it. I think theoretically we could lessen the effect of the storm, but I’m unsure how it would be implemented”

William looked to Nightroad “Check if it’s mathematically viable to use the deflector dish to send out a directed energy pulse towards the Denoublan ship, see if it’s possible to create calmer waters for our shuttles”

(it is possible, that way a bubble of calm could encapsulate our ship and theirs, but only for a few minutes)

Kastarak looked at his console. So far the ship was holding up. Warp was still offline but Impulse viable. And the risk remained significant. The logic, however, had shifted: this was no longer a hypothetical. The Denobulan crew were known, located, and time-bound. He tapped his communicator.

“Sickbay, prepare for incoming Denobulan casualties, at maximum 11. Unknown status. Coordinate with Security to clear out a triage zone in shuttle bay.”

Then, with calm finality, he turned to the command chair.

“Captain. We have confirmation: eleven lives aboard. Denobulan civilian vessel. I recommend an intercept course at one-quarter impulse, coordinated with probe telemetry. Estimated approach time, with all manoeuvres necessary: nine minutes. Risk is measurable. Delay would be unacceptable.”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

“Very good Commander. Make it so.” He was feeling very proud of the way Kastarak was handling things. He has learned a lot and in some way more than me. Chris thought to himself. “Commander. I will be in the shuttlebay helping medical set up a triage. You can com me there if you need anything and you have the Con.” With that, Chris got up and began to leave and then a thought a hit him like a slap to the face. Turning to Kastarak. “Commander. Do you think this storm could be faked in a way and this is a trap? Either way we have to help them, I know. But until we can conform that they are friendly, then I want at least two armed security personnel in sickbay and the shuttlebay and around their quarters and escorting them until we know.” He listened to what Kastarak had to say and then turned and went to the turbolift and to the shuttlebay.

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

Nightroad, Scientist

“On your left Captain,” Symar said, carrying a medpack over his shoulder and sliding into the turbolift.

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

Dawson looked up, surprised at the Captain’s concern the storm may have been faked. Such a violent and tumultuous storm surely couldn’t just be conjured up as a lure for unlucky passersby. Even if it could be manufactured, surely there were easier ways for pirates these days.

Lt. Q Dawson, Comms

CSO, 2O

Kastarak listened to the captain’s orders. “Your orders will be carried out, sir,” he said, “as for the storm being fake – the storm is clearly here and affecting us, there are no indications that this is a holographic illusion. What we are experiencing is real, sir.”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

William perked up at the thought of a fake storm and he wondered internally if one could induce a natural phenomenon like this, it’d make for interesting research, but that would have to wait until after they’d saved the Denobulans “Commander, we can create a few minutes of calm space around the shuttle using the deflector dish, permission to reprogram and prepare”

CSO, 2O

Adam looked at the Chief Science Officer and said, “With your permission, I will head for deflector control.” and waited for word.

Nightroad, Scientist

William shook his head “Send a junior engineer for that, I’ll need you here to man the main console and monitor the work” he said simply.

“Aye” Able replied. Able tapped a button on his station and informed Engineering to send someone to Deflector Control.

A small beep sounded from the tactical station “sir I was Abel to send some emergency power into structural integrity fields. The fields are holding at 75%. Shields are holding at 60% but phaser are a lost cause. Too much damage to the relay and the fire control systems so I put what power we had from phasers into the structural fields but we can still fire torpedoes” he said with his report

Lt. John Forster (CWO)

Dawson readied a transmission for the Denobulans if the Captain gave the word about Grey’s deflector plan. This way the Denobulans would know there was help coming and what they were planning to do.

-Lt. Q Dawson, Commiunications Officer.

William looked again at Kastarak “We’re ready on your go, I can buy a few minutes of calm”

CSO, 2O

Nightroad, Scientist

Chris came back onto the Bridge after he helped with triage setup in the Shuttlebay. “Have we determined what species the life signs belong to yet?” He said to no one in particular but still wanted the answer.

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

Dawson attempted to use the beacon to increase his ability to scan for life forms,.”We’ll likely have that answer, sir,” Dawson said, “when Grey and Nightroad calm the storm.”

-Lt. Q Dawson, Comms

William gave Nightroad a nod and send the insturctions to the Deflector team to start the stabalising beam.

“Denobulans,” said Kastarak, reading the signs. “Eleven of them. They have now been beamed aboard the Chernov. They are in shuttlebay triage under the care of Drs Symar and Lynset.”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

The Chief Science officer stood up and moved to Adam “Good work Nightroad” He said simply

CSO, 2O

“Awesome! Good work everyone! Please have one of the good doctors report to the Bridge with their findings and care of the Denobulans at their earliest convenience. I want to know if they were just unlucky like us to be on this storm or they were attacked from outside or from within. Any word on their ships damage?”

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

On the viewscreen, a live feed of the Denobulan vessel was showing. The people on the bridge of the Chernov would see the eruption of a sharp jet of gas from a breach near the midsection. A section of hull plating bent outward and detached from the Denobulan vessel. The vessel began to rotate slowly on its lateral axis, powered by the force of the eruption of gas and debris blown out from its insides. The escaping gas and debris expanded rapidly into a dense, uneven cloud.

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Chris looked at the Denobulan ship breaking apart. “Well. I guess that answers part of my question.” Seeing the gas escaping and spreading, Chris looked worried.

“Helm. Take us away from here and out of this storm. Full or as much speed as you can give.”

“Science! I want to see if there are any traces of Romulan or Klingon particles near here and get a sample of that gas”

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

William raised an eyebrow “Buzzard collectors Mr Nightroad, manual” He said as he tapped an active full scan of the area, looking for any traces of cloaking technology or any disturbances in the clouds potentiall left by any starship of significant mass travelling through the local space.

CSO, 2O

The scans showed none of the sort. No traces of Romulan or Klingon DNA or technology in the debris or gas. Only Denobulan. No detection whatsoever of any cloaking technology in the vicinity.

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

bump

Lieutenant Junior Grade Sara Lovejoy
Engineer/Helmswoman
U.S.S. Chernov

“OK. Good. Once we’re away from here and safe, make the repairs we need to engage warp, if any, and make a course for the next nearest Starbase and arrange for repairs for the Chernov and advanced medical care for our visitors. And maybe transport for them. But don’t do the transportation part until we’ve established what happened. It could very well turn out that we’ll need security and detention cells. I’m going to go check on our visitors. Commander Kastarak, you have the Con. ” With that, Chris left the Bridge.

Captain Chris_Taggart
Captain USS_Chernov

William walked up to Kastarak as the Captain left the bridge “He feels more” He said in a hushed tone “Paranoid than before. Is there any particular reason to suspect these Denobulans?”

CSO, 2O

From where Dawson was positioned, he was able to hear Grey talking with Kastarak. He swiveled in his chair to face them, waiting for Kastarak’s response. While he hadn’t noticed any increase in the captain’s paranoia, Dawson did admit that his own paranoia was noticeably up as well, which could be why he didn’t notice. But now that Grey had pointed it out, Dawson thought the captain was acting a little more on edge than usual with his suspicions of the Denobulans.

Lt. Q Dawson, Comms

Kastarak paused for a few seconds, a little longer than usual, but not long enough for it to be anything untoward. At the same time, he noticed Dawson’s attention toward them, and that Dawson remained on edge, more so than before his disappearance. He made a mental note to have an extra check on Dawson, to see how Dawson was doing.

“I have found no reasons to doubt them. That said, our inquiries remain incomplete. The Starfleet approach is to proceed with caution –– without abandoning courtesy. It is a narrow balance. Who should, in your opinion, lead the interviews with our Denobulan guests?”

William took a moment to consider “Someone from engineering and a member of senior staff, the Captain might be a little much to speak with their junior staff but you or I should be enough. Perhaps shadowed by a security member with experience in taking interviews” His thoughts turned to the days when they had a psychologist onboard “And a member from Medical”

He paused again, as if giving space to the thought he spoke.

“As for your thought regarding the captain, consider it more. I do not ask this as a rebuke, but because hypotheses, if sound, deserve articulation. If further reflection supports your impression, I ask that you bring it to me so that we may reflect together.”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

Dawson gave a slow nod at Kastarak’s response and swiveled back to his terminal. Leave it to Kas to keep a logical head about it. Not shutting the suggestion down, but also not running off with it. A trait Dawson himself should work harder at adopting. He wasn’t sure if that was a left over from his security days or a new development from his time away. He wished he could better move past it, but it seemed that his disappearance was looming over everything he was doing.

William nodded slowly “Aye, sir” He said simply. The Commander was right; one sentence did not make a paranoid Captain. He didn’t regret asking the question; he never had time for regret. Before turning around and leaving, he gave Dawson a sharp look.

CSO, 2O

“Mr Grey,” Kastarak called out softly as William was left. “The interviews: Your recommendation is prudent and sound. Please oversee them. Choose your team accordingly.”

Kastarak, Lt Cdr
First Officer and Navigations Officer

As Grey was heading out, Dawson looked up from his terminal as Kas called out to him, just in time to see the look Grey gave him. Dawson flinched back slightly, a minor move of his head backward, before returning his attention back to his terminal. Had he been eavesdropping? Intruding on their conversation? Perhaps. If anything more needed to come of it, he was sure Grey would bring it up. Otherwise, he see the look as the appropriate reprimand and consider the matter closed.

Lt. Q Dawson, Communications

William froze in his step and suppressed a sigh. After a moments pause he turned around and inlcined his head “Of course, sir” He turned as slowly to the Communications officer “Dawson, with me” He said and moved to the turbolift. Bloddy pointy eared, set up a damned good trap there, clever He thought to himself, mildly annoyed at the thought of having to converse with strangers, even worse it was likely he’d have to interact with children.

CSO, 2O

Just as Dawson turned back to his terminal, he heard the Commander call him. “Aye Sir!” He said getting up from his station and rushing to fall in step with the commander.

Lt. Q Dawson, Communications