Posted by Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter (CO) in Main Sim: Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Llakar Harel (Chief of Operations) in Main Sim: Bridge

Posted by Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter (CO) in Main Sim: Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The doors to the Ready Room whispered shut behind him as Lieutenant Commander Llakar Harel stepped out onto the bridge.

There was a rhythm to this place, even when nothing urgent occupied it. The steady pulse of duty stations, the low murmur of departmental check-ins, the quiet intensity that came from being the nerve center of a ship too experienced to mistake stillness for safety.

Harel moved with quiet purpose across the deck, offering a nod to the officer currently at Ops. The young lieutenant stood promptly and stepped aside without question—no formal handoff necessary. Word traveled quickly aboard the Saracen, and Harel’s name, if not his history, had already made the rounds.

He slid into the seat, hands moving over the console with practiced ease. The interface responded instantly, recognizing his clearance, unlocking the familiar latticework of systems status and internal telemetry. He took a moment to scan the readouts—not out of suspicion, but habit.

The bridge continued around him: status updates, ambient chatter, the low thrum of impulse systems ticking steady in the background.

With a few silent commands, he brought up the encrypted subspace relays—both shipboard and those operating within the Saracen’s standard patrol range. They’d run clean on the last diagnostic, but that had been under less scrutiny. And after what had been discussed in the XO’s office, clean didn’t mean uncompromised.

“Beginning systems integrity audit,” he murmured, mostly for the log. “Encrypted relay grid, internal and external.”

The console acknowledged. The audit routines initialized—layered, adaptive, and thorough. It would take some time.

He didn’t mind waiting.

Harel leaned back slightly, eyes on the data as it began to compile. The chair fit him well—like the ship itself. No drama. No spotlight.

Just the work.

Lt. Commander Harel ○●●
Chief of Operations
U.S.S. Saracen

Ensign Goodspeed nervously chewed his lip as he smiled towards Harel at a snails pace. It hadn’t exactly been a good for him and he was desperate to try and make amends before he got shipped off to some remote relay station.

Standing behind the Lt Cmdr, he awkwardly cleared his throat. “Um…sir?” He squeaked, his voice breaking with nervousness.

Goodspeed shuddered as an uncomfortable bead of sweat ran down the back of his neck. “I mean…I’m sure it’s nothing…we…uh I mean I…detected a small anomaly along our current flight path…” he mumbled and bit his lip again, wondering if he was even talking to the right person but this guy seemed to know what he was doing and Goodspeed feared he might wet himself if he talked to the Captain again.

• GM

Harel didn’t flinch at the throat-clearing behind him—just a subtle narrowing of the eyes as he recognized the voice.

He remembered the ensign from the earlier briefing: the stumble through the captain’s name, the retreat, the correction, and the unfortunate doorframe collision that followed. It had been painful to witness, even by Academy standards. But what stood out more wasn’t the mistake itself—it was the way Goodspeed had returned. Corrected himself. Faced the discomfort.

That took a different kind of nerve.

Now, behind him, the ensign spoke again—halting, uncertain, apologetic in tone. Something about a small anomaly along their flight path. The sort of phrasing Harel had learned to listen to carefully: not for what it claimed, but for what it might unintentionally reveal.

Without looking away from his console, he shifted to a secondary sensor control panel and pulled up their nav telemetry.

“Here, show me.”

Lt. Commander Harel ○●●
Chief of Operations
U.S.S. Saracen

Goodspeed was slightly taken aback, having been fully anticipating being ignored or worse, reprimanded. He let out a nervous chuckle as he brought up the sensor readings for the system and focussed in on a particular area.

“You see, I was running a more thorough scan after my errors earlier today and I came across something a bit strange,” he said as he tapped a few more buttons on the console. “I was just doing some standard scans of subspace particle density, radiation particles and such and I noticed that these two sectors, sector 7 and sector 33, have the same readings,” he added as he brought the data up for each sector showing identical values. “I mean all the sectors have similar readings but the odds of two sectors having identical particle readings would be extremely slim…” he mused as he shook his head.

“I ran a diagnostic on the sensor array and found no malfunction.” He paused and took a deep breath, torn between sharing his hypothesis and not wanting to look a fool. He hadn’t had the best track record so far but if he was right, he might earn that promotion after all.

“Sir, I think one of the readings has been duplicated and is masking the real readings of that sector…I just don’t know which one…” he concluded with another involuntarily nervous giggle.

• GM

A moment later Celador entered the bridge and took his post from an NE. After a quick brief he tried to log into the tactical systems. Came back with an error. He grumbled and tapped his combadge.

=^=Theinna to Ensign Paperwork, I thought you said you fixed my clearances.=^= He said, trying not to sound annoyed. He had spent the last day and a half unable to assume his post due administrative screw ups.

=^=Let me check sir, Ahh it says you are missing Forms 2239 and 2677.” The NE replied, “Sorry sir, I can’t grant you access with out those.=^=

Celador sighed, his patience strained. ‘Bright bulb that one’ Squared said sarcastically to Celador mind.

=^=If you recall Ensign, I submitted those forms to you 20 minutes ago.=^= he said, trying not to sound annoyed, but resignation crept into his voice.

=^=Oh right, i forgot. ummm, sorry Stand by.=^= The NE replied, his voice sounding nervous. A moment passed, then two. While he waited, the slowly scanned the bridge, taking in the sights and sounds of his new home. He saw an ensign and a LT Commander looking over a sensor feed. His eyes settled on them for a moment before continuing on with the rest of the bridge.

=^=I activated your account sir, try now.=^= Paperwork came back. Celador tried his credentials again.

=^=Thank you. Theinna out.=^= Celador tapped his combadge and started importing and updating his console to his liking. Pulling up the sensor and tactical data as he did so.

-Cel

DaVinci came out of the ready room after the briefing and glanced around the bridge. Noticing Harel and Goodspeed disdcussing something that seemed important, he stepped closer to the two.

“Something catch your attention, Mr. Goodspeed? Care to shareit?”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

Goodspeed jumped and let out a little squeak at the Captain’s question. “…I…uh…um…I don’t know?” He muttered, his face quickly turning beetroot red again as he let out a nervous laugh.

Harel didn’t speak at first.

Instead, he angled his body just slightly—subtly inserting himself between the ensign and the weight of the captain’s gaze, without ever making it feel like a shield. Goodspeed had brought the data forward; Harel wasn’t going to rob him of the credit. But the captain’s tone, however neutral, had tightened the younger officer’s shoulders—and Harel, perhaps more than most, understood how quickly that kind of tension could become a trap.

He let the silence breathe for a moment, then tapped a key to bring the duplicated telemetry into focus on the shared console.

“Yes, sir,” he said evenly. “Ensign Goodspeed picked up something worth a second look.”

He tapped again, magnifying the particle density readings and highlighting the symmetry.

“These two sectors—seven and thirty-three—are giving back matching data down to the fifth decimal. That kind of congruence is well outside statistical noise. We’ve ruled out a sensor malfunction.”

His fingers moved efficiently, bringing up the scan logs and overlaying a real-time subspace field map.

“Which suggests a masking effect. Something copying or echoing data from one region and feeding it into another. Might be a cloaked object. Might be a localized fold in subspace.” He paused, eyes narrowing faintly at a twitch in the energy field overlay. “Might be something else.”

He didn’t speculate further. The bridge wasn’t the place for it—not yet.

Instead, he turned slightly toward the ensign beside him.

“It was a good catch.”

“Yes, it was, Ensign. Good jov” DaVanci replied and patted the young man on the should. “It might be nothing, but it’s worth checking out.”

Goodspeed cracked an uncharacteristic proud smile. He could probably count on one hand how many times he’d been praised at work but perhaps this was the start of a new Ensign Harry Goodspeed, maybe he could get that promotion after all, perhaps he could finally get his father’s approval and become the youngest star-fleet Captain in history. His eyes took on a dreamy gaze as he began to imagine his bright new future.

Then, to the captain again: “With permission, I’d like to assign Goodspeed to run a focused sweep on both sectors, using staggered sensor harmonics. If it is a masking field, we might be able to shake it loose.”

Lt. Commander Harel ○●●
Chief of Operations
U.S.S. Saracen

“See to it, Harel. Does our current course take us through either of those sectors/”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

Goodspeed snapped to attention with a newfound confidence. “Yes sir! We won’t let you down Captain,” he said proudly with a cheesy grin as he tapped a few buttons on the console to bring up their flight plan and took a moment to study it. “No sir, our current flight path doesn’t take us through either sector…” he began as a message flashed up on the screen from Commander Greenway. Curiously he tapped the message.

=========================
Commander Elia Greenway to USS Saracen

We have detected enemy activity in sector 13 along your current flight path, please alter course to 227-mark-59 for your approach to avoid confrontation.

Authorisation code Charlie-bravo-5983-echo-976

Commander Elia Greenway

=========================

Goodspeed frowned at the message. “Actually sir, that new flight plan does now take us through sector thirty three…” he mused. Something felt off to him but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He had scanned the area extensively and had not picked up any activity from any vessel, enemy or friendly. He slowly broke into a sweat, wondering if he had missed something in his scans. “Should we plot a new course sir?” He asked tentatively.

• GM