Posted by Ensign Quinn Dagget (Helmsman) in Main Sim - 1 Week Later - The Abyssal Grasp

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim - 1 Week Later - The Abyssal Grasp

Posted by Captain Shirley Rogers (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim - 1 Week Later - The Abyssal Grasp
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
[snip]

For everyone doing checks and rechecks everything kept coming back in the green. No system faults seemed to be detected. They had moved, they had traveled, and they were in place where they should be. It more so seemed like everything else in the universe was out of kilter! Whether this system was there or not, was there but in some kind of phase, or cloaked they couldn’t say. They equally couldn’t say how their warp trail just poofed without reason nor what caused it. It truly was a great mystery.

The big problem now was what could they trust? Was their visual sighting at fault? Were their sensors? Were both??? If they couldn’t trust which was truth and which was fiction how could they move? Whether forward or back or whatever, who could say if they would plow right into something they could see or couldn’t see!! Truly the Abyss was a horrible terrible no good place.

As if the universe was just going to throw more nonsense and misery their way sensors beeped again by the science console. Ahead within the system, assuming it WAS there that is, sensors reported a low level warp pulse had just been picked up from the third planet along the northern hemisphere. The pulse barely registered as warp 1, but it SEEMS someone or something had just broken for about 3 seconds at least the warp barrier. Sensors though were unhelpful in plotting what had caused the pulse, other then pinpointing that it was ON the planet not in orbit or such.

GM CockRoach

Upon hearing the beep of the sensor, Roman turned back to the screen. “Detecting a warp pulse, Captain. Low level, but someone’s definitely broken the warp barrier for just couple seconds.” He paused as he continued reading the sensor readings. “It came from on the planet, near the northern hemisphere, not above it.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand was standing off to the side, in her usual spot watching everyone run checks and diagnostics and she kept looking out at the screen. She should probably go inform the galley that they might be lost and unable to find their way out for a bit and go to emergency rationing. Better to start now than when things got really bad. Today was already prepped and cooked though so she could wait till she was dismissed. Something was niggling at her mind though, but she hesitated to say anything. She was a yeoman after all and what did she know about space anomalies and ship’s sensors? However it was her job to support that captain. Rand wasn’t sure it was a valid point or not....after a few moments of arguing with herself, Rand quietly appeared next to Rogers’ chair, and in a very quiet voice, “Captain? Could…it be possible that the strobe-like effect that Dr Haadok mentioned is acting like…one of those old decoder messages in kids comics? Where you need those special red colored glasses to see the image? Could applying a filter to the view screen allow us to see what’s there?” She was probably so totally wrong, and it was probably an idiotic idea, but Dr. Haadok did say the crew might need UV-Vis filters.

Yeoman Rand (she’s talking about this: https://www.rainbowsymphony.com/products/decoder-secret-reveal-glasses?variant=40209062101039)

Shirley turned her head as she looked up to meet Rand’s gaze and was surprised to hear her speak up. She listened to her Yeoman’s suggestion and the young woman had a point with her recommendation. In fact, if Rand was right she definitely hoped to hear more out of her in the future. There was a momentary pause before she rose to her feet and stood next to her Yeoman. Shirley’s eyes shifted to her first officer, “Number One, adapt our view screen to filter out the UV. Perhaps Dr. Haddock’s research this past week was well worth it. Either way, lets make it happen as time is critical. I do not particularly enjoy flying in circles when we have a potential first contact mission to investigate right under our noses.”

• Captain Shirley Rogers, CO

Rand breathed a silent sigh of relief. Yes it was Dr. Haadok’s research and Dagget’s observation, not anything Rand had done. She’d simply been listening to everyone and reminded the captain of pertinent information she needed - that was Rand’s job. While Rogers was busy issuing orders, Rand moved back to her out of the way spot near the lift.

E’usah disconnected her PaDD from the Nav console and looked at the calculations once again. Shaking her head she turned her chair toward the command seats just behind her. “Captain, I’ve checked everything a dozen times, everything is as it should be. No errors or burps or hiccups at all, and by the way, they won’t let me in any of the casinos, I can’t help it I memorize all the cards played, I extrapolate odds on dice and other games of chance, I can even predict the probability of scoring on a slot machine after watching a spin or two. I’m banned from all gambling establishments, I couldn’t even get my fellow cadets to play poker with me after they had lost several times. Any way ma’am we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.” E’usah realized that she had been rambling and quickly turned her chair back around, slightly embarrassed.

E’usah - NAV

Shirley grinned as she listened E’usah’s explanation of his gambling issues. She had removed many like her back when she worked security in various casinos in Las Vegas back on Earth. Her expression and tone then immediately moved back to business. Ensign E’usah if this works, I want you to re-plot a course to where the warp signature originated from. I sure hope that my Yeoman made the right call here. However, let it be known that if this bridge was a Casino, I would bet on her. Now lets see what hand we are dealt and may the cards be ever so in our favor.”

• Captain Shirley Rogers, CO

Roman had noticed Rand standing by the Captain, whispering something. Her idea was good, and at the Captain’s order, he went ahead and adjusted the view screen filtering for UV. He knew Rand would be uncomfortable with the attention but he was focused on his job. “The screen has been adjusted as you asked, Captain.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

And Rand’s sigh of relief was short lived. Why did Rogers have to go and do that? It wasn’t her call, she’d simply reminded Rogers of what her officers had told her. Rogers made the call. Rand was not a science, medical, or engineering officer. She didn’t know why the planet wasn’t there when the sensors said they were. It just kind of made sense that something was interfering with their physical eyes based on what Dr. Haadok had said just half an hour or so ago. Oh Lords! If the filter didn’t work was Rogers going to blame her? She’d already reminded Rand that she wasn’t in command. After talking to Randy about that particular incident she was pretty sure Rogers was joking with her, but Rand wasn’t willing to act on that assumption. Standing in her self-appointed spot she seemed to be standing in a formal ‘at-ease’ position with her hands clasped loosely behind her back. In fact, what no one could see was the fact her hands were ringing anxiously hidden between her back and the bulkhead, and her heart rate had shot up. Inwardly she was panicking, outwardly she looked calm but curious.

It seems there was indeed some merit to both plans. As the UV filter was applied the strobing effect on the screen and windows filtered out. Sure enough there it was on both visual and sensor readings! The system they had plotted course for. It seems there WAS some kind of phase variance in effect around the Abyss, this filter though simple seemed to solve their immediate problem at least. What it didn’t solve was how to get out, there still was no explanation of how and why their warp trail vanished back the way they came, and sensor readings beyond that point were nothing but mush and a gobbled mess. But that seemed an issue they could resolve later on.

“Just like I said,” Quinn muttered under her breath. No one had heard her before, and no one heard her now. “Whole planet’s cloaked or something, like an episode of the Twilight Zone…”

Shirley looked in Roman’s direction and her emerald green eyes met his gaze, “Number One, scan the surface for lifeforms. I need a scouting report to see what we are going to be dealing with on the down there.” She tilted her head slightly and patiently waited for her first officer to provide her with a report on his findings.

• Captain Shirley Rogers, CO

“Already doing it, ma’am,” said Roman, leaned over his science station.

For now setting course into the system they navigated by small comets and asteroids they would have likely struck were it not for the filter on the sensors now. But soon they were through the worse of all this and came into orbit around the third planet along the northern hemisphere. Scans here were pretty clear thankfully the planet’s natural gravity field it seems acted as a buffer of sorts for the Abyss’s chaotic problems. Scans soon picked up a smattering of settlements along the northern hemisphere, the local population seemed mostly human like in appearance with a smattering of other ‘mutant’ like variants which were smaller or more oddly appearing in scope, some had pointy ears, other were stocky stunted in growth, and others quite small with a runty like appearance.

Roman related the results of the life scans to the bridge: “There are several settlements along the northern hemisphere. Humanoid people, with several differences in appearance.”

Quinn piloted the ship around and over the asteroid belt. No use going through it when asteroid belts were always stuck to the plane of rotation of a solar system. Three dimensional travel was under-rated. They sailed far above the comets and asteroids, no chance of collisions! Hearing the news of the scans, she picked up that it sounded a lot like a fantasy setting from the old stories her mom always told her as a kid. Lord of the Rings, tales of the Forgotten Realms… Pointy eared elves, short and stocky dwarves, small and runty Hobbits. Funny.

Scans on a cultural level showed the populace seemed mostly medieval in nature, rock and wooden villages numbering from 50 to at most a couple hundred in size. The most advanced thing seemed to be the blacksmithing arts of combat. Garb seemed quite drab, mostly made of brown, grey, and green tones matching to the common most mountainous and forest based land mass. There was also evidence of small to large castle structures around some of the various villages, all in all clearly not a warp capable society or near to one!

Focusing scans on the area where they had picked up the warp pulse they found a quite colder forested region with large mountains surrounding to north and south, nestled in a narrow valley region were three scattered large villages. The first further west seemed mostly a large scale farming and river fishing community, the whole region had about 400 some souls to its name. The second village about 20 km, east from that one was dotted around the southern short of a very large lake. This community seemed heavily dependent on the local lake fishing and farming produce, as well as a central trade hub for the region about. Roughly 300 some souls dotted the region here. The furthest east village was also the smallest and was about another 20 or so km from the 2nd, but also higher up in the hills leading to the northern mountains. The village was quite small barely more than a 100 some souls in total. The village was in an area which was quite foggy and barren, a few struggling farms obvious on the outliers with large thick double oak log walls around each near the forests. One of the castles just north and east of the village was slightly higher up overlooking the village and seemed perpetually choked with fog around its base even more than the rest of the area.

The exact area of the pulse lay somewhere in this large valley region, sadly there was no residue of any pulse evident that had drawn them here, so unless it happened again narrowing it down from orbit did not seem to be a likely pursuit. There was also the fact none of what they had seem showed evidence of the local populace being able to perform such feats, much less was there any evidence of outside alien interference. Again it seems the Abyss had thrown a mystery their way, one they would need to dig down with hands and feet on the ground to solve. The question was where and how should they begin their search?

GM CockRoach

Quinn tried not to let her mind wander as she heard the results of the scan, focusing on monitoring the ship’s immediate surroundings. Empty space, no satellites, planet below. What a surprise.

Dagget, Helm

Rand’s tricorder was recording the data as it came through and she was taking notes on her PaDD that seemed to be an permeant attachment to her arm. Once the sensors and data analysis were done, Rand double checked what she’d written and then disappeared into the lift. She was thankful to get away from…all of that. And she hoped if she was out of sight, Rogers wouldn’t draw any more attention to her. Anticipation of the captain’s orders. Rand made a stop at the Galley, just to make sure the staff there was aware to proceed with food rationing protocol and then to the cargo bay where she requisitioned appropriate cultural clothing for the landing parties she knew Rogers would send. She guessed 3 possibly 4 teams, of at least 5 crew each. Departmental equipment would be determined by the department heads, but clothing to match the culture on the planet would come from the quarter master. She didn’t know who was going at the moment, but at least he and his crew could start pulling the appropriate items.

20 minutes later, Rand returned, carrying a tray. Ice water and citrus for Rogers, Black tea with honey and lemon for Alden, ice water for Dagget, Tea for E’usah, a thermos of drink for Cleolet and another for Haadok (OOC sorry I don’t know their favorite drinks, we’ve not had any interactions. If you add it here I’ll make note for next time). And then a random assortment for the rest of the bridge crew.

Yeoman Rand

Roman thanked Rand as she handed him the drink meant for him. He could tell by the smell of it what it was, his favorite black tea with honey. With settlements below, there was a good chance they’d be beaming down to the planet surface. As a biologist he always loved an alien planet but as a Starfleet officer he also couldn’t resist an alien civilization. He was excited himself.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Quinn nodded her thanks to the Yeoman and took a sip of the cold water, then returned to idly focusing on navigation.

Quinn Dagget, Helm

E’usah nodded her thanks to Rand as she accepted the thermos of mint tea. She checked the Nav console to make sure the computer was automatically keeping track of their course as they jinked and wove about the asteroid belt, finally settling on a course which avoided most of the obstructions, and depending on the deflectors to move smaller objects aside. After hearing the description of the planets inhabitants, she pondered over who or what they could be, she realized that none were cat like so a Caitian probably not fit in well. She opened the thermos of tea and took a sip, it was the perfect blend of tea, mint and cream. She didn’t know how Rand managed it, but it was so good her tail practically shivered with enjoyment.

E’usah - NAV