Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Commanding Officer) in MAIN SIM: Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Xam Ra’Ti (Tactical Officer) in MAIN SIM: Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Kreed (Chief Medical Officer) in MAIN SIM: Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>

He looked over at Dovek. “Whaddya say, Comms? We need to start a dialogue. Maybe instead of us just listening, we could say something back?”

Ra’Ti, Chief Tactical Officer

OOC: Do you still want Leah here? If not, I will sneak her off and put her elsewhere. ~Linds

OOC: I do apologize but I am back.

IC: Roman nodded, “I like the idea of a dialogue. If it’s sentient, we may be able to reason with it. Perhaps even find out what it wants?”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Xam looked at the XO and said ” It seemed to like the power surge through the shields… at least I think it might’ve. If we can talk, and it’s hungry or bored or something, I’m sure we can work out a solution… if it lets whoever is in there go.”

Ra’Ti, Chief Tactical Officer

Zaril turned to look at the XO and the Tac Officer, “Sirs I don’t know” he paused. “I don’t know how to communicate with it, I could try sending out a strong emption but I would need a doctor to give me the counter agent to the suppressant I’m on to be effective. I don’t think words will work.” he swung around, “Then there is the mater of the temporal interference and i don’t know what that will do, could communicate the wrong thing in the wrong time.”

Lieutenant Junior Grade Zaril Dovek
Communication Officer U.S.S Sentinel

“Wouldn’t using something in the Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma spectrums work? Couldn’t you see if you could use the computer to set something up with that. Perhaps something as simple as hello?”

Ensign Chandel Sci

Seeing that there was little she could do up here and Zaril seemed steady enough for the time being, she moved over to the Deltan and spoke softly in his free ear. “Call me if you need me. I mean it.”

She gave him a nod and slipped quietly to the tubolift letting the bridge crew handle the crisis.

~Leah Hart, NP

The nebula hung motionless, its tendrils drifting like smoke after a storm. The pulse that had filled the bridge was gone—replaced by a steady, rhythmic shimmer deep within the haze.

Then the pattern changed. The outer clouds began to turn, slow and deliberate, aligning the vast hidden structure so one ring faced the Sentinel.

Chandel’s console caught faint chronometric ripples—28-minute intervals, the same as Orris Station’s final readings.

On the viewer, the violet haze tightened into a spiral, like an iris narrowing around a single bright point of light at its center. The glow steadied, pale and unblinking.

The Veil wasn’t attacking.
It was watching.

Cpt. Asam, CO

“It’s not attacking, at least.” Roman seemed calm, internally he wasn’t quite so much. But he could handle himself. “Let’s keep an eye on it and keep working on possible communication.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Chandel frowned as she studied her readings, “The last readings from the Orris station had the same 28 minute cycle that I am seeing now and I would postulate that the rotation of the outer cloud could be
a defensive alignment, a gateway formation, or the reactivation of a subspace mechanism. This is all acting very deliberately, regardless.”

Ensign Chandel Sci
Bump back onto the boards

“Send a message,” Roman cracked a tiny smile, which was unlike him, “We come in peace.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Zaril’s eyes narrowed at the XO, and then shook his head. “Sending message Sir all channels frequencies and bands.” he said, “I will think it as well” he noted, as he turned back to the console to send the message, he was not sure that what ever it was, would respond to a message of peace, but he would try before offering something else to the XO

Lieutenant Junior Grade Zaril Dovek
Communication Officer U.S.S Sentinel

For several seconds, nothing happened.
Just the quiet thrum of the ship and the soft flicker of nebular light on the viewer.

Then the nebula answered.

Not in words.
Not in sound.

A ripple of pale light swept through the Veil — a single, smooth wave spreading outward from the structure at its center, like a pond disturbed by one deliberate touch. Sensors registered a faint uptick in the same neural-like frequencies Chandel had mapped earlier… and a soft, momentary spike in gamma-band activity, the kind associated with recognition or surprise in most known species.

The message hadn’t been ignored.
It had been noticed.

A second later, Zaril’s console fluttered with a return signal — not shaped like language, not yet, but a pulse matching the exact cadence of the phrase he had thought.

“A definite response on the Gamma band frequency and light resonance. It is definitely neural activity. Did you get anything mentally, Zaril?” Chandel asked curiously, glancing at her fellow officer.

Ensign Chandel Sci

He shook his head no. “No but it is trying to mimic me, I’m going to feed it a few examples try to start forming some basic communication starting with yes and no” He said adjusting the frequencies and his thoughts, 6khz and a happy thought and 600hz with a unapproving thought for no. Including the letters for yes and no as well.

One beat.
Two.
Three.

A perfect mirror.

The nebula was repeating the rhythm of his mind.

-EvilJen

The nebula froze.
The slow drifting particulate haze stilled entirely, as if the entire cloud were holding its breath.

Then the response came.

A 6 kHz pulse echoed back—almost identical, but not perfect. Slight delay. Slight wobble. Like a child repeating a new sound for the first time.
Alongside it, a faint surge of emotional color washed through the bridge—soft, uncertain curiosity.

A 600 Hz pulse followed, quieter, briefer… accompanied by a flicker of discomfort in the surrounding light.

It had understood the difference.

Ra’Ti gritted his teeth. He wasn’t anxious… he was frustrated. Finally, he just thought Screw it. to himself and tapped the comms. [O] Bridge to Doctor Kreed. Doc, we need you on the bridge asap. [C] He looked at the XO and, before he could be asked, said “Neurological, brain-like activity and we aren’t asking the closest thing to an expert we have? That’s just a waste.”

Ra’Ti, Chief Tactical Officer

A few moments later, the Saurian CMO came into the bridge. He looked around and then went to the XO. ” Commander. I was asked for, how may I be of assistance?”

Kreed, CMO

He sent and waited for a response. “Do you understand?” he asked it finally

Lieutenant Junior Grade Zaril Dovek
Communication Officer U.S.S Sentinel

Silence.
A long, heavy pause.
The viewer showed nothing but the great violet mass staring back.

Then—

6 kHz.
A long, steady tone, stronger than before.
And beneath it, a whisper of gamma-wave resonance brushing the edges of Zaril’s thoughts like fingertips dragging across glass.

Not language.
Not quite.

But unmistakably: Yes.

Cpt. Asam, CO

No one seemed to answer the doctor. Rand stepped from her spot at the back of the bridge. “I believe, Doctor, that science and comms need your input. The readings are brain wave patterns.” She glanced at Ra’Ti and then Alden to see if that was correct. She didn’t quite understand exactly what it was they were getting.

Yeoman Rand

Chandel jumped as if she’d just woke up. “Oh, yes Doctor my apologies. Those surges are almost hypnotic.” She tapped a few keys and a graph of the Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma spectrums showed on screen with the intervals they came in on. “As you can see, Doctor this ‘being’ seems to be communicating with waves, mostly gamma waves. We brought you up to see if you could assist in deciphering them.”

Ensign Chandel Sci

Kreed moved the science station and looked at the readings. “Definitely conscious brain wave activity. Here-” he said and pointed at a spot on the graph, “- and here. Those wave fluctuations are typical of thought process. Whatever this is… it is sentient.” He looked at Chandel and said “What else have you found?”

Kreed, CMO

Xam exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Without waiting for permission from the XO, he said “Ok. That’s great. Chandel, Doc; work with Dovek and see if we can step up the learning curve for our new acquaintance. Yeoman Rand, get me any rules or regulations concerning first contact with unknown species. I ain’t going back to jail because we didn’t dot a ‘t’ or cross an ‘i’ somewhere. And someone go check on the Skipper. Maybe if ‘ol Cloudy McCloud over there has chilled the fu<% out a bit, maybe she is better and can get back to work. If not, then our focus is establish meaningful communication. We are not gonna fight this, got? We need to talk first.” Xam sighed. Under his breath he said ” Dammit, Rende… of all the days to have a fit…” and he began running the brainwaves through the universal translator.

Ra’Ti, Chief Tactical Officer

Sensor scans showed the following:

Delta and Theta waves: concentrated directly ahead of the ship, deep within the structure.

Alpha and Beta equivalents: a few mirrored Dovek and Asam’s brainwaves that Kreed had only recently monitored. It also had several other patterns that fluctuated with humanoid brain patterns under stress and pulsed like heartbeats.

Gamma spikes: intermittent, coinciding with moments of fear, adrenaline, or vocal distress.

Cpt. Asam, CO

“Doctor, I think the creature is in distress. Is there anyway we could use these wave patterns and communicate back to it. Reassure it? Find out why it’s in distress?”

Ensign Chandel Sci