[snip]

Once Lance had inserted the chip into the computer (two sentences above), Xavier moved to stand quietly to one side of him and looked over his shoulder, waiting for the readings to come in.

Lance had been slightly reluctant to insert the chip into the reader. Adding any unknown device was always a risk. “Don’t break the ship, don’t break the ship” he muttered under his breath. When he noticed the CSO stood behind him, no pressure then, especially if this was like a ‘mikespecialdatachip’ the joke ones his friend at the academy made that would wipe a workstation or cause glitches for his amusement.

The data chip in question was your standard Starfleet data chip, as had been mentioned it came off the NE in sickbay who was the so far only survivor of the USS Trudograd, a medical rescue ship sent to locate the Risan signal they were also tracking when the Trudograd had also gone missing, hence why the Merrimack was now here. The chip could easily be inserted into one of the nearby data ports on a console here on the bridge to be read.

“It looks like it will be compatible with our systems; as long as it isn’t too damaged you should be able to quickly read it in a data port on your console,” Glen decided. “Let me know as soon as you have anything from it.”

Max continued to listen to what was going on the bridge. He also kept an eye on the hull polarization. He wanted to make sure nothing happened to the polarization. He wanted to know everything going on which is why he kept the comms open to the bridge. He wanted to be ready for anything and being able to listen is ideal.

As this was going on with Malone, Mullins and others could see that a few tinier fragments of metal and such were also emerging from the nearby cloud where the larger fragment of the nacelle had come from with their survivor. All matched compositions of a Starfleet vessel so were likely yet more bits and pieces of the Trudograd. Something clearly had destroyed the ship with almost all hands. The markings so far on the bits of hull metal showed likely the explosions had come from within the ship most likely, this was not a sure thing of course yet they needed much more fragments or large pieces to make a better judgement. So far none of the pieces were bigger then say their hands or such so likely no more survivors yet.

Also picked up though that someone from science could comment on was they were picking up a higher level of solar/spatial winds passing through the nebula currently causing the various gases and such to stir up a bit more. The result was a few sparks of electrical and plasma reactions off their port bow about 300 some meters away were seen, and while not a threat were like a slowly incoming storm on the horizon.

Lance looked at his station he wasn’t especially happy with the results he was seeing, he looked up at the CSO, “we’ve been watching the power drain in the nebula, but this change is new. Any ideas, I’m wondering if the ship out there got caught in this.... I dunno wind type thing.... I would rather we don’t end up next… Sir”

=/\= Lieutenant Mullins! Captain Glen here! I’m slightly concerned about the increasing number of lightning bolts flying about outside the viewscreen here, and the quite beautiful but deadly sparks off our port bow. Are you monitoring the intense conditions within this latest plasma storm heading in our direction, and based upon your forecast do you advise that we alter our present position? =/\=

=/\=Mullins to Bridge. I am keeping an eye on the lightning bolt fflying around. Based on computer reports, it might be best to see if we are able to find somewhere else without these but I believe we are close to seeing the ship. How far away is the debris from our current position? =/\= Mullins went ahead and looked over the report coming in from his computer station.

Mullins, CE

Glen also asked the Communications Officer, NE Coals, who had been rather uncommunicative, “Have you managed to make any further progress on cleaning up the earlier degraded comm signals? And can you confirm that Comms are still open, and that you are still relaying everything that we’ve seen or found back to DS - K5 as we discussed earlier?”

Cross came back on the bridge ,the last time she was there everyone had been wondering what could have happened to the lost ship ,then she was called to sickbay about the Lt who had materialized in sickbay .

She heard the Captain contacting the CE and from what the CMO heard and saw it did not look seemly safe, no wonder Glen was concerned’’ Captain the patient is stable but still under an induced coma.’’ She kept her anxiety at bay but in reality wondered if the Merrimack fate would be similar to that of the Trudograd.

“So, we won’t get any answers from him?” Glen replied. “Let’s hope that the device holds some answers!”

“What information if anything was found in device?” Cross believed the answer to what destination awaited them would come out from it.

“Lt. Malone is still working on it,” Glen replied.

“It’s taking its time to read the chip, if you will allow me to try something?” Xavier asked Lance and looked at him a moment, before reaching forward and taking the chip out of the computer terminal. Blowing on it to remove any dust, he rubbed it on his shoulder for a second before inserting back into the reader slot and then activating the terminal. “It’s an old trick I learned from a few friends once, a way to make old credit chits still read in a machine once the data strips aged a bit.” Lance explained without looking away from the screen.

Lance watched the CSO blow on the chip, “Rubbing a bit of silicone sealant on the connection works too, simple chemistry Sir, you get a microfilm of oxidation, which you really only see with a decent microscope. Blowing on it just fixes it temporarily as the moisture in your breath sort of bridges the connection…” Lance said rapidly disappearing down a rabbit hole, but he did catch himself.” Sorry sir not trying to contradict you or anything.” He said fixing his eyes on the read out hoping the card would spill it’s secrets.

This physical blowing and rubbing was a little too low tech for Glen to understand. Give him an exploit in an AI running a simulation, or a hack within the parameters of a test, where he could confidently talk a computer to death, and he was fine, but he had no idea how all of these electro-mechanical devices worked.

Jaris thought it would be prudent to do an update from Engineering. Jaris pressed his comm badge to get a status update from Engineering =^=Andor to Engineering. How’s it looking down there?=^=

Andor, XO

• Glen, CO