Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roger Sanks III (Number One) in Main Sim - Bridge - Arrival at Ardan V

Posted by Civilian Joe Milligan (Bartender) in Main Sim - Bridge - Arrival at Ardan V

Posted by Crewman George Lee Sherridan (Engineer (Multitronics and Communications)) in Main Sim - Bridge - Arrival at Ardan V
[snip]
=^= “I am on my way.” =^= Lt. Sanks stated as the lift doors opened and he walked in. “I’m here, be safe down there.” He continued.

As she always did Cross stepped onto the bridge ,she knew the team had been transported to Ardan V .Looking at the view screen she asked ‘’Cmdr any news from them?’‘.

An Ensign who was sitting at Ops turned in her chair to answer the CMO. “No, nothing yet, Doctor. But I have been following them on sensors when I can. The scans are intermittent but less so in the colony itself.” As the Ensign was speaking alarms started sounding around the bridge and an urgent call came from Engineering.
=^=Engineering to bridge. Bridge, we are getting error messages all around the ship! The engines just went off line and systems are going on and off all over the ship.=^=

Cross moaned she wished she had stayed in sickbay =/\= Bridge to engineering can you find the source of what is disrupting the system through out the ship and most importantly is the transporter being effected as well ? =/\= the doctor asked as she looked at the Cmdr .

There was no reply from Engineering.

Cross came to the decision to inform the Captain ,clicking open her transmitter =/\= Captain Cross from bridge …according to an engineer I have just been informed we are getting error messages all around the ship ,apparently the engines just went off line and systems are going on and off all over the ship. We are trying to find the source of the disruption =/\= taking a deep breath she continued =/\= Sir its not wise to use the transporter for now as it might malfunction =/\=.

The CMO realized there was no one at the comm system ,it had been a long time since she used it .With a sigh Cross sat down ,with the ear piece in place the female doctor switched-on to the comm concentrating on the different sounds which she knew were mostly from space itself still hoping she’ll hear something tangible .

Glen replied =/\= ** =/\= but all Cross heard was Static, and Glen hadn’t even heard what she had said.

Cross rolled her eyes and said something in her native language which no sophisticated translator would translate .

=/\= Captain to Captain , some more bad news the klaxons are blaring all around, the warp core is not working …I have put the ship on red alert since we have no idea what caused it .The guy in engineering doesn’t sound like he has much experience ,it was a mistake to take an engineer with the team down there.. please advice =/\=

There was no reply.

And with that Cross spoke as she sat at the comm station =/\= Anyone out there who is capable of speaking damn it! =/\=

Cross thought that she was lucky she had gotten through to the Captain when she did, as the outside ship comms hissed with static. It seemed they were down.

Cross stopped it was like she was looking at an imaginary spot ,then slapped her forehand and took out her cell phone.

=/\= Joe its me, the Captain ordered you to come to the Bridge immediately ..so get your pretty behind down here its urgent =/\= she said somewhat out of breath while wondering why she didn’t think of it before. Surely as a ex Cmdr he had the experience which she lacked and he would know with the klaxons blaring that something was wrong.

It was several moments later that Joe twinkled into existence with a grand flare on the bridge. He materialized at the corner of the bridge control console. So that when he started to walk, he whacked his leg on the console and nearly fell. After a very warm stream of curses Joe looked at Cross and asked her. ” Miri , who’s pushing the buttons around here anyway? Nothing in the Dragon is working properly, the lifts aren’t working, and I had to use the transporter to get here. ”

Then turning to look behind him at the offending place he had materialized Joe Milligan groused as he admitted. ” I think that that one may have been my mistake. So what do you need exactly?”

Cross turned around ‘’You used the transporter !’’ she exclaimed ‘’ You’re one lucky guy to materialize whole ,what I need is an ex Cmdr for I don’t know what is happening with the warp core.....I’m a doctor not an engineer !’‘.

The bartender was indeed lucky that the transporter signal worked as diagnostics on it would show it was being effected by the unknown electrical signal as well.

Joe scratched his head and asked Miri as he headed toward the bridge engineering station.” Who do you have down there Miri? This shouldn’t be that big of an issue. ” He sat down then and looked at the readouts and laughed saying.” It shouldn’t be bad unless you let it be one anyway. ”

Joe then turned toward Miri and told her,” If you can communicate with your guy down there, I can help you out. But I can’t tell him what to do. You have to do that. If you have no comms down, there. ” Joe paused then puffing out his cheeks as he spoke saying,” If there are no comms down there, you’re going to have to draft me into service on some sort of emergency order or something.”

Joe paused trying to think things through. ” Then of course I’m going to have to find a way to get down to engineering or find a way to do everything from up here using manual overrides. “

Any communication device will have the same trouble given the interruption signal. Communication would need to be done by runners in the maintenance tubes.

‘’For all I know that the engineer is trying to find the source of the disruption ,apparently he has not been successful up to now,’’ she continued ‘’Why Cmdr have you forgotten the jeffrey tubes ,we use them to get from one deck to another,’’ Cross reminded him.

Joe looked at Miri as if she were insane and asked her.” Trying to get rid of me that easily missy? You have power fluctuations caused by something we don’t know about and you want me to go crawling around in there? I don’t relish the idea of getting fried thank you.”

Cross took off the earpiece she had in place ‘’ This is useless there is nothing too listen too and all it did was give me a headache ‘’ and without looking at Joe she continued ‘’Really ? And you were dumb enough to use the transporter ! Thank your lucky stars that your son won’t see who was his biological father just a heap of pulp’’ .

Then the doctor had an idea or so she thought ‘’Engineers climb the ladders of the Jeffrey tubes to fix something or another ,do you think it would be good idea to at least try?’‘.

“Um no I don’t Miri,” Joe replied. “As we just found out there’s a perfectly good engineer down there as it is. Although it would make me feel better if they took the warp core offline to check it out. We can just as easily flounder about on impulse power as we can with the warp core. The impulse power would give a smaller bang when it blew up at least.”

At that moment, the service crawl-way panel unsealed and a head come out of the Jefferies Tube.

“Hey malam ayn’ suurr. Ay done came up ta fix the communications ayn’ the turbolift wasn’t wawking! George Sherridan!” said George. “Actually, darn nothing seems ta be wawking in engineering today!”

Cross took a moment to figure out what the engineer was saying , she wondered why not everyone spoke a clear English language.

’’ So we either have to wait for the team to stop the interference or find a way to get the ship out of orbit for the time being ,there was no disruption then ‘’ the CMO looked at both man ‘’Can it be done manually ,at some point there was no problem for the team had been transported safely?’’ .

She could not help but think that this was being done perhaps by someone on purpose for why all was disrupted when the team did manage to materialize on the plant ?Why was it that there had been no problems until now?.

Joe looked over to George and then then back to Cross, ” Miranda. Are you saying that the helmsman didn’t put the ship into a stable orbit when we got here? And more to the point, why wouldn’t he? ” Joe scratched his head before he said idly. “I mean if you’re in any sort of decent orbit you don’t need to worry about anything for a week or so.”

‘’Joe what I meant was getting further away from the orbit ,as there was no interference then ‘’ Cross stopped gathering her thoughts ‘’ Can it be done manually? if not I cannot think there is much else we can do and we are unable to make contact with the team at all’‘.

” Miri. ” Joe began. ” Think about it. The only way we can help the away team is if we ourselves don’t need help. At the moment we’re in a stable orbit. What we don’t have is reliable power source to do what you want. We might get the warp core to behave for few moments only to have it change its mind. We might wind up spiraling downward or we could go shooting off into space with no control and wind up drifting away to nowhere. If you can get George to try the pulse power that would be a help. It would at least give us some idea of our options if any.”

It took some time before Cross responded ‘’ You’re the Cmdr right now, so any orders you give we go by ‘’ now looking at the engineer the doctor said ‘’ George you heard him try the pulse power ‘’ .

George replied, “Yes, the impulse engahn should still wawk… Ay’m nahwt sure weez gunna speral out av control though… But ayy highuurr awbit… a bit furthuurr away frawum that there planet done might help us. Ay’m only a comms engineer though.”

She saw Joe not as the barman but at this time the Cmdr ‘’ The transporter had a lock on the team which is now lost and they cannot make contact should they be facing any danger ‘’ Cross shook her head sadly , her sole aim to get further from the orbit was perhaps another ship was in the vicinity knowing the Klingon’s had been on the planet and they could make contact with them in the hope of the Klingon’s knowing what was going on and the source of the interference.
True it was a long shot but it was the only tangible hypothesis she could come up with.

Joe could see that Miri was not satisfied yet. He could only smile. While she might be excellent doctor there were time that she wasn’t as good at other things. All he could do was to ask her,” Miri you really don’t want me to try to explain orbital mechanics to you, do you? Why don’t we move around the bridge and just start rebooting systems . Maybe one or two will come online for a bit at least. “

Cross looked at him as if he had just sprouted a pair of antennas ,for he was asking her to do something that he as a previous Cmdr had knowledge off .

‘’You know what Joe we are sitting ducks right now and it seems you relish it ‘’ the CMO spoke with cordiality not giving away what she was really felling inside .

Looking around and realizing the turbolift did not take him to the bridge, he tried calling it back, but it wouldn’t open back up. =^= “Commander Sanks to bridge”=^= He called on the comms, but there was static and no answer. After a few minutes, he opened up a panel to a jefferies tube and started climbing his way up to the bridge. He came out of a tube to the side to the entrance of the Captain’s ready room and stepped onto the bridge.
He surveyed the area and saw the CMO.

“Can I get an update? Comms and the turbolift is down, what’s going on?” He asked the bridge crew.
Lt. Cmdr. Sanks, Number One

George looked to Dr. Cross to reply. He hadn’t even had a chance to look at the Comms yet, what with all these questions.

George, Eng

Cross was about to tell Sanke where the hell have you been but then she changed her mind ‘’Well Cmdr glad to see your presence on the bridge ,now we have an ex Cmdr and you ,all I know is that the warp drive is down due to interference either from the planet or from some other source .All communications are down we cannot get through the landing party and they cannot make contact with us ‘’ she paused making eye contact with Lt Cmdr Sanks ‘’ In a few word nothing is working ‘’.

Then she turned her attention to the Engineer ‘’I wish you can communicate in simple English ,have you said you can take the ship further away from the planet in the hope that it would solve the interference problem ? ‘’ the CMO asked.

Cross CMO.

George now had his head under the Comms station, but he popped out again and replied, “Using, the impulse engahn? Yes, it darn well oughta still wawk…”

George, Eng

’’ Hope so ‘’ Cross replied back ‘’ If you need help just ask but you have to tell me what to do ‘’ she offered.

Cross CMO.

Joe gave himself an invisible pat on the back. For he was pretty sure that given enough time the ship’s engines might actually be nudged for enough time to make them lose what was now their stable orbit and put them into an unstable orbit which would only end in a a wonderfully brilliant way to die. All flame and explosions as Merrimac fell through the sky and crashed into the planet below. A magnificent ending to one’s life if you were a character in a novel but Joe was neither a character in a novel or some fool who didn’t want to live anymore. With nothing else being said Joe broke the silence of the bridge by looking at Cross and asking. ” So Miri how’s the baby business going?”

Joe Milligan Barman

‘’Eh?’’ Cross asked looking down at her protruding abdomen as if seeing it for the first time ,she pressed it with her finger and got a kick back ‘’Guess he’s enjoying the drama’’ the doctor replied with a chuckle and a smile.

Cross CMO.

George came back out from under the Comms console. “Thanks, but ay’m okay,” he replied to Cross. “These here transceiver circuts still wawk… Ay’m nahwt sure what’s wrong! The self-diagnostic routeen should have done fixed it, but there is no power!”

George, Eng

And for the first time Cross gave up ‘’ Since the ship and crew isn’t facing any serious immediate or unexpected dangerous situation requiring immediate action I suppose the landing party may find the source of interference on the planet and hopefully contact will be restored ‘’ then as an after thought the CMO mumbled ‘’ I hope nothing unexpected is thrown our way ‘’.

Cross CMO.

“Ay’m Daggawn Deedly Doodly if ay know what’s up!” replied George, scratching his head.

• George, Eng

With nothing else to go by Cross decided to head to sickbay ,once off the bridge she made a turn for the Jeffrey tubes while trying to remember the layout to get to sickbay ,It had been a long time since she had used them.

Cross CMO..

“Were it something ay done said?” George asked the Commander and the Barman as the Doctor left. “Ay guess it’s all powuurr done related problems! Ay’ll just try one mawe thing!”

If the plasma conduits were still working George couldn’t understand why they weren’t distributing power to the Comms console. He could try to reroute power, but he’d have to be careful not to cause the console to explode in a shower of sparks. It would be tricky to get right, like powering a transceiver or a monitor screen directly from the Warp Core itself. Luckily though, the surge protectors would still be turned on because the Red Alert had not yet been activated, but they turned them off during combat mode, and then… well, let’s say Sickbay had better expect a few redshirts.

So, George scratched his head a little more.

“Are ya’ll planning ta go ta awful Red Alert?” George asked before he checked on the main plasma conduit.

-George, Eng

There was nothing wrong with the actual physical components that George was looking at, but they were dead. No power was getting to them.

GM Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare

Joe sat on the edge of the captain’s chair trying to understand what this Scotsman was saying. If he were actually saying anything. Joe rubbed his chin still waiting for the man to show a bit more enthusiasm for his job when Joe finally decided to earn Cross’s trust in him. ” George?” Joe began with a soft understanding voice. Have you actually visibly walked up to the engine and looked at it? I mean just stood in front of the thing. Is it dark or does it go off and on? Have you taken core temperatures to see if there is any reactions still going on in there? “

“Nahwt ay, ay were just there darn done told ta come ayn’ fix the Comms,” George replied.

Joe then shifted on the arm of the chair not to make himself seem more threatening or anything but because it was quite simply becoming a pain in his rear. ” Have you checked the electro-magnetic eddy currents into the Dilithium structure. Is something wrong there? For all we know we may not have any antimatter. By crackly I’ve also heard of creatures, not that I believe the tales mind you that come along and try to take the energy from a star ship. We have no reaction that we can measure sir why not? Or at least it seems as if we have no reaction. If you can’t figure it out turn the thing off. Shut it down and restart it. If that doesn’t work, we’ll start the auxiliary engines up just so we can have more lights and get the turbo lifts working. Now be off and curse at your engines like you would your errant children. If you need help let me know somehow.”

“Engineers are a-doin’ all that there darn a-testin’ raheet now!” George answered. “Thay …uhh powuurr is dead up here so ay done might as whel darn go ayn’ help them!”

• George, Eng

Joe’s temper was growing sharp with the man. He didn’t seem to want to answer a question straight on or make any move but to complain. He thought anyway. With whatever blathering the man was doing it was in the tone of one who is complaining. ” So then,” Joe began. ” The engineers are all running tests and have no results? On anything? And they haven’t even that they have no results on anything? Are you sure there are people down there sir? Maybe everyone has fallen dead from a radiation leak? I mean no one is reporting anything. We might have been boarded, and no one has informed us. So far the only thing we know is that the power is dead up here.”

” So then.” Joe said as he rose from the arm rest of the captain’s chair which was not the only thing giving him a pain at the moment. ” Can anyone explain why point ton point comms on the ship isn’t working at least? No of course not.” Joe then pointed to the navigation console. The poor dead thing laying there like so much expensive scrap. ” Geoge!” Joe snapped pointing at the console. Sit! That console is your mother protect her with your life. If she grows lonely or sad you sing her a song. But above all things you stay there with your mother and tend to her!” It was with that that Joe went to the ductwork for the Jeffries tube and kicked it out of the way. ” Want something done right you have to do hae to do it yourself is what me pappy used to say!” And with that Joe slipped himself into the access tube and started falling. Rants and curses in two languages and one language he made up along the way until his voice had disappeared.

A short time later would find Joe being unceremoniously deposited onto the floor of engineering on his keester.

Joe Milligan Barman

George was baffled as to why Joe had got so hot under the collar. The power was off all over the ship. George had been sent up here to fix the Comms, but the problem didn’t appear to be the Comms system. There was nothing wrong with the actual physical components that George had been looking at, but they were dead. No power was getting to them. So, he had been sent on a wild goose chase. That wasn’t his fault.

And George was even more baffled as to why the barman was giving him orders. He was so surprised at the outburst that he sat down at the navigational console anyway. George wasn’t a navigator or a pilot, and he thought that he’d be much better employed back down in Engineering trying to see what the problem with the power was, but he sat there anyway and looked up at Lieutenant Commander Sanks for his next instructions.

“Ay ain’t no pilot, Sir,” he told Lt. Sanks. “With no powuurr ay cannot change awbits!”

• George, Eng

Joe rose up from the floor cursing as he swept his rear clean with his hand. He immediately set off at a determined pace toward the warp core. About halfway there he began to feel sorry that he had snapped on George. The man just seemed to want to accept things as they were though, and not wanting to try anything else. No great engineer ever had just thrown up his hands and declared that something was broken simply because it was.  Joe himself had started out as an engineer and the first thing he had been taught was to make your preliminary report heavy on real and imaginary technical jargon and to assure your commanding officer that it was nothing that couldn't be repaired. This of course being what CO's wanted to hear and it would give a good engineer time to do the job properly.

” Well then Joe.” he said to himself as he rounded the corner which led to the warp core. ” Let’ s see if the inside of this beastie is glowing a bit at least.”

Joe Milligan Barman

“I only have the basic knowledge they teach you at the academy, but I’ll worry about flying it, especially on impulse, I should be able to do as you suggested when I was entering the bridge…” Lt. Sanks responded then paused before adding, “I’d appreciate it if you continued working on the comms panel and see if there’s any visible possibility as to why it has no power. If nothing else, we seriously need comms shipwide back.” He continued. “Listen, I haven’t really had much interaction with him, but he seemed a little frustrated at this situation, I appreciate what you’re doing and how you’re helping.” He added.

Lt. Cmdr. III, Number One

It hit Joe like a lightning bolt then. Before he even reached the cursed warp core.” Wait! He spoke out loud to himself as there didn’t seem to be an engineer anywhere. Why am I so comfortable? ” Joe rubbed his arms and then his hands together. Everything seemed the same. He took several deep breaths inhaling and exhaling over and over. . ” If we don’t have any power at all as everyone is saying,” why am I so warm and breathing so well? Why do we still have gravity?”

Joe didn't want to but he felt that he should climb up that bloody tube to the bridge. He needed to apologize to George for one thing and then maybe they could find a common language and try to repair this heap. Joe's head popped out of the Jeffries tube. His face was smudged, and he was out of breath. " George old buddy is there some reason why we're warm and comfortable"?

 Joe Milligan  Barman