Posted by Lieutenant M’Mera (Chief Engineer) in Main Sim - Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Elyss Zavey (Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim - Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant M’Mera (Chief Engineer) in Main Sim - Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
“We’d better check all other systems,” Glen said. “Not all of them have the same backup redundancies built into them as Sickbay. Some may not have reset again on some vital power, comms or life-support systems.”

Zavey immediately ran a diagnostic on her console to see if it had been affected before giving any more results to the CO.

Zavey’s diagnostic showed that there were intermittent interruptions in the sensor readings as well. Obviously caused by the gravemetric waves, distortion, and pulses.

Reading the information on her console, Elyss announced the information over her shoulder to the Captain. “Sir, new information coming in from the probes we just launched. There are two dead magnetars near the edge of the area we are scanning. There isn’t any activity coming from them but their magnetic fields are powerful and uneven enough to cause pockets of drag and turbulence in the space near them. There’s also another object I thought was a magnetar, but it’s really the leftover magnetic ghost of an older star.

We have also picked up some disturbances in the gravity moving through the area, but expecially between the magnatars and they don’t behave like normal space objects—they are moving in ways that go against physics. They’re even passing right through really strong, magnetic fields without any disruption, but I don’t pick up any kind of engine or propulsion.”

Her hands moved over the console, still bringing up the results from the probes. “Sir?…it looks like the space near the Rift is vibrating. It’s interfering with our probes and causing them to fail. It…it looks like the Rift is actively pulling and reshaping magnetic fields near it as if it wants them to merge with it?”

As probes got closer to the Rift, space itself started vibrating in harmful ways, interfering with the probes and causing them to fail faster than expected.

Zavey bit her lip as her mind tried to put the results into some kind of order. “I believe there’s something else influencing conditions out there…another force or a presence drawing everything nearer—including the Merrimack.”

Blue eyes stared up at the viewscreen trying to see each result as it happened.

Rana stepped onto the bridge in the midst of all the hubbub. He didn’t know what was happening, but he did know that as he was coming up in the turbo-lift he had the feeling that the turbo-lift and himself had stepped away from one another for a moment and it was quite unsettling. He looked around and then at Glen asking him. ” Sir are we all right? I know I just had a most disturbing thing happen to me.”

“Welcome to the Bridge, Commander,” Glen said to Rana, “Sorry that our quick departure has meant that your arrival has been somewhat rushed. I trust that the experience was a result of these gravimetric disturbances rather than some spiritual event?”

“Dr. Cross,” Glen told the CMO. “I can see you now, if that’s convenient for you. Sorry, but I’ve been in meetings most of this morning.”

Cross bit on her lower lip ,it was true she had felt the need to talk with Glen but for the life of her she couldn’t remember what it was.

‘’Thank you Captain but the issue was resolved ‘’ the doctor wasn’t about to bother the Captain with problems that where trivial and of little value. Right now he had more important and pressing issues to deal with.

“Oh! Well, that’s good to hear! I do like it when people bring me their own solutions to their problems. I suppose you’re prepared for lots of trips and falls if the ship continues to shake the way it has been?” Glen asked her.

’’ Oh don’t worry about me I’ll hold on ‘’ Cross replied with a hint of humor in her tone ‘’Well best get back to sickbay Captain’’ and with a slight nod she left bridge.

Rana listened quietly and politely as the captain and Cross had their conversation. He then said to Glen , My incident on the lift captain. It was not a very spiritual thing but it resulted in giving me an idea . Well one of the words I called the lift did. I think that one thing that might help us at least a small bit might be rubbish sir.”

“Are you suggesting that you believe our waste disposal system could be employed more effectively to achieve a smoother journey through the Expanse, Commander?” asked an incredulous Captain.

Rana knitted his eyebrows in thought knowing himself how silly the whole scheme was going to sound, and he truly hoped that the science officer might listen and give at least a bit of support to his scheme in one form or another. Finally steeling himself he plowed ahead. ” Yes, sir well there I was on the lift thinking that I was about to lose my Timbits when I got the idea. We’ve been using all these probes. Probes are made by sometimes faulty people and things can go wrong. That or the people who build them can only build them from specs that they are aware of. So, I thought that this may be the conditions that the manufacturers of the probes never thought of. So instead of just relying on them we should gather together a considerable pile of rubbish. Scan the lot so that we were aware of what we had down to the molecules “

Rana took a deep breath then to see if anyone would throw something at him. ” We then,” he began again speaking,” We shoot the whole lot of rubbish out of torpedo tubes. However much we could gather. We fire it into the center of the beast out there sir. Right into the maw. But we then fire out a couple of probes to follow at a large distance watching our innocent little pile of garbage as it moves forward to meet the beast. The question to be answered is where will it all go or does something truly odd happen to it?”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Glen answered. “In warfare it’s an idea that’s as old as the hills themselves. Dummy vehicles, decoys, inflatables, ghost armies, and occasionally entire cities built out of wood, sheet metal and canvas, were all employed to simulate the real thing and deceive the enemy. The deep fake was often completed with false radio signals and messages, recorded noises and lights, and sometimes a dressed manikin was added too. Such deception techniques were very effective in fooling the enemy. “

Stella overhearing the conversation between the captain and the new first office had to pull off one her earphones to make sure she was hearing correctly. She finally put her earphone back on and decided that that their new number one’s mama had dropped him on a flat rock when he was a baby.

Stella Gagnon Lt.jg Comms

M’Mera stood clueless until the Captain and XO had gotten to the end of the explanation. “A decoy?” She asked, testing her understanding. Her tail whipped to show her confusion.

Lt. M’Mera CE

“I believe a decoy was the Commander’s idea, yes I do!,” said the Captain. “We think there is a big bad wolf out there waiting for us, but we don’t know where it is or quite what it is. If we skip through these woods with our basket of goodies for grandma, then it’s surely going to eat us up for tea. So, instead we send out a decoy ahead of us. Maybe it’s not made of rubbish. I don’t know if the organic signature is important or not, but it has to be good enough to fool whatever detection systems they have. Anyway, if anything is out there, they shoot at the decoy and reveal themselves to us. Isn’t that your plan Commander?”

Rana chuckled at the captain’s comparison to the big bad wolf. ” No sir actually I was thinking of surfing. We know there are gravity waves. The thing is we don’t know where they are originating or where the breakers are that are causing the biggest of the waves. I think that if we can learn the structure of the gravity waves then it might greatly enhance our ability to navigate. We’d know where the rocks are under the waves as it were. As for the content of our decoy just any inert objects would do but if we had a bit of radioactive matter, we could pitch in with it, it would help in tracking.”

Rana Singh Number One

“Oh! Right! Sorry!” said Glen, who had misunderstood Rana, but then as he listened a little more, he found that this idea still wasn’t that far removed from his own. Rana was thinking about natural physical phenomena, Captain Glen about more designed threats. All were still threats, and all would have some point of origin.

“Either way still works!” added Glen.

• Glen, CO

Rana rather enjoyed that he and the captain were seeing things along the dame line as he said. ” It certainly will captain, for it’s my belief, although it may be wrong, that if there is anything in there it is using the force of the waves to move about in there.” Rana shrugged and then said. Of course, all this is just speculation.”

Rana Singh Number One

<<<Stella hearing the first officer’s plan thought the entire thing was nuts, but she was growing restless. She turned toward the captain and asked him. ” Captain sir? This gathering of things to put in the tubes? Could I volunteer to help?”

Stella Gagnon Lt.jg. Comms

The USS Merrimack holds her position on the edge of the Expanse corridor, impulse engines maintaining a steady hum as the surrounding space bends and flexes in subtle, uneasy rhythms. Long-range sensors continue to register broad gravity-wave activity—slow, rolling distortions moving through the region like ocean swell beneath a fog-covered sea.

On the bridge, the comparison had started as an offhand remark. Wolves. Storms. Bad terrain hidden beneath the surface.

Lieutenant Rana’s follow-up reframed it entirely.

Not predators.

Waves.

Gravity waves—vast, layered, and directional. Not chaotic in isolation, but dangerous where they steepen, collide, or break against unseen subspace density fields. The problem, as Science has confirmed, is not their existence…but their structure.

At present, the Merrimack can feel the push of the swell—but not yet read the water.

The suggestion has been brought up to seed the waves with ‘garbage’ so they can be seen. Each department will have tasks to complete for this to work.

Operational Concept

Science will lead a gravity-wave structure analysis, deploying a limited number of inert drifter objects ahead of the ship. These units will be passive, non-propulsive, and minimally powered—intended to “ride” the local spacetime conditions rather than resist them.

A small quantity of shielded radioactive tracer material will be embedded in each unit—not as a hazard, but as a high-contrast marker to improve tracking fidelity through the Expanse’s interference.

The goal is simple in concept, complex in execution:
• Observe how the drifters move,
• Identify coherent flow versus shear,
• And determine where wave energy steepens into potential “breaker” zones.

The Merrimack will hold position while departments prepare.

No probes will be launched until all departments report readiness.

⸻

Department Prompts

Science

You are tasked with:
• Configuring sensor arrays for gravimetric interferometry and wave-phase tracking
• Designing the deployment pattern for the drifter units (number, spacing, orientation)
• Determining what secondary phenomena (subspace stress, tidal gradients, chroniton noise, etc.) should be monitored during the test

What do you need from the ship to make the data meaningful?

⸻

Operations

You are responsible for:
• Coordinating deployment logistics for the inert drifters
• Managing tracking channels and data routing to Science and Helm
• Ensuring the tracer material remains within acceptable safety tolerances

What constraints or timing considerations do you identify?

⸻

Engineering

This operation will require:
• Temporary sensor power reallocation
• Possible deflector and inertial telemetry tuning
• Monitoring for unexpected feedback from the Expanse into ship systems

What precautions or limits do you recommend before Science proceeds?

⸻

Helm / Navigation

You will:
• Hold the ship steady during deployment
• Begin theoretical modeling of wave-aligned navigation corridors based on incoming data
• Assess how gravity-wave flow might affect impulse response or maneuvering

What concerns do you have about maintaining position—or later “riding” the waves?

⸻

Security / Tactical

Though the drifters are inert, they are objects in contested, poorly understood space.

You are asked to:
• Evaluate risks of detection, interference, or misuse
• Monitor for anomalous movement not consistent with natural wave action
• Recommend defensive postures during the operation

Do you advise additional safeguards?

⸻

The bridge settles into focused anticipation.
Space ahead continues its slow, unreadable motion—
not violent, not calm…just waiting.

GM Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare

As the bridge waits as plans are made to deploy the XO’s plans the bridge’s turbo lift doors open disgorging the M’Mera. The CE moves quickly to the Engineering station as she says to the Captain.
“Ssirr, I feel it iss betterr that I am on the brridge to coorrdinate with Engineerring. Rresponsse timess will be fassterr.” She taps a few buttons on her console to bring up an engineering configuration on her screen.

Lt. M’Mera CE

Elyss had listened to the ideas of the command team while her eyes kept scanning the information scrolling across her console. “Lt M’Mera, we could use more probes with minimal propulsion to travel to a programmed area, and then have them disgorge their contents so the waves are better seen by our sensors, couldn’t we?” She looked over at her friend.

Lieutenant Elyss Zavey
Chief Science Officer USS Merrimack

M’Mera quickly set up a simulation using probes to get the debris out into the densest area of the waves ahead of the Merrimack. “ Captain, I can coorrdinate with Engineerring and Sscience perrssonel to prreparre thesse probess. The debrriss will need the prropulssion ssysstem of the prrobess to get them deep enough into the field. If we usse prrobess to get the materrial farrtherr out into the field we will get a morre detailed map of the rroute we can take thrrough.”

Lt. M’Mera CE

Rana stood silently rubbing the side of his chin as he listened to the two officers chatting back and forth between them. It made him feel good that they were picking apart everything. Looking everything over and trying to improve thing. For any endeavor which was undertaken with just one voice was most generally doomed to failure. He paused then and looked up at the screen at the dark forbidding view. He took a long deep breath as he stared at little, they could imagine out there. All they knew now was radioactive bursts and dense gravitational waves. Nearly liquid in their state. It was one of those things which shouldn’t be, but it did anyway.

Rana Singh Number One