Posted by Lieutenant Commander Rana Singh (Number One) in Main Sim - Bridge

Posted by Gamemaster Nosferatu (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - Bridge

Posted by Lieutenant Thalos ch’Ravik (Chief Of Security) in Main Sim - Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
[snip]
For the first time, the crew could see the terrain beneath the surf, and begin to judge where it might be safest—or most dangerous—to navigate next.

No one said any more about how she might be feeling, so Elyss was able to study the results of the garbage as it spread out and showed them the physical paths of the gravitational wave field. It was a strange way to figure it out, but it had actually worked. Zavey ‘hmphed’ softly, expressing her surprise.

Rana, sitting at the helm, watched the screen and became confused more than a few times at the readouts. Rana’s brow furrowed at first but then as watched a smile like that of a little boy crossed his lips as he spoke saying simply. ” Well, it worked!”

Cross who was watching attentively heaved a sigh of relief ,now that they had a clear understanding of what lies ahead.

Thalos stood at the tactical station, silver eyes fixed on the readouts before him. The XO’s plan had worked.

A small smile crept across his face—brief, restrained, and gone almost as quickly as it appeared. Pride stirred beneath the surface, not for the audacity of the maneuver alone, but for its execution. Bold plans carried risk, and this one had paid off. Still, experience had taught him that success was often the prelude to complacency.

He would not allow that.

His attention returned fully to the tactical display, antennae angled forward as his senses worked in quiet tandem with the console. Phaser banks remained charged. Torpedo launchers were primed and standing by. Every system responded within acceptable parameters.

Thalos adjusted his stance slightly, one hand resting near the control interface, posture relaxed but ready. The Imperial Guard instinct stirred again—an urge to assume that danger was never truly past. He did not suppress it this time. Instead, he harnessed it, letting it sharpen his focus rather than control him.

The silence on the bridge felt thin.

“The last thing we need is a surprise enemy attack,” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else, eyes scanning long-range sensors for the faintest anomaly.

For now, space remained clear.

But Thalos watched all the same.

Glen also watched the viewscreen. The ejected materials made swirling patterns in the gravity waves and one might say it was even beautiful. “Not only do the materials show us the position of the waves, they should also prevent any ship from using them to remain hidden,” Glen said.

“Everrything iss rready now, ssirr. Ourr ssheildss arre rready, and we have a path. I am coorrdinating with Engineerring to be ssurre we hold togetherr thrrough this”

Cross addressed the Captain ‘’ Captain would it not be wise to put the ship on green alert , not all the crew knows what conflict or disturbance we might encounter ‘’.

Rana had almost forgotten that they were supposed to be mapping all this as well as just plotting a course through it. He set the scanners to record everything they were doing. He smiled at the thought of the fist map in history to be made of trash.

Zavey tilted her head, eyes moving rapidly as layered telemetry poured across her display. The drifting debris formed luminous ribbons against the black of space, each one tracing a subtle contour in spacetime itself.

“Wow…” she murmured, fingers dancing over the console. “The tracers are behaving exactly as predicted by non-linear gravitic wave theory—only we’ve never been able to observe it this directly before.”

She tucked a random lock of hair behind her ear.

“What we’re seeing, Captain, is not a single wavefront but a braided field—multiple gravitational harmonics overlapping and reinforcing one another. That explains the oscillations we recorded during the jolt. We weren’t struck by turbulence… we passed through a compression ridge.”

Lieutenant Elyss Zavey
Chief Science Officer USS Merrimack

As he has tried to tell people before, Glen knows little about astrophysics; he’s a pilot and only studied a little optics, but he didn’t wish to appear stupid, so he just acknowledged the CSO and said, “Fantastic… the science has finally been demonstrated and supported by original empirical data!”

Then Glen added, “We can probably rest easier now, follow our already agreed and laid-in course, and go back to our normal duties; given a green light as Dr. Cross just mentioned.”

There was one a troubling thought yet one he could not exclude =/\= Sickbay to bridge is there an increase in radiation? =/\= .

=/\= Bridge here. This is the Captain speaking, Doctor Hunter. We haven’t identified any increase, but it would be wise to begin to mass-replicate the drug Hydronalin as a precaution anyway. Why do you ask? =/\=

=/\= Two patients exhibiting the same symptoms of nausea and vomiting, it could be food poisoning still waiting for the lab results =/\= a pause =/\= Shall start replicating Hyronalin =/\ =.

=/\= Hold on one moment =/\= Glen replied.

“Dr. Cross?” Glen asked the CMO, “It’s your department and I wouldn’t want to step on your toes, but it would seem prudent to me? Shall I tell him yes? The Gravity Waves are very likely to be causing nausea and vomiting too. Especially that last jolt!”

Cross nodded ‘’ Yes please do ‘’ for now she still wanted to stay on the bridge ,once they clear the Expanse the CMO definitely wanted to know what they would be facing .

Glen replied, =/\= Yes, begin making a stockpile of Hyronalin in case we should need it. =/\=

Rana was glad to have Lt. Zavey back in the game. While he knew a little bit about such things he only felt that he probably only knew enough to be dangerous. ” Sir?” Rana began as he turned toward the captain. ” If we agree with Lt. Zavey , and I do. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to try to steer the ship away from the area where the waves are colliding? Or at least be prepared to do so if something changes rapidly?”

Rana Singh Number One

Glen replied, “Before we entered the Expanse, I had Lt. Pokorski design an optimum route through. One that would allow us close enough access to catalogue all areas in the most efficient manner, while avoiding all those regions where we could identify problems, either from our own, or from existing records of measurements taken. If we want to complete this task in a year rather than decades, then we still must do something like that. The plan is already flexible enough to allow for detours, should we encounter areas, such as you describe, where we find waves are colliding, but I’m not sure how we can predict such areas in advance of actually detecting them with the same equipment we are using to survey. So, we’ll just have to reverse course when that happens. We can’t avoid mapping entire areas as that is the brief of mission itself.”

Zavey listened to the question and answer, then highlighted several of the glowing debris streams on the main screen.

“Sirs? These troughs here represent regions of relative stability. If we align our course through them, we should experience minimal shear. However…” her tone sharpened just a fraction, “…these crests will amplify stress on the hull and inertial dampeners by a factor of at least three.”

“Using debris as live tracers was… unorthodox. But scientifically speaking, it’s remarkably accurate. We now have a navigable topology of a phenomenon that normally remains invisible.”

Her gaze returned to the data.

“For the first time, we’re not blind in this region. We can choose where to step in spacetime—rather than being shoved around by it. We can map the easiest way through the Expanse, as long as we continue to use garbage, or something like it, to show us the way.”

M’Mera remained ready at her station, keeping an eye on the sensors as they all waited for the Captain’s orders. Her ears swivelled and her tail waved lazily, showing that she was relaxed but alert.

It seemed that his officers thought he might alter his mind, but Glen couldn’t see what had changed that would prompt that. He repeated, “I still believe we can probably rest easier now, follow our already agreed and laid-in course, and go back to our normal duties; with a green light. By all means, Lt. Zavey, take a good look once again at that course and tweak it now that we can see the safe ways more clearly. However, we do need to map the entire Expanse, even if that is merely to place ‘danger do not enter’ markers over some parts of the map we draw.”

Cross communicator bleeped and she listened as Hunter gave her the information then turned to Glen ‘’Captain, Hunter just informed me that the lab results show no signs of food poisoning and the patients seems to be feeling better …you were right it probably was due to the ship entering the Expanse ‘’.

Cross CMO.

Rana smiled as Zavey used the word unorthodox to describe the entire scheme of his. Usually, people used stronger adjectives when describing his ideas. He nodded at the captains’ orders and for the first time since he had reported for duty started to relax a bit. Even in this somewhat tense climate he now felt that he was contributing a bit at least.

Rana Singh Number One

“I’m a Captain not a Doctor,” Glen replied, “but thanks for the vote of confidence. The only proviso before you all relax totally, is that we still no next to nothing about the Shiarain Dominion.”

• Glen, CO

Hearing the Captain’s request, Thalos turned his attention fully back to the tactical console. His fingers moved with practiced precision as he keyed in a series of commands, accessing the Starfleet database through the secured tactical interface.

“Accessing the Database now, Captain.”

The display shifted, Federation insignia briefly flaring before resolving into classified data streams. Thalos filtered quickly—threat assessments, first-contact logs, border incident reports—antennae angling forward as he absorbed information at a rapid pace.

Lieutenant Thalos ch’Ravik
Chief Of Security
USS Merrimack

The classified streams resolved into a stark picture.

What Starfleet knows of the Shiarain Dominion is limited—but consistent. A highly militarized, expansionist power, first encountered near the Veytan Aperture, they prioritize control of strategic regions and anomalous space. Their vessels are built for interdiction and first-strike dominance, favoring synchronized fleet movements and rapid escalation over prolonged engagement.

Physiological and cultural analysis aligns with observed tactics: a rigid hierarchy, dominance-driven ideology, and a tendency toward preemptive action when they perceive territorial or strategic threats. Diplomatic overtures without a clear show of strength are historically interpreted as weakness.

The final assessment tag pulsed briefly on Thalos’ display:

LIKELY RESPONSE TO FEDERATION PRESENCE: PROBING, TESTING, ESCALATION IF UNOPPOSED.

The data streams collapsed back into the Federation insignia—leaving behind the quiet implication that if the Shiarain noticed the Merrimack, they would not remain observers for long.

GM Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare

Rana had sat listening to all the know data on these people and at the end of it he seemed quite puzzled . He turned back around to see if anyone else was catching the oddities in this report. It was in his opinion something which had been a constant since the beginning of this mission. You could count on oddities. For a moment he was pretty certain that he must be seeing something in the mist where there wasn’t anything. But then it was there in his mind and as absurd as it sounded it was his job to give the captain information and to offer an alternate point of view before he made decisions. ” Captain?” Rana began. ” The reports show these people as militaristic , aggressive and expansionist. But where have they expanded to? No one says this in the report. Perhaps it is something assumed from their behavior? Perhaps captain, there is something very important to them here in this forsaken expanse of space. Food, raw material something they need to keep themselves or their way of life going?”

Rana Singh Number One

Kate stepped on the bridge and without saying anything she filled the medical kits with the hyronalin ,as she was leaving she caught Cross gaze and gave her a nod, then left her next stop was for the transport room.

’’ Rana if we have never made any contact with these beings how come the admiral came to the conclusion that they are aggressive in nature . Am I wrong in assuming the Federation have never came this far?’’ the CMO asked

Cross CMO.