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

The Captain’s words hung in the air—and for a moment, the bridge seemed to agree. Because the universe did not respond with theory. It responded with behavior.
The moment Astrid Murdock stepped fully onto the bridge, her presence registered—not just to the
crew—but to the environment itself. At Science, her life signs appeared, then doubled, then stabilized. At Ops, her arrival triggered a cascade of recalculations, as if the ship had to decide which version of her had actually stepped out of the turbolift. The answer, eventually, was both.

M’Mera’s ears flattened slightly as her eyes flicked between her console and the main viewer, her
tail giving a slow, agitated lash behind her. “Captaain… Thisss issn’t jussst… extrra dimennssionss.”
Her claws hovered over the interface, testing. “Ssspacce… time… thosse arre jusst the firrsst
layerrss… We arre… being ssstrretcched acrrosss… ssstatesss of exisstencce.”

At Engineering, her console responded—not to commands, but to intent. Decks layered over decks.
Crew over crew. Moments over moments.

Astrid stepped forward, scanning rapidly. “Sir… what you’re remembering isn’t wrong. Calabi–Yau
manifolds… higher-dimensional folding… those are theoretical models.”

She pulled data from M’Mera’s station. “But this isn’t just higher dimensions. This is applied geometry. The Shiarians aren’t navigating space… they’re selecting states within it.”
At Helm, the display flickered. The two remaining trajectories held, with faint ghost paths
surrounding them.
M’Mera growled softly. “The anchorr… it’sss not jussst holding usss in placce… it’sss forrccing usss
to agree. All parrttss of the sship. All momentss. All usssesss of usss.”
The projection shifted again—the fractured Merrimack and the stable one now overlapping,
competing.
Astrid moved closer to the viewer. “The Aperture… it’s not alive, not exactly. It’s a system. It adapts. The Shiarians aren’t creating it… they’re operating within it.”

Taruun shifted slightly.
“You approach comprehension. You remain incomplete.”

M’Mera’s console pulsed again.
“Ssir… we can adjusst the anchorr… but not cleanly. If we aliggn… we stay togetherr… but we go
wherre they arre. Not jussst placce. Not jussst time. Sstate.”
Astrid continued, “If we interfere… the system loses coherence. The ship stops being one thing.”

At Helm, the two trajectories pulsed—one stable, one unraveling.

Taruun’s gaze fixed on Glen.
“You seek return. Return requires continuity. Continuity requires choice.”

The Aperture pulsed closer, its rhythm now felt through the ship itself. This was no longer navigation, physics, or diplomacy. It was existence.
And for the first time—the Merrimack understood what it was about to decide.

GM Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare

Zavey listened as she watched the numbers flow across her console. “Whatever you’re going to decide, Sir, you need to do it now. We’re almost out of time to make our own choice.” What a horrible position to be put into, she thought, as she waited for the desision that would affect every man and woman on the ship.

Lieutenant Elyss Zavey
Chief Science Officer USS Merrimack

At her station, the harmonic readings spiked—not outward, but inward. The Aperture’s frequency tightened, locking onto the Merrimack with increasing precision.
Science displays updated rapidly: coherence window critical, collapsing. The system no longer showed branching possibilities. It showed deadlines.

Then as almost to punctuate Lieutenant Zavey’s point the call from Sickbay came through. =^= Sickbay to bridge, we’ve got an increasing number of patients coming in with neurological symptoms, scans are reading that their neuro-activity is spiking and showing signs of desynchronising.=^=

At every station, data began to cross-link automatically—neural variance, phase drift, anchor instability—all converging into a single, unavoidable conclusion.

There was a pause.

=^= Captain, if my readings are correct then we only have seventeen minutes before we start to suffer total neural collapse. =^=

Stella sat at her station with her fingers very close to the touchpads in front of her. She was drawn taut with nervousness though, so she had begun to silently tap her fingernails across the surface. She listened to Zavey though and wholeheartedly agreed. Stella herself felt like the time they had been here had stretched on forever. Quite frankly she was more than a bit ready to throw something at those big crayfish with flashing lights. She didn’t like their manners.

Stella Gagnon Lt.Jg Comms

The bridge did not outwardly react.
But the ship did.
At Communications, Stella’s console dimmed slightly as the harmonic interference she had introduced continued to echo faintly through the system. Though her hands hovered over the controls, the waveform lingered—a ghost in the signal.

” Sir?” Rana said to Glenn. Do you know the story of Christmas Carol and how the spirits showed old scrooge his possible futures and past? As odd as it sounds, I think that may be what’s going on here. The damaged Merrimac may not exist but could exist. If we leave the place where we came from. We could cause that. Not to ourselves but to multiple people in various dimensions or whatever. The thing is how to get back? A simple case of navigation or something else?” He then abruptly shut up. That was the only way he could explain things to himself let alone anyone else. He did now that it it had been said that it would be a bad thing to try to cross into different places like this.

Rana Singh Number One

Rana spoke, his analogy imperfect, but not wrong. For a fraction of a second, Science confirmed it—multiple temporal outcomes observed, collapsing, selected.

The clock was ticking for Glen to make a decision. He had recovered from the shock he had felt at learning the future he knew; the timeline he had battled to preserve, might not be permanent after all. Now he was back in the present with only the dual choice of options available. His crew appeared to be as split over this choice just as much as he was internally himself. His gut told him that for all their brash and unfriendly manner, the Sharians had their best interests at heart. They clearly wanted them to cross the threshold and enter their own dimension. That would mean that it was safe to do so, if the Sharians understood what was safe for them, and comprehended what might be dangerous. Alternatively, they could continue to diverge using Lt. Gagnon’s harmonics and hopefully they could escape the clutches of the Vey’lan Aperture without being torn into pieces by the gravimetric forces and ceasing to exist. His mission statement was clear - An Exploration Priority One mission, but with full tactical discretion - one that meant the safety of the crew was less important and the mission had a higher priority. For some reason, he believed M’Mera that it was possible to adjust the anchor and go with the Sharians on whatever journey that took them.

“Lt. Gagnon, please cease your harmonic disruptions,” Glen said. “I’m going to follow the Sharians and take us through the dimensional folding. Instead of fighting against them, we will engage with them and align with their path. I don’t know where we are going now but we are on our way, and we’ll know when we get there!”

• Glen, CO

The instant the order was spoken, Taruun’s armor flared—not violently, but in recognition.

Stella upon hearing the captains’ orders tried to maintain a professional demeanor. But in fact, just trusting oneself to go somewhere that they didn’t know about, with creatures who appeared to be anything but friendly tended to curdle her milk a bit. She took a deep breath and forged ahead as she spoke in her sweetest voice. ” Aye captain.” She almost said honey to tease him but thought better. She pressed the off pad and reported. ” Harmonics are shut down sir.”

Stella Gagnon Lt.jg. Comms

Her console registered the command, paused briefly, and then executed it across both command pathways. The Merrimack’s interference signal dropped cleanly and completely.

Lt. Grahams, CMO

“Sorry Stella, that wasn’t a reprimand,” Glen told his downcast Communications Officer. “You have been exceptional in gaining the attention of the Sharians with your musical harmonics… But now we must complete our mission of First Contact; now we have reached the ‘kindly take us to your leader’ part. And if Lt. Grahams calculations are correct, we don’t have enough time left to waste on any further contemplation!”

• Glen, CO

Thalos listened in silence, eyes fixed on the tactical display as the Captain’s decision took shape.

He hoped it was the right one.

If it was not, their first contact mission could come to a very abrupt end.

His antennae angled forward slightly, registering the subtle shifts in energy readings and sensor returns. Every instinct he possessed urged caution—unknown species, superior technology, incomplete understanding.

Not ideal.

And yet… he had no better alternative to offer.

That was the reality of it.

He remained at his station, posture steady, expression controlled. Whatever reservations lingered beneath the surface, they stayed there. Doubt, when unaccompanied by solutions, served no purpose on the bridge.

So he did what he always did.

He prepared.

If the Captain’s decision led them into danger, Thalos would ensure the USS Merrimack was ready to meet it.

Lieutenant Thalos ch’Ravik
Chief Of Security
USS Merrimack

Elyss heard the CO’s decision and gave a small nod. At least their path had been determined now. There was nothing left, but to follow it. Wherever the Shiarians were leading them, the crew would all go together. Rolling the part of the tension out of her shoulders, she perked up and prepared for the change the Merrimack was about to undergo.

Lieutenant Elyss Zavey
Chief Science Officer USS Merrimack

The effect was immediate.

At Science, the chaotic harmonic readings simplified. Where there had been interference, there was now alignment. The Aperture’s frequency and the Merrimack’s systems began to synchronize, the difference between them narrowing with each passing second.

At Engineering, M’Mera’s console surged. Her ears snapped forward, tail stiffening as the shared interface reacted more strongly than before.

“Captaain—!” she called out, her voice tighter, urgency sharpening her natural slur. “It’sss locking in—fassterr than beforre!” Her claws moved rapidly over the interface, not issuing commands but modulating the response. “We arre being pulllled into theirr ssstate—full synchronnizzation imminent!”

At Helm, the impossible resolved into something even stranger. The two remaining trajectories became one. Vector returned—but not in any direction the Merrimack had ever traveled.

“Helm reading… stable?” Dariusz’s console struggled to define it. Velocity: zero. Position: fixed. State: transitioning. At Tactical, Thalos’ display changed. Targeting solutions locked. For the first time since the Shiarians had appeared, they were fully trackable—not because they had slowed, but because the Merrimack had caught up to them.

The advantage had not been lost. It had been shared.

Then the call came through from Lieutenant Grahams =^= Sickbay to Bridge: We have signs of stabilisation amongst the crew. I will keep them here for close monitoring until I am confident they will remain stable but I am optimistic, =^= it would seem things too were stabilising there.

The Science station chimed again. Alignment was occurring across all systems! The Merrimack would no longer be partially phased but be fully integrated into the Shiarian frame of spacetime.

Taruun stepped forward. This time there was no flicker, no duplication. He existed in a single, stable moment. “You choose continuity. Now, we can speak.” His voice no longer strained. It resonated cleanly, fully synchronized with the environment around him.

GM Nosferatu
Your Darkest Nightmare

Lt. Grahams, CMO