Lt. Cmdr Robin Hopper – Going Down The Drain
Robin Hopper
((Talon Class Scout Daintree – Space, Near the Trenvonn Border))
While Flint worked on backing dat shuttle up (away from the unpredictable underspace rift ahead of them), Hopper was mulling over the possibility of sending in a probe. Based on what Shortrith and Galanis were advising, the probability that a probe, with its minimal shielding, would even survive entering the rift was low. It also seemed uncertain if the rift itself, evidently quite unstable, would survive a probe being shot into it.
Whatever the case, she really didn’t want to go poking the Daintree’s nose directly into it – all the other risks aside, there was also now the new risk of some sort of attacker lurking within the underspace corridor waiting to strike.
Flint: Hang on a tick. Ma’am – you should see this. ::Indicating his panel:: We’re receiving an encrypted message. Text only. It’s from the Miombo. Sending to your console now.
Robin looked down, reading the quick message with a growing feeling of alarm.
// Message from USS Miombo //
Miombo to Daintree, silent message. Contacted by Turei scout ship. Dialogue ongoing.
// End Message //
Hopper: I guess we aren’t alone out here… Only it’s not the Trenvonn that have intercepted the Miombo, it’s the Turei – the, um, underspace ‘squatters’ as the Vaadwaur describe them. More or less. We know they use the underspace corridors, but aren’t as adept at maintaining them… That’s about all we know, actually. ::To the others:: Flint, hold position here. Niev, is there any indication we’ve been spotted or scanned? Shortrith – ::pause:: what are the odds of performing a successful emergency transport through the radiation and interference we’re experiencing?
She was hoping that wouldn’t be necessary. She was also hoping weapons wouldn’t be necessary, but the thought had occurred to her that she was likely the most qualified to play the role of ‘tactical officer’ in this scenario, if things should come to that. oO Where’s Kaito when you need him? Oo The Turei showing up was unexpected but, coupled with the evidence of disruptor fire the Miombo had evidently discovered, nothing was officially off the table yet.
Shortrith: Honestly? Quite low. The levels of radiation won't make things safe at all. If anything, it makes things more dangerous.
oO Damn. Oo
Galanis: No obvious signs of scanning, Commander. But that doesn’t preclude detection. If we’re dealing with a species familiar with Underspace mechanics, they may not need the strong spike in sensor strength to pierce through the interference we do.
Robin nodded. Niev was right, of course. If interference from the rift’s interaction with the nebula was sufficient enough at this range to disrupt their sensors and prevent them from transporting the crew of the Miombo safely if they ran into trouble, it followed that their ability to even detect a Turei scan would be compromised as well – not to mention the point about the Turei likely possessing scanners better-suited for underspace’s unique sorts of interference.
oO Damn damn. Oo
Before she could think of a next step, though, a voice from Amity cut in over the vessel’s internal comms – Lieutenant JG Varati, apparently with an urgent warning.
Varati: =/\= OPs to Daintree, Miombo and Independence-B: Whoever receives it first: the scouts must get away from the vicinity of the subspace rift! Immediately! Part of the rift is on the verge of collapse! Get out of there! =/\=
Robin’s eyes were drawn to the rift on the viewscreen in front of them. She squinted.
Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= There's some urgency, but exercise your best judgement. Let us know what you find. =/\=
Nothing had obviously changed in the appearance of the rift just yet – but then, Amity’s sensors were more powerful than the Daintree’s, and they were located outside of the interference.
Saavei: =/\= Saavei to Daintree, Ops indicating the rift on verge of collapse, they recommend we withdraw immediately =/\=
She was just about to look back at Galanis to get the science officer’s opinion when, suddenly, the stationary black splotch in front of them began to get much less stationary. The little wiggly bits around the outside started expanding, swirling and breaking off in all directions, swirling with nebula gasses and fractured dark matter riding the edge of the subspace eddies as they shot out, unpredictably, at alarming velocities.
Needless to say, Robin’s eyes were now doing the opposite of squinting. Flint, too, seemed unnerved, as he tapped away at his console – presumably trying to keep them from being hit head-on by one of those swirly black space frisbees of doom.
Shortrith: ::grimacing:: Looks like we have no choice.
Galanis: There’s too much interference to confirm or clarify the readings beyond extreme intensity. These ships and probes aren’t equipped for this level of science. I highly recommend we take the warning seriously.
Hopper: Yep. Yep! ::To Flint:: Get us out of here, maximum safe speed.
Flint: Way ahead of you, ma’am… It’s just that “here” seems to be expanding after us at a similar speed.
The ship rocked slightly, as if to emphasize the helm officer’s point.
Shortrith: Where should we fall back to?
Galanis: We’re losing the luxury of choice. We may have to focus on getting where we can over where we want to be. The currents are… well, sirs, they are becoming extremely apparent.
The ship shook again. Robin was reminded of the last time she had been aboard a scout in the nebula investigating a not entirely unsimilar phenomenon… That one had been a subspace bubble created by the interaction between ships’ warp fields and the raw dynamite in the asteroids that filled the nebula. They had nearly been sucked into that one and she had spent a bit of time unconscious on the floor of the shuttle.
Hopper: ::Nodding in agreement:: Anywhere but right here seems good right about now… Niev, do we have any way of identifying which areas of space are most volatile?
Gripping the edge of her terminal to avoid being thrown from her seat again, she passed along the advice to the others.
Hopper: Keep eyes on the Miombo in case they need more help than we do – and I’d brace for turbulence if I were both of you.
Shortrith: Noted.
Immediately, she was proven right, as another series of tremors shuddered through the ship in the way that made your eyeballs feel like they might shake loose. Flint grunted as he had to temporarily remove his hands from the controls to avoid being rocked out of his seat as well.
Flint: Bloody stupid things… ::Back to flying the shuttle:: I think they may be drawn towards us. God knows why.
Hopper: I’ll do what I can to adjust our shield frequencies and nacelle outputs, see if I can find a combination that isn’t so attractive.
Galanis: Commander, I’m plotting the most dangerous areas over a map of our local space. I’ll make it available to Lieutenant Flint, but there will be some milliseconds of delay… which means relying otherwise on the pilot’s interpretation.
Flint: ::Wrly:: Joy…
Hopper: That’ll do.
Despite his dour sarcasm, Robin knew that Flint was a practiced helmsman in this nebula at this point and stood about as good a chance as anyone at navigating it by feel alone. Worrying about his ability wasn’t going to do her any good, so instead she turned her attention elsewhere. They knew that entrances to underspace corridors emitted tetryon radiation – dangerous, even in small quantities, and capable of cutting through ships’ shields at full velocity.
Hopper: Shortrith, analysis – These eddies that are coming off the rift, are they emitting tetryon particles as well? How high is our risk of exposure?
Shortrith: Response
Robin gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to ask the obvious follow up question… And what happens to us if we do get exposed? She recalled the hauntingly disfigured Malon crawling after her through the air ducts aboard the crippled freighter, pretty sure they had been the result of relatively minimal tetryon exposure.
Returning to her console, she did her best to reroute additional power from non-critical systems into structural integrity and shielding.
Galanis: I’m not going to be able to monitor for other ships while I focus on this. Lieutenant Shortrith, are you seeing anything as we get closer to the Miombo?
Shortrith: Response
Another eddie swirled in front of them and Flint had to bank suddenly away, down and to the right. The inertial dampers did their jobs, keeping them from all being tossed around the inside of the shuttle like marbles in a tin can, but the hull did groan in a way that Robin did not like the sound of.
Flint: Just like a little… ::adjusting course:: white water rafting, eh? ::adjusting course:: Who here doesn’t like… ::adjusting course:: …a little excitement?
Galanis: Look! There! We’ll be cut off from the Miombo if we can’t make that gap!
Flint looked up at the viewscreen, following Niev’s indication. Laid over the view was the data from Niev’s sensor analysis, glowing red and angry, two convex walls of swirling rift closed in from either side leaving only a small space to pass through, rapidly growing narrower.
Hopper: Gun it, Mr. Flint.
Flint: Aye. Gunning it, ma’am.
And gun it he did, the ship leaping with startling acceleration to maximum impulse. They passed through the gap narrowly, but in the chaos that followed Robin guessed that their starboard impulse engine must have ‘clipped’ the anomalous swirls and taken damage sufficient to shut it off completely – because a second later, they were in a disorienting spin that the inertial dampers were struggling to correct.
Robin felt her shoulder whack against the wall beside her with a numb thunk that made her hiss in discomfort. Looking at her terminal she could see that their starboard engine was sputtering on and off rapidly. She made some quick adjustments, trying to equalize power distribution, but could only manage half-power.
Hopper: We need to shut off the impulse engines and regain control using the maneuvering thrust–
As she looked across the scout’s aisle, though, she grimaced. Flint was slumped over his console, a nasty gash on the back of his head seeping red into his dark brown hair.
Hopper: Oh crap. Medical emergency!
She struggled out of her seat, trying to avoid losing her balance while waving Lieutenant Shortrith over. Flint’s injury looked bad. Survivable, she hoped, but there was no way he was going to be in condition to pilot the shuttle.
Shortrith: Response
Looking back towards the viewscreen, Robin was pretty sure she was seeing something she didn’t like one bit. The black splotch was now filling almost the entire viewscreen, the entire thing swirling, like one massive ball of dark hair spinning as it went down a shower drain.
Hopper: Niev – am I seeing what I think I’m seeing? Are we getting closer to the rift?
Galanis: Response
If they couldn’t regain control of the ship immediately they were either going to get sucked in or torn apart. She turned her gaze back to Shortrith.
Hopper: Report – how bad is he?
Shortrith: Response
Hopper: Right… Transferring helm control to my terminal. ::Looking at the readings:: It’s no good. Maneuvering thrusters can stop our spin, but they don’t have sufficient output to get us out of the rift’s pull, and we can’t use impulse engines or go to warp… We’re going in.
She looked over her shoulder at Niev.
Hopper: Here’s our chance to get a firsthand look at underspace. ::Swallowing nervously:: Any tips you have for avoiding the worst of it would be appreciated.
Galanis: Response
Taelon: =/\= Daintree! I’m f̷̍͜ŏ̵͖r̵̩̽w̸͍̆a̷͔̎ṙ̶̼d̵̠͝i̷̙͊n̸̛̟g̸̭̎ ̸̱̒t̴̟̄h̴͈̏ẹ̸͘ Turei’s data ṫ̸ͅȯ̴͙ ̴̥̊ỵ̵͌o̵͙̅u̷͍͆.̸̞̃ ̸̝̒T̶̝́h̵̜͂e̵͔̔ý̴̥ ̸̻̒š̵̘a̴͍͌i̶̖͠d̷̖̽ ̶̡̍t̴͇̿o̴̭͝ follow the beacons - I̴͙̿ ̵̗̍t̶͔̃h̸͚̄ȋ̸͕n̴̰͒k̸̨̈́ ̷̰͝s̷͈͌ḫ̵̌e̶̖̔ ̶̺͘m̷̺̾i̶̘̚g̶̯̅h̸͓̓ẗ̴̗́ ̶̯͆h̷̰̆ä̸̟́v̴̦̌e̸̳͌ ̷̙͊m̸̛̬e̴͓̒ä̷̙́n̵͔͑t̸̨͌ ̷̛̩ơ̶̭n̶̤͝e̵͘͜s̵̝͐ ̴̱̆ȉ̸̺ñ̴̠ ̷̮͊ṵ̸͗ǹ̴͎d̶̳̾ê̴̩ṙ̵̤š̴̤p̵̠̈ȧ̵̮č̵̠è̸̜.̶̚ͅ =/\=
The voice on the other end was distinctly Lt. Commander Taelon, but what he was saying was a bit of a jumbled mess this close to the rift. Something about the Turei, and data about beacons?
Hopper: =/\= Say again, Miombo? All after “beacons”??? =/\=
Robin responded as best she could, but her focus right now was on trying to control the shuttle with maneuvering thrusters – at least the spinning was slowing. Someone else was going to have to try to interpret Taelon’s message.
Galanis/Shortrith: =/\= Response? =/\=
TBC
