Lt. JG D'Cyra Varati - Can you hear the walls?
D'Cyra Varati
((SRC Level 18, Deep Space Imaging))
((OOC: jumping to the latest set of tags; it’s still long enough.))
Varati: If only I had paid more attention in Professor Gaßner's lecture... Let's do two things: First, a Magneton scan to detect subspace fractures. To be on the safe side, we need to send one of the drones there to check whether the Tetryon decay rate decreases near a potential fracture. Only then can we be sure that they are indeed subspace fractures.
Taelon: How fast are the station’s sensor drones?
Barberra: ::Nodding:: They should be fast enough, and then they’ll be sacrificed to the storm gods.
D’Cyra was a little proud of the amount of time she had spent with her "little friends." She had overwritten the firmware of the propulsion units (there was always a way to exploit the safety margin), installed higher-capacity energy cells, and fitted newer sensor arrays.
Varati: Indeed, I… eh, we have improved them a little bit, with a little bit “more power”. Precisely for this purpose, so that they can serve as our helpful eyes, ears, and noses out there. They don't reach warp speed, but the storm takes care of that for us in this case.
Galanis: Response
Taelon: Then let’s do it. We have ten minutes before the first waves reach us - let’s use the time we have.
She nodded to Taelon and Annamae.
Varati: Aye, there’s not a moment to lose! Let's get these things started while we still have the time and energy for it. ::to Niev:: From your perspective, have we considered everything that was possible in such a short time?
Galanis: Response
Barberra: ::tapping at another console:: Confirmed, drones are away.
No sooner said than done! Annamae, like herself, didn't hesitate for a second and sent a few more drones on their way. Luckily, these shuttle bays hadn't been deactivated yet.
With a few targeted inputs, Barberra brought the images from the camera-equipped drones and buoys onto the dome-shaped screen as a single image.
The drones sped off quickly toward the storm. Small lights served as markers from the other drones that had recognized the corresponding IDs.
Annamae seemed to be enjoying the visual spectacle again (more?) than the speed and precision of the drones' work. Was it simply childlike joy and curiosity? Out of the corner of her eye, D’Cyra watched the Chief Petty Officer. Enthusiastic and thrilled with the work – what more could one ask for?
But the joy was short-lived, and soon shrill alarm tones and signals arrived... Particles and radiation pushed ahead of the storm were already massively interfering with the small sensors of the drones and the transmission of signals in general.
Taelon: Computer, disregard the data from buoys 2, 3, and 7. Full magneton scan.
The computer chirped confirmation.
Barberra: ::Crossed arms, looking at big screen:: Well, bye buoys, it was nice knowing you.
Some buoys – if they were even still responding – were only delivering garbage data. Should they survive the storm, not only would the buoys need to be replaced, but further improvements would also be necessary... a never-ending cycle.
Varati: If we lose even the buoys this quickly, we'll soon be "blind". Hopefully, they'll hold out long enough for us to confirm or falsify our assumptions.
Galanis: Response
Imaging updated rapidly on the screens, showing the size of the storm. Amity looked tiny in comparison.
Taelon: What is that?
All that was visible was a rapidly rotating jet of fog, but something unusual must have caught Lt. Taelon's eye in the confusion. From the console, she looked in the direction he was pointing.
Barberra: Are they just the buoys going... boom? Or going crazy?
The overall picture would have lost some tiles if the buoys had failed completely… oO Boom or crazy… Oo Had the situation not been so tense, she might have burst out giggling.
Varati: Good question... but such small objects as drones and buoys shouldn't trigger any light reflection at all, especially not with so much dust flying around out there right now.
Galanis: Response
Taelon: …well, the last time I saw anything like that, they were…ships…
Taelon spoke quite matter-of-factly what had been lurking deep in her subconscious, but which seemed too far-fetched to her…
But before they could discuss the idea, Cmd. Iko interrupted them with completely different news.
Iko: =/\= Bec to ::slight smile:: Chief petty Officer Barberra. =/\=
Barberra: =/\= Go ahead Commander. =/\=
Iko: =/\= $%@#, uhm. What levels do you guys need, what levels can I seal off? There’s bloody Voles eating engineering. =/\=
Annamae looked at the other, then silently mouthed-- “*Voles?*”
Taelon: =/\= We’re going to be heading to the Habitat shortly, so I think we can do without those levels. Um, maybe vent the engineering section? We’ve got - um, we have bigger issues, I think… =/\=
Barberra: =/\= Commander, there are potential object shaped micro subspace fractures heading our way. =/\=
Voles?! That was a joke, wasn't it? Like those “things” that infected DS9 back then, the ones people still tell anecdotes about in Quark's Bar, about how Chief O'Brien and Cmd. Sisko "fought" them?
Varati: =/\= We are still trying to find out what it is, but the storm's precursors are already damaging our measuring equipment and transmissions are also breaking down... =/\=
Galanis: =/\= Response =/\=
Iko: =/\= Good luck. And make sure there’s no Hirogen or anything hiding in there too. =/\=
Had Annamae been smirking again? No, that must have been her imagination.
Taelon: Well, um, voles aside - Varati, get me as much as you can about those anomalies. Barberra - some phasers might not hurt, from the sound of it? And, um, Galanis - get me the projected course of the wavefronts. Hopefully, um, we can have that help brace the station for the worst of it…
Barberra: Aye sir, a crap-tonne of phasers coming right up.
You had to give Annamae credit, she was tireless and immediately ran off again to collect the phasers and phaser rifles.
D’Cyra hadn't actually handled a phaser or a rifle since the academy. So She carefully tucked one of the phasers into her tricorder belt and casually swung one of the rifles over her shoulder.
Taelon: Does this station have armaments? Torpedoes?
Barberra: Aye Lieutenant, pulse fire photon torpedo launcher, and 400 torpedos, enough to destroy a small armada of voles.
This time she couldn't suppress a slight giggle.
Varati: ::giggles:: Yes… This will not only help us drive away the voles. But shooting at subspace fractures or foreign ships during storms can be a dangerous undertaking.
Somewhere, during such an action, not only did the subspace fracture collapse, but the entire system around it collapsed as well.
Galanis: Response
Taelon: No, I - just a thought. What do the scans look like, Varati? Galanis?
Not that she wouldn't fire torpedoes at Hirogen; she'd already had practice with that. Non-diplomatic warfare: A+
Varati: ::to Taelon:: One of the buoys , AM0725, was still able to evaluate the recordings and scanner data from drone DSI87-5R and perform a Magneton scan. Within grid square L9, two minimal fractures were detected near a strong energy field. However, since two further energy hotspots are located outside this center, it is quite possible that these are only temporary cracks caused by the interplay of the massive magnetic fields and the associated synchrotron radiation. ::pause:: Even more... the mobile terminal is really slow.
Galanis: Response
By now the gravsled was almost overloaded... hopefully they could transport it all.
Barberra: Sirs, with your permission, I’d like to get this gravsled to the train system before it shuts down, and to temporary Ops. I’ll make sure they set up an area for science consoles.
D’Cyra typed faster and faster on the terminal, but its responses felt incredibly slow... apparently, some systems were already shut down or running at reduced power. She glanced up briefly and gave the others an absentminded nod.
Varati: ::in thoughts:: Yes… there is not a moment to lose! Hopefully these “voles” don’t cut any important connections…
Taelon/Galanis: Response
Annamae started moving with the fully loaded gravsled, the door slid open and at the same moment Commander Ukinix appeared on the other side - a near collision.
Ukinix: Woah.
Barbera: Commander look out---
Instead of crashing into Commander Ukinix, the gravsled now crashed into the door frame.
Ukinix: Sorry.
Barberra: ::Palms up:: No harm, no foul, I got it.
As Annamae began to restack some of the items on the gravsled, Cmd. Ukinix rushed into the room.
Ukinix: Report, everyone?
Taelon: Response
Lt. Taelon explained the current situation to the CO and what they had discovered by chance.
Varati: Aye… As Lt. Taelon reported, we still trying to determine whether these are purely temporary fractures and what lies behind these other anomalies. It's hard to imagine anyone "hiding" in such a storm. The danger of being destroyed by a level 5 neutron storm is far greater than the chance of sneaking up on us undetected. oO and hopefully no time-travellers aboard the HMS Bounty… Oo If I remember Professor Gaßner's lecture correctly, Quark- or Hyperon stars could also form there. But in that case... Wait, argh, my terminal is really slow today! Is it Update-Wednesday?
Galanis: Response
Meanwhile, Annamae stood a little apart by her gravsled and looked around curiously several times, as if she were looking for something?
Ukinix: Bloody hell. ::inhales through grimaced teeth, crosses arms:: Well, we can ready weapons, but that will take power draw away from other systems. We’d better talk to Commander Rosek-Skyfire, it might change our systems profile a bit.
The idea that something or someone was hiding near a subspace fracture still seemed utterly suicidal to her; neither the Borg nor the Q-Continuum would do such a thing. Why would they? They could ‘attack’ directly if they wanted to. Besides, the storm had only been heading in that direction for a few hours. If someone could control such a storm, they wouldn't need to play games like that.
Varati: Uh, well, maybe we need torpedoes not to hit the fractures, but to shoot the energy spots and cause the energy levels of the fermions there to "tip over," so that they transform into bosons, creating a "Runaway" and allowing the neutrons to relax and decay normally within 15-30 minutes!?
Taelon/Galanis: Response
Annamae turned around again, looked down the corridor, and then came back as if she had seen or heard something unusual.
Barberra: Did you hear something? Like... a whisper?
Oh, was that a prank? Or just ringing in the ears?
Varati: Wait… What?! A whisper? No..?! I can only hear the faint whirring of the ventilation, the humming of the terminals... otherwise, one might already feel the slight vibrations of the storm when the dampers are no longer working at full capacity?
Taelon/Galanis: Response
Barberra: Maybe it was one of the voles.
Ukinix: ::Surprised, incredulous:: Voles?! What?
As if the storm itself and any anomalies weren't causing enough trouble... no, now there are also a kind of strange rats that no one had discovered before.
Varati: Commander Iko reported that a pack of Voles was apparently hiding somewhere and that they were currently trying to ‘neutralize’ them…
Taelon/Galanis: Response
If Annamae had indeed heard something, they had to find out now. They didn't want a pet or even one of the children hiding somewhere!
Varati: But if someone or something is still hiding behind the panels or in the Jefferies tubes, then we should sort this out immediately. We can't afford any more problems today -
D’Cyra almost accidentally grabbed the phaser instead of the tricorder… oO Ooops… Oo
Taelon/Galanis/Barberra/Ukinix: Response
She pulled out the tricorder, switched to bio signals, but of course immediately received an error message that the sensors were already detecting too much interference...
Varati: Argh! That was to be expected... we don't have time for a recalibration now! ::to Annamae:: Where exactly did you hear this "whispering"?
Taelon/Galanis/Barberra/Ukinix: Response
But the focus must not be distorted now; out there in the storm lurked a previously unknown danger. Therefore, D’Cyra turned to Commander Ukinix; things now had to happen in parallel, not one after the other.
Varati: ::to Cmd. Ukinix:: Perhaps we really should focus on activating the torpedoes? Regardless of whether we are dealing with extraordinary energy fields or hidden dark forces. ::pause:: I have a couple of new drones down in the lab... they haven't really been tested yet, but we could still send them straight to the anomalies – after all, it's just metal and technology. If we can save lives with them, whether our own or others', then we should keep that option open, but we need to get them up here immediately before the lights go out!
Taelon/Galanis/Barberra/Ukinix: Response
Tag/TBC
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