Lt. Robin Hopper: Lights Out
Robin Hopper
((OOC — Just a reminder that David Flint is here as our Helm Officer. Feel free to give Flint directions and leave him tags, which I’ll fill.))
((Type-6A Shuttle Arbutus, Terminal A – Amity Outpost))
After setting the plan – a brief expedition out into the nebula to get a closer look at the unusual mineral situation – they had split up to make their separate preparations. Robin had made her way to Operations to arrange transport and secure a pilot. Hopper had tasked Veers with acquiring relevant investigative equipment to supplement the shuttle’s load-out. McLaren had, no doubt, been communicating with her own teams to provide an update and ensure they wouldn’t run afoul of any ongoing operations at their destination.
Flint: ::Cracking his knuckles:: So, you want to get a closer look at some rocks, Lieutenant?
Hopper: ::Rolling her eyes, amused:: In short? Yes. But they’re weird rocks.
Flint: I see. ::His console beeping:: Looks like your team’s here, ma’am.
Robin looked over her shoulder to the rear hatch of the shuttle and the loading ramp, spotting Veers and McLaren making their way into the Terminal. She walked up to check in with them as they approached.
Hopper: You two all ready to go? ::Smiling:: I know we aren’t going far, but I did take the liberty of putting together a playlist – just in case… You both got everything you needed?
Veers: Absolutely ready. And a playlist? I didn’t think we’d be gone long enough for music.
Robin offered an amused shrug. oO You never know, Ensign. Oo If there was one thing her interest in the history of early space exploration had taught her — it was that “routine survey missions” were often less routine than you’d expect.
Robin pointed Veers towards the seat beside Flint at the conn. The Arbutus was small, with room for a Pilot and a secondary Officer up front, additional seating and cargo space in the rear. Robin, wanting to observe Ensign Veers ‘in action’, took a seat on the bench across from McLaren.
McLaren: Let’s go.
Hopper: You heard the lady, Mr. Flint. Let’s go look at those rocks!
Flint: ::Sigh:: Aye, ma’am.
((Fifteen Minutes Later — Benemite Nebula - 35AU Distance from Amity Outpost))
Entering impulse after clearing the traffic around Amity, the shuttle has made its way deeper into the surrounding Barossa Nebula, its dense asteroid clusters rich with the benamite that made QSD travel — and thus, the Federation’s return to the Delta Quadrant — possible.
Robin was enjoying tagging along as an observer. While Flint did the flying and Veers could monitor the sensors, Hopper just took in the view. It was breathtaking. Such magnificent hues of purple and blue.
oO Wow. Oo
McLaren spoke — the first person to say anything aloud in a while — as she looked at the PADD in her hands.
McLaren: Pulling up the data feeds now.
Hopper: I guess we are getting close to our destination, aren’t we?
Flint: ETA one minute, ma’am — to the location you said things started to get odd when your probe drew near.
Hopper: ::Taking out her own PADD:: What do you see up there, Ensign? Anything unusual yet?
She glanced to Veers, curious if the junior officer’s monitoring had
Veers: Response
Hopper: Keep an eye on it – and maybe start a new sensor log now. If we get a solid recording of our findings, we can review it later.
Veers: Response
McLaren: Data looks good so far, as normal, maybe we should head in more and link up with the probe we sent earlier.
Hopper looked over the sensor feed on her own PADD. She nodded slowly, focusing, trying to look for signs of anything unusual.
oO Then again, if you’re anticipating something weird and nothing weird happens — that’s also weird, isn’t it? Oo
Flint: Entering the funny rock zone… now.
McLaren: Data looking good…. And its dropped off again. This must be the area.
Just as McLaren had said, the energy readings emitted by the benamite in this cluster had suddenly – and inexplicably – dropped down to near-zero.
Hopper: This is it, alright. ::To Veers:: Time to put our theories to the test, hmm?
Veers: Response
McLaren: Does the shuttle have better scanners then the probe, Robin?
Hopper turned back to the Mining Coordinator with a knowing smile.
Hopper: Well, yes and no. Aboard a shuttle, we have access to additional power resources – meaning we can run some of the more energy-intensive scans simultaneously, whereas the probe has to ‘cycle’. This lets us get high resolution results. And our onboard sensor array isn’t quite as compact, so, bigger toolkit.
McLaren: Well, let's give it a try.
With that, Robin set her PADD down on the bench and moved over to stand beside Veers and Flint.
Hopper: ::To Veers:: Trying running a quantum resonance scan on the surrounding area in a three-dimensional grid pattern. If the benamite in this cluster is reacting to observation at the quantum level, it could be that there’s more here than meets the eye.
Veers: Response
The Chief Science Officer nodded, pleased, then turned to face McLaren once more. If the physicists’ hunch was right, they might be dealing with something a little more complicated than funky rocks.
Hopper: In a nutshell, I’d like to know more precisely where the reaction is propagating from. While it’s sometimes harmless, quantum-level reactions causing widespread energy fluctuations like these can be indicative of macroscopic space-time disruptions, or “quantum fissures”.
McLaren/Veers: Response
Hopper: Anyways, needless to say, if that’s the case, we want to take action before we find ourselves dealing with a quantum tunnel right in the middle of your mining operation…
McLaren/Veers: Response
Flint: Quantum fissure? I don’t particularly like the sound of that.
She turned back to the viewscreen.
Hopper: I believe Mr. Flint has seen the effects of uncontrolled quantum subspace distortion in an active benamite field up-close and personal.
Flint: ::Grumbling:: Bloody hell… I knew I didn’t like this.
Suddenly, the entire shuttle began shaking violently. Flint reached for the controls, trying to move them away, but the helm console flickered, sparked, and went dark. A moment later, the lights in the cabin followed suit, plunging them into darkness, and the shuttle listed to the side. Hopper, the only one on her feet, reached for something to hold onto in the darkness, but the inertial dampers were out, and she felt herself thrown against the side wall of the shuttle with an audible bang.
McLaren/Veers: Response
A moment later, emergency backup lighting flickered on. Flint swore at his dead helm console.
Flint: Not this #$%& again… We’ve lost helm control… Comms… Probably half a dozen other systems. ::Looking around:: Is anybody hurt?
McLaren/Veers: Response
Flint stood and ran to the rear of the cabin, standing over Hopper, who lay slumped against the wall, motionless. He placed his index and middle finger gently on the center of her neck and waited for a second, holding his breath.
Flint: She’s alive… but unconscious. ::Looking back and forth between the two other women:: And we’re not going anywhere in a hurry.
McLaren/Veers: Response
TBC
