Lieutenant JG Kaito Moore - Acquainted, Really Really Acquainted

[Lieutenant j.g. Kaito Moore]

((Talon Scout Yosemite, sort of on the edge of Trenvonn Territory, near underspace corridors, Delta Quadrant))

(( OOC: Yeah, there were a lot of tags. Leaving the below to keep the summary of what happened. ))

Time was not on their side, so Lael agreed with the team’s recommendation to approach the Turei directly and request assistance opening a corridor. It was the most straightforward option and offered the best chance of bringing their people home without escalating the situation. While Bec handled the conversation with Berapli, Lael coordinated their plan with Commander Taelon and the Independence and kept a close watch on ship systems as Moore prepared the approach and Varati readied a drone as a contingency.

Once Berapli identified a safer entry point, they committed. The transition into underspace was rough, alarms sounding as power was diverted to keep the structural integrity field stable, but the ship held together and broke through into the corridor. Surrounded by debris and an unfamiliar tunnel of distorted space, Lael shifted her attention to stabilizing the ship, maintaining contact where possible, and beginning the search for the missing Daintree.

Varati: ::to Bec:: Do we have any further information from Berapli? ::to Lael:: Should we leave the drone here as our own "anchor"? I just hope the subspace transmitters actually work... ::pause:: Then welcome to the subspace!

Iko: Kaito, what do you think?

Kaito looked over his sensors. The subspace tear they created might not last, then again, none of this was his forte. Typically he trained to close subspace tears, and how to defuse subspace weapons. Not travel into subspace…

Kaito raised an eyebrow as he detected something in the corridor. Not the ship, but something much bigger.

Moore: Commanders, I got something on proximity sensors. Shifting the Yosemite for a better look. As for the anchor, it couldn’t hurt, but we have a limited supply.

He started to move the Talon class runabout, letting their more powerful forward sensor array get a better scan of whatever it was hiding in underspace.

Varati: What are we supposed to make of this? Okay, we knew the Vaadwaur had such "chambers." But this is bigger than I imagined. We're not receiving any signals though... it looks like nobody's home and the lights are off.

As he brought the shuttle closer, the depot came into view, yet still seemed distorted by the uneven warp effect of the corridor. Kaito glanced at the sensor readout, trusting them more than his mark one eyeball at this moment.

No power. No shields. No traffic.

That kind of quiet usually meant one of two things. Either everyone had left a long time ago, or something had happened that made leaving a very good idea. It was quiet… too quiet, and that meant one thing.

Stations haunted, that’s where the young El-Aurian’s mind went. Station’s haunted. That had to be it.

Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= No power signatures, no shields, no traffic. That’s either very good news or very bad news. =/\=

Bad news, it had to be bad news. Kaito kept on looking over the scanners, this old space hulk hiding in underspace, no doubt had some secrets, but what concerned Kaito is how close to Amity, relatively speaking, and how unknown it was to them. A hidden station in their backyard. What’s next? Would they find the Last Dominion Fleet?   

 

Iko: =/\= The Depot’s not meant to be like that, is it? =/\=

Berapli: =/\= I see no obvious signs of disturbance, but a closer look would not go amiss. =/\=

Iko: D’Cyra, how’s calling up our mates going?

Varati: ::to Bec:: No news... the Indy seems to still be in normal space and there's still no sign of the Daintree. Did they even pass by here?

Rosek-Skyfire: If the Daintree passed through here recently, they left something behind. Warp shear, impulse ionization, even disturbed debris fields. ::to Moore:: Maybe we can look for movement instead of signals?

Moore: =/\= Possible, their warp field would have left a gravimetric wake, and that could shift the debris. Assuming Isaac Newton is still valid in underspace, the debris should still be moving. ::Glancing at the sensors:: Berapli, could you check the beacon’s sensor data, and provide positional data from before we lost our shuttle. That will let us cross-reference what is out there now.  =/\=

Berapli: =/\= I will have a closer connection with the beacon momentarily. =/\=

Varati: Okay, the Turei know more about this than we do. But our sensors aren't blind. We just have more errors and worse results. I'll try resetting one of the scanner banks and restarting it under the subspace environment variables... the beacons are definitely there, so the sensors must be able to detect them somehow.

Rosek-Skyfire: Do it carefully. We’re operating blind enough as it is. I’d rather not confuse the sensors any more than this corridor already has. 

That was an understatement, the sensor shadows and reflections were playing havoc with the navigation systems. He was also partly flying by sight, sometimes the sensors would reflect something that wasn’t there, but the eyes compensated for the discrepancy. At least Kaito hoped; he was fairly certain he would see something in front of them. Unless it was cloaked, but at that point they were dead as they crashed into the side of it, and officially not his problem anymore. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to be fully flying by sight.

Iko: What else can we find?

Varati: These debris are a real nuisance... you can't calibrate the sensors properly. This will probably be the downfall of many. I'll simply increase the error tolerance drastically on the second sensor bank and, in return, reduce the filter bands... hopefully, we'll find a workable compromise that way.

Kaito kept the ship steady, trying his best to not cause unneeded disturbances, while also avoiding even the smaller debris. One wrong hit, and their shields would send whatever they hit flying, causing more disturbances.

He rolled the ship past a small cluster of something metallic, he was fairly certain it had parts of a ship, long eroded by debris impacts. Maybe the remnant of an old battle. He thought about aiming the sensors at it, it clearly wasn’t their missing ship, it was much older, and twisted beyond recognition, but part of Kaito wanted to carbon-date it to see how old…

Maybe they could after the rescue was done.

Berapli: =/\= The analysis is sent. It looks as if the beacon was jostled by the same currents that moved the depot. =/\=

Varati: Well... so far, only major forces can be detected. "Thick air," so to speak. And the flow of debris is distorted compared to our entry point. Perhaps an implosion, no, an explosion? I'm confused... And traces of thoron. That could be an indication of the use of disruptors.

Rosek-Skyfire: ::murmurs:: Might have to do this the old fashioned way. ::to the others:: Noted. Mark the readings and keep tracking the flow. If someone fired weapons here, the debris field should show a directional scatter.

Moore: And there should still be a pattern even with the amount of time that’s passed. Assuming it wasn’t an erratic fight.

He would imagine doing advanced flight maneuvers would cause a completely chaotic pattern as whoever was attacking would be shooting in all directions.

Iko: =/\= I suppose the next question is if we can pick up the Daintree on the beacons. =/\=

Varati: Indeed?!

Rosek-Skyfire: ::brow furrows:: If the Daintree used the corridor network, the beacons may have logged the disturbance even if they weren’t meant to.

Berapli: =/\= They record all who pass through here. But not always in great detail. The Turei did not abandon these corridors without cause. =/\=

Iko: See if you can piggyback off that data. A map and a heading would be really helpful right now.

Varati: I'm trying to weave a common thread from all these jumbled puzzle pieces... I have a vague idea, but I just can't seem to put all the loose thoughts together yet.

Rosek-Skyfire: Start with the largest disturbance and work outward. The Daintree isn’t subtle. If they came through here, they left a footprint. ::to Moore:: Anything else you can get us to fill in those gaps?

Moore: ::Looking back at Lael:: We could launch microprobes, send them to the edges of the debris fields, and use them to create a multi-vector image. It will take a little bit of time, but doable. ::Glancing over at Bec:: What about the beacon signal?

He figured he would throw the ball to Bec, she was the one in direct contact with Berapli after all. Plus he was limited in what he could do while flying.

Iko: =/\= Are you sure there isn’t any way to enhance the signal? To know where they might have gone? =/\=

Berapli: =/\= We could sort through the information by time, by pattern. I can eliminate the oldest records, at least. =/\=

Varati: Angle, distance, any possible path... I'll be right there... just a moment!

Bec nodded.

Rosek-Skyfire: ::nods:: We might have better luck finding the ship’s wake. Those remnants should still be there. But we might need to fine tune the sensors a little more to pick them up.

Things were quiet for a moment, no doubt everyone focused on the job at hand, until Bec broke the silence.

Iko: Please tell me these are all just echos or something…

Reaching for his left hand panel, he pulled up a mirror of Bec’s sensor feed. She had found something, rather quite a few different somethings, but fairly spread out. Which was odd, it meant that more than one thing had disturbed this area of underspace.

The distance was a problem, it would take time, even with probes to scout out each area. 

Varati: This might be exactly what we need: stray particles. ::pause:: Perhaps some insights can be gained from this.

Rosek-Skyfire: ::eyebrows arch:: Look for patterns. Let’s see if these don’t help us connect the dots.

Kaito really wished he had the Indy right now. If he was on the Indy, he would suggest tying in the dedicated targeting sensors into the main sensor array, and use the higher resolution to map out each it, but he wasn’t on the Indy, and for how good a Talon class was; it didn’t have the secondary systems of a Defiant.

Varati: Okay, here's the first version of my idea: Photons travel at a maximum of the speed of light. Tachyons, on the other hand, travel at least at the speed of light. Neither has mass. If we now superimpose a grating made of a photon beam and one made of a tachyon beam, and observe or compare the changes in relation to the debris, which does have mass, we should be able to determine whether there have been any asymmetrical movements within the last few hours. Theoretically…

Rosek-Skyfire: ::to the others:: What do we think? Try it? Worst case, we eliminate another possibility. Best case, we get a heading.

Bec shrugged.

Iko: Do it. 

Moore: I don’t see why not.

Varati: And we would have to have extreme redshifts and blueshifts in between, so we would know not only whether something has moved here, but also in which direction. If Berapli can tell us whether the corridor in front of us is the one the Daintree must have entered – because it's the most obvious one, or something like that – then we're already a big step closer. Theoretically.

Berapli: =/\= Is there any further information you require? =/\=

Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= Berapli, from your experience with these corridors, which route would a damaged vessel most likely choose? Which makes the most sense? =/\=

Berapli: =/\= The currents push predictably; and your ships are fragile. If they had come directly from where they entered…I will send you the path. =/\=

Iko: =/\= Thank you, again. =/\=

Varati: Responses

Rosek-Skyfire: We don’t have much time. If the Daintree is as damaged as we think, she might not have long.

Berapli: =/\= There are few beacons left along that route, but I will see if I can connect to them. =/\=

Bec turned to her crew.

Iko: Try and connect the Yosemite to the beacons too if you can.

Moore: Maybe we could use them not only for a sensor boost, but also comms between us and the Turei ship should we get separated.

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= Response =/\=

Berapli: =/\= It was the space itself. The Vaadwaur tore holes wherever they wished; we do not. There are places that even a thousand of your years could not repair. =/\=

It made perfect sense to him, he imagined forcing subspace open could be as destructive as, say, a subspace bomb or torpedo. Maybe just more controlled. Kaito couldn’t help but think of the old Warp Scare, where it was found that warp might damage certain areas of space… except in this case, it was perhaps most of underspace that could be damaged?

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= Response =/\=

Berapli: =/\= There are reasons we come through these routes but rarely. Shall I lead the way? =/\=

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= Response =/\=

Iko: =/\= Yes. =/\=

Moore: Slotting in behind the Turei ship, and following them in.

Kaito’s fingers danced at the controls, and with a shift maneuver, the smaller shuttle was now in the wake of the larger Turei ship.

Moore: =/\= We’re in your wake, and follow you in. =/\=

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire: =/\= Response =/\=

Kaito actually started flying casually, before he was dodging debris, but in the Turei ship’s wake, he was able to actually relax. The bigger ship’s deflector pushed the small stuff out of the way, and it was big enough that Kaito could easily keep in formation with it when they faced something they couldn’t push past. It was a win-win…. Kaito was even quietly humming to himself.

And then the sensors pinged a warning behind them.

Iko: Is Underspace… closing?

It was indeed closing, or more accurately collapsing. He watched the tunnel collapse, getting closer and closer… The gravimetric turbulence already hitting the ship, causing it to shake. He decreased the distance between the Turei ship, better to be knocked around by their baffles than crushed by the wave. Baffles he could handle… Crushed to death. Not so much.

Iko: Kaito?

Moore: Yeah, yeah, I see it.

He did see it as it continued to gain on them, the ship shaking as the impulse wash grew as he continued to close the distance with the Starshell.

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire/Berapli: =/\= Response =/\=

Iko: =/\= What’s happening to the underspace behind us? =/\=

The aft visual sensors made it fairly clear, the underspace subspace tunnels were collapsing, and everything caught in it seemed to be crushed by the intense gravimetric pressure… No doubt somewhere in real space centuries-old debris, crushed into oddly shaped lumps, were spewing out of subspace. One could only hope the tunnel didn’t go though any populated planet… lest a piece of space junk end up in someone’s backyard.

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire/Berapli: =/\= Response =/\=

Granted, the thought did slightly amuse him… That slight amusement disappeared as the sensors detected another contact. Great, it was a Vaadwaur ship just on the edge of their scanning range.

Iko: Good news—if we get cut off from behind us the Vaadwaar can’t follow. Bad news is the collapsing subspace corridor is still collapsing. And I can play with shields, but I don’t think it’ll do much.

As if to prove her point, a piece of debris that was several hundred years old and about the same size as the Yosemite started to violently crumble under the pressure of this collapsing corridor. And it was hot on their impulse engines, at just a few hundred meters away, and gaining.

Moore: More good news, should the wave catch up to us… I suspect it will spit us out into real space, and our black box will survive… Granted, we will be closer acquainted than any of us want to be… really really acquainted, but the black box will survive, so that’s something.

Varati/Rosek-Skyfire/Berapli: =/\= Response =/\=

Kaito just kept focusing on flying, scooting closer and closer to the Starshell, but he knew soon enough he would have to break off, for the Starshell no doubt would increase speed to stay away from the collapse, at which point its powerful engines would blow back the small runabout, or start to hot-dog their shields…

On the other hand… high-speed flying in a debris field with untuned sensors didn’t sound particularly safe too. 

Iko: Please tell me we’re headed in the right direction…

He noticed the Starshell’s engines’ flair. Tapping a button on his seat, a pair of restraints popped out of the chair, and across his chest.

Moore: Hang on! I have to pull us out of the baffles! It’s going to get rough!

Iko/Varati/Rosek-Skyfire/Berapli: =/\= Response =/\=

He waited a moment until he was sure everyone was holding on, and or strapped in… If not, they couldn’t say he didn’t warn them. He snap-rolled the shuttle out of the Starshell’s baffles, and gunned the engine, dodging debris, and gaining some distance from the collapse.

Moore: I guess, we’ll need to pick a direction sooner than later, but does anyone have an idea on how we can stop that collapse?

Iko/Varati/Rosek-Skyfire/Berapli: =/\= Response =/\=

He barrel-rolled up, and over the Turei ship to avoid a particularly large piece of debris.

Moore: Seems like all those times Blackwood told me to do a barrel roll paid off. You got something for me?

Iko/Varati/Rosek-Skyfire/Berapli: =/\= Response =/\=

Lieutenant JG Kaito Moore

Tactical Officer

Amity Outpost

A240006KM1