Ensign Tho'Bi - Fire and Ice (Part 2)

[Tobi]

((MAIN BRIDGE, DECK ONE - USS ARTEMIS-A ))

The ping and chirp of data feed and sensor was absent on the bridge, only the strained whine of the Impulse Reactor, as it struggled to meet the ship’s basic power needs, filled the background ambience.  

Amid the noise and rush of the bridge, a short bright ping sounded out.  Whatever it was, it drew the Galadoran’s Scientist’s attention.

((OOC: My understanding of the tech used by Bergmen to contact the Artemis, is likely to only be seen/heard by Gnai)). 

Gnai: ::quietly, trying not to interrupt the planning:: The others, they’re fighting off the smaller ships!

Jovenan: ::to Tho’Bi and Cole:: How about sending the shuttle to a course on its own power or remotely controlling it? Would that be possible?

The Andorian Engineer picked up his PADD, still synced to the Shuttle’s Reactor Control, he just needed to break out of that box and access another little box tucked away between Helm and Navigation.

Tho’Bi: ::attention on his PADD:: Accessing the shuttle’s autopilot. 

Cole: Response

He zipped across the odd landscape of Ferengi code merged, rewritten, and duplicated by Orion code.  Redundancies and logical gaps littered the cyber-highway like bumps and potholes.  The Andorian Engineer reached the autopilot.  

Gnai: If-if it were possible to eject the shuttle’s warp core remotely, there’s a chance it might intersect with the smaller ships ::pointing to their paths on its console:: and perhaps destroy them instead of the Artemis. It would require some skilled flying to dodge the explosion… but this believes Lieutenant Silveira could do it. If he were at the helm.

Jovenan: We can’t risk the away team. We don’t know if their ship is fully operational or if they have casualties. Prepare to send the shuttle away, but we have to make sure it explodes somewhere it won’t threaten us or the away team.

The auto-pilot accessed, the dark blue of the Andorian’s eyes shot a glance at the Bolian stationed at Helm.

Tho’Bi: ::quiet:: Helm, Chart the optimum escape vector for the Shuttle.

The Bolian Helms Officer’s fingers punched in quick draw patterns across her console.

Xaff: ::focused:: on it ::glances back at Tho’Bi:: Heads up!

Ping!  The course coordinates arrived on his screen.  The Deep Space 3 raised Andorian made short work of inputting them into the Orion Shuttle’s Auto-Pilot.

Tho’Bi: ::looks up at Jovenan and nods:: Ready to detach shuttle.

Gnai/Cole: Response

Jovenan: Send out the shuttle. Eject the shuttle core when at safe distance from us.

The blue of the Andorian’s fingers moved across his PADD.  With a short exhale of breath, he tapped the final input to detach the Orion Shuttle from Deck Five of their saucer section.

Tho’Bi: ::to Jovenan - quiet and measured:: Shuttle Away.

Gnai/Cole: Response

The damaged Orion transport became visible on the viewscreen as it departed from the Artemis. Jovenan looked at its flight for a moment before speaking again.

Jovenan: Do we have the inter-ship communications? We should warn the… ::sigh:: warn all ships in the proximity. Some of them may be our enemies, but they all deserve a chance to dodge.

The bridge suddenly lurched starboard and aft, sending his PADD clattering across the decking.  Instinctively, the Andorian pinned the ‘Cat-Sack’ between his feet, holding it steady and in place.  Despite his efforts, the white and black of the cat’s head arrived at the opening of the ‘Cat-Sack’.  She glared at him as he lent down to pick up the PADD.

Tho’Bi: ::softly to the cat:: We’re alright.

The Andorian Engineer sat back at his station, acutely aware that the cat had not returned to the snug of the bottom of the ‘cat-sack’, but instead remained, observing him.

Data feeds traced across the remaining functioning monitors.  Everyone confirmed the space station raised Andorian’s first instinct, a pressure wave had collided with the ship.   

Tho’Bi: ::swallowed almost to himself:: Oh no ::looks up at Jovenan - thin and breathless voice:: It’s the moon ::voice thinning out:: it’s breaking apart.

Jovenan/Gnai/Cole: Response

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

((SPACE SURROUNDING MORIC - MOON IN ORBIT AROUND THE GAS GIANT GALARIS VI))

Jagged fissures tore across the icy blue surface of Moric.  Where they found mountains, those mountains crumbled and fell into the expanding chasms.  Where they found valleys, those valleys split open or subsided into huge sinkholes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

((MAIN BRIDGE, DECK ONE - USS ARTEMIS-A ))

Within the elongated frame of the cracked and flickering main viewscreen, the moon of Moric was collapsing in on itself.  A deflating sphere.  Great lunar continents slide at opposing angles, colliding with each other.  The resultant opposing forces began to spit and hurl ragged slabs of ice, the size of cities, outwards.  Most were caught by the gravity of the Gas Giant, but not all.  Such was the force destruction, it exceeded the necessary escape velocity, sending a twisting storm of mountain side, frozen river bed, and valley depth toward the two spacecraft.

Xaff: ::to Jovenan:: Impulse Engines stand ready ::beat:: more than enough to get us out of here.

The Bolian Helms Officer’s manor was confident and deliberate.  Her hands were steady, her eyes fixed to the task.

Meanwhile the Andorian Engineer was working his console at speed.    

Tho’Bi: ::looks up at Jovenan::  Lieutenant Commander, the Orions are dead in space ::shakes head:: they can’t escape the debris.

Jovenan/Gnai/Cole: Response

A second pressure wave struck the Artemis.  The bridge bucked upwards, held for a split second, before dropping back down.

The young Ensign’s PADD slipped off the console, on a direct route to the white and black head of the quietly observing cat.  As though from nowhere the cat arched backwards, and, with a nonchalantly timed flick of the paw, batted the tumbling PADD into the crotch of the Andorian Engineer.   

The Andorian caught the PADD as it rebounded and looked down at the cat.  

Tho’Bi: ::quietly to the cat:: Nice intercept.

The cat let-out a single, enigmatic ‘Meow’, and then disappeared back inside the ‘Cat-Sack’.

Tho’Bi: oO Intercept Oo

It took no more than a handful of seconds to route the PADD through the ship’s communication array.  The PADD made a reassuring high frequency double chirp sound as the link locked into place.  The Andorian Engineer looked up and across at his Acting Captain, and held up the PADD with the linked Auto-Pilot.

Tho’Bi: ::quiet:: I think we should crash the shuttle into the gas giant ::dry swallow:: the matter/antimatter detonation will cause a mass ejection of ignited hydrogen ::voice becomes breathless::  It’ll burn through the moon and all the debris. 

Jovenan/Gnai/Cole: Response

Xaff: ::tilts head:: Alright.  Let’s crash a shuttle ::glances back at Tho’Bi:: Heads up Blue!

Ping!  The course coordinates arrived on the Andorian Engineer’s PADD. 

Tho’Bi: ::nods at Jovenan:: Ready.

Jovenan: Response

The Andorian tapped the final input command on the PADD.

A tiny dot of grey traveled across the dark of the flickering main viewscreen.  It skimmed past the listing Orion Dreadnaught.  As the grey dot passed across the axis of the shattered moon, it began to accelerate.  Now the gas giant’s mighty force added to the thrust of the battered craft’s engines, caught as it was in the great planet’s gravity, the fate of the shuttle was sealed.

For a moment, it seemed as though the shuttle had simply disappeared.  Swallowed by the great mass of swirling orange and red gas.

Jovenan/Gnai/Cole: Response?

There was no sound.  No terrible bang.  No clap of massive thunder.  Just the rising torrent of golden fire, arching outwards and upwards into the infinite.  

The golden tower wrapped itself around the lunar wreckage; a burning hand grasping at the collapsing moon, and dragging it down into the fire and inescapable depths of pressure.  As searing heat met frozen shard of mountain part, ice-river bed, and valley depth, plumes of white cloud blossomed outwards; only to be rendered solid in an instance by the zero kelvin of unyielding space, and fell upon the swirling orange and red of the gas giant, as flakes of snow. 

Xaff: ::surprised:: The Orion Dreadnaught appears to be signalling us by signal light.

Across the darkness, a small light on the nose of the Orion Dreadnaught flashed on and off in deliberate sequence.

Jovenan/Gnai/Cole: Response

TAG/TBC

 

((OOC: Part 2 of 2.  I had already got most of the way through this when Jo Sim dropped.  A little editing built nicely upon her idea.  Added the Signal Light - because Lich mentioned that the Orion's communication array had been destroyed.  Figured this sets up the end of my Sim in a pretty similar place to Jo’s and it ties in Liv’s idea of destroying the moon. ))

————————————

Ensign Tho’Bi

Engineering

USS Artemis-A

A240203T11