[sb118-artemis] Ensign Tho'Bi - Violent Decompression

[Tobi]

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

If you work with code long enough, you stop seeing code, and instead, see what the code represents. The same is true of data feeds. For the uninitiated, the Andorian Engineer was surrounded on three sides by cascading numbers, line graphs updating in real-time, and waveforms etching onwards, but what he saw, were faces suspended in terror, limbs hewn on a molecular level into bulkheads, living tissue slurred into metallic alloy, or cast into the dark, ballooned up and frozen. They hung in the air around him, spectors of agony and panic, shimmering in the hue of LCARS displays. 

Tho’Bi: ::hushed breathless:: Mdanu lex'thel zarnthol.

Before the young Andorian had time to utter the second part of the ancient Andorian invocation, a second voice delivered it.

Eren th'Chaorhith: ::solemn formal:: Hroasen lex'koroth telshan.

Tho’Bi turned, the Andorian Tactical Officer who had made way for Ensign Cole, was now standing aft, in front of the gleaming Master Systems Display. He bowed his head slightly and offered the first line of the invocation back.

Eren th'Chaorhith: ::solemn formal:: Mdanu lex'thel zarnthol.

The young Andorian Engineer's dark blue eyes stared at the main viewscreen and out into the dark.

Tho’Bi: ::quietly:: Hroasen lex'koroth telshan.

Jovenan: Ensign Tho’Bi, Lieutenant Gnai. Try to establish communications with the away team with the transporter protocol or whichever similar method works. Try to ascertain their status. Maybe we can do something for them without putting ourselves in danger. I’ll try to buy you time.

Gnai: Aye, sir!

The young Andorian looked across at the Acting-Captain.

Tho’Bi: ::quietly measured:: Aye, Lieutenant Commander.

As his attention move to the bright displays of his station, he heard Lieutenant Commander Jovenan address Ensign Cole.

Jovenan: Ensign Cole. We… We might be going into a battle. Open fire only when I order you to, and to disable, not to destroy. Try to disable first their weapons, then their engines. If and only if I say so, we will try to ram their shields as you suggested. Prepare for that possibility.

Cole: ::small smirk:: Copy that. I’ll aim to be politely disabling, unless things get impolite. Then we’ll see how well their shields hold up. ::fingers already dancing over the tactical console::

The Andorian's antennae twitched as they sensed movement in the center of the bridge. Shifting layers of air pushed forward and fell either side, parting in a wake. Slow, deliberate footfalls forced air downwards and then out, squeezed against the decking.  

Lieutenant Commander Jovenan stood in front of the viewscreen. 

Jovenan: Red alert. Battle stations.

A deep red hue washed over the bridge. The blunt, atonal burst of Klaxxon shuddered off bulkhead and console. The cold blue of the Andorian’s fingers spidered across the Engineering Station inputs.  

Tho’Bi: oO If not the ship’s hull… then what? Oo

Jovenan: Hail the destroyer and the base, try all the methods we have available. =/\= Orion destroyer and the Moric Base. This is the Federation starship Artemis. You are in possession of Starfleet officers. We demand their immediate release and the cease of all hostilities against us. The one of you in charge, please respond. =/\=

Data feed from the brief burst of Transporter Protocol Communications cascaded before his eyes. Desperate, panic stricken faces stared back at him. The young Ensign shut his eyes and shuddered. His actions had never been so close to the moment of death.

Orion Destroyer (D’Kall’s Revenge): =/\= Federation Starship Artemis, you have already demonstrated a gross overreach of your presence in this system, and a callous disregard for life. The D’Kall’s Revenge will not comply, nor will it stand by and let the Galaris system be overtly influenced by the Federation. =/\=

The Orion Captain spat her words.  

Tho’Bi: oO Overreach… Reach… Relay.… Subspace Relay Oo

At that moment, the mechanical grind of the Galadoran Scientist voice cut through the hustle and rush of the bridge crew. 

Gnai: This still isn’t able to hail the away team yet, but sensors read an increase in power to their disruptors!

So deep in concentration, the Andorian registered the Galadoran's words as peripheral. The Three-dimensional schematics of a Class VI Probe rotated before him. It's sleek, elongated form, reducing to a rounded tip at its bow.

Tho’Bi: Lieutenant Commander ::beat:: It’s too risky to put the Artemis above the base ::beat:: but a Class VI Probe is designed for Comms Relay ::beat:: might do the job.

Jovenan: Response 

The Andorian nodded and began prepping the probe for launch.  

Cole: Response?

D’Kall’s Revenge: =/\= Federation Starship, we don’t want to fire, but you’re giving us no choice. Retreat from this moon back towards Galaris IV. =/\=

Cole/Jovenan: Response

A sudden flash of green caught the Andorian’s attention. Emerald sparks and electrical bolts splintered off the thick hulk of the Orion Destroyer's nose. The Galadoran Scientist had, indeed, been correct, the transporter incident had damaged one or more of their weapons systems.

Tho’Bi: ::urgency:: Lieutenant Commander ::beat:: recommend we launch the probe now, before their weapons come back up.

Jovenan: Response

With a high frequency rush of sonics, the Class VI Probe punched out into space. In a great sweeping arch, it began vectoring toward the cold blue of the moon.  

Tho’Bi: oO Come on Oo ::to Jovenan:: twenty seconds.

Jovenan: Response?

The dark blue of his eyes darted in the direction of the Orion Destroyer. Sparks of angry emerald still blistered off the ship. He held his breath, they might be oka-

Magnesium flash erupted in the dark above the Moonbase.

The probe's telemetry strobed in and out, in slurred, broken up pulses of failing systems.

The young Andorian was about to give the Lieutenant Commander an update, when the Galadoran interjected with more pressing news.

Gnai: Sir, it looks like the D’Kall’s Revenge has gone to full impulse? They… they may be trying to ram the Artemis’ shields!

Secondary flash. Impact. Shards of metal spiralled up into the black.

Blue fingers scarper across the LCARS input. Fragments of telemetry. An impact. Rapidly collapsing vector. Feed lost.  

Tho’Bi: Lieutenant Commander ::beat:: Something hit the probe ::shakes head:: It crashed into the moonbase.

Jovenan: Response? 

Gnai/Cole: Response?

He could see the great bulk of the Orion Destroyer looming in the darkness. Below it, shards of metal adrift, and frozen clouds of vapour blossom upwards from a jagged puncture wound in the body of the moonbase. 

Tho’Bi: ::dry swallow:: We've lost the Probe Signal ::beat:: and I'm reading a violent decompression on the Moonbase. 

Jovenan/Gnai/Cole: Response

TAG/TBC

((OOC: I checked with our benevolent Sub-Commander, Liv, before adding the Probe idea.  

“Mdanu lex'thel zarnthol, Hroasen lex'koroth telshan.” translates as, “Only the deep ice knows peace, Only the frozen truly sleep.” It is an ancient Andorian invocation for the dead. It is traditionally performed as a ‘call/response’, where one person(s) delivers the first line, and then a second person(s) delivers the second line. The second person(s) then delivers the first line for the first person(s) to reply with the second line. I wrote the lines. The translation is based on the Gaalen language guide on the SB118Wiki.))

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Ensign Tho’Bi

Engineering

USS Artemis-A

A240203T11