[Act 2 Finale] Commander Addison MacKenzie - Trouble

[Addison MacKenzie]

(( Bridge, Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))

 

The ship rocked violently. The lack of artificial gravity sent loose objects flying about the bridge like projectiles. Addison had her hands firmly gripping her arm rests, and Silveira and Jovenan had managed to anchor themselves to their own stations, but after a moment, Jovenan lost contact with her chair. Her commbadge then turned yellow.

After they managed to get a hold of themselves, Lt Silveira was the first to report their status.

Silveira: Structural integrity at 83 percent.  Shields down to 68. Port side phaser strips overloaded. We were cut deep. ::He looked back at the others, not with his usual grin, or his positive attitude. There was a gloomy look in his eyes.:: But I can still fire back.

Kader: Initiating evasive sequence 08. We don't have enough room for much else.

MacKenzie: But why the signal barrage?

Jovenan: Sir, the signal barrage is probably to mask their communications to the boarding party. I can’t block it, but I might be able sort it out and listen their conversation.

MacKenzie: ::pointing at Jovenan:: Your commbadge is yellow, Lieutenant…

 

Jovenan: I’m okay sir, it’s only yellow. I can do this ::mumbles:: maybe.

As she went to work on deciphering the signals, it was time to decide on the next strategy.

Kader: I can’t use the computer to calculate the enemy’s location based on their fire. Do we move deeper into the nebula or should I retrace our course?

MacKenzie: Let’s move in. But log our course carefully – I don’t want us getting into a situation we can’t get ourselves out of.

Silveira: Trying to reroute power on the environmental controls

 

Jovenan: I’ve isolated the commlink, sir! It’s very faint and might be encoded, I’m not sure if we can hear them.

MacKenzie: See what you can do.

Kader: Aye aye

The ship rocked again, harder this time. Perplexed, Addison looked to the readout on the console on her arm chair. The damage didn’t appear to be related to the nebula, which meant the cascades they were experiencing had to be related to the initial explosion. As she traced which systems were affected, she shook her head. The readouts didn’t make sense to her – according to the kind of registered explosion, the damage to the core would have been more catastrophic and taken out more of the ship’s major systems, but as it stood, the shields, weapons, propulsion, and life support were all still functioning.

She raised her head to look around the bridge, her eyes narrow.

MacKenzie: What if the damage isn’t simulated?

Silveira: Sorry Captain, what?

Jovenan: Uh, the simulated weapons can’t damage us for real, sir.

Kader: Response

Addison shook her head insistently.

MacKenzie: I mean what if this damage is unrelated to or outside the parameters of the game…

Jovenan switched between looking at her console and MacKenzie.

Silveira: We are in a hostile environment.

Jovenan: Yes. We might have taken some real damage from the plasma. Is that what you mean?

Kader: Response

MacKenzie: I think we should seriously consider the possibility that something else is wrong here. I need theories and verification of the damage to the ship’s systems…

Vitor frowned but turned quickly, attempting to ascertain whether there was merit behind Addison’s inquiry. As he tried to input his codes into the computer, it was uncooperative.

Silveira: I am having trouble getting a proper reading Captain.

Jovenan raised an eyebrow almost in a Vulcan way.

MacKenzie: What seems to be the problem?

Kader: Response

Vitor tapped in again on his console and shrugged.

Silveira: The computer isn’t allowing me to make the distinction between simulated and real damage. Do any of you have the same problem?

Addison turned immediately to look at their scientist.

Jovenan: Diagnostic on scientific and sensor systems are simply stating all damage is simulated. I’ll, uh, try to verify those results in case the diagnostic tool is corrupted.

The first logical step would probably be to contact the personnel on the sensor pod and in Stellar Cartography, Astrometrics and other laboratories and request them to state their status. These people had better chances of detecting actual damage than she had.

MacKenzie: Lieutenant Jovenan, make contact with those departments – those personnel are all to funnel their responses through you.

Kader: Response

Addison’s eyes narrowed as the list of damaged systems appeared on the viewscreen.

Silveira: If your theory is correct then someone is taking advantage of our drill. And I don’t believe they mean to destroy us, they could have done that already.

A single eyebrow raised on the commanding officer’s forehead. The theory was not only possible, but probable given what they were currently experiencing. They had very little data to support it other than a hunch and some intuition, but to the red-headed CO, something definitely felt amiss.

Jovenan: We can, umm, contact the Berlin, end the drill, and disable the drill mode as a precaution. That should purge the system of simulated damage.

MacKenzie: A prudent course of action, Lieutenant.

Kader/Silveira: Response

Jovenan: The message the Berlin send to the boarding team isn’t entirely clear, but I believe they are also taking damage from the nebula and are moving further back.

Addison nodded.

MacKenzie: Then now would seem to be an appropriate time to end the drill and assess the damage…

Kader/Silveira: Response

The reports from the various science departments started issuing their reports to Jovenan. The more reports that came in, the more it seemed to put the Edo woman on edge. When she spoke, Addison could hear the concern in her voice.

Jovenan: Sir! The sensor pod team is reporting that some of their systems are unresponsive even in maintenance mode. That’s real damage, but the computer reports it as simulated only. ::pause, voice cracks:: The drill mode is compromised.

Addison’s head started to bob with annoyance, partly in analyzing the various possible outcomes (none of which were good) and partly in frustration at having been taken advantage of.

MacKenzie: Hopefully the engines are still online… Mr. Kader, limp us to the edge of the nebula.

Kader: Response

MacKenzie: Jovenan, can you get any additional information from the team in the sensor pod? I want to know what they’re having trouble with – maybe it will give us some clues.

Jovenan: Response

Addison glanced down at her arm rest, shook her head, and turned to Vitor. The youthful-looking tactical officer benefitted from years more experience than his facial features might suggest… experience that, she hoped, would help them get out of their current predicament.

MacKenzie: We need to get a message to the Berlin… they’ve been flooding the comm traffic, and our external communications array has now just gone offline. What options do we have to send a mayday?

Silveira/Jovenan/Kader: Response

She rolled her eyes to no one but herself and shook her head.

MacKenzie: Great… Start bringing us out of the reduced power mode we used for the drill and start bringing whatever’s left of our systems up to full power. And someone get me a damage report… I want to know exactly what we’re looking at.

Silveira/Jovenan/Kader: Response

MacKenzie: ::grimly:: =/\= MacKenzie to Yalu… We have a problem. =/\=

 

[Tag, and End Act 2 for MacKenzie]

 

 

---

Commander Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A

Captains Council Magistrate

V239601AM0