[End Mission] Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie - Scrambled Brains
Addison MacKenzie
(( Bridge - Deck 1, USS Karnack ))
MacKenzie sat in the center chair on the bridge of the Sabre class Karnack. She tried to pull up a display of the various power sources active throughout the ship. The anticipated areas lit up. She lifted her head from the display to focus her attention on the crew members at the bank of stations in front of her.
MacKenzie: Someone give me a status report. What systems are up and running?
Munro: The warp core is functioning, surprisingly well all things considered. I can confirm that Lt K'Wara and their team are in the Shuttle Bay. Attempting to pinpoint the location of Commander Jovenan’s team.
Bergmen: Response
Breys: On my end about half the shield emitters look stable, maybe enough to cast a full shield if the people in engineering are smarter than me. External sensors are coming through with a lot of static, readings are unintelligible. The deflector array readouts are flickering wildly, I think it may be damaged.
MacKenzie shook her head. It wasn't great - there was still more work ahead of them.
MacKenzie: Are internal sensors online? Can we get eyes on the rest of the crew?
Breys: I don't have any readouts for internal sensors at this console. ::she turns to Bergmen and Munro:: do either of you?
Munro: I have navigational controls and sensors.
There was a beat before the first officer continued.
Munro: Don't override controls, that will use additional power.
Bergmen: Response
MacKenzie once again shook her head in frustration.
MacKenzie: What about comms? Can we at least manage that much?
Bergmen: Response
Breys: It sounds like there is interference that needs cleared up if we're going to get a signal anywhere. Any clue on how to tune out an astronomical anomaly?
Munro: Ordinarily we'd try to match the subspace frequency.
MacKenzie: I can live without comms for now as long as we'll be able to get ourselves through the magnetosphere.
She didn't need to issue a direct order for them to know where her priorities were and where they needed to be sending their attention.
Bergmen: Response
Breys: What if instead of tuning out of the anomaly we tune into it? We use the radiation of the Maelstrom as a carrier wave to pierce its own envelope.
Munro: I like that, we have the data available to use already.
MacKenzie: Let's proceed. What other information do you need?
Bergmen: Response
Breys: We already have a vague idea for the frequency range, but we'll need to be more specific if we're going to use it as a carrier wave. We need to find the Maelstrom's exact frequency.
Munro: :: thinking :: The transporters. We already have the information.
MacKenzie watched as Munro pulled the tricorder strapped to her waist, stood up and moved across the bridge and began to scan herself, Breys and Bergmen.
Breys/Bergmen: Response
MacKenzie: Commander?
She began to read cellular distortions.
Munro: Living beings give off energy fluctuations, it's how we are able to distinguish life signs. When we went through the teleporter, the so-called Faraday Rooms. We changed our energy patterns to match the maelstrom's frequency.
MacKenzie: ::nodding slightly:: You think we can apply the same principle here?
Breys/Bergmen: Response
Murno moved closer to Breys.
Munro: I don't know much about Ornaran physiology, I'm a commander not a doctor. But what I do know is that they have a more unique physiological state. They are able to displace energy matter, in the form of electrical discharge, from their bodies :: the tricorder chirruped and Ava smiled :: Ensign Breys here may be the answer. She's a walking energy sensor. We have the frequency :: looks to Breys :: Not a lot of people get to say that.
MacKenzie: ::slightly sarcastically:: Congratulations, Ensign. Let's put it to good use. Commander, see if you can get me comms. Bergmen, bring structural integrity online and check its status. Breys, access life support and environmental control.
Breys/Bergmen: Response
While MacKenzie was issuing orders, Munro returned to her station.
Munro: The communications array is now online. I've diverted power from life support in Sickbay and Engineering.
MacKenzie nodded to herself as she gripped the armrests of her chair more tightly.
MacKenzie: Then it's time for us to go. =/\= All hands, this is the Captain. Secure your stations and brace for impact. We're getting out of here. =/\=
She took a breath, developing the logical priority for her coming orders.
MacKenzie: Breys, turn up the heat in all areas where our personnel aren't. I want to flush out our guests and give them an opportunity to leave the ship so we don't have to contend with them any longer. Once we're off the ground, you can restore settings to normal.
Breys: Response
MacKenzie: Bergmen, I want whatever spare power we've got to the shields and structural integrity.
Bergmen: Response
On her display, Addison could see that the emergency bulkheads had dropped. K'Wara and their team were on it, which meant that if they were going to make an exit, now was the time. She closed her eyes and offered a silent incantation that the ship would cooperate enough to get them back into the sky. When her eyes opened, they were fixated on the figure of their first officer-turned-helmsman.
MacKenzie: Alright, Commander. Thrusters only until we reach two kilometers, then one-quarter impulse.
Munro: Response
The bridge started to shake violently around them accompanied by the creaks and groans of the hull as the wreck started to begrudgingly lift itself from the surface of Callis 1. On the viewscreen, she could see an increasing distance between the Karnack and the surface, as more of the screen was filled with bright blue sky. Her grip tightened on the arms of the captain's chair as the shaking started to increase, making it difficult to hear anything other than the massive effort the ship was putting into trying to keep itself together.
MacKenzie: Bergmen! Bring whatever spare power you've got to the structural integrity field!
Bergmen: Response
MacKenzie: Breys, see if you can calibrate the shields to match the same frequency of the magnetosphere. Let's see if the planet will be more kind to us than it was when we got here...
Breys: Response
MacKenzie checked the readout on her console, closely monitoring ascent. When they reached the two kilometer mark, she issued the order that Munro didn't need, but that made her feel better and reinforced that they were in fact reaching their goal...
MacKenzie: Commander, bring the impulse engines online. One-quarter impulse only until we clear the magnetosphere.
Munro: Response
The shaking on the bridge intensified to such a degree that she was sure her brain was being scrambled in her skull in real time. If Breys had calibrated the shields properly, she wasn't sure what was behind their violent ascent - not that it couldn't be any number of things, from the state of the impulse engines, the haphazard structural integrity system, or forces from the planet.
Eyes focused on the viewscreen, MacKenzie watched intently as the blue sky gave way to white clouds, then back to blue sky until eventually, moment by moment, the blue started to shift to the darkness of space and stars became visible. After several rocky minutes passed, the familiar view of the galactic starfield filled the screen in its entirety and the shaking stopped.
They made it.
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A