LT Tamio K'Wara - What do our eyes look like from the other side of the telescope?
LT Tamio K'Wara
(( Cockpit of the USS Acheron - Ebers System, Balancar Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))
Was it dangerous? Probably. Was it reckless? Oh yes. Did Tamio see any other way to handle it? Not really. It was a fact that Luxasi Station would be vulnerable until they figured out the cause of the false positives - and preferably before a supply freighter not equipped for dodging phaser bolts sidled up to the station with the cargo full of sundries - and between a well-equipped Starfleet shuttle and the decidedly civilian science station?
They had to be the ones to do the more dangerous task here.
Vailani: Opening the airlock doors.
Storm: Not sure I’d do that yet. =/\= Is there any way you can regulate the power to the phasers so a direct hit wouldn’t be lethal? =/\=
Brigand: =/\= ::Tapping his fingers on the console:: I might be able to do that, but it could take me at least ten minutes. =/\=
Storm: =/\= I think our OPS officer is giving you about thirty seconds.=/\=
K'Wara: Make that twenty-eight.
Alex - showing her tactical awareness of the situation - raised a very good point in favor of safeguarding their lives.
Storm: Is there any reason we can’t sit tight for five minutes?
Cole: With how quickly the station’s weapons adapted to our tactics, the longer we wait the … more chaotic my flying will have to be.
Tamio smiled. A bit of chaotic flying never killed anyone, in their experience.
Vailani: I'm less concerned about your piloting skills and more concerned about the rate of the dilation of the rift. Every second that passes we lose an advantage.
K’Wara: Lieutenant Vailani’s right. Every second we sit here, the more likely we lose our window to figure out what’s wrong over there.
Storm: Fair point. =/\= You may want to put a rush on that. =/\= ::to Cole:: You do some more fancy flying, and I’ll buy you a drink when we get back to the Artemis. I don’t fancy meeting the Great Exchequer today - to borrow a Ferengi term.
Cole: Sounds like a deal.
A few moments passed as the Starfleet team hung tight, waiting for the nearest moment that would give them the best chance.
K’Wara: Alex, what’s the situation outside?
Storm: We’ve got incoming debris from the rift. This might be the time to make a run for it.
Cole: ::smiling to herself:: I might have to play a bit faster and loose with my maneuvers, please hold onto something Lieutenants..
Tamio clapped their hands together.
K’Wara: Take us out, Natasha.
The flying was definitely less stable than before, with Natasha inserting some fancy flying to ensure the tactical phasers behind them had as little chance to hit them as possible, and Tamio took to the shield controls to give the best cover they could. It was impossible to get to the rift without getting hit at all, but if the amount of hits could be kept to a minimum, the Acheron’s shields should be able to handle it.
These phasers were made for destroying debris, not shuttles, after all.
Cole: ::jerking the controls causing the shuttle to rotate towards the starboard side:: Sorry about that.
K’Wara: Hey, so long as our shields hold, no skin off of my nose.
Storm: Response
The Acheron reacted violently as Natasha got them into range of the rift, settling the shuttle under the rift and skirting the very edge of the phasers’ active range. A powerful shudder rocked the Acheron as a fire broke out behind them, and Lieutenant Vailani quickly reacted accordingly.
Cole: Almost out of range, we should be close enough to get some better scans of the rift.
Vailani: Let's make it quick, I've had about as much as I care to stomach for this trip.
K’Wara: Natasha, keep an eye on that rift. Until we know more, we should assume anything can pop out of there. ::playful jest:: Let’s just hope it’s friendly.
Storm/Cole: Response
Tamio focused on their console as well, running as many different scans as possible, not just for the science team on Luxasi, but for their own astrophysicist back on the Artemis. Brighter brains than them had to figure out what this rift was up to, but at least they could do the legwork.
Vailani: I'm seeing several surges of -
That was the moment that the shuttle exploded in alerts, the Acheron groaning in pain as something collided with it. The resulting movement was so forceful, Lieutenant Vailani was forcibly tossed from her seat and Tamio fared only slightly better, colliding with the EV suit compartment and getting one hell of a headache in the process.
K’Wara: Ugh! ::rubs head:: Report! What did we hit? What’s going on out there?
Storm/Cole: Response
Vailani: We're caught in the rift, whatever that was, it came right for us. We're experiencing multiple system failures. Shields at 32% and falling.
K’Wara: Divert power to the engines, Lieutenant. We won’t sustain another impact like that. Natasha, get us loose! Alex, have you got eyes on what impacted us?
Vailani/Storm/Cole: Response
K’Wara: Yes and no... I don’t think the Acheron is the defining factor. The rift’s getting more erratic the closer we get... Like... It’s defending itself?
Tamio rushed to the sensors, aiming the sensors directly into the rift. The Acheron’s sensors weren’t strong enough to pierce through the astrometric disturbances the Ebers Rift kept putting into the nearby space, so it was essentially a load of nothing, but registering an infinity increase in something that was detectable would be easier.
Vailani/Storm/Cole: Response
And there it was! It was small, a tiny blip in a screen of black, but it was very measurable. Tamio sent the information to the others’ screens, a giddy look on their face as they did so.
K’Wara: It’s not the rift. It’s something on the other side. It’s- Oh, we’ve got incoming!
Just as Tamio finished their words, something moved within the very centre of the rift, just enough to show a small section of colored material - flesh? metal? - before a sizable piece of metallic debris was tossed through the rift, aimed directly at the Acheron.
Vailani/Storm/Cole: Response
LT Tamio K’Wara
Chief of Operations
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1