Lt Alex Storm - Echoes from the Rift
Karen Morris
(( Cockpit of the USS Acheron - Ebers System, Balancar Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))
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.
As soon as those words were out of her mouth, Cole was backing the Acheron out of the airlock and spun her around to make for the rift.
Cole: ::smiling to herself:: I might have to play a bit faster and loose with my maneuvers, please hold onto something Lieutenants..
K’Wara: Take us out, Natasha..
Cole: ::jerking the controls causing the shuttle to rotate towards the starboard side:: Sorry about that.
Alex managed to grab hold as they zagged a little too hard and wondered why Starfleet never put a handle on these things for occasions like this.
K’Wara: Hey, so long as our shields hold, no skin off of my nose.
Storm: As long as the ship and I are in one piece, it’s all good.
Her timing was really horrible today because as soon as she said that, the station got a lock on the Acheron. Alex grabbed for the nearest thing she could find, but at that moment, something impacted the runabout’s side. The sound of a pop was followed by sparks and a fire. Alex left her seat to get a fire extinguisher. She aimed it at the conflagration. A hiss followed by the acrid odor of burnt fabric filled the shuttle as the flames ceased to exist.
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.
Alex retook her seat and looked over their sensor data.
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.
Cole: Will do, let’s hope it’s gentle.
A sense of pressure built behind her eye, in that space, she could feel a pulse that wasn’t hers…she could sense a frustration, an anger almost. She glanced from person to person in their shuttle. It wasn’t coming from there but, after Cole spoke, somehow Alex knew that Cole was wrong. And instead of keeping them to herself as she oftentimes did, the words escaped her mouth.
Storm: It’s not going to be…
Vailani: I'm seeing several surges of -
Her unexplained knowledge manifested itself just in time for Alex to swing her feet around and sit backwards in her chair grasping it with both hands as the scream of an impact wrenched everyone else out of their seats. Not sensing another imminent attack, Alex slipped back around in her chair and aimed their sensors beyond the rift.
K’Wara: Ugh! ::rubs head:: Report! What did we hit? What’s going on out there?
Cole: ::taking a pained breath:: oww, getting the engines back online.
Storm: There’s something - someone out there!
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?
Cole: Working on it, Sir.
Storm: I’m working on the sensors, but the rift is interfering with a clean scan. However, I sense someone out there, and they have it out for us.
Vailani: 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?
The sensors were getting a vague picture of a vehicle on the other side of this rift.
Cole: Sounds like, haste is of the utmost importance then. I am redirecting power from the warp drive to the engines should give us the boost we need, but I’m going to have to do this in bursts, or I risk burning both out.
Storm: There is some kind of ship on the otherside of this rift. Maybe they’ve been trapped there, found a way to manuever there, or if they were transported there by something. It’s big, starship sized, but I can’t get a lock on which starship or what size, but I’m going to guess it’s using a tractor beam - like we were - to fling these items at us.
Vailani: Response
K’Wara: It’s not the rift. It’s something on the other side. It’s- Oh, we’ve got incoming!
Cole: ::pushing the engines for a quick burst:: oO Come on you stubborn shuttle move! Oo
Watching the sensor data, Alex leaned back in her seat, as if that were going to make the difference for the Acheron. The entire shuttle was pushed backwards several meters by the space rock that almost collided with them.
Storm: Do we have engines back yet? I don’t think this is going to stop until whoever is on the other side of this rift runs out of debris.
Vailani/K’Wara: Response
Cole: That was a little too close for comfort.
Storm: Ya think?
Vailani/K’Wara: Response
Cole: I’m going to push the engines a little more this time. I think with the scan’s we found the sweet spot for an escape trajectory.
Storm: You can do this!
Vailani/K’Wara: Response
Storm: I’m not sure I’d cut the engines just yet. We have a station that wants us dead, a rift that wants to eat us or break us to smithereens.
Vailani/K’Wara/Cole: Response
Storm: =/\=Zurah, any breakthroughs stationside?-=/\=
Zurah: =/\= It’s some kind of worm that piggybacked on a recent communique. We’re trying to eradicate it now, but it’s a persistent little bugger.
Vailani/K’Wara/Cole: Response
Storm: =/\=Your sensors may be better than ours, can you see a ship or a shuttle on the otherside of that rift?=/\=
Zurah: =/\=That might take as a minute or two to calibrate and take a look for you.=/\=
Vailani/K’Wara/Cole: Response
~*~
Tags / TBC
~*~
Lt Alex Storm
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis
O240103SK2