Lieutenant Vailani Zoyara - Worms In The Systems
Ava Munro
(( Cockpit of the USS Acheron - Ebers System, Balancar Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))
Every. Single. Time.
Without fail.
Things would not go to plan. Didn't matter how prepared they were or what measures they took something would go wrong and more often than not that very something would place her life in perilous danger.
Warlords. Pirates. Terrorist bombs. Spiderbots. Occultists.
The Prophets ensured that somehow they would find her. She was destined, singlehandedly, to face down every horror in the galaxy and the only question that remained was when would they be satisfied?
So, with mathematical precision this mission went exactly to plan. The Prophets very sadistic plan.
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?
Zoyara nodded and got to work. Shutting down no essential systems in the process. Her console displays red, yellow and green systems and as her fingers worked each of those green started to blank out and she saw efficiency improve on the more critical systems.
But they weren't in the clear yet.
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: Someone!?
That didn't sound good, and a deep part of her was not curious about who that someone was. Not at all.
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: Are they the ones who have it in for us?
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
A shunt of the shuttle moved them several metres and Zoyara grabbed hold of the metal side grips of her console.
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.
K’Wara: Response
Cole: That was a little too close for comfort.
Storm: Ya think?
Vailani: The engines have power but we need to be careful. If we get pulled into that rift without engines and our shields fail we'll be crushed by the gravitational pressure. I think I speak for all of us when I say we want to avoid that.
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!
Zoyara wasn't the type for a pep talk. Instead she looked to the junior security officer.
Vailani: You don't have a choice.
It was the best she could do.
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: Agreed. Staying mobile seems like a good tactic.
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: A worm?
She thought of her request to run a diagnostic earlier. It was denied.
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: You should run a manual diagnostic of your critical systems and weapons. I think the worm is overriding your diagnostic protocols. If you give me manual access I can do a counter hack. Nothing fancy but it might stop what ever is happening.
Zurah: =/\= I'll patch you through to our engineer. =//=
Zoyara immediately opened up her communication interface and acknowledged the invite from the engineer. Almost immediately her screen filled with code, her eyes flickered from the shuttle systems to the station's coding.
K’Wara/Cole/Storm: Response
Vailani: Shouldn't be too hard. I've got access to the station's systems.
The shuttle rocked some more but she was engrossed in the pattern of the code. Several alarms lit up.
K’Wara/Cole/Storm: Response
A pattern began to
Vailani: Power to the engines are draining. We need to move faster.
She smiled as the pattern coalesced and she found the point to disrupt the override.
Vailani: I've managed to build a wall around the station's systems. The engineers are back in control or working towards it. But I noticed something hidden in the pattern. It was an SOS. I think something wants our help?
K’Wara/Cole/Storm: Response
TAG/TBC
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240004LL2