Cadet Zarah Johnson - "Let's Try Not To Repeat Our Failures"
Amanda Nordstrom
[HOLODECK]
(( Bridge, Deck 2, USS Tiburon ))
T’Korva had a pretty good idea, but Zarah still had some qualms about it. First, the Bedfordshire was still moving, it couldn’t stop. Next, there were eddies coming in their direction, and they didn’t have a ton of time to figure out either how to stop the Bedfordshire, or re-direct it out of the path of the anomalies. The Klingon second officer had suggested they put the Tiburon in between the Bedfordshire and the eddies. Okay, so they would become a shield in of themselves, and they could hope their own shields, maxed out as they would be, were enough to protect both.
Yes. Yes, that could work…but it might work better if they adjusted their tactics just a wee bit. Well, Zarah hoped it would work better, but she was going to at least make the suggestion.
Johnson: So…what if we take T’Korva’s idea and modulate it a little bit. Kinda use my earlier idea, and sort of combine them into something that may or may not work, but hopefully won’t kill everyone.
They could try, certainly, and Zarah would definitely want the computer to run the numbers before they actually implemented the plan.
Johnson: Okay, we’re about ten…maybe fifteen minutes before we reach the eddies, or they reach us. If we match the speed of the Bedfordshire, we can merge the warp fields, and we should be able to access their systems and draw power to boost the shields. Because we’ll be in such close proximity, the shields from both ships will actually just extend to each other, and strengthen each other.
Zarah was definitely not an engineer, but she thought that she remembered something about that. Or maybe she was thinking about how her mom said when cooking without a replicator, it was easier to make more of one thing than multiple dishes of different things.
Lohkina: Yes! Yes, exactly!
Okay, cool, Lohkina liked the idea, they were collaborating, things were rolling. That was good. Zarah grinned. Even though she was only a cadet, she got to be on the mission. Sure, it was a training mission, which meant she wasn’t in any real danger, but it was good for experience and it would really look good to the higher ups over at the Academy. She wanted her proposal to do more than stop at her. If it worked and worked well, it could be a whole new way of training new officers in the fleet.
But maybe she was getting ahead of herself. T’Korva’s voice came through and knocked her back into the present.
T’Korva: Captain frequencies of the shields and warp bubbles have been identified, I am sending those to engineering, I have also sent the prefix authorization to your console for access to the Bedfordshire’s critical systems.
Johnson: The Tiburon has matched speeds.
Which meant they could do that thing now.
Lohkina: Yes, and immediately. Bring us up to the Bedfordshire, Johnson, and merge fields. T'Korva, as soon as we're merged, signal the transporter rooms to start beaming crew off, and then I want you working on how to achieve Johnson's idea for the combined shield strength.
T’Korva: The transporter rooms are at the ready and I have alerted shuttle operations to be on stand by if this doesn’t work.
Johnson: The eddies are moving toward us, and we’re moving toward them. Nine minutes!
When Zarah originally calculated the time, she hoped they would get closer to the fifteen minute mark. With the adjusted timeframe, however, they weren’t going to have nearly as much wiggle room - not that they had much to begin with!
Lohkina: Very good point. So our timeline is even shorter than it appears.
T’Korva: Something is off captain, it appears the Bedfordshire is ::beat:: accelerating? ::looking over towards the captain::
Wait, what? That wasn’t good! Zarah frowned, her brows furrowing close together as she took a closer look at the information. Her console read out the important tactical assessment data any tactical officer required when planning their attacks, which included the speed of their target. She’d already set the Bedfordshire as a target in their system, not to destroy it, but keep their sensors locked onto it as their primary focus and objective.
They would need to move quickly, there appeared to be additional eddies forming at the far range of their sensors.
T’Korva: I’m picking up additional eddies forming at our current trajectory.
Johnson: Oh crud…it is speeding up!
Zarah had matched warp, but then the Bedfordshire decided to change things up. Why would they increase their speed when they were already in trouble? That was only going to make it worse. Unless they weren’t in control.
Lohkina: Responses
T’Korva: We have three transporter rooms and two cargo transporters at the stand by, based on the expected compliment of officers, crew members, and civilians aboard the Bedfordshire, we will need every minute we have to get them off that ship.
Right, okay…Zarah frowned again, casting a confused look at T’Korva. They were either going to have to evacuate or stop that other ship, but before that, they had to get past those eddies which were still right in their path.
Johnson: Um…maybe we should concentrate on the shields first? Evacuation is going to take longer than nine minutes.
In her head, Zarah tried to do the math. Each cargo transport could do up to 300 people an hour, and standard transporters, up to six without enhancers. That was 618 per hour which meant an average of ten or eleven people per minute. Since Akira class ships tended to have a crew of…400? 500? Somewhere around there. No, there was no way they could do that in the time they had left.
Lohkina: Responses
T’Korva: The warp bubbles will make contact in 10, 9, 8, 7
As T’Korva counted down, the ship started rattling and shaking. Gritting her teeth, Zarah tried to focus on keeping things steady and making sure they matched the speed exactly. Not doing so would bring about disastrous results.
T’Korva: I’m not sure what’s causing this captain, but I can not promise it will work if we can’t get it under control.
Johnson: I’m trying! We’re matching speed. Coming up -
She didn’t get a chance to finish before the words were cut off by a violent shudder. Squeezing her hands tight on the sides of the console, Zarah was grateful she was already sitting, because she doubted she’d have stayed on her foot. Somehow T’Korva managed to, but then again, she was a Klingon. They were a whole different breed. Literally.
The quaking stopped, and on the screen, red flashed violently across the console.
Johnson: The merge failed!
Lohkina: Response
Johnson: I don’t know!
Quickly, Zarah’s fingers darted and slid over the console both in an attempt to get some answers, but also to guide the ship in a better position. They were really lucky the failed attempt hadn’t caused them both to explode or any other equally horrible things. Maybe it was only a simulation, but Zarah didn’t want Lohkina to fail because of her! Desperately, she tried to work the Tiburon back to the same warp speed. Then she saw it - what had prevented the merge.
Johnson: They sped up again!
Lohkina/T’Korva: Response
She paused, because something caught her eye. Even as she input the command to the computer to match the Bedfordshire’s speed again, Zarah didn’t leave the change alone. Doing some more math, she realised that the speed increase wasn’t random.
Johnson: They’re speeding up by the same increments with the same increments of time in between!
Zarah almost shouted they words, partly out of excitement, and partly because things were getting more intense.
Lohkina/T’Korva: Response
The Bedfordshire couldn’t stop for whatever reason. At some point, Zarah hoped they discovered what that reason was because she really wanted to know. In the meantime, she did her best to get the Tiburon up to speed. Although the first warp field merge hadn’t worked, they were still alive to tell the tale, and she knew that the increased speed and the time between those increases were important. They were important because they were the key to succeeding on the second go round.
Before she even explained what she was doing, Zarah input the data to the computer along with a command. They were going to have to be even more careful, because she had a feeling that if they didn’t succeed that time, they weren’t going to get a third chance to do so. Finally, she lifted her voice, explaining her thought processes to the others.
Johnson: We have the increment and the interval. If we match that, we’ll speed up with the Bedfordshire and be able to merge warp fields. Coming up on the ship now!
It was time to see if they could pull it off.
Seven minutes left.
Lohkina/T’Korva: Response
-- Zarah Johnson Cadet USS Octavia E. Butler & USS Thor M239008AD0