Ensign Thomas Melville-Kilpatrick - We're In It Now
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Sarah P
Mar 30, 2026, 12:38:37 AM (4 days ago) Mar 30
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((Deck 16, Science Lab, USS Khitomer))
Melville-Kilpatrick: I could try to do another scan, but I don't think the probe counts as 'biological' unless I could manage to pick up traces of whoever made it.
Matthews: No, she’s clean, we sterilize those things every time they come back in. Plus, I don’t see anything left out there, not a piece of space debris at all. ::He glanced at Ras:: We should alert the bridge that we may be dealing with an unidentified life form of some kind.
El'Heem: It’s a theory. Let’s gather a little more evidence before we relay that to the bridge.
Matthews: It’s either something in the nebula that’s using it. Or it is the nebula itself. And I don’t know which outcome I’d prefer. MK going to need your help to figure out if the nebula is alive . . . words I never thought I’d say outloud
Melville-Kilpatrick: Alive? A nebula? I might've slept through an astronomy class or two, but I'm pretty sure it can't be...
Thomas considered it. The idea was more than a little terrifying. A nebula, alive, that wanted to eat them?
El'Heem: The nebula is moving faster.
Not a good sign for those who liked to continue breathing. Thomas stood up, as if that might help out, but really he was just getting a better look at something that was likely to be incomprehensibly large.
Matthews: I have a bad feeling about this. Giant space monster or . . . nebula bending space aliens. Whatever this may be. If I was a betting man I’d wager the Alliance was after it or them. I don’t think . . . but maybe . . . okay here we go.
El'Heem: You meet one giant ethereal space whale, you’ve met them all.
There wasn't much he could do besides wonder just how many giant ethereal space whales were out there.
Melville-Kilpatrick: You've met a space whale before?
Matthews: The USS Eridani, possessed by a juvenile of a non caporal species we discovered. Named Junior. I don’t think what we are seeing is the same thing. But there could be correlations to the entities that can possess star ships and what is possibly controlling the nebula. ::He shrugged:: Unless it is the nebula. That said, well, guys this isn’t good is it.
El'Heem: No Matthews. It’s not good. The nebula is outpacing us. ::long pause:: Melville-Kilpatrick, try to run some more scans. Look for biomarkers outside typical parameters. If the cloud of pink is a living entity, it’s very obviously not anything Starfleet has ever encountered before. Matthews, what else can we try?
Being given something to do was far more helpful in this situation than Thomas realized when he sat down at the scanner and excluded his previous filters, looking for the abnormal instead of what he had been looking for before, admittedly with some bias.
Melville-Kilpatrick: Scanning now, sir.
Matthews: ::Shaking his head:: I can only speculate. But I think, if we can somehow link up to one of the Alliance ships and start reading their logs. We’ll find that they had discovered this creature and tried to capture it. ::Richard glanced to Ras:: Chief, could I work on trying to get a link to one of the ships while MK works on puzzling out what the nebula is?
El'Heem: Astute thinking, Matthews. Do that but keep it targeted. I don’t want any sheliak viruses worming their way aboard.
Thomas had been focusing on his scanning parameters when he heard the word virus and his ears perked up. Unfortunately, he'd missed some of the context.
Melville-Kilpatrick: Viruses, I can handle. Unless you meant a computer virus...
Matthews: Response
El’Heem: ::frantically:: Oh boys. BRACE. The nebula is on us NOW.
Thomas looked around quickly, and grabbed the nearest solid looking thing, his own seat. It was good that he had managed to hold onto something, because he probably would've stumbled at the sound of the klaxon--red alert? For the nebula? He was waiting to crash into whatever was waiting for them inside the nebula, but there was no sudden impact, only the sounds of the computers trying to keep up with whatever was happening to them, and a dimming of the lights.
Melville-Kilpatrick: Was that...was that a crash?
It was entirely possible that Khitomer has some advanced airbag system that he knew nothing about, but otherwise, Thomas was confused. What exactly were they dealing with here?
Matthews: Response
Naxell: =/\= Attention all hands, this is the captain. We are, currently, trapped by some unknown force. But we won’t stay that way. Keep your heads, keep working, and we’ll get out of this together. =/\=
Thomas nodded to himself and looked to Lieutenant El'Heem.
El’Heem: Alright. That confirms a few things. If it’s alive, it’s eaten us and we don’t know how much time we have left until it’s digested us. If it’s being controlled by someone, the outcome is just as bad. Matthews, our timeframe just moved up. We need the sensor data isolated into something useful. Melville-Kilpatrick, check atmospherics and ensure the Khitomer is going to hold it’s own and keep us all alive.
Melville-Kilpatrick: ::turning back to the system and pressing quite a few buttons:: Checking atmospherics...
Matthews: Response
El’Heem: Matthews. Now.
Thomas whipped his head around at the sound of the door opening. The Captain had arrived. Hopefully not more bad news, but he couldn't exactly imagine a situation in which this turned out lighter than expected.
El’Heem: Captain.
Melville-Kilpatrick: ::standing:: Captain.
Matthews: Response
Naxell: At ease. ::to E’Heem:: Your assessment, Chief?
Thomas took a seat and looked between the Captain and the Science Officer.
El’Heem: Not much but…we launched a probe to gather preliminary data that our sensors couldn’t gather. The probe was lost on contact with the cloud. ::beat:: it’s not behaving like a cosmological entity. Not a gas or debris field. At least not conventionally.
El’Heem: It’s not homogenous. And it’s not random. We can’t tell you yet what it is, but we’re working on it.
Melville-Kilpatrick: ::glancing at a readout:: Atmospherics...don't look good. I can say that much. I don't think that we can hold out forever.
Matthews: Response
Naxell: As I feared. To understand this cloud, we’re going to need a physical sample, and that means someone’s going to have to go out and get it. ::looking to Matthews:: Are you up to date on your EVA training, Ensign?
EVA training? Sending Matthews out into the nebula? Thomas was silent. He couldn't exactly encourage his fellow ensign here--it sounded dangerous, and from what Thomas had gleaned from earlier conversation, Matthews' experiences hadn't been entirely positive.
Matthews: Response
El’Heem: There’s significant risk, but it hasn’t exactly damaged the ship yet either. I’ll be right there on comms with you and Melville-Kilpatrick will be monitoring your vitals.
Melville-Kilpatrick: I could try to do another scan, but I don't think the probe counts as 'biological' unless I could manage to pick up traces of whoever made it.
Matthews: No, she’s clean, we sterilize those things every time they come back in. Plus, I don’t see anything left out there, not a piece of space debris at all. ::He glanced at Ras:: We should alert the bridge that we may be dealing with an unidentified life form of some kind.
El'Heem: It’s a theory. Let’s gather a little more evidence before we relay that to the bridge.
Matthews: It’s either something in the nebula that’s using it. Or it is the nebula itself. And I don’t know which outcome I’d prefer. MK going to need your help to figure out if the nebula is alive . . . words I never thought I’d say outloud
Melville-Kilpatrick: Alive? A nebula? I might've slept through an astronomy class or two, but I'm pretty sure it can't be...
Thomas considered it. The idea was more than a little terrifying. A nebula, alive, that wanted to eat them?
El'Heem: The nebula is moving faster.
Not a good sign for those who liked to continue breathing. Thomas stood up, as if that might help out, but really he was just getting a better look at something that was likely to be incomprehensibly large.
Matthews: I have a bad feeling about this. Giant space monster or . . . nebula bending space aliens. Whatever this may be. If I was a betting man I’d wager the Alliance was after it or them. I don’t think . . . but maybe . . . okay here we go.
El'Heem: You meet one giant ethereal space whale, you’ve met them all.
There wasn't much he could do besides wonder just how many giant ethereal space whales were out there.
Melville-Kilpatrick: You've met a space whale before?
Matthews: The USS Eridani, possessed by a juvenile of a non caporal species we discovered. Named Junior. I don’t think what we are seeing is the same thing. But there could be correlations to the entities that can possess star ships and what is possibly controlling the nebula. ::He shrugged:: Unless it is the nebula. That said, well, guys this isn’t good is it.
El'Heem: No Matthews. It’s not good. The nebula is outpacing us. ::long pause:: Melville-Kilpatrick, try to run some more scans. Look for biomarkers outside typical parameters. If the cloud of pink is a living entity, it’s very obviously not anything Starfleet has ever encountered before. Matthews, what else can we try?
Being given something to do was far more helpful in this situation than Thomas realized when he sat down at the scanner and excluded his previous filters, looking for the abnormal instead of what he had been looking for before, admittedly with some bias.
Melville-Kilpatrick: Scanning now, sir.
Matthews: ::Shaking his head:: I can only speculate. But I think, if we can somehow link up to one of the Alliance ships and start reading their logs. We’ll find that they had discovered this creature and tried to capture it. ::Richard glanced to Ras:: Chief, could I work on trying to get a link to one of the ships while MK works on puzzling out what the nebula is?
El'Heem: Astute thinking, Matthews. Do that but keep it targeted. I don’t want any sheliak viruses worming their way aboard.
Thomas had been focusing on his scanning parameters when he heard the word virus and his ears perked up. Unfortunately, he'd missed some of the context.
Melville-Kilpatrick: Viruses, I can handle. Unless you meant a computer virus...
Matthews: Response
El’Heem: ::frantically:: Oh boys. BRACE. The nebula is on us NOW.
Thomas looked around quickly, and grabbed the nearest solid looking thing, his own seat. It was good that he had managed to hold onto something, because he probably would've stumbled at the sound of the klaxon--red alert? For the nebula? He was waiting to crash into whatever was waiting for them inside the nebula, but there was no sudden impact, only the sounds of the computers trying to keep up with whatever was happening to them, and a dimming of the lights.
Melville-Kilpatrick: Was that...was that a crash?
It was entirely possible that Khitomer has some advanced airbag system that he knew nothing about, but otherwise, Thomas was confused. What exactly were they dealing with here?
Matthews: Response
Naxell: =/\= Attention all hands, this is the captain. We are, currently, trapped by some unknown force. But we won’t stay that way. Keep your heads, keep working, and we’ll get out of this together. =/\=
Thomas nodded to himself and looked to Lieutenant El'Heem.
El’Heem: Alright. That confirms a few things. If it’s alive, it’s eaten us and we don’t know how much time we have left until it’s digested us. If it’s being controlled by someone, the outcome is just as bad. Matthews, our timeframe just moved up. We need the sensor data isolated into something useful. Melville-Kilpatrick, check atmospherics and ensure the Khitomer is going to hold it’s own and keep us all alive.
Melville-Kilpatrick: ::turning back to the system and pressing quite a few buttons:: Checking atmospherics...
Matthews: Response
El’Heem: Matthews. Now.
Thomas whipped his head around at the sound of the door opening. The Captain had arrived. Hopefully not more bad news, but he couldn't exactly imagine a situation in which this turned out lighter than expected.
El’Heem: Captain.
Melville-Kilpatrick: ::standing:: Captain.
Matthews: Response
Naxell: At ease. ::to E’Heem:: Your assessment, Chief?
Thomas took a seat and looked between the Captain and the Science Officer.
El’Heem: Not much but…we launched a probe to gather preliminary data that our sensors couldn’t gather. The probe was lost on contact with the cloud. ::beat:: it’s not behaving like a cosmological entity. Not a gas or debris field. At least not conventionally.
El’Heem: It’s not homogenous. And it’s not random. We can’t tell you yet what it is, but we’re working on it.
Melville-Kilpatrick: ::glancing at a readout:: Atmospherics...don't look good. I can say that much. I don't think that we can hold out forever.
Matthews: Response
Naxell: As I feared. To understand this cloud, we’re going to need a physical sample, and that means someone’s going to have to go out and get it. ::looking to Matthews:: Are you up to date on your EVA training, Ensign?
EVA training? Sending Matthews out into the nebula? Thomas was silent. He couldn't exactly encourage his fellow ensign here--it sounded dangerous, and from what Thomas had gleaned from earlier conversation, Matthews' experiences hadn't been entirely positive.
Matthews: Response
El’Heem: There’s significant risk, but it hasn’t exactly damaged the ship yet either. I’ll be right there on comms with you and Melville-Kilpatrick will be monitoring your vitals.
Melville-Kilpatrick: I've got that part down, I promise.
Anything to help Matthews feel more at ease. Anything besides, perhaps, volunteering to go out in his place. There were moments in his life where Thomas felt brave. This was not one of them.
Naxell / Matthews: Response
Naxell / Matthews: Response
Thomas assigned himself the task of checking the remote monitoring system on the nearby screen--everything looked fine. Well, fine as anything could be in their scenario.
Melville-Kilpatrick: I should be able to keep track of everything from here.
Naxell / Matthews / El'Heem: Response
Melville-Kilpatrick: Ideally, I'd be able to notice before anything went...too wrong.
He felt bad for speaking it into existence the moment he said it and turned to focus on the screen.
Naxell / Matthews / El'Heem: Response
TAG/TBC
Ensign Thomas Melville-Kilpatrick
Medical Officer
USS Khitomer – NCC62400
K240210TM2
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