CDR Naxell — Big Ask
Naxell
((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Khitomer, at warp))
The ship’s captain nodded. The more eyes they had on this the better, especially from multiple disciplines.
Naxell: Good thinking. Keep forwarding to the conference room, but start sending your scans to Engineering, too.
Korras: I am picking up trace readings of Sencha radiation, originating from the Alliance vessel.
Stros: Confirmed, Captain.
That made sense; they already knew the Lattice Alliance used Sencha weaponry. But there was more valuable information in that scan. There could be faint traces of weaponry used quite a long time before, but at the levels he was seeing over Lt. Commander Stros’s shoulder, it wasn’t that faint.
Naxell: Sencha has a very short half-life, doesn’t it?
C. Dewitt: If that radiation is tied to their weapons, they may have fired their way out.
Korras: I can not tell if the ship has been targeted with it, or if they are the source themselves.
Multiple actors using the same weaponry? Had it been earlier in the war, Naxell might have questioned it. But the thing about war was that if a weapon was working on the battlefield for one side, it would take a great deal of restraint to not to take advantage of it. Perhaps the one saving grace of Sencha weaponry was that it did not seem to grant the Lattice Alliance a decisive advantage. At least, against the Federation—perhaps Starfleet Intelligence had some understanding of the Lattice Alliance’s other fronts.
Stros: I would have to say that it does not appear to have originated from the vessel itself. ::Looking over his readings:: I am seeing more traces of the radiation within the breaches on the vessel’s hull. It would appear they were…
C. Dewitt: Why this one? Why is this ship not inside the cloud?
Naxell: Let’s work our way backwards. Either the ship moved out of the cloud, or the cloud moved away from the ship, or by some other means dissipated.
He did not know what kind of forces could be working on this nebula so rapidly in the vacuum of space. The ship being freed or freeing itself was the most intuitive explanation, but there was not yet an explanation for what held the rest of the Lattice taskforce within the nebula.
Korras: Response
Stros: Mr. Korras. ::Looking towards the Klingon:: You confirmed we were holding 20,000 kilometers from the cloud before we continued moving again, correct?
Naxell: Confirm current distance?
The commanding officer’s orders had been unmistakable that Khitomer was to avoid coming into contact with the cloud until they better understood it and the effect it apparently had on these enemy starships. He trusted Lieutenant Korras to carry the orders out, but it never hurt to verify.
Korras: Response
Stros: And the distance we have travelled since we continued motion?
Korras: Response
The answer caused Commander Naxell to leave the tactical station, and walk to the fore of the Bridge compartment. He did some rough math in his head about the circumferential course that the helmsman should have taken. Closing his eyes to focus on the numbers, he didn’t like what his back-of-the-napkin math was telling him.
Naxell: That’s about seventy-thousand kilometers too many.
Stros: ::Sending the data to the viewscreen:: The cloud appears to be changing its relative position. ::Two points appeared on the screen on a rough overlaid map of the cloud:: We have been focusing on the drifting vessel, and the cloud… ::The right-most point shifted roughly 500 kilometers along their starboard side:: …appears to be attempting to flank us, Captain. Albeit slowly.
Korras: Response
As he sat down in his command chair again, Commander Naxell bristled at the Lt. Commander’s attribution of intent to what was, as yet, still suspected to be a non-sentient force. What was causing the cloud to behave this way? Was it from the ship? The lingering Sencha? Some other factor? He sat back down in his command chair. At the cloud’s rate of spread, they weren’t in any immediate danger, especially with Korras keeping an eye on things.
C. Dewitt: ::nodding:: It’s not a drift. It’s a reacting. ::towards Naxell:: Sir, I suggest we get to a safe distance..
Naxell: We’ll have our backs to Lattice space, but I agree. Lieutenant, maneuver us to keep the derelict between us and that cloud.
Korras / Stros: Response
An alarm rang out. A proximity alert. They had been tracking their distance to the cloud, and the computer had been instructed to mark it as a hazard, and now the computer was telling them that they were dangerously close to the cloud. Either their helmsman was too slow, or the cloud was picking up speed.
C. Dewitt: It’s trying to surround us, Sir.
Naxell: That’s our cue. Get us out of here.
Korras / Stros: Response
Whether drawn to them by some natural, artificial, or directed means, Commander Naxell did not mean to lose his first command on his first assignment. He estimated he would need at least three missions before he could respectably see the ship go down. His internal humor did not help him in the moment, as his knuckles whitened by his grip on the armrest of his command chair. The viewscreen behind the graphical overlay went purple, with the distant pinprick stars blotted from view. Gold flashes lashed out around them and the Denobulan resisted the urge to marvel and wonder at what they all might be.
Naxell: Any direction but in, Mr. Korras, warp one!
Korras / Stros: Response
His first officer stood and stepped into the landing between Commander Naxell and the viewscreen. From that position, he could see a variety of displays and consoles, but he seemed especially focused on the ship’s systems readouts. You can take the man out of Engineering…
C. Dewitt: Power levels are fluctuating.
All around them, lights began to flicker and dim. Naxell inhaled slowly, and blew his frustration out his nostrils. His jaw twisted as he weighed his options. They could tear themselves apart fighting against something they didn’t understand, fighting to the last, or they could think things through.
Naxell: All stop. We’re in the mud. There’s no use wearing ourselves out over it.
C. Dewitt / Stros / Korras / A. Dewitt: Response
He stood and stepped close to his second-in-command. As the ship settled, so did the flickering around them. The lights were dimmer, but at least they weren’t blinking any more. That was a good sign, at least. Stability, albeit on emergency power.
Naxell: I don’t suppose sensors are any more useful from inside the cloud?
C. Dewitt / Stros / Korras / A. Dewitt: Response
He nodded. It was disappointing, but not unexpected. They were blinded and bound. But that didn’t mean they were helpless. Something freed that Lattice Alliance ship, be it the ship’s own doing or the cloud’s receding. All they needed to do was figure out how to replicate that process without breaking themselves upon it. And for that, he’d need to return to his old home: the Science Lab.
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. =/\=
((Brief Timeskip, Turbolift, Descending))
As he left the Bridge, Naxell was already making calls. He needed information on the Bridge, and the best
Naxell: =/\= Naxell to Lieutenant Semara. Report to the Bridge, and give Commander Dewitt everything you’ve got so far. =/\=
Semara / Nicholotti / Zerva: =/\= Response =/\=
Naxell: =/\= Admiral, I think your skills would be welcome in Engineering. We’ll need to keep the ship’s power supply stable and stretch out our reserves as long as we can. Lieutenant Zerva, you and your security team will be needed in Sickbay. Naxell out. =/\=
He might have provided more information, but it wasn’t a very long turbolift ride, and he had other calls to make. Zerva would find out what he needed to know when he got there.
Naxell: =/\= Naxell to Commander Ohnari. We may be stuck for a while at low power, so please have the medical staff prepare.
Ohnari / Michaels / Morda: =/\= Response =/\=
Naxell: =/\= Trips and falls from low-light environments, at first. Life support may get strained, so more serious problems later. Lieutenant Zerva will assist in evacuating ship sections. Colocate as many people and systems as possible, that’ll be less work for the ship to do. Naxell out. =/\=
Another comm line closed, and the doors opened to a corridor on Deck 16. His next conversation needed to be had in person. When someone was being asked to risk their life for the ship, Naxell always felt it was wrong to do it over a comm line, if it could at all be avoided. And that’s how he found himself face to face with a trio of officers in blue. One of whom would be quite literally asked to stick his neck out.
El’Heem / Matthews / Melville-Kilpatrick: Response
Naxell: At ease. ::to E’Heem:: Your assessment, Chief?
El’Heem / Matthews / Melville-Kilpatrick: Response
The commanding officer listened to his science department chief's summary. It wasn't strictly necessary, as most of everything they knew down here had been shared freely with the Bridge. Nothing was a surprise to him, though the fact that they lost contact with the probes the instant they entered the cloud was one of those finer details that hadn't yet made its way to him. All he had known was that they weren’t getting anything out of them.
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?
El’Heem / Matthews / Melville-Kilpatrick: Response
TBC
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Commander Nax-Ellarneii-Tellargo
Commanding Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3