LtJg Lera Michaels - Hanging by a Thread

[steve...@yahoo.com]

(( Main Engineering, USS Khitomer, Ceram Archipelago ))

Yellow Alert. Gigantic pink nebula putting the moves on Khitomer. Flickering lights. A failed attempt to go to warp speed. How much better could things possibly get? Well there was always the command team. Lera took a deep breath and glanced around Engineering. Only a few of the team had not already started on their assigned power failure scenario tasks. It only took one Vulcan scornful glance to get the others moving.

Michaels: What is happening people? We need answers and we need them the day before yesterday.

Lera turned to the main display and hesitated only a moment. Lacy was already running diagnostics. In any other situation either she or Ginny would have come up with an answer already. Or at least a decent if perhaps slightly half baked theory. She called up the display for the warp drives. She called up the power generation system. Both showed that everything was normal. They were generating power but it was not getting to the systems.

And the ship was not moving. What had the Captain said? "We are, currently, trapped by some unknown force." The most obvious ways of doing that were tractor beam and physical restraint.

Lera called up another screen which, to no surprise whatever, showed no evidence of a tractor beam in use.

oO That leaves physical restraint. How is that possible? We are in deep space with shields up. What would physical restraint be attached to on either end? Oo

Michaels: Lacy. Morda. Tell me you have something more reasonable than Khitomer being tied to an invisible dock with invisible ropes.

Morda/Lacy: Response

Almost unseen Admiral Nicholotti came in and like an experienced hand had kept herself out of the way.

Nicholotti: What's our status?

Michaels: That is uncertain at the moment. We are motionless due to some restraint we have not recognized yet. We are generating normal levels of power but only a small amount of that is getting into the systems that need it despite there being no open switches or relays.

Morda/Lacy: Responses?

Nicholotti: It may be important to set ourselves up to meet whoever resides within the nebula even if we figure out what it's made of. And if the stories are correct, it may be best to put us on equal footing.

Michaels: With all due respect, Admiral... This just gets better and better. Equal footing with an unknown adversary about whom there are "stories" that I am not certain I want to hear with unknown capabilities while dealing with... with this situation.

Morda/Lacy: Responses?

Nicholotti grinned and Lera found herself immediately liking the woman more.

Nicholotti: I mean, we can't run anyways. Maybe we need to look like we meant it, rather than simply playing dead and hoping we can escape.

Michaels: Meant it, Admiral? This is why I am an Engineer and not a tactician.

Morda/Lacy: Responses?

((Brief Time Skip ))

Lera stared at the screen for two long moments. Four flashing red lights were the most promising thing anyone had found so far. Four shield emitters out of service.

Michaels: Mr. Morda. Please confirm that we have two shield emitters that not functioning properly on each of the two main nacelles.

Morda: Response

Michaels: Two factors here. The main nacelles are the rear most portion of the ship. It is also the section with the weakest shield protection.

Morda: Response.

Michaels: The primary function of the shields is to prevent the ship from colliding with matter at near light speed. Even a tiny rock could be devastating at that speed. We do not need shielding if we are going backwards under impulse power.

Morda: Response.

Lera interlaced her fingers and put one knuckle against her teeth. The next step seemed obvious to her but it was the sort of thing command routinely to as being a risky stunt. Certainly she could have sent two of the enlisted folks to check this out. Mr. van der Waals and Miss Sparks were competent. They could check those emitters. They could. But. Lera shook her head.

Michaels: Ginny. You are in charge here.

Lacy: Response

Michaels: No I am not planning on doing something stupid. At least not that stupid. Again. I just want to check out those malfunctioning shield emitters myself. :: beat :: from inside the ship.

Lacy: Response

Michaels: Mr. Morda. You are with me.

((Brief Time Skip - Jeffries Tube 127CC Nacelle One))

The Jeffries tubes in the nacelles were rarely used and were barely wide enough for two people to crawl in side by side. Morda was in the lead. Having him go first was not actually Lera's preference but it was the sort of thing that might keep command from saying she was taking unnecessary risks. Again. As they got within a meter and a half of the last emitters, Lera stopped abruptly and grabbed Morda's shoe to stop him.

Michaels: ::urgently:: Morda. Stop right now. Do not go another centimeter forward.

Morda: Response

Michaels: Tell me what you see.

Morda: Response

Michaels: You do not see the faint pink glow? Perhaps Vulcan eyes and Kerelian eyes are sensitive to different frequency ranges. I see a glow forming two lines from the top of the Jeffries tube to the bottom. I can not see what is in the center of the path. Perhaps it is infra-red radiation from something microscopic. If that presumption is correct, it could be extraordinarily dangerous.

Morda: Response

Michaels: Let me get next to you. I want to try something.

Morda shifted to the left and Lera wriggled up next to him. The pink glow was obvious to her now. There were several of the glowing trails visible leading from the shield emitter mounting to power cables and to the structural members of the ship. Within the glowing path, Lera thought she caught a glimpse of an impossibly thin thread.

Michaels: If this is what I think this is, it could function as the sharpest knife ever made. It could be like a blade just a few molecules wide along its edge.

Morda: Response.

Lera pulled off one of her gloves and holding it by the sleeve of the glove waved it from left to right ever closer to the thread. She held her breath until the glove finally made contact and the fingertips of the glove fell free to the deck below. Another sweep of her hand and the fingers of the glove were sliced off. Her father's phrase came to mind.

Michaels: Like a hot knife cutting through butter.

Morda: Response

Michaels: That is what I thought might happen. Imagine what would have happened to you if you had crawled up to it.

Morda: Response

Michaels: It is an ultrathin cable attached to our power systems siphoning energy away from the ship to... something. Somewhere. And, with a few million similar microscopic cables, strong enough to keep Khitomer from leaving without ripping itself apart. :: beat and a slight smile :: We seem to be caught in a spider's web with extraordinarily strong microscopic filaments. :: beat :: This looks like a job for Science.

Tags/TBC

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LtJg Lera Michaels

Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2