Commander Dal - Fade to Black
Jamie LeBlanc
((USS Rahuba - The Bridge))
Steady as she goes. This time the enemy was the ion eddies and the whims of the Jenatris Cloud.
He hoped.
Ishreth Dal was good at fighting against nature. It was one of the cores of his training as a search and rescue marine. He focused on the facts of the phenomenon, and the reactions. Nature didn’t have emotions or motivations. It simply was and it would always win unless you worked with it rather than against it.
Dal: Ensign, I want you to keep an eye on the weather, including the ion storms. Commander Maxwell, keep an eye out for any objects – or ships – in our vicinity.
Y’zyr straightened up and focused on the piles of data coming through.
Y’zyr: Yes, sir.
Maxwell: ?
DeVeau: It’s unlikely, but better to play it safe.
Dal: Lieutenant Blackwell, full impulse. Take us into the Jenatris cloud.
This was it. He took in a deep, slow breath and steeled himself for whatever lay ahead.
Blackwell: Aye, Commander ::She nodded and moved the ship forward - so far, so good:::
Maxwell: ?
DeVeau: Time to the anomaly?
Blackwell: Ten minutes ::She nodded to DeVeau::
So fast. Then again the fight with Osben only took about ten minutes. A lot could happen in ten minutes.
No. Stop imagining the bridge painted with blood. He closed his eyes and when he reopened them he focused on the anomaly. Better. Stay focused.
DeVeau: On screen. Switch to a spectroscopic view. Let’s see what we can see.
Blackwell: Acknowledged, switching to Spectroscopic view ::She nodded, hitting another part of her console::
Under the spectroscopic view the anomaly was… beautiful. A swirling array of vivid colors that blended into a dazzling light show.
DeVeau: Probes ready for launch and…
Everything read as ready. All systems go. Everything within normal ranges.
And then the entire ship shuddered. As if it was shivering from within.
Ishreth tensed, immediately, looking at tactical sensors, his antennae snapped up to attention.
DeVeau: What just happened?
Blackwell: Uncertain, but it was…it almost seemed the anomaly is responding to our presence in some way ::She kept her voice calm, willing her mind to focus on facts and what was in front of her, not on speculations and fears:: But more data is incoming.
What had he been thinking about nature not having opinions?
Then again they didn’t know the reason for this anomaly. That was the very definition of anomaly.
Dal: Keep position here, and gather the data from the probes as it comes in.
There was no reason right now to not suck in as much data from every source possible.
Maxwell/DeVeau: ?
Blackwell: So far, no, there is not any damage, and systems are stable.
Dal: Check the timing on the noticeable reaction in the Rahuba. Did it directly correlate to the probe launch?
Maxwell/DeVeau: ?
That was important information – was the anomaly reacting to them simply being there or was it reacting to them doing something.
Blackwell:::Addressing her superiors:: Do you want me to raise the shields?
Y’zyr: Shield modifications are online and ready to go, on demand.
Ishreth tensed again.
Command experience told him to raise the shields and protect the ship.
Search and Rescue experience told him that the more you fought against nature, the more you lost. Ice extraction was the gentle art of working with nature to carve a path and retrieve precious lives without being too obtrusive or damaging.
Which to choose? All eyes were on him.
Dal: I’m worried it’s reacting to what we do and if we raise the shields we’ll get a worse reaction.
But on the other hand if it reacted without the shields up, they could take major damage.
Maxwell/DeVeau/Y’zyr/Blackwell: ?
There was a flash on the viewscreen. One of the probes flashed a massive burst of data and then went dark.
Dal: What happened?
Maxwell/DeVeau/Y’zyr/Blackwell: ?
Whatever it was, the probe had started something. A shockwave rumbled from the ion storms surrounding the anomaly, and started to roll towards them in a vicious display of deadly electrical brilliance. Jagged purple bolts of electricity licked out from the oncoming wave.
Ishreth didn’t like this. He felt raising the shields would trigger something far worse. But he couldn’t stand there, dumb, and let the Rahuba be hit by an oncoming threat unprotected.
Dal: Raise shields. Back us off, full impulse.
Maxwell/DeVeau/Y’zyr/Blackwell: ?
Not fast enough. The ion storm fueled shockwave increased in speed, coming ever closer.
Dal: Shields to full! Brace for impact!
Maxwell/DeVeau/Y’zyr/Blackwell: ?
When it hit them – whatever it was that hit them, Ishreth was expecting a horrible crack. A terrible cacophony and the blaring of alarms.
Instead everything went dead silent.
Power went out.
Everything went black.
He felt weightless. Insubstantial. As if he was merely a thought and his body had been stripped away.
In the distance he heard a young girl speaking a language he didn’t understand; and yet despite the language barrier he somehow understood that she was imploring someone or something for help. And other voices answered. The voices rose, full of worry and dread, trying to fix something that was out of reach.
That faded. His mind lingered inward. Dwelling on his own worries, his own failures. His final argument with his Thaven. The fight with Osben. The last mission.
Too dark. Too much silence. Too much time alone with his own thoughts.
~*~
(Timeskip - ??? time later)
The lights powered up with a compliant purr and slowly the systems of the Rahuba came back online as if nothing was wrong.
Except the entire ship had been without life support and gravity. For how long? Seconds? Hours? Not hours, everyone was still breathing. But it was notably cooler on the bridge. Now the crew was strewn about haphazardly in various states of consciousness.
Ishreth stirred, at first wondering where he was. Second feelings his healing lungs labor for breath in the thinner air. Third immediately worrying about his crew.
He stood. Bad idea. He caught himself on the armrest of the command chair and steered his wobbly legs to buckle into a seated position. Smooth recovery.
He looked around.
Dal: Is anyone injured? Please, check in if you can hear me!
Maxwell/DeVeau/Y’zyr/Blackwell: ?
~*~
tags/tbc
~*~
Commander Ishreth Dal
Commanding officer
USS Rahuba
~Julian Beck
E239010ST0