Lt. Cmdr. Alieth - The Road Aflame, Fooling Gravity, You Follow The Light
Alieth
((Stellar Cartography, Science Lab Complex, Decks 10-11, USS Ronin, Outside the J-0922A System))
All the laboratory consoles began to resonate, while in the Holotank the damaged frigate acquired a bright yellow hue that approached white. As she spoke, the petite Vulcan felt the familiar pain in her psionic points. Her eardrums ringed, the tips of her pointed ears grew numb. And, less than a second later, the whole lab rattled.
Alieth: Brace for impact!
The Ronin jolted violently, displays
flickered, and the red light that bathed the lab dimmed slightly as
the Commander braced herself against the railing to avoid being flung
down to the deck below. In the Holotank, the frigate shattered into a
thousand tiny crystalline fragments, still laden with Sencha
Radiation, which scattered over a wide expanse without ever touching
the edge of the cloaking field.
As abruptly as it had
begun, the motion ceased, the light returned to its crimson standard,
and all that was left in evidence of the impact was the Holographic
graphic reflection in the Tank, and a screen on the lower deck that
remained flickering, with a distress sign in the centre of its LCARS.
Engineering reports began to appear on
Alieth's console: a fire alert on both levels that occupied Stellar
Cartography ( thankfully, in the opposite direction to their
position), damage to the shields and EPS conduits, slightly
compromised structural integrity, a couple of non-functional torpedo
tubes..... Before long, reports of injuries began to come in, but
they were few and far between, which made the petite Vulcan suppress
a sigh of relief: they'd already had too many losses on their
previous mission, the Ronin couldn't afford to lose more crewmembers.
With the data reviewed and the status of her team
forwarded to the Bridge, Alieth turned her eyes back to the Holotank.
Alieth: Report!
The frigate had disappeared from the holographic representation, but at some point the familiar silhouette of a New Orleans-class had joined the Ronin: the USS Khitomer had arrived to support them in their endeavour.
Raedai: The explosion has broken the connection with the probes, it has been bigger than expected, trying to recover it.
The Romulan talked without taking his eyes off his screen, rough hands moving swiftly over the red display of the computer. From her position on the upper deck, Alieth observed how his screen played the explosion forwards and backwards, as a myriad of data scrolled swiftly across the sides of the screen.
Lorana: The Ronin took most of the impact, structural integrity is at 65%. Reduced power to our forward scanners, pulling power from redundancies :: to Raedai :: This should help re-establish our link with the probes.
The (literal) lower deckers kept informing each other of the information they were gathering.
Raedai: Regaining control of the probes, repositioning them to re-acquire data from within the subspace field. And trying to compensate for the distortion caused by Sencha radiation.
Lorana: Marking the points with less radiation for the probes.
On the Holotank appeared a patch tracing a trajectory that curved around the debris of the explosion, cyan blue against the black of space.
Alieth: Keep pushing inside the cloaked area, we will take a closer look at that structure.
Meanwhile the big, tubular screen showed the Ronin trying to get into formation with the Khitomer to continue the fight.
Raedai: One question, I don't know all the data from previous encounters against Lattice Alliance ships, have you tried using a temporal shield or a subspace field with a phase discriminator to diminish the effects of Sencha radiation?
An interesting and remarkably apt statement for someone who had had little experience with the LA. In spite of all the dislike she had for him (and his entire species), Alieth couldn't dispute the fact that the Romulan was incredibly cunning.
Lorana: We were able to adapt the shielding of the Rhine :: trying not to break temporal law :: using temporal shielding with help from Lieutenant Tucker, although this is only effective if there is a quantum fissure. Which is an unpredictable side effect of the Sencha Wave that only occurs when it is combined with chronitons - otherwise the temporal shielding is unnecessary. This combination can create a volatile, unstable vortex.
Alieth: However :: interrupted the commander:: the idea has merit, bearing in mind that we can detect the arrival of the Sencha Radiation waves, and that the weapon itself requires a few seconds to load, we should be able to identify the layer of near subspace that it will affect and use that knowledge to deploy an opposing subspace field in order to neutralise it.
The petite Vulcan tilted her head and bit her lower lip slightly, doing the calculation in her head.
Alieth: We would average about 7.63247 seconds to implement it, depending on the distance between de Ronin and the attacker, and the margin of error would be nill, tho.
Raedai: Response
The small group stood in suspense as each of them spoke, brilliant minds trying to fit the pieces of an unsolvable puzzle together.
Lorana: That could work, if we adapt the temporal shielding with a rotating phase variance, linked up to the deflector. The only thing is we’d need to manually input the frequency of the phase discriminator before each impact?
Alieth: That would require a dedicated officer working on it, no doubt.
Which was a problem, as most of the officers on the bridge had their hands full at the moment, and she required every member of her team in the positions they occupied .... unless they split the chosen one's duties between the other two. A situation she would rather avoid for the time being, and a slight note in her voice suggested as much.
Raedai: Response
Lorana: This is all highly theoretical :: there was a chime from the console nearby which drew her attention :: Looks like we’re getting new telemetry from the probes… Oh no, they’ve deployed fighters.
On the holotank, the remaining LA frigate vessels moved into a hexagonal formation, seemingly to protect the listening outpost. Luxa recognised it instantly. A Tholian web, except made via ships. Each of the 6 frigates emitted a beam of light that eventually meant they created the distinctive web. The stern of each of the ship appeared to illuminate.
Lorana: Oh, of course they are … They’re using the web to charge the generators, which means they have a faster recharge rate … not to mention 6 times the energy blast.
The net started to widen and glow an orange hue on the Holotank display, as the craft slowly drifted apart, standing between the listening station and the location from where the Khitomer and the Ronin were approaching. Not only that, but soon after, tiny dots, no bigger than runabouts, began to seep through the gaps in the net, emerging from the cloaked area to steer towards the Ronin's tail.
Alieth: It seems that they are not just loading the generators. :: She shook her head and looked at her minions :: A challenge for the bridge crew, keep focused on the probes and what we can work out to shield the Ronin from new Sencha Waves.
Raedai: Response
The ship rocked as the fighters engaged the Ronin. Once again, all the officers present in Stellar Cartography were forced to hold on to the nearest console, pylon or wall, as the lights flickered dimly and the computer screen that had been damaged in the previous attack shut down for good.
Lorana: :: noticed a section of space and points to it on the holotank :: You see that?
Alieth's myopic eyes narrowed. The slanted eyebrows furrowed.
Alieth: Computer, expand sector 48, from K to M
Raedai: Response
The computer let out a cheerful beep acknowledging the order, before zooming into a section beyond the area where the probes were located. There appeared to be nothing, just empty space. Just .... too empty. In the vicinity was a small cloud of stardust and small asteroids, rocks less than half a meter in diameter, probably Trojans at the Lagrange point of a planet out of the frame. The caveat was that the cloud was cut off unnaturally, one that could only indicate another cloaked section beyond the boundary of the first one.
Lorana: Why would they cloak this grid?
Alieth: Maybe because the first one is a decoy.
A prospect that troubled her.
Raedai: Response
Alieth: We need to send probes to survey that area, can you divide the ones you have in the primary search field, Lieutenant Raedai? Do we have others on standby?
Lorana/Raedai: Response
Alieth: Do it sirs
Lorana/Raedai: Response
While the officers worked, Alieth sent a warning message to the bridge, addressed primarily to the Captain, with a small star map outlining the second cloaked area and the likelihood that their trap had run into a second, larger one. Just as she finished doing so, one of the probes got close enough to the second cloaked area to outline its boundaries. Whatever was there concealed an area half as large as the first, and as the probe approached, its sensor feedback began to appear profoundly distorted.
Alieth: I detect an irregular SR fluctuation coming from the second field. The pattern covers areas of the spectrum we have not encountered before. Miss Lorana, compare it to what we found in Olindra super structures and in Grus Beta 3 vessels. Lieutenant Raedai, attempt to enter the field with one of the probes, but exercise extreme caution, I suspect it will be disabled on the threshold.
They probably only had a few seconds of scanning time in the field, so they had to do everything possible to make the most of the short time they had to obtain as much information as possible.
Lorana/Raedai: Response
The tension in the lab could be cut with a knife, as suddenly the door to the upper deck opened, almost eliciting a small flinch from the petite Vulcan. Fortunately, she was able to suppress it in time, and just turned swiftly toward the door, her face stern and her eyebrows deeply furrowed.
Under the lintel was a young blonde woman, her temples spotted with particular markings that indicated her Trill ancestry.
Syrex: ::Holding hypo spray with purpose:: Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time for your inoculations.
Lorana/Raedai: Response
The commander had to suppress a sigh, but noted in her mental agenda to point out to the newest acting CMO that his gift for bad timing was unwelcome during red alerts.
Alieth: Proceed ensign, but be quick.
Their work depended on seconds, and any delay in relaying critical information to the bridge could prove fatal.
Syrex: Lt Commander Alieth, as you are more susceptible, you should go first.
Alieth: Proceed
Lorana/Raedai/Syrex: Response
[TAGS/TBC]
Lieutenant Commander Alieth
Chief Science Officer & 2O
E239702A10
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