Lt. JG T’Fearne - Massive Stick of Dynamite
Teayl Thorn
(OOC: As I can’t find any reference for the level of tech and its use regarding the self-repairing EVA suits and internal medical support previously mentioned, I’m just simming that T’Fearne grabbed a standard or older model EVA suit until further notice. Still love the idea Don.))
((Engineering, Deck 04, USS Compass Rose))She drew in a carefully controlled breath as she suddenly thought of the Oberth schematics, the massive deuterium tanks sitting heavily on top of the magazine bay.
oO What were the ship designers thinking! Were they trying to design a spacefaring stick of dynamite? Oo
T'Fearne: We don’t have time. The power source is going critical! Can you re-route power to structural integrity or get a lock on that torpedo and beam it out of the magazine bay?
Roop: =/\= Luster! Lock transporter onto the torpedo I’m currently scanning and beam it fifty kilometers to our stern! Pronto! Away Team Members! Brace yourselves! We’ve got a torpedo gone hot as a time bomb in the Rose’s torpedo bay! =^=
Luster Computer: ::calmly:: Confirm. Transport initiated
Kel: =/\= Everyone hold on to something! =/\=
T’Fearne’s breath caught in her throat as she dropped low, boots mag-locked to the deck.
Nakada: Transport complete. DROP DROP DROP!
Across the bay, Roop covered his helmet with his arms. Nakada tangled himself in a web of console cabling. Kel hurled himself onto the ladder and held fast.
For a heartbeat, nothing.
Then the ship lurched, vibrating in a violent shudder. Tools, conduit, and scorched fragments became shrapnel in a storm. And then, as suddenly as it began, everything fell still.
Kel: ::looking at Roop:: Nicely done, Ensign.
Roop: You as well, Sir. ::picking himself up from the floor and offering a hand to Nakada, climbing out from under the console:: Discovering the bio-based nature of the pathogen may help save the Rose crew.
T’Fearne hissed softly, pressing her helmet where her temple throbbed. Her headache had returned with all the subtlety of a Vulcan ceremony gong.
T'Fearne: What the Great Fire was that? :: De-maging boots and dusting off from a crouch :: Did the Luster’s transporters just drop that torpedo barely outside the shield bubble? If it had gone off fifty kilometres, we wouldn’t have felt it at all. That was far too close.
Relief flooded her as scans confirmed the Ronin was intact. Around her, Roop was already sweeping them with his triPADD, Nakada fought free of the tangled console, and V’Len stood hands on hips, jaw tight.
Kel: Is everyone ok?
Nakada: I’m fine, :: surveying suit :: suit seems intact.
Roop: Our own Hazard suits have nannites to repair small tears in moments. ::motioning the triPADD towards Keneth:: It would have been unlikely for the Rose pathogen to previously enter Mister Nakada’s suit.
T'Fearne: :: dryly to Kel :: I’ll live. :: to Roop :: Fascinating. I couldn’t tell you what model I grabbed when we were suiting up. That sounds like something that would still be in RND.
She tried to bring up her suit's specs or look at its model designation, but some of the EVA suits' systems were down. They had just been through two massive explosions.
oO Not sure if mine is working or not. Oo
Roop: When connected to the shuttle or an airlock EVA suit port, our suits also have anabolic protoplasmers, internal dermal regenerators, and ::looking to T’Fearne:: more nannites for field-medic treatment of our wounds. Together, these nannites repaired Mister Nakad’s suit as well as helped the injured Lieutenant’s T’Fearne and Syrex get back into action after a brief rest at the Luster.
Wincing faintly at the idea of nanites. The thought didn’t sit well with the security officer, especially now, even if it would have been helpful for her headache at least.
Kel: Nakada and Roop if you can link in the Luster's controls to the Rose, do it. We need to track down this black tear as soon as possible.
Roop: The Ronin’s bridge codes already grant them whatever remote controls we could have, Sir. ::looking back at V’Len:: Your conversations seem to be suggesting the Rose pathogen contains an organic version of nannites, and that they possibly came from a Bajoran device called the ‘Black Tear.’ I’ve little knowledge of Bajoran culture. Can you elaborate on what a ‘Black Tear’ might look or scan like?
T’Fearne aborted a head shake before her pounding skull made her regret it.
T’Fearne: I think we will know it when we see it, ensign. We also have not confirmed it's aboard this ship or if it is on the freighter they previously encountered. :: She paused for a moment :: Another pressing concern I have is that torpedo, which was no automated fault. It required weapons or armoury specialised knowledge to arm it manually and set one off like that. :: grimly :: I registered one, maybe two human or human-variant lifesigns in the magazine bay just before it went active.
Her tricorder gave a new warning trill. She frowned.
A metal bar had lodged in the lower quadrant of the engineering computer core housing. Blue lights flickered across the system, pulsing like electronic blood to a wound.
Nakada: :: pensively, staring at the computer :: That pattern, it’s not noise, what’s it doing?
The engineer frantically scanned the core. T’Fearne was tracking another lifesign/s in the magazine bay.
Nakada: :: alarmed :: Someone’s arming the rest of the torpedos!
Her head snapped up, and she stared at Nakada as cold fear froze her…just for a moment.
oO That’s not even possible! Oo
Nakada’s phaser was in his hand before she could stop him, eyes wild.
Nakada: Get away from the core!
Her mouth opened, the shout of “NO!” caught, too late. His phaser spat a searing orange beam. The core screamed, then vaporised in a blaze of molten circuitry, leaving a charred silence. Then the lights flickered out.
Darkness.
T’Fearne sighed inwardly. Another human impulse. Another "phaser the problem" solution. Nakada had pulled and Ian move, and all she could do was wait to see if they all blew up.
oO Humans! Oo
Her mind betrayed her with a flash of one particular human she liked too much. Those green eyes! The way they solved problems decisively could be admirable, but still, this had been impulsive and risky.
Roop: ::turning to Keneth:: I’m beginning to think there’s two viruses, one in the crew and one in the computer.
Kessler: =/\= Kessler to Commander Kel and the Ronin. My EV suit has been compromised. I am exposed to the Rose's atmosphere. I have set my tricorder on continuous biological scans of myself. You should be able to tap into it and monitor any changes. =/\=
Her jaw ached at the news. Her very new boss was likely compromised, and now she would have doubts about any order he gave her.
Kel / Ronin/ Any: =/\= Response =/\=
T’Fearne: =/\= Understood, Chief. =/\=
Her mind snapped back to the situation at hand. She would protect her team and keep them safe while the engineers and the scientists figured out a way to help Jack and the other infected. Right now, that meant keeping the Rose from blowing up.
T’Fearne: That shouldn’t have been possible! Torpedoes cannot just be armed in the racks, it’s a built-in safeguard. I’m not sure vaporising the core has stopped the danger either, just paused their ability to detonate them remotely. :: Checking tricorder scans :: They are still activated.
Her tricorder painted the magazine bay in firefly-bright signatures. Active and just waiting for a detonation code.
Nakada: :: lighting a flashlight :: They can’t use the computer against us if the computer is gone. :: to Roop :: Ensign, are you ready to transfer control to the Luster?
She thought that was good as he shone a light on the transfer box. Someone could set the weapons off manually, but at least Nakada had made it so no one could send the detonation codes through the compromised computer system
Roop: The Luster had no connections to the Rose; it was comm connected to the Ronin and us. Now there is no longer a Rose computer to control. The Luster is not hardwired to any Rose system yet, so we’ll have to set up every Rose subsystem RF subprocessor individually to look to the Luster for instructions. This is going to take a while, and the Luster won’t be enough to handle every Rose system. I suggest we start with Life Support.
T’Fearne: We are in incalculable danger right now, and so is Ronin. Not from any Rombuses or nanites, but from imminent internal explosion. Those torpedoes are active right now. If even one detonates, the rest chain-react, and with the deuterium tanks above… the Rose implodes. And if Ronin is within the shield bubble, she goes with it. I’m not saying that Life Support in less important, but we need to neutralise this threat.
Kel: Response
Nakada: :: to Kel :: Commander, we’ll have full control once we reconnect to the Luster. All the command codes will transfer to Ronin officers as well.
Roop: Battery backup will keep gravity, SIF, and IDS systems running for approximately five hours. At this power level, we need to inform the Ronin they have to slow to half impulse and take easy gradients into turns, or we’ll be tossed about like a circus ride. ::his face going quite serious with the warning:: Or worse. ::reading his triPADD scans:: The emergency fusion generators seem to be coming online, so we haven’t lost deuterium flow to the impulse reactors yet. We’ll lose the Impulse reactors once the emergency gens run out of charge.
She caught the sound of Roops' deep breath as he looked at them in turn. As dire as the weapons situation was, she needed to listen to what the engineers were saying. If the ships didn’t blow up, then they would still need life-support systems.
Roop: Permission to head to Life Support and reprogram the subsystem controls to look to Luster, Sir. The Ronin bridge could still use the Luster's comm link to control the systems we link up.
T’Fearne: Sir, I strongly advise against using the Luster or its computer anymore, at least until someone checks it over for any issues. That transporter ‘miscalculation’ nearly killed us. If there’s a virus loose in the Roses' systems, it might already have spread to the Luster.
Kel/Nakada/Roop: Response
T’Fearne: We need a new shuttle, not one that is compromised or suspect.
She closed her eyes for a moment, just resting them and recalled that the Akira class had at least two additional T9 shuttles in her bays, the Oliphant and the Brik…the Berzerk? Something else.
T’Fearne: Have Ronin auto-pilot the Oliphant over, I think it may be even older than the Luster, probably more compatible with the Oberth class systems. And either I or Kessler, or Decon have to go to the Torpedo bay. Someone with ordinance handling training has to manually deactivate these. Or we beam them a safe distance away now…or detach the outrigger…leave the Roses’ weapons and most of its fuel storage behind…
She gestured below, to the outrigger, its curved hold full of activated, deadly, explosive torpedoes.
Kel/Nakada/Roop: Response
She braced herself, hand brushing the phaser on her hip for self-reassurance.
T’Fearne: It’s your call, Commander. But unless we can come up with an alternative to how to get rid of them, I’ll volunteer to go.
If Roop needed backup, then she would provide that also. Time was of the essence, and the ship seemed to be falling apart quicker than they could patch the holes. She would go where she was needed.
Kel/Nakada/Roop: Response
[Tags / TBC]
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Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14