Ensign Jino Esot - Storm's a-comin'

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Quentin Beck

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Jan 15, 2026, 11:07:38 PMJan 15

to USS Ronin – StarBase 118 Star Trek PBEM RPG

((Stellar Cartography, Deck 10, USS Ronin))

Out of all the officers in the room, Jino Esot was the least affected by the loss of the Ronin's former Captain and First Officer; true, this was in part because she had shared perhaps two words with each of them before they departed, which weren't really enough to be someone's acquaintance, let alone close enough to grieve their deaths. She was also Cardassian, and she had seen far more death on Cardassia Prime in particular than anyone should have. It allowed her a certain detachment that the others seemed to lack - the buxom Orion, in particular, appeared to be ruled by her emotions.

In reality, though, Jino was simply far too intrigued by the apparent chroniton eddy that seemed to defy the laws of physics as she knew them. While she did her duty, as expected, and began working on parsing the limited data they had, she also turned her attention to the holographic recreation of the storm they were seeing outside the ship, the fascination keeping her on the edge of her seat. There were two different versions - a projected real-time model that calculated the path and speed of the eddy based on the last readings from the probe that had disappeared, as well as a historical model that ran on a loop from the moment the ship's sensors had picked it up until the moment the probe poofed.

The odd thing about the projected model? It looked as if the eddy was on an intercept course with the Ronin.

The thunk of a heavy blade biting into the durasteel bulkhead drew her attention, icy blue eyes focused intently on the Orion as Dekas (who seemed almost… happy? No, that wasn't quite right, though he certainly wasn't grieving the way Solana was) spoke up.

Dekas: I’m curious if the poor bulkhead did something to deserve your ire.

Solana: ::she blinked and looked over at the group:: Huh?

The Aurelian offered a smile and a wave, which amused Jino to no end, as Solana looked entirely perplexed at his reaction. Moving back to the primary console, Esot slid into the seat, gray fingers gracefully gliding over the keys.

T’Fearne: Response

Esot: You're going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep up that pacing, Chief.

Solana: Well if we actually had something to do maybe I wouldn’t be pacing! ::she snapped then immediately looked apologetic:: Sorry, Counselor. I…need something to focus on. A target. Something to make pay for what happened.

Once more, one of the blades flicked into the wall, and Jino held back a grimace. While it might be an Engineer ultimately making the repairs, it was Jino and her fellow Operations officers who had to put in the order - that meant they also had to investigate the damage, determine if anything else was affected, and assign work crews to resolve it. Two inches was a lot when there was potentially sensitive equipment behind the bulkhead.

Dekas: ::looking to the knife, and then back to her:: No apologies necessary, my friend. What’s the point of being a Chief Petty Officer if you can’t actually be petty about it sometimes? Besides… the knife spots give the Ronin character. But I’d suggest focusing on something else lest we give some poor Engineer something to, ah, bitch about later, no? I’m sure they’d just hate fixing up a wall. Although I do think a lot of Engineers truly enjoy the ability to complain. I’d know, I was one once. So I won’t fault you for giving them some environmental enrichment there. But there are other things to focus on right now, I believe?

Jino suddenly despised the Aurelian, as if he had somehow been listening to her thoughts and sought to antagonize. She knew that was quite silly, of course - Aurelians weren't telepathic, so far as she knew, and since she had been raised on Cardassia Prime during the Dominion War, she had also received a certain amount of training to withstand mind probes in general. Plus, he didn't really seem the type.

Esot: The Lieutenant Commander is correct. We have the data packets that Captain Niac transmitted just before the Kurosawa's explosion, as well as a range of sensor readings of the storm itself, both before and after their untimely demise. While none of this is nearly as useful as flight logs, it at least allows us to try to better understand exactly what happened out there.

T’Fearne: Response

Solana: What do you mean we don’t have any logs yet? Haven’t they found the Kurosawa’s black box?

Jino was silent for a moment, looking at Solana impassively before her lips parted slightly with a hiss.

Esot: The odds of the black box surviving a breach of that magnitude are quite minimal. I don't hold out much hope we'll find it, though I have also been combing the logs we currently have to see if the probe we dispatched might have found it before being whisked away.

T’Fearne: Response

Jenta yanked the knife out of the wall then tapped her comm badge angrily.

The Orion yanked the knife from the wall once more before tapping her combadge rather harshly. Such a waste of energy and effort.

Solana: Stellar Cartography to Flight Deck. What the Hell is taking so long with that black box?!

There was only a momentary silence before the response came over the comm.

Singh: =/\= Check that tone, Senior Chief, this is not the time to lose your head. You are not the only one on this ship hurting right now and junior personnel are going to look to your example. ::Ishani took a breath and some of the bite out of her voice.:: Now...let us begin again. =/\=

It was curious, how the Orion's tension could ease simply by speaking with one of her comrades-in-arms. Jino had never had that kind of connection - though she had also never been put in this kind of position, so the point was rather moot.

Solana: =/\= Sorry, Major. I just….need a target. You say you haven’t located it yet? We have the current area displayed with an overlay of the Kurosawa’s final moments. We should be able to use that to extrapolate the most likely position of the black box based on the sensor logs during the explosion. Just like Security forensics. =/\=

Esot bit her tongue. That was, more or less, what she had said she was already doing, but sure, why not let Security take the credit. She took a small amount of solace in the look Solana gave T'Fearne before the Orion finally put the blades away.

Singh: =/\= That is correct. Sensors, both internal and external, are being severely limited by some kind of interference. We have resorted to examining the debris by hand until we find the data recorder and I intend to instruct the recovery runabouts to begin salvaging anything...everything...bigger than a bolt. If we can't trust our instruments we'll have to do this the hard way. We'll find it...=/\=

There was a deep, shaky breath on the line.

Singh: =/\= We will find out what took them from us, Jenta. I promise you that. Till then...do your duty and save your feelings for the Counselors. We have too much work to do. Singh out. =/\=

Dekas: ::to Solana, though it extended also to everyone in the room:: I would suggest waiting until after this to seek out a counselor officially. Though I am here if you need someone colorful enough to look at and put you back in the room with us.

T’Fearne/Solana: Response

Dekas: Esot, you were on the bridge when it happened, yes? Do you have any insight about what we’re looking for, perhaps? And T’Fearne, I imagine you know more about the security forensics. What are your suggestions, there?

Esot eyed him thoughtfully for a moment before turning her attention back to the holograms.

Esot: Unfortunately, the most I can offer is speculation - what you see here is what we have from the bridge. I have one simulation running, trying to track where the black box may have ended up, assuming it didn't remain on the ship after the explosion. Another is continually running through the storm's path, analyzing and re-analyzing every single atom as best we can. What I can tell you is, this thing defies physics. Even when it's just theoretical.

T’Fearne/Solana: Response

She was silent again before looking at T'Fearne, brows lifting.

Esot: There was a particular spike in chronitons as the Kurosawa erupted from the storm. Perhaps looking so close to the explosion is the wrong direction - perhaps we should follow the path back towards the storm? The eddy could have dragged it back toward whatever it is that disrupted our probe.

Dekas: Well, okay.... Let’s start there, then.

Jino studied him for a brief moment, his hesitation evident in his tone, if not in his manner. She offered him as best a reassuring smile as she could… though she may have looked more like a lizard excited about its dinner.

Esot: It's as good a place as any.