Lt JG Tess Evinrude - Aw Ship, Here We Go Again

[Tess Evinrude]

((Deck 09, Flight Deck Aft, USS Ronin))

Evinrude:  You're telling me we have an active, yacht-shaped portal through time...spitting out debris...and we're sending probes through it? ::He exhaled slowly, feeling some memories of his first mission come flooding back.:: Another day on the Ronin.

Tucker: We need to get a handle on this. I pray to the Koala that they find the damn flight recorder, if we had that it would::crosses fingers:: hopefully help us.

Singh:  Commander, I need an assessment of the risk level to my pilots...there are almost a dozen craft out there right now recovering debris...and I have no idea what it would mean if one of them was exposed to...::she gestured towards the anomaly on screen::...that.  

Before Tucker could respond, one of the runabouts opened a comm channel.

Knight: =/\= Gunny to Major Singh, we’ve got some good news and the bad news. How ya do you want it?

Singh tapped at her combadge and replied, voice strained but level.

Singh: =/\= Good news first, Gunny.  I have more than enough bad in front of me already. =/\=

Knight: =/\= Ah, yes, a desert-first type. Well, we’ve found the black box and the shuttle, the Carl Sagan will bring it within transporter range, and then ya’ll be able to beam it aboard. =/\=

She continued, voice guarded.  

Singh: =/\= Excellent.  What's the rest of it? =/\=

Knight: =/\= And now for the bad news, the Shinano is missing….she was there and then she wasn’t. =/\=

There was no time to celebrate the victory of finding the data recorder. Evinrude's stomach felt like it had been sucker-punched.

oO Not again...what are the odds?! Oo

Ishani's eyes widened, and the wing commander moved quickly, warning the rest of her charges about the danger.

Singh:  =/\= Advise all ships on recovery detail to break from their search grids and maintain a minimum distance of a thousand kilometers from the wreck site.  We're tracking a possible temporal anomaly in the area.  Get them re-tasked immediately then head to the FOC, I'll have next steps by the time I join you. Singh out.  =/\=

When the comm disconnected she turned her attention back towards the waiting Lieutenants.  

Singh:  I cannot imagine the Shinano's disappearance and this anomaly are unrelated.  

Evinrude: ::Gravely.:: I'd say that's a fair assessment, Major. ::His eyes darted towards a flight ops console.:: I see that several ships in the search group have tried to hail, no luck so far. Can we do anything to help from here?

Tess imagined the close-knit flight group, working in adverse conditions out there by the anomaly, and how it must have felt to see one of their own vanish.

Nemes: Response

The commander started to pace. What could be done, really? Time travel was as unpredictable as it was dangerous. Poorly-planned attempts to rescue might result in any number of tragedies. He returned to the screen showing his subroutine plotting away.

Tucker: So, we’re getting the black box, and now we have a runabout missing. Could things get any worse? ::he waved his hands:: Nevermind don’t answer that..

Tess felt the glare from Singh before he spotted it, though the Major kept her tone in check.

Singh:  Let us not invite trouble, Commander...it may be superstition but I am unwilling to encourage the ire of the universe at this time.

Nemes: Look at that data. It really looks like the fragments we beamed aboard here are in some sort of… temporal flux.

Data was actively superimposing itself onto the local scans of the debris while more continued to pour in from the runabouts, and Sybil's diligent continued study of it paid off. She was onto something. They focused on the readings in time to spot a shift in view, from molecular composition to projected age. It was as if the materials themselves were somehow out of sync, like different pieces of runabout from different time periods. No wonder the data had been nonsensical.

Singh:  The Captain may be...odd...but he does not take risks without reason.  If his need was desperate enough to chance traveling through something that could do that to a ship...what could possibly have happened?  What could've driven the two of them to do this?  

Evinrude: ::For a second he was lost in thought, but at the Major's questions, he turned to her.:: They wouldn't have tried it unless it was vital to the survival of our ship, or...even more lives.

Tucker: Response

Sybil fixed Tess with a curious look.

Nemes: ::looking at Tess:: What did you say earlier? A portal through time? ::beat:: To me it looks more like some sort of temporal rift … you know, nothing stable but in constant flux ::she looked at Tess trying to find better words to explain what she meant:: Like an unstable wormhole that has no fixed location – just temporal. ::beat:: Does that make sense?

The lieutenants considered for a moment, gears clearly turning in both of their heads.

Singh:  It does but it raises a larger question...with that level of instability, can we have any hope of determining the point of origin for the Kurosawa?  We need to know when it came from.

Tess' first reaction was to think of this as a job for their science department. But with Kel acting as CO, and Nemes redeployed here to operations, he figured he was better off working with the crew they had right here. They had some great minds, already familiar with the puzzle.

Evinrude: ::He took a breath, and tried to pull away from the micro details to see the forest, not trees.:: Okay, let's think about this. We've lost a probe, and now-- ::He quickly checked his language, not wanting to use "lost" when lives were on the line.:: Now a shuttle has gone through. But we have other probes that made it back, and this wreckage here...there has to be a trend.

They had evidence! Plenty of it. But how to piece it all together?

Tucker: Response

Nemes: Just imagine, debris or a shuttle would go through such a rift, then the different parts would be in temporal flux and some would be older than others. Just like we can see here.

Singh:  The odds of a craft surviving such a...radical transformation are very low.  We need to inform the bridge...if the Shinano can be found the people inside will almost certainly be in distress.

Nemes/Tucker: Response

While they called into the bridge about the missing runabout, Evinrude kept sifting through data. Singh mirrored the subroutine's display on her console, and rapidly seemed to have a breakthrough.

Singh: This isn't...these aren't our Kurosawa.  That's why there's so much temporal flux...we're not looking at the wreckage of a single vessel...it's several.  All at once.  Look at the quantum signatures of these debris fragments...they're all different.  There are two...maybe three different ships here.

Evinrude: I agree with that assessment, sir. We didn't stand a chance, trying to assemble this like a traditional salvage and accident investigation. ::He gestured to a few items highlighted on his screen.:: Explains why we're seeing evidence of multiple failure points. ::Quietly, to himself.:: My god...did Niac and Raga's bodies go through the same transformation?

Nemes/Tucker: Response

Ishani tapped at the computer with shaking hands, offering another silent prayer.  

Singh:  It doesn't match...none of these have the same quantum signature as the decking below it.  Or of any of us.  

Tess' face lit up, his expression half joy and half fretful.

Evinrude: Major! ::Then, to Tucker.:: Commander! They...they're not dead. Ours aren't dead. The flight recorder should hopefully tell us more about the timeline, but we didn't lose the Niac and Raga that we knew. ::He corrected himself.:: That we know.

He stepped a few paces away and slapped at his combadge.

Evinrude: =/\= Evinrude to...science. ::His voice grew a little impatient, but not angrily so.::  To...anyone in Stellar Cartography!

Stellar Cartography (i.e., Solana/Dekas/Esot and/or T'Fearne): Response

((OOC: Not pulling all of the above into this scene! Just opening an opportunity for data share between the teams. Feel free to pick someone in Cartography to respond and add/remove tags as needed.))

Evinrude: =/\= ::At their response, he slowed his breathing, and smoothed his tone.:: Not to rush you, but have you cracked into the flight recorder yet? We may have good news.

Nemes/Tucker/Singh: Response

Stellar Cartography: Response (optional)

Evinrude: =/\= Right, so even though some version of the Ronin has lost their commanding officers, ours could still be out there. Let us know when you unravel the version of the recorder that found us...I hope it helps us find our missing crew. Evinrude out. =/\=

Our missing crew.

He'd meant the Shinano crew as well. Lives were at stake, here. Again. Tess drew in a steadying breath and got back to work on the data they'd amassed.

Nemes/Tucker/Singh: Response

[Tags/TBC]

--

Lieutenant J.G. Tess Evinrude

[he/him]

Operations Officer

USS Ronin

R240111TE1