Ensign Delphina Wren- Y'all mind if I disappear for a sec?
Grace McDermott
((Deck 14, Main Engineering, Warp Core, USS Ronin))
Delphina stared at the warp core console, eyes aching a little from the electric blue halo that burned nearby. It was actually the first time she’d had a real opportunity to admire this part of the ship, but as much as she wanted to do some flirting with the engine, she knew now was not the time. They were starting to experience brief brown-outs that left the crew feeling uneasy, and some of that uneasiness had started to bleed into the edges of Delphina’s mind as well as they approached whatever it was they were approaching.
She looked at the readings for the main flows of energy, tracing them like veins along the interior of the ship.
Morgan: So, how do we want to tackle this, Ensign?
Wren: We can’t be expected to redirect energy from weapons and shielding, but I was thinking that if we can evacuate non-essential decks and storage spaces, we can take power dedicated to life support, lighting, and artificial gravity in those areas and redirect it here. Nothing essential of course, but it’s a huge ship, there should be enough to spare if we need to push the engines more. As for preventing a blowout, I was thinking-
Delphina stopped abruptly as the lights suddenly went out. At first there was silence that seemed to last far longer than it was supposed to, before she distantly heard a low, stuttering hum. She was briefly reminded of hearing a shuttle with a very old engine try to turn on, and struggling to do so until it finally died, and she bit her lip, looking anxiously in Morgan’s general direction. Then, after a few moments the clicking stopped, and, almost reluctantly, the lights came back on. Overall, it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it had felt like an eternity.
Morgan: Well (beat) that’s not helpful. The backups took most likely two seconds longer than it should have to come on at the loss of main power. It’s supposed to be seamless.
Wren: Maybe it’s the computer system? I’ve seen system lags like that before when there’s a huge influx of power, and it takes time for everything to catch up. Maybe we could shut down non-essential systems for a little bit, at least until this is over. oO Sorry holo-deck aficionados, you’ll have to go without for a while. Oo
Morgan: You’re right, let's start there and see where it leads us. Hopefully, the bridge can explain what’s going on.
Wren: I’m shutting down non-essentials right now, re-routing power from the empty decks. Now, as for preventing a blowout, what if we create a new circuit for the energy to travel through? We can’t pull a new warp coil out of a hat, but we can borrow the other warp coils we aren’t currently using. The shuttles have warp coils, and, of course, we can’t expect one of them to manage the energy bandwidth we might need, but if we plug in maybe….. three of the Volgas? We can essentially jerry-rig a new warp coil to take some of the heat off of our nacelles?
Morgan: Response
Wren: Well, I’ve never connected a shuttle system to a ship system before, but I know it’s possible. Six years ago the USS Beryl did something similar when they lost auxiliary power. They were able to extend their life support functions for an additional two hours by draining their escape pods and shuttles. I can look up notes on how they did it, and-
Delphina stopped existing. That was the only way she could think of to describe it, the only way she could even comprehend what was happening to her. One moment she’d been talking, the next she was completely surrounded by darkness and silence. She couldn’t feel anything, she couldn’t see, there was no sound. Not even the sound of her own organs. It had never occurred to her before that she was always aware of her heartbeat in some way, but now there was just…nothingness.
She couldn’t feel. There was a lightning bolt of fear that was going through her newly empty mind, but she didn’t feel it either, not really. It was more like a general sense that she was experiencing fear, an awareness that fear was occurring, but wherever it was occurring, it was somewhere completely disconnected from wherever she’d gone.
And the voices were….quiet. No errant thoughts, no flickers of emotion to light her way in the dark, just….silence. Numbness. Nothingness.
If she were capable of thinking, she would have wondered if she’d died. If something had gone wrong with the engine while she was standing next to it, and this was simply the nothing that came after death. It was…. Well she couldn’t really think of whether it was pleasant or not, because something was blocking her from thinking.
That’s what it was. Not nothingness, a blockage. Slowly, lights flickered in and out, and a hazy image appeared in front of Delphina, swimming to the surface in the dark. It was….. Herself. Sitting comfortably in a large chair with her legs tucked under her and, inexplicably, a wine glass full of stars.
The representation of Delphina’s ability to rationalize things she doesn’t fully understand: ::calmly:: Hey. Give it a second, your brain blew a fuse, you’re coming back now.
Then her eyes flew open and she let out a shaky breath as all her senses turned back on. She was back aboard the Ronin, her head was pounding, and barely a second seemed to have passed. Pivoting unsteadily on her heel, Delphina stumbled to the nearest receptacle and puked into it.
Morgan: Response
Wren: ::groaning and sliding partially to the floor:: What the hell just happened??
Morgan: Response
Her head felt like it was going to burst, and she leaned it against the cool metal, listening to Morgan speak. oO Calm down. Calm down. Everything is exactly where it should be again. You’re fine. Listen, you can barely think above all this racket, it all came back, you’re not dead! You didn’t die! You wouldn’t feel this hungover if you were dead! Oo
Wren: ::still a little panicky:: I am so sorry, Morgan…. I just… I don’t know what just happened?!
Morgan: Response
TAGS/TBC