Lieutenant Jack Kessler - What about this isn't weird
Joel Cannistraro
((Bridge, Deck 3, USS Ronin))
Initial scans of the space surrounding the destruction of the Captain's yacht had not revealed much and posed more questions than could be answered with a straightforward explanation. Chronitons generally mean they were dealing with some sort of temporal effect. The last time Jack had been exposed to a space-time event he ended up 200 years in the past and that was not something he wanted to repeat. O'Connor had pointed out the obvious to V'Len, to get answers some risk was warranted but Jack still felt confident in his suggestion to keep a safe distance. After all that was his job and as O'Connor offered his advise so would Jack. It did not envy V'Len in this situation. He would have to play it safe or put the ship and crew in potential harms way. Jack knew which direction V'Len would lean. They had been close friends for several years now and Jack knew that his friend would choose to take a little risk rather than back off. He would do the same in this situation despite giving the suggestion to stay on safe ground.
O'Connor: Nice, I don’t think we’ll have any resolution drop off when pulling back now. Orders, Cap?
Jack looked back over his shoulder as V'Len looked at the space before them and wandered around to the command chair.
Kel: Lex n’thas hlashren. ::beat:: The ice won't get any thinner. O.k. Mr. O'Connor, roll out. Everyone keep an eye on things. Lt. Shortrith please keep an eye on the radiation levels. Let us know if we're in any danger.
That was the move he would make as well and that meant the next step was to provide as much valuable intell as he could. Jack started redirecting the tactical sensors in a pattern that would lay out a counter-sweep with the short-range senor pallets. Together, they should be able to provide some overlay on the phenomenon ahead of them.
Kessler: Re-directing sensors scans to the anomoly. Narrow field scan with a counter-sweep from tactical. Should have a better resolution in a moment Commander.
Shortrith: Yes, Sir.
O’Connor: Aye, sir.
O'Connor inched the Ronin forward as Jack poured over the sensos readings coming in. The area was awash with chronitons, but as they'd already noted, something was holding them together. The nature of that force was not readily apparent. And if anything changed he was ready to pull the ship back instantly.
Kel: I'm not reading any unique particles outside of chronitons and the standard planetary system mix of subatomic particles. Whatever's keeping these in place must be a purely energetic feature.
Kessler: Sensors...::beat:: scans are showing multiple levels of chroniton activity.
Jack paused as he studied the scans which were making no sense to him. Despite the better resolution of the scans, his readings were not making sens at all. The chronitons appeared to to dancing in and out of relationship to each other. Jack was about to ask a question when Shortrith, who had returned to observing the earlier transmission from the Kurosawa spoke up. oO Saved by the bell. Oo
Shortrith: Commander, I'm noticing some discrepancies in the finer details of the injuries, compared to my initial analysis.
Kel: V'Len turned his attention toward them. Do tell.
Jack elected to remain silent but listening as he studied the sensor scans.
Shortrith: So, you know how it looked like a plasma conduit had exploded on Commander Raga's face?
Kel: ::flinching:: Yes.
Jack, focused on his data listened to Shortrith as best he could. His attention changed slightly when he noted a slight change in Shortrith's voice. The vocal pattern was off a little and that qued Jack to take note of what was being said.
Shortrith: I'll be blunt, it seems to have left a deeper injury than a third-degree burn, which isn't surprising, but it's concerning.
Kel: You think they had more in their conduits than standard plasma?
Kessler: ::turning to look back at Shortrith and Kel:: Could something have super-charged the conduits?
O’Connor: These readings near where the probe disappeared. It’s as almost if the there is a loop there. Slightly off but almost a repeated pattern.
Jack looked back to O'Connor and then to his own sensor scans. O'Connor was right, there was something there that felt more like a river eddy. The chronitons seemed to be pulled in on themselves. Jack narrowed his scans on that region. oO Interesting. Dangerous but, interesting. Oo
Kel: If they truly traveled through time, perhaps they flooded the Kurosawa's system with chronitons.
O’Connor: Certainly possible and those systems couldn’t handle that for long so may have caused the explosion.
Kessler: ::turning back to Kel:: Very possible. In fact if the Kurosawa was caught in a temporal event that was bending back in on itself as I think this one might be, then that could have introduced an untold amount of chronitons to the ships systems all at once.
Shortith:: Response
Kel: ::grabbing his antennae:: Ugh. Does anyone else feel that.
Jack looked from Kel to O'Connor and then back to Kel and then to Shortrith. He felt nothing and by the look on O'Connors face, he did not either. Jack paused his thought and turned back to his scans of the anomoly ahead of them.
Kessler: What do you feel? I am not feeling anything different.
Shortith: Response
Kel: Something must be getting through to the shop. All stop, full forward shields.
O’Connor: Aye, Full stop.
Sensors showed nothing from an external point that would be affecting the ship. Jack ran the scans again and rechecked the sensor pallets.
Kessler: Nothing on sensors that I can see. ::turning to Shortrith:: Anything on your end Doc?
Shortith: Response
Kel: That's why you're here doctor, to pull me out if I lose my mind.
Something caught O'Connor's attention and Jack spun back around to his console as O'Connor spoke up.
O’Connor: Do you guys see,...welll…not see that?
Kessler: ::a low humf:: The sensor void? About the same size as the Kurosawa? I am seeing that as well on my end. That should not be there if these chronitons are behaving in the normal context that we understand them to be.
Shortith/Kel: Response
Just then the comm chimed
Tucker: =/\= Tucker to Kel, are ya’ll have issue with the sensors? I’m having issues with the internal sensors, not to mention tricorders..=/\=
Kel: =/\= Response =/\=
Tucker: =/\= Well, that’s not good…Okay, we’ll get back to it and give you some answers when we get some. Tucker, out. =/\=
Jack wanted to look over his shoulder and see V'Len's reaction but his eye's were locked onto the void and the field in front of them. Then he remembered Shortrith had asked a question earlier about the probe and if it could have passed through the anomoly. As the coms closed O'Connor spoke up again but this time not to give a report.
O’Connor: Well, that was weird.
Kessler: ::to O'Connor:: What about this isn't weird? ::grinning before turning back to Kel and Shortrith:: Doc, earlier you asked in the probe could have passed through the anomoly so I just rechecked those corrdinates and passing threw it is not likely what happened. Look at this.
Jack turned back to his console and put a narrow scanned window up on the viewscreen, surrounding the area of interest with a tactical box.
Shortith/Kel/O'Connor: Response
Kessler: That is where the Kurosawa entered our space. See the void in the sensors? ::beat, putting up a side-by-side view of the probes last known position:: This is were the probe disappeared. See the void in the senros? It's much smaller because of the size diferential betweent he probe and the Kurosawa but they are the same.
Shortith/Kel/O'Connor: Response
Kessler: Correct, the probe was sucked into the temporal event and left a displacement as it entered just as the Kurosawa left a displacement when it emerged. Based on what I am seeing here, this should not be happening. The computer does not seem to have any record of an event like this.
Shortith/Kel/O'Connor: Response
Jack looked between the three other officers but had no explanation for this. He was not a science officer and although he could read and analize the data as well as the others he would have rather had a dedicated science officer standing over his shoulder. What he did know was that the even ahead of the Ronin was acting like nothing he or the Ronin had ever seen. He was somewhat excited and nervous all at the same time as being angry and frustrated with what had lead them here.
TAGS / TBC