Lt. Cmdr. V'Len Kel - What happens when you assume
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Don K
Jan 15, 2026, 3:21:57 PMJan 15
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((Bridge, Deck 3, USS Ronin))
V'Len looked at the space before the Ronin. The debris drifting around was mystery enough, but even more were the invisible things. A probe was gone, sensors were not reading correctly, and somehow temporal particles were lingering in a small area. Even with his limited physics knowledge V'Len knew enough to know this was all wrong. But from here they could not get answers. The only way to solve the puzzle was to move the ship into the area so they could see the pieces better.
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.
Kessler: Re-directing sensors scans to the anomaly. 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.
The Ronin crept forward and from the console on his chair, V'Len watched the various readings come 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.
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.
Shortrith had returned to observing the earlier transmission from the Kurosawa and now spoke up.
Shortrith: Commander, I'm noticing some discrepancies in the finer details of the injuries, compared to my initial analysis.
V'Len turned his attention toward Shortrith.
Kel: Do tell.
Shortrith: So, you know how it looked like a plasma conduit had exploded on Commander Raga's face?
Kel: ::flinching:: Yes.
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.
The blow out of a plasma conduit was a devastating injury, but it was predictable. Proximity, angle and degree of blow out all factored into the overall injury level. Given what he'd seen V'Len would have expected significant burns, but ones they could have treated had the Kurosawa held together.
Kel: You think they had more in their conduits than standard plasma?
Kessler/O'Connor: Response
V'Len turned back to the readings on his chair and rubbed his chin.
Kel: If they truly traveled through time, perhaps they flooded the Kurosawa's system with chronitons.
Kessler: ::turning to look back at Shortrith and Kel:: Could something have super-charged the conduits?
Renaie shrugged. V'Len realized that at this point any ideas were likely irresponsible speculation.
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.
V'Len sat back, but and stared at the data rolling by. He was not sure how long he'd been looking but he soon found his antennae were burning.
Kel: ::grabbing his antennae:: Ugh. Does anyone else feel that.
Kessler: What do you feel? I am not feeling anything different.
Shortrith: I can feel a slight burning, if that's what you're referring to.
Kel: Something must be getting through to the ship. All stop, full forward shields.
O'Connor: Aye, Full stop.
Renaie stared at the radiation readings quizzically. oO Come on, show something. Oo
Kessler: Nothing on sensors that I can see. ::turning to Shortrith:: Anything on your end Doc?
Shortrith: No, nothing on my end either.
The pain had diminished some, but his antennae still burnt slightly.
Shortrith: That strange burning feeling… That could have had negative impacts if we didn't stop when we did. Good call.
V'Len tried to give Renaie a reassuring look.
Kel: That's why you're here doctor, to pull me out if I lose my mind.
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.
V'Len squinted at the display. Sure enough there was a strange outline that was best fit by the shape of the Captain's yacht. As if the ship had flow through a wall in an almost cartoonish way.
Shortrith: I can see it too. Something's definitely not right.
Kel: That's an understatement doctor.
The comm chimed, interrupting the conversation.
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: =/\= We're having issues up here as well, but I can safely say the space outside this ship is not normal. We've tried recalibrating. =/\=
Tucker: =/\= Well, that’s not good…Okay, we’ll get back to it and give you some answers when we get some. Tucker, out. =/\=
O’Connor: Well, that was weird.
V'Len rubbed the center of his forehead. Every time he thought he'd seen the weirdest the universe had to offer, the universe apparently took it as a challenge.
Kessler: ::to O'Connor:: What about this isn't weird? ::grinning before turning back to Kel and Shortrith:: Doc, earlier you asked if the probe could have passed through the anomaly so I just rechecked those coordinates and passing through it is not likely what happened. Look at this.
V'Len turned his attention to Jack. He was not a scientist or an engineer, but he had a keen mind and a knack for picking up on subtle changes.
Shortrith: ::to themself:: How… ::to Kessler:: Any chance you could elaborate?
O’Connor: Please do. Not sure if I see it.
Kel: Is there something peculiar about that location?
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 probe's last known position:: This is where the probe disappeared. See the void in the sensors? It's much smaller because of the size differential between the probe and the Kurosawa but they are the same.
V'Len cocked his head to one side. There was some kind of aperture there? If so where did it go? Through space time? Into subspace?
Shortrith: So it followed through… What are the chances it would go to when the Kurosawa came from?
There was a brief pause and V'Len considered the implication. It was one thing to sling shot around a star to move through time, but whatever Niac and Raga had attempted was far more complicated and risky. What had happened to make them take such desperate action?
O'Connor: Ok,ok. That could be huge.
V'Len came out of his repose and looked at O'Connor.
Kel: So we have a hole in time that is drawing thins into it?
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.
Shortrith: Sounds like we need to make an educated guess with the knowledge we have, right?
V'Len shrugged his shoulders. It would be an interesting log entry if he got to making it.
O’Connor: Well, I certainly leave that to ya’ll science brains.
Kel: Now then Mr. O'Connor a broad team with varied expertise is always helpful. You're not getting out of this that easily.
Shortrith: What risk would there be if we sent out another probe and watched what happens?
V'Len considered.
O’Connor: I’d say minimal to us at this point.. I’ve got several routes plugged in. We can still fall back easily if something starts, well, for lack of a better term again, “getting weird”
Kel: I think we're well past "getting weird". But I agree the risk to sending another probe is minimal. We just need to make sure we don't lose of it completely this time.
Kessler: Response
Shortrith: That way we'd be able to see what happens when it goes through the temporal anomaly.
V'Len gave Shortrith a nod.
O'Connor: Agreed whole heartedly. What if we also rig a second probe as a temporal anchor. There was something I remember about using gravity wells to trap things in time as well as space. If we can keep the probes linked it should give us a channel to the “whenever.” Downside is that the gravity well will create severe radiation damage to the “our time” probe. It won’t last long.
V'Len nodded.
Kel: If we used a Class IV probe we might have a better shot. It's meant for stellar phenomena so they are pretty robust. We can also program the subprobes to release to release at intervals. We may lose the big probe, but maybe we can recover the small ones.
Kessler: Response
Shortrith: I'd say it's worth a shot, but ::turning to Kel:: the choice is yours, sir.
Kel: Do it. Jack get the probe prepped let me know when it's ready to launch.
Kessler: Response
Ian turned to Kel.
O’Connor: Sir, I’d like permission to prep a shuttle, too. I’m not saying we should go in there…yet. Not without way more data. But I’d like to start adding some modifications in case we want to explore that option after we get more info.
V'Len was trying not to be apoplectic. He was not anxious to put any more of his crew at risk. At the same time it was exactly what Xam Kel would have wanted to do and his reasoning would have been sound, as was Ian's.
Kel: Get started. I hope we don't need it, but it's better to be prepared.
O’Connor: I’m gonna need help for the science team…and Gods help me…I’d like to use Poagie. He pulled a scheme a while back that used chronitons to age some kind of Ferengi barley beetle whiskey. Anyway, he actually has some experience working with chronitons.
It was good to know.
Kel: Check in with Wren, see how those other probes came back. Maybe we can learn something.
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Ian was quickly on his way and Vomek was soon situated behind the helm. V'Len wished he had some clues, but so his teams had only reported the most basic of information. How to get more information.
Kel: Let's pause for a moment. We know the region around where the Kurosawa was is strange, but we've made an assumption there.
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Kel: We assumed that the rest of the Ross-580 system was normal. We hadn't even started our survey when the Kurosawa appeared.
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Kel: We don't think there's anyone else out there, but let's see what is there. How many planets? Asteroid belts? Gas clouds?
V'Len knew that if the baseline of this system was different than what they were observing could be as much about Ross-580 as it was about the Kurosawa. Niac had said, "Ross-580 is the key".
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Tags/TBC
--
V'Len looked at the space before the Ronin. The debris drifting around was mystery enough, but even more were the invisible things. A probe was gone, sensors were not reading correctly, and somehow temporal particles were lingering in a small area. Even with his limited physics knowledge V'Len knew enough to know this was all wrong. But from here they could not get answers. The only way to solve the puzzle was to move the ship into the area so they could see the pieces better.
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.
Kessler: Re-directing sensors scans to the anomaly. 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.
The Ronin crept forward and from the console on his chair, V'Len watched the various readings come 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.
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.
Shortrith had returned to observing the earlier transmission from the Kurosawa and now spoke up.
Shortrith: Commander, I'm noticing some discrepancies in the finer details of the injuries, compared to my initial analysis.
V'Len turned his attention toward Shortrith.
Kel: Do tell.
Shortrith: So, you know how it looked like a plasma conduit had exploded on Commander Raga's face?
Kel: ::flinching:: Yes.
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.
The blow out of a plasma conduit was a devastating injury, but it was predictable. Proximity, angle and degree of blow out all factored into the overall injury level. Given what he'd seen V'Len would have expected significant burns, but ones they could have treated had the Kurosawa held together.
Kel: You think they had more in their conduits than standard plasma?
Kessler/O'Connor: Response
V'Len turned back to the readings on his chair and rubbed his chin.
Kel: If they truly traveled through time, perhaps they flooded the Kurosawa's system with chronitons.
Kessler: ::turning to look back at Shortrith and Kel:: Could something have super-charged the conduits?
Renaie shrugged. V'Len realized that at this point any ideas were likely irresponsible speculation.
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.
V'Len sat back, but and stared at the data rolling by. He was not sure how long he'd been looking but he soon found his antennae were burning.
Kel: ::grabbing his antennae:: Ugh. Does anyone else feel that.
Kessler: What do you feel? I am not feeling anything different.
Shortrith: I can feel a slight burning, if that's what you're referring to.
Kel: Something must be getting through to the ship. All stop, full forward shields.
O'Connor: Aye, Full stop.
Renaie stared at the radiation readings quizzically. oO Come on, show something. Oo
Kessler: Nothing on sensors that I can see. ::turning to Shortrith:: Anything on your end Doc?
Shortrith: No, nothing on my end either.
The pain had diminished some, but his antennae still burnt slightly.
Shortrith: That strange burning feeling… That could have had negative impacts if we didn't stop when we did. Good call.
V'Len tried to give Renaie a reassuring look.
Kel: That's why you're here doctor, to pull me out if I lose my mind.
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.
V'Len squinted at the display. Sure enough there was a strange outline that was best fit by the shape of the Captain's yacht. As if the ship had flow through a wall in an almost cartoonish way.
Shortrith: I can see it too. Something's definitely not right.
Kel: That's an understatement doctor.
The comm chimed, interrupting the conversation.
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: =/\= We're having issues up here as well, but I can safely say the space outside this ship is not normal. We've tried recalibrating. =/\=
Tucker: =/\= Well, that’s not good…Okay, we’ll get back to it and give you some answers when we get some. Tucker, out. =/\=
O’Connor: Well, that was weird.
V'Len rubbed the center of his forehead. Every time he thought he'd seen the weirdest the universe had to offer, the universe apparently took it as a challenge.
Kessler: ::to O'Connor:: What about this isn't weird? ::grinning before turning back to Kel and Shortrith:: Doc, earlier you asked if the probe could have passed through the anomaly so I just rechecked those coordinates and passing through it is not likely what happened. Look at this.
V'Len turned his attention to Jack. He was not a scientist or an engineer, but he had a keen mind and a knack for picking up on subtle changes.
Shortrith: ::to themself:: How… ::to Kessler:: Any chance you could elaborate?
O’Connor: Please do. Not sure if I see it.
Kel: Is there something peculiar about that location?
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 probe's last known position:: This is where the probe disappeared. See the void in the sensors? It's much smaller because of the size differential between the probe and the Kurosawa but they are the same.
V'Len cocked his head to one side. There was some kind of aperture there? If so where did it go? Through space time? Into subspace?
Shortrith: So it followed through… What are the chances it would go to when the Kurosawa came from?
There was a brief pause and V'Len considered the implication. It was one thing to sling shot around a star to move through time, but whatever Niac and Raga had attempted was far more complicated and risky. What had happened to make them take such desperate action?
O'Connor: Ok,ok. That could be huge.
V'Len came out of his repose and looked at O'Connor.
Kel: So we have a hole in time that is drawing thins into it?
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.
Shortrith: Sounds like we need to make an educated guess with the knowledge we have, right?
V'Len shrugged his shoulders. It would be an interesting log entry if he got to making it.
O’Connor: Well, I certainly leave that to ya’ll science brains.
Kel: Now then Mr. O'Connor a broad team with varied expertise is always helpful. You're not getting out of this that easily.
Shortrith: What risk would there be if we sent out another probe and watched what happens?
V'Len considered.
O’Connor: I’d say minimal to us at this point.. I’ve got several routes plugged in. We can still fall back easily if something starts, well, for lack of a better term again, “getting weird”
Kel: I think we're well past "getting weird". But I agree the risk to sending another probe is minimal. We just need to make sure we don't lose of it completely this time.
Kessler: Response
Shortrith: That way we'd be able to see what happens when it goes through the temporal anomaly.
V'Len gave Shortrith a nod.
O'Connor: Agreed whole heartedly. What if we also rig a second probe as a temporal anchor. There was something I remember about using gravity wells to trap things in time as well as space. If we can keep the probes linked it should give us a channel to the “whenever.” Downside is that the gravity well will create severe radiation damage to the “our time” probe. It won’t last long.
V'Len nodded.
Kel: If we used a Class IV probe we might have a better shot. It's meant for stellar phenomena so they are pretty robust. We can also program the subprobes to release to release at intervals. We may lose the big probe, but maybe we can recover the small ones.
Kessler: Response
Shortrith: I'd say it's worth a shot, but ::turning to Kel:: the choice is yours, sir.
Kel: Do it. Jack get the probe prepped let me know when it's ready to launch.
Kessler: Response
Ian turned to Kel.
O’Connor: Sir, I’d like permission to prep a shuttle, too. I’m not saying we should go in there…yet. Not without way more data. But I’d like to start adding some modifications in case we want to explore that option after we get more info.
V'Len was trying not to be apoplectic. He was not anxious to put any more of his crew at risk. At the same time it was exactly what Xam Kel would have wanted to do and his reasoning would have been sound, as was Ian's.
Kel: Get started. I hope we don't need it, but it's better to be prepared.
O’Connor: I’m gonna need help for the science team…and Gods help me…I’d like to use Poagie. He pulled a scheme a while back that used chronitons to age some kind of Ferengi barley beetle whiskey. Anyway, he actually has some experience working with chronitons.
It was good to know.
Kel: Check in with Wren, see how those other probes came back. Maybe we can learn something.
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Ian was quickly on his way and Vomek was soon situated behind the helm. V'Len wished he had some clues, but so his teams had only reported the most basic of information. How to get more information.
Kel: Let's pause for a moment. We know the region around where the Kurosawa was is strange, but we've made an assumption there.
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Kel: We assumed that the rest of the Ross-580 system was normal. We hadn't even started our survey when the Kurosawa appeared.
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Kel: We don't think there's anyone else out there, but let's see what is there. How many planets? Asteroid belts? Gas clouds?
V'Len knew that if the baseline of this system was different than what they were observing could be as much about Ross-580 as it was about the Kurosawa. Niac had said, "Ross-580 is the key".
Kessler/Shortrith: Response
Tags/TBC
Lieutenant Commander V'Len Kel
Acting-Captain
Chief Science Officer/Second Officer
USS Ronin NCC-34523
T239811VK2
He/Him (player/character)
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