Fwd: Lieutenant Jack Kessler - The things we seek out
Joel Cannistraro
((Bridge, Deck 3, USS Ronin, Nearly Three Hours Later))
Seated at his usual station, Jack felt somewhat torn internally. He and Lieutenant Venn had been summoned to the bridge as the Ronin was nearing the last known location of their target. In a situation like this, there was no other place Jack would want to be than on the bridge were he could guide the defense of the Ronin should it be needed. At the same time, his Security teams had not entirely finished their analysis and plans for protecting the ship by the time he and Venn had been called to the bridge. As Jack worked the ships tactical sensors and focused on the region of space ahead of them he had to put the final prep of the ships security in the hands of his newly appointed Assistant Chief and the officers he had hand picked to aid her. A slight smile creased his lips as he knew he had nothing to worry about and that the Ronin's security was in extremely capable hands.
Niac: Mr. Raga, once we drop out of warp I want you to relieve Lt. Nicolau at the helm before she falls over. I think she has done her bit to get us close, you can bring us the rest of the way in. Mr. Kel, start gathering what data you can from our passive sensor systems...no active scans until we're reasonably certain it won't provoke a response from the creature. Mr. Kessler...bring the ship to yellow alert but I want our shields and tactical systems powered down until I say so...I don't want to incite the response we're trying to avoid. Understood?
Raga: Yes, Captain.
Kessler: Yellow Alert, Shields and weapons offline. Aye Captain.
Jack keyed in the Yellow Alert which would sound throughout the ship and kept the shields and weapons offline but he had his emergency activation protocols pulled up and ready. This allowed him to shave a few precious seconds off getting shields up if it became necessary.
Kel: response
Niac: Assuming we can make a successful close approach, I'm going to be looking for insights from the both of you...ideal places to scan, things to avoid, possible spots to send away teams if we get that far. If you've got anything else to tell us about this thing before we're up close and personal with it, now's the time.
Venn/Velis: Response
As the ship dropped out of warp a moment later and the viewscreen then shifted to a sight unlike anything he’d expected to see. Jack could hear Raga or maybe Niac as one of them slowly slowly rose from their chair. Jack did not look back to see who it was, his eyes darted from the view screen to his sensors and back to the view screen. Blue-white pulses of energy washed across an endless surface filled the viewscreen with a spectacular light.
Niac: By the Koala....reduce magnification, I want to see the whole thing.
Nicolau: Sir...we're at minimum magnification. It's...it's just that big.
Raga: By the Branch. Does anyone want to clarify precisely how big this thing is?
Jack trained the weapons optical scanners on the object ahead. Unlike the sensor pallets, the optical targeting system was an extremely advanced, highly sensitive telescope. No sensor pallet data waves to get distorted. It would see what the eye would see if you were standing in a view port. It's range was limited but Jack had found the optical scanners invaluable on many other missions when sensors did not always work as expected.
Kessler: Using the optical scanner now Captain. ::beat:: Based on distance, assuming we can rely on the sensors for an accurate distance, this thing is...::double beat:: sir that thing is 2.2 kilometers in length.
Jack finally turned his head to see the command team on their feet and standing next to each other. He then glanced to V'Len and then back to his console as he tried to get a better visual for the team.
Kel/Venn/Velis: Response
Niac: Well done Lieutenant, you got us here in time. Mr. Raga....steady as she goes...try to bring us on a parallel course to our...friend out there. Has there been any indication the creature is reacting to our presence?
Raga: Aye, sir. There’s a lot of navigational interference. I’ll try not to ruin Miss Nicolau’s good work. Setting a parallel course. As to whether or not it’s registered us, I have no idea.
To Jack's trained eye, this thing had not even flinched at their arrival. Maybe they were too small or not interesting enough for whatever this was to care. He hoped the others might have more detailed information than what he was getting from the Optical scanners. The sensor grip seemed heavily disrupted by whatever energy the creature was naturally radiating.
Kessler: From what I can see, it does not appear to know or care that we are here.
Kel/Venn/Velis: Response
Niac: What's causing that? Is it the creature?
Raga: I don’t know if it’s specifically the creature or a byproduct of however in the winds it’s moving. But there are gravitational and energy eddies rippling out from that thing. I’m having to make minor adjustments on the fly. The pattern seems to be consistent from what I can see, at least they don’t seem to be random.
Kessler: Sir, I recommend we back off a bit. At least out of whatever this energy wake is. It's disrupting sensors even more as we get closer.
Kel/Venn/Velis: Response
Niac: Very well...Mr. Kel...begin active scanning...start with the low power bands...if our friend out there takes offense abort and we'll fall back. Ready on the helm Mr. Raga. Mr. Kessler...if you assess a threat I want those shields up as fast as possible. Lieutenants...you came all this way to see this...hope you're getting a good view because this is...unprecedented.
Jack's eyes dropped to the left of his console and the emergency protocols he left activated. The shield generators were on standby and ready at a moment's notice. At least the creature's biological energy output was not affecting those systems at this range.
Raga: Aye, sir. Course steady as we can be along a parallel heading. I recommend we have the external feed put up throughout the ship so everyone can get a look. The more eyes we have on this the better.
Kessler: Aye sir.
Kel/Venn/Velis/Niac: Response
Raga: We’re holding steady at five hundred thousand kilometers from the entity. As for getting a full view of this thing, we could use a class 2 probe. ::he turned in the seat to look at Karrod:: We could have the flight deck crew push it out the aft flight deck and activate it remotely once it’s clear from us and the entity.
Jack listened to the first officer's recommendation and raised his brow at the idea. It took him a moment to figure out that the Commander was trying to minimize the probes launch and he was somewhat irritated at himself for not thinking about that himself. It made perfect sense and honestly, for Jack it was a better idea than the one he was about to propose.
oO Shelve that for later. Oo
Kessler: I can have a Class 2 probe ready and transported to the flight deck in just a few minutes, Captain.
Kel/Venn/Velis/Niac: Response
Kessler: Aye sir
Once again Jack's hands danced across his console, summoning the class 2 probe rapid fabrication and then waiting for the ready signal. It would be simple enough to transport to the flight deck from there and the flight deck crew could take over.
Kel/Venn/Velis/Niac/Raga: Response
Kessler: Probe ready Captain. Transporting it to the forward flight deck now.
Kel/Venn/Velis/Niac/Raga: Response
Watching the tactical scans, he saw nothing in the region that posed a threat to the Ronin and turned his attention back to the creature. Even the blurred image was an incredible sight to see. Given the assumption that this was not created by the Consortium, and that it was a biological lifeform from deep space, the sheer size at 2.2 kilometers was mind blowing. Something in Jack's mind started screaming, 'get in a EV suit and take pics from the nose of the ship', and he grinned at the idea.
Kessler: ::in a lower voice:: Did you ever think you'd see anything this large out here?
The question came out before he even realized he said it aloud. The size and discovery was astonishing to Jack and the excitement at what they were looking at was starting to bubble up in his chest.
Kel/Venn/Velis/Niac/Raga: Response
[tags/tbc]