Lieutenant Nera Ay - Meet Me in the Mayhem
Jonathan
((Simulated Bridge, Holosuite 3, Deck 5, USS Thor))
With one obstacle overcome, the crew had set a trap to lure the creators of the aggressive jamming devices in. Fabricated telemetry of the Thor in dire straits, with some clever rerouting of power and sensor ghosts to complete the image.
And wouldn’t you know, someone had taken the bait!
A tense few minutes passed as the spikey thing hovered in front of the ship, moving up and down, like it was taking a good long look, before it moved back into the field. Then his console pinged again, another read on the sensors, this time, something a little more substantial.
Nera: Another hit on the sensors. Engines, and a ship to go along with it. Moving towards us, slowly. I’m having trouble identifying the class, though it’s definitely smaller than us. Looks like someone’s taken the bait.
Once again, the simulation had decided to ramp things up, though Ay’s love of a mystery made him decidedly curious to see exactly who had cobbled these devices together.
Herrick: Analysis underway… transponder corresponds to… ::reading all the different prefixes:: Klingon, Andorian, Federation, Ferengi…? And 20-some others.
Ral: That explains the multiple programming elements. Another deception!
The answer was, it seemed, someone equally as cobbled together as the field of devices.
Caras: Sometimes I find it best to fight security through obscurity, with simplicity. I wouldn’t say it cuts through, but it’s more like a pebble in a stream. See if we can get some kind of visual, but don’t compromise our ruse, degrade the signal even if it obscures the view a bit.
Herrick: Throwing the image of the ship on screen.
Peering at the view screen, Ay was treated to a ship smaller than the Thor, that looked more like a child had mashed random parts together than a planned engineering project. Yet, the mismatch of parts seemed to fly rather elegantly towards them.
Mishapen in shape, but not in function.
Ral: From the power signature it looks like they have plenty of power to fight. Without active scans though it’s difficult to tell. Should we fire up the sensors now we’ve drawn them out?
More information was always useful. They’d need to be careful, though; a few subtle scans to get a slightly closer look at their mysterious new visitor.
Caras: Shadows be damned. Fire up the sensors but scan slowly. Also do the scan manually, make them think we’re on our last legs.
That was exactly the response Ay had been hoping for. Keying in a few commands on the console, Ay brought the sensors online, focusing them on the ship, exactly as Morro had said. Slow and manual, keep the ruse alive.
Nera: Sensors on and locked to the ship. Tactical, what are your thoughts?
Most of the data was somewhat beyond his own expertise.
Herrick: Scans indicate… we’re evenly matched. A firefight is going to be hurting on both sides.
So very capable, despite its appearance. Perhaps that was part of the idea. Make a ship that looked like a Pakled’s failed experiment, but with power equal to a freshly refitted Vesta class. Deceptive indeed.
Ral: Is this some sort of Kobayashi Maru test?
The look that Morro shot in Josh’s direction seemed decidedly unfriendly. Did it matter if it was a no-win situation? It was a test, designed to establish how officers reacted. Realistically, not every situation would have a superb outcome, a fact Ay had had to come to terms with quickly in his own career.
Caras: We… just gotta play it out to the best of our ability. Let them scan, if our ruse keeps up, they’ll think we’re injured and in disarray. If they try to board. We’ve got that force field trap for them set by security. We’ll catch them as soon as they transport onto the Thor.
And just like that, they settled back into their roles once more.
The idea they’d cooked up was quite ingenious; forcefields set to automatically materialise around any would-be invaders.
Nera: All of our safety measures are set, and from an outside perspective, the Thor will look like it's on its last legs ::frowning:: Looks like they’re powering up their own sensors. Just sit tight, don’t do anything odd.
Needless advice, they all knew it, but Ay felt a little better saying it. So he sat and watched as a wave of blue light began to pass through the bridge, starting at the very tip and moving painfully slowly. Until it stopped, about halfway through the bridge.
He cocked his head to one side, waiting a few seconds, then looked towards the rest of the flesh and blood members of the team, feeling decidedly confused. Usually, scans didn’t just stop.
The Scan was incoming. A blue wave of light washed over the bridge… then stopped. Frozen.
Herrick: I’ve got nothing here.
Ral: My panel is unresponsive. Did the simulation just pause?
Trying his own console, Ay came up with much the same. No response whatsoever. And now he was really focused on it; there were no sounds from any of the holographic crewmen. No movement either.
All frozen in whatever task they’d previously been completing. Getting up from his station, Ay moved between nearby consoles, checking their functionality, or lack thereof, while Morro jumped from one side of the stationary blue wall to the other.
Caras: Deck still seems to be up and functional. Maintaining form at least. Solid.
Nodding his agreement, Ay sat back down, feeling a little bit….disappointed? Yes, that was the word for it. Things were getting interesting, really interesting; ignoring the fact that it was a command test of sorts, the mystery was still galvanising.
Nera: Same over here. The form’s there, just none of the functionality. It’s like someone hit the pause button.
Ral: Computer, resume program.
He looked around, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.
No movement, no idle chatter, no indication of anything at all.
Caras: Well this is not what i was expecting.
The unexpected seemed to happen rather often in the holodeck, in Ay’s experience at least. He’d been stuck in a malfunctioning program before, and now it seemed like it might be happening again. Just his luck.
Nera: Has anyone started running a maintenance cycle on the holodeck without notifying us?
Well, that had been the problem last time.
Herrick: Response
Ral: Do we exit and reset?
Worth a shot at least. The old turn it off and on again approach.
Admittedly, Ay hoped they wouldn’t need to. The trap had taken a long time to set up, and while he appreciated the need for tests and training courses, he didn’t want to repeat an hour's worth of work.
Caras: Computer, Arch. ::Pause:: Computer, Diagnostic. ::Pause:: Not sure that’s an option.
He looked around expectantly and again was treated to nothing. No exist, no control panel showing up, no nothing. Well, that was bad. Slowly but surely, Ay was getting the feeling that the disastrous shoreleave aboard the Gorkon was about to repeat itself.
Nera: What about manually overriding it? Find the control panel and access the holodeck interface that way
They’d been in a tree last time. Hopefully, this time around it would be a little more obvious, like behind a bulkhead. Still, that was just Ay assuming that someone was going to go very wrong.
Herrick: Response
Morro was back on his feet, though he didn’t appear rushed. They weren’t in any immediate threat, so it appeared, but they also seemed somewhat stuck. If nothing happened, though, then eventually the other groups would finish up and come looking for them.
Caras: Soooooo I guess we Just wait then?
Ay was about to suggest pulling off more bulkheads again when the program experienced what he could only call a stutter. One moment it everything was still and frozen, and the next, everything changed.
The bridge was on fire, sparks cascaded from blown conduits, and holograpic bridge officer lay scattered. Some unconscious at a glance, and others much less lucky. And then there were the intruders, all dressed in a slim but armored black uniform with blue trimming. No insignias or ranks that Ay could see, and from a multitude of different worlds.
Humans, Kiligons, Andorians, Tellerites, Orions, Kobliads, and Cardassians.
Caras: Red Alert… if there isn’t one already. Initiate bridge lockdown.
Back to it, so to speak. No more time for being shocked about the exceptionally sudden turn of events, now they actually needed to focus on the disaster.
With the bridge lockdown being handled elsewhere, Ay was somewhat torn between trying to establish what had happened and feeling concerned for Morro, who was busy dodging a Klingon with a nasty-looking knife. No, part Klingon, though Ay wasn’t sure what the other part was.
Nera: What happened?!
He wasn’t expecting an answer to the question; he doubted anyone else had a proper idea at this point. The program had lagged, and then jumped ahead without their input, though he would have preferred it if the Tellerite with the cudgel-like instrument hadn’t hurled themselves at the science station.
Abandoning the terminal, Ay dived out of the way, and began scrambling towards the rest of the organic and safe people, throwing a bit of debris in the direction of his assailant along the way.
Sadly, everyone else seemed to have their own spot of bother to deal with.
Ral / Herrick: Response
Ay wasn’t sure where they’d been hidden, but Morro produced a set of phasers from some secret compartment. The appearance of the little grey devices filled him with a small spark of joy, though only a small one. At a later stage, he’d remind people that he was most definitely a doctor, and not a security officer, who could do with a refresher course in the shooting range.
Caras: Grab a phaser. Security! Where is that internal force field net? What happened!? Help out who you can!
Nera: On it!
He didn’t have much choice when the phaser came flying towards him, but he felt better holding one than not. Firing a few wild shots in the Tellerite’s direction, Ay allowed himself a faint smirk when the fourth actually hit the right target, and not the wall. The Klingon hybrid, however, seemed to have ducked behind something.
Keeping low, firing off the occasional shot in the direction of their assailants, Ay made his way back to the science station. At least with a console, he could access some information again.
Nera: Security forces spread through the ship, and Sickbay is already triaging wounded as they come in. We’ve got hostile forces spread from decks 1 to 3, and 5 to 9. Where are they coming from…
Working the console one-handed, the other still holding a phaser, and with his gaze flicking between the readout and the bridge chaos wasn’t easy.
Ral / Herrick: Response
Caras: Computer. Stop simulation. Computer?
At this point, Ay had given up hoping for the holodeck to cooperate. Once again, it did not cooperate. Chances were that they’d need to play the scenario to its end, or whatever the writers had considered an end, to extricate themselves.
Caras: Treat this as a real mission, I do not believe the safeties are on, nor should we take any chances. All non-holographic crew, please stay alive. I don’t think this is our standard test any more.
The burns on Ay’s uniform seemed to prove that, not to mention the array of little bruises he could already feel. Was his hair singed? He thought it was.
Nera: Endeavouring to do so ::beat:: Found them! They’ve physically boarded us, they’re not beaming on. I’m reading docked ships in the main shuttle bay on Deck 6, and on Deck 3’s observation landing pad.
Which didn’t mean more forces weren’t set to beam on later. But that was something they could prevent.
Herrick / Ral: Response
The bridge was rocked by an explosion that definitely came from inside, and what looked like part of an arm sailed past Ay’s head. It was a bit like being on autopilot; he was out of the chair and moving before his brain fully noticed, emergency mid kit in hand, some dim bit of peripheral attention noting that Wyatt and Josh were still very much intact.
Some holo-officers were down, others were up, and their Captain was…where was Morro? On the floor. Ay made a beeline in that direction, trying to move the man out of the chaotic centre as much as possible. Not very far, as it turned out, given the size difference.
Nera: What was that you were saying about staying alive?
It occurred to him a moment later, as he started pulling equipment out of the case, that it was all holographic, because they were, of course, in the holodeck. If a holophaser worked, then of course a holotricorder would work.
Caras / Herrick / Ral: Response
The equipment seemed to work as it should, despite having been conjured into existence by the holodeck; they didn’t really have time for complex injury treatments at the moment, that would come later, when things had calmed down. If things calmed down.
It seemed to be a big if at the moment, as another small device rolled across the floor, exploding a few seconds later. Nowhere near anyone, luckily, but the explosion added to the chaos, forcing Ay to reposition.
Nera: I think there are three left
The Klingon hybrid seemed to have ducked behind the holotable at the back of the bridge, while the other two had done a surprisingly admirable job of engaging anyone who came close.
Caras / Herrick / Ral: Response
Their green commander was a little dinged up, but no lasting damage, which meant Ay could move towards the other officers littering the bridge. He’d deal with the unconscious first as best he could, and everyone still standing afterwards.
Nera: ::muttering to himself:: What is it with me and faulty holoprograms.
Before he had a chance to examine the first set of downed officers, he felt large hands clamp onto the back of his uniform, hurling him bodily across the floor, head and shoulders colliding with a workstation. Not the most comfortable of stops in the world.
Caras / Herrick / Ral: Response
Tags/TBC
Lieutenant Nera Ay
Chief Medical Officer
USS Thor
G240106NA2
He/Him/His (Player/Character)
