[ACT I START] Lieutenant Commander Sevantha Saa - Tides of the Tangle
Sevantha Saa
Captain’s Log, Stardate 240305.12, Lieutenant Commander Sevantha Saa reporting, currently in command of the USS Thor.
We’ve arrived in the Svairu Corridor where we’ve tracked the signal of Captain Promontory’s signal only to find what appears a piece of the Tangle that has erupted through space. Our understanding of the Tangle is that it has immeasurable depths and its size is always fluctuating. Astrophysics is not my specialty, nor spatial phenomena, but one officer described this activity like an ocean and the rest of space, the shore. A high tide rolled in, and what we have before us is a small tidepool of Tangle in the corridor. Others described its interiors more like a vascular system navigable arteries, creating a strange picture with the combination of metaphors.
On the edge of this pool are three vessels: the Syren Song, the USS Janaran, and an unknown vessel that security has identified with telltale signs of modified weaponry used by pirates in the Gamma Quadrant. All except the USS Janaran were devoid of life, where we found the First Officer, whom we found in the warp core chamber, though he was hardly in his right mind when we found him.
We don’t know how long we have until this tidepool drains so I’ve dispatched several teams to investigate.
The first team I’ve dispatched is Lieutenant Meris, supported by Lieutenant Commander Saschenka Kreshkova, leading the scientific team of Lieutenant Tito and Ensign Talyra to scan our Tangle tidepool. We have three vessels, all missing their crews, and no idea how long we have until this tidepool drains. Between Meris and Kreshkova’s piloting expertise, I trust they’ll be able to get our scientists as close as possible and make the right calls if the Tangle starts reacting.
I have tasked Lieutenant Commander Caras and Naledi to take Ensign Vharo and Marine Captain Winters and infiltrate the Syren’s Song and recover whatever data they can from the internal systems. With the ship being a non-federation vessel we don't have the same interior access. The danger of doing this is immense, but if we do not understand how entire crews went missing and what other factors may have affected the ship, we won’t know how to prevent this. That’s not even covering what this third ship’s presence means and what its intention was, how at fault is it for the Syren’s Song presence on this route?
Chief Medical Officer Nera Ay, along with Lieutenant Taj’el, is currently tending to Lieutenant Commander S’tark, with the hope they can learn what happened from a firsthand account. Not only is the man injured, but preliminary reports say he’s been incredibly difficult to work with, so I have asked Ensign Perkins to provide counseling assistance to the medical team.
On the bridge with me, I have Lieutenant Wyatt Ral and Lieutenant Commander Divya Tam. Communications have picked up some strange signals emitting from the Tangle itself, though the frequency is unlike anything we’ve seen and it appears to be adapting. If there is something in the Tangle, we’ll attempt communication with it and serve as a distraction to allow our survey team to conduct their studies.
I hope Captain Promontory, Herrick and Alora are alright…
End Log.
((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Thor))
Sitting made her antsy, yet standing brought pacing, a telltale sign of the nervous energy currently surging through her, not that Lieutenant Ral couldn’t already feel it. She did her best not to hover, and turned her attention to the viewer, watching the reddish orange as the edges of the phenomena receded and expanded, as if behind it there was a heartbeat or rhythm. Considering how many described the interior corridors within the primary body of the Tangle as arteries, she tried to continue viewing it as a tidepool and now a pool of blood.
The ocean was a much nicer metaphor for it than an internal organ.
Saa: Keep locked on the Magni’s location, if we see anything emerge to engage the shuttle, let’s have tractor beams ready to deter it.
Tam/Ral: Response
Pursing her lips, her fingers tightened around the constructed mjolnir, setting the hammer up on the arm of the Captain’s chair.
Saa: Replay that snippet we were able to pick up from that signal.
A communications officer set to work. Sevantha had Divya currently serving on tactical while one of her lower deckers worked the HCO position. Divya was an officer who could do nearly all the jobs the gold required with exception to Engineering, and that’s why they had Ral there.
Vov’s Voice: ::distorted:: you ::static:: know the rules…::garbled language:: three chances… ::tangle interference:: - LIGHTNING R- ::more static:: Let’s begin!
Not only was the communications relay working extra hard, but the universal translator appeared to be in conflict. Usually, even snippets of a language were easy for it to work with, so there was something that was disrupting its ability to work efficiently.
Tam/Ral: Response
Saa: If something is broadcasting from within the Tangle, it’s no surprise we’re having issues, considering the very anomaly is a thinning between universes, we can’t be sure what we’re getting is even in our dimension. ::She frowned:: Remember Tangle protocols everyone, if you start to feel even the slightest bit strange, inform us, we are all closer to the Tangle than we have ever previously been.
Sevantha pinched the bridge of her nose recalling the unusual effects caused by the rift the Collectors had made and how, at present, this was really all their fault. If they hadn’t kidnapped the crew of the Butler, those crystals would never have been destroyed and the Tangle itself would have had its catastrophic expansion. None of them would be here on the bridge handling another kidnapping of a Federation command staff.
Saa: Last rift we were outside crewmates experiencing overlapping brainwaves with alternative versions of ourselves, but, considering this isn’t a tear and just a thinning, the likelihood of that experience is minimal… ::She considered:: But never zero so. ::Shaking her head:: Ral, any luck deciphering any of this?
Tam/Ral: Response
[[To Be Continued]]
