Vortex (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 24 Jun 2015 @ 1:51am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Min Zhao & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Jynn & Lieutenant JG Tinaro Cyi & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones & Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Ensign K'os Beaumont & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley"

1,749 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo - Various
Timeline: MD 02 - 1957 hrs

Previously, on Vortex (Part 2)...

Holliday furrowed his brow - a singularity could lead to anywhere, assuming the ship survived making it's way through in the first place. John was stuck between a rock and a hard place - keeping the engines powered up like this was going to tear the ship apart for certain, but going into the singularity might not kill them all. Right now it seemed the lesser of two evils.

Heading back to his chair he settled back into the seat and gripped the armrests before giving his orders.

=^=Red Alert! All hands this is the Captain. Secure your stations and standby for possible widespread damage across the ship. =^=

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Closing the channel he called out to his officers.

"Cut the engines! Transfer all reserve power to shields and structural integrity - we're going in....."

Norvi cut a look to her left at Holliday. She knew that they had no choice but to go through the anomaly and hope that what lay on the other side was a fate less worse than being ripped apart by gravitational eddies. She knew that returning to Starfleet, the precious cargo in her belly aching for a life the same as it had just departed, could always spell the end of the Stace Symbiont: Norvi being its final demise and the end to its ongoing existence. But she knew that this was a life that she'd chosen for the greater good of her legacy in spite of the dangers; one it deserved. She gripped the armrest and then returned her attention back to the viewscreen as the rip in space began to swallow them whole.

"Considering we make it!" she called out to Jynn, a tremble in her voice she had not displayed to her crewmates before, "be ready to switch back to thrusters on the other side. The last we need is to emerge somewhere just to be smushed by a passing comet! Use all available sensors to keep us alert!"


Sickbay

Allyndra got the command from the Captain over the comm but she had already started to try to secure things. "Just what the heck are they doing up there? I thought the exercise was all over?"

The EMH stopped for a moment, allowing the tricorder she was carrying to drop from her hand and hit the floor at her feet. Her program was hardwired into the ship's systems, so much so that with little effort she could see the inputs being received from the ship's sensors.

"Uh...I don't think this is part of the simulation...there's a big...hole looking thingy in front of the ship!"

"Prepare for casulties!" Allyndra gave the command and then added, "if we survive enough to have any."

A few minutes after the yellow alert sounded, Tuula arrived in sickbay. Her hair was frazzled and her uniform looked thrown together, but she was there. "I'm here!" she called out, catching Allyndra's attention, before a shiver ran down her spine. "Brrrrr, are the environmental controls working? It's cold in here..."

On the heels of Tuula Dru arrived, uncertain as she looked around sickbay. There was still injured being tended to from the games and everyone had the same nerovus look on her face.

Realising that she was useless just standing around, the counsellor moved to help move the causalities they already had, opening up space for anyone new who may arrive.

Allyndra held on to the edge the doorway to office as the ship shuddered and shook like a toy in something that was called a Terrier on Earth mouth.

"Make sure all is secure." She said trying to get to the lab to secure the equipment and experiments there.


Engineering

"You heard the command," Grayson called out as systems around the lower deck of main engineering began to spark with the overflow of power. "Lock down your stations, but keep damage repair kits at the ready. K'os, I'm going to need you to take a damage control team to the most critical area after this." The engineer had begun to lock down the main functions of the warp core, keeping it active enough to keep them going, but draining enough power and plasma to prevent any sudden breaches on one hand. While with the other he was doing his best to increase the inertial dampers to compliment the extra power given to structural integrity. He hoped any little bits would lessen the rough trip and prevent come casualties. "This is it folks, hold on to your stations, get ready to respond. We are trained for this," Grayson called out with a calm confidence as the panel above his head sparked to life once more.

Riley didn't wait to hear the end of his Department Head's command, already scurrying out of the tube and diving back onto the floor of main engineering. Grabbing onto the nearby console he flung himself into a chair and gripped the arms tightly, watching the readouts in front of him, and getting ready to deal with whatever came next.

When Grayson had mentioned the need for a damage control team, K'os had retrieved his tool kit and began rounding up those best suited for the job. One of which was definitely going to be Copper.


Main Shuttlebay

The command to secure stations came through the comm as loud and clear as ever, and Lamar could hear the sense of urgency in the captain's voice. He briefly glanced around from one shuttle to the other, then to the supply lockers and then to the shuttlebay's primary control console. He spotted another redshirted officer nearby as well as the young cadet Wintrow, and made a break towards the console with a good sprint. "Brace yourselves!" he called out.

Brace? against what? Seeing nothing to safely support himself with, Wintrow did the only sensible thing he could do and dove towards the deck, covering his head.

Cyi, who was working on tracing the re-route paths to see what was slowing navigation down, looked over at the cowering cadet. Newbies He thought to himself. Tinaro sat on the floor with his back against the console and his foot braced against the bulk head. His mind wondered briefly to Isotope who was more than likely sleeping this all away in her cat box.

With the engines cut and all control lost, what could Jynn do besides stare in awe at the alluring anomaly on the viewscreen. He held on tight to the console, as feeble as it seemed in light of heading towards something that would no doubt devour the ship whole. I wonder what's on the other side, he mused as the thing before them grew closer and larger. Death? Adventure? He was almost paralyzed with anticipation.


Astrometrics

Sigrid was busy backing up all the data onto an external drive that she could gather from every available resource in astrometrics. The power failures worried her. When the command came to brace for entering the vortex, she stood firmly at her station to continue her work. If the ship lost power or was damaged, they could very well lose valuable information. They had no idea what was on the other side and any edge (should they survive) might come in handy. She knew she didn't have time to secure herself to one of the chairs embedded in the far workstation before she finished her work. She wasn't ordered to do what she was doing, but after weighing the pros and cons, she felt this was more important that securing herself in. Science officers around her, many that out ranked her were all strapped into their chairs yelling at her to secure herself.

As the image of the vortex loomed closer she started singing a classic Vegan colony rock song, "And it's gonna beeee a b-b-bumpy ride. It'll be a bumpy ride, aaaallllll niiiiight loooooong!"

"Damn..." Lucero said quietly, breaking the eerie silence of the unknown, which had become so thick, that it had suffocated all panic on the bridge. Everyone's eyes seemed glued to the viewscreen. Either they were going to experience something extraordinary, or were destined to be speghettified into nonexistence. Either way, the young Lieutenant planned on spending that journey whilst holding on to the console in front of him. All breathing stopped.

The anomaly was now at full dilation directly ahead of Galileo. Its event horizon rippled and distorted casting colorful green and blue hues across the Nova-class while simultaneously pulling the tiny starship towards its dark center. The force of attraction was so significant that nearby starships began to experience power failures, and the frantic hails from the rest of the Federation task group weren't able to establish a subspace connection to each other.

The sheer gravitational force of the anomaly pulled and stretched Galileo's hull violently, resulting in a series of cascading hull breaches across the ship. With main power and backup generators failing and all propulsion systems offline, there was little the valiant crew could do to prevent their fate. The Nova-class rolled on its side and listed sideways into the vortex, and was swallowed whole as it disappeared from space and the anomaly collapsed back in on itself.

To Be Continued...

[END EPISODE 08]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant j.g. T'Vanna Murray
CIO
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero V
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support craft pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC T'Vanna]

Lieutenant JG Jynn
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Min Nicholas (ne Zhao)
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Jared Nicholas
Linguist
USSGalileo

Ens K'os Beaumont
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

Crewman Apprentice Sigrid Thelin
Scientist's Mate
[ PNPC Beaumont ]
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Benice Gyce
Security Investigations Officer
USS Galileo

Commander Norvi Stace
First Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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