A Nebula Revisited

Posted on Wednesday, 6 May 2020 - 1:47pm by Lieutenant Raith Kolani & Commander DeVala Victrix Ph.D & Commander Soral & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Yolen *
Edited on on Thursday, 7 May 2020 - 7:08am

Mission: Operation: Recall
Location: USS Fontana | Deck 01 | Bridge
Timeline: 2393

{ON:}

They had no feasible options, and when one runs out of feasible options to explore, any doors that may open no matter the risk were well worth the reward. It was either traverse the dangerous region of space they were in under warp speed for who knew how long until they reached a safe point to bring their QSD back online. Had they tried to use it too soon in this region of space, they would have surely been ripped apart and parts scattered. Lieutenant Commander DeVala Victrix had weighed her options as carefully as she could. This one was a bit of gambit and it was not guaranteed to work, but she was hoping the cosmic fates were on her side.

"Commander Soral," raise shields and initiate yellow alert conditions" Lieutenant Commander Victrix commanded.

"Aye ma'am." He motioned to Tactical. "Shields up to full yellow alert." He hit the coms station. "All ship personnel this is yellow alert. Stand ready at your stations."

Victrix took a seat in the Captain's Chair and looked ahead where Helm and Ops sat side by side. "Lieutenant Kolani, please prepare a warning buoy with an automated message, transmit on all standard signals on as many space-faring languages as we can muster. Caution vessels travelling in this sector to avoid the be forewarned of the nebula's effects, to proceed at their own risk."

Raith began working away at the Ops console as Cmdr Victrix gave her orders. Having just about survived one trip inside the Nebula aboard one of the shuttlecraft, he wasn't exactly excited about taking the Fontana into that area, however, a larger craft offered more options to play ith should they come across any new issues.

Once he had setup up the message as Cmdr Victrix had instructed, Raith sent the message to the warning buoy, making sure that as soon as it was launched, it would transmit on all standard frequencies and would also transmit on a general lingual code, making sure that any vessel that ventured nearby to their current position would pick up the messages.

"Warning buoy ready and on standby to launch," he confirmed as the console beeped its confirmation.

"Lieutenant Yolen, drop to one quarter impulse and bring us into the nebula nice and slow" ordered the woman nervously on the edge of her seat. The Bridge was alive with personnel albeit all of them undoubtedly tense.

"Yes ma'am. We're at one quarter impulse." His hands flew over the panel as if he was playing an instrument. "Heading in, slow."

As the starship eased it's way into the nebula which had no identifiable name accept a lengthy alpha-numerical identification that got the science nerds rocks off for sure. Starfleet Science was certainly going to be pleased to learn more about this nebula. Part of Victrix felt bad for only exploiting the nebula for its wormholes, using them for travel purposes rather than giving the Science Department ample time to chart every nook and cranny of the nebula; however, from what Soral had informed her and from the reports...this was not a nebula to stay in for a substantial amount of time.

Victrix stood from her seat as she took in the view of the heminal helix nebula. It was as beautiful and awe striking as it was potentially deadly. She could not help but feel like a moth drawn to a flame or a fly landing upon Dionaea muscipula, the Venus flytrap or catcher plant. The woman turned and looked back at the science station. "She needs a name Lieutenant," Victrix said addressing Alex Kingsley. "I was leaning towards the Maere Nebula or Briar Rose Nebula" offered the Commanding Officer. "I feel the honor should be yours though" she said yielding to the Chief Science Officer.

“I... me?” Came the stunned response. She frowned, trying to think of something suitable. “As her work has been helpful, perhaps the Lenora Nebula?”

Victrix smiled. "Lenora Nebula it is. We will refer to it as such and when you have a full report on the nebula, lieutenant, we will make the formal request to Starfleet Science and the Federation Science Council to place the Lenora Nebula on the star charts."

“Yes ma’am,” Kingsley replies with a bright smile.

Yolen kept his eye on the monitors. "Brace yourselves. The wave will graze us! Twenty seconds!"

While unlikely, Kingsley had hoped they would have avoided this part. She shifted so she could brace herself against the console, all the while closely monitoring their progress to ensure they remained on course.

Victrix made sure to take a seat and settle herself. "Ops, reroute auxiliary power to shields" commanded Victrix.

"Aye Captain," he responded as Raith's fingers danced across the Operations console, re-directing auxiliary power to the shields. The board went green as the computer confirmed its newest order. The shields graphic showed a bolstered reading around the outside of the starship graphic to show that the shields received additional power.

Yolen closed his eyes briefly. He took a deep breath and then opened them. He was determined to get through this. He'd flown once before in a Helix like this. It had been with his mother's third husband. The man had prepared him for Starfleet even though at the time he wanted nothing to do with Starfleet. He was determined. "Taking manual control." He announced. It would be difficult with a ship this size but he'd try his best. The annoying computer voice came on.

"Manual control enabled. Inadvisable."

"Bite me." Yolen said. He tuned to the navigator. "Course 03771.5 on my mark." His hands flew over the controls. The ship lurched to the right then ascended quickly putting pressure on the bodies there. "Mark." The ship grazed the wave shuddering but on as violently as if they'd hit I head on.

"Be kinder to the computer" quipped Victrix.

The starship took a but of a 'thrust' forward with the wave impacting the shields. Victrix had managed to remain in her seat, but a few individuals had undoubtedly staggered a bit. It was not enough to suspect any serious injuries, but she anticipated that there would be some mild ones. She reached over and opened a coms channel to Sickbay. "Bridge to Sickbay, it is getting a bit choppy...you're likely going to be getting some reports of injuries," she said.

Ryan had one hand on the bio-bed he'd more or less crashed into, luckily from only about a foot away, so nothing but a minor bruise, if that. "Understood ma'am. We'll be ready." Ryan then called for the staff to get ready.

From her station, Kingsley spoke up, “we need to be back on course by the time we reach the wormhole. Twenty-six seconds until expected formation but ... it is on the same path as the wave, ma’am. We will need to intersect it to enter the wormhole we identified even if we avoid the worst now.”

Raith held on to the Operations console as the ride continued to be bumpy as they made their way forward. He checked the readouts once more and was happy with what he saw. "Auxiliary power to shields is holding and maintaining regular power flow, the shields have everything we have," he re-affirmed.

"Yolen, you heard the lieutenant," said Victrix. "Get us back on course and prepare to intersect" added the woman.

Yolen said, "Aye ma'am." He turned to his seat mate the navigator. "Course adjustment 3715.3 mark." He turned to Victrix "Ma'am I know this is unusual but I will need to do this manually. We need enough speed and the impulse at a certain level to ensure stability and I can only do that if I can manually make adjustments as we go." He was asking for helm and navigation it was rare but he hoped he'd get it. "I've been through this ma'am when I was fifteen I flew through a Helix. I can do it now."

"Proceed, Mister Yolen" ordered Victrix.

To Operations, Victrix gave an affirming display of gratitude. "Thank you, Lieutenant Kolani. Please monitor the power flow and allocate as necessary. The last thing we need is shields buckling as we enter our rabbit hole."

"Aye Captain, I'm on it," Raith answered back as the ship threw another lurch into the equation whilst he held on for stability. Already he could see that there would be a long list of maintenance jobs to be completed once they were on the other side.

"Lieutenant Kingsley," Soral began. "As we enter the wormhole monitor the stability. I need you to calculate the maximum safe impulse power we can use to maintain stability and avoid creating a secondary wormhole within the one we are entering."

“Yes sir,” she replied with a nod.

Soral waited. "Yolen Keep us out of wave reach until the calculations are complete.

"Yes sir." Yolen said.

Soral stood allowing Yolen to keep the ship well away from the wave. He made his way to the back. "How are the calculations coming?" He asked speaking low.

“Coming along,” she whispered back as she completed rechecking the math. “Lieutenant Yolen, maximum of one quarter impulse when we are inside. We can recalculate as we go.”

"Yes ma'am." Came a voice.

Soral had leaned over her shoulder and spoke so that she could only hear. "Keep an eye on the readings. We may have to change things. Good work Ashayam." The last word washing over her as he stood and headed back to his chair.

“I’ll watch over them,” she whispered back as she cleared her throat and forced herself to track the information flooding in from sensors.

He looked at Victrix. "On your mark Captain."

Lieutenant Commander Victrix made a quick gesture of her hand, not something normal and not something anyone had seen her do before. It was an old Risan blessing though there was not really much to her peoples' spiritual beliefs that did not encompass pleasure and happiness. So, essentially what she had just done was a Risan blessing that the crew made it through this dangerous situation and receive joyous physical intimacy for their woes. She rolled her eyes afterward knowing damn well what she had just 'prayed' for. "Engage," she ordered swiftly.

Soral gave a nod. "All crew," he said opening ship-wide communications. "All crew brace for impact."

Yolen took a deep breath. "Here we go."

"Science I need a countdown to wormhole entry." He turned to Yolen. "Try to make this as smooth as possible."

Yolen had the urge to roll his eyes. They'd have to go through the wave. "We're entering the wave now." The ship began to violently shudder.

Gripping the edge of her console, Alex studied the data, which was easier said than done when nothing would hold still. How Yolen was managing to keep them on course she had no idea. “Five more seconds,” she called out as the wave buffeted the ship. And it only got worse. Yet Yolen seemed to hold them steady while her countdown continued. “Four, three, two, one...”

And with that the ship seemed - to her at least - fall silent. She released a deep breath, thankful the wave hadn’t been their undoing before focusing back on the readings. “Yolen, increase speed to full impulse,” she called out as her panel lit up. She felt eyes on her and glanced at Soral, “the wormhole is showing indicators of instability, I’ve emitted a pulse to help buy us time but speed is better than finesse so we can exit before it decides to collapse.”

Yolen increased speed. The smoothness of the wormhole lasted only but a moment before the ship began to violently shake.

"Inertial Dampeners are failing!" Someone shouted from the Engineering station."

There was a sound of simmering and a station sparked knocking the engineering ensign back. Soral stood. "Medical to the bridge!" His eyes darted to Alex. "How long until we exit?" He knew it would still be a long way.

“Twenty seconds,” she called back. Her hands flew over the console, adjusting the deflector to emit another pulse. The second the collaboration was complete she initiated the pulse, granting them a few seconds respite as a medical team entered the bridge. She blocked it all out, working to calibrate another pulse to try and buy them more time. There was no point reaching the other side if they were in a million pieces.

Yolen's eyes were locked on the instruments. The ship simmered down a little he tried to ignore it all keeping the ship on course. "We're slowing down! Impulse engines are slowing! we've dropped to half impulse"

Soral stood. "Engineering we need more speed" Damage reports were coming in. The respite was brief before the ship began to shake again this time there was a shimmy to it."

"Lieutenant Kingsey can we initiate a full port thruster burn?" Yolen yelled.

There was the slightest hesitation as she did the math, “yes!” She called back, almost jumping out of her skin when an EPS conduit nearby overloaded, too close for comfort. Her console flickered and went dark before a second later coming back online - albeit with half the displays showing as offline. Having to trust in her calculations without confirmation was hardly ideal but she initiated the next pulse. With luck it would stabilise the engines - they were too close to fail.

Soral did a mental time check. Ten seconds.

Yolen prepped the thrusters. "Port thrusters ready!"

Seven seconds...

"Mark!" Yelled Soral. The EPS conduit was too close to Alex. He had the urge to pull her away where she'd be safe.

"Thrusters up!" Yolen said as full impulse returned and he hit the thrusters button.

The ship shot forward knocking several people to the floor and squeezing out of the collapsing wormhole just in time.

The shaking stopped. "All stop" Yolen yelled. "We're through."

Releasing his grip on the Operations station, Raith looked around the bridge as everyone started to right themselves as the joyride came to an end.
"Well, that was fun," he said as he sat back up and began running diagnostics and checking incoming systems reports.

Releasing a breath she didn’t even realise she had been holding, Kingsley surveyed the damage to the bridge as people picked themselves up. “Nice flying,” she complimented Yolan. “But let’s never do something like that again, please.”

Yolen grinned impossibly big. "Awww but that was fun!" He helped the navigator off the floor.

Soral looked at his chair display. "Damage reports coming in from all decks."

"Rose to bridge, is everybody ok up there?" Ryan asked over the coms-badge. He had three crew members trickling in as he asked, but they were all minor injuries.

Soral responded. "Indeed doctor. Bumps and Bruises as you say. We had one major burn he's on his way down to you, Ensign in Engineering the station is out here. Some decks are reporting broken bones but no fatalities so far. Do you require me to order any medic trained staff to assist?"

"Thank you Commander. We're fine for now. Rose out."

"Captain, despite the rough ride, the shields held, but we took a pounding along the way," he reported as the various system reports came back in.
"Aux power held but we've lost a Shield Generator, the lateral Sensor Array has taken some damage and we have several EPS conduits showing some serious signs of stress..." None of it was pretty, but Raith was happy that they didn't have a lot to contend with after one trip through the wormhole.

Soral stepped in. "Any hull damage Lieutenant Kolani?"

Raith ran a check on the hull systems and waited for a read back on his console. "We have a slightly buckling on the starboard nacelle, it can be contained for now. The Port nacelle seems to be reading as ok," he reported back.

"All stop. Where are we?" Soral asked. He looked at Victrix and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Please bear in mind when responding; the first one to say Delta Quadrant will receive a guided tour of an airlock."

“Sensors are coming back online.” Kingsley said from her station before querying, “Is it safe to say Beta Quadrant? We emerged exactly where we anticipated based on the probe data. Just beyond Romulan space. Sensors are showing clear space but our scanning range is limited until we complete repairs.”

Victrix had stood from her seat and was taking a look around, checking to see if the bridge crew were alright, but everyone was fine. A few bumps and bruises perhaps, but nothing that merited a medical team which Lieutenant Commander Soral was quick to take care of. "Yes, Lieutenant" replied Victrix she was glad it had not been the Delta or Gamma quadrants. "What was Romulan space at least" Victrix said adjusting her uniform. "Immediate repairs. Prioritize getting our sensors sorted out, I do not want to proceed blindly, and I want to avoid the exclusion zone" she added.

The exclusion zone was a region of former Romulan space established in 2387 near what was Romulus and Remus, extending outward lightyears. The region of space was officially off limits to space travel. There was too much risk to starships not properly equipped for the dangers left in the immediate blast zone. Much like Earth's Chernobyl several decades after the disaster. "With the neutral zone gone, we can traverse through the safer regions, but sensors are going to be a must for that."

Soral stood, "Might I suggest a couple of days to repair?"

"Suggest?" Victrix scoffed. "Oh just make it so" she replied, heading towards the entrance to the Commanding Officer's suite, her combined residence and ready room. "I need coffee. Soral, keep the ship together. Kolani, coordinate with Engineering on repair work."

"Aye Captain," Soral said.

"Aye Captain," Raith confirmed as he heard the Captain's order. He was glad of having the next 48 hours to try and work out repairs after the bumpy ride they had encountered.

{OFF}

Signatures

Lieutenant Commander Victrix
Acting Commanding Officer

&

Lt. Cmdr. Soral
Executive Officer

&

Lt. JG Yolen
Helms Officer
PNPC -- Soral

&

Lt. jg Raith Kolani
Chief Operations Officer

&

Lt. Alex Kingsley
Chief Science Officer