Out of the Slipstream, into the Storm

Posted on Thu Mar 17th, 2022 @ 2:49pm by Commander Temperance Zachary & Captain Aviram Drell & Lieutenant Commander Irwin Riley & Commander Frank Kamar jr. & Lieutenant Azur Vaer

Mission: Episode 06: "Far From Shore"
Location: Main Bridge, USS Vesta
Timeline: Day 1 at 0625

ON: [[Main Bridge, USS Vesta, MD01, 0625 hours]]

"Acknowledged," Vaer replied. He looked up from his PADD, first to the swirling blue aura of the slipstream corridor visible through the forward viewport, then around at each of the team members working the various bridge stations. The soft murmur and rather relaxed atmosphere had given way to a more energized feel as they prepared to make the switch. "Secure all stations," he continued, "Standby to drop to impulse on my mark..."

A series of chirps and chimes sounded as commands were entered into workstations. "All systems are within normal parameters," reported the young ensign at operations, "I'm detecting no fluctuations or disturbances."

"Good," Vaer said, "Slow to impulse."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he could feel the energy within the ship change. He watched through the forward viewport as the slipstream corridor began to dissipate. But instead of the usual blackness of space, dotted with white stars, he saw swirling colors crisscrossed by arcs of lightning. A moment later, the enter ship lurched hard to port. Rumbles echoed through the deck plating as it pitched suddenly the opposite direction.

A bolt of energy flashed over the forward part of the ship's saucer, so close and bright that Vaer instinctively held up his hand to protect his eyes. But as soon as he let go of the arm rest, the Vesta seemed to fall out from beneath him, forcing him to grab hold again or risk being thrown out of his seat. A couple of the others were not so lucky.

"Report," he called out, practically shouting to be heard over the din, "What's going on?"

"Navigational sensors are offline..."

"Damage to primary and secondary hull..."

"I'm reading energy surges in the EPS relays..."

"Get the shields up," Vaer ordered, "and activate maneuvering thrusters. We've got to stabilize the ship." His mind was already racing to try and wrap itself around their situation even as he issued commands. If they couldn't get things under control and soon, it was likely they were going to have even more problems on their hands. Indeed, the thought was punctuated by the sound of an auxiliary console overloading, exploding outward in a shower of sparks and smoke.

After leaving the bridge on the previous evening there was a feeling of uneasiness that settled over Temp, leaving her unable to relax. She had wandered around her quarters, going through her usual routines, but she was unable to help the feeling that something was just not right. This was probably why, when the red alert klaxons started sounding, Temperance was out of bed and reaching for the uniform neatly folded on the chair in the corner. Mere moments she was running through the corridor toward the turbolift to get to the bridge, pulling her hair up into a messy bun as she ran.

As she entered the bridge an auxiliary console overloaded, exploding outward in a shower of sparks and smoke. Instinctively Temperance raised an arm, shielding her face from debris. As the explosion stilled, Temperance looked toward the large window that spanned the front of the bridge,taking note of the swirling colours and lightening. "Ion storm!" she shouted over the noise, having instantly recognised the anomaly for what it was.

"Damn it!" she cursed, raising her arm again as yet another console exploded outward, showering debris across the bridge. They'd dropped out of slipstream right in the middle of a severe ion storm. "Get the shields up and keep them up!" she shouted over the noise. "Run a sensor sweep, see if we can plot the quickest way out of this mess possible!"

"Aye, commander," Vaer replied, yielding the center seat and making for the open chair immediately to its left. He grasped onto the console to steady himself as another rumble shook the entire ship. As soon as he sat down, the Trill entered a series of commands and pulled up a situation monitor. "Navigational sensors appear to be offline," he reported back a moment later, "either that or there's too much interference from the storm. I can't get a solid lock."

"Shields are not responding," said the officer at tactical.

At that moment, another voice cut through the noise. It was Drell. And when he spoke, it was with a calm that seemed to bely the chaotic turmoil of their present situation. "Thrusters to maximum," he ordered, "reorient our trajectory to match the currents. Turn us into the wave."

The calm voice that cut across the chaos of the bridge was a welcome sound. "Ion storm," Temp said, somewhat redundantly as she moved out of Drell's way and toward the nearest vacant console. She wanted information and yelling across the bridge was going to add to the chaos. It was easier to just get it herself. "We dropped out of slipstream right into the middle of it. No warning. Shields are down, navigational sensors are offline and we have damage reports..." The console in front of her went blank. She shifted her gaze from the console, to Drell, then toward the ion storm beyond the ship as they turned, following Drell's orders.

Kamar stepped out of the turbolift and walked towards the Operations panel, his head hurt like hell and there was a knot on his forehead, but his duty was to be at his station. Standing beside the Ensign running the Ops panel he watched and listened as he caught up to speed on the situation.

"Bridge to engineering," Drell called as another wave rolled over the ship, "I need my shields..."

"Engineering to the Bridge, on it. Sitrep in five."

The turbolift doors slid open once again, with Spencer Riley stepping through a moment later, a PADD in his hand. As the ship shuddered again, he braced himself against the bulkhead with his free hand. Having regained his footing, he approached his science station on the starboard side of the bridge. "For what it's worth, Captain, nothing like this had been on the long range sensor reports."

This time Temperance was almost expecting the ship to lurch and roll. She stood firmly, feet a little more than shoulder width apart, using her hands to steady herself against the back of the command chairs in the center of the bridge. "Either our sensors missed it or it came up quickly."

Riley started pulling up the sensor logs on his console. He tried not to sound too defensive when he replied. "I'm guessing it came up quickly. The Vesta has some of the most sophisticated sensors in the fleet." He grabbed the console for support as the ship shuddered again. "Then again, we've been in slipstream for a while. Even the most sophisticated sensors in the fleet are going to have difficulty piercing through that. Headlights are much help when you're traveling faster than light." While their sensors were capable of traveling much faster than the speed of light, the ship was traveling much faster than any signals they could send out. He just hoped Commander Zachary understood his metaphor.

"Bridge, this is Engineering," came the voice of the Vesta's chief engineer, "We've identified a low power fault in one of the primary shield generator and emitter stations, dragging the whole system into standby. Got a team on its way to check it out. Should have shields in no time."

"Let's just hope that no time is super fast or we might find ourselves with no time," Temperance said quietly.

"If you need some extra power I can transfer from the holodecks to the auxiliary shields it won't be much, but we won't be caught with our pants completely down," Kamar said.

"Coordinate with engineering, commander," Drell told him.

"Aye Captain," Kamar replied as he set to work and began working with the engineers.

Temperance glanced between Kamar and Drell before moving to one of the vacant consoles that had remained intact. "Damage reports are coming in," she scanned over the data that was flashing across the screen. "Damage across all decks, injuries are being reported. Sickbay reports they're standing by for triage. Extra hands are already reporting in for Engineering and Medical." There was a moment of silence as she looked back across to Drell. "We've taken a lot of damage in a short time Captain, if this is how badly we've been hit, I can only imagine how the other ships are faring..."