Mysterious Golden Nets... (Part I)

Posted on Fri Oct 26th, 2012 @ 5:20pm by Captain Tobias Naros & Lieutenant Commander Xavier Nor'el & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson & Lieutenant Commander Robert Hogan & Lieutenant Torin Drell & Lieutenant Aniela Darvetti & Lieutenant JG Miranda Blackfur

Mission: Episode 1.1 - "MystiQue"
Location: Main Bridge, USS Yorktown
Timeline: Mission Day 03, 1028 Hours

ON: [[Main Bridge, USS Yorktown, Mission Day 03, 1028 Hours]]

Stars streaked by on the main viewscreen as the Yorktown's mighty warp engines propelled her across open space many times faster than the speed of light. Things had been relatively quiet for them since leaving Starbase 386 only a few days prior and Tobias was pleased to see members of his crew taking the opportunity to settle into their own routines. The establishment of a more normal duty roster seemed a welcome relief from the modified operations found aboard docked vessels. Personnel were able to familiarize themselves with their particular responsibilities as well as the individuals they would be working with for the foreseeable future. Having a regular routine also helped to finally set aside time in which many of the crew were able to take advantage of the ship's recreational facilities. Overall, it could have been said they were off to an excellent start.

After her late arrival on the USS Yorktown almost two days ago, Aniela had quickly settled into her quarters and acquainted herself with the ship's Science facilities. It was her first time on a Legacy class vessel, though it was similar in crew compliment to her former assignment on the USS Orlando. Most of her time, it seemed, would be spent on the bridge or Decks 3, 6, 7, and 13. Today was her second day of bridge duty and thus far, scientifically speaking, it had been fairly uneventful.

Over the past few days Torin had settled into his quarters and managed to successfully inserted himself as the head of the Yorktown's Operations department. While he couldn't claim that the new role had been frictionless he could boast that it had gone quickly and without an overly large number of bruised egos. By and large he had found his department to be full of amicable personalities and life aboard the ship in general had been pleasant thus far. His only complaint was that bridge duty had yet to produce the type of challenge he had been looking forward to, as it would turn out however that notion would be short lived.

"That's strange," Torin said to himself as his console began to light up with a multitude of bizarre readings. "Captain, it seems that we've run across some sort of energy field, I've never seen anything like it..."

No sooner were the words out of the Trill's mouth than a rumble passed through the entire ship, causing several of those around the bridge to grip the edge of their consoles for support. "Report," Tobias called out.

The mention of an energy field, followed by the feel of a rumble quickly caught Aniela's attention. Frowning slightly, she quickly started a sensor sweep of the area. "Starting a sensor sweep for any spatial anomalies sir," Aniela called out as she began to run through the scientific possiblities in her head.

Miranda was in the midst of doing routine checks on the progress of the ship when a warning chirp and light flashed on her console's screen. She brought up the appropriate screen and her eyes widened as her paw/hand flew across the controls, "Losing warp field!" Trying her best to reestablish the field. Shaking her head in dismay, growling softly overriding the inputted course to bring the Yorktown out of warp safely.

There was another shudder and a brilliant rainbow of color flashed in the darkness of space as the gleaming starship slowed to sub-light speeds. From his own place in the center chair, Tobias could feel their momentum bleeding away. His attention was drawn to the forward viewscreen where a mysterious field of energy stood between them and the starfield beyond.

=^=Bridge to Engineering, whats the status of the warp engines?=^= Xavier called out without hesitation. He then tapped a few of the controls on the arm of his chair and studied the stream of information that was fed back to him.

Hogan had delayed in responding to the Captain, not because he wanted to, but because he was busy getting himself off the ground.

=^=Captain, something just knocked out the warp drive; like sucking out of a drinking straw. I don't understand what it is sir, I've never seen anything like this. The warp drive show operational on the boards but the coils are not activating.=^=

"Tactical sensors aren't getting us much," Joe said calmly, though inside he was frustrated with the lack of information. "This isn't an energy field we've encountered before."

"I am forced to agree," Torin replied. "At least, its nothing they teach at the academy. The signature possesses an intense energy field but unless these readings are faulty it seems to have a tangibly solid quality as well... Almost like an organic solid caught in the pattern buffer mid-transport."

"No signs of nearby spatial anomalies, but I'm going to run a particle sweep now, Captain. Perhaps the field is producing particles that are preventing us from going to warp," Aniela suggested as she quickly tapped on her console and then slid her finger across the screen.

Miranda brought Yorktown to a complete stop as she ran a complete checks on the helm systems but fearing for the worse that it was the energy field that caused their warp field to collapse. She smiled as everything checked out except for the warp field and determined the area around the ship was unable to support a working warp field that the ship needed to fly at faster than light speeds.

"Reports from Engineering is that everything is functioning correctly. It's like there's some type of dampening field that's never been encountered before stopping us from forming a warp field." Xavier continued to scroll through the information being fed to his console in frustration. "Currently we're dead in the water and have no way to get going again." Xavier paused a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing. "Engineering is working on it and as soon as they come up with something they'll update me on it."

A flash of light to one side of the bridge drew everyone's attention as it faded away to reveal a young man in a Starfleet uniform with captain's insignia clearly visible. Thompson immediately drew a type II phaser from underneath his console and, in one fluid motion, pointed it in the direction of the intruder while several others on the bridge watched with some confusion.

"Commander," Tobias said calmly, holding up a hand for Thompson to wait a moment. The El-Aurian was quite familiar with the entity known as Q, both from official Starfleet reports as well as his own personal experience, and should not have been surprised to learn he had something to do with their current situtation.

"Not exactly the welcome I was hoping for," the young man quipped with a somewhat disappointed look on his face.

"You should adjust your standards," Joe shot back. "Appearing in the middle of our bridge unannounced isn't exactly asking for a warm welcome." He had lowered his phaser only reluctantly and resisted the urge to keep it at the ready; he got the feeling that a being who could spontaneously appear on a shielded bridge without warning wouldn't be bothered by a phaser. At this point, it was best not to provoke whoever this was.

The young man gave the commander a look which clearly conveyed his displeasure, but did not seem willing to say anything more on the matter. It was almost as if there was something of even greater concern on his mind at the moment. Instead, he turned his attention toward Tobias, saying, "Look, I know I'm probably the last person you wanted to see right now, but you have to believe me when I tell you...keep this ship moving."

Torin wasn't sure what to think at that moment, he had swiveled around and could only stare with mouth agape at the new arrival.

Aniela looked up from the Science console and quietly regarded the man who had suddenly appeared on the bridge. Though she had never met a Q before, she assumed that this person was one of them based on how he had appeared and Tobias' reaction. She grew nervous, concerned about what he might do with them and wondered why he insisted that they keep the ship moving....not that they could do that at the moment anyway.

"Meearow?!... How are we suppose to do this when we have a kitten gumming up the works, trying to impress those whom have better things to deal with." Miranda spat out as she checked to see if the impulse thrust worked to leave the area to a more stable space to reestablish the warp field to resume FTL flight to their destination.

"Well, Q," Xavier said as he stepped towards where the young being was standing, "we'd really like to continue moving but this creation of yours is preventing us from establishing a warp field and continuing to head along our course."

"That," Junior said somewhat scornfully as he pointed to the energy field on the viewscreen, "is not mine."

Tobias was well aware of the awkward silence which had taken hold by this point. The looks he was starting to get from others on the bridge made it clear this was the first time encountering a member of the Q Continuum for many of them and they were looking to him for guidance. Slowly, the El-Aurian rose from his chair and began making his way toward where the young man was still standing to one side of the viewscreen. There were some who followed his movement with their eyes, but Tobias ignored them, keeping his attention fixed on the visitor before him. He paused near the edge of Blackfur's console and surveyed the young entity for a moment. It was clear by the tone of his voice and his apparent demeanor that something was producing this sense of urgency. The question was...was Tobias willing to trust a Q?

"Mister Drell, see what you can do about getting that warp field established," the El-Aurian ordered, "Miss Blackfur, standby for maximum acceleration on my command, course one-eight-zero mark zero." Turning on his heel, Tobias proceeded quickly back toward the center of the room, taking his seat once more.

Torin's fingers danced across his console as fast as they dared, even so, he was less than enthusiastic about making such delicate calculations on the fly. Warp mechanics weren't his strong suit either, he only hoped his memory of the academy lessons were accurate. He was about to attempt a rapid re-alignment of the warp-engines plasma flow, a risky maneuver without careful consideration but one that would be necessary to accommodate the altered field frequency that the warp bubble would be tuned to. With a hard swallow Torin disengaged the plasma flow regulators, keyed in the final sequence to the job and his heart skipped a beat as the Engine's tone, audible through the ship's bulkheads lowered to a feint rumble. "It worked!" he exclaimed without much thought. "Subspace field re-established."

The Science station beeped quietly, drawing Aniela's attention back to it. Torin had surprised her - she hadn't expected that someone in Operations would be able to fix the warp field; it seemed more along the lines of the engineers' expertise. Relieved nonetheless, she started reading through the information the particle sweep had gathered. Most of the particles seemed to be normal under the circumstances.

Hogan was busy in main engineering, checking and rechecking, ordering diagnostics on the equipment. He went to the main console to check the plasma flow and the field coils when the readout displayed the re-alignment of the plasma flow. Hogan noted someone on the bridge must have remembered his or her warp mechanics from the academy. Hogan watched the readout as the engines low hum began again.

Miranda overrode the old course to Cardassia and input the new desired vector, taking note that they were turning the ship around. She nodded in her slow, feline way that she was ready as her tail gave a sweep behind her. Poised yet in a relaxed manner, she began to ease the ship into a tight turn.

"Maximum acceleration," Tobias said, "Engage!"

The Yorktown banked hard to port as she turned away from the mysterious wall of energy and, under the Catian's smooth guidance, came completely about. Her nacelles began to glow with superheated plasma as her mighty warp engines rapidly crossed the minimum threshold for faster-than-light travel. There was a hum throughout the ship and static view of open stars stretched to become the more familiar streaked lines associated with warp speeds.

"Mearrow," Miranda exclaimed softly in an attention-getting way, but still pleasant to hear, "Warp 9.0. Vector won-eighty mark zeerroo..." The underlying tone held excitement as she piloted the ship at speeds greater than light. A simple adjustment increased the deflector output to keep the path clear of harmful debris.

"Sir," Joe spoke up. "We've lost the energy field, but...something is following us. It's approaching from aft at high warp." Again, he pushed aside the frustration of the limitations in sensor ability.

"Onscreen," Tobias said, noticing how this bit of news did not seem to surprise their young visitor. The forward image of streaking star-trails was immediately replaced by one looking aft between the Yorktown's two warp nacelles. It was difficult to locate the object at first, but that soon changed as the tiny dot began rapidly growing larger.

"It's the same as before sir," Torin chimed in as he surveyed the sensor readings before him. "A massive energy signature with some sort to solid mass embedded in it."

"Mister Thompson, prepare a spread of photon torpedoes," Tobias ordered.

Joe activated the aft launcher and loaded the torpedoes through the computer. "Torpedoes ready," he reported. He glanced over at the strange visitor with slightly narrowed eyes. It was one thing to help someone in need, but when that person brought danger to the entire ship Joe didn't like it.

The object on the viewscreen was getting larger as it continued to approach from astern. Tobias knew it would not be long before the energy overtook them again and there was no way of knowing what would occur if that happened again. "Fire!"

"Aye, sir," Joe said, already keying in the commands. On the viewscreeen, a series of bright dots marked the torpedoes as they left their launchers and sped towards the pursuing energy.

Tobias watched along with nearly everyone else as the torpedoes streaked across the closing distance between the Yorktown and the object pursuing them. One by one, the projectiles collided with the energy sphere and...nothing. There seemed to be absolutely no visible impact on the sphere's course or speed.

Aniela's chocolate eyes watched closely as the torpedoes came upon their target. Though she had no idea what would happen if the energy sphere collided with them, she was rather sure she didn't want to find out. Of course, the Q could have made the whole thing up... But in case he hadn't, she began pondering whether a particle burst from the Yorktown would be able to block the sphere.

Miranda concentrated on her control of the Yorktown. Flying by the whims of fate without computer assistance demanded her attention in full. "Come on baby," she muttered, "just a little closer than ten kays. You'll be at point blank for phasers at these speeds." Miranda steadied the big ship to provide Commander Thompson a stable phaser cannon platform, accidentally pushing the ship to warp nine-point-one with the setting still on warp nine in the process. She was happy that her crew had gotten all of the shuttles and other auxiliary craft stored inside the ship as it at least made the Yorktown more aerodynamic.

"Object closing, twelve thousand kilometers, eleven thousand," Torin had confirmed what was visibly obvious, the Torpedoes had no affect on the energy field, this of course went without saying. The fact that the thing was still coming didn't bode well for the Yorktown, this Torin knew. "Ten thousand kilometers, sir."

TO BE CONTINUED...

A Joint Mission Post By:

Captain Tobias Naros
Commanding Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Commander Xavier Nor'el
Executive Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer & Second Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Commander Robert Hogan
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Torin Drell
Chief Operations Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Aniela Darvetti
Chief Science Officer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant JG Miranda Blackfur
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Yorktown

and

Q Junior (PNPC)
Played by: Capt Tharos