...Cast Upon a Golden Sea (Part II)

Posted on Sat Nov 3rd, 2012 @ 3:01pm 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, 1044 Hours

ON: [[Main Bridge, USS Yorktown, Mission Day 03, 1044 Hours]]

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.

Hogan stepped off the turbolift and headed to the engineering console. He had left main engineering in the capable hands of his Assistant Chief.

"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."

"Increase to warp nine-point-five," Tobias ordered.

Miranda glanced at Captian Naros briefly to confirm the order. Once she saw the determination in his face to out run those that was following, "miaow," acknowledging the order and increased the speed to warp 9.5 very smoothly. Just by vibration and the subtle change in harmonic, Miranda knew the ship was straining to maintain that speed as it sped through space. "We can maintain this speed for only 6 hours, Captain, before Warp reactor core overheats." softly reminding him.

"Sir, our pursuer has increased to match our velocity," Joe said grimly as he watched the tactical scans. "It's still closing."

Aniela frowned as she heard the latest reports. It seemed to be mimicking their moves... When the Yorktown had stopped, it had stopped, but when the Yorktown went to warp and increased speed, the sphere followed them. During her time in StarFleet she had certainly not encountered anything like this.

The El-Aurian weighed his options carefully. All of their attempts to outrun or slow the energy sphere's progress had been met thus far with little success. The energy had been sufficient to disrupt their warp field and force them to drop out of warp the first time. There was no telling what would happen were the energy sphere allowed to overtake the Yorktown. "I need more power to the engines, Mister Hogan," he called out.

"Aye Captain. I'm diverting auxiliary systems to increase engine speed. Captain, maybe we can try a hydrogen burst from the Bussard collectors. If we can force the hydrogen gas towards the energy sphere, and launch a photon torpedo to explode the gas as it encounters the sphere? Just a suggestion sir." said Hogan.

Xavier had been intently listening to everything going on about the bridge while also going over all the information that was scrolling across his display. Knowing what was happening based off the reports and everything that was said on the bridge he knew they needed to go faster if they had any chance of escaping this energy sphere that was after him. "Ms. Blackfur, increase our speed to emergency velocity."

Miranda growled softly and her ears perked up as she increased both speed and deflector output. This was really flying by the Nine Fates. "Miaerrrow," she exclaimed softly as she focused on her scanners and flying the ship. She retraced the route that got them this far, using the "tunnel" previously created on their outward journey. This was precision manual flying with computer assistance only in keeping her on track. Her tail weaved back and forth in slow curves behind her, the tip giving a little flick to show her excitement. "Two hours and counting down before we must slow down, captain," she said, factoring in the previous increase to warp nine-point-five.

Tobias knew full well they would only be able to sustain emergency velocity for a short time before causing serious harm to both ship and crew and that, if they did not find another solution soon, they were going to be in even more trouble than they already were. "Mister Hogan...initiate hydrogen burst," the El-Aurian ordered, "Mister Thompson...fire the torpedo."

Hogan's fingers flew over the engineering panel. The Captain wanted a hydrogen burst and now. The readout displayed the bussard collectors and a 3-d imaging of hydrogen atoms collecting en masse. Hogan watched as the hydrogen shot from the collectors and towards the energy sphere, watched as the torpedo sped toward the hydrogen and the sphere. There was an explosion - bright colors shown on the display. Hogan was quite happy with himself for a moment. Red and orange hues along with a blueish tint and a billowing puff of smoke filled the forward viewscreen. A sense of pride swelled in Hogan's chest...only to become crestfallen as the smoke and colors subsided to show the sphere still following them. Hogan cursed under his breath.

"Captain, the attempt didn't work." said Hogan, though he knew the captain could see that for himself.

"The Object is accelerating," Torin said with more than a little concern in his voice. "Two thousand Kilometers and closing!"

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrurg!" Miranda growled as her ears flatten as if that would help the aerodynamics of the ship and her tail whipped back and forth behind her as if that would help propel the ship to even greater speeds. She glanced briefly at the unwanted newcomer, eyes mere slits, slightly baring her white sharp teeth.

Unsure of what more she could do, Aniela started another sensor sweep. Nothing they were doing now was helping. If they could somehow figure out what exactly the energy sphere was, there was a chance they could stop it. Otherwise...she glanced at their guest, "Sir, what about our guest? He knows enough to tell us to stay away from this sphere..."

With the object still closing on them Xavier thought for a moment before doing what no one had yet done. He stood and faced in Q's direction and spoke up. "Q, is there anything you can do to help us here?" With what he knew of the Q species based on the reports and stories he knew that asking a Q for help could lead to trouble but Xavier felt he was about out of options.

Hogan hadn't really paid attention that much since coming aboard, to the personnel. He was busy with engineering and getting the ship to optimal. He had seen and heard Q, but didn't put two and two together until just now; like an epiphany.

Despite the urgency of their situation, the attention of others around the room began turning once more in the direction of the relatively young entity standing to one side of the forward viewscreen. Naros could tell they were on edge and he knew some of them might very well be attributing their current situation to Q's presence regardless of whether or not the energy sphere had anything to do with Q's arrival. The El-Aurian had a feeling there was more to their situation than any of them knew at that particular moment, but there was little he could do to address any of it until they had dealt with the more immediate concern of the sphere itself.

Junior had been watching the scene play out around him and, despite having the confidence of his own abilities, he seemed a bit concerned as to the possible outcome. The entity took a step forward so he was no longer leaning against the bulkhead. There seemed to be a moment of hesitation on his part as he considered the situation one last time. Raising his right hand, Junior snapped his fingers and the entire ship was engulfed in a brilliant flash of light.

The sense of disorientation quickly passed as the light faded away. A quick survey of the bridge confirmed what Tobias already suspected to be true, namely that both ship and crew had come through the ordeal seemingly unharmed. His gaze lingered on the young entity a moment longer before turning to the static-filled image on the forward viewscreen. "Bring us to full stop," he ordered, "anyone have a fix on our current position?"

Surprised, Aniela froze for a moment before regaining her composure. Though they were stopped, seemingly without the sphere nearby, she couldn't shake the anxiety she had been feeling. Aniela started a new sensor sweep and raised her eyebrow as the results came back much more quickly than she had anticipated, "Captain, sensors are picking up plasma storms of varying intensity...I can't pick up much else though, the storms are creating too much interference."

"Interference isn't the only thing the storms are creating," Torin said with a hint of annoyance. "It looks like most of the ships systems are being affected by some kind of anticaloric subspace vortices in one way or another and the EPS grid is showing a slight power falloff on a few decks. I'm going to try and compensate but we may be operating at diminished power levels until we exit this region of space."

Miranda quickly shut down the ship's warp fields, slowing the vessel to sub-light, impulse speeds as she worked quickly to determine where they were. "Golden Discontinuity," she muttered unintelligably. Speaking loud enough for all to hear, she continued, "...six light years from Dee Esssss Nine, twelve light years from the Badlands, and two light years from Carrrrdassssian-Federrrration borderrrr, sirs." Awe and surprise laced her usually professional on-duty tone. "Double-checking," she added as she went back to work redoing the navigation checks, but the results coming up were the same. A single flick of her tail was enough to give confirmation to her statement.

The El-Aurian hardly seemed surprised they had just traveled such a great distance from their previous location in such a short amount of time, though a part of him wondered what Q's purpose was in bringing them to this location in particular. "Any sign of our pursuer, Mister Thompson," Tobias asked.

Joe double-checked the tactical sensors just to be sure. "Negative, Sir," he said. "It looks like we lost them, for the time being." Never one to accept the easy escape, Joe kept a close watch on the scans in case they hadn't made as clean a getaway as it seemed.

Feeling a bit relieved to be out of immediate danger, Xavier figured it was time to try and get more information from their visitor. "Q, what do you know about the area you just transported us from and the object that was pursuing us?" Xavier thought that he may not get the information that he wanted since he was asking a Q but he had to chance it.

While waiting on the young being's response he turned his attention back to the ship. "Mr. Hogan, whats the status of our engines?"

Robert was checking and double checking ship's systems and the engines. Surprisingly, everything appeared to be satisfactory, as far as the engines. "Captain, the engines seem to be unharmed. The matter/antimatter mix chamber is a little richer than I would like, but other than that....uh....everything..seems fine." Robert Hogan was still reeling from the sudden shift in their position, not sure what had just happened.

Tobias was only half listening as the Yorktown's Chief Engineer made his report of the ship's engine status. The El-Aurian could not help but notice the seemingly withdrawn nature of their unexpected visitor. Most would have considered it unusual for a member of the Q Continuum to be so...quiet. Even Tobias' own previous experience with Q indicated a more precocious nature that ocassionally bordered on being somewhat childish. Yet it was clear to him that, behind the attempt at a confident facade, the young entity was unsettled by something about their current situation.

"Secure all stations and stand down from red alert," Tobias said to the bridge at large. He rose from his chair and began making his way toward his ready room. "Q...Mister Nor'el, Mister Thompson...my ready room," he continued, "The bridge is yours, Miss Darvetti."

If Junior was at all surprised by the captain's instructions, he certainly did not let it show. This wasn't his first time visiting a Federation starship and, despite possible evidence to the contrary, he had a vested interest in cooperating with these people. He quickly made his way across the front of the bridge before falling into step behind the Yorktown's Commanding Officer.

Xavier fell in step behind their young visitor. He still had a feeling that something was being held back from them. He was so focused on the current situation that he didn't really pay much attention to who Captain Naros left in charge on the bridge.

After securing his station, Joe moved out of the way to allow another Tactical officer to take his place. Joe followed after the others heading for the ready room, keeping a wary eye on their visitor. His natural suspicion was augmented by the strange nature of the visitor.

"Aye Captain," Aniela responded after only a moment of hesitation. Admittedly she was a little surprised that he had chosen her to take the bridge...technically speaking, Robert outranked her and, to her knowledge, Torin had been aboard longer than either of them. At the same time, she had served with Tobias previously, so he knew her capabilities. Deciding to stay at the Science station so as to keep an eye on any particle, anomaly, or plasma storm activity, she announced, "Lieutenant Drell, keep me posted regarding your compensation attempts...everyone else, if your status changes, I want to know immediately."

"Yes ma'am," Torin responded as he shrugged and cast Aniela an exasperated look. He then glanced to Hogan as if to seek the Engineer's concurrence, "looks like Engineering and Ops teams are all over the place working on computer bus relays and EPS junctions. Not much I can do about any of that at the moment, so we'll see about getting that view screen cleared up next."

Hogan hadn't been on the ship very long, but was curious as to why Lieutenant Aniela had been left in charge of the bridge instead of him; he did outrank her. However, it was not his ship and Robert decided he had more important things to worry about; maybe that was what the skipper was thinking as well. He caught Torin's glance. "Agreed Lieutenant Drell. I have engineering teams across the board working. I've also called the next shift in early to help out."

Miranda remained busy at her station, glancing over the helm as it ran a series of its own diagnostics. There was a slight lag in the time from the input of commands to a visible response, but as she did a few minor maneuvers, the anomalous readings faded away to the proper command-to-response timing sequence as it had been before their sudden shift in location. At least several days of travel had been removed from their original flight plan to Cardassia. ~~ Would be an interesting way to travel... ~~, she thought to herself, shrugging her shoulders as her tail gave a dismissive sweep behind her, ~~ Naw...it would get boring real quick and think of all the sights that would be missed on our way to the destination... ~~. She smiled as she worked, making sure the helm was ready for the next situation, taking little notice of the inter-play between the more senior officers as she focused on her own responsibilities.

OFF

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"
Played by: Capt Naros