Stellar Immune Response
Posted on Mon Jan 23rd, 2023 @ 4:29am by Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant JG Taina M'Tras & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth & Lieutenant JG Andrea Carrington & Lieutenant Dr. Daniel Brasken & Warrant Officer Ahira Kasamoto
Mission:
S1 Episode 4: The Cloud
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 1100
6726 words - 13.5 OF Standard Post Measure
With all of their initial experiments done and their weapons made, there was little left for them to do within this strange living nebula. The Captain had been clear that they wouldn’t linger longer than two days before they resumed their long journey back to the Alpha Quadrant and it was time for them to make good on that decision.
Sitting in the center area, Ivan and Andrei Petrov sat in their respective chairs going over reports and passing certain documents back and forth. At 1100 hours, the console between them emitted a soft chime. Andrei looked over at his father, his visible eye giving nothing away of what might be underneath.
“That’s time, sir.” He said simply.
“Yes, it is. Time for us to get back on the road.” Ivan said, “get us back on track.”
Andrei turned then toward the helm and looked at the back of Johnathan’s head.
“Helm, it’s time to resume our course for the Empire. Set a course to exit the nebula at full impulse power.”
Johnathan nodded as he turned back.to his controls. "Aye, Sir!" His fingers moved over his console and he spoke as he worked. "Course laid in, speed full impulse."
Vengeance started along their path under the control of her helmsman with the low hum of the engines starting, a detail most experienced officers would take as an immediate sign they were on the move that required no consoles or cues to determine. The viewscreen ahead of them was filled, as it had been for the past to days, with the pink haze of the living nebula. Only barely perceptible at first, little somethings began to appear near them and seemed to be getting closer.
“What the hell are those?” Andrei asked, looking at the movement of those unidentified things.
The movements of the unknown objects had caught Sovas as off guard as the rest of the crew by the appearance of something within the nebula. Though he shook himself from his shock as he began trying to get answers for the Captain and Commander. "Sensors are having difficulties discerning the unknown entities from the nebula due to the presence of much of the same materials being present in both."
"I'll continue working on trying to gather more information."
Ivan tapped his commbadge quickly, his brows furrowed in a sense of disquiet.
“Doctor Brasken to the Bridge immediately.” He said, his booming voice still managing to have a note of restraint, though his tone indicated there was really no time to waste.
Daniel hit his comm badge and quickly responded. "On my way." He locked his console and quickly headed out of sickbay.
The ship rocked violently, causing many people to fall or need to suddenly brace themselves. The people who were already sitting were most fortunate. As she rocked, Vengeance’s lights flickered, as did the screens on the bridge.
Ahira had been standing a few paces behind the center seat. He'd been relaxed, watching, but still relaxed he hadn't been expecting any real danger to pop up; When the ship bucked to the side, he was pitched to the ground. He was able to catch himself before he planted his face in a bulkhead. But, he heard his left wrist snap and pain shoot up his arm.
Stoically, he didn't say anything, at least not at the moment.
Down in engineering, M'Tras was rapidly working her console. She was cutting power everywhere it wasn't crucial. Rerouting it where she could. The problem was already running steadily in the back of her mind but she was focused on surviving the moment, keeping the shields up and the ship functioning.
Andrei turned his head to Lyra, his brow knit.
“Reverse shield polarity.”
Lyra looked down to her console, her fingers moving deftly over the panel. The command input, she waited a couple of beats and then looked up to Andrei, shaking her head. "No effect, sir."
Sovas' brow furrowed as he paid attention to the sensors as more data flowed in, the creatures seemed to be nearly invisible on sensors and the only reason they seemed to show up at all was the presence of the decalithium that popped like a flare launched into the night sky. Even as the shields struggled under the strain of the draining actions, it still wasn't apparent where the energy was going since even trying to follow the flow of power away only showed that it was seemingly dissipating like smoke in a breeze.
Daniel bit off a curse as the turbolift doors opened to the bridge. The ride had been less than smooth and the last jolt had him rack his knuckles against the wall. Later. Taking a deep breath as he stepped out onto the bridge and made his way to one of the modular stations and brought up sensors. "What did we do to upset it?"
Andrea stepped out of the turbolift behind Brasken, this was her first time on the bridge in her new role as Chief Discipline Inspector, and it felt rather strange not going across to Ops. She paused to one side of the bridge to look at the viewscreen and see what was going on.
“This is strange” She looked towards Ivan. “I’m not getting any sense of whatever these things are, but I am getting a ... kind of background sense from the Nebula itself.”
“We’re on our way out. As soon as we started moving toward the exit to the nebula, these strange…things started attaching to our ship.” Ivan said, answering the Doctor’s question.
"Main power is at 82 percent and dropping," The half-Vulcan declared to the bridge in a firm tone that displayed no signs of fear or uncertainty as he seemed to be searching for a way to prevent creatures from being able to continue their feasting. "It appears that the shields remain intact, but the creatures are using them to siphon power directly from the ship."
“Maybe we should try to move a bit faster and deal with these damned things on the other side,” Ivan said. “Johnathan, give us warp one in a three-second burst.”
"Aye!" He replied quickly as he pressed a control and activated his emergency harness. "Bringing warp engines online now, along the same course, with a three-second burst at warp one!" He typed the controls, entering the orders, then he pressed the execute control.
Outside, the warp nacelles rotated up and flashed as the ship jumped to warp speed.
As soon as the viewscreen showed the nebula surging around them as the ship sped up, there was an unsettling wobbling of the deck. It was only when they dropped out of warp again that the ship rocked harder than before, causing almost anyone who wasn’t already bracing themselves to fall. The Captain himself lurched slightly out of his chair and onto the carpet. He recovered soon, finding his seat again.
Lyra slid out of her seat but caught and righted herself before she fell. Settling herself back into the chair at her station, she glowered at the viewscreen. There was no alarm or concern in her expression, instead, it was just irritation and annoyance. Why was this damned creature doing this now when they were trying to leave? It would have been much more effective had it done this while they had been stealing its lifeblood in their little mining operation. What a foolish waste of space.
“Damnit, what is going on?” Ivan asked in a raised voice.
Sovas stabbed his finger into the surface of his console harshly to silence the alarm that had been blaring once power levels began to swift and precipitous drop after they had engaged the warp drive. "Main power has fallen to 32 percent and is dropping, at this current rate, we will reach critical levels in approximately one minute with full loss in two."
"When we went to warp, it increased the rate of drain, perhaps we should attempt to engage at a slower sublight pace or even making use of the navigational thrusters." He offered up, not sanguine about their chances to reach even the outer edge of the hellscape that this nebula was becoming.
“How far are we from the exit?” Andrei asked, looking at the helm again.
"Three million kilometers." Lyra offered, succeeding at keeping most of the annoyance of their situation out of her voice. "Based on the current speed of the power drain, we aren't going to make it out before we are dead in space."
“The faster we go, the quicker they drain us. Full stop.” Ivan said, hoping to see what would happen to them in that case. “Lieutenant Nyseth, monitor those power readings and give us a clear picture.”
Johnathan's hands flew over his controls. "All engines reading stop, Captain."
The alarms about the power systems became significantly less, and the power level even jumped back up slightly though the drain was still continuing. The half-Vulcan's brow quirked before he looked at Ivan in the center seat. "Captain, it appears that the drain has slowed significantly, it's still occurring, but the creatures aren't being as aggressive now."
The Bridge was silent for a moment as some people breathed a sigh of relief since doom had seemed quite close just seconds before. Ivan stood then and looked around the room.
“Well, folks. My ears are wide open. Any bright ideas?”
Johnathan thought about it for a second, then turned around to face Ivan. "Sir, if powered motion gets us attacked, why not try uncovered movement?"
“Say more, Lieutenant,” Ivan commanded, listening to his chief pilot closely.
"Sir, if we secure the shuttles down in the secondary storage, Mister Robertson's shuttle as well, and drop the forcefield, the sudden decompression could give us enough of a push. Then, we could raise the forcefield back up, repressurize the bay, and blow it again as needed." He continued to think, then added, "We could also add the RCS Thrusters to the job as well, as they are powered by chemicals, not like the impulse and warp engines."
"Sir, as we discussed previously, this creature has a full set of systems that are not unlike normal life. That means..." Daniel paused and sent his screen to the main viewscreen. "There is a circulatory system that goes everywhere through the nebula." A couple more keys and the areas of space where eddies flowed through space were highlighted in various shades of yellow and green against the black of space and the movement of these eddies showing where their goal was and how to get there.
Andrea turned to look at Brasken. “So we’re going to kill this... thing before it has a chance to kill us?” She didn’t really like it but the idea was a sound one. “Is it possible we could find a way to discourage it from feeding off our energy? Sour the milk if you will?”
Lyra listened to the back and forth and finally spoke up in turn. "We could try making a closer exit to leave through instead of having to travel the whole three million kilometers."
Sovas was quiet as they discussed their situation and attempted to come up with solutions for it, rubbing his face in contemplation but was finding it difficult to focus on the solution as felt the presence in his mind stoking feelings of anxiety and fear at the idea that they would be trapped within the nebula to die. Die without power. Die gasping. Die freezing. To Die. To be no more. To cease to be.
The half-Vulcan fidgeted at the induced notions, looking around the dimly lit bridge even as he heard the thumping of his heart in his ears. He stood and slammed his fist down on the top of the console to focus himself. "I believe the ideas of Lieutenant Anderson and Lieutenant Cassiel's ideas have merit; the explosive decompression of the shuttle bay would allow us to create unpowered momentum to carry us forward, combined with an exit of our own making would possibly be the most expedient way to see us through."
"To address the most immediate issue of power, Lieutenant Carrington's idea of souring the milk would take away the pressing concern of the continued dropping power levels." He continued, using his words to focus on the moment. "Though it may also be a temporary solution, I would also like to recommend perhaps finding a way to disguise ourselves as something that is meant to be here and not a foreign intruder that has triggered this response."
"I agree with you, Sovas. Right now, at least, it's the best plan we've got. Johnathan, have the shuttlebay cleared so we don't lose anything on decompression once I give the order." Ivan said.
Johnathan nodded. "I'll go see to it personally, Sir!" He then handed his station off to one of his junior pilots and hurried off the bridge.
"M'Tras, Daniel, have you any ideas how we might turn these strange creatures off our supply of power?" Ivan asked, looking at Brasken but also speaking to the open comm to Engineering. His own heart was beating in anticipation of potential death for him, his family, this crew, and the entire Fleet.
"These are not children trying to eat, they are an immune response that wants to destroy us like an infection. Our power systems are similar to the creature's own systems, just enough off that we have now drawn a response." Daniel frowned at his console before turning to face Ivan. "Suggest lowering power output to minimum and using the spatial eddies to hide ourselves further. Perhaps M'Tras and Nyseth can sort out a way to be drawn along with the currents."
"Operating only minimal life support, sir, we would have a small enough energy signature that it might not even be detected through the hull," M'Tras said. "However, we would be drifting blind and defenseless. It might be possible to match their signal more exactly, fully blend in."
"Hmm.." Ivan said, turning to the operations console with furrowed eyebrows. "Lowering our power levels, flying blind, or perhaps disguising ourselves. What do you think, Lieutenant Nyseth?"
"The power levels will be the easiest to implement, but we would have to monitor our systems carefully since EPS spikes can and do happen even in the best-maintained systems." The half-Vulcan replied to the Captain before glancing over at M'Tras before returning his focus to Ivan. "With the plan to travel by subspace eddies, that's not a simple answer."
"We would have first to have a map of local subspace, and then we would need to find an eddy that would be strong enough to carry the ship, not merely nudge and rocks us about, which is the difficult part." He started to explain, working at his console to begin ordering a list of non-essential systems and ship functions that could be taken offline without impacting their overall survivability. "Once we find the current, Lieutenant Anderson would, in theory, be able to keep us within it using microbursts of the maneuvering thrusters, but we would have to be constantly checking the flow of the current to ensure that we don't become caught in a vortex that would complicate things."
Sovas knew he was rambling, he could have given a simple answer, but the nervousness he was feeling being caused by his unwelcome passenger was not helping the situation in the slightest. "We could do it but we would have to have power to the navigational sensors, which might cause the immune response the good doctor mentioned before."
"Disguising ourselves might be the most expedient course, we are more than capable of altering our EM frequencies, but we would need to work with the Science division to ensure there aren't any other surprises that our attempt might trigger."
Andrei had moved to the back of the Bridge on the level above the command area and was running his fingers over the master systems display consoles as everyone else worked on the solutions prescribed by the Captain. He moved through system reports and ran rudimentary simulations which yielded the results he was looking for. He turned toward the corner of the room where the Captain's Bodyguard stood. Since he had helped to develop their special torpedoes, Andrei thought him useful in this moment.
"Ahira, come over here," he said simply with a wave of his hand.
Ahira, keeping his hand, which he assumed to be broken from both the swelling and the pain, down at his side. Showing weakness was the last thing he needed. Following the XO's orders, he moved over and stood by him.
'"My theory is that...if we use a Red-Matter Torpedo set to the city-destroyer yield," he paused slightly, his natural eye finding Lyra at the tactical console. She was in earshot, and if she wasn't particularly busy with something else, he knew she would be able to hear them. "we might be able to tear a hole in the thickening barrier of the nebula. And then, when it collapses, we can shoot through. What do you think?"
"That might just work," he concurred. "The timing would have to be perfectly coordinated. I'm no engineer, but I think that would probably give us no more than seven or eight seconds."
Lyra was paying attention to Andrei and Ahira standing nearby. She was a bit surprised that he had asked Ahira instead of her given she had explained the limited role Ahira had played in the project but she knew he had his reasons. “It would be very risky. It may be better to do it with an even smaller yield - the ship doesn’t need a city-sized hole to escape through and doing something smaller would run less of a risk with us being pulled into the singularity that is formed. The gravitational pull would move the ship, but I don’t know that the thoron particles would safely collapse the black hole in time.”
Andrei listened to her intently, speaking right after she was done.
"And what if we allow the shuttlebay decompression momentum to carry us as far as it can, and then, when the wormhole begins to affect us, we jump to low warp to escape both it and the nebula?"
“Maybe. It could work. Or the creature could drain us of enough of our power that we won’t be able to make it past the black hole and we meet our ends being crushed like a tin can.” She said and shrugged, speaking in a way that seemed to indicate she wasn’t really overly bothered by the possibility.
Ahira shrugged his shoulders, he had a little engineering knowledge from his days when he had been a smuggler, but he was a rank amateur when it came to something remotely complicated and this was complicated indeed. The thought of a potential instant death was the last thing he wanted, nevertheless, he wasn't particularly scared of it.
His eyes cut between Lyra and the XO. He contemplated how frank he should be, then decided he had nothing to lose by not stating his honest feelings. He turned his attention fully on Andrei maintaining unflinching eye contact. "Commander, I don't have the expertise to determine the yield or the timing, but you asked for my opinion and I think using the Red Matter is a pretty radical solution, the chances of it blowing up in our face, literally, are pretty damn high. I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying it should be our last resort. We're not at that point, at least I don't think so. I suggest we try the decompression route first then reevaluate."
Andrei nodded at the Warrant Officer.
"Very well then. We'll keep it in our back pocket. Lieutenant Cassiel, prepare a low-yield red-matter torpedo and load it in a tube. We'll use it only if we need it."
"Aye, Commander." Lyra nodded and turned her attention back to her station. "Officer Kasamoto, come here a moment."
Unsure, if he was going to be called to task for speaking his mind about the Red Matter torpedos, he hesitantly moved towards her, doing his best not to favor his broken wrist.
When he drew close enough, Lyra lifted her dark, obscure gaze to him. "Make sure you get your wrist looked at as soon as possible." She spoke quietly enough for only him to hear. "I can stand watch over the captain until you get it repaired, but you know well enough not to let an injury like that sit too long."
Ahira started to protest but stopped himself. She was right. It wasn't showing weakness or vulnerability to get his injury treated. It was showing stupidity not to.
"Yes ma'am, I'll just go down to sickbay and be right back."
Lyra popped open a panel in her console and took out the small medkit there, being discreet as possible while doing so. She calibrated one of the hyposprays and loaded it with analgesic before handing it over to Ahira. “Not really the time to leave the bridge in crisis. Take this, have a seat, and strap in would be my suggestion. The captain doesn’t need to be distracted by you asking to leave right now but once it’s over I’m sure you can go with Brasken.”
Ahira covertly took the hypospray and injected himself with it. The relief was immediate. As unobtrusively as possible, he tore off a piece of his uniform jacket and wrapped his wrist with it.
"I'll do something more permanent when it's the right time.
About twenty minutes after he left the bridge, Johnathan returned. Nodding to Ivan as he moved back to the helm, he reported in. "Shuttlebay secured and ready to be decompressed, Captain." He then took his station back and reactivated his emergency restraints. He then waited for orders.
Sovas had taken his seat, the feeling of the emergency restraints was comforting and seemed to calm the presence in his mind as he waited. There wasn't really anything that he could do presently to help with this phase of their escape. This was in the hands of Johnathan and the fates if they were meant to survive.
“Alright, let’s do this, folks.” The Captain began, sitting in his chair again. “Sovas, reduce our power output as prescribed other than minimal life support, minimal sensors, and minimal res thruster power.”
After a few button presses behind the Ops console, systems started blinking off around the ship. Lights dimmed considerably and, in some places, turned off, consoles went black, and the sound of the engines wound down to silence. The same happened on the other fleet vessels that were mirroring them through an open comm link.
“Engineering, alter our EM frequencies to match that of the nebula.” Andrei’s said, running his fingers along the central console between him and the captain’s chair.
M'Tras already had the necessary adjustments ready to go. It was one more press of a button to put the plan into action. "Altered, sir."
“Lyra, give us a read on these…things attached to us. What are they doing?” The XO asked, looking back to the Chief of Security.
Lyra looked down to the readouts, two seconds passing between Andrei's question and her response. "They are beginning to detach from the hull."
She wasn't really even that disappointed that this plan was working. Despite her wish to see her weapon in action, this situation was precarious and while she did not really fear death she would prefer to avoid it when possible.
“Alright, Johnathan, it’s your turn,” Ivan said, looking forward toward the conn. “Decompress the shuttlebay and take us into the nearest useful eddy.”
Johnathan nodded to the Captain, then turned back to face his controls. He reached up and activated internal comms. "All hands, this is the bridge. Stand by for a possible rough ride." He then closed the channel and focused on his task. After seeing that everything was ready, he opened the shuttlebay doors. Once the cycle finished, his finger hovered over the control to deactivate the forcefield holding in the bay atmosphere. "Decompression...now."
He pressed the control and the field fell. Instantly, the Vengeance shuddered as the bay depressurized in one large expulsion. The result was instantaneous, as the Vengeance began moving forward at a velocity of nearly one hundred kph. He then started to use his rcs thrusters, using them as sparingly as possible, to both keep their power output down to minimum levels and to keep the ship's momentum going.
Once internal sensors showed that the shuttlebay was fully depressurized, he reactivated the force field and repressurized the bay, readying it for another release.
Slowly, the fleet entered one of the nearby eddies, and the vibrations increased, as they were buffeted by the plasma that was rushing through it.
The Vengeance and her Shadow Fleet approached the edge of the nebula under the power of their momentum alone. Running lights, deflector dishes, nacelles, and any other signs of life down to activity in the windows could not be seen. They looked like derelicts after a cataclysmic event with only the slightest blips from the RCS thrusters to indicate anything else.
The plan seemed to be working, they seemed to be making their escape from the cosmozoan they were currently trapped within. Though Sovas tempered his excited hope with the knowledge that they hadn't escaped yet and a frown furrowed his brow when a warning popped up on sensors. "Captain the density of the space around us is increasing exponentially and is creating significant drag, blunting out previous momentum."
His fingers danced over his console as he felt panic beginning to rise up within him. It wasn't his own. It was the entity causing this as his hands trembled and he felt a tightness in his chest as fear gripped him. Letting out a slow breath, the half-Vulcan focused on the solidity of the console beneath his fingers before letting out a slow breath once more. "The exits are hardened into a resin-like substance that appears to be quite durable.
"What is going on then?" Ivan asked the Bridge around him. "Why is this creature suddenly becoming so inhospitable?"
"Sir. The numbers here are showing an inverse trend in relation to the trilithium present in the creature and the response to our energy output." Daniel looked up from his console and turned to face Ivan. "I would hazard a guess that it is attempting to absorb any source it can to rebalance its systems. Similar to how our blood clots to keep from bleeding out vital fluids."
"So we're stuck..." Andrei said, standing up. "Any suggestions on how we get the hell out of here?"
As he continued to work his controls, Johnathan muttered aloud, anger starting to fill his voice. "Then perhaps we should find the heart of this thing and kill it."
"Or we can bust out," Ivan said, setting his jaw. There's no telling what the hell might happen next if they stayed in there any longer. Turning to the tactical console, he folded his arms. "Lieutenant Cassiel, rate the durability of the edge of the nebula. Would phaser or torpedo assault's do anything for us?"
Ahira was close to panicking, something that rarely happened to him and he wasn't sure why. Perhaps that was why when an idea came to him, an idea he would normally suppress because it sounded ridiculous.
"Could it be sentient? Could we try communicating with it in some way?"
Lyra had been about to answer Ivan when Ahira cut in. She could hear the urgency in his voice and she turned her head to look at him. While he may not have been under her direct command anymore, she had put him forward for the position he was in now; she expected excellence and he had given her disappointment. She let it show in her eyes before she looked back to Ivan and she had returned to her typically cool and stoic expression.
Ahira felt Lyra's glare, on him, how could he miss it? He knew he'd miscalculated and perhaps committed career suicide. Her gaze had its intended result. He was ashamed of his outburst. But, it did more. It actually made him relax, at least in regard to the nebula.
"At this point in time, the edge of the nebula has condensed to the point where it would take everything we had in our arsenal to maybe make a hole big enough to get out of assuming we could even maneuver to the opening in time." She crossed her arms and glanced to Johnathan, then back to Ivan.
"I'd agree with the killing it part, but with such a massive creature with unknown biology, we would probably be flying blind and we're already severely depleted in power - if we failed to find it in time we'd be dead." She looked down at the display and then back up. "We have the option of trying one of the red matter torpedoes. That will most certainly make the opening we need, but it will be difficult to navigate through and timing will have to be impeccable."
Andrei shook his head, considering the options presented.
"We're damned if we try to turn around. This creature will just continue to bleed us dry," he said, crossing his large arms over his chest. "What about the red matter torpedo? If we backed up and fired, could we count on it to tear a hole in the side of this nebula?"
"It will definitely open the hole. The trick comes in figuring out how to collapse the singularity the torpedo will form before we get dragged into it, but not collapsing it so early that the inertial pull isn't enough to get us out with our limited power." Lyra offered up and as she spoke, she began inputting commands into her console. "Like I said, timing will have to be impeccable, the margin for error will be very slim."
Ahira still thought communicating, or an attempt to communicate might at least warrant an attempt, or at least a conversation about his proposal, but he kept silent, not wanting to in deeper shit than he was currently mired in. So,
So, he reminded perfectly silent.
“Then we’ll have to time it right.” The Captain said. “Jonathan, give us some reverse engine power and back us off the edge, then get ready to manage our erratic fall toward the black hole with thrusters only.”
"Aye, Sir." He worked his controls quickly. "Executing a three second reverse burst...now!" He pressed the controls and the Vengeance shuddered again. With the lower power levels, the inertial dampening system wasn't able to keep everyone, who wasn't holding on to something, stumble forward a bit. Then, after the ship finished its maneuver, Johnathan ran his fingers over his console again. "Course plotted for the outside of the nebula, thrusters standing by, impulse engines set for restart to emergency full power upon exiting, Captain."
“Sovas, once we launch the torpedo and create the singularity, we need to time it perfectly with our escape. We will be hurdling toward the singularity and I want your advisement to be clear on when we should collapse it. Get ready on your end.”
There came a conflicting surge of emotions as he listened to their plan and what part he would have to play in it. He was certain that this was definitely not light duty in any way. He thought he could sense a distinctive spike of terror and fear coming from the entity inside of his mind, he found it curious that this thing seemed to be in fear for its existence and was something he would need to report to the doctor. Though on the tails of that thought came a surge of fear and his own survival instinct, which caused him to focus more sharply on the situation at hand.
"Affirmative Captain, I will ensure that we are ready to make our escape at the optimum moment."
“M’Tras, monitor power. We will be running low for sure.” Ivan said, “just let us know how hot it’s getting down there.”
"Yes, sir," Taina answered./
Ivan frowned for a moment, but sat up tall in his chair; confident. He had to be confident as all relied on the good air in his lungs and the hope and lives of his crew hung in the balance.
“Alright, Lyra. Target the edge of the nebula and fire.”
"Aye, sir."
As the words left her lips, she glanced down to her console and without hesitation hit the command to fire the weapon. There was simply no room for doubt in this moment. While she hadn't had the chance to go back and check the simulations, she was confident enough in the computer's findings to use the weapon. It wasn't her first choice, but it had now become their only choice. She had to be confident in it or they'd all suffer for it.
The torpedo made impact deep inside the graduated edge of the nebula and the results were instant the pink gases around them began to warp and surge toward a small black point which moved quickly and angrily. The Vengeance was pulled along with the current, slowly at first, but then they started to barrel toward it somewhat sideways.
Sovas braced himself about the tumultuous rocking of the ship beneath them, watching with awed fascination at the sight of the sphere of deadly oblivion as it tore through the substance of the nebulous creature and the fabric of reality. The torpedo was almost too terrible to look, but deep down, something made him want to watch. It wasn't the entity. It was a part of himself that wondered at the full power of the torpedo and what it could truly do before finally looking away as his fingers moved over the controls on his console as he continued to work the calculations for when they would need to make their escape.
With great interest Lyra watched as the torpedo struck true - the green flash of the explosion was not all that impressive, but the spiral of the purple and pink nebula toward the rapidly expanding black hole was surely a sight to behold. She shifted to stabilize herself but never once did she take her eyes off the display in front of her. With great pleasure, she witnessed the fruit of her labor and she wasn't able to keep the smallest of smiles off of her face - not that anyone was likely looking at her in such a heated moment. Their impending doom didn't seem to much phase her.
The doctor had little to do but hold on and wait to see if something went bad enough that he was needed, but not so bad as to end any concerns he might have forever. So Daniel braced and watched the viewscreen display a fantastic dance as the gasses swirled and streaked through to the accretion disk that formed suddenly in their midst.
“Straighten us out, Mr. Anderson.” Andrei said, some tension in his voice as he watched the scene play out on the viewscreen and felt the bucking of the deck underneath him.
To his credit, Johnathan didn't seem worried. He worked his flight systems like a maestro of old. Soon, the might warship was turning and sailing along the edge of the outer edges of the forming singularity. Sailing through rough seas, to be sure, but still moving towards their goal.
"Reserve power at 14%, captain," M'Tras interjected worriedly.
Ivan’s eyes were wide at that. He looked over at his son, alarmed somewhat but fearless.
“Let’s pray the gods that’s enough.” He said. “Sovas, tell us when…”
Sovas was silent as he watched the countdown on his station as they approached the event horizon and the point of no return. His brow was furrowed and glistened with sweat, rubbing his fingers together before looking sharply. "Now!"
Lyra's reaction was immediate given she had obviously been anticipating it. She watched the second torpedo 0 the payload full of Thoron particles - streak toward the singularity and break into two parts. For a moment it seemed that nothing happened and that the torpedo had just disintegrated, but Lyra showed no alarm. It was exactly how it went in the simulations.
As the Shadow Fleet was pulled closer toward the singularity, the force on the ships began to lessen. The hellish devouring of the nebula's gases began to slow, and the black void began to shrink. It was slow at first, perhaps too slow, and then all at once it began to collapse in on itself at a rapid rate. The pink and purple swirl of light and gas followed but only to a certain point. Then they could see stars starting to appear behind the swiftly decaying black hole. As the fleet approached, it finally diminished out of existence and left a gaping hole in the creature that had threatened their lives and a clear path back into space.
Lyra slowly let out a breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding, and looked down to her console once more.
The Fleet, already moving forward at breakneck speed due to the pull of the terrible singularity, now slingshot past the place where it once was, through the tattered edge of the nebula, and into normal space. As stars appeared all around them, there were collecting sighs of quiet relief all around the Bridge.
Andrei didn't like the idea of dying in a situation like that, but he hadn't been obviously afraid. A warrior had to risk death regularly, and a ruler even moreso. He smiled when he saw their success though.
"We did it. Good job, everyone." he said. "Let's get main power back online. M'Tras, how long will it take to get the warp core started again?"
"At least three hours, sir," M'Tras answered.
"Put all of your people on it, Lieutenant." Ivan said, his voice sounding slightly more relaxed than before.
Sovas was focusing on his station, trying to ignore the nagging sensation of terror that remained in his mind even while forcing his hands to remain steady. It seemed the entity inside of his mind could feel fear or possibly something approximating it. If it hadn't been toying with him as he frowned, he determined to speak with the doctor about this to see if he possibly had any insights.
Though they had survived, he couldn't help but wonder if they would escape the next encounter unscathed.
Daniel kept the few sensors he had at his disposal trained on the creature as they made their escape. Contrary to their first officer's opinion, the ability to synthesize their own resources would be beyond valuable and so he would get whatever information possible on how the creature responded to the damage they just caused and any other details that might filter in as well. He also did not fail to note the various emotions from Sovas during the encounter and made sure that he would review the data that was gathered. A full day it seemed.
As the crew behind him moved about their duties and breathed sighs of relief, Johnathan kept his focus on his controls. While they didn't have warp power at the moment, they did still have the residual speed from slingshotting past the singularity. He worked diligently to maintain the Vengeance riding that wave, keeping the bleed-off to aa bare a minimum as possible. By his calculations, they were moving at nearly warp two. If he could keep it going, they would be dropping back down to impulse in about an hour...possibly two.
Andrea let out a calming breath, now they were free the emotions of the crew were settling down. She couldn’t help but feel a small pang of sorrow for the creature they were leaving behind, in truth it had only been defending itself against their intrusion. In a way she hoped it would recover and that they wouldn’t encounter it again.
END
