Warp Fishes, Part Two
Posted on Tue Mar 20th, 2012 @ 1:42pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Cailean Fox, M.D. & Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant JG Lucy Carter & Captain Alexsa Kendrick
1,059 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Fishing
Location: Bridge, Deck 1
Timeline: Current
The Ranger slid through the water, looking for this needle in the proverbial haystack. It was clear that, whatever was down there, had consequences. For the planet, and perhaps for the Ranger itself.
"Captain, I think I may have something. Putting it on the main viewscreen," Prudentia reported. As she worked, the viewscreen changed from blue to a different hue of blue. "Adjusting..." Lieutenant Prudentia changed the image on the viewscreen, and slowly outlines started to emerge.
"It's a structure!" Elsie exclaimed, now walking to the centre of the bridge behind Mr. Jones. "What is it?" she questioned, now turning to face Prudentia.
"It seems debris of some kind. Captain, the biggest part is sending out the Warp Waves which have been affecting us."
"Will our shields hold if we move in closer?"
"If we adjust the shielding to compensate, we can get to within two kilometers of it, Captain. I wouldn't recommend getting closer," T'mpest said quietly.
"Do it," she instructed as Jones worked on the helm. The Ranger pulled off and sank deeper, inching her way to the seabed. The fifteen decked vessel looked almost at home within the fluidic atmosphere as the bridge was still awash with the blue glow emanating from the Condition Blue status. Elsie paused and subconsciously held her breath as the visage of a looming structure appeared through the mirky mists.
"Captain," Edsell called out, reading from his scans, "that building on the viewscreen seems to be holding whatever the source of the warp fluctuations are."
"Then hold off," Elsie replied from her chair. Jones did as he was told as the Ranger came to a complete stop. "Can you refine the scans and focus on what's inside the structure? Now that we know where exactly to look?"
Edsell didn't reply at first instead opting to concentrate on his terminal. “Hold on,†he muttered, as he again refreshed the scans. “There!†He smiled to himself and then squinted his eyes at the information. “It looks like some type of metal object. I can’t quite determine what type. The warp fluctuations are still hampering my resolution. But I can definitely detect something.â€
Prudentia had quietly relayed the information to science for further research. "Captain," she said, "I'm checking the object through the database, but no positive identification yet. If it's a Romulan device, it's unlike any Romulan device we have seen."
"Then where is it from?" she questioned, almost as soon as Prudentia's voice finished.
"I'm scanning each part, trying to discern that, Captain," Prudentia answered. "But it'll take time to analyze all the pieces."
"Time we don't have!" Elsie barked, her familiar yet subverted older aggression now beginning to bubble beneath the surface. She marched over to the science station, now almost furious with the small display next to her chair, and practically pushed Prudentia aside. "Let me look," was all the she said as she stood now squarely before the readouts. "This is unlike anything we have seen before. Can we beam it aboard?"
'Temper, temper, Captain', Alex thought as she straightened from her leaning on the barrier just behind Commander Michaels' left shoulder. She watched as Halliwell practically marched across the bridge and woman-handled the young officer aside. She absent-mindedly crossed her arms as she walked back toward the master systems display, her gaze never wavering from Halliwell's direction.
"If it's creating a warp variance, we shouldn't bring it inside our shields," suggested Shepherd. "Right now the shields keep it's effects washing over us instead of shaking us apart. If we beam it in," he shrugged as he let the sentence trail off, looking to T'mpest.
"Unless we can properly shield a cargo bay," T'mpest added. She looked over the readouts. "Wait. Cross reference the signals with early warp technology. There's something vaguely familiar. We need to make sure it's safe before we beam it aboard."
"Commander," Prudentia turned around to face T'mpest, "I may be oversimplifying things, but, can't we just turn it off?" She turned around to have a renewed look at the readings. "It does look vaguely like a crude propulsion waveform, now that you mention it. I wonder if a directed pulse could puncture the warp field, effectively disabling the device."
"Mr. Shepherd?" Elsie questioned, hopeful that Prudentia's hypothesis could, in practice, solve their current logistical dilemma.
"We could," T'mpest answered, "But I'd like to get some readings before we do. So that we have a better idea of what it's doing. And we don't know if shutting it off will cause more problems."
From the mirky distance and through the sinking depths, the light-grey silhouette of the sleek Ranger was almost indistinguishable against the ragged underwater landscape that forged out beneath her. The overhead streams of faint light rippled as they thrust down like glass swords through a block of ice. Suddenly, from beyond the darkness, the under-belly of the Intrepid ship pulsed from her chest as the main deflector began to glow with an eerie hue. The surrounding life; fish-like creatures, darted in fear from her hull as the rippling sound of power began to thud from the dish. With an incandescent blue, it fired up to a crescendo and bolted out a beam of transparent light. The surrounding sea-bed lit up momentarily as the shaft penetrated the crumbling structure and hit the desired object. Suddenly, everything crashed back into darkness as the invisible warp fractures dissipated into the void.
Edsell looked up from his terminal and nodded to the captain. "It worked!" he exclaimed, turning in excitement to Shepherd.
"I still want shields around the cargo bay," Elsie replied, nodding in proud satisfaction at her crew. "Prudentia," she then added, looking at her, "take a team down there and I'll join you shortly. Secure the device when Mr. Edsell beams it in and then catalogue every component. I want a break-down and analysis within the hour so we can then get out of this God forsaken river and back up in space where we belong."
"On my way, Captain," Prudentia said as she tapped her comm-badge. "I need a Warp Core specialist, a structural engineer, and a science recording officer to Cargo Bay 1 as soon as possible," she ordered matter-of-factly as she herself started towards the turbolift.
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