Posted by Commander Ryder Raauhl (Executive Officer) in MPT - ST Proximity Alert on the bridge (Augustine Chronicles thread 2) - All departments alerted

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in MPT - ST Proximity Alert on the bridge (Augustine Chronicles thread 2) - All departments alerted

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in MPT - ST Proximity Alert on the bridge (Augustine Chronicles thread 2) - All departments alerted
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

An NE replied: “Aye Sir, ahead slow…”

The Leviathan moved ahead slowly, drifting closer to the readings.

The readings from the sensors all seemed to contradict one another. Multiple scans in a hand full of spectrums all said Leviathan was dangerously close to colliding with something smaller than itself, but large enough to be a ship or a large chunk of a ship… Energy readings showed a warp signature, ion particles from a ship trail though the course was incoherent and seemed to jump around instead of chart a path. Radiation readings showed what may have been explosions nearby.

Visually, there was nothing outside the viewport.

Until there was.

Without warning or grandeur, there was suddenly a large shape in the Leviathan’s direct path, not a hundred kilometers away. Not just a large shape, but hundreds or maybe thousands of smaller shapes formed into a tail and being pulled along by the gravity of the larger shape. The large shape was slowly rolling and spinning as it moved; like an asteroid might move. However, when it turned on its axis, what was clearly a matched pair of upper and lower nacelles came into view, the running lights still blinking. She was a dead ship. The battered and twisted stardrive section and half the torn open saucer section of a Discovery Class starship. Parts of the superstructure were still on fire and oxygen, coolant, plasma and radiation were all leaking out from various damaged parts of the wreck.

The debris cloud around her was comprised of bits of hull, glass, and refuse. Also, if one looked closely, one could see bodies frozen into stillness, orbiting along with the rest of the cloud of death and destruction. Another Nacelle drifted along behind the main wreck, the NCC number painted on the side reading: NCC - 87126.

As the remains of the ship appeared before them, the Leviathan’s CIC sprung to life. At the tactical station, MacReady was already taking readings - chemical configurations, debris composition, average fragment sizes, identification markers.
“Captain,” he called out after a moment, Cobb responding with determined step across the CIC. “Sir, it’s the USS Augustine.”
“The Augustine?”
Like all Federation captains, Cobb had heard of the ship. Heard too how it disappeared without a trace in the midst of a five-year mission. He had always presumed it destroyed. But to be faced with the evidence before him…

“Well what the hell is it…”

Zachariah stopped. Words dissolved on his tongue with equal urgency to his steps across the carpeted floor. Around him, an uneasy silence cocooned the room. Echoing. Uncomfortable. But then came a different sound, one that made them beg for the silence to return…

While the dead ship was visible, a sound became apparent as well. A soft tinkling sound like rain against the Leviathan’s hull. Any crew members who’d ever been in a space battle would recognize that sound as tiny bits of debris clattering against the outside skin of the Leviathan.

“Are our shields up?” Cobb attempted to confirm, voice hesitant and restrained, as if his words could take physical form and collide with the hail of debris outside.
“Aye, Sir,” came reassurance from the helm.
“Good. Maintain our course. Slow and steady now. Be prepared to stop at any…”

Then, as if a switch were flipped, she was gone. Winked out of existence in an instant. Also gone was the tinkling rain sound.

He dared not to move. Dared not to breathe. Arctic eyes scanning the room and finding each face around him suspended as he. Was it over? Had a blink of the eye triggered this final disintegration, until the Augustine was no more than a breath upon the wind?

“Run a scan of our local area,” he whispered.
“Aye Sir. Nothing. It’s as if…wait!”

Forty seconds later, another chunk of debris appeared, only this part of the dead ship was lazily spinning about a thousand kilometers off to Leviathan’s Starboard bow. Then that too winked out and was gone.

-Dave/Joseph Franklin, anomalous Individual

The raw emotions of hundreds of individual souls tore through Anaya with no warning. Where there had been nothing but the warm familiar feelings of her crew, suddenly all was pain and fear. Even unprepared, Anaya should have been able to handle the mental assault suddenly placed upon her, but something alien and strange in the nature of the emotions that attacked her psyche allowed them to rip through her layers of mental shielding.

With a gasp she bent over double, clutching both hands to her midriff as if struck by a tremendous physical blow to her chest that tore the very air from her lungs.

Then.... as abruptly as they had arrived, the feelings were gone, leaving an empty void that had been filled with the icy cold touch of terror.

Staggering to regain her balance, she lurched in the direction of the bridge.

The comms on the bridge activated and a computer-like voice, but not the ship’s computer, said =/\= Vonn to Bridge. I am on Deck eleven near the RTF Barracks. There are… many bodies… fused into the walls. As well as what appears to be parts of another ship. However, they are only visible in wavelengths approaching Gamma Rays. Please advise. =/\=

Vonn, RTF CO

The comms alert tore like a missile through the sarcophagal silence of the room, Cobb emitting a roar of alarm as he visibly jumped at the sound.
=^= Ah, Mr Vonn =^= he replied on a tremulous exhale, =^= I…bodies, you say? Ah…=^=

Dammit, pull yourself together man! You’re a bloody starship captain!

He cleared his throat.
=^= I am reading no external breaches. Secure the area and follow standard containment procedures. I will issue an evacuation of non-RTF personnel from the surrounding decks. =^=

Then once more descending on MacReady, Zachariah pounded the neighbouring terminal with his fist.
“That ship can not just have disappeared. Find it!”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Apparently, the Augustine could just disappear, and it did.

The latest chunk of the ship visible soon disappeared, just as the hulk itself had.

They didn’t have to wait long though… Seventy seconds later more debris appeared visibly around them. Some of it seemed to warp and shift as if twisted by some unseen force, or like something seen on a screen with interference distorting the signal.

However, the oddity of oddities was that the debris seemed attracted to Leviathan.

---

After Cobb’s demand, as if on a cue… There was a distant rumble in the deck plates. Whether they knew it or not, this was the piece of wreckage that had become physically restored while passing through Deck 11. Instantly, damaged systems began to send error reports to the CIC.

Power flow was disrupted in C Corridor, Deck 11, between Cargo Bay 2 and RTF quarters.

Structural Integrity Field taking damage in sections 7 and 8.

Coolant leak detected in C Corridor, sections 7 and 8, Deck 11.

Internal Sensors reporting damage, in Sections 7 and 8, Deck 11.

Life Support losing power in C Corridor… The list went on.

The last report was chilling.

Internal Sensors detected Weapons Fire, C Corridor, Deck 11.

-Franklin, Anomalous Individual

Anaya had almost made it to the bridge when a scream to match the tortured metal of the rending deck plates was torn from her throat, the returning physic scream of agony lancing through her like an icy dagger thrust directly into her brain.

She fell to the decking as the sheer tide of emotions washed over her, the magnitude increased tenfold as the feelings of terror and pain simply blew through her usually impregnable defences, smashing aside her mental armour to leave her naked and vulnerable before the torrent of emotions.

Unable to process what was happening and acting almost on blind instinct, Anaya half crawled, half staggered onwards to the bridge.

Raauhl wasn’t accustomed to prying doors open but that’s what he just did to find himself on the CIC, lights were flickering and the CIC had certainly seen its better days. He managed to make his way to the centre table, “Computer display a 3D schematic of the ships overlaying the ships damages and internal sensor readings. Straight on queue, the table lit up the Leviathan in an array of different colours Green, Red and dauntingly… black which meant structural breaches. Their image also showed every living being on the ship and on Deck 11 weapons fire. =^=Red alert, possible intruders onboard lockdown deck 11 corridors A though D. Security to Deck 11.=^=

He turned to however was able to answer, “What’s the bloody hell is happening?”

• Cmdr Raauhl, XO

“I have no idea,” Cobb roared, lurching quickly from one terminal to the next as the ship bucked beneath him, trembling hands pounding commands into each. “We entered some kind of debris field,” he eventually made an attempt to elaborate, “but it seemed to be phasing in and out of existence, or cloaked or something, I don’t know…” Zachariah’s voice trailed off as his mind ran dry on explanations.

Anchoring himself into his seat, the captain brought a heavy fist against the comms button.
=^= All hands, we are at red alert. This is not a drill. Security, send an armed response team to deck 11, corridor C. Prepare for hostile fire. Engineering, emergency maintenance also needed on deck 11, life support, internal sensors, SIF…I’ll issue a full work report. And send a hazard crew for a potential coolant leak. Medical, have a field team head out to deck 11 and get both alpha and bravo sickbays prepped for major intake. Science, someone report to the CIC and help us determine the nature of our current threat. Everyone else, do whatever you can to ensure the safety of yourself and your crewmates. You all have your orders. Cobb out. =^=

Finally, the captain exchanged glances with his First Officer. “Mr Vonn has a team already on deck 11. Time to see what the Breen is made of, eh?” Another shudder from the Leviathan coaxed a groan from Cobb’s lips. “If our ship holds together for long enough, that is.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

OOC: Because I was almost dared to do it.....
IC:

“Well what the hell is it…”

The computer registered the words from Cpt Cobb and then a few minutes later…

Raauhl turned to however was able to answer, “What’s the bloody hell is happening?”

And the computer registered those words from Cmdr Raauhl. Well Lt Synthi-er was not on the bridge. She was confined to quarters on bed rest and on medical leave. But she did appear in her chair in the CIC, or a holographic recording anyway. The image raised a single brow and shook it’s head. Her voice echoing out of the recording, “Do you have to ask that EVERY day? We never know. You don’t know, let’s move on.” The image winked at them, gave that irreverent two finger salute of hers and then disappeared. Just a reminder that even when she wasn’t there, she knew.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Raauhl took a double-take and wondered when and how Casela had set up such a message and mentally reminded himself to speak to her about it later, another large explosion rocked the ship and the Trill officer did everything to remain upright and in one peace. A smaller explosion in the CIC from an overhead console exploded and the NE, Crewman Miles was struck sending him to the floor as his face slowly tilted it was burned and scolded badly and no doubt thier were other injured crewman in the CIC out of view. =^=Medical personnel to the CIC we have injured here=^= He said looking to his display. =^=Mr Vonn situation report please, we are seeing reports of weapons fire can you confirm?=^=

• Cmdr Raauhl, XO

A figure appeared at the entrance to the bridge, clutching the doorframe for both support and as if it was her only anchor to reality.

Those familiar with the ship’s assistant counsellor would barely recognise her, her usual immaculate appearance and charismatic presence gone, to be replaced by this ragged, windswept scarecrow.

Anaya lurched the last few steps, where beforehand she seemed to glide as if barely touching the deck, now she moved like a badly made puppet with several strings cut, barely in control of her own body. She slumped to her knees before the Captain and looked up at him, her beautiful face streaked with tears, and blood pouring unstemmed from her nose.

“Too much.... all too much.... the terror....it comes from another place.... all black..... can’t stop it....”

Anaya - Asst Counsellor