Posted by Gamemaster Wolfe Of Chaotica (Senior Gamemaster) in Main Sim: Main Bridge

Posted by Colonel Calvin Harris (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim: Main Bridge

Posted by Colonel Calvin Harris (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim: Main Bridge
Posted by… suppressed (21) by the Post Ghost! 👻
OCC: Taking the first post from the bridges prospective.

IC: Master Chief Brown, the 25 year security veteran and Chief of the Boat (COB) was one of the few enlisted personnel on the ship authorized to command the bridge sat in the command chair, quietly reading over the latest personnel reports. These quiet shifts allowed him to catch up on the reading while fulfilling his bridge duty requirements. He was a study built man, but age was starting to show on his lined faced.

This current file he was reading up on was on an officer who used engineering codes to replicate a dabo wheel. He had to admit though, the way the officer used the replicators and engineering codes to bypass the replicator limits showed that this officer had potential, even if he was currently using it in the wrong way. Master Chief Brown sat quietly in the command chair, re-reading the report on this officer, thinking about how to get him to focus his talents into more productive means, when the first explosion hit.

The explosion threw him from his chair, slamming him hard against the near by bulkhead, nearly knocking the Master Chief out. As more explosions rocked the ship, the Master Chief flew from the one bulkhead, toppling over chairs and other bridge personnel. He struggled to keep conscious as he flew through the air as the inertia dampeners struggled to keep up.

As the ship settled, he tried to push himself up, only to find that he had at least one broken arm and what felt like several ribs. He spit out blood from his mouth as he tried to sit up. His nose was also broken, blood streaming down his face.

“Damage report!” he shouted pulling him self to the command chair. He looked around the bridge to see who was still alive. A couple young ensigns were also struggling to make it to their feet. Their wounds no better then his. He looked up at the view screen, but saw only black. He assumed that it was offline.

“Stand by COB.” A young ensign at operations said as she used on hand to get back to her station. Additional explosions rocked the ship, almost causing COB to lose his seat.

“Multiple explosions throughout the ship, Hull breaches on Decks 12, 19, 20, 22, 23, 32 and 33. Emergency force fields are holding. The main EPS network is down, life support fading. Envir....” She started to report.

“Did we hit something?” COB stated interrupting her, gritting in pain as he spoke.

Before she could answer, the comm system chirped. =^= BRIDGE......TRUDERS.....ARRRGGGHH....=^=

“Full Security Alert, try to get the shields up.” COB ordered.

The young ensign who had manned the conn was clearly dead, slices of her face missing from the exploding terminal as the EPS surge had fried the main helm relays. The secondary console at the ops station ahead was still functioning and the young man who had been the duty science officer assumed the station, desperately trying to remember the pilot training he’d done at the academy. He was a fair shuttle and runabout pilot, and had taken his fair share of joyrides in fighters, but a starship was an entirely different beast. He jabbed at the terminal, trying to get some sort of reaction. Without turning, he addressed the Chief “Warp drive is down. Engineering is lighting my panel up like a Nausiccan bachelor party trying to re-route controls. I’ve got manouvering thrusters and if whoever is down there would make up their mind, I could probably give you quarter impulse. Structural integrity is down to 28% and inertial dampeners are fluctuating, but they’re holding, for now.”

=^=Bridge to Lt. Ashur. =^= COB called to the Chief of Security. A voice came on the line, middle eastern accent, that sounded weary.

=^=Chief, what....=^= Ashur replied, he sounded no less in pain then COB.

=^=Lt. We have reports of intruders, unknown location.=^= He interrupted

=^=Understood, =^=

Brown then turned to a nearby crewmen who looked shocked against the bulkhead. “Son, go find either the Colonel or the XO. Grab a phaser and keep your head down. Bring them here.” He stated calmly, as the realization of the situation came on him. He was, until relieved by either the CO or XO, in command of the Dresden, or what’s left of her. He stared at the black view screen, years of training and experience coming to the forefront of his mind. Dispite the pain, he mentally prepared himself for what might need to be done.

-COS/COB

The young man ran for the turbolift doors, bouncing off them as they failed to open. When he tried to open them with the control panel, they continued to fail. He turned, his forehead running with blood from an already lacerated scalp. Smearing the blood to keep it from his eyes, he addressed Brown, “Chief, turbolifts are locked down. I dunno why… Intruders maybe?”

“Take the Jefferries tube.” COB ordered.

COB looked back at the view screen then back down at the command chair display, then back at the viewcreen.

“Ensign, can you activate the view screen. What are sensors telling us?” He asked, trying to sound cool and calm beneath the pain.

-COB

OOC: My apologies, I have no idea how the hell I missed this one…

The operations lieutenant was unconscious, his face stoved in from the accelerated impact as he’d been thrown forward into his terminal. A security ensign was tending to him with an emergency medical kit from an open bulkhead. Fortunately, the terminal had largely survived, as the tactical ensign took control, transferring his station temporarily. He was frantically slapping at his terminal, speaking without even looking up “Until they can get the warp core back online, I don’t have enough power right now to raise shields. Best I can do is repolarize the hull. Internal and external sensors are offline. It looks like a spider is crawling up and down the power board in engineering trying to give me something, but the Chief Engineer is dead and the best answer I got was ‘we’re trying’. Life support is stabilized, we lost a couple forward and ventral phasers and two photon launchers. Transporter room 3 is gone. Damage control reports are sketchy, and we are getting reports from medical teams that they’re encountering crew killed and wounded by weapons fire with Klingon and Cardassian signatures. If main power comes back, we’ll get some limited short range sensors and internal sensors, so we can track these intruders down. I’ve got partial forward and aft phasers, but torpedo control is out until they can get auxillary power running - there’s some sort of disruption that stopped the backup fusion reactors from kicking in. ”

“Repolarize the hull,” COB ordered.

The legs of an engineering lieutenant poked out of an open hatch next to the engineering terminal, his station flickering for several moments as he manually routed power from the EPS terminal running under the Bridge. He yelled “GO!” as sparks erupted from beneath the terminal. Lights momentarily flashed out on the Bridge as the crewman on the other side of the terminal slapped at the panel, the Bridge plunged into darkness before a large thud was heard, as though someone had punched the terminal. Sparks erupted from under the terminal again, before an audible thrum accompanied the bridge lights flashing back on, the viewscreen going from black to white noise and static. The crewman pecked at the terminal again as the engineer dragged his bloodied and bruised body from the conduit, sighing in mixed frustration and pain as he was greeted by success. He dragged himself to his feet, tottering over next to the crewman as he tapped furiously as his terminal “You should have enough power, but I can’t guarantee a good signal from the visual sensors; we lost a whole bunch of isolinear relays when the EPS network surged and processing power has dropped way off, like someone pulled a bunch of chips from the main computer” The screen slowly resolved into some semblance of life. Oddly, there was nothing visible but stars. No ships, no weapons fire, no enemy, just stars. There was a distortion to the space around those stars, but it was unclear if it was an actual distortion or just a function of the poor picture quality.

SGM

“Keep trying, if needed, we can use the phasers as a flashlight.” he stated, trying to ignore the pain.

The crawl had been long and difficult, but definitely worth it. As Amelia made a last turn she could hear voices getting closer. They were talking about power, lost isolinear relays and… chips from the main computer being missing? She could almost swear that someone had opened the access to one of the many conduits that ran below the Bridge consoles, and that was now allowing the voices to travel through to her.

Stopping for what seemed to be the one millionth time to clean the blood that kept pouring from her eyebrow, Manning tried to hurry the pace of her crawl, following the voices she hoped were coming from the Bridge. If they weren’t she was checking them anyway.

After what had seemed an eternity, Amelia could see the faint glow from a lit room coming from what seemed to be an open hatch. If she had to guess she would say it was the access to one of the Bridge’s Engineering consoles. She kept moving towards it, hoping it wouldn’t be closed before she could get to it. Finally various pairs of feet came into view, as well as the familiar Bridge bulkhead. She had made it.

Trying to hoister herself from the tight conduit space, she shouted to whoever was within earshot. “Oi! Can anybody lend me a hand here?”

Cmdr. Manning, XO

“COB!” The Crewman who he had sent to find the command staff.

“Help her” He ordered, he was unable to move much due to his injuries. He didn’t know who it was that was coming out of the tube, but it didn’t sound hostile.

With a helping hand from the crewman, Amelia pulled herself out of the conduit and into the Bridge. She dismissed the young man with a thank you and a smile, as she placed her cloth back on her face trying to stop the small bleeding that remained from the cut on her eyebrow.

The Dresden’s Commanding Officer’s highly annoyed voice filled the Comms of the Bridge. =A= Harris to Bridge… four intruders down in Command Country. I’m on my way up. What the hell is going on COB?!=A=

Harris, CO

At least it wasn’t today that Manning would be acting captain of the Dresden. Somehow that was a relief. She moved to the front of the Bridge where the COB was standing as he replied.

=^=We are not sure sir, the damage we sustained is extensive. Internal sensors are down, I have alerted security to the intruders, but we don’t know where they all are. The turbolifts are locked down, but the bridge is secure. =^=

-COB

Tapping her commbadge, Manning contacted the Dresden’s Commanding Officer as well =/\= Manning to Harris, I made it to the Bridge, Colonel. I’m holding the fort until you get here. =/\=

=A= Amelia,…=A= Came Harris’ reply. =A=… I need confirmation of the Senior Staff… Chief Ashur is with me. Find the rest of the staff… I don’t need a damn confab, Commander. I need everyone doing their frackin’ jobs but accounted for. There in 30. Harris out.=A=

Harris, CO

“Chief, full status rep— Good grief! You look terrible. You should be in sickbay!” Amelia’s received pronunciation filled the room. “Crewman!” She called out to the same young man that had helped her out in the first place. “I need you to take Chief Brown to sickbay. Now. That’s an order.”

The crewman nervously cleared his throat “sorry maam, the turbolifts are locked down. I think only a command officer can reactivate them”

Amelia nodded. “We might need to wait to know for sure there are no more intruders on board before we get the turbolifts back online…” She pondered for a moment.

Turning to Brown she continued. “I don’t want to hear it.” Manning said anticipating some sort of protest on his part. “I am not sure whether transporters are up… or I would suggest you’d do a site to site. But the truth is, Chief, you need to be seen by a doctor, whether it’s here or somewhere else, before you’re able to help us with the current situation.”

COB stood weavering but stood. “I’ll take the ops console Commander.” He said, trying to suppress the pain. “Just give me something for the pain, until we can get a medical team up here.”

Turning back to the young crewman she continued. “Grab a medkit. Stop his bleedings and stabilize him. Report back to me.”

COB, doing his best to ensure dignity, walked over to what was left of the operations console.

Finally, turning to the officer at the Engineering console, she requested. “Engineering, full status report, I want to know what is down and what is working. I understand internal sensors are down, do we have external sensors? Can we scan our surroundings and try to find a ship, a wormhole, anything that tells us where these people came from? Also, do we have any motion capability? The warp core is down, what about impulse?”

Cmdr. Manning, XO

The engineering ensign let out a tired sigh as he used one soot smeared hand to smudge his even dirtier face. He reported from the half dismantled engineering station “we thought the chief was dead, but it looks like he’s in critical condition. I’m fairly sure, near as I can tell, that I’m the senior engineering officer left uninjured. We sent three damage control teams to the fusion backups because we had some sort of inteference preventing us from bringing auxiliary power back online. Turns out these intruders were trying to dismantle the reactors. There was a firefight and we lost five guys, but the intruders ended up running. I’ve got what’s left of the teams putting the reactors back together and we are hoping to have auxiliary power restored in the next few minutes. We’ve had a harder time unlocking the magnetic constrictors on the warp core. The power surge that took out the main EPS lines and knocked us out of warp fused the relays shut. I’ve had everyone I can spare manually releasing the clamps. Last I heard they’re close to getting them unlocked, then you’ll have warp power again…”

As if his words were prophetic, his terminal beeped happily as the dim lights in the bridge came back to a painfully bright level with a hum of power returning across the bridge. The already destroyed helm terminal let out several sparks and minor explosions, before the ensign routed power around it. The helm/science officer called back over his shoulder “the helm is coming back online. Warp power is restored. We’ve got two thirds impulse and I could probably give you warp six. They’re still re-routing the damaged power conduits. Navigational sensors are coming back up now.”

Nodding, Amelia shielded her eyes as power returned to the Bridge. She smiled. “Nice work. Keep it up!”

The operations/tactical officer chimed in “I’ve got shields back and power to the remaining torpedo tubes. I can give you phasers at 60%. Internal and external sensors are coming back online. Internal sensors are damaged in several sections, but I’m reading our intruders. There are eleven left aboard. Two on deck two, four in transporter room four, two in auxiliary engineering control and three on deck 7… No.. The ones on deck 7 are gone… Computer systems are still severely compromised. Processing power is down about 40%. I’ve got damage control heading from auxiliary power to the main core. Casualty reports have been compiling. We’ve got forty eight confirmed dead. Sickbay reports the CMO is seriously wounded and Doctor Bailey seems to be running the place with Counselor Nunn. At least one hundred and seven wounded, though that number is increasing constantly. They’ve overwhelmed the entire medical deck and secondary triage centers in the cargo bays are open and running. Medical teams are starting to filter through the ship. They’ve encountered a lot of phaser and disruptor burns with Klingon and Cardassian signatures and one damage control team reported seeing a Cardassian in a broken helmet… Hold… External sensors are starting to pick up readings… Commander! There’s a ship alongside us, unknown design! Less than sixty meters from our port stern, inside the shield perimeter”

SGM

Amelia counted with the help of her fingers what members of the senior staff were still unaccounted for. Turning back to the tactical officer, she barked. “I want word on the Chief Science Officer and on the Chief Intelligence Officer. If possible, I don’t want their combadge signals. I want their bio sign readings. I want to know where they are and whether or not they are breathing.”

“Raise shields and charge weapons as much as you can. Open a channel to the ship.”

Cmdr. Manning, XO

OOC: Your shields were already up, but i’ll roll with it :P

OOC: Oops! My bad! :) – Joana

IC:

The tactical/ops officer called out “No response to hails. They’re within our shield envelope, I can’t lock weapons”

SGM

Amelia paced in front of the center chair uncertain of what to do next. “Okay… Fine…” She muttered under her breath before barking again. “First things first, send out a distress signal. We need help.”

Waiting a few seconds for her order to be carried through, Amelia continued. “Now, transmit the following in all frequencies.” Clearing her throat, Manning started. Her tone much colder than what the crew was used to. “This is Commander Amelia Manning of the USS Dresden. You have committed an act of war against the Federation. Our forces in the area have been notified of your actions and will be responding in kind. Identify yourselves. NOW.”

With a smirk, Amelia added. “If they don’t want to talk to us, we’ll make them listen.”

Cmdr. Manning, XO

“We may need to send a team over there the same way they did to us.” COB suggested quietly from the operations console. The young crewman was busy trying to stop his bleeding.

-COB

“We’re not sending anyone over there. Not until we know who or what they are. You didn’t see them. They are vicious. An away team wouldn’t stand a chance.”

There was no response to her hails. Internal sensors had now completed a sweep and reported no living intruders remaining. As external sensors came online, they reported little about the intruders vessel. It appeared to be shielded by extensive thoron inteference. Little could be discerned beyond the overall dagger like shape. Few energy readings could be detected. There was however a weak and barely perceptible Starfleet commbadge signal detected. Beyond the ship was an unusual energy reading. A concentration of chroniton and neutrino radiation that was unknown to what few areas of their main database were still intact.

While there were little sensible emissions coming from the vessel, there was an undeniable bloom around the outer rear edge, remarkably reminiscent of an engine powering up - this panned out as the craft began to move off, a noticable shudder as it passed back through Dresdens shield perimeter and picked up speed

SGM

OOC: In the interests of keeping this going, I am going to assume this information was reported to Amelia. If anyone wants to do so, feel free to add that before this post. :) – Joana

Manning couldn’t believe her eyes as the intruder ship began to move away from the Dresden. Why were they leaving? What had they come to get? And had they gotten it?

Urgently, Amelia kept shouting orders. “Engineering, can we stop them with a tractor beam once they are free from our shields? If so, do it. Tactical, lock on weapons, fire if we can’t hold them. Science, I want an analysis on that commbadge signal. Who does it belong to?” The urgency in her voice was unmistakable.

Cmdr. Manning, XO

Scans would reveal that the commbadge signal belonged to Captain Holloway. The ship was moving further away by the second. As it approached the seeming spatial shimmer ahead of them, a light crack began to emerge at its center, spreading rapidly, like an aperture of lightning streaking across space

SGM

At the science station, Johansson’s hands shook as information started to pour on his console. “The commbadge signal belongs to Captain Holloway, Ma’am.” His heavy Scandinavian accent heavier with stress. “I… I don’t know how… I double checked…”

Turning to the viewscreen, her eyes wide with the realization, Amelia watched as the ship moved away from them, into… whatever opening was tearing space apart.

“Tactical, hold your fire. Tractor beam. NOW! We cannot let them cross beyond that barrier.”

“Science, I need to know what is happening, what kind of phenomenon is that thing?”

“Engineering… Status report on repairs. Can we make it through after them?”

Amelia didn’t care too much for Holloway. It was no secret that the Intel officer made her uneasy. However, she also knew how much she meant to Harris. And if she ever let her slip, a lot of heads would roll, and Manning’s would be the first.

Cmdr. Manning, XO

The Port side Turbolift doors hissed open and the Dresden’s Commanding Officer stepped from the lift onto the battered remains of the Bridge of his ship. In just over a second, the former fighter pilot and intelligence officer assessed the situation on the Command Deck, noting several key absences… the most jarring of which was Molly’s.

Harris’ eyes snapped to the viewscreen as he watched to the center of the Bridge where Manning stood in what he presumed was momentary shock. His voice boomed as he approached the Centre Chair. “Report!” There was barely a breath pause before the Marine asked rather forcefully. “Goddamnit Manning! Why the frack aren’t we blowing those sonsabitches out of the sky!?!”

Harris, CO

Gazing intently to the viewscreen, Manning jumped as Harris’s voice unexpectedly reached her ears. As she turned to him, her face was pale. This was it. This was the end of her career.

The tractor beam was offline, the deflector dish having been blown apart during the initial batch of explosions. The tear in space was opening further, spreading apart like a curtain of white fire in space. The leading edge of the enemy vessel was beginning to blur, almost like a cloaking effect, but sensors recorded massive amounts of neutrino radiation and… photonic energy.... The readings were in fact very similar to what you would find from a transporter beam, but on a gargantuan scale. The forward edge of the vessel had vanished completely from view, the central portion now engulfed in white fire as the ship slowed, as though it were fighting to move.

SGM

“It appears some kind of tear in space,” the NE at the science station struggled to make sense of the scans, “the ship is slowing, as though it’s being pulled into the anomaly.” He paused, taking a second to process his scattered thoughts. “It’s emitting neutrino radiation and photonic energy…almost like a black hole or a,” he searched for the word, “a wormhole.”

Science NE

Clearing her throat, Amelia let the Science officer finish before speaking. Her eyes never leaving the Marine. Finally, she uttered in the steadiest tone she could muster. “We’re doing everything we can, Sir.” The seriousness in her tone unlike Harris had ever heard. “Firing on them was my original plan, but we detected a Starfleet commbadge signal inside the ship.” Manning exhaled softly before continuing. “There’s no good way of telling you this, Sir. It’s Captain Holloway’s commbadge.”

Harris froze. It wasn’t more than a couple seconds but in those few moments, the man’s world came crashing down. The whole world seemed to slow to just over a full stop and in that time, Harris felt the dreams of their lives together begin to fall away. He thought of the ring Lucas had left him, the ring intended originally for her mother and now destined for Molly’s left hand, locked securely in his top desk drawer. If he didn’t fix this, she’d never have the chance to wear it… like her mother before her, she’d be taken before the beautiful two and a half carat, Princess cut diamond solitaire in the iconic Tiffany box where it had resided for over quarter century graced her gorgeous hand.

“I can order a full sweep of the Dresden for her biosigns, but… with the resources we currently have it would probably take longer than what we have. It is better to assume that it isn’t just her commbadge that is on board, but rather that she is there too…” Manning stopped to let her words sink in. “Our tractor beam is down. This is crazy but… all I can think of is following them through the wormhole and hope the Dresden is in good enough condition to keep up.”

Cmdr. Manning, XO

In that moment a decision was made, right or wrong Cal was about to tie all their destinies together and commit the remaining crew of the Dresden to bringing the woman he loved back home. In a snap, the world spun to full speed and the Marine spoke in his characteristically confident tone.

“Tactical… forward shields to Maximum and bring the remaining weapons online. Comm… drop a Communications Buoy informing Command we are in pursuit of an unknown enemy vessel transiting through an uncharted spacial rift at this location. Helm.. pursuit course. Keep them just beyond our Shields. Science… get me a lock on Captain Halloway’s CommBadge.” With that, he stoically settled in the Chair and nodded to the screen. “Helm.... take us in.”

Harris, CO

“Aye, sir!” The NE eagerly nodded. Initiating a scan, he searched for the signal to pinpoint and lock onto Halloway’s commbadge. There was no telling whether the commbadge was directly connected to Halloway, but he hoped the universe would act as kindly.

Science NE

Bumpity!

ooc: If no one moves this along by tomorrow, I’ll push the ship through the spatial rift and on to the next chapter

Andy