Posted by Lieutenant Issac Forgrave (Chief of Security) in Main Sim [Valh’kaeri]: Unexpected Turns

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Captain) in Main Sim [Valh’kaeri]: Unexpected Turns

Posted by Commander Kohr (Executive Officer) in Main Sim [Valh’kaeri]: Unexpected Turns
“Status.”

Kohr nearly glared through the view screen at the massive colony ship stretched out before them. According to the astrogational readings, the Muninn was halfway to its destination and already the Valh’kaeri‘s bow tickled the edge of his view. The Klingon scanned for any sign of movement from the alien vessel, but it remained as motionless as it was dark. Light from the distant stars played along the rises and vales of the ship’s constructive landscape, and its scintillating material seemed to breath slowly as they drew closer. No matter how he tried to think of it, the Valh’kaeri was still a slumbering behemoth to him waiting to wake and consume them. Kohr grit his teeth and focused on piloting the runabout; his apprehension of Hab’rabi and the lord’s intent had dwindled with distance and time, but his instincts still rattled against his skull as keenly as they had on the bridge.

“Electromagnetic signatures are still negative,” Watanabe replied pensively from the science station. “Radiation has permeated seven decks of the drive section, but our countermeasures should allow us to navigate them safely enough to effect repairs. There’s still enough ionic interference where direct transport isn’t advisable. Life support and gravity have completely failed ship-wide. There are only a few locations where I can even detect power output. She’s dead in the water, sir.”

Ensign Linch turned from her display, frowning. “Stasis pods seem to be holding, but I can already tell the power drain is putting strain on the remaining crew. I’d say we have less than an hour before we lose at least one of the aliens. We’ll have to move fast to either restore power or get them to the Viking.”

Kohr gave a curt nod and swung the Muninn to parallel the colony ship’s dorsal axis. “Understood. Options?”

Baker’s hands flew across his console, his foot tapping thoughtfully as he worked. “Divide and conquer. We can drop someone at the same point where the original away team set down, give them a portable generator to stabilize the pods and buy us time to make repairs. Lieutenant Commander Sigmundsson’s been there before, so he’d know the lay of the land. The chief could tag along for backup in case there’s any more of those things out there, yeah?”

“There’s what looks like a maintenance hatch on the drive section, ventral aft starboard,” Baker continued, flicking a holodisplay into the air between them for clarity. “It’ll put us two decks from their warp core, which means less time in that ionic soup. We can park the Muninn nearby in case we need to scoot; transporters might not be able to get us in, but with the EVA’s transponders I’d wager it could yank us out.”

Baker turned to regard both Sigmundsson and Forgrave with a soft smile, the fingers of his free hand twitching excitedly. “Unless, of course, you two have a better plan.”
—Kohr, Executive Officer—

Issac shook his head. “No, I think I like that approach; time is critical here if we’re gonna prevent any deaths. Or any more deaths, I reckon… But that bein’ said, lets stop by the maintaince hatch and drop off the warp core team first. They’ll need time to get to the core, and I want to minimize exposure otherwise - the EVA suits oughta keep them safe. For the rest of us, parking the shuttle closer to the pods might give us the opportunity to link the shuttle’s engine to the pod storage, in case the generator ain’t enough. Or alternately, it’ll allow us ta move back and forth to the shuttle without risking ion exposure. Thoughts?”

=/\=Rende to Kohr. Be advised our transporters will harm the remnants. Any crew that might need to be transported will have to be scanned for contact with a remnant. Priority on stabilizing the pods then on accessing the computer for information on the collision with the filiment. Maybe we can send them back through and trap them there. Rende out.=/\=

Rende, CO

“Well, that’ll make things a bit more difficult… but I reckon that’s the situation one way or another.” Forgrave shook his head in mild exasperation. Always something else…

Forgrave, CoS

Kohr grit his teeth and nodded in agreement with Forgrave’s sentiment. “Difficult, but not impossible. We will be cautious in our methods, but if removal is our only option those within the pods are our priority… remnants be damned. Understood?”

Baker and Walker exchanged glances before giving assent, with Watanabe only a heartbeat behind. Ensign Linch shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying very hard not to meet the Commander’s eye. Of the group, Kohr knew she would have the most difficult time making the hard calls necessary on such an away mission. She was young, fresh out of the Academy with most every other wide-eyed officer that had the utmost faith the Federation could conquer all. The Klingon had seen so many disabused of that notion during the Dominion War—most of which never returned to learn from their naivete—and did his diligence to preserve it whenever possible. There was no shame in the knowledge that he would fail this day, but he did allow himself a soft sigh as the story of her life threatened to turn the page. To her credit, however, Ensign Linch finally returned his gaze and nodded.

“Good.” Kohr returned his attention to the controls and set to work. “We will be docking in—”

There was a startled cry from behind him, and the commander snapped around just in time to see Ensign Walker’s EVA suit spark and smoulder. An angry red glare pooled in the metal at his shoulder, then slithered around his neck to slip down his spine. White-hot rain leapt from its trail,hissing angrily against the bulkhead behind him. Walker’s body jerked and twitched as the monitoring lights flickered and struggled against whatever gripped him for a long moment before he slumped motionless against Ensign Baker. The security guard grappled the other man and wrenched him away from the serpentine bolt of energy as it burrowed into the Muninn behind them; heedless of the still-smoldering metal sizzling in his face, Baker worked quickly to peel the damaged plating away.

Ensign Linch dropped to her knees almost immediately, tricorder in-hand with a celerity Kohr would not have expected. “H-He’s in shock. Second degree burns to his torso and shoulder, but the suit’s insulation shielded him from the worst of it. Hand me my medical kit!”

“How did it get onboard?” Baker snarled, sliding her the kit as his eyes darted about wildly. “Didn’t you scan the EVA suits before we launched?”

“Twice!” Linch’s voice hitched, but she swallowed her fear and set to work stabilizing Walker. “I-I don’t know… I tried…!”

Kohr snarled as the runabout’s controls winked out, threw his arms across his face in time to deflect more angry sparks. A well-placed fist jolted the controls back to life, but they were not happy in the doing. “It must have found a way to bypass our sensors. Watanabe, contact the Viking and—”

“I can’t, sir,” the small woman replied, her hands working frantically across a dying station panel. “It’s in the computer. Trying to isolate, but comms are down. The port nacelle is down to thirty-seven percent. We’re losing systems faster than I can compensate.”

Gritting his teeth, Kohr struggled against the ailing systems and displays. “Navigation is not responding, and we are drifting closer to the Valh’kaeri. If we cannot regain control of the systems soon, we will impact with the colony ship. Get to the transporters now and return to the Viking!”

“Transporters are at forty percent and falling fast.” Watanabe shook her head and gave the Klingon a resigned glace. “We’ll have to beam out one at a time, maybe in pairs if we hurry.”

“Commander Sigmundsson, return with the munitions first,” Kohr barked, jerking a thumb at the crate of explosives already on the transporter pad. “Lieutenant Forgrave will be next with the antimatter. If I cannot correct our trajectory, I would rather minimize the risk of collateral damage. Ensigns Walker and Linch will follow, then Watanabe and Baker. By then, hopefully the Viking will have been able to render assistance. If not…”

Kohr set his shoulders and glared at the looming vessel as he wrestled with the Muninn‘s controls. “Today is a good day to die.”
—Kohr, Executive Officer—