Meanwhile up above

Posted on Thursday 8 October 2020 @ 19:23 by Captain Melody Jones & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix & Commander Caroline Miller & Lieutenant Marbim Rejal & Major David Scarlet

Mission: A Whale of a problem (We're going to need a bigger boat)
Location: USS Merlin
Timeline: MD6 0930
1716 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

The shuttle had landed on the surface about 5 minutes ago. Melody had just contacted the bridge and reported on their condition. They were continuing to investigate.

Bridge

The young ensign who was sat at ops looked around nervously. He was still fairly new to the Merlin and he thought it was a bit unusual for most of the senior staff to go on an away mission. Especially, including the Captain. He would have his own ship someday but right now, he was sat monitoring Ops. The shuttle's beacon was coming in strong and had a good fix on the away team.

Lt. j.g. Vrenera Gheppeks (Alekian - Humanoid Rat) glanced over the readouts on her panel at her station. She was thrilled to be at the Helm of the Merlin. Usually, she got Gamma Shift duties in 2 hour increments, so it was nice to be at the helm during Alpha shift for a change. Her hair shifted forward over her shoulder, so she brought her tail around to bring it behind her shoulder once more. Her hair was down to the middle of her back, the fur along her muzzle and ears very short, same for hands, even though her tail was hairless. She flicked her ears to adjust to the noises on the bridge in order to listen better for any commands spoken her way by the XO.

The turbolift door opened and Scarlet briskly walked onto the bridge. He made his way over to the security console and began looking over the reports coming in from over the ship. All clear and under control.

From Ops. Ensign Killian was starting to frown. The away team had entered a cave and their comm signal had started to degrade. He was going to say something when their signal started to become indistinguishable from the surrounding material. Also, a strange energy wave was emanating from the planet, directed at the ship and he noticed that the power levels onboard were starting to drop rapidly.

"Sir! You better see this!" He called out to the XO in command. "I've lost contact with the away team. Also, we're being bombarded with some kind of energy wave. Main power is failing. The energy beam seems to be holding us in orbit but the warp drive is going offline, and impulse! And thrusters! I can't compensate." The lights on the bridge started to dim. "We're running on batteries and reserve power only. Long-range sensors and comms are offline."

From the helm, Vrenera called out, "Sir, helm is down. I have lost all control circuits.. I am getting no feedback at all."

Lieutenant Ezikiel Stone was mapping the star system they were in when the maps just disappeared. "Ahhh crap whats going on. Have the bridge rerouted our energy feed again. I thought we had protected power?" he asked.

"Sir I think its more serious than that ... you .... erm well your starting to float towards the ceiling," one the team said.

"Bridge," he slapped his comm. badge. "We seem to be losing gravity down here in astrometric."

Ensign Killian who had been monitoring added "Sir, it's not just astrometric. I'm showing several decks losing gravity. I'm attempting to reroute emergency power to the environmental systems now."

Reaching out, Miles punching a few commands into the arm of the Captain's chair. The lights go from normal to Red, as an alarm begins hammering through the ship, then he opens the ship wide comms, "This is acting Captain Rejal. Red Alert, Red Alert, someone or something from the planet is draining our power. All non-essential personnel return to your quarters now! All security and marine forces, prepare to protect the ship! Main Engineering, we need power and we need it fast or we're gonna freeze out here...that is all." Looking around at the bridge crew Miles smiles, and for once it isn't friendly, "Ok, we've lost contact with the away team, and someone is messing with us. Everyone grab emergency oxygen breathers and pass out sidearms, move people..."

Vrenera stands up and replies, "I'm on Breathers" and then heads to a side panel. She opens it up to take out the case and then opens the case. Inside is 24 breathers, 12 for the normal assortment of bridge crew and 12 for spares/other personnel. She walks up to Miles and hands him one, saying, "You're first, sir."

Vrenera continued her rounds, handing out Breathers.. "For you... for you... for you..." Until all stations had one. she now returned to her no longer functioning helm.

Ensing Killiam reported "Primary power has completely failed. Life support is running off emergency backup and for the moment is stable." He waved off the offered rebreather, having never liked them. There's a sort weird stone-like substance starting to accumulate on the hull. It's acting like an insulation barrier and it's getting thicker. At this rate, we'll be completely covered in a shell a meter thick in under 12 hours."

Holding the rebreather he places on it the Captains chair, "Cancel the alarms, lower the lights to accommodate more power for other systems. Begin moving everyone possible to the interior of the ship and begin sealing off the outer sections, maybe that will buy us some time and help us think. Science officer, I want to know what this substance is and if we can slow it down ... move people."

Tapping his combadge, he says, "Wolf, can you have your men start helping people move to the interior of the ship. Bring any supplies, weapons, and anything with you. Something is covering the exterior of the ship, and we need to conserve power for the Life Support systems."

"Sir," Scarlet pipped up. "I'll have security coordinate with the marines to ensure everyone is accounted for and as much equipment is brought along as possible." His fingers danced over the console as he began sending out orders to the various teams and personnel currently under his command. This was the part of the job he disliked. Give him a phaser rifle and a target any day over just sitting back and giving orders.

Looking around he says aloud, "Computer, activate Morgan LeFaye."

The Emergency Command hologram "ECH" Materialised on the bridge and said "Please state the natu..... Don't bother" She added as she looked around. "I'm just getting the internal systems report. Standby." She turned to the XO. "Commander Rejal. As Senior officer present, I recogniser your authority to active my program. Orders Sir?"

Nodding, Miles looks around the bridge, "Our power is being drained, and something is coating the ship, our gravity is being affected by the power loss. I have a feeling that the crew will be immobilized or rendered unconscious once the life support systems go down. I need you to ensure we don't all die up here, and, we've lost communications with the away team. We need to figure out if they are alive or dead. I guess I'm asking you to either save us, or make sure no one forgets us..."

She raised a holographic eyebrow. "I'm an emergency command hologram, not a miracle worker." She replied in a cool voice. "Life support is stable at the moment. As for what is coating the hull, have none of you heard of a chissel?"

Vrenera, busy working with control circuits, turned her head to look at the ECH, smirking to herself, saying, "That was cheeky." She returned to her task at hand. They had to get the Merlin ready to be able to rescue those down on the planet.

From ops, Killian chuckled. "Sir, do you want me to dispatch a team to see if we can analyse the substance on the hull?"

Laughing, Miles shakes his head. "Yes Ensign that would be good." Turning back to the ECH, "This stuff started generating itself in space ... however, I think its from the planet, either someone or something doesn't like us or want us to see whats going on ... crap (he facepalm himself) Science officer launch as many probes as you can to gather information on this substance and to gather intel on the planet beneath us ..."

"Sir, I volunteer to accompany the team outside." Scarlet spoke up quickly. Security had their orders, the marines were handling the moving around. He was a weapon and he was itching to be used.

Nodding, Miles replies, "That sounds like a good idea Mr Scarlet, make sure the transporter keeps you and your team targetted for immediate beam out should that stuff try coating your suits." Sitting down after moving the rebreather mask, Mile turns to the ECH, "Morgan, has anything like this ever happened in Starfleet before. I don't remember a ship being coated by anything, other than Tholian webbing..."

Looking up from the science station, Mathias remarked. " At the moment the only option to send out any probes, would be manually. And from what it looks like, there are indications of the torpedo tubes being covered as well. Probably will have to be creative in order to get them outside of the ship."

Looking around, Miles asks “Do we have enough power to beam probes off the ship, if so do it.”

"Transporting those will probably put more of a drain on the system, we are having to fight for every ounce of power we can. Could use an emergency unit to get those outside or, could even send them out of the shuttle bay using the workbees. There are other possible ideas that we could figure out. For now though, I think it will best for an investigation to be made as to the sort of substance that is on the hull, Commander. And I will be going out there to find out." Mathias said pleasantly. "The investigation is afoot, a solution to be found, so that this evil will not abound. By your leave, Commander?"


The engineering staff was all on hand and running amok as they worked to try and figure out what was going on. Rathburn had instantly started barking orders and asking questions. Some of which was only causing more issues as they tried to figure out what was going on. Slight power surges and lights flickered at times throughout the ship. Yet, still, nothing was sticking... other than that coating.

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