S2 M1"Macrocosm"

[Solluk]

[Main Shuttlebay]

Solluk's shift was nearing its end, and he was about to shut down the Tigris.  She'd survived his practice maintenance attempts and two inspections.  By that standard, the day was a success.

But before his fingers could touch the console to initiate a shutdown sequence, a dizzying lurch nearly sent him to the deck.  Nearly, but not quite.  He was fortunate that the runabout's systems had still been online.  Whatever terrible maneuver the Tempest had just endured, he'd benefitted not only from the ship's inertial dampners, but also those within the Tigris herself.  Were it not for this layered protection, he felt fairly sure that he'd have been brained against the console or some other part of the craft.

The Tigris herself had slid and rotated somewhat, moving out of her proper position.  From his adjusted vantage, Solluk could see through the cockpit windows that many people had collapsed throughout the shuttlebay, and a fire had broken out on one of the shuttles.  For whatever reason, the fire suppression system of the bay wasn't engaging properly.

His fingers which had been about to shut the craft down now moved to a different function.  He engaged a sensor scan.  "Computer, analyze the fire.  What kind of conflagration is it?"

The Tigris' computer promptly responded, "A Sarium-Krellide cell aboard the shuttle has ruptured, and superconducting fluids have shorted across Vanadium-shielded EPS nodes. Aluminum housing elements are currently ablaze."

Solluk was not an engineer.  He struggled to remember details about the mechanisms involved.  "Can the fire be extinguished with emergency hand extinguishers?  And are there any secondary effects that may pose a danger during firefighting?"

"Emergency hand extinguishers may be able to extinguish the burning aluminum.  Secondary effects which possibly pose a hazard include an explosive release of superheated plasma from the shuttle's fusion precharger.  These effects are due to the shorting of EPS nodes, and the danger exists independently of the fire."

Solluk's eyes went wide at the news, and he sat down at the pilot's station.  His fingers danced on the console, and the Tigris gently lifted itself from the shuttlebay deck.  "Computer, confirm whether or not the shuttlebay atmospheric containment field generators are functioning."

"Atmospheric containment field generators show function at full capacity."

Solluk nodded, quite illogically, at the Computer.  "Open a channel to the bridge, flag the signal as Priority One."

"Channel Open."

Solluk flew the Tigris carefully over the heads of the shuttlebay personnel, and positioned the runabout beside the afflicted shuttle.  "Petty Officer Solluk requesting immediate launch clearance from Shuttlebay One.  This is a Priority Launch Request."

Leaning to one side, he tapped at the weapons console.  Bringing up the craft's utility emitter controls, he initiated the Runabout's powerful tractor beam, locking it onto the burning shuttle.

(tag)

[Ian Galloway]

[Main Shuttlebay]

Solluk's shift was nearing its end, and he was about to shut down the Tigris.  She'd survived his practice maintenance attempts and two inspections.  By that standard, the day was a success.

But before his fingers could touch the console to initiate a shutdown sequence, a dizzying lurch nearly sent him to the deck.  Nearly, but not quite.  He was fortunate that the runabout's systems had still been online.  Whatever terrible maneuver the Tempest had just endured, he'd benefitted not only from the ship's inertial dampners, but also those within the Tigris herself.  Were it not for this layered protection, he felt fairly sure that he'd have been brained against the console or some other part of the craft.

The Tigris herself had slid and rotated somewhat, moving out of her proper position.  From his adjusted vantage, Solluk could see through the cockpit windows that many people had collapsed throughout the shuttlebay, and a fire had broken out on one of the shuttles.  For whatever reason, the fire suppression system of the bay wasn't engaging properly.

His fingers which had been about to shut the craft down now moved to a different function.  He engaged a sensor scan.  "Computer, analyze the fire.  What kind of conflagration is it?"

The Tigris' computer promptly responded, "A Sarium-Krellide cell aboard the shuttle has ruptured, and superconducting fluids have shorted across Vanadium-shielded EPS nodes. Aluminum housing elements are currently ablaze."

Solluk was not an engineer.  He struggled to remember details about the mechanisms involved.  "Can the fire be extinguished with emergency hand extinguishers?  And are there any secondary effects that may pose a danger during firefighting?"

"Emergency hand extinguishers may be able to extinguish the burning aluminum.  Secondary effects which possibly pose a hazard include an explosive release of superheated plasma from the shuttle's fusion precharger.  These effects are due to the shorting of EPS nodes, and the danger exists independently of the fire."

Solluk's eyes went wide at the news, and he sat down at the pilot's station.  His fingers danced on the console, and the Tigris gently lifted itself from the shuttlebay deck.  "Computer, confirm whether or not the shuttlebay atmospheric containment field generators are functioning."

"Atmospheric containment field generators show function at full capacity."

Solluk nodded, quite illogically, at the Computer.  "Open a channel to the bridge, flag the signal as Priority One."

"Channel Open."

Solluk flew the Tigris carefully over the heads of the shuttlebay personnel, and positioned the runabout beside the afflicted shuttle.  "Petty Officer Solluk requesting immediate launch clearance from Shuttlebay One.  This is a Priority Launch Request."

Leaning to one side, he tapped at the weapons console.  Bringing up the craft's utility emitter controls, he initiated the Runabout's powerful tractor beam, locking it onto the burning shuttle.

(tag)

[Shuttlebay One]

One of the engineers arrived with a medkit and was able to stop Jacobs' bleeding. As Ian dialed the hypospray to a mild pain-killer, he heard, then saw the Tigris lift.

"Damn if'n that Solluk isn't on the ball! I'm goin' ta mention him ta the captain fer commendation fer this."

Once the drugs took the edge off the pain in his side, he turned and spotted Ensign T'preen the flight crew chief and motioned her over.

"Ensign, you are in command here. I have no idea what happened, but I mean ta find out. With the fire under control and Jacobs out of danger, you will have ta use yer discretion ta manage whatever happens next."

Knowing pleasantries were wasted on a Vulcan, he left without another word. He tried to run, but his side forced him to walk to the nearest turbolift. Knowing the chaos was likely to delay him reaching the bridge, so he used his bridge officer command code to override the queue.

"Galloway Sigma Priority One Beta."

On reaching the bridge, he moved to the helm station and began scanning the damage report, which wasn't good as he made his report.

"Warp offline. Impulse and thrusters nominal. Able ta maneuver ta yer discretion Captain."

[Jada]

Sickbay

"You're good to go," Kintiss said. It wasn't a major illness, so Jada could attend to her duties as normal. However, that also put responsibility for monitoring her condition in her hands. "Don't hesssitate to contact Sssssickbay if anything changessss." He hadn't been on this ship long, but from his experience on his previous assignments, something would change.

'Alright, doctor.' Jada acknowledged, but didn't exactly commit. 'Thanks for your help.' Jada rose from the biobed, fetching Snake from the neighbouring bed. She could think a bit more clearly now. For her residual drowsiness and still-fresh distractedness, she figured she'd return to her quarters, work out a bit, and take another sonic shower Á¢â,¬"œ cold, loud, and high-pressure Á¢â,¬"œ before going on duty. Hopefully her work wouldn't take her anywhere near Solluk. The Vulcan had gotten her distinctly curious Á¢â,¬"œ sweet, dorky, chiselled good looks Á¢â,¬"œ and seemed to be the current target of her inflamed libido. This time, she was interested in pursuing that, but wasn't sure if he'd be open to it (clumsy compliments notwithstanding). She also wasn't sure how much longer she'd be interested. Kintiss's pills might give her a choiceÁ¢â,¬"

The ship quaked violently, rattling equipment and juddering the deck. With exquisite reflexes and perfect balance, Jada reacted fast, throwing an arm out to catch Kintiss should he topple (could Selay even trip?) and even a leg to stop an orderly flying onto his face (a kick to the gut being better than a face injury, generally). 'You alright?' she asked urgently, checking those around her. A ceiling panel had fallen loose, cutting a nurse, but there was plenty of medical attention to go around in Sickbay.

Jada let go of Kintiss and tapped her commbadge. Drowsiness and sexy thoughts were light-years away, the emergency wholly in focus. 'Sit-rep!'

The computer summarised: 'Port nacelle went off-line. Warp field collapsed, causing sudden deceleration. Fire in Main Shuttlebay.'

Nine Hells. Jada had already started walking to the door, dreading that Solluk might be caught up in it. Logic caught up with her. 'Doctor, we might need a medical team there.' She took a spare medkit for herself; she wasn't a medic, but she could do basic first aid, or cruder patching up.

[James H. Hawk]

[Engineering]
Nicholas was still astounded at how young the XO was, and at how fast he must have risen through the ranks. James occasionally seemed to be just as amazed by his own rise. Nonetheless, it was quite impressive, and even the cynical engineer had to acknowledge Hawk's clearly bright future.

Good morning, sir! Nicholas said with a touch of coffee-derived energy, The key systems are as good as they've ever been, but it seems the EMH was tampered with. Do you happen to know anything about that?

Nicholas needed someone with security experience to be able to figure out who tampered with the EMH. If Hawk didn't know, and would not help him out, he would need to somehow recall the name of the Chief of Security.

[Main Engineering]

"Morning," James replied, he was intrigued to say the least that the EMH had been tampered with. "No, I don't know anything about the tampering but I imagine you want to find out who did? In what way was it tampered?" James asked as his Security background kicked in. He couldn't think of why somone would tamper with the EMH unless K'lizh or somone was bored and having some fun. While it might well be harmless, if the tampering was malicious it could be a problem.

Just as James finished speaking the ship suddenly and violently rocked followed by red lights and loud klaxons sounding. "Report, Lieutenant!" James ordered hoping the older Engineer would be able to see what had happened. "It feels like something hit us," he commented hoping they weren't under enemy fire again. The Tempest had been through enough of that lately.

[Nicholas Mortier]

[Main Engineering]

"Morning," James replied, he was intrigued to say the least that the EMH had been tampered with. "No, I don't know anything about the tampering but I imagine you want to find out who did? In what way was it tampered?" James asked as his Security background kicked in. He couldn't think of why somone would tamper with the EMH unless K'lizh or somone was bored and having some fun. While it might well be harmless, if the tampering was malicious it could be a problem.

Just as James finished speaking the ship suddenly and violently rocked followed by red lights and loud klaxons sounding. "Report, Lieutenant!" James ordered hoping the older Engineer would be able to see what had happened. "It feels like something hit us," he commented hoping they weren't under enemy fire again. The Tempest had been through enough of that lately.

Mortier looked with horror as the port nacelle suddenly went dark. He knew that this was an automated subroutine in the event of damafe to the containment fields within the nacelle, and that it was quite necessary to avoid venting Warp plasma uncontrollably. If not for this program, plasma could burst out of any damaged Warp coil and damage the nacelle housing, other coils, and potentially tge Warp core itself.
"By George!" the Engineer cried out, before reporting the situation "The containment fields in the port nacelle was damaged by some form of impact, which triggered a subroutine that cut off Warp plasma to the nacelles and is currently shutting down the warp core. I can bring the starboard nacelle online, but I recommend that we get non-essential personnel as far away from the core and nacelle as we can."
Although Saucer separation was a radical move, Nicholas believed it was the best course of action, provided that Sec/Tac didn't have pressing need of the ship's weapons. As he had not accessed the sensors, Nicholas couldn't speak as to their tactical situation.

[Julia Rellek]

Even with inertial dampeners, K'lizh felt a sense of nausea, be that from their spinning, or the stars hurtling past the viewscreen in a direction they were not supposed to go. He found himself clutching his console and willing himself to look down and focus on that rather than give in to the sickness.

"Warp field has collapsed... left nacelle is offline... sensors are going crazy, I can't make sense of this data!" he called out, his deep voice pitching upwards in urgency. This was not a good area of space to get stranded in.

[Bridge]

Julia moved to the front of the bridge and looked over K'Lizh shoulder. She instantly noted the fire in the shuttlebay. "Commander, reach out to the shuttlebay and see if we can get fire suppression systems online. If not clear the area and open the hanger bay to extinguish the fire. In the meantime i am going to go figure out what we hit." Julia said as she turned and headed to the back of the bridge.

At the main science station she pulled up an image of the effected nacelle. She was immediately struck with a shocking image staring back at her. There was a black mass covering approximately the front quarter of the nacelle and even more shocking, it was expanding. She moved it to the main view screen. "Anyone have any ideas?" She asked.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

Julia moved to the front of the bridge and looked over K'Lizh shoulder. She instantly noted the fire in the shuttlebay. "Commander, reach out to the shuttlebay and see if we can get fire suppression systems online. If not clear the area and open the hanger bay to extinguish the fire. In the meantime i am going to go figure out what we hit." Julia said as she turned and headed to the back of the bridge.

At the main science station she pulled up an image of the effected nacelle. She was immediately struck with a shocking image staring back at her. There was a black mass covering approximately the front quarter of the nacelle and even more shocking, it was expanding. She moved it to the main view screen. "Anyone have any ideas?" She asked.

[Bridge]

Ian looked at the spreading mass on the engine, he thought furiously at possible options to stop the enveloping threat.

"We could vent plasma and ignite it, that should fry most boogits. If that fails, we should be able to severe the nacelle as a last resort. It will drop us ta no more than warp five, but that will get us ta Deep Space Nine."

[Solluk]

[Main Shuttlebay]

No response was forthcoming from the bridge.  They must have a lot of things on their plate.  Indeed, without knowing anything more about the ship's situation, he had no way of even knowing if anyone on the bridge was still alive.

Solluk began to cross off options in his mind.

He could fire a micro-torpedo at the shuttlebay door, easily blasting it open.   But the blast might cause the very sorts of collateral damage he was hoping to avoid.

He could try phasers, but cutting the door open would take precious time he wasn't sure he could spare.  With the shuttle's EPS nodes shorted out by superconducting fluid, its fusion precharger could explode at any moment.

Ramming the doors might be an option, but he was concerned that doing so might inadvertently damage the atmospheric containment field generators near the opening.  If that happened, the bay would decompress, and-

As he thought furiously about the options, he noted that personnel had completely evacuated the shuttlebay deck.  Good.  That made things easier.  Now he didn't have to worry about options that could cause collateral damage.

In a further stroke of good fortune, the bay door began to yawn open.   Fantastic!  Since he hadn't gotten a response from the bridge, he could only imagine that an officer within the local shuttlebay control center had elected to make an emergency decision on his behalf.  Excellent.

Once the bay door had opened enough, Solluk nudged the Tigris out into space, the shuttle in tow.   Its fire had gone out with exposure to the vacuum of space, but its fusion precharger continued to overload.  The Tigris had not gone far when it was rocked with the pressure-wave from an explosive plasma release.  Without a pressurized environment, and absent containment in the bay, the explosion was only a nuisance.  A fraction of an isoton, it dissipated quickly and mostly harmlessly.

He brought up a sensor display of the shuttle.   It had been mostly destroyed in the explosion, but the tractor beam had kept its major components together.   A few pieces of debris spun out from the core mass, and he tracked them to make sure they wouldn't impact with a sensitive ship component, like the nacelle-

As his sensor display moved to encompass the nacelles, his eyes went wide.  He shifted his gaze from the sensor screen to the runabout cockpit windows.

What was THAT?

Opening another channel to the ship, this time he signaled not just the bridge, but also Engineering and the Auxiliary bridge.  These were the two alternate command centers in the event of catastrophic damage to the main bridge.   If anyone was still calling the shots on the Tempest, then they were likely to be at one of these locations.

This is Petty Officer Solluk aboard the USS Tigris, signalling any command personnel aboard the USS Tempest.  I have just completed a maneuver to remove an exploding shuttle from the shuttlebay.  I am now just outside the aft hull of the saucer, and have both sensor readings and a visual of an unusual mass apparently consuming one warp nacelle.  I am forwarding my sensor telemetry now, which is attached to this message.  Please advise.

(tag)

[Kintiss]

The computer summarised: 'Port nacelle went off-line. Warp field collapsed, causing sudden deceleration. Fire in Main Shuttlebay.'

Nine Hells. Jada had already started walking to the door, dreading that Solluk might be caught up in it. Logic caught up with her. 'Doctor, we might need a medical team there.' She took a spare medkit for herself; she wasn't a medic, but she could do basic first aid, or cruder patching up.

[Sickbay]

And, as if on cue, something happened.

As it happened, Selay could trip, and Kintiss found himself thrown off-balance by the sudden jolt. Luckily, Jada was there to help him, and even save him from injury by flying orderly. How was it every time one of these kinds of emergencies happened, he was always unscathed, or less scathed than the rest of the crew?

"I'm alright," he replied, standing straight and smoothing down his uniform. It was time to get to work.

"You, you and you, with me. We're going down to main ssshuttlebay," he commanded, pointing at three of his medical team as he assembled a field kit.  "Call a maintenance team to fix that," he added, pointing at the ceiling panel. "Sssstand by to receive wounded." This was when Sickbay tended to get busy. As his team kicked into action, Kintiss left with his three chosen crewmen in tow.

[Jada]

Sickbay

Jada quickly shifted Snake's tank to Kintiss's desk to get it out of the way during the impending emergency. She briefly worried he might be offended at the association, but didn't have time to mess around. 'Sorry, baby, taba's got to go save the day.' she told Snake before hurrying after Kintiss and the medical team.

Main Shuttle Bay, Deck 4

They soon reached the main doors to the shuttle bay Á¢â,¬"œ firmly closed, flashing vacuum warnings to indicate the bay was open to space Á¢â,¬"œ finding evacuated flight crew and injured personnel milling outside. As the medics got to work, Jada found herself scanning the faces for Solluk's, hoping nothing bad had happened to her friend. She didn't want to admit her concern, but had to flag one pilot, asking 'Where is Petty Officer Solluk?'

'He's towing the burning shuttle outside.' she answered hurriedly, before moving on.

'Nine Hells.' Jada muttered. What was going on behind those doors?

[James H. Hawk]

Mortier looked with horror as the port nacelle suddenly went dark. He knew that this was an automated subroutine in the event of damafe to the containment fields within the nacelle, and that it was quite necessary to avoid venting Warp plasma uncontrollably. If not for this program, plasma could burst out of any damaged Warp coil and damage the nacelle housing, other coils, and potentially tge Warp core itself.
"By George!" the Engineer cried out, before reporting the situation "The containment fields in the port nacelle was damaged by some form of impact, which triggered a subroutine that cut off Warp plasma to the nacelles and is currently shutting down the warp core. I can bring the starboard nacelle online, but I recommend that we get non-essential personnel as far away from the core and nacelle as we can."
Although Saucer separation was a radical move, Nicholas believed it was the best course of action, provided that Sec/Tac didn't have pressing need of the ship's weapons. As he had not accessed the sensors, Nicholas couldn't speak as to their tactical situation.

[Main Engineering]

"You're suggesting a Saucer Separation?" James asked. "Can you think of any other options? A saucer separation is a rather drastic action but of course the ships saftey is of paramount importance. I belive we should try and pursue other actions if possible first," the young Englishman said. James then tapped his combadge to speak to the captain.

Commander Hawk to Captain Rellek. I'm in Engineering with the Chief looking for ways to limit the damage. What happened, ma'am? We're reading some sort of impact to the port nacelle.

[Nicholas Mortier]

[Main Engineering]

"You're suggesting a Saucer Separation?" James asked. "Can you think of any other options? A saucer separation is a rather drastic action but of course the ships saftey is of paramount importance. I belive we should try and pursue other actions if possible first," the young Englishman said. James then tapped his combadge to speak to the captain.

Commander Hawk to Captain Rellek. I'm in Engineering with the Chief looking for ways to limit the damage. What happened, ma'am? We're reading some sort of impact to the port nacelle.

Hawk reacted as anyone would. Saucer separation was a drastic action.
"Well, the nacelle is rather unstable. To ensure safety,  we could transfer personnel to the saucer so that we can separate if push comes to shove."

Just then, he received Solluk's hail. It was quite alarming.
=//\\= Mortier to Solluk. Thank you for the report. It explains a lot about what's happening here in Engineering=//\\=

After that, the old Engineer began tapping furiously at a console, trying to seal off the plasma injectors on the port side while reversing the core shutdown.
"I hope Galloway can fly this ship on one engine" , he muttered under his breath

[Solluk]

[USS Tigris]

=//\\= Mortier to Solluk. Thank you for the report. It explains a lot about what's happening here in Engineering=//\\=

Solluk closed his eyes in relief when the message came in.  Not only had the Chief Engineer responded, but he had made no additional comment about a catastrophic change in the chain of command.

Whatever had kept the Bridge personnel from responding to him earlier, it hadn't represented their demise.  Most likely the unusual situation was merely consuming their time, and they had elected to triage their responses in order of importance.

I will be standing by at my current position until I get additional instruction, in case I can be of use.

Meanwhile, he adjusted the tractor beam on the runabout, gently pushing the shuttle debris back into the main shuttle bay so that its remains could be salvaged.

Solluk to bay control.  I am returning the shuttle to the deck.  I believe the danger is past.  However, until I obtain further instructions, I will be holding position outside of the bay to monitor an emerging situation here.  It should be safe to re-pressurize the environment.

Carefully manipulating the shuttle debris until it descended to softly touch down on deck, he then returned his attention to the mysterious substance that was devouring the Tempest's nacelle.  There was something disturbing about the mass.  Something ominous, beyond the fact that it was harming the ship.   It seemed malevolent.

An utterly illogical and emotional observation.

Still, he wished he wasn't alone in the Tigris.  He had often heard human shipmates describe the sensation of watching a horror holovid by themselves.  That's how he felt now.

He found himself mumbling the words of a song, like a mantra meant to protect lost sailors at sea.

...The scanners seem to indicate a small deviation...

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Tigris]

Solluk closed his eyes in relief when the message came in.  Not only had the Chief Engineer responded, but he had made no additional comment about a catastrophic change in the chain of command.

Whatever had kept the Bridge personnel from responding to him earlier, it hadn't represented their demise.  Most likely the unusual situation was merely consuming their time, and they had elected to triage their responses in order of importance.

I will be standing by at my current position until I get additional instruction, in case I can be of use.

[Bridge]

Ian had given his suggestion and until given orders to take the ship someplace, he had nothing official to do. As Tactical was busy with whatever was stuck to the engine, he typed a text message to Solluk.

"Well done with evacuating the shuttle. Good initiative and it's much appreciated. Command is currently mullin' over options ta get that muck off of the nacelle. Other than that, we are standin' by fer orders. Suggest you keep continuous active scans on that boogit we've picked up. Galloway."

[Julia Rellek]

[Main Engineering]

"You're suggesting a Saucer Separation?" James asked. "Can you think of any other options? A saucer separation is a rather drastic action but of course the ships saftey is of paramount importance. I belive we should try and pursue other actions if possible first," the young Englishman said. James then tapped his combadge to speak to the captain.

Commander Hawk to Captain Rellek. I'm in Engineering with the Chief looking for ways to limit the damage. What happened, ma'am? We're reading some sort of impact to the port nacelle.

[Bridge]

"I'm trying to figure that out, Commander. We hit something I have an image on the viewscreen. I'll tie the image into main engineering. It's attached itself to the nacelle and it seems to be siphoning power somehow. It doesn't look like its taking much."=/\= She said as she held and reviewed a PADD containing all of the information they had thus far.

[Bridge]

Ian looked at the spreading mass on the engine, he thought furiously at possible options to stop the enveloping threat.

"We could vent plasma and ignite it, that should fry most boogits. If that fails, we should be able to severe the nacelle as a last resort. It will drop us ta no more than warp five, but that will get us ta Deep Space Nine."

Julia nodded as she listened to the Lieutenants suggestion. It seemed as good of a solution as any. She sat in her chair and continued to review the data at hand. "Go ahead Lieutenant." She ordered without looking up. Something very odd kept sticking out at her the mass was expanding at a rate of 68 centimeters per hour. 68? She thought. It sounded like such a familiar number from her years in cosmology. "68." She muttered softly. Then it suddenly hit her. "Ian stop!" She shrieked. "That thing is expanding at the same rate as a universe expands just scaled down. Don't do it!" She had had the sudden realization that that thing was actually a small universe, attached to their hull. "Oh my god." She stood up and moved closer to the viewscreen, perplexed. "I've heard it theorized that small universes could exist inside another universe. Slowly displacing the universe it's in. It's like it's crossed the line and left it's own universe and entered ours." She added with a sense of fear and simultaneous wonder.