Looking Glass

Posted on Sun May 24th, 2020 @ 10:34pm by Commodore Jane Saulitis & Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy & Commander Dominic Aldrich & Lieutenant Laural Hawke

Mission: Cruel Meridian
Location: Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 7
1315 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Jane was the first to arrive. She'd been there for well over a half hour thinking about what they had discovered and how to present that to the crew, what ideas they might come up with and solutions to their current predicament. She didn't even hear the doors open behind her. If the person had touched her she probably would have shrieked and hit them.

Walking into the lounge, Laural took a deep breath and looked down at her new uniform. The change from grey to red was a little strange to her. looking up at the captain, Laural put her best game face on and walked over to her, "Excuse me Captain?"

Dominic walked in with a coffee cup and PaDD. He took a seat quietly taking in the Captain's demeanor as the tone to be set.

"Can we keep this short?" Murphy huffed, clearly irritated, as he walked in right behind the doctor. He found a seat without thinking about it. He clearly had other things on his mind.

Lhaes remained near the door as he walked in, eyes scanning the room more out of habit than anything else. He looked tired, his expression a little haunted. "I think short might be best for everyone's mood," he muttered.

Vannan came into the room with PADD in hand; tapping upon it as she kept apprised of the Damage Control Status. She moved to take a seat; smoothing her skirt as she sat then tug her jacket into place before looking up.

"Reporting as ordred." She gave a smile. "Is this what they call a 'Snag' in more ways than one Captain?" She asked.

"Quite a snag indeed, Lieutenant Vannan," Commander Hanover interjected, having just walked into the lounge behind her. "Good to see you, hope you're doing well. Hopefully after this meeting is concluded, everybody will understand the full scope of the issue at hand. After which point, we'll do what we do best," he took a sip of coffee for dramatic effect. He nearly spit it all out as he walked face first into a holographic projection.

"Hello, commander!"

"Lieutenant Sullivan," Jared choked down his coffee. "We're certainly glad to see you're feeling better. You're just in time, please take a... um, seat as it were."

"Thank you, sir. My thanks to Doctor Stark. I'll be sidelined for a while, but hopes are high for a full recovery. I'll be over in my usual spot." Holographic Lilith floated over to her seat at the table and floated there, waiting for the meeting to begin.

Jane twitched a lip up in amusement at their interaction but her thoughts didn't dwell on them, she had way too many things floating around in her brain for that.


"Absolutely we can keep this short Commander," Jane said raising her eyebrows at his gruff attitude. She would have thought that he of all people would want this information out so they could solve it. "It appears we've got a problem, more than just the nacelle. Commander," she indicated Murph should continue.

Murph sighed, thowing up a ship diagram onto the display behind Jane. "Manual inspection of the warp coils in both nacelles make it appear to look like we haven't run any maintenance cycles in the starboard side in over a month. The port one look completely fine."

"Also," Murphy nodded and advanced the diagram to another view, "as the captain eluded, we've got missing fuel, too. Matter, antimatter. We were running some simulations just before I came here. Based on present fuel consumption levels, I estimate we've lost nearly 33 days worth of fuel expenditure. Now, I wouldn't say we're in danger of running out anytime soon, it's more a mystery of what the bloody hell is going on."

"There have also been reports of hallucinations. I myself have witnessed one." Jane had only told Murphy that until this point. "Some kind of temporal anomaly? I've tried contacting Starfleet, we've gotten no response. We need answers."

"Commander Aldrich, do you have anything for us?" Hanover turned towards the science chief. "I know your team has been poring over sensor information trying to figure out what happened, any progress?"

Dominic sat up a little straighter, "Actually, Sir, that's a bit of an issue. It seems that when we made our hard stop, every primary loop in the sensor network reversed direction. Essentially, this led to an overload of the system. We have some data, but the signal to noise ratio is way too high right now. I've put them to focus on passive sensor scans just prior to the occurrence, but so far we have no hard evidence. My best guess, as of now, points to the presence of anti-tachyons given how abrupt our drop from warp was."

"Anti-tachyons? I was hoping that wasn't going to be the case," Commander Hanover reached up and rubbed his temples. "I really do hate it that a little particle can wreak such havoc with time. I like my time to be nice and linear, but I digress, thank you Mr. Aldrich. Lietuenant Hawke?"

“I have lost contact with everyone outside of this ship. It will take some time for Starfleet to declare us missing and begin their search,” Laural reported, unsure what else she could add at this point.

"An alarming development to be certain, but we have to be certain that we keep the ship in one piece for them to find," Jared nodded. "To that end, what have you got for us, Lieutenant Vannan?"

"The Damage Control has been keeping busy trouble shooting the Hot Sops and we have some extensive repair due to the Power Spike that happened through the ship, the sections that took strain have been shored up and we are deactivating the integreity shields that went up with the damage." Vannan looked up. "Where the work is slowing is that some of the teams have tried to repair work that was already done and some signs of early fatigue. People passing out for no reason or ...." She hesitated. "Some emotional outbursts and episodes of people actually not knowing where they are for a time. Some of the people were sent for medical checks."

"We have been receiving more reports of the same throughout the ship. Captain, how shall we proceed? No doubt that by now, most of the crew have either experienced something similar or have at least had a friend or colleague experience one of these unusual events," Jared looked across to the ship's commanding officer.

"What we need right now is more information before we even try to get moving again. Make your repairs but I want regular reports on any odd happenings on the ship from any department. Perhaps we should share the most common symptoms with the crew and flag any new or strange occurrences. Hold this position, despite the semi-urgent nature of the mission, we don't want to put the crew and or the princess at risk if we can avoid it." Jane replied, not looking at any of them but staring at one corner of the room as she thought about the worlds before they slipped out of her mouth.

"Aye, Captain," Murphy said, breaking a momentary silence in the room and hoping they'd be dismissed faster.

"Then if there's nothing else. Dismissed," Jane said remaining firmly in her seat and staring at the opposite bulkhead where the entry doors stood. But she wasn't staring at them, she'd picked a spot on the wall for her eyes to look at while her mind was a million light years away.

---

Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy
Chief Engineer, USS Majestic

Commander Jared Hanover
Executive Officer

Captain Jane Saulitis
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Lhaes Sommers
Chief of Security/Tactical

Lieutenant Commander Dominic Aldrich
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Laurel Hawke
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Nichelle Vannan
Chief Operations Officer