***Sim Log Narrative, SD 201910.04***
Bridge (& Hangar Deck):
The Penumbra had fled from the battle at the gas giant's ring system. During that fight, the Penumbra was hit by one Kyrathian torpedo and two huge shockwaves. One shockwave cracked the hull and resulted in a hull breach. By itself that wouldn't have been all that bad, but the ship also had 2 of the Kyrathians' Energy-Siphoning Pods attached to it.
Those Pods were draining the shields and other power systems and had produced deadly Spores that had made it through the hull breach and were corroding anything "organic" in the area. Deck 9, Section 14, Port side, was tagged a "Highly Toxic Area" and many of the seals, joints, wall panels, wiring insulation, even floors and ceiling panels, were already compromised!
On the Bridge, Capt. Zak Taylor had stood from the Command Seat and was pacing again; Lt. Cmdr. Relok was sitting in the Executive Officer's chair; Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter was at the Helm, trying desperately to keep the navigational controls functioning with minimal power requirements; LtJG. Tabeshk Tibris was standing at the Master Systems Display at the rear of the Bridge, since his Operations Console in the center of the Bridge had been fried during the big fight; Ens. Denovan Hawke stood stoically at the Tactical Console; and MAX, the Artificial Intelligence, flickered among various pedestals and consoles as the need arose. (Technically, Ens. Hawke was absent but his character was "ghosted" for this sim at his last location.)
The Captain called, "Bevin, status report on that breach and the spores!"
Bevin's strong Brogue came back over the commlink, "Aiboot haelfway thair an gaittin raid o thaim sair. Naixt gaein tae flawd tha aireea wi Haydraclarik aicid tae gait raid o tha raist."
The Captain responded, "Understood, Commander. Be careful but thorough. We don't need any spores floating around our ship!"
Bevin replied, "Aye, sair, I knaw tha aill tae weel!"
About then, Carter barked out, "We've gotta get these pods off us!" He called over the commlink, "Carter to Engineering. I'm losing Warp Integrity! I need some good news up here!"
MAX said, "I am still unable to triangulate the pods on our shields. They appear to have gotten into a blind spot ... not that I could do much anymore. Point Defense systems are offline due to power failure."
"MAX," Carter said, "I have a crazy idea .."
MAX replied, "I'm listening."
Carter turned to the Captain, "Drop the warp, immediately go to full reverse, purge the plasma from the coils. It may be enough to burn the pods off, but ... it's gonna burn out any hull breaches, too."
Zak twisted his face up as he answered, "Carter, that sounds like a serious case of whiplash for everybody on board, too! Keep it in the pocket in case we need it."
As Carter nodded and returned to his sluggish controls, Relok glanced over his left shoulder to where Tabeshk was standing at the MSD, "Tabby, do we have enough power for Bug Zapper? We need those Pods off!"
Tabeshk grunted back, "Doubt it, Relok."
Relok stood and walked over to Tabby at the MSD. When he was close enough to speak softly but still be heard, he said, "Lieutenant, find us enough power or we won't be keeping the heat on for long."
Tabeshk bristled, "Relok, do not test me. I am trying, but as far as I know the love of my life will die because of the damn breach on the damn ship!"
Relok unexpectedly reached out and placed a hand on Tabeshk's forearm. He still spoke softly, "She's fine, Tabeshk. Do your job and let her do hers. Kick in the Zapper and get the pods off and we'll be much better off."
Tabeshk sighed, "All right. Trying Bug Zapper again. It is needed, but might cause a blackout . blame Relok." He hit the switch to activate the Zapper.
Almost immediately, MAX called out, "Power distribution at 50% capacity. Auxiliary supply depleted."
Tabeshk's panel flashed and he reported, "Captain, Patterson wants you, shall I open coms?"
Zak answered, "Yes, Tabby, let's have the Colonel."
But then, everything went nearly dark. The Zapper succeeded in frying of the two Pods that had been sucking their power, but . it dropped the whole ship into brownout mode with power levels at 25%.
Carter called out, "I've lost Helm control!"
Relok, who'd returned to the XO's seat reported, "All sensors are offline! We're blind!"
The Captain tried to lighten the tension by adding, "Damn, now I can't heat up my coffee!"
Tabeshk groaned, "Yeah ... I expected this much." He paused then cried out, "It's all Relok's fault!" Relok simply raised an eyebrow at the half-Klingon. Tabeshk giggled, "You're in trouble, Relok!"
Zak turned to face the MSD, "Tabby, what about that call from Patterson? Did we lose him?"
Tabeshk checked his board, "Yeah, we lost him. All long-range communications are offline."
Zak cursed, "Damn! OK, Tabby, turn off everything we don't absolutely need. Power conservation protocols."
Tabeshk did so and Carter muttered, "Alright, I've got response from maneuvering thrusters only."
Zak tapped his commbadge, "Bevin, if you've killed the spores and patched the hole enough where we're not venting atmosphere, see if you can find us some power ... pretty please?"
MAX asked, "Shall I power down, Captain?"
Zak glanced over at a console where the nearly featureless but vaguely humanoid face was displayed, "MAX? No, not yet. We went without you longer than we should have last time. It's too easy to forget you're a member of this crew just as much as Relok there. No, hold tight as long as you can, MAX."
Tabeshk said, "Captain I will work on comms, getting it back, then the warp drive." As his fingers flew across the MSD he muttered, "God, I miss my station."
Zak nodded, "Good idea, Tabby. Get Patterson on the line. I need to know the status of their mission." He strode around and resumed his seat in the Command Chair. "Carter, get with Bevin to get us warp drive ASAP. We need to get back to that Collection Station."
Suddenly Carter said, "Captain, the Cerberus just came online."
Tabeshk announced, "It looks like the Cerberus is feeding power to the Penumbra over its umbilical connections!" The Cerberus was powered by a quantum singularity core. The tiny black hole could potentially serve the Penumbra as a medium-sized battery for a while. Tabeshk reported, "Power is back up to 50%. I'm calling Patterson to see if comms works."
Then Carter turned his chair, "Captain, I'm getting a departure request with Patterson's codes from the Cerberus."
"What?" the Captain asked. "Why? He's got the FedEx already there!" He turned his head, "Tabby! Get the Jarhead on the phone!"
Tabeshk grunted back, "Okay, okay! Geez! Once again, calling Patterson." After a second he said, "I got something captain."
Patterson's voice came over the comms, a bit crackly and full of static but recognizable. "Patterson to Penumbra. Did you let me have my ship?"
Tabeshk spoke before the Captain could, "We had to use Bug Zapper and lost power, Relok's fault. But maybe you can talk to the Captain. Captain, rerouting call to you. Have fun."
Zak let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Colonel, everyone OK? The Cerberus is trying to leave on its own. What's going on?"
Patterson responded, "We don't have any cover for a withdrawal, Captain. That ... and we've got 1000 or more eggs down here. I'm aborting the sabotage mission on grounds of War Crimes."
Zak ground his teeth a moment and then said, "A thousand eggs? That's 1000 more Soldiers on the Battlefield, Marine!"
Patterson's cracking voice responded, "Take it up with Starfleet Command, sir. I'm not about to execute 1000 non-combatants. Patterson out."
Zak snapped back, "Fine!" A second later he added, "You're probably right. Get the team out of there. The Cerberus will be on the way, since the Penumbra is not yet ready to fly. We're licking wounds here, Colonel."
Tabeshk muttered, "Well, I have mixed feelings about those eggs."
Then Carter announced, "Sir, the Cerberus is powering up weapons."
Zak sighed, "Carter, better let AEGIS out, he gets cranky when the cage won't open."
Carter nodded, "Aye aye, sir. Opening the primary launch bay."
The moment the bay doors were open, AEGIS, the Cerberus' on-board Artificial Intelligence, punched the tiny ship to full impulse, darting out the doors and almost immediately jumping to warp.
With a sigh the Captain called over the commlink, "Bevin, get the warp core up and running, we might have to go rescue Patterson, the Cerberus, the FedEx and all that."
Bevin's Brogue came back, "Daein me baist, sair. Hae ye ait 75 pairsaint pawur raight naw."
At the Collection Station:
Lt. Col. Travis Patterson, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, LtJG. T'Lin, LtJG. Lea Kalawai'a, MGny. Derek Hines, Gny. Khalgon, & SSgt. Davies had infiltrated the Kyrathian Collection Station on a tiny moon of the enormous gas giant.
They had reached the door of a "computer room" and while Patterson and the other Marines were holding perimeter, the two Lieutenants were trying to "hack" the Kyrathians' Plant-based technology to open the door. Patterson urged them to work faster, "Quickly, Lieutenants."
Hines was crouched on the forward end of their position in the corridor, his eyes flicking between the corridor ahead and his tricorder that was scanning the surrounding areas his eyes could not see. Khalgon had the rear direction doing much the same. But the Klingon commented, "Not sure how long those bugs are gonna stay unconscious ... or if they were able to call for help."
Lea stood behind T'Lin next to Khalgon while the Vulcan Science Officer used a fiber-optic cable from her tricorder to interface with the Node beside the door that worked as a security panel. The screen on her tricorder flashed different colors, downloading data even as it attempted to input some sequence that would open the door.
Davies stood behind Patterson, glancing both left and right, ahead and behind. He muttered a reply to Khalgon's statement, "Let's hope they didn't get the chance." He nervously checked his grenade satchel and counted his remaining ordnance.
Shadow stood beside Davies, also keeping watch for Kyrathians. While he was a strong telepath, all of them with even the remotest hint of psychic abilities had been dosed with Merasha to suppress their abilities in order to not be detected by the highly telepathic Kyrathians.
Lea glanced over T'Lin's shoulder. "Anything useful? Did we get a map?"
T'Lin mumbled quietly to herself as her eyes flicked across the screen. Patterson grumbled, "Thirty seconds, T'Lin. We need to get moving."
The seconds ticked by with everyone fidgeting nervously until Patterson tapped T'Lin on the shoulder, "Time's up. Get what you can and unplug. Hines, set charges here, here ... and here."
Hines nodded at Patterson's instructions, holstered his rifle and began setting the plasmatic charges where indicated.
T'Lin said, "Just a moment Colonel, I believe I am onto something." She tapped a few buttons on the tricorder and murmured, "There are signals here, symbols ... maybe some type of code?"
Lea tapped her foot, nervously impatient. "Sometime before they blow us to bits, please!"
T'Lin's tricorder was showing symbols in addition to colors, flashing rapidly across the screen in repeating patterns.
Hines reported, "Charges set, Pat."
T'Lin grunted, "I am going as fast as I can. Then she said, "Oh! Eggs, lots of them, in the passages. These are records!"
Patterson began, "Lieutenant, you've got 10 seconds to dis- Did you say 'Eggs'?"
Another second and T'Lin announced, "Got it!" She turned to the team, "Yes, this is a nursery." Her cold, logical expression broke for just a second as she added, "Children. There are what seems to be almost a thousand of them here."
As the door slid open, revealing the access terminals and another corridor beyond leading deeper in, Lea said, "I'm heading down there. If anyone wants to help, now's the time to join me."
Patterson said, "Belay that, Lieutenant."
Shadow said, "Sorry, but I don't especially want them around. What if we offered them to the Aslans?"
Lea turned to Shadow, "And how do we know they won't kill them?" She put her pack down and began rifling through it.
Shadow answered, "We don't, but they might be able to change the outlook of those babies in looking to the future."
Patterson thought for a moment than turned to Hines, "Hines, disarm the charges."
Hines turned, blinking confusedly, "Sir?"
Patterson said, "Do it, Derek . abort the mission." Hines raised an eyebrow a moment, then nodded and began disarming the charges he'd just set.
Khalgon grumbled, continuing the conversation, "They will grow old, to fight. But, there is no honor in killing children."
T'Lin was still looking at her tricorder downloading data from the Node. "I see numbers, recurring symbols." The memory storage indicator showed 74% full and she said, "I have what I need. This will do." She unplugged the cable, muttering a thank-you to the Plant. She turned to Khalgon, "No, there is not."
Patterson tapped his commbadge, "Patterson to Penumbra, Priority One." But there was no response.
T'Lin pulled up her rough blueprint of the facility compiled from their aerial scans. "There could be batteries in this room here," she indicated a room to Lea, "Do you think it's big enough for them?"
But Lea wasn't looking at T'Lin's tricorder. She was still searching her pack. She said, "Guys, I made something .," she pulled a small device from the pack. "I've got a shield generator. We can protect the nursery and still blow this place up, but we'll need one of those batteries to make sure it's strong enough."
T'Lin looked at Lea, "Depends on how large the nursery is. It could span the whole underground."
Lea looked back at her. "Then we might need two batteries."
T'Lin again referred to her map. "If we place that generator near the entrance into the tunnels, we could potentially blow this building up without harming them. This moon is made of hard rock."
Lea picked up her pack and slung it back over her shoulder. "Then that's where I'll go."
Patterson tapped his commbadge again, trying once more to reach the Penumbra, but again, there was no response. "Damn it!" he cursed. He turned to T'Lin, "T'Lin, get your team back to the shuttle. Davies, Khalgon, go with 'em."
But T'Lin stood and looked at Patterson, waiting to see if he would approve Lea's plan. Patterson shook his head, "No. We can't leave ANY technology behind or they will adapt it. Get to the shuttle, that's an order."
Lea snapped back at him snidely, "Then what do you suggest, sir?" T'Lin just sighed.
Patterson stared at Lea. "I suggest you follow your orders and get the hell off this station with or without me, Lieutenant." He paused and then said, "I'm planning to make contact."
T'Lin asked, "Colonel, how are you going to do that?"
But Lea wasn't interested in his plan for contact. Instead she said, "With or without your permission, I'm keeping those children out of the line of fire."
T'Lin turned to her, "Lea, that is unwise. We could sabotage the building without blowing it up."
But Patterson said, "Lieutenant, those children are not in the line of fire. Now, you will get back to the shuttle, or I will have you CARRIED back to the shuttle and locked in the brig for disobedience." He gestured towards Hines.
Lea ignored Patterson and addressed T'Lin instead, "You promise?"
T'Lin answered, "I will try my hardest." She turned back to Patterson.
Hines nodded at Patterson, "I'll take them home."
Lea handed T'Lin the shield generator she'd brought and then walked back towards the shuttle without a glance at Patterson.
T'Lin did not leave. Instead she told Patterson, "If we can cause just one battery to leak, the acid will be strong enough to melt the others without breaking through the surface of the moon."
Patterson addressed her, "T'Lin ... you too. Everyone evac. Now."
Lea turned around, "Hold on . just you? Why?"
Patterson gave a short sigh, "Because I'd rather sacrifice myself protecting the innocent than risk the lives of my crew in futility."
Shadow had started towards the shuttle but turned back and addressed Patterson, "Noble sentiments, but they'd take you and add all you know to what they could use against us."
T'Lin still didn't turn to leave. She said, "Colonel, if you would just listen to me. No more lives must be lost. We can take out the batteries, disconnect some of the Nodes. Without any more death."
Lea said, "Patterson, that shield generator has a wide EM band, use it if you have to to protect yourself. The wide EM band means that we can beam you out from inside once you're done."
Patterson tapped the PADD built into the arm of his combat armor, "FedEx, dust-off in 60 seconds. Anyone not onboard? Consider them MIA ... that is an order."
Khalgon, the Klingon Marine, grunted, "Let's get moving . now."
T'Lin lost her logic for a moment and gave Patterson a look of sheer anger. "You are a fool! You would rather die a hero than make logical decisions."
Shadow wasn't quite as angry but he protested as well. "You just want to GIVE them our tech as well as the tech to Cerberus?"
But Patterson was nothing if not stubborn. "Get to the shuttle. I'll have the Cerberus here shortly to cover your withdrawal since the Penumbra had to bug out.
Seeing she could not persuade him with logic, T'Lin gave in. She stepped up and quickly embraced Patterson in a hug, muttering, "Goodbye, you foolish man." Then she released him and spun on her heel to start back to the shuttle.
Lea took the shield generator from T'Lin and handed it to Patterson and then turned back towards the shuttle herself.
Shadow tilted his head and gazed a Patterson a second and then said, "I'm beginning to doubt your sanity, sir, do you want me to deprive you of duty on those grounds?"
Patterson gave another sigh. "If I had the time to explain every action I took, Shadow ... I'd have been dead 20 years ago. Get to the shuttle. I'll beam to the Cerberus and cover your withdrawal. I'm not planning on sticking around."
Shadow was doubtful but patted Patterson on the back, surreptitiously leaving a transporter tag there. "All right, sir," he said as he turned to leave.
Suddenly, Patterson's comm chirped. The voice of LtJG Tabeshk Tibris came through, "Penumbra to Patterson, come in, Colonel." It was crackling with static but recognizable.
Patterson said, "Patterson to Penumbra. Did you let me have my ship?"
Tabeshk's voice came back, "We had to use Bug Zapper and lost power, Relok's fault. But maybe you can talk to the Captain. Captain, rerouting call to you. Have fun."
Then the Captain's voice came through, "Colonel, everyone OK? The Cerberus is trying to leave on its own. What's going on?"
Patterson responded, "We don't have any cover for a withdrawal, Captain. That ... and we've got 1000 or more eggs down here. I'm aborting the sabotage mission on grounds of War Crimes."
Zak ground his teeth a moment and then said, "A thousand eggs? That's 1000 more Soldiers on the Battlefield, Marine!"
Lea heard the Captain's words and is stunned at them but said nothing.
Patterson's cracking voice responded, "Take it up with Starfleet Command, sir. I'm not about to execute 1000 non-combatants. Patterson out."
Zak snapped back, "Fine!" A second later he added, "You're probably right. Get the team out of there. The Cerberus will be on the way, since the Penumbra is not yet ready to fly. We're licking wounds here, Colonel."
Lea gave Patterson a quick nod, "You did the right thing. Now hurry!"
Shadow shook his head concerned that "the Jarhead" was obviously going off the deep end, but he turned and headed for the shuttle as ordered. He was running through reasons in his head on how he could relieve Patterson from duty on grounds of mental instability.
Hines made sure the others were on their way to the shuttle before addressing the Colonel in a soft voice, "Pat . thanks." He turned and followed the team.
On Janidor:
Several light-years away, back on the planet Janidor, where the USS Sojourner, under the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, was trying to rebuild after the invasion of the Kyrathians, Lt. Cmdr. Dean Spearhorse, formerly the Chief Tactical and Security Officer of the Penumbra but now serving as the lead Liaison between Starfleet and the Janosian population under Captain Anok Jackson of the Sojourner, finally woke to the beeping sound of his alarm pounding in his skull.
He slowly became aware that the beeping had been going on for quite some time as he raised a hand to his throbbing head. He was hungover . again. He moaned, "Computer, what time is it?"
The computer mercifully cancelled the alarm as it answered. Dean was not thrilled with the answer, it was nearly a half-hour past the time he was supposed to report for duty. He was late . again. He climbed out of bed and started dressing. "OK, bring the lights up . gradually!"
He became aware he was not in his own quarters and started looking around the woman's room for his commbadge. Finally finding it he left the quarters, headed for the Sojourner's bridge to report in.
Sometime later, after being put on report for being late and showing up to work with a hangover, he finally assumed his duty station and pulled up the latest report from the planet. It wasn't good. Even though the Kyrathian bugs had abandoned the planet, they'd left their deadly Plant behind, and the wanton destruction of buildings, roads, docks, and the decimation of the population by the Kyrathians feeding on them, had left the place ripe for food shortages and looting. And it seemed every day, somewhere, some riot would break out.
Dean wasn't handling it very well. Captain Jackson had even accused Dean of overstepping his authority on more than one occasion as he'd attempted to institute martial law or had played judge, jury, and executioner all on his own.
The stress had drove him to drinking every evening "just to take the edge off". He'd only been sleeping a few hours a night, and even then, his sleep was often plagued by nightmares. He just wanted to get away from this horrible place.
In Attendance:
Capt. Z. Taylor, Lt. (JG) Lea Kalawai'a, Lt. (JG) Tabeshk Tibris, Lt. (JG) T'Lin, LtCmdr. Dean Spearhorse, LtCmdr. J. Carter, LtCmdr. MacArdry, Dr. K'Trevala, LtCmdr. Relok, LtCol. T. Patterson, MGySgt Hines
NPCs:
GySgt Khalgon (played by Hines), SSgt_Davies (played by Patterson), MAX (played by Hines), AEGIS (played by Patterson)