USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202001.03 Bridge & Astrometrics: . The Penumbra returned to the tiny frozen world where they'd encountered the Omega Particle. The Particle was originally in some kind of power plant facility at least a century old, but when Borg arrived to investigate the Omega, something they did caused a containment failure in the facility. Now an emergency containment field envelops the facility, but the field is beginning to fail. . Emissions of high-intensity radiation from the Omega are leaking out of the containment field, and this is affecting space around the tiny moon, causing it to be dense "like flying through syrup". To approach the moon, Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter and Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry developed a "Slip-Drag" method of harnessing a bubble of "normal" space and dragging it along in front of the Penumbra as she maneuvered, but ... it wasn't easy to ride this "surf board" on the rough waves of dense space. . As the ship approached the moon, several officers were on the Bridge including Capt. Zak Taylor sitting in the Command Chair, trying to appear calm and relaxed; Lt. Cmdr. Relok, the Vulcan Science Officer, was back in the Executive Officer's seat since Lt. Col. Patterson was leading the Away Team; Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, the Chief of Flight Operations, was at the Helm; Lt. Tabeshk Tibris, the half-Klingon Chief of Operations, was at his station, checking over power distribution; MstGny. Derek Hines at the Secondary Tactical Station; and of course, MAX, the Artificial Intelligence that could manifest himself on any console connected to the ship's computer network, currently observing from the Master Systems Display at the aft wall of the Bridge. . Carter exhaled sharply and said, "Alright ... initiating Slip-Drag procedures."(edited)

. Not on the Bridge, but connected via an open commlink, Lt. T'Lin, a Vulcan Science Officer, was wrapping up her work in Astrometrics on recovering the data from Patterson's Combat Armor helmet. The data had been corrupted by an intense wave of radiation when Patterson and Relok first opened the reactor chamber inside the facility down on the moon. . Hines reviewed their situation, glancing around the Bridge. He muttered, "This is significantly different having my back to the forward viewer." He was referring to his usual station being a Reconnaissance Console that tended to face away from the viewscreen. . Zak glanced over at him, "Gunny, you have our Torp-E-Probe loaded?" . Hines nodded, "Torp-E-Probe loaded in the auxiliary shaft. Gravimetric torpedoes on standby." . As Hines answered, Tabby mumbled under his breath as he scanned his station, "Looks like we have good power ... our shields look all right ...," he trailed off and then turned his chair so he could face the Captain. "Sir, if I may?" He was anxious to start the Grabby Hands part of the procedure to get the Away Team down to the moon. . Zak smiled at him, "Stand by, Tabby, we have to punch the hole first." . Tabby saw through Zak's faked calm and smiled back, "You don't look very relaxed." He gave a chuckle, realizing he was tense himself. "I gotcha, I gotcha. Say the word, Captain." . Relok chimed in then. He'd been monitoring the spacial density factors. "Get ready, Carter, it's about to get thick." . As Relok made the announcement the ship began to rumble and vibrate as it encountered the dense space. Carter clutched the manual control flight sticks once more and said, "Alright ... let's just hope the computer helps keep us on the artificial axis I gave it." . Zak subconsciously scooted forward in his seat and said, "Carter, you've got that Slip-Drag thing going, right?"

. Carter didn't turn his head from the forward viewer, but answered, "Slip-Drag, inertial dampers at maximum, you name it? I've done thought of it." . Relok added, "I can confirm the Slip-Drag is putting some 'normal space' in front of us. The problem is staying ... 'on the board', using the surfing analogy." . Carter grunted back, "Nothing's ever as easy as it looks, okay? As long as the artificial horizon stays less than 10 degrees out of variance, we'll be alright. Not that you'd like to offer a hand in that, would you, Relok?" . Relok raised an eyebrow and answered, "I think we're in good hands, Commander." . Tabby asked, "Would another set of hands help?" . Carter shook his head, "I'm more keen to trust the computer than another person, Tabby." . Tabby faked a flinch, "Ouch!" . Zak reminded him, "Tabby, you've got your own job, remember? Grabby Hands?" . The half-Klingon shrugged, "I know, but I thought I'd ask. The hands are ready, by the way, Captain. Ready as in charged up to use when it's needed." . Zak forced himself to sit back. "Carter, say the word when we're in range and Hines can launch the Torp-E-Probe." . Suddenly a call came over the comm system from Patterson. "Commander Relok, didn't I ask you to come with us to the surface?" . Relok's face blushed a light green color as he answered, "Oh, uh, I suppose you did, Colonel, I ... uh ... will be right there!" . Hines rolled his eyes and muttered, "Of all the people ...." . Zak smirked as he glanced over at Relok. "Better hurry, Commander, you still have to suit up!" The Vulcan quickly logged off and hurried for the Turbolift doors. . Tabby chuckled under his breath at Relok's movements. "Relok being flustered! Ha!" He chuckled some more before finally calming himself and muttering, "Okay, back to work." . Meanwhile, Carter's hands began to tremble with the strain. He reported, "We are approaching our previous coordinates."

. Zak asked, "Carter, can you give Relok time to get to TR1 and get suited? Can you hold us steady for a couple of minutes?" . Though most couldn't see his face, Carter rolled his eyes and wiggled his nose. "Oh ... this would be the worst possible time to have the urge to sneeze, wouldn't it?" . Hines said, "Oh, don't do that, Carter!" . Zak chuckled, "Would you like me to come scratch your nose for you, Carter?" . Tabby snatched a piece of tissue out of a convenient container and reached to hand it to Carter, "Oh, shut up, you big baby!" . Carter glanced at the tissue, then made a face as he looked at his occupied hands, "Kinda don't have any hands available, Tabby." . Tabby waved the tissue, "I know! Just sneeze into it! I've had far worse happen to me." . The minutes pass and finally Zak said, "OK, Hines, that's all we can give them. Carter looks pretty tense. Fire the torp at your earliest convenience." . Hines had everything on hot standby and simply pressed a button and said, "Torp-E-Probe away. ETA to impact... 3 seconds." . Carter took a breath and said, "This is gonna suck." He knew that once a hole was punched through the containment field that the waves of radiation would cause turbulence in the dense space around the moon. . Tabby muttered, "Yeah, kinda figured, Carter. At least we get a great view?" He gestured at the main viewscreen just in front of them. . About that time the Turbolift doors opened and T'Lin stepped out onto the Bridge, having delivered Patterson's helmet to Relok to bring down to the Transporter Room. She stepped towards the Primary Science Station as Tabby waved, "Hi, best friend!" . T'Lin nodded at him, still standing beside her station, "Hello, Tabeshk." . Tabby smiled, "You can call me Tabby, TLin. I know it's a weird name." . T'Lin raised an eyebrow. "I understand your nickname, but it is not commonplace where I am from."

. The Captain interrupted their exchange, "Tabby, beam down the Secondary Team outside the field. They need to get started since it might take them some time." . Tabby nodded, "Gotcha! Beaming in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...," he powered the transporter and a team of engineers and science officers beamed down outside the containment field to initiate their backup plan of installing a shield generator modified with a burst-feed battery to reinforce the containment field. . Hines reported, "Torp-E-Probe contact. Brace for impact." Carter led out a breath, tightened his grip and gave a nod. . Tabby muttered, "Oh crap." The Captain fastened his seatbelt and glanced at his cup holder to make sure he hadn't left a cup of hot coffee there. Tabby leaned over and hit Carter's seatbelt button for him before engaging his own. T'Lin seated herself and activated her own seatbelt. Hines just had to hold on to the Tactical console. . And then the ship was hit by a gale-force gust of radioactive energy, and Carter just barely managed to keep it steady! Tabby announced, "I got Grabby Hands, Captain!" . As the ship rattled and rumbled and bucked and heaved, Zak grunted, "Stand by, Tabby!" . "I know!" he answered. . Zak glanced over at Hines. Hines gave a quick nod as he said, "Rupture! 1219.40 mark 414.24. There's our hole!" . Zak barked, "Tabby, go for Grabby Hands!" He tapped his commbadge, "Colonel, get ready. Ten seconds!" . The dual tractor beam manipulators deemed "Grabby Hands" took hold of the edges of the hole in the containment field and stretched it open. As the hole widened, the intense radiation came out stronger than ever before! There was much more radiation pouring out than before the first team went down! . The ship bucked harder and they could hear groans from the bulkheads. Tabby called, "Hold on!" . Carter shook his head. "Captain! I can't hold this position!"

. Zak called, "Tabby, send down the Primary Team. Confirm they're in place, then release your Grabby Hands hold." . Tabby opened a quick commlink, "Tabby to Bevin. Before you leave for the moon I wanted to say be careful and I love you." . Bevin's voice came back in her distinctive Brogue, "I lave ye ais weel, Tabbiekins! I'll be keerfil." . Tabby gave a quick nod and announced, "Aye, Captain! Beaming in 3 ... 2 .... 1 ... beaming!" . Hines reported, "Shields down to 71%! Structural integrity on the ventral side is losing stability!" . Zak said, "Tabby, release! Carter, get us away from here. I think you could use a break." . Carter pulled the control to make the turn for emergency evacuation. Then he said, "Helm controls are not responding!" . Zak stiffened in his seat. "What?" . Carter nearly shouted back, "What do you mean 'What?' I can't turn the damn ship around!" . Tabby muttered, "Well, that's not good." . The Captain unbuckled his seatbelt and staggered across the bucking deck to the Helm station. "Where's the damn Slip-Drag?" . Carter called out, "Hines, invert ALL phase emitters. Fire at the impulse drivers. They're clogged up." . Hines balked only a second, "You want me to ...?" Then he straightened and said, "Aye-aye. Inverting phase emitters." . Carter struggled with the controls another moment and then said, "Tabby, charge the Bug-Zapper!" . Tabby nodded curtly, "Alrighty, Bug Zapper charging. Wait for it." . Carter glanced at the Captain standing beside him, holding the corner of the console against the bucking of the ship. "It's the radiation," he said. "It's a LOT stronger than last time." . As the Captain reached out to grab one of the flight control sticks, T'Lin accessed the science console to run scans on the helm controls. The Captain struggled with the control and said, "Damn! This bitch is stuck!" . Tabby saw that the Bug Zapper was charged. He said, "Firing now!"

. The combination of the Bug-Zapper and the inverted Phase Emitters gave just enough of a blast to ignite the radiation pocket ahead of them. Tachyon particles used in the Slip-Drag also ignited and knocked the Penumbra into a spiraling reverse away from the tiny moon. As they gained some distance, helm controls began to respond to input. . Shields dropped to only 60%. Structural integrity was down to 75%. The ship rattled and skittered across the dense space. Tabby cursed, "For f's sake! Ahh!" . Carter was doing everything he could to merely ride out the shockwave. This was beyond even his advanced skills as a pilot. The Captain was leaning into one control stick, lending his strength to Carter's to try to stabilize their wild spin. He grunted out, "Damn, Carter, hold on!" . Tabby saw the two of them struggling with the controls and quickly unfastened his seatbelt and moved over to hold onto the Captain, adding his considerable half-Klingon/half-Romulan strength as well. . Finally, the Penumbra began to level out, coming out of the spin dangerously low over the tiny moon before managing to break away. They just might make it. Transporter Room One & the Turbolift: . Down in Transporter Room One the Primary Away Team had (mostly) assembled. Lt. Col. Travis Patterson paced idly, shaking his head, impatient at the delay. The ex-Borg "specialist" for this mission, Nine of Twelve (also known as Katarina Hawke, Denovan Hawke's sister), leaned against a console watching Patterson pacing like a caged tiger. Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry was studying her "new" suit (they'd all been issued Marine Combat Armor for this mission for the superior radiation resistance), trying to learn all the advanced features. Dr. Shadow K'Trevala was there (though he wasn't going on the mission), giving them all booster shots of anti-radiation medicine since they'd most certainly need it.

. Suddenly the ship began to rumble and vibrate as they entered the dense space around the tiny moon. It wouldn't be long now. Bevin checked over the specifications for the gadget she'd designed to power a shield generator. A secondary Away Team would be setting one up outside the containment field while the Primary Team went inside to use the Borg sphere as a giant resonance chamber for the Omega Particles. . Patterson opened a commlink on the armPADD of his Combat Armor. "T'Lin, I'm gonna need my helmet before we leave. Hope you got the information downloaded." . T'Lin's voice came back from where she was working in Astrometrics, "Understood, I have the webcam footage I need. I'll bring it to you now." . Patterson glanced around and gave a sigh and opened another commlink, "Commander Relok, didn't I ask you to come with us to the surface?" . A second later the Vulcan Science Officer's voice came back, "Oh, uh, I suppose you did, Colonel, I ... uh ... will be right there!" . T'Lin actually ran into Relok at the Turbolift. She handed him the helmet, "Hello. Mind giving this to Patterson?" Relok took it silently, his face flushed slightly green. T'Lin exited at another stop of the Turbolift as Relok rode on alone. . In the Turbolift by himself Relok's thoughts turned inward. ~This is emotional response, Relok, get a hold of yourself!~ . Another voice entered his mind, that of Dr. K'Trevala. The two were Shayana, Wing-Brothers, or Oath-Brothers, after a shared mind-meld in fighting a noncorporeal entity that had "possessed" Shadow. ~Shayana, calm down, I know you can do it. Breathe in slowly, hold for a count of five then breathe out slowly.~ . Relok followed Shadow's suggestion and could feel the telepath's influence calm him. ~Thank you, Shayana. I will be fine. It is only logical I accompany the team since I was there the first time.~

.~I know, Shayana,~* Shadow thought back to him. ~You'll be fine. We'll work through it together if we have to.~ . Back in TR1, Nine stretched, uncomfortable in the heavy Combat Armor. Bevin continued reviewing the specs on her shield generator, going over its placement, use, and touching on how to troubleshoot its installation with the other team. . Finally, Relok arrived and handed Patterson his helmet. "Sorry, Colonel," he said. . Patterson quickly donned the helmet and then helped the Vulcan with the Combat Armor before turning to the Team. "Nine, you said you had the resonance chamber already rigged. We just have to get everything programmed and active." . "No," she answered, "What I said is that I was turning the sphere into one big resonance chamber. It should be nearly ready to transfer the Omega Particles to it." . Relok interrupted as he was getting used to the Armor, "This suit has a built-in scanner? No tricorder needed? Why are these not standard issue?" . Patterson grunted, "They are. For Marines." . A call came from the Bridge for the Secondary Team to get in position. Seconds later, they were beamed down outside the containment field to start their work on the backup plan, the shield generator with the burst-feed battery to shore up the containment field. . Moments later, the ship was hit by a gale-force gust of radioactive energy. It bucked and heaved and rattled and rumbled. Relok staggered as the ship lurched. Patterson actually used Relok as his own catch. Shadow reached to stabilize Relok before stepping back from the pad as Nine stepped up, leaning against a wall, followed by Bevin. Relok commented, "OK, there's the wave." . As he said this the call came from the Captain, "Colonel, get ready. Ten seconds!" Patterson dropped the visor of his helmet and the familiar, and eerily disturbing, holographic skull appeared on it. Everyone else secured their own visors (without the holographic skulls) and braced themselves.

. A last minute comm came from Tabby, "Tabby to Bevin. Before you leave for the moon I wanted to say be careful and I love you." . Bevin answered, "I lave ye ais weel, Tabbiekins! I'll be keerfil." . Up on the Bridge, they knew Tabeshk was using the Grabby Hands tractor beam to pull open the hole in the containment field. Suddenly the ship began bucking harder than ever before. The team held onto each other for dear life as the transporter beam kicked in. Moments later they materialized near the Borg sphere and they were cut off. The Away Team (inside the Borg Sphere and at the Facility Entrance): . When the Away Team materialized on the tiny moon inside the containment field they found themselves just outside the Borg sphere where Nine had lived in solitude for nearly a year. The whole area was awash with intense radiation and the outer surface of the sphere shimmered and glowed. . Nine quickly entered the sphere through the access port and set to work where she'd left off. She was pleased to find the sphere had continued its regenerative cycle and was nearly completely restored. She called out to no-one in particular, her voice caught in the helmet of her Combat Armor and relayed to all of the team members over the commlink, "Can someone check the conduit that's connected from the sphere to the facility to make sure it hasn't been damaged by the radiation? . Patterson watched Nine enter the sphere and signaled Relok towards the main blast doors of the facility. The Vulcan headed that direction and Patterson followed Nine to the entrance, but didn't quite enter. He asked, "Nine, what do you need?" . She scanned the interior and answered, "If you can give me a few minutes to finalize calculations it should be enough to start the resonance chamber process."(edited)

. Bevin approached beside Patterson, moving to assist Nine in any way she could. Nine pointed towards a panel, "See that panel over there? It's not regenerating properly. I need it to connect or I cannot finish the sequence." Bevin nodded and went to work on the panel. . Relok called from near the facility, "There's our problem, Colonel. The outer door didn't close all the way!" He paused before continuing, "Colonel, the levels of radiation will compromise our suits in less than an hour." . Patterson nodded and answered, "We need to be well on our way by then. Bevin, see what you can do about getting those doors shut!" . Bevin had just replaced a faulty connection on the dead panel Nine had needed and it came back to life pretty quickly. Leaving it, she grabbed her toolkit and hurried out the sphere to join Relok near the facility's massive doors. She quickly assessed the situation, seeing the damage to the door's control panel (she'd heard that Patterson had shot it with his WAR rifle) and knowing that she wouldn't get anywhere that route. . Digging in her pack she produced a compact come-along which she attached it to the not-quite-closed door on one end and to a convenient structural beam on the opposite closed door, and started cranking on the lever. Relok quickly joined her to lend Vulcan strength to the lever. . Inside the sphere, Nine's fingers moved along the console until finally she projected Borg nanotubes into the console to do the work directly. She concentrated on what she needed and in seconds a burned-out piece of one of the panels was ejected and the sphere began generating a new one in its place, growing it like a crystalline matrix with Borg replicator technology.

. Patterson noticed that Bevin and Relok were struggling with the blast door. It had apparently taken some damage itself and didn't quite fit in its socket. He hurried over to add his body weight to the lever. He'd decided either they'd move the blast door, or they'd break the damn come-along! Finally it started to move and they managed to close the doors. . As they each let go and stretched tired muscles while Bevin detached the come-along, Nine called, "Colonel, I'm starting the Particle transfer ... now."

@everyone Another exciting Sim Log Narrative is posted! Enjoy!