USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202008.28 Main Bridge: . The Penumbra was drifting in interstellar space after being pulled through a spacial rift. Many of the crew had lost consciousness during the passage, but nearly all had recovered with nothing more than a little grogginess and a headache. . The Cerberus had been dragged through the rift as well and hadn't come out entirely unscathed either. It flew into the Hangar Bay and settled to the floor in spite of its own problems. . The Penumbra's Structural Integrity was at a critical level at only 40%. There were stress cracks all along the outer hull and many locations on the uppermost and lowermost decks were considered dangerous and had to be evacuated, and the Main Bridge was on Deck 1, the uppermost deck. . In addition to structural damage, the shields had taken a beating, even though they'd been augmented by the strong shields of the Cerberus during the passage through the rift. They were flickering at only 25% strength. . The warp core power generators had overheated and had to be shut down to avoid catastrophic failure or rupture. And then, even the battery systems had been seriously drained. The ship's power levels were at merely 20%, which meant the ship was at Red Alert for an Extreme Power Emergency. Many systems were unavailable such as holodecks, transporters, replicators, automatic doors, even the recyclers were offline. Even those systems usually deemed "critical" were functioning in "low power mode" and lighting throughout the ship was dim or completely dark. . With the warp core offline, they had no warp drive or slipstream ability, and even the impulse engines would be strained with power so low.

. Down in Main Engineering, Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry regained consciousness, rubbing her head a moment before realizing their situation. Quickly she checks critical systems: the warp core, engines, shields, structural integrity, power supply. Nothing was to her satisfaction. . There were many Damage Control Teams that worked around the clock making every-day maintenance and inspections. When the ship's automatic systems had reported damage, most of those teams would start to work right away, without orders or instructions required. Bevin would just check-in with them to see if they needed help or supplies and let the skilled technicians do their jobs. . She left a team to get started rebooting the warp core, and started making her way to help the DCT that would be working to restore structural integrity to the Main Bridge. . On the Bridge, Capt. Zak Taylor sat in the Command Seat, rubbing his head and still a little fuzzy after the rift passage. Lt. Cmdr. Relok sat in the XO's seat, struggling to calm frayed nerves. Ens. Jackson Carshel, the only member of the Bridge Crew to have actually retained consciousness through the rift, shuffled on wobbly feet to the Helm and shook Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, who jumped awake, startled, saying, "I'm ... alive?" . Carshel leaned forward, peering into his face, "Uh ... Carter? Hello ... um, sir?" . Lt. Cmdr. Tabeshk Tibris groaned as he regained consciousness, then the Klingon in him made him snap to fully awake and upright. He quickly scanned the Ops board and cursed under his breath at what he saw. . Ens. Filler, who'd had the Tactical Station, roused and pulled himself to his feet, but merely stood dazedly, holding onto the console, not really aware of much, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. . Zak glanced at Relok, then scanned the Bridge, seeing folks slowly rousing and all the lights dim with the red highlight of the Red Alert. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

. Carter blinked a moment, stunned, then his instincts kicked in and he checked the navigation systems. He reported, "We've moved to only about 20 light-years from the Kyrathian Homeworld ... in seconds!" . The ship's computer interrupted with an announcement, "WARNING! Structural Integrity at 40%, Bridge integrity at dangerous conditions." . Relok glanced at the ceiling and noticed some fine cracks. "Sir, we should evacuate the main Bridge and head to the Auxiliary Bridge. It's not safe up here." . Carshel looked up too and agreed, "Yeah, looks risky, boss." . Zak looked up but couldn't see the cracks. Still, he trusted the Vulcan and the genetically enhanced scientist to have better visual acuity. "Yeah, you're probably right. All Bridge crew, secure stations and transfer to the Battle Bridge. Relok, Carter, Carshel, Tabby, Filler, and finally myself, in that order." . Carter blinked again, then nodded and began securing the Helm. "We've got no warp. Impulse is only at ... a quarter." As he stood, he scanned the Bridge and then added, "I'm surprised she held together as well as she did." He moved off towards the Turbolift. The door didn't open automatically so he pressed the button beside it. Being a "critical" system, the Turbolift had power but was on "stand-by" mode. The door slid open and he stepped in. . Tabby grunted, "Aye, getting up." He paused and then said, "Relok, I ... I might need help. I just woke and ... can't tell how badly affected I might be." But, he struggled to his feet without assistance, even though his knees were weak. He gripped the back of his chair to keep from falling and grumbled a few choice Klingon curses under his breath. . Carshel resisted the Captain's initial orders. "Aye, sir, but ... let me help you, you're still groggy, sir."

. Zak waved him off, "You're third on that list, Ensign. Get to the Battle Bridge. I'm fine." He tapped his commbadge, "Colonel, you and your teams report to the Battle Bridge for debriefing. The main Bridge is off limits until Bevin clears it." . But it was Lt. Denovan Hawke who answered first. "Colonel Patterson is locked in with the Cerberus right now trying to fix it. I'm diverting to the Battle Bridge now." . Then, Patterson's voice came back, "I'll be there as soon as I stabilize the Cerberus. Damn singularity is out of alignment. If we can't get it fixed ... we'll have to jettison her." . Lt. T'Lin stomped onto the Bridge about that time. "Relok," she began without preamble, "These readings are completely opposite to what they were 20 minutes ago." . The Captain groaned as he heard the Colonel. "Acknowledged. Get it stable, then meet up. T'Lin's already up here, gonna get the debrief from her." . Relok turned to T'Lin, "Nice to see you too, Lt. We're headed to the Battle Bridge. It's not safe up here." He gestured at the ceiling cracks. . T'Lin glanced at the cracks, but continued unfazed, "There are alloys out there that I have never seen before." . Carshel still stood looking at the Captain with a determined expression, "Sir, let me help you. We'll go together." Suddenly, Carshel noticed T'Lin. He cried out her name, "TLIN!" then caught himself and said, "Uh, I mean, boss, you're okay!" He reached to give her a hug. . T'Lin nodded at Carshel then turned to Relok, "Their Nodes have a completely different system. They have regulated access, authorization passwords, they are listed by a combination of numbers in there." . Relok, uncharacteristically, gently grasped T'Lin's arm as he said, "Let's get to the Battle Bridge. I have to take command there. Come on."

. Carshel wrapped his arms around T'Lin in a hug in spite of Relok's grip on her arm. T'Lin stoically permitted the hug from Carshel and the touch from Relok. Most Vulcans do not care for physical contact, and both Relok and T'Lin ordinarily avoided it. . The Captain eyed the reunion impatiently. He cleared his throat, "Ahem ... Battle Bridge, gentlemen." . Carter still stood in the open Turbolift. He called, "Am I the only one getting on this lift?" . T'Lin took a breath and shrugged off both men. "Coffee first, then Battle Bridge." . Relok said, "Sorry, T'Lin, replicators are offline. No power." . T'Lin pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered, "Okay," she turned to the Turbolift, "the one time I want coffee, we have no power." . Bevin and the DCT arrived from the other Turbolift and fanned out around the Bridge to begin repairs to the tiny stress fractures, as well as any damaged computer systems or consoles. . Zak turned to Bevin and her team. "Bevin, I'd like my Bridge back as soon as you can get it. In the meantime, all critical functions will be transferred to the Battle Bridge as soon as ...," he turned and looked at Relok sternly, "Relok gets there!" . Relok ducked as he said, "Aye, sir, on my way!" He entered the Turbolift alongside Carter and T'Lin. Carshel joined them with Tabby stumbling as if his legs were asleep. Filler shambled in like some kind of zombie. . Carter grumbled, "I could've already been down there." . T'Lin grumbled back, "And yet, you waited. Your fault, really." The door slid shut and they began moving towards the Battle Bridge. . Bevin was too busy and flustered to be amused. She answered the Captain in her strong Brogue, "I'll dae me baist sair, gaein fer ait laist 80% taill we kin gait ivvrythaing ailse taekin keer o." She was telling him she'd do her best, aiming for 80% functionality and then everything else.

. Zak stood on the damaged Bridge and watched Bevin and her crew working. She was working with a heliowelder and other equipment to seal the tiny cracks in the hull, double-checking to make sure they had 100% air-tightness. . After a few moments, a call came from Relok, "Captain, I have the Battle Bridge." . Zak responded, "Acknowledged. Computer, transfer command operations to the Battle Bridge." . There was a slight delay before the computer trilled and answered, "Command Operations transferred to the Battle Bridge. Main Bridge systems now disconnected." . Zak turned and addressed his Chief Engineer, "Make it safe, Bevin, and call me when you're sure it's ready." . Bevin loosened her long red hair from the tight braid and ponytail she usually wore, intending to use the strands to help find any odd air currents caused by leaks. She answered him, "Aye, sir, waill dae." She tapped her commbadge, calling Relok on the Battle Bridge, "Dinna gait tae camfirtibil thair, Railawk, I'm gaissin inithir hauir taill tha braidje ais mistly baik." Her sometimes hard-to-distinguish Brogue told Relok not to get too comfortable, that she expected only another hour to have the Bridge ready for their return. . With that, Zak turned and entered the Turbolift, headed for the Battle Bridge himself. As the lift moved he tapped his commbadge, "How's the Cerberus, Travis?" . Patterson answered, "Good news, bad news, Captain. Can't give details, but I'm gonna need to be precise and undistracted ...," he trailed off. . Zak responded, "Understood. Keep me posted." . After a while, Bevin and her team had sealed all of the cracks and tested them to make sure there were no leaks or other structural weaknesses. She left the DCT to wrap up replacing wall panels and any touch up painting and started going through all of the conduits and junctions around the Bridge to double-check everything was working properly.

. As they did their final inspections and wrap up, Bevin grinned mischievously and dug some kind of large cloth out of her toolkit. As she spread it out, she draped it over the Captain's Command Chair, covering it with a bright neon-pink and green paisley patterned seatcover. She called the Battle Bridge to let them know that the Main Bridge was secure and ready for their return. Battle Bridge: . Relok and the other Bridge Crew arrived at the Battle Bridge and moved to take their stations. Den arrived from the opposite Turbolift and moved to the Tactical station. Relok looked at the still dazed-looking Filler and said, "Filler, you're relieved. Hawke, take the Tac. See if there are any Kyrathians out there, if you can get enough focus out of the sensors at all." . Carter sat down at the compact Helm station and almost instantly remarked, "Yeah, I already want my other chair back." He grumbled as he began reconfiguring the Helm to his preferred customizations. . Carshel glanced around the tight spacing of the Battle Bridge. "Oooh," he murmured, "Small spaces are very familiar to me." Carshel slid himself under the Science Station, trying to stay out of the way. As he did he muttered, "Don't judge me. I'm a mole. I've been a mole most of my life, so ... I'm a mole!" . T'Lin sat stiffly at the Science Station, wishing she could sit on the floor like she usually did, but there simply wasn't enough room without completely blocking the walkway. . Carshel looked up at her and said, "Hey, T'Lin, there's some space I cleared out for you, if you don't mind being a mole as well." . She glanced down at him and replied, "I would rather sit in a chair than curled up under a desk."

. Hawke said, "I kind of like the Battle Bridge, always have." He gave the board a quick scan and then shook his head. "Nothing. Sensors are all kinds of messed up. I could see a blip and think it's a ship but ... it's a space fart." He realized he hadn't contacted his younger sister, LtJG Katarina Hawke, and quickly sent her a mental message over their Borg interlink, ~I'm on the Battle Bridge, sister.~ . Though no-one but Hawke could hear it, Kat answered over their link, ~Den! Oh, thank the gods! I'm in Sickbay.~ . He replied, ~Alright, well I'm safe, for the moment.~ . Tabby logged into the compressed Operations console. "Well," he said, "I liked my big-boy setup better, but if it's back to fishing village size then I guess I can function." . A pair of orderlies arrived from Sickbay with a large pot of fresh coffee, a tray of condiments, and a folding stand, but not many seemed as interested in coffee as before. They left it all on the folding stand off to one side and returned to Sickbay. . Relok took his seat in the one and only Command Chair on the Battle Bridge. "OK, this definitely isn't where I want to be working for several days, but it'll do until Bevin gets our main bridge repaired. Tabby, how are we on power?" . Tabby grunted, "Thirty-five percent. Far too low for my standards, sir." He rubbed his shoulder and mumbled, "Gotta admit, Kat may be beautiful, but she has one thick skull that shoulders aren't meant to become shoulders for." He was referring to when she passed out on the bridge and fell into his shoulder. . Relok said, "OK, we need to get power back up to normal. I know Bevin's got people working to reboot the warp core, maybe we'll jump up shortly." . Relok turned and noted Carshel under the desk. "Maybe you'd be more comfortable returning to the labs, Ensign? T'Lin has the main Science Station and I have the command seat. Unless ... why don't you see if you can refine the sensors?"

. Hawke reported, "Shields are pretty much ... well ...nothing. If we can spare them, I suggest dropping shields altogether to let them recharge. It's a risk since we can't see anything." . Suddenly, Carter let out a startled cry, "Gah!" Then he noticed it was just a handful of papers that had slid down from T'Lin and Carshel and gotten under his feet. "Keep your belongings to yourself!" . And then the Captain arrived on the Battle Bridge. He stood for a moment just outside the Turbolift and scanned the much smaller room. "Hmm ... I hope Bevin gives a call soon, I wouldn't want to be here for hours on end." . Relok stood from the Command Seat. "Welcome, Captain. Hawke said we have nothing for shields, almost nothing for sensors. I put Carshel on getting sensors. Tabby reports power at 35%." . Carter finally got the Helm controls reconfigured to his liking. "There, that's better!" . Zak had heard Hawke's suggestion to drop the shields just as the Turbolift doors slid open. He nodded at him, "Yeah, drop shields if you think it's safe and save that power drain." . Hawke responded, "I don't care to, but ... we can't see, and if we are at the levels they are and we get attacked it isn't going to mean much." He pressed a button on his console and said, "Dropping shields." . Zak stepped to the Command Seat and sat down, "Tabby, we need more power, see where you can steal it." . Tabby nodded, "I can pull from the Quarters, working on that now, sir." His fingers flew across his console as he tried to find them more power. . "Carter," the Captain turned to the Helmsman, "Point us towards the Kyrathian Homeworld and fart, at least we'll be moving." . Relok commented, "Captain, I'm not a nav computer, but ... if we're still light years from the Kyrathian Homeworld and have no warp drive ... it will take us years to get there." This statement only brought several moments of uncomfortable silence.

. Then, Hawke had a sudden idea. "Wait. Just because our sensors aren't working, that doesn't mean a probe's wouldn't. We get the information to the computer. That should ... give us some readings, sir." . Zak glanced over at Hawke. "Excellent idea, Mr. Hawke. Get us some eyes outside. Do it." . Hawke looked over at Relok who still stood beside the Command Chair. "Commander Relok? Care to do some metaphorical surgery on a probe?" . Relok raised an eyebrow, "Certainly, Mr. Hawke." . Carshel muttered, "If I had more power, I could see more on the sensors." But no-one acknowledged his statement. . Instead, Hawke said, "I can configure this like a normal probe, but I figured with your collaboration we can get it more sensitive, considering your science knowledge." . Just then, Tabby called out, "Whoa! Hello there, power!" The teams down in Engineering had rebooted the warp core and power generation went from nearly drained batteries to an operational warp core. Tabby added, "We got it to 60%, yippee!" . Carter's board lit up too. He reported, "And ... I've got warp power coming online. Impulse is back up to 60% as well!" He laid in the heading for the Kyrathian Homeworld. . Zak grinned, "Excellent news! Hawke, before we do the probe, see if you and Carshel can see now." . Carshel, still sitting cross-legged under the Science Station and accessing the computers with a tablet-sized PADD held in his hands, said, "Checking," as his fingers flew over the PADD. . Hawke's countenance fell, all but pouting, as he was looking forward to modifying a probe for external sensors. Maybe, he thought, they would even have come up with a new type of probe. He whispered to Relok, "We can do that later," and put his disappointment aside to check his sensors. "Okay, that's up now, Captain. Sufficient enough, anyway. Clear as day, nothing around."

. As they all finally got used to their Battle Bridge stations, they got the call from Bevin that the Bridge was secure and ready for them to return. Sickbay: . LtJG Katarina Hawke, the Head Nurse, had been on the Bridge when they entered the rift. But when she woke up, groaning and putting a hand to her forehead, she slowly realized she was lying on a biobed in Sickbay. She suppressed a sob as the last thing she remembered was her residual Borg interlink with her brother, Lt. Denovan Hawke, going silent. She feared the worst. . She sat up and turned to slide off the bed, ignoring that she needed to be checked out, and instead moving to check on the others lying on beds around Sickbay. ~After all~, she thought to herself, ~Shadow isn't here.~ . She stretched the kinks out of her back and moved to the next patient, trying not think about her last memory before waking up in Sickbay. ~Den's fine~, she thought, ~He'll let me know the minute he's back.~ . She moved from bed to bed. A couple of people had not yet regained consciousness after the rift passage, but they all seemed to be fine, just sleeping. There were two people, a man and a woman, who had concussions from hitting their heads when they fell, but Dr. McIntyre had already treated them. She tended a few scrapes and bruises that remained. She chewed worriedly on her lip as she worked. . Shadow arrived from the Cerberus and quietly slipped into Sickbay, guessing at the type and extent of the injuries. He moved around Sickbay as well, but somehow, he and Kat never crossed paths. Noticing the reduced power mode, he anticipated a need for coffee for those on the Bridge. Since Sickbay had a priority status and a dedicated power supply, he replicated a five-gallon urn of coffee and had one of the orderlies take it to the Battle Bridge. . Finally, a voice came through the interlink to Kat, ~I'm on the Battle Bridge, sister.~

. Kat gasped with relief and quickly replied, ~Den! Oh, thank the gods! I'm in Sickbay.~ . He replied, ~Alright, well I'm safe, for the moment.~ . Shadow heard Kat's gasp and could guess the reason. He paused in treating the other patients long enough to rub her shoulders to help ease the tension. Shadow's telepathy might have been limited due to having taken Merasha earlier, but his empathic healing touch was still as effective as ever. Kat smiled at him warmly as they resumed treating their patients. . A few minutes later, they received a strange call. It was Patterson calling from the Cerberus. His voice was strained, "Medical ... emergency .... Shuttleb-," and it was cut off with the sound of a thud as if he'd collapsed to the floor! Hangar Bay: . The Cerberus had been dragged through the rift as well and hadn't come out entirely unscathed either. The shuttlecraft-sized fighter had stronger shielding than the Penumbra, and Patterson had extended the shields to help protect the larger ship. By the time they emerged from the rift, the Cerberus' shields had completely collapsed, and the tiny ship had suffered some structural damage, some flaking of the ablative armor and some scuffs and scorch marks, but nothing major. AEGIS, the on-board AI had reported the Structural Integrity was holding at 60%. . But, the Cerberus was powered by a quantum singularity, a spinning black hole the size of a sub-atomic particle with a Schwarzschild Radius of about the size of a basketball. But, it had passed awfully close to another black hole the size of a shuttle before slipping into the subspace tear, and that proximity had thrown its magnetic balances off, causing the spinning singularity to wobble ever so slightly. . It was generating power at about 60% normal, but there were erratic spikes and dips in the power supply that were considerably dangerous.

. Onboard were Lt. Col. Travis Patterson, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, Lt. T'Lin, Lt. Denovan Hawke, and four Marine Pathfinders, MstGny. Derek Hines, Gny. Khal'Gon, SSgt. William Davies, and PFC Homer Kyle. . The Pathfinders had lost consciousness through the rift, but the others had resisted. Now, Shadow was monitoring the four Marines, trying to get them to wake up, while T'Lin performed scans of the surrounding area. . T'Lin complained, "These readings are completely opposite than before we came through the rift. Strange." . Patterson quickly flew into the Hangar Bay and settled the Cerberus to the floor. As soon as it was down, he opened the hatch and said, "AEGIS, I'm pulling you to an umbilical ... just in case we can't get the core stable." He pressed a few buttons and then ejected an isolinear chip, AEGIS' emergency backup, and stood, turning to the others. "Shadow, get everyone else to Sickbay." . Hawke resisted, "I'm good. I should get to the Bridge." T'Lin also waved off Sickbay and said she would head to the Bridge as well. . They all stepped out and Patterson called and waved, "Bosun! I need an umbilical cable hooked up to the Cerberus ASAP!" Quickly, a tech crew that worked the Hangar Bay scampered over and the Bosun attached an umbilical cable to the Cerberus' power supply. . T'Lin hurried off to a Turbolift and the Bridge while Shadow and a medical team brought the Marines to Sickbay. . Hawke had delayed, noticing Patterson and the crew hooking up the cable. He said, "Here, I'll help Patterson with that." He stepped back over to the Cerberus' hatch and asked, "Alright, what have we got, Colonel?" . A call came over the commlink from the Captain, "Colonel, you and your teams report to the Battle Bridge for debriefing. The main Bridge is off limits until Bevin clears it."

. Patterson answered, "I'll be there as soon as I stabilize the Cerberus. Damn singularity is out of alignment. If we can't get it fixed ... we'll have to jettison her." . The Captain replied, "Acknowledged. Get it stable and then meet up. T'Lin's already up here, gonna get the debrief from her." . Once the Captain's commlink had closed, Patterson turned to Hawke. "Get to the Battle Bridge and find out where we are, Hawke. That is an order." . Hawke's jaw firmed up. He answered, "That's not helping you with the core. With all due respect, you need more than one set of hands. Just how unstable are the quantum covalent variables?" . Patterson stared at Hawke, his own jaw stiffening. He said, "AEGIS is my other set of hands. Without the Cerberus, AEGIS is just a computer program." He turned and addressed the Bosun still standing by. "Clear this hangar," he ordered, "And then depressurize the room." He activated the visor on his helmet and magnetized his boots, then turned back to the Lieutenant. "Hawke ... go. I'm fine." . Hawke studied the stubborn Marine a moment and then reluctantly agreed. "Fine." He turned and bellowed in a commanding voice, "Everyone out, NOW! Out, out, out, go!" He shooed folks out of the Hangar Bay until he was the last to leave. As he stepped out into the corridor beyond and the door slid shut, he turned to the console and set it to decompress the Hangar Bay in five seconds. . Patterson activated AEGIS through the umbilical and began accessing the highly encrypted schematics for the Cerberus. In his sealed Combat Armor, beside the fighter, which was sitting on the floor of the depressurized Hangar Bay, Patterson mumbled under his breath as he coordinated with AEGIS in trying to stabilize the spinning singularity. "Never expected to be flying into a black hole in this thing. But, they said it was theoretically possible, and that the ship should survive it without any issues ... yeah, right."

. After a few minutes working, AEGIS reported, "Singularity stability at 82%. I am unable to further refine alignment without a direct uplink." . Patterson thought a moment and then said, "AEGIS, elaborate." . AEGIS answered, "You will need to manually align the diodes to the specs provided to your HUD." . But before he could do anything, a call came from the Captain, "How's the Cerberus, Travis?" The first-name address meant this was an informal query between friends. . Patterson answered, "Good news, bad news, Zak. Can't give details, but ... I'm gonna need to be precise and ... undistracted." . Zak replied, "Understood. Keep me posted." . Patterson gave a sigh, connecting AEGIS to the PADD in the arm of his Combat Armor. He climbed back up the hatch and entered the Cerberus again. "Alright," he said, "let's do it." He moved to the engine compartment in the rear, took a deep breath, and opened the emergency access door. . Immediately, his visor darkened against the swirling maelstrom of electromagnetic energies. With a finely tuned tool he began adjusting various screws, diodes, and mountings according to instructions fed to him on the HUD of his visor. . As he worked, he could feel the nanites in his bloodstream firing up. He knew he was exposing himself to immense levels of radiation and his nanites were working overtime to try to keep up with the damage it was causing. . He finished the adjustments, closed the access hatch, and with shaking hands removed AEGIS' emergency backup chip from his armPADD and reinserted him into the Cerberus' main system. He muttered, "The rest ... is up to ... you, now, AEGIS." . He fumbled with a commlink and called Sickbay, "Medical ... emergency .... Shuttleb-," but the call was cut off with the sound of a thud as he collapsed to the floor!