USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202009.18 Bridge: . The Penumbra had been pulled through some kind of spacial Rift. Their "working hypothesis" was that they had slipped into the Mirror Universe. After the Rift passage, Captain Taylor chose to push on to the Kyrathian Homeworld rather than stay at the Rift in order to continue with their Primary Mission. At the time, they did not suspect they had slipped into the Mirror Universe. . However, since then, they had begun noticing the differences and realized their only chance of getting back to their own universe might be the Rift, but they were already at the Kyrathian Homeworld, and couldn't lose the opportunity to gather information. So, the Captain chose to send an Away Team to investigate the planet while the Penumbra returned to investigate the Rift. . Normally, the XO would take on such an Away Mission, but after exposing himself to the high radiation levels of the Cerberus' quantum singularity in order to realign it after the Rift passage, Lt. Col. Travis Patterson had not yet been released to full duty. So, the Captain chose to lead the Away Team against the reminder from his Chief of Security that such was against normal protocols. . But placing himself in a potentially hostile mission required removing his command access, so Captain Taylor officially transferred command of the Penumbra to Patterson, giving them a four-hour window before rendezvous. . And four hours might just barely work. Lt. T'Lin had already determined that their time may be short. The Rift was unstable, and in her words, "That hole, our door, will close. And when it does, we will be stuck here forever." . With no ships or even any sign of advanced technology showing up even on long-range scans, they may be all alone out here. . Acting Captain Patterson stood in front of the Command Chair, staring at the forward viewer. "How long until we reach the Rift?" he asked.

. Beside him sat Lt. Cmdr. Relok, the Acting First Officer, in the XO seat. . Ens. Filler was at the Helm since Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter was flying the Australis on the Away Mission. He checked the navigation readouts and said, "Man ... Carter has this thing all reworked!" A second or two later he reported, "Um ... two minutes, sir." . Relok turned his head and said, "Carshel, can we get an overlay of the gravimetric distortions on the forward viewer?" . There was no immediate answer from the Science Department Ensign. Patterson glanced over his shoulder to see if Carshel had fallen asleep at his station. . Then Relok addressed Patterson, "Col- er, Captain, er, Patterson, we don't know exactly what caused this Rift. There were many variables in play at the moment it formed." . Patterson faced Relok a moment, then turned his head back to Carshel and barked, "Ensign Carshel! No sleeping on my Bridge!" . Carshel raised his head from what he'd been doing. He wasn't asleep, just absorbed in the scans of the Rift. He muttered, "Yeah, I gotcha. Sorry, I am working on studying that Rift, almost all my attention is on it." . Patterson released a gentle sigh then said, "Once we've got the Rift on our close-range sensors, let's go to All Stop and see what we can find out." He turned to the Tactical Officer, "Standin, see if we can get a few probes ready. Hopefully they give us enough sensor data to see something we missed." The stoic Tactical Officer simply nodded his understanding. . Then the gravimetric overlay appeared on the main viewer as Carshel flipped a few switches. Relok nearly gasped, "Wow, that thing is affecting space for a quarter light-year!"

. Carshel smiled dreamily, "Yes ... it is isn't it ... absolutely magnificent." Then, as if urging it himself, he muttered, "C'mon ... stabilize Rift!" . Patterson stared at Relok a moment before saying, "If that thing has that much of a gravitational pull ... we're gonna need to be able to find a way to counter it." . But Relok responded, "Patterson, we probably don't want to counter it until we get through it. What we need to do is stabilize it. So ... how do we do that?" He turned to the Science Officer, "So, Carshel, let's think this through. There was a small black hole, the singularity in the Cerberus, a couple of graviton grenades, and ... an antimatter torpedo. Oh! and one photon torpedo. Not to mention two Colony Ships blowing up. How do we reproduce all that, if we had to?" . Carshel just answered, "Yup ... not gonna be easy." Then he suggested, "Hmm ... a warp core? We might need to blast it again. Let me run a simulation of my idea." He started mumbling to himself, "Hmm, let's see now, if I put that there, and fire that at this when it's in that position, the force of the blast would reach ... should be just outside the nose of the ship ... at most." . But Relok interrupted, "Blast it? We don't ... wait. Maybe you're onto something, Ensign. A few graviton emitters spread around might just help counter the ... spasms ... of the Rift. . Carshel explained, "Blast it ... with a rocket at a warp core. Would that work? What I'm thinking is dump a warp core, wait till it's halfway in the Rift, then fire a rocket and watch what happens." . Relok shook his head. "No, we don't want to collapse it yet, Ensign, or cause it to balloon out and swallow us. We need to get it to settle down and stay just big enough for us to fly back through." . Carshel tilted his head slightly, "Hmm ... plasma beam it? A plasma torpedo!" Carshel paused and looked over at his superior, "Is that possible, Relok? Uh ... sir?"

. Patterson crossed his arms over his chest as his people worked the problem. After a moment he asked, "What's the molecular distortion variance?" But before anyone could answer he interrupted himself, "Time is of the essence ... I need something solid. Filler, can you get us any closer without any harm?" . Filler nudged the ship a little closer to the Rift as Relok continued his discussion with Carshel. "Carshel, a plasma beam connecting the graviton emitters might help create a net of sorts. That should prevent it from spreading, at least. Good idea!" . Patterson raised an eyebrow. "Relok ... what about ... a Tholian web?" . Relok nodded, "That's sort of what I was thinking. A few graviton emitters connected with high-intensity plasma beams could patch space around it to help reinforce it so it doesn't tear wider. That should buy us time for more study." . Carshel grinned, "A plasma-infused Tholian web distributed by a torpedo rocket." . Suddenly the Rift underwent a "growth spurt", sending shockwaves that rocked the Penumbra violently. . "Red Alert!" Patterson barked out, then added, "Relok, Carshel ... do it! Filler, maintain our current position ... by any means necessary." . Carshel nodded, his grin gone in the flashing lights of the Red Alert. "Aye, sir. Relok, let's get cracking." . Relok jumped up and rushed to the Tactical station. "Standin," he addressed the Lieutenant filling in for Lt. Cmdr. Denovan Hawke, "load forward torpedo bays with graviton emitters. Quickly, Lieutenant!" . At the Operations console, Lt. Cmdr. Tabeshk Tibris had been mostly quiet until he'd heard they'd come up with a plan, of sorts. He opened a commlink and tried to call the Away Team to give them an update, only he didn't get a response right away. . Finally, the Captain's voice came through the speakers, "What is it, Tabby? Little busy here!"

. Tabby told the Captain, "We have an idea to help the Rift stabilize: a gravitational web. If it works, get back to the ship. Got it?" . There was only a brief delay before the Captain responded, "We just did a fly-by, we have to talk to these people. It's been only an hour out of the four! Give us some time, here!" . But Tabby was persistent, and not one to put much emphasis on rank. He responded, "Your time limit is until the Rift stabilizes, if this idea works! When and if it stabilizes, we need to leave as soon as we can because we might not have another chance to do so." . There was a slightly longer delay this time before the Captain's response. "Get it stable and it'll hold. We have to talk to these people and find out what's going on. Hold it together, Commander." . Tabby groaned then said, "I'm doing the best I can! Tabby out." . About that time, Standin had the emitters loaded and launched several that spread out into a wide net ... but, it wasn't nearly big enough. . Relok called, "Carshel! Prep another round of emitters! We need three or four times as many if this is going to work!" . Carshel barked back, "On it, sir! Another round coming up!" . Patterson moved to an Intelligence station near the rear of the Bridge and said, "MAX, wake up." . The Artificial Intelligence brought from the Reconnaissance Dome of the USS Darmok materialized a stylized face on a nearby pedestal and said, "And I was just starting to dream ... or was it a nightmare? Organic matter and squishy flesh ... disgusting!" . Relok gave an involuntary shudder at the idea of MAX's dream, but Patterson merely said, "Funny, MAX ... but not the time for humor. I need nanosecond mapping of the Rift. Anything you can give us." Then he turned to face the Operations console, "Send out a probe, Tabby. Now." . Tabby smirked at Relok's response but responded simply, "Firing now."

. Carshel added, "Another round coming up," as he completed another set of graviton emitters for their net. . The graviton net was starting to work, preventing the Rift from growing any larger, but it still writhed and seethed like a boiling cauldron. . Patterson ordered, "Relok, Carshel, get with MAX and start analyzing any data we get from that probe. Top priority is keeping it open, and stable. Move!" Away Team: . Captain Zak Taylor, Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, Lt. Cmdr. Denovan Hawke, Lt. T'Lin, and Lt. Katarina Hawke were aboard the Runabout Australis headed down to the Kyrathian Homeworld, or at least this universe's version of it. . Zak was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, straining to see out the forward viewport. "Damn!" he cursed, "that's bright sunlight!" . Carter squinted through the glare and responded, "Yeah, but ... you're not the one flying, are ya?" . T'Lin commented, "It is, but, we are in space with no atmosphere to block the rays." . Den agreed, "It is a little bright." He would have rather been in the co-pilot's seat so he'd have control of the tactical systems but, the tertiary seat was fine. . Kat sat quietly in the rear and watched the others. . Zak went on, "I'd darken the forward viewport, but I don't want to make it harder to see once we get down through the canopy." . Zak cursed again, gesturing at the dense canopy below them, "Damn, where were those ruins? How are we supposed to see through that crap?" . Den said, "I can try scanning from this console, Captain." . Carter rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, just hold onto your butts." He angled the tiny ship downward and dived into the atmosphere. . Kat smirked at the way Carter flew the shuttle and just sat back waiting for them to complete the re-entry. . Zak gripped the arms of his chair. "I hate this part. Atmospheric re-entry is the worst part of flying. Let me know if you need help, Carter!" He nodded at Hawke and mumbled, "Yeah, yeah."

. Carter was silently counting to himself to time the descent, then he said, "Once we get to the trees ... this thing is gonna be a bit fat." . Zak glanced out the window and pointed with his chin, "There's Sandoval." He'd indicated the Delta Flyer that accompanied their mission, Delta One, on which CfWrnt Antonio Sandoval was the pilot and MstGny Derek Hines was the gunner. . Kat mused to herself, "You know, I think this is my first Away Mission with you guys since you found me!" She grinned excitedly. . "Welcome to the family," Zak grunted, then said, "Got any motion-sickness pills?" Then he flinched, "Oh, God, watch that tree!" . The turbulence wasn't bothering Den as he went ahead with the scan. Kat reached into her medkit and loaded a hypospray with a motion-sickness remedy. She moved up beside Zak and said, "Captain, this might help." . Carter chuckled and kicked in the manual controls. A little pull on the stick and the runabout deftly avoided the tree and rolled into the canopy. "Let's see if Sandoval can still keep up, now that we're in the canopy." As they slipped beneath the canopy the tiny ship was suddenly engulfed in shade. . T'Lin sat forward and spoke behind Zak's head, "Close your eyes, Captain." Then she handed him a paper bag and said, "Puke in this if you need to." . Zak grumbled, "Why couldn't we just use transporters? Is every Away Mission like this?" . T'Lin answered simply, "Yes, it is, Captain." . Den added, "It was your idea, Captain." . Kat just smirked. She didn't mind the rocking shuttle and she moved easily to press the hypo to the Captain's neck. "Like I said, this should help." She returned to her seat. . Zak muttered, "Thanks, Kat. Sheesh, I think next time I will just send Patterson!" . Kat smiled and shook her head, "I'm sure he'd have enjoyed the trip." . Then Zak pointed, "Hey, is that the ruin?"

. Carter began applying reverse thrust, then mumbled, "I keep forgetting these things don't like to hover for too long." . Den looked out the viewport at where the Captain pointed, "It looks like it, sir. Confirming ...," he checked his console then answered, "Yes, it is." . Zak pointed again. "Carter, that branch is huge, we could land over there and hike into the edge of the ruins." He'd indicated a wide, flat place on the branch. Then he turned and said, "Kat, let's be sure the atmosphere is breathable ... and there's none of the damn Spores that will dissolve our flesh as soon as we open the hatch!" . Kat nodded and started the scan. . Carter looked where Zak pointed. "Possibly. Not sure how hollow it is on the inside though. No telling if it's solid or not." . A call came from Sandoval on Delta One. Because they were on the Away Mission together, their comms were autolinked so they could hear everything going on between both of the tiny ships. He said, "Delta One to Australis. I don't think we're gonna find a better spot to land for several hundred kilometers." . Den said, "I know of a way to find out, Commander." . Carter smirked, "Knowing you, you'd want to drill into it with the phasers, Den." . Hearing Carter's comment, Zak said, "Hmm ... good point, Carter. Den, can we get any scans now that we're close?" . Den didn't bother with the scan, and Carter was exactly right. He accessed the phasers and set them to only 12% power, and fired them at the top of the branch - not exactly where they wanted to land, but nearby. . The phasers bore a hole a few meters deep into the wood. They found it was solid and the smoke from the hole was dense and thick. . Den remarked, "Seems good to me. At least I didn't kill Groot."

. T'Lin rolled her eyes. "Well, that is one way to do it." . Kat giggled at her brother's remark but then her eyes flew wide. It seemed the phasers had an unexpected result. Suddenly a dozen insectoids, apparently Kyrathians, came running out of a few of the old structures. Kat said, "Den, you woke them up!" Then she added, "Um, scans read the atmosphere as breathable." . Den facepalmed. "Oh ... crap." . T'Lin rolled her eyes again. "Uhh ... good job!" . Carter didn't facepalm, instead he faceplanted into the console for a moment. "Way to go, Hawke." . Den tried to recover. "Well, just ... bring us back up a bit at a good angle and I can ... pick them off and seal where they are coming from!" . Suddenly, three of the Kyrathians threw long wooden spears at the runabout! Of course, they bounced off harmlessly. . Carter kicked on the reverse thrust again and climbed back up. "So much for landing here. Now they know we're here, and consider us a threat." . T'Lin gaped. "Spears?" . Zak glanced at T'Lin and repeated the same surprise. "Spears? Since when do Kyrathians throw ... wooden spears?" . Kat blinked, cocking her head to the right slightly as she watched the spears bounce off the hull. "OK, that was unexpected ... and rather anti-climactic." She pouted slightly. . Sandoval's voice came over the speakers from Delta One, "Did they just ... throw ... spears?" . Then the commlink flashed with an incoming hail from the Penumbra, but no-one noticed it as Zak struggled for a solution. "Carter, T'Lin, you two are the strongest telepaths on this little ship. Can you talk to the ... natives?" . T'Lin considered a moment, "I do not know. Things are ... strange here. And, I am not a telepath. But," she finally said, "I can try to talk to them ... hold on."

. Carter blinked a moment and then said, "I can't fly the shuttle and focus enough to do it." . Then Den offered, "Well, actually, instead of me just blasting stuff, what if we use the external speakers as intimidation. Maybe they will figure you, Captain, as some sort of god. Calm them down." . Zak turned to the Tactical Officer, "You know that violates the Prime Directive, right?" While he chastised Den, the commlink light flashed yet again, indicating the Penumbra trying to make contact. . But Den responded, "Doesn't trying to talk to them telepathically?" Then he added, "Also we've already violated it. They've seen us." . Zak grunted, "I don't want to get speared by wild Kyrathians, but ... we do need to get information, and talking to the natives is our best bet, right? Hardin spoke with the natives of this world a decade or two ago. If that Hard Ass can do it, surely I can, right?" . Den shrugged, "That's why I said the external speakers, sir. Not going outside the shuttle." . Again the commlink flashed. This time Zak saw it and opened the link, "What is it, Tabby? Little busy here!" . The voice of Lt. Cmdr. Tabeshk Tibris came over the link, "We have an idea to help the Rift stabilize: a gravitational web. If it works, get back to the ship. Got it?" . While Tabby explained, Zak turned to T'Lin, "Can you do something with your algorithm to display glyphs on the forward viewer? Maybe they use the same written glyphs." . She nodded, "I can certainly try it. Let me up there." . They swapped places and Zak reconnected the commlink to the Penumbra, "We just did a fly-by, we have to talk to these people. It's been only an hour out of the four! Give us some time, here!" . But Tabby was persistent, and not one to put much emphasis on rank. He responded, "Your time limit is until the Rift stabilizes, if this idea works! When and if it stabilizes, we need to leave as soon as we can because we might not have another chance to do so."

. Zak took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before responding to the half-Klingon. Finally he said, "Get it stable and it'll hold. We have to talk to these people and find out what's going on. Hold it together, Commander." . Tabby answered, "I'm doing the best I can! Tabby out." . Carter rolled his eyes, tired of trying to hover a ship that didn't like to hover. "Hell with it," he grunted and lowered the struts for landing as he descended. . T'Lin pulled up the forward viewer's coding and started fiddling with it, accessing the Kyrathian database and her translation algorithm. Zak leaned forward and suggested, "OK, so, how about 'We come in peace'?" . Den said, "I have an idea that will get their attention. Maybe then they will want to talk." He accessed the external speakers, like he'd suggested earlier, twice, and suddenly music began blaring. It was AC/DC, 'Shoot to Thrill' from the mid-20th century. . Kat giggled at the music as Zak turned and said, "Uh ... you think that'll help?" . Carter stared at Den a moment and then overrode the PA system, and locked out the tertiary console while he was at it. "That's enough from the back seat, Mr. Hawke." . Kat's giggles threatened to go full laughter and she quickly covered her mouth to help suppress it. . Den rebuffed, "No one was wanting to listen to me ... twice ... about using the external to talk without having to go outside." . T'Lin just calmly pointed out, "They do not use verbal communication, Den." . Den turned to T'Lin, "I'm sure they do, T'Lin, bound to ...," but he was interrupted by Carter.

. Carter said, "Everything we know about Kyrathians indicates they use telepathic communication and visual glyphs. The only person who spoke otherwise was the Ivorez." He stopped as he began powering down the thrusters. "Captain, take over Helm." He stood and moved to the door and reached out with his mind. Carter was a telepath, though probably not a powerful one, moreso than T'Lin who was a strong empath but not a telepath. . Den grumbled, "But ... all right then." . About that time a small crowd of Kyrathian soldiers began gathering around the Landing Zone, but ... they were holding their spears, not throwing them, as the craft settled down on its landing struts. . "Here," T'Lin said, as she completed entering her comments and transferred them to the algorithm to display glyphs on the forward viewscreen. She read off what she was having displayed, "We are not here to harm you, we apologize for destroying your home, we did not realize there were civilians here." . Zak glanced around and then said, "OK, so ... we're going to make First Contact with these Kyrathians." He glanced at Den, "Den, don't kill anybody you don't have to, OK?" . Den smirked and replied, "I won't even have a weapon drawn, Captain."