USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202009.25 At the Rift, on the Bridge: . The Penumbra was under the command of Acting Captain Travis Patterson and Acting First Officer Relok after Captain Zak Taylor had chosen to lead and Away Team down to the Kyrathian Homeworld (or at least this universe's version thereof). . They had all been pulled through some kind of spacial Rift, and may in fact be in what was known as the Mirror Universe. While Capt. Taylor and his Away Team tried to get some answers from the Kyrathians, Patterson and the Penumbra were desperately trying to find some way to stabilize the Rift since it might be their only way back to their own universe. . They'd already established a network of graviton emitters linked with high-intensity plasma beams as a sort of Tholian-Web-like patch to prevent the Rift from growing larger, now they just needed a way to help regulate the wild "spasms" the Rift underwent at irregular intervals. . Patterson finally brought himself to sit in the Command Chair and rubbed his chin in thought. "Well," he began, "we have it stabilized for now ... enough not to worry about it growing any further out of proportion. How do we secure it for our return trip? Relok?" . Relok still stood at the Master Systems Display at the rear wall of the Bridge where a large view of the Rift was displayed with various overlay metrics applied. He was studying the graviton net to assess the stability of the "patch". He answered, "Well, Mr. Patterson, I'm still not quite sure."

. To Relok's left, along the starboard wall of the Bridge, Ens. Jackson Carshel served as the sole Science Officer since his immediate "boss", Lt. T'Lin was on the Away Team and his Department Head was now serving as First Officer. He'd been mumbling to himself like some mad scientist for a while now, and the entire Science Department area was littered with hand-scrawled notes on loose scraps of paper or in notebooks (a practice he'd picked up from T'Lin's preference for the archaic methods). "Must think," he mumbled as he flitted from note to note, "Must find ideas. Need solutions. Come on, Jack, think!" . Patterson was growing frustrated as their progress stalled. Finally, he slammed a fist down on the arm of the chair. "Damn it, Relok! All our best minds ... and MAX," he included the Artificial Intelligence he'd earlier assigned to analyze the problem, "And we still haven't even come up with a theory?!" . Relok did not even flinch at the Marine's frustration. He did not turn his face from the MSD but answered calmly, "There are many variables to consider, Colonel, to rush them would invite errors." . Carshel mumbled, picking up one of his hastily scrawled notes. "Pull together? The Rift ... magnet? Compression? Glue ... together?" . Relok suddenly turned to Carshel. "Magnet? That might be it, Ensign! Electromagnetism!" . Carshel blinked, "Wait ... you heard me?" . Patterson blinked too, spinning the Command Chair around to face the MSD. "Isolated gravimetric charges?" . Relok turned to face the Colonel, "We have the graviton emitters already Colonel. But perhaps some sort of magnetic sources could smooth out the bumps, so to speak."

. Carshel mused, "Could we hook a magnet to a torpedo and send one to either side of the rift toward each other, as like, a slow repair? Sort of a magnetic shockwave on either side of the rift distributed by torpedoes? Is that possible, Relok? Or distributed via another launchable device?" Excited now, the Ensign didn't wait for answers and just pressed on with his idea, "Must be launchable cause we need force to back up the shockwave and something cone shaped to hone it the direction we need it to go." . Relok responded, "Carshel," he paused waiting for the excited young man to refocus before continuing, "We can generate some strong electromagnets with our replicators and distribute them with torpedo casings, perhaps. But every time we place one we'll have to watch how the field shifts. Let's get four in production." . Patterson nodded and turned to the Tactical Station where the stoic Lt. Standin filled in for LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke. "Standin, unload all forward torpedo bays and prepare to receive the new electromagnetic warheads. Dispersal Pattern Sierra-9." . Standin, as was his way, merely nodded and began following his orders. . Carshel muttered, "Thanks Uncle Patterson ... uh ... I mean ... boss?" . Then Relok returned his attention to Patterson and remarked, "Colonel, it is possible, even likely, that one or more of our electromagnetic warheads will be drawn into and through the Rift. I don't know what effect that may have." . "All right," he spun the Chair back around, "Tabby, get the Grabby Hands on standby. We may need to use it to maneuver any stray charges into place." . The half-Klingon, half-Romulan Chief of Operations had been unusually quiet. He grunted out, "Aye. I really hope this works because I do not like how I am feeling about our situation. It just feels ... off."

. "You and me both, Tabby," Patterson answered. He then glanced at Relok who was walking back down to the XO seat, "I need that telemetry, and gravitational maps. MAX, did we get any solid readings from our probes?" . With eyes off of him at the moment, Carshel couldn't help but smile shyly to himself for doing a "you done did good, kid". . Standin launched the first Magneto Warhead towards a pre-calculated coordinate on the fringe of the Rift. As the strong magnetic field begins to affect the Rift, the roiling mass of energy shifts around it. As Warhead 2 is launched to the other side, all hell broke loose as the Rift began to "see-saw" between the two magnets, picking up more speed and momentum with each shift! . Carshel saw the Rift's movements on his sensor feed and announced, "Mistakes have been made!" . Patterson watched on the main viewer. "It's a pendulum!" He shifted slightly to glance over his right shoulder, "Standin, load charges 3 and 4. Lock on dispersal pattern Gamma-5, and fire simultaneous on my command." . He shifted back to glance at Relok, "If we can get the rift spiraling ... that's our wormhole." Without waiting for a response he addressed the Helmsman, "Filler, back us off 100 km. Full reverse." . Relok stared at Patterson. "Wormhole, Colonel? You may be more intelligent than you look." . Patterson smirked at the Vulcan, rolling a finger in a clockwise motion. . Carshel said, "Hmm launch two more, one facing vertically downward and another facing vertically upward ... then another two which are horizontal, facing right to left and left to right. After that, use the same OLD method we used initially to seal all four magnets within to prevent catastrophy." The old method he referred to was the plasma beams anchoring the graviton emitters in place. . Patterson nodded then said, "Standin ... fire. Tabby, lock onto charges 1 and 2 and initiate Grabby Hands. Anchor them in place."

. But Relok interrupted. "Colonel ... not Grabby Hands ... the graviton net and the plasma web. They can anchor the Magnets without using the ship's power." He gestured at Carshel for the idea. . Carshel nodded. "We need them to be able to move. If we trapped the magnets and the rift in a gravitational bubble, the magnets will move in that circular pattern we desire, forcing them causes more friction and ultimately, failure." . Patterson glanced between Carshel and Relok. "We'll need to get those charges to orbit counter-clockwise. Can you come up with a telemetry that would do that, Relok? MAX?" . The AI's face materialized on one of the pedestals as he said, "Calculating." . Carshel stood from where he worked and cleared his throat before addressing Patterson. "You know, I am here. These are mostly my ideas, why not ask me questions instead of Relok this or T'Lin that? I am part of this damn crew ... sir." . Relok raised an eyebrow at the Ensign, who for many months had worked quietly in the science labs and avoided Bridge duty, and for several days duty on the Bridge had preferred to remain inconspicuous in the background, and now, finally asserting himself and his value to the team. But he said nothing, and waited for Patterson's response. . Patterson, still sitting in the Command Chair, stared at the Ensign before saying, "Forgive me for having the same skepticism of my kin. Wolves and Jackals use different tactics ... and often-times the Jackals steal from the Wolfpack's Hunt." . Carshel stared at "Uncle Patterson", the two had some kind of familial relationship that many on the crew were not privy to. Then Carshel sighed and said, "I ... understand. But, let me make this clear, sir. Jackals are thieves, Wolves are hunters. Would that make me ... a sly Fox?" He gave a slight smirk. . Patterson stared back at Carshel a moment longer, then gave his own smirk in response. "Keep it up and I'll mistake Foxes for Hyenas!"

. Carshel smiled, "If foxes are hyenas you might want to get your eyes checked, sir." . Relok had watched the interplay between Patterson and Carshel with the feeling there was deeper meaning hidden behind their words. After a moment he said, "Fortunately, Carshel had enough forethought to place the Magneto Warheads in torpedo casings with thruster packs. We can move them. The challenge is coordinating all four to be simultaneous." . They worked them together for several minutes and then Relok announced, "Colonel, look, we have a counter-clockwise spin developing!" . Patterson stared at the main viewer. Sure enough, the Rift had begun to spin. He said, "All right, if we can keep the alignment like this, and slow the spin down, we can stabilize it. Suggestions?" Away Team on the Kyrathian Homeworld: . Captain Zak Taylor, Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, Lt. Cmdr. Denovan Hawke, Lt. T'Lin, Lt. Katarina Hawke had taken the warp-capable Runabout, Australis, down to the Kyrathian Homeworld, escorted by MstGny. Derek Hines and CfWrnt Antonio Sandoval in Delta One. . They had already landed the Australis and Delta One on one of the huge branches of the Wild Growth (after testing its stability with a focused but low-power phaser and founding it solid). While there was some initial fear and hostility (several Kyrathians thew spears at the craft), and some unexpected shenanigans inside that resulted in playing some rather heavy-metal music for the natives, they eventually displayed Kyrathian Glyphs across the outside of the main viewer that read "We are not here to harm you, we apologize for destroying your home, we did not realize there were civilians here." . It was time to open the hatch and make First Contact.

. Carter was standing at the hatch, his eyes closed and his right hand at his temple. His psionic powers, long suppressed and now awakening, had been causing him headaches but must now be put to use with the telepathic Kyrathians. But there were so many minds feeling confusion and fear that he was having a hard time focusing. . Zak glanced around at his Away Team. "Carter, can you make contact? Den, stand guard, but don't shoot anything. T'Lin, Kat ... we set? OK, let's open her up." . T'Lin, not a telepath, but a strong empath, sat inside the Australis, sensing their emotions and not feeling comfortable with what she felt. "They are more afraid," she said. . Kat remained in her seat, just watching everyone for the moment. Then she said, "Nothing about this feels right. Where are their ships?" . Den muttered, "Since I'm the one that blew up the tree ... maybe I should be the one to make contact and apologize." He didn't exactly "blow up" the tree, but he had drilled into it a meter or so to test the stability of the branch. . Over the open commlink maintained with Delta One came the voice of MstGny Hines, "Commander ... how do we communicate an apology ... when we lack the ability to communicate at all?" . T'Lin was using her PADD with the Kyrathian Glyph translation algorithm and using it to display the Glyphs on the Australis' forward viewscreen. She typed, [We come in peace, do not be afraid.] When she finished typing she unstrapped from her seat as stood up, gesturing at Den as she moved for the hatch. "No, no," she said, "It will be me. I am well versed with spears, and I can feel how they react." . Carter turned his head slightly to where T'Lin had moved up. He was obviously straining with the psychic overload but said, "Sit ... down."

. T'Lin bristled, "Oh, shall I sit and let the overwhelmed Carter make contact? No. You are barely hanging on by a thread. Sit here and calm yourself, or you will put us all in danger." Then she did something a bit uncharacteristic for her. Gently she put her hands on his shoulders, and whispered softly in his ear, "You must gain control of your senses, Carter. Focus on what is around you." . Zak pressed the button to open the hatch. A rustle passed through the Kyrathians that had begun to gather around the shuttle. One with some kind of decorative cloth over his shoulders made his way from behind a few Soldiers towards the front. It was of the Noble Class. . As the doors opened, Carter took a slow breath and murmured back to T'Lin, "We are already in danger, T'Lin ... I'm always at my prime when my life is on the line." Then he exercised his psionic abilities and projected his thoughts to her, ~You and I both can feel the sheer anguish and curiosity coming from them. If their intentions are to harm us ... they have already decided their deaths are meaningless. I have to at least try.~ . Zak noticed how they were arranging themselves. Carter stood at the open door with T'Lin immediately beside him. Kat had moved up but was still near the rear of their group. Zak, himself, was at the other side of the door, and Den was hanging back inside the shuttle. Zak's eyes flicked between T'Lin and Den, and he said, "Den's our Chief of Security and Tactics, T'Lin, and your superior officer. Den, secure the ramp. Carter, can you make contact or not?" . T'Lin turned to Zak, "Who else can feel their fear? Who else can realize that they are not intent on harming us? Let us do it this way. Carter, me, you, den. We do not come here to harm, only to learn."

. But when the Captain shook his head, she stepped back to let Den go first to secure the ramp. Den hadn't felt that T'Lin had needed a "reprimand" from the Captain about duties and ranks, but he stepped forward and scanned the area. He didn't need to be empathic to see that the gathered Kyrathians seemed more confused, in awe, and nervously frightened than hostile or threatening. He gave a signal that all was clear, then moved around a bit to check everywhere else. . At nearly the same time, Hines stepped out of Delta One, leaving Sandoval inside. The big Marine also scanned the area, saw Den's signal that the area was clear, and moved to hold a guard position near Delta One across from Den. . T'Lin followed Den down the ramp, her spear extended but used like a walking staff rather than brandished as a weapon. She took up a position near the foot of the ramp opposite Den. . Carter stepped slowly down the ramp behind them trying to focus his thoughts on the Noble that had stepped through the crowd. Though no-one else on the Away Team could hear the telepathic projection, he sent to the Noble, ~I can feel your unease. Be calm. I cannot hear all of you at once. Tell the others to still their minds.~ . The Noble seemed to tense. Both Carter and T'Lin felt the sudden shift in emotions as the Noble felt surprise, confusion, and curiosity. His thoughts came easily into Carter's mind, though none of the others heard them, ~You are not of the People, yet ... you have the Mindspeak! How is this possible?~ . Carter's face lit up in a smirk and he tried to control his excitement at the successful communication. Quickly he grinned at Zak, "I've made contact!" He sent back to the Noble, ~We are not of this world ... quite possibly not even of this universe. If I had all the answers ... we would never have been here.~

. Zak let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, then said, "Great! So ... you're my interpreter Carter. So ... introduce us, and then ask him his name." Zak stepped up beside Carter, tapped his chest and spoke out loud, "I am Captain Zak Taylor of the Federation." . Kat stood back at the top of the ramp on the shuttle, ready in case of emergency to pull everyone in and close the ramp. She watched everyone carefully. . Carter sent the telepathic introductions. ~My name is Jason Carter. I come from the United Federation of Planets. The person behind me is our leader, Captain Taylor. The empath to my right is T'Lin. To my left is Hawke. Behind us all is Katarina, and the giant armored hulk behind Hawke is Hines... what is your name? What are you called?~ . No-one could hear Carter's telepathy, but while they waited for him to tell them what transpired, T'Lin used her empathic abilities to try to project a sense of calmness, touching a hand to her heart and then extending it outward. . Kat descended the ramp and moved to stand near Hines, figuring the Marine was big enough that she'd be safe near him. She poked the big man and smiled. "They seem friendly to me." . The multifaceted eyes of the Kyrathian Noble who appeared to be their leader flicked. He responded with telepathy that only Carter could hear, ~Carter, Taylor, T'Lin, Hawke, Katarina, Hines,~ he acknowledged each in turn. . As the eyes flicked towards Den, he gave a little shrug and mumbled, "Hi." . Then the Noble sent, ~I am Bztoktunk, Noble of this village. But ... how do you know the Holy Glyphs? You are not People!~

. Carter turned to Zak and gestured, "The one who speaks to me is Bztoktunk. He is the Noble of this village ... and is confused how we know their ... 'Holy Glyphs.'" . T'Lin stepped forward a step and placed a small cube half-way between the two groups. She pressed a button on it and activated a miniature holographic projector that displayed Kyrathian Glyphs in the air above it. She accessed her PADD for the translation algorithm and typed out, [I learned from others, just like you, in a place much different than here.] . Carter turned back to Bztoktunk and sent another telepathic message. As he did, he said the words out loud so others could follow, ~We are not your enemy. We are... stuck far from where we belong, and we seek to find out where we are, and why things are so different from what we've seen before.~ . Bztoktunk answered, ~But for ... not-People ... you control the Holy Glyphs that the elders created. How can this be? Where did you get this knowledge? Are you also nourished by the Wise Growth? Did you acquire it from her sap?~ . Carter began repeating the telepathic messages as he received them so that everyone would know what the Noble said. But after this one, he turned to Zak and silently mouthed, "Holy Glyphs? Wise Growth?" . But it was T'Lin who answered Bztoktunk's question. Typing on her PADD she projected the Glyphs that read, [We learned from friends, calm friends with great wisdom. The rest we learned alone. Can you tell us about this place?] . Zak nodded and then said, "Carter, we've made introductions, now we need a more ... comfortable place for detailed chat, not on the ramp of our shuttle with a dozen Soldiers staring at us holding spears." . But Carter responded, "We don't have a lot of time for luxuries, sir." . Then Den said, "I think I get what they are going on about Captain." . Zak turned to his Chief Tactical Officer, "What's your impression, Den?"

. Den answered, "The Holy Glyphs have to do with the symbols. Something to do with the shuttle. Maybe just that the symbols are on it. The Wise Growth is the life force of the planet, or ... whatever you want to call a life force. How we get nourishment, we grow, sustain ourselves." . Then Zak turned to T'Lin and said, "Mirror Universe? The Wild Growth didn't go insane here? It's been nurturing the Kyrathians for hundreds of years! Still, these ruins show evidence of advanced technology that has degraded, so ...," he trailed off. . T'Lin turned to their telepathic Helmsman, "Carter, can you ask them what happened here?" . Carter nodded and said, while sending telepathically, ~There is evidence of far superior technology here. What happened?~ . Bztoktunk clicked in his shell and answered telepathically, with Carter repeating his words for everyone, ~The Evil Vine happened! The elders flew their machines all around the Wise Growth until it fell from the Void! It stole their heart! They could not maintain their strength!~ . T'Lin scrawled some notes on her PADD, theories about what might have happened, while also transcribing what Carter was repeating of the Noble's answers in order to broaden their database of Kyrathian Glyphs by adding context. . Then Den had a sudden thought and quickly darted back into the Australis. A moment later he emerged with a hand-held Universal Translator. Quickly he activated the device and spoke into it, "How about now?"