USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202212.02
The Penumbra was deep into the space claimed by the Holy Order of the Kinshaya, on a covert reconnaissance mission. Their sudden appearance from a slipstream corridor and attempts to hide in the tail of a comet had not gone as smoothly as intended and a fragment of the comet that had broken off was threatening to destroy the ship!
So, they split the fragment using a variety of techniques, but one of the pieces then started on a trajectory toward a nearby Kinshayan-inhabited planet, and Cdre. Zak Taylor did not wish to cause planetary destruction, so, they captured it with tractor beams, hauled it into the Hangar Bay, and quickly jumped through slipstream again to flee the area, only for their systems to overload and leave them drifting through space with no power.
Meanwhile, Cmdr. Relok and LtCmdr. T'Lin were in the Wellness Center (the new name for Sickbay) suffering from some strange ailment of the mind. Drs. Adonudo T'lanuwa and Katarina Hawke were trying to figure out what was wrong with them.
But, on the Bridge, the Commodore sat in the Command Seat in the near darkness of the Bridge, lit only by the emergency lighting. He muttered, "Uh ... Tabby?"
The Chief of Operations, LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris grunted back his response, "Yes, I'm on it."
At the Tactical Station, LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke reported, "I'm not detecting us being followed ... that going to say ... if I could see much at all."
Zak glanced over to his currently empty Science section of the Bridge. His Chief and Assistant Chief of Sciences were both in Sickbay, or Wellness Center as their new Chief Medical Officer referred to the place, and his other Science Officer was in the Hangar Bay studying the comet fragment. Zak turned back to his Executive Officer, Col. Travis Patterson and said, "Colonel, Carter, get Delta Flight and the Cerberus outside to get us some eyeballs out there."
The two men quickly headed for the Turbolift, but when the doors refused to slide open they remembered the ship had no power. Reluctantly, they turned to the Jeffries Tube access and began the long climb down to the Hangar Bay.
Zak tapped his commbadge, "Bridge to Engineering. Evie, what happened to our power?"
The voice of a clearly irritated Lt. Evie Owens, their new Chief Engineer, responded, "I cut off the warp core before we exploded, that's what happened!" She paused, calming slightly and then continued, "It'll take about an hour for me to get it cooled down enough for us to continue."
Tabby suggested, "I can go down to help."
Zak nodded at him, "Not much you can do from here until the power supply is restored. See what you can do."
"Understood," Tabby said, going to the Jeffries Tubes access himself. He had a long climb too.
Den said, "I have an idea."
Zak turned to him, "Let's hear it, Den."
"Well," the former Borg Tactical Officer began, "we know that my sister and I have our link, and apparently whatever happened, she now has innate psionic, or telepathy, whatever. What if I can be tapped in and she can use it to explore outside of the ship while not being outside. Or she can tap into me and I can connect to the ship to do it that way, or both."
Zak studied Den a moment then said, "That ... might work, I guess. I don't know much about psionics, I admit. Don't I remember her saying something about how that Shadow Demon episode caused that? You think it's safe?"
"I've no idea," Den shrugged. "I can't remember who was supposed to be helping her learn that either. Maybe it's best we call both of them and ask?"
Zak grunted. "I think Relok and T'Lin were trying to help her, but ... damn it, they're sick with something now! Carter's got some talent, but he has no training either, and he just left to go fly a Delta!" He paused, then decided, "If you and she can get something going, see what you can do. I'll sit up here by myself in the dark." He smirked and added, "Hey, I can always mess around with Tabby's Ops station while the power's out!" With a grin he stood and moved down to Ops.
Den tapped his commbadge, "Kat, where are you?"
His sister, LtCmdr. Dr. Katarina Hawke, responded, "I'm in the Wellness Center."
Den continued, "Who was it helping you with your new found abilities you told me about? We need you and them on the Bridge. You're gonna have to walk or get power from the Wellness Center's separate power-grid for transporters."
Kat answered, "Um ... it was either T'Lin or Relok who was supposed to help me I believe. T'Lin isn't exactly available since Mama's in control it seems."
Den grunted, "Well tell her to give T'Lin back! It's kind of necessary right now that we try this."
Kat continued, "We have power in the Wellness Center." There was a pause and then she asked someone with her in the Wellness Center, probably the Chief Medical Officer, Cmdr. Dr. Adonudo T'lanuwa, "Can we do a site-to-site transport from here?"
Den could barely hear Adon's voice answering, "It should work well enough for one person within the ship ... I think. It won't harm you. It'll either work or it won't."
Kat nodded and continued speaking to Den over the commlink, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure T'Lin or Mama is in any position to help us."
Zak had been listening in to Den's and Kat's comm. He said, "I don't think you're going to get a coach, Den. You and Kat just see what you can do. Can't make things worse, can it?"
Den scowled. "I don't think I am either. So, you're right sir. We'll just have to try it." He tapped his commbadge again, "Kat, well, I'm fixing to try something then."
Kat responded, "As soon as I have the Doctor's OK to leave I'll be right there."
Den grunted at the Commodore's back, "Evidently, I have to wait on the Doctor's okay."
Zak rolled his eyes, though no-one could see. "Great time for rank protocol, huh?"
Kat called again, "Den, on my way to you." And before anyone could respond, they heard the sound of her shimmering into existence from having used the emergency power in the Wellness Center for a site-to-site transport.
Zak tapped his commbadge and called, "So, Evie, what's the status on restoring power?" He knew she'd said an hour, but was hoping for better.
Evie responded, still her usual cranky self, "Captain, I said an hour about 20 minutes ago, so maybe 40 minutes would be a great start!" She was clearly stressed about the idea of sitting in enemy space with no power. She shouted, "Goddammit! Jackal, hand me that toolbox. Mike, get outta the way!"
Zak groaned, "I thought Engineers were supposed to be miracle workers! They're supposed to always at least double the estimated time, right?" Of course, he knew the truth there, he'd started his Starfleet career in Engineering, before transferring to Operations and then to Command.
Den addressed his sister, "Okay, so our idea ... or my idea ... is we use your new stuff, linked with some Borg stuff and our minds to be able to see around, even outside the ship. Also, if necessary, link with the ship to do it also."
Kat bit her lower lip. "Isn't that dangerous? Plus, the ship doesn't like Borgs." She reminded them about the time Den tried to use his Borg tubules to access the Tactical systems, hoping to speed up his interface with them. The ship had responded with a backlash of power that sent him flying and left him unconscious for some time.
About that time a report came in from Carter, who, with Patterson, had finally reached the Hangar Bay through the Jefferies Tubes. It wasn't good. They couldn't launch the Cerberus or most of Delta Flight because there was a huge comet fragment taking up most of the Hangar Bay!
Zak cursed, "Oh, for crying out loud! We put that damn rock right in the way of our Flyers? Whose stupid idea was that anyway?"
Den immediately said, "That was my idea?" In fact, it was the Commodore's idea to bring the comet fragment into the Hangar Bay, specifically, though it may have been Den who suggested the Bay might have been big enough. Without further comment, Den turned his attention back to Kat and her concerns over the ship not liking Borg intervention. "No, Sis, it doesn't. However, I think with the systems down it'll be okay, and there are command codes to override that."
Zak agreed, "Right, the ship is only on emergency power right now. I don't think it'll zap you ... much!"
Kat still chewed her bottom lip but answered, "Ok, well, I'm willing to try, especially if it helps T'Lin and Relok because ... she's started acting weird."
Den held up his right hand, the near-perfect Borg prosthetic, and closed his fingers into a fist. He pointed his knuckles at the console in preparation. Kat just watched, holding her breath and ready to respond if he went flying.
Zak turned in his seat at Ops to watch them. "Okay, you make contact and we'll hope for the best. At least you have a doctor right next to you if you need CPR or something!"
"Here's hoping," Den said, popping out his Borg tubules and connecting to the console. As he did, he said, "Connect with me, Kat."
Kat closed her eyes and connected to Den over their Borg interlink, ~Now what?~
Den made a Borg connection with the Penumbra's Mainframe while Kat 'observed' through their Interlink. Fortunately, the ship did not react ... yet!
The Penumbra's Chief of Sciences, the Vulcan, Cmdr. Relok, was in the Wellness Center, the new name for Sickbay ever since the new Chief Medical Officer, the Medicine Man, Cmdr. Dr. Adonudo T'lanuwa had come aboard. Relok was groggy and nearly delirious and kept muttering, "Iscar ... destruction ... what? Where?"
Adon had been trying to build a map of Relok's brain to diagnose what was wrong with both Relok and the Assistant Chief of Sciences, also Vulcan, LtCmdr. T'Lin. He was struggling to avoid out-right cursing about losing that map when the power cut out. He turned to his Assistant Chief Medical Officer, LtCmdr. Katarina Hawke and asked, "Kat, did we get any of that saved before we lost power?"
Before Kat could answer, T'Lin slowly opened her eyes and asked, "It is dark now?"
Kat might have panicked in the darkness if not for the fact that she knew Adon, Relok, and T'Lin were all in the Wellness Center with her. The time she'd spent alone on that frozen moon in the Gamma Quadrant before the Penumbra had rescued her had instilled in her a profound fear of isolation. She nervously asked, "Do you think they'll have power back up and running soon?"
Adon could hear the fear in her voice. He tried to calm her. "The Wellness Center is supposed to have an emergency generator. It should kick in momentarily." Even as he said this, the lights went back on. "Ah! See? But ... we might have lost some of our work. Reset the imager and let's try again."
"Yes, doctor," Kat answered. Her relief was quite obvious and she dove into her work. As she did she wondered what SgtMaj. Derek Hines, the big Marine senior non-comm, was doing. And then, desperately, she tried to get her mind off of him. She fussed at herself, ~Stupid! Stop thinking about him. He doesn't care.~
On one of the biobeds, Relok groaned, slowly coming back to himself. He mumbled, "Did ... was there ... what happened to the ...?"
Adon rushed over. "Easy, Commander, take it easy. We averted the tragedy, rest easy now." He turned towards his assistant, "Kat, have you got that imager reset? Let's get another scan. Maybe moving away from that Kinshayan planet will help clear things up a bit, huh?"
As the Medicine Man said that last sentence, Kat's commbadge chirped and her brother's voice came through. LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke, Chief of Security and Tactical Operations, called, "Kat, where are you?"
Kat was momentarily confused at having two voices speaking to her, but responded to her immediate supervisor first, "Um ... yes, Doctor." She reset the imager and a new map of Relok's brain began to draw itself on the monitor (running on the emergency generator attached to the Wellness Center - the ship still had no power).
Once she was sure the imager was properly working, Kat tapped her commbadge. "I'm in the Wellness Center," she told her brother.
Den continued over the commlink, "Who was it helping you with your new found abilities you told me about? We need you and them on the Bridge. You're gonna have to walk or get power from the Wellness Center's separate power-grid for transporters."
Kat answered, "Um ... it was either T'Lin or Relok who was supposed to help me I believe. T'Lin isn't exactly available since Mama's in control it seems."
Den grunted, "Well tell her to give T'Lin back! It's kind of necessary right now that we try this."
Even as Kat and Den had their exchange, Relok reached and touched the cortical imager on his forehead. "Is it supposed to tingle?"
Adon gave Relok a curious look. "I don't remember anyone complaining about the cortical imager before ...," he trailed off as he grabbed a tricorder to take a scan of the device.
Kat continued explaining to her brother, "We have power in the Wellness Center." She turned to Adon and asked, "Can we do a site-to-site transport from here?"
Adon glanced over at her from his scan of the cortical imager on Relok's head. "It should work well enough for one person within the ship ... I think. It won't harm you. It'll either work or it won't." He returned his attention to the imager, then sat back a bit and said, "Well, the imager is working, at least. If the tingling isn't painful, let's leave it alone for now until we get a full map."
Relok responded, "It isn't painful, just ... tickles, I suppose. I will ignore it for the sake of your study, doctor." He took a breath, steeling himself to experiencing some slight discomfort from the scanner, then turned to glance over at T'Lin.
T'Lin was Relok's Assistant Chief of Sciences, but more than that. They had evolved to something like an uncle/niece relationship, though with the D'Vir guide katra that shared T'Lin's mind - the one affectionately known as "Mama" - being several centuries older than even Relok, sometimes the relationship was more elderly aunt to his nephew! Relok asked, "Is she okay? What about Mama? It would be a shame for an Ancient One to be lost!"
T'Lin also roused, slowly sitting up on her own biobed near Relok's. She glanced around as if studying the place then gazed at Adon and said, "Nanvin, where are we? What is wrong with T'shos," she gestured towards Relok, "is he ill in some way?"
Adon looked at T'Lin, confused. "Nanvin? T'shos? Are you ... okay? T'Lin? Or, uh, Mama?"
Relok also looked confused. "To whom are you speaking, Ancient One?"
Kat was still speaking to Den over the commlink. She explained, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure T'Lin or Mama is in any position to help us."
T'Lin, or rather "Mama" (they could tell by the tone of her voice which entity was speaking), answered Adon, "I am fine, Nanvin. Who is Mama? Ancient One?" She turned to Kat and asked, "Do you need something, T'henni?"
Kat shook her head at her, "No," she said just as her commbadge chirped again.
Den told her, "Kat, well, I'm fixing to try something then."
Kat called her brother again, "As soon as I have the Doctor's ok to leave I'll be right there." She turned to Adon and said, "Um, Doctor, with permission, I will go help Den and return as quickly as I am able."
Adon nodded and waved dismissively at her. "Go, see what you can do to help. Neither of these two are in a life-threatening situation, just ... a little confused."
Kat called her brother one last time as she hurried over to the emergency transporter in a corner of the Wellness Center, "On my way to you." Seconds later she'd used the emergency power for a site-to-site transport to the Bridge.
Adon grabbed his tricorder and moved over to T'Lin's bed, taking scans. T'Lin, or Mama, or whoever was in there at the moment leaned away from the tricorder cautiously. "What are you doing, Nanvin?" she asked.
"Just getting some baseline readings," Adon answered. Then he added, "Forgive me, but I seem to have forgotten your name."
She answered, "I am Khart-lan N'eia. Nanvin, are you feeling unwell? It is unlike you to forget anything, let alone the name of your Khart-lan." She gestured back to Relok, "What is wrong with T'shos?"
Adon was not terribly versed in ancient Vulcan ranks, and had no idea that Khart-Ian meant Captain! All he could do was say, "Oh! Of course! Did you change your hair? Anyway, you and ... uh ... T'shos ... have suffered some ... illness. I am trying to diagnose the cause."
Relok began to twitch, which threw off the imager readings a bit. He said, "Hmm ... the tingling is intensifying, doctor." Quickly the twitching turned to real squirming. "Doctor ... this thing is beginning to burn! Can we end the scan soon?"
Adon turned from T'Lin, or N'eia, back to Relok. "It's burning you? I've never heard of such a thing." He shut off the imaging scan and then said, "We got a decent scan, though. I'll need to study it in detail, but ...," he trailed off as T'Lin/N'eia stood from her biobed and approached Relok, putting a hand out as if to stop her.
"I feel fine, Nanvin," T'Lin/N'eia said, waving off Adon. She reached down and touched Relok, then looked up at Adon. "He feels cold. Has he caught the Freeze as well?"
Adon stiffened. "The Freeze? I don't ... you mean, you've seen something like this before?"
"We all have, Nanvin," T'Lin/N'eia said, moving her hand to Relok's heart. "I am sorry, T'shos. You must be uncomfortable. Would you like some stew?"