USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202306.02
The Penumbra was still at Tepesi 2, deep in the territory of the Holy Order of the Kinshaya. The ship itself was actually on the ground in a large field just south of a space port, which itself was on the southern fringe of a large city.
An extremist group calling itself "the Purity Faction" had attacked the space port just after an Away Team from the Penumbra had landed in the Cerberus. In response to the attack, the Penumbra Command Staff abandoned stealth and openly revealed themselves, offering humanitarian assistance to deal with the crisis. It was generally well received (albeit grudgingly).
Once the emergency had subsided somewhat, the Away Team returned to the ship (still on the ground) and held a Staff Meeting. Towards the end of the meeting, Bishop Yazgrom (CO of the sphere-ship, Yeffre) and Archbishop Mulraney (military governor of Tepesi 2) were invited in. The Archbishop thanked the crew of the Penumbra but then dismissed them, saying, "You are now asked to leave as soon as possible." It didn't sound like a request.
A half hour later, the two high-ranking Kinshayans had returned to their people. The two squads of heavy equipment the Penumbra had sent to assist with demolition and stabilization of damaged buildings returned to the ship and the Commodore gave instructions to prepare to lift off and return to orbit.
Cdre. Zak Taylor settled himself into the Command Seat in the center of the Penumbra's Bridge. "Ah," he sighed, "good to be home."
Beside him, in the Executive Officer's seat (Col. Travis Patterson was debriefing the Marines), Cmdr. Relok looked over at him, "Welcome back, Commodore."
At the Helm, LtCmdr. Jason Carter cracked his knuckles and then his neck and gripped the manual flight sticks. "OK, we ready for lift-off, folks? Buckle up! Might get bumpy."
The internal communications system chirped and the voice of Lt. Evie Owens, the Acting Chief Engineer since the unfortunate death of LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry-Tibris, said, "This beautiful hunk of titanium is ready for flight whenever you are, Captain."
Zak smiled and replied, "Glad to hear it, Evie. Mr. Carter," he addressed the Chief of Flight Operations in front of him, "you're free to fly."
Relok pressed the intercom, "All hands, prepare for turbulence! Stand by for lift off!"
At the Tactical Console, LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke smirked. "This should be fun."
Carter grunted and nodded, "And here we go!" He throttled up the engines. The Penumbra groaned as it lifted from the ground and then wobbled slightly, hovering a few meters off the ground.
"Whoa!" Carter exclaimed. "That doesn't feel right." He tapped his commbadge and called, "Evie, check the ventral starboard engine, she's lagging a little!"
Her voice came back, "I heard it too. On it." A second or two later she called back, "Got the problem, it's a quick fix. Once we're more stable I'll get it a bit prettier, but it'll work now."
Carter answered, "Got it, I'm compensating now. Let's get her back in space, huh? Throttling up! Here we go!" The ship leveled out and he nosed her up into a climb.
She climbed for a few seconds, but there seemed to be more strain on the engines that any of them thought there should be. Den asked, "Seatbelts?"
Evie called again, "Carter, what the hell are you doin' up there? You're using way too much power! Tabby, shut off the power to the non-essential areas and give it to the stabilizers!"
LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris, Chief of Operations, answered, "Yeah, I'm on it, Smurfette."
Zak sat forward in his seat. "Carter ... what's going on?"
Relok stood and moved to the rear of the Bridge to study the Master Systems Display.
Carter strained with the flight sticks. "Yeah," he said, "She's fighting more than normal, sir." Again he quickly tapped his commbadge, "Evie, what the hell is going on down there?"
But it was the voice of LtJG Jackal Tsunada that answered. Jackal was the Acting Assistant Chief Engineer and worked with Evie. "Carter, set the ship to hover. I'm checking the manifold and would rather not look more like a burnt smore, thank you."
Carter scoffed, "Hover? Here? Half-way to orbit? Um ... maybe level flight for a minute? But ...," he trailed off.
Jackal simply answered, "I dunno, figure it out. It ain't my damn job to fly the ship! But if I come out looking like an overly toasted piece of toast, I'm coming after your ass!"
Den quipped, "They could just try kicking it."
Zak cut a look at Den. "Yeah, kick the manifold to knock the debris out. Great idea, Den!" He rolled his eyes and turned back to the front. "OK, Carter, level off and glide a bit to give them a chance to clear it out."
But Den said, "That was only half a joke. I mean, what does one do when they have sand in their shoes? Take them off and shake them to get it out."
Carter turned to look at the Chief Tactical Officer, "You want me to shake the ship? I dunno, Den ....," he trailed off again.
Suddenly, the ventral starboard engine shut off completely! The ship bucked and dropped 10 meters in seconds like a falling rock!
Den lurched. One second he was standing calmly at the Tactical Station and the next there'd been no deck under his feet! He fell to the floor on his stomach with a thud. As he clambered back to his feet he quipped, "Well, that was fun!"
Jackal's voice came over the comms, "Clogged manifold exhausts!"
"Damn it!" Carter cursed, fighting to stabilize the ship with the three other engines. "We either go up or we go down! Can't stay like this in the atmosphere!"
Jackal answered over the open comms, "I'm working on it! I'm one woman!"
Relok still stood by the MSD. He reported, "We're nearly to the stratosphere. Up is a shorter distance at this point, Commodore!"
Then Evie's voice came to them again, "Carter, take her down twenty meters, then up ten! Give me enough time to clear this before we try to go higher!" There was the sound of banging coming over the comm line.
Carter grunted, "I hear you, Evie!" He turned slightly and with a smirk said, "Den, looks like we're shaking the ship! Everybody hang on!"
Zak groaned, "Oh, god ... why'd we ever land the ship? Oh, yeah, I didn't order that." He turned and glared at Relok, the Vulcan Chief of Sciences, who'd been Acting CO at the time and gave that order.
Den checked himself over and announced, "Okay, pretty sure I didn't hurt anything. Do I need to get out and push?" Then he got an odd look on his face and said, "Actually ... wait, that's not a bad idea. We could use the shuttles to tractor us up easier. It'd be pretty easy to program them to do it automated from here. No need for anyone on them."
Relok turned and looked at Den. "You want to make tugboats out of our shuttles? That .... might work!"
Den grinned at him, "I mean ... it'd be pulling instead of pushing, but ... yeah!"
Zak nodded, "All right, Den, coordinate shuttle launch. I think our Chief of Flight Ops is kinda busy."
At the Helm Carter grunted, "Ya think?"
Carter performed Evie's maneuver, and dropped the ship 20 meters, then bounced back upwardStrange noises came from the engines as they did.
Den wriggled the fingers of his real hand (the other was an impressive artificial replacement)"I could just use this. I mean, it's not like I'll get shocked anymore." He paused then muttered, "Pretty sure." He extended his Borg tubules and jacked into the Tactical console to coordinate and control the shuttles. Once before, when he'd tried such a trick, the Penumbra hit him with a massive electrical feedback discharge. The ship had been originally designed to fight the Borg, but those precautions had finally been reprogrammed out of the system, so long as he allowed a moment for the ship to recognize his bio-patterns first. After a second or two he reported, "Ready with the shuttles."
Zak gave him a nod and Den launched three shuttles on autopilot, driven through his Borg connection to the system. They quickly deployed and activated tractor beams to help stabilize the Penumbra. It helped - a lot - but put a lot of strain on the shuttles' engines now too.
Happy with the success of flying three shuttles remotely, Den commented, "Now just to fix Kat and mine's adaptive shield system ...," he gave a mischievous grin. After a few seconds he commented, "Probably should have used four, but ... it's working."
A few moments later, Evie's voice came through again, "Carter, how's she flying? I've been knocking some compacted dust off the exhaust vents."
Carter continued struggling with the flight sticks, "All right ... almost there!" As the shuttles helped, suddenly the ventral starboard engine reignited.
Jackal's voice came over the comms, "Carter! Take it easy, will you? I already have one idiot to kill, let's not make it a list!"
Under his breath they could just hear Den mutter, "Make it a list! Make it a list!"
Carter grumbled through gritted teeth, "I need a vacation." And the Penumbra finally broke out of the atmosphere and reached a low, but stable, orbit. The engines wound down and back to nearly normal. The shuttles were scorched from atmospheric flight and would probably require a lot of minor repairs and recalibration, but they were back in space where they belonged!
Lt. Evie Owens and LtJG Jackal Tsunada were in Main Engineering getting the ship ready to get off the ground and back into space. Evie was running through the pre-flight protocols and checking the various statistics off the checklist. As usual she was wearing an Engineering technician's jumpsuit rather than an officer's uniform, and even then she had the top pulled down with the sleeves tied around her waist and her undershirt tanktop bared her heavily tattooed arms.
Jackal glanced at her "boss", with the short hair dyed bright blue and chuckled to herself thinking she worked with a gremlin. "You know," she said, "if somebody told me I'd be working with a gnome that had cotton candy vomit over her I'd think I was on 'shrooms."
Evie just gave her a grimace then smiled, "Yeah, I think my parents would agree with you thereThey're still shocked sometimes when they see me!"
Jackal responded, "Yeah, you LOOK crazy, but I'm the actual crazy one! Imagine that! Who was the absolute idiot that put us together again?" Jackal had actually been institutionalized for mental "instability" when the nanites given to her by Section 31 malfunctioned and caused her extreme paranoia. She escaped and lived a life on the run for many years until finally caught. Once she'd been given the proper upgrades for her nanites the problem went away and ... well, here she was, Assistant Chief Engineer of the Penumbra!
. Satisfied, Evie straightened and tapped the commbadge she'd placed on the breast of her undershirt and called the Bridge, "This beautiful hunk of titanium is ready for flight whenever you are, Captain."
The voice of CdreZak Taylor came back, "Glad to hear it, Evie. Mr. Carter," he addressed the Chief of Flight Operations, "you're free to fly."
This was followed by the voice of Cmdr. Relok, the Vulcan Chief of Sciences sitting in for ColTravis Patterson as Acting Executive Officer (Patterson was debriefing the Marines after the ground mission) over the comm system. "All hands, prepare for turbulence! Stand by for lift off!"
As they readied for lift-off, Jackal asked, "You think I'd look good with bright-ass pink hair, Evie?"
Evie was turning on the inertial dampeners, optimizing thrusters, and all the other things she had to do. She responded to Evie's first comment about who'd put them together, "That idiot would be me, Jax!" She glanced at one of the many technicians working around Main Engineering and called, "Get that engine steady! Check those pipes!" She turned back to Jackal and said, "Keep an eye on those numbers. Also ... no ... don't do pink."
"Purple?" Jackal asked as she checked the gauges.
A moment later the engines engaged and the Penumbra actually groaned as it lifted from the ground and then wobbled slightly, hovering a few meters off the ground.
Jackal flinched"Did you hear that? I didn't like that sound."
Evie nodded, "Let's check, shall we?"
Carter's voice came over the comms, "Evie, check the ventral starboard engine, she's lagging a little!"
Evie answered, "I heard it too. On it." She stepped over to the starboard engine port and opened a panel to gain access to the ventral engine. "Jax," she called, "hand me that socket wrench and the welder. I've got a small tear in an engine cusp here I've gotta fix."
Jackal called out, "One socket and mask coming up!"
As Jackal handed her the wrench and torch, Evie glanced up at her and said, "Maybe a dark purple would look nice."
"What about red?" Jackal asked as she turned to fire up the welding equipment for Evie.
Evie went to work welding the tear and repairing the engine. As she did, she tapped the comm to call the Bridge again, "Got the problem, it's a quick fix. Once we're more stable I'll get it a bit prettier, but it'll work now."
Carter answered, "Got it, I'm compensating now. Let's get her back in space, huh? Throttling up! Here we go!" The ship leveled out and he nosed her up into a climb.
As Evie climbed out of the access hatch, Jackal asked, "You didn't fix that with something stupid, like duct tape, did you?"
Evie wiped her hands on her pants legs and said, "Jax, don't doubt my duct tape abilities!" She hurried back over to the panels to check the energy readings and power levels. What she saw wasn't what she expected. Even though the ship climbed quickly, the readings just looked ... off. There was much more strain on the engines than there should have been.
Jackal followed her, saying, "I know duct tape fixes everything but, come on, Evie darling!"
Evie scowled at the panels and Jackal leaned over to see and frowned as well. Evie tapped her commbadge again, "Carter, what the hell are you doin' up there? You're using way too much power! Tabby, shut off the power to the non-essential areas and give it to the stabilizers!"
LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris, Chief of Operations, answered, "Yeah, I'm on it, Smurfette."
Evie pointed, "Jax, get that engine cooled down. Check those numbers, we're using way too much power for something so simple."
Jackal had already started moving, "Way ahead of you, girlie. I'm going to check the exhaust manifold. It's just a hunch, but ...," she trailed off.
Carter's voice came over the comms again, "Evie, what the hell is going on down there?"
Jackal answered first, "Carter, set the ship to hover. I'm checking the manifold and would rather not look more like a burnt smore, thank you." She threw on a hazard suit to protect her from getting too close to the manifold.
Carter scoffed, "Hover? Here? Half-way to orbit? Um ... maybe level flight for a minute? But ...," he trailed off.
Jackal simply answered, "I dunno, figure it out. It ain't my damn job to fly the ship! But if I come out looking like an overly toasted piece of toast, I'm coming after your ass!"
Evie grinned, "Felt that, Jax!" She ran across Engineering and adjusted steam vents and coolant levels.
Moments later Evie could hear Jackal cursing, "Holy hell! Somebody's getting fired!" She actually opened a comm-line to speak more clearly to Evie, "It looks like snow in here!"
Evie tapped her commbadge and responded, "WHAT?" She obviously wasn't happy either. "I'm coming." She pulled on a hazmat suit and joined Jackal.
And then, the ventral starboard engine shut off completely. The ship bucked and dived 10 meters in seconds like a falling rock. Evie was knocked into a wall, and then the ceiling as she made her way.
Jackal called the Bridge, "Clogged manifold exhausts!" and then without waiting for a response tapped her badge again to call Evie, "I'm gonna need help, hon."
Jackal struggled a moment with the clogged manifold then cursed, "For frack's sake! Shit!"
Evie crawled along the manifold towards Jackal. "It's clogged? With what? I sent Michael over to check these before we left!"
"Well," Jackal pointed as Evie arrived, "Michael is getting fired. It's dust everywhere! And it's hot as hell!"
Over the comm-line they heard Carter curse, "Damn it! We either go up or we go down! Can't stay like this in the atmosphere!"
Jackal answered, "I'm working on it! I'm one woman!"
They heard Relok as he reported, "We're nearly to the stratosphere. Up is a shorter distance at this point, Commodore!"
Evie stared at the manifold for a moment, then stomped on it, hard, before tapping her commbadge, "Carter, take her down twenty meters, then up ten! Give me enough time to clear this before we try to go higher!" She kicked the manifold again.
Carter grunted back, "I hear you, Evie!"
Evie barked to Jackal, "Jax, clip on!" She took her suit's emergency line and clipped it to the railing, indicating Jackal to do the same.
Jackal clipped on her safety line as well and growled, "Next time we get another Michael, make sure he or she isn't an absolute idiot, please! Because Im'ma kill him!" She studied the mess they had and suggested, "Might want to cook everything down, engine-wise," then she added, "if we don't die, obviously."
Evie just continued stomping and kicking on the exhaust vent, knocking the compacted dust off of it. She answered between kicks, "Yeah, the coolant looked good ... before I came down here, but ... we'll definitely check it again ... once we get doneBanging. This. Dust. Off. My. Ship!"
Jackal dug with a specialized shovel-like tool while Evie kicked and stomped and banged on the manifold, even while as instructed, Carter dropped the ship twenty meters and then bounced back up again. Strange noises came from the engines as they did the maneuver and then suddenly, a huge blob of ... goop ... plopped out of the manifold!
"Ewww!" Jackal groaned. "What just dropped on me? Do I even wanna know?"
Evie just gestured, "Decon showers are right around the corner, Jax. Be a big girl and deal with the ship slurry!"
Jackal gagged"Ack! It smells like something died of ... wait! Something did: my dignity!" She continued grumbling under her breath, "Oh, I'll deal with it after I murder that kid!" She wiped goop off her face mask and mumbled, "Well, I can see now."
Evie tapped her commbadge, "Carter, how's she flying? I've been knocking some compacted dust off the exhaust vents."
Jackal asked, "Evie, can you check the other side? So we don't lose another engine?"
Evie answered, "I took a peek on my way here. It seems clear. I'll double-check once we're done clearing this one."
As they finished up and exited the hatch, sealing it back behind them, Jackal started towards decon"Sometimes, I HAAAATE my job!" She waved at a technician, "Okay, fire up the other engine." As the engine re-ignited, she opened a comm to the Bridge, "Carter! Take it easy, will you? I already have one idiot to kill, let's not make it a list!"
They could just barely hear Den mutter, "Make it a list! Make it a list!"
Jackal looked over at Evie, "You know what ... green. How about slime green hair, because ... I feel like slime."
And finally, the Penumbra broke out of the atmosphere and reached a low, but stable, orbit. The engines wound down and back to nearly normal. They were back in space where they belonged!
Dr. Adonudo T'lanuwa was floating around the Wellness Center (what he'd insisted they call "Sickbay" once he'd transferred to the Penumbra ). They had picked up several patients after the activities on Tepesi 2.
Dr. Katarina Hawke approached him, gesturing at their new patients, "Doctor they are all complaining about breathing and ...," she trailed off as Cpl. Homer Kyle entered the Wellness Center.
Kyle came in through the doors coughing and said in his Carolina drawl, "Hey, y'all! I's gots some ...," he interrupted himself with a short coughing fit, concluding with just "Ugh!"
Kat returned her attention to Adon and continued, "... and coughing." With a slight smile, she turned to help Kyle onto one of the remaining biobeds.
Adon followed her"There was a lot of dust being kicked up down there. Probably sucked some into their lungs. Let's get some imaging done and have a look." He turned to Kyle and said, "Corporal, care to be the first test subject?"
They were interrupted by the intercom system on which the voice of Cmdr. Relok called, "All hands, prepare for turbulence! Stand by for lift off!"
Kat sighed, "Oh dear, have they never taken off from planet side?"
Adon also gave a sigh. "Sounds like they're just getting started. Everybody hold on to something in case it gets rough."
Sure enough, just seconds later, the ship seemed to groan and then wobbled slightly. Kat braced herself, hoping they knew what they were doing up there!
Kyle laid back on the biobed and complained, "My ol' airbags wanna ...," he interrupted again with a hacking cough, "... ugh! They don't be wantin' to suck air, docs!"
Kat prepared the imaging scanner, hoping they would quickly return to a successful orbit. Once done, she looked up at Adon, "Doctor, imaging is ready whenever you are."
Adon reached over and activated the scanner. "All right, let's have a look, shall we?" Quickly, the scan appears on the biobed's overhead display. It showed a dark mass in the bottom of Kyle's lungs. Adon pointed at it and said, "That's not normal."
Kyle smiled weakly, "I's ain't never been ...," another cough, "... normal, doc!" He tried to laugh but instead fell into a coughing fit.
Kat studied the image as well and agreed, "No, it's not." She kept a calm "poker face" in spite of the emotions bouncing around inside of her.
Kyle tried again, "So, y'all sees sumpin ain't good, huh? Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?"
Adon tried to explain, "It looks to be heavy minerals settled in the bottom your lungs, Corporal. Kat, do you think we can break it up with ultrasound?"
Kat considered a moment and then answered, "It's possible, but we have no idea what it is. I think we should get a sample of it if possible."
Kyle let out an audible gulp. "Y'all gonna cut me open?" He lapsed into another coughing fitKat just glanced at Adon wondering if cutting Kyle open was necessary.
Suddenly, the ship lurched, dropping 10 meters like a falling rock. Adon and Kat, standing next to Kyle's biobed gripped it for stability while the patients all just gasped for breath, and then set off a series of coughs from all around the Wellness Center.
Finally, Adon looked to Kyle and soothed, "I don't think surgery is necessary just yet, KyleBut, we do need a sample. Let's try some ultrasound. If it breaks up and he can cough up a sample, that'd be the easy way."
"Agreed," Kat said as she started to get the device Adon would need. She returned and presented it to him, "Here you go, Doctor."
After a few minutes, the ship did another bounce, dropping 20 meters and then rebounding back upward. Once they'd regained their footing, Adon activated the ultrasound on Kyle's lungs. They watched the imager as the mass began to break up, then Kyle went into a massive coughing fit! Kat produced a sample container and prepared to catch whatever material Kyle coughed up.
Kyle gasped between coughs, "Eew-wee! That's a heck of a loogie!" He coughed again but then broke into a giggle fit!
Kat managed to keep her "poker face" intact, even though inside her she was thinking ~Ew!~ She handed the container with the sample to Adon. She watched Kyle's giggling and then glanced at Adon. "Doctor, I think something else might be wrong with Cpl. Kyle." She studied Kyle again, looking worried, the first emotion she'd allowed to show in a while now.
Kyle's expression suddenly changed from giddy silliness to extreme worry. "Sumpin else? I's gonna die!"
Kat blinked at the man, then sighed, "Never mind, this might be normal behavior for the Corporal."
And while they watched Kyle, the Penumbra broke out of the atmosphere and reached a low, but stable, orbit. They were back in space where they belonged!