Away Team IV

Posted on Mon Jul 18th, 2022 @ 10:47am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lieutenant Ashlesha 4827/A & Lieutenant Chester "Duo" Maxwell & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Anna S. Thesia M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Lieutenant Jessica Holland

Mission: New Harrington
Location: New Harrison - Alpha Weather Platform
Timeline: Current

"It appears you are correct Mr. Maxwell." Savar replied as he looked at the members of the away team that were here with him and Maxwell. "Aurora, are you able to sense anything clearer?" he asked.

Aurora sighed. “Some, but not as clear as I’d like.”

Thriss was Andorian. Because of this, his hearing was slightly better than other humanoids. He had heard the faint banging from the crew before, but he wasn't completely certain, but Maxwell may have confirmed it. "Any idea how to get to the missing crewmembers?" The weather platform also still needed to be repaired. But right now that wasn't the only objective for him.

As the field went up, Bonnie found herself separated from the others. Two of them were free on the far side, two of them trapped in the middle and she and Ashlesha were stuck with only one path to go, back . Unless they could find a junction or J Tube, Ops would be the only place they could go.

Jessica and Anna were stuck. Aurora and Savar we're free, but separated. Thriss and Maxwell were at least on the path to the Engine core. Leaving Bonnie and Ashlesha to fend for themselves. Internalized panic crept into Bonnie's chest, "Sir. What do you want us to do?" She asked of Savar, hoping he could hear through the force fields.

Savar tilted his head as Bonnie spoke. He could hear her through the force field, not loudly but by focusing her made out her words. " Find a way to lower the force fields. Restore the station to normal operations. Free the others. Aurora and I will
find a way to join with the rest of you and continue to look for the missing teams."

"Yes, sir," Ashlesha replied. She held a tricorder in one hand and the phaser in the other."

"I'm not fond of the brute force approach," she told Durnell, "Usually once you go that route you've run out of options. What if..."

She cocked her head, "What if instead of taking down the force field we only weaken it, allow whomever put it up to register it as still being active? Would it be possible to physically force your way through a weakened force field?"

Savar considered the option. "Would whomever is monitoring the field not see a drop in field strength? If your answer is no, then we will attempt that route first."

"Perhaps if we work in concert?" Ashlesha said to Durnell in response to Savar's concerns, "One of us works to lower the force field's power while the other works to fool the intelligence?"

She was already running calculations in her head. Each forcefield had its own set of emitters embedded in the floor and ceiling. Any interuption might signal the A.I. that they were tampering. She considered what rerouting the emitters to aim the field along the walls instead of floor to ceiling would do, before realizing that would only cause further complications. Bonnie replied, "I can try and keep it occupied while you lower the power at that EPS junction." She indicated by pointing. "Just be careful this thing doesn't create an overload or it could blow the conduit altogether."

Bonnie then activated her tricorder and prepped to interface with the ever-adaptive, ever-growing A.I. once more. She felt that if she could lure it away from the defense matrix like she did the comms, they could lower the shields with no issues. If not... Well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it. "Ready." She indicated as she began writing a new code matrix.

As an engineer, Ashlesha had a fundamental idea of what Bonnie had in mind. With her own tricorder out she said, "You keep it fully occupied while I lower the shields, all right?"

Bonnie nodded, then set to work.

As Bonnie did her job Ashlesha worked on hers. As she tried to bring down the power of the force field she murmured, "One of the important duties of a department head is to know when to delegate authority."

She paused and added, "So if this plan doesn't work I just wanted to let you know I am going to be assigning you all the blame."

She glanced and Bonnie and smiled to show she was kidding.

Bonnie gave a small internal panic before rolling her eyes and refocusing on her work. "No pressure then." She murmured knowing full well when things got messed up people usually knew to blame her anyway. And if they didn't, she would blame herself out of spite for her bad luck.

Aurora looked at Savar. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Forcing our way through a forcefield could injure us.”

Savar returned Aurora's look, "I am not sure it is a good idea at all Aurora." Savar admitted. "However, our options are limited at the moment." He answered, not ashamed to admit he did not know or have all the answers. "We will attempt this and depending on the outcome come up with another course of action."

Aurora nodded. “You take the first attempt, if it works I’ll follow you through. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a lot warier now I have a tiny life dependent on me.”

"I rely on you as well Aurora. Let us see what Bonnie can achieve before we take the next step." Savar answered then continued. "If nothing else we can continue down the corridor and search for an exit."

Writing a matrix of code was easy, second nature. Keeping them benign yet enticing to a mass of living virus was much more difficult. What's more, the thing was fighting her as if it wanted more. The more she gave, the more it wanted. It took three batches of code with an infinity structure of subdirectories before the creature took the bait. She looked at Ashlesha, "Try now."

She watched as the power readings dropped before thinking of another idea, "Lieutenants Maxwell and Kla'ren, see if you can access the EPS conduits at sections J34 and J35. If we lower the power simultaneously at multiple points this thing may not have time to react to everyone all at once." She then looked at Savar, "Sir, if you and Lieutenant Vali could try sections H18 and H19. And Doctor I'm sorry but seeing as you can't reach any conduits, please just sit tight."

"Right." Duo gave a nod and made eye contact with Thriss, and turned to make way down the passageway. He scanned the bulkheads for what section they were in and began to proceed to sections J34 and J35. It was a short trek to get there, but they were out of visual and audio range of the rest of the away team.

"I'll take J34." He said to Thriss once they had entered that section. Duo knelt down and removed the access panel exposing the EPS flow controls for that section. He reached out and stopped his hand in mid-air. He took out his tricorder and ran a quick scan to make sure there weren't any force fields protecting these systems. It came back clear. "All right, lets see what we have here..." he said to himself while taking a quick survey of they system. He was no engineer, but he had minored in starship operations and took the engineer's extension courses at the Academy. It took less time than he had thought to locate the correct controls.

The Chief moved himself to J35. He quickly removed the panel and located the correct controls. He too scanned the systems with an engineering tricorder to make sure his weren't protected. Once he was in position he nodded to Maxwell that he was in position.

=/\=Maxwell to Away Team. We are in position and awaiting the signal to commence.=/\=

"We shall commence that now Lieutenant." Savar replied., "Let's us get into position Aurora."

She continued her distraction techniques by introducing a bit of code with a more energetic flare. It was a simple equation string for a subatomic particle of light energy which to Bonnie was just a nibble, but to the AI, this was a meal. It suddenly detached from several pieces of code all at once and swarmed after the light particle, enveloping it. The surprised look on her face said volumes.

"I will take section H19 Aurora, you try section H18. it is a short trip, and the sections are near each other, all will be fine." Savar tried to reassure her, but he was unsure of their chance of success, but they had to try something.

Aurora nodded. “Okay lets get this over with, we can’t hang around here forever.”

"Agreed Aurora." Savar answered, as he and Aurora moved into position. "Are you ready to proceed Bonnie?" He asked the computer specialist.

TBC