The White Diamond Nebula

Posted on Sun Aug 2nd, 2026 @ 11:25am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Ensign Ian Milkovich & Commander Cale Llewellyn DSci & Lieutenant Jack Lashmore & Lieutenant Cyrin Xanth & Lieutenant Arianna Frost & Lieutenant Liana J'Oh & Lieutenant Jarok

Mission: A New Day at Midnight
Location: Deck 1 - Bridge

ON:

The announcement had come with a stoic anticipation.

“Arriving at the White Diamond Nebula.” Ensign Milkovich had called out, as the Luna class vessel had slowly dropped out of high warp to a more cautious cruising speed.

Nyx had been in his Ready Room when he felt the ship softly decelerating; the familiar blue streaks of the warp bubble fading into a sea of black outside his window. He had immediately stood from his chair, corrected his uniform, and made his way onto the Bridge. Lieutenant Liana J’Oh had been sitting in the command chair but she dutifully stood when the Captain approached, moving over to the XO’s position for now.

“Let’s see it.” Nyx clapped his hands together as he approached his chair. “On screen.”

The main viewer of the Pandora changed to the spectacular vision ahead of them. The White Diamond Nebula was a dense, swirling system of micro-silicates, ice particles, and crushed debris from a crystalline planetoid that, when combined with the illumination from the White Dwarf Star in the distance proximity of the region, created a heavenly display of flickering, dazzling lights. The particles of the nebulous cloud reflected the light from the star to give the appearance that they were looking at a fluffy cloud of shimmering diamonds.

“Wow.” Nyx gasped as he sank further into the cushion of his chair, eyes mesmerised by the view. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Me either.” Liana admitted quietly.

"The effect is caused by a high concentration of carbon compounds," Cyrin said, standing behind and to the side of the Orion woman manning the Science station. He hadn't relieved her when he'd come to the bridge, letting her serve her rotation without his interference. Mostly he'd stayed out of her way, reading furiously and fast, continuing to play catchup on the background he'd wanted to familiarize himself with. "'Diamond' isn't innacurate. Though I guess 'diamond dust' might be more exact." He leaned around the larger green woman to grin at the main viewscreen. "It is beautiful."

"Lieutenant Xanth is quite correct, sir..." Cale began to say before getting caught up in everyone else's sense of awe. "Sir, weren't we on a course to Omipro?" the First Officer said once he had extricated himself from the emotions of his fellow crewmembers.

Nyx turned to see Cale had entered the Bridge. “Commander, right on time. Feel free to take a seat.” He gave a slight sideways glance to Liana, who immediately stood from her spot in the XO’s seat and moved over to the Second Officer’s spot instead, continuing her private game of musical chairs.

"Thank you, Captain," he said while looking back at the officer moving from seat to seat and finally joining her in the command seating. Then he smiled at her though, he wanted to say hello to her but didn't yet know her name.

“Sir, we have two courses plotted through the nebula to Omipro.” Ensign Milkovich called from the helm station. “The first will be a little rough on the shields but it’s more direct. The second takes a spiral approach towards the planet, but adds another eighty minutes onto our travel time. We won’t be able to warp in either way.”

Nyx nodded and began to speak, “Let’s take…” then he stopped and smiled, peering over to the Science station. “What do you recommend, Lieutenant Xanth?”

A challenge! "Checking, Nyx," Cyrin grinned and at the auxiliary station swiftly pulled up shield harmonics and a simulation he began to program. "If we introduce an inverse resonance frequency to the shields, sort of repelling the diamond dust almost like a static charge, maybe we could..." The computer crunched the numbers fast and played back the results on the display. "I think we could limit the drain on shields to no more than 50%, and it'd just be a matter of components cooling down before we could restore full strength later. Damage to the emitters should be neglible, but the Engineering team could probably weigh in a bit more on the specific recovery time. We'd need to draw on a lot of auxiliary reserves in the capacitors on the approach too, but I don't think we would have to reroute from other systems. Again, on that, OPS should be better able to check. Sending it over to you now, Liana." Cyrin tapped at the control to transfer the data to the two other teams for their review. He glanced up from his screen, "That is, if you want to go fast."

“We have a colony to save. I want to go fast.” Nyx answered affirmatively. He looked to his right, “Liana?”

The Ops Chief was already up and out of her seat, taking over the nearby station. “On it, sir. Making the adjustments.” She knew Nyx would like the Lieutenant’s plan, she wouldn’t waste a moment doubting that he would choose to use it. Her fingers tapped quickly over the screen, “I have pulled available power from secondary sources. Engineering is working on the emitters.”

Nyx nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Lieutenant Jarok on Security, “Keep an eye on long range scanners. We won’t have the luxury of full shields should the attackers still be in the region.”

“We stand at the ready.” Jarok replied curtly. “Phasers armed and torpedos loaded.”

“Good to hear it.” Nyx smiled to the Lieutenant, knowing he would never get one back. Clapping his hands together, Nyx turned back to the main viewer, the White Diamond Nebula swirling in front of them. “Any objections? Speak now.”

Cyrin kept his lips firmly pressed together, as eager as any of the others to get to Omipro and begin unravelling this mystery.

"Are we sure we can afford to go in with anything less than full shields in case we are attacked?" Cale queried. "The nebula notwithstanding."

“It’s a risk,” Nyx nodded, “We’ll have to remain on high alert and take evasive manoeuvres if necessary. We still have the size and fire power advantage.”

“I’ll have shields back to full strength as soon as possible.” Liana reassured the XO.

"Very well, Captain. Far be it from me to call my new CO's methods into question," Cale said.

Nyx gave a smile, “Somebody’s got to. Alright, are we ready?” There was a round of “Aye, Captain”s from around the Bridge. “Let’s fly.”

At the Captain’s command, Ensign Milkovich powered up the impulse engines and the Pandora entered the Nebula. There was a shuddering from across the ship as she began to glide through the dense particles, the resonance of the static charge caused the ship to shake. Nyx gripped the arm of his chair as a tremor rippled through the Bridge. On the viewscreen, the white lights of the Nebula started to take on a swirling blue and purple hue. If the crew could see the ship from the outside, the Pandora would look like a bright indigo comet passing through the diamond clouds.

“ETA to planet Omipro is forty two minutes.” Milkovich reported, his hands remaining firm on his console.

“Shields holding at fifty eight percent.” Liana added, “Auxiliary power stable.”

Forty-two minutes?! Cyrin made a slightly strangled noise and returned his attention to the rear science station. He'd made some progress on the Omipro files, but there was still so much data to sift through, and he'd yet to identify any likely targets for the theft that would make any sense. He'd set himself this goal of maybe finding that out before they talked to the museum curators that survived and heard it from them. Text began to scroll across the screen as he settled in, leaning forward intently to absorb as much as he could in the time remaining.

"Lieutenant Xanth, do you require any assistance with your searches?" Cale asked the senior science officer.

"Huh?" Cyrin looked up, his face just momentarily annoyed. He had been trying to focus ever since he'd heard about this mission, and people just kept interrupting, and- "Oh." He covered it quickly when he saw who was asking though, flushing, the spots standing out strong, embarrassed and maybe just a little intimidated by the white-haired XO. "Um, I've started at the first reports, Commander, if you want to start from the most recent? I've been looking for anything out of the ordinary, anything high-energy, high-tech, highly-valuable. Anyone can replicate a piece of clay pot or a bit of tapestry. That can't be what the thieves, the murderers, were after." The Trill really hoped he wasn't about to get dressed down for that momentary glare.

"I'll do that, then," the First Officer smiled at the young Trill hoping to allay his feelings. While Cale did that, he worked on doing research on any potention away team members. He saw an Ensign by the name of Zeve Navot, a Bajoran whom he thought may be a good fit. He would also request Staff Warrant Officer Kristopher Heyerdahl. Himself and Lieutenant J'Oh and a few enlisted to round out the team. 'Et voila', he thought to himself.

The Pandora shook with a hard shudder, causing the Captain to catch his breath for a moment. “Ensign?” Nyx looked over to helm, where Milkovich was still haunched over his console.

“Yes, sir.” Ian understood the captain’s question without it being asked. “We’re fine. We’re completely fine. Well, mostly. Our impromptu shortcut is a little rougher on the ground, that’s all.”

Liana frowned, “Shields dropped to fifty five percent.”

“Compensate.” Nyx replied, looking back at the viewer.

“Aye.” Liana nodded, “Increasing auxiliary power to shields.”

The rumbling across the ship settled once more as she again stabilised amongst the nebula. Feeling satisfied that the shaking had dissipated for now, Nyx stood up from his chair and stepped down onto the lower platform. His eyes were fixated on the viewer.

“That glow.” Nyx remarked, staring at the blueish purple haze emanating from the hull of the vessel. “It reminds me of the Indigo Sky. It was a phenomenon in the Inconnu Expanse region, a graviton storm with electromagnetic and certain particles that gave off a similar colour. In fact…”

He turned back and tapped a few buttons on his console. The view screen at the front of Pandora split in two, with one side maintaining vision of the Pandora’s current forward cameras and the second half showing archival footage from their mission in the Inconnu Expanse. As described, the tone and hue flowing across the Pandora’s hull almost exactly matched those of the Indigo Sky.

"Always wanted to go there," Cyrin said absently as he continued his reading. The text on his screen scrolled by at a fast pace, he must be scanning for keywords at this point rather than trying to absorb everything. There were years of research done by the museum and its various sources for artifacts. It was, unfortunately, like searching for a needle in a haystack that had been gone and buried for tens of thousands of years. As eager as he'd been to try to shine some light on this mystery before their arrival, and hopefully impress his new CO, it seemed more likely that they would have to wait and see what they could get from the colonists.

As the ship was buffeted by forces that were draining the shields, interfering with ships' operations and what was worse, it was shooting the emotions of the entire crew through the roof and giving him a terrible headache. But, he was remembering the exercises taught to him by the Vulcans on the Merlin and the Betazoids on the Grissom about how to control his newfound empathic abilities. He hoped his expression had not changed overmuch as he dove into his own mind to push the flood of emotions from the crew out and lock down his mind as much as possible. The only problem was in locking down his gift left the bridge crew pretty much opaque to him. That was the tradeoff with his abilities.

Cyrin balanced easily enough with a wide stance as he rode out the turbulence. In his mind, he'd already run the calculations and made his suggestion about the shield harmonics, and that was good enough for him. Others would execute it and he perfectly trusted they knew how to do their jobs. For the easily excited scientist, at the moment he might be a calm mind amidst others who stressed a bit more at the bumpy ride. The shields would hold, and everything would be just fine. He whispered part of his reading out loud, still trying to race the clock and maybe find something for his captain to use, "...in the eleventh century, carved in the motifs similar to those found on the eastern continent..."

The tension on the bridge went through the rook each and every time the ship bucked and rolled. Cale could feel it through his shields and it was giving him a migraine. He absentmindedly massaged the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm himself down and counteract the oncoming headache as he tried to focus on getting his away team ready and prepped for the away mission in the near future.

Ensign Milkovich was starting to feel steady on the con, feeling his way through the abyss with an increasingly calm trepidation, which made for a welcomed change from the fearful trepidation he had felt before. He had started to notice a pattern in the movement of the nebula’s particles, as if they were wading through a dense sea of marbles. It was the only way he could explain it. He began to compensate by tilting the ship slightly downwards on the bow, creating less resistance against the micro-silicates and ice fragments. The Pandora was rippling her way through now; it was still rough going but they were making good time at least.

Of course, life has that unique way of throwing a curve ball - just when everything seems like it’ll be alright.

A flashing beacon appeared on long-range sensors, a signal from a craft ahead of them. “Sir?” Ian raised his head over to the command chairs. “We’re picking up a ship.”

Nyx was by his side in an instance, looking over his shoulder. “Out here?” Dread quickly rooted into his brain and settled there; their shields were depleted and their power reserves were over-stretched. If this mysterious vessel was one of the fiends who had attacked Omipro, the Pandora was in no position to fight them head on.

“It is a small vessel.” Came Lieutenant Jarok’s steady voice from the Security terminal. “Recon ship. It’s hard to tell without -“

“Diverting some auxiliary power to the Sensor Pod.” Liana called out, not needing to be asked.

The Vulcan, of course, did not smile in gratitude but he gave a curt nod instead. “We’re picking up a signal now, sir. It is Starfleet designation.”

“I thought we were the first to get here.” Nyx remarked, more to himself than anyone else. He stood upright and faced the main viewer, “Hail them.” He commanded.


<> Federation Scout Ship <>

Unlike the larger, more powered and advanced USS Pandora, a two-person federation scout-ship was struggling with an ill-advised shortcut through the nebula. A calculated gamble taken by two officers whose experience was more punching or manipulating their way out of situations and far less so on scienceing or engineering prowess and know-how. A gaseous-like smoke was venting from...somewhere in the rear compartment; likely from the ramscoop taking in too much of the diamond dust of the nebula without appropriate filtering.

"Not to rush a lady," Jack began from the cockpit, glancing over his shoulder, "but any closer to locking that down?? I think we've got company." Sighing to himself he checked the sensor display and programmed in another short-wave ping; there definitely was another ship nearby, big...but details were difficult to ascertain with what limited power the scout-ship had after redirections were required for their short-cut.

"Screw it, general orders." He muttered to himself and rose his voice a little more for his rearward compatriot to hear. "I'm hailing them."

From the back came a muffled answer, "'she'll be right they said...'" Arianna groused as she was starting to give up on the smoke vent she was trying to get under control. Her re-breather mask was making any of her replies distorted. She took a spanner from the open engineering kit next to her on the floor and made yet another attempt to stifle the source. "Famous last words," she thought as she struggled.

Then, movement underneath her fingers, as the spanner finally giving traction underneath her fingers, the smoke staring to die down.

Then she heard Jack's word's, "wait, is it ours or theirs?"

"Doesn't matter they're hailing us." Jack replied with a resigned shrug and sigh. "Jackets to the floor, just in-case." Without waiting for her reply he unzipped his uniform jacket and removed it, kicking it under the cockpit console.

Arianna followed suit quickly, ditching her jacket and the re-breather mask, and mussing up her hair just a little, as she took the co-pilot's seat.

Jack glanced sideways at her and nodded, "sex hair always works, well, here goes." He tapped the singular LCARS command to accept the incomming transmission.

<>USS Pandora Bridge<>

"Howdy...folks?" was the reply which came from the male of two faces which appeared on the Pandora's main viewscreen.

“This is Captain Temple of the USS Pandora.” Nyx said firmly, “Please identify yourselves and your authorisation.”

Well, that makes things easier. Jack thought to himself before adjusting his posture that little bit straighter. "Lieutenants Arianna Frost and Jack Lashmore, with transfer orders for each and a gift from command. - Stand by, sir." Jack paused for a moment, whilst things have not changed much in the years he was in the mines and then living off-grid, LCARS layouts were still a muscle which had lost some of its memory. After a moment, he tapped a few commands onto his console.

"Transfer orders and requisition documents for a Federation Scout-ship sent your way." Jack added, then remembered to further attach a, "Sir."

By the time Jack had finished with Captain Temple, Arianna had picked her jacket up from the floor, put it back on and smoothed out her hair and appearance. "Sorry we're late, sir. We figured going through would get us here quicker than taking the detour. But, we weren't sure who we'd run into first...hence our non-standard appearances." She motioned between them as she assed to the initial greet.

Nyx gave the slightest of looks to the Security terminal and Jarok nodded in response, indicating the orders were authentic. The captain broke into a smile, then a laugh, "Well now, this is fortuitous. Two new officers and a shiny new scout as well."

"Sir, their ship cannot continue travelling through the nebula on their own, the damage will be significant." Liana cut in.

Nyx nodded to J'Oh and turned back to the main screen, "Maintain your current position, Lieutenants. We will come to you." Nyx clapped his hands together. "Lieutenant J'Oh, prepare the shuttle bay for their arrival."

"Acknowledged," Jack replied, instinctively closing the channel before frowning to himself at a sudden thought. "I think I just hung up on our new captain without being dismissed..." A further pause, then he smiled at Ari with a light shrug before clasping his hands in a single loud clap to dismiss the thought. "Right, I'm setting the scout to automation; the Pandora should control our docking." With that out of the way, Jack left his chair, scooped his uniform jacket from the floor and made his way to the rearward compartment of the scout to fetch his duffle bag.

Arianna chuckled and followed suit to grab her belongings from the back. It had certainly been an interesting few months, travelling to this location with Jack. Refreshing, almost, yet familiar. Whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen. Right now though, she needed to focus on remembering how to exist on a starship full of colleagues. Decades of field-work had left their mark for sure.

OFF