The Edge of Freedom

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:19am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Lieutenant JG Mercy Ryan
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:26pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Bridge
Timeline: After "Escape from the Sea of Death"

A Mission Post by Commander Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Arthur Torres Dr. & Lieutenant Mindo & Ensign Vecon Fick & Lieutenant Commander Janet Glyndar & Lieutenant JG Mercy Ryan
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Bridge
Timeline: After "Escape from the Sea of Death"
Wed Jul 19th, 2017 @ 10:42pm


ON:

Commander Temple and Ensign Fick returned to the Bridge after their brief meeting in the Ready Room. Nyx sat down in his chair, as he waited for the new Chief Flight Officer to take the conn.

Flick sat down at the helm and adjusted his panel to fit him a little better. His eyes travelled quickly over all of the data streams in front of him, taking in the information as quickly as he could.

"Let's see what you can do, Ensign," Temple called out with a warm smile.

Fick stared at the console and then the view screen. What he saw there was unlike anything he had ever seen before. "I hate to say this, Captain, but I think our best course of action is to take it slowly. We'll have to make it around these pockets without actually letting the ship touch the dark matter." With a deep breath he began to steer the ship carefully around the swirling masses on the screen. He didn't have a lot of sensors at his disposal at the moment, but Fick had developed ways to be good with his eyes and hands and not rely on just the sensors. He knew he had to keep the ship out the pockets, but it was difficult. Some of them were very close together and their movement was not predictable.

Minutes ticked by as the Pandora edged ever so slowly towards freedom. That little opening amongst the churning waves of dark matter had been their growing beacon of hope, and now it was approaching with measured speed.

Meanwhile, Security and Marines were patrolling the ship for ghosts and possible boarders; Sickbay was managing to deal with the influx of patients after the inertial dampeners failed; Sciences were busy finding some answers; and Engineering was pushing the ship out of danger. The Bridge, however, could only sit and wait to see if they would make it.

Sitting nervously in the command chair, Nyx was aware that he was breathing heavily, but understandably eager to free the Pandora from this trap. He fidgeted impatiently, unable to stand this slow pace and constant silence. He needed to know they were going to get out of this okay.

"Mr. Nash?" He called out, "How goes those sensors? I need them back online and operating ASAP."

Owen looked up from the Auxiliary Ops console as he doubled checked his work again. "I think we're there... The only way to know is to give the sensor readings a bit more focus... and a bit of luck..." he answered before walking back to the Ops Console.

"Thank you, Commander," Nyx replied then turned to the Strat. Ops. Chief, "Mr. Torres, are you picking up anything from inside the debris field? Are we being followed?"

Back at the auxiliary tactical console, Arthur's attention was absorbed by the complex array of incoming sensor data. He shook his head, glancing at the captain.

"No sir." He frowned, then: "at least, I don't think so. These sensor ghosts are all over the place. That's what has me so concerned, actually. This would make a perfect spot for an ambush; tricks like this were used extensively by the Maquis when they wanted to take down a larger vessel. If inertial dampeners fail again and one of these 'ghosts' turns out to be a ship-in-hiding, we could be facing a serious problem."

"Mr. Mindo," Nyx called out to the Engineering station, "I hope we have inertial dampeners fully functional and that hull breach sealed?"

Mindo turned around from the Engineering console. "Yes sir. Dampeners are functional and hull breach is secure."

Owen re-routed non-essential power through to the shielded comm sections and re-routed the signal through the Auxiliary Ops console as a filter. Owen watched as the comm chatter started to die down. Convinced he was onto it, he re-directed some of the same power to the sensor pallets and watched as similar readings started to appear.

He looked over at Torres at the Auxiliary Tactical console. "Have a try now, Mr Torres...I may have found a way through this," Owen suggested.

"Aye," Arthur said, watching as some of the sensor distortions lifted from his screen. He glanced at the operations officer, the glimmer of a smile playing around the edges of his eyes. "You're a bit of a miracle-worker, I take it?"

Owen let loose with a cheeky smile in answer to Torres. "Me? A miracle worker...Well I'm doing my best to maintain the reputation..." he said.

"Indeed he is," Temple called out, "I hope this means we can get out of here in one piece now?"

Owen nodded in agreement. "I believe that now we have the sensors shielded from any outside effects, we should be able to make our way out of here with relative ease."

"Glad to hear it," Nyx replied with a sigh, "I have to check in with Sciences and Medical, please keep me posted on any developments and let me know when we're free from the dark matter."

The captain stood, relieved to be leaving the Bridge finally. He couldn't stand those eyes staring at him from the corner anymore. Straightening out his jacket, he looked around to the crew with a pleased smile.

"You've all performed excellently," He announced as he departed, "But we're not out of this yet. Commander Glyndar, you have the Bridge."

Before he left, he moved over to the helm station and patted Ensign Fick on the shoulder, "Good flying, Ensign."

Janet looked mildly amused "Aye, Captain" she said with a smirk on her face. "I will try to hold her together until relieved. Your chair is more comfortable than mine anyways, so you can take you time" she added as she waited to slide into the big seat. She honestly was not a huge fan of Command. It gave her a lot of headaches, left her more drained than even her worst days as Security Chief, and whole idea of having so much weight on her shoulders made her uneasy. When you are Security the safety of the ship and crew is your main concern...your only concern. Stepping into command? One wrong sentence or poor choice in syntax and you could ignite a seven year war or violate some damn directive she thought to herself.

Lieutenant Ryan continued to monitor the science station wishing that she was anywhere but here. She was outside her comfort zone, and preferred to be back in Intelligence. She continued to monitor the situation while trying to remain invisible until she could retreat back to the comfort of the Intelligence offices.

The First Officer could not help but notice the Lieutenant's discomfort. "Ryan, you look a Klingon walking into a romance festival on Risa" commented Janet. "I know that look. Hell, I've been there. Had to man the science station aboard the Adelaide once or twice before they let me fully come off my maternity leave" she explained. "Just keep your eyes sharp and wits about you" added the First Officer.

"Nash, how are we doing on power?" asked Janet, knowing that dark matter was full of surprises. She had heard stories about cosmozoa that lurked in patches of space with dark matter...things of legends and myths, cosmozoa that latched onto starships and brought them to their deaths.

Owen ran a check of the current power reserves and the the current power usage taking place throughout the ship. Once the readings came in he was pretty satisfied with what he saw.

"We're doing ok with the power reserves, so far she's not developed a sudden thirst for energy, but I'll monitor the power usage as we head out of the Dark Matter," he explained, patting the console lovingly.

"However, it doesn't hurt to be cautious...you never what hungry space phenomena are out there waiting for the next starship to turn into a good meal," he joked before returning to his work.

Janet could not help but shake the feeling that something was watching them...something was out there. "Torres, be ready to put that brain of yours to use in a moment's notice if we need it" she directed.

"Aye, sir," Torres replied, his concentration fixed onto his screen.

Fick leaned back in his chair and let out a long, breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. His arms ached a little from the tension and he rubbed them, glad to be free of the swirling pockets of death. The ship moved further and further away from the debris field. Fick was more than relieved and he was certain that the rest of the crew shared his sentiment.

A noise from the Ops Console caught Owen's attention from the viewscreen. He smiled as he saw the information the readouts displayed.

"Sensors confirm we're clear of the field,...we've made it out of the other side," he reported.

There was a collective sigh of relief from the Bridge.

OFF