The Indigo Sky

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 5:03am by Cailus Griffin & Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant Katniss Wakefield & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Tyson Brookes & Lieutenant James Smith & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 2:37pm

Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: USS Pandora
Timeline: Mission Day 1: 0900

A Mission Post by Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Mindo & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri & Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan PhD & Lieutenant Katniss Wakefield & Lieutenant James Smith & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Lieutenant JG Tyson Brookes
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: USS Pandora
Timeline: Mission Day 1: 0900
Sun Apr 1st, 2018 @ 11:41am

After saying a farewell, for now at least, to the Mendazians, the USS Pandora continued on her journey deeper into the Inconnu Expanse. Heading back into the centre of the Expanse would have required another trip through the dark matter nebula - something the crew and Captain was keen to avoid - so the Pandora had travelled further around the edges of the territory instead. Here they proceeded along the narrow corridor between Salvaxe's two stars and into an area that had only been lightly charted by the previous Starfleet crossing of the USS Merrimack. This territory had been nicknamed "The Indigo Sky" by the Merrimack due to the unusual combination of spacial gases and electromagnetic activity giving the surrounding space a neon-purple haze, which particularly came alive when Salvaxe's stars aligned together.

The Pandora was in luck, they had arrived just at the right time to see the Indigo Sky in it's full glory. Standing on the Bridge, Captain Nycolas Temple had a bemused smile on his face as he saw the phenomena ahead of them.

"Lieutenant Fick," He spoke warmly, "All stop."

Fick was staring at the viewscreen, his eyes wide at the amazing sight. "Holy sh... Aye, Captain." The Pandora slowed and then came to a complete stop.

Pressing the open comms button on his chair, Nyx leaned over and with a grin on his face, addressed the whole ship. "Attention crew, it is my pleasure to report that we have arrived at our destination. Feel free to make your way to the nearest port window and witness this fantastic visual experience, that you could only see here in the Expanse."

Krysia was sitting at Ops in her first official duty on the bridge since she first arrived aboard having been busy helping with the repairs. She looked up at the viewscreen thinking how beautiful the view already looked and how much nicer it would be if she was sitting looking at it with James. She tapped the Ops console setting up the ships sensors to gather as much information as possible about the phenomena ahead, “Sensors are gathering every bit of information we can get from here Captain.”

Mindo arrived on the bridge then, stepping out of the turbolift. "Sweet leaves of tranya," he said, his eyes wide at the beautiful view.

From the Pandora Sick Bay, Doctor Brookes turned from his work to the starboard windows. The indigo hue lit up the room brightly. Ens. Willis had her pregnant Misha an elderly Golden Retriever, delivering pups as they entered the Indigo Sky.

Tyson held up the golden lil'rump of slick fur. "Welcome to the world. The indigo world..." He whispered holding the pup in the indigo hue.

Krysia's eyes diverted to the turbolift she could already sense James approaching the bridge, as the doors opened she offered a warm smile before turning her attention back to the view & the sensor readings that were being recorded.

Smith exited the turbo lift and looked toward ops where Krysia was sitting and smiled back before heading to a console behind the Captain. The view was breathtaking and the sensor reading that were being fed to his computer as well was amazing.

Shae was nearby on her own Science console studying the readings they were already receiving from the Indigo Sky. On her face was one of the biggest smiles she had ever worn, her excitement knowing no bounds: this was what she had spent years of diligent study for, this was why she was in Starfleet, rare gems of breath-taking discovery!

Krysia looked across to Shae she didn't to be empathic to see how much Shae was enjoying this, taking a moment to look away from her console readouts Krysia smiled as the sheer hue of colours filled the viewscreen. Up until now she'd have looked at it in a scientific way but now she found the romantic aspect as well. Shaking off romantic thoughts she looked back at her station and the readouts that were rolling in from the sensors, she tapped her console as she organised extra resources from Astrometrics and Planetary Sciences.

Katniss was in her lab hard at work when the announcement disturbed her, she smiled as she looked out, it really was beautiful and in fact a most romantic scene, not that she had anyone to share that side of her life with, but then again, there was plenty of time for that. She put down the tools in her hand and took a moment to just take it all in.

Having finally gotten used to sitting in the XO chair on the bridge, Owen was enjoying the view before them on the viewscreen. Seeing phenomena like this was one of the reasons he joined Starfleet, despite it being the family tradition. He took in the vastness of the clouds before them. "That is impressive," he remarked quietly.

Krysia looked down at her readouts as there was a bleep, "Captain sensors are picking up..." she paused for a moment, "it looks like it could be a storm but we're right on the edge of sensor readout here. We'd need to get closer to get a better idea."

Smith looked at the readings that Krysia was looking at, hitting a few keys he started to feed the information into the Intel Computers something felt off but he couldn’t put his hands on it. He hit his com badge, “LT Ryan could you examine the data I’m sending you, let me know if you find anything that resembles what we are seeing, access all classified file as well.”

LT Ryan replied, “Aye sir, we will get right on it.”

"Woooow..." Fick exclaimed, still staring at the viewscreen. "We're gonna take pictures, right?" he joked.

Nyx smiled at the helmsman, before turning to the Science Station, "Lieutenant Brennan, what's your analysis?"

"Lieutenant Kaleri's initial assessment is right, we're right on the edge of our sensor range. To gain any viable data from the spacial anomaly or the forming storm, we would need to bring the ship in closer, but I would hesitate to bring us too close; we don't know enough about the Indigo Sky to know if it's safe, and with all the Dark Matter scattered around, I wouldn't want us to get boxed in," Shae replied.

At his post on Tactical, Cailus had been working with his usual quiet efficiency, content to let the others take the lead in the scientific endeavour of charting the extraordinary phenomenon beyond them. He was well aware that his own expertise was woefully inadequate compared to the rest of the Bridge staff in such matters. At Shae’s words, however, he added, “Based on these readings, I do not believe that our standard probes would be capable of surviving the various stresses closer to the phenomenon. Even if they could survive, I do not believe that our probes are capable of the high-power sensor sweeps required to properly penetrate the Indigo Sky. Shipboard sensors are the only way to acquire the data that we need, although I concur with Lieutenant Brennan. The risk to shipboard safety is small but very real if we attempt to get closer.”

"Captain," Krysia turned to look at Nyx, "I could send out a long range probe then we wouldn't have to get much closer, it would minimize the risk to the ship as we could set up a relay from the probe to the ship's own sensors to boost the signal strength."

Fick was still staring. He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head, relaxing in his seat.

Owen stood up from his seat and walked over to join Nyx as they observed the phenomena before them. "A probe would be the safest way to gather further data on this local phenomena," he offered to his friend. "Besides, the Pandora just been through one battering...we need to learn things the quiet way for a change." Owen considered the option they had.

"Perhaps if Ops and Engineering fitted out the probe with extra shielding that would also protect it during its data collection?" He offered as a suggestion.

Mindo was still marveling at the view, but he had heard what Owen had said, and he replied, "Yes, I think we could do that."

"Let's work on a modified probe that would be able to handle the region." Nyx nodded. "I'm keen to find out more about this phenomena, our discoveries could be a landmark achievement for the Pandora."

Krysia was paying attention to her readouts but at the same time was feeling very guilty about her argument with Owen earlier, he had after all just been looking out for her in a brotherly way. She wanted to apologise but that would have to wait until they both got off their shift, she'd just got used to having a big brother she didn't want to be fighting with him. Her console bleeped again, "Commander..." Krysia offered Owen a smile "Whatever that is.." she traced her fingers across her console "sensors are saying its getting more intense."

Owen nodded as he turned to face Krys after her report. "If the clouds are getting more intense, then that means theres not a lot of time to get the probe out there," he agreed. Looking back at Nyx as he was thinking aloud, Owen continued. "However if the clouds are building since we arrived does that mean that something local is affecting its pattern?" he questioned aloud.

Nyx looked up at the screen just as there was a shimmering flare crossing the gaseous clouds, and they began to move across the Pandora's bow a little faster. The Captain frowned for a moment, "Could it be possible that the nearby stars are effecting the gravitational balance of the storms? We may find a correlation between the star's orbits and the intensity of the Indigo Sky?"

"It's entirely possible," Shae replied, studying the limited data they were able to get at this distance. "Well this is disconcerting: I'm noticing a build up of neutrinos in the storm. I can only speculate at the cause without more data; we'll either need to modify a probe to withstand the stresses or simply get closer."

The Captain was not about to get closer into the storm without knowing what was really going on, he was choosing to be patient and cautious this time.

"Alright." Nyx clapped his hands together. "Kaleri and Mindo, work on a suitable probe that can penetrate the storm. Brennan, let's continue to monitor the environment and see if we can find some kind of pattern. Fick, maintain position but stay on alert to any changes."

"Aye sir," Shae replied, and while she watched the neutrino levels continued to slowly rise, she attempted to analyze as much about the storm as she could.

“Yes Captain” Krysia stood up from her seat and let the relief Ops Officer take over, she smiled as she joined Mindo. “Let’s get this probe sorted.”

Mindo nodded and the two made their way to the turbolift. "We'll go to Engineering. More room, more tools," said Mindo.

"You got it, Captain!" Fick replied, sitting back up in his chair, his gaze flicking between the viewscreen and his console.

"Nash and Smith, comb the records from the Merrimack, see if there's anything they picked up." Nyx continued, "Everyone else, just enjoy the spectacular show. For now at least."

Owen walked over to Smith at his station. Realising that despite their earlier argument, Krys understood his concern, Owen kept his demeanour in check. "Lieutenant, pleasure to meet you," he said extending a hand to him. "Shall we see what the Merrimack Files have on this phenomena?" Owen asked.

Smith reached out to shake Owens hand and managed a smile and said, “Thank you Commander.” Smith pulled up the file on the Merrimack encounter of the phenomena before them. He looked over at Commander Nash before returning his attention to the information before them.

"Hopefully we can pull up some information on this from the Merrimack... at least lets hope they spent some time here," he said as he continued scanning through the mission files and reports from the older Federation Starship.

Fick leaned back in his chair again to watch the show, grinning broadly. "I should have made popcorn."

“Indeed.” Nyx remarked, raising an eyebrow. He could only hope that what secrets contained within would no longer be a mystery.

OFF