how dull is the night shift?
Posted on 09 Oct 2021 @ 9:23pm by Lieutenant Ileyana Haistro & Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Rosaline Belikov & Ensign Vince Stryfe
Mission:
Picking up the pieces
Location: Bridge
2112 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure
On:
Stepping onto the bridge, Rose took a deep breath before making her way towards the center chair. The captain had convinced her to take command of the night shift to give her some experience in a command position. After releaving the on duty officer, Rose took a moment to herself before sitting down in the captain's chair, "all stations report"
"Helm reports all calm and not a thing going on," Gordon Capers exclaimed from his seat, adding flair to his comment to make it sound more eventful in a way," if you like we can list lazily to the left to add mystery to our vector."
"Security report, no issues," Sian stated. Wow this was boring. She would rather be down on deck 12 removing the clothes of that nice Ensign she had met a couple of days ago.
Giving a sigh of relief, Rose sat back in the chair and prepared herself for a quiet night. She'd brought up a few Padds with information feeds on them to read through just incase there wasn't anything else to do, but she figured the Captain would want her to try and get to know the night shift crew rather then sit there reading data streams, "so is this what the night shift always like up here? Uneventful?"
"Not always the case." Ensign Riley Ames spoke up as he stepped onto the bridge. "Sometimes things happen when you least expect it. Hello I'm Ensign Ames." the ginger haired man identifying himself. He brought over a padd to Rose. "Here are the stats for engineering." he turned around to go take his place at the station. He scratched at the reddish stubble that was on his jaw. "Looks like I'm going to need another shave" Riley muttered to himself, checking in the reflection of the view screen before he activated it.
Ileyanna followed Riley from the turbolift having drawn the short straw in covering the night shift at Ops as part of the cross department training. Since Anek has left for Copernicus, someone she would miss because he had those dreamy eyes and being tall, dark and handsome may have had something to do with it as well. She nodded at Rose, having a passing knowledge of her before assuming her seat at Ops and suddenly feeling very overwhelmed by it all. Security and tactical Systems were her speciality not power management, system administration and scanning for lost pets which often had been reported by other nightshift ops officers.
Glancing up at Riley for a moment before returning her attention to the PADD he’d just handed her, Rose cracked a small smile, “oh I don’t know, don’t most engineers look scruffy?”
"There's an ancient game we can play to pass the time," Gordon cracked his knuckles," I see something that is... Black!"
"Are you talking about I spy?" Ames responded with a grin.
Just then, a beeping sound started to come from one of the bridge science consoles before the entire bridge was lit up with a blue hue.
Quickly standing up from her seat, Rose looked around at the others, “report. What’s happening? Why are we at condition blue?”
Gordon stared at his console for a moment," Navigation shows gravitational fluctuations in our flight path. Not directly in front of us, but they could cause a bit of a pain without proper adjustments, inputting those adjustments now.
"Do we need yellow alert?" Sian deadpanned. She eyed up the new security person. The Captains sister she had heard on the grapevine. Next she looked over the redhead deciding with the stubble, he had potential.
Ames took one more look at his stubbly chin then gave a slight nod maybe it didn't look too bad having stubble. He also looked towards both Sian and then at the other dark haired woman, Ileyanna, They were both beautiful, he smiled then turned his attention to what was happening.
Gordon noticed people looking at each other, raising an eyebrow," Umm... I don't see yellow alert being necessary here. Nothing on sensors would leave me to believe that it's anything outside of a galactic anomaly. I'm not a scientist or an engineer, but nothing seems extreme here. And yes, Ames, the game was called I spy, I knew that and was testing you all."
"let's keep an eye on that star, Just incase it decides to do something interesting" Rose said, bringing up the sensor data on the captains chair display. "for now, let's stand down form condition blue, but just in case I want a full scan of the system to see what else is in there"
"Lieutenant" Ileyanna called from Ops, her mind racing at the technical information streaming before her eyes. "The disturbance is highly localised but with an expanding wavefront that is gaining kinetic force as it travels. I would suggest we need shields before it hits and we have precisely eleven seconds!"
Her head snapped around causing her hair to fall loosely around her shoulders and wishing she had spent more time listening to her eldest brothers trains of thought when he would harp on about science. Perhaps she could request as Transfer to his ship, perhaps it would be quieter on a Science ship?
"And the next time someone asks me to look after Ops on the night shift, please remind me not too!"
Rose nodded, “right. Raise the shields. Everyone hang onto something”
"Yes sir, scans show it is the prelude to a complete nova of a Hypergiant. The wavefront is the surface of the star having been ejected before the eruption!"
And the news just kept getting better as the information continued to strem before the Betazoids eyes. "I can't be exact but the star should go nova within the next fifteen mimutes!"
“Helm, point the ship away from the system and prepare to engage warp 2. If that wave gets too hot I want us to be able to jump out of its way” Rose ordered as she listened to the reports. “Tactical, what kind of damage should we expect of that wave does hit the shields?”
"The ship wouldn't survive maam," Sian stated. "It would tear us apart even with maximum shields."
Thinking things through, Rose came up with a thought, "I read something about meta-phasic shielding that was given a prototype run on the Enterprise D. Could we do the same thing for the Drommie? it might help to protect the ship in case we don't managed to jump away in time"
Ames spoke up, "La Forge came up with a program for this, that has been tested to deal with a borg vessel. And I think that we've got the program uploaded in the system, let me check real quick." he went through the files and then, "I found it!" he then looked at Ileyanna. 'I think this is going to take the both of us to do this. You ready?" his fingers ready to get the program activated, on command.
Gordon looked at the room, gauging everyone's expressions. To him everyone just looked so serious right now, and it was odd for him. He had one though, High flow impulse, and warp time," I mean you guys do your sciencey things, I'll put the pedal to the floor and we'll be out of here in no time. By all means do what you can, but I'm gonna be an optimist and say we are gonna be A-OK!"
"You do know I'm a Tactical Officer right.... I aim weapons and press fire!" the young Betazoid women screached as the engineer started doing his work, all she could do was focus and tune out the noises around her, including that of Lieutenant Belikov who she was answering to directly.
“Call me a pessimist if you want Helmsmen, but I’ve learned to expect the worst, or at least plan for the worst. That way the only surprises are good ones” Rose said, as she stood up and walked to where Ames was working, “now this is just a precaution, but how long do you think these shield modifications will hold out for?”
"As long as its needed, I suppose. I've not done it myself but, the program is sound, and you know La Forge is a great engineer!" Ames exclaimed.
"Did you know, La Forge started his career right here in a seat like mine, Flight Control for the win," Gordon quipped from his seat, being as nonchalant as ever.
Rose gave a grin, “so we should expect you to suddenly become an engineering master mind? Well it’s certainly comforting to know that if everything goes to hell, our helmsmen here can fix everything”
"Now hold on one moment I do not intend on becoming obsolete, I'll just have to work on becoming a helm officer then." Ames quipped. "Okay, I think we're ready to put this program into play."
"More than one string to your bow is always beneficial," Sian informed them. "The shield modifications look sound but don't just assume they will hold out. Never assume. I shall keep a firm eye on them."
"I have my eye on power consumption and all the other sciencey stuff that I don't really understand" Ileyana once agian offered from the Ops console, wish dearly she had not offered to cover the shift on the bridge. "Just a thought Lieutenant... Shouldn't we let Captain Reynolds or Commander Fox know what is happening?"
Rose shook her head, “it’s alright, I’m sure we’ve got this in hand” she said, confident that the officers on deck were competent enough in their fields to keep the ship safe. “How much time until the light show starts?”
Riley looked over towards Sian, and the others, "Program is up and running, and we're heading out of the range are we not? The light show as you call it Lieutenant Belikov, will be starting in just a few minutes."
"Good, Helm jump us to a safe distance but not to far. We don't want to interrupt the fun for stellar sciences" Rose ordered
" Copy that ma'am, course already plotted and laid in," Gordon lifted his hand and spun his finger around and he moved it to the button, and pushed it," Science fun time will not be opposed, have at thee Science peeps!"
"Maam," Sian said spotting something interesting on her screens. "There appears to be some well some sort … its signature is similar to the obelisk the Andromeda encountered in its first mission. In sector 7.4.22.1.51 beta."
Ames looked up at hearing this, "Lieutenant Belikov how about checking that out as well. " He was interested in the display of the 'lightshow' that was happening and watched it, also keeping an eye on the engineering readout of the program that was initiating. It looked like it was working well enough.
Giving a sigh, Rose nodded, “alright, Helm set course for the signature, warp 3. Engage when ready” she said as she took a deep breath, “so, what do we think this signature could be? Another Obelisk perhaps?”
"If it is Maam, lets hope it doesn't make us all have nightmares again," Sian quipped.
Ames chuckled as the USS Andromeda set course to the Obelisk. "I hope no nightmares either." he remarked.
"Lieutenant.... The... the thing is directing some kind of low grade multispectral energy signature directly at us. Its focused on deck twelve section seven.... Sickbay!"
Ileyana turned to look at Rose, confusion, worry and a sense of something familiar and powerful tugging at her telepathic senses.
feeling the tug herself, Rose quickly stood up and moved to stand in the center of the bridge, "Emergency full stop. Go to condition yellow, use the shields to block out as much of the signal as possible" she ordered before walking back to the command chair and tapping the intercom, "Bridge to Sickbay, we've detected some strange energy reading being directed toward your section of the ship, please report"
Ames had a concerned expression in his eyes, what was going on? He looked to those who were getting a reaction to something. Then his jaw went slack, as in his mind an image of a rather beautiful woman appeared in his mind, all he could do was look out into space and see her with her enchanting eyes.
"Lieutenant, this isn't an attack" Ileyana exclaimed gently but strong enough to make her feelings plain. "This is meant to be!"
OFF:
Ensign Riley Ames
Engineer
NPC: Hawkins
Ensign Sian Walker
Security
NPC: Reynolds
Ensign Ileyana Haistro
Security
NPC: Lau
Lieutenant JG Rosaline Belikov
Chief of Intelligence
Ensign Vince Strife
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer#
