What Of Those Left Behind Part 2

Posted on Tue May 14th, 2024 @ 9:04am by Nollel Livaam (*) & Elara ‘Kara’ Vance (*) & Teresa Forrest & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Chief Comms Rivek & Chief Armoury Rormu Yazlin & Oliver Lucas & Owen Mathieson

Mission: Fractures
Location: Grotto
Timeline: Present
3221 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

The turbo lift to deck 1 was pretty uneventful, to say the least despite Elara and Owen talking about time deities even as they opened the corridor there was silence. Nothing seemed to be out of place other than there was nothing. "You guys are on the bridge often is it normally this silent vibe?" Elara wondered as she let Yazlin step onto the Bridge first and found no one there. She stepped further into the compartment trying to work out what was going on with time travel being an issue for the crew that had been there longer than them all.

Rivek instinctively moved to his console—stage right. He started looking through communications logs to see if there were any logs or signs that could help them out. "I haven't heard the bridge this quiet since coming aboard," He said, swiveling around to face the others. "Eerie, that's for sure."

"You say eerie, I say empty." Unwilling to overstep his bounds, Owen remained just inside the turbolift and scanned the unmanned space uneasily. "There, uh, is an autopilot right?"

Elara looked up at the screen and saw that nothing was moving out there and seemed to be frozen in a moment. “I do not think we need it.” She said softly.

"There should be a system that keeps the ship in relative position," Teresa offered as she headed to a console, starting to pull up menus and functions.

"Err... guys," Elara said as she looked at the operations console and saw the message in some type of pencil that simply said grotto. Why had it not been left on the console? But as Elara looked at it she realised it was Nollel's lipstick and it possibly was the Ardanian's rushed handwriting.

Though he did his best not to get in the way, Owen was tall enough once he'd edged closer to peer over the woman's shoulder. For a man whose entire career depended on accurately deciphering written communication, he made very little sense of the singular word. "Do I want to know what a grotto is in this instance?"

“I do not know what a grotto in this instance is either.” Elara commented with a worried look. She glanced over at Yazlin as a senior crew member she wondered if the woman knew about it and then over at the chief comms just as hopefully.

"I've heard of it," said Rivek. Something jogged in his brain. It was a comment that was made, but was brushed off. His eyes bounced side to side as he tried to recollect its meaning. "Grotto... Ah, yes! It's the special storage unit. Maybe something in there is causing the time disturbance."

"Can confirm," Tree piped up. "I've done a scan of the ship for any traces of tachyon activity, since that's commonly associated with time travel, among other things. I'm picking up some activity in the cargo areas of the ship, specifically the special storage unit. I bet that the answer to whatever's going on lies there."

“It will be.” A voice rang out trying to shove the bridge door open revealing Nollel and eventually Michael walking and talking as well as Oliver in tow. The woman looked far from her usual self but she looked determined. “We cannot get near it without causing some issues for us but from what we have realised you guys do not seem to be having the same effects as us?” Nollel wondered stepping into her usual organisation role.

"I might have a solution," Oliver piped-up. He touched his temple. "Borg implant. Evelyn and I adjusted it so I can see the already-formed fractures. They seem to be moving - some of them growing bigger. We likely need to act reasonably fast before they affect the structure of the ship..."

"That will certainly be useful," Burnie agreed with nod, then looked to Tree. "Tachyons will get you close, but to hone in on where ...whatever it is... that's causing this that's causing this, we need to scan for chronitons - follow the concentration of chronometric energy."

"I figured we'd do that with a tricorder when we get near," Tree argued. "Easier to pinpoint that way than with internal sensors from here," she added.

"Good. You know what to do then," Burnie said with relieved smile.

"You will need to... we cannot get close," Nollel revealed thinking of the attempt she had made to get to the grotto which had led to her leaving the message which had been found. "Or at least we do not know if you can so lets go and do a test." She prompted pointing to the turbo lift.

"If none of you can bypass these disturbances, I'll try to rig a detector to K-9," Burnie said. It was meant somewhat to tell them not to push it if they felt at serious risk, but he could only put so much hope in the option: the android dog might be as subject to time distortions as he and Nollel were (and as much as K-9 was artificial he'd gotten fond him and hated the idea of him being lost somewhen).

"Way I figure, whatever's happening, isn't happening to us new folk. And I'm one of the newest here. I'll go," Tree offered, as she started towards the turbolift, glancing behind to make sure she still had an audience. "Come on, folks! The longer we wait, the less new we all are on this ship!" Ok, that sounded better in her head.

"In for a penny," Owen started, having edged his way through the manoeuvring of several sidesteps to arrive at the back of the rapidly expanding group. It left him closest to Teresa as she pressed forward, and thus left him feeling a little obligated to respond. If he was honest, as he glanced around once and then shuffled forward to join the engineer, there was something altogether too intriguing about an area designated a 'grotto', which seemed out of place on a starship and therefore worthy of investigation. With a sheepish shrug, he offered Teresa a bemused grin and added, "If you count leaving and coming back again, I think I'm the last cab off the rank."

Nollel raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she squeezed into the turbo lift just about and set it to deck 4. As soon as the lift jerked to a stop Nollel noticed a headache starting just behind her eyes but stepped out of the turbo lift and looked around. Nothing looked for anything out of place or unusual but Nollel knew that she would not be able to move much further into the corridor. "Just like last time." She said quietly stepping to the side to let others out.

Tree reached for her tricorder as the turbolift descended, setting it to scan for chronitons. As the lift stopped she stepped out, starting to sweep the space in front of her, watching the readouts on her tricorder as she slowly moved forward.

"About twenty meters. Half-extended from the bulkhead on the left." Oliver pointed vaguely in the direction ahead of them. "If we hug the wall on the right side we'll avoid it."

“I am going to stay here.” Nollel commented feeling the pressure from the area already hitting her in waves. She glanced up watching as the purple skinned woman moved past her without incident.

"Yep, I see it," Teresa replied to Oliver as she cautiously moved ahead in the direction of the Chronitons. "It's getting stro - " she halted and blinked when Elara moved past her. "Well, you're an enthusiastic one, aren'cha."

Elara looked down the corridor but she saw nothing at all there. “Nothing strange but you said twenty meters am I in it?” She wondered as she moved straight into the chronitons without any reaction other than she felt a slight tingling.

Interesting... Burnie had felt a pressure in his head as soon as he'd stepped out of the turbolift, and despite the temptation to attribute it to 'recent' (someday to be recent?) brain surgery, he'd encountered something like it before - an alien temple with an artifact giving off massive time distortions that made moving toward like trying to walk against gale force winds. This however was apparently different, at least for some of them; specifically the newest members of the crew. That suggested 4th dimension quantum entanglement... "Whatever this is, it's tied to Rosie's temporal signature, so the temporal disturbances are magnified, like a sort of resonance, for those of us more connected to her history." He took Nollel's hand, holding back from trying to move further. "Oliver you should stop here too and just direct. Any of us advancing could drive the fractures to increase."

"Believe me, I'd rather not experience any more of those fractures either..." Oliver nodded. "The fractures are growing, you'll have to hurry, before some of them start encompassing entire rooms or decks."

Elara just smiled back calmly at the group stood near the turbo lift. She had a random thought now that she was out in the open away from the main group. “Hmm… quick thought to calm my impulse control. How are you going to guide us once we move further along?” She wondered.

"Do we need to?" Tree asked in return. She shuddered, starting to feel the strange effect as well, but she calmly pushed on. "Way I figure, we newbies figure out what here that's causing this, and you lot over there beam it out or something. Get rid of it. No need to involve you lot coming over here," she shrugged.

"As much as I don't want to admit it," said Rivek, who felt a churning feeling of trepidation, "I think that's the best course of action. Although there's no definite way to know how everything is affecting us, there's a better chance for us to succeed."

“Yes but we don’t know exactly what the grotto is. None of us have been in there or know exactly where it is on this corridor.” Elara pointed out glancing back at the trio stood watching them.

"Though quite a few of us are intrigued to find out," Owen interjected.

"All I know is that it's strictly off limits with the highest possible security clearance." Yazlin added to additional effect. She didn't particularly like being kept in the dark about things aboard the ship but also realised that as the fresh face there she'd have to deal with some of that for now.

“Can we send K-9 with them or a Dot and use him to watch and guide?” Nollel wondered.

"The Grotto is wherever this thing is that I'm tracking," Tree replied. "K-9 is like a bot or something? I'd think it'd be better to have someone smart chasing this signal, someone who can think on her feet," she added, moving forward.

"K-9 is in engineering," Burnie said, checking his wristPaDD. "I'd have to call him up here, which might take more time than we'd like wait." He frowned. Worrying about time in the midst of temporal chaos would never cease to be darkly ironic. "There's a Dot not too far away though. I have no idea if it would carry a temporal signature like a sentient would, but it's a risk, especially given that Dots are nearly original equipment."

“Get it we need some eyes. They aren’t going to have a clue where to go once they are round the bend.” Nollel said quietly thinking of the grotto and the lack of organisation.

"As you wish," Burnie said, a slight grin accompanying the line from an old earth story. He tapped a command and before long a Dot done the corridor toward them.

Nollel smiled as the Dot ambled along the corridor and glanced up at the group stood there. It beeped and started along the corridor leading the group out of Burnie, Nollel and Oliver’s sight. Nollel quickly brought up the dot’s feed on the console. “You need to go another thirty feet to the doorway and the door will let you in.”

“Isn’t this an out-of-the-way place.” Elara commented not having wandered down this way at all over the last couple of weeks. It made her wander what else the ship was hiding as she glanced up at the camera above the door before stepping forward into the grotto and took it all in. The walls were made of metallic panels that she had not seen anywhere else on the ship, giving it a futuristic and sleek appearance despite all the items that were stuffed in there. The room was dimly lit, with soft, pulsating lights emanating from various alien devices suspended from the ceiling that cast strange lighting over the place. Soft, ambient lighting illuminated the space, casting a gentle glow on the contents within making it all look a little less harmless than she sure it was.

It took all of Rivek's kholinahr training to resist touching one of the devices. Some looked like transmitters that left an itch on him, as he wanted to disassemble it. He tried keeping his eyes forward, feeling a certain wooziness that comes with temporal anomalies. "I wonder why all of this is here," he says, "Is it to sell or for equity?" He looks at one that looks intimidating, possibly a weapon. "Or trophies?"

"Well, the guy who owned the ship previously was called The Collector so I am guessing trophies." Nollel's voice said coming from the bot. "When Michael first got unwell in there we stood about 2 meters from where you are, Owen." She said looking as the Dot looked around at where everyone was standing.

Rather surreptitiously, or at least his best approximation of, Owen attempted to appear invested in glancing over in the direction mentioned whilst shuffling back just a little as a precaution. He'd already clasped his hands against the small of his back to keep from touching every item that fascinated him, but a natural amount of wariness for coming into direct contact with something that could slice the universe into small pieces seemed prudent.

"There!" Oliver's exclamation was a little louder than even he expected. After a slightly embarrassed blush he pointed to the view the Dot was giving them. "Back to the right a little. Now over there. That looks like a Borg Chrono-plexing Transceiver. It's supposed to be in a sealed container, but the casing looks like it's cracked, can you see?"

"That does look like one of those, yeah," Teresa agreed. "And it would explain the shenanigans the crew is experiencing," she added, making a face. Borg technology always gave her the heeby jeebies. "So what do you suggest we do with it? My vote's for beaming it into space and destroying it. Nothing good comes from messing about with Borg tech."

“It looks like it is connected up to something else too.” Elara commented shifting a little to look better as she saw something that looked like a stone statue that was connected to it that kept disappearing and reappearing. “That’s not freaky at all.” The purple skinned woman said picking the dot up to show better. “Sorry little guy.” She added as she popped it down politely to the dot. “I vote we blast it with one of those weapons in the corner cause if scans have not picked it up not sure that transporter will.”

"Now that I know its exact location I could get the transporter to just transport whatever's in that specific area, rather than needing to lock it on to a thing," Teresa shrugged. "I'm not sure about shooting active Borg technology inside the ship though. But, I'll defer to y'all's judgment on this."

"The further away we get from it, the better." Rivek piped up. "Even if we are to destroy it, there's no saying whether that could cause a bigger temporal displacement." He kept his distance from the device, avoiding it as if it were cursed. As he stares at the thing, he gets an uneasy churn in his stomach. "Yeah, we should definitely get it off the ship."

Nollel frowned. “I don’t know if you can transport from inside of the Grotto. The walls are made from a material that blocks it.” Nollel revealed looking at Michael for assistance before she heard a suggestion.

Elara shrugged and leaned against a wall. She looked at the borg item and then the dot. “Use the Dot and get it outside.” She suggested.

Rivek adjusted his comm unit to connect to the Dot. He controlled it from a cautious distance and had it slowly pick up the device. "Okay, now where's the nearest airlock?" Before waiting for an answer, he follows the Dot out of the grotto. A bead of sweat dropped from his forehead.

"Corridor G-7" Yazlin remarked off the cuff, as she was standing near the back, keeping an eye on internal and external sensors hoping to catch any threats before they came in and threatened to take advantage of the situation they had found themselves in. "Could we reprogram the deflector dish to fire a pulse of anti-tachyons?"

"Yeh," Tree intoned. "Shouldn't be too hard. I just need to get my ass to a terminal, just take a few moments."

Burnie had briefly been trying to work out if there was a close enough collapsing star, but getting to implode another was more than anyone could really hope for in one lifetime. "Yeah, that should work too. Just remember that before we wound up in this time ripple, outside was an active battle space so have a care what you're tossing it out into."

"Then go. We need to make sure it does not go past the others." Elara said pointedly as she glanced around the Grotto. it gave her shivers down her back just thinking of the man who had collected all of this. It would be something to discuss later on.

"Let's give it some room," Burnie said, moving back out of the crowded corridor.

"I'm working on the anti-tachyon pulse. Should have one ready when you guys get that thing out of here," Tree offered from a console near the door they came in through.

Nollel moved back so she was pretty much against he turbolift door and watched as the DOT took the device across the corridor towards an airlock. It was nerve-wracking watching it as she wanted to help but she did not want to start a nose bleed like she had the last time she had tried to head there.

Rivek guided the DOT to the airlock door. He kept a hefty distance from it. As soon as it entered the airlock, he sent a signal through the communicator to close the interior door. He ran up to the panel to start depressurization. "Device is locked and loaded. Ready to send off on your mark," he said while wiping his brow. After the command was given, he pressed the button and launched the device into the vastness of space.

"Tracking .. Got it," Teresa spoke up from her terminal. Preparing pulse ... Firing in five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... Firing. Aaand - direct hit. Damn I'm good."

And then everything went white for a moment …