Previous Next

Arrival At Granweh

Posted on Wed Jun 6th, 2018 @ 3:08pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Mona Gonadie & Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Marci Ulfred

Mission: Curing the Black Blood
Location: USS Hera Bridge

Popping out of warp, the USS Hera started scanning the Granweh system, her stealth plating still in effect. There was no telling how Danu would react to having a starship suddenly appear in her sky so they were trying to play it safe.

"Helm, high polar orbit. Signal the away team as soon as we find a suitable insertion point." Enalia checked her personal console briefly as the bridge personnel busied themselves.

Gonadie nodded and moved the ship into a high polar orbit, the stealth plating still on and the polar magnetics now adding to the disguise. "Now in orbit."

Next was the report of the Ensign at operations. "Captain, I've found a suitable insertion point for the away team close to what I believe is Danu's main temple. At least I assume it's her main temple - the energy readings are insane. If my passive initial scans are correct, that one temple can put out more than all of Earth's power grid."

"I'd expect no less of one of the eldest of the gods," replied Enalia, grinning as she checked her own readouts built into her chair. "Signal the away team that they may beam down when ready."

"Aye, Captain. Away team is beaming now." The ops ensign tapped a few keys as an alert went off at their station. "Captain... I'm detecting... Incoming!"

Before the Ensign could get anything else out, a bright green flash of light enveloped the ship and dimmed, leaving behind darkness as the customary sounds of the warp core and the backup fusion power plants faded to nothing.

"Report!" ordered Enalia as she leaped out of her now dead captain's chair and headed to the nearest engineering console, which also seemed to be dead.

The ops ensign replied. "It looked like some sort of dampening wave. The backup batteries are shielded but the magnitude was immense so I'm not sure if even they..."

Suddenly a few emergency panels flickered to life weakly as the backup batteries kicked in.

"It seems they did." Checking their systems, the young ensign sighed with relief. "Life support is ok. Batteries are at ninety seven percent. Emergency comm relays are online. Everything else is offline and the dampening field seems to still be in effect."

"So we can breathe and talk to anyone in the ship but that's about it. I guess our trials have begun." Enalia tapped her comm badge. "Telvan to sh'Zoarhi. We've been hit with a dampening field by our host. What's your status? Tell me you can cut through it and get the warp reactor running."

" Working on it captain. The ships surrounded by a field which his stopping a warp field from being formed. I have the emergency backup power cells heading for the life support system whilst we try and find a way around this. " The andorian replied as she hurried around the now dark engine room.

"Our backup fusion reactors are also offline so do what you have to to get us power. Keep us informed of any progress." Enalia turned to Clio. "Commander Eneas, sensors are down. I need people looking out windows with tricorders or something to make sure we're not falling into the planet or that something isn't about to blow us up or a space whale isn't going to start humping us."

"You got it." With the ship on emergency power, the 'paging' system was down, so there was no hope of alerting people quietly. Clio knew her voice wasn't the most calming or reassuring, but the Hera had been through so many crazy happenings that the crew wasn't likely to be phased anyhow. Putting some words together, she activated the emergency shipwide comms. "Attention all hands. By now you will have noticed that the Hera is running on emergency power only. Our sensor network is down, but internal communications are working. If you are on a deck with windows to the outside, please take a working tricorder to one of those windows and keep an eye out for danger. If you do not have or are unable to procure a tricorder, keep an eye out anyway. Report any unusual findings or possible hazards to the bridge immediately."

Enalia nodded as she stalked the bridge like a caged beast for a few moments. "All our technology and she strips it away like so much fodder... We need to contact medical. Telvan to... Lieutenant Ulfred. What's the status of our black blood patients?"

"All stable in their current conditions so far." Marci's voice seemed unnaturally bright given the situation. "Aewia's shadow cat was here earlier, but it left when I handed it a snack she likes. Speaking of which.... Commanders Eneas and Jordan are there with you. Neither of them has produced a shadow critter yet, but stress tends to bring them out. Keep an eye out."

"Actually, Commander Jordan was recently confined to quarters just before our arrival. Can you spare someone to check on her?" Enalia just had a sinking feeling in her gut telling her that they likely had another of the black blood beasts running around and it wasn't a good feeling. "Have security join you with whatever passes for weapons right now, just in case."

" This is Thex I could check on her. I need to get some readings from the auxiliary resonance index so i can drop by on my way there." Came the andorians voice from over the combadge.

There were a few words the universal translator did not render, swearing in Marci's native tongue. "Thank you, Thex," she said after a moment, her voice a bit more tight but still somewhat cheerful. "Take a security team with you, please."

Things were happening and reports were coming in slowly, but at least progress was being made. The ship wasn't visibly falling towards the planet, but there was seemingly nothing they could do to correct their situation for now. Minutes passed by slowly as Enalia paced the bridge like a trapped ninka.

"Captain, I think I've got something!" Called one of the junior engineers that were on the bridge when power went out. Suddenly the consoles across the bridge lit back up and the viewscreen flickered to life. "I've restored the bridge module's emergency reactor. We have minimal sensors, bridge computer is coming online, and systems shielding is engaged."

"Great work!" Heading to the helm, Enalia punched up the bridge navigational sensors. They weren't much, but they were enough to confirm they were indeed in a stable enough orbit with a few quick calculations in her head. "Ok, let's see if we can get some more ship system reports."

A few more long minutes passed before a few more ship systems started coming online and a few reports came trickling in. The rest of the ship was still offline, but with the bridge module at least running, they could at least monitor the rest of the ship's powerlessness.

"Captain..." came the uneasy call from the operations console by the ensign there. "I'm picking up excessive black blood readings across the ship. In the jeffries tubes near engineering, sickbay... and below decks... waste reclamation. Captain, I think those infected are losing control, summoning beasts, and attacking people. I have a report of several dead crew in..." Pausing a moment, he tapped his console a few more times. "Confirmed. Eight dead crew so far between the three locations."

Enalia's heart sank as the reports came in. She had hoped that they could hold out long enough to get help, but unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case. They were eating her crew and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Captain, the dampening field has been lifted. Systems are coming back online." reported the Ops Ensign. Suddenly, the comms flared to life and there was a familiar voice.

"Xustos to Hera," he said. "Please respond."

"This is the Hera. What's your status?" replied the stressed voice of Captain Telvan.

"We have made contact with Danu," Mal said. "Please beam down the infected, as well as Miss Ahreva Malana. If she's willing, I need her to do something ridiculously dangerous in order to cure our friends."

"We'd love to, but we've lost power to the entire ship." Enalia replied, seemingly distracted. "We're getting things back online now, but those infected are running rampant. It'll take us some time before we can beam anyone anywhere."

The bridge crew listened in on the conversation between Danu and Mal for a few more moments before Enalia had the comm channel closed. "Captain, the infected are no longer aboard. I'm reading no signs of black blood anywhere on the ship."

"Well, that's one problem solved, I guess..." Enalia muttered as she checked the status readout on her command chair. "Maintain status on the away team and get status updates across the ship. I want head counts as well."

"Aye, Captain," replied the young Ensign as he busied himself with the work.

 

Previous Next

labels_subscribe