Strange Barriers

Posted on Sat Dec 3rd, 2022 @ 4:23am by Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1000
970 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

As the Vengeance moved closer to the nebula, Johnathan laid in the first leg of their journey through. "Entering the nebula in ninety seconds. We will be starting a series warp two jumps for two minutes each. It looks like there might be a clearing, roughly three million kilometers away, where we can come to a halt and check the ship for any damage." He turned to face Andrei. "On your order, Sir."

Andrei looked between the helmsman and his own sister, gauging their level of planning and interaction on this. He leaned against the metal railing between the conn and the command area, off to the side. The Bridge was still populated with other senior staff, but the three of them were now doing their own thing.

"Take us in." Andrei said, and then turned to Selin. "Do you have any information on that clearing, Kassandra? I'd like to make sure its really clear and we don't end up in hot water on the other side of our warp jump."

She rolled her eyes. "Our scans are showing it is clear. If something is there our sensors are not detecting it."

Johnathan nodded, then turned back to his controls. "Taking us in...now." Activating the warp engines, the Vengeance and the rest of the Shadow Fleet leapt into warp and hurtled through the nebula.

"Reaching first way point in three, two, one, altering course to second way point." Johnathan spoke aloud as he continued to manipulate his controls.

Kass hit the scanners. "Scanning, re-aligning sensors." She announced. "Still zip."

"Roger that," Johnathan replied as he concentrated on his controls. "Approaching next waypoint." He reached over and activated the comms. "All hands, Bridge. Stand by for a hard over turn to port in...five...four...three...two...one, altering course and speed, stand by for next microjump...now"

Outside, the three ships moved in near synchronous movements. Though, as the two alien vessels were being piloted by individual who did not possess Johnathan's skill, they were a bit more sloppy in their transitions.

Back on the Vengeance, Johnathan was calling out their next destination. "We will enter to clear patch in thirty more seconds."

Kassandra was watching her sensors and was gritting her teeth.

Andrei watched with his confidence shrinking every second. He had noticed Kassandra’s eye roll. It was something they would need to talk about very soon. But for now, he watched the pilot work. Looking into the sensor readings on his interface, he observed a rich concentration of decalithium near the next clearing.

“The next one will be our last for a while. We’ll pause there and let our other teams get to work.” He said with a glance toward the two of them. “There’s a significant decalithium pocket, so make sure you don’t fly us into it.”

Johnathan chuckled slightly. "I can put us millimeters from the substance if you want, Sir." He wasn't exactly boasting, he just knew what he and the ship could do without even thinking.

Andrei didn’t share the amusement, but acknowledged the statement with a sober nod of his head. He would see how good the pilot was himself. As the ship dropped out of warp, he felt an unusual lurching as the ship seemed to slip across something dense and then normalize.

Kassandra brought up the data. "Hmm that was not detected." She said softly "I am attempting to recalibrate the sensors to detect it but, it might be something more technologically advanced."

As Kassandra spoke, Johnathan worked his controls quickly. "I have no idea what that was, Sir!" He used his navigational sensors to try and locate...whatever it was.

“Some kind of hardened material. It reads as if it’s made of the same stuff as the gaseous material of the nebula.” Andrei said with a curious expression, getting the data from his interface. “Kassandra, this is the sort of thing I expected you to find while you were rolling your eyes at me.” He spoke with an edge to his professional tone, obviously meaning to blame her for their skirting whatever that was. “Compensate for the readings on this…mass for our next warp jump.”

"Jumping back to warp," Jonathan warned the bridge crew. "In three, two, one, now!"

Outside the warp nacelles rotated back up again, and the warship leapt to warp speed.

"Current leg will take us another two hundred thousand kilometers deeper into the nebula." Jonathan reported. Then, a few seconds later, he gave another warning. "Dropping to impulse in...five...four...three...two...one...mark!" He manipulated his controls to bring the Vengenxe back to sublight speeds.

As they dropped out of warp this time, the ship lurched even harder than before. Andrei nearly lost his footing as they passed through some invisible barrier.

“Is it just me or are those getting stronger?” Andrei asked, accessing the console feed in his interface and standing up tall. “They are definitely getting stronger with each warp jump.”

Kass was ignoring the chatter around her as she brought up the scans. "Whatever it is, it is powerful enough to reflect our scans back at us or interfere with them somehow. Its why we could not detect this"

“Then let’s hold here until we have answers.” Andrei said with a frown. “Full stop.”

"Yes, Sir!" Johnathan replied. "Controls are reading all stop." A few bears later, he added, "Navigational sensors show we are fully stopped, Sir."

"Good. Let's see what we can find about phenomena like this. I don't have a good feeling about it." Andrei said, furrowing his brow and turning around. He would go to the tactical console and do some research himself. He made a mental note to speak to his sister when they had the time.

END