Stormfront

Posted on Wed Mar 3rd, 2021 @ 1:42am by Captain Tobias Bach & Lieutenant Charlie Caspian & Lieutenant JG Tobias Jackson-Sanders & Ensign Sturnack & Ensign Kevin Ibanez & Ensign Bryden Guidry

Mission: The Relics of Isonzo
Location: Main Bridge, Deck One
Summary: The Ulysses and the Zheng He brave the massive ion storm surrounding the Isonzo star system, with shields overlapped and a bit of luck. They make it through- but not completely unscathed.
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1130

"Red alert!" Bach made the call, upon seeing the tumultuous, roiling wisps of gray, black, and flashing white that totally encompassed the view on the main screen. "Ms. Caspian, charge the hull polarity field and bring shields to full," he turned to Sturnack, "Status of the polarity emitters and our structural integrity?"

Caspian nodded even before the captain had finished speaking, her hands moving swiftly over her console. "Shields are up. Polarity field charging."

"Polarity emitters are at full power, Captain," Sturnack responded calmly despite the roiling and broiling stormfront brewing on the viewscreen. "Structural integrity field is also fully operational." Below decks, in Engineering, the Vulcan knew Lt. Cmdr. Schaefer would be keeping firm control of things while relaying important information up to the Bridge. Sturnack sent notice that the ship was soon to enter the energetic cloud, based on his calculated predictions of the reasoning for Bach's questions.

"Good. Alright. Mr. Ibanez. Set a circumnavigational course for Isonzo IV. Full impulse power. Take us into the storm front and follow its wave trajectory, bearing-" he checked his armchair notes, "056 mark 353. Nice and easy. Keep us within 1000 meters of the Zheng He. Caspian, keep those deflector fields overlapping," He pointed at the youth, "Stay with the Zheng He, kid."

Caspian nodded once more, biting her lower lip as she worked. The leading edge of the cloud was already teasing Ulysses' deflector fields and she manually reconfigured the shield arrangement as the ship moved ahead. Given that there seemed to be no requirement for weapon systems, Caspian was able to further boost power to Uly's deflectors and widen the parabolic arc of the forward screens to also cover a portion of Zheng He's primary hull. With satisfaction, she watched as her counterpart aboard the second Starfleet vessel mirrored her actions.

"Aye, Captain," Kevin replied, his heart rate rising ever so slightly as adrenaline began to flow through his blood, his senses sharpening. There was a feeling of both apprehension and excitement with him as he watched the majestic grow closer. "Course laid in, impulse engines at full." He was careful to recall the simulations he ran with Ovrora as the ships approached the ion storm. His fingers dancing on the helm console, he kept the Ulysses close to the Zheng He, ready for any sudden evasive maneuvers that might need to be employed.

"Alright kid," Tobias pushed back into his center chair, and addressed Ibanez, "Take us in. Caspian, keep those shields locked-in with Zheng He. Sturnack, Saunders, if the structural integrity so much as twitches, I want to know about it.

The larger Zheng He, her shape a more venerable one, held below the newer Ulysses. And slowly the tiny pair of craft so dwarfed as to might as well be sand in the face of a sandstorm, sidled into the storm. And they knew it when they did. Deckplates trembled. The viewscreen was cool with blues and winding electric arcs. It was enough to want to wince in anticipation. "Hold course..." Tobias said to Ibanez, "You're doing fine..."

Kevin could feel the nerves starting to build in him slightly, but he kept his cool as the helm station vibrated underneath his touch along with the rest of the ship. It was one thing zipping through asteroids in a shuttlecraft, but another when you were flying a starship with an entire crew dependent on your piloting skills. "Speed is holding steady; the computer is compensating for inertial resistance," he reported to the captain as they proceeded deeper into the storm.

"Our structural integrity field is fluctuating, Captain," Sturnack reported impassively, confirming the man's suspicion that such might happen. "However, compensation is in progress. We are not presently at risk, though I will continue to monitor the situation," the Vulcan dryly mentioned, as if explaining nothing more exciting than a planet's typical annual rainfall.

Nodding slowly in more or less agreement with the Vulcan engineer's assessment, Toby looked toward the Captain, "I'm a little concerned though Sir, that we will begin to lose the capability to generate the power we need to maintain ourselves if we're in this for an extended period. The ship's taken a lot of strain already just getting us here." It was of course true that repairs had taken place, but there was only so much they could do without a proper overhaul.

The screen blitzed with a bright, all-encompassing whiteness and just as quickly faded to the undulating swirls of the ionic disturbance. The lights flickered and the plating of the decks and bulkheads rattled. Sanders' panel squelching a terse warning at him. And then again- the screen lit up even more brightly, almost washing out the deep scarlet twilight of Condition Red. Saunders' panel screeched again- followed by Sturnack's. Then the ship took a hard- though brief- tilt to the left.

"That felt bad," Bach said toward his officers, "Just how bad was it?"

"Uh," Sanders squeaked, his hands racing across the console in front of him as he pulled power from auxiliary and dumped it simultaneously into the ship's shield generators and maneuvering thrusters in an attempt to help right the ship. There was only a moment of calm before a sudden high pitched whine culminated in a small explosion toward the back of the bridge as a power relay failed, causing Sanders' own console to flicker momentarily before the inbuilt backup picked up the slack, "We have burnt out relays on almost every deck, primary generator output has decreased to eighty-two percent but the auxiliaries and backups are holding." Taking a deep breath, Toby added, "For now."

Sturnack’s eyes narrowed as he regarded the console in front of him, studying the glowing depictions of resultant damage. “Our shields were able to absorb the brunt of the energy, though the accompanying power surge — as stated — has burned out many relays. On top of that,” the Vulcan looked up, “we have minor damage to the central computer core. Backups are online and assisting but,” Sturnack noted, an eyebrow arching, “we are experiencing a 23% reduction in computational speed at present. Teams are engaged,” he reported, confirming the status update from the engine room below.

"If we lose any more shield relays, I'm going to have to pull everything back from Zheng He just to make sure we have enough coverage for ourselves," Caspian noted quietly.

Tobias Bach raised a brow, "Stay with it kid," he calmed to Ibanez at the Helm. The rattle of the deck plates seemed to shift for the better as Ulysses slipped into a storm current. The ship felt a lurch forward and righted itself. "A lot of potholes in the highway..." Bach said with a quick bluster of air past his lips. Quiet descended. An eerie calm as about then, flashes of white, sometimes blue, or even purple-tinged lightning struck. A console would warble warnings from Engineering or Ops. "Hold your course Ibanez... we'll just spiral into the inner system as best we can."

"Aye, Captain," Ibanez replied, his tone dead flat as his concentration didn't waver from the task at hand. "Course holding steady. Compensating for inertial turbulence." The seriousness of the situation had washed any nerves out of him; there was no time for anxiousness or second-guessing now. Instinct took over along with the cool, calm-centeredness drilled into him at the Academy. He only had two things to do: follow orders and fly the ship.

Moving quickly to deactivate the alarm on his panel that was screaming at him, "We have incoming!" Sanders called urgently, holding tightly to his console and looking up at the view screen in time to witness a large bolt of energy strike their companion ship, stealing any momentum the Zheng He had possessed as her lights began to fail in waves, rippling from fore to aft slowly as only her nacelles managed to find a way to flicker back into life.

Bach set his jaw with a flex, looking at the scoring and carbonization that now zigzagged a portion of the Zheng He's dorsal saucer, "Hmm... deck five, maybe six looks like..." Bach commented. But they had no way of being sure- communications were offline. "Drop our speed back, Kid. Stay with them. We both get through, or not at all."

"Aye, sir," Kevin replied as he glanced up at the viewscreen, almost as if he was anticipating another strike that might hit them. He lowered the Ulysses's speed and adjusted their course slightly to match the Zheng He's. "Speed adjustment confirmed."

Bach touched his comm panel, "Bridge, Sickbay. Any casualties from that hit?" He inquired.

Bryden passed a dermal regenerator to a nurse beside him to take over as he stepped back. "We have a few, cuts and scrapes mostly, a couple broken bones. We've gotten lucky, no fatalities to report." His eyes tracked around the medbay, counting. "I have a med team on deck two, do you need one on the Bridge?"

"Nothing yet, Doctor," Bach replied, "I'll let you know if things fall to pieces. Bridge out." Bach tapped the comm key. "Steady on course Ensign... let's just ride this plume into the inner system..." he said as he eased back into his chair. Torquemada still hadn't fixed it. "Hold your course..." His stern eye narrowed with a lip purse at the Zheng He's older hull.