SCENE 2 - U.S.S. Merrimac

[tomcat]

Rictor, you got it right. The Columbia and the Merrimac are at Medium range to the cluster and you put the TN together perfect. I am going to give the results to your post in narrative.

I also want to mention - you guys might have seen that your posts have been moved. I really want you guys to post in the part of the ship that you are in, even your communications to other departments. I know it seems trivial but I am trying to relay a feeling of being in different parts of the ship, but also I don't want to get confusion when one player thinks a PC is there who isn't. If you want to copy/paste your communication transmissions in the target board, that is fine, but just paste the communication... not the rest of your narrative.

Any questions, give me a shout! 



The data from the Merrimac's damage was already spooling up Sorek's console when Stonn asked about the radiation. The Columbia's sensors had scanned the primary and secondary hulls and was detecting carbon scoring on the surface of the vessel. There was damage to the hull that definitely had come from physical impacts - most likely of asteroids - but there was also evidence of energy weapons striking the Merrimac. What Sorek could not determine was what had caused what. Did the Merrimac get attacked and then the attackers left her to slowly be drawn into the cluster's gravitational well? Or was it one of the giant floating rocks that disabled her and then left her easy prey to the pirates that prowled this sector, close to Orion space? The thought brought back a bullet of data that Downer had recovered regarding the Merrimac and her current mission, and how she had participated in the corraling of a number of pirates.

While the half-vulcan's mind worked on this conundrum, he looked back to his console to determine the radiation situation. Sorek raised an eyebrow and then ran the test again. The result was the same. He then took measure of the readings he was getting and attempted to place the focus. Running the scan one last time to confirm the results, Sorek was satisfied. The Merrimac was free of radiation. It seemed the ship was sitting in a bubble of energy that dispersed the multiple wavelengths, emanating from the stars, away from the vessel. The bubble was only as wide as the primary and secondary hulls, and it apparently originated from the strange reading that was picked up in the initial scan.

Still unaware of Sorek's findings, Grahm was pondering over Ramos' cancellation of the transporter use. He walked over to Stonn, "Captain, the Aladdin-class shuttle on board should have enough shielding to protect the passengers that make the transit. It is a warp-capable craft and the unnecessary warp power could be diverted to reinforce its shields."

[Rictor]

Sorek turned back to look at Stonn before looking at the image of the Merrimac on screen.  Once he was satisfied that however illogical his conclusion was it had to indeed be the truth.  He looked more directly at Stonn and raised an eyebrow once more.  "Captain it would seem that the damages to the Merrimac have been caused by collisions of some sort, most likely caused by asteroids...as well as some weapons firing.  Though I can't be certain at this time which happened first, if I determine that I'll let you know."

He then turned back and looked at the readings one final time trying to ensure that the anamoly was indeed making things safe he continued.  "It would also appear that the anamoly seems to be somehow shielding the Merrimac from radiation, so there should be no danger from radiation to the team sent over to investigate."

Out of curiosity who exactly is supposed to be going over to the Merrimac as an away team...as at times it seems like Sorek is supposed to yet at other times it seems like he's not.

[tomcat]

Hee hee hee... I have been waiting to know who is going over myself. Grahm wants a piece of the action! 

Then again, I like having my finger on the ship's phasers and photorps, so we shall see!

[tomcat]

I am waiting on the PC decisions here, so tell me if you are unclear on anything and need me to give new narrative.

[sdrotar]

  I'm assuming that the boarding party has some sort of radiation suit at their disposal that they could store on the shuttle in case the readings change...

"Mr. Sorek, in light of the peculiarities we've encountered thus far on the Merrimac, I want you to take command of the rescue party," Stonn said. "Assist Dr. Sherman in recovering any survivors if possible, but otherwise, please observe these anomalies personally. If you require additional science personnel, have them report to you on the hangar deck."

Stonn thumbed a toggle on his chair and spoke directly to the transporter room, while patching in Engineering. "This is the captain. Chief Engineer Ramos' concerns are noted and Science concurs. Though scans show that radiation is not a concern on the Merrimac presently, the rescue party is ordered to report to Science Officer Sorek on the hangar deck, where a shuttle is being prepared. Emergency radiation suits will be stored onboard in case the situation changes. This is a rescue mission, but caution is advised, and Medical personnel are to be accompanied by Security officers when possible. Keep an open channel to the Columbia at all times and report back with anything deemed... unusual. Captain out."

He turned to Grahm. "Maintain Yellow Alert until we know exactly what transpired here. The safety of our rescue party is our top priority."

[tomcat]

"Aye, sir," was Grahm's response. Behind him, Sorek stood and walked from the bridge.

The tactical officer checked his console to assure there was no dangers, and then set about the next task at hand. All Federation vessels were configured with a prefix code that allowed one ship in the fleet to override the command controls of another. Looking at the Merrimac in the viewscreen and seeing the presence of power still flowing throughout, John made the assumption that the ship's computer core still had to be in operation. It was the mind of every vessel, whereas the warp core was the heart. If there was enough autonomy still functioning with the Merrimac, then the prefix code would allow the Columbia to take semi-control of any of her still-operating systems.

Grahm brought up the Starfleet database of all ships, tapped the screen for the Constitution-class, and then selected the Merrimac's registry. He typed the word p-r-e-f-i-x-c-o-d-e, and a numeric override came up. He looked over his shoulder, "Dylan... sending you the Merrimac's prefix code. Transmit it and see what we are able to bring up on controls. We'll need that shuttle bay hangar door opened first."

[Rictor]

Sorek looked over his shoulder briefly at Stonn then the view screen at the Merrimac, he then turned back to his console and activated the com portion of it.  "Lieutenant Marshal, report to the bridge to take over temporary duties as science officer.  Crewmen T'Plek, Howard and Jemmison report to the hangerbay to assist with an away team mission."  Without awaiting a response he moved over to stand near Stonn's chair, he clasped hsi hands behind his back and looked at Stonn.

"Captain, I assume my choice of temporary replacement for my position is logical, if there is nothing else required of me on the bridge I'll go meet the rest of the away team and make sure the preperations are in order."  He looked back at the view screen awaiting a response...after it was recieved he nodded slightly and turned making his way off the bridge to obtain the equipment he would need.

  I assume the names of the chosen personnel are fine...I was thinking of the two new names both being human...or near-human.  As for equipment I assume I can obtain a phaser pistol(just in case), a tricorder and of course a communicator(assuming the ones being used are the hand held ones).

[sdrotar]

Stonn nodded in agreement with Sorek and watched as the Science Officer departed the bridge.
"Mr. Downer," he said, "please request that Mr. Sorek's duty replacement report to the bridge immediately."

[tomcat]

  I assume the names of the chosen personnel are fine...I was thinking of the two new names both being human...or near-human.  As for equipment I assume I can obtain a phaser pistol(just in case), a tricorder and of course a communicator(assuming the ones being used are the hand held ones).

All standard equipment will be issued to each landing party member based on department. You will have a personal handheld communicator, as well as the one built into your EVA.

As far as the names go... perfect! Feel free to add as much dimension to them as you'd like.

[Rictor]

  Alright, wasn't sure what equipment I would have access to.  As far as adding more deminsion to the characters...who knows it might happen through role-play during the course of the game.

[donimator]

  Edit - All these 'D' names 

Downer received the prefix code and sent it on a Starfleet secure burst channel. If anything was awake over there, it should respond. He awaited a response to send to the Captain for executive authorization.

Downer relayed the order to Lt. Marshall (Marshall...Marshalll...why did that name seem familiar?). He continued to monitor comms and ran some checks to make sure the radiation levels would not cut communications with the away team. A glance over the ship systems showed everything in the green. He logged the results of the Level 4 diagnostic and began to review the report (not the summary of course, the raw data always told the whole picture).

[tomcat]

Oops! I made an error in character names. Grahm had sent the prefix code to Dylan, not to Devon... thus the wierd pause here.

Sorry about that! Devon Phillips will have no way of controlling the Merrimac from the shuttle, so I have changed my post above and will wait for in character replies.

[tomcat]

Dylan's panel brought up the basic information of the Merrimac along with the prefix code. A Federation interface screen opened up on another quarter of his console panel and he entered the sixteen-digit code. The Columbia's computer core immediately identified the sequence and then from the Miranda's main sensor array began to transmit an encrypted signal waiting for the Merrimac's computer core to receive and link up. Downer hoped that the Constitution's sensor atenna, computer core, and a significant power source all were still available - a green light appeared on his console and he smiled to himself. They were.

image is an interactive thumbnail

It took a few minutes while the Merrimac's debilitated computer fed to the Columbia all system statuses. On the LCARS schematic, which was centered within the quarter of Dylan's console, showed a lot of flashing symbols in red, amber, and green. All of them signified destroyed, inoperable systems, or systems still functioning. Fortunately, the shuttle bay doors were painted in amber - they were damaged but not offline. The Aladdin shuttle would be coming within range of the Merrimac in another ten minutes and so Downer sent the command for the Constitution-class vessel to open its rear hangar bay doors. Knowing what he was doing, the rest of the Bridge crew all held their breath and waited, hoping that the damaged ship would react.

Dylan then went about reading the details of the Merrimac's other conditions.

Code Select Expand

U.S.S. Merrimac NCC-1715
Constitution-class Starship...

SENSORS:
lateral... 38% functionality
navigational... offline
long range... offline

WEAPONS:
phasers... offline
photorps... offline

PROPULSION/POWER:
warp... offline
impulse... 2%
apr... 78%

SHIELDS:
grid... offline

ENVIRONMENTAL:                                                                     
gravity... online
life support... online - multiple hull breach

OPERATIONS:
transporters... 36%
hangar... 75%
sickbay... offline


[donimator]

Downer scanned the report for completeness and summarized it for the Captain, "Captain. The Merrimac has three-quarters auxillary power and just a touch of impulse engine ability. Warp core is offline as are most sensors and weapons. Life support is operational but multiple breaches are reported.  Artificial gravity is active. The hangar is functional and transporters are operating at a third of capacity."

As he was giving his report, Downer transmitted the status report to the shuttle. He also tried to access the Merrimac's logs to see when and what was contained in the last entries.

Computer Use Check?
Computer Use (retrieval), +8, +2 spec.
Roll 2d6+10 = 5,4 +10 = 19 (+Courage if I'm close)

[tomcat]

No Courage necessary Don, that roll was just fine. The only thing a higher score would do is increase the data transfer rate.



Downer efficiently tapped into the Merrimac's log journal and found the data non-corrupted and the last entry dating back to almost one Earth year ago. The Ops officer saw the long list of logs from every department and decided that he would filter the data and look at the Merrimac's captain's and first officer logs only. They would have been the most pertinent in recording what had happened to the ship. Dylan also figured the last log entry made would contain the proverbial smoking gun.

He tapped his screen, selecting the last entry, and the right-side upper quarter of his console displayed a video screen. On the screen a young, blonde woman in what was probably her mid-30's sat in the captain's chair.

Captain's log, stardate 8067.7
Lt. Commander Blair Jones acting captain, as both Captain Morrison and First Officer Kravitz are both dead.

It is now day 22 of the appearance of the object within the Merrimac's secondary hull atrium, and no matter what we do, we can't stop... [screeeccchh!].... [sqqqqwwwaacckk!]... aking the crew members. The ship's living crew now number 33 and sooner or later the atmosphere will finish bleeding out and there will be nowhere left on the ship to keep us alive. All attempts to transmit emergency calls have failed - whether from interference with the object, or due to the Katyon Clusters immense radiation. ... [screeeccchh!].... [sqqqqwwwaacckk!]... ssssssaaaaaavvvve uuuuusssss ... [screeeccchh!].... [sqqqqwwwaacckk!]... only say that. The medical staff are all gone, so there is no one else to try and figure out why the ship's remaining crew are dying. We still have air, and for whatever reason, the Merrimac is being shielded from the radiation by that thing. As I said earlier, all attempts to communicate with the alien object have failed... yet still it draws us.

This may be my last entry... we are moving down into the secondary hull where there is still pockets of the ship not exposed to the vaccuum of space. Jones out.

Downer had listened to the whole log via his earpiece, all the while staring at the sad, scared woman's face. When it ended he felt cold. It had been her last entry, along with the ship's.

He looked at the list of the next few log entries that preceded the one he had just watched and knew that this was not going to be a pleasant task.



More log entries to come, I just want to post in the shuttle thread and then head home for the night... so be back here later tonight!