SCENE 2 - U.S.S. Merrimac

[tomcat]

After the passage of some minutes, Sorek's voice was heard. "Captain Stonn, we have found the first of the crew of the Merrimac. Also, it may be that Mr. Phillips has had the first experience with our unknown."

[sdrotar]

"Very well. Proceed with extreme caution," Stonn replied. "Whether it was intentional or not, it is entirely possible that the entity caused the deaths of the Merrimac's crew. Act accordingly and keep an open channel."

[tomcat]

"Undertood, Captain," was the short reply.

[sdrotar]

Stonn thought about the irony involved in his situation.
In the ship's last two assignments - his final ones as science officer - the Columbia's mission ended up being more or less military. But now, when there was real science to be performed, here he was in command.

It was truly impossible to predict the path of universe, he thought.

He resisted the temptation to board a shuttle and fly over to the Merrimac himself, but it was becoming more difficult to do so as the alien's call across space beckoned him.

[tomcat]

Never stopped ole Kirk from beaming down, getting his shirt torn open, a little blood in the corner of his mouth, and the babe. You can't deny Stonn that, not even due to the fact he is Vulcan.

[donimator]

Downer continued to monitor the ship and parse logs. The frantic activity on the Merrimac  had settled somewhat and little could be done until reports filtered back in. He began to ponder the nature of this alien 'presence' from what he had found out so far. The object seemed to manipulate radiation in some way. Most of their active scans involved radiation on different wavelength bands. Perhaps they too were manipulated and this thing was hiding in plain sight.

He didn't have the background to set it up himself and wished dearly that Sorek was still manning the science station. He sent a message to the replacement science officer with his assumptions. Perhaps a more passive type of scan, looking for anomalies in the scan itself or the information it returned would be more telling then the physical instrument readings.

The radio messages. The haunting logs. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was still out there.

[tomcat]

Hey Don, so that you know how I work departments in the Trek game... I leave all rolls and RP'ing to the player that heads that department. Hence, you play Sorek so you control all NPC's within that department. This being said, I will speak for them and let you know what they determine, but for rolls or for basic communicating, it is all you. Your staff get a dice modifier equal to your PC / 2 for any relative skill check.

Now, for what Downer is considering will require an extended test for the Columbia's sensors to do deep scans. Here is what I need for rolls:

Sys Ops [Sensors] TN 100
-Each test will take 4 hours of study time (decreased by the DOS result) and each roll must achieve at least a 10, otherwise the time spent was non-productive.
-A disastrous failure will cause all data to be corrupt with 'false reads' and the entire extended test must be started over.
-You may roll ALL test rolls now to determine how long it will take the Columbia's science teams to come up with any results.
-Understand, I will have some hidden elements on the test results that I am looking for to see if the time spent really does come up with something. What this means is, even though the science teams are working overtime to achieve a goal, there will still need to be a hidden element to the test so that it is not just a matter of you rolling the dice to see how many hours need to pass for me to tell you if there is something there or not.  (Am I making sense here?)
-Ship resources will also play into this test. If the Columbia is hard put by a new threat, it will pull resources from this study and may extend the duration.
-Finally, I may come up with a better idea as I sit and give it some thought, while my wife and I watch some TV and enjoy a bowl of ice cream... until then, have fun! 

[donimator]

  Think I got it. Assumptions - still at extended range (no bonus from Columbia Sensors, no interference on Sensors from Cluster) and replacement officer would act at +5 to Sys Ops (Sensors) roll (Sorek +8, +2 specialty). If I'm on track, I'll throw out the first five extended test rolls to see where it stands.

Lt. Marshal was the natural replacement for Sorek and Downer hoped he was up for the task - both in competence and in time-management. Everyone on the bridge was stretched to accomplish their objectives and he felt bad about loading extra work onto another discpline, but had learned to follow hunches. He received the acknowledgement from Marshal that he would initiate and run the scan as time allowed.

Science Officer, Lt. Marshal Sys Ops (Sensors) extended test. TN 100
Sorek, Sys Ops +8, Specialty +2 = +10
Halved for subordinate's actions = +5

Rolled 2d6+5 : 1, 2 + 5, total 8

Rolled 2d6+5 : 6, 4 + 5, total 15

Rolled 2d6+5 : 4, 3 + 5, total 12

Rolled 2d6+5 : 3, 5 + 5, total 13

Rolled 2d6+5 : 3, 2 + 5, total 10

[donimator]

Extended test - continued
Previous results - 1 failure, 1 marginal success, 3 complete successes.
Tally of results of successes = 50
TN Remaining = 50

Lt. Marshal (or his relief) continue with the test:

Rolled 2d6+5 : 2, 3 + 5, total 10

Rolled 2d6+5 : 5, 1 + 5, total 11

Rolled 2d6+5 : 4, 6 + 5, total 15

Rolled 2d6+5 : 4, 2 + 5, total 11

Rolled 2d6+5 : 1, 2 + 5, total 8

[donimator]

TN tally = 97

Rolled 2d6+5 : 4, 4 + 5, total 13

Hopefully this wraps it up. Future action may overlap with the completion of this scan so you can throw out any results (or partials) as you see fit.

actually, in case I blow that last roll here's one more just in case:

Rolled 2d6+5 : 3, 2 + 5, total 10

[tomcat]

Okay, based on the results and looking on the DOS chart, it will take a total of 37 hours before the science staff is able to begin to generate any information from their study to see if Downer is on the right track here. All of this work can, and will be going on in the background of our story and it can be subject of posts, if you'd like. If the Columbia is drawn into any major excursion within the next 37 hours, resources for these studies might become strained and lengthen the amount of time. I will let you know the time lapse as our story goes on.

We'll see what happens. 



The science station behind Stonn became more active as Marshal began to draw resources from the ship's data collection. The lateral and long-range sensors were tasked with scanning the stars within the cluster, drawing as much data from the bandwidths of light, heat, gravitic effects, and magnetic influence. On deck 7, the forward labs of the Columbia began to evaluate the collated information and run theories. Communications via computer console went from the scientists up to the bridge so that Marshal could give the captain any details as they were revealed.

[tomcat]

Sorek was not the only one who had heard Phillips' transmission regarding a potential environment within the Merrimac's botanical atrium. The bridge crew of the Columbia had also heard Phillips, which caused the perfunctory eyebrow raise of the Vulcan sitting in the command chair.

Grahm knew that Marshal was busy at the science station and so ran a scan of his own. He called out, "Downer, since you are tied in with the Mac, tell me if the ship has power routed to botanical. I want to know if the power is coming from the ship's APR, or if something else is generating it."

Downer's fingers moved easily over his controls and brought up the Mac's power grid and how it was being routed. Unfortunately, the data was unclear... the Merrimac's still operating computer core was reporting garbled information.

[donimator]

Downer responded to the request from Cmdr. Grahm and saw the incomplete information. 'What the...' he thought to himself, and quickly checked again. He drummed his fingers a moment on the datascreen and rechecked his other connections to the computer. Nothing seemed to have changed. The connection was still there. The log info was still accessible. Grahm was waiting for a response.

"Power routing is unavailable, sir. I can connect to the subsystem, but it is not returning readable information. I'll try routing through some other paths...Maybe they could establish a remote link for us from a panel on the Merrimac? Might be a back door into the system."

Downer added the problem of the power display to his queue of ongoing tasks.

[tomcat]

Hey Don, and everyone else for that matter, I just want to let you know that you are welcome to give me rolls for tests for the work you are doing, but unless I request a particular test, it just means that the jobs you are doing are routine based on the level of technology. In other words, connecting to the Mac's computer via netlink is child's play with the aid of your knowledge and the massive Columbia computer core at your beck and call.

So do not hesitate to dialogue/narrative the things you are doing (as you have been) and making the assumptions that it is working. I will let you guys know when/if it isn't or it requires a dice roll.

I clarify this only because this is a dice game sometimes, and I don't want you to think that I don't have my eye on that ball. 

[donimator]

  Thanks Doug, that's pretty much what I thought. Specifically with the remote link, it wasn't a question of if it was possible, but if Downer would have the authority to request one and pull resources from the myriad of other tasks on the Merrimac to accomplish it. I thought it would be more of a command decision if that potential intel became a priority over other operations. Also, you have it clear in your mind what the nature of this interference in transmitting the data is. I wanted to leave it totally up to you if a remote link from a secondary panel would bypass this or return the same result.