SCENE 2 - U.S.S. Merrimac

[tomcat]

You're welcome, Don. It relieves some of the minutia of gaming via PbP doing it this way, although if we were all sitting around a table, I might be more regimental on giving me dice rolls. But I like how stories evolve in PbP when all the players give me their creativity like you guys do! 

And to answer your question regarding the results of the remote link from a secondary panel, yes, I will give you that with my next in game post. Which should be very soon...

I am getting concerned with the number of players that are showing up daily, but no one is posting. Not that I won't carry on this game - Shawn, Matt and I did the entire previous campaign just the three of us, but I don't want to take over characters if players are showing up. I also do not want to hold the games up so that people think things are idle and no longer come visit.

Anyway, we shall chalk it up to summer and the many activities that come with it.

[sdrotar]

Stonn listened intently over the open channel for Phillips' reply. With the news - as yet unconfirmed - of an unreadable but nevertheless existing environment in the botany section, the situation on the Merrimac was in flux. Stonn preferred order, but appreciated the challenges and opportunities for discovery that often arose from the unknown.

As long as those opportunities didn't get any of the Columbia's officers killed.

While any breathable environment meant that a search for survivors was necessary, Stonn suspected there would be none. The voice in the darkness was there... he could feel it.

"Mr. Downer," he asked, "please inform all boarding party personnel that no one is to enter the botany section without my express order. Have Security form an perimeter first, and have both Science and Medical personnel complete comprehensive sweeps and report back with their findings as soon as possible."

He paused. "And find Lt. Phillips."

Count me in for the long haul. The madness at work (first layoffs, and now the NBA and NHL playoffs, plus their respective drafts are finally over) has subsided, and I can fully engage here once more. My sincere apologies for my sporadic posts over the last six weeks.

[tomcat]

As always Shawn, life comes first.

I am just glad after 7 years now, you still keep coming back! 

Posts to come shortly.

[sdrotar]

As always Shawn, life comes first.

I am just glad after 7 years now, you still keep coming back! 

Posts to come shortly.

Always! Just wish we'd hire more people at work instead of having me on shift for every waking hour. By the time I get off work, just seeing a keyboard makes me nauseous. 

[donimator]

"Mr. Downer," he asked, "please inform all boarding party personnel that no one is to enter the botany section without my express order. Have Security form an perimeter first, and have both Science and Medical personnel complete comprehensive sweeps and report back with their findings as soon as possible."

He paused. "And find Lt. Phillips."

"Aye, sir." Downer transmitted the message to Lt. Cmdr. Sorek and relayed his acknowledgement.

[sdrotar]

Stonn resisted the urge to commandeer a shuttle and take it to the Merrimac so he could investigate things himself. He was captain now, and such a course of action was not prudent at this juncture.

Certainly, to his mind, some things were clear:
First, there was an alien presence aboard the ship. The mind that touched his own left no doubt of this to Stonn.
Second, the alien almost certainly was residing in the botany section and directly or indirectly, caused the deaths of Merrimac's crew.

Logically, the course of action seemed clear to him; seal off the botany section and determine how the alien interfered with the ship. Then, prevent that from happening again. Next, communication with the alien was a priority. Where did it come from? How did it come aboard the ship? And how did it cause the disaster aboard the Merrimac?

After these questions were answered, Stonn was confident that he would know how to proceed. The crew was capable of completing this task; at this point, he need only monitor the situation and guide them through any difficulties where he could.

But most importantly, he needed to keep his mind open - if the alien were to contact him again, he wanted to be ready to see if the communication could be returned.

He turned to Mr. Downer. "Status of the boarding parties?"

[donimator]

Downer posted a schematic of the Merrimac to the upper corner of the main viewscreen. Coloured dots marked the location of the various away team sections as the Columbia maintained a lock on their communicators. Activity was clustered around the hangar bay and the corridors immediately adjacent to it. There were no traces of the red dots that would denote the security team's progress towards the botanical enclosure.

"Hangar bay is secured, sir. Engineering is satisfied with the structural integirty of the ship and believe some power can be restored. Medical has shuttled our injured back to the Columbia and are assessing the Merrimac's personnel for clues as to their deaths. Science team has reported no dangerous energy levels either from the ship or the cluster. Lt Phillips and part of the security team are still unaccounted for."

Downer kept it short and to the point. The Captain seemed preoccupied, but that was something to add low on his list of priorities...

• keep ship power fluctuations in check as the cluster taxed the shielding
• compensate for cluster interference on comms to maintain locks on away team
• continue to parse through Merrimac logs for hints or clues as to what happened to the ship
• ...

[tomcat]

I need Downer to make an Observe (See) test TN 20

Here is Grahm's...

TN 20 Observe +7, Specialty +2
-------------------------

Rolled 2d6+9 : 1, 5 + 9, total 15

[donimator]

Downer sat at his station engrossed in his work. A flit of light, a flicker in his peripheral caused him to pause. Nothing? "I really should put more effort into noticing what goes on around me," he thought to himself.

Downer's pathetic Observe roll
TN 20 Observe +2

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

unless 6's show that's the best he can do

[donimator]

Downer patched Sorek's communication through to the Captain:

"Captain Stonn. We have lost contact with Lt. Phillips. We are advancing in force to secure the botanical atrium...and to try and locate Phillips."

[tomcat]

Marshal's console reacted first. The science officer was evaluating current radiation reports that had come from the physics labs in the forward areas of the Columbia's main saucer. He watched as the radiation levels fluctuated with the pulsations of KC1, and watched as theoretical effects were applied derived from the few scans that of the Mac's unknown power source. Then the console stopped processing, locking up as it did, leaving the bars and graphs as they were, no longer animated.

The science officer touched a few command buttons, but nothing. Suddenly there was a flash and the screen fuzzed, then re-animated, returning to its normal function. Marshal turned his chair to see the other stations on the bridge to see if anyone else had a glitch... something that was near impossible with the computer core that ran within the starship. He spoke his thoughts, "Captain... my console just locked up. Momentarily. But now it appears to be functioning normally."

Grahm turned to Marshal's words, "Locked up?"

The tactical officer's mind instinctively began to consider electronic attacks on the Columbia.

Across the bridge, Downer was satisfied with power management and so turned back to his studying of the Mac's logs. The comm officer suddenly realized his network connection with the Mac was disconnected. He began to press the command functions on his console to re-open a connection with the other ship's computer core. It was then that he heard Marshal call out to the captain.

[donimator]

If there was one thing Downer was good at, it was putting two and two together. Growing up in a politically charged arena made him quick to recognize things for what they were. His chosen profession in Mission Ops gave him great insight into how the ship operated and when things happened that were out of sort. Panels did not typically lock up. There were too many redundancies built in to ensure they were always operational.

Data locks between Federation starships do not just cut out without some precursor or apparent cause. Sensor readings showed no abrupt changes on the Merrimac. Perhaps damage could be the cause ... a drain of power? No. He wasn't about to try to re-establish a connection just yet. Grahm's tone confirmed the same fears he had swirling in his mind.

A couple of tests here along the lines of what Downer is thinking. Pls disregard if they don't apply and/or add mods to the results as appropriate (TNs unknown) If the tests apply and are close, Downer will spend a point of Courage to get a success (+5 from courage on Prof. skills from Intrepid ability)

Downer's skill checks -
Computer Use (retrieval)
Check logs on recent access to computer functions, filtering out 'authorized' uses by personnel. Any core functions accessed from a strange terminal location, etc?
--------------------------
TN unknown, Computer Use +8, Specialty +2 = +10

Rolled 2d6+10 : 3, 6 + 10, total 19

Level 4 diagnostic - Engineering(System) check
Initiate a new Level 4 diagnostic and compare with previous - 5 min task, (extended test?)
---------------------------
TN unknown (or extended), Engineering(System) +7, Lvl 4 bonus +2 = +9

Rolled 2d6+9 : 4, 2 + 9, total 15

[sdrotar]

Stonn toggled the communicator on his chair. "Mr. Ramos, we are experiencing bridge panel malfunctions. Please check all computer core systems immediately."

He turned to Grahm. "Mr. Grahm, check for any possible connection between signals - or any connected-frequency signals - sent from the Merrimac to the Columbia. If you find any, report them before severing them.

Starfleet systems were too hardened for such an error to be random happenstance, and Vulcans did not believe in coincidence. All things in the universe had a connection, a cause and effect, logical and predictable. The challenge lies in finding that connection. Was it an attack, or an attempt at communication? Or, perhaps, an effort to feed? They didn't have enough information - and without it, they were guessing.

There were few things that Stonn found more distasteful than... guessing.

"Mr. Downer," he said, "re-establish communication with our personnel on the Merrimac and ascertain their status. Top priority, please."

[donimator]

"Mr. Downer," he said, "re-establish communication with our personnel on the Merrimac and ascertain their status. Top priority, please."

Downer double-checked his readings and was confident that nothing had affected the Columbia's sensors or scans. If his datalink with the Merrimac's computer was cut, it must have originated there. As he waited for the results of his inquiries he answered the Captain's query, "The locks on our personnel are strong and uninterrupted, Sir. The schematic on the screen is showing real-time positions."

Almost on cue a message came from Sorek, which he patched through the bridge comms, {Sorek}"Captain. We are advacning to the environmental control room. Secondary readings do support the presence of life and an environment in the botanical atrium."

[tomcat]

Downer worked his magic with the operations panel - filtering communication chatter between departments; monitoring power demands; cross-referencing data streams that were as benign as what was being served for dinner to the extremely dangerous as how much ultra-violet radiation was bathing the Columbia. The spectacular thing was he did it all with little awareness to his deft movements, and analyzing brain - his experience and skill had gotten him to the point where it was all automatic.

He continued to scan for any anomoly in the ship's systems. Why was there a sudden surge and then data disconnect from the Mac? While his mind worked on the issue, his earpiece silently broadcast in his ear - "Environmental Engineering to Engineering. Mr. Ramos... can you dispatch a team down here? We are having some irregular malfunctions with our doors... thanks."