Shake, Rattle, and...

[tomcat]

The ship shook violently of a sudden knocking some of the crew to the deck and causing a few panels to short sending out a shower of sparks and smoke. Ramos was rocked back into the command chair but quickly spun it around to look at the science station as well as tactical. The bridge was suddenly filled with the sound of inter-departmental communications, Columbia crewman calling to one another to verify ship status and what just happened.

In the dining room on Deck-2, dishes were scattered and a yeoman fell crashing over a coffee cart, the dark, steaming liquid scalding her upper torso. It saturated her uniform tunic and lay painfully hot against her skin.

[GandalfOfBorg]

His ship rocking under the barrage shook Darkan out of his funk and sent him into "captain" mode.  "Stewards, get the yeoman to sickbay now!"  To any security or whomever, "See to the safety of the Hydraen delegation.  Princess, you'll be safe with them.  Everyone else to your stations."  When he can find a comm panel, he activates it.  "Bridge, this is Darkan.  What the hell is going on?!"

[insert reply here]

"Alright, I'm on my way to the bridge.  Ramos, you better get to Engineering, you're going to be needed there."

[sdrotar]

"Bridge, this is Darkan.  What the hell is going on?!"

[insert reply here]

"Alright, I'm on my way to the bridge.  Ramos, you better get to Engineering, you're going to be needed there."

"Red alert," shouted Ramos over the din. "All personnel to battle stations!"

Ramos' spun to look at the young officer at the science station, who looked backed at him with a shrug. He thumbed the comm switch.
"Ramos here. We don't know yet, sir. The anomalous sensor reading vanished moments ago, however. It may have something to do with that."

Hearing the chatter behind him, he spoke again.
"Captain, we are at red alert and emergency teams are responding. No reports of casualties or significant damage at this point, sir. I'll report to Engineering after you relieve me here. Ramos out."

OOC: Doug, the investigation... Darkan, Stonn and the landing party would be free to take over the reins at this point, correct?

As Ramos switched off the comm, his heart sank. Turning quickly to the communications officer, he ordered, "get me Lt. Williams on the Golayshian."
If they were there, and they were safe, then the Columbia had other options...

[tomcat]

But Ramos heart sunk even more as he heard a voice call out.

"Mr. Ramos, look!"

The Tactical Specialist was pointing to the viewscreen and Ramos followed his gesture to see the Golayshian hanging out in space. She was dark... all of her lights had gone out. The Columbia shook again, this time not so violently, but still adding to the ominous feeling.

Tam's work was interrupted as four crewmen rushed into sickbay with the thrashing young woman between their arms. Her uniform tunic had been taken off of her and Tam could see a large deep red mark on the yeoman's torso where the steaming hot liquid has burnt her. She had a grimace upon her face and tears streamed down her cheeks.

OOC: Tam needs only perform a Medicine Test TN 10 to provide care, but good dialogue always wins more XP. Only thing is, this will take Tam's attention from his other work and will add 15 more minutes to the processof creating the antidote.  :wink:

On Deck-4, Grahm led the Princess and her delegation to the VIP quarters that the Columbia had for such guests. The Red Alert klaxon was still sounding, and although he was discouraged by it, he still knew his duties.

He and Lijeea had been enjoying themselves and he wished that the interruption had not come, but right now she was in potential danger and he would do whatever was necessary to keep her safe.

Once he had each of the Hydraens situated in a room (some doubled-up), he turned for the turbolift to get him to the bridge and to his station.

Darkan raced onto the bridge with Mr. Stonn. Ramos turned to greet them when Stonn's junior officer called out to no one in particular.

"Sir, it was an electrical discharge from the cloud... nothing more!" He pulled his head away from the sensor hood and continued, "It was a close one, and big, but it was not an attack from an unknown assailant."

OOC: Hey Shawn, the investigation is all but over for the moment. This is not necessarily by choice as Stonn, Darkan and Grahm have just spent an hour ++ in a small dining room with the female Hydraen mojo-excretion so there are gonna be some opposed tests soon. Still, they are officers and will react to situations of dire emergency.

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Are you sure?  Is this normal activity within this type of nebula?  And what of the unknown mass just beyond the Hydraen ship?  Could it have caused this?" queried Darkan.

[tomcat]

"Are you sure?  Is this normal activity within this type of nebula?  And what of the unknown mass just beyond the Hydraen ship?  Could it have caused this?" queried Darkan.

"Aye sir... the electrical discharge activity is quite common within the nebula. It was the reason for our sensor failure just yesterday." The assistant Science Officer continued, "As far as the unknown mass, we have nothing on it anymore."

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Is there any way we could protect ourselves better from the electrical discharges?  What about strengthening the structural integrity field?  Or maybe use the deflector to collect and dissipate the charge?"

Darkan can't believe he got all worked up over such an incidental thing.  His ship being damaged and crewmen hurt weren't incidental, but this was not a dire emergency like being attacked.  Or maybe he is just being overprotective with Isaboul aboard...

[tomcat]

As Ramos switched off the comm, his heart sank. Turning quickly to the communications officer, he ordered, "get me Lt. Williams on the Golayshian."
If they were there, and they were safe, then the Columbia had other options...

Though the captain had returned to the bridge, the commnications officer replied to Mr. Ramos' request.

"Sir, there is no response from the Golayshian..."

The reason why followed with the science stations response, "That electrical discharge was big sir. It looks like the Golayshian has lost her only power source. There are some power faint readings from the reactor and what appears to be batteries but the ship's systems must of had havoc played on them because nothing appears active."

"Is there any way we could protect ourselves better from the electrical discharges? What about strengthening the structural integrity field? Or maybe use the deflector to collect and dissipate the charge?"

This time the response came from the engineering station on the bridge. "Captain, we are currently using the shields to protect the ship though it is a challenge as they do not function to 100% in this soup. Still, we can't keep the ship from rattling a bit when they discharge close..."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Darkan has become fed up with the delays, interesting though they are.  "We need to both get these people out of here and back under weigh.  How long would it take to tractor the ship out of the nebula and call in for a tug to bring them to port?  Or would it be faster to take them ourselves?"

When he hears that they've lost contact with the Hydraen ship and its lost power, he asks, "Can we do a direct power transfer to the ship?"

[tomcat]

"Sir," replied the Engineering Tech who had answered before, "it is not probable to haul the Golayshian out of here. We are still 4 light years to the other side and to make the trip at any speed causes problems for the warp field, let alone the tractors."

OOC: Actually I do not know if a starship can tractor another ship and then go to warp speed.

"The navigator then spoke up, "Captain, the Columbia must be brought up to speed of Warp Factor 6 or higher for us to clear the Paulson Nebula within any real time frame - Warp 7 will require a two day transit, anything lower will involve many more days."

"There is no way we could pull the Golayshian at Warp-6 or beyond," said the Engineering Tech as he shook his head.

As the conversation continued, the remaining Columbia officers - Townshend, Grahm and Pushkin - stepped off the turbolift and onto the bridge. They immediately went to their perspective stations and relieved their subordinate counterparts. Th trio then turned to the Captain and XO to get involved in whatever the discussion was.

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: I believe they can.  What would happen is that the ship is tractored and then the ship would extend its warp field around both ships.  I think this would have similar effect to extending shields, provides the service but at an overall lesser ability -- lesser sustainable warp speed and lesser protection respectively.  The extension of the warp field could also cause the warp engine to be "weaker" say by intentionally removing a damage block from the propulsion damage track for the duration of the effect.

[tomcat]

OOC: I added more to my previous post... jsut wanted you all to see it.

Doug

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Alright, I'll take that under advisement.  Get in contact with the Hydraen ship and our people... let's get those repairs made."  Rubbing the bridge of his nose as a sign of tension, Darkan slumps into the command chair.  He didn't mean to snap, but ever since the dinner Darkan has become more irritable.  To Ms. Townshend, "There will be a senior staff meeting in one hour to discuss the situation... and please notify the Hydraen delegation of the status of their ship and that I will meet with the princess in 90 minutes."