What Happens at Vulcan.... (Part 4)

Posted on Fri Dec 11th, 2020 @ 8:55am by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant Kevin Chambers & Lieutenant Arev

2,030 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 3 - Coming Full Circle
Location: Vulcan/Legacy

[PREVIOUSLY]

"Lieutenant A'rev to the bridge."

Cindy responded, =^= Go ahead, Lieuenant Arev. =^=

"I have a payload that needs to be launched into the anomaly", Arev replied. "A photon torpedo, without it's warhead should be sufficient."

"Get it to the torpedo bay, now, Arev. When you have it ready for launch, let me know!"

[NEW]

Reports were coming in from all over the ship....critical systems were overloading because of the shifting. Adama moved from console to console trying to reroute power to or from these critical systems.

Sickbay was quickly filling up with people who had met people who shouldn't be on the ship. Arras had the medical staff start running scans of everyone who walked in, and he'd spend a few minutes talking to those who felt overwhelmed. He was trying to convince people that they weren't going crazy because they saw people who shouldn't be on the ship.

Legacy rocked as the black hole which was Vulcan spewed out more energy. Klaxons went off on red alert as radiation started to bombard Legacy's shields.

Adama saw the readouts. "Captain! Radiation levels approaching lethal levels! We have to find a way to boast shield strength, or leave the area!"

For a moment, Xenia frowned as a thought entered her mind. The last few minutes had been a whirlwind of confusion, but an idea began to form just as Lee was making the same suggestion. "Sir, I'm going to attempt to back off from the anomaly." Perhaps that would put everyone back in their own dimension?

"It can't hurt to try," Cindy admitted. "Process of elimination, commence. How long do we have on those shields?"

"I'd say about 30 minutes before lethal exposure, captain." Adama responded.

"Xenia, is our movement hampered? How far do we need to be to avoid this level of exposure, Doctor?"

Arras thought for a second. "With this intensity of radiation, we need to be at least 2 light years away."

The Helmsman nodded. "On it," she declared, while moving them away, slowly for the moment.

WHILE BACK IN ENGINEERING...

Turning back to his station, Kevin noticed some odd readings. "Um... so who just pulled some matter / anti-matter from our delicately balanced mix?"

Kevin's voice boomed loudly through the speakers as the rest of his... um... team? for lack of a better word... started scrambling with fluctuations of readings, shield strengths and the like from outside and INSIDE the ship? "What the FUCK?"

His voice was crisp and dangerous as it crackled with an energy all of its own. "WHO THE FUCK IS MESSING WITH THE SYSTEMS ON THIS SHIP????" Every single communication station, comm badge and communicator within the lockers and on people's belts spewed out his anger. "ENGINEERING takes care of all the power distributions on this ship! So if you've decided that fucking around with systems as well as the CORRECT PROTOCOLS during an emergency is a fun time? Then straighten your fucking heads out and WELCOME TO OUR UNIVERSE!"

"SCIENCE." Comms focused on the station and labs. "I'm so glad you decided that launching something from this ship without clearing it with Engineering first or requesting our assistance with such a tedious and actually developmentally amazingly Engineering-based task and NAVIGATION-based task was created, developed and implemented IN YOUR VACUUM. We are now shy of some matter and anti-matter that probably would have been better utilized on maneuvering the ship... but what do I know? I'm only the Chief. Fucking. Engineer."

He flicked a finger on his console and switched comms to Ship Wide. "There. NOW if you'd like to do something with the resources of the ship without clearing it with the correct department first? You'll be more than a little challenged to do so."

"For fuck's sake people," he said, his ire winding down to disappointment. "This is the Federation and we do things in sequence for a reason." If Navigation needed more power to move the ship? If Sick Bay needed to set up safe areas within the ship for triage and the like? If Science needed something actually done? Wasn't that Engineering? If he had more time he would have pulled up the manual for Emergency Procedures, but instead he kept the comms open.

Lethal levels were indeed climbing as his team was frantically dancing fingers over various buttons on the consoles as though they were playing a concerto. Now without internal departments haphazardly deciding what they needed... it was still hectic but manageable. And dire.

"Shields holding." Just. A spray of sparks flew from the Shields Console and the pair in charge plus some extra crewmen hurried to get it under control. "Can we reroute power to keep the shields up? Maybe boost them?"

Kevin's Posse did less talking and more moving... systems that had been adjusted and tweaked for the Departments returned to levels to save the whole damned Legacy. "If there's any crew still in quarters on Levels 7 - 21? We're going to lock them down to boost the shields."

Cindy smiled as the Chief Engineer blasted everyone on the ship. She had yet to see him take initiative and this was a good of time as ever. However, she made a mental note to try and calm his language in a crisis. Cindy got on the comm and informed the crew, =^= All personnel, please be aware that all power is being diverted from your quarters. If you are not off the crew quarters decks in thirty seconds, you will be trapped except leaving by Jeffries tube. =^=

Clearing his throat, Kevin called up. "So, Science people, can you tell me what wavelength of particle we're dealing with on the radiation spectrum?" That sure could help him oscillate the shields and possible buy them nanoseconds if not milliseconds of computing time to help everyone get out of this mess. In one, complete, and time-space unified, piece.

Nothing was forthcoming, but with the comms open, Kevin was listening to everyone's conversations about the ship. Backing off meant that they needed more power to the engines as well as the shields. This was going to be a delicate balance between keeping everyone alive while moving everyone back. He wondered whether or not the fact that multiple Legacys were occupying the same space at the same time might be the reason for the ship's shaking and also wondered whether some intelligent Engineering soul had managed to make it to the Bridge in their version of the Ship.

Perhaps he could manage to coordinate with the Science in order to perhaps well... pry each of the ships apart. And while doing so, was more than a little concerned as to what that might do to the Captain. if she was, in fact, a common thread and basically keeping all the other ships together (his working theory anyway), then separating them and returning them to each correct dimension might take a toll on more than a few of the crew, and more than likely on Cindy.

He took a deep breath and relinquished his place on the Main Console. "I'm heading to the Bridge," he said with resignation. They would only manage to get out of this if they were all together. Perhaps it might even be better for him to not just have an open channel but direct communication with the Bridge Crew. Every picosecond counted.

So he ran. His personal comm channel open. And his ragtag crew of many Engineers. He was concerned about how long it might take him until he realized he stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with perhaps shadows of other decisions that he had made.

Kevin had hopefully chosen wisely as he heard the commotion from his (at least in THIS dimension) Department. A whine erupted from something inside of Her. Legacy was... moaning. Not as though She were a person. But as an Engineer? As though she were being pushed to the limits of Her capabilities.

He held his breath with his other selves until the turbo-lift opened, a little slower than he had liked, so he shoved it with his arm. "Chief Engineer on the Bridge, Captain," and took his place glancing at another Engineer. "Good choice," Kevin muttered under his breath as he boosted power to the engines and shields after confirming that all personnel had been evacuated.

The thin veil of the shields that stood between the ship and the destruction outside was feeling less stable as Kevin's mind delivered a decision to his fingers before he had even thought about it. High radiation levels could be adjusted for. And he looked at his partner on the Bridge, hoping that somehow, some way, his intentions would be obvious to this Indian looking woman.

"Nav," she said briefly and nodded. "Let me guess. You're the CEO." And chuckled a little to herself before continuing with her own set of calculations.

"I am the CEO," Nav responded. "But right now, we have something more important than rank to deal with here, do we not?"

Xenia noticed some of the readings on her console begin to change. Well, they had been changing this whole time, but the rate of change was unstable now. When she looked over she saw Ben fade in and out as well. "Captain, I'm reading a lot of fluctuation in my readings. At one moment everything seems to be coalescing, the next we're almost losing whatever connection we have here. Hard to tell which way this teeter totter will land."

"Can you be a bit more clear, please?" Cindy asked. "What do you mean everything is coalescing and the next we're losing connections?"

"All of my readings are fluctuating, I can't keep a fix on any coordinates out there." She wasn't sure how else to explain it as this was getting a bit out of her range. She looked at Lt. Chambers, hoping he could put what she was seeing into better terms.

Cindy looked over at Kevin, "Kevin, tell me what's going on here."

“Captain,” Kevin began, brain straining to explain something that no one had ever experienced before. And looking at the readings before him, worried more that reality might have somehow... for lack of a better term... lost its anchor. “Time and space are somehow... warping.” He swept fingers over buttons as he struggled to discover a pattern. “Like wood,” he clarified.

“But it’s happening in waves. As if someone or something dropped a pebble in the puddle of space, and we and every other Legacy are struggling in its wake.” Which meant it had to have a place of origin. His voice strangled in his throat as he whispered out, “Where Vulcan was.” Whatever had caused the destruction had repercussions through dimensions. And it wasn’t natural. It was... a weapon.

"The red matter...." Cindy concluded. "Hopefully Arev has this sorted out.

She then called out over the comm and asked, "Arev, things are getting weird up here! Do you have that torpedo ready?"

Arev nodded to the crewman who had been helping him open up the torpedo. He locked the torpedo and the two of them got it into the launcher.

"You may fire when ready Captain", Arev said.

Cindy did not have to be told twice. "Fire that torpedo at the black hole!" Cindy called out.

The torpedo raced towards the black hole. As it crossed the Event Horizon time seemed to stop. In that moment, Cindy walked all around the bridge. Her crew frozen for maybe a few seconds. Then, as she did so, anyone who had not been encoded started to disappear with an audible pop. The noise became louder and louder. On the viewscreen, Cindy watched as the black hole started to turn in upon itself. Ripples of time and realities started hitting Legacy from whence they came, tossing the ship violently.

Xenia managed to hold the Legacy in places as the time, reality, and dimensional waves continued to pound their way to the black hole. It felt like hours but only ten seconds must have passed. Soon, there was nothing left of the black hole of Vulcan caused by the red matter. Space was all that existed. One Legacy crew was all that was left.

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