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Posted on Mon Apr 11th, 2011 @ 10:55am by Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax & Lieutenant Commander Morgan Kelly

Mission: Shore Leave - Archa IV
Location: USS Thaden
Timeline: SL D01 - 2110

[ON]

After having secured his belongings inside of small cargo compartment on the ship, Shinji was able to roam freely around the tightly fit vessel, albeit with some relative ease. Due to his physical conditions, he was able to worm himself through the hallways and corridors of the ship more than most other officers. Given the nature of the situation, Shinji wasn't too fond of things. For one, his personality was uncomfortable with allowing others to get such physically close. For two, Shinji was still an Intelligence Officer, and so the odd bump-ins with other crewmembers weren't well liked by himself, and more importantly, others. Still, all Shinji could do was buckle down and focus on getting the job done, whatever that happened to be. He had arrived at the bridge, and took an auxiliary console to prepare for the Commander's inevitable orders.

Ensign Y'Laais had forgotten what it felt like to do a straight nine hours at the helm of a starship. Without relief. Without a real break. Without much conversation, it had to be said. The Lieutenants all talked a fair bit but Y'Laais was largely left out of the conversation and was feeling quite weary by the time they were nearing their destination.

The worst thing was, after a long flight that was technically a detour from their course, they then had to make a patrol run and fly back to 332. Still- it was better than flying cargo shuttles and standing in for the Dockmasters whenever they were called away.

"We're nearing our destination, Captain." The Ensign reported. "We are moving to within visual range."

"Thank you, Ensign." Liarra spun her chair around to the reconfigured science station. "Nilani, this is your anomaly. What can you tell us about it?"

"It's... amazing," was Nilani's first response, as she gazed at the readings spread out across her console's various displays. She shook her head to get herself to focus, before tapping various controls, giving more attention to the detail of what she was looking at, and the scans being piped through the systems. The Expanse itself, at least the portion that they could see of it, was represented visually by the purple, white and black clouds of the nebula, lit sporadically by the brilliant white flashes of light which signalled the presence of the subspace interruptions. Sensors revealed similar disruptions occuring in the neighbouring three nebulae.

"The subspace distortions are definitely a linked phenomenon between the four nebulae - it isn't a series of coinciding anomalies, but one solitary one, split between the four locales. The readings I'm getting from each disruption are spiking variably, and it's very difficult to give an on-the-spot analysis - each disruption lasts less than a second before it's gone again."

The Intelligence Officer's face bore a cold stare at the spatial phenomenon before him, as well as the rest of the crew. Never before had he personally seen such a beautiful display of colours in the blackness of space. For a slightly unusual reason, the Expanse reminded him of the cherry blossoms back home in Japan. Still, his training prevented him from openly sharing his feelings about the awesome portrait; however his gaze into it was more than enough to honour it. Shinji's hands darted along the console, beginning to scan the ship's database for similiar encounters in the history of the Federation or other allied powers.

Kelly inhaled deeply as he took in the anomalies floating around the screen. There was definitely something to be said for the scientific pursuits of the Federation but they had never been something that had piqued his curiosity but the majesty of it all did raise some emotion in him. "It's quite something..." He exclaimed, letting the words hang in the air.

Shrill alarm bells started ringing out from Prax's console, and she turned to silence them with the tap of a pulsing red icon. "Now that's not right..." She began tapping controls, bringing up displays from every sensor pallet on the ship.

Liarra spun her chair away from the viewscreen. "What's the problem, Nilani?"

"I'm detecting some very strange, high-intensity spikes of energy coming from the Expanse," Nilani responded, as she tried to identify what they were. "I'm detecting so many different particles, it's hard to determine what exactly it is. There's radiation spikes in most detectable bands, chroniton particles, dark matter..."

"Is any of that hazardous to the ship?"

"It's hard to tell. The ship's sensors weren't really designed for this kind of work. Hang on." Prax began re-routing processing power through the primary sensor net, and running active scans of the anomaly. The ship shook violently. "That wasn't meant to happen."

The Commander wasn't too relieved by the sudden jolt. "Maybe we should keep our distance until we know what just happened. Back us away, Ensign; slowly," Liarra ordered, turning back towards the front of the ship.

"Aye, ma'am." Y'Laais replied, reversing the thrust on the little vessel's engines. The slight lurch of the ship moving was almost reassuring with the nebula suddenly seeming so unstable.

Y'Laais' expression suddenly darkened as the engines began to become more powerful. It could be felt in the hull of the ship. They weren't moving backwards anymore. There was a lurch as the ship suddenly began to move forward. Y'Laais turned to the rear of the bridge. "I'm not doing that. Honest."

"Engine room, I need more power to the engines," Liarra ordered after activating her comm panel. "Ensign, increase our speed, try to turn us around if necessary. I'm starting to not like the looks of this anomaly."

For all intents and purposes, Shinji's contributions to this series of events was more than likely not to be useful at all. However, the glimmer of Starfleet ideology that ran through his veins beckoned him to speak out a possible solution to their predicament. The value of his suggestion was up for debate because of his lack of experience when dealing with such scientific phenomenon. "Commander, perhaps if we set course *to* the anomoly, but just a little to the side, we can use its' strong gravitional pull like a slingshot to get us out of here?"

"It's no good," Prax reported from her science console, reading and interpreting the plethora of data coming in to her. "It's pull is just getting stronger the more power we use. It's pulling us in!"

The Chief of Intelligence took a quick look around on the bridge to take stock of what was happening both internally and externally. From his vantage point, the only thing that mattered, even in crisis times such as these, was information gathering. There was no telling how these events might help in the future. For now, though, he braced himself by grabbing the handle-bar on the front of his console and prepared for the worst to inevitably happen.

Y'Laais' hands traipsed across the console. There was nothing that could be done. Everything seemed to make it worse. The hull of the Thaden slowly moved towards the anomaly.

Liarra braced herself in the command chair. "Y'Laais, cut power to the engines. See if you can use thrusters to put us in a slingshot maneuver."

"It's too late, Captain. The pull is too strong. We won't be able to escape."

So much for an uneventful patrol. "All hands, brace yourselves." Von stared at the viewscreen, powerless to resist the pull of the anomaly. Whatever was going to happen next, it was out of her control.

[OFF]