Mission 13: "The Heist"

[Taurik]

(OFF: Things need to happen faster. I'd love to get this moving, but I (Orpheus) can't repair the Rivendell myself.)

Taurik reached out with his senses, and felt the space around him. Not the space within the room, but that of the space around the ship. It comforted him to stretch out, and the further he reached, the better it felt, the more it put him at peace. At the edges of his perception, he could feel Starbase Avalon, several lightyears away. He could feel Sordinan, the planet where he first encountered the Na'jigat. He could even feel the Ivor colony, at the edge of established Federation space. He had never felt this wonderful in his life, and sometimes, Taurik doubted he could keep his emotional control.

A realization came to Taurik, that he could, if he really tried, extend even further. He reached into familiar space, the Federation, and felt Bajor, Tellar, and eventually even Vulcan. His feelings reached to Earth, to Dytallix, to Minos, Cardassia, and to Q'o'nos, Romulus, Carraya. His senses seemed to carry themselves now, and he didn't even need to try. Eventually, all that he knew was as if it were right in front of him, and he reached in all directions. The Dominion, the Borg, the Kazon, all were on the edges of his sight.

Suddenly, the ecstasy turned to pain, as his consciousness completely left his body and shot out in all directions. He could see, could hear, could feel everything. It was more than he could handle, and Taurik could feel insanity creeping ever closer. Out of pure instinct, he pulled back, and his senses raced inward, until his consciousness was once again confined within his skull.

Taurik was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily with exertion and relief. Gallifreyan history had no record of such an occurance, but he knew what had happened. He had just merged with the spirit of the universe.

Right on cue, a communications panel buzzed. "Master," came the worried and awestruck voice of the thurokiir. "We have much to discuss. I will be there momentarily."

[T'lana]

T'lana was too busy to respond to Morgan's illogical statement, because she discovered why the Jump Drive was no longer in free-spin and it had nothing to do with the available power. In fact the Jump Drive's dynamo was simply operating on inertia and was slowly spinning down.

T'lana quickly got up from her station and took the lift platform up to the above balcony where the Jump Drive sat.
Grabbing an emergency tool kit, T'lana opened the access panel to the Jump Drive, an unmistakable smell of ozone and burnt out electronics greeted her.

=A="Mr Freeman, the Jump Drive is damaged, your assistance would be greatly appreciated when possible. It seems to be the Exotic Matter Lens."=A=

[T'lana]

OOC: I have written an article on Synthetic Biology as it pertains to Star Trek, so let me know what you think. I'm not happy with some of it, but I can't be bothered editing it.
http://www.expansionfleet.com/cgi-bin/fleet/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=23;t=4;st=0;&#entry1" target="_blank">http://www.expansionfleet.com/cgi-bin....#entry1

Also a few days ago I did the technical specifications for the Vulcan prototype stealth-reconnaissance vessel Kelata.
http://www.expansionfleet.com/cgi-bin/fleet/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=22;t=5" target="_blank">http://www.expansionfleet.com/cgi-bin....=22;t=5

As a note to the crew of the USS Rivendell, you may have noticed that Captain Taurik and occasionally myself have used the term 'Slipspace' and 'Slipspace Engine'. This is a personal choice and a nod to the very popular video game: HALO.

In Expansion Fleet, or at least the USS Rivendell thread, the 'Slipspace Engine' is just another name for the 'Quantum Slipstream Drive'. The threshold of 'Quantum Slipstream' is called a 'Slipspace Rupture', another HALO term. It must be said that the principles of 'Quantum Slipstream' and 'Slipstream Space', the latter usually known by the portmanteau 'Slipspace', are completely different in application. The Quantum Slipstream is an artificially generated subspace vortex, where as Slipstream Space in HALO is another dimension of spacetime.

[Morgan Freeman]

Morgan returned to engineering asking for a report from his new assistant engineer.

Standing at the master engineering station Morgan logs into the system and checks the status of all of the ships power systems.

[T'lana]

OOC: Err for future reference. I know I am being pedantic, but it's just how I see it in my minds eye. The Jump Drive works exactly the same way the FTL Drive does in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, seeing as it works on the same principle: "Folding spacetime to generate a wormhole", a popular theory among real life physicists. The other popular FTL theory among real life physicists is the Warp Drive.

[Taurik]

"Of course. Cartographic data is distributed freely within the Federation, and a starship on the fringes of explored space is one of the best sources of such data."

[Taurik]

Taurik rushed over to Lieutenant Stevens, who was badly injured and being tended to by Ensign T'Kar. He knelt down beside the officer, placing his palm over the bloodied wound. There was a pale blue glow around the wound as Taurik did his best to stabilize the lieutenant.

"He will make it back to the Rivendell at least," he said. Taurik then removed his commbadge and placed it on the central computer core, and then tapped it. "Taurik to Cardinal Virtue," he said. "Computer, lock on to my commbadge and transport target to the cargo hold."

The computer on the Virtue processed for only a moment before the green shimmer of the alien transporters dematerialized the computer core and deposited it safely on the ship.

"Take the core back to the Rivendell," Taurik said to Lieutenant Beta. "I will meet up with Chaya Sar and Commander T'lana's team. Good luck to you."

Taurik then drew one of his khalai and ignited it, jumped up to the upper terrace, and raced out the door after the second team.

[Aeryn Kae]

Aeryn walked down the ramp of the Harvest and gazed at the majesty of the main hangar. It wasn't the size of the fighter bay on the Imperator-class Star Destroyers, but it was definitely grand. Not to mention, the vessels stored within were absolutely beautiful, a stark contrast to the rough-and-tumble designs coming from the Incom Corporation recently, like the T-65 X-Wing and the Z-95 Headhunter.

Aeryn was always a pilot herself, and was only on the Blue Harvest because her own ship was under repair after a skirmish with several Imperial Tau-class gunboats. So to see these amazing vessels, these works of art, was breathtaking. And to add to that, she was fairly sure that these people took such ships for granted.

The confused young Jedi walked over to the only one of these people she knew, this T'lana, and sheepishly acquired her attention. "Excuse me, ma'am," she said, "but as you can imagine, I feel a little out of place here. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do."

[T'Kar]

"Aye sir." said T'kar as he quickly gathered his things. He said to the computer "Deck 14" in the turbolift as he thought ~My first mission, and with captain Turik at my side. Today is a good day to die.~ As he got to the hangar he said to the Captain "Ready for the pre-flight checklist, sir."

[Lois]

(( Hmm, I think it's true but It doesn't really matter..))

[T'lana]

OOC: FYI At a distance of 20ly, at a velocity of Warp 9, would take 4.81 days. At Warp 9.7 it would take 3.45 days. At Warp 9.9999 (the maximum possible speed and pretty much unattainable in itself), would take 52.69 minutes. That's sticking to canon of course. http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'> I love my Warp Calculator...oh I'm such a nerd. http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/shocked.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':O'> http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>

IC:

"Aft shields at Two Percent, ventral and dorsal shields at Thirty percent, Bow shields at Fifty percent, Ablative Armor is gone. EPS ruptures on decks Five, Seven and Ten. Life Support and Environmental failure on deck Eleven, evacuation of that deck successful. Medical Indicates five casualties, two fatalities." T'lana reported the cold hard facts, with the patented Vulcan demeanor.

She then continued...

"Captain, suggest jumping again while we are able, any further damage to the hull and we will not survive the transition."

[T'Kar]

OOC: Sorry http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/embarrassed.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':embarrassed:'> shoulda read that T'lana http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/happy2.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':happy2:'>

[Chaya Sar]

@"Just make sure you don't hit Taurik's ships."@ stated Chaya looking at the scanners.

Several Starfleet shuttles had already gone to warp, trouble is that warp is slow compared to the other vessels in this skirmish. So Chaya new, once the two shuttles were in trouble that was it, the Heraani would attack.

@"Fire at will Odona and Aeryn, do not hesitate to open fire, trust in the force and above all...relax!"@

[T'lana]

Quote

(OFF: Congratulations, it takes some serious idiocy to drive the captain away for a few days.)

OOC: That was an uncalled for comment Taurik, it really was.

[Orpheus]

Orpheus had finally gained rudimentary control of the tricorder in which he was imprisoned, and began scanning the area. Commander Freeman was unconscious, and from what the limited functions of the tricorder could ascertain, there were no other lifeforms in scanning range. Main power was down, but auxiliary generators had activated, and were providing minimal life support and computer control. The AI was fairly certain that he and Freeman were still on the bridge, and that his own pedestal was still active. Rerouting several key instructions within the basic firmware of the tricorder, he gained access to and interfaced with the pedestal and began to upload himself back into the Rivendell's neural net.

The experience was akin to stepping through a door from a dark room to a sunny vista. Although the ship was still heavily damaged, he had room to stretch his proverbial legs.

Upon interfacing with the Rivendell's main computer, the first thing he realized is that the ship was trapped in a constant barrel roll. The RCS thrusters were still marginally operational, and Orpheus managed to steady the ship. However, the thrusters were not capable of moving the ship and significant distance without possibly damaging them.

The intelligence construct manifested his hologram on the core pedestal, and turned to see Freeman slumped on the floor. "Commander?" he beckoned, hoping the human need only be waken.