Reunited (part 3)

Posted on Sat Aug 26th, 2017 @ 9:16am by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Captain Daniel Westphalen & Lieutenant Trei Jansum

1,648 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Taking Wing
Location: Bridge

[CONTINUED]

[OLD}

"It depends on the flare," Amber said, quickly checking the data. "Shields can withstand the effects for a short time. We don't need to be inside the corona to launch the probe. We can maintain a safe distance and still be effective." A message appeared on her console. "The probes should be ready to launch in fifteen minutes."

[NEW]

Kizre remained fascinated by the advanced communication of such an unusual space entity. She observed the exchange between Amber and the staff team, as well as how the messages were relayed. It was evident by their practiced efforts that this was something they had accomplished before.

"It's trying to protect the planet's inhabitants...?" Kizre murmured to herself with some curiosity. The Trill felt the precarious nature of her current position. While she was brought aboard the Aurora to consult the staff, their greater knowledge of the entity put them in a better situation to communicate effectively with it.

Still hopeful to be helpful to the team, Kizre addressed the Captain with a suggestion. "I may not be a trained medical professional, but my experience with the radiation on Nal'daya may allow me to be of some assistance to your medical team."

"By all means, Lieutenant," Westphalen nodded to Kizre. "There is an EMH installed, so if you need a hand, don't hesitate to use it."

"Don't get us too close, Counselor," Trei cautioned. "Metaphasic shields may have been designed for protection from solar radiation, but that doesn't mean they're infallible. We may be able to go another ten thousand kilometers closer, but not much more."

"Engineering, Bridge," Daniel said, activating the internal comms. "We need all available power to the shields. We're approaching the star's chromosphere, and would like very much to not wind up melted."

"We'll give you everything we have" Azusa's voice replied quickly. "But don't be in there too long, we can't survive the radition for very long unless you want to become a nice puddle of goo" she added.

Ka'Tock eased the ship closer, watching his instruments he could tell where the worst part of the Gravity would take hold of them but he did not want to push it, the 10,000 KM mark would do a lot for the angle of fire. Despite what the people around him might say there is a 'feel' to a ship and her maneuvering, it was a Helmsman's job to read that and make adjustments. Ka'Tock could ease a ship along a lath and keep it within a course with minimal variation. At the ordered distance Ka'Tock feathered the laterals and brougt the ship to a holding pattern.

"Hold at the Ten Thousand CLick parameter Sir." Ka'Tock said and maintained vigil over the ship's attitude control.

______________________

The ship began vibrating as the Aurora approached the anomaly. The bridge crew all stood in silence, doing their jobs with the focus that the situation demanded. But they were less than fifteen thousand kilometers from the anomaly, and even less from the lifeform.

They all had been waiting until the report from the tactical officers in the torpedo bay came in - the modifications were complete. Daniel looked to Trei and let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding onto. "Lieutenant Jansum, you may fire when ready. Let's hope this works."

Trei looked at his CO and nodded, then returned his attention to his console. His fingers hovered over the contols, then he pressed the button. "Torpedoes away." He kept his eyes on his console, hoping beyond hope that it would work.

Amber held her breath. The entity was far enough away from danger--she'd checked--but there was still a chance something could go wrong.

The quiet of space was interrupted suddenly by the flare of an antimatter explosion. The viewscreen's view was polarized so as to allow the crew to view the sun without eye strain, but the image had a hard time compensating for the sudden burst of bluish fire that flashed in front of them.

"The anomaly's lost approximately... thirty-seven percent of its volume," the operations officer said, staring intently at the sensor readout.

"Is that enough?" Daniel asked.

"Checking," Amber said. She scanned the sun for omicron radiation. "No, but it may take a minute to measure the extent of the impact."

Ka'Tock held position until he is ordered to change; or a gravity well or Solar Flare decide to rad their ugly heads. HE had his attention and hands poised to agilely move the ship to safety ; always ready and vigilant.

"Engineering to bridge" Azusa's voice called over the comm channel. "We can't keep the shields like this much longer. You've got about three minutes before they fail"

The entity began to move towards the sun again. Amber ran another scan of the solar crevasse. "Omicron radiation is down 62%. If the entity can take it down another 13% it will be within safety levels."

Daniel gestured to the viewscreen, where the lifeform moved closer to the anomaly, seemingly to absorb more of it. "It appears that would be its plan."

The viewscreen showed a magnified image of the entity with filters to block out the brightness of the sun. Amber couldn't help smiling as she watched it. "Radiation is down another 2%."

Trei let out a deep breath. "Metaphasic shields are holding. If we can get it down another 15 percent, I'd feel better, though."

"Klingon Tactics would be to make a Torpedo Run along the opening in a sweeping flight pattern then fly away before shields gave out of to out run the wave from the discharges." Ka'Tock suggested. "A surgical maneuver then get clear before time runs out?"

"Not yet," Daniel shook his head. "I think perhaps that the lifeform has it."

Operations nodded. "Sensors show the radiation continuing to slowly decrease."

"Move us away, Counselor," Daniel bade, moving back to sit in the command chair. "I think we've done all we needed to for now."

"Backing away Captain." Ka'Tock acknowledged without question, his hand making the adjustments to take the ship away from their present location. He would take teh ship away from the gravity of the star, the radiation shielding would not need to strain any more with the ship being away from the creature a safe distance.

"The entity is starting to vibrate," Amber said.

She turned to communications. "Tell it to back away. That it's done enough."

She almost held her breath as the entity paused and slowly started to move away from the sun. Amber turned back to the readings. "Vibrations have eased. Omnicron radiation is still dangerous, but not critical. It may continue dropping." But she wasn't going to let the entity sacrifice its life for the people on the planet. Maybe it could go back to feeding in a day or two. Or maybe they could find another way to help lower the omicron radiation.

Amber prepared a message and sent it to communications, telling the entity to not put itself in danger. That there was still time to help the people of the planet.

Lost in thought about omnicron radiation Nastari continued to take readings and relay that data to the science department and the bridge staff as her big dark eyes flickered towards the view screen as the entity move further away from the sun. For a long moment, Djeneba felt a bit small as she watched in awe. Then a movement of a flicker from the computer caught her eye and she focused once more on her task.

Amber continued to monitor the entity. Its color was slowly returning to normal and it seemed less likely to shatter. At the same time, the omicron radiation levels were still dropping, although they had yet to dip below the danger levels. "Captain, we might be able to launch a second probe to help heal the rift."

Trei nodded and looked over at there captain. "We have another probe we can send out, captain. The bay reports that they're almost done modifying it."

"You may launch when ready," Daniel bade Trei. "Let's resolve this for everyone's sake."

"Launching the probe...now." Trei touched the control and watched as the probe headed towards the sun. Maybe, just maybe, they would get out of this intact, along with the creature and the planet below.

Amber was unconsciously tapping on her console as she watched the probe. Once it entered the sun's corona she switched to sensors to measure the explosion, the coronal flare, and the omicron radiation. At first the levels spiked, then they went down, stabilizing at the high end of normal. "I think that did it."

She sent a message through ops to the entity. "Sun safe. Planet safe. Thanks to friend for help."

The entity glowed brighter for a moment, then replied. "Many welcomes. Help always. Time home." Then it slowly turned and headed out of the system.

Daniel watched in awe as it moved away. As soon as the lifeform had moved far enough away for the viewscreen to display it as a dot in the massive starfield behind it, he sat back. "Helm, set course for Nal'Daya III, full impulse. I think it's time we visit the science team again to let them know they're safe."

"Aye sir," the helm officer laid in the course and the viewscreen shifted away from the lifeform and the star.

Trei let out a deep breath he wasn't aware he had been holding. "Thank the Four Deities for that creature, huh?"

Amber was also watching the viewscreen. She smiled. "Absolutely." She sent one final message of thanks as the entity continued to move away.

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer

Lieutenant JG Kizre Viiar
Mission Advisor

Captain Daniel Westphalen
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Trei Jansum
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant JG Ka'Tock
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Azusa Nakano
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Djeneba Nastari
Science Officer

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