Season 16: Episode 2: A Night at the Opera

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Stellar Cartography]

Having entered a Labspace that hopefully would allow him to get better access to the Probes data and more direct computer access, the Stellar Cartography seemed like a logical choice.

The large room was dominated by the giant holo-screen on the far side of the room. The walls adorned by more screens and smaller workstations. Long collums of raw sensor data from all over the hull of the ship converging in this location to be reconstructed into a high definition display of the system they were currently in.

The door had barely closed behind him that he heard a loud alarm noise. Radiation warning flashing on most screens now. The Ensign barely focused on them as he saw something else, something very strange.

The planet, covered by an impenetrable shield, glitched for a second, for lag of a better word. Its invincible dome loosing its form for what the computer recorded as only half a second, before takings its unbreakable form again.

"Kedan to Bridge, not sure if you just saw this, but the planet just glitched. Something seems to be going on other there." 

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"Hyper-energons.... Chrono particles... random sub-quantum pulses... quantum frangibles!" he said, taking a step back as if he saw something impossible.  Which he kind of did.

"Are you familiar with quantum frangibles, Mr McNair?  They are theoretical subatomic particles that could have any number of unusual properties imbued into the quarks that make up atoms."

"Alright, evacuate the lower decks and shut down all non-essential systems still activated.  Divert power from the Gamma hull to reinforce our shielding on the Alpha hull.  Strengthen the deflector shielding past its safety limits and watch for microfracture on the hull.  Once these particles find an opening through our shields they will start to affect the bonds of matter; and start weakening our structural integrity."

"When the radiation levels start to drop again, launch sensor probes to act as focus points for our own sensors.  Lorut, use that same chain to reestablish the comm lock.  We have a mission the away team.  In a little over an hour and a half, we dock the ship and hope that it isn't a trap.  Understood?  Make it so!"

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

Crewman T'Rea had been alone in Science Lab 1 since Ensign Kedan's abrupt departure to repair the forward sensor array some time ago. In her short time on the Discovery (and short time in Starfleet as a whole), T'Rea had found that very few things happening on the Bridge (or indeed anywhere else on the ship) had a direct impact on her day to day activities, and so far today was no exception. Her assigned duty for the day was monitoring Ensign Rajagopalan's ongoing experiment and preparing the relevant cell cultures which she diligently continue.... But really, the experiment nearly monitored itself, and it was only natural that her curiosity would eventually draw her across the empty room to Kedan's abandoned terminal, still displaying a live feed of data form the forward sensor array along side the historical data of a no-longer-transmitting probe.  Intriguing. She was by no means a physicists, but she had at least taken the mandatory introductory courses in quantum and particle physics during her time at the Vulcan Science Academy several decades ago, and that was enough to comprehend just how unusual the data in front of her was. She tapped on the screen and typed out a few commands to apply a fast Fourier transform the the final minute of probe data and---

The screen in front of her flickered and then faded to black, and the lab's ambient lighting followed suit. An eerie silence descended as at least a dozen different vacuum pumps, motors, freezers and the likes wound down to nothing or stopped outright. She sat silently for one heartbeat, two,... and then the single emergency light flickered to life, followed by an automated message announcing that power had been deliberately cut to non-essential systems. "Please enact any emergency shutdown procedures as stipulated in the departmental safety protocol," the computer intoned and T'Rea found herself automatically complying, making a circuit around the lab to engage manual hermetic seals on storage areas for biological hazards, and reactivating one of the EPS taps (which provided power to keep Kedan's latest materials experiment atomically stable via external cooling) with an override code.

Tasks completed, she was still for a moment, but there was nothing left to do here and soon she followed the illuminated path out the door and into the hall, similarly lit only by sparse emergency lighting. She turned left and tried not to think about how much of a relief it felt to see Kedan step out of the Stellar Cartography Lab (presumably now also without power) in front of her. "Ensign," she greeted him with a respectful nod, but the unspoken request for guidance was probably obvious. She'd never experienced a true emergency on a ship before.

[Lek]

[Erewhon - Transport Site]

Lek began cycling through the flip phone's settings to see if he could set up a degenerative feedback loop between his phone and those of the others.

"Given how primitive these things are, we could just flush the lot of them down the toilet. Since we aren't bound by their contract, they can't do anything about any damages."

[James Ramort]

M'nia cut the panel. She had come prepared. It didn't take all that long to get it cut. "Ok doc. Panel cut. Anything else you need or that I can do for you?"  The caitian asked. he wasn't very knowledgeable about medical matters. Anything engineering, now that was her specialty. Her tail flicked back and forth as she waited for the answer.

[Dr. Phlome]
[USS Discovery | Deck 11 | Access Corridor 14]

Kanes beaten up form, now released from its fusion with the ship's bones, fell into the Doctors arms. Not a sound escaping from his lips, not a good sign in her book.

Giving him a set of various antiseptics to prevent further infection to the wound on his hands before he would reach sickbay, Dr. Phlome tapped her combadge to initiate a site to site transport. It would be a much safer way than taking the Lift back.

Just as she was about to initiate the transport, the surrounding lights dimmed, and the computer echoed only an error noise. A second later, the captain's voice came from the speaker in the wall, announcing an order to evacuate the lower decks and informing them of the power being cut.

"I guess I could use another hand. We need to bring him to Sickbay and with transports offline here I don't think I can keep him stable until we get power back."

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

Crewman T'Rea had been alone in Science Lab 1 since Ensign Kedan's abrupt departure to repair the forward sensor array some time ago. In her short time on the Discovery (and short time in Starfleet as a whole), T'Rea had found that very few things happening on the Bridge (or indeed anywhere else on the ship) had a direct impact on her day to day activities, and so far today was no exception. Her assigned duty for the day was monitoring Ensign Rajagopalan's ongoing experiment and preparing the relevant cell cultures which she diligently continue.... But really, the experiment nearly monitored itself, and it was only natural that her curiosity would eventually draw her across the empty room to Kedan's abandoned terminal, still displaying a live feed of data form the forward sensor array along side the historical data of a no-longer-transmitting probe.  Intriguing. She was by no means a physicists, but she had at least taken the mandatory introductory courses in quantum and particle physics during her time at the Vulcan Science Academy several decades ago, and that was enough to comprehend just how unusual the data in front of her was. She tapped on the screen and typed out a few commands to apply a fast Fourier transform the the final minute of probe data and---

The screen in front of her flickered and then faded to black, and the lab's ambient lighting followed suit. An eerie silence descended as at least a dozen different vacuum pumps, motors, freezers and the likes wound down to nothing or stopped outright. She sat silently for one heartbeat, two,... and then the single emergency light flickered to life, followed by an automated message announcing that power had been deliberately cut to non-essential systems. "Please enact any emergency shutdown procedures as stipulated in the departmental safety protocol," the computer intoned and T'Rea found herself automatically complying, making a circuit around the lab to engage manual hermetic seals on storage areas for biological hazards, and reactivating one of the EPS taps (which provided power to keep Kedan's latest materials experiment atomically stable via external cooling) with an override code.

Tasks completed, she was still for a moment, but there was nothing left to do here and soon she followed the illuminated path out the door and into the hall, similarly lit only by sparse emergency lighting. She turned left and tried not to think about how much of a relief it felt to see Kedan step out of the Stellar Cartography Lab (presumably now also without power) in front of her. "Ensign," she greeted him with a respectful nod, but the unspoken request for guidance was probably obvious. She'd never experienced a true emergency on a ship before.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Stellar Cartography]

All the screens, all the panels and consoles suddenly went dark. Only dim emergency lights on the ground and along the cardinal walls springing to life, creating an almost scary atmosphere in the familiar room. On the screens, the shutdown notice flashed shortly before the computer announced the Captain's orders to everyone.

Mild annoyance filled Kedans head. They or course had trained for these scenarios. Discoveries lockdown procedures were particular. With the Ship being able to split into three parts and each part needing to be able to operate independent of each other, the ship's power grids were not easy to shut down, resulting in entire sections needing to be shut down if they were not to overload local power nodes.

Pressing a quick series of buttons, he transferred the station's functions to the backup locations. Then the station locked itself fully, turning into a fancy looking box and plastic, alloys and silicone.

Leaving the spacious room behind, he went into the corridor. A long line of other Crewmembers already lining it, on their way to the lifts to get to their backup stations and emergency quarters in the primary hull. On the corridor he walked into Crewman T'Rea. She looked completely cool in the face the current situation, he was unsure if it was because of her having looked over the emergency protocols recently or if it was simply her Vulcan Nature.

"Crewman, seems like we have to relocate. I am not sure if you have been briefed on the emergency stations yet. If you want to you can come with me."

Having been pushed further down by the mass of Personnel needing to relocate they soon found themselves in the Lift on their way to Deck 5.

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

The small room was adjacent to auxilliary Engineering. Normally it would not have been in use or only in case someone really needed computer access and every single possible Lab and Work Space having been taken already. Now it was filled with many persons in teal uniform. Trying to get the computers started up and connected to the main Science Databases and Program Chache. Among them also Kedan too.

Turning to Crewman T'Rea he asked for her help:

"Could you please try to load up the data from Astrometrics, I think we could need its data to get out of whatever is happening here."

[M'Nia]

[Dr. Phlome]
[USS Discovery | Deck 11 | Access Corridor 14]

Kanes beaten up form, now released from its fusion with the ship's bones, fell into the Doctors arms. Not a sound escaping from his lips, not a good sign in her book.

Giving him a set of various antiseptics to prevent further infection to the wound on his hands before he would reach sickbay, Dr. Phlome tapped her combadge to initiate a site to site transport. It would be a much safer way than taking the Lift back.

Just as she was about to initiate the transport, the surrounding lights dimmed, and the computer echoed only an error noise. A second later, the captain's voice came from the speaker in the wall, announcing an order to evacuate the lower decks and informing them of the power being cut.

"I guess I could use another hand. We need to bring him to Sickbay and with transports offline here I don't think I can keep him stable until we get power back."

"Gotcha. Let's do this. Where do you want me to grab?" M'nia asked. She wanted to do it right and not injure kanes further. Although the power outage was a problem. One they would be working on. Right now though, this was the priority.

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Kedan]
"Crewman, seems like we have to relocate. I am not sure if you have been briefed on the emergency stations yet. If you want to you can come with me."

Having been pushed further down by the mass of Personnel needing to relocate they soon found themselves in the Lift on their way to Deck 5.

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

The small room was adjacent to auxilliary Engineering. Normally it would not have been in use or only in case someone really needed computer access and every single possible Lab and Work Space having been taken already. Now it was filled with many persons in teal uniform. Trying to get the computers started up and connected to the main Science Databases and Program Chache. Among them also Kedan too.

Turning to Crewman T'Rea he asked for her help:

"Could you please try to load up the data from Astrometrics, I think we could need its data to get out of whatever is happening here."

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

T'Rea had been briefed on emergency stations---but that briefing had consisted of one of the other officers showing her where to find the emergency procedure document and asking her to read it. She had--of course--done so, but considering she had only a general ship's schematic for reference at the time, she found the option to simply follow after Ensign Kedan a far preferable.

The room she found herself in was rapidly growing crowded and the air of the group as a whole anxious, though not quite yet panicked. She felt that Lt. Ramort's absence was obvious as the department's personnel scrambled to reorganize themselves. But at least Ensign Kedan's request gave her a clear and obtainable task. "Yes, sir," she acknowledged as she took a seat at the nearest open terminal. She did not yet possess an intuitive understanding for the Discovery's computer architecture or file structure, but it seemed to be arranged (more or less) logically, and it it only took her a couple of attempts before she managed to couple in the astrometrics to the small display.

The forward sensor array was still giving detailed (if incomprehensible) readings of the solar radiation threat, and without being prompted she executed a shell script that would run a recent portion of the data through the most versatile frequency domain denoising algorithm she knew. Perhaps it could help shed some light on the readings, but the continued lack of supplementary probe data (the last probe must be well and truly dead) disturbed T'Rea, and she looked over her shoulder to Kedan again, "Should another probe be prepared? If we equipped it with an additional band pass filter for the gamma ray portion of the EM spectrum perhaps we could get a clearer picture of the solar emissions," she proposed.

"And," an idea struck her as she noticed the bottom corner of the forward sensor array's field off view toggle to flatline values as it passed over the planetary atmosphere below them, "We should consider launching a probe down into the planetary atmosphere in order to detect what's shielding it for this extreme solar radiation?" After all, the dangerous output from the nearby star was at most only half of the relevant information in this case. "Or what about the shuttle? Can we access its sensor array remotely from here?" In the end, they needed a shielding technique as soon as possible, and it was reasonable to assume that copying an already existing and functional technique would be faster than trying to develop their own.

[Buck McNair]

[USS discovery | Bridge]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain stood up, looking at the dark side of the planet in their viewscreen.  It was completely dark.  No signs of civilization.  It just looked like a lush green uninhabited planet.  With a station in orbit of it.  And sensors that cannot penetr-

"The shield.  That's why our sensors can't penetrate; this shielding technology protects the planet from its star.  It might not even be natural, this could have been artificially populated for all we know.  Which means it is possible to deflect this traditional tide."

The ship's alerts went off at that point; the radiation levels in the region were starting to increase.  The sensor buoys launched sparked as the radiation reached high levels, and the buoys were destroyed. The shield degradation was starting to accelerate again, but slowly.  The Captain rushed back to the science station with McNair, while he handled the power systems that had caused an issue elsewhere on the ship.

"Hyper-energons.... Chrono particles... random sub-quantum pulses... quantum frangibles!" he said, taking a step back as if he saw something impossible.  Which he kind of did.

"Are you familiar with quantum frangibles, Mr McNair?  They are theoretical subatomic particles that could have any number of unusual properties imbued into the quarks that make up atoms."

"Alright, evacuate the lower decks and shut down all non-essential systems still activated.  Divert power from the Gamma hull to reinforce our shielding on the Alpha hull.  Strengthen the deflector shielding past its safety limits and watch for microfracture on the hull.  Once these particles find an opening through our shields they will start to affect the bonds of matter; and start weakening our structural integrity."

"When the radiation levels start to drop again, launch sensor probes to act as focus points for our own sensors.  Lorut, use that same chain to reestablish the comm lock.  We have a mission the away team.  In a little over an hour and a half, we dock the ship and hope that it isn't a trap.  Understood?  Make it so!"

Science had been one of Buck's weakest moments when it came down to the pathways that they could all choose from. He knew enough to get by and had spent enough time with the science crew that he could understand what they were speaking about (even if he had to ask them multiple times to slow down when they got overly excited about their field). It seemed that his mention had sparked something in the Captain, as if thousands of volts had shot through him as he went off on 'quantum frangibles'. Buck nodded, not wanting to interrupt the flow or be perceived to be a little slower on the uptake than expected - though grateful the captain had explained it to him as he descibed the situation and it seemed they were on the right track to coming up with a solution.

Buck nodded.

Attention to all lower decks, please evacuate. All non-essential systems will be going offline 

He allowed the message to be relayed to the rest on loop until he was sure that there were no crew or officers in the lower decks that could be put at risk through the manuever they were going to do.[

The planet, covered by an impenetrable shield, glitched for a second, for lag of a better word. Its invincible dome loosing its form for what the computer recorded as only half a second, before takings its unbreakable form again.
"Kedan to Bridge, not sure if you just saw this, but the planet just glitched. Something seems to be going on other there." 

Buck's brow furrowed deeply.

The planet what?

He was pretty certain that large planets didn't just glitch out, especially if it were a simulation or hologram their crew were still down there.

That is....all received, Ensign. We'll conduct further investigation. Keep us in the loop.

"RAS!*" She said. She made a small face, but only Tekin would understand the curse. "He's right. What is HAPPENING?" She turned to McNair. "When you're finished with what the Captain asked you to do, let's see if we can run some decoding stuff and see if we can recreate that," she said. A quick algorithm would bring up a fake planet with the same parameters. It might tell them what's happening. She clicked on her Comms.

Buck sharply glanced up at Lorut's outburst, seemingly all focused in on the new problem that they faced with a glitching planet. "Right, let's do it." He typed in basic commands, following the parameters that had been provided by the probe in order to assist with recreating the planet and surrounding atmosphere, sharing his screen with Lorut. "Have we had any further updates from our Away crew?" His attention mainly fixated on figuring out how the planet had 'glitched' as he opened up a comm line to the Away Team.

Bridge to Away Team, do you copy? Status report.

[Rayek trLhoell]

EREWHON

(Ramort, Lek, Tanner & Rayek)
[Erewhon - Transport Site]

[Transport Site - Erewhon]

Lek looked unconvinced. He was a great engineer, but this was going to be a stretch given the completely unfamiliar technology.

"I can give it a try, but since they took my tool kit, it's going to be a challenge. As to jamming these things, can't you just adjust the frequency to be out of phase to the others so that the feedback will keep them from being able to pick up anything. "

As Lek pointed out the lack of tools, Rayek realized the huge ask he was making of the engineer.  However, the Romulan knew if anyone could do what he was asking it would be would he his friend, and Lek proved it a second later by suggesting such a simple solution that the idea had completely alluded Rayek.  The Romulan face-palmed.

He pulled out his flip phone and handed it over the Ferengi.

[Erewhon - Transport Site]

Lek began cycling through the flip phone's settings to see if he could set up a degenerative feedback loop between his phone and those of the others.

"Given how primitive these things are, we could just flush the lot of them down the toilet. Since we aren't bound by their contract, they can't do anything about any damages."

"Unfortunately, at present it is our only means of communication with the ship, so we do still them to work.  Besides, I would prefer not to instigate a worse cultural taboo that what we are already under investigation for.  I just want a bit of privacy when we are talking amongst ourselves down here."  He tapped on the wrist bracelet he wore, obviously the easiest means of listening to them for clues of their fantasies.

He turned his attention back towards the marketplace.

[James Ramort]
[Erewhon | Landing Site]

While still considering the state of their mission and continuing his scans of ever more pages of the stack of paper that made up the Terms of Service in his hands he suddenly felt something shift in his surroundings.

It was just a moment. A fleeting splinter of time, so short it became almost inconceivable. But it had happened. He was sure of it.

He had been looking down at his tricorder to see how the progress with the current scan was coming along when he could have sworn the lighting changed. From the edge of his field of vision, he believed to have seen the sky changing colour. From a beautiful rich blue to a greyish green. Not longer than it took his brain to receive this information did this impression last.

Looking at his crewmates, he believed to see them like he knew them to be below their holo images for a second. Shirts replaced with clean star fleet uniforms, leis replaced with polished golden and silver pins instead. Features not really human coming forward on the Commanders faces.

But the moment came and went again. Everything was back to normal. Ramort really questioned if he was loosing it.

Trying to reassure himself, he asked the others:

"Please tell me I wasn't the only one who just saw this?"

While Lek worked on the flip phone communicators, Rayek continued his observations.  Rayek also noted the change in lighting above them.  But more notable, was the changed appearance of the guests, other than themselves, in the market place.

Despite over 15 years living amongst the Federation and its wide variety of species, there were moments like now, when his cultural upbringing coloured his reaction.  Romulans, from his generation, were still very much xenophobic, so to see the form of a standard human -  which he was rather used to - suddenly become an oblong-headed, purple-colored tentacle-limbed being the three-quarters the size of an average human, he was rather taken aback.  Rayek flinched away from the guest walking but a few feet from them.

He wasn't the only one to notice the change in appearance.  Several of the workers in the cafe across the street, reacted briefly as well.  One male busboy dropped his tray of dirty dishes.  There was a brief scream from a waitress.  Then in the same moment that the flicker of the guests true form was gone - all natural reaction by the clones also ceased.  The busboy apologized subserviently to the guests around him and began to clean up the dropped tray.  The waitress looked about in confusion, and excused her scream as a reaction to seeing a spider.

It appeared that the guests had no recollection of seeing the guests true-forms.  Which might have been for the best except as the scene progressed Rayek witnessed several guests target the human clones with glares and even some physical violence.  One guest, kicked at the busboy who was picking up a teacup that had rolled too close to the guest's table.

Rayek finally spoke in answer to Ramort's question"No.  You are definitely not the only one to see something off."

He wanted to say more; however, until the jammer was complete, Rayek didn't want to give these aliens that ran Erewhon any more of an excuse to penalize them should the misunderstanding regarding the Terms of Service not go in their favor.

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Discovery|Bridge}

Vila nodded as the Captain issued orders.

When the radiation levels start to drop again, launch sensor probes to act as focus points for our own sensors.  Lorut, use that same chain to reestablish the comm lock.  We have a mission the away team.  In a little over an hour and a half, we dock the ship and hope that it isn't a trap. Understood? Make it so!

"Yes, sir," she replied but her head was already bent, brain making plans that her fingers were struggling to keep up with. Soon, she was piggybacking on the various probes' systems. "I am in," she said, as she managed to corrupt the science probes with her own code. She'd apologize to Ramort later.

That is....all received, Ensign. We'll conduct further investigation. Keep us in the loop.... Right, let's do it...Have we had any further updates from our Away crew?

"No," she replied. She raised her head once more.

"Captain, you'll want to see this," she said, stepping sideways so the other Bajoran could see her console. "The hell does it MEAN?" She sighed. It was rhetorical; she knew what it meant. It meant that the Away team was in danger and she was HERE and it was useless. She tapped her foot against the metal of the console again, the urge to pace about becoming stronger. It was how she did her best thinking, after all.

"If we can't go, we should tractor-beam them back," she muttered to herself. She HATED the feeling of impotence. Sitting behind a computer wasn't "helping" anyone, including herself.

"Any luck with those probes?" She asked aloud. 

[Alexander Graham]

[USS Discovery-bridge]

Things seemed to be dire and he thought that maybe he could lend his assistance to one of the crewmembers that might need help. "Ensign Kedan is there anything I can do to help?" Although he was a flight control officer he thought that maybe he could help on other areas if needed. He was ready to relocate if it was deemed to be necessary. He was optimistic that they were going to be able to figure out a way to get out of it.

[James Ramort]

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

T'Rea had been briefed on emergency stations---but that briefing had consisted of one of the other officers showing her where to find the emergency procedure document and asking her to read it. She had--of course--done so, but considering she had only a general ship's schematic for reference at the time, she found the option to simply follow after Ensign Kedan a far preferable.

The room she found herself in was rapidly growing crowded and the air of the group as a whole anxious, though not quite yet panicked. She felt that Lt. Ramort's absence was obvious as the department's personnel scrambled to reorganize themselves. But at least Ensign Kedan's request gave her a clear and obtainable task. "Yes, sir," she acknowledged as she took a seat at the nearest open terminal. She did not yet possess an intuitive understanding for the Discovery's computer architecture or file structure, but it seemed to be arranged (more or less) logically, and it only took her a couple of attempts before she managed to couple in the astrometrics to the small display.

The forward sensor array was still giving detailed (if incomprehensible) readings of the solar radiation threat, and without being prompted she executed a shell script that would run a recent portion of the data through the most versatile frequency domain denoising algorithm she knew. Perhaps it could help shed some light on the readings, but the continued lack of supplementary probe data (the last probe must be well and truly dead) disturbed T'Rea, and she looked over her shoulder to Kedan again, "Should another probe be prepared? If we equipped it with an additional band pass filter for the gamma ray portion of the EM spectrum perhaps we could get a clearer picture of the solar emissions," she proposed.

"And," an idea struck her as she noticed the bottom corner of the forward sensor array's field off view toggle to flatline values as it passed over the planetary atmosphere below them, "We should consider launching a probe down into the planetary atmosphere in order to detect what's shielding it for this extreme solar radiation?" After all, the dangerous output from the nearby star was at most only half of the relevant information in this case. "Or what about the shuttle? Can we access its sensor array remotely from here?" In the end, they needed a shielding technique as soon as possible, and it was reasonable to assume that copying an already existing and functional technique would be faster than trying to develop their own.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

The entire room was shuffling as they slowly were able to at least establish the basic system links and power on all computers they had access too. In a time like this, they couldn't draw upon support from Ops, given they were busy in other sections of the ship and trying to prevent them all being grillend by intense radiation from the systems central star. Kedan nonetheless suspected there would be multiple reports pilling up on Ramorts desk after all of this was over, calling for a better fitted out backup location and a revision of the emergency protocols.

Just as he was making his round back through the room, a mobile processing core in his hands, Crewman T'Rea approached him with another round of ideas. On her screen he could see a rudimentary layout of the astrometrics labs files and main systems. Her work was methodical and clean, perfectly adapted to the current situation.

"If we launch anything towards the planet, it might be picked up as hostile action. We would have to inform them of our actions first and await a response from their government. Which would take. Time we don't have. I don't know what the status of the shuttle uplink is at the moment, but I will inquire."

"Sending another probe in the direction of the sun could be worth it, though. Even if it just acts as a wavemarker so we can better measure its spread and get a few more second to prepare. Since it is your proposal, it's only just if you get to present it to the Bridge. Work out a trajectory and then call Ops on the Bridge. From our current working conditions we can hardly interface with the ship's tactical systems."

[USS discovery | Bridge]

[...]

Buck's brow furrowed deeply.

The planet what?

He was pretty certain that large planets didn't just glitch out, especially if it were a simulation or hologram their crew were still down there.

That is....all received, Ensign. We'll conduct further investigation. Keep us in the loop.

[...]

As he continued his way to the back wall, he was yet again interrupted by a signal from his combadge. Sliding the computing unit into the prepared socket on the wall with direct access to the ship's networking and power system, he responded.

"Understood, we will keep you appraised of any new developments from our side. Actually we might have something for you. Expect a call from us in the next couple minutes."

[USS Discovery-bridge]

Things seemed to be dire and he thought that maybe he could lend his assistance to one of the crewmembers that might need help. "Ensign Kedan is there anything I can do to help?" Although he was a flight control officer he thought that maybe he could help on other areas if needed. He was ready to relocate if it was deemed to be necessary. He was optimistic that they were going to be able to figure out a way to get out of it.

It seemed like his combadge would not find rest again today. Taking yet another call from the Bridge, he took in the experienced flight chief's offer. It actually came in perfectly. Someone with his experience would be of great assistance in working out the needed complex course correction manoeuvres the next probes would need to take.

"I am sending you Crewman T'Rea up. We need to calculate some complex flight paths, so any assistance you could render would be greatly appreciated." 

Sending personnel up to the Bridge was highly unusual for an Ensign like him. But with Ramort gone and Hayes and Umiga not on duty and Rajagopalan already on the Bridge, there simply wasn't anybody he could have made take responsibility for this.

Returning to Crewman T'Rea he informed her of the changed plans.

Update to our plan. I was able to enlist the help of Chief Graham. Please report to him on the Bridge and work with him on the flight paths. When you are up there, and you are done, you can also directly ask the Ops Chiefs and the Captain for launch approval. Also, the consoles and the computer access up there are better than anything we have done here at the moment anyways."

{USS Discovery|Bridge}

Vila nodded as the Captain issued orders.

"Yes, sir," she replied but her head was already bent, brain making plans that her fingers were struggling to keep up with. Soon, she was piggybacking on the various probes' systems. "I am in," she said, as she managed to corrupt the science probes with her own code. She'd apologize to Ramort later.
"No," she replied. She raised her head once more.

"Captain, you'll want to see this," she said, stepping sideways so the other Bajoran could see her console. "The hell does it MEAN?" She sighed. It was rhetorical; she knew what it meant. It meant that the Away team was in danger and she was HERE and it was useless. She tapped her foot against the metal of the console again, the urge to pace about becoming stronger. It was how she did her best thinking, after all.

"If we can't go, we should tractor-beam them back," she muttered to herself. She HATED the feeling of impotence. Sitting behind a computer wasn't "helping" anyone, including herself.

"Any luck with those probes?" She asked aloud.

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge | Science Station 1]

Things were hectic up here. Screens were erupting in error messages and warning far too often, and he had no way to escape the stress. As one of the oldest Junior Officers on board, he had been up here plenty of times, and he didn't really enjoy it any more as time went on.

Now his lab was locked up. His plants abandoned without him. He really didn't like this one bit.

Taking a deep breath, he focused back on his work. Most science Systems were down right now. Power had been diverted from the usual beefed up computing resources he could draw upon but the sensor grid was still giving it its best. Hearing the Lieutenants question he checked if there was anything he could do from his side.

"Right now I don't even have enough power in the systems to decipher if what I am receiving is cosmic background or actual transmission. Is there any way you can provide me with a bit more power to the receiver array?"

EREWHON

(Ramort, Lek, Tanner & Rayek)
[Erewhon - Transport Site]

[...]

He turned his attention back towards the marketplace.

While Lek worked on the flip phone communicators, Rayek continued his observations.  Rayek also noted the change in lighting above them.  But more notable, was the changed appearance of the guests, other than themselves, in the market place.

Despite over 15 years living amongst the Federation and its wide variety of species, there were moments like now, when his cultural upbringing coloured his reaction.  Romulans, from his generation, were still very much xenophobic, so to see the form of a standard human -  which he was rather used to - suddenly become an oblong-headed, purple-colored tentacle-limbed being the three-quarters the size of an average human, he was rather taken aback.  Rayek flinched away from the guest walking but a few feet from them.

He wasn't the only one to notice the change in appearance.  Several of the workers in the cafe across the street, reacted briefly as well.  One male busboy dropped his tray of dirty dishes.  There was a brief scream from a waitress.  Then in the same moment that the flicker of the guests true form was gone - all natural reaction by the clones also ceased.  The busboy apologized subserviently to the guests around him and began to clean up the dropped tray.  The waitress looked about in confusion, and excused her scream as a reaction to seeing a spider.

It appeared that the guests had no recollection of seeing the guests true-forms.  Which might have been for the best except as the scene progressed Rayek witnessed several guests target the human clones with glares and even some physical violence.  One guest, kicked at the busboy who was picking up a teacup that had rolled too close to the guest's table.

Rayek finally spoke in answer to Ramort's question"No.  You are definitely not the only one to see something off."

He wanted to say more; however, until the jammer was complete, Rayek didn't want to give these aliens that ran Erewhon any more of an excuse to penalize them should the misunderstanding regarding the Terms of Service not go in their favor.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[Erewhon | Landing Site]

Hearing a scream behind him, he quickly spun around. 30 meters away from him, a waitress in a restaurant had let a tablet slip to the ground. Her face twisted in horror. Until she just relaxed again. A slight haze seemingly clouding her eyes for a second as the lost focus. The next second, she already was apologizing to the guest next to her. A large human shape wearing a wristband. But was the shape deflating? And was that a tentacle, a purple tentacle.

Before his own eyes could fully take in the situation the waitress was standing before an ordinary looking older man with a bowler head and a grey crown of hairs on his head.

The Tricorder was blinking in alarm now. Only to also fade as quickly as he had started. Quickly navigating to the log section of the device, meant to hold all sensor reports from at least the last 10 minutes if not saved for future analysis, he found it empty. Or at least devoid of any note that could explain what just happened.

Hearing the Commander acknowledge his observations put him at bit to rest. At least he wasn't losing his mind. Or he had lost it and was just so far gone that he could not notice it any more. Given that, if the latter option was true, he couldn't do anything against it anyway, he decided to focus on the first option.

"Maybe we just experienced some kind of .. glitch .. ? My Tricoder isn't showing anything, so I suspect it indeed has been tempered with. The human employees behaviour seemed strange though. One moment they seemed in shock, as if they never had experienced anything like this before, and the next.. just nothing."

Holding it for a moment longer in his hands he closed the lid on the delicate device and handed it to Lieutenant Lachlyn.

"Would you mind taking a look through it. I know neither of us is a computer specialist but your training against electronic attacks probably qualifies you more to find any bug they placed in it than me."

The Device was of little use until the bug had been removed. If their guests were able to alter any readings he took on a whim he could just as well not take any as their empiric worth would be the same.

Turning to the Chief Engineer, he offered:

"Is there anything I can do to help you with the phones?"

[Lek]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[Erewhon | Landing Site]

Hearing a scream behind him, he quickly spun around. 30 meters away from him, a waitress in a restaurant had let a tablet slip to the ground. Her face twisted in horror. Until she just relaxed again. A slight haze seemingly clouding her eyes for a second as the lost focus. The next second, she already was apologizing to the guest next to her. A large human shape wearing a wristband. But was the shape deflating? And was that a tentacle, a purple tentacle.

Before his own eyes could fully take in the situation the waitress was standing before an ordinary looking older man with a bowler head and a grey crown of hairs on his head.

The Tricorder was blinking in alarm now. Only to also fade as quickly as he had started. Quickly navigating to the log section of the device, meant to hold all sensor reports from at least the last 10 minutes if not saved for future analysis, he found it empty. Or at least devoid of any note that could explain what just happened.

Hearing the Commander acknowledge his observations put him at bit to rest. At least he wasn't losing his mind. Or he had lost it and was just so far gone that he could not notice it any more. Given that, if the latter option was true, he couldn't do anything against it anyway, he decided to focus on the first option.

"Maybe we just experienced some kind of .. glitch .. ? My Tricoder isn't showing anything, so I suspect it indeed has been tempered with. The human employees behaviour seemed strange though. One moment they seemed in shock, as if they never had experienced anything like this before, and the next.. just nothing."

Holding it for a moment longer in his hands he closed the lid on the delicate device and handed it to Lieutenant Lachlyn.

"Would you mind taking a look through it. I know neither of us is a computer specialist but your training against electronic attacks probably qualifies you more to find any bug they placed in it than me."

The Device was of little use until the bug had been removed. If their guests were able to alter any readings he took on a whim he could just as well not take any as their empiric worth would be the same.

Turning to the Chief Engineer, he offered:

"Is there anything I can do to help you with the phones?"

[Erewhon - Landing Site]

Lek looked up when he was addressed, he'd been focused on the phone and missed the glitch as he worked. He tilted his head as Remort's words sunk in and was able to reply in a civil tone.

"I think if you can get the cover off of your phone, we can cross wire the two of them and that should create the feedback loop we need to take their little network offline, at least within a few meters."

[Tekin Nevir]

[USS discovery | Bridge]

Science had been one of Buck's weakest moments when it came down to the pathways that they could all choose from. He knew enough to get by and had spent enough time with the science crew that he could understand what they were speaking about (even if he had to ask them multiple times to slow down when they got overly excited about their field). It seemed that his mention had sparked something in the Captain, as if thousands of volts had shot through him as he went off on 'quantum frangibles'. Buck nodded, not wanting to interrupt the flow or be perceived to be a little slower on the uptake than expected - though grateful the captain had explained it to him as he descibed the situation and it seemed they were on the right track to coming up with a solution.

Buck nodded.

Attention to all lower decks, please evacuate. All non-essential systems will be going offline 

He allowed the message to be relayed to the rest on loop until he was sure that there were no crew or officers in the lower decks that could be put at risk through the manuever they were going to do.[

Buck's brow furrowed deeply.

The planet what?

He was pretty certain that large planets didn't just glitch out, especially if it were a simulation or hologram their crew were still down there.

That is....all received, Ensign. We'll conduct further investigation. Keep us in the loop.

Buck sharply glanced up at Lorut's outburst, seemingly all focused in on the new problem that they faced with a glitching planet. "Right, let's do it." He typed in basic commands, following the parameters that had been provided by the probe in order to assist with recreating the planet and surrounding atmosphere, sharing his screen with Lorut. "Have we had any further updates from our Away crew?" His attention mainly fixated on figuring out how the planet had 'glitched' as he opened up a comm line to the Away Team.

Bridge to Away Team, do you copy? Status report.

{USS Discovery|Bridge}

Vila nodded as the Captain issued orders.

"Yes, sir," she replied but her head was already bent, brain making plans that her fingers were struggling to keep up with. Soon, she was piggybacking on the various probes' systems. "I am in," she said, as she managed to corrupt the science probes with her own code. She'd apologize to Ramort later.
"No," she replied. She raised her head once more.

"Captain, you'll want to see this," she said, stepping sideways so the other Bajoran could see her console. "The hell does it MEAN?" She sighed. It was rhetorical; she knew what it meant. It meant that the Away team was in danger and she was HERE and it was useless. She tapped her foot against the metal of the console again, the urge to pace about becoming stronger. It was how she did her best thinking, after all.

"If we can't go, we should tractor-beam them back," she muttered to herself. She HATED the feeling of impotence. Sitting behind a computer wasn't "helping" anyone, including herself.

"Any luck with those probes?" She asked aloud.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was standing, staring at the screen when he watched the planet shimmer.  No.. not exactly shimmer.  More like ripple.  Like the shielding network was trying to compensate for the increased radiation.

"Yes, I did indeed see that... that's the missing puzzle piece. This planet looks lush because it is covered in a shield that can withstand the radiation.  That's why we can't penetrate it; it is far too advanced for our systems.  But if we can figure out what the shields are using, maybe we can replicate it." he stated, turning back to his crew.

"We don't know where they are, just that they entered through the station.  They could be directly below the station, or on the other side of the planet.  And we are useless to them unless we can save ourselves."

As if the ship had an uncanny sense of humor, the computer spoke.

WARNING, deflective shield failure. Radiation levels rising.  Lethal levels in one hour.

"Is the evacuation done?  Shut down all systems in Beta and Gamma hull and divert all reserves to the shields.  This is probably going to get bad." the Captain stated, turning back.  Just in time to see the same hologram from earlier appear.

"Greetings again, Captain Tekin Nevir.  We understand your hesitation, but as you have no doubt noticed, your ship is not equipped to withstand the conditions of our system and we have already found widespread microfracture across your hull.  We have long since developed the technology and we invite you once again to the station for repair and relaxation. The system's output will continue to increase in cycle for another 2 rotations, and your ship does not seem equipped to even handle half a rotation.  We implore you to trust us."

The hologram then shimmered and vanished, leaving just a sigh from the Captain.

"I'm quickly finding myself in a position where I am running out of options... someone give me a reason why we can hold out and avoid the station."

[James Ramort]

[Erewhon - Landing Site]

Lek looked up when he was addressed, he'd been focused on the phone and missed the glitch as he worked. He tilted his head as Remort's words sunk in and was able to reply in a civil tone.

"I think if you can get the cover off of your phone, we can cross wire the two of them and that should create the feedback loop we need to take their little network offline, at least within a few meters."

[James Ramort]
[Erewhon | Landing Site]

"I can definitly do that. I think I saw some of these in a history class. We went over their basic functions."

The trip to the museum that had been part of that class was something he had nearly forgotten. Their entire class had been shuttled to the History Museum on the Washington Impact site. It focused mostly on the history and artefacts of the third world war. Between the display of the defused nuclear warheads and the various firearms humans had used to slaughter each other and destroy the last remnants of their civilisation there had been an exhibit on the decades before that. Each display featuring information about the most impactful technologies and cultural events of the relavant timeframe. Multiple stands had held phones in different stages of development. From gray boxes larger than a persons head to small chips that could be fittet into nearly every appliance or casing the user desired.

Ramort took out his phone and turned it around. The casing was split in two with the lower section coming off as the applied light preassure to a dented section of the alloy. Under it a black block with different warning symbols was nested in metal rails. Some form of exchangable battery probably. Behind it he could see a small green board covered in copper lines and small black cylinders.

Even though the technology was antiquated by dozens of decades he still recognised them as the circuitboard requested by the Engineer.

"I have access to the control board."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was standing, staring at the screen when he watched the planet shimmer.  No.. not exactly shimmer.  More like ripple.  Like the shielding network was trying to compensate for the increased radiation.

"Yes, I did indeed see that... that's the missing puzzle piece. This planet looks lush because it is covered in a shield that can withstand the radiation.  That's why we can't penetrate it; it is far too advanced for our systems.  But if we can figure out what the shields are using, maybe we can replicate it." he stated, turning back to his crew.

"We don't know where they are, just that they entered through the station.  They could be directly below the station, or on the other side of the planet.  And we are useless to them unless we can save ourselves."

As if the ship had an uncanny sense of humor, the computer spoke.

WARNING, deflective shield failure. Radiation levels rising.  Lethal levels in one hour.

"Is the evacuation done?  Shut down all systems in Beta and Gamma hull and divert all reserves to the shields.  This is probably going to get bad." the Captain stated, turning back.  Just in time to see the same hologram from earlier appear.

"Greetings again, Captain Tekin Nevir.  We understand your hesitation, but as you have no doubt noticed, your ship is not equipped to withstand the conditions of our system and we have already found widespread microfracture across your hull.  We have long since developed the technology and we invite you once again to the station for repair and relaxation. The system's output will continue to increase in cycle for another 2 rotations, and your ship does not seem equipped to even handle half a rotation.  We implore you to trust us."

The hologram then shimmered and vanished, leaving just a sigh from the Captain.

"I'm quickly finding myself in a position where I am running out of options... someone give me a reason why we can hold out and avoid the station."

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge | Science Station 1]

"I am receiving Reports from Science that our Team that we have evacuated all Laboratories and reassembeld on Deck 5. Regarding the current situation: I don't see any way to weather the next time right now. But I find the whole situation very strange. If they knew we would be caught up in the Tide, why didn't they adequatly warn us, why didn't they provide us with some info on their shield tech so we can protect ourselves?"

Worry clouded his mind. It seemed almost like a trap. Putting a station here and inviting them while knowing they would be exposed to the tide, then inviting them to the Station and leaving them up to their hosts mercy. It reminded him of Drosera rotundifolia, a plant that attracted flies with a fluid that shimmered in the morning light like little diamonds while being placed in bigs where there were little other sources of safety. But the little dewdrops were a trap. The Drosera being carniverous catching its prey in sticky substances and them dissolving them alive with its enzymes. A harrowing fate for the poor flies that got caught.

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

Just as Kedan was making his round back through the room, a mobile processing core in his hands, Crewman T'Rea approached him with another round of ideas. On her screen he could see a rudimentary layout of the astrometrics labs files and main systems. Her work was methodical and clean, perfectly adapted to the current situation.

"If we launch anything towards the planet, it might be picked up as hostile action. We would have to inform them of our actions first and await a response from their government. Which would take. Time we don't have. I don't know what the status of the shuttle uplink is at the moment, but I will inquire."

"Sending another probe in the direction of the sun could be worth it, though. Even if it just acts as a wavemarker so we can better measure its spread and get a few more second to prepare. Since it is your proposal, it's only just if you get to present it to the Bridge. Work out a trajectory and then call Ops on the Bridge. From our current working conditions we can hardly interface with the ship's tactical systems."

[...]

Taking yet another call from the Bridge, he took in the experienced flight chief's offer. It actually came in perfectly. Someone with Graham's experience would be of great assistance in working out the needed complex course correction manoeuvres the next probes would need to take.

"I am sending you Crewman T'Rea up. We need to calculate some complex flight paths, so any assistance you could render would be greatly appreciated." 

Sending personnel up to the Bridge was highly unusual for an Ensign like him. But with Ramort gone and Hayes and Umiga not on duty and Rajagopalan already on the Bridge, there simply wasn't anybody he could have made take responsibility for this.

Returning to Crewman T'Rea he informed her of the changed plans.
Update to our plan. I was able to enlist the help of Chief Graham. Please report to him on the Bridge and work with him on the flight paths. When you are up there, and you are done, you can also directly ask the Ops Chiefs and the Captain for launch approval. Also, the consoles and the computer access up there are better than anything we have done here at the moment anyways."

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Spare Computing Space 2]

T'Rea had acknowledged Ensign Kedan's first instructions and was in the middle of drafting a rough list of feasible probe modifications under the current time constraints along with sketching a possible path the could try to minimize it's radiation exposure and thus survive and transmit for as long as possible. But that didn't mean she didn't also overhear the Benzite say on the come that he intended to send her to the bridge. She was still staring at him in something akin to disbelief as he turned back to her and briefed her on her instructions.

She gathered herself. "Yes, sir, I understand," she acknowledged, reflexively transferring her notes to her PADD and standing. After all, if there was new skill she had learned in her brief training period on Mars, it was not to question orders without good reason, and she did think herself technically capable of the ensign's request.

A minute later and she found herself in a turbolift zooming up to the bridge. She had never set foot on the Discovery's bridge before. Indeed, the only starship bridges she had even occupied were either training holograms or ships in space dock during her brief training. This would be something different. This would be the the thing that Yiluv had spent his short life dreaming of, and it was her son's dream that had brought her to Starfleet and the Discovery. The door hissed open. She took in the the primary viewing port and the lush planet below. She took a centering breath in and out. Lives were at stake. Now was a time for focusing on the moment.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

She entered the bridge and quickly identified the flight chief's position and tried to cross to it without drawing undue attention. She met eyes briefly with Ensign Rajagopalan at the Science station--it was reassuring to see at least one familiar face--and gave him a brief nod before addressing CPO Graham, "Chief Graham, I am Crewman T'Rea. I have a proposed course from the Science for a modified probe, if you could provide more specific recommendations for the flight path?" she asked as she held out her PADD in his direction for him to inspect. She tried to keep her attention focused on the flight officer, but it was impossible to not take in the rest of the bridge at the same time, and her eyes flickered across the different stations and the captain, leaning forward intently in his chair.

[Lorut Vila]

{Discovery|Bridge}

Vila and Bosch were working in tandem to see if they could uncover the mystery of the glitching planet. She KNEW that it had to be something in the programming of the shields' system-but how and what was the question. It would take time to figure out. Time they may not have.

With the Lower Decks finally cleared, Vila was free to work at her pace. She opened a ship-wide channel.

=/\=All unnecessary ship functions will cease in five seconds. Civilians are advised to remain in their quarters. Fleet staff are advised to report to Yellow Alert stations.  Sure enough, the lights, computers, and etc in Science-and most of the rest of the ship-went dark.

"Rerouting power to the probes. Get me a Science officer up here. I don't care which," she said, jabbing at her Comms badge. She REALLY needed to talk to tr'Lohell about a subdermal communication device. A call from Science came in.

Right now I don't even have enough power in the systems to decipher if what I am receiving is cosmic background or actual transmission. Is there any way you can provide me with a bit more power to the receiver array?

"Yes, Ensign. After you're done there, please join me at the Ops station. I have...an idea," she said. She raised her head a moment, realizing she should clue in the Captain.

-----

The other Bajoran spoke before she could, however.

Yes, I did indeed see that... that's the missing puzzle piece. This planet looks lush because it is covered in a shield that can withstand the radiation.  That's why we can't penetrate it; it is far too advanced for our systems.  But if we can figure out what the shields are using, maybe we can replicate it....We don't know where they are, just that they entered through the station.  They could be directly below the station, or on the other side of the planet.  And we are useless to them unless we can save ourselves....Is the evacuation done?  Shut down all systems in Beta and Gamma hull and divert all reserves to the shields.  This is probably going to get bad....
"I'm quickly finding myself in a position where I am running out of options... someone give me a reason why we can hold out and avoid the station.

 

VIla shrugged.. "I have an idea....but you'd really have to trust me," she said. "How difficult would it be to undock the Saucer? I am not saying don't go down there, but...if there's TWO vessels to contend with, it might buy us some more time."

She continued. 

"OR...we can blast a hole in the shield with a missile or let me build some C-4. It'll take just twenty minutes, and a probe." She shrugged. Other than that, she was out of ideas. "I don't know about YOU, but I personally have had enough of clones to last a lifetime, so I'd really rather one of those two options. Then tractor beam out who we can. If I can somehow tap back into Commander Lek's signal again, we can let them know to meet back at the landing site. It's risky, and it takes time but it saves lives," she said. 

She really wanted him to choose option B-the TNT, of course, but she was TRYING to come up with less lethal approaches to problems. Even if they were uncomfortable.