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[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Twenty minutes until full regeneration.

The ship was in full battle-mode, defensively and offensively as it fired another round of quantum torpedoes. Everything seemed to be running as smoothly as one could possibly get in the situation where power was having to be diverted to critical systems and they had their hands full with ensuring that their Away Team returned safely. Buck kept a watchful eye on the systems, ensuring that they were capable of supplying any more power or make any more critical adjustments should they need to.

Then he stopped, a chill running down his spine as the voice of their foe beckoned them to stop. The visual image itself just as eerie and just as forboding.

"Spiders. Alien spiders."

Of course it had to be alien spiders.

"Lt. McNair...good work. Please continue up here, I am headed down to the office. Maybe I can figure something out on the way. By your leave, sir?" She said, stepping back. She was only a Computer scientist, she really didn't understand how photons worked, exactly, but it had to be better than just exploding them. At least, it'd be an instant kill. No suffering.

"Of course," Buck replied with a nod. "Shout up once you have something that could potentially yield results, keep us in the loop."

The warning from the Captain to their attackers was heard, and Buck stifled a sigh. It wasn't quite within the Federation to wage war but in interests of protecting themselves and the rest of Federation space who may wander - it was their last resort.

Either that or they managed to get enough power to warp away from them.

[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

"Return fire!  Monitor the shield output.  Trix, McNair, run a spectral sweep of our ship using the frequency of that subspace tear. I don't think the power disruptions are naturally occurring."  The ship shook again as their shields were being hit.

Buck was just about to conduct the spectral sweep when he heard Dersch chime up from the tactical control panel, tying the tactical outputs into the sweep itself as he began to run the data and monitor all the output of power they had currently being used. They had already drained a lot from the non-essential parts of the ship, so he could only hope that they wouldn't drain everything in its entirety.

"Captain, I've overlaid the spectral data. We're caught in a web, for lack of a better term. These strands appear to be what is siphoning power directly from us, and some of them are linked to the alien vessel. Others vanish straight into subspace. They're phasing in and out, which is likely why our power fluctuations seem so erratic. I don't think we will be able to get a weapons lock on them either—they don't even show up on our normal sensors. Besides, any phaser fire would likely just drain our reserves and feed whatever they connect to. Luckily, there are too many of them to allow for the possibility that they are targeted in any way, shape, or form. If helm can avoid flying into more of them, it will likely prevent an even more rapid drain."

He took a breath, antennae tapping to the beat of his heart as he worked through possible countermeasures. "For power conservation, we should compartmentalize the grid as much as we can. Open every breaker we have to limit how easily the reserves can be drained. Further, I recommend shutting down our shields and phaser banks—they're just free food at this point. We need time to figure out how to counteract this web. In the meantime, we can fight back with our torpedoes. If we can get a lock on them, they should be susceptible to quantum torpedoes"

"Work with engineering to handle the power systems.  Bridge the holodeck power to add to our own, and divert power from the phaser banks. And... save the shields for now. Mr. Dersch, bring the Borg modulations online, and coordinate with Mr. Trix to activate them after we handled the outer hull.  Mr. Trix, prepare the inverse polarity field for the hull.  Ops, enact emergency power protocol; evacuate all officers not involved in battle stations to their designated refuge center and then shut down all power to non-essential locations."
"Prepare a full spread of quantum torpedo forward and aft, set to detonate at minimal safety distance from the ship, and fire on my order. And load up a second spread forward with a higher yield for our new friends." he gripped the chair.
"And you all better hold on... we're about to detonate a dozen warheads around an unshielded ship."
"All hands, this the Captain, evacuate from all outer sections and brace for impact."

"Enacting emergency power protocols now, Cap'n." Buck responded, his ingers flying along the control panel as he enabled the protocols that would set up the ship for the worst-case scenario.

Ops to all officers, those not involved at battle stations, prepare for evacution to your designated refuge center. 

The message would be sent out to all those across the ships, as he checked each deck, manually trying to sut off power to those specific locations that were not in use and wouldn't be in use for the situation that they were in. Buck would monitor the movements of each deck, when they would clear out to area designated and he would shut down the power to ensure that they weren't going to be exposed any further with the power drainage. He would have to have a check of their armoury should they survive the salvo.

Buck's knuckles would turn white as he gripped onto the control panel, his teeth gritted as the captain issued his forewarning. This would hurt, certainly would rock the ship and he hoped that it would help them some. But none of his preparations would help as he found himself rocked violently to one side as the ship shuddered and screamed around him as the quantum torpedos exploded. He had managed to hit the side of the control panel on the way down, causing him to briefly lock up in pain as he clutched at his ribcage. Buck whined, coughing as he hauled himself back upright and to run a preliminary scan of the damage sustained by the Discovery and how much they were able to safely take without running into more complications.

His ears were ringing and he had to fight through the wave of nausea that had suddenly hit him.

The horrifying realisation of the enemy vessel being able to regenerate.

"We cannot simply continue to launch salvos at them without sustaining more damage than them..." Buck muttered to himself as he audibly spoke to himself, trying to work a solution as he stifled back a cough, wincing some. "At what speed is it regenerating at, Trix?"

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

Buck was running through potential scenarios when the Captain had been interrupted and a shudder rocked the ship. That wasn't good. It really wasn't good. The rhythmic whoop-whoop of the ship's klaxons were the next thing to layer the already complex situation as Ch'Rehllan had just hailed ops. The captain was rattled as he shot to standing after the conversation with lieutenant JG T'Farr. Buck could see, and hear, the fear coming from the captain as the next steps were ordered.

He would keep the scans up and running, the probe doing its job out to monitor but the subspace tear in space was the only thing they probably needed to focus their attention on, that they were rather under attack from an unknown force. A force that was slowly appearing on their viewscreens, Buck furrowed his brow as he took the time to consider what the hell that thing was.

Were they still dealing with Space Spiders who could warp the fabric of reality and space around them?

Buck worked on ensuring that they were still diverting all power from unnecessary functions to the shields and essential power to keep them running for the time being. Whilst there were a few sectors that they could pull poewr from, it was fast decreasing. He could also feel his heart pounding against his chest as he listened to each of the crew's transmissions. "Power has been diverted to shields. I've done my best in transferring the power to essential components but we're rapidly working our way through until we have to start decreasing our power usage."

[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]
Reflexively, Kedan checked the same copy of the probe's feed that was visible on his own console. Everything looked as it should from his perspective as well---at least something was going as expected. "Clean launch, Ops," Kedan confirmed with a nod of approval in Buck's direction, "I recommend that we follow Ensign Ch'Rehllan's earlier advise if possible—we can use the fact that we control the probe's movements—doing a very short comparative study between the Discovery's sensor array scans of the probe vs the probe's scan of our ship should provide enough of a cross check to confirm that the ship's sensors are transmitting real data. If you think it's a good idea, sir," Kedan would defer to the Lieutenant's superior knowledge of systems security, but it had sounded like an good idea... "And after that's all cleared up maybe week can set the probe to the same kind of wide band, full field of view scanning as our sensor array for a while—see if we can get an independent reading of these null values or not."

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck nodded at the ensign's response that they had launched the probe without too much of a hitch. Buck was grateful for small mercies when it came to something being functional, whether it was on the ship or elsewhere. He knew the ensign was referring to Ch'Rehllan's earlier comment about running broadband scans which could help identify the spoofing of their own sensors. He looked over at the captain, who had ultimately the final say in inputting and diverting power on tasks that might end up hindering the ship's functioning abiliities. Though what had been shown next on the data feed only made his skin crawl and his whole body to momentarily freeze as his brain caught up in comprehension of what they were witnessing.

Then it had gotten worse from there.

They were apparently dealing with a subspace black hole which didn't just and wasn't just affecting the Momentary but the Discovery now too as the readings spiked briefly. Buck pulled up the probe, checking through its readings and it seemed to run in line with what the younger ensign was saying about the power useage. "Well I'll be damned." He rubbed his chin as he isolated the probe's power the best he could and rerouted non-essential functions, increasing the power to the essential functions of the ship by a percentage. "Probe's sensor grid has been isolated the best we can do from the power grid, however had to do some re-jigging to get the power grid back to an acceptable standard, for now some non-essential functions of the ship have been reduced."

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Kedan gave a wince of empathy when Trix was chastised—every captain was different, and he still remembered when he himself had been brand new to the ship and trying to figure out what kind of input was/wasn't welcome when on the Discovery. But he didn't have time to dwell on the thought for long before Captain Tekin was issuing orders.
"Ops, the class IV probe loaded in port S3-A was included in the sensor system calibration and diagnostic, so I recommend using that one, sir."

Buck listened to what the away team had to say, they were certainly the current eyes and ears of influencing the captain's decision on what they were going to be doing next. He had the schematics up for the class IV probe, checking and running diagnostics on the probe prior to them launching should it be required. "That is all received, Ensign." He would reply, glancing over at the Captain to see whether or not he would agree or disagree with the input. Buck certainly felt ill at ease with the updates that were being patched through, the discovery of a corpse that had been drained but no explicit signs of trauma, organic netting from the hull and the potential of space spiders was something all too much for the junior lieutenant to consider. He considered the null values and the potential blindspots that it was causing for them and the away team. "There is something appearing on my end, seems like a repeating loop of code somewhere....scans are only now picking up on it. Might have to double check with the Away Team with what's being feeded to us to ensure we aren't lagging behind on anything vital."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
The Captain stood firm, the bridge seemed tense, with just Kedan and McNair speaking.  The most recent report from the away team had come in; a completely desiccated corpse of a crewman. Corpse, completely drained, just like the ship's power.  In addition, the webbing filaments on the ship had unsettling implications. No one seemed to say it out loud, but the pieces were there. After hearing the probe to use, he nooded.
"Launch the probe." he ordered, a bit softer than he expected.
The database looked for any cultural similarities in the sensor loss, but the majority of the records seemed to link to standard operating procedures dealing with sensor loss or sensors out of calibration.  Too many records from too many ships in Starfleet, as well as other known species.  For a while, the computer seemed to just assume the sensor bleeps were a rare misalignment as a result of a diagnostic, but there was one entry that wasn't technical.  A report from a Romulan science vessel accidentally released during the Dominion War told of an anomaly that absorbed emitted energy, including sensor readings.  The closest translation was a 'subspace blackhole.'  That vessel ended up sending a probe in there and got unusual readings before the 'blackhole' dissipated.
A further search with that reference as a source showed three other suspected instances throughout the last century, with only one recording a loss of that investigating ship.
While that was going on, another sweep of the center showed another blip of null values.  This one had moved by several degrees, but when the sensors went back to the spot, everything was normal.  The sensors were starting to require more power to maintain their strength.

With a press of a button and an imaginary inserted sound, the probe had been launched. Buck watched as the transponder blipped to life as it began its scans. "Probe's been launched, everything looks green at the moment, sir." He relayed. Had the theory changed? Was it still just the two potential species that could have wiped out the entire crew of the Momentary with very little else to show for it? Of course the sensors were blipping, there was something just off about the way that it would flicker back and seemed to drain more power than most sensors would have.

"Cap'n, you seeing the readings of the sensors currently?" Buck needed to check that it wasn't just something he was having problems with.

Congratulations !!

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]

The Captain gave a bit of a dry chuckle.  "Makes you comfortable, doesn't it?" he stated, shaking his head.  "That's what we signed up for - we don't have the ships or personnel to send a proper search party, so we're the investigatory bait. Old as she is, Discovery is certainly one of the best ships to handle threats on her own. Ability to be three ships at once, and not even need a fully manned crew to control the other hulls.  We'll be fine."

Buck gave a thin-lipped smile in response to the comment, he supposed that they should be used to it; not that it brought him any comfort to know that they were being dangled out as bait for whatever was to come at them should the ship be infested with a species that had a so-called 'beef' with the Federation. The captain's words did a little to comfort him, brought on by the confidence portrayed and the crew that manned her. Though it was the next part that had his heart jump in his chest.

The self-calibration Kedan had began earlier on the ship's sensors had finished by the time that the captain gave instructions to keep maximum range scans running, and since the calibration had reported no detectable errors in the sensor system it was a simple matter to ensure everything was set up properly for monitoring---both of all open space in sensor range and specifically on the Momentary and the away team.
But by the time the captain had spoken to the admiralty and then again with the away team, something changed. Kedan frowned at the screens of his science station and adjust the breathing apparatus under his chin in a kind of reflexive nervous gesture. "Captain! Did you see—just now, I was reading flat null values on all sensors for a second there." Kedan reported, alarm coloring the tone of his voice sharp as he tried to scroll back through the data to confirm what his eyes had seen. "I'd say it could have been a momentary system fault, but I just ran a full self-calibration in the system a few minutes ago. Everything came back green. So a fault doesn't make sense!"
Unless... the Benzite's eyes opened wide, "Ops, can you see any signs of system infiltration? Could a momentary interrupt to the sensor data be a symptom of someone or something overriding real readings with an artificial feed of what they want us to see?"

His eyes went to Ensign Kedan on the science control panel, the ensign looked alarmed. This was the moment where Buck knew that he needed to put his own game face on and put aside his own doubts less the whole crew began breaking out in hysterics. Buck ran a couple of system scans, ensuring that the hardware wasn't at fault nor the software and it left them with accurate readings. The self-calibration, he could see the results coming back as green. Buck raised a brow as he ran a full system scan of the system; the screen blipping ever so gently. "Working on a full, deeper system scan and download of all files at the moment to corroborate what Ensign Kedan is seeing," He watched as the progress bar ticked up and up. There was a chance that they could have been infiltrated however, that would certainly be quite a feat to do it right under their noses. "Verbalise your thoughts, ensign. Seems pretty advanced if they were able to do remote system interference right under our noses without the system picking it up."

He checked the scans hat were running, long range scans were functioning correctly but if they were suffering some system breach, he needed to make sure.

Ops to Tereshlova, anyone able to confirm if there is a running console panel detected on board the Momentary?

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]]

With that, and a response, he stopped the comm without closing the channel to keep a lock on, and leaned back, fighting back the emotions in the back of his mind at the thought of a friend no longer being here. And dead in such a horrible way...
His thoughts were interrupted with a response from Starfleet, which Never ordered to be put on the main viewer, creating a box in the middle of the view of the ship and the face of Admiral Kirsten Clancy.
"Admiral Clancy, we found the Momentary, she is adrift and lifeless.  I've sent a team to investigate."
"Captain Tekin, have you confirmed loss of all hands?"
"Not yet, ma'am, but there are no lifesigns registered.  No atmosphere in the shop at all, and no power."
"Your report mentioned something on the ship?"
The Captain glanced at the Ops officer and nodded, and another box opened next to the Admiral with a view of the broken ship.
"Its some sort of organic netting, or webbing.  Computer doesn't recognize it, but there are two known species that use organic materials, Breen and 8472. There is also a gash in her secondary hull."
"We've had no reports of Breen activity in that region, and the computer should have read something if it was them.  8472 shouldn't be anywhere near this quadrant, and last report from Admiral Janeway stated there was no concern from them after their most recent encounter.  If it is Species 8472, then we have no idea what may have changed in the 20 plus years since Voyager's last contact.  Keep us informed of what you find.  And good luck, Captain." she stated, before closing the channel.
"I don't like this..." he stated, sighing and shaking his head. "Keep our position.  And let me know the moment something reads on the scanners."

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Buck was always in awe of those who had pursued the medical or scientific field, their jargon and depth of what they needed to know and learn far surpassed his tactical and operations training that he had gone through at the Academy. He listened into the conversation with a non-judgemental face, trying not to think of the worst that they would have a confirmation of a complete loss of life but realistically, what Kedan and the rest of the readings were finding....Buck held that in the back of his mind for now.

Organic material.

Breen.

Species 8472. A cold chill ran down Buck's spine as he considered the ramifications of this being one of the options. A species designated by number rather than any meaningful name.

His eyes dropped to the readings of the scans brought back from the Away Team and the shuttle as they neared the Momentary. He would keep an eye out as best he could, whilst ensuring that they weren't going to become too vulnerable to outside threats that might have been using the dead ship in space as a lure. Buck looked over at the Captain, wondering how he was feeling right now.

"Aye Captain," Buck replied. "Reckon the Admiral doesn't want to send anyone out here in case it is Species 8472 , so they don't lose anyone else?"

[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

He nodded as Ramort called for an away team and headed for the turbolift.  Nevir considered taking a seat, but instead opted to stand as the officers changed out around him to replace the called officers for the away team. He stood staring at the drifting husk of a ship he knew, and a Captain he feared was gone. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel the chill going down his own spine.

"Ops, cancel hailing frequencies... if there isn't even power in the reserves, even if they had comms it wouldn't be working. Keep long-range scans active and keep locks on the shuttle and away team when they leave. Send a message to Starfleet, let them know we've found the Momentary and are investigating.  Likely all hands lost due to an unknown incident."

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck's lips pressed together, he didn't like the idea that was forming into a more likely scenario that pertained to the ship floating seemingly dead in space. Of course, they were having an away team reacting and soon would find themselves either nearby or on board to see what truly was happening. Then it was also a big thing to message back to Starfleet, the message that they would see first would be his - USS Discovery's - stating that they had found a lost-in-space ship.

"Aye sir." The words slipped out as he focused on what needed to be done, cancelling the hailing frequencies, watching it for a moment before rerouting to prepare once the Away Team had deployed on the shuttle.

He checked that the long range scans were still functioning and active, in case there was still a threat out there. For Buck, there were already too many unknowns. "LRS active and functioning, scans ready to lock onto the Away Team once deployed. Message being transmitted back to Starfleet now, standby for their response." It was eerie, to know how close they had come to this sitation, the weight of fallen comrades resting on their shoulders. Buck would hold out a sliver of hope that there were survivors, at least for now.

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]
"I see it too, not sure what this is."
Webbing, why did that make his spine feel like ice? What was webbing doing in space? How did it relate to the gash in the ship.
There were plenty of crystalline materials that could be formed by the mixture of gases and minerals mixing when the ship were to be impacted by a body moving through interstellar space. Usually these formations would be larger and more chaotic in strucure, form spikes and dislocated nexuses. A web might hint at a simultanous release of energy from the grid. Closer analysis might uncover the structures to match the with the powergrid of the ship underneath.
"Aye Sir!"
"Ensign Dupont, Lieutenant M'Nia, Officer T'Rea, please report to the Shuttle Bay." 

"Lieutenants Soreka, Michael, Lorut, please join me too, " turning around he saw Lieutenant McNair just enter the Bridge, "Perfect timing, Lieutenant McNair, please take over the Ops Station."
Having called for his team, he went for the Turbolift. The Shuttlebay his destination.

Vila nodded. "Yes, sir. McNair, call down to the office. Put petty officer Childers on the switches. I want those done TODAY. Before today," she said. They would know by now that Vila meant now-but there shouldn't be MUCH to do, honestly. They ran a check on the switches regularly, and she was on top of it at all times. Anything short of perfect was unacceptable to her.

Buck, by now, had arrived at the bridge. "I have control. Good luck, Away Team." Buck said as he approached the station, logging in with his username and keypass. He looked over at Lorut, nodding, "Already done. Wouldn't dare leave the switches unmanned for too long." She ran a tight ops station, though granted they were of the same rank - they clearly had different approaches to their leadership.

He allowed for the data to run, and continue running as he got himself up to speed with the Momunentary's status. Buck would also make sure that a ping was sent to the ship at a set interval, making his and the crew's lives easier in case there was someone out there that was requiring urgent assistance. He could hold out help, he had to at the very least for the potential survivors of the ship.

"Ops to science, how's the readings looking so far? Any changes?"

[[USS Discovery | Deck 3 - aft observation lounge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 3 - aft observation lounge]

Buck had been listening into the developments ever since they had found the Momentary. He was idly scanning through their itinery since they had left the station, ensuring that everything was in stock or a least noted if they were to dip into rationings. Lorut was on the bridge, so it wasn't deemed necessary for the both of them to be occupying the space when he could be busying himself with other taskings. Of course, he had to deal with a crewman's insistence that they were out of coffee already only for it to have been an elaborate prank when his own machine started working fully again.

It had seemed that whatever they'd found with the Momentary had been enough to bring the whole ship onto a state of alert and concern. A vessel dead in space was concerning on its own accord. Buck had decided that he would start heading in the direction of the bridge just in case he was required in some capacity, whether it was to fill the shoes as Ops on the bridge or even accompany the away team should they need him. He hoped that he had managed to skirt the need to visit the mandatory medical checks at least for another few days before they dragged him by the ear to inform him that he was well and truly fine. Buck glanced at his PADD and saw the tickets and engineering requests gearing up, pinging one by one causing the PADD in hand to buzz.

Buck stopped, mid step as he eyed up the lift. He had to trust those on the bridge had it all in hand but he wanted to make sure that he could make himself as useful as possible.

Lorut from McNair, how can I be of assistance here? 

Welcome to all newcomers and joiners to the Disco!  Looking forward to encountering all of you in the travels and missions to come.

Also, congratulations on all for their promotions! 

[[Erewhon Station | Reception area]]

[Ensign Kedan]
[Erewhon | Reception Area]

Very happy about the progress they were making, Kedan called up the stores of components in Discoveries Storage bays. If they were to install multiple overlapping shields, they would need to get separated shield grids with individual taps into the power grid.

"Looking through the stores of spare emitters we have, it could barely be enough. We should also look into modifying the navigational deflector. It has a powerline in the shape of its backup power couplings already and is precise enough to counter the particles hitting us.

T'Rea, could you model the likely particle exposure, given we stay within median exposure based on what hit us so far?
Lieutenant, we should get working on the code for the modified spare emitters.
Ensigns, if you can gather us more data, it would greatly help us to get this shield developed to a point where its safe to fly again."

[Erewhon Station | Reception area]

There had been a lot that had transpired since their arrival on the station. The top brass and their commanders had been pulled into the meeting rooms, leaving them to be tasked with finding a way off the station and with their entire crew entact. There was a lot to consider, but Buck was hoping that it fell to the ones with bigger pips to decide what was going to happen in relation to the First Directive. He had cracked on with the rest, wondering where Lorut had disappeared to, only to hear the rumblings that somebody had accessed a restricted area. No medals for guessing which somebody this was. He wanted to help his fellow Lieutenant JG, however Lorut had gotten herself into that mess and whilst he would dive head first into any situation for his crew and found family, there was a line that he would not cross.

Being operations, Buck kept a watchful eye of the itinerary that they were fast burning through. It was worth a stock up once they had docked somewhere that was Starfleet-friendly and wouldn't be holding the rest of them effectively hostage. "Are we able to run through simulations to see how this would appear to work prior to us burning through what little emitters we have? I don't want to be a killjoy, but we still need to be prepared to put aside a reserve for our journey back...." Buck said, throwing in his cautionary spiel as he glanced over the young Ensign's shoulder. "Carry on the good work so far, ensign and everyone. Hopefully we'll be away soon enough."

[[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Auxillary engineering]]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

As the bridge worked, the Captain glanced down at his hand.  A legion was forming on the back of it; a telltale sign of radiation poisoning.  The Bridge was on the outside layer; above them was hull plating and then space.  Even if there wasn't a total collapse, levels rose on the bridge just simply due to proximity.

As McNair put in his newest changes, the shields around the ship crackled as they tried to adjust to the new frequency. The Captain looked over at the schematics where an estimated countdown clock was showing.  He watched their remaining time dip down, and then back up, and then slow... but it was still counting down.

"Bridge to McNair... it worked for a bit, but then the frequency changed again.  I think the frequencies are changing too fast, and our shields were not designed to rotate that quickly.  Even the Borg protocols can't compensate.  It just takes too long for our shields to compensate, and by the time it does, the frequency is moving on."

He frowned, but looked at the counter again.  Their time was just about up.  "Lorut, unlock the armories and get security armed.  We may have actual company after we dock, and I'm too burnt to play nice."

"Helm... take us in.  Emergency docking procedures." he stated, tapping the all comm.

"All hands, this is the Captain.  Our attempts to shield ourselves from the radiation have failed, and we do not have enough time to try and get away from the system, nor are we going to abandon our crew.  I have made the decision to dock at the station.  I am well aware that this may be a trap anyway, but the alternative is losing the crew, who frankly are more important than the ship.  Once we dock, I am ordering the evacuation of Discovery to the station.  Security, be on heightened alert. Our goal once we are on the station is to find out how they repel the radiation and apply it to our ship.  Good luck to you all.  Bridge out."

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Auxillary engineering]

Buck tried his best to allow himself to appear passive, not overwhelmed by the absolute state of decay their ship's shields were facing. He had heard that his adjustments to the system had worked however there was a problem - the frequency had changed, again. He pumped his fist in frustration as he crossed his arms, hand to his mouth as he thought of an alternative. They would have to keep playing catch up or compensate for the frequency changes.  Aye Cap, we'll keep at it in the mean time. 

Then the broadcast had gone out, stating that they were going to be docking at the behest of the crew. Trap or not, Buck agreed with the captain on this one - they could not leave their team stranded on the planet and they didn't have the technology to keep up with the degrading shields and compete with the frequencies, no matter how much they were still willing to try.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Auxiliary Engineering]
"The Waves are hitting us constantly. Their changing energy levels are preventing us from adapting quickly enough, resulting in enormous strain to the emitters. We are also reading intense stress levels in physical shielding. Almost as if the Energons hitting us are of quasi particular nature. I am working on a way to reflect them from the Hull. If we can catch them in the shield before they manage to polarize the hull we can prevent a lot of damage to our system."

Buck looked over at the ensign with an encouraging nod. "Best we can do and hope for at this point is to play damage control. Keep at it and just keep an eye out when we're docked." He was looking over his stats and data as they continued onwards trying to find a solution. "Is there anything else we can do to reverse or slow it down any further?"

[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Vila simply nodded. "The transmitters are responding!" she called out. She sent the signals to the open channel. "Captain, to you," she said. "McNair, I'm sending it to you, too. Maybe you can interface it with whatever you have," she said, tapping out the commands quickly, staring straight ahead-focused.

"Thank you, Lorut." Buck replied as he pulled the signals up to his own work station. It was a bit out of his league, and he could manage with rudimentary sciences that the Academy had taught him but he hoped that all the data lined up - or at the very least made sense.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
Before the Captain could really respond to the Bridge, the comms cracked and he heard the away team. He frowned, and answered.
"Be advised Away Team, we have reason to believe the facilitators have ulterior motives.  We are about to be forced to dock. We do not yet have a way to withstand the increasing radiation in the system and our shields are close to failing.  If we are forced to the station, we will continue work to break us all out of here."
He turned to the bridge. "Good work, Lorut. For the probe, to silence it, use the observation protocols. We can coordina-"
WARNING, deflective shield failure. Radiation levels rising.  Lethal levels in 30 minutes.
".. of course we are losing time. Even in the shadow of the planet.  Mr Graham, plot a route to dock with the station. Mr. McNair, we are running out of options.  Have we tried attuning our shield's frequency to match the radiation?"

Well.

That wasn't a good sign.

Lethal levels in thirty minutes and they were already cutting into precious time. Buck's jaw clenched as he tried to think his way out of this. "It's worth a shot, cap'n," Buck ruminated, glancing over at the captain with a look that said he would just about try any good idea at this point. He began to bring up the shield frequency, getting a lock on it as he studied it and the radiation data that they had so far. "Well here goes nothing." He pressed a couple of commands on his work station and held his breath, wondering whether the frequencies would match or they'd land in deeper trouble.

"Should be able to match in a few minutes, according to our data."

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 5 | Auxiliary Engineering]
Thus having his station prepared he called out for the rest of the Team.
"Kedan to M'Nia and McNair, I set up a work station for us in Auxiliary Engineering. Please report to Deck 5 for shield reconfiguration."

Ensign, I'm en route.

Buck looked over to the rest of the bridge team, excusing himself as he transported his way down to Deck 5.

[USS Discovery | Deck 5 - auxillary engineering]

"Very unstable," Vila replied, tightly. "The radiation and distance are really doing a number on the connection," she said. It frustrated her, but she was smart and resilient. "I am going as fast as I can. McNair, how're you doing?" She asked.

No sooner had he arrived in the makeshift work station, he had been hailed by Lorut, asking for an update. "Standby Lorut, just got down to Deck 5," Buck brought out his PADD to see how his previous work was coming along. "In relation to the matching frequencies, it should be all matched. At least that's what my PADD is showing me, please advise if it is not the case."

With that out of the way, Buck turned to Kedan and raised a brow. "So, what do we have so far? What can we do with the time we've got?"