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{USS Tereshkova|Helm}

Kalem heard the tapping on the exterior of the shuttle as well as the "legs" that appeared outside of the shuttle.
Kalem heard other things going on. people trying to get scientific information about the new species. Kalem didn't care

"Brace for full emergency thrust" With that, Kalem directed all non-essential system power to the engines, ramping them up to almost 125%. Yes, he knew that this could cause a burnout of the engines, but they didn't have time.

"Discovery, this is the Tereshkova be advised we are under full burn and moving fast. I think we have one or two of those things on our hull. Watch the headroom. We are going to scratch some paint."

[USS Tereshkova]

Holding tight to his seat and the console in front of him, Ramort could feel the G-Forces press him into his seat. His Suit, cushioned as it was, was not able to shield him from the full effect of fundamental forces of the universe playing ball with his body. Discovery in front of them was growing rapidly closer. The metal over them was screetching. Something was trying to claw its way through the shuttle. Trying to find a leghold, trying to find a place, a corner, anything to hold on. But there wasn't anything. Nothing that would suffice at the speeds they were going at that wouldn't break a body in two by the sheer acceleration alone. As the doors of the shuttlebay opened before them, no sounds could be heard anymore.

"Great job, Lieutenant!"

{Shuttle}

"Sir...that thing wants to kill us," she said. She didn't know how she knew, she just...DID. They REALLY needed a Betazoid or something for moments like this.

Her militia training kicked in, and she called out orders. "T'Rea, you don't have any probes out, right? Think it's safe enough to set course for the Discovery?" She asked the science officer.

"Helm, set us up to dock. Fast," she said.

She was already at work, dialing up the shuttle's systems. She had an idea.

"Does anyone remember reading anything about the spider people that the Orions were working with when they were with the Dominion?" Vila did. Vila kept track of the Dominion's actions throughout the years. "They were killed by photon arrays. We have some," she said. "BUT...what if we did the opposite? T'Rea, would it work if we somehow made a stationary laser?" She asked. "Never mind, we don't have time," she said.

They had just arrived. "Helm, take us in," she said. "And hit the roof as you do," she instructed. "This would be faster with my phaser in a suit," she muttered.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Shuttle Bay]

As they exited the vessle, Vila offered excellent insight. Ramort, already lost in thought with the current situation again, was appreciative of her initiative. Of course, the Alien had intentions that seemed to run counter to their own continued survival. But in such cases, taking steps to ensure their crews survival was paramount. He disliked killing any sophont, but having options in case things went even more sour was not a bad thing.

Lorut Vila was a name filling many reports in his database but it seemed she was taking this threat very seriously and her conduct so far was admirable. He would have to make sure to leave a special note in his eventual report of these events.

"I hate having to even entertain the idea of killing them, but their actions so far leave little room for interpretation. Can you tell me more about how the Photon Arrays interacted with the spiders? Maybe we can at least adapt the technology to be a more precise tool."

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Taking the closest Turbolift, and thanking the universe for working power and not having to climb another access shaft, he arrived at the Bridge, many screens all around him still showing the images of the aliens from the transmission.

As a scientist their appearance was deeply fascinating to him. Their dictus and behavior was almost reminiscent of an insectoid hive-like way of live. There was no clear leader that had presented themselves. No clear chain of authority they could appeal to. Their bodies were not distinct enough to differentiate individuals yet. No form of clothing or other markings, but there seemed to be different builds, maybe related to different functions.

"Away Team, reporting back for duty. Ready to reassume stations."

[Unknown Alien Ship]

As activity on and about the alien ship reached a critical level, something about it changed. As sensors would have picked up seemingly erratic movements before, what was chaos before became more ordered suddenly. Limbs or plenty moved in unison to get at their tasks at once.

Large bioforms emerged from openings in the ships body to place themselves into torn openings to seal them. Eyes on stalks, eyes in holes and eyes everywhere turned outward. Searching the space around them before focusing on the single target before them. The ship with the strange flat head and the solid space legs extending behind it in this freakish design.

As the movement around them died down, new activity sparked in a different place. The electromagnetic spectrum. An open channel was cast across the entire system to bring the thoughts of what is meant to pilot and eat to those meant to be eaten. The primitive minds were to be enlightened by their presence.

As the visual channel build its image, it offered insight into an irregular cavern, various bodies of giant black spider-like bodies moved across every surface. From among the various shades and shapes a shared image emerged. A shared voice, as alien as the translation circuits could barely still accommodate it.

"...ahsss, interlupers... prey. Staand down your feeble aattempts to damage our shaape. Your forms and powers will be used to service and feed our greater caause. Be happy and rejoice for your taastes will be remembered for the aages to come by our prodigy. shh"

[Fleet Applications - Join Here!]

Sounds good. Awaiting further instructions

Greetings, I will be your Instructor and have started your Course, you can find it here.

"M'nia to ramort. it seems we're ut of options. I'll have to force the re-energizing. It probably will work but there is a risk if could blow the whole ship to well bits and pieces. If it works, I'd say maybe 5 minutes until power is restored."

[USS Momentary | En-route to Shuttle]

Running through the corridors, he paid little attention to all the small details that would have caught his eye before. All the remaining artefacts and dark lights. The creeping horror housing in this ship now was supplanted with another horror, one born from the short comm contact with the Discovery. Such a rushed evacuation order could only signify trouble, could only hint Discovery seemingly having encountered something that put the away teams life at risk too.

As he fell through a long maintenance shaft, he received a comm call from Lieutenant M'Nia

"I am very sorry Lieutenant we have to abort but we have to return to the Shuttle posthaste, hopefully we will be able to return and return power to the Momentary then, for now I need you back in the shuttle as soon as possible." 

{USS Momentary|Bridge}

Kalem was just about to enter the bridge when suddenly his comm went off
Kalem immediately changed directions and started to head directly toward the shuttle.

"Commander, I'll have the shuttle prepped and ready to go."

"Acknowledged, I want the engines hot so we can depart immediately, whatever discovery encountered, I want us back in on our posts as soon as possible."

As he finished speaking, his boots touched down on the metal floor and he fell into a sprint, or as much of a sprint as was possible with environmental suits. The suit he was wearing was specifically designed for humans and the proportions between the joints actually were of the perfect distance, but it was build for safety and comfort first, not speed and manoeuvrability. At times like this he coursed internally at Headquarters that they hadn't issued them with combat grade suits for tense encounters which would have offered more flexibility for the cost of being less comfortable to wear. but what was comfort if faced with the dangers of deep space.

[USS Momentary | Docking Hatch back at the Shuttle]

As he returned to the Shuttle and watched everyone getting back into their seats his questions as to what was happening with Discovery were answered as bright lights lit up the space surrounding Discovery. Lights that could only be created by high energy weapons being detonated. Lights which should have been deflected by their shields. But the shields were seemingly not working as they should and the ship was tumbling from the aftershocks of the last wave of explosions.

And Discovery was not alone. There was something else, something hanging in space, something so alien his brain had a hard time even coming up with a comparison. Large chunks of what seemed like biological matter were interspersed with small fragments of metal looking as having been broken from various spaceships and rocks which might be the results of impacting asteroids or the byproducts of alien bioprocesses he could not hope to discern.

As the last member of the Team boarded the Shuttlecraft he ordered their immediate departure to rejoin Discovery.

While they left the Momentary behind them he turned to their sensors and focused them on the alien structure.

Its surface was uneven and seemingly affected by the explosions to some degree, but there were signs of it possessing some form of healing, as parts looked partially regenerated. And there was movement. Shadows were moving along the larger superstructure as if tending to the wounds torn into it. Further increasing sensor magnification revealed one of their shapes. A large amount of legs mounted onto a central Cephalothorax and trailed by a greatly elongated Abdomen, the shapes could only be described as spider like. Their movement was even more alien than spiders he knew, though. Their legs seeming to partially climb in the ways of auto-locomotion, partially shifting between different spectral frequencies.

"Can anyone please tell me what I am looking at here?.."

As soon as he had spoken, a new sound broke through the silence in the cabin, a tap from the ceiling. A tap from outside the shuttle.

[[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Hull breech]]

=/\=My apologies, sir, this is the best we have for the moment, but Lt. M'Nia is working hard down here. I can come to you, though, and set up a secondary closed circuit, however.

"Thanks for the update, keep at it and keep me informed." 

Getting power back was important and seeing M'Nia and Lorut take charge in getting it restored filled him with hope for its quick realisation. Although there were some interpersonal conflicts between the crew sometimes, it was at times like this, that they managed to bridge such divides and focus on the mission.

"SIR...

Kalem stopped and recomposed himself. He was in no immediate danger, so he looked at his power level. He only had 49.8% remaining. He did a quick calculation. They had been on board the Momentary for about 30 minutes; he should have almost 90% power. Instead he only had just shy of 50%. Where had the rest gone?

"The substance appears to devour my scans. I can't get anything from the center. However, I see traces of multiple sets of DNA around the edges of the ... Anomaly... Comparing it to the data we were given it appears to match several different members of the crew. Also, I must report that it appears to drain power from external sources. My power cells currently read 49.8%. I am reading that there is no malfunction in the suit systems. I am dropping my scan results onto the data feed. I'm also requesting a remote check of my suits systems to confirm that my readouts are displaying correctly."

"Step back from the substance! No need to get yourself into dangerous territories. If your power still continues to drop, let me know, we should be able to rig a power bridge between our suits until we can ensure extraction."

The powerdraw was curios. The semi-self charging power cells of their suits should correct for and prevent power loss on this level. Usually large devices were needed to induce such a phenomena, but the bridge, besides what should be present, was empty. The substance should not have the technical complexity to breach their systems. It also opened another question, all this power, where was it going? It either needed to be converted to something or stored somewhere? Was the substance growing through the absorbed power? Was it using ambient power to further build new branches of itself. So many questions.

"For now keep some safety distance from the Substance."

"With due respect commander, we're doing everything we can. It's going to take time. Looks like this one did use dilithium. Crystals are drained but I think I can reenergize them. However it will take time and not sure about the circuitry .I want to check that out and make sure it can hold it ok. I might be able to rig up something from auxilary power. won't give us warp drive but life support and maybe some other stuff. Like maybe food replicators." M'nia said.

"Life support should be priority, if there are any survivors left, ensuring their survival is paramount."

{USS Momentary| Engineering-Bridge}

[...]

Finally, she was on the Bridge.

"Christ, Ramort, you need to calm down. People are going to think we've switched bodies. Here, hold this," the Bajoran said, handing him the circuit before stepping in front of him to work the console. "It's a closed circuit energy producer. A battery, your people call them," she said, and then, she took the circuit from him, snipped a wire, reattached it to a wire in the console cover she'd pried off, and started it up again. Soon, the whole bridge hummed to life.

"There," she said. "Now, Lt. M'nia is trying to recharge the crystals," she said, "But it'll take time. In the meantime, this is the best idea I have. The main systems are up, but nothing else. I can set these up around the ship, but it'll take me a bit. That'll give us extra power until M'Nia and what's his face are done recharging the crystals or whatever they do; my late husband was an Engineer but I stopped listening about ten years ago," she said.

They were interrupted by Tekin's comms.

Vila looked at Ramort. "Sir, we're at barely 20% power. That body needs to stay here for now...best I can do is attempt to awaken the EMH," she offered. "We're using...well. Batteries, basically. As soon as Engineering has the crystals ready, we'll ship him right over," she said. She was comfortable with bodies around-but understood that no one else was. "Actually, sir, sending extra power would be great, and the EMH on a portable transmitter if possible," she said. "Maybe the ESH, too, if we have one," she suggested. Did the Discovery even have an emergency science hologram? They were rare but it WAS old enough.
She looked at Ramort and smiled before standing to move on to the next station to build more batteries. "Head up. If they haven't fired me yet, you're fine," she said, and then left, heading for the general replicator she'd passed on the way in.

"Thanks for the power. Sadly we don't have an Emergency Science Hologram, maybe I can put in a request with the Corps of Engineers to have one attached to the ship in the next starbase, but for now we are limited to what we have on hand sadly."

With the added power, the console he was working on, albeit still only spitting out only broken data, managed to at least access it's shortest term memory files again.
The screen began displaying disjoined strings of text. Transcripts from an audio log that was dictated by the crew shortly before their demise. Without an pressurized atmosphere in the room to serve as a medium for the words, the words on the screen were the only once bearing witness to the crews fate.

Scanning through them with his eyes, they began as normal as one would expect. Words like shift, after-duty and several names dominated the files. Probably reports on personnel that had reported in sick or that had requested to change shifts to attend birthday parties and other social events. Such was daily life on every ship and finding these did not really peak his interest. The last word though, fear. Not common and not expected. Whatever happened here shortly before all records ceased, it caused the crew to fear for their lives apparently.

{USS Momentary|Bridge and Corridors}

When Vila was done setting up the Commander, she moved on to the next task. She heard Kalem's suit beeping. What was HAPPENING up here?

She stopped next to him, hooking him up to the closed circuit battery that she'd used to fire up Ramort's computer. "Life support is up. You can take it off soon anyway," she said. "Until it goes again," she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

"Commander, I am going to fire up the Ops console," she said. "And I'll coordinate with McNair on the Disovery; he can send me scans," she said.

She sat down, and plugged the computer into the circuit via the dongle she'd found in her pockets. The Bajoran carried a lot of technology supplies on her person at all times-you never knew when you need an emergency bomb built or something. After a moment, the computer hummed to life. She sent a quick comms to the Discovery.

McNair...can we share a screen? I am going to attempt to hack in and get whatever logs I can, and meanwhile, I need you to look for anything of use, but also any kind of counterattacks or viruses or something," she said.

He nearly missed what Lorut was saying. His mind still racing with this one word, his thoughts capured with scenes of frightened officers walkind at the very same place as they now occupied.

"Great work! Monitor if there are any major fluctuations in the life support systems that could hint at hull breaches or major draw. If there is some part of the crew trapped in some compartments the systems should read a much larger draw than in the empty sections of the ship."

Trusting the Lieutenant would handle the technological side of things, he went back into the data bank, trying to restore at least some parts of the logs with the limited processing power he could draw on right now. With the little power they had, activating more powerful computers that needed much larger amounts of power to operate.

[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Hull breech]

It had taken a bit of time, but in the end they had used the harness and retractable tethers built into their environmental suits to anchor themselves to a tie down ring at the mouth of an access hatch several meters back in the corridor. T'Rea temporarily deactivated her mag boots after that and let herself experience the weightlessness properly as she propelled herself down the hall and carefully over the debris. She pulled herself out and around the opening until she had her feet again the external hull and T'Rea remagnatized her boots.

As luck would have it the first thing she noticed once she'd stabilized herself was the Momentary's forward sensor array. They were on the opposite side of the giant gash of the hull breech, but at enough distance to it that they were still fully intact. She pointed her tricorder in the array's direction "T'Rea to Commander Ramort. Lt. Soreka and I have the sensor array in sight. It appears mostly intact, but there's no trace of any power to them." At least that was one thing that had been consistent in the Momentary's readings since the beginning. No power anywhere...

The report once again ripped him out of his concentration, the comment about the depowered array added a new entry to the list. All systems seem to have been affected. The scope of this attack truly unprecedented. Maybe the powerdrain didn't happen instentaneous though. If all system had been drained, maybe the crew on the bridge was able to observe how one system after another went dark. How section after section drowned in static. How they lost sensors, comms, life support, slowly dying, overwhelmed by their fear and along in the dark at the end. A truly terrible fate.

"Be careful out there, we have identified the substance itself as energy absorbant, don't take and unnecessary risks." 

{USS Momentary|Bridge}

Vila sighed loudly and put her helmet back on as the systems began to fail.

Vila's brain took the pains to translate the words from Standard to Bajoran and back again. Bloody hell, the implications... quickly, she stood up. "Kalem, get your Bajoran ass to medical. NOW," she said. "There's no time. Just go. I'll tap into your systems," she said. "Hold on," she said. She could reroute just enough power to beam him there...now. She watched as he disappeared. She turned back to Ramort.

"Whatever is...out there or in here or...whatever is sucking the power dry. And some of the crew's very life essences. I have the computers running but I don't know how long they'll hold," she said.

Suddenly, her own suit gave a low power warning. She rolled her eyes. "I'll go plug in," she grumbled, returning to the Con and placing the closed circuit battery into the power unit of her suit. She was less concerned about the possibility of her own dehydration; she'd been through that and starvation at the Camps, and was used to it.

She cursed in Bajoran, raining the ire of the Prophet's onto the Captain's family name, but she did understand, even if this left them as sitting ducks. Quickly, she tried to maintain a line.

Sir? Get down to Engineering and whomever is there can set up a closed circuit energy unit. It'll give you enough power to run life support. An old trick from the Militia. Be careful.

The computer shut down, and she hit the keyboard in frustration. She reached under the console seat and was surprised to find the phaser still there.

"Ramort. I am going to head back to Engineering. Maybe M'Nia has something new. Or I can blow a hole in the wires and MAKE them work," she said. Either way, she didn't see a downside. It wasn't HER ship. The Turbolifts and transporters would no longer work, so she'd have to walk through the ship alone. She was going to be armed if that was the case.

Kalem turned to Lorut.

"I'll be-"

He was cut off as the transporter whisked him away.

{USS Momentary|Medical Bay}

"-fine."

Kalem looked around. It was as he feared. Nobody was in the medical bay. He was still on the Momentary.

I get that I am dehydrated, which is cause for medical concern. However, does she even think before she acts sometimes?

Kalem opened a private comm line to Lorut.

"Lorut, I know you were trying to be helpful. However, I'm still on the Momentary, we don't have any medical staff, AND I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M DOING. This isn't helpful at all. Now I have to walk back to the bridge. Could you please think just a little before acting sometimes?"

Kalem released the medbay doors and started walking toward the bridge. This would take a while.

{USS Momentary | Bridge}

Kalem walked back onto the bridge and looked to the Commander. He had already consumed much of the water in his reserve tank, which was almost empty now. However, his hydration level readout was returning to normal.

"Apparently, I needed to go for a walk. As we don't have any medical personnel onboard and I don't know a way to treat dehydration other than 'manual correction through oral input'. Is she always like that on away missions?"

Why could nothing ever work on spooky abondoned ghost ships.

Heeding the warning signs, he quickly opened the panel right under the consoles main interfaces and pulled out the data crystals. He would have to bring them back to Discovery and reintegrate them into a portable computer setup, configured to mimick the Momentums computer systems and attempt to restore access that way. What had caused the crew such fear eluded him still, but given the situation unfolding around him, he had a rough idea of possible symptoms.

Turning around to see Lieutenant Kalem de-materilize before his eyes and overhearning the ensuing Comm contact between the Lieutenants.

Her decision was rash but he could see she was only trying to look out for her crewmate. He would have a talk with her about splitting up away teams afterwards though. Maybe Bajor didn't have as rich a history of horror movies as Earth but surely the concept of bad things happening once you separated the group could not be completely alien to her.

"Move ahead Lieutenant, I will wait for Lieutenant Kalem outside the main bridge and try to establish the status of the emergency escape pods in the halls to determine if the substance has affected them too."

[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Main Engineering]

"Discovery to away team; we can't divert power to restore the Momentary.  We just lost warp power ourselves.  We might not be alone out here, get to safety and prepare to evacuate if necessary."

The Hallway outside the Bridge was as devoid of any life as the rest of the ship so far. Small particles of frozen water vaper drifted, animated not by air currents but only remaining energy in them and the disturbance introduced by them passing through the vapor clouds.

Alongside the corridors to the Bridge, 4 escape capsules were integrated into the wall. Each meant to house up to 7 people, enough to evacutate the entire bridge and guests in normal times. As he approach the first emegency hatch, it hadn't even been touched. No one had tried to escape the ensuing catastrophy on the Momentary. This could only mean, whatever had gotten to them, was faster than they could have reacted. As he prepared to search the second hatch the captains call came in.

"Ramort the Away team, please evacute to the Shuttle immediatly. Leave Tricorders sent to emit low frequency radio signals with important findings so we can lock onto them with our scanners easier but do not waste any unnecessary time." 

[USS Momentary | Hull]

Movement, energy, noise. Pannels of hard metal became not so underneath, icor flowed into where it was just to have it, but there were creatures here, intruders. A leap forward and another. Keeping to the shadows cast by the vessels head it moved and leapd closer to the form. It would not escape.

[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Corridors]

Kalem stepped in front of the Commander in a defensive stance as they headed toward the Bridge.

"This is the best time that I'm going to be able to do this while not in front of the others."

Kalem opened a private com line with the Commander and made sure all his other com lines were muted.

"Commander, there is something that is bugging me. It is not anything I think you are doing intentionally. My name... Sir. According to Bajoran customs, calling me Lieutenant Michael is improper. While it is my name, other Bajorans will see it as too familiar. Much like the Japanese on Earth, it is Lieutenant Kalem. I would appreciate it if you would address me as such..... Sir."

[USS Momentary | Corridors]

He froze for a second. Of course, he should have known. Of course, he surely had made a note in his files somewhere. The mistake was still unforgivable. The Lieutenant wasn't the only bajoran he knew and still.

"I have to apologize deeply. This was an oversight on my part that should not have happened. I promise you, in the future this will not repeat itself! I hope you will forgive me this mistake."

Although the helmet was masking his expression somewhat, the sudden freezing in his movements betrayed the shock this caused for Ramort.

Kalem continually scanned around while he talked. When he finished, he froze in place. Death was not a new sight for him, but not in this way. The body of a Lieutenant floated in the corridor in front of him. It was frozen and weightless because the ship had no power, but something was off. The body was desiccated.  Kalem pulled out his tricorder and ran a scan on the body.

"Sir, it looks like this body was drained of all fluids and other matter besides skin and bone. It's not due to the decompression, as there would at least be trace amounts. Sir, there is nothing left in it. I'm relaying this to the other teams as well as Discovery for comparison and analysis."

Kalem pushed several buttons on his Tricorder, dropped his scan results onto the main channel's data feed, and then unmuted the channel.

"This is Kalem. I have a body found in the corridor on the way to the bridge. It looks desiccated. I'm dropping a scan onto the main channel data feed."

The body was part of an ever-growing mystery. There were not many things that could leave a body sucked dry like this. There were some exotic weapons that used miniature transporter mechanisms, ripping parts of the body out. Since most species used some form of bodily fluids, locking on to water and similar fluids was a sure-fire way to kill a being. Such technology was outlawed in most of civilised space, and even in the uncivilised spaces, most species believed such weapons to be beyond cruel. Leaving beings partially ripped apart, suffering needlessly and not even ensuring a kill if one managed to help the victims quick enough.

And was only if he considered technological means to extract the biomaterial.

[USS Momentary | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Crossing through long dark corridors and spending far longer than he would have liked climbing Jeffreys tubes up to the topmost deck, the finally emerged through a panel from the floor before the main viewer. A giant black screen of layered panels and transparent aluminium. Normally the central piece of bridge operations, it's falling dark more than all the other stations dimming to death was a sign and a bad omen. Pushing himself through the floor completely his flashlight cast a singular cone of radiance in an otherwise black void.

There should have been emergency lights. Fluorescent stripes at the floor marking the paths between the stations and the lift. Indicaitng where emergency hatches might be found.

As the cone of light hit the seats at the heart of the room. Something strange cought his eye. A reflection that should not have been there.

Taking a closer look the shimmer revealed itself to be a rank pip. The same thing he only shortly before had pinned to his own collar. Pips were held by magnetic strips in the collar of the uniform. Only miniscule metallic threads were included in the fabric but enough to prevent any pip from slipping, even if subjected to extreme movement or forces. Dropping a pip would only occur if the owner would have been assaulted. Quite violently at that. But there was no body. No great pool of blood. Only what looked to like an imprint of faint crystals covering the seat.

"Lieutenant, please have a look at whatever this substance is. Loop the lab on Discovery back into your findings."

Making room for the Bajoran to take the rains of the matter, he went to the back of the Bridge. Dislodging a panel, he exposed the power circuits. According to the specs, there were a pair of emergency power cells supposed to be here. Meant to keep the most vital systems like life support and computer access running in case of momentary power disruptions. Connecting the power line to a manual bypass, he powered on a secondary engineering console.

If all had worked as planned, they would have had access to a console then. But things never really worked as planned. The status indicator on the cell marked it as nearly drained. Devoid of its charge only able to sustain power for a few minutes.

Using the little time he managed to squeeze out of the system, he opened the most recent logs. Only resulting in flickering images, the computer chocking on itself as the fluctuating power powered circuits on and off.

  "Ramort to Engineering, I have miniscule power but I fear it will cut out in a couple of minutes again. Is there any way you can give me more power?"

"Ramort to Soreka and T'Rea, I have restored very basic access to ship functions but I am only getting static data. Can you check on the hull sensors while you are out there?" 

[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Outer Airlock]

The total absence of any kind of activity was disturbing. All the system that should have taken care of their docking and syncing their computers to the ships main computer were offline. The control pads were dark, doors only opened by emergency measures. His instruments were hinting at a very low atmospheric pressure, indicative of the failure of life support.

His team was moving into the dead ship perfectly he noticed. Keeping themselves covered. Taking first readings while maintaining watch for any potential dangers. But they would not be able to cover much ground if they stayed in this configuration for long.

Responding to Lt. Loruts proposal, he issued new orders:
"We will split up. Lieutenant Soreka, Officer T'Rea, you will make your way towards the nearest hull fracture to retrieve a sample of the webbing we detected. Make sure your boots stay magnetised the entire time and establish a secondary com link with Discovery. As soon as you have a sufficient sample you will rejoin us.
Lieutenants Lorut, M'Nia and Ensign Dupont, please head to main engineering and try to see if you can get us back some power and functioning emergency force fields and life support back online.
Lieutenant Michael, we will try to move to the bridge and recover any data about what happened here and to the crew.

For you all, please keep scanning for lifesigns. If you pick up any traces of the crew you are to evacuate them to Discovery. This takes priority over exploration and restoration efforts."

[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Corridors]

Splitting up the team left a bad feeling in his stomache. Separated they were more vulnerable, injury risked more permanent harm. The statistics weren't lying in that regard. But lifes were still unaccounted for. Many Crewmember of the Momentary missing. An entire starship drifting in space. Some risks had to be taken to reveal the origins of this mystery.

Dim lights were only cast by their headlights, cutting through darkness, reflecting from the polished panels lining the walls. Ever so often a dead computer screen broke up the pattern. No letters displayed on their surfaces.

Deeper into the corridors, the traces of fire were lost but the bad feeling was not going away.

Congratulations to everyone!

[Executive Officer's Personal Merit Award]

Finally, I get to present one more award, my personal merit award. This one is very tough. We have so many great people on board that choosing just one is very hard.

Executive Officer's Personal Merit Award

Awarded by the executive officer to a player of their SIMM.

This season's merit award goes to a member who albeit relatively new to the Fleet and the SIMM has been impressive from the very start. Taking initiative to move along the plot, taking care of NPCs without prompting to aid the story, and being a great player to interact with on all occasions. They put forward their own ideas and created great characters, as well as proving themselves in smoothly taking over other NPCs if needed.

Please join me in recognition of...

V'letr S't'kal T'Rea

[Posting Ability]

And there are even more rewards to go around, so sit tight and enjoy the show. Clapping and congratulations are encouraged after the last awards have been posted.

Posting Ability

Posting Excellence Award

This award goes to a player who has demonstrated consistent high quality posting skills.

Trik'Nar ,,Trix" Ch'Rehllan

Descriptive Combat Award

Awarded to those who demonstrate an ability to convey the action of combat.

Lorut Vila

Technical Precision Award

Awarded to those who demonstrate great knowledge of their profession.

Lucien Dupont

Rib Tickler Award

Awarded in January and July to the player with the most humorous posts.

Lorut Vila

Best Newcomer Award

Awarded to the new arrival who displays the most effort and ability.

V'letr S't'kal T'Rea

Most Engaging Member Award

Awarded to the player who writes the most emotionally engaging, scene-setting posts.

Kalem Michael

Best Duo Award

Awarded to the two players who have shown the highest levels of cooperation.

V'letr S't'kal T'Rea and James Ramort

Extra Contribution

Crew Choice Award

This is the award voted on by you, the crew of the Discovery.

Lorut Vila

[Welcome to the official awards ceremony for the USS Discovery-January 2025!]

Welcome to the official awards ceremony for the USS Discovery-
January 2025!

Over the next few days your Command Team will be posting Awards to officially recognize the effort and achievement of those who posted on the ship and performed extra duties in order to aid and advance the running of the Simm between July 15, 2024 and January 15, 2025.

We will do this in three categories:  Time in Service Awards,  Posting Ability Awards, and Contribution Awards.

Before I begin announcing the Time In Service awards, I would like to thank each and every one of you for the continued time and dedication you put in.  The site could not exist without you, the players. You are an awesome Crew, and we are happy to be able to be writing with you. Thank you.

Time In Service Ribbons

Academy Training Course Ribbon

V'letr S't'kal T'Rea
Lauren Devereaux
Trik'Nar "Trix" Ch'Rehllan

1 Year Service Ribbon

James Ramort

Between and 5 and 10 years (Long Service) there are no badges, but it is tradition to still acknowledge and honour our longest serving members for their dedication:

Tekin Nevir (8.5 years)
Rayek tr'Lhoell (7.1 years)
Lek (7.4 years)
Tanner Lachlyn (7.3 years*)

We thank you for your service!
Congratulations to all!

(* Time in Service adjusted for time in Reserve or Retirement)

[USS Tereshlova]

The tension was nearly unbearable as the shuttle approached the Momentary. He could easily tell at glance - it looked like the ship had no power. Life support was completely gone, the corridors seemingly freezing over and no sign of structural integrity fields in place at hull breaches.

"Even a ship adrift should have some sort of power running through it..." Lucien quipped as the shuttle approached the docking port. Main power being offline isn't too surprising, but auxiliary power? The emergency batteries? This was too weird.

[USS Tereshlova docked to USS Momentary]

The lack of power was indeed disconcerting, but not without precedent. Although the Engineers planned hundreds of backup circuits into a ships' system when even still in the planning stage, things could still break. A Star Ship was an incredibly complex machine, alone in a nearly impossibly large sea of literally nothing, save for the stray gaseous formation and the freak matter spots forming star systems. Every aspect of their environment was out to kill them, if not by intend, than for sure through the nature of its inherent properties. And that was if no sophont tried to interfere with a ships' system on purpose.

"R-Right." Lucien confirms, putting on his helmet and taking out his phaser. His hand was a tad shaky - his experience facing hostile was nearly zero, though he was going to go forward regardless of the feelings of fear rising up.

Phaser and hand and toolkit in the other, Lucien steels himself for whatever might be revealed when the doors open.

Noticing the slight tremble in the other Officers voice, he let go of the airlock controls for a second.

"I will not lie to you and pretend like there is nothing to worry. Every mission can turn dangerous. Remember your training. You are prepared for this. Our gear is in order and accounted for and I trust you, otherwise I would not have picked you for this mission. If you need any help, call for us, we are a team here."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"Tereshlova, this is Discovery.  Material on the Momentary is coming back as an unknown organic, which is known to at least two species, neither of which is good news. If you get a chance, take a sample in a class III stasis field for study."

"Ramort to Discovery. Understood and received. We will retrieve the sample as soon as operational access has been achieved. If any of these not so good news species turn up on your sensors we'd appreciate an update for quick evacuation." 
Returning to the Airlock, he finished lifting the metal panel covering the manual overwrite control for the airlock. Beneath it, a lever lead to the pressurised pistons. Lifting it under the support of the suits slight motorised systems, a cloud of steam vented from an exhaust slighly below the airlock. The pistons that had held the airlocks doors shut, slightly opening.

Looking back at his team he nodded into the direction of a small box placed in the shuttle.

"There should be two magnetic lockpads in there. I need two volunteers to open the door. I will keep the pistons from locking again. After the doors are open, please push in and establish a secured perimeter in the airlock chamber so we can dock the shuttle properly."

[Kar'an, Son of Tun]
[IKS Kah'Pow | Bridge]

The Bloodwine had been good, maybe a little bit too much so.

Kar'an was a seasoned drinker. One did not make it far in Klingon Society if one wasn't. No matter if there were battles to celebrate or numerous glorious occasions in a Klingon Life to celebrate, the Bloodwine was never far.

The Federation baQa's would tell them something about the social traditions of bonding through drug induced states of euphoria. He had to sit one of their long winding talks one time when a past ship of his had to serve in a diplomatic mission with the weakarms. Some blue lieutenant had captured him and drawn him into a long winding talk about so many boring things. Not much honour to be earned that day.

Today was one of the days he had partaken in the joys of Bloodwine a bit too much again. He knew his body would soon clean him of the effects of the alcohol. His secondary liver kicking in to clean the fog right out of his brain, for now he could enjoy the freedom it would grant to his literary dreams a little longer, but his glorious duty was calling him again already.

The battle earlier had gone past him. He was sure, if honour was to be one, someone would have woken him to immortalise the event in song. Like this, he only needed to know he had to serve his commander again. A klingon too drunk to fight, was a Klingon most unhonorable.

"May they not be hold by death, oh preeminent among warriors.
Our blades shall draw the enemies last breath and bring them to a fate evermore goarier.

Those who dare attack our colonies in the dark, cutting the fanfares of their battle behind purposeful interference have no honour. Duty commands us to aid our brethren in this struggle. Dispelling the petAq! "

[...]

The XO had already started the mission briefing and the others were ordered to put on their suits. "Odd, that webbing could be a disabling trap of some kind, there are so much easier ways to destroy a ship it would seem the prime goal was to immobilize," Zuriel commented as he stepped into his suit and began to check the seals on his boots and wrists. Once his suit was prepared Zuriel took a few moments to secure the mission weaponry, and then to sync the transponder signals of the others in the away team to the local system of the shuttle which should provide a faster and more accurate idea of each members' location instead of having to be relayed and dispersed directly from the Discovery. "Weapons and locators are green Sir, we are good to go." Zuriel stated as he leaned out of the back of the shuttle.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Shuttle Bay]

"If it is a weapon, it's unlike anything I have ever encountered before. What even would be its purpose. Its not like it cluttered any critical moving parts, or like our ships even use such constructs. Maybe it serves a purpose more esoteric than we can recognise right now."

Pulling out his own Environmental Protection Suit, he sat down on a small folding sitting edge against the wall to balance himself while he put on his magnetic boots.

Clasping down the final interlocks, he checked on the other members of the team. Most were already in their suits as well and now checked their weapons. He could see on their faces the conflicting emotions raging through the team. From trained confidence, through previous battle duty to others holding their weapons more nervously and rechecking their safeties again. Still he trusted all of them with his life. Not that he hoped they would actually come into a situation in which they would need to prove themselves.

Best case, however slim the posibility, this was some sort of gas enriched with exotic particles that had ruptured the hull and was scattering their sensors, leading to them finding the crew in isolated sections of the ship only in need of outside assistance with repairs and maybe minor medical assistance. Worst case.... he preferred not to think about that unless he could gather more concrete evidence.

[USS Tereshlova]

They all had taken to their stations and seats, and a tense atmosphere was filling the ship.

T'Rea looked around the shuttle with new eyes, taking in who all was present. She recognized everyone's faces, of course, but aside from Ramort she hadn't had more than passing interactions with any of them. Apparently she needed to get out of the Science department more often. "What's the procedure when we arrive?" she asked the question to the shuttle at large, but her eyes were mostly on Soreka as the tactical officer and Ramort as the ranking officer.

"Captain has ordered us to check the hull first, hopefully, we will get a better idea of what happened and what we are dealing with once we get you all closer," Zuriel commented as he made some last-minute adjustments to his type three phaser. The term no life signs meant little to Zuriel he had been exploring the galaxy long enough to know that statement was solely based on what Starfleet knew at the time and was an ever-changing metric. "Once we are inside, we should not wander too far from each other until we know what we are dealing with. we can use the proximity tethers routed through the Tereshkova since the Momentary currently has no power." Zuriel tapped the screen on his suit to show her where and how to turn it on. "I'd say we should all keep within a couple of dozen feet to be safe, even if the ship is empty there could be compartments that have not yet decompressed, there is no way for us to tell until power is restored so it's a minefield until we know otherwise."

"But it's your call sir, you give us the plan and I will try and keep it as safe as possible." [...]

Listening to the Tactical Officers plan he nodded, in agreement. This was pretty close to the expected protocol HQ had them follow in these instances.

"Additionally, I want all of you to keep an open com line with each other at any point in time. Even if we decide to split up over the course of our Investigation. If you spot anything, no manner how minor or insignificant, let us know verbally. If we split, I will designate in each team a member to hold lookout and one member to conduct all repairs or scans needed. Keep in mind that as long as we do not have prove otherwise, we will treat this as a rescue mission too. Finding injured personnel and evacuating them to Discovery has priority."

USS. Tereshlova - Enroute to Mpmentary

Kalem slowly maneuvered the shuttle to the derelict ship. The ship still had no lights, which was expected, as it had no power.

Kalem activated the sensors to find a decent docking location. However, without power, there was almost no way to get on board. He would have to dock somewhere, and they would more than likely have to rig an airlock to the shuttle or manually open the hatch.

"Commander I'm going to have to dock with the exterior hatch. I don't have access to the shuttle bay while the ship has no power. However, I don't know what this webbing that appears to be on the exterior will do. It could be some kind of dampening field that will drain the power from our shuttle and might interfere with our suits. I recommend getting detailed scans while on approach."

"Agreed, please move us to a hatch at Deck 8. We will use the auxiliarz docking ports for entry and stabilisation." Approaching the ship, its dead shape loomed over them. Distant stars reflecting in polished panels of transpared aluminium making up the outer layers of windows. Usually behind those they should be seeing lights. Distorted shadows of people moving. Lights being turned on and off as Officers went on duty and left their quarters of labs and public areas were opened or closed based on the time of the day. Positioning lights around the saucer section should evoke images inherited from ancient naval and aerial vessles, allowing the ship to be guided through densly frequented areas around starbases or help guiding shuttlecraft like their own into the shuttle bay. The very same shuttlebay they could now no longer access.

Passing around the ship, the cleft in its hull was more obvious than ever. Decks lay bare, exposed to the nothingness of the universe, flakes of ice drifing inside the corridors, forming small carpets almost snow like, the air that has escaped from the corridors deeper within the ship, shockfrozen upon the failure of life support systems.

The Absence of electrical sparking from the exposed wiring and the missing plasma inside the conduits, hinted at the timing of the accident or attack that lead to this damage. For it all to have seized, the incident must have happened many hours, maybe even a full day ago.

As they came about for a second he thought he saw a shadow moving through the deep darkness, but the instruments of the shuttle did not pick up anything. Maybe his own mind was beginning to play tricks on him already, the eary atmosphere evoking images from holonovels about monsters lurking in the dark and cold.

The Docking Port on Deck 8 was located at the neck of the ship. Meant to evacuate personal towards attached starbases or other ships, it allowed for quick access to both the primary and secondary hulls. From the paths behind the airlock, all vital centers of the ship could be reached, be it prime engineering or the bridge, given they could somehow power the turbolifts, otherwise they would be doing a lot of climbing before the day was over.

As they got closer to the airlocks outer hatch, he gave the signal for everyone to put on their helmets and depressurize the interior of the shuttle.

Opening the shuttles entry ramp with a single button press of the control pannel next to the wall, he opened they way for the next step.

"I will operate the mechanism for unlocking the airlocks outer hatch. Lieutenant Michael, please hold us as steady as possible. Everyone else, please prepare your phasers in case the interior of the ship has been taken and we find ourselves in need of immediate defence."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"Stand by to try again Miss Lorut." he stated, acknowledging what she was getting.

Tekin had by now stood up, looking at the floating ship that seemed to have aged decades despite it being less than a 3rd of the age of the vessel he stood on. He was trying to understand why while listening around him. The news was not good from any of his officers.  No response to hails, no lifesigns detected, or unable to be detected.  Warp core was cold and power reserves seemed to be drained. Lifesupport was non-existent. A relatively newer vessel looked like a dead relic.

A sensor beep went off before he could speak, and as it gave its message, the ship had listed enough for the Captain and the rest of the bridge to see what it was pointing out. A gash in the ventral hull, it looked like it was large enough for a couple of decks and several sections.

"A possible explosion? But that shouldn't completely kill the ship.  It shouldn't even completely kill the deck. Wait... computer.  Enhance section 16-Kilo and magnify." he ordered, and a section of the saucer was highlighted and zoomed in. There was light glinting off it from the star, and there he could see why it looked aged.

"Ramort, do you see that?  There is some sort of netting material all over the hull." he stated grimly, shaking his head.

"Assume the worst; Number One, get an away team suited up and take a shuttle over.  Investigate the ship and see if you can enter.  We don't know if that material will hamper transporters and I do not want to find out the hard way."

[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.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Shuttle Bay]

Looking as his team assembling around him, his mind was spinning. The mystery of what happened to the Momentary still everpresent in his thoughts.

"Glad to see you all assembled here so quickly. We are on a mission to find out what has happened to our fellow Star Fleet Colleagues. We don't know what has happened to their ship but we found it in pretty bad shape. Most of you have probably already seen the images by now. Given we don't know what caused this damage and the ship's atmosphere and life support systems are unstable, please all suit up in environmental suits, also keep your phasers ready, in case we find out these damages were more artificial in nature."

"And if any of you have any theories as to what might have caused this, feel free to share them, same if you spot anything suspicious."