Season 14, Episode 5: The First Frontier

[Don Damien Addams]

[USS Discovery-bridge]

As he was going to observe what was going on he figured that it would be better if he took the opportunity and went to the holo and prepared for the blue alert. "œCome on Ensign Malloy and Ensign Bok-char let's get some blue alert practice and the level one battle situation challenge." He wasn't sure if there was anyone else that would use some training practice but if they needed they were welcome to join them. They could probably learn something from this so that they knew what to do if they ever ran into a blue alert situation.

[USS Discovery - Holosuit - Program Discovery bridge]

Bok-Char came in with Malloy. They both heard they need to do a Blue Alert.

Bok-Char was the first one who was going to say something. "Hey,  I was looking for you? I asked the computer where you were and it said you were on the Bridge. Don't tell me you were piloting when we went in slip stream. Oh please tell us what it was like! You are so lucky!" he was excited.

Malloy was smiling as she crossed her arms. "Graham please tell us. I admit I am jealous," she admitted.

[Danjar-Torra Addams]

NPC Dr Misha Sluchaynyy
[USS Discovery - Sickbay

Captain's Log, stardate 76052.9
[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

The bridge was once again lively with activity.  They had just left Deep Space 9, and were currently at warp heading towards Earth.  Even at high warp, this trip alone would be at least a couple of days if not a week; but with the QSD, they may be able to make it within hours.

Nevir walked over and took his seat looking at the holo-projection readings on his chair.  It was still going to take some getting used to; and he still had his PADDs as backup, but this... was admittedly more convenient.

"Alright, I think we've put enough distance.  Confirm all stations secure.  Let's get this thing under way." the Captain ordered, looking up at the bridge crew.

After getting confirmation that the ship itself was ready.  Nevir gave a small grin.  He never got to use this one before.

"Excellent... all hands; black alert!" he stated, as the lights dimmed and a warning siren sounded through the ship.

As black alert sounded through out Sickbay, Misha glanced up from his review of Crewman Ciavil's latest check up results.  The elderly Russian smiled, recalling what those first few months as a parent had been like.  Dranik and Ciavil were in for many sleepless nights.

Misha's own children and grandchildren were all grown up now and his wife long since passed away, but that didn't stop the Russian from enjoying the memory of them.  Unfortunately, this time his memories distracted him from recognizing that perhaps someone more senior than the cadet should be answering the Captain.

[Sickbay - USS Discovery]

Looking around Luby couldn't see any of the senior medical staff, all tucked away in offices, dealing with patients or working on medical experiments.  Thus she hit her commbadge.

Cadet Wentock reporting readiness in the Sickbay, Captain, some discussion about what exactly we're supposed to do down here in the event of a Black Alert, perhaps we could have some training on that after? 

[Deck 1 -Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

He figured someone would be caught off guard for the old alert.  Most of the time in the modern age, Black Alert was used on NX ships; anything with experimental technology.  With all stations save Medical reporting, Nevir tapped his chair.

"Bridge to Sickbay... you may want to read up on alert status in your medical manuals.  We will be using it a lot until the tests are over.  For now.. stand by and secure Sickbay."

With the acknowledgement from Engineering that the warp core and her modifications were ready, Nevir nodded.

"Push us to maximum warp, Lieutenant.  Activate the drive on my mark." he said, looking down at his chair.  Hopefully he won't need the seatbelt.

"Engage!" he ordered, as the warp core suddenly made a jump in activity and the benamite reaction chamber started up.  The increase in power was filtered through the quantum resonator, and then into a quantum matrix, before it ultimate reached the deflector dish.  A quantum field was emitted from the dish, slowly coating the ship in a blue hue as it pushed into the quantum barrier.  The ship shook, but well within tolerance.

Finally the power levels reached the minimum needed, and the viewscreen showed the blue hue push forward as the ship crossed the barrier.  Soon, the shaking stopped, as the ship traveled at quantum speed towards Earth.  Nevir breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the now blue tunnel they traveled through.  There was a phase variance that was rapidly fluctuating between .3 and 0 as the more advanced computer made the appropriate telemetry calculations to keep the stream stable.  Nevir turned to look at the Engineering station, where the project lead was almost beaming with joy.  His project was so far working.

"All stations report... it feels like smooth sailing so far."

It took the shaking of the ship to draw Misha from his reminiscing.  Closing Ciavil's file, Misha stood and stretched - his muscles protesting.  He was getting too old for being on a starship - that's what his body was telling him.  But Misha was by far not the oldest active human officer out there.  Up until last year, that distinction had been held by John Saxon - who was nearly a century old.   Misha was only in his 70's.  Still it felt old at moments like this.

Finishing his stretching, Misha left his office and moved into Main Sickbay area to find Luby and a number of other staff talking.

[Sickbay - USS Discovery]

Acknowledged Captain, Sickbay secure, and we'll look that up while we're waiting for any action!, Wentock out. 

Luby grinned at the others and shrugged.  "Well that's us told!" she said chuckling.  "Guess we find the part in the medicals on alerts!"

Misha approached the group having overheard both the Captain and Luby's comments.

"Alerrrts? What is zerrre to know? Zis is experrriment, da? So you keep alerrrt forrr anything odd in health and behaviorrr of crrrew. You never know what effect zese sorrrts of experrriments zat arrre outside of norrrmal space vill do to body."

NPC Crewman Helga Tragnar
[USS Discovery - Deck Two - Armory]

USS Discovery
Armory

Dranik whistled cheerfully to himself as he finished fine tuning the phaser rifles and made sure they were all located in their correct positions in the armory. There we go...Hand phasers are done...Phaser rifles are done...Probably going to have to clean off some of the barrels tomorrow. Shift's over now though.

Dranik took a last look at the armory as he headed out the door and back down towards his and Ciavil's quarters. It took a few moments but as he arrived near his his quarters he noticed something unusual. It was quiet. Completely quiet. As the Hirogen walked through the doors, he noticed that Ciavil was asleep on the couch. Apparently the kids had worn her out today. She hadn't stirred even though the opening and closing of the doors was something she often complained about. Dranik took a quick look at a small playpen over in the corner of the room and smiled brightly as he noticed that both the kids were seemingly out as well.

I can cook dinner for her tonight. She needs a break. He decided as he headed over to the replicator and began programming in a series of commands into the interface.  A moment later, a large piece of cooked, sweetend bread filled with blueberry and raspberry jam appeared on the pad and Dranik began inputting more commands. A moment later, two bowls of a specialty soup he had been working on for a few days appeared as well. Dranik hummed quietly as he placed everything on the table and moved over as he prepared to wake up his wife. A moment later he sighed heavily as a warning siren began to blare throughout the ship and the lights dimmed slightly.

Ciavil looked up with a start and Dranik quickly shook his head to try and keep everything quiet before the kids were awoken by the warning siren. "Black alert, it sounds unfamiliar." Ciavil said quietly as the kids slept on despite the noise.

Helga's first week aboard the ship had been spent learning the ship, learning their specific procedures and meeting her fellow security team and her bunk mates.   The Klingon-Human hybrid had intentionally spent much of her off-duty time busy with her workouts and meeting with her peers.  While she was open about telling her new bunkmate Lena that she was in a relationship with an officer she didn't specify who and though Jensen looked curious, the fellow security crewman didn't ask.

As yet, she and Lek hadn't talked about how their relationship would proceed - and if this first week was anything to go off of neither were in a hurry to push their relaxed relationship forward.  Helga figured she'd let him 'be the man' and make the next move.  When she needed him, she knew he would be there.

Today she was assigned to the Armory.  Coming on shift not too long ago, Helga replaced the Hirogen, Dranik.   She checked over the log, made her entry and started in on her inventory when the black alert sounded.

Helga and Lena moved from their seated positions going over inventory logs, to one taking up a guard position on the inside of the armory, while the other stood guard outside in the hallway.   Helga was on guard outside the armory.  She kept her eyes roving and her stance alert.

[Tekin Nevir]

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

A few hours later....

It seemed like smooth sailing... Nevir was even drinking a raktigino on the bridge.  Everything was looking good, and they should be exiting the slipstream relatively soon.  There was a flash of a blip on sensors on the ops station, but it had come and gone so completely it was probably hard to notice.

What wasn't hard to notice was the sudden lurch the ship had that momentarily made the blue tunnel flicker a green, but it seemed to have passed without a second thought. Nevir sat silent, trying to feel the deck plate underneath him, the engineering part of him felt something was off, even more so than the feeling of the QSD itself.

In main engineering there had been a sharp spike in the lag when the ship lurched, but afterwards everything seemed normal.  Except for the phase variance shifting above point 4.  It was enough to warrant concern as some of the engineers called out to Lek to show him what they were seeing.

The frown on Nevir's face showed it all.  He was not willing to risk the ship even for something that was probably nothing.

"Helm... slow to impulse.  Something feels off." he ordered, expecting to see the tunnel fade to streaks and then stars.  The problem was... the helm controls weren't responding.

"Bridge to Engineering... can we shut down the drive?" he called out, but in Engineering it was the same thing... controls were locked.  They couldn't adjust, drop, or even eject anything.  The ship was effectively stuck in slipstream.  And it was clear that something was wrong as the giant warp core started pulsing even more rapidly.

The drop of a mug and spilled drink punctuated the bridge, as the Captain, gripped his seat.  "Options... I need options!" he called out, keeping an open comm with the bridge and engineering. 

[Nira Said]

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

A few hours later....

It seemed like smooth sailing... Nevir was even drinking a raktigino on the bridge.  Everything was looking good, and they should be exiting the slipstream relatively soon.  There was a flash of a blip on sensors on the ops station, but it had come and gone so completely it was probably hard to notice.

What wasn't hard to notice was the sudden lurch the ship had that momentarily made the blue tunnel flicker a green, but it seemed to have passed without a second thought. Nevir sat silent, trying to feel the deck plate underneath him, the engineering part of him felt something was off, even more so than the feeling of the QSD itself.

In main engineering there had been a sharp spike in the lag when the ship lurched, but afterwards everything seemed normal.  Except for the phase variance shifting above point 4.  It was enough to warrant concern as some of the engineers called out to Lek to show him what they were seeing.

The frown on Nevir's face showed it all.  He was not willing to risk the ship even for something that was probably nothing.

"Helm... slow to impulse.  Something feels off." he ordered, expecting to see the tunnel fade to streaks and then stars.  The problem was... the helm controls weren't responding.

"Bridge to Engineering... can we shut down the drive?" he called out, but in Engineering it was the same thing... controls were locked.  They couldn't adjust, drop, or even eject anything.  The ship was effectively stuck in slipstream.  And it was clear that something was wrong as the giant warp core started pulsing even more rapidly.

The drop of a mug and spilled drink punctuated the bridge, as the Captain, gripped his seat.  "Options... I need options!" he called out, keeping an open comm with the bridge and engineering.

[Lieutenant Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Discovery NCC-78393-B]

Nira kept up her station for the next few hours. She had to admit, she wasn't on the bridge this much up until the recent weeks before Captain Felder's death. Now that she was Security Chief, she intended to make the most of her assigned work.

Nira couldn't shake the feeling something was going to go wrong. Naturally, she spent most of her time at station working the sensors. Nothing she could see at the moment...,

Then she felt the lurch and the blue tunnel momentarily going green. That certainly got attention, even if it was ever so brief. The Captain's reaction was the most punctuated of all. She could see his back only, but the body language certainly spoke volumes to Nira. And upon his order to slow to impulse, the suspicion that something was going to go wrong was confirmed.

Helm controls weren't responding, and from the sound of things from Engineering, there was no way to shut down the core, let alone get rid of it. Nira instantly felt helpless; as the Captain called for options, she was a blank of what to recommend; this was a problem for Engineering, not someone like Nira.

Well, Commander Aune would be more than willing, he used to be a combat technician, Nira thought to herself.

Was he really? Your last superior? an unexpected reply came. What's going on, Nira? You're troubled.

Nira blinked momentarily. She forgot about her mind link with Savar.

We're stuck in slipstream and we can't disengage the drive! she replied telepathically.

She was certainly nervous; she hated to think what would happen if they couldn't disengage the drive. The worst part about it was that there was nothing she could do. She couldn't even think of what she can get her department to do.

[Lek]

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

A few hours later....

It seemed like smooth sailing... Nevir was even drinking a raktigino on the bridge.  Everything was looking good, and they should be exiting the slipstream relatively soon.  There was a flash of a blip on sensors on the ops station, but it had come and gone so completely it was probably hard to notice.

What wasn't hard to notice was the sudden lurch the ship had that momentarily made the blue tunnel flicker a green, but it seemed to have passed without a second thought. Nevir sat silent, trying to feel the deck plate underneath him, the engineering part of him felt something was off, even more so than the feeling of the QSD itself.

In main engineering there had been a sharp spike in the lag when the ship lurched, but afterwards everything seemed normal.  Except for the phase variance shifting above point 4.  It was enough to warrant concern as some of the engineers called out to Lek to show him what they were seeing.

The frown on Nevir's face showed it all.  He was not willing to risk the ship even for something that was probably nothing.

"Helm... slow to impulse.  Something feels off." he ordered, expecting to see the tunnel fade to streaks and then stars.  The problem was... the helm controls weren't responding.

"Bridge to Engineering... can we shut down the drive?" he called out, but in Engineering it was the same thing... controls were locked.  They couldn't adjust, drop, or even eject anything.  The ship was effectively stuck in slipstream.  And it was clear that something was wrong as the giant warp core started pulsing even more rapidly.

The drop of a mug and spilled drink punctuated the bridge, as the Captain, gripped his seat.  "Options... I need options!" he called out, keeping an open comm with the bridge and engineering.

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

The instant he saw the spike, he tried to shut down the warp core, but the controls didn't respond and, in fact, began to accelerate beyond the ship's design specifications. If he, or someone, couldn't stop the runaway, the warp core would breach.

"How to disrupt a warp core while at warp? How to disrupt a warp core while at warp? How to disrupt a warp core while at warp?"

He wracked his brain to come up with something, then a thought flashed into his head.

"A GRAVITON PULSE!"

He slammed his hand down on the comm panel.

"Engineering to bridge! Have the deflector dish emit a graviton pulse ahead of us! It will shut down the warp core and take us out of the slipstream!"

[Don Damien Addams]

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

A few hours later....

It seemed like smooth sailing... Nevir was even drinking a raktigino on the bridge.  Everything was looking good, and they should be exiting the slipstream relatively soon.  There was a flash of a blip on sensors on the ops station, but it had come and gone so completely it was probably hard to notice.

What wasn't hard to notice was the sudden lurch the ship had that momentarily made the blue tunnel flicker a green, but it seemed to have passed without a second thought. Nevir sat silent, trying to feel the deck plate underneath him, the engineering part of him felt something was off, even more so than the feeling of the QSD itself.

In main engineering there had been a sharp spike in the lag when the ship lurched, but afterwards everything seemed normal.  Except for the phase variance shifting above point 4.  It was enough to warrant concern as some of the engineers called out to Lek to show him what they were seeing.

The frown on Nevir's face showed it all.  He was not willing to risk the ship even for something that was probably nothing.

"Helm... slow to impulse.  Something feels off." he ordered, expecting to see the tunnel fade to streaks and then stars.  The problem was... the helm controls weren't responding.

"Bridge to Engineering... can we shut down the drive?" he called out, but in Engineering it was the same thing... controls were locked.  They couldn't adjust, drop, or even eject anything.  The ship was effectively stuck in slipstream.  And it was clear that something was wrong as the giant warp core started pulsing even more rapidly.

The drop of a mug and spilled drink punctuated the bridge, as the Captain, gripped his seat.  "Options... I need options!" he called out, keeping an open comm with the bridge and engineering.

[USS Discovery - Bridge]

Things seemed to do very well for the few hours. He was planning to think about having dinner with his wife after the shift was over.  Then as of sudden the slip stream flicked color green. That was not supposed to do that. Well. He figured it was not suppose to be.

"Sir-" Don was cut off as Tekin gave the order to cut the Discovery down to impulse. There was his order. The helms man was pressing the sequence to bring her down to impulse. It was suicide to throw her from slip stream to straight to lowest speed with passing the levels.

"Helm is not responding," he replied with calm voice as he could muster. They had been in situations however this was not one of them.

Don had try to over ride the helm by manual and it was not responding. Then the Captain had asked options. Then the Helmsman was thinking quickly a way.

This was what he was visualizing in his mind. The ship engine was heart of the situation and there was wires leading to the bridge where controls was. They had two other bridge. Beta and Gemma.

The heart of the problem was down in Engineering where the base. If you stop it from beating the power of it be stop. If they can eject the core that would stop it. But what would be the price?

The other source was forward disc which starts the Slip Stream itself. What if they can use that as a brake? He needed his controls for that which was not responding.

"Sir? We can try Beta and Gamma bridge controls to see if we can get a response in controls. I can send my team to do that. That's my first choice option. My second one was is not the greatest idea. Eject the core," he replied.

The other option was in his head was separating sections of the ship. He had decided not share that option that sounded like the least option for now.

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

The instant he saw the spike, he tried to shut down the warp core, but the controls didn't respond and, in fact, began to accelerate beyond the ship's design specifications. If he, or someone, couldn't stop the runaway, the warp core would breach.

"How to disrupt a warp core while at warp? How to disrupt a warp core while at warp? How to disrupt a warp core while at warp?"

He wracked his brain to come up with something, then a thought flashed into his head.

"A GRAVITON PULSE!"

He slammed his hand down on the comm panel.

"Engineering to bridge! Have the deflector dish emit a graviton pulse ahead of us! It will shut down the warp core and take us out of the slipstream!"

[Danjar-Torra Addams]

Ensign Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge] (ship at warp on route to Earth from DS9)

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

A few hours later....

It seemed like smooth sailing... Nevir was even drinking a raktajino on the bridge.  Everything was looking good, and they should be exiting the slipstream relatively soon.  There was a flash of a blip on sensors on the ops station, but it had come and gone so completely it was probably hard to notice.

What wasn't hard to notice was the sudden lurch the ship had that momentarily made the blue tunnel flicker a green, but it seemed to have passed without a second thought. Nevir sat silent, trying to feel the deck plate underneath him, the engineering part of him felt something was off, even more so than the feeling of the QSD itself.

Torra (who rolled a 19 on her perception) had been attentively keeping watch over her console diligently for the past several hours.  She was due to be relieved shortly for her lunch break yet before that could happen, there was a briefest of flicker across her sensor console and suddenly the ship gave a lurch and the viewscreen, visible from the upper periphery of her vision, shifted colors briefly from blue to green before resuming blue.

'Oh my, what was that?'  Concerned, given the ships sudden lurch Torra opened a new panel on her console and called up the sensor logs... reviewing backwards at half time (hoping that would be slow enough to get a better sense of the exact coordinate so that a view of the astrometrics of the area could be looked at.

Meanwhile the Captain, called for a slowing of the ship...

In main engineering there had been a sharp spike in the lag when the ship lurched, but afterwards everything seemed normal.  Except for the phase variance shifting above point 4.  It was enough to warrant concern as some of the engineers called out to Lek to show him what they were seeing.

The frown on Nevir's face showed it all.  He was not willing to risk the ship even for something that was probably nothing.

"Helm... slow to impulse.  Something feels off." he ordered, expecting to see the tunnel fade to streaks and then stars.  The problem was... the helm controls weren't responding.

"Bridge to Engineering... can we shut down the drive?" he called out, but in Engineering it was the same thing... controls were locked.  They couldn't adjust, drop, or even eject anything.  The ship was effectively stuck in slipstream.  And it was clear that something was wrong as the giant warp core started pulsing even more rapidly.

The drop of a mug and spilled drink punctuated the bridge, as the Captain, gripped his seat.  "Options... I need options!" he called out, keeping an open comm with the bridge and engineering.

The Captain's call for options startled Torra and she hunched her shoulders.  She was no scientist nor engineer... there was nothing she could suggest that would be helpful.  The best that she could do was figure out what that blip had been, since it seemed to have been the cause of their current problem.

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

The instant he saw the spike, he tried to shut down the warp core, but the controls didn't respond and, in fact, began to accelerate beyond the ship's design specifications. If he, or someone, couldn't stop the runaway, the warp core would breach.

"Engineering to bridge! Have the deflector dish emit a graviton pulse ahead of us! It will shut down the warp core and take us out of the slipstream!"

The Chief Engineer proved his value was in response to the Captain's call the Ferengi had an almost immediately answer.   Torra paused her review of the sensor logs to glance back towards the Captain.  Her hand hovered over the deflector dish controls... ready to make the necessary adjustments to it's settings - such adjustments now being standard training for all Ops personnel.   It was surprising how versatile the deflector dish was.  Torra was constantly reading up on new 'hacks' that were possible with the deflector.  A message update came out every few months noting all the latest discovered uses of it in specific scenarios. If this one worked.  Lek could potentially have an Ops hack named after him.

[Luby Wentock]

NPC Dr Misha Sluchaynyy
[USS Discovery - Sickbay

As black alert sounded through out Sickbay, Misha glanced up from his review of Crewman Ciavil's latest check up results.  The elderly Russian smiled, recalling what those first few months as a parent had been like.  Dranik and Ciavil were in for many sleepless nights.

Misha's own children and grandchildren were all grown up now and his wife long since passed away, but that didn't stop the Russian from enjoying the memory of them.  Unfortunately, this time his memories distracted him from recognizing that perhaps someone more senior than the cadet should be answering the Captain.

It took the shaking of the ship to draw Misha from his reminiscing.  Closing Ciavil's file, Misha stood and stretched - his muscles protesting.  He was getting too old for being on a starship - that's what his body was telling him.  But Misha was by far not the oldest active human officer out there.  Up until last year, that distinction had been held by John Saxon - who was nearly a century old.   Misha was only in his 70's.  Still it felt old at moments like this.

Finishing his stretching, Misha left his office and moved into Main Sickbay area to find Luby and a number of other staff talking.

Misha approached the group having overheard both the Captain and Luby's comments.

"Alerrrts? What is zerrre to know? Zis is experrriment, da? So you keep alerrrt forrr anything odd in health and behaviorrr of crrrew. You never know what effect zese sorrrts of experrriments zat arrre outside of norrrmal space vill do to body."

[Sickbay - USS Discovery]

"Ah, Zdravstvuyte Dr. Sluchaynyy, you were so quiet there I didn't notice you immediately." Luby apologised.

"I don't know about the others but other than Yellow/Amber/Red alerts I've not really experienced any other..."

"Not even a Brown one?!" Roger offered with a smirk.

"Think you'll find that's a Code Brown, Rog!"  Bettina tossed over.

"And hopefully she would be attending a patient for those rather than being a patient!" Kestra added with a long-suffering look on her features.

"Doctor, have you seen or heard from our young mother and the twins I helped deliver on Katra?" Grithaw asked "As for the alert, Luby is correct for me, I've never experienced a Black Alert, however I looked it up in our manuals, yep, it's an experiment."

"What you said about the crew... would you think it wise to have someone up on the Bridge and someone in each department?" Luby said.

Kestra, whom Dr. Thane had left in nominal charge, given she had the most experience other than Dr. Sluchaynyy...and Dr. Thane may not have realised the Russian was in his office, (other staff were either off duty or otherwise occupied) considered this and nodded.

"If the good Doctor here agrees, and as Nurse-Practitioner 'in charge'...Dr. Thane passed over to me for this shift, I don't think anyone knew you were in your office, Sir,  I'd say that was a good idea, let's see, Roger take Security, Bettina go to Sciences, Luby on the Bridge it'll be good experience for you but don't get in the way, Grithaw take Engineering and I'll find someone to sit in the Mess Hall unless you'd like to take that one Doctor?  Someone has to be here for if anything happens obviously, I'll take point on that.  Is that a plan Doctor?"

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

A few hours later....

It seemed like smooth sailing... Nevir was even drinking a raktigino on the bridge.  Everything was looking good, and they should be exiting the slipstream relatively soon.  There was a flash of a blip on sensors on the ops station, but it had come and gone so completely it was probably hard to notice.

What wasn't hard to notice was the sudden lurch the ship had that momentarily made the blue tunnel flicker a green, but it seemed to have passed without a second thought. Nevir sat silent, trying to feel the deck plate underneath him, the engineering part of him felt something was off, even more so than the feeling of the QSD itself.

In main engineering there had been a sharp spike in the lag when the ship lurched, but afterwards everything seemed normal.  Except for the phase variance shifting above point 4.  It was enough to warrant concern as some of the engineers called out to Lek to show him what they were seeing.

The frown on Nevir's face showed it all.  He was not willing to risk the ship even for something that was probably nothing.

"Helm... slow to impulse.  Something feels off." he ordered, expecting to see the tunnel fade to streaks and then stars.  The problem was... the helm controls weren't responding.

"Bridge to Engineering... can we shut down the drive?" he called out, but in Engineering it was the same thing... controls were locked.  They couldn't adjust, drop, or even eject anything.  The ship was effectively stuck in slipstream.  And it was clear that something was wrong as the giant warp core started pulsing even more rapidly.

The drop of a mug and spilled drink punctuated the bridge, as the Captain, gripped his seat.  "Options... I need options!" he called out, keeping an open comm with the bridge and engineering.

The sudden jolt had Luby grabbing a biobed with one hand, her other held a medkit and she was ready to go to the Bridge.

"What on Earth was that? I think that 'experiment' isn't going as smoothly as it is supposed to." without even thinking she hit her commbadge and hailed the ship.

Medical to all departments and Bridge, given that sudden jolt is everyone ok? 

[Tekin Nevir]

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

The instant he saw the spike, he tried to shut down the warp core, but the controls didn't respond and, in fact, began to accelerate beyond the ship's design specifications. If he, or someone, couldn't stop the runaway, the warp core would breach.

"How to disrupt a warp core while at warp? How to disrupt a warp core while at warp? How to disrupt a warp core while at warp?"

He wracked his brain to come up with something, then a thought flashed into his head.

"A GRAVITON PULSE!"

He slammed his hand down on the comm panel.

"Engineering to bridge! Have the deflector dish emit a graviton pulse ahead of us! It will shut down the warp core and take us out of the slipstream!"

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

The lurching might have ceased, but whatever had them locked was starting to shake the ship.  After listening to both his helmsman and his engineer, he turned to Torra at the Ops station.

"Do it!" he ordered, starting to grip his hands on the chair.  Unfortunately.. the computer beeped in protests... the deflector controls were also locked.  Of course.. they too were involved in the ship's engines right now.  Nevir looked at the current speed and distance. At the current rate, they would end up plowing right through the system... if they were even lucky enough to miss Earth.

"We reach Earth is just over ten minutes.  You have ten minutes." he said, looking at both Torra and Don.  "Get down to deflector controls and manually configure the beam.  Its already engaged, so we'll know immediately if it works. Get going." he said, his face grim.

[Sickbay - USS Discovery]

"Ah, Zdravstvuyte Dr. Sluchaynyy, you were so quiet there I didn't notice you immediately." Luby apologised.

"I don't know about the others but other than Yellow/Amber/Red alerts I've not really experienced any other..."

"Not even a Brown one?!" Roger offered with a smirk.

"Think you'll find that's a Code Brown, Rog!"  Bettina tossed over.

"And hopefully she would be attending a patient for those rather than being a patient!" Kestra added with a long-suffering look on her features.

"Doctor, have you seen or heard from our young mother and the twins I helped deliver on Katra?" Grithaw asked "As for the alert, Luby is correct for me, I've never experienced a Black Alert, however I looked it up in our manuals, yep, it's an experiment."

"What you said about the crew... would you think it wise to have someone up on the Bridge and someone in each department?" Luby said.

Kestra, whom Dr. Thane had left in nominal charge, given she had the most experience other than Dr. Sluchaynyy...and Dr. Thane may not have realised the Russian was in his office, (other staff were either off duty or otherwise occupied) considered this and nodded.

"If the good Doctor here agrees, and as Nurse-Practitioner 'in charge'...Dr. Thane passed over to me for this shift, I don't think anyone knew you were in your office, Sir,  I'd say that was a good idea, let's see, Roger take Security, Bettina go to Sciences, Luby on the Bridge it'll be good experience for you but don't get in the way, Grithaw take Engineering and I'll find someone to sit in the Mess Hall unless you'd like to take that one Doctor?  Someone has to be here for if anything happens obviously, I'll take point on that.  Is that a plan Doctor?"

The sudden jolt had Luby grabbing a biobed with one hand, her other held a medkit and she was ready to go to the Bridge.

"What on Earth was that? I think that 'experiment' isn't going as smoothly as it is supposed to." without even thinking she hit her commbadge and hailed the ship.

Medical to all departments and Bridge, given that sudden jolt is everyone ok? 

"Bridge to Sickbay... stand by.  We are going to try to knock ourselves out of slipstream; prepare for possible injuries."

[Lek]

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

As Lek struggled into the radiation suit, Lieutenant Giancarlo Gianetti made no move to assist him and in fact snapped at the Ferengi in, what was obviously, a continuing argument.

"You don't have to do this Chief, let me do it, after whatever is going on is over, we're going to need you to put the ship back together!"

"We've gone over this already Giancarlo, I'm the best qualified to go into the warp core and manually disable it. I've made up my mind and now it's time to follow my orders, or do I have to get someone else to follow them?"

"Dammit Lek, why are you being so stubborn? You know getting that close to the reactor, even in a rad suit, you are going to absorb a fatal dose of radiation!"

"And if you do it, so will you! Someone has to do it and, as chief engineer, it falls to me. I'm not eager to meet enter the Divine Treasury today, but if we don't stop this runaway, we'll end up outside the known galaxy. Now help me get my helmet on."

Silently, Gianetti helped Lek with the last part of donning the suit and watched his friend start moving toward the airlock like doors that led to the reactor.

Stopping at the doors, Lek tapped his commbadge.

"Lek to Bridge. Sir, based off of the current situation. I am ready, on order, to enter the reactor chamber."

[T'Lara]

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

The lurching might have ceased, but whatever had them locked was starting to shake the ship.  After listening to both his helmsman and his engineer, he turned to Torra at the Ops station.

"Do it!" he ordered, starting to grip his hands on the chair.  Unfortunately.. the computer beeped in protests... the deflector controls were also locked.  Of course.. they too were involved in the ship's engines right now.  Nevir looked at the current speed and distance. At the current rate, they would end up plowing right through the system... if they were even lucky enough to miss Earth.

"We reach Earth is just over ten minutes.  You have ten minutes." he said, looking at both Torra and Don.  "Get down to deflector controls and manually configure the beam.  Its already engaged, so we'll know immediately if it works. Get going." he said, his face grim.

"Bridge to Sickbay... stand by.  We are going to try to knock ourselves out of slipstream; prepare for possible injuries."

[Bridge - USS Discovery]

T'Lara stayed seated at her chair next to the captain, calmly awaiting the launch of the slipstream. It was a much different experience than their last test of the drive, and even though there had been improvements since then she could feel the unease around her. When the blue hue appeared, she clasped her hands and simply observed, that is, until things started to go against the norm. She raised an eyebrow at the flash of green visible on the viewscreen, and sure enough when she looked to the captain next to her his identical emotion showed clearly on his face. From there things only declined and the crew rapidly began coming up with solutions. T'Lara answered reports as quickly as she could while the ship was rapidly heading towards Earth. She trusted Lek's abilities to get them down safely. Wherever the "down" ended up being she didn't know, but the crew would handle whatever came next. 

[Don Damien Addams]

[USS Discovery - Bridge]

After hearing Captain Tekin giving order to go down to the defector shield to activate it. They needed get gravitional pulse ahead of them. In long time ago on Earth they needed apply the brakes manually. Which was not going to be a pretty picture.

"Mister Graham you got the helm," he told his future assistant. He had decided Graham had been showing much better progress over his other flight team.

Don had gotten up as about the same time when his wife got up. They going to do this together. They needed to get down deck 15 forward to get access to the dish. If things get more difficult they remove the access panels to do dirty work.

Don crossed the bridge and the turbolift doors opened, Don stepped in to wait for his wife to get in.

[Alexander Graham]

[USS Discovery - Bridge]

After hearing Captain Tekin giving order to go down to the defector shield to activate it. They needed get gravitional pulse ahead of them. In long time ago on Earth they needed apply the brakes manually. Which was not going to be a pretty picture.

"Mister Graham you got the helm," he told his future assistant. He had decided Graham had been showing much better progress over his other flight team.

Don had gotten up as about the same time when his wife got up. They going to do this together. They needed to get down deck 10 (?) forward to get access to the dish. If things get more difficult they remove the access panels to do dirty work.

Don crossed the bridge and the turbolift doors opened, Don stepped in to wait for his wife to get in.

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œUnderstood Lieutenant Addams" as he went over to take the helm. Alexander hoped that things were going to go well for the chief flight officer and Torra. He was prepared to make any changes if the need arised. He was pretty proud of the progress that he made as a flight control officer. Since they were going to try and knock themselves out of the slip stream and he had a strange feeling that it wasn't going to be pretty. It was probably a good idea to prepare for the impact and the chance of injury that might end up happening.

[Danjar-Torra Addams]

Ensign Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge] (ship at warp on route to Earth from DS9- hours into Slipstream)

[Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Discovery]

The lurching might have ceased, but whatever had them locked was starting to shake the ship.  After listening to both his helmsman and his engineer, he turned to Torra at the Ops station.

"Do it!" he ordered, starting to grip his hands on the chair.  Unfortunately.. the computer beeped in protests... the deflector controls were also locked.  Of course.. they too were involved in the ship's engines right now.  Nevir looked at the current speed and distance. At the current rate, they would end up plowing right through the system... if they were even lucky enough to miss Earth.

"We reach Earth is just over ten minutes.  You have ten minutes." he said, looking at both Torra and Don.  "Get down to deflector controls and manually configure the beam.  Its already engaged, so we'll know immediately if it works. Get going." he said, his face grim.

"Bridge to Sickbay... stand by.  We are going to try to knock ourselves out of slipstream; prepare for possible injuries."

At the Captain's order, Torra attempted to make the necessary adjustment but the deflector controls were locked.. much like the helm controls.

The urgency in the Captain's orders had Torra up and out of her chair without even bothering to lock her console or call for someone to replace her...

[USS Discovery - Bridge]

After hearing Captain Tekin giving order to go down to the defector shield to activate it. They needed get gravitional pulse ahead of them. In long time ago on Earth they needed apply the brakes manually. Which was not going to be a pretty picture.

"Mister Graham you got the helm," he told his future assistant. He had decided Graham had been showing much better progress over his other flight team.

Don had gotten up as about the same time when his wife got up. They going to do this together. They needed to get down deck 10 (?) forward to get access to the dish. If things get more difficult they remove the access panels to do dirty work.

Don crossed the bridge and the turbolift doors opened, Don stepped in to wait for his wife to get in.

... Don was fortunate enough to have his replacement already on hand and was at the turbolift just ahead of her.  She stepped in, pressed the door close button rather than waiting for the door sensors to read that there were no others approaching and the doorway was clear.

"Deck 15." Torra called out.

The travel down and across the ship was the longest 30 seconds of her life.   The moment the doors were open Torra was pelting down the corridor.  It was 5th door on the left.  Inside the small room, Torra began her work to manually activate the beam.  "Don, once I get the beam activated, I'm gonna need you to help configure it and balance the beam strength."

NPC Dr Misha Sluchaynyy
[USS Discovery - Sickbay] [Start of Slipstream]

[Sickbay - USS Discovery]

"Ah, Zdravstvuyte Dr. Sluchaynyy, you were so quiet there I didn't notice you immediately." Luby apologised.

"I don't know about the others but other than Yellow/Amber/Red alerts I've not really experienced any other..."

"Not even a Brown one?!" Roger offered with a smirk.

"Think you'll find that's a Code Brown, Rog!"  Bettina tossed over.

"And hopefully she would be attending a patient for those rather than being a patient!" Kestra added with a long-suffering look on her features.

"Doctor, have you seen or heard from our young mother and the twins I helped deliver on Katra?" Grithaw asked "As for the alert, Luby is correct for me, I've never experienced a Black Alert, however I looked it up in our manuals, yep, it's an experiment."

"What you said about the crew... would you think it wise to have someone up on the Bridge and someone in each department?" Luby said.

Kestra, whom Dr. Thane had left in nominal charge, given she had the most experience other than Dr. Sluchaynyy...and Dr. Thane may not have realised the Russian was in his office, (other staff were either off duty or otherwise occupied) considered this and nodded.

"If the good Doctor here agrees, and as Nurse-Practitioner 'in charge'...Dr. Thane passed over to me for this shift, I don't think anyone knew you were in your office, Sir,  I'd say that was a good idea, let's see, Roger take Security, Bettina go to Sciences, Luby on the Bridge it'll be good experience for you but don't get in the way, Grithaw take Engineering and I'll find someone to sit in the Mess Hall unless you'd like to take that one Doctor?  Someone has to be here for if anything happens obviously, I'll take point on that.  Is that a plan Doctor?"

The Russian doctor smiled at his native greeting from the young cadet, then listened to the banter among the others.  "Vell, I cerrrtainly hope zat zis does not bekome Kode Brrrown."

Luby's suggest was a good one and the elderly doctor nodded, his agreement,  "Gud idea." even as Nurse Kestra put forward a plan of how to break the medical staff.  "Zat, in addition to norrrmal Alerrrt prrrotokol of manning medikal stations on other hulls should give excellent koverrrage."

The suggestion that he head to the Mess Hall was answered with a brief shake of his head.  "Sorrry, I due to kover Gamma Hull medikal station."

With that the doctor gave the group medical staff a nod and headed off to his assigned Alert station.  Because any alert situation had the potential to lead to a MVA (Multi-Vector Assault) breakup of the ship, each hull had it's own medical station.   Alpha Hull had a station situated in a corner of the Forward Lounge on Deck 6.   Beta Hull had main Sickbay while Gamma Hull had a small alcove not far from the Battle Bridge on Deck 13.   It was this last one that Misha was headed to.

[Gamma Hull Medical station] [hours into Slipstream]

The sudden jolt had Luby grabbing a biobed with one hand, her other held a medkit and she was ready to go to the Bridge.

"What on Earth was that? I think that 'experiment' isn't going as smoothly as it is supposed to." without even thinking she hit her commbadge and hailed the ship.

Medical to all departments and Bridge, given that sudden jolt is everyone ok? 

Misha raised a bushy, greying eyebrow at the eager attentiveness of the cadet.  Was he ever that young?  It was hard to remember that far back.  With an amused smile, Misha tapped his commbadge to respond.

"Gamma medikal is gud."

NPC Crewman Helga Tragnar
[USS Discovery - Deck Two - Armory] [hours into Slipstream]

After the sudden and unexpected jolt after hours on a largely dull guard shift, Helga had nearly been thrown to the floor of the corridor outside the Armor. She rose to her feet and resumed her spot before calling her partner who was stationed within.

"Everything ok in there?"

[Dranik]

NPC Crewman Helga Tragnar
[USS Discovery - Deck Two - Armory] [hours into Slipstream]

After the sudden and unexpected jolt after hours on a largely dull guard shift, Helga had nearly been thrown to the floor of the corridor outside the Armor. She rose to her feet and resumed her spot before calling her partner who was stationed within.

"Everything ok in there?"

Dranik could tell that something was wrong by the way had lurched earlier. At first he thought that it was probably nothing but now he wasn't so sure. He had seen quite a few grim or fearful expressions on people's faces on his way to the armory. Before leaving he had made sure to keep an open com-channel to Ciavil. As he reached the armory he saw Crewman Helga Tragnar but he didn't see the other one who had taken his place.

"Everything ok in there?"

"They may be injured." He said without hesitation as he approached the other crewman. "Whatever happened to the ship may have been enough to dislodge some of the equipment inside."