S6: E1 - The Prime Recommendation

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Turbolift Shaft - Deck 15  >>  Deck 6 - Corridor]

After having removed the access panel to the turbolift shaft, Lahr glanced up at the 9 deck climb he had to make.  The one good thing about the climb was that it wasn't a straight shot up.  No, the neck of the ship had the turbolift going up in steps midway -so that would break up the long climb into more manageable pieces.

Giving a woeful sigh, Lahr started his climb.  He made it to deck 13, where he pulled himself up into the horizontal tube.  Walked ten feet then started another climb from there to deck 11 and then across again ten feet.  Up from deck 11 to 9 and then again from 9 to 6. Finally, he was on the right floor.

Dangling from the ladder three stories above the deck 9 landing, Lahr pried open the panel that operated the doors.  He managed to pull and reset the chips which powered the door and by connecting two chips with wire from his toolkit he got the door to open.

Scrambling up out of the shaft, Lahr rolled onto the deck feeling a bit out of breath.  He also had a headache.  The tri-ox must be wearing out.   How long had it taken him climb? he wondered.

Pushing himself to his feet, Lahr started towards the section where the Central Air Exchange room was.   He'd gone no more than 20 meters when his antennae perked at the feel of a slight breeze.   He looked up and noted the air vent above him.  He took in a deep breath and almost immediately felt his headache improve.

Ahead of him in the hall, he heard the cheers of fellow crewmembers.  "Woohoo! Way to go! You did it!"

"Yeah, well I'm a nurse dammit... not an engineer!  I shouldn't have to be the one to put priority to this.  Let's get back down to Sickbay, now that we can breathe properly."

Lahr froze, recognizing the second voice immediately.  He glanced about, but there was nowhere to hide.

A moment later, two figures stepped out of the Central Air Exchange room and shone lights down the hall towards him.  Lahr, feeling a bit put on the spot, gave a slight wave. "Um..hello."

Because of the dark, Lahr couldn't see Chloe's expression but it sounded none too impressed.  "This is not the time to be fashionably late,  ch'Verret.  Come on.  We're going to need you to get everything working."

Lahr bobbed his head at the orders and followed along back towards the turbolift shaft. "Yes, ma'am"

[Abas Th'vyrrol]

[Turbolift Shaft - Deck 1>Deck 9]

"I'd offer ladies first, but then I might fall on you." Alex flashed her an apologetic smile before starting down. It was a long way to Deck 9, and for the first few rungs, he used the traditional hand-foot-hand-foot method until he gained enough confidence that he wouldn't lose his grip. There was a little trick they used to do as SAR specialists, as much a parlour trick as it was useful, and something he hadn't done since he was in his much fitter 20s. With the gravity plating still working, gravity was therefore his friend so long as he was going down. Pulling his sleeves over his hands and gripping the vertical railings, Alex took a deep breath apprehensively, glanced up to see where Ardyn was, and despite the seriousness of their situation appreciated the view for a split second, then shifted both his feet out to the side so the railings tucked into the inner arch of his boot soles. "Here's something you might not have done before." He called to Ardyn before loosening his grip slightly, just enough so he began sliding down, faster, and faster-

"Merde!" Alex immediately gripped hard with his hands and feet, squeezing the rungs with the insides of his arms and knees, a grimace forming as he felt heat growing rapidly from friction spreading through the fabric of his uniform into his skin. His arms and quads ached in protest, but he managed to slow just enough to catch the rungs, coming to a stop only a few feet above the medical team. He was sweating slightly and flushed, not just from the exertion, but also from chagrin at being caught doing something so recklessly at his age. "Sorry! We're coming from the bridge, there's still Lieutenant Booker and the helmsman who need help. I administered tri-ox and put them in the recovery position, but I didn't see any obvious external injuries to explain why they're still unconscious. Listen, are your tricorders or anything in sickbay working? One of the engineers figured out that all of the isolinear chips onboard were reset somehow by that pulse which hit us. It took out everything with a chip in it, from tricorders to the main computer. To get your devices working again, you have to manually pull the chip out and put it back in. We're going to be in for some long shifts if we don't fall out of orbit first."

[Turboshaft]

As the Lieutenant came hurtling down the shaft, the Ensign who had called out let out a noise that could only be described as a terrified squeak as she tried to "get skinny" on the ladder, even though it would have no bearing if the collision of bodies had occurred. As Alex screeched to a halt, the medical team scrambled and clamored to find purchase somewhere other than the ladder, be it a tiny bit of exposed pipe or a maintenance toehold. However, this momentary terror didn't last long. In a few short moments, the conflict had been cleared and they were no longer at risk of playing the royal game of physics or finding out how many seconds it took to fall to the bottom of the turboshaft. It was currently a small miracle that nobody had tried to get the turbolifts working - and run the risk of turning the medical crew into a pancake to be mopped up by some deckhand. Policies and procedures were very clear on such matters, and to not bring the lifts into service without proper clearance, but since when were regulations ever truly followed?

As the Lieutenant relayed the crew's condition above and the steps needed to bring their technology back online, the team who had been paralyzed for a moment became a flurry of activity, as circuits were opened, removed, inserted, closed, and checked. The echoing nose, chirps, beeps, and whines of technology once again filled the space as the medical crew quickly performed a once-over of their equipment, with noises of celebration joining the din. "Thanks for the update, happy hunting sir!" called out the Ensign from earlier, letting the crew heading down pass by.

Of the four-man crew, a runner was dispatched to Sickbay to pass along the update as to how they could get their technology working again. Now down to three, the crew included a Bolian nurse, Abas, and the Human Ensign leading the party scrambling their way back up to the bridge.

As the crew arrived on the bridge, they paused for a moment to catch their breath before looking up. "Medical here, Captain! Ensign Meshin, reporting. How can we assist?" she asked, as the small three-person team attempted to quickly take stock of the situation and render assistance as needed.

[Alexander Wu]

[Turboshaft]

As the Lieutenant came hurtling down the shaft, the Ensign who had called out let out a noise that could only be described as a terrified squeak as she tried to "get skinny" on the ladder, even though it would have no bearing if the collision of bodies had occurred. As Alex screeched to a halt, the medical team scrambled and clamored to find purchase somewhere other than the ladder, be it a tiny bit of exposed pipe or a maintenance toehold. However, this momentary terror didn't last long. In a few short moments, the conflict had been cleared and they were no longer at risk of playing the royal game of physics or finding out how many seconds it took to fall to the bottom of the turboshaft. It was currently a small miracle that nobody had tried to get the turbolifts working - and run the risk of turning the medical crew into a pancake to be mopped up by some deckhand. Policies and procedures were very clear on such matters, and to not bring the lifts into service without proper clearance, but since when were regulations ever truly followed?

As the Lieutenant relayed the crew's condition above and the steps needed to bring their technology back online, the team who had been paralyzed for a moment became a flurry of activity, as circuits were opened, removed, inserted, closed, and checked. The echoing nose, chirps, beeps, and whines of technology once again filled the space as the medical crew quickly performed a once-over of their equipment, with noises of celebration joining the din. "Thanks for the update, happy hunting sir!" called out the Ensign from earlier, letting the crew heading down pass by.

Of the four-man crew, a runner was dispatched to Sickbay to pass along the update as to how they could get their technology working again. Now down to three, the crew included a Bolian nurse, Abas, and the Human Ensign leading the party scrambling their way back up to the bridge.

[USS Challenger - Deck 1>Deck 9 - Turboshaft]

"Likewise, sorry again. I'm Alex, uh, Lieutenant Wu, I owe you all a round to make up for almost killing us after we get out of this." Alex 'monkeyed' down on one side of the ladder until he passed by the medical team. "See you at our medicals!" He didn't usually bribe his new crewmates, but in this case, he reckoned a couple bottles of andorian ale might not go remiss.

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - Forward Torpedo Bay Magazine]

Finally making it out of the turboshaft, having done the rest of the climb down much slower after the close call earlier, Alex was relieved to see many of the crew had already heard about the fix method, with access panels lining the floor and exposed electronics everywhere. It'd be a right mess to sort out later, but for now, all they needed was to get the ship limping again. Without a working PADD or the computer to guide him, Alex had to follow his hunch as to where the torpedo bay magazine was, but luckily the designers had kept things relatively conventional, and the room was right where it should be.

Manually levering the door open just enough to squeeze in, Alex found the two weapon technicians, who being very smart and used to solving problems on their own, had already discovered how to fix the chip issue and begun resetting their little part of the ship without having to be asked. "PO, am I glad to see you guys up and running. Do you have any Class 6 probes in stock?"

The crewman looked surprised at the request, but nodded nevertheless. "We've got one on the rack, sir, I don't think we can launch it though." Alex nodded, having already considered that problem. "Don't need to launch it, just need it loaded into the tube so it can be jettisoned. Captain needs comms, and outside of pulling thousands of those isolinear chips, this is the best option. Let's get that probe online and onto a hoist."

Following them back into the protected magazine, Alex worked as fast as he could while the technicians rolled a torpedo hoist over to the rack, attaching it to the probe, and then all three of them gingerly moved it to a hatch opening on the deck. In a sense, it was a good thing they hadn't been expecting the pulsewave, otherwise Galloway might've called for a red alert, and they'd have the unsavoury task of removing a live torpedo first. As it happened, the launch tube was empty, and they lowered the probe right down into the receptacle. "Seal her up, one of you come find me in the control room after." Alex instructed before heading back out.

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - Forward Torpedo Bay Control]

As was the case in the magazine, there was already someone hard at work in the control room, working on the launch control systems. "Ensign, hi, Lieutenant Wu, Ops. I've got two of your techs dead dropping a class 6 probe into the number one tube, Captain needs to get comms with the planet below. Launching it will take too long, we just need to jettison it. Can you hotwire the external tube doors to open?"

"Ensign Stevens, and yes sir, it's actually just a matter of cross circuiting." She crawled under the control console, pulling off another panel. "Just swap these two here, and these here...okay, once I plug in this chip, that'll pop the doors." Alex had knelt down to peer at the workstation's underbelly, popping his head back out when a set of boots came running into the room. "All ready, sir."

"Blow the doors." Alex ordered, and listened carefully, even though he knew it'd be unlikely he would hear the torpedo tube depressurizing. Still, he imagined there was a slight 'foosh' blowing the probe out into space. "Thank you for your help everyone, once you get the control system working again, seal up that tube, who knows if we'll need it." With the communication probe out there, at the very least they could talk to the Landser, or maybe even their away team. If they're still alive. Brushing that troubling thought aside, Alex began heading out, pausing at the door. "Thruster Control, which way? Thank you." He went in the direction they pointed to see if Ardyn needed any help.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Landser basement, Land-ta]

Having made the connection between Kyan and the Challenger, and after more pleading from both Eely'ot and G'erti, Mikel decided that he'd speak to him before he decided whether or not to call the authorities. The elder Landser sat down in front of the frozen Onlie. "œAll right." He began hesitantly. "œI'm going to fix what my brother did"¦if I can. It's not going to hurt.. so don't kill me or zap me or"¦ whatever."

What he didn't say was that while he was doing this, he'd be able to see Kyan's memories, the strongest or most recent ones anyway. An adult healer could probably see whatever they wanted, but Mikel was still learning how to navigate a link. Reaching over, he placed his hands in the proper position for a touch link, which was the most basic form of telepathy on Land-Ta, but also the most effective way for a novice. Most Landsers learned how to link without physical contact when they attended university, but for a significant portion of the population, physical linking was as far as they ever got.

Mikel placed his thumbs under Kyan's eyes and pressed down. At once he was seeing a whole other existence. He saw other of other species, most of whom were much larger than this one. The were a few who resembled Lansders with their cerulean skin, and still others who were entirely different. As he looked for his brother's empathic block, Mikel saw a giant space station and menacing horned aliens who looked like they wanted to kill him. Then he was fighting old gray alien woman and there was an explosion of glitter and paint. After that there was another one who looked similar to this one, and was the same size. They lived together and played like his brother and sister did with their friends. There was a large screen and green bird-like spaceships and a planet that looked like it was made of trees.

Several other memories played in front of him before Mikel found the block his brother had placed. It was clearly done in desperation so removing it was a simple thing. Mikel concentrated on it for a few moments and then it was done. He took his hands away from Kyan's face and dropped them in his lap, waiting.

The link worked both ways. When the Landser pressed his thumbs below his eyes, Kyan saw flashes of a school, a sports field, this house, and Eely'ot and G'erti. There were also older Landsers who were probably the parents of these three. Everything moved quickly so most of it was blurred. It was jarring when Mikel took his hands away and Kyan remained still for a moment while the link faded.

"œDid you do it?" G'erti piped up. "œIt doesn't look like you did it."

"Aye... he done it so he did." Kyan finally answered. "And thank ye for it too."

"You speak North Landish!?" a surprised Mikel asked incredulously.

"Nae.. I cannae speak it, but in my ear there's a translater thing. It's learned yer language while I been sitting here." Kyan indicated the girl, who was still holding one of the dolls. "G'erti helped it by telling me all about her dolls and stuff."

"So you know our names. What's yours?" Eely'ot spoke up finally. "And umm... where are you from?"

"Well, my name is Kyan Mackenzie. I'm, from a planet called Miri's Planet. It's pretty far from here. And that's me ship on the telly... the Challenger."

"You didn't come to invade Land-Ta did you?" Mikel blurted out before he could stop himself. All things considered, it was a valid question which Kyan had expected sooner or later.

The Onlie shook his head. "Nae, we don't invade other planets. Sure and we'd have waited til ye finished yer own spaceships before meetin ye, but yer space folding engine is making problems fer other people so it is... that's why I'm here."

"What kind of problems?" Mikel asked.

Kyan shrugged. "Sure and I'm no scientist, but sommat about ripping holes in space time, time distortions an the like, which is nae good fer anyone." He thought of the rest of the away team then. "But there was a scientist with me... and two others. Did you lot see anyone else but me?"

Eely'ot shook his head. "You landed in the Lumithorn tree in the field. No one else was there when I saw you."

Kyan nodded. He figured something had gone wrong with the transporter and scattered them all. Hopefully, it hadn't spread them too far. "I do need tae find the others so I do. And something happened to my ship... ye weren't meant tae see it."

There were probably a thousand more questions that the siblings would have asked, but their attention was diverted to the newscast, which was still playing.

"This is breaking news... the alien ship has sent a message, which is being broadcast all over the planet. We'll join it in progress."

The screen changed to a view of the Challenger's bridge, and Ian Galloway speaking, sounding sort of robotic as he tried to speak "proper" standard. It nearly made Kyan laugh.

"......So far, the use of fold space has not caused any damage, but we discovered during your last test, that up close, these temporal pulses have a devastating effect on our technology.

"This is what caused us to be revealed to you before we had the chance to speak to your leaders. We again apologize for any upset we might have caused. With your permission, we would like to speak to whatever delegates you choose so that we may meet each other properly and hopefully begin a long and friendly relationship. Thank you for your time, we await your response. Captain Ian Galloway, out."

"He looks like you... but... are you a kid?" Mikel asked after the newsman started speaking again.

Kyan smiled. "Sure am... but it's kinda a long story that. An Captain Galloway is nae my dad if ye was wondering, he's not even from my planet. All of us on the ship are from different planets so we are."

"Oh... so what was he saying?"

Kyan blinked. "You... didnae understand him?"

Eely'ot shook his head. "No. It was all mixed up like it was in different languages."

"Their translators must still be catching up." Kyan mused aloud. Then he thought of what Ian's message might cause if the Landsers couldn't understand it. It wasn't a good scenario. "I need tae get to one of yer leaders...Do ye have a president or something?"

G'erti nodded. "She lives in the capitol. It's pretty far."

Kyan stood up, prompting the others to do the same. "How far?" he asked. "And do ye got a vehicle?"

[Ian Galloway]

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Landser Countryside ---> Pharmacy | Land | L7-425977 System]

Zhukdra'shar attempted to find his fellow Starfleet officers, doing his best to ignore the pain in his wrist. After walking through hills filled with alien grass, or its equivalent on Earth, at least, he came across a tree that showed signs of damage from above. Indeed, his tricorder confirmed a group of people was here about an hour ago. But unfortunately, he had missed it.

Not good.

Especially as when he examined the area closer, he came across fragments of the material his isolation suit was made of. Which confirmed his suspicions that someone of the ship had ended up here. What worried him was the fact that they were not here now. This mission was getting worse and worse, and really quickly, too. Zhukdra'shar groaned softly as he decided to investigate, fearing that the Landser government could have taken whoever member of his team had landed here.

As he kept walking, he came across farms, carefully avoiding stepping on the rows of crops, and a road, which he began to follow. It seemed that his suit was working appropiately, as he raised no suspicion from the people currently harvesting the fields. Indeed, luck did seem to be on his side, as a boxy, truck-like vehicle which sputtered clouds of soft yellow, and an open cargo bed appeared a few meters behind him.

Zhuk had an idea on how to get to the nearest town, where he was certain he would be able to find his companion. Lowering himself to avoid drawing attention, he grabbed a rock, though kept close to the ground as he allowed the vehicle to go past him, before lifting it and tossing it towards the back. The sound was enough to cause the driver to stop, and get out of the vehicle.

"Dwas jorlappenjin zebe?"

Came the voice of the chubbier Landser as he checked on the back. He had a visible moustache, made from purple hair, which was carefully taken care of. He too wore a suit that resembled a set of human overalls, except that the straps were criss-crossed. A cap was removed from his hea as he passed a hand through his balding top, before he returned to the front of the vehicle. Zhuk had been expecting this, as he sneakily made his way over towards the back, and carefully, climbed inside the cargo bed.

He took a seat and waited, as the truck took him to the expected place.

All the movement, however, made his current injury more unbearable the further they advanced. Finally, though, at a bend, the truck stopped as it waited for another car to go by, and Zhuk used the time to jump out. Slowly, he made his way through the quaint town, filled with peculiar, angular houses painted in pastel colors. A bit too colorful for his taste, he supposed, but not too bad.

While still unseen, he remained close to the shadows, keeping a low profile to avoid any suspicion. That was, until he came across a store which seemingly had many medical supplies. A pharmacy.

He carefully walked inside, the slide-doors opening as they sensed him, even if they could not see him. Zhuk knew that it would probably be a bad idea to take from these people, but if he wanted to better manage his wrist, he would need some bandages. And it did not took too long for him to find them. However, as he was just about to grab them, he overheard something. A noisy, grey box speaking in a tongue his translator did not quite understand.

What he did, however, was the Challenger floating in space.

No...

[ Landser Planet - Forest ]

Jettis was relieved to see it was Cordon who stood. A look of surprise flickered across his features, taking in her suit-less form, but nodded at her explanation. That would make staying undercover a bit difficult, but at this point even getting spotted would probably be game over.

Glancing over in the direction she motioned to,  he made a mental note of the direction to hopefully avoid doubling back again. Especially if being pursued. 'We keep going and try to find the rest of the team. We need to figure out a way to get a message back to the Challenger without being discovered, we have no idea how the landsers will behave in the face of aliens.' He motioned for her to follow, before continuing in the direction he was headed, still occasionally pausing to mark a tree or two. 'Then I suppose we lie low until we get picked up. Our job is recon, so we can try to get some sort of native communications device, or try to watch them without being noticed. Best to avoid groups, though.'

[Lt.JG ACEO Neva Cordon|Forest on Landers Planet]

Neva nodded. 'Laying low...check. I'm fine with that. I admit though, I'm itching to get my hands on their time-fold instrumentation.' She gave a wan smile. 'Terminal Engineer, I know.'

The forest thinned out to a field of high grass. Neva pulled out her Tricorder a moment then put it away. She crouched down, fingers tracing just above the ground. She looked up at Jettis and pointed. 'Looks like some sort of transport with wheels or something came through here. It looks recent. I suggest following it. We may find something we can use to communicate with the Challenger?' She raised a questioning eyebrow as she stood and wiped her hands on the sides of her uniform.

[Land - Unknown Small Town]

Zhuk found that with the locals glued to their viewscreens, he was able to procure bandages and other items to treat his wrist and walk out the store undetected. He found an alley and started wrapping his wrist which proved to be a far more difficult task than obtaining the supplies.

He was disturbed that the Challenger was so plainly visible to the locals as that was not the plan. He'd only heard a small portion of what the Landsers had said as they watched their viewscreens as he discovered his universal translator was taking a long time to decipher the local language. Most of the words were lost to him, but he did pick up. "Amazing" and "strangers".

As he finished wrapping his wrist, he found himself wondering what to do next. He hadn't tried to use his tricorder or combadge since arriving and was now torn over whether he should try to use either one now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Land - Six kilometers West of Zhuk]

Neva and Jettis stood at the edge of the wooden area they'd landed in and had a choice. They could continue to remain fully hidden, but unable to learn anything of use or they could risk encountering locals by trying to find out information. From where they stood, they could see a paved road only a kilometer away. It was obvious the road would lead to civilization and only by observing the locals would they learn about the Landsers.

[Neva Cordon]

[Land - Unknown Small Town]

Zhuk found that with the locals glued to their viewscreens, he was able to procure bandages and other items to treat his wrist and walk out the store undetected. He found an alley and started wrapping his wrist which proved to be a far more difficult task than obtaining the supplies.

He was disturbed that the Challenger was so plainly visible to the locals as that was not the plan. He'd only heard a small portion of what the Landsers had said as they watched their viewscreens as he discovered his universal translator was taking a long time to decipher the local language. Most of the words were lost to him, but he did pick up. "Amazing" and "strangers".

As he finished wrapping his wrist, he found himself wondering what to do next. He hadn't tried to use his tricorder or combadge since arriving and was now torn over whether he should try to use either one now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Land - Six kilometers West of Zhuk]

Neva and Jettis stood at the edge of the wooden area they'd landed in and had a choice. They could continue to remain fully hidden, but unable to learn anything of use or they could risk encountering locals by trying to find out information. From where they stood, they could see a paved road only a kilometer away. It was obvious the road would lead to civilization and only by observing the locals would they learn about the Landsers.

[Lt.JG ACEO Neva Cordon|Landser Planet]

Neva looked at Dr. Jettis and shrugged. 'Guess its time to go where we haven't before, huh?'

Neva smiled bravely and stepped onto the path, Tricorder in hand and scanning. Pointing, she spoke aloud for once and smirked. "Lifeforms Ho!"

[5km down road, just off town square]

The young Betazoid watched with wide eyes as houses and other buildings became more plentiful as the two Starfleet officers walked along. Neva had been walking ahead of the doctor, her Tricorder still in her hands. Unfortunately, she paid less and less attention to it. She was gawking around so much, she forgot she wasn't supposed to be seen...

Wgmek! n'zrd! A woman screeched as she was walking to a vehicle. She was pointing in their direction and bouncing.

Neva froze in disbelief. She felt the fear and shock buffet her like she'd hit a wall. Before Neva could bring herself to move, others clambered out of the nearby building with weapons of some sort. It didn't take a scientist to know they were screwed, especially when more people came out from nearby brandishing similar implements of destruction.

''Um...so much for stealth?'' Neva uttered apologetically, biting her lower lip as she looked at Jettis.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Turbolift Shaft - Deck 1>Deck 9]

"I'd offer ladies first, but then I might fall on you." Alex flashed her an apologetic smile before starting down. It was a long way to Deck 9, and for the first few rungs, he used the traditional hand-foot-hand-foot method until he gained enough confidence that he wouldn't lose his grip. There was a little trick they used to do as SAR specialists, as much a parlour trick as it was useful, and something he hadn't done since he was in his much fitter 20s. With the gravity plating still working, gravity was therefore his friend so long as he was going down. Pulling his sleeves over his hands and gripping the vertical railings, Alex took a deep breath apprehensively, glanced up to see where Ardyn was, and despite the seriousness of their situation appreciated the view for a split second, then shifted both his feet out to the side so the railings tucked into the inner arch of his boot soles. "Here's something you might not have done before." He called to Ardyn before loosening his grip slightly, just enough so he began sliding down, faster, and faster-

"Merde!" Alex immediately gripped hard with his hands and feet, squeezing the rungs with the insides of his arms and knees, a grimace forming as he felt heat growing rapidly from friction spreading through the fabric of his uniform into his skin. His arms and quads ached in protest, but he managed to slow just enough to catch the rungs, coming to a stop only a few feet above the medical team. He was sweating slightly and flushed, not just from the exertion, but also from chagrin at being caught doing something so recklessly at his age. "Sorry! We're coming from the bridge, there's still Lieutenant Booker and the helmsman who need help. I administered tri-ox and put them in the recovery position, but I didn't see any obvious external injuries to explain why they're still unconscious. Listen, are your tricorders or anything in sickbay working? One of the engineers figured out that all of the isolinear chips onboard were reset somehow by that pulse which hit us. It took out everything with a chip in it, from tricorders to the main computer. To get your devices working again, you have to manually pull the chip out and put it back in. We're going to be in for some long shifts if we don't fall out of orbit first."

[Turboshaft]

As the Lieutenant came hurtling down the shaft, the Ensign who had called out let out a noise that could only be described as a terrified squeak as she tried to "get skinny" on the ladder, even though it would have no bearing if the collision of bodies had occurred. As Alex screeched to a halt, the medical team scrambled and clamored to find purchase somewhere other than the ladder, be it a tiny bit of exposed pipe or a maintenance toehold. However, this momentary terror didn't last long. In a few short moments, the conflict had been cleared and they were no longer at risk of playing the royal game of physics or finding out how many seconds it took to fall to the bottom of the turboshaft. It was currently a small miracle that nobody had tried to get the turbolifts working - and run the risk of turning the medical crew into a pancake to be mopped up by some deckhand. Policies and procedures were very clear on such matters, and to not bring the lifts into service without proper clearance, but since when were regulations ever truly followed?

As the Lieutenant relayed the crew's condition above and the steps needed to bring their technology back online, the team who had been paralyzed for a moment became a flurry of activity, as circuits were opened, removed, inserted, closed, and checked. The echoing nose, chirps, beeps, and whines of technology once again filled the space as the medical crew quickly performed a once-over of their equipment, with noises of celebration joining the din. "Thanks for the update, happy hunting sir!" called out the Ensign from earlier, letting the crew heading down pass by.

Of the four-man crew, a runner was dispatched to Sickbay to pass along the update as to how they could get their technology working again. Now down to three, the crew included a Bolian nurse, Abas, and the Human Ensign leading the party scrambling their way back up to the bridge.

As the crew arrived on the bridge, they paused for a moment to catch their breath before looking up. "Medical here, Captain! Ensign Meshin, reporting. How can we assist?" she asked, as the small three-person team attempted to quickly take stock of the situation and render assistance as needed.

[USS Challenger - Deck 1>Deck 9 - Turboshaft]

"Likewise, sorry again. I'm Alex, uh, Lieutenant Wu, I owe you all a round to make up for almost killing us after we get out of this." Alex 'monkeyed' down on one side of the ladder until he passed by the medical team. "See you at our medicals!" He didn't usually bribe his new crewmates, but in this case, he reckoned a couple bottles of andorian ale might not go remiss.

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - Forward Torpedo Bay Magazine]

Finally making it out of the turboshaft, having done the rest of the climb down much slower after the close call earlier, Alex was relieved to see many of the crew had already heard about the fix method, with access panels lining the floor and exposed electronics everywhere. It'd be a right mess to sort out later, but for now, all they needed was to get the ship limping again. Without a working PADD or the computer to guide him, Alex had to follow his hunch as to where the torpedo bay magazine was, but luckily the designers had kept things relatively conventional, and the room was right where it should be.

Manually levering the door open just enough to squeeze in, Alex found the two weapon technicians, who being very smart and used to solving problems on their own, had already discovered how to fix the chip issue and begun resetting their little part of the ship without having to be asked. "PO, am I glad to see you guys up and running. Do you have any Class 6 probes in stock?"

The crewman looked surprised at the request, but nodded nevertheless. "We've got one on the rack, sir, I don't think we can launch it though." Alex nodded, having already considered that problem. "Don't need to launch it, just need it loaded into the tube so it can be jettisoned. Captain needs comms, and outside of pulling thousands of those isolinear chips, this is the best option. Let's get that probe online and onto a hoist."

Following them back into the protected magazine, Alex worked as fast as he could while the technicians rolled a torpedo hoist over to the rack, attaching it to the probe, and then all three of them gingerly moved it to a hatch opening on the deck. In a sense, it was a good thing they hadn't been expecting the pulsewave, otherwise Galloway might've called for a red alert, and they'd have the unsavoury task of removing a live torpedo first. As it happened, the launch tube was empty, and they lowered the probe right down into the receptacle. "Seal her up, one of you come find me in the control room after." Alex instructed before heading back out.

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - Forward Torpedo Bay Control]

As was the case in the magazine, there was already someone hard at work in the control room, working on the launch control systems. "Ensign, hi, Lieutenant Wu, Ops. I've got two of your techs dead dropping a class 6 probe into the number one tube, Captain needs to get comms with the planet below. Launching it will take too long, we just need to jettison it. Can you hotwire the external tube doors to open?"

"Ensign Stevens, and yes sir, it's actually just a matter of cross circuiting." She crawled under the control console, pulling off another panel. "Just swap these two here, and these here...okay, once I plug in this chip, that'll pop the doors." Alex had knelt down to peer at the workstation's underbelly, popping his head back out when a set of boots came running into the room. "All ready, sir."

"Blow the doors." Alex ordered, and listened carefully, even though he knew it'd be unlikely he would hear the torpedo tube depressurizing. Still, he imagined there was a slight 'foosh' blowing the probe out into space. "Thank you for your help everyone, once you get the control system working again, seal up that tube, who knows if we'll need it." With the communication probe out there, at the very least they could talk to the Landser, or maybe even their away team. If they're still alive. Brushing that troubling thought aside, Alex began heading out, pausing at the door. "Thruster Control, which way? Thank you." He went in the direction they pointed to see if Ardyn needed any help.

[Turboshaft]

"œYou'd better not," Ardy  smirked  as she clambered down the rungs of the ladder behind Alex, keeping well in pace with him until he slid down, almost fireman-style. landing rather suddenly in front of the medical team. "œIs everyone  alright down there?"   She was trying to catch up as fast as she could while also not slipping and falling herself, causing even more chaos to the already tight quarters.

As Alex gave the sitrep on the bridge, she nodded to the medical folks passing by. "œDunno if  you've figured, but there might be something affecting the mind in whatever hit us." she mentioned as a bit of an afterthought.  She wasn't sure if it would help, but maybe it would.  She definitely wasn't looking forward to that point in time when physicals had to be done. How much could these docs be bribed to not call for a physical?.

They had to part ways for a bit now, as she had to head to the thruster controls "œBe back in a bit. Try not to crash into other things." she smirked, giving him a hard time.

[Deck 9]

It took a moment, but she eventually found the panel for the thrusters and began to plug and unplug every. single. one. of the thruster controls. The good news, once it got working, all they really needed was one good thrust and then they'd probably be out of the planet's gravitational well. Of course, that is if the math she did was right.  She deliberately overcompensated to keep the ship from  going into the planet, but there was always the chance.

Putting in chip after chip, she kept trying to check and see if it was doing anything with a borrowed tricorder she fixed. Nothing. Why the %^#* is this not turning on?

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 7 - Sickbay]

After following Chloe and her 'groupie- - a junior nurse - down a level to Sickbay, Lahr was put to work pulling/resetting chips in the biobeds to get them up working again.

[Alexander Wu]

[Deck 9]

It took a moment, but she eventually found the panel for the thrusters and began to plug and unplug every. single. one. of the thruster controls. The good news, once it got working, all they really needed was one good thrust and then they'd probably be out of the planet's gravitational well. Of course, that is if the math she did was right.  She deliberately overcompensated to keep the ship from

Putting in chip after chip, she kept trying to check and see if it was doing anything with a borrowed tricorder she fixed. Nothing. Why the %^#* is this not turning on?

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"Hey." Alex hurried into the room, nearly tripping over Ardyn as he came through the door. She looked frustrated, not the expression one wanted to see while the ship was slowly falling out of orbit. "You alright? Can you still sense Maddy, how's she doing?" He asked anxiously, peering at the open panel to see what she had done so far. A moment later, he tilted his head, listening carefully before his face relaxed into a smile. "Hear that? I think they got life support working again. At least we won't suffocate or freeze to death. Okay, what can I help you with?"

[Tora Zalos]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 7 - Sickbay]

After following Chloe and her 'groupie- - a junior nurse - down a level to Sickbay, Lahr was put to work pulling/resetting chips in the biobeds to get them up working again.

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Deck 7|Sickbay|USS CHallenger]

One picosecond. For one picosecond Tora had experienced the most incredible, yet most disorienting experience of her life. She didn't even notice when the temporal pulse had hit at first. Then, for that single picosecond, she was everywhere and nowhere all at once. Risa. Cardassia. Starfleet Academy. The Challenger. A rush of sensations assaulted her brain, and then all went black. It was an incredibly disorienting experience, to say the least. She barely registered her knees liquefying underneath her and the thump of her head against the floor as she fell.

She honestly had no clue how much later it was when her brain un-fuzzied itself, and she began to regain consciousness. Where was she? Definitely elevated by the feeling of it. Was she on her back or on her side? It was so hard to tell. Scrunching up her nose she grunted and made to straighten her legs as the world around her came into focus. Sickbay. This was sickbay. "Wh- What happened...?" She grunted to anyone that would hear.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"Hey." Alex hurried into the room, nearly tripping over Ardyn as he came through the door. She looked frustrated, not the expression one wanted to see while the ship was slowly falling out of orbit. "You alright? Can you still sense Maddy, how's she doing?" He asked anxiously, peering at the open panel to see what she had done so far. A moment later, he tilted his head, listening carefully before his face relaxed into a smile. "Hear that? I think they got life support working again. At least we won't suffocate or freeze to death. Okay, what can I help you with?"

[Deck 9]

Ardy almost didn't notice Alex come up behind her, she was so entrenched in the business of getting all the chips plugged in.  "œHey there.  Didn't see you there." She didn't want to admit it, but she had briefly lost Maddy's thought "œsignal"  as she was focused on trying to get these blasted chips plugged in.  It was still something she had to really focus on if she wanted to try to use said mental abilities.  Fortunately, she found Maddy fairly easily enough. "œI think she's doing alright enough,  At least as far as I can tell. I need more practice. "

At the mention that life support was back on, Ardy relaxed a little bit.

"œThat's a relief, at least. Would rather not die in the vacuum of space if I had the option,"  she said, unplugging another chip. No dice. She swore in frustration. There was a limited time where the ship would be in a spot that could get out of the gravitational sink of the planet.

"œI swear I've gotten almost all the chips plugged in here, but the thrusters still haven't turned on.  So far they all seem to be functional, if this thing is working, I just don't know when we're going to hit the tipping point."

[Alexander Wu]

[Deck 9]

Ardy almost didn't notice Alex come up behind her, she was so entrenched in the business of getting all the chips plugged in.  "œHey there.  Didn't see you there." She didn't want to admit it, but she had briefly lost Maddy's thought "œsignal"  as she was focused on trying to get these blasted chips plugged in.  It was still something she had to really focus on if she wanted to try to use said mental abilities.  Fortunately, she found Maddy fairly easily enough. "œI think she's doing alright enough,  At least as far as I can tell. I need more practice. "

At the mention that life support was back on, Ardy relaxed a little bit.

"œThat's a relief, at least. Would rather not die in the vacuum of space if I had the option,"  she said, unplugging another chip. No dice. She swore in frustration. There was a limited time where the ship would be in a spot that could get out of the gravitational sink of the planet.

"œI swear I've gotten almost all the chips plugged in here, but the thrusters still haven't turned on.  So far they all seem to be functional, if this thing is working, I just don't know when we're going to hit the tipping point."

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"You'll get better at it. What did that Ullian say again? You're her mom, no connection will be stronger." Alex reassured her while detaching another panel covering. Taking in a deep breath of stale air while counting the rows of chips, he let out a long sigh. "This is going to take absolutely forever. If those Landser try to use the space folding device again, we've had it. And I'm positive they know we're here by now, if they have the technology to build satellites, then they must have telescopes." Beginning to pull out and insert the chips one by one, Alex hesitated after only a few. "Do you remember what orientation the ship was in when we left the bridge? We don't want all the thrusters going off, just the ones pointing in the right direction. It should narrow down which ones have to be reset."

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"You'll get better at it. What did that Ullian say again? You're her mom, no connection will be stronger." Alex reassured her while detaching another panel covering. Taking in a deep breath of stale air while counting the rows of chips, he let out a long sigh. "This is going to take absolutely forever. If those Landser try to use the space folding device again, we've had it. And I'm positive they know we're here by now, if they have the technology to build satellites, then they must have telescopes." Beginning to pull out and insert the chips one by one, Alex hesitated after only a few. "Do you remember what orientation the ship was in when we left the bridge? We don't want all the thrusters going off, just the ones pointing in the right direction. It should narrow down which ones have to be reset."

[Deck 9]

Ardy readjusted her position. While life support might be warming back up, it was still kind of cold in here, and there were still so many chips to go. And he was right. One more hit from whatever blast the Landsers got them with would probably fry everything again, maybe even permanently.

"œIf I remember right, I set us on a trajectory to go up to point 85.790. One hard thruster pulse forwards and we'd be at least out of the decaying orbit. Maybe even out of the way of whatever hit us in the first place. "œ

[Alexander Wu]

[Deck 9]

Ardy readjusted her position. While life support might be warming back up, it was still kind of cold in here, and there were still so many chips to go. And he was right. One more hit from whatever blast the Landsers got them with would probably fry everything again, maybe even permanently.

"œIf I remember right, I set us on a trajectory to go up to point 85.790. One hard thruster pulse forwards and we'd be at least out of the decaying orbit. Maybe even out of the way of whatever hit us in the first place. "œ

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"Okay, so that'd be..." Alex closed his eyes, trying to remember what he had seen on the viewscreen earlier. The oncoming planet was an unmistakable fixed reference point to use, and with how it had appeared from their viewpoint, Challenger was actually angled with their dorsal aspect facing the planet. "Dorsal and bow." He knelt down to turn over the bulkhead coverings they'd taken down earlier, reading the descriptions taped on their front. "I think this one is for the panel you're working on. Dorsal thruster controls. I'll finish up the bow ones here."

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Ardyn, he could feel her shivering as the ventilation system started circulating a cool breeze throughout the small room. "Want me to find you a blanket?" Alex asked, only half-jokingly while taking off his outer tunic and draping it over her shoulders. "I wonder if anyone's got the inertial dampeners back online yet."

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"Okay, so that'd be..." Alex closed his eyes, trying to remember what he had seen on the viewscreen earlier. The oncoming planet was an unmistakable fixed reference point to use, and with how it had appeared from their viewpoint, Challenger was actually angled with their dorsal aspect facing the planet. "Dorsal and bow." He knelt down to turn over the bulkhead coverings they'd taken down earlier, reading the descriptions taped on their front. "I think this one is for the panel you're working on. Dorsal thruster controls. I'll finish up the bow ones here."

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Ardyn, he could feel her shivering as the ventilation system started circulating a cool breeze throughout the small room. "Want me to find you a blanket?" Alex asked, only half-jokingly while taking off his outer tunic and draping it over Ardyn's shoulders. "I wonder if anyone's got the inertial dampeners back online yet."

[Deck 9]

Even in the middle of a life-or-death scenario, Ardy couldn't help but feel like she lucked out as they tried to narrow down which chips it was with his help. Turns out, she was looking at the wrong panel entirely. Figures. She was a pilot, not a computer specialist, after all.  "œI'm good. Thanks though." she gave a quick squeeze of his hand.

There were just so many chips, but narrowing it down, they worked quickly through the potential ones.  "œI certainly hope this system's the one that works since there's way too many chips to test -"

Ardy's train of thought was interrupted when after resetting yet another chip,  the ship suddenly came to life, thrusters punching in and running,  jolting her hard enough that she fell to the ground. "œI think it works," she said, giving a deadpan grin.