Season 17: Episode 1: Step Into My Parlor

[James Ramort]

[...]

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

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Shuttle Bay]

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

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

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

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

[USS Tereshlova]

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

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

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

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

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

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

USS. Tereshlova - Enroute to Mpmentary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Lucien Dupont]

[USS Tereshlova]

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

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

[USS Tereshlova]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Tekin Nevir]

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Kedan had glanced to McNair at his question, but couldn't immediately provide an answer. He felt like he was all but wrestling with the science station console. Most of the scans he tried to run to evaluate the strange netting/webbing on the Momentary's hull were coming back inexplicably inconclusive (he started a sensor self-calibration on the back up system, just to rule out some kind of internal failure in the Discovery as the root cause). He could only get a clear answer on the most basic and simple of scans. "The scanners are having a hard time with this netting, but I can say that it seems to be composed of organic material, Captain."

Even just that information felt slightly chilling--statistically speaking, the presence of organic material on the external hull increased the likelihood of this being caused by some kind of encounter with hostile, sentient life and decreased the of being cause by an interaction with some rare or dangerous astrophysical phenomenon or internal systems failure. Though neither were impossible. And as a warpfield specialist he was naturally drawn towards trying to understand what could have caused a warp core failure severe enough to spread deuterium across half the solar system. He spent the time waiting for the scanners calibration cycle to finish by studying the details of the the deuterium reading in open space immediately surrounding the Discovery and the Momentary.

He forwarded the meager information about the organic nature of the webbing along with the garbled raw data down to Lt. Hayes in the labs.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir frowned at the words from his officer about it being organic.  That certainly reduced the number of possibilities, but none of those were good, and he knew it. He shook his head in response.

"Organic is not good... make sure the lab has those scans." he stated, but it didn't take long before he got a message.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

"Good suggestion," Hayes said, her tone brisk. Eager to report the theories to the bridge, she tapped her communicator.  "Hayes to bridge. We've received the data on the organic webbing and have developed two working theories. The first points to the Breen, based on their history with organic ships and energy-draining weapons. The second...Species 8472, given their use of organic structures and the difficulty we're having scanning the material. I am sending you the cooroborating material. We recommend adjusting sensor parameters to detect Breen energy signatures as well as organic matter in the system - shuttle-sized and upwards. And keep an eye out for any signs of Borg presence on the long range scanners. Additionally, we request authorization to retrieve a physical sample of the net for further direct analysis - in at least a Class III stasis container."   Hayes hastily added the last part after Trix had pointed out to her the regenerative properties of species 8742's biotech on a console in the middle of her call to the bridge.

After closing the channel, Hayes glanced back at Trix and Rajagopalan. "Let's keep working. If we're right about either theory, we'll need every piece of information we can get. We also need to find a get me at least a potential source for those deuterium readings, they must come from somewhere, lead somewhere."

Trix nodded, already diving back into the database to do further digging - maybe there was another alternative he had missed? A third option? The enigma of the Momentary was far from solved, but at least now, they had some direction. What truly lurked in the back of Trix's mind, however, was the feeling that whatever did this to the Momentary was likely still out there. Watching? Waiting? He felt the uneasy feeling drag at him like an anchor that if they weren't careful, the Discovery might be next.

Before anyone could respond, Nevir went to his chair and activated the comms.

"Bridge here." he said, listening to the two theories.  Good, the science officers had the same thought.  Bad; the science officers had the same thought.

"We are in an unknown region of space, ideally both the Breen and 8472 shouldn't be anywhere near this region, which leaves a possible third option... a new threat.  We'll make sure the away team gets your sample. Let me know if you determine anything else.  Tekin out."

"Mr. Kedan, adjust sensors to match, maximum range.  I firmly believe we don't need to worry about the Borg, but keep a watch anyways.  I would rather not be proven wrong." he stated, sitting down in his chair and hailing the shuttle.

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

With that, and a response, he stopped the comm without closing the channel to keep a lock on, and leaned back, fighting back the emotions in the back of his mind at the thought of a friend no longer being here. And dead in such a horrible way...

His thoughts were interrupted with a response from Starfleet, which Never ordered to be put on the main viewer, creating a box in the middle of the view of the ship and the face of Admiral Kirsten Clancy.

"Admiral Clancy, we found the Momentary, she is adrift and lifeless.  I've sent a team to investigate."

"Captain Tekin, have you confirmed loss of all hands?"

"Not yet, ma'am, but there are no lifesigns registered.  No atmosphere in the shop at all, and no power."

"Your report mentioned something on the ship?"

The Captain glanced at the Ops officer and nodded, and another box opened next to the Admiral with a view of the broken ship.

"Its some sort of organic netting, or webbing.  Computer doesn't recognize it, but there are two known species that use organic materials, Breen and 8472. There is also a gash in her secondary hull."

"We've had no reports of Breen activity in that region, and the computer should have read something if it was them.  8472 shouldn't be anywhere near this quadrant, and last report from Admiral Janeway stated there was no concern from them after their most recent encounter.  If it is Species 8472, then we have no idea what may have changed in the 20 plus years since Voyager's last contact.  Keep us informed of what you find.  And good luck, Captain." she stated, before closing the channel.

"I don't like this..." he stated, sighing and shaking his head. "Keep our position.  And let me know the moment something reads on the scanners."

[Buck McNair]

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

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

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

Organic material.

Breen.

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

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

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

[James Ramort]

[USS Tereshlova]

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

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

[USS Tereshlova docked to USS Momentary]

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

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

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

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

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

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

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

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

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

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

[Kalem Michael]

[USS Tereshkova docked to USS Momentary]

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

Kalem got up from the flight controls and headed toward the hatch. He grabbed one of the magnetic clamps on his way back. Looking at Lorut with a question on his face, he nodded toward a defensive position on one side of the hatch. Without saying a word, he asked her to watch over the entrance while they worked. He could have been the other defensive person, however he wanted to show Lorut at least a little bit of trust.

Kalem knelt down and attached the mag clamp and stood ready to pull the door open.

[Lorut Vila]

{Shuttle Tereshlova|Ops Console}

Vila made a face but stepped into the EV suit. She hated them-they were hot, itchy, and stank. However, she wasn't dumb enough to head into the unknown without it. When given permission to launch, the shuttle started, and she went to work. She kept the helmet off-she'd put it on when they docked-because it helped her to see better.

She began a series of scans and checks, and was pleased that everything was running smoothly. The trip to the Momentary was uneventful-another grateful moment.

Finally, it was time to disembark. However, they were stopped by a hail from the ship.

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

She sighed deeply. She could guess.

Ramort spoke up then.

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

She saw Kalem move, and caught his look. She grabbed the second clamp-using hoses, old school, was how she'd been trained, actually. DS9 had used them the last time she'd been there, even, though she had heard it'd been updated to include a secondary, newfangled airlock system. She placed the pin, and extracted her phaser.

"Go," she said, quietly. If anyone was going to be the best person to cover your ass, it was the former terrorist. "Be careful," she said. After a moment, she, too, stepped forward, taking a firing stance but looking around. It was empty, at least in the immediate area. She motioned to Ramort. "Send them through, one by one," she advised. "That would be how I would do it, anyway. Easier for me to cover them," she said.

She took a post by the hatch, eyes scanning the horizon and phaser prepped. It was go time.

[Tekin Nevir]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

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

Organic material.

Breen.

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

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

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

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

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

[USS Tereshlova docked to USS Momentary]
"Ramort to Discovery. Understood and received. We will retrieve the sample as soon as operational access has been achieved. If any of these not so good news species turn up on your sensors we'd appreciate an update for quick evacuation." 

"We have sensors to maximum and complete comm and transporter lock on you and your team.  Say the word and we pull you out.  Discovery out."

While they stood by, the sensors had a momentary period where there was just... nothing.  No ships, no energy signature, no background noise.  As fast as it was there, it was gone.  It looked like a malfunction of the sensor beam.

[T'Rea]

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

[USS Tereshkova docked to USS Momentary]
T'Rea's brow furrowed ever so slightly at the instruction to prepare phases. She moved one hand to rest vaguely against the phaser (already set to stun) on her belt, but made no move to actually prepare it. After all, she had no intentions of actually using such a weapon. There was considerable variety in how Vulcan's interpreted and applied Surak's principles of pacifism, but she had always taken the more conservative approach and she saw no reason to alter that philosophy now. She was armed well enough with her tricorder.

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

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
"Tereshkova, this is Discovery.  Material on the Momentary is coming back as an unknown organic, which is known to at least two species, neither of which is good news. If you get a chance, take a sample in a class III stasis field for study."

"Ramort to Discovery. Understood and received. We will retrieve the sample as soon as operational access has been achieved. If any of these not so good news species turn up on your sensors we'd appreciate an update for quick evacuation." 

It didn't require more than a look from Ramort for T'Rea to move to the shuttle's primary storage compartment to collect the statis field container. It took her a few moments to check it's functionality and power reserves and to settle it across her back with it's straps (it was large enough to be too unwieldy to carry any other way, even if it was slightly awkward to strap on over an environmental suit) before returning to the rest of the group preparing to depart the shuttle. She couldn't easily help with the door and carry the stasis container at the same time, but she added her voice to the chorus of 'Yes, sir's that answered the XO's instructions on what to do once the doors were open.

When it was her time to cross over she took a deep breath to steel herself and stepped out across into the Momentary's airlock chamber.

"Bridge here." he said, listening to the two theories.  Good, the science officers had the same thought.  Bad; the science officers had the same thought.

"We are in an unknown region of space, ideally both the Breen and 8472 shouldn't be anywhere near this region, which leaves a possible third option... a new threat.  We'll make sure the away team gets your sample. Let me know if you determine anything else.  Tekin out."

"Mr. Kedan, adjust sensors to match, maximum range.  I firmly believe we don't need to worry about the Borg, but keep a watch anyways.  I would rather not be proven wrong." he stated, sitting down in his chair and hailing the shuttle.

"We have sensors to maximum and complete comm and transporter lock on you and your team.  Say the word and we pull you out.  Discovery out."

While they stood by, the sensors had a momentary period where there was just... nothing.  No ships, no energy signature, no background noise.  As fast as it was there, it was gone.  It looked like a malfunction of the sensor beam.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
The self-calibration Kedan had began earlier on the ship's sensors had finished by the time that the captain gave instructions to keep maximum range scans running, and since the calibration had reported no detectable errors in the sensor system it was a simple matter to ensure everything was set up properly for monitoring---both of all open space in sensor range and specifically on the Momentary and the away team.

But by the time the captain had spoken to the admiralty and then again with the away team, something changed. Kedan frowned at the screens of his science station and adjust the breathing apparatus under his chin in a kind of reflexive nervous gesture. "Captain! Did you see—just now, I was reading flat null values on all sensors for a second there." Kedan reported, alarm coloring the tone of his voice sharp as he tried to scroll back through the data to confirm what his eyes had seen. "I'd say it could have been a momentary system fault, but I just ran a full self-calibration in the system a few minutes ago. Everything came back green. So a fault doesn't make sense!"

Unless... the Benzite's eyes opened wide, "Ops, can you see any signs of system infiltration? Could a momentary interrupt to the sensor data be a symptom of someone or something overriding real readings with an artificial feed of what they want us to see?" He fixed his eyes on the front viewport, the Tereshkova visible at it's center. At least he could be certain that what he saw there was real.

[Buck McNair]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[TrikNarChRehllan]

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

Watching the feed of the Momentary tumbling through the emptiness of space, a thought struck him—Ops could likely verify the status of the escape pods visually. If they were all still attached, then whatever had happened had been too fast for the crew to react. If at least some were missing, the crew had gone... somewhere. He resolved to send the message to the Ops station on the bridge from his console, unwilling to break the tense silence in the Science Lab.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
While they stood by, the sensors had a momentary period where there was just... nothing.  No ships, no energy signature, no background noise.  As fast as it was there, it was gone.  It looked like a malfunction of the sensor beam.

As Trix typed out his request, something flickered in the corner of his eye. One moment, everything had been as it was for the last hour or so—telemetry from the Tereshkova, the derelict Momentary, and a series of mostly nonsensical sensor returns that defied easy interpretation. Then, for the briefest instant, there was nothing. No energy signatures, no background radiation, no gravity wells, no Tereshkova, no Momentary. Just an empty void where reality should have been.

Around him, murmurs flared up as others noticed the anomaly, a wave of confusion rolling through the lab. Some hurriedly rechecked their consoles, voices overlapping as theories  were exchanged in increasingly concerned tones. Trix, however, remained still. He wasn't involved in disseminating the readings, which, for better or worse, left him free to think. He knew the sensors weren't faulty. The lapse was too clean, too precise, too universal. A glitch wouldn't - no, couldn't - wipe out all readings in perfect synchrony like that. Something had interfered. The question was what. And why.

He quickly considered the possibilities. Sensor spoofing was the most likely explanation. It could have been a cloaked vessel or an unknown form of counter-surveillance. Whatever it was, it couldn't have come from the Momentary. They needed a way to verify what was out there. A  probe, sent off an odd direction and running a broadband scan, might give them an external vantage point to detect any anomalies beyond Discovery's potentially compromised sensor readings.

But that wasn't all that worried him. If something had blocked their readings, what else could it have done? This blackout was too brief to be anything but the means to an end. Could something have slipped past them? Could something be aboard now? The possibility sent a chill through him. Why had no tactical alert been raised yet? And what if this was just a prelude to an external attack? If Discovery had been infiltrated, they needed to know.

Suddenly feeling terribly exposed, like he was drowning in the nothingness of space, a question charged to the forefront of his mind like a mob of Ferengi business travelers swarming a complimentary buffet. What if this wasn't even the Momentary? It appeared to have aged decades in an impossibly short time. But what if it hadn't actually aged at all? What if they weren't actually looking at the Momentary, but rather a facsimile? After all, there was no transponder, no crew, no conclusive sensor readings... Nothing but the appearance of the object spinning in front of them. A local scan of the hull plating, allowing a comparison between the molecular age of impurities in the alloys according to fleet records, might confirm its identity beyond the doubts clouding his thoughts.

His mind made up, Trix turned to Lt. Hayes first. "Ma'am, I have a few thoughts on the blackout—" he began, but she was already absorbed in coordinating responses. Though her brow furrowed in concentration, she remained composed, directing personnel with measured efficiency. She glanced at Trix and gave a brief nod of acknowledgment before turning back to the ensign requesting a recalibration of the gravimetric analysis matrix. Taking that as tacit approval, Trix tapped his communicator.  "Ch'Rehllan to Bridge. Sorry to break protocol, but Lt. Hayes is busy checking our systems. You are probably aware of the sensor blackout that just happened. I have a few suggestions for further investigation. First, I recommend deploying a Class IV probe perpendicular to the ecliptic. Running broadband scans should help us to verify whether our sensors are being spoofed, with readings transmitted in directed bursts to minimize interference. Second, I suggest raising tactical alert in case something used the gap in  sensors coverage to slip onboard. Third, I'd like the away team to get some tricorder readings of the exterior plating. Comparing the molecular composition to fleet records might give us a hint as to whether we're actually dealing with our Momentary. Oh, and if it is not too much trouble, have we been able to verify whether all of the escape pods and lifeboats on the Momentary are accounted for?"

He exhaled slowly, waiting for a response. Whatever had caused that blackout... he had a bad feeling that this was only the beginning.

[Zuriel Soreka]

[USS Tereshlova docked to USS Momentary]

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

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

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

"Ramort to Discovery. Understood and received. We will retrieve the sample as soon as operational access has been achieved. If any of these not so good news species turn up on your sensors we'd appreciate an update for quick evacuation." 

Returning to the Airlock, he finished lifting the metal panel covering the manual overwrite control for the airlock. Beneath it, a lever lead to the pressurised pistons. Lifting it under the support of the suits slight motorised systems, a cloud of steam vented from an exhaust slighly below the airlock. The pistons that had held the airlocks doors shut, slightly opening.

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

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

{Shuttle Tereshlova|Ops Console}

Vila made a face but stepped into the EV suit. She hated them-they were hot, itchy, and stank. However, she wasn't dumb enough to head into the unknown without it. When given permission to launch, the shuttle started, and she went to work. She kept the helmet off-she'd put it on when they docked-because it helped her to see better.

She began a series of scans and checks, and was pleased that everything was running smoothly. The trip to the Momentary was uneventful-another grateful moment.

Finally, it was time to disembark. However, they were stopped by a hail from the ship.
She sighed deeply. She could guess.

Ramort spoke up then.

She saw Kalem move, and caught his look. She grabbed the second clamp-using hoses, old school, was how she'd been trained, actually. DS9 had used them the last time she'd been there, even, though she had heard it'd been updated to include a secondary, newfangled airlock system. She placed the pin, and extracted her phaser.

"Go," she said, quietly. If anyone was going to be the best person to cover your ass, it was the former terrorist. "Be careful," she said. After a moment, she, too, stepped forward, taking a firing stance but looking around. It was empty, at least in the immediate area. She motioned to Ramort and Tekin. "Send them through, one by one," she advised. "That would be how I would do it, anyway. Easier for me to cover them," she said.

She took a post by the hatch, eyes scanning the horizon and phaser prepped. It was go time.

Zuriel readied his Type-Three phaser as his crewmates began manually loading the shuttle so they could safely cross into the derelict ship. This was about as dangerous as it could get as a member of Starfleet. Entering an unknown environment and collecting information as you went was often a recipe for disaster, but moments like this often proved invaluable in the end. The amount of life-saving technology or operational protocols that emerged from edge-of-your-seat moments like these was countless in Starfleet's history. Captains and entire crews had been immortalized for such events, and the Prime Directive itself was born from interactions like these. These were the moments that Zuriel cherished in his career.

"Set." Zuriel stepped forward and took a knee in front of the door, adopting a proper shooting stance as he prepared for the hatch to open. It was his job to be the first one in—just in case a giant claw or some kind of melt ray was waiting on the other side.

Moving forward, Zuriel crossed the threshold and immediately took a hard right once he sensed open space in that direction. Other than the vibrations of his own footfalls, the area was dead silent. He scanned left and right, stepping forward to the hatch ahead. As he surveyed the area, he touched the hatch, turned completely around, and began visually scanning in the opposite direction.

This section of the hull seemed to be in relatively good condition, but there were clear signs that a fire had ignited and been quickly suppressed. A thin film of ash and frost covered the entire area,this part of the ship had gotten cold fast, likely due to the massive gash the crew had noticed before the away team was sent in. Zuriel pressed his back against the bulkhead, facing the shuttle entrance, ready to cover the rest of the team as they entered.

Zuriel turned the forearm of his grip hand, using his suit's sensors to conduct a quick scan. "No power other than what's coming from the Tereshkova. There was a fire here, which was snuffed out by decompression or life support before it went offline." He waited a few more moments, watching for any signs of movement.

"...We are clear, sir. We can push up. I'm not detecting any life signs."

Zuriel had positioned himself close to the Tereshkova but remained in clear view of the maintenance hatches the other team members would need to access, ready to offer either his aid or his aim if needed.

[Kalem Michael]

USS Momentary

Kalem followed the rest of the rest of the away team into the derelict ship. It was quiet, too quiet. He never really noticed the background noise all around them when on a ship. Now, there was nothing. The silence was deafening. He knew enough about Engineering to fumble around and find some things out, but they had more experienced people for that on the away team. The ship had no power, so there was nothing to pilot. So he settled into a defensive mindset ready for anything that came out of the shadows.

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Momentary}

When the last of the Away Team was through the doorway, Vila stepped away, slightly. She looked to Ramort. "Commander, if you want my advice, I would break up into teams of two. We can cover more ground that way," she said. However, she would let him decide. It was his first trial by fire, and while she thought that maybe it wasn't the best idea to shove a newly minted CO into a ghost-ship situation, but here they were.

She stayed quiet, but alert. It was weird, silent. Reminded her of the times she'd lie in wait, for Cardassians, waiting for her time to attack. She silently surveyed the team. She needed to ensure they were all armed and ready. 

[Tekin Nevir]

[USS Tereshkova docked to USS Momentary]
T'Rea's brow furrowed ever so slightly at the instruction to prepare phases. She moved one hand to rest vaguely against the phaser (already set to stun) on her belt, but made no move to actually prepare it. After all, she had no intentions of actually using such a weapon. There was considerable variety in how Vulcan's interpreted and applied Surak's principles of pacifism, but she had always taken the more conservative approach and she saw no reason to alter that philosophy now. She was armed well enough with her tricorder.
"Ramort to Discovery. Understood and received. We will retrieve the sample as soon as operational access has been achieved. If any of these not so good news species turn up on your sensors we'd appreciate an update for quick evacuation." 

It didn't require more than a look from Ramort for T'Rea to move to the shuttle's primary storage compartment to collect the statis field container. It took her a few moments to check it's functionality and power reserves and to settle it across her back with it's straps (it was large enough to be too unwieldy to carry any other way, even if it was slightly awkward to strap on over an environmental suit) before returning to the rest of the group preparing to depart the shuttle. She couldn't easily help with the door and carry the stasis container at the same time, but she added her voice to the chorus of 'Yes, sir's that answered the XO's instructions on what to do once the doors were open.

When it was her time to cross over she took a deep breath to steel herself and stepped out across into the Momentary's airlock chamber.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
The self-calibration Kedan had began earlier on the ship's sensors had finished by the time that the captain gave instructions to keep maximum range scans running, and since the calibration had reported no detectable errors in the sensor system it was a simple matter to ensure everything was set up properly for monitoring---both of all open space in sensor range and specifically on the Momentary and the away team.

But by the time the captain had spoken to the admiralty and then again with the away team, something changed. Kedan frowned at the screens of his science station and adjust the breathing apparatus under his chin in a kind of reflexive nervous gesture. "Captain! Did you see—just now, I was reading flat null values on all sensors for a second there." Kedan reported, alarm coloring the tone of his voice sharp as he tried to scroll back through the data to confirm what his eyes had seen. "I'd say it could have been a momentary system fault, but I just ran a full self-calibration in the system a few minutes ago. Everything came back green. So a fault doesn't make sense!"

Unless... the Benzite's eyes opened wide, "Ops, can you see any signs of system infiltration? Could a momentary interrupt to the sensor data be a symptom of someone or something overriding real readings with an artificial feed of what they want us to see?" He fixed his eyes on the front viewport, the Tereshkova visible at it's center. At least he could be certain that what he saw there was real.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]

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

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

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

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

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

Watching the feed of the Momentary tumbling through the emptiness of space, a thought struck him—Ops could likely verify the status of the escape pods visually. If they were all still attached, then whatever had happened had been too fast for the crew to react. If at least some were missing, the crew had gone... somewhere. He resolved to send the message to the Ops station on the bridge from his console, unwilling to break the tense silence in the Science Lab.

As Trix typed out his request, something flickered in the corner of his eye. One moment, everything had been as it was for the last hour or so—telemetry from the Tereshkova, the derelict Momentary, and a series of mostly nonsensical sensor returns that defied easy interpretation. Then, for the briefest instant, there was nothing. No energy signatures, no background radiation, no gravity wells, no Tereshkova, no Momentary. Just an empty void where reality should have been.

Around him, murmurs flared up as others noticed the anomaly, a wave of confusion rolling through the lab. Some hurriedly rechecked their consoles, voices overlapping as theories  were exchanged in increasingly concerned tones. Trix, however, remained still. He wasn't involved in disseminating the readings, which, for better or worse, left him free to think. He knew the sensors weren't faulty. The lapse was too clean, too precise, too universal. A glitch wouldn't - no, couldn't - wipe out all readings in perfect synchrony like that. Something had interfered. The question was what. And why.

He quickly considered the possibilities. Sensor spoofing was the most likely explanation. It could have been a cloaked vessel or an unknown form of counter-surveillance. Whatever it was, it couldn't have come from the Momentary. They needed a way to verify what was out there. A  probe, sent off an odd direction and running a broadband scan, might give them an external vantage point to detect any anomalies beyond Discovery's potentially compromised sensor readings.

But that wasn't all that worried him. If something had blocked their readings, what else could it have done? This blackout was too brief to be anything but the means to an end. Could something have slipped past them? Could something be aboard now? The possibility sent a chill through him. Why had no tactical alert been raised yet? And what if this was just a prelude to an external attack? If Discovery had been infiltrated, they needed to know.

Suddenly feeling terribly exposed, like he was drowning in the nothingness of space, a question charged to the forefront of his mind like a mob of Ferengi business travelers swarming a complimentary buffet. What if this wasn't even the Momentary? It appeared to have aged decades in an impossibly short time. But what if it hadn't actually aged at all? What if they weren't actually looking at the Momentary, but rather a facsimile? After all, there was no transponder, no crew, no conclusive sensor readings... Nothing but the appearance of the object spinning in front of them. A local scan of the hull plating, allowing a comparison between the molecular age of impurities in the alloys according to fleet records, might confirm its identity beyond the doubts clouding his thoughts.

His mind made up, Trix turned to Lt. Hayes first. "Ma'am, I have a few thoughts on the blackout—" he began, but she was already absorbed in coordinating responses. Though her brow furrowed in concentration, she remained composed, directing personnel with measured efficiency. She glanced at Trix and gave a brief nod of acknowledgment before turning back to the ensign requesting a recalibration of the gravimetric analysis matrix. Taking that as tacit approval, Trix tapped his communicator.  "Ch'Rehllan to Bridge. Sorry to break protocol, but Lt. Hayes is busy checking our systems. You are probably aware of the sensor blackout that just happened. I have a few suggestions for further investigation. First, I recommend deploying a Class IV probe perpendicular to the ecliptic. Running broadband scans should help us to verify whether our sensors are being spoofed, with readings transmitted in directed bursts to minimize interference. Second, I suggest raising tactical alert in case something used the gap in  sensors coverage to slip onboard. Third, I'd like the away team to get some tricorder readings of the exterior plating. Comparing the molecular composition to fleet records might give us a hint as to whether we're actually dealing with our Momentary. Oh, and if it is not too much trouble, have we been able to verify whether all of the escape pods and lifeboats on the Momentary are accounted for?"

He exhaled slowly, waiting for a response. Whatever had caused that blackout... he had a bad feeling that this was only the beginning.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir's brow furrowed deeply as a chill raced through his veins; a silent alarm echoing in his mind. His eyes darted over the readouts on his console, each flickering line and sudden anomaly a potential harbinger of disaster. Whether it was a mere sensor glitch or an orchestrated attack by unknown forces, the Captain knew that speculation was a luxury he could not afford. Command demanded certainty, not conjecture, and the mysterious anomaly only underscored the urgency for clear, actionable intelligence.

Standing resolute on the bridge, Nevir's voice carried both authority and restrained tension as he addressed his subordinates. The communication link from the science lab had been a cacophony of theories and suggestions, each laden with its own risks. Yet, he had to remind them of the proper chain of command. With deliberate calm, he responded:

  "In the future, I would like it if you went through the chain of command. Otherwise, I will take your suggestions under advisement. Bridge out." 

He terminated the connection with a swift keystroke, the act punctuating his decision to keep control firmly in his hands. His eyes then shifted from the console to the vast, silent expanse of space beyond the viewport, where the derelict silhouette of the USS Momentary drifted like a ghostly husk—a stark reminder of the ever-present dangers lurking in the void.

Taking a measured breath to steady his nerves, Nevir turned to his bridge crew. The ambient hum of the ship's systems underscored the gravity of the situation.

"We will not be going to yellow alert yet," he announced, his tone even but imbued with unspoken determination, "but keep us at the lowest alert level to act. Prepare the Class IV probe as suggested and launch when ready. I will trust that Commander Ramort has a good idea of what we should be looking for on the Momentary."

His words hung in the air as the crew set about their tasks with practiced precision. Every command was a calculated step toward unraveling the mystery against the unknown.