Season 17: Episode 1: Step Into My Parlor

[TrikNarChRehllan]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays." he ordered, taking his chair again, not even realizing he was standing up again.

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

The sensors went off, indicating a tear in space.  A subspace tear.  With a null value reading on the sensors.  But this time it wasn't just some sort of subspace black hole, something was coming out. A large angular ship that seemed to be composed of a bio-organic material.  The computer saw only one similarity; it was similar to the material found on the Momentary.

It seemed to be pretty clear now that the ship was attacked.  And now the attackers returned; either to take the rest of the ship, or more chillingly, because they knew there would be another ship.  Bait.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

Trix barely had time to process the dimming lights before the sharp blare of the red alert klaxon cut through the lab. The ship's lighting shifted, bathing the corridors in an ominous crimson glow. His antennae twitched involuntarily as he registered what had just happened. *Red alert. *

He was grateful they had followed protocol, saving their work on PADDs. At least they wouldn't be scrambling to recover lost data now. But as he turned his gaze to the display on his console, watching the angular bio-organic ship emerge from the subspace tear, a bitter thought crept in, mixed with a grim feeling of satisfaction. I told you so! You should have raised the alarm earlier. He had recommended a tactical alert what seemed like weeks prior. But had the Captain listened?  No. Typical. But his inner victory dance would have to wait, first they needed to make it through this alive.

His combadge chirped and he acknowledged the call with a seasoned swipe.  "Hayes to Ch'Rehllan. I need you to relieve Kedan on the bridge. He's heading to Engineering to help stabilize the warp core."

Trix straightened.  "Understood. Heading there now." "Vinod, you have the lab."

Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan looked up from his console, and Trix just knew there was a wry smirk under the towering Sikh's bushy beard—despite the tension in the air. "Spiders are ambush predators, aren't they?"

Trix let out a dry chuckle as he turned to leave. "You know, sometimes I hate being right."

"But only sometimes." Vinod quipped to complete their verbal handshake.

With that, Trix strode out of the lab, weaving through the corridors of the Discovery as crew members rushed to their assigned battle stations. The ship was alive with urgency, made even more chaotic by the Prometheus Class' unique ability to split into three independent vessels—each needing full crews at the ready. He slipped past a group of security officers loading fresh power cells into their phaser rifles, ducked under a hastily-mounted engineering conduit, and made his way to the nearest turbolift.

The moment the doors slid shut and the lift began its ascent, the brief stillness hit him. His pulse was racing, adrenaline coursing through his system—but something else gnawed at him. The meds.

He hadn't taken them in hours. Ever since he had stepped into Science Lab 3, he had been too caught up in the chaos. His sensitivity to temperature, stress, everything—it would creep up on him at the worst moment if he let it. And the bridge? The bridge was always 0.87 degrees cooler than the science labs. He knew it wasn't much, barely noticeable,  but for him it was enough to induce a migraine. Enough to throw him off.

Reaching to his belt, Trix retrieved his ever-present hypospray, pressing it against his neck with a soft hiss. Almost instantly, the tension in his muscles dulled, easing the tension between the base of his antennae just enough for him to re-focus his thoughts. Can't afford distractions. Not now.

As the turbolift hummed through the decks, medication coursing through his system, Trix leaned against the wall, his fingers tapping an absent rhythm against his thigh. He had done bridge crew training at the Academy, sat in simulated crisis drills, but this—this—was different. The hum of red alert, the weight of real consequences, the knowledge that the next decision could mean survival or disaster. His heart pounded in his chest. He forced himself to slow his breathing. Work the problem. One step at a time.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The turbolift doors slid open onto the bridge. Trix stepped out, giving the visibly tense captain a wide berth and exchanging a quick nod with Lt. Ruiz at Tactical as he passed her, before reaching Kedan. The Benzite had already begun pulling up warp diagnostic data on his PADD, ready to bolt for Engineering the moment his replacement arrived.

"All yours, Ch'Rehllan," Kedan said briskly, as he turned to leave. Trix took his seat, and the LCARS display immediately reconfigured itself to his preferences—a silent yet ever-present convenience of Starfleet systems. It always amazed outsiders how officers could step onto unfamiliar ships and perform their duties seamlessly; yet the simple truth was that the interface knew them better than they knew the interface.

Every Starfleet officer had their personal interface preferences and layouts tied to their combadge, a profile that followed them throughout their entire career. Whether it was a tactical officer stepping into a new battle station or a scientist rotating between labs, their systems would adapt instantly.

Trix tapped a control, bringing up Crewman T'Rea's helmet feed of the vessel emerging and relaying the live data to the science labs below. If there was anything to be learned from this, they needed every angle possible. Watching the ship loom closer, Trix exhaled slowly. Alright, let's see what we're dealing with.

His eyes flicked back to the viewscreen, studying the bio-organic ship as it fully emerged. Angular, sharp edges, a menacing black silhouette against the void. While ships could technically take any form, their design often revealed something about the culture that built them. Andorians, Klingons—species that favored angular vessels tended to be martial in nature. Strength, power, aggression. The Borg with their cube ships were a prime example of function over form—devoid of any elegance or style, built purely for efficiency. But this ship? It was designed to look dangerous.

He didn't like what that implied. Not one bit.

[Kalem Michael]

{USS Momentary|Bridge}

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

Kalem turned to Lorut.

"I'll be-"

He was cut off as the transporter whisked him away.

{USS Momentary|Medical Bay}

"-fine."

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

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

Kalem opened a private comm line to Lorut.

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

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

{USS Momentary | Bridge}

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

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

[Lorut Vila]

Vila was long-gone from the Bridge by the time Kalem returned. She wasn't interested, nor cared, much in whatever medical procedure he was undergoing. In hindsight, she should've sent him to science, but he was smart enough to figure out the EMH, right?!

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

=/\=The EMH should be up, Kalem. If you die, that's on YOU this time. Tell Ramort I am almost at the Ops office. Thanks! She clicked off. They really needed to preserve power, after all.

Finally, she'd found the replicator. With luck, it'd turn on.

She pressed some buttons, and soon, had a few materials to make new, bigger batteries. She got to work, and then checked her own suit. Still at 25% power. She plugged herself in, and the suit lit up. Excellent. She pressed her COMMS once more.

=/\=Anyone who needs a power circuit, report to the Ops office. Deck 10, section Gamma. Shortly, she'd return to the Bridge but this was more pressing.

[T'Rea]

Kedan opened a channel.  "Discovery to T'Rea. We're looking into cutting out a sample for you—with our main phaser array. In the meantime, I recommend you take a few steps back from the deposit—we have seen a tiny bit of similar material on the bridge rapidly drain Lt. Kalem's suit power. Oh, and the lab suggests you really watch your step—those hull plates are barely holding together on a chemical level and could turn to dust under your feet at any moment."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

With the channel closed, there was fear in the Captain.  He already lose his friend and an entire crew to this, and now they might to finding out first hand what happened.

"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays." he ordered, taking his chair again, not even realizing he was standing up again.

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

The sensors went off, indicating a tear in space.  A subspace tear.  With a null value reading on the sensors.  But this time it wasn't just some sort of subspace black hole, something was coming out. A large angular ship that seemed to be composed of a bio-organic material.  The computer saw only one similarity; it was similar to the material found on the Momentary.

It seemed to be pretty clear now that the ship was attacked.  And now the attackers returned; either to take the rest of the ship, or more chillingly, because they knew there would be another ship.  Bait.

[USS Momentary | Exterior hull]

T'Rea's eyes widened at the warning from Kedan. The likelihood of danger from a disintegrating hull wasn't immediately obvious--but the warning about power drain felt both immediate and pressing when her environmental suit pinged it's own complaint about anomalous rates of power loss.

She immediately returned he tricorder to her belt to free both hands and started to make her way across the hull back towards the hull breech. This time she kept her eyes on the black webbing beneath her, trying to keep as much space as possible between herself and the strange crystal residue while she took up the slack in her tether line. "Understood, Discovery. I'm returning back inside at Deck 8 now."

T'Rea was nearly to the gaping hole in the plating when there was a flicker--an abrupt change in lighting that caused her to raise her head and she froze, breath catching in her throat. In the vacuum of space there had been no shock wave or tremor, and no sound expect that of her own breathing echoing in her ears. But the image of the foreign ship emerging from the utter nothingness of the subspace tear was so shocking and so primal that her mind provided an phantom echoing of the Discovery's red alert klaxon in a near auditory hallucination. T'Rea prided herself in her emotional control, but even a lifetime of training and discipline had not been enough to prepare her for this moment. Icy fear washed over her and she remained frozen, staring up at the black ship hanging ominously over her for one second, two, three...

And then the instinct of self preservation kicked in--cover. She needed more between herself and the new threat than merely her environmental suit. T'Rea released the mag locks on her boots, pushed off the damaged hull plating, and started to pull herself back in along her tether--hand over hand--as fast as she could manage.

[J.B Dersch]

[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Main Engineering]

Lieutenant JG T'Farr

Alarms sounded through main engineering and the tell tale sounds of the warp core failing was flooding the room.  Of course, T'Farr kept her calm and almost dispassionate demeanor as a Vulcan.  With both the acting Chief Engineer and the second-in-command on the away team, she naturally took charge.  Which meant she was the one to immediately take action.

"Begin safety shutdown.  Secure the anti-matter; if we can't keept it contained we'll need to purge it."

"Engineering to Bridge - something happened to the anti-matter containment field, we're in danger of a cascade failure in the warp systems if we can't solve it."

On the Bridge, the Captain tensed, looking around at the officers with him.

"Can you define 'something'?"

T'Farr mentally chastised herself.  Too much time with officers who were quick to respond vaguely in order to speak quickly.

"We have a power disruption in the containment fields; power relays aren't working. I'm attempting to bypass them but the power we send to the warp systems is degrading; we can't seem to restore the power. Containment fields are at 30% and dropping fast."

On the Bridge, Nevir turned to Kedan, the look on his face said it all.  He was starting to understand what happened to the Momentary, and that it wasn't just abandoned.

"Shut it down, secure all power reserves and prioritize defensive systems."

T'Farr confirmed and immediately ran to the main control panel for the warp core, shouting orders to begin the shutdown sequence.  After some time, the swirl of the warp core slowed and faded out, leaving a dark pillar where the most dangerous but powerful reactor should be.  Elsewhere, orders were relayed and the smaller alpha hull warp engine was also shut down. Then the anti-matter was flooded into the diamagnetic emergency containers, with the excess rejected.  It was the last thing any engineer wanted to do; it would mean that the anti-matter would need to be regenerated and that took time and energy.  But it was either that, or watch helplessly as the anti-matter started touching the ship and blowing it up.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

With the channel closed, there was fear in the Captain.  He already lose his friend and an entire crew to this, and now they might to finding out first hand what happened.

"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays." he ordered, taking his chair again, not even realizing he was standing up again.

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

The sensors went off, indicating a tear in space.  A subspace tear.  With a null value reading on the sensors.  But this time it wasn't just some sort of subspace black hole, something was coming out. A large angular ship that seemed to be composed of a bio-organic material.  The computer saw only one similarity; it was similar to the material found on the Momentary.

It seemed to be pretty clear now that the ship was attacked.  And now the attackers returned; either to take the rest of the ship, or more chillingly, because they knew there would be another ship.  Bait.

[Lt. JB Dersch | USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

As the Captain's voice boomed through the dimly lit command deck,"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays.", the atmosphere shifted dramatically. A piercing siren echoed in the background, filling the air with a sense of urgency. JB felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him, igniting every fiber of his being as he shifted into battle mode.

In that instant, he became acutely aware of the hum of the ship's machinery and the rapid beeping of the consoles around him. His heart raced as he quickly scanned the control panel, mentally processing data and potential threats.

"Understood, Captain!" he responded, his voice steady despite the rising tension. With a swift motion, he activated the control sequence, fingers flying over the keys. "Raising shields now, And Ops should be diverting power now to add Power to sheilds" Bright blue energy began to shimmer around the ship, forming a protective barrier that enveloped them.

"Torpedoes Armed and Ready Captain" he added, his focus unwavering as the systems whirred to life, preparing their most powerful weapons for the fight ahead. The dim lighting flickered ominously in sync with the ship's alarms, amplifying the sense of impending conflict. JB could feel the weight of responsibility pressing down as the crew steeled themselves for whatever danger lay beyond the viewscreen.

[Buck McNair]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

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

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

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

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

[TrikNarChRehllan]

[Lt. JB Dersch | USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

"Understood, Captain!" he responded, his voice steady despite the rising tension. With a swift motion, he activated the control sequence, fingers flying over the keys. "Raising shields now, And Ops should be diverting power now to add Power to sheilds" Bright blue energy began to shimmer around the ship, forming a protective barrier that enveloped them.

"Torpedoes Armed and Ready Captain" he added, his focus unwavering as the systems whirred to life, preparing their most powerful weapons for the fight ahead. The dim lighting flickered ominously in sync with the ship's alarms, amplifying the sense of impending conflict. JB could feel the weight of responsibility pressing down as the crew steeled themselves for whatever danger lay beyond the viewscreen.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

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

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

Trix barely had a moment to process the brewing storm on the bridge before his console chirped, alerting him to a priority message from Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan down in Science Lab 3. Trix's antennae sank as he read, his mind racing through the implications. He tapped his console, bringing up sensor telemetry while considering how best to relay this to the captain.

"Captain, I just received a message from Science Lab 3," he began, trying to keep his tone professional despite the threat aprroaching their vessel. "The theory is that we're dealing with something that operates like an ambush predator. These species follow a common cycle: Search, Assess, Pursue, Kill. If that ship is following the same pattern, we're most likely in the Pursue stage."

The Captain turned slightly, listening, but his attention remained fixed on the looming vessel on the viewscreen.

"The key to interrupting this cycle, is making ourselves no longer viable as prey. Ambush predators disengage if their target becomes more trouble than they anticipated. If we shift from prey to adversary—better yet, threat—we may be able to dissuade an attack entirely."

He tapped a command into his console, pulling up the ship's multi-vector assault mode schematics. "I recommend we initiate Multi-Vector Assault Mode and assume assault pattern Gamma 12, encircling them and leaving the subspace tear as escape route."

Trix appreciated the ironiy that aggression might very well be their best path to a peaceful resolution. A strong enough show of force might convince their adversary that the cost of engagement outweighed any potential gain. But if not, then at least they'd be as prepared as possible for combat.

Silence hung over the bridge for a moment,  the ominous bio-organic ship grew ever larger on the viewscreen.

[Tekin Nevir]

[Lt. JB Dersch | USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

As the Captain's voice boomed through the dimly lit command deck,"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays.", the atmosphere shifted dramatically. A piercing siren echoed in the background, filling the air with a sense of urgency. JB felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him, igniting every fiber of his being as he shifted into battle mode.

In that instant, he became acutely aware of the hum of the ship's machinery and the rapid beeping of the consoles around him. His heart raced as he quickly scanned the control panel, mentally processing data and potential threats.

"Understood, Captain!" he responded, his voice steady despite the rising tension. With a swift motion, he activated the control sequence, fingers flying over the keys. "Raising shields now, And Ops should be diverting power now to add Power to sheilds" Bright blue energy began to shimmer around the ship, forming a protective barrier that enveloped them.

"Torpedoes Armed and Ready Captain" he added, his focus unwavering as the systems whirred to life, preparing their most powerful weapons for the fight ahead. The dim lighting flickered ominously in sync with the ship's alarms, amplifying the sense of impending conflict. JB could feel the weight of responsibility pressing down as the crew steeled themselves for whatever danger lay beyond the viewscreen.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

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

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

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

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

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

Trix barely had a moment to process the brewing storm on the bridge before his console chirped, alerting him to a priority message from Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan down in Science Lab 3. Trix's antennae sank as he read, his mind racing through the implications. He tapped his console, bringing up sensor telemetry while considering how best to relay this to the captain.

"Captain, I just received a message from Science Lab 3," he began, trying to keep his tone professional despite the threat aprroaching their vessel. "The theory is that we're dealing with something that operates like an ambush predator. These species follow a common cycle: Search, Assess, Pursue, Kill. If that ship is following the same pattern, we're most likely in the Pursue stage."

The Captain turned slightly, listening, but his attention remained fixed on the looming vessel on the viewscreen.

"The key to interrupting this cycle, is making ourselves no longer viable as prey. Ambush predators disengage if their target becomes more trouble than they anticipated. If we shift from prey to adversary—better yet, threat—we may be able to dissuade an attack entirely."

He tapped a command into his console, pulling up the ship's multi-vector assault mode schematics. "I recommend we initiate Multi-Vector Assault Mode and assume assault pattern Gamma 12, encircling them and leaving the subspace tear as escape route."

Trix appreciated the ironiy that aggression might very well be their best path to a peaceful resolution. A strong enough show of force might convince their adversary that the cost of engagement outweighed any potential gain. But if not, then at least they'd be as prepared as possible for combat.

Silence hung over the bridge for a moment,  the ominous bio-organic ship grew ever larger on the viewscreen.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Every instinct was screaming at him to fight, to defend.  He could almost hear Lorut screaming at him to fire.  And he wanted to.  But everything that happened was recorded.  They could assume this ship was hostile and aggressive, but there was always some detestable Admiral who would be more than happy to hold a disregard for procedure over him.

"Hail them." he ordered, hearing the questioning from Ops soon after.

"I know, trust me.  Hail them.  I don't expect an answer.  Helm evasive maneuvers and keep us between the ship and the Momentary." he stated, looking down at his chair while he heard the advice from the newer Science officer. He brought up his master system display, to see if he was able to automate the process. There were warnings all throughout the Engineering and power systems.  And the MVA was offline.  The Captain tried to override and divert power, but he found the problem.  Each ship needed to be able to act independently, which meant each ship needed their own power generation. The ion reactors were nowhere near enough for multi-vector engagement.

"It's a good idea... but we don't have the manpower to control each hull individually and we don't have any power available to spare... we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

The ship shuddered as it moved, and the lights dimmed a bit.  More power was drained. Now it was below 75% power in the reserves. He couldn't explain it.  The ship just emerged, and yet their power drain occurred before...

"Prophets..." he stated as the ship was hit with a similar kind of weapon like a phaser beam.  A nauseating green beam, completely unlike the disrupters of the Klingons or the Romulans.

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

[Torrian Sh'riall]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Every instinct was screaming at him to fight, to defend.  He could almost hear Lorut screaming at him to fire.  And he wanted to.  But everything that happened was recorded.  They could assume this ship was hostile and aggressive, but there was always some detestable Admiral who would be more than happy to hold a disregard for procedure over him.

"Hail them." he ordered, hearing the questioning from Ops soon after.

"I know, trust me.  Hail them.  I don't expect an answer.  Helm evasive maneuvers and keep us between the ship and the Momentary." he stated, looking down at his chair while he heard the advice from the newer Science officer. He brought up his master system display, to see if he was able to automate the process. There were warnings all throughout the Engineering and power systems.  And the MVA was offline.  The Captain tried to override and divert power, but he found the problem.  Each ship needed to be able to act independently, which meant each ship needed their own power generation. The ion reactors were nowhere near enough for multi-vector engagement.

"It's a good idea... but we don't have the manpower to control each hull individually and we don't have any power available to spare... we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

The ship shuddered as it moved, and the lights dimmed a bit.  More power was drained. Now it was below 75% power in the reserves. He couldn't explain it.  The ship just emerged, and yet their power drain occurred before...

"Prophets..." he stated as the ship was hit with a similar kind of weapon like a phaser beam.  A nauseating green beam, completely unlike the disrupters of the Klingons or the Romulans.

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

torriam pressed her combadge  captian i request permission to beam over and join the away team its standrd protocall for any acting doctor to be apart of any and all away team mission i have field medic training and can get a go kit eady in a few seconds flat 

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Momentary|Ops|Deck 10}

Vila was about to get more batteries going when the Captain's words came down her Comms.

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

She sighed, but in an odd twist of character, stood up to make her way to the Corridors and then to the docking bay. Then, she had an idea. As she float-walked, she clicked her Comms.

=/\=M'nia. Do you think the shuttles attached to this boat would have power? I could go find one...turn it on.

It was unlikely, but it could work.

Her suit power was rising, but slowly, and seemed to flicker at times. Odd. Still. She didn't want to stop so she'd keep monitoring. 

[J.B Dersch]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Every instinct was screaming at him to fight, to defend.  He could almost hear Lorut screaming at him to fire.  And he wanted to.  But everything that happened was recorded.  They could assume this ship was hostile and aggressive, but there was always some detestable Admiral who would be more than happy to hold a disregard for procedure over him.

"Hail them." he ordered, hearing the questioning from Ops soon after.

"I know, trust me.  Hail them.  I don't expect an answer.  Helm evasive maneuvers and keep us between the ship and the Momentary." he stated, looking down at his chair while he heard the advice from the newer Science officer. He brought up his master system display, to see if he was able to automate the process. There were warnings all throughout the Engineering and power systems.  And the MVA was offline.  The Captain tried to override and divert power, but he found the problem.  Each ship needed to be able to act independently, which meant each ship needed their own power generation. The ion reactors were nowhere near enough for multi-vector engagement.

"It's a good idea... but we don't have the manpower to control each hull individually and we don't have any power available to spare... we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

The ship shuddered as it moved, and the lights dimmed a bit.  More power was drained. Now it was below 75% power in the reserves. He couldn't explain it.  The ship just emerged, and yet their power drain occurred before...

"Prophets..." he stated as the ship was hit with a similar kind of weapon like a phaser beam.  A nauseating green beam, completely unlike the disrupters of the Klingons or the Romulans.

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

[Lt. JB Dersch - USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

JB's hands moved swiftly over the Tactical console as the ship shook under enemy fire. His eyes locked onto the green energy signature registering on the sensors. It was unlike any disruptor or phased energy weapon he'd encountered before, and that meant trouble.

"Shields holding at 62%, but that won't last if they keep hitting us with that frequency," JB reported, his voice steady despite the rising tension. "Adjusting modulation patterns—trying to dampen the energy absorption rate."

His fingers danced across the controls, sending targeted bursts of retaliatory fire toward the enemy vessel. "Direct hit to their forward section, but no significant damage," he muttered, frustrated. "That hull is absorbing energy like a damn sponge."

Hearing the order for a spectral sweep, JB nodded. "On it. Tying Tactical sensors into the scan—if this disruption is coming from the subspace tear, we might be looking at a feedback loop or an outside influence amplifying it."

Another impact rocked the ship. JB braced himself, eyes narrowing. "Sir, I recommend we alter our firing patterns. If this thing is draining us before we even fire, we need to cycle through rapid variations in our weapon frequencies. Give it too much to process at once, see if we can punch through its defenses."

His grip tightened on the console as he awaited further orders, ready to adjust their approach on a moment's notice.

[TrikNarChRehllan]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"It's a good idea... but we don't have the manpower to control each hull individually and we don't have any power available to spare... we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

[...]

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

[Lt. JB Dersch - USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Hearing the order for a spectral sweep, JB nodded. "On it. Tying Tactical sensors into the scan—if this disruption is coming from the subspace tear, we might be looking at a feedback loop or an outside influence amplifying it."

Another impact rocked the ship. JB braced himself, eyes narrowing. "Sir, I recommend we alter our firing patterns. If this thing is draining us before we even fire, we need to cycle through rapid variations in our weapon frequencies. Give it too much to process at once, see if we can punch through its defenses."

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

The Captain's response to his earlier recommendation still lingered in his mind. Not enough manpower to crew each hull individually? That didn't add up. In the Academy, they had been told that the Prometheus-class was designed to be operable in Multi-Vector Assault Mode with as few as four crew per sub-vessel. Had Starfleet been overselling their own technology? In a post-scarcity society, the idea of false advertising felt almost absurd—yet here they were.

Pushing his musings aside, he quickly initiated the requested spectral sweep. As the data came in, his antennae jerked back from the readings. "Son of a Preshava," he cursed under his breath. They were surrounded by thin, nearly invisible strands. The Momentary was covered in them, even the away team's shuttle had some. The Discovery was no exception, with a bunch of strings latched onto her hull, even connecting them to their new adversary. These filaments were crisscrossing between ships and nothingness of space—mostly disappearing into what he presumed to be subspace via microscopic sensor voids. Like a web. Back to spiders they were.

Trix's stomach churned. These strands semed to be organic, akin to the material they had observed on the hull of the Momentary and equally resistant to the probing of their sensor suite. But there was something else—something new. They appeared to sway in and out of phase. Not evenly, though there was a rhythm to it. A beat he still couldn't quite understand. Worse yet, these strands appeared to be acting as power taps, siphoning away their energy. After sending the information to the science labs for ideas on how to deal with this new problem, Trix pushed an overlay to the main viewscreen, highlighting the otherwise nearly imperceptible threads in a bright orange.

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

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

As he spoke, hoping for more detailed input from his colleagues who specialized in actual scientific analysis, he quickly outlined additional measures that came to mind. "We could evacuate sections near the outer hull and reverse the polarity of the inertial dampers in those compartments—it might make a mess of the interiors, but it should be enough to push off whatever got attached to us. We may not be able to target them precisely, but we can induce a gravity wave. Speaking of which, since these filaments seem to be energy-seeking, we could charge the deflector dish as an intentional lure, then release a graviton wave. With the right amount of force, the sudden shift should structurally overload the strands and cause them to snap under their own tension."

While he awaited the Captain's response, he had the computer run the calculations for the graviton pulse based on an estimated weight of the strings. Thankfully, their oversized calculator of a computer core still worked, sparing the Discovery and her crew from relying on Trix's arithmetic skills.

[James Ramort]

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

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

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

"SIR...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

{USS Momentary| Engineering-Bridge}

[...]

Finally, she was on the Bridge.

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

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

They were interrupted by Tekin's comms.

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

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

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

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

{USS Momentary|Bridge and Corridors}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Hull breech]

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

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

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

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

{USS Momentary|Bridge}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kalem turned to Lorut.

"I'll be-"

He was cut off as the transporter whisked him away.

{USS Momentary|Medical Bay}

"-fine."

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

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

Kalem opened a private comm line to Lorut.

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

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

{USS Momentary | Bridge}

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

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

Why could nothing ever work on spooky abondoned ghost ships.

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

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

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

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

[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Main Engineering]

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

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

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

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

[USS Momentary | Hull]

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

[M'Nia]

{USS Momentary|Bridge}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes villa. I heard.  I have been working on it. I think I can renergize the systems. It's tricky and could blow us to smithereens if it goes bad but it might work. I managed to get the circuits connected but they still need power. I can force it but that doesn't always go to well! However, it seems we're out of options." she tapped her combadge, "M'nia to ramort. it seems we're ut of options. I'll have to force the re-energizing. It probably will work but there is a risk if could blow the whole ship to well bits and pieces. If it works, I'd say maybe 5 minutes until power is restored."

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Momentary|Bridge}

Vila sighed, but stood up. There wasn't anything to fight...yet...so she wasn't called away from a fight. She had no excuses to NOT evacuate.

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

She made a face, but began the trek to Engineering.

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

She did as instructed, dropping her tricorder where she stood. She made her way to the docking bay.

"I think we can get power up, M'Nia is close!! With the circuits..." she sighed.

Yes Vila.I heard. I have been working on it. I think I can renergize the systems. It's tricky and could blow us to smithereens if it goes bad but it might work. I managed to get the circuits connected but they still need power. I can force it but that doesn't always go to well! However, it seems we're out of options.

=/\=No dice, Lieutenant. Ramort says to evacuate. Do me a favor, tell me what your bio suit reads.

Would whatever is out here affect non-Humanoids in the same way?