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--- trek:solstice:recap:39_act_3 [2020/11/02 20:34] – [The Third Snowball Fight, And A Name] verbena76
+++ trek:solstice:recap:39_act_3 [2021/01/07 16:18] (current) – [The Probes] verbena76
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ~~
 ====== Episode 39: The Rupture Zone - Act 3 ======
-//Game was 10/15/20; sadly, we didn't have a Heidi, but we gained a Wendy.//
+//Game was 10/15/20; sadly, we didn't have a [[players:heidi]], but we gained a [[players:wendy]].//
 ==== "We Get Shot At A Lot." ====
-Two days have passed as the //Varich// continues traveling the Rupture Zone and in the process, they have collected six different versions of the Cliff probe. Mel and Christopher keep an eye on things while Christopher quietly diverts some of the paperwork, so Mel doesn't have to worry about it; it takes Mel almost a full day before she realizes. Jessa keeps her door open and actually sees all of the patients on her roster. Even the captain drops by for a counseling session; Mel has free time, after all. She is also at a bit of loose ends, as the //Varich// continues to hold up in the Rupture Zone. Ssleestak and K'tral are at loose ends as well so far; nothing on the //Varich// has broken. K'tral continues her conversations with Fal when he has time, while Fal continues scanning the Rupture Zone.
+Two days have passed as the //Varich// continues traveling the Rupture Zone and in the process, they have collected six different versions of the Cliff probe. [[trek:solstice:pcs:mel|Mel]] and [[trek:characters:hall|Christopher]] keep an eye on things while Christopher quietly diverts some of the paperwork, so Mel doesn't have to worry about it; it takes Mel almost a full day before she realizes. [[trek:solstice:pcs:jessa|Jessa]] keeps her door open and actually sees all of the patients on her roster. Even the captain drops by for a counseling session; Mel has free time, after all. She is also at a bit of loose ends, as the //Varich// continues to hold up in the Rupture Zone. [[trek:solstice:pcs:ssleestak]] and [[trek:solstice:pcs:ktral]] are at loose ends as well so far; nothing on the //Varich// has broken. K'tral continues her conversations with [[trek:solstice:pcs:fal|Fal]] when he has time, while Fal continues scanning the Rupture Zone.
-Fal also meets with Lieutenant (junior grade) Trina and works with her for a long-term plan for information storage and optimal use. He eventually includes the rest of the science department with this although he keeps Alexandria Tovan at bay on the strategic side. He decides he has no problem granting her access to the data itself but realizes her intense focus renders her fairly useless when it comes to the planning stages. He decrees that the kinetic absorbing carpet is an optional project, and his team is only to spend up to fifteen percent of their time working on it. Senior Chief Petty Officer Xervis Yadri counters, "With your permission, sir, I'd like to devote my entire time to that. After all, we get shot at a lot, and this helps us not die." Fal concedes the point.
+Fal also meets with **Lieutenant (junior grade) [[trek:characters:trina|Trina]]** and works with her for a long-term plan for information storage and optimal use. He eventually includes the rest of the science department with this although he keeps [[trek:characters:alexandria|Alexandria Tovan]] at bay on the strategic side. He decides he has no problem granting her access to the data itself but realizes her intense focus renders her fairly useless when it comes to the planning stages. He decrees that the kinetic absorbing carpet is an optional project, and his team is only to spend up to fifteen percent of their time working on it. **Senior Chief Petty Officer [[trek:characters:yadri|Xervis Yadri]]** counters, "With your permission, sir, I'd like to devote my entire time to that. After all, we get shot at a lot, and this helps us not die." Fal concedes the point.
 ==== Phillip Is the Man Of The (Forty-Eight) Hour(s)! ====
-The biggest challenges fall to flight control. Phillip has rearranged the standard three-shift day to be four shifts with several breaks in between, to allow his pilots time to rest. He subs in the shuttle crews as well, making sure everyone has time and experience flying in the Rupture Zone. In this case, Lieutenant Merek'miir has proven to be absolutely invaluable. She pilots primarily by 'feel' and at one point violently jerks the //Varich// to port, out of the path of a suddenly emerging subspace tear. Phillip and the rest of the senior officers choose not to make an issue of that! As a gift to his friend Phillip, Shan'taar announces jokingly, "I promise I shall not touch flight control!"
+The biggest challenges fall to flight control. [[trek:solstice:pcs:phillip|Phillip]] has rearranged the standard three-shift day to be four shifts with several breaks in between, to allow his pilots time to rest. He subs in the shuttle crews as well, making sure everyone has time and experience flying in the Rupture Zone. In this case, **Lieutenant [[trek:characters:merekmiir|Merek'miir]]** has proven to be absolutely invaluable. She pilots primarily by 'feel' and at one point violently jerks the //Varich// to port, out of the path of a suddenly emerging subspace tear. Phillip and the rest of the senior officers choose not to make an issue of that! As a gift to his friend Phillip, [[trek:characters:shantaar|Shan'taar]] announces jokingly, "I promise I shall not touch flight control!"
-Phillip continues his therapy sessions with Armina, but she shortens them to thirty minutes out of respect of the pressure he is under. When Phillip is not on duty, he makes it a point to stay off the bridge. He sleeps more than normal, and does what he can to decompress, including eating comfort foods. Peel understands completely and spends time with him when he wants but otherwise lets him rest. Paj is also understanding and willingly cooks up whatever Phillip requests.
+Phillip continues his therapy sessions with [[trek:characters:armina|Armina]], but she shortens them to thirty minutes out of respect of the pressure he is under. When Phillip is not on duty, he makes it a point to stay off the bridge. He sleeps more than normal, and does what he can to decompress, including eating comfort foods. [[trek:characters:peel|Peel]] understands completely and spends time with him when he wants but otherwise lets him rest. [[trek:characters:paj|Paj]] is also understanding and willingly cooks up whatever Phillip requests.
 Phillip also tells Peel specifically of her temporal alternate and her violent threats towards the chief engineer of the //Varich-A//. He also adds, "Apparently, I'm the smarter one!" He explains a bit more, especially how apparently in that timeline their relationship did not continue. Peel announces, "That satisfies me on multiple levels." It takes Phillip a minute to get her joke, and then she continues, "I'm not sure what is happening in that transmission, however. The only time I've ever been that angry with someone was when my father tried to kill me." Phillip quickly changes the subject.
-The rest of the crew also learns about the //Varich-A//, leading to a lot of whispered conversations. Unfortunately, the further the //Varich// travels into the Rupture Zone, the less reliable communications with Starbase 212 get. This means that any news from Earth fails to get through while Ssleestak's daily updates from both Sola and the repair crew often do not make it through. To make things even more confusing, sometimes the messages they do receive are utterly garbled and seemingly from the future.
+The rest of the crew also learns about the //Varich-A//, leading to a lot of whispered conversations. Unfortunately, the further the //Varich// travels into the Rupture Zone, the less reliable communications with Starbase 212 get. This means that any news from Earth fails to get through while Ssleestak's daily updates from both [[trek:characters:sola|Sola]] and the repair crew often do not make it through. To make things even more confusing, sometimes the messages they do receive are utterly garbled and seemingly from the future.
 ===== Stardate 49425.09, Sunday June 4th 2372, 1400 hours: =====
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 At 1400 hours, the short-range sensors suddenly go off as they detect an object approaching fast. Fal scans what he can and reports that something has altered course and is traveling at warp 7 to intercept them. Mel orders, "Yellow alert!" Fal continues scanning and declares, "Captain, it appears to be a giant dirty snowball. I'm reading at least one hundred life-signs on board, but I can detect no engines, no weapons, or any sort of centralized structure." The object decelerates to match their speed right on top of them and the crew sees Fal's description is apt; the vessel appears to be a giant dirty snowball about one and a half times their size. The snowball then opens fire as it strafes the port nacelle and then somehow vanishes!
-The //Varich's// shields absorb the weapon's fire and between Fal and Ssleestak, they determine but the weapon used was some form of concentrated subspace packet and it was operating at approximately ten percent power. Mel orders, "Proceed with caution, but continue on course." Phillips scans ahead to see where the ship would have been if they had not been attacked but doesn't find anything out of the ordinary - at least whatever qualifies as ordinary in the Rupture Zone.
+The //Varich's// shields absorb the weapon's fire and between Fal and Ssleestak, they determine but the weapon used was some form of concentrated subspace packet and it was operating at approximately ten percent power. Mel orders, "Proceed with caution, but continue on course." Phillip scans ahead to see where the ship would have been if they had not been attacked but doesn't find anything out of the ordinary - at least whatever qualifies as ordinary in the Rupture Zone.
 ==== The Second Snowball Fight ====
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 ==== A Really Stupid Idea, Even For This Crew ====
-Ssleestak suggests, "Captain, what if we fly into them and then travel into one of the subspace tears?" Mel really doesn't like that idea at all, and calls out, "Conference!" Merek'miir petitions to remain at flight control, and Mel realizes that is the best option. The senior officers gather in the conference room and Jessa declares, "Let's do the stupid thing!" Swims demands, "Why? How have you lived three lifetimes with no concept of consequences?" Jessa retorts, "The second one didn't count!"
+Ssleestak suggests, "Captain, what if we fly into them and then travel into one of the subspace tears?" Mel really doesn't like that idea at all, and calls out, "Conference!" Merek'miir petitions to remain at flight control, and Mel realizes that is the best option. The senior officers gather in the conference room and Jessa declares, "Let's do the stupid thing!" [[trek:characters:swims|Swims]] demands, "Why? How have you lived three lifetimes with no concept of consequences?" Jessa retorts, "The second one didn't count!"
 Ssleestak amends his idea and offers, "What if we just shoot a probe instead? Or perhaps one of the smaller vessels, like the //Thunderbird// or the captain's yacht?" Mel immediately vetoes the idea of using the //Thunderbird//, but generally doesn't care what happens to the Waverider. Swims continues to insist on the dangers of this plan and the potential damage it could wreak, but Jessa retorts, "If they realistically wanted us to bring this ship back in one piece, they wouldn't have sent us!" Swims replies, "I want to disagree with you... but I really can't argue with that."
-Christopher posits, "Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. What if they're trying to figure out if we're sentient?" Fal raises his eyebrows at that idea but is practically bouncing in his seat as he wants to perform science! He supports using a probe the next time their new friends return, and even Phillip agrees. Mel decides to let them try and the meeting ends. The senior officers returned to their stations except for Fal who heads down to the torpedo big to speak with Crewman (1<sup>st</sup>-class) Chilp.
+Christopher posits, "Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. What if they're trying to figure out if we're sentient?" Fal raises his eyebrows at that idea but is practically bouncing in his seat as he wants to perform science! He supports using a probe the next time their new friends return, and even Phillip agrees. Mel decides to let them try and the meeting ends. The senior officers returned to their stations except for Fal who heads down to the torpedo big to speak with **Crewman (1st-class) [[trek:characters:chilp|Chilp]]**.
 He meets Chilp and explains the basic situation; Chilp leans over an open photon torpedo and says, "Tell me more!" Fal grins and outlines their idea to fire a probe at the other vessel in the hopes that the probe will be able to track them into the subspace tear. Ideally, the probe will be set up so Phillip could fly it remotely. Chilp considers the suggestion very seriously and then muses, "Well, we might as well use Cliff again." Fal jokingly asks, "Which one?" Chilp misses the sarcasm as he turns to the rack of identical probes and seemingly points to one at random as he replies, "That one, I think. I'll need a little bit of time to rig up an interface so that Ensign Dade can pilot it. It won't be pretty, but it'll work."
@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 Fal returns to the bridge and shares Chilp's assessments. Assuming the Androkai continue with their attack every forty-five minutes, the next attack will come at 1615 hours, several minutes into Beta shift. Mel decides to extend Alpha shift to compensate, although Phillip amends that and allows Beta shift take over flight control while he relocates to another station to pilot the probe; Mel agrees. Chilp finishes the probe with a few minutes to spare and loads it into the torpedo launcher.
-At 1615 hours, the Androkai vessel appears directly above them and fires down, this time targeting the phasor cannon! Shan'taar fires the probe at the general dead-center of the mass of the Androkai ship; his aim is perfect but the Androkai ship overcompensates with the evasive maneuver and then slams into the //Varich//! With no time to react, the //Varich// enters the subspace terror encased within the Androkai ship!
+At 1615 hours, the Androkai vessel appears directly above them and fires down, this time targeting the phaser cannon! Shan'taar fires the probe at the general dead-center of the mass of the Androkai ship; his aim is perfect but the Androkai ship overcompensates with the evasive maneuver and then slams into the //Varich//! With no time to react, the //Varich// enters the subspace terror encased within the Androkai ship!
-Mel growls, "Goddamnit!" while Fal burbles happily as he starts scanning the inside of subspace tear! Then the weirdness starts, as suddenly there are six different versions of Jessa on the bridge! Four of them are all wearing Starfleet uniforms, just with slightly different variations on the uniform cut, while the fifth one is wearing something much racier, showing that Trill spots do in fact go all the way down! Jessa chips, "Hello!" and her doppelgangers echo the greeting in a chorus! Jessa notices that her doppelganger in the racy outfit is not Joined,((She's from the Mirror Universe, where the Trill symbionts were eradicated by the Terran Empire.
+Mel growls, "Goddamnit!" while Fal burbles happily as he starts scanning the inside of subspace tear! Then the weirdness starts, as suddenly there are six different versions of Jessa on the bridge! Four of them are all wearing Starfleet uniforms, just with slightly different variations on the uniform cut, while the fifth one is wearing something much racier, showing that Trill spots do in fact go all the way down! Jessa chirps, "Hello!" and her doppelgangers echo the greeting in a chorus! Jessa notices that her doppelganger in the racy outfit is not Joined,((She's from the Mirror Universe, where the Trill symbionts were eradicated by the Terran Empire.)) but then everything shifts!
-)) but then everything shifts!
 ==== Down The Rabbit Hole ====
@@ Line 72: / Line 71: @@
 ==== The Probes ====
-The //Varich// continues on her journey, but everyone tenses at the forty-five-minute mark. However, when a subspace tear opens directly beneath them, it is not an Androkai ship that emerges, but instead six different versions of the Cliff probe! One probe is Tholian, one is Gorn, one is a mass of purple the same shade as Jessa's hair, one of them appears to be Phillip just floating in space, one appears to be similar to a Soong-type android, and one is a couch. Mel groans but decides to collect the probes. She decides, "Cargo bay three is now Cliff-town," as Chief Edgly expertly beams all six probes to cargo bay three.
+The //Varich// continues on her journey, but everyone tenses at the forty-five-minute mark. However, when a subspace tear opens directly beneath them, it is not an Androkai ship that emerges, but instead six different versions of the Cliff probe! One probe is Tholian, one is Gorn, one is a mass of purple the same shade as Jessa's hair, one of them appears to be Phillip just floating in space, one appears to be similar to a Soong-type android, and one is a couch. Mel groans but decides to collect the probes. She decides, "Cargo bay three is now Cliff-town," as [[trek:characters:edgly|Chief Edgly]] expertly beams all six probes to cargo bay three.
-Mel then orders a medical team to cargo bay three to examine the probes, specifically the one that resembles Phillip. Shan'taar reports, "Captain, the shields are holding at eighty-two percent. We still have two blown inertial dampeners, but we won't be able to repair those while we're in the Rupture Zone because we have to drop out of warp and go EVA." Ssleestak declares that the Androkai are a silly race and should not be contacted, even if that is against Starfleet's values. Mal elects to say nothing for or against, but Ssleestak mentally adds a new list alongside his //Five Biggest Douchebag Empires//; this list is of species that should not be contacted.
+Mel then orders a medical team to cargo bay three to examine the probes, specifically the one that resembles Phillip. Shan'taar reports, "Captain, the shields are holding at eighty-two percent. We still have two blown inertial dampeners, but we won't be able to repair those while we're in the Rupture Zone because we have to drop out of warp and go EVA." Ssleestak declares that the Androkai are a silly race and should not be contacted, even if that is against Starfleet's values. Mel elects to say nothing for or against, but Ssleestak mentally adds a new list alongside his //Five Biggest Douchebag Empires//; this list is of species that should not be contacted.
-Doctor Vrax hails the bridge and reports, //"Captain, the Phillip-probe does not appear to be sentient or alive. However, it just sat on the couch and a bowl of snacks appeared."// A moment passes as he examines the other probes and declares, //"Captain, the android is non-functional and the purple one is just a giant mass of hair!"// Jessa mumbles a quick apology and then Doctor Vrax yelps in surprise! Mel immediately goes on red alert but Vrax reports, //"Sorry about that, captain. The Phillip-probe just opened its face for data-export! It just startled me, that's all. And now it's eating the snacks!"//
+**Doctor [[trek:characters:vrax|Vrax]]** hails the bridge and reports, //"Captain, the Phillip-probe does not appear to be sentient or alive. However, it just sat on the couch and a bowl of snacks appeared."// A moment passes as he examines the other probes and declares, //"Captain, the android is non-functional and the purple one is just a giant mass of hair!"// Jessa mumbles a quick apology and then Doctor Vrax yelps in surprise! Mel immediately goes on red alert but Vrax reports, //"Sorry about that, captain. The Phillip-probe just opened its face for data-export! It just startled me, that's all. And now it's eating the snacks!"//
 Fal groans as he realizes all of the data he collected within the subspace tear, combined with all of the data from the first probe and all that the //Varich// has already collected, means that their computer core is rapidly filling up! Everyone is surprised, considering the storage amount containing a Starfleet vessel, but Ssleestak decides but he will build a spare computer core strictly for data storage. Down in cargo bay three, Vrax reports, //"Captain, all six probes have just powered down."//
+<WRAP hide>
+=====Summary=====
+Most of the crew experience two days of downtime, as the //Varich// continues to operate with no problems, with the exception of flight control, which means most of the pressure falls of Phillip. This is suddenly interrupted when a ship resembling a large dirty snowballs appears in front of them. It fires what appears to be smaller snowballs at them and disappears. This appears twice more, at 45 minute intervals, with a noted increase in power of 1% each time. The crew discover the snowballs are ships belonging to a species of being called the Androkai. During the third attack Shan-taar fires at the snowball causing a chunk of it to separate and collide with the //Varich//, but it is like passing through a cloud; the ship and crew emerge on the other side wet and musty smelling.
+Ssleestak suggests on the snowball's next appearance that they fly into the snowball purposefully and into a subspace tear. Mel dismisses the idea as exceptionally stupid and risky, much to Jessa's and the science department's dismay. They agree to send one of the copies of Cliff instead. Upon the snowball's next appearance they fire the probe but the Androkai dodge the fire, and slam into the //Varich//, which then falls into the subspace tear inside the snowball.
+As a result of entering the tear the entire crew of the //Varich// experience some strange alternative universe versions of themselves before suddenly emerging back into their own reality having cut all but an hour from their original travel time. At the expected time, instead of an Androkai attack, subspace instead ejects several versions of Cliff reflecting the alternative universes the crew briefly visited in their fall through subspace. They collect them and continue.
+===== =====
+</WRAP>
 ----
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 </WRAP>
+{{tag>recap star_trek solstice}}

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