Bridging the Gap

Posted on Mon Sep 19th, 2022 @ 3:15am by Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Captain Björn Kodak & Petty Officer 1st Class Kotri Tesren & Petty Officer 2nd Class Joselyn Brand

Mission: Echoes and Effigies
Location: Main Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 2100

[Main Bridge]
[MD 3: 2100 Hours]

Kodak and Brand materialized in a swirling dance of energized particles. Solidifying, the pair found themselves standing in the space between the helm and the command chairs.

The Captain moved first, taking note of the blackened husk of the cobbled-together device that sat on his chair. Nodding to Kotri as he passed, Kodak swept the ruined machinery off onto the ground below and then took his seat. His seat, not some damned hologram masquerading as the Captain but he, himself, in the flesh and ready to end this mess. "Computer," he intoned, "recognize voice print."

"Voice print matches Captain Björn Kodak," the computer replied.

"Indeed," Kodak said, leaning back in his chair. "Computer, end the lockdown, authorization Kodak Lambda Yellow Nu Nu twelve," the Chameloid ordered. He'd hoped -- rather than expected -- that the dimmed, red lighting of the Bridge would suddenly give way to the full, well-lit brightness that accompanied a nominal alert status. He was ready, instead, for the computer to spout some garbage about additional hurdles that had been placed in their way. But, to his great surprise, the computer chimed positively.

"Lockdown ended. Returning to normal alert status."

And just like that, the trouble was behind them. Well, some of the trouble, anyway. The Bridge had reverted to its non-emergency mode. Panels winked, blinked, blooped, and bleeped...all save one. Amidst the stars streaking by on the viewscreen, Kodak could clearly see that the helm was dead. He rose from his chair and moved towards it, attempting to activate the console. For whatever reason, though, the computer interface remained non-responsive.

"Gottverdammt," the Captain swore in German. So there were additional hurdles. The Chameloid rolled his golden eyes in frustration.

Joselyn, with her sour look in place, stared at the Helm. "Can't we just re-route controls from the Helm to say..." She looked about the Bridge with a stiff twist at her waist. "Ops?" She gestured at the hook-shaped console." She looked again, "Or that one?" Brand pointed at the small control located behind Kodak's head when he would have been sitting in the big chair.

At that moment the sparkling motes of a transporter beam deposited Emni next to one of the two doors that led away from the Bridge. She could feel the adrenaline screaming through her as everything came into focus and had the momentary random thought of just how precise the transporter was to deliver her complete with adrenaline spike intact. The emotions in the room, too, hit her quickly. She'd been neglectful of her barriers, too focused on assisting Dr. Ryan Walsh with getting Timmoz into stasis before he was beyond saving.

Looking around she spotted the Captain and then registered the dissonance of how normal the bridge felt against the frustration of the three individuals present.

"Let me guess," she said wryly, "something still isn't working as it should."

"The Helm is locked down." Brand reported dryly. And then, with a sickening lurch, Brand felt herself thrown and toppled as the warp field collapsed. With a grunt, she picked herself up and felt woozy, a warm trickle from her nose the indicator that she'd just face-planted into either the ground or the Tactical console. Her ankle barked at her, as did her knee, from her tumble down the short set of stairs.

Emni, for good or ill, had been mostly situated at a flat surface, though the lurch of the ship threw her as well, knees and palms of her hands taking the brunt of her fall and jarring her extremities with the impact. She felt as much as saw the blossoming of pain as the others picked themselves up. The sound of the ship at warp, however, usually a subtle thing, was unaccountably missing making the bridge feel almost uncomfortably silent.

"Is everyone ok?" she called as she got to her feet again, spotting Brand's streaming nose first and quickly making her way to a small supply locker toward the back of the bridge to grab an emergency medical kit.

"Define 'OK,'" Kodak rasped, having been thrown over the helm console. He was sitting on the deck, none the worse for wear it seemed -- no doubt in thanks to the inertial dampeners doing their best to handle the sudden stop. Rising back to his feet, the Captain came around the console and noticed that its display was now functioning. Flashing across the screen was a series of animations showing a variety of information about the ship's propulsion systems. Warp was, of course, offline but the impulse drive powered their sub-light flight towards their destination.

"Dropping out of warp seems to have broken the holograms' control of the helm," Kodak reported aloud, sliding into the console's chair. It took him a few moments but, eventually, the Captain brought the ship to a full stop from impulse. He then keyed in several additional sequences and smiled. "I've powered down the impulse drive and locked all propulsion controls behind a new passcode. We aren't going anywhere," he said, "without my say so." Rising from the chair, he moved towards the rear of the Bridge, where Kotri was picking herself up from the deck. "You alright?" he asked.

"Fine here, sir," Kotri nodded, favoring her right arm. She'd tried to catch herself with it and succeeded only in spraining something in the process of being thrown. "Nothing a little trip to Sickbay won't cure." Standing, she moved back around the horseshoe of the Bridge, watching as t'Nai attended to Brand. "If bloody noses and wrist sprains are the worst of it, I think we got lucky. Damned lucky," the woman grumbled.

Brand, who was pinching off the tapering trickle to her nose, added in a nasal voice, "What about communications?" She twisted her like-side hand up toward her combadge and prepared to tap it. "Who should I try for?"

Kodak thought about that for several long moments before speaking. "I'm hesitant to announce ship-wide that the lock down has ended. Right now, I think we need to focus on getting our collective ducks in a row first. Let Engineering know we've regained full control of the ship," he said to Brand. "They're probably already busy trying to fix whatever they had to break, so I'm sure it'll be welcome news. Meanwhile I want to speak to whoever's down in the computer core trying to reassert some control. They need to know the lockdown is over."

With a nod, the Captain turned towards the viewscreen and tapped his combadge, which was once again tied into the working comm system. "Kodak to Computer Core. Whoever's in charge down there, be advised that we've retaken the Bridge and ended the lockdown. Communications have been restored and the force fields have all gone down. Good work in trying to help us from there. What's your status?"

There was a moment of silence in response to the Captain's question, but finally a familiar feminine voice came across the tinny speaker of the commbadge. "Bridge this is Lieutenant Irynya." Her voice held some strain to it, but was otherwise clear. "We're a bit beat up down here from that stop. Nothing life-threatening, though. The core appears to be stable." There was some indistinct murmuring then before the Risian added, "Midshipman Balsam has a plan to isolate one of the aliens in the Holo Lab. Should we proceed, sir?"

Yeoman Brand had risen from her fall and sourly frowned at the news over the comm channel. "Why would he do that?" She murmured to Kotri and, more remotely, t'Nai. "They damaged our entire system and put our lives in danger. And they tried to steal our ship. We should isolate them and turn them over to Starfleet Security."

"Did you miss the part," Kotri said to Brand, "about seeking out new life in the Starfleet brochure?" She smirked then, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm not wild about hearing them out myself but I can't say I'm surprised," the woman noted. "Besides, Starfleet Security is weeks away at warp. This is one of those Do It Yourself missions, I think."

Kodak noticed the two women talking but didn't stop his conversation to listen. Instead, he nodded to the disembodied voice over the comm and said, "Yes, absolutely. See if Mr. Balsam can contain one of the aliens long enough for us to have a little chat. I'm heading your way now." With a tap of his combadge, the Captain closed the channel. "XO, you're in charge up here," the Chameloid said to t'Nai. "I'm not ready to announce the end of the lockdown yet...not until we resolve whatever this is," he gestured around himself as if to mean the current crisis before them. "But I want you to coordinate with engineering as needed. Find out when we can get this ship back on the road," he ordered.

"Kotri, you're with me," Kodak said, chucking a thumb towards the hallway that led off the Bridge. "Let's see if the turbolifts are working as they should. I'll be on comms if you need me," he said to t'Nai before striding off, his chosen security personnel following close behind. The swishing of the turbolift doors could be heard as the two departed.

The Romulan watched the two leave, eyebrows raised slightly and then turned and scanned the bridge. "Ok," she said to the air, though only Brand remained to hear her. "Let's see what we can do to help out things right again."

=/\= A Mission Post By =/\=

Captain Bjorn Kodak
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai
Executive Officer

Petty Officer 1st Class Kotri Tesren
Brig Officer

Petty Officer 2nd Class Joselyn Brand
Yeoman