Then, We Execute The Plan

Posted on Sat Mar 28th, 2020 @ 2:07pm by Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine & Commander Ichiko Gail & Warrant Officer Koh Ottasu & Warrant Officer Callisi Veera

Mission: Dead Moon
Location: Ts'Usugi Ship

It didn't take long for the three security officers to get to the engineering section. The doors were still open enough for the three females to slip through.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Cam asked, a hint of concern etched on her face.

"Not a clue," Shaille shot back with a quick shrug. "But I'm gonna give it my best shot. We need to stabilize auxilliary power... They have these things, they're kind of like the chips we use, but they're bigger. I saw them changing them out in our quarters on the Ts'usugi ship when they had to fix something."

She dropped down to her knees and pulled open a cover, staring at the jumble of contents inside. "The Ts'usugi are meticulous, everything is named. We just need to find the right one..."

Five minutes later the lights and panels around them flickered and came to life. Carissa gave a whoop of excitement as she jumped up. "We did it!" she exclaimed with excitement. "Now what?"

Shaille drew in a deep breath. "Now this..." She stood up, walked across to a wall panel and scanned it, looking for the right icon to press. The words she spoke were clumsily pronounced and it took a few attempts for her to get it right, but finally the communications channel was open. "Commander Gail? This is Shaille Levine, can you hear me?"

Across the gulf of space, Ichiko Gail lay in a sickbay isolation bed, when her comm badge chirped. "This is Gail." a pause, "Miss Levine, where exactly are you?" a concerned Daughter of Ts'usu asked, slightly rising to see she wasn't near Koh... but there was a suspicious badge and pips on the tray near him.

"I think, if I'm translating it correctly, it's called the Zenith?" Shaille bit her bottom lip momentarily. "Sorry, I am still not very good at the translating. Ma'am, we managed to get auxiliary power online and access communications, but I don't know how to raise the shields."

Oh, that was a pressure headache coming on. "The Zenith... Primary class.. There should be a pair of doors, sealed, in front of you. On the doors there should be a plaque. On that plaque there's a symbol. Does it look like a table, or a house?"

"I think it's more like a house," Shaille sounded uncertain as she responded. "It's definitely more house than table."

A deep breath from the daughter of Ts'usu. "You're five feet five, yes?" a pause, no need to confirm, but it made people feel more at ease when Ichiko asked questions rather than just remembering.

"Turn to your left, walk five paces, turn to the left. In front of you there's a series of wall panels similar to the federation design. The one directly in front of you has a circle with lines around the edge. When those lines are blue, it means the power is stable. If they're green, you'll see a series of errors that won't make sense to you. Tap them all, until they all go away and stay away. When they're all gone, and the circle is blue, the screen to your right and down will have sliders that look like those in a transporter room. Slide your hand up along the sliders. The Zenith isn't big enough for secondary shielding systems, so you only have to worry about the one set."

Doing as instructed, Shaille turned hard to her left, took five paces and turned left again. Exactly as Ichiko had promised, there was a wall panel. "There's nine lines around the circle. " She started tapping at each one, listening to the sounds they made as the errors cleared. "The circle is blue," Shaille exhaled as she took one step to the right and put her fingers against the sliders, sliding slowly upward. "There's a sound, I don't know where it's coming from, it's beeping I think?"

"Look for a yellow light, blinking in time with the beep, to the left. It's the system warning you that something needs your attention, but without the shields you won't have long to worry. Tap the three sliders with your hand again, then slide them back up again. The system won't give you grief the second time." she offered with a smirk that Shaille would never see. "If everything works well, you should hear a sound like a slowly building note. Ts'usu systems give feedback with tones as well as words. Helps when we can't keep our eyes glued to a display."

Doing exactly as she was told, Shaille tapped the sliders and slid them up again, exhaling slowly as the lights to the left turned green, and then finally blue. Not even aware she had been holding her breath, she let out a soft, nervous laugh. "It turned blue, there's no more noise.. does that mean it worked?"

"You've just raised the shields of a Class Three Destroyer." Ichiko said, with a tone like rewarding an accomplishment. "You can't control weapons or propulsion from where you are without transferring control, and with how things are now, you can't transfer control. You'd need to go to the bridge to do anything more than that."

A pause, "Those large sealed doors you looked at before, with the picture of the house on the plaque. Those seal off the primary reactor. Those doors will remain sealed, as the ship suffered an emergency. Miss Levine, I cannot stress this enough: Those doors remain sealed."

Shaille cast a glance at the large sealed doors that Ichiko had referenced and nodded pointlessly. "Trust me Commander, I have no intention of trying to peek at anything more than is necessary than to make sure this ship stays out of the any hands that aren't Ts'u. What's the quickest way to get to the bridge from here?"

Ichiko paused, closing her eyes for a moment. "From primary Engineering, head out and to the primary hub. Take a grav lift and look for a button that looks like a box with three rooms in it. That will take you to the deck with the bridge."

"From there, the bridge access doors are straight ahead. With the power on, they should open. Are there any flashing lights along the walls? Red or blue?"

Shaille shook her head quickly. "No, Ma'am I don't see anything like that at all," her voice became quiet as she spoke, her tone more hushed, possibly because of the eerie silence surrounding them on the otherwise desolate ship.

"Then the ship isn't in any alert status. The doors should open when you arrive."

Moments later, Shaille stepped through the doors onto the bridge, letting out an audible gasp as she glanced around. "Wow," was all she could manage.

The Bridge looked all the more impressive with the power issue fixed. Various panels were illuminated and waiting for a task, while the display screen in front of the bridge section showed the hellish view of the Charybdis sector just beyond. The bridge lighting was set at a comfortable level, somewhere about 70% Federation normal. The helm control chairs, more of a pair of contoured recliners set into the floor than simple stations, were as active and waiting as the rest of the bridge.

Then there was the central chair. The Captai... no, the Shipmaster's Chair.

Set behind and above the other stations, from here the officer in charge could see everything without having to drastically shift or turn. A far cry from the Federation design that seemed to put the Captain on an equal footing with the rest of the bridge officers, this posture and station was one that demanded that everyone who addressed the ship's commander had to look up to see them.

"I never saw the bridge last time," Shaille said, awestruck by the sight in front of her, remaining silent for a moment before shaking her head. "Okay, sorry, right..." she drew in a deep breath. "What do I do next?"

"I suppose that all depends on your intentions, Miss Levine. I don't know how many are in your group, so I can't advise about tactical. But if you were inclined to move the ship, I might be able to assist."

"I'll do what ever you think is best Ma'am, the three of us are just here to help keep the ship safe," Shaille replied calmly.

"At the moment, you should be safe with the shields up. If you need to escape, let me walk you through the process to move the ship and if need be, activate the warp drive."

The next few moments started simple. Sit in the comfy chair, enjoy the panoramic view of the outside of the ship, enter in commands to move the ship to a new course, or activate manual controls to directly control the ship. Easy.

The next bit was tough. There were steps involved. Sound the blue alert, close the external ports and seals, slide this indicator up to the top, then indicate something called a 'Depth' and then tap the panel to activate the drive.

"Depth is how we measure speed in the Dark. Yes, there is a Depth Zero. You'll probably be using that option if you have to, though I advise against using the drive in this region. Still a little too close to Charybdis for my tastes."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that," Shaille said quietly. "I don't want to end up like the last crew... Sorry Commander, no offence," she added quickly.

"None intended, none taken." was her reply, simple and clear. "The helm controls are tailored to our eyes, but I'm all but confident that, barring the illumination our eyes and your eyes work very similar."

She paused, "So, who gets to be Shipmaster?" she was honestly amused at the notion.

Shaille's eyes widened slightly at the comment. "Nope, that is totally not on me! I'm trusting you'll be joining us here as soon as you're available?"

"That may prove difficult at the current, but should an opportunity arise, yes." Ichiko confirmed, "For the moment, man the helm. Ts'usugi ships have ample armor plating and shields, but you'll find their maneuverability leaves much to be desired."

"Understood Commander," Shaille said, her sigh of relief audible as she moved toward helm control. "And thank you."