SD241909.?? || Joint Log || "The Refraction of Timeless"

Posted on 14 Sep 2019 @ 11:31am by Lieutenant Talee Malena & Lieutenant Talrian Bran

3,649 words; about a 18 minute read

Talrian was on the ship, his lower armor strapped on, the chest and arm armor stacked on a chair in the crew compartment. He currently sat at the console to the shuttle, engaging in his own pre-flight check. Cindreth was stowing gear they were loading with the help of corpsman Kawolski and two other security officers. Like their security chief, the security officers were in combat armor and had the remainder of their gear out and ready to strap on just as soon as the shuttle completed liftoff and left the ship.

Talrian checked his PaDD. It ran a simulation he created judging the advisability of transporter use. So far the results were disastrous. Radiation in the upper atmosphere - created by the ill-conceived use of nuclear weapons in the early days of the war - crystallized much of the planet's pollution, creating a refracting effect of the annular confinement beams. In short, any attempt to transport through the atmosphere would cause the transport signal to split into component parts.

Anyone so transported would wind up in pieces and scattered across random parts of the galaxy.

Not the most pleasant way to be 'rescued'. More and more he found he was right in the need to go dirtside to accomplish their task.

Another wrinkle came up as he studied his research notes. They needed to pinpoint exactly what time frame they were in during the Third Terran War. Due the mass devastation and the near complete extinction of Terrans. By the end of this conflict, more than ninety percent of the planet's population would be killed by a single, last effort attack of the planet's stockpiled nuclear weapons. The planet's natural resources would be fouled for decades, the atmosphere nearly unlivable. Those who were left alive were hardly lucky. With their infrastructure and civilization left in tattered ruins, they had to crawl out of their misery and rebuild everything once more. A population that was estimated up to 10 billion before the war would be numbered in the mere millions post-apocalypse.

It was unfortunate for the Terrans that survived. They remembered the war and what led to it - Terran tribalism. Conflicts over religion, resources, money, territory, cultural and structural differences between the various Terran groups led to their near destruction. Many differences that were merely skin deep survived the extinction. The fighting didn't stop until the remaining population was reduced by another third. Fighting then became secondary to survival. Terrans needed to band together, putting aside meaningless differences of worship, skin color, regional cultural differences. They did so and began to rebuild. Though they were reduced to near stone age levels, they had centuries of scientific knowledge to draw on. Once they learned to work together, they began to repair their planet, make great leaps of intellectual advancements.

Which lead to their eventual creation of the their first warp drive and the meeting with the Vulcans that led to the formation of the Federation.

But all that was the future. This was the present and Talrian needed to learn what part of that present they were in. How close were they to the end of the war and the madness that would surely claim most of the lives of the Odin crew that were on the planet.

Crew that had to be on the planet.

"Lieutenant Bran to CnC," he said, activating the comm system. He repeated the transmission twice before giving up on it. Engineering and Ops still hadn't fixed the problems which left them with their makeshift 'radios' in the form of ht crew's telepaths.

Turning in the chair and standing, Talrian moved to the crew compartment. Cindreth sat in one of the deep piled chairs. He looked worn and aged over the last hour, his skin pale and hollowed. Dark circles were forming under his eyes and he had a sluggishness about him that Talrian didn't much like. Kawolski said this was to be expected. No telepathic race was designed to work this way - far more than just 'speaking' to each other. This was more like shouting a game of 'Telephone' to players in locked rooms in towers a click apart. Eventually it would become too much.

Talrian sighed. He'd ordered Kawolski to prepare psionic stimulants for use when Cindreth became too drained. Kawolski stared at him for several moments after the order, understanding the dangers of what he was being ordered to do to the Betazoid but he knew arguing with Talrian wasn't going to do any good. If the security chief knew about the stimulants then chances were, he'd just administer them himself. Still, he was determined that the Trill monster would answer for any danger he put the enlisted man in with his reckless disregard for others.

"Can I get anything for you?" Talrian asked Cindreth, squatting next to the chair where the young man sat.

Cindreth looked up, his dark eyes searching for something Talrian couldn't see but kept locked away. Finally, he let out a sigh and shook his head. "I'm doing okay so far, Chief," he said, sounding tired. "We're all doing okay," he said, his eyes unfocusing as he saw through many sets of eyes at once. In that moment, every connected telepath experienced the refraction of self as they'd all become one consciousness in many different bodies. Cindreth came back to himself as he felt pressure on his arm. Talrian moved closer to him, speaking softly, trying to pull him back.

"I'm okay, we're separated again," he said. They were getting better at preventing a gestalt from an accidental slip by several of their numbers that coincided at the same time but it was still disorienting.

"Kawolski," Talrian said, standing and moving to the back of the shuttle when he heard the doors to the cargo bay opening, "keep an eye on him. Make sure he stays operational."

"Yes, Lieutenant," Kawolski answered as he glanced at the three security officers - Lieutenant Bran and the other two strapping themselves into seats. He hated what was being done and couldn't understand why it was being allowed.

"About time you got here," Talrian said to the newcomer.

Shad Erikson finally arrived his piercing blue eyes looked at the amount of firepower and was slightly confused on what exactly this mission was. "Am I in the right place for the atmospheric mission?" He asked adjusting his bag with his tools and equipment.

"Get aboard and get strapped in, we're off as soon as the pilot arrives, or in five minutes, whichever comes first," he growled at the Ops crewman. The constant delays were getting on his bad side. In the Corps, it wouldn't be like this. If he ordered the shuttle would leave at a certain time, then it would leave at that time. But Fleeters just lollygagged and goldbricked.

"Okay," Shad said walking up the ramp and finding his seat before activating his console as he started double checking some of the diagnostics.

"Keep your pants on, Lieutenant, your pilot is here," Quinn growled as he stalked his way up the boarding ramp. He was wearing his flightsuit and carrying his helmet--just in case--and was in a fouler mood than he could recall being in for quite some time. He didn't bother doing much by way of acknowledgement to those in the back and he just glanced at Bran before dropping his solid frame into the pilot's seat and going through pre-flight quickly.

Since he'd heard that he was the last one expected, he silently hit the command to close up the shuttle and get ready for launch.

Talrian waited for the loading ramp to begin closing before making his way to the front, grabbing the remainder of his armor along the way. He sat in the other seat and reviewed his mission parameters. The list of the missing crew was loaded up and they would begin with the non-Terrans first, getting them up and out of harm's way as fast as they could, then move on the vast majority of the missing that were Terran.

"Ops," he called to the crewman behind him, not bothering or caring about his name, "monitor the power outputs since that seemed to be such a concern."

".....umm yeah.....err of course.....yeah," Shad said looking around before getting back to his console. Finding this man a bit odd it also made her very nervous. Like if he wanted to he could throw a mutiny.

Meanwhile, Quinn had other things to focus on.

...like if they were even going to make it out of the damned ship.

Nearly every part of the ship had been affected by their little jaunt across space-time, and the hangar bay doors were included in that. They didn't even want to respond to the command to open at first, but then they did...to the most gods-awful creak-grating noise Quinn had heard in a long time.

They did, eventually, open...which was fortunate, because Quinn didn't really want to fly the shuttle straight through the closed doors but would have if needed.

"Shuttle is cleared for departure," he announced, reading the readout on his console. He tapped the controls and the shuttle lifted up slowly, then made its forward.

"We'll start the first pass on the larger continent. We may have to flow pretty low in order to clear the refraction field to use the transporters. Once we're sure we can transport safely we'll begin and load the crew quarters as full as we can before we have to make the run back to the ship. We're in for a long day, Lieutenant," Talrian said, glancing at his PaDD, trying to discover the lower limits of the atmospheric disturbances."

Quinn just nodded, focusing on the job at hand. It all only mattered once he actually got them there.

"Isn't that a bit of a risk. I mean transporters haven't been invented yet and plus I doubt they have ships that can fly as high as we'll be flying." The ops crewmen said looking at the officers. "And I believe the captain wanted to keep a low profile anyways."

"The captain wants her crew safe and returned home," Talrian said as he continued working on the flight path to maximize their sensor and transporter capabilities. "And it doesn't matter if transporters have been invented yet, we have one on this ship here that works just fine."

".....so you are willing risk everyone and everything on misreading what the captain wants?" The crewmen said not caring about his career at the time. "I think the captain wants us to find where they are and then come back and make a plan that keeps us all safe."

"What do you know of Turkana IV?" Talrian asked, continuing with his work and not looking at the crewman. "Anything about that failed colony?"

"There have been several failed colonies. And yes I know of Turkana IV my parents had to leave a failed colony. ".....but that has nothing to do with what our mission is right now. Your hastiness is gonna get us in more trouble than helping."

Talrian sighed, "On a good day on Earth, right now, makes the worst day on Turkana IV look like it's the Edo." He set his PaDD down and turned toward the crewman. "What's not helping is your personal sob stories and your incredibly uninformed opinion on what is and is not best for our fellow crew stuck down there. Unless you have something concrete to add to our mission brief, then you will lock it up and keep it to yourself, where it belongs. Do your job and keep our 'camoflage' in place and we'll be fine."

"Of course," Corpsman Kawolski muttered as he took another set of vital stats on Cindreth.

"What is your fucking concrete evidence that the crewmen are suffering right now. And I don't think I gave you a sob story.I was just telling you what I know of failed colonies. You are the one that asked the fucking question." The crewmen said not caring if he got kicked off the shuttle.

'Petty Officer," Talrian said, returning to his work. "Upon our return to the ship Crewman Erikson will be placed into the brig to wait a hearing on charges relating to insubordination and conduct unbecoming. If he continues to speak in so derogatory a member to any other member of this crew, you are free to use whatever force necessary to place him into immediate restraints and move him to a more secure section of the shuttle. As of now, however, he is considered to be in custody."

"Yes, Lieutenant," the larger of the other two security officers said, turning toward Erikson, his armor creaking with the movement of his large, muscular body. His rifle was settled across his lap, but he placed his hands easily on the grip.

Considering the matter settled - for now - Talrian shifted his PaDD to a custody report screen and began working on that while he waited for Romanov to get them to their flight deck.

For his part, Quinn just focused on getting this shuttle off the USS Odin.

He didn't know what kind of power trip this new chief of security was on, but he also didn't get what bug had crawled up the ass of the ops crewman. While he thought Bran needed a fucking attitude adjustment, Quinn himself agreed. His twin sister was done in that mess. Lorelei could take care of herself, but who knew what could be happening to her! He wasn't going to dick around either.

"We've cleared the shuttlebay doors," the pilot announced tightly. "Eight minutes until we enter the atmosphere."

"Alright good, we'll start scanning as soon as we're in the clear," Talrian answered, either not noticing nor not caring in how the pilot gave his reports. It was more the latter but that hardly mattered at this point. What mattered was saving crew lives.

Everything was tense silence for the next few minutes until the shuttle drove head-first into the congested atmosphere, making for a rockier entry than the crew would be used to from their own time. Quinn managed it, however, since while he might have many flaws, he was a good pilot. As well as a determined one. His job was to get this shuttle into the air so they could look for their people...for his sister.

And do whatever it took to get them back.

"Sensors are starting to open up," Talrian said, speaking more out of habit in reporting than anything else. He did glance back, however, his gaze skimming over the two armored security officers, the corpsman and Ops crew members and then landing on Cindreth. While the Betazoid security officer didn't seem any worse, he also didn't seem to have gotten much better either. If he was in a draw, then Talrian had to agree that was a good thing...for now. Hopefully things would move quickly and regular communications would be re-established soon.

"What's that?" Kalwoski said, sitting up and looking around as the alarm sensors began blaring.

"Not sure, sensors are...something heading toward us and fast!" Talrian barely had time to finish the sentence before the shuttle was rocked from side to side. Sparks flew inside the crew cabin and everything went dark for about half a second, just long enough for it to register on the senses and then power was restored. "Two more incoming!" he said, glancing at the pilot.

"Shit!" Quinn exclaimed, his voice in some perilous, amorphous volume land between shouting and growling. Flying a shuttle was a far cry from flying a fighter, and suddenly, he wished that he was in his bloody fighter instead of this box with warp! Still, he had to do the best he could... He threw the shuttle into a partial roll, but the controls didn't handle the same at this level of the atmosphere.

He avoided the first of the...whatever-the-fuck they were, and he put down for a nosedive to avoid the next. "Everyone better be buckled in! This is going to suck!" It was the most polite way he had to put the mayhem that was going to continue as the sensors blared again.

"Armor up!" Talrian called to his security personnel while turning to the group without armor. "Cindreth, make the report to the bridge, Kawolski, get ready to treat injuries." He glanced at his PaDD. "Erickson, inertial dampeners are redlining, fix it before we're all dead on impact!"

Kawolski started to stand, but the sudden sharp dive drove him back to his chair. "He can't keep doing this!" he shouted, pointing to Cindreth and his beyond pale coloring.

"Later, Corpsman!" Talrian growled as he tried in vain to search the sky through the limited windows for their attackers. Sensors were showing little more than ghosts and intermittent at that.

{Shit! Shit! Shit!} Erikson thought looking at the data coming in. "We are losing power. The emitters. are failing whatever is hitting us plus whatever in the atmosphere is just powering everything down."

Quinn was a good pilot, but no one--and no thing--is infallible.

The sensors did the best they could to report on the incoming projectiles, and the pilot did the best he could to keep the shuttle ahead of them. Somewhere after the third or fourth near-miss, he knew it was a losing battle. "The captain is gonna be pissed," he growled as he fought the controls, "but we have to descend. If one of those things gets us here, we'll never survive the landing."

The best chance they had was to lower the shuttle so they didn't have as far to fall...and maybe there was a chance that whatever was after them would stop when they got lower. "Hang on!"

Erikson jut held on for dear life as the shuttle plummeted to the ground.

"Got through to the guy on the bridge," Cindreth said, his voice hoarse and cracked, breathy as if he were forcing out what he said through sheer grit and determination. "Report made."

"Noted," Talrian said, scanning the console before him. "There," he said, pointing to the onboard map. "If you can put us down there, we only have about three clicks to get back to that base. There appear to be transports there. We'll get one of those and continue our mission here."

Quinn tore his eyes away from one screen to the one that Talrian had the map on. He nodded once, tightly. "I'll get us there," he said through gritted teeth. "But what kind of transports in this time are gonna be any help to us?" His mind struggled to handle doing too many things at once, but he had to know.

"The kind created by a civilization scientifically advanced enough to create neutron bombs but philosophically regressed to not understand what a terrible, terrible idea such creations are," Talrian countered. "We'll find one large enough and advanced enough to go into low orbit, the ship can take care of us from there.

"Get us a list of what you need to recreate a transporter onto one of those ships," Talrian ordered the engineer. He tried to avoid looking out the viewscreen at the ground coming up at them way too fast.

"......" Erikson was gonna say something but stopped. "......umm I am gonna need dismantle the shuttle but I can make a make-shift transporter but I can't guarantee anything." Erikson said getting sick of this tyrannical so-called team leader.

By now, the ship was shaking violently. The ground was coming and coming fast, but not as fast as it might have otherwise and not fast enough to kill them...hopefully. Quinn rushed over controls, using what systems he could to make their 'landing' safer but the ship was in a rough state.

Talrian let out a deep breath as he ignored the Ops crewman while he worked furiously at the shuttle's control panel, diverting power from the deflector shields (designed to protect the ship from particles at warp) and back to the structural integrity fields, especially those surrounding the crew cabin. It left him and Romanov less protected from the impact but it would help safeguard those in the crew cabin. Cindreth, the only one capable of understanding his plan at the moment, struggled to rise and put a stop to what Talrian was doing but was kept from doing so by Kawolski, who didn't understand.

The importance now was the success of the mission. A corpsman, security officers, an ops crewman would be far more necessary to carry out the return of the crew to the ship than just one security chief.

As he looked up and saw the impending impact, he impulsively stood and clicked open the pilot's safety restraints, grabbing Romanov and bodily throwing him into the crew cabin, and then engaged the safety net he hoped he created with structural integrity field. "Impact in five!" he yelled, trying to operate the flight course Romanov had created for them.

"Four..." he said, turning away from the viewscreen and concentrating completely on the flight controls. He's already died once and now...he had no fear of death but did not want be a witness to it a second time.

"Two...one..." he said, having just enough time to throw engine power into the SIF generators, hoping it would be more effective in saving the rest of the shuttle occupants. He also used the controls to force the nose of the shuttle upward.

Impact threw him forward, strained against the restraint belts and threatened to throw him into the durasteel viewscreen before him.

=/\= End Log... For Now =/\=

Lieutenant Talrian Bran, Lieutenant Quinn Romanov (apb Bella) & NPCs apb JS & Skittles

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