The Isonzo Barrier

Posted on Sun Jan 3rd, 2021 @ 7:11pm by Lieutenant JG Ovrora Sh'rholok & Lieutenant Commander Timo Schaefer & Commander Ayda Muldowney

Mission: 28 Days
Location: Space Sciences Lab
Timeline: Mission Day 5 at 0900

Commander Ayda Muldowney greeted the Chief Medical Officer on her way down to Space Sciences. They encountered one another as Kiam was helping a very pregnant Crewwoman, arm in arm, into Sickbay. Pivoting on her heel, the First Officer twisted into the turbolift to face forward. "Deck six," she stated to the AI within. Humming to life, the lift began its short crawl down. Ayda's thoughts stayed blank, fingers drumming, curled, around the top of a large PADD.

The doors opened and broke her from her void of reverie. She stepped away, past the doors to the Seven-Eleven mezzanine and beyond a bank of windows. Stars streaked by at high warp- blackness abounded with no other features save a glimpse of the bussard ramscoop. She turned and pressed the key for Space Sciences. The doors opened and Ayda strolled to the center.

She righted her PADD in the dark room, at once inching the information off the screen and then flinging it to the large monitor on the wall. Instantly, the screen and its component holographic sprung to life. The hologram: a single, glowing warm white star and the tenuous orbits of four worlds. Beyond was a massive shaded region that dwarfed the inner worlds by easily ten times, broken up with perhaps hundreds of pinpricks of data. They floated slowly in an orbit of the star.

"Computer, increase lights by twenty percent."

If it was possible to describe Lieutenant Junior Grade Ovrora Sh'rholok as skipping into the room without actually saying so outloud than any onlooking watching the Andorian science officer enter the science lab would have done so.

Ovrora was practically humming with excitement. She had been mulling the idea of subspace scars over for the last few days trying to imagine the kinds of "injury" that might result in such a wound. For that matter trying to envision how such a wounnd would heal itself. The whole idea was novel and although there wasn't yet any scientific backing to it, she was beginning to form a hypothesis to test based on her line of thinking.

She entered the science lab to a dazzling display of data slowly circling a star in front of her. A well sealed cup of warm coffee graced one hand. She raised it to her lips, taking a long sip while slowing her walk and giving herself an opportunity to comport her features into something less gleeful and more thoughtful.

The tall Human Chief Engineer grinned as the Andorian practically pranced towards their destination, utterly oblivious to the trailing Timo. He admitted his mind wasn't on the task at hand at the moment either. Just yesterday, the Engineer had officially informed the Captain and XO that he had decided to leave the Ulysses. Technically, Timo knew Captain Garrovick had to accept him, but he'd never been turned down before and honestly, couldn't fathom it happening now.

Timo ducked around the Andorian as she slowed, chuckling, "Good morning, Lieutenant. You certainly seem in good spirits." He continued his confident stride into the room, focusing on the First Officer with his ever-present sure smile, "And good morning to you as well, Commander. How is the ship's favorite Tolimanite doing today?"

Ayda raised her salt and peppered eyebrow in a Vulcanesque way- save the amused, English-like charm that she smiled with. "She is fine, thank you Commander," bemusedly she stated.

Ovrora smirked at the engineer tossing silver hair behind her shoulders as he passed her glibbly commenting on the spring in her step and, she was sure, the correspnding view from behind. "You know if you're going to take in the sights it's only fair to swap places." she said, a gleam in her eye. "So I suppose I'll follow you out of the room when we're done here."

She turned to the XO, smiling as though she hadn't just remarked on the engineer's posterior, and followed up Timo's question with the comment. "Is this the data from the subspace scarring?"

"We'll come to that," Ayda assured with a nod at the Andorian, skirting past the pair's personal business. Ayda was of the mind to prepare her staff for the all-important task ahead. "These are the compiled records of the Isonzo system so far. More data is incoming. Why I called you here is we have a safety issue for the ship."

The hologram zoomed into the shaded realm beyond the planets. "The Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the Daedalus both reported ion storm disturbances in the outer system that-" her brows rose, "Are more than just a nuisance. If the Daedalus had tried to enter it at the time, it's hull polarizing defenses wouldn't have been enough. It would've fried the ship. Since then technology has evolved, but the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky took a glancing hit and it fried two of its subprocessors. And that was with the shields up."

The shaded region flashed, "This region appears to be made up of plasma-charged dust particles... it's over 300 AU wide between the outer boundary and the inner system. We need to find a way to safeguard our ship's systems and the crew. So." She turned to the two, "Suggestions."

Timo moved around the ship's First Officer as she spoke to get a closer look at the data, taking the opportunity to flash a toothy grin towards the flirty Andorian while the Commander couldn't see. "Hmm, certainly a celestial oddity for it to be so permanent," Slipping into a chair, he adopted his usual nonchalant posture and started reviewing the data. "For sure, we don't want the warp core online when we traverse the storm. We might blow out more than a few subprocessors." He paused, tapping the screen on the desk again, "Huh, you know The Daedelus might have been on the right track. If we can generate an opposite polarization, we might slightly repell the storm."

Ovrora smirked at Timo raising her eyebrows slightly before winking in response to his grin. She had also stepped closer to the display, sparing a last amused look over to the engineer before resetting her focus on the task at hand. There would be time for flirting... and taking in the view... after they solved the problem of the ion storm.

Sliding into the chair across from Timo, she chimed in, a touch of excitement edging her voice. "Yes." she agreed enthusiastically. "Perhaps if we could magnatize the hull as we enter the storm we could create enough space." She tapped the display herself then used two blue fingers to expand a section of the image in front of her. "We should still try to find the least dense area to navigate if possible. The less we need to repel the less strain on the hull. Magnetizing might push the ion storm back, but the storm has movement, so there will be a consistent bombardment as we move through. And we'll need to be cognizant of attracting any opposing polarized particles. I've yet to meet an ion storm made up entirely of one or the other."

Ayda maneuvered the holographic, "Well, with the direction of the storm front, I can probably help. Both the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the Daedalus had some luck mapping the trajectory of the storms they saw. In both cases, the storms were radial. They were moving from inside the system to the outside of the system in a spherical wavefront. Not unlike a gas bubble. But, there was a ten percent intensity variation between the equatorial and polar regions when the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky studied the front."

"Are we close enough to tie into the Zheng He's memory banks?" Timo asked, realizing he wasn't sure where the Engle-class starship was in relation to the Ulysses. "Also, if we are going to provide real-time updates to the press, we are going to have a helluva time punching through that mess." Using his console, the Chief Engineer did some quick calculations and shook his head, "Neither the Ulysses or the Zheng He have the power alone to punch through for a live broadcast. We will probably have to leave a relay on this side of the storm and hit it with both of our communications arrays to make it work."

Ayda tilted toward the man, arms crossed, "They're at the extreme limit of sensor range at the moment. But we'll coordinate your plan once we reach the heliopause of the Isonzo system. It's a good idea."

Ovrora leaned back in her chair, turning an idea over in her mind. "How quickly is the strom rotating?" she inquired. "Is it fast enough that we can travel with the rotation and move through in the midst of one of the arms? It would allow us to avoid, or at least reduce, the intensity variation we experience."

Her antennae perked up, giving the impression of a cat's ears when they have just caught a sound imperceptible to anyone else. "We could use the communication relay as a homing beacon for our return as well, assuming we have to travel back through the storm once we're done."

Ayda smiled at the Andorian, giving her a nod, "Excellent plan. When we approach the Heliopause, I want you on the Bridge coordinating that effort. Select one of your best personnel to base out of the Navigational Deflector Control Room. We can use the arrays like sonar to map the disturbances dispersal and trajectory." Ayda looked to their model, "At present we don't have an up to date model on the storm's rotation or radial velocity. The ships previous categorized it as a Level Five Ion Storm both times, so I would prepare for a high energy event."

"Mr. Schaeffer," Ayda turned her attention to the man again, "What equipment do you need for a hull polarization and how long will that operation take? We're due at Starbase 15, and I'll try to round up the equipment there."

Timo studied the readings, pursing his lips, "I shouldn't need much. Give me 30 minutes to compile a list? I'll send it to your terminal. Ironically the Zheng He, being an older ship, will have what they need to polarize their entire hull. Their shields will be a touch weaker, but they shouldn't have any trouble." The Chief Engineer was interrupted by his deputy's voice being piped in over the comm.

Ayda was about to agree when Timo's comm chirped. She fell silent.

"Commander Schaefer, Yeoman Tally took a tumble from a catwalk a bit ago. Dr. Aax had her taken to Sickbay."

Pushing back, he stabbed the comm button with a finger as he stood, "Understood Yousef, I'll check in with Sickbay in a moment." Severing the connection, he looked back towards the XO, his face pensive, "Better make it an hour for that report, Commander. If there is nothing else?"

Ayda's brows knitted with worry, eyes studying his face. She hadn't precisely heard the exchange, but something was worrisome,, "No it's alright. You're dismissed, Commander."

Ayda turned to Ovrora. "I'll speak to Operations, and make sure you have priority access to the deflector dish and sensor arrays. Is there anything else you'll need, Lieutenant?"

"I don't think so." the Andorian woman replied. "But we'll need to work closely with whomever is flying us when the time comes. Could I have a heads up once you know who will be piloting us through?"

Ovrora watched Timo stand as she spoke, taking a moment to appreciate the engineer's physique. "Is there anything else I can help with Commander?" she inquired, her attention split between admiring the engineer's retreating asssets and catching any last orders from Muldowney. It was a shame he needed to hurry off to other things. She might have been happy for a few more moments to enjoy the view.

Ayda spoke up, "It'll be Mr. Ibanez. Once Rosk is back on his feet, he'll be prepping the shuttlecraft for the operation on Isonzo. He'll be coordinating with your teams and FNN once we depart Starbase 15."

The science lab door closed quietly behind Timo and Ovrora, regretfully, returned her full attention to the task at hand. "Sounds good," she acknowledged, "Ibanez does a great job behind the controls."

Standing, the Andorian woman rolled her neck from side to side, working out a small kink as she did so. "I'll go get a start on everything now."

With the Commander's nod she made for the door pausing only to say "If nothing else it should be a wild ride."

=/\= A mission post by =/\=

Commander Ada Muldowney
Executive Officer
USS- Ulysses

Lieutenant Commander Timo Schaefer
Chief Engineer
USS-Ulysses

Lieutenant Junior Grade Ovrora Sh'hrolok
Science Officer - Astrophysics
USS-Ulysses