Cool Tension

Posted on Thu Feb 4th, 2021 @ 2:47pm by Lieutenant Commander Timo Schaefer & Lieutenant JG Ovrora Sh'rholok & Commander Ayda Muldowney
Edited on on Tue Feb 16th, 2021 @ 11:08pm

Mission: The Relics of Isonzo
Location: Navigational Deflector Control Room
Summary:
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1030

"All hands, Yellow Alert!" The disembodied voice of Captain Tobias Bach said over the comm. Instructions for nonessential personnel to make their way into the inner bulkhead-protected portions of the ship followed. Voiceovers from Science Labs, Operations, and Engineering calmly posed instructions. Structural Integrity to maximum. Prepare for hull polarization. The ship was going to auxiliary power and putting the core on standby, just in case. Then there was the reality: the ship jolted and the lights waned for less than a second. Outside the protective shell of their hull and shields, an obscuring, roiling bank of energized plasma particles and dust clouds chastened the two tiny ships: it was the Ulysses that was struck by the ionizing lightning bolt.

The left nacelle rippled with arcs of static charge as the polarity system dulled the blow. Ayda Muldowney looked at her status panel. No serious reduction in polarity or shield capacity.

"Deflector Control to Stellar Cartography. Initiate your downlink to these consoles," Ayda stated, tapping at the blue-glow of controls under her fingers. Behind her, the bulkhead was a feed of various conduits and plating- it was the interface to the ship's Navigational Deflector. And it was massive, towering two whole decks in height. Ayda stood on the upper mezzanine, facing the console panels mounted to the inner wall. She studied the first waves of incoming data.

"Lieutenant, run a level three diagnostic on the ventral sensor array," Ayda broke the silence between the two denizens in the room. The other was Lieutenant Ovrora sh'Rholok, "I'm detecting a sensor ghost effect."

Ovrora was intently focused on her own console, reviewing the same data feed that was scrolling rapidly before Muldowney.

"I see it," she said, voice all business. "Running diagnostic now."

The small Andorian woman tapped a few key nodes on her display, setting off a fresh cascade of data in a panel to her right. As the diagnostic ran she took in the rundown of numbers, calculations, and models the system was churning out, all of them an impersonal display of the massive radial storm that seemed to crackle and spin with a life of its own outside their hull. Were it less dangerous Ovrora might have taken the time to simply sit and observe, taking in the amazing flow of ionized plasma and the prismatic displays it resulted in? Instead, she was holed up next to the massive Navigational Deflector viewing the storm in numbers and symbols.

Absently rubbing the base of one antennae she sighed.

Ayda's console chirped and her fingers moved into action, "Better," she said back to the small Andorian, "But not perfect." Her fingers shifted and her pinky tapped the comm key, "Muldowney to Schaeffer. We have a sensor ghost in the lateral sensor array. A level three self-corrected some of it. But I'm still detecting a shadow. Suggestions?" Ayda glanced at the Andorian rubbing her head. "If you need an analgesic, I can summon Doctor Guidry," she said.

The sounds of engineers filtered over the open channel for a moment before Timo responded, "Yes, ma'am, I can see what you mean. I have a hunch it's being caused by our own polarization field. The Malachowski-class wasn't designed for total hull polarization, and I imagine we will find out the Zheng He isn't having a similar issue. I'll attempt to compensate with software interpolation using values from the unaffected sensor pallets. Give me a few moments." The background noise from Engineering ceased as the connection was cut.

Ovrora met the Commander's glance and then turned back to her console. "It's alright. Just latent discomfort. A bit like our ghost here. It'll pass," she responded knowing that all of that was more explanation than Muldowney needed. Although it had been two weeks since she had been thrown in the brig for the incident on Starbase 15 Ovrora hadn't found a clear footing yet with her superior officer. The result felt a lot like walking on proverbial eggshells--delicate and offering up more than necessary in an attempt to show transparency and goodwill.

"Engineering to Deflector Control," the confident voice of the ship's Chief Engineer broke into the conversation. "Software interpolation is running. Expect some artifacts, but your resolution should be close to normal now. Oh, and the sooner the better if you don't mind, Commander. These fusion generators are running close to maximum power."

"Thank you, Commander," Muldowney said to the comm. She ran a scan, a field scrolling left to right highlighting areas of ionized intensity, "That's better... but not perfect. Maybe if we tie in the Zheng He's array uplink we can filter out the artifacts," she said, speaking to her Andorian counterpart. "Ghost?" She said offhandedly.

Ovrora frowned at her display, tapping the necessary elements to begin a crosslink between their sister ship's array uplink and their own readouts. Several elements need to be coordinated to ensure that this input didn't create its own set of false images when overlayed on the Ulysses' own output. After a moment of watching she tapped another control then looked up at Muldowney.

"Try now?" she inquired. "I've correlated with the Zheng He's uplink. It appears to be clearing the false images, but we'll need to monitor it closely to avoid any lag in the overlay."

While she waited for Muldowney to confirm she returned to her commanding officer's offhand question. "The headache is nearly as much psychological as physical at this point," she explained. "A ghost rather than the real thing. Analgesics are only sometimes helpful."

"Understood," Ayda cooly replied, eyes on her work, "We need the most complete, clearest picture possible for Ensign Ibanez." She reminded. It, perhaps, sounded more scolding and serious schoolmarm than she's intended. "It's better... it'll do." She confirmed. She sighed and put her hands on the upper edge of the console, fingers folding over its fall. "Bridge. Navigational Control. Sensor domes are online and the arrays are as good as they'll get. We're crosslinked into the Zheng He's."

"Nice work down there," the voice of Tobias Bach replied. "Keep us posted."

Ayda switched channels, "Nav Control to all Science Labs. For the next few hours, all sensor array resources will be set aside for Stellar Cartography's mapping of the ion disturbance. Department heads, keep your staff focused on preparing for landfall once we reach the inner system," she paused, "Muldowney to Stellar Cartography."

"Stellar Cartography here," the voice was a young male- a cadet if Muldowney remembered his voice right.

Ayda turned to Ovrora, "They sound ready when you are," Ayda said, rubbing her thin eyebrow with a swipe of a finger. "I'll leave you to it." Ayda folded her arms over her chest and sighed, and moved past Ovrora. She got to the ladder that led up and out. "Any more thoughts on Starbase 15?"

Ovrora stiffened, hands poised over her console, but unmoving. Silently she wished for a little bit of Sturnack's thick skin and cool-headedness--two things which she lacked although few were aware of the former.

Letting out a held breath she turned to face Muldowney. "Truthfully, ma'am, I'm not sure what you'd like me to say. I'm not sorry we showed those men that you don't lay hands on a woman who doesn't want to be touched--and certainly never on a Starfleet officer. I only regret that it took place in uniform, where it could be made evident where our affiliations lie. I will never be ok with standing by while a friend is threatened, though. And I'm sorry if I have lost your respect for that."

The Andorian woman spoke in a rush, words tumbling together like a torrent that she had pent up. She knew respect and trust were earned, but equally, they were so quickly lost. And although she felt no remorse for the fight--or the rush she felt in the midst of it--she sorely missed the comfortable camaraderie she had held with the Commander. Afraid of what Muldowney would say in response, she stood unusually still, tension and unease rolling off of her like a wave.

Ayda simply nodded with a detached coolness, only betraying an eyebrow raise, "I see," she replied. "In your quest to protect your teammate, you might have not put Caspian at further risk by referring to them as Pink skins, Lieutenant." Ayda began to scale the ladder with a purse of her lips, "Monitor the link with the Zheng He. I'm recalibrating the communications uplink."

Ovrora turned back to her console, features a stormy mix of frustration and confusion. She had enough wherewithall to be embarassed by Muldowney's rebuke and enough pride to want to refuse to admit her own fault even though she knew the moniker was the type of attack that was well beneath her.

In truth, the Andorian woman had spent quite a lot of time replaying the incident over in her head, criticizing both her role in inciting the fight and the places her physical interactions could have been more precise to result in a faster end to the fracas. Despite her devil-may-care demeanor, Sturnack's words and the loss of her usual comraderie with her superior officer had struck a nerve. For the last two weeks she had found herself in the uncomfortable position of feeling completely out of sync with her outward display of confidence.

Antennae tipping backwards she forced herself to focus on the feed from the Zheng He, setting aside the emotional for the cold calculations of the scientific.