On The Bridge

Posted on Sun Nov 15th, 2020 @ 5:45pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Ehal Alom & Lieutenant Sylvia Wiseman & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Bianca Lee
Edited on on Sat Dec 5th, 2020 @ 3:27pm

Mission: Enforced Intermission

Abigail sat in the center chair on the bridge, scanning through the screen between her and Ichiko, reading through the most recent list of most recent failures across the ship.

"Primary systems are being affected at an alarming rate," she commented as she continued reading. "If we can't get on top of this soon we may need to consider rebooting the ship in space. Suggestions?"

"USS Saganami is about four hours away at their maximum warp, ma'am." Bianca said firmly, "I would suggest that any which way we decide, if things continue to deteriorate, we send them a request for assistance." She had her own PADD out and was scrolling through the same list, "Before we lose our comm ability."

Ichiko gave a nod, "I'd be cautious about that, we don't know the full nature of the failures. At the moment, using the comm relay to open a channel to another ship might be enough to spread the failures to their systems. Until we get it locked down, I'd recommend we essentially quarantine. No direct connection communication unless it's absolutely vital. Or... until we can one hundred percent rule communications as stand alone and clear."

"Whatever this is, be it a systemic cascade failure or a malignant virus left behind as a parting gift from our enemies back at Kessic Three, this issue must take our priority." the rabbitess considered a few options, "As for keeping the outside world appraised, we may have an alternative that doesn't require direct connection. We set up the deflector array to send out pulses in subspace." Ichiko began, "We can use those pulses to send a simple message to the Buoy Network through pulsecode without potentially compromising their systems."

She paused and looked at the assembled group, "I'll need a volunteer from engineering and one from ops. They'll potentially be learning state secrets of the Ts'usugi Empire, so I need volunteers ready to branch out." she gave a smirk, "I almost said volunteers I can trust to secrecy, but trustworthiness isn't a question on this crew."

Abigail nodded slightly. "Commander Gunnison and Lieutenant Aschail, assist Commander Gail with whatever she needs. Commander Rogers, keep tabs on the Saganami incase we do require their assistance." She paused for a moment, contemplating. "Our fighters, especially our Ts'usugi fighters, they have independent power and systems, are they able to launch without concern?"

"Copy that." Buck turned in his chair slightly to look back at the captain. "The fighters are in the same position as our shuttles: they're not connected to our systems so should be clean; they're launch capable as long as we have functioning shuttle bays."

Ichiko took the moment to add, "For those unfamiliar with Ts'usugi Blink Drive technology, the shuttles still need to actually travel the distance they move. They don't teleport." she was amused. "But, as Mister Rogers said, as long as we have functional shuttle bays, we have operational shuttles and fighters."

Charlotte Aschail nodded. As the representative from engineering, she was tacitly in charge of the section at the moment, "Worst case scenario, if the bay doors won't open, we can always blow them with explosives to give us access to space. The magnetic forcefield will probably flicker a bit, but should hold until we get it looked at for collateral damage."

"Ah still don't think whatever this is can be transmitted through the comms." Bianca pointed out, "We've got constant incoming and outgoin' locational traffic with the rest of the Fleet, so we know where they all are and they know where we are."

"You'll forgive me if the notion that a glitch that has rolled relicators over across the ship, transferred helm control to a cargo bay informational panel, and allows the computer to disregard certain low level instructions cannot currently be transmitted across the comms is little comfort. Perhaps it already has, and the parts of the fleet we're in constant contact with are in the middle of their own cascade failure adventure." a pause, 'This glitch has gone from inconvenient to annoying to bothersome to worrisome. I'd like it contained, and I'd like it contained before worrisome threatens to become dangerous or even deadly."

Charlotte looked up pensively, thinking things through, "Perhaps if the glitch was just targeting Astraea? There are firewalls and other active security measures in some of the comm functions, on both ends, in part to provide just that sort of safety net in case one side is compromised. I can add that to the list as well, ma'am. But if you'd like, I can also sever those automatic signals as well just to be safe."

Ichiko thought about the matter for a moment longer than expected, weighing the options. "I hate to assume the fate of others. Wait until we can get the pulsecode sequence out, then cut all external comm lines. If Starfleet has anything akin to a message of going offline for security purposes, or a final transmission until further notice, we should consider sending that."

Ehal stood at the Tactical Station. Stay quiet for the most part. Nothing really reporting wrong with the tactical systems as of yet. He was keeping an eye on it though, just in case.

"This certainly is unlike anything I've ever seen." Sylvia commented. "It's like it's sentient somehow."

"Ah've got that code sequence, ma'am." Bianca agreed, nodding to Charlotte, "I'll retrieve it and then have you cut the comms. Maybe if we need to send another message, we can use a comm bouy to get it out, ma'am?"

Ichiko raised an eyebrow at that. How odd that the hands that held the codes to signify a cut off of all comm traffic were not in the hands of the Shipmaster. Starfleet indeed did things vastly differently than she was accustomed to. "We'll need a comm buoy that has no connection to any internal system, and we'll encode the message by hand." she knew the prospect of hand-encoding a message wouldn't be high on the lists of people's favorite things, but these were troubling times.

"Gunnison, Aschail, you're with me. Ehal, keep us appraised of Tactical. I want any glitches, hiccups, or inconsistencies reported immediately." a pause, "Same for engineering. If we lose tactical we're in trouble. If we lose engineering, we're looking at a potential catastrophe." she paused before turning the focus back to Abigail.

“Aye Commander.” Ehal said from the tactical station as the XO gave him the order.

Abigail nodded slightly. "See what you can do about communications," she said calmly. "Report back with an update once you're done. We'll keep monitoring the situation and let you know if anything changes." A pause. "Good luck." Standing up, Abigail straightened her jacket. "I'll be in my ready room, Commander Rogers, you have the bridge."