Teamwork, It Does a Crew Good

Posted on Sat Jul 16th, 2022 @ 7:53pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Ensign Zack Ravencroft & Lieutenant L'Rissa

Mission: A Trip to Middle Earth
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Current

Jon sat in the center seat as the Washington sailed through space at an leisurely warp five. The bridge stations were manned with Deanna at Ops and L'Rissa at CONN, everything running smoothly. Then L'Rissa spoke up, "Sir, there's a class three nebula on our route, do you want to swing around it?"

Jon looked at Deanna and smiled. "No, stay on course but reduce speed as we get closer. Deanna, call our new science chief to the bridge, This is right up his ally."

Celes smiled. "I notified him about the nebula already as I was having stellar cartography scan it. Glad to know we will get a real chance to take a closer look." She hit her comm badge, =^= Lt. Cornell to the bridge.=^=

L'Rissa began to make preparations for possible course corrections regarding the nebula. It was a good bet that if they were going o study it, they'd be doing a deep dive into it.

Callie stepped into the bridge giving her husband a big smile as she approached her seat. “You have no idea how good it feels to have you back onboard ship! I know I already told you, but I missed you when you were off on away party duty.” She looked towards the viewscreen as she took her seat. “Have I missed anything?”

"Hi Callie." Jon greeted his wife pleasantly, gesturing for her to take a seat. "Oh, I think I do know. I missed you a great deal and I'm delighted to be back on ship and more importantly back with you." He pointed to the viewscreen. "Going to investigate that nebula. Stay up here as we get closer."

Celes checked the sensors to make sure they were actively gathering data regarding the nebula. She figured Ashton might be coming from meeting with different science teams. Celes was feeling a little paranoid based on what happened just a few days ago with Loki, and she wondered who was at tactical. She looked back and noticed Ensign Lynch was there. He was a capable officer, but he was fresh out of the Academy. She sent a message to Ensign Ravencroft to come to the bridge.

Zack had been doing his standard patrols when the call came through for him to come to the bridge, so he was there in a matter of minutes. He stepped out of the turbo-lift and noticed one of the many beauties of the universe on the view screen. It was one of the perks of traveling in space, all the beauty you could get to see. But he wasn't naïve enough to think space wasn't unforgiving for those who weren't paying attention.

Celes left her station and quickly walked to Ravencroft. "I'd like for you to take the tactical station for the time being. You can keep in contact with ship security from there."

"Aye, Ma'am." Zack said, rather surprised he was getting a spot on the bridge. He wasn't usually one to stand on the command deck, he was very much a grunt. As he walked up to the young ensign at the station, he assigned the officer what his route was to cover that area that he was now unable to do.

Ashton was working with the stellar cartography team when Celes paged him. =^=On my way.=^=

"Approaching the nebula" L'Rissa said from the helm.

"Initial sensor readings coming in" said Celes. "Detecting high levels of hydrogen, argon, xenon, oxygen, and dilithium." Celes grew silent as she looked intently at her console, "I am reading high levels of omnicron, thalaron, and metaphasic radiation. That doesn't make sense. I am running a diagnostic."

Jon swung his chair to face Deanna as she made her preliminary report. "Frustrated Deanna?" He inquired before he looked over to Callie, "What do you think of the view Callie?"

Deanna ran the diagnostic and everything returned working exactly as it was meant to. She shook her head. "How can that be?" she questioned aloud. She looked back at Jon, "I need to focus the sensors. I need to determine where the radiation is coming from, and how for that matter."

Callie gave Jon a nod. “Very much enjoying the view, but not so much the mention of radiation.” She looked towards Deanna. “Deanna is that radiation of any danger to the ship and crew?”

"Actually, yes" Celes replied bluntly. "Thalaron radiation is lethal to organic life. The Federation signed a treaty with all other major races decades ago to cease experimentation with it, a treaty that was broken by the Romulans briefly when Shinzon attempted his coup. The problem is, thalaron radiation isn't supposed to occur naturally, and certainly not at the levels I am ready. On the flip side of that, metaphasic radiation is extremely beneficial to organic life, but it is difficult to find in sufficient quantities to be of use, except here in this nebula, I am reading equal amounts of it as if it were a natural counter to the thalaron radiation. Omicron radiation is rare as well, yet we have it in significant quantities as well. It can be toxic, but isn't nearly as dangerous as the thalaron. The bright side of omicron radiation is that it means large amounts of antimatter will be present, so engineering will likely want to collect whatever they can to replenish our reserves. I think we should be able to enter the nebula safely, but we'll need to make modifications to the shields first. I would suggest we test any shield modification on a shuttle first with test pods to ensure we don't accidentally kill ourselves. I believe I can make the necessary shield modifications with the help of Lt Cornell and Lt Antionette."

"All stop." Jon snapped then turned to Deanna. "Make the necessary modifications on a shuttle, so we see how it works before we even dare to enter the nebula." He looked over to Callie, "Callie, I want you just to monitor the crew's feelings, if and when we enter the nebula. I don't anticipate any problems but better to be safe than sorry."

"Answering all stop" said L'Rissa.

Celes stood. "I'll get right to work. With a bit of luck we will be able to alter the shields without much hassle. I would very much like to take a closer look inside this nebula."

Callie nodded, but her mind was on the threat of radiation, that could adversely affect her pregnancy. She knew Jon wouldn’t risk any harm to the ship, and crew which made her feel a whole lot more reassured.