On the Bridge

Posted on Tue Jul 22nd, 2025 @ 6:08pm by Captain Piraa sh'Zamhlass & Lieutenant Commander Ayanja Tusalo & Ensign Rasahni Jasleen

826 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Project EDEN
Timeline: July 26, 2401 || 1015 hours

The storm was certainly raging outside the Valiant. The crew on the bridge only needed to look up and out of the Observation Room window or the now translucent view screen. The swirling whirling blues and greens set them all into a stormy almost underwater world. Now and then a ion strand would overload, the built up energy traveling along the stream before discharging in a brilliant flash of light. This discharge shook the Valiant as it hung in the storm, impacting the hull and rattled the crew around. After several hours of hanging in space the bridge crew largely ignored the shaking now.

Aya didn't even look up from her console as the Valiant rocked to port, her eyes instead flicking across the partially powered console and minimal sensor readings before her. Frustrated, the Betazoid Science Officer was no closer to figuring out why they hadn't detected the storm, nor was she closer to plotting an actual course clear of the phenomenon.

A load metallic groan could be heard throughout the bridge, prompting the ship's young Edosian helmsman into a state of unease. He grimaced as his right hand gripped the console, the swirling effect of the storm actually making him slightly spacesick. It took everything he had for the young man to focus on his task, which was running a diagnostic on the helm. After the third buzz from the console, he slammed on the control surface with his middle fist. "My diagnostics keep failing!" he called out. "There's no reason why I can't at least get to the thrusters."

"Hey no breaking my helm!" Rasahni Jasleen said as she returned to the foreward consoles of the bridge, hands full of mugs of Raktajino. Without thruster control, any corrections they've had to make over the last few hours had been made by decompressing cargo and shuttle bays. With all the constant monitoring the flight crew were constantly switching out regularly. Jas had just finished her shift at the helm and was on standby until the end of her full Alpha shift. The young Bajoran would honestly have preferred to stay at the helm and fly, but Commander Tusalo had been insistent the crew cycle out.

"She's right Ensign, we're going to need that sooner or later... hopefully sooner." The Commander said from her aft station, not even looking up from the senor readings that continued to stream across her console. Maybe if she could get a sense of the subspace currents it might lead them out of there. That still didn't explain why they hadn't detected the storm or how it had it had effected their systems so thoroughly. There had to be something else going on, maybe that's the avenue she should be looking into.

The Edosian grunted, stepping back from the console for a minute to scratch his head with his left hand. "Doesn't seem like it matters whether or not we need it when we can't use it," he retorted to no one in particular. "Maybe the sudden drop from warp disconnected the helm from its systems or the control interface." The ensign then looked around the sparely crewed bridge, spotting maybe a total of five people in the room. "In fact, is the helm the only system down? Anyone else's consoles working?"

"I suppose it's possible." Tusalo said, fully turning from her console. "We do have minimal sensors, communications are up and running... enough shielding to keep the ship from further damage as least as far as I can tell." That didn't make any sense though. Tactical systems appeared to be down, as well as anything connected to their navigational systems, long-range sensors, propulsion. Aya looked around the bridge, what did the systems that were down and those that were still up have in common? Without sensors and engines they couldn't leave the storm... by why tactical systems? Targeting systems could be used as a short range navigational array... and with shields and life support systems still Operational the next priority for repairs. Was someone or something trying to keep us here in this storm?

"Run a diagnostic on all helm control systems. Go circuit by circuit, report anything out of the ordinary, If the helm is down and we can't see why it must be a minuscule yet catastrophic fault." A suspicious and incredibly, astronomically (un)lucky occurrence, one that was setting every alarm bell from all her training, security and science, very, very loudly.

"Circuit by circuit?" the Edosian muttered. A visual scan wasn't going to help him here, nor would standing above the console tapping every button. He retreated to the rear of the bridge to pick up an Engineering kit. As the Ensign walked back to the helm, he waved Jasleen over to join him. He set the engineering kit on the chair and pulled out a tricorder. "All right then," the Edosian said, "Let's see about getting this station operational again."

 

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