RP Log: Within a Rock and a Hard Place
| Roleplay Log | |
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| Participants: | |
Location(s):
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Stardate:
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| 2021-09-16 23:46 | |
- Bridge <USS Himalia NCC-99904>
- Situated at the top of the vessel, just forward of the midpoint is the main bridge. Unlike most capital-ship designs the bridge has no wasted space as space is at a premium on this smaller craft. In the center of the bridge is the Captain's chair, positioned on a swiveled base so he or she can easily turn to face the ring of stations circling the center. From port to starboard the consoles are, Auxiliary, Tactical, Operations, Helm, Engineering, and Science. This places the helm and operations stations at the fore of the bridge, just below the curving viewscreen that fills the forward bulkhead.
- The ambience is subdued with simple lighting eminating both from overhead panelling and from the consoles themselves. The walls and carpet are of a mid-range grey, with a dark copper highlight running up the bulkhead braces and along the edges of the carpet.
T'Shaav turns to Ki'vek. "Am I correct in understanding that you first propose an atmospheric passage, and if that be successful, passage through a fully solid body?"
"Right Chief... I think this one should do. Helm, sending it now" LePage says tapping out the coordinates of the nearest suitable asteroid to the helm
"Quite so," Ki'Vek says to T'Shaav. "The results of our passing through an atmosphere they will help us determine how safe it may be to pass through something more solid."
T'Shaav nods. "Engineering, load phase cloak profile and engage cloak. Helm will proceed," she flicks a glance and nod to Ki'vek. "At Lieutenant Ki'vek's command. Lieutenant Ki'vek, when you are ready, sound blue alert and and warn all decks." She then steeples her fingers before her and settles in to watch.
The lights dim as the Phase Cloak engages.
A computer generated voice says, "Cloaking device engaged; entering silent mode"
The lights dim a little darker as the cloak comes online, then resume their normal dimmed level.
Ki'Vek acknowledges T'Shaav's order and watches her console as the ship cloaks. She then makes an announcement to the rest of the crew.
Lieutenant Ki'Vek taps something in on the computer interface panel.
>Intercom< Lieutenant Ki'Vek says, "All hands, this it is the bridge. We will be entering the atmosphere of an asteroid momentarily. Sensor sensativity to full and watch for atmospheric distortions around the ship as we pass. Report any anomalies or lack thereof. Standby."
Ki'Vek nods to the helmsman. "Take us through the outer atmosphere, half impulse."
T'Shaav notices the lights darken down a bit more before returning to cloaked norms. "Mr. LePage. Would we be best advised to take warp drive offline and free up that power drain. If so, make it so."
"I believe that'd be fine given that we're not in a tactical situation at the moment. I think that should be reserved on a case by case basis, but that's a later discussion" LePage offers, shutting down the drive
T'Shaav nods to Ki'vek and reminds, "Blue alert, Lieutenant. Proceed onwards when ready."
Lieutenant Ki'Vek taps something in on the computer interface panel.
Lieutenant Ki'Vek enters an alert code on the nearest computer interface panel.
A computer generated voice says, "Blue Alert, Blue Alert. All hands prepare for phase contact"
"Take us in," Ki'Vek says to helm.
The nervous helmsman glances at Ki'vek. "Sir, uh ma'am? We'll uh, be ready for atmospheric entry in 30 seconds."
>Intercom< Lieutenant Ki'Vek says, "Enterying atmosphere. All stations stand ready."
Ki'Vek nods to the helmsman.
As the vessel skims through the thin-ish astmosphere, the cloak begins to draw additional power from the warp reactor.
T'Shaav says quietly, "Report?"
LePage raises an eyebrow. "Hmm. Seems like the cloak is drawing more power as we come into contact with matter... That explains a few of those fluctuations I saw... I'm going to try and get the computer to corelate the density to the power draw"
Ki'Vek looks over the readings on her own console and nods in agreement, letting LePage do his thing for now.
T'Shaav looks to Ki'vek. "Make sure we get sensor recordings of all of it. Mr. Coil will doubtless find it an interesting study."
The power drain holds at just under 1300.0 GW while the vessel flies through the atmosphere.
"All stations they are recording," Ki'Vek reports to T'Shaav.
"Cloak and power distribution is holding, still trying to get the computer to figure out if there's a pattern to the density of the medium and how much power it's gonna draw" LePage adds in
A computer generated voice says, "Power drain increase directly proportional to matter impact with phase cloak bubble."
"You may have to take additional systems offline to conserve cloak integrity in denser matter on the fly as it were, Mr. LePage," T'Shaav says. "I should prefer that you notice the problem and attend to it without the delay of getting permission from me, lest the result prove ... unfortunate. Mr. Ki'vek. Are you ready?"
"Matter... Impact... Commander, can we spare a moment to stop for a second, I need to test something" LePage quickly requests
Ki'Vek gestures to LePage. "Slowing to one quarter impulse or less it may supply the Lieutenant with more time to make such adjustments," she suggests to the Vulcan.
T'Shaav nods to Ki'vek and turns to LePage. "Lieutenant? You asked for a short delay?"
"Yes, I believe... I think that the computer's just told us that density doesn't matter. What matters is how much matter is hitting the bubble at any given time. I THINK that if we slow down or stop, we'll see a dip in power consumption" LePage explains.
Ki'Vek coils up her tail under her, apparently satisfied with LePage's line of reasoning.
"Understood," T'Shaav says. "Helm, switch to maneuvering thrusters only. Take us down towards, and into, the surface, controlled descent rate of 100 KPH," she says. "Engage at Lieutenant Ki'vek's command." Then to the snake, "I trust that will be slow enough for us to see to what we need."
"Just as long as it reduces the amount of particles coming in contact with the bubble per second, it'll either prove or disprove my theorem" LePage says, eyes glued to his screen
"Quite so," the snake agrees. "Helm, reduce to maneuvering thrusters, but maintain course for a moment before adjusting to descend." She gets the helms acknowledgement and then watches her board as the ship slows. She glances over at LePage for his reaction to the decreased velocity.
T'Shaav also looks to LePage for his input.
It's a terse few moments before the corners of the enginer's lips turn up in a smile, spreading to a proud grin. "Bingo. Ex-actly on the money, sirs. Looks like the less matter that comes into contact with the bubble at a time, the better. It seems like the system is diverting and drawing power as a reactionary measure to deal with the effects of particle contact"
Ki'Vek nods. "So the denser the medium, the slower we need to move through it in order to maintain the energy pull?" Ki'Vek asks.
LePage nods to the Chief. "Precisely. If we took that rock at any kinda REAL speed... The system would overload in a matter of seconds I suspect and we'd get pinned half outta the rock"
T'Shaav nods. "A logical outcome considering what this cloak is meant to do, and not meant to do. Mr. Ki'vek, when you are ready."
"Very well," says the snake. To helm she says, "Adjust course to intersect the surface of the asteroid, maneuvering thrusters only. Take us down nice and slow."
Commander T'Shaav taps something in on the computer interface panel.
>Intercom< Commander T'Shaav says, "Attention all decks. We are about to pass through the asteroidal body. Secure yourselves. We are going in. Bridge out."
"Yes Ma'am," helm says. "Nice and slow."
The USS Himalia NCC-99904 heads towards the surface at the 100 KPH speed requested, making a smooth descent path. Except that instead of landing, the pilot leaves the speed control right where it is.
T'Shaav says, "You may need to disable collision alarms, lieutenants."
The vessel vibrates as the phase cloak bubble interacts with the surface of the asteroid.
A computer generated voice says, "Power drain increasing."
T'Shaav says, "I assume, Mr. Ki'vek, that we could not pass through a star, in theory, with this technology."
A computer generated voice says, "Warp reactor at 72%"
The Terran tenses up quite visible, sucking air in through his teeth. "Remind me to have one of those sciency types write a program to calculate just what we can and can't pass through and how fast to do it given a certain scan input"
A computer generated voice says, "Warp reactor at 79%"
A computer generated voice says, "Warp reactor at 92%"
"I... doubt it, Commander," Ki'Vek replies."
"Helm, all stop!" LePage says, watching the graph jump and spike
"All stop, aye," helm says.
Engineering Console: USS Himalia NCC-99904 comes to a halt deep within the rock.
A computer generated voice says, "Warp reactor holding at 92%. Power drain from phase cloak at 183% of maximum"
"It should be cooling off some now that we're not moving... unless there's a variable I'm not accounting for" LePage says, sweat beading his forehead.
"Is there?" T'Shaav asks as casually as she might as about the presence of plomeek soup in a replicator.
"Unless," Ki'Vek suggests. "The increase it is proportional not only to our forward movement, but also to the direct density of the material surrounding the vessel. Mr. LePage, what material do you detect immediately outside of the ship?"
A computer generated voice says, "Power feedback detected in Shield Control Room."
LePage takes a breather before keying up a scan. "Well... now that we're INSIDE of this thing... I can scan the contents of the rock. Looks like we're... touching a pocket of extremely dense mineral, higher than the regular compesition. It's off our port side. I think if we move off it, we can lighten up the load. It'll still be pretty heavy though"
A computer generated voice says, "Cloak failure eminent"
Ki'Vek considers. "Commander, for now it may be best to reverse and exit on a reciprocal course."
T'Shaav says, "Helm, take us out."
The USS Himalia NCC-99904 begins moving up towards the surface of the rock, many kilometers above.
"Don't rush, or you'll just get us overloaded faster. Fine balance this is" LePage says, quietly as they move through the stone
A computer generated voice says, "Cloak failure in 10, 9, 8"
T'Shaav steeples her fingers. All she can do is wait.
"Probably shouldn't go any faster than this," the helsman mutters.
A computer generated voice says, "Cloak failure in 5, 4, 3"
The USS Himalia NCC-99904 clears the rocky surface of the asteroid just as the phase cloak gives out.
The lights brighten as the vessel decloaks.
A computer generated voice says, "Alert status has been cancelled. All personnel, all sections, stand down from alert status."
LePage slumps over in his chair. Now that the lights are back on, he's turned quite the pale shade.
Ki'Vek looks at the viewscreen. "We appear to have cleared the rock, Sir," she says calmly. Her tone might be calm, but she's squirming in her coils.
T'Shaav speaks again, as though she wasn't just a hand's breadth from a peculiarly sucktastic death. "Helm, take us up. Asteroidal standard orbit.
The USS Himalia NCC-99904 engages thrusters, initiating a climb out of atmosphere and into space.
Ki'Vek turns to LePage. "Any damage, Lieutenant?" she asks.
T'Shaav adds, "Mr. Ki'vek, I assume you would concur with me that our business here is finished."
"Phase Cloak is shot. Looks like the system buckled pretty hard there" LePage reports
Ki'Vek nods to LePage, then says to T'Shaav, "I believe so, Sir. We've gathered a significant amount of data with which to research and study. I would suggest a return to Phoenix's docking port."
"I would like to note, in my Engineering opinion... That the Phase Cloak system is not mature enough yet for the complex tactical situations we have just simulated, and should be used for visual and sensory distortion only. To put a neat bow on that, I don't ever want to do that again. The numbers just don't line up for us to use it like that" LePage says, color returning to his face
"I trust," the Vulcan says serenely, "that the numbers have supplied Lieutenant Ki'vek with the data she and engineering will need to refine the cloak so that it will be ready for those advanced tasks in time. Lieutenant Ki'vek, have we any further business with the cloak at this location?"
"None, Commander," the Selay replies.
T'Shaav says, "Very good. Complete an engineering assessment of all systems and insure nothing unknown was compromised. Mr. LePage, orbit profile. When that is done, we will update Phoenix and begin our return."
LePage slumps over his console again, tapping numb fingertips on the glass. "Orbit Profile, aye"