Firebreak

 Episode Name:  Firebreak

   Written By:  Ghorev

         Cast:  Ashilav, Edwards, Ghorev, Haven, Idrani, P'Trell and Rivers.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Ghorev

     Aired On:  Tue May 28 07:41:50 2002

     Stardate:  52370.7

Time: Mon May 27 20:54:53 2002

Stardate: 52369.6

Ashilav glances up at Ghorev's entrance with Edwards, and tracks him as he walks through the room.

Ghorev makes his way towards the podium, holding a steaming mug of something. "Can everyone be sure to take a seat so we can get started with the briefing?"

Ashilav switches her PADD on, crosses one leg over the other in her seat, and gives Ghorev her attentions.

P'Trell sits and watches the front of the room.

Rivers swings around to nod to Ghorev and finds herself a seat between P'Trell and Ashilav, PADD in hand.

Haven stifles her giggles as she shifts in her seat to look at Ghorev. One finger taps her PADD, clearing the current contents.

Edwards makes his way toward an empty chair and drops into it wordlessly.

Ghorev says "Approximately 115 hours ago, a strange wavefront of rapidly fluxing chronitons and anti-chronitons, of as yet unknown origin," as he says this, the middle viescreen on the wall o' screens pops up a map of the sector, "struck Subspace Relay Station 23 *here*." SRS23 lights up on the map, "and somehow carried it to *here*, 1 Light Year away," a second dot on the map, "within approximately ten minutes' time. Halfway through that journey, the station accumulated enough damage to be knocked offline."

Ashilav listens to Ghorev quietly, occasionally tapping at her PADD, which has its sound turned off.

Rivers watches the display on the viewscreen, and then drops her gaze silently to scroll through data on her PADD.

P'Trell sits and watches.

Edwards watches and listens to Ghorev politely, not reacting to the information.

Ghorev says "The report regarding that mission has been filed. Our follow-up investigation shows that the wave is on a direct and unmistakable intercept course for the Dulais Sector Anomaly, however." A second map, a closeup of the Anomaly and its immediate area, including the station, appears on another screen. "At our current estimate, the wave will strike the Anomaly in about 12 hours unless we stop it. Agent Duncan of the DTI, who has helped with this investigation since the beginning and is continuing to study it even now, theorizes that if the wave strikes the Anomaly, everything in a 50 light year radius will bid its farewell to this plane of existence."

Ashilav furrows her brow slightly at that bit of information but continues to listen quietly.

Haven's jaw muscles flex in her jaw but she remains quiet as G lays it out.

P'Trell's brow furrows in thought.

Ghorev says "We have the last salvagable data from the Relay Station, and from this we can confirm that the wave slowed substantially when it struck the station. Ensign Ashilav is working on calculations involving slowing the wave down by blocking it with sufficient mass. However, the wave is now seven times bigger than it was when it hit Relay 23 ... somewhere around four and a half times the size of USS Aegis. We do not have the ability to create sufficient physical mass, and the Ensigns calculations to create virtual mass have /thus far/ not reached a conclusion that we can implement with the time we have remaining."

Rivers listens intently, without expression, her eyes glued to Ghorev and the viewscreen displays.

Ghorev says "We need a means either of slowing the wave down, or disrupting it, or blocking it from the Anomaly, or stabilizing either it or the Anomaly so that the collision isn't catastrophic. I am making all the data we have available to you. The floor is now open for questions and suggestions."

P'Trell closes his eyes for a moment as though deep in though.

Rivers frowns finally and lays her padd in her lap, leaning back and folding her arms. "Slowing it down would only delay the inevitable collision, wouldn't it?"

Ghorev says "It might buy us more time to make Ensign Ashilav's grander suggestions workable," as he turns to face Rivers. "Or, if it reaches a critical threshold of speed, stall out. We don't know. It's a last resort option, certainly."

P'Trell says "Do we have any idea why it's growing?"

Ghorev says "It's a wave, of course. It picks up small particles and sweeps them along, expanding in size. Remember that the Anomaly isn't exactly a chroniton-free zone."

P'Trell says "Right but these aren't normal chrinitons or anti chronitons. If they were then this thing would have exploded by now. That's the sticky bit."

Ghorev says "I'm not the theorist, Prythra P'Trell. That's your department." He smiles as he leans forward into the podium. "If you look closely at the places at the table, there are small discolored dots at each placing. They are ODN and EPS taps in the table to hook your individual PADDs to the station computer grid. I've turned them on, you have all the data available accessible via your PADDs. That's why we're here. To discuss the situation, and move together to implement any solution *immediately*."

Edwards merely listens silently, as he won't be of much help, since the wave can't be blown up.

Rivers finds the appropriate tap in front of her and hooks up her PADD. "So it's feeding off of the chronitons in the area? Is there a way we could fire those into an opposing wave?" She shrugs slightly. "Kind of of like how firefighters used to fight a forest fire..let the waves cancel themselves out?" So it's an off the wall idea, but Dana's no scientist.

Ashilav taps at her PADD making a number of ODN linkups, and clears her throat, indicating she'd like to speak. "My theory can be accessed through those same ODN links. I theorize that it may be possible to take a small asteroid or interstellar mass and apply an inverse subspace field to it. We all know how subspace allows us to interact with the universe in such a way that it thinks something else is going on. Less mass, folding space, etcetera. I theorize we can trick the universe into turning our asteroid into one giant wall that will absorb or dissappate the wave entirely."

GAME: P'Trell spends a courage point.

Ghorev adds, on the tail of Ashilav's own statement: "I had considered the idea of using a microwormhole, but the only people we know to have those in their hip pockets are the Romulans, if what we know about their more recent warp engines holds true."

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Physical Sciences (Physics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

P'Trell says "What about the gravity well technology that our friends in the nebulae use? We might be able to get more mileage out of Ashilav's asteroid if it had more gravitational mass than it should. Maybe we could shrink the thing down or collapse it in on itself. If you look in system 80213 you'll see that it already intercepted a small planetoid and it didn't slow it down. It might be something other than mass that slowed it down at the relay station."

Ghorev looks up. "What? I hadn't noticed that." He looks through the data, saying ashe thumbs through it, "Remember that we're running against the clock on implementation."

P'Trell says "Maybe it was the subspace signals themselves. There's a chance that they might have disrupted the already sketchy balance between the chronitons and the anti-chronitons and slowed her up. Enough subspace noise might disrupt it."

Ashilav shrugs her shoulders. "What sort of power source does the relay station use? Usual matter/antimatter explosion, or is it a fusion-based plant? Maybe it's one of those energy signatures."

Ghorev says "Do you ----" He pauses. "Wait. Wait. There was something." He starts going through another series of files, which pop on on screen 1, and flipping through them rapidly using the podium controls. "Chief Petty Officer Kirby's statement noted that the Operations room of Relay 23 turned purple, and the main subspace communications console exploded, but that was *before* the station had been moved physically by the wave."

P'Trell says "How long before?"

Ghorev hrms. "Mere seconds, I think, but we can certainly rule out the physical damage to the station as a cause." He continues reviewing. "Pehraps your guess is correct, Prythra P'Trell -- perhaps the open circuits of the subspace communications console are the key." He eyes the data more critically now.

Ashilav does the same, glancing down at her PADD.

P'Trell scrolls down the data on his PADD looking for answers.

Rivers frowns and scans through the data on her PADD, drumming the fingertips of her free hand on the table top.

GAME: Ashilav spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

<CONTEST> Ashilav (claiming advantage) contests her Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

<CONTEST> Ashilav (claiming advantage) contests her Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Ghorev continues to review the data himself, a frown on his face.

P'Trell makes a soft trilling noise then grins. "The subspace circuits attracted the thing. This thing's not a wave so much as a current. The relay station grounded it so to speak."

Ashilav asks, uncertain, "It wants to go to subspace?"

Edwards furrows his brow somewhat, "A current?"

Rivers makes a face and glances to P'Trell. "If it's more of a current..then there's a beginning point as well as what's drawing it. If that were the case..." she pauses, uncertain herself. "..then if we could find the source of the current, could we like..shut it off?"

P'Trell says "Possibly or we could drag it to a ground that won't allow it to continue. We'll just need more subspace frequency space than the relay station had."

Ghorev says "Keep grounding it, then?"

P'Trell says "Until it peters out or we can find the on/off switch for it."

Ghorev says "I suppose we could try to ground it repeatedly, or with many open subspace circuits all at once .... " There's a hesitance, though. "It's a workable plan, but ...."

Rivers leans forward a bit. "Ground it with what, though?"

Ghorev says "Open subspace circuits, apparently."

Ghorev then repeats "Apparently", with a frown, as he eyes the data.

P'Trell grins a wry grin. "If there was ever a time for everybody to go call home this would be it.

Ghorev says "The station isn't in the path of the wa----oh, you were joking."

Ashilav shakes her head. "There should be a way to use the deflector dish on the Aegis to simulate a huge subspace channel pipe opening up."

Ghorev says "The problem with that, Varanya Ashilav, is that any modifications made to the deflector dish limit us to impulse speeds."

Ghorev starts running some models, however, as soon as he finishes speaking.

<CONTEST> Ghorev contests his Computer (Modeling) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

"Choose, Akeen Ghorev," Ashilav says with a wry grin. "Limping home at impulse speeds, or having the surrounding fifty light years explode into subatomic particles."

Ghorev admonishes Ashilav: "The wave is *traveling* at warp. IF we can't maneuver to it and around it, we can't touch it."

P'Trell says "What about the sensor bouys?"

<CONTEST> Ashilav contests her Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Rivers contests her Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

P'Trell says "We the Aegis isn't all we have. She has two shuttle and a compliment of sensors which we could beef up with sensor probes from the science dept. All of those have subspace capabilities."

Rivers lifts a brow. "What about subspace beacons?"

Ghorev nods. His jaw becomes a tight line. "I'm still running the computer models, but I don't know that we have the luxury of continuing to run them until we're sure. So far, it's all we've got. We can go out in Aegis, fire a few small probes at the thing to see if its speed is changed noticibly, and if that works, speed ahead of it, and rig all the probes, shuttles, and whatever else we can to throw at it as the firebreak that Ensign Ashilav and Lt. Rivers have proposed in concept."

P'Trell says "And if we set them to different frequencies it might help stop the thing. What slowed it around the subspace relay might have been the shift in subspace routings to compensate for that relay's going offline."

Haven speaks up, her tone low and calm. "Our alternatives may not be numerous or cheery but the out come, if we sit here and test and ponder and talk, is going to be much much worse. If this is the best we've got then I say we go and try to stop this wave."

Ghorev says "Agreed. But, Doctor, the last option is this..."

Ghorev says "If the firebreak of active probes fails to stop the thing completely, we'll have to risk the shuttles, and if that happens, the shuttles will need to have pilots. You may have to start prepping the usual spread of serums."

Ghorev looks at Edwards. "Michael, it's your call."

Haven nods slowly, "Already done, Akeen."

P'Trell says "I'll volunteer to take a shuttlecraft out should it become necesary."

Haven adds, "As can I if needs be."

Rivers glances to Haven briefly, an eyebrow twitching. "Serums?" is mouthed silently, and then she turns back to Ghorev in time to nod with P'Trell. "Myself as well."

Edwards sits up in his seat and straightens his uniform idly. "You all are the smartest people I know. I trust your ideas. Let's do it." he comments.

Ashilav glances over towards Edwards inquisitively, then back to Ghorev. "I believe I am qualified for shuttle piloting as well, sir," she offers.

Ghorev smiles lightly as he keeps his gaze on Edwards. "Ensign Idrani is already running pre-flight checks on Aegis, so I suppose I can adjourn and turn things over to you."

P'Trell says "This is going to be exciting."

Edwards rises to his feet and nods to Ghorev. "Let's try to keep our molecules from being scattered to the four winds, people." he remarks, with a smile.

Idrani tilts her head a little for better access to her neck, but otherwise keeps working at the helm.

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Haven sits down at Command.

Haven stands and leaves Command.

Haven sits down at Engineering.

Edwards watches Haven finish and nods to her, "Thanks, Doc." That said, he finally retakes his chair, the big one in the middle, and drums his fingers against the armrest idly.

P'Trell says "That should do it."

Rivers glances to P'Trell, then to Mission Ops, fingers drumming as she waits for orders.

Haven glances to her console then back up, "All stations reporting injected with the serum, Sirs."

Ghorev gives a nod of agreement to Haven's status report.

P'Trell says "Now this isn't going to work great. I've just bought us a little wiggle room. We can hang further back than we could have previously and still talk to the shuttles. We"

P'Trell says "'re going to still get a little hot though."

Edwards questions, "How close do we need to get?"

P'Trell says "A few dozen kilometers ahead of the wave."

Edwards nods at that, "The shuttles are ready?"

Ghorev says "The shuttlebay engineers report all clear for launch, and they are clearing the bay to avoid exposure when the bay doors open."

Edwards calls out, "Yellow alert!" That taken care of, he orders, "Idrani, take us within a few dozen kilometers of the wave and match its speed."

Idrani begins pushing buttons on her console. "Aye sir. Closing distance and matching speed."

P'Trell says "Here's where the fun begins."

Rivers nods at the order. "Shields ready on your order once the shuttles are away, sir.'

Edwards fixes his gaze on the viewscreen intently and states, "If the shuttlebay is clear, then launch the shuttles."

Ghorev says "It's clear ... and shuttle doors now open." Soon, in fact, the main viewer shows two smaller blips falling slowly back behind the Aegis.

Haven taps the control panel on her console as she monitors the radiation levels.

Haven says "Radiation levels are with in acceptable levels at this time."

The shuttles, once clear of Aegis' warp field, kick in their own -- and head right for the wave front, deftly conrolled by Ensign Ashilav. Closer ... closer .... closer .... But the shuttles, visibly, shudder as they pass through the inner layers of dense chroniton output, and stress fractures can be seen on them soon. But the effects are visible ... after a few moments, the wave starts to fall behind the Aegis, a clear sign that it is slowly.

Edwards shoots back up to his feet as the shuttles stay intact and the wave begins to slow. "What's its speed now?" he inquires.

P'Trell says "Warp 1.15 and falling."

Idrani asks, "Compensate to remain within the dozen kilometer range, sir?"

Edwards replies to Idrani, "Do it." He watches the viewscreen closely and tries, but fails, to not get his hopes up.

<CONTEST> Idrani contests her Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

P'Trell says "The chroniton/anti-chroniton flux is slowing down too. I can't tell yet which side is going to win out though."

Suddenly, *something* happens. The first shuttle explodes, and as Aegis starts to slow to match the wave's speed, it comes a bit *too* close. There is a loud *zzzzhhhpah* as the Mission Ops console explodes with a purple surge of plasma, hurling Ensign Ashilav back out of her chair and to the floor.

Rivers' hands jump across her console. "Shields sir?"

Edwards reacts as the console explodes. "Helm!" he barks. "Yes, shields! What the hell happened?"

P'Trell taps away furiously at his station looking to see what the wave is doing in the light of these new events

Haven is sliding from her chair as Ash hits the deck. She grabs her med kit and moves over to her, remaining close to the deck to avoid being thrown about. When she reaches her, she removes her tricorder from her belt, flips it open and begins to scan her.

Idrani's jaw clenches as she tries to make adjustments at the console.

Ghorev turns his head at the sound, and the light ... and after a moment, dives forward to the console in question, to contain the damage.

Haven scans Ashilav with her tricorder.

Rivers raises the remainder of the shields to protect the ship, sending the reserve power to aft, just in case.

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Rivers contests her Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

<CONTEST> Ghorev contests his Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Edwards contests his Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

P'Trell says "That wasn't plasma. (he spins his chair to get a good bead on the area with his tricorder.) The relay station went purple before they moved."

<CONTEST> Haven contests her Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Edwards steps toward the Mission Ops station and warns, "Be careful, Ake..." He eyes the station warily a moment, then turns his attention back to the main situation, "Status of the wave?"

Rivers keeps a close eye on the wave and the ships tactical systems, her features sketched in a frown.

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Ghorev uses the secondary mission ops console to activate the suppression mechanisms on the first one, hanging off to one side to avoid any further pyrotechnics. "I think I've got it under control."

P'Trell says "My tricoder says that she was hit by an enormous dose of chronitons. Most likely it came through as feedback across the open connection with the shuttlecraft."

<CONTEST> Rivers contests her Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

The second shuttle, by this time, is literally likewise coming apart at the seams. Cracks appear over it as if it were literally aging and shaking to pieces and then it, too, gives up its all for this cause, exploding in a shower of sparks and plasma.

Edwards watches as the shuttle is lost and mutters to himself, "Glad we didn't put anyone on it."

Haven nods as she reads the data on her tricorder, "Exactly right. She's taken a hit of chroniton radiation that is 83 percent /above/ what the serum is capable of protecting her from. She needs to be moved to ships medical bay /now/!"

Idrani shifts position slightly in her chair, obviously concerned for her lodge-sister, but she does not take her eyes off the helm console.

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

GAME: Idrani spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Idrani (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

P'Trell says "The wave is down to warp 1 but she's starting to become unstable. I'll try to let you know how unstable as soon as I can."

Edwards remarks, "Leftenant Ghorev, site-to-site Doctor Haven and Ensign Ashilav to sickbay." To P'Trell, he questions, "Unstable?"

P'Trell says "I'm working on a better definition as we speak sir."

Ghorev says, tersely, to Edwards, "Chronitons." As if that would immediately remind Edwards that beaming them through the higher levels of interference is kind o fimpossible. He retakes his console, though, now that the danger at Mission Ops seems over for the moment.

Haven taps her combadge and says, "This is Haven on the bridge. Prepare a radiation treatment, stat! Also bring up the Andorian medical database!"

In fact, how unstable is now apparent, as the wave begins to break like waves on the shore. Idrani narrowly skirts the Aegis around a few stray wisps of the energy field as it breaks apart. In fact, though the wave front itself has slowed, much like a wave, wisps of the thing are 'sprayed' ahead, and the visibility outside the ship becomes murky as Aegis is buffeted mildly.

Edwards swears under his breath. "Rivers, help Haven move her." he orders, moving up the ramp to stand near the tactical station.

Over Haven's combadge, sickbay replies "Understood, Doctor. Is this a delivery?"

Rivers nods to Edwards and starts to leave her console, an eye on the viewscreen. Aye Sir." Wasnt doing much anyway. She kneels at Ashilav's feet and nods to Haven with a faint smile. "Ready when you are Doctor."

Haven says into her combadge, "We're on our way down. Stand by."

Haven flips her tricorder closed and attaches to her belt then gathers Ash's upper body in her arms and nods to Dana, "Ready."

Rivers takes hold of the Andorian's feet and lifts, then starts backpeddaling for the turbolift.

After a moment, the buffeting stops, and the viewscreen with its aft view clears. The wave appears to be gone.

Edwards sighs somewhat in relief when the Aegis becomes still. "Did we do it? Or is it destroying the sector as we speak?" he asks.

<CONTEST> Idrani contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Idrani notes quietly, "The wave appears to have been dispersed, sir. However I am registering levels of chronitons in the immediate vicinity."

Haven vanishes, with Dana and Ash, from the bridge as they move Ash to the Infirmary.

<CONTEST> P'Trell (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Ghorev, as soon as Idrani announces that the wave seems to have dispersed, speaks up, "Damage reported is minimal, Sir," he says to Edwards. "Some minor stress cracks in some less shielded bits of the ship. But we're intact."

Edwards places his hands against the wishbone, leaning into it, "The chronitons aren't a problem?"

Idrani says "They are at higher than normal levels, sir, but not at a critical level."

Ghorev continues his damage report with "We're also showing minor decrease in dilithium efficiency, but nothing we can't recrystallize. All in all, we're still spaceworthy."

Edwards nods a little and relaxes, "Why don't we head for home, then."

P'Trell confirms that the cloud has dispersed.

Idrani taps her console. "Course laid in, sir. Cruising speed."

As the ship swings around, the view on the screen changes. There, floating with its deceptively calm twinkling shine, is the Anomaly, casting its somewhat muted glow across this edge of Dulcais Sector.

Ghorev's antennae droop slightly as he casts his glance on the destroyed mission ops console, and the spot where Ensign Ashilav was thrown to the ground. "Well, given the cost, I hate saying this, and I never thought I *would* say it..." He pulls his gaze up to the viewscreen, slowly, "... but isn't she a beautiful sight?"

P'Trell says "She always is."

Edwards just shakes his head, doesn't comment, and wanders back toward his chair.