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"Not So Loud"
(Previous Post: "Sound Effect")
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Setting: EPSILON 358, Underground
Stardate: 32008.1845
"There has to be a way to stop that storm before it hits the BASTET," Selene voiced out loud not ready to accept the conclusion offered by the holographic guide as a fact that could not be changed or altered in any way.
"The storm is the storm, it cannot change its mind just as Korgano could stop chasing Masaka. Nature is what it is so the storm cannot be stopped," the guide explained, looking at the four gathered women with an air of complete confusion. It was apparent that the being had been unable to understand why they all had been so shocked and concerned about a simple sand storm.
"Even Korgano managed to catch Masaka at some point," Lieutenant Mitshiba said as she turned to the guide, the Chief Science Officer obviously having had an idea that she could not take the time to explain to the others. "An eclipse! Day could be turned into night, but in this case instead of light we are dealing with sound. The storm was created due to the sounds created by the BASTET, so all we need to do is send a message to the ship to have them turn *everything* off."
"Without the temporal dispersion field active, there is no way for us to communicate with the ship," Commander Valentine pointed out.
"No we cannot," Misaki quickly agreed. "There is no way for us to use the normal communication channels but we could use the crystals in the rocks to relay a message to Commander Janeel or even better still send the command directly into the computer of the BASTET telling it to power down everything with the exception of life support systems."
"Why not just tell them to reactivate the temporal dampening field instead of turning everything off?" the First Officer inquired, thinking that her solution had been a much a safer and practical one, not to mention quicker.
"Because if we get the temporal dispersal field back online we lose the guide and all of the information he has access to, and us through him," Alexandria pointed out. After having spent over six months searching for something beyond sand, the archeologist had not been ready to abandon the discovery so quickly, a way of thinking that Lieutenant Mitshiba seemed to share.
"As annoying as he may be, we might still need his help to figure all of this out," Misaki added as she generally pointed to everything around them. Without the guide they would have likely never found out about the crystals within the rocks or their integral use in the system which had allowed all of them to interact with a holographic image from the distant past. Placing any and all emotional reactions aside, it had made scientific sense to do everything possible to safeguard the system that had been responsible for the guide and the holographic images available through him.
"Tell us, can we use the crystals present in the rocks of this planet to communicate with our ship?" The Captain demanded of the Guide making it very clear that she would not accept anything short of a rapid and direct answer to address their current dilemma.
"Of course," the guide replied, again sounding as if the answer should have been common knowledge to everyone, "but I suspect that your combined voices would be far from enough to create a song loud enough to be heard by anyone on board your ship. Plus, the vibrations created by any such song would likely dissipate through the metal frame of your ship."
"There might be another way," the Chief Science Officer noted as she reached for her tricorder. "Doctor Bruxa has some of the sand in sickbay, what if we managed to create a sympathetic harmonic vibration in that sand? If we do it right, we could actually have it act as a relay that would permit us to send a sonic signal that, in theory, could relay information directly to the nearest main computer interface. From there, it would be a simple case of specific signal modulation to instruct the computer in shutting down all but the most basic systems. Once the BASTET goes *silent* the crystal would lose the signal that they used to create the storm. Again, this is all in theory of course."
"How long before the storm hits the BASTET?" the Captain asked as she looked at the holographic image the guide had provided, wanting to know if this plan had any possibility of succeeding.
"Hard to say but based on the holographic display that we are being shown and taking into account the smaller scale of the image I would guess no more than 10 minutes before the destructive part of the storm comes in contact with the ship," the Chief Science Officer replied.
"Do what you have to," the Captain ordered. However of a long shot this idea might have been, it had been far better than doing nothing other than watching her ship be destroyed by a sand storm.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 32008.1850
"Shields are at full power," the Tactical officer reported to Commander Janeel who had assumed command of the BASTET in the absence of both the captain and First Officer.
"It would be nice if the sensors were operational in this temporal harmonic soup," Janeel sighed not at all liking the fact that they had no way to gage the strength of the storm or even have some sort of timeline before it would sweep over the BASTET. "Put the storm on the main viewer, maximum panoramic view."
"Is the image distorted in anyway?" The Commander inquired, the displayed scene not at all being what she had expected to see.
"No Commander, the visual feed is what you would see through any of the windows facing the storm."
"Then this is far from being good unless it is some sort of optical illusion. From the last time I looked at it, the storm has visibly increased in size and strength," Janeel said in a somewhat trembling voice. "I am officially concerned that the shield may not be sufficient to protect us from the storm. Bridge to sickbay, Doctor Bruxa have your medical teams on standby, we will be moving all personnel to the inner sections of the ship in an effort to minimize casualties but the I suspect that the storm is going to make things exceptionally difficult for us."
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Setting: USS BASTET, Sickbay
Stardate: 32008.1852
"Medical emergency response teams are already on standby," the Chief Medical Officer confirmed following the announcement made by the current acting Commanding Officer. "Be ready to deal with a large number of broken limbs and concussions," Satella added as she looked at her emergency teams. "If this storm tosses the ship like an empty container, we are going to have a lot of injured people all at once."
"Doctor," Counselor Lopez began as she quickly moved next to the woman in charge of Sickbay, "is there anything that I can do to help?"
"Hang on and give us one less person to worry about," Satella said, not having tried to joke in the least.
Complying with the suggestion that she had been given, Adriana search the room for something that had been solidly secured to the floor and which she would be able to hold on to. As she quickly did a survey of the room though, the Counselor noted something strange about the small transparent container in which the sample of the EPSILON 358 sand had been kept in. Although the storm had not yet hit the ship, the sand appeared to be moving as if responding to a yet to be felt vibration.
Having found this scene rather puzzling, Adriana made her way to the table where the container and sample had been on as she tried to understand what it was that she had been witnessing. When the sand began to violently thrash about the small transparent container, Counselor Lopez actually stopped wondering if she should continue with her investigation or withdrawn in case something unexpected happened.
"Is something wrong?" Satella inquired having noticed the perplexed expression on the features of the Counselor.
"I am not entirely certain," Adriana replied as she hesitantly pointed to the small container and the sand in it which had seemed to be trying to break free from its restricted confinement.
"Why is it doing that?" Doctor Bruxa asked, not really having the time to investigate this strange occurrence given their current situation.
"Not sure," the Counselor offered. "Wish Misaki was here; bet she would be able to tell us without having to do too much figuring out. The best I can do is guess, and I would go with that the sand is somehow responding to the storm or some other external stimuli."
"Well, unfortunately we simply do not have the time to look into it," the Chief Medical Officer dismissed. "I am placing you in charge of whatever that is, I need to finish getting the rest of the medical teams ready for the hell we are going to be faced with."
Adriana simply nodded her agreement, not risking taking her eyes from the small container and the sand thrashing about in it. The more the Counselor gazed at the sand, the more she believed that she could see some sort of pattern in the way the sand moved. With her curiosity winning over her sense of self preservation, the woman made her way to the table and carefully removed the lid in order to get a better look at the way the grainy substance had been behaving.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 32008.1855
"Commander!" The Tactical Officer called out in a panic. "Shields have dropped and I am reading a massive shutdown of every system on board including the warp core. I have no idea how or why but everything is being taken offline with the exception of emergency life support."
"How is that possible?" Janeel demanded in anger, the shields having been the only defence the ship and crew had against the approaching raging storm. "Did someone breach our communication and computer?"
"Impossible to say Commander, the main computer is shutting everything down including itself," the Tactical Officer reported just as the console he had been working on as well as the lights went out.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Sickbay
Stardate: 32008.1856
"Sickbay to Bridge, what is going on? Why have the lights gone out?" Doctor Bruxa demanded after having tapped her communicator with a little more force than she had wanted.
"The lights are not the only thing out," the Counselor offered. "Every single console and system is also dead."
"Not everything," Satella corrected, "emergency life support is still operational," the Doctor clarified as she pointed to the panel responsible for the display of life support systems throughout the BASTET. "What could have caused a ship-wide system failure like this?"
Quietly Adriana returned the cover to where it had been, sealing once again the sand inside the container. Although there had not been any proof to point to this having been her fault, the coincidence had been simply too much for the Counselor to ignore at this time.
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Setting: EPSILON 358, Underground
Stardate: 32008.1900
"Did it work?" Sarena asked, her eyes glued onto the holographic image of the storm and ship.
"The ship has gone silent," the guide informed sounding almost disappointed by the fact that he had just reported. "From the thundering roar that was coming from your vessel, I can now only hear the soft whispered songs of the people on board."
"Will that be enough to stop the storm?" the Captain asked, the holographic display showing the outer edge of the storm already washing over the hull of the BASTET.
"It will take time for the crystals to process the sudden lack of sound originating from the ship, but it should happen fast enough for us to see something changing in the storm itself," the Chief Science Officer offered, part out of scientific understanding as to how the process seemed to work, and part out of unscientific hope to see the ship and its crew be spared the catastrophe that they had seen unfolding before their very eyes.
"Look," Alexandria nearly screamed as she pointed to the image of the storm. Just as it was about to impact the landed ship with unimaginable force, the storm suddenly vanished, the gale force winds and projectile speed sand having been replaced by what appeared to be a breeze. As strong as the winds might still have been, the outer hull of the BASTET had been more than enough to shield those inside from them without any visible issues.
"That was close," Sarena sighed. "A little too close if you ask me."
"Looks like we are going to have to dig the ship out, but at least it is intact and everyone on board is safe," Misaki offered, beyond happy to have been able to make her little plan work.
"As strange as it may seem," the archeologist softly grinned, "the fact that a fair amount of the ship is now covered with sand may actually make it easier for you to communicate with your crew. The resonance of the crystals is carried through the sand and now there is a much greater surface contact which might be enough to carry some sort of audio signal."
Selene looked at her childhood friend with surprise, never having expected Alexandria to propose such a valid and scientifically sound observation.
"Being alone and digging for relics for months at a time as taught me a great many things, and like so many others you underestimated me," the archeologist pointed out, not sounding overly happy with Captain Iverson.
"Alex, I never underestimated you, not then and certainly not now," Selene said in an effort to patch the situation. "I was just thinking about how Charles was right when he said that he had been proud of the woman you have become.
Not having wished to hear of or speak about her father, Alexandria let out a long sigh and turned her back to the other three women. With a purposeful step she headed down the corridor which led to the main cavern, the archaeologist seeking the solitude that she had been well accustomed to have as her one true friend and loyal companion.
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Jessica Solarik
Commanding Officer
USS BASTET
&
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
"To see the world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)