Turning the Lights On

Posted on Mon Jan 2nd, 2012 @ 5:52pm by Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard & Lieutenant Commander Aeitos th'Ralik [PNPC] & Lieutenant JG Michael Watters & Lieutenant JG Ethan Kessel & Lieutenant JG Maeik Gaius PhD (NPC)

Mission: Old Relics
Location: Derelict Space Station
Timeline: MD14 1535

Lieutenant Gaius felt every particle of his being fall unceremoniously back into place. He had always revelled in the mysticism and wonder of cultures and therefore found the idea of being dumped from one place to another by the coldest, most calculating piece of technology the Federation had to offer somewhat lacking. He shook off the feeling as they stood breathing the artificial environment of their EV Suits.

The chamber in which the away team found themselves seemed to stretch infinitely up into black and while it was probably an optical illusion brought on by the darkness of a powerless station, it still stood as a terrifying abyss to the Lieutenant, who was more used to books and libraries than derelict stations. He made a swift movement to activate the powerful torches that sat atop his shoulders and used the opportunity to look around. It was actually quite small. No bigger than the galley on a Sovereign Class. Still, the eerie lack of presence seemed to crawl up his spine and rest on his neck.

"Okay, everyone follow myself and Commander th'Ralik." Ballard ordered through the comm system of his suit, "We don't know what we're going to find on here so if we're all going to die in a horrible bloodbath, we might as well do it together." He chuckled inwardly to himself. Gallows humour had always been a mainstay of his time in the Intelligence Service but he soon came to realise that Non-Commissioned Officers often had stronger stomachs than their pipped counterparts.

"Are you expecting a Bloodbath on a deserted station?" Ethan asked. This was his first mission, and he was determined not to make a mess of it. He had been surprised that he had been ordered to come, but not overly. Who better to get the Energy Systems back online then the Energy/Matter specialist? He had turned on his torch now. He was comfortably aware of the Phaser on his right hip, although he could not imagine what it would be used for. It was enough that it was there.

"I wouldn't say 'planning on it', Ensign, no." Ballard replied as he opened his tricorder. "It's good to be prepared though. I used to work on a ship where we had to write a different Last Will and Testament before we left the ship. Now that's not even a joke."

"A station this old is likely to have many defective bulkheads and couplings," the Andorian chief engineer chipped in to the conversation. "A bloodbath does not necessarily have to be initiated by another living being, Ensign."

"This station looks old, and unlike any thing I've ever seen before..." He murmured "does anyone even know what is made of? That may give us a better idea as to whats its for, and how it works..."

Although Mike could hear the few comments being exchanged over the environmental suits' open commlink, his attention was focused more on their immediate surroundings than the conversation at hand. The lamp attached to his left wrist, despite its small size, produced enough light for him to peer through the semi-darkness. It illuminated a nearby bulkhead which did not seem all that dissimilar to what one might expect aboard any Federation installation. "Never judge a book by its cover, ensign," he said slowly, "You never know what sort of secrets these old, abandoned stations are holding..."

"Too true. Just because there's no-one here doesn't mean they haven't left any surprises so watch your footing and make sure you keep your eye on your tricorder." Ballard's footsteps seemed to echo inside the clunky EV Suit. He had seen the inside of many a derelict facility when he was in the Syndicate but they were usually more concerned with a smash-and-grab attempt to plunder any salvage than actually bringing it back online. The short-sightedness of youth.

He came to a large circular door, not unlike the docking hatches on those Cardassian Nor class stations, he noted as he ran his hand around the outside. There was enough space for him to get his hand in and he called back. "Watters, give me a hand with this, will you?"

Although the sight of Commander Ballard standing near the open seal of the door was not unusual in and of itself, the image very much reminded Mike of his last visit to a seemingly abandoned station. That facility had been of Cardassian origin, if you could have called it that, but the experience he'd encountered there had been unlike anything he'd ever had before. It was also one he would never forget, either. "Right away, sir," he replied, securing his phaser as he crossed the open distance between himself and the door. He slipped one hand into the small opening between the door and the seal while pressing the other against the surface of the door itself. "Ready when you are," he said once his feet were planted firmly in position.

"Okay, let's give it a good heave," Ballard said as he took up position, "one, two, three, heave!"

The two men gave their best as the hulking door began to give, slowly and surely until the group found themselves able to slip through into the next room. It seemed like some kind of power relay room. "Commander, can we get some power back up using these relays?" His engineering skills were rusty to say the least. He had barely lifted a hyper spanner since he was aboard the Morality; Engineering wasn't like riding a bike.

"Yes, we should be able to do something with this," the Andorian replied, as he squeezed his way through into the other chamber, allowing his suit lights to illuminate various consoles, conduits and pieces of hardware. "Ensign?" he called, hurrying along their travelling specialist into the room to give his opinion of the systems.

Ethan came into the room, and surveyed the equipment. He moved over to the relays, and inspected them each in turn.

"The equipment is all functional. There is no sign of a struggle or fight of any kind, and all of the hardware is in good - if dusty - condition... Still know sign of why the station was abandoned We should be able to get some power back, but a station of this size would have more than one Relay point. I suspect that there is a Generator deeper in the complex, but with any luck, we should be able to start it from here".

He began connecting a couple of promising looking cables to the Relays and then to some of the monitors. With this done, He started moving some of the equipment, and rested a particularly tall pilon up against the wall, while he looked for some way to boot up the system. Finding no obvious switch or button on the front of what appeared to be the main console, he sent his hand around the back, grouping until it brushed against something. Give the "lump" behind it a tug and pressing it did nothing, but when he rotated it the whole room sprang to life.

Green Light flooded the room, as the various monitors came online. What he had first thought of as a Screen came to life, and appeared to be made of some kind of crystal.

Inside the crystal, various red lights began to take shape, forming some kind of runes on the screen. the strange alphabet was not static, but twisted and morphed, into new shapes, before repeating the cycle.

"Well, we have power. Anyone have any idea what on earth [i]this[/i] means?"

Gaius, who had been silent for some time, completely useless to proceedings immediately stepped forward. Suddenly, he was in his element amongst the nonsensical displays of a culture that they didn't understand. "Give me a second," he said, holding his tricorder to the display. He quickly produced a PADD and began cycling through different information at a speed that Ballard could barely keep up with.

"What have you got, Gaius?"

"It's a data station, Commander." Gaius said as his hand began to slow over the PADD. His voice lowered. "Yes, yessss. That's it. I've got it. Well, not got it as such but I can make out the general thrust of what it's saying. It's just station information, Sir. Most systems are down. See here?" He pointed at the characters on the screen. "Seems to mean that there's no power. I can't be sure, Sir but given what we know, it seems like the station's been powered down deliberately."

"Can you access any information as to the purpose of this installation?" the Andorian commander asked, stepping closer to the scientist, as if peering over the other's shoulders would allow him to read the content of the odd screen/crystal/display system. "Is it a research station? Observation post? Colony?"

"At first glance, it looks like an all-purpose station. Like a Stardock, I suppose you'd say." He took another glance at his PADD. "If I'm reading this right, it looks like the first power outages occurred thousands of years ago. It's impossible to say when exactly," he began muttering, "it seems as though their system of annual numerical values doesn't have any linearity to it. At least not that we'd understand. It does seem to imply that the station was completely offline within a year of the first outage though."

Aeitos shined his suit light around the room, pausing on a few different things, despite the fact that the new flow of power had brought some lighting to the room itself. "The state of the equipment in this room would likely corroborate that time frame," the man said through the suit's communication systems. "Though the station's outer shell must be of incredibly durable composition to prevent both it and then the station's internal sections from becoming damaged over the years by vacuum exposure and any stellar collisions."

Ballard stood back to his full height and activated the outbound communication channel on his EV Suit. "Ballard to Endeavour."

The voice of the Bolian Operations officer Zam Stott came through the channel inside his helmet. Uncomfortably close quarters, by all accounts. "Endeavour here. Go ahead Commander."

"Endeavour, the station appears to have been powered down for thousands of years. Lieutenant Gaius informs us that it is a multi-role station similar in design to that of our Stardocks. I reckon it would be safe to transport over a team of engineers to attempt to bring life support and vital systems back online."

The Captain's voice was the next to appear on the line. "I'll have Lieutenant Scott put a team together. Until they get there, see what you can do. Endeavour out."

--------------------
PLt. Commander Narayn Ballard
Executive Officer

Lt. Commander Aeitos th'Ralik (NPC)
Chief Engineer
(Played by Capt. Byrne)

Lieutenant JG Michael Watters
Chief of Security

Lieutenant JG Maeik Gaius (PNPC)
Contact Specialist/Anthropologist
(Played by PLCdr Ballard)

&

Ensign Ethan Kessel
Matter/Energy Systems Specialist