Quentin Beck

@VLen Kel providing a very sweet and heartwarming scene between Kel and Rox

@LuxaLorana making me laugh with how disgusted she is by the whole situation; special mention of @Alieth for delightfully playing along

A secondary honk of laughter for @Karrod Niac from the same joint post

@VLen Kel has done it again, made me honk with laughter, and at the exact same moment Beck was inspired to honk with laughter for some unknown reason

@Ian OConnor's Ferengi npc making me laugh my backside off

Now it's my turn to compliment your final line

@Haukea-Willow Thank you 😊 I thought it was a good button

Pressure. Enough of it on her inner ear to strike her momentarily deaf and dumb. It had all happened so quickly, her disorientation inevitable, but that thought provided little comfort as it was jumbled up with so many others at the same moment. She tried to close her eyes and found that they were already closed, but that didn't stop her world from spinning. Clenching her jaw, she tried to center herself. A long, deep inhale through her nostrils followed by a slow, shaky exhale through parted lips. It took two or three times before she could assert some order in her brain and the pressure began to abate. As she regained some measure of control, though, and her senses returned, she was thrown back into the chaos of reality and thought maybe she'd been better off with her brain scrambled. The display built into her helmet flashed red in time with the warning blaring in her ear and an alarmingly long list of damage to her EV suit started scrolling across her view. It would have been simpler to display a list of what wasn't damaged in the blast during the emergency beam-out, though it wouldn't have been any less concerning. Life Support in particular had been critically damaged, which meant… she didn't have long. She wasn't sure about her partner, the comm was down, and she hadn't yet made a visual confirmation on whether he'd made it out of the runabout or not. So she floated freely for a few moments amidst the scattered remnants of the runabout, unable to do much. The suit's thrusters were undamaged, but there wasn't enough power to actually engage them without venting the last of her good air. She bounced off the twisted material that had previously been the starboard nacelle, which rotated her through space a hundred and eighty degrees. That brought the mouth of the wormhole back into view, which looked immeasurably larger now that there was nothing between her and it except a thin plane of transparent aluminum and maybe a few thousand kilometers of empty space. She had never felt so small. Why it was still open she wasn't sure. The death of the runabout should have ended their experiment. Maybe it was still coasting on the tachyons they had generated to open it in the first place? She could only speculate without a scanner. It was possible the Kyoto had tried to follow them through when the distress call had triggered, but she didn't think the Captain would be that reckless even to save the lives of two of his senior staff and the prototype generator. That'd just strand the ship and crew in… where the heck was she, anyway? The stars were unfamiliar. The suit's scanners were limited but at least had enough capability to try giving her some idea where she was. She blinked at the result, her brow creasing. "Canis… Major? But that's…" The estimated range from their starting location was just under 25,000 light years. Their wormhole generator had not just allowed them to travel deeper into their own Galaxy… it had sent them to the next galaxy over! "Oh my god! Can you believe it, we–" Then she remembered her comm wasn't working. And she didn't know if her partner was even still alive. Her head turned in the helmet, eyes flicking rapidly through the space she could see, hoping against hope… and there. Another EV suit, though not free-floating like hers. His boots were attached to a larger piece of debris, and he was also looking towards the wormhole. What could she do? Without the comm, she couldn't get his attention. She didn't have any kind of sidearm, either. With a timed burst of her thrusters, she could probably at least get in range for him to see her, to know he wasn't alone. So what if it ate up the last of her oxygen? She was already living on borrowed time at this point. She had to wait until the right moment in her rotation, though, or else she'd go careening off the wrong direction. A count to five was just about right and she was coasting towards him. She shut off the power to the thrusters, which thankfully stopped pushing the oxygen levels down so quickly, and breathed a momentary sigh as she came up beside the debris he'd latched onto. He turned to look at her, eyes flooded with relief at her approach, and his lips moved. She didn't hear it, and she indicated as much. Frowning, he waved at her to come closer if she could, pointing at an open spot on the hull next to him, then at the wormhole. She thought she understood and triggered her thrusters one last time. She couldn't engage the magnetic locks on her boots. He held onto her instead. They both watched the mouth of the wormhole shimmer for a few moments longer before it snapped closed again, bathing them once more in darkness. And there would be no going back. At least it had been beautiful.

Special recognition to @LuxaLorana for giving me such great stuff to work with with Emzai, Kipal, and Drisila

@Dekas It's very Homer Simpson and/or Peter Griffin to me lol

@VLen Kel knocked it out of the park with all of this

@Alieth Good point! I'll move it!

Combining all of these into one post. @VLen Kel's NPCs killing it today EDIT: part 3 came after I posted this, I should have waited!

Everyone involved has added their own little spark of insanity to this scene, but this Exit: Stage Right by @Karrod Niac is truly amazing. We must now include wiki definitions for the words he invented ((Sickbay Complex, Ward C, Deck 10, USS Ronin)) k’Oar-€l: This one has requested to speak with the vessel master. The Niac. Rox: Ta da! Karrod quirked an eyebrow and pointed to himself with a thumb. Niac: That's me, Ensign. ::Karrod glanced around:: Are we still having translator problems? Carpenter: RESPONSE k’Oar-€l: ::slightly confused:: but Cub/Not Cub can not be the Niac. The Niac is Trill. The Niac is a swimmer. The Niac is worm shaped. Karrod got a strangely sinking feeling. Niac: Haven't met a Joined Trill before, have you Ensign? Beck: Technically you're correct - Niac is who you're asking for, and they are… uh… a swimmer, as you put it… but Niac is a symbiont. Trill are the humanoid hosts. Carpenter: RESPONSE Karrod had little experience trying to read the expressions on Antedian features but he found it odd how universal confusion looked. k’Oar-€l: Ahh, this one was not aware The Niac was combined. Nor seemingly were Pod Elders. This may be complicating message. Karrod shrugged and felt his eyebrow continue its journey towards his hairline. Niac: Complicated...how? Carpenter: RESPONSE Rox: ::looking at K’Oar:: How so? k’Oar-€l: This one has a message from the Antedian Science Aquarium Pod Elders for only The Niac. This one carries the message unknown to this one imprinted in this one’s brain. Messaging is able to be releasing through bioelectrical impulses through the milky waters that The Niac was supposed to be swimmings in. This one is not sure if transmission still possible with The Niac ingested by the Cub/Not Cub. Karrod pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and thought back to several early Academy classes taken by himself and two other hosts. He tried to remember all he could about patience when dealing with alien cultures and came up with very little that would help him in this increasingly odd situation. Niac: Ok, first thing, we really need to discuss the word ingested... Carpenter: RESPONSE Rox: Come again? Beck: Huh… k’Oar-€l: This one’s best idea-ing would be to have the Cub/Not Cub Niac fully immersed naked in waters similar to Trilly Cave of Mak’ala. This one will then stick this one’s head into the bathing waters and release the bioelectrical impulse. Hopefulligly The Niac will receiving the message… and Cub/Not Cub will not be electrocutified.. Beck: I uh… don't know the exact qualities required to match the Cave of Mak'ala, but I would imagine we could find a way to simulate the environment. If that's what you're interested in doing, sir. We've got large enough bathing tanks I think it could work. ::rubbing his chin:: Too bad we don't have Cetacean Ops, that'd make it a lot easier… For a brief moment that was all too clear in his minds eye Karrod saw himself being eulogized by a mournful crowd as the Starfleet flag was draped over the torpedo casing that would be his final command. When the subject of his death by electrofishmail was discussed the mourners descended into hysterics, laughing until they simply couldn't breathe. He snapped out of the dreadful premonition with a start. Niac: Uh, Ensign, yeah...I think perhaps we'll need to table that idea for now. I'm sure I could put in a call to the Symbiosis Commission back on Trill, they're certain to have some information about how to handle one of these...uh...situations. I assume your people have done this before, right? Carpenter: RESPONSE Rox: I’m just going to put it out there that I am ::pausing, smiling:: out of my depth here. Karrod tried not to snort a laugh and barely suppressed it in time. Niac: Oh I'm sure the message back to Trill won't take more than a week or three to get a response. You can be sure that as soon as I hear back you're my first stop, Ensign! Karrod considered the door behind him and decided it was time to make a tactical withdrawal. k’Oar-€l/Beck/Carpenter: RESPONSE Rox: I’ll could stay here in case we need to transport either of them back to sickbay. Niac: Thank you Nurse Rox but I don't think that'll be necessary right now. Oh what's that? ::Karrod booped audibly and pantomimed patting his comm badge:: Yep that's the bridge, gotta run. Busy ship, always things to do. Best of luck Ensign Carl! With that Karrod turned on a heel and headed out of sickbay at what he felt was an entirely measured and not needlessly hasty speed. He'd need to send that message off to Trill but he imagined that there were at least five or six terribly important matters that he'd have to address before he could get to that. What those important matters were or how long they'd take to resolve simply hadn't revealed itself yet. As he strode towards the turbolift, he was certain whatever they were, it beat getting himself and Niac fishlectrocuted. [Tags/End for Niac!] ================================ Commander Karrod Niac Commanding Officer USS Ronin - NCC-34523 V239509GT0

Congrats, kiddos - keep up the good work!

That was absolutely my doing, I mentioned it on Discord and Tucker ran with it lmao

@Alieth Thank you 😁I had a lot of fun writing that one, and even more on my second sim. If you can't tell, I'm itching to join the fray.