Lt. Commander Ayiana Sevo - Rite of Passage

[Doz Finch]

Another great sim opening our latest mission. I love the way this sim flows and how it instantly mashes together the often juxtaposed subjects of science and faith. That and we get a stream of thoughts pouring out from Sevo, who wonders during the journey what it must be like from the Prophets point of view, which I thought was a really interesting point to make. Brava! 👏

Lt. Commander Ayiana Sevo - Rite of Passage (google.com)

Quote

((Cockpit, USS Kerla))

 

The Bajorans called it the “Celestial Temple.”

 

Some Klingons named it the “Eye of Destiny,” whereas the Skrreea called it the “Eye of the Universe.”

 

The Jem’hadar called it simply “the anomaly.”

 

For everyone else, it was the Bajoran Wormhole, one of the wonders of the galaxy, alongside the Laughing Vulcan Cult and self-sealing stem bolts.

 

In both her’s and Toran’s lives, Ayiana had never entered the wormhole. There was no need to, as the Dominion War took place almost entirely in the Alpha/Beta quadrants. Like thousands before, she had stood on the upper level of the Promenade on Deep Space 9, staring out the windows towards the wormhole when it opened majestically to swallow a ship. But this was the first time traveling through it, and while most Bajorans considered passing through it a religious experience, many others shared similar experiences.

 

The Celestial Temple did not disappoint.

 

Passing through the throat of the wormhole, the runabout was awash in multiple colors thrown at them from the structures inside. Constant, swirling strings of energy guided the runabout and the other ships through. Ayiana’s heart jumped whenever they passed through a verteron node; despite looking solid, they were completely permeable. Ayiana’s mind whizzed with the physics involved in the wormhole; still the only known stable — and artificial — one in existence. How did it exist where other wormholes, natural and artificial, collapsed or changed termini locations? What physics beyond that which the Federation knew allowed it so? The only clue was that it was the “home” of the Prophets, or “Wormhole Aliens,” and that they probably constructed it. If so, they were fearsomely advanced beings.

 

She could see the end approaching as a sphere of white light, usually something to be avoided until one has died, but in the case of the Wormhole, it was literally the “light at the end of the tunnel.” With little fanfare inside, the white light twisted open to show a starscape beyond, and the Kerla, along with the other ships from the Gorkon, flew out like the rejections of a monster’s maw. Soon after the wormhole’s rippling disc disappeared back into itself, Jo’s voice buzzed through the ship-to-ship comms.

 

Marshall: =/\= Marshall to Kerla. Weather looking good over there? =/\=

 

Reynolds: =/\= Clear skies. =/\=

 

Gnaxac: =/\= P-p-plain sailing =/\=

 

 Ylvor:  =/\=  Systems are all within tolerance, Admiral. =/\=

 

Sevo: =/\= The Prophets were kind to us today. =/\=

 

Ayiana had wondered what it must be like from the Prophets’ point of view - these other things moving through the wormhole’s dimension. Was it like people walking on your lawn? Or was it more like ants on a wall in the higher dimensions the Prophets may live in? It was known they were aware of ships passing through, as they stopped Sisko and Dax on their initial journey, and famously stopped a huge Dominion fleet from passing through, cutting off the Dominion in the Alpha quadrant from reinforcements and giving the Alliance a fighting chance. The successful transition of the reinforcements to the Alpha quadrant and its results Ayiana and crew had seen first-hand Over There.

 

Marshall: =/\= Your plotted landing site should be well away from the camp. Still, try not to trip any alarms or landmines if you can help it. That's some PADDwork stack I don't want. =/\=

 

Reynolds:  =/\= Don’t much fancy filling out the Lost Admiral form? ::She chuckled.:: Honestly, I’m more concerned about encountering whatever’s caused so many ships to crash there. We’ll be careful.=/\=

 

Gnaxac: =/\= V-v-very careful =/\=

 

Ylvor: =/\= It's only a form? =/\= ::Torvi said mainly to herself::

 

Sevo: =/\= It’s just that it’s really hard to break in a new Admiral, and we rather like the one we have. =/\=

 

Marshall: =/\= Keep those tricorders hot. Sevo, I know you've got yours. =/\=

 

Sevo: =/\= Zaxi Junior is raring to go. =/\=

 

Ayiana patted her tricorder on her hip. It was brand new, one of the latest ones Starfleet rolled out, requisitioned on DS9. Naturally, she had already tweaked and modified it with some modifications she bought at Iana station a while back, along with her own designs.

 

Quinn turned to each of them, Ayiana spun to meet the Admiral’s gaze.

 

Reynolds: Alright then. We’ve got our landing coordinates—our job is to investigate the crash fields and discover where these ships and their tech has come from.

 

Gnaxac: ::looking at the PADD in front of him:: That’s a lot of c-c-crashes.

 

Ylvor: I imagine there could be survivors of these craft, possibly hiding within the hulls or in neighbouring geological shelters.

 

 

Sevo: If so, it’s likely they are fractured and prey on each other. Such behaviour is well documented in situations of mass stranding with limited resources.

 

Reynolds: I’m a little curious about that, too. It’s a rare event for one ship to crash onto a planet, especially one that people have little cause to visit. For it to happen to so many implies there’s an exterior force at work. ::She raised her mousy brown eyebrows.:: Either a natural phenomenon, or something deliberately engineered.

 

There were several natural possibilities that could account for the ship-sweeping, but in Ayiana’s experience, she learned to have a healthy dose of caution.

 

Reynolds: Let’s keep a close eye on the local space and ship’s systems as we approach. I want a heads up the second we spy anything unusual—if we spot anything at all. Whatever is causing ships to crash, it’s not affecting everyone who gets close.

 

Gnaxac: That’s g-g-good to know.

 

Ylvor: It could be possible to attempt an unpowered descent if something triggers from our power signature. Shield the auxiliary power and start it up again when in atmo. But we might not register for whatever this is ::She paused after finishing her thought, then remembered:: Admiral.

 

Sevo: “Unpowered descent.” Crash. You mean crash.

 

It was odd seeing Quinn at the controls, but no one was going to say no. 

 

Reynolds: Response

 

Gnaxac: D-d-do we know if there’s any connection b-b-between the ships that crashed? Similar s-s-sizes, p-p-power sources, etc.?

 

Ylvor: It is difficult to determine sizes from what I've observed sir, as some of the wreckage has compacted from the point of impact, and some have broken apart and scattered across large areas.

 

Sevo: No idea yet. We’ll have to make more detailed scans when we’re down; however we get there.

 

Reynolds: Response

 

Ylvor: Using the sensors from all the shuttles, we could determine larger pockets of ion trails to see if there is a focal point, or a field? I am sure that any ship starting to get dragged down would have attempted to break free, resulting in a higher concentration of ions. If they knew about it, that is.

 

Sevo: It’s possible, but the data we have so far shows almost all the crashes are spread in a single location several thousand square kilometers in area. So we know roughly where the boundary is; just not *what* it is.

 

Reynolds / Gnaxac: Response

 

Sevo: You know me well, sir. I’m on top of the science end; scanners are raring to go.

 

Reynolds/Ylvor/Gnaxac: Response

 

The pack of runabouts and shuttles cruised across the light-years from the wormhole’s exit to the system in question at a leisurely, cautious pace. During the interval, Ayiana perused the database of everything known so far about the planet and the anomaly. There wasn’t much to go on.

 

Sevo: I’m wondering if this “Eye of Infinity” cult was formed from the survivors of the crashed ships.

 

Reynolds/Ylvor/Gnaxac: Response

 

Sevo: I know, it’s not our purview, but curious minds, and all that. Hopefully we’ll get more answers when we land.

 

Reynolds/Ylvor/Gnaxac: Response

 

She just hoped that they’d be able to get off the planet again.

 

 

 

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Lt. Commander Ayiana Sevo
Mission Specialist

U.S.S. Gorkon

Image Collective

Wiki Ops

V239109AS0

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