appreciations Lieutenant Josh Herrick: Guesses Upon Guesses

[Lhandon_Nilsen]

We are beyond lucky to have @Josh Herrick simming on our ship, he shows us all of his reactions and thoughts towards others effortlessly while also dropping some awesome nuggets.

@Avander Promontory pointed out this line in our other thread

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Lia raised an eyebrow while looking at Josh, which gave him déjà (V’Airu) vu. 

As Avander said Josh "is one of our most underrated writers. His prose is full of fun little nuggets that enhance the reading experience."

I want to add that in addition to all of this, he took mine and Tony's ideas and gave an amazing bit of engineering summing, that was both in-depth and logical but also really easy to read and understand as a layperson. This is a whole skill in itself and I don't think people understand how hard that is to do.

Here's the full sim:

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((Ready Room, Deck 1, USS Unity Dow))

 

Lhandon and Josh had just finished giving Lia their first impressions on what happened, but they were simply best guesses with the data at hand. Then, the Assistant Chief of Ops took it a step further.

 

Nilsen: Yeah. There's a chance they could be here watching us right now.
 

Josh hadn’t thought about the crew still being here, getting swept up in the science of it all, but this supposition had clearly caught the captain off guard as her eyes grew wide while she looked at Nilsen.

 

Rouiancet: Lhandon, lead with that. What do you mean, they could be watching us right now?!

 

There was a small moment of silence as Lia looked between each of them, and Josh took the opportunity to reinforce the perspective.

 

Herrick: If the crew are slowly phasing away,it stands to reason that they might be shifting through different observable spectrums.

 

That sounded rather plausible, and Josh scraped at whatever tidbits he’d gleaned from those growing distant academy courses. Trying to avoid getting asked any more detailed questions, he quickly continued on.

 

Herrick: And, if that’s the case, we could run some tests that could validate what’s being pitched here.

Nilsen: But…Josh… (beat) We need to be on the bridge for this. I’ve had an idea. I also think they knew what was happening to them. I can’t put my finger on it, something from that log.

 

Lhandon didn’t wait for a cue from either of them, leading the way as a good scientist to prove their hypothesis. He quickly followed the man, taking a breath of the stale but less stinky air, with Lia bringing up the rear.

 

((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Unity Dow))

 

Rouiancet: By all means, show me. And maybe let's start with the watching us thing, please.

 

Josh nodded and motioned his hand to Lhandon, letting him take the lead as they followed him to the science station.

 

Nilsen: Josh, you said that their combadge signals are phasing away right? Which means, they’ve not phased away yet.

 

Herrick: Right (beat) Some of them could be in a layer where they aren’t clearly apparent to our visual and auditory senses, but they could still be aware of us onboard. Like some cloaking devices.

 

Rouiancet: (thoughtful; uncertain) That is possible, but isn't it also possible that something remains without the crew being physically present? Something like (beat) a subspace trail created by a starship's warp drive after the ship passes by.

 

Josh was a bit surprised with his CO’s question, it was a glass-half-empty comment given they were discussing half a thousand souls. It seemed she was also self-aware enough to realize her grim take on things.

 

Rouiancet: Then again, it seems better for them if they are still around. We wouldn't have to find them, we'd only have to figure how to bring them back into phase.

Nilsen: I think we’re thinking the same thing, could we do something really stupid like transport them back, help them rephase with our reality?

 

Lia raised an eyebrow while looking at Josh, which gave him déjà (V’Airu) vu. He himself raised an eyebrow toward Lhandon. With all the transporter mess happening on the OEB, he was less inclined to experiment with them. But just because he had a bad feeling didn’t mean he'd hold back recommendations.

 

Herrick: (not sold) The transporters could work… We could set up transport enhancers in a location that would’ve held a number of folks and start beaming that pocket out; we’d have to keep an eye on the molecular images and expand the field should we pick something up that might be half in and half out of the target area. They weren’t built for that though so we’d likely need to rebuild some of the hardware.

 

He looked at each of them, wondering if they felt more confident in the idea then he did.
 

Nilsen: I…just…I’ve no idea how to do that.

 

Rouiancet: (gentler) Well, hey, we don't need to figure it out just yet. Let's confirm that you're right, and the crew is still here, just (beat) phased. How do we do that?

 

Herrick: What about a photonic flash?

Nilsen: Responses

 

Herrick: (nodding) We could end up temporarily blinded for a few seconds, but we might be able to see their outlines in the moment right after the flash.

 

He hated this plan too, given if there were some nefarious forces at play, they’d be leaving themselves wide open. But, there’d been no signs of any activity and this was the least worst plan so far.

 

Rouiancet: That sounds like a good place to start. But do we have the power for that?

 

Josh watched Nilsen effortlessly call up the power distribution grid; recalling that a large bulk of their energy was being funnelled into the shields, and then simply falling off the scanners.

 

Nilsen: Response

 

Rouiancet: (thoughtful again) Could we effect a power transfer of some sort? Either from the Butler itself or our support craft? Supplement what little's available to the Dow somehow?

 

Nilsen: Responses

 

Herrick: Between the OEB and Dow’s deflector would likely be our best bet. The connection would be less prone to fluctuations.

 

Nilsen/Rouiancet: Responses

 

Herrick: (shaking his head) The other away team would also be affected by the flash, with how maxed out some of the EPS flows are ::pointing to the floating holo-display:: I’m not a fan of trying to get too fancy with it or it might just blow up in our faces and blind us all.

 

Nilsen/Rouiancet: Responses

 

Herrick: After the link is set up? It’d only take about 60 seconds to bank up the required power… if the OEB is feeling generous enough. ::smirking::

 

It wasn’t without risk, but that was life in the field. At least he wasn’t being called upon yet to make the hard calls. That responsibility lay squarely on Lia’s shoulders, and he couldn’t imagine the weight upon them for her second mission.

 

Tags/TBC

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Lieutenant Josh Herrick

Chief Engineer

USS Octavia E. Butler

O240005JH3

he/him/his (player/character)