[Round 4] I have no control over this situation!

[Ilene Torza]

Cadet Tatha (NPC): I have no control over this situation!

((USS Ronin, Deck 15, Main Engineering))

::He was working as a full engineer, doing something only he could do and being a valuable member of a starship in a dangerous situation! The topaz depths of his eyes grew a little brighter in excitement as he followed the conversation back and forth.::

Jassa: We'd need to take it slow so as to make sure we didn't cause a dozen more temporal disturbances in the process but... ::she nibbled her lip:: ... but yes, I think that it will work.

Tatha: I'm ready to connect the drive at any time; we downloaded the programs to use it from the Rio a few hours ago, so we shouldn't lose them in the temporal blips.

Kolk: Alright, Let's do this. Everyone in position. Trolin, you'll be in charge of shield control. Jassa, take that console over there and keep an eye on particle concentrations. Falcon, you're on the Warp Drive. Tatha, you've got the device. I'll keep in contact with the Bridge.

::The device, the most volatile thing here, and he was being trusted with it. Good as he was and respected as he had been for his talent on Negan, this felt as if it was worth much, MUCH more.::

Tatha: Yes sir!

::The Sya sat, keeping one foot on the ground to keep his balance with three spread 'toes' as the other five limbs moved, feet selecting and holding things where two arms could flash around the device, the third arm delivering the appropriate tools to the other two.::

::He loved this feeling, riding the crest of the wave as everything worked in harmony, utterly focussed and limbs weaving around him. This state was what had impressed his teachers, though they had been less than impressed by his relaxed nature.::

Kolk: Okay, hold for my order and be prepared for temporal echoes. We may have to do a few things more than once...

Falcon: If it gets us out of this, the annoyance is a small price to pay.

::An electric pulse like a salsa rocking through his contact with the floor, now he needed the water-like rolling of the Sya tech to meld with it, he could already feel a hint up a tempo in it...::

::The rhythm dropped out of time again, the engineer re-affixing a cable, entering commands on the Padd to re-connect. Kolk had been right about more than once. The flowing pulse of the Sya was starting to reflect the rhythm again, but something was still out of time. With a free limb he ran his fingers over the device to try and locate the burr, another hand coming in to flip open a panel and... ahhh...::

::The cadet chuckled as he selected a component from his spares, carefully prising out the small item and turning it over, speaking almost to himself.::

Tatha: Burnt out connection, no wonder it was having issues... there we go.

::Almost as soon as the new component was in the burr vanished, the rhythms mixing together in harmony. He couldn't WAIT to see what this did when fully active! His body was so full of the electromagnetic rhythms he could barely hear the others when they spoke. Reluctantly he removed his hands and feet from the drive and shuffled back a bit, the words becoming clearer.::

Kolk: ... stick with the plan as is. Begin with the two smallest fields possible around the Dilithium Crystal Chambers, Mr. Trolin, and expand from there, merging the two together when you can. Be sure to calibrate them to allow humanoid tissue through without much resistance but not to let chronitons through, then proceed with all possible speed. The longer we wait, the worse the danger of a hull breach.

Trolin: Creating epicenters of shields setting compensation for organic material

Kolk: Mr. Falcon, Mr. Tatha, as soon as possible, start up the drive.

Falcon: Ready when you are.

Tatha: Ready, there was a burnt out component, the fields are flowing fine now.

Falcon: Then let's do this.

Kolk: Jassa, how's the particle dispersion going? Is Engineering clear of chronitons?

Jassa: Everything within the shield seems to be clear, Commander. No detectable subspace radiation of chroniton particles present.

Kolk: Excellent. Hold on, everyone; the Bridge should be taking us into the corridor any time now.

Falcon: Ready.

::Even if he only had one hand on the device it was enough to feel a surge as the core's power joined the device, who knew that an ocean could dance, the rolling water swirling with the dancer's movement as if it were a skirt.::

Trolin: We are 75 percent clear

Falcon: Ready.

Jassa: Comma...the Captain says to go ahead and engage the drive.

Kolk: How do you know that? I didn't hear the comm and there isn't a message on my console.

Jassa: He...sent a message through Commander Assanti. Telepathically.

Kolk: Fair enough. Have we flushed the chronitons?

Trolin: Shields holding on the outside of the ship

Kolk: You heard the captain, then: let's take the plunge.

Falcon: We're in!

::They'd done it, they were there, beautiful technology! he only wished he could see what was happening outside!::

Falcon: Wait!

Tatha: oO Rats. Oo

Kolk: What is it, Lieutenant? Do we need to shut down the drive?

::Her eyes still burned gold with active sensors.::

Falcon: We can't try to jump back yet. Right as we made the transition there was a massive power spike. Very brief, but it was there. We've leveled off, but we're high in our allowable band. We get another spike like that… Even if I'm watching for it, I don't know if I can mitigate it. We'll probably blow out systems.

Tatha: then we need to get a message to the bridge telling them that, right? Otherwise they might take us out without warning...

Falcon: Now that we've made the jump, power levels are starting to decrease. I think we're finally bleeding energy from the core back into subspace. If we sit here for a bit, it'll lessen the risks for when we jump back.

Tatha: That sounds familiar, the original drive on the Sya had trouble starting moving and slowing down too. In the current ships the inertia is handled by damping the energy with a power spike, maybe this drive has salvaged some bits but not the others?

Kolk: Lieutenant, how long do you expect we'll need to stay in the corridor?

Falcon: Not long… Maybe a half hour, tops.

Trolin: Would there be any pressing reason why we have to go back. At this moment I don't detect any anomolies and the shields appeared to have worked pushing out the present radiation.

Jassa: I don't think there's any reason we need to jump back just yet. Lieutenant Trolin is correct, I don't detect any traces of chroniton particles or subspace radiation within the Ronin as yet. I'll keep monitoring the situation, but for now I see no harm in remaining where we are.

Trolin: Would we be able to use energy to explore our surroundings

Tatha: That would be interesting, I'd like to see what's it's like.

Kolk: Are you sure the energy is going to disipate, Rho? I don't want to give the Captain a timeline we can't stick to.

Falcon: Okay, we're finally starting to lower. Jack, might want to try passing a message to the bridge. Let 'em know to just sit here for a little while to let the power bleed off.

Kolk: ::Jack chuckled.:: That was my last question, I swear. ::tapping his badge:: =/\= Kolk to-- =/\=

::Suddenly the rhythm in the drive changed, the dance was becoming even wilder, more erratic, the movements falling out of sync as the Sya-negan's head shot round. He knew what happened with a magnetic field started to feel like this, he had a split second to move or fix it and right now the latter wasn't an option.::

Falcon: Too late! They're making another jump.

Tatha: I know! I don't think we can stop this!

Falcon: Everyone get away from the core! Away from the core!

::The creature was already moving, three legs moving in a speedy scuttle that showed he'd had to do this too many times, limbs shooting out to pull people into movement, though one didn't seem to get it. Topaz centres shot upwards to meet the person's eyes as they took a firmer hold and continued to run, the fingers keeping a tight grip on them.::

Tatha: That thing is going to blow, move!

::As the crew scattered, Tatha glanced back, letting go of the other person as he saw the other siliconite was still standing there. He was about to yell to run when the whine stopped and he blinked, had they managed to...?::

::No, she was still running, so he did likewise. What had she managed to do? It obviously wasn't stopped, but the fields were still building, though it seemed like the focus had... shifted? He registered the fields bulging behind and to his left just before there was an explosion and a shout of pain.::

::Having a head that could rotate over 180 degrees was useful, having three legs that could promptly follow it and reverse direction to shoot back towards the injured android. Well, first things first, they needed to get this lump out of...::

Kolk: Report! Is everyone alright?

Falcon: Leave it!

::He immediately did so.::

Tatha: What's the damage? Are you sure you don't want me to remove that?

::The reply was strained. Rats, if only he knew a bit more about the systems humanoid androids used, if it was one of the Sya ones he could have already started repairing her!::

Falcon: It cut my primary control and power conduits. I'm working to reroute now.

Tatha: Um, do you need a Doctor or an Engineer? I want to help, but I don't know your circuits well enough to trust doing a repair job.

::He looked to anyone else nearby, dark eyes worried.::

Tatha: Who can help her?

Jassa: I... I'm afraid I don't know much at all about androids. I'm not sure what I can do to help...

::He could at least do something, the electrical equivalent of a pulse check. One hand hovered above her skin to feel the EM fields. The patch near the shard was.... not nice, as for the rest, it felt normal, though still a bit weak for his liking.::

::He was surprised to find a hand holding his when testing the fields and blinked, looking at the android again.::

Falcon: Just stay with me for a bit, okay?

Tatha: I... wasn't really planning on moving.

oO Help! What do people do in these kinds of situations? I'm not a counsellor, and I've never seen an injury worse than when someone fell out of a tree, how on earth am I meant to deal with this, I'm an engineer, not a counsellor or doctor! And I'm only 14! What the hell do I DO?!?! Ah! I know, distraction!Oo

Tatha: I know, why don't I tell you how I can keep tabs on electrical things? It's the reason why the Sya-negan are generally so good at making things. The silicon in our bodies is effected by electromagnetic fields so we can feel the rhythm, it's normally a slight hum. The Ronin has a salsa-like tempo and the Sya technology rolls like water so it makes it easy to find where there's a hiccup in the machine or when two things aren't connected properly.

Falcon: You feel fields from technology, huh? How about me?

Jassa: That's fascinating! The way you phrase it, it almost sounds like you're saying machines have a heartbeat. Is that how you see everything?

Tatha: Yes, your field's low so that you don't affect anything else around you, so I can only feel it if I'm really close, but it's a nice one! It's how I knew you were an Android pretty much as soon as I came aboard.

Falcon: Well, thanks, Tatha. It's nice to be noticed.

TBC...

Cadet Yan Tatha (NPC)

Engineer

USS Ronin