Welcome to Gaia! ::

((i think you mean that you're an Ensign, right? xd Captain, Commander, Lt. Commander, Lieutenant, Ensign(if I'm spelling them correctly), then Crewman. *Shakes his head, then grins* but it is a good first post. I'm sure i can play with it alright...))

Lt. Owen Raines couldn't help staring himself. The view out the forward portals was something else. The Captain had made one heck of a great call when he decided to take a closer look at this star system. The radiation coming out of the star had some rather strange properties when it passed though the planetray rings of the giant L-Class planet (barely habitable) they were approaching on their port side.
You certainly never saw stuff like this in Sol System, and certainly not on Mars. Though you had to grow up on the Red Planet to appreciate the eerie beauty of the terraformed world.
"Did you hear what happened in the Science Lab the other day?"
"No. What?"
Raines shook his head, and glanced back at two of the other people in the shuttle. Ensign Koya Miu-Dohl, a Coratian(Kor-raisch-in) - whose Feline-like appearances made her endearing to most who met her - and Crewman Sean Thannery (human, obviously) made a chatty couple. The two liked to talk a lot, and worked well together. So although it sometimes got the pair in trouble, their gossiping never seemed to interfere with their work.
Raines turned his head slightly to glance at Ensign Anamersya. Three months on the USS Rosen, and already she had mad quite a place for herself as one of the best pilots on the crew. But Owen had also had the opportunity to get to know her better, and recognized the almost glazed expression on her face.
"Ensign," he said as he glanced at one of his dispalys at the Ops/Tactical station for an excuse, "you should consider triming our heading by two degrees to starboard." He glanced up, smirking as she was still unresponsive. Raines glanced back, and seeing that everyone else was a bit preoccupied, he stepped forward and lightly placed a hand on the Ensign's shoulder. "Ana," he said quietly, "you're day-dreaming again."

Raines blinked. Ana's strange form of telepathy still caught him off-guard soemtimes. He lightly squeezed her shoulder, then reached over to check one of the console displays. but the same strange glow had caught his attention too. Now that wasn't a hallucination, he was sure of it. "You saw that light, too, right?"
Raines looked out the forward window, then turned slightly to see if anything was above the shuttle - though come to think about it, it was much more like a runabout. But there was nothing there.
"Sylindris, you see anyhting on sensors?"
"Saw what? Owen, you continue to not make any sense," Ive joked. It was a based on a discussion they had had not too long ago. Sylindris could argue circles around most people, and Owen Raines was no difference. All Owen could really remember about it was how Sylindris argued that most sentient races had a level of continuity in their dominant cultures, but then pointed out that human beings weren't like many others. In fact, most things about humans confused him, but fascinated him at the same time.
"I'm not joking. You know me, if something catches my interest, I like to find answers, explanations. It's the rationalist in me."
Sylindris shook his head. "Running sensor sweep, though I'm certain the proximity sensors would have detected anything that was close enough to be seen." He paused. "You know? If I remember correctly, weren't you the one who told me that there were some mysteries in life that were best left unanswered?"
Raines glanced back at his fellow officer, and shook his head. Ive just grinned as his console beeped. "There's still nothing out there except unusual radiation fluxes and stellar dust. Well, and the star system, of course."
Raines was starting to turn back towards his own station when the entire Flyer shuddered. Several alarms started beeping and chirping. "Report," Raines said as he tried to get the bearing of his own station.
"Gravimetric Sheer," Thannery responded. He looked surprised. "It's just come out of no where!"
"Can we compensate?"
"I'm attempting to realign the deflector geometry," Ive responded.

Raines braced himself as the Flyer was rocked again by the gravimetric forces. He glanced at the readout Ives was showing him. "That can't be right..." Raines turned and ran another series of diagnostics. "Confirmed. Molecular fluctuations along the port-side hull. We've got microfractures starting to form. Koya, see what you can do about bringing those new Borg-configured shields online. We need to reinforce the hull before it breaches."
"On it!"
"I got it!" Thannery sounded surprised, but also excited.
"Report, crewman."
"Tracking the gravimetric distortions to the source. It's some kind of spatial anomaly almost 50,000 km off port. According to these readings, we're getting pulled towards it." The note of rising panic was very clear.
"Ana, can we jump to Warp? It might-"
"That wouldn't be advisable," Ives kicked in. "I don't doubt we could get a stable enough field, but with the forces out there...it could tear us apart."
"Fine. Ana, go to full Impulse, and keep us away from whatever it is out there as long as you can." Raines hit the comm. controls. "Okaida to the Rosen, we are caught on the edge of a spatial anomaly, and are slowly being pulled in. We are in need of assistance. Rosen, do you read?"
"We read you, Okaida. Raines - attempti- tand-by...."
"Damn, there's some sort of interference," Raines tried to compensate. "Rosen, come back. Rosen, please respond."

Raines didn't respond immediately. He had been too intent on rotating the comm. frequencies. Maybe if he could realign- No. Still nothing. And it wouldn't help to reroute anything either. Sub-space, it seemed wasn't on his side.
He glanced forward where Ana was, then aft to where Koya and Thannery were both sitting. Their eyes kept going from Ives to Raines. "Okay, genius, seeing as how we've bought ourselves at least a minute, tell me this: how certain are you that whatever it is you are planning will work?"
"Owen, even you, as a human, know that nothing is ever certain," Ives said with a glint of his usual humor.
"Koya?"
"The modified shields are holding. Microfracture damage is minimal."
"Thannery?"
"If our pilot can continue riding out the worst of the gravimetric waves, we might just be able to stay one step out of whatever it is out there that wants to pull us in."
"How certain, Sylindris?" Despite how the Flyer still shuddered from moment to moment, Owen shiveled his chair around so that he was facing the other Liutenant.
"Almost 80% certain that we'll survive, anyway. And about 75% that what I have in mind with be successful, and that we'll be saved."
"Any hints?"
"It'd take too long to explain, I'm afraid. Ensign, those shields, if you'd please?"
"He's the genius. If he says it'll work.... Drop the shields, Ana." Raines thought of something at that moment that he didn't like. He turned back towards Ives. "Ives, how often are you wrong?"
"Let me put it this way," Ives said as he continued his calculations, and inputted a series of commands, "not even geniuses are perfect."
An almost impossibly well-timed chorus of 'WHAT?!' sounded from where Thannery and Koya were sitting. Raines didn't look back.

It might have just been stupid luck that Raines had not been able to keep his seat once the shields had dropped. One of the consoles he was working at had overloaded - one of the EPS conduits, most likely - and exploded above him. Not that he didn't escape unscathed. His head was killing him. He opened his mouth to respond to Ives' call to him, but all that he managed was a momentary groan.
As attention was pulled forward towards Ensign Myrgaldi, raines managed to slowly pull himself first into an upright position, then the rest of the way into his seat again. His hands moved sluggishly, but he was able to get some damage control going. It was too bad that Star Fleet still couldn't perfect the Regenerative capabilities of nanites, despite the included expertise of certain qualified persons once a part of the Collective (hat tip to Seven of Nine).
Raines attempted another try with the comm. system, but only sighed. Communications was completely out of commission. He test cleared his throat before trying to speak again. "Switching to Emergency Power," was all he said as the lights flickered, then came back. "How does propulsion look?"
Ives looked back with a frown. "We'll be lucky to get the Thrusters. Warp Core is out, and Impulse- well, it looks like more than a couple of things got fused in the last battery."
Everyone had to brace themselves as best they could while the Flyer shuddered again. "There is some good news, though," Ives continued as he looked at the instrument panel. "It seems that without us resisting the gravitational pull of whatever it is out there, the ride will be smoother. in fact we seem to have been pulled about, and are heading almost straight for what appears to be the Event Horizon of the spatial vortex. the bad news is that we are completely out of range of the Rosen. If the Captain tries to bring the ship any closer, then they will be caught the same way we are."
"What about a beacon?"
Ives and Raines turned to regard Thannery who was already very busy at his station. "If we can route just enough power, we should at least be able to launch a beacon towards the Rosen."
"Give them whatever data we have, as well as a warning?" Raines asked.
"Exactly. Besides, we at least have better scans of that thing out there than the Rosen does. And if we survive-"
"Well, it's worth the shot. And at least we'll go out in the true spirit of Star Fleet," Ives nodded, smiling ruefully. "You see, Owen? There might be some hope of continuity for your people after all."
Raines couldn't help a bark of a laugh, that sent a ring of pain through his head. no, laughing was not a good thing right now. "Rerouting power."
"Beacon ready," Thannery replied. "Launching." And with that, the beacon was away.
"Event Horizon in thirty seconds." Ives informed them.

"Three...two...one."
Owen felt his mind empty in an almost epiphany-like state. Part of his mind rationalized that it was the onset of a minor concussion, or at least a rush of endorphins to quiet the dull ache of his head. But he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering towards the forward viewport.
You couln't exactly see where the Event Horizon was - not like with some anomolies whose massive energy at least generated some sort of visual radiation - but rather you knew aproximately where it was by the lack of what you saw. All around there was starfield, and then in one spot that they were quickly approaching there was....an absence.
Raines felt his hands instinctively cling to the chair's arm-rest and the console in front of him as everything went dark - save for the vague glows of various consoles, or the soft hues coming from the single bio-bed in the aft compartment. It helped that it sounded like something organic was murmuring in whale-like patterns across the hull, but it also added it's own dimension of unreality. Nor did Raines fail to notice how quiet everyone else had suddenly become. If he had been in any way religious, then owen was sure he'd be muttering a quiet prayer to whatever gods were supposed to exist.
It's almost like the Void, Raines throught to himself as he remembered reading logs and reports from the Voyager Expedition - it was famous, and was, in fact, one of the things that convinced Owen to volunteer for the new, recent wave of deep-space exploration.
His thoughts were interrupted by a surprised yelp, and then Ana's voice behind him. He glanced back as Ives called back to check on the Ensign's condition. "You gave us a scare, Myrgaldi," Owen said with a smile.
-Owen...I know what is out there. I can see it. We are traveling through systems. I...I saw it...but...I was out of my body when I did. I...do not understand...but I believe that we are headed to an uncharted system as the few that I saw us pass felt unfamiliar.-
Raines shook his head slightly. It didn't help that even brief bits of mindspeech usually left him feeling light-headed when it coupled with the dull ache that still persisted. Then the sudden flash of light and the smooth sensation in the pit of Owen's stomach that felt as if they'd just been dropped... one didn't speand a large portion of their lives on a ship without getting atuned to certain motions whether from gravity plating, or sudden shifts in exterior conditions.
"We're back in normal space," Owen announced, needlessly, he imagined, but it helped. "Long-range sensors just came back, and I'm reading..." The computer finished it's set of calculations, and Raines had to stop to let the numbers sink in. "Sensors show us to be almost 5,000 light-years from our previous position. We're in an uncharted sector of the Delta Quadrant."

Owen shook his head, and broke into a rueful grin. "There you go, Sylindris, playing with our lives as usual?" He joked, attempting to lighten the atmosphere. But glancing slightly behind him to Koya and Thannery, Raines readjusted his face to a more serious look, and took another glance at the Ops read-outs in front of him.
He listened as Lt. Ives described the circumstances behind his decisions; decisions that Raines had supported. Then, Crewman Thannery's responce. "Objections to our current circumstances are noted, Crewman. But don't mount unnecessary blame on Lt. Ives. I made the call.
And personally, I'd rather be alive and lost, than being found dead amidst a debris field. How about you?"
Thannery frowned as he thought about it, then nodded. "Understood, sir."
Owen didn't quite appreciate the topic approach that Sylindris had used. Recent advances in medicine allowed a small amount of nanites to be present in the majority of crew bloodstreams. The little buggers helped save a lot of lives since they were introduced. But that isn't to say that there haven't been some sometimes unsettling after-affects. Due to the complex nature of the programming, an altered form of Borg Alphanumeric was needed. Partial assimilations were now as much a part of ship lore as gremlins and ghosts.
Raines looked forward to Ensign Anamersy. "Situation understood, Ensign. But there is an upside to the situation. According to these readings, we are in the middle of a star cluster, and there is a star system less than a light-year from our position.
"Ensign Koya, what can you do to boost sensor resolution?" Raines was known to be an easy-going person. But give him a situation and he'd go right into Officer Mode. It worked to assure others, and it helped get him focused. And if it's one thing he knew, it was to get everyone goal-focused.
"Until I can get a more direct look at the affected systems, I can begin by re-routing sensors through the deflector. It won't do much more for short-range readings than what we've already got, but it should help long-range readings." Raines knew that if he gave her the chance, then Koya would go into further detail. But this wasn't the time.
"Good. Make it happen. Ives, Thannery, considering how small the spaces are in the Jeffrey's Tubes, I'm gonna need you two on damage control. Myrgaldi, get us into the star system in the best time possible while conserving as much energy as possible." Ives and Thannery glanced at each other, then nodded and headed aft, while Koya got started on the deflectors. Raines turned to his console, and started working on ways to reinforce the hull while consuming as little energy as possible. They'd have to try and find a suppy of Deuterium among other things. he was gonna have to start a shopping list.