The End of the Tokyo? (Part 1)

Posted on Tue Sep 5th, 2023 @ 10:22am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Lieutenant Rea & Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D. & Lieutenant JG Silica Tetsuhiko 'Twin-Tails' & Lieutenant Fubuki Kuchikukan 'Snowflake' & Ensign Rin Kagamine 'Twin 2' & Ensign Len Kagamine 'Twin 1' & Chief Warrant Officer Karuta Roromiya & Petty Officer 1st Class Yoshika Miyafuji & Commander Thomas Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Febin & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Commander Moklor ‘Shell Squid’ & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant Trennek Zakrin & Lieutenant Kylynn Adams & Lieutenant Talia Johnson & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant JG Amari & Sergeant Major Vespertine D'hetr & Lieutenant Iowa Riverside 'Grey Ghost' & Lieutenant JG Mika Fujimoto 'Pickpocket' & Ensign Talanna Teela 'Nanny'
Edited on on Tue Sep 5th, 2023 @ 10:31am

1,457 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Various

Captain's Log. The Tokyo has ventured deep into the Karlax Nebula. Operations has informed me that we lost long range communications with Starfleet a few minutes ago. We're alone out here. Our unlink with our Starfighters however is stable and we are in constant communication with our pilots. We are encountering some strange effects from the nebula.

Engineering have reported that there is a drag on the engines, we're using nearly twenty per cent more power for the speed we are travelling than we should be. At the moment it seems to be stable, I've ordered Lieutenant Rea to keep monitoring the situation. As of yet there are no signs of the lost starships, however with only short range sensors we won't find them unless we get close.

At the moment it all seems OK, the Tokyo is peforming well,as to be expected by such a well trained crew. End log

Taiga sat back in her chair as she watched the endless hues or purple and pink swirl and dance on the viewscreen. They had been dropping navigational beacons along their flight path to form 'breadcrumbs' back to known space.

"How's she holding up Jasad?" She asked directing her question at the Helm.

Lieutenant Yuvek hesitated before responding to the Captain's inquiry. He could clearly see from his console that propulsion was being pushed significant harder than it should have been considering the speed that had been set.

"I'--I'm still reading the drag on propulsion systems, ma'am," He responded, still concerned about the ship responding in a manner that he could not fully explain. All primary and secondary systems are responding appropriately, but the engines are still being pushed much harder than is necessary to maintain our current speed." He added.

"It should not take this much power just to maintain current velocity." He said.

From Ops, Nezuko looked into Yuvek's claim. He was right. There was way more power going into the engines than there ought to be for this amount of thrust. "Agreed," her speaker console said. "Rate of power consumption is increasing."

Johnson got up out of his seat and walked over to the ops station. Checking the sensors and the other read outs. "Its as if there was a tractor beam dragging us towards something. Try modulating the deflector array, see if that changes anything."

"Captain, if I may we seem to be picking up some sort of planet." Kylynn interrupted.

"Well, that's new," Chisato piped in. "All the information I've managed to turn up regarding this part of the Nebula never even mentioned a planet."

"Perhaps that could be where our lost ships are?" Chiyo speculated. Including the Redemption... She added mentally, but did not speak aloud.

Chisato looked over at Chiyo, then at Taiga.

"Captain, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You're wondering if the ship's that have gone missing also found this planet..." Taiga said. "There may be a small possibility that survivors may be on the surface. Right?" She asked turning to face the Major.

"And if there are survivors, that might mean Tatsuo is down there." Chiyo realized, turning to Taiga. "He was always an outdoorsy type, he'd know how to survive."

The Captain nodded. Although this wasn't a search and rescue mission, it was still a possibility. "Set a course for that planet. We should at least investigate it." She ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Lt. Yuvek acknowledged as he adjusted course to the coordinates sent to his console. He was still concerned about the drag on the propulsion system and how nobody had a sold explanation for what was causing it.

Thomas walked around the railing again and sat next to the Captain. "Bringing up the scans of the planet, and the image on screen. That seems to be where... we are being pulled to."


==== Engineering ====

"Check it now." Amari called down from the railings of upper level of engineering.

"No change Lieutenant." A male voice responded from out of sight.

"Damm, I can't figure it out." She turned around and rested herself against the railing and projected her computer implant to check her notes. "We're burning much more fuel than normal, warp core pressure is up 2000 kilopascals but everything else is within normal levels."

"Problems?" Rea asked as she approached Amari. The Eifie engineer seemed concerned with how the Tokyo seemed to be using more power than usual. "We seem to have a lot of them recently..." she sighed.

"The warp core pressure is up, the temperature is up, and fuel consumption has jumped up another 5% in the last 15 minutes." Amari replied. "Dilithium alignment is good, both injectors are functioning fine, We've increased coolant levels but it's having no effect."

The engineer scratched her head in confusion. "Can we boost the flow by opening the injectors a little more?" She suggested.

==== Bridge ====

The Tokyo slowly approached the planet. The surface was made up of desert. Not surprising considering it was inside a nebula. However from observation alone it seemed to have an atmosphere.

"Scan the surface," Taiga said.

"Aye Captain." Kylynn replied. A few moments later her sensor started beeping. "Captain I'm detecting life signs. Can't make much out however" kylynn replied.

"Lifesigns?" Taiga said, she immediately looked over at Chiyo. Perhaps their hypothesis of survivors might be right afterall.

Talia has arrived in time to hear the last few comments, making her way across to her seat looked towards Taiga. “That’s what I’ve been sensing, the life down on that planet. I wasn’t sure if it was just the nebula having peculiar side effects.”

"So there are people down there..." Taiga said. This was looking far more promising by the minute.

"Damnit. . ." Lt. Yuvek swore, much louder than he should've. "Ma'am, primary impulse controls are not responding." He said with concern in his voice. "I'm not getting anything from secondary either." He said as his fingers inputted alternative commands to try to get control back over the propulsion system.

"As soon as we started scanning the surface, I lost complete control, as if someone just turned off a switch." He said.

"Full reverse..." Taiga ordered quickly. "Can you use thrusters to get us into orbit?".

"I can't alter our course at all," He replied back quickly. "The ship is maintaining speed directly for the planet, I can't slow us down or even maneuver us into a different trajectory." Lt. Yuvek called out.

The consoles and lights on the bridge began to vary between dim and bright. A warning beep began to sound loudly on the main Operations Console.

"Power consumption continuing to increase, beyond what we can generate," Nezuko's console said. She tried to redirect power to critical systems and shut down unnecessary ones. Though it was for naught.

Suddenly without warning the entire bridge went dark as main power failed. Luckily the emergency lighting kicked in, bathing them all in dim red light. The Tokyo began to shake slightly as the Armitage Class starship was pulled closer to the planet.

"Report!" Taiga demanded as the shaking started to become more intense. The sound of the ships superstructure started creaking, a sign that the structural integrity fields were offline as well as the inertial dampeners.

Nezuko could not help but spare a glance at the creaking beneath them as gravity began to pull at the ship. "Bridge is on emergency batteries," she reported.

Chiyo held on to the second officer's chair, saying nothing. It was her fault that she had gotten excited and now she was about to get everyone on the Tokyo killed. She wondered if this must have been the same hell that the Redemption went through.

Talia grabbed onto the arms of her seat, not that it would do much good if they went down hard. She could only hope that some miracle happened now.

"I've just lost inertial dampeners! Attitude control is gone as well! Something is dragging us down to the planet surface." He shouted over the cacophony of the alerts on the Bridge.

"Grab on to something, because we're going to pick up more speed as we enter the planet's gravity well!" He added.

Thomas glanced over at Talia, "I doubt blowing the ship up is an option..." Considering he was in the same predicament last mission. "Talia, get over here and sit down." It would be better cushion should it not crush the ship. He stood up and braced the railing.

“But...” Talia was worried about her husband getting hurt where he was, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about it. She nodded as she moved to his seat and held on tight.

To be continued...

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