[On the Wildstrike...]
After a minor journey entirely at Transwarp, the Wildstrike is a mere few hours away from entering the Eisn system. Vyynd sits as his desk in the security office and looks over some paperwork. D`Tarik is in the bar, sipping from a glass, letting Emni rest in their quarters. Rylan continued his aimless walk through the corridors again, poking around in various departments to keep up on what's going on. As Ry didn't have much luck finding something to keep him busy, he heads off to the Oira.
The Leih, meanwhile, is down in holochamber 3. Drawing his kaleh, he lets out the challenge of "Have at thee!" and merrily goes about doing away with his opponates. A few minutes later, Rhagarokk's interrupted from his fun by the operations officer on duty as the officer's voice comes over the com line, "Io hour until we reach Eisn system, rekkhai."
Finishing off a sword-wielding human first, Rhagarokk replies, "Ie, be up in a seuren." After a slight pause, he adds, "Computer, end program." as he resheathes his kaleh and exits the holochamber.
[Oira...]
Rylan steps out of TL5 and takes a look around at the few crew who manned the Oira. Not a few seconds later the Leih exits onto the Oira as well, still somewhat sweaty, and spots Rylan. "Au here to see Eisn, too?"
Ry grins slightly, "I didn't realize we were here, actually. Only just came on the Oira myself."
Rhagarokk nods and sits in the command throne, "Aye... au`rh not from ch'Rihan, are au?"
"Na, rekkhai." the Arrain shrugs a little, "Colony world..."
Rhagarokk grins, "It's quite a sight. Communications, any com traffic?"
"Lot of security stuff, what with the upcoming war and all." the coms officer replies, "But it's all checking out. We're being directed to head to ch`Rihan."
Rylan stands back a little, waiting for the famed 'homeworld' to appear on the screen so he can see this thing for himself. Vynnd shows up on the Oira just then, and bows to the Leih and Rylan. "Jolan`tru, gentlemen..."
Rhagarokk nods over at the com officer as he heard the report, then taps open the ship-wide com to make an announcement, as Vyynd stepped up. "This is ninte Erie`Riov speaking....we're cruising at approximately transwarp 1.2. On ninte right shortly, au will see the famed twinworlds, ch`Rihan and ch`Havran, along with their sun Eisn. We'll be arriving at our destination shortly."
Rylan raises a brow slightly and covers a smirk as the Leih had sounded like a tour-guide. Nodding to Vyynd he offers, "Jolan`tru Vyynd." he points to the screen, "Guess we'll see this thing for ourselves soon."
Vyynd looks onward intently, "It's been awhile...."
Rhagarokk, having finished his speech, nods over to tr`Khaine, "Jolan`tru...we should have a picture right about......now." The twin worlds, in all their glory and beauty, pop up on the viewer. Plenty of ships abound, in preparation for Action 18.
Vyynd breath in deeply, at the sight, as if he could already smell the air of his homeworld. Rylan, never having seen the homeworlds before, stares at the sight a moment, then nods and thinks to himself, *Ie...they're planets alright...*
"Gonaiih," Rhagarokk orders, "decelerate speed and follow the course we're supposed to..."
The Gonaiih taps in a few commands, only to be greeted with errors sounds. "What the..."
Not being swayed by the view on the screen, Ry hears all the beeping coming from the gonai controls and asks, "What's the problem?"
"It's....na responding!" the Gonaiih tried and failed once more.
"To which commands?" Ry steps closer and peeks curiously over the Gonaiih's shoulder. "Deceleration, or course setting?"
"Both!" the panicked Gonaiih answers, "We're heading straight for Eisn!"
Vyynd looks over at the Leih, "Rekkhai?"
Looking at his side panel, the Leih begins to tap furiously, "Nothing appears to be wrong with the systems..."
"Override the computer then!" Rylan nods to the helmsman, "Use manual controls..." The Gonaiih stands up from the pilot's chair to let the senior officer try. Ry throws him a look and mutters, "Oh, for Element's sake!" Tapping the keys on the panel as he takes the pilot's chair for himself, Ry enters the codes for computer override. Once the computer is bypassed, he takes the controls to steer the ship. Rylan fights with the controls for a few seconds before panic begins to creep in. "Um...rekkhai? It's na wanting to steer!!" he throws a lost look behind him.
"Condition Red!" the Leih orders. Immediately, the oira is bathed in the red hue, as Vyynd runs over to operations to check on engineering. "Then tell engineering to run diagnostics and get it working!" Rhagarokk continues, punching in commands to his side panel.
Vyynd opens a line to engineering and yells down to the officer in charge, "Diagnostics, hnah!" After a few more seconds, tr`Khaine looks over to the command throne with a puzzled expression, "Rekkhai, it seems the ship IS responding....and engineering is fine."
Still trying desperately to get the controls to respond so he can steer the darned ship, Ry hears Vyynd's report and looks up at the panicked Gonaiih, "Do au normally kick the panel or something first?!" he asks, then kicks the panel a good one, just in case.
Rhagarokk changes the display on the screen to show the Wildstrike's relative position to Eisn. "If it's responding," he answers Vyynd in an irritated tone, "Why aren't we moving..."
tr`Khaine runs over to communications, and opens several comm lines to send a distress call to any ship nearby and to ch'Rihan. "Attention, this is the SRR Morrhae`Vnu, we are experiencing odd position failure. Our controls are responding, and everything is functioning, but we are still on course for Eisn..." He pauses a moment as several ships in the area respond with offers of tractor beams and any other assistance they can lend. tr`Khaine turns in the swivel-chair to face the Leih, "Rekkhai, local ships are offering tractor beam assistance. Accept, or is there something I'm unaware of?" As he waits for Rhagarokk's order he responds to the other ships, "*Any* assistance, keeping safety of all ships and crews in mind, would be greatly appreciated...."
Rhagarokk calls over to Vyynd, "If they can match speed and use their tractor beams, tell them to do it! We've got about 15 seuren-a before we collide with Eisn..." Vyynd quickly relays that message to the responding ships.
Rylan, still desperately tapping into the panel, trying to figure it out, finally gets the ship to slow, but he still couldn't steer it. Grinning happily that at least *something* had started to go his way, he announces, "It's slowing!! A little anyway..." he continues to mess around with the panel.
Rhagarokk, still busily tapping his own side-controls, mutters, "We've got to figure out what's doing this..." Hearing that, Rylan slaves the ops controls to helm so that he can work right from there and run diogs at the same time as trying to get steering ability back online.
Vyynd looks up from the com station, "Tactical, what are the sensors reading?"
"Nothing unusual..." the officer looks over his panel, "Wait..."
There was such a long pause from the Tactical station, that Vyynd prompted the officer with an irritated, "Ie?"
"The tractor beams..." the tactical officer explains, "They're producing unusual readings when hitting our shields"
Vyynd swivels the chair again so he can look to the mastermind, "Any thoughts, rekkhai?"
Rylan checks over the gonai panel readings a moment, then informs the others, "Rekkhai, the tractor beams are pushing us a little...but I'm na sure if it's enough to clear us from that." he nods up at the image of Esin on the screen.
Rhagarokk studies the readings from his side-panel intently, "Ie...I see it now. The ship is surrounded by particles....I've never seen this kind of particle before....They're attached to our shields..."
tr`Khaine looks on wide-eyed, "So...that's na good then, right?"
"Na, that's na good, since I'd bet they're the ones doing this..." Rhagarokk nods.
"Are the tractor beams deteriorating the particle concentration, or na?" Vyynd asks.
Looking down, sweat appearing on the Leih's forehead, he answers, "Na, they're just making them visible... Vyynd..." he pauses a moment, "Signal the other ships, tell them to start beaming off the crew and begin immediate evacuation."
Looking stunned, Vyynd swivels to face the com panel again, and opens a shipwide com. "All crew, prepare for ship evac...." Then opens a line to the surrounding ships, "Attention, we cannot seem to slow our descent towards Eisn, we request immediate evacuation of all crew...except the Oira crew, we are to be beamed off upon further notice."
"Rylan," Rhagarokk asks as the Tal`Shiar officer busied himself with the com, "How are we doing?"
"We're still being pushed a little, rekkhai, but that sun's getting awfully close and I still can't steer." Ry answers, still fighting with the shaking controls in his hands, "We're still warping too....it won't be much longer, rekkhai..."
"Three minutes..." Rhagarokk shakes his head, still trying anything and everything he can.
Rylan growls low in his throat and kicks the panel again, "Come on!! Come ON!!!"
Vyynd rubs his head, "Oh hnave....transporters aren't working, rekkhai....." he pauses a moment, then looks up oddly, "Rekkhai...lower the shields?"
"Lower....the...." Rhagarokk looks up, "That's crazy enough to work! Tac, do it!"
Lowering the shields, tactical responds, "Ie, rekkhai! Shield's down!"
Vyynd tells all ships to cease tractor beams and begin transporting personnel off the Wildstrike until further notice. Looking towards the front of the Oira he asks, "Rylan, any luck?!"
The ship shudders violently, but doesn't disrupt the course any further. At Rylan's absent shake of the head as he kept working, Vyynd orders the other vessels to resume the tractor beams and transporter attempts.
After a few more seconds, Rylan still keeping up his fight with the controls, reports, "We might... *just*...clear this thing, rekkhai!"
Vyynd turns an idea over in his mind a moment, "Rekkhai, what would our tractor beams do to the particles?"
"Make them visible..." Rhagarokk answers, "Na sure what else."
Vyynd checks his panel and reports, "Evacuation commencing, but at obscenely slow rates... shall we try them then?"
"Thirty seconds." Rhagarokk says, "Ie, fire off the tractor beams!" He grasps down on his command throne as the ship begins to shake with more intensity.
Desperate to get away from the sun on the screen, Rylan asks "And if I hit the transwarp, rekkhai? That might push us a little farther away from it..."
"It's worth a try..." Rhagarokk says with a grim look, "Do we have the power?"
Glancing at the slaved ops readouts on the gonai panel, Rylan nods, "Ie, just enough for a push rekkhai...." he glances over his shoulder a little worriedly. The ship around them becomes increasingly hot and shakes more and more. Panels begin to blow out, systems become loose, and there is general damage.
Vyynd, shaking back and forth in the swivel chair, informs the neighbor ships of their concepts. Then noticing that no one else seemed to be doing it, he orders Tactical to raise the shields again, before thanking the other ships for their attempts at assistance, then braces himself for whatever was to come.
Rylan quickly moves his hands back from an electric charge off the gonai panel. "Well..." he says taking back the controls again, "If we're going to do this...it better be soon." he checks over the readings again. "There's still enough power rekkhai..." he pauses slightly, "But Esin's gravity might pull us apart if we do it." Rylan turns that thought over in his own mind a moment, then shrugs, "Pull us apart, or burn us up...ninte choice, rekkhai!" He had tried to say that lightly, and failed.
Rhagarokk begins his countdown, "10....9....8....looks like we're out of options! Hit it!"
Hitting the trigger, Rylan calls out, "Transwarp now!"
The engines flare, and the Wildstrike enters Transwarp! There are strong gravitational forces on the ship, and after an eternity compressed into a second, a white light covers everything, shortly before everyone loses consciousness...
[An indeterminable amount of time later...]
Rylan brings a hand to his head then pulls himself off the gonai panel. His eyes are the first to come open and survey the carnage... crew members strewn about and bloody, damage everywhere. The viewscreen, which is flickering, shows the Wildstrike inside an atmosphere of some sort, heading straight for the surface. "Ah hnaev!!" Quickly checking the panel in front of him sees that the transwarp is off. With only the maneuvering thrusters to work with, Ry frantically pulls back on the controls to bring the nose of the ship up, bracing himself for a crash landing.
Vyynd jolts up, blinks and rubs his eyes a bit, then stands from the comm station and looks around confused. Snapping back to reality, he realizes the extreme pain all over his body, "Uuuugghhhh great...." He looks around himself again and sees Rhagarokk lying unconscious and bleeding from a nasty head wound, but still breathing. Diving over to the Leih, Vyynd wraps some cloth around his head, and picks him up carefully. As he tries to bring Rhagarokk back to consciousness, Vyynd thinks through the clouds of his headache, *Where in the arrienye is D`Tarik when I need him?!*
Bracing himself with his feet against the gonai panel, and pulling back on the controls, Rylan's eyes squeeze shut as he calls out a warning through tightly clenched teeth, We're...Going...To... CRASH!!!"
BOOOOOOMMM! The Wildstrike slides along the surface, tossing everything around once more. The actions of Rylan narrowly prevent the ship from doing a nose dive straight onto the surface. Vyynd flies across the Oira, and slams into the wall with a thud. The Leih goes flying across the room as well, but after several painful seconds, the ship lurches to a stop. Still sitting with his feet against the panel, and his teeth clamped painfully shut, Rylan realized that the ship had come to a stop and opens an eye to peek first, then relaxes slightly.
Pushing a console off of his back, Vyynd jumps up, "Aaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" as a piece of the Oira swings from the ceiling and falls on tr`Khaine, crushing him once more.
Shaking over the whole ordeal, Rylan nods at the panel in front of himself, "There we go..." he looks around the Oira in mild shock, then announces, "She's parked now!"
From underneath the huge pile of debris, Vyynd mumbles painfully, "Smooth move....remember which lot we're in, will ya?" he groans.
Rhagarokk groans and starts to come around and Ry had headed on over to Vyynd to help with the falling debris. "Rekkhai...?" Rylan's head turns back, his eyes scanning for the Leih as he pulls a piece of a fallen panel off of the lump that Vyynd was under, "Au okay...?"
Rhagarokk's eyes flutter open, "Uggghhh... I think I've broken all of my appendages." he tries to pull himself up and looks around, "How is everyone?"
Vyynd pushes one hand free above the console he was trapped under, "Ryyyyyyyy!!"
Rylan had been trying to raise DT on his com, then shook his head as he realized tr`Rekkohan probably wouldn't answer anyway. Looking over at the Leih, he nods, still looking stunned, and answers with a shaky, "I'm okay..." he pauses to look around himself, "The ship now....she's hurt a bit." Seeing Vyynd's hand waving in the air, Rylan takes hold of it, and pulls the boy up.
Vyynd stumbles on his feet a bit, and leans against a standing console briefly. "*That's* gonna leave a mark...." he cracks his back and every possible joint.
Rhagarokk regains his feet shakily, "My guess is the com's down...along with a lot of other things..." he reaches into his coat and pulls out his personal multicorder, which seems to have not been damaged in the slightest.
Vyynd suddenly remembers himself, and looks to the stunned Arrain beside him, "Hann'yyu Rylan!" Since he didn't seem to have any major, long lasting injuries, tr`Khaine pulls out his isd, which turned out to be destroyed. "Great..."
Still shaking a bit in shock, Rylan stares at tr`Khaine blankly a moment, then nods, "Na problem!" and slaps the boy on the back.
Vyynd cringes a bit, "I'll get you for that...." he glares at Ry, then starts laughing. After a moment Vyynd speaks up again, "Well....D`Tarik won't be going anywhere, as power is nil and the transporters are probably out..."
Ry hadn't seemed to hear Vyynd's last at all. Instead he makes his way over all the debris heading towards a panel in the wall. "Looks like it's back to tunnel-crawling for awhile..." he says quietly, pulling open the access tunnel's panel, "..Till repairs are done."
Rhagarokk, taking scans for a moment, informs them, "Looks like outright casualties were light... but a lot of people will need medical attention. Grab some emergency medical kits and go help anyone out who needs it. And try to find D`Tarik."
"Ie, rekkhai..." Rylan grabs a nearby medkit off the wall, then heads off into the exposed tunnel.
Rhagarokk, still looking down at his scanner, suprised, before hitting the scanner a few times. "Ow... oh, dear, I hope this isn't right..."
Vyynd had opened a line to Aeris, "Aeris? Status?" and doesn't get a response. "Ugh!" he bolts off with a few medical kits and takes off to the tunnel, intent on getting to security. He pauses, as Rhagarokk's words sink in. Vyynd turns around and shouts back through the tunnel, "What was that?!" and continues on, opening an ip line to Rhagarokk. "Au were saying...?"
Up ahead, Rylan winces slightly as Vyynd's shout had echoed rather loudly in the tunnel. He turns his ip on so he can keep up with the conversation.
Rhagarokk's voice comes back to the two of them through the ip, "Well, from what I can tell from the population on the planet, it's geological state, and our position relative to other astronomical bodies..."
"Don't tell me..." Vyynd sighs, "We're *far* from ch`Rihan?"
"Na." Rhagarokk's voice comes back through, "We're on ch`Rihan...."
"Or it's uninhabited...." Vyynd continues, his tone one of almost annoyance as he was worried about Aeris, "...Or there are giant, flesh eating bacterial dinosaurs here to consume our biological data??" he pauses, "Different...time?? What then?!"
"Correct!" Rhagarokk's voice answers back.
"About the dinosaurs?" asks Vynnd.
"Na, we're in a different time. Ch'Rihan's past."
Vyynd stops a moment to compose himself a bit, "Sorry rekkhai....." he slides briefly down a ladder, then continues on.
Rhagarokk's voice came through as if Vyynd hadn't said anything, "Fairly distant past, from the looks of it..."
"Lovely..." Vyynd grumbles, "And we're short about half our crew as well, then the few casualties..."
Rylan stops a bit in the tunnel he was traversing to ask through the ip, "Distant?! How distant is distant?"
"Ok, I've stopped caring for the moment..." Vyynd announces, devoting more of his attention to his destination. Kicking a tunnel cover out, he falls from the ceiling into the trashed security station, "Aeris?! Anyone?!"
"Distant..." the Leih answers Rylan just the same, "these findings are inconclusive, but I'd say at the very least a few hundred years..."
"A few hundred years....?" Rylan leans up against the wall a moment to let that sink in.
On the Oira, Rhagarokk shakes his head, "Io problem at a time..." he says over the ip, "Get to work, help as many people as au can."
Down in security, Vyynd pulls a groaning officer out of some trashed consoles, and starts bandaging him, questioning the officer about Aeris while he tends to his wounds. Once done, he runs into her office to find Aeris unconscious on the floor, "Fvadt!!" He jumps over and helps her up, trying to bring her around once more, "Aeris...t`Rharin...come back to me here...."
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