A Series of Tubes

[USS Monongahela-A]

It was 1441 hours, and Kintiss needed a Raktajino. This didn't come as a surprise to him, and probably wouldn't to anyone else, as his caffeine intake had been commented on by many a crewman and officer in the past. It was getting to the point where he had responses prepared for the inevitable question.

Once a cup of Raktajino (cold and sweet, as it always was) materialised in the replicator, he took it back to his station on the Runabout's bridge. The ship was quiet, but that was to be expected. It wasn't as big as the Phoenix and wasn't bustling with a full crew. It was only himself and a couple of other crewmen (including the First Officer) on board, undertaking a survey of a recently-discovered nebula.

Kintiss wrote:

[USS Monongahela-A]

It was 1441 hours, and Kintiss needed a Raktajino. This didn't come as a surprise to him, and probably wouldn't to anyone else, as his caffeine intake had been commented on by many a crewman and officer in the past. It was getting to the point where he had responses prepared for the inevitable question.

Once a cup of Raktajino (cold and sweet, as it always was) materialised in the replicator, he took it back to his station on the Runabout's bridge. The ship was quiet, but that was to be expected. It wasn't as big as the Phoenix and wasn't bustling with a full crew. It was only himself and a couple of other crewmen (including the First Officer) on board, undertaking a survey of a recently-discovered nebula.

Julia was inundated with the data as it came in from the main sensor array. It was refreshing to be on a scientific mission. Her eyes were opened wide, like a child discovering a new toy. "Lieutenant, I'll take a cup as well. Coffee black, please." She commented without even looking up from her console. Her and Kintiss had already bonded over their shared love of that caffeinated loveliness in liquid form, served in a cup. "Look at this, there is way more hydrogen than we would expect to find in this type of nebula. This thing must be ancient. My guess is that its older than the Milky Way!" It was quite the find for her inquisitive mind.

Arlan had been assigned to the Runabout again, as the Tactical officer. Scientific or not, having someone to man the weapons was always a wise idea. He too visited the replicator, ordering a cup of coffee. Apparently, all Starfleet officers were stimulant addicts - but who was he to break with tradition, after all? Looking over the scanners, all he could see was a lot of hydrogen and other nebular gasses that would lead to major problems to the weapon systems if they encountered anything amiss. Shields at minimum, weapons at minimum, they'd be down to torpedoes. And Ops, whoever it was on the bridge who was supposed to be dealing with that department, didn't see fit to load them with anything extra.

He sat down in his chair. "Commander. Doctor."

He tapped a few buttons, bringing the tactical panel up. "I hope we don't have to fire our weapons, then. All that hydrogen could go up pretty easy."

Kintiss was just about to sit back down, when Commander Rellek asked him to get her a coffee. He knew she was enthusiastic about the caffeinated beverage, perhaps even moreso than he was. He couldn't understand how anyone could take their coffee black. It needed that bit of sweetness to offset the bitterness of the drink. Still, the Commander wanted what the Commander wanted, so he got her that black coffee and took his own station.

It was an impressive nebula, definitely. The swirling, multicoloured gases and dusts made it stand out from the omnipresent blackness of space. There was a higher concentration of materials at the centre of it, making it look like the nebula was glowing from the inside. It almost looked like an eye, gazing at the runabout and passing judgement.

"I'm picking up ssssome radiation coming from it," he noted as he performed another scan of the nebula.

"Thank you Lieutenant." Julia took a slow drink. She let out an audible sigh as she swallowed and set the cup back down just above the control panel and continued to analyze the incoming data.

Kintiss wrote:

"I'm picking up ssssome radiation coming from it," he noted as he performed another scan of the nebula.

"You're right." Julia acknowledged. "I'm going to back us off a bit just to be safe." She tapped the necessary controls. "Ensign, raise shields. Lieutenant, analyze your data. Lets make sure its safe prior to moving any deeper in."

Arlan nodded, his finger having been hovering over the button from the moment the radiation had come across their screens. While it didn't read as being dangerous, he knew that sometimes, the computer wasn't the be-all end-all of knowledge. The shields came up and he pulled up the readouts, trying to remain calm - somehow though, with the nebula around them and the running-lights low, even excited, his tone of voice was quiet. "Shields are up and holding at low level, Commander. We're resisting the radiation, but I can't bring them to a higher power level in the nebula due to interference."

He continued working with the datastream he had, but he wasn't a scientist. All he knew was how to look for clear threats. Thankfully, it appeared that there weren't any just yet. But appearances could be deceiving - sensors weren't reliable in a place like this, you had to go on instinct.

Julia Rellek wrote:

"Ensign, raise shields. Lieutenant, analyze your data. Lets make sure its safe prior to moving any deeper in."

"Yesss, sssir." Kintiss set to work analysing the preliminary scans. He glanced over the chemical composition of the clouds and concentrated on the source of radiation. As he let the computer run an analysis on the nebula, his mind was working out what it could be. Perhaps it was just some rogue element interfering with the sensors. He wouldn't know. This wasn't really his area of expertise. Now, if that radiation were to affect the crew, then he'd be in his element.

"Thank you, gentlemen. Keep an eye on those shields. I don't want that radiation slipping into the cabin." She looked to her console again. "So what's the verdict Lieutenant? Can we proceed? Well, without the effects of radiation poisoning, that is?"

Arlan was monitoring the shields as ordered, and just glanced up at the Commander with a nod. The more experienced officers seemed to be calm enough, so he took a deep breath and tried to relax, taking a sip of his coffee. This wasn't an approach into enemy territory, and he wasn't being graded. Still, he felt the butterflies at the pit of his stomach as he monitored sensors, shields, weapons, everything he could, trying to keep his nerves at bay.

It was just barely working.

“Give me a ssssecond.” Kintiss was almost finished. He watched the computer deliver a final analysis of the nebula’s radiation levels, and read the results aloud.

“The radiation isssn’t harmful in sssmall dosssesss,” he read. “We ssshould be able to go inssside for a while, at leassst.” Hopefully, that should abate anyone’s fears about getting radiation poisoning. If it didn’t, he’d brought along a rad-cleanser. No harm would come to these people while he was on board. No serious harm, at least.

"Very well, deeper we go." Julia laid in a new heading to the center of the anomaly. She was glad to hear that they were going to be able to get a closer look, the swirls of blues and purples quickly enveloped the craft. She looked in awe of the beauty the surrounded them.

"Ensign, keep those sensors going. Lets get as much data as we can." She saw more data appearing across her screen. "Lieutenant, maybe this will be a good opportunity to gather more medical data regarding radiation. We've been experimenting with ways to enhance the shield grid to better withstand higher levels of dangerous radiation. See what data you can get that may help."

OOC: Yikes, I forgot about this!

Arlan nodded at Julia's order, still just trying to keep his nerves steady. "Aye, Commander. Shields are holding, sensors aren't reporting anything dangerous getting past."

It wasn't much of a report or a vote of confidence, but it was something at least. Unlike the two scientists, he wasn't much for the 'beauty' of outer space - he was more interested in staying alive. The problem with Starfleet was that they always had an urge to explore. Sometimes, they ended up getting themselves into real danger that way.