As alpha shift takes their positions, the bridge comes alive with activity. The walls, lined with sleek touch-sensitive panels, illuminate with the ebb and flow of ship functions. Odyssey's bridge, bathed in the gentle luminescence of the numerous consoles and accent lighting, is not just a command center; it's a testament to the harmonious integration of technology and human ingenuity, a nexus where the crew embarks on a collective journey into the unknown.

The soft hum of the ship's life support and gravity plating resonates on the bridge as Captain Ithakis strides in from his ready room. The automatic doors part smoothly, revealing the seasoned Starfleet officer with a commanding presence. The crew acknowledges his arrival with subtle nods and focused glances.

The captain makes his way towards the central command area and with a measured sense of purpose, Chrys takes his seat.

The bridge falls momentarily silent as the captain settles into the heart of the ship's command. His gaze sweeps across the expansive holographic viewscreen, a canvas of stars awaiting exploration. Captain Ithakis is ready to guide Odyssey into the uncharted realms of space, where the spirit of discovery awaits.

Chrys thumbs a button on his chair panel, opening shipwide communications.

"All hands, this is the captain," he begins. "In one of Earth's ancient codexes, a wise philosopher wrote: 'To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose...'; 'a time for war, a time for peace.' We have all had more than our fair share of the season of war. Now, let's go forth to usher in that season of peace.

"As each of us carries out our duties to the best of our abilities, remember that we are explorers and diplomats first and warriors second. We seek to explore and understand the galaxy that our ancestors stared at in wonder and share our knowledge with our fellow travelers. To 'boldly go' is our mandate and our calling; to fashion and sit at a table with our neighbors as equals is our dream.

"Today, it is our privilege and honor to embark on a journey to extend that table to the people of Ferenginar," he concludes, nodding with respect to T'Vaal. "May we all work together as one to expand our community of friends. Captain out."

Chrys leans back and takes a brief look around the bridge, then adds, "Mr. Roth, please get us to our departure point." He observes the XO's interaction with the crew with interest, not just to revel in one of the many firsts of their journey, but also to assess Roth's leadership style. When the ship reaches the departure point, the captain smiles. He's been waiting for this.

"Master Chief, lay in a course for Ferenginar."

"Course plotted and laid in, sir."

"Very well. All ahead, warp factor 6."

"Warp factor 6, aye."

A moment later, the Odyssey leaps forward into her new adventure.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Sat 20 Jan.

Sieng nods and follows the orders: "We are now on our departure point, Captain."

Cora was down in sickbay, making sure everything was stocked up and ready to go if needed. She had a couple of patients already as sickbay always seemed to draw someone in need. Ah well, that's what the biobeds were for, right? Pulling up the schedule for this shift, she went over which nurses would be on duty with her. Nodding her head she smiled a bit as she saw two of her best working this morning. Satisfied with everything at the moment, Cora did as the rest of the crew of the Odyssey and waited for them to depart.

Nikos had been a slightly apprehensive when he found out he would be stationed at helm. Especially on the same shift as the captain, but that had quickly passed. The Odyssey was by far the largest ship he had ever had the privilege of serving on. Even with her size though se was as responsive and as easily controlled as any ship he had flown.

He quickly followed the captains orders and soon she was at warp six and heading to their destination. He looked forward to his time aboard even though it would only last until the rendezvoused with the Asimov.

Several hours into the journey Odyssey has skirted around the Badlands and is on a direct course for Ferenginar.  The bridge crew is preparing for their midwatch lunch break as the ship shudders violently.  Odyssey is dragged out of warp and the crew lurches forward having to hold on to not be thrown to the deck.  The bridge lights dim as the red alert klaxon sounds.

"What in Hades?" Chrys breathes as he rights himself in his chair and orders, "Status report!"

Sieng interrogates the system.

It had been by reflex alone that Nikos had not been thrown to the floor, barely managing to grab the console and hang on. Abrupt maneuvers and such were one thing when you were somewhat anticipating them, but whatever had happened was without even the least bit of warning.

Righting himself he quickly began checking his consoles readout.

Warp was a funny thing. The engines built up a bubble of bent spacetime, and then expanded and contracted the universe around the vessel. At no point did the ship ever actually move, in the normal sense of the word, but it did end up in a different place. With the universe's speed limit set to the speed of light, this loophole was the kind of thing that scientists everywhere got giddy about. Even if the laws of physics couldn't be changed, they could certainly be bent, just like spacetime itself. And because of the way warp travel worked, a ship never had momentum, and thus its inertia was locked in at whatever speed it had been moving at sublight speeds before the warp bubble was formed. That meant no throwing crew around, at least not when everything was working properly. When things weren't working properly, this was exactly the sort of thing one could expect.

Elliaph was flung hard to her side as normal spacetime reasserted itself on the Odyssey, only saved by decent reflexes letting her catch a good grip on the console with a cry of surprise and a grunt of effort. Once upright again, she took a quick look around the bridge to check on the rest of the crew, then immediately set to work parsing whatever data the ship's computer could send her way regarding the warp failure. Shouldn't they have been made aware of anything unusual along this route by earlier traffic? If not, then it meant something had changed recently. She was determined to find out what she could.

[I'd very much like to make a Reason+Science roll, with assistance from the ship's Sensors+Science, to obtain as much information as I can get. Assuming permission to roll, but if not, feel free to just ignore this next bit. Here we go!

Made a mistake on my first roll and forgot to set Record Each Die.

00:45, Today: Syssha zh'Elliaph rolled 19 using 2d20 with rolls of 17,2.  Reason 11+Science 5, Warp Field Dynamics (Recording Each Die).

So that's two successes before adding in the ship's roll.

00:47, Today: Syssha zh'Elliaph rolled 18 using 1d20 with rolls of 18.  Sensors 9+Science 3.

Which isn't helping directly, but Advanced Sensor Suites will reduce the difficulty of the roll by one. Though I'm sure the Difficulty is 0, so that might not help either.

Two successes! Spending both to Obtain Information, if permitted.]

The abrupt stop triggers a flurry of thoughts among the bridge officers, each grappling with a mix of confusion and determination.  Throughout the ship, whispers of concern and the rustle of crew members securing their stations underscore the shared tension. As medical teams respond to minor injuries, the crew's collective determination to unravel the mystery and ensure their safety creates an atmosphere of resilience amidst the uncertainty.

As Chrys calls for the ship's status the bridge crew begins reporting in, quite nearly talking over one another.

"Casualty reports coming in stem to stern," Roth replies.

Reade turns to the captain and reports the most important piece of information; the plasma intercooler is offline and the temperature in the warp core is climbing rapidly, then adds that the subspace field has collapsed and he can't re-establish it.  Odyssey can't return to warp.

Lieutenant Elliaph retasks every sensor the ship has to determine what happened then checks and rechecks the readings being displayed before speaking up, "Captain, we were pulled out of warp by a massive gravitational disturbance off the port bow.  Whatever it is just appearanced in an instant." The Andorian returns her eyes to her panel briefly to analyze further data.


OOC: Don't mind me adding in some brief character replies there.  Pushing us forward a little.  Syssha has used Obtain Information so just waiting on those questions. :)

The most basic data has been relayed, now to dig deeper. Syssha focuses the sensors on the gravitational anomaly in hopes of finding out what it is, while also looking for what's continuing to disrupt the subspace field.

Chrys nods his acknowledgement to his XO. "Have Dr. Plinsburg update us when she can," he replies. The captain listens to the engineering and science reports and furrows his brow. This part of the sector isn't supposed to have any significant bodies.

"Very well. Mr. Reade; shut down the warp core while you work the problem. Give impulse power priority to sensors, maneuvering, and deflectors," he orders. "Ms. Kel, give me the port bow view. Ms. Elliaph, what are you seeing?"

"Execute long range scans on the port bow side." Sieng Roth whispers. "Whatever pulled us out of warp may be still out there. Let's try identifying it. Whatever caused such a massive gravitational disturbance must have disturbed the space and any bodies in it, or perhaps generated gravitational lenses. Let's follow any leads and suspects but let's avoid being surprised if that disturbance comes back."

"Yes Captain." Nikos quickly contacted engineering. "Helm to engineering. Per Captains orders initiate warp core shutdown."

He shifted the helm display to monitor the shutdown and be alerted quickly should engineering need anything. He also began a check of the navigational sensors to confirm their current location.

The readings are bizarre, but Syssha does her best to parse them into something that makes sense.

"Sir, we ran into folds in both subspace and the spacetime continuum simultaneously, and that disengaged our warp field. The subspace distortion is still present, and we won't be able to engage warp until we aren't being affected by it."

Laren frowned as her hands flew across the console before her, bringing up the port bow view and analyzing the information the sensors had for her.

Aloud, she said, "Captain, I'm reading two ships on the other side of that distortion and moving towards it. Looks like one is firing on the other, sir."

"It never rains, but it pours," Chrys muses as he leans forward in his chair. "Yellow alert, raise shields, charge phasers. Mr. Reade, plot an intercept that puts us between the two ships.

"Ms. Elliaph, are we looking through a wormhole-like effect, or are those ships in our section of space? And what's the radius of distortion effect?" he wondered. Looking over to his exec, he adds in a low tone to Sieng, "We may not get a chance to allay your suspicions, Mr. Roth."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:48, Tue 13 Feb.

In reply to Chrysanthos 'Chrys' Ithakis (msg # 18):

Sieng Roth double checks on his screen that the orders are executed at the best of the ship's capability.

Sieng Roth re-checks the situation on his screen, as he feels like he experienced a kind of time-slip...

[OOC: what happens? no pasting for a month?]