Closing Doors (Part III of IV)
Posted on Sat Nov 9, 2019 @ 10:29pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant JG Erich Hartmann & Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok & Civilian Jason Haines & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas & Ensign Jallold Akioika & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca
1,506 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Doors of Perception
Location: Risa, but not as we know it/ Portal Caves
Timeline: MD11 2145
And now the Continuation…
"Anything down here that can emit a forcefield?" Scaliontis asked. "We could make a forcefield dome around the portal that could protect us for a while longer," he offered.
One of the marines pulled a kit bag from one of the hover carts. "Portable field generators, sir, should be able to cover the core and the pylons. But it would also cut communications to the device. We wouldn't be able to control it remotely."
To Be Continued…
Risa, but not as we know it.
The rumble was barely audible, but the buzz it made against everyone's feet was more than noticeable.
Jason looked all around on the ground to try and see what was causing the buzz and rumble. He looked to Alanna to see if she had ideas.
"Not unless they're trying something on the other side," Alanna replied.
Annora felt the rumble, but was unsure of the cause. None of the scenarios she could think of were pleasant. "If the portal is somehow destabilizing, we should hurry on through. I'll go first to alert them of our presence."
"Or toss something through so they know we're here?" Alanna said. "I don't want anything to happen to you if it doesn't work."
Alanna tried telepathy. They were so close, she wondered if it would get through. "It's us. We're here. We want to come back through the portal." She felt nothing.
She thought for a moment, before grabbing a stick lying on the ground. The rifle barrel was more convenient, but she didn't want to take the risk. Annora slowly moved the stick towards the portal opening.. Meeting with resistance, she applied more force. The stick bent in the middle before snapping.
Lightly pressing her hand against the portal, Annora was met with the same reaction.
"Whatever is happening, we can't seem to get through."
"Hey, it's us!" Alanna called. She was hoping that whatever controlled the portals would hear them. "Let us in, then you can lock it up again."
She knew they were too open. Sovok's ship was still above them, within transporter range. If they didn't get through right away, they would have to find some place to hide and hope they didn't miss their chance to go home. Alanna had a growing feeling of unease and she squeezed Jason's hand. "I'm sure someone on that has noticed that Sovok and Tarik have failed to report in. How long before they come looking for us?"
The buzz was building, the ground beneath them shaking, small stones were bouncing on the floor, and dust and grit was drifting down from the trilithons. Then, with a scrape like nails on blackboard, only in a deep bass, the mantel stone of the nearest trilithon toppled backwards from its perch, and tipped over, thumping into the ground hard enough to make the trilithons it had stood on shake and then tip until they too fell, crushing the nearby cabin.
Jason was startled by the crashing stone, but his reaction speed was almost that of a turtle between pain and shock. If something like that happened and he was in the way, he would be squished like a bug. And he really hoped the portal was opened before there was indeed other curious Vulcans who came looking.
The noise and pressure from the vibrations was causing the Betazoid to drop to her knees in pain. Alanna put her hands over her ears, but it did no good, she felt the vibrations in her bones.
Caleb’s teeth rattled. “Stay clear of the stones!” he warned the team. He stared at the portal. “Damn it! Open up!” He punched it, his knuckles rebounding from whatever energy was keeping it closed. He looked up. “Ya think they’re messin’ with it?” he asked. “How do we control it on our side? Can we do that here?” he asked Alanna.
It took almost all the strength he had left, but Jason helped Alanna to her feet. He tried to think of a way to get the portal to respond, but his brain was too busy trying to prevent him from being overwhelmed by the pain.
"It's supposed to be automatic," Alanna said to the commander. "You just walk through. That's what the others did when they came to DS5. I'm not sure why it's closed now, unless it recognized the threat from Sovok and deactivated the portal somehow." They still had too many questions about how the portal worked, and this just added more.
“So we’ve just been goin’ through with no way ta know if we’ll be able ta get back,” Caleb observed. “That sounds like one a mah genius ideas,” he noted wryly.
"Generally, we know which portals are stable, and which fluctuate. Some are closed and remain closed. Some are blocked by sentinels." Alanna nodded to the portal. "This one has been stable on both sides. All I can theorize is that it has some way of detecting a threat, like the explosives, and shut down."
“But we removed the explosives,” Caleb said. “Eliminated the threat. Haven’t we?” He looked at the others. “Is there somethin’ else we’re missin’?” Then he looked up to where the ship orbited. “They couldn’t get a transporter beam through, could they?”
Alanna looked up, too. "Not through the portal, but we're still vulnerable. I've worked with the portals for several months now. My opinion is that the portal shut down because of the perceived threat. However, I don't know how to trigger it to let it know the threat no longer exists, or that we need to get back. I think that's what Commander Soran and the others are working on. From the trembling, they're either going to force the portal open, or destroy it."
The Portal Caves
"Then we move the device further away, though I'm sure force fields allow in but not out to physical things, not communications signals. Otherwise shields would block communications as well, but they don't," Scaliontis said, but he countered an argument by stating that the device be moved further away to allow for the dome to be set up, if there was to be any argument. "Or so the emitter is inside the dome and the receiver is outside. Yes, let's go with that. Half-half."
The marine moved quickly to set up the force field. Cal checked the padd again. "Okay, we're holding at a hundred four percent. We've got a few more minutes at least. Crank those pulses. I think I caught another Vulcan quantum signature a second ago."
"We've nearly done it," Maritza hoped more than knew. "One more push."
Kivan chose not to argue with the Chief as he began to unspool the charging cables and began to move the emitter further away. He began to increase the power output to transmit the necessary pulses into the portal. This was extremely risky, but he realized that if they did not stabilize the portal, the cave would probably shake itself into collapsing on them.
Risa - But Not As We Know It
An idea came to Jason as he fought to stay standing. His hands shaking, Jason fumbled with the utility pockets on his pants and drew out his tricorder. It took a few moments, but it flickered on. It looked like it had a crack or two in it from his fight with Sovok. He hoped it would stay going.
The communication Anorra tried to send through didn't make it. Jason thought it might be because it didn't last long enough for anything to detect the signal. If they could give the team on the other side something to consistently lock on, it might help them. Fighting to concentrate and to keep his fingers working properly, he set the frequency to match the energy readings he was getting right now from the other side, and then set the tricorder to transmit.
As he didn't trust his hands to hold onto the tricorder steadily, he handed it to Alanna. If there were any corrections needed to be made, she could make them.
"Great idea," Alanna said, taking the tricorder from him. She held it with her good hand so she could point it at the portal. "Come on, work," she urged.
There was little Caleb could do but trust his team to get the job done, so he stood by silently willing it to work.
To Be Continued…
Commander Maritza Soran
Commanding Officer
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant JG Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space Five
Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson
Combat Medic
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok
Chief Engineer
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant (jg) Erich Hartmann
Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space Five
Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
Deep Space Five
RSS Feed