Getting on the Same Page

Posted on Wed Sep 21st, 2016 @ 1:24pm by Captain Tim Williams & Lieutenant Commander Horatio Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Jean Reynard & Lieutenant Griffen Tanol

Episode: Lost Property
Location: USS Highlander - Bridge
Timeline: MD05 0750hrs

"Jean, re-establish our comm. channel with the crew of the DeSalle," Tim ordered, as he walked onto the bridge of the Highlander. He started briskly around the railing to reach his place at the centre of the bridge, still puzzled by what he had just seen in the DeSalle's sickbay.

"Something wrong, Captain?" Mac asked from tactical, looking up from his security reports as Williams made his way past.

"I'm not sure," Tim responded, honestly. "The DeSalle's chief medical officer has somehow just emerged from their imaging chamber, after apparently shifting back to our phase."

"The imaging chamber?" Jean repeated as he worked to bring the link back up. The phase differential wasn't perfectly steady, shifting back and forth over a small range in what appeared to be a regular pattern. It had him a bit concerned about just how stable the other ship's position in subspace was now that they'd been knocked back into regular time. "This day is just full of surprises, isn't it? We should have them any moment."

The DeSalle's bridge appeared on the screen, fuzzy at first but then snapping into more or less normal clarity.

"Captain Chandrakala," Tim began, addressing his counterpart on the 200-year-old ship again. "It appears something happened in your sickbay; as a result, your chief medical officer is currently on the Highlander being treated by my own."

Looking like she hadn't slept in a century or two, Captain Chandrakala furrowed her brow and rubbed the side of her head as she listened to the update. She looked off screen for a moment, seeking confirmation from her bridge crew. "What's his condition, Captain?" she asked, as much to take up time while her crew confirmed that the doctor wasn't in sickbay where he was supposed to be.

"Stable, for now," Tim answered. "But unconscious. It appears his trip through to our phase had some nasty caveats to it. Our doctor is treating him now; we should know more soon."

As he responded, an officer came up beside Chandrakala and spoke into her ear. "I've just confirmed that our doctor is not aboard the DeSalle, Captain. He and a few others were undertaking some scans to try and learn more about our situation. Apparently he was in the sickbay's containment chamber when he vanished. Do your people have any idea how this happened?"

"It's almost certainly related to the crossover effects we've already been witnessing," Jean said. He couldn't speak to the exact details yet, like why the man was not a pile of mush, but the physics was much simpler. "Like minor physical forces, like signals down a cable, only on a much larger scale. It's very possible that by creating a subspace signal we've boosted the permeability between phases." He started several scans running to see if there was any change in the alternate De Salle's position in subspace.

"It's as reasonable an explanation as any," the captain agreed. "I've got my science and engineering officers looking at the imaging chamber now to see if they can confirm that, or come up with any other explanations. Can you tell me more about what scans were being run on your side? It would help if we could trace his steps."

Chandrakala nodded as she listened. "Doctor Elliot reported some problems with the imaging chamber a few hours ago; a Boradium detection alarm sounded, which naturally got his attention. It's not dangerous, but could signal a problem with the chamber itself. Tom was inside taking some diagnostic scans when the ... incident occurred." She paused and took a breath before adding. "I have a feeling the root cause may have been elsewhere in the ship, though."

"What makes you say that?" Williams asked, wondering what else could have been happening on the ship that could have affected the doctor inside the imaging chamber.

"My engineering and science teams have been working to try and come up with a solution of our own," Chandrakala said, almost apologetically. "I don't mean to minimise the assistance from you and your crew, Captain, but we can't just sit here waiting for rescue. We've been looking at modifying our warp field to try and reverse the phase shift and get us back. So far we've been unsuccessful ... or, at least, we thought we had been."

"I'm sure I'd be trying to do the same if I were in your position, Captain," Tim said. In truth, if it were his ship stuck out of phase, he'd of probably been the one in the engine room or the imaging chamber or at the transporter controls or anywhere else he might be able to come up with an idea at, trying to jury-rig a way to reverse their situation. "It looks like whatever you were trying worked... in a way. I'll need to know the precise modifications your engineer has made to the warp core. Knowing what interaction caused this will help us treat your doctor, but it could also help us figure out a safer way of getting the rest of your crew phase shifted too."

"I'll get my chief engineer to outline the details," Chandrakala said, gesturing to someone out of view to join her.

A tall man stepped into view dirt and oil staining his uniform and face, "We figured if it was when we tried to jump to warp its something affecting us in subspace that got us to where we are. We were attempting to focus and reverse the warp field our engines put out when the Doctor was in the imaging chamber. I haven't had much of a chance to look into the chamber itself since he disappeared though, we blew out a few relays when we were attempting the reversal." The man shrugged, "What your man said make sense, we've weakened the barriers between our two planes with your probe. We could have gotten entirely lucky with the doc, who knows we'd need more time to look into it."

"Thank you," Tim said, nodding to the other engineer. "Please let us know if you are able to come up with any other solutions; working in concert, we might just be able to pull something off. In the meantime, we'll keep working over here, and I'll keep you apprised of your doctor's status."

"Thank you, Captain," Chandrakala said with a nod to her offscreen communications officer.

As the comm link closed again, Tim turned towards his own bridge crew again. "Let the doctor know about the Boradium alarm, and pass on the details of the warp field modifications too," he told Jean. "I'm sure knowing what radiation the doctor was dosed with will help his treatment, and who knows; there might be something in the field calibration she recognises that could help too."

"Right away, sir," Jean said, making sure to save video feed to make sure the exact details were recorded and transcribed for the others. "I'll also look to see if boradium's something we have in stock or could synthesize. We may be able to duplicate the transfer in a controlled manner, maybe using the transporter."

"Good idea," Tim agreed. "You should also check the database to see whether there are any other substances that could produce the same effect, in case we need a substitute."

"Let's catch up with Ryan and Grif," the captain said, turning next to Hawke. "Between the scans they've been taking of the imaging chamber and the information we've just gotten, we might be able to pull together some sort of solution to this."

"We're definitely getting closer, in any case," the XO replied as he stood up to follow the captain. As they walked, he lowered his voice and leaned closer. "How confident are you, sir?"

"Starfleet has had experience with bringing people back from another phase over the years," Tim answered as they stepped into the turbolift. "But I've never heard of a successful case of bringing an entire ship back from another phase... and the only case we have of a duplicate of a ship being out of phase with its partner led to the destruction of one of them. I can only hope that we're either able to avert that, or make sure that we don't lose any of the DeSalle's crew as a result."