Figuring out the problem

Posted on 18 Sep 2025 @ 1:49pm by Ensign Ryan Collingway & Captain Sabrina Corbin & Lieutenant Commander Sandra Boren & Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD & Ensign Mira Quinn

1,345 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Fractured Accord
Location: USS Newton
Timeline: Afternoon

----USS Newton----

As Ryan was led to quarantine, his mind was already racing. Not about his past, but the problem at hand. And he realized something, potentially very important. He turned on his communicator. "Commander Boren, I just realized something. We only detected the nanobots after we turned on the nacelle. A power source attracts them. We can control what they do with this information. Power draws them in, baits them. Or a lack of power disperses them, forces them to look elsewhere."

In Engineering, Sandra was reviewing the latest info, when her comm badge went off, and she listened to Ensign Collingway raising an eyebrow as he explained. "That is good information, I will pass it on to the bridge and the Arawyn. I'll recommend Captain Rao to go to minimal power until we find what we can do to send them away from the other ship. Boren out."

Her mind was looking at the option, if the Newton shut all power, then the nanobots may try one of the other ships, they couldn't get away without any power. Perhaps they could, with help of the tactical department, could rig something in the buoy that could attract them while we all moved away. Not to mention that the o other ships needed more distance. There was no telling if these nanobots could move through space on their own. Sandra tapped her comm badge, “Boren to Bridge Newton and Arawyn. We have discovered that the nanobots are attracted by power sources, lack of a power source disperses them. I recommend the convoy increases the distance from each other, so that the other ships are not in their range to be infected. Another item would be to that together we set up a device in the remains or at least location of the buoy that will radiate a lot of power as we depart, so that they are attracted by it. And maybe detonate them once we are safely out of range.”

— Arawyn Bridge —

Corbin straightened, her fingers drumming once against the armrest before she stilled them. Her voice carried across the bridge with clipped precision. “Understood, Commander. What’s our timeline to regain warp capability, and do you recommend attempting it in our current state?”

“I would not wait, and risk more contamination, especially when the Newton first needs to power down to get rid of them in the first place. And there is sample in the Science department, under full isolation protocols, still... to keep them there only we should place a small power source near the sample to avoid them wanting to get into our systems.” Sandra replied.

She toggled the channel wider to include the convoy. “All vessels, extend spacing. We don’t yet know how far these machines can drift, and I won’t risk chain contamination.”

Her gaze shifted to Holt and Tactical. “Let’s also consider Boren’s suggestion. If power draws them, then we bait them, keep feeding the vermin. Something with endurance enough to keep them occupied, and a perimeter warning for anyone passing until we can get a crew out here to handle the situation more in depth.”

Her tone flattened with emphasis. “I don't want to assume an explosion will solve this problem. Until proven otherwise, we plan for them to survive it as a contingency.”

“Understood, Captain, it was merely a suggestion.” Boren replied.

----USS Newton----

Ryan was tested again at the entrance to the quarantine area and he was pronounced clean, no nanobots inside or outside his body. The nurse in protective gear offered a tight smile and allowed him to enter, then turned her attention to the woman behind him and soon both were cleared.

Ryan gave the nurse a curt nod, then turned on his communicator. "Some of the repair team is now cleared by medical personnel, including myself. Where would you like us to go?"

“Back to engineering, to start with, we need to find out what are systems are infected, and shut them down, set up a safe power source for them to be drawn to, Ensign.” Boren replied.

Aye, ma'am," Ryan said.

----USS Newton, Engineering---'

Ryan returned to engineering, now that he was bug-free. He was happy to see other people around, and he was no longer confined in the cramped, dark nacelle. The other engineers were working on shutting down the systems which were infected. Ryan looked at a schematic of the ship. Unfortunately, it was a science vessel, so there were few if any recreational systems to draw them to. Ryan initially thought of suggesting the science lab itself, then thought against it. While not exactly 'essential' to survival, the crew of the Newton would probably not be too happy with that choice.

"We could use the cargo bay, but we would have to move the terraforming equipment out of there first. It would likely take us a bit of time to set up," he suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, Ensign," Sandra replied, "perhaps we can set up some transport amplifiers or anything else that radiates power. Be creative, if careful. And let's ensure we have isolation force fields to keep them there once we have them." She paused a moment,... "Maybe that is an idea, a web of force fields to keep them occupied."

Before Ryan could reply, one of the engineers spoke up.

"Um, Commander? I'm reading some strange readings from both the nacelles. They are powering up!"

— Arawyn Bridge —

"Captain?" Mira spoke up. "The nanobots on the Newton are activating."

She had been keeping watch on the infestation aboard the Newton. Until now the nanobots had been floating inside the nacelle, apparently doing nothing but replicating. But now, they were joining up.

With a flash of light, the Newton jumped to warp.

----USS Newton, Engineering---

Sandra looked up from her console as she saw the reading and stared at the warp core that suddenly activated, “what the.... they must be hungry for power,2 she mumbled. “Boren to bridge, it looks like the nanobots have taken over the warp core. I’ll attempt an emergency shutdown.”

“Computer, activate emergency warp core shutdown.” Sandra knew it included the Injection Cutoff, where antimatter injection into the reaction chamber is instantly stopped, and any remaining antimatter in transit conduits is diverted to safe storage pods. Emergency force field generators should kick in to reinforce the magnetic confinement. And high energy plasma that was already in the warp plasma conduits would be vented into space.

“Unable to comply. The injector mechanism is jammed.”

“Collingway, find a way to get control of the injectors and stop them.” Sandra called out.

“Computer, vent the plasma from the plasma conduits,” Sandra ordered, maybe that would help. It should at least slow them, if not stop them.

Ryan hurried over to the injectors and saw what the problem was. The interior mechanism had sustained damage during the initial blast, something that would normally seem minor but was definitely a big problem now. Of course repair work would have been normally done when the warp was not running at all, rather than going haywire. He glanced at a nearby control panel. Warp 6...warp 6.2....then warp 4.3 after the plasma was vented. He did a rough patch job to fix the mechanism and hoped it was enough. He couldn't do much more with it running as hot as it was. "Try it now, Commander!"

“Computer, activate emergency warp core shutdown.” Sandra commanded again.

“Unable to comply.”

“Why?”

“The injector mechanism is jammed.”

“We just fixed it, Computer. With what is it jammed.”

“The injector mechanism is jammed with nanobots.”

Idiot! Ryan wanted to scream at himself for not considering the possibility. He approached the problem visually, but of course he couldn't see the buggers. He scanned the injectors this time to be sure. "Confirmed, Commander. They've infested Engineering."

Captain Sabrina Corbin
Commanding Officer
USS Arawyn

Lieutenant Commander Sandra Boren
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

Ensign Mira Quinn
Science Officer
USS Arawyn

Ensign Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

Nurse (NPC)
Apb Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn

 

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