Whisked Away

Posted on 23 Sep 2025 @ 3:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Sandra Boren & Ensign Ryan Collingway

540 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Fractured Accord
Location: USS Newton

---Engineering----

Ryan stared at the warp core, frozen. They were warping away to a destination unknown. Away from the USS Arawyn, his supposed home. Except it really wasn't. He barely knew it or anyone on it before everything came crashing down around his ears. He was so preoccupied he didn't realize Commander Boren was talking to him. "What?"

Sandra let out a big sigh, not at Collingway not hearing, he was as stunned as she was. "They seem to be intelligent enough to keep the warp core going. Last resort is ejecting it, apart from flooding the reaction chamber with cooling fluid, any other suggestions, Ensign?"

Ryan frowned as he tried to think about the problem and not his personal problems. "Intelligence suggests intent. They didn't seem to activate until we fixed the nacelle. Earlier I suggested it was due to the power surge, but maybe...they were intentionally waiting for us to fix it so they could activate the warp core." He shook his head. "Low level emp?" he suggested. "Might do some damage, but nowhere near as bad as a warp core ejection. Could fry some systems though if we are unable to turn them off. It should get rid of the nanobots, or at least cause them to disperse."

An eyebrow went up as Sandra considered it, "not a bad idea at all, Collingway." At that moment, she was interrupted by the comm.

“Engineering, construct a lure. Cargo bay, power cells, anything that burns brighter than the core. When it is ready, isolate it and let them chase it.”

“Aye, Captain.” Sandra replied and nodded to Collingway, "Captain's orders first, let's see what we can build, I will try to keep dumping warp plasma to slow us down as much as possible. We can use the coolant fluid injection to make the lure brighter than the warp core when we activate it, Ensign. You are in charge of the lure... I'll fight the warp core."

It wasn't his job to debate which mission had priority. Instead he nodded and double-timed it to the shuttle bay. Trouble was, there weren't too many things more powerful than a warp core, even if Commander Boren was slowing it down. He went to the nearest shuttle and essentially sabotaged it-cutting off its ability to go to warp, but also disabling several safety protocols so it will essentially overclock itself trying to do so, hopefully generating the required amount of power. It should still be safe and not blow up the cargo bay. In theory. He switched all other controls over to the USS Newton and left the shuttle. He then contacted the bridge and Engineering. "Lure ready!" He left the shuttle bay, turned it on, and held his breath.

"Boren here, good work,Ensign, I recommend we push the shuttle out of the cargo bay so the nanobots will follow there before we go dark on the Newton. Captain, when we are ready to activate the lure, we should go dark, I will also try to throw us out of warp by flooding the reaction chamber with coolant fluid."

LtCmdr Sandra Boren
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn
"Everything fits, otherwise we'll make it fit!"

Ensign Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

 

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