Stardate 1/9407. The Federation has enjoyed a century of relative peace within its borders. The long and devastating war against the Romulan Star Empire is all but forgotten and the Federation’s border with them remains tense, but stable. The Klingons remain silent as well, perhaps still engrossed in a conflict with the unknown enemy on the far side of their empire. The Federation’s peace-time focus is now on research and exploration, although Tellarites and Andorians argue for a stronger navy of gunships and frigates. The compromise is the new Constitution Class Cruiser. Equipped with the most advanced weaponry and home to state-of-the-art scientific research and medical facilities, these debutants of the fleet can operate for years beyond the logistical support of star bases. It is the dream of every starry-eyed Star Fleet recruit to serve on these ships.
Alik’s recollection of the next few moments is hazy. Everything seems to happen at the same time, yet in slow motion.
Weathers’ mag-boots have already detached and she gracefully floats up from the dish as Alik begins speaking and moving toward her. From the corner of his helmet he sees Serao begin to rise as well. A rumbling vibration moves through the dish before there is a violent shift. The comm link with the bridge goes static dead.
The explosion in main security sends a concussive jet of explosively decompressing gasses parallel to the dish tower, then along the face of the dish, scouring its surface. This initial blast is immediately followed by a rolling wave of plasma and molten debris from the cabin.
Alik was unaware of the rapidly approaching hurricane gale and tide of molten goop, but the sensory clues and the reactions of his companions convince him to act--but a moment too late.
The blast violently tears Alik from his connection to the dish. He’s sent tumbling, end-over-end, as he rebounds once off the dish, crashes into the outer lip of the dish, then slides over the edge into open space. The only sound he hears is half a dozen alert notifications blaring in his enviro-suit.
You are tumbling in open space. You will need to make some zero-G operations rolls to stabilize yourself, reorient yourself, avoid motion sickness, etc.
You are receiving several notifications within your suit. You will need to make an environmental suit operation roll to recognize and prioritize them all. I will allow a small equipment systems operation roll to substitute the enviro-suit roll, I think your character is better with that skill.
Alik is disoriented and in shock, his body moving spastically as he tries to comprehend his situation (and hopefully do something about it). He gasps for air as his eyes and ears try to identify what specific alarms are blaring.
Environmental Suit Operations (20): 50 (failed by 30)
Small Equipment Systems Operations (20): 13 (succeeded by 7)
Zero-G Operations (17): 6 (succeeded by 11)
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Fortunately his stomach is strong, so at least he isn't fighting down nausea. His recent experience (although admittedly not in such an extreme situation) benefits him as he can quickly use the suit controls to stop his spinning, stopping his relative rotation facing towards the Ship, although he is still flying away from it. Something is wrong with the rotation since he has to apply active control to not start spinning again, which shouldn't be happening in space.
Now that his senses aren't being confused he can focus on the alerts, the most important of which is clearly that he is venting air at a soon-to-be-lethal rate. Well, that explains the rotation issues, as the venting air exerts a force on him as it escapes. It clearly isn't happening by his face or hands, so he looks down to try to visualize where the tear is - and then he sees his right leg.
Well, what remains of his right leg.
He can see his shin bone, and then nothing past it. Just ripped suit material and escaping gas.
He must be in shock, as the pain hasn't really hit yet. Thankfully. He quickly pulls out his patch kit, and seals off the hole where his right foot used to be. He thinks quickly and uses a cable to tourniquet his thigh to stop the massive blood loss. He can't see exactly what he's doing, but he knows that his leg should still be viable for one hour, maybe two. But if he isn't rescued by then, losing the rest of his leg will be the least of his worries.
Now in no danger of immediate death, he tries the Comms to see if it has shorted out, or is still functional. "Cadet Alik Craig, reporting in. Is anyone reading this transmission? I have been voided, and am traveling at an unknown speed away from the Ship. Suit controls are online. Air supply was compromised, now patched. Urgent medical attention is needed for a traumatic amputation of my right foot. Tourniquet has been applied, but I cannot directly examine my limb to assess continued blood loss. Please respond."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Alik expertly ends his tumbling pattern and steadies himself, though there is nothing he can do to stop or change the trajectory the blast sent him. His next order of business is the ragged hole in his suit. He activates the joint seals in the suit, then manually applies a patch to reenforce the seal. It’s messy, but the blaring emergency alarms in his suit are soon silenced.
He turns to watch the Pas-de-Calais recede into the distance. He sees the glow of uncontained fires on the bottom center of the saucer and notices that the new deflector dish hangs slightly askew. Alik is no communications expert, but if main communications were already routed through the dish, the ship’s communications are probably down. He figures it may be a while before auxiliary systems will be brought online.
Alik tries sending his destress call and receives no response. The link with the ship is dead, but the link with his companions is still functioning. He hears ragged breathing and frustrated grunts from one of his companions.
With some effort, Alik turns to face the direction he is traveling and spots both of his companions still tumbling. They seem to be moving slightly faster than he, but generally in the same direction. Floating up for a half-second saved them from being torn from, and dashed against the dish, which slowed Alik somewhat by comparison. One companion is at his eleven o’clock high. The other one is at his two o’clock even.
The figure at his eleven o’clock high pulls herself into a pirouette, like a zero-g dancer. Once her rotation absorbs or counteracts the other forces causing her to tumble, she extends her limbs to slow her rotation. It takes her a little longer, but she stops tumbling much more gracefully than Alik. Based on her movements, Alik is pretty sure that figure is Cadet Weathers.
The figure at his two o’clock even, who he figures for Cadet Serao, can’t seem to stop tumbling. He’s pretty sure the breathing and grunts he is hearing on the comm link are coming from her.
Alik is wearing an engineering e-suit while the other two are wearing science suits. All suits have a tether line so you can anchor yourself to a ship, but an engineering suit allows the wearer to put a weight, magnet, or grapnel on the end of the line and fire it off using compressed gasses. If Alik feels it is in the best interest of the team to stay together and in physical contact, shooting his tether line to the other two is probably the only way. It would use up some of his stored air. He would have to do it soon or everyone will drift beyond range. Weathers is closer and more able to catch a line. Serao is further, less able to grab the line in her current state, but probably the most in need of help.
Alik tries to maintain objectivity, rather than making decisions based on who he is more fond of, or some other emotional metric. He's in pain and scared himself, so he knows his own judgment could be more compromised than usual, but he has to make choices regardless. He can only hope he's making the right ones. So the same as usual life, just now with higher stakes.
Weathers is closer and more in control, so he has more time to try to connect with her. Probably time for multiple attempts, assuming nothing drastically changes. But Serao if both farther away and in a bad state, so with them it's now or never. So, he puts together the weight, magnet, and grapple while talking on the comms. "Weathers - I'm going to try to grapple Serao to stabilize and pull her in. I'll then repeat with you. Serao - do your best to slow your tumbling, but more importantly concentrate on me. You're about to see a shiny magnet going in your direction. Grab ahold of it."
Going for Serao first, since she is both farther away and in more distress.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Alik doesn’t get a verbal response from his comrades, just wheezing noises and groans from effort. He loads the firing system and does his best to aim toward Serao. He probably only has one shot to reach her, before she is out of range.
Your roll for the shot is the average of your DEX and a skill. You have a choice of your highest marksmanship skill cut in half, environmental suit operation, or small equipment systems operation. For you, the best choice is your small equipment systems operation.
Alik sends the line out like a perfectly thrown touchdown pass. He watches it sail past Serao’s shoulder. Her flailing arms wrap around the line and she instinctively grabs hold. The line goes taut as Alik is pulled forward and Serao is jerked back. With the anchor of Alik’s line, Serao is able to stop tumbling almost immediately. Alik has to check his balance from the extra movement on the line. Serao begins climbing, arm over arm, toward Alik as he begins reeling the line in. It’s a slow process that takes over a minute. All the while, Alik casts nervous glances toward Weathers as she floats farther and farther away. Once Serao reaches Alik, she wraps her legs around his waist as she takes out her own tether line and attaches it to an anchor point on his suit, then she releases from him and floats free so as to be as little of a distraction as possible as he reloads and prepares to fire the line out again towards Weathers.
Alik frantically loads the firing system and wastes no time lining up the shot. He points and fires. It looks like another perfect pass as the line sails out toward Weathers. Weathers, for her part, turns and reaches out in anticipation. Then, suddenly, the line snaps back as it reaches its full extension, dozens of meters short of Weathers’ outstretched hand.
Alik's mind practically overheats as he thinks through different options based on physics laws of motion, tether length, and suit equipment. If he could will an additional tether line into existence he would, but if he could just wish things to be different and they were he wouldn't need something as mundane as an extra set of line.
His voice sounds rather dead as he speaks into the comm. "Weathers, I can't get to you. No more line, no maneuvering thrusters, nothing. Unless you're for some reason carrying around a heavy brick you can throw in the opposite direction to get you moving back, I'm out of options. We can just hope that the ship can send a rescue soon."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
