Not to Burst the Bubble
Posted on Sun Mar 1st, 2026 @ 1:57pm by Lieutenant JG Rala & Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen & Lieutenant Mark Valleroy & Lieutenant Kally Kellerman & Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen & Lieutenant JG Raven Windancer & Lieutenant JG Jeanine Jeffries & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jadizon Enor & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Lieutenant JG Katie Kellerman
Edited on on Thu Mar 5th, 2026 @ 9:43am
Mission:
Lower Decks
Location: USS Chimera | Various Locations
Timeline: A day or so after "An Interesting Sideways Direction""
ON
JJ felt it before any alarm sounded. That ever so slight tremor that ran through the ship. It was always there at Warp, like the hum of machinery. This was different though, this was... off.
She accessed an unused console and pulled up a system's display. One by one, she ticked off the sub-systems that made up the Warp Drive, until... there. The bubble itself had a blip. Localized, small, but enough to make everything else out of sync. The blip was even causing some feedback pulse to bounce back-and-forth.
"Engineering to Bridge, we have a situation down here with the Warp Bubble." She had hit her commbadge and was talking, even as diagnostic data came in.
Rala had also felt the unusual vibration, but hadn’t thought much of it until Jeffries had called in. At the engineer’s report, she pulled up the basic warp drive info the Ops console always kept ready to display, but whatever was wrong, it wasn’t showing up there.
The ship had shuddered and once again shook slightly, not something that Cally would typically be worried about, but the comm from engineering did. "How bad of a situation is it?" She left the comm open as she looked towards the Helm, "Raven, get ready to take us out of warp."
Raven had felt that something was wrong seconds before the call from Engineering, and her chest had started to constrict.
"Aye, Captain, preparing to drop out of Warp." Raven said, her hands already poised over the console.
JJ's brain was running faster than their current Warp. Her fingers danced over the controls. Data displays and info charts danced in front of her. Everything clicked.
"Belay that!" The bubble was now fluctuating like water's surface. "Drop us down to Warp 1.1. Not 1.0, and do not take us out of warp."
Actual speed of light—Warp 1.0—did weird things to Warp drive systems. "Long story short, if we try to drop out of Warp, the bubble will shatter like glass, and we'll be a debris field cast across three lightyears."
"You heard JJ, Raven!" Calypso confirmed the demand to remain at warp, "I don't feel like being in millions of pieces... Rebecca, Rala, I need a full sensor sweep, tell me what's in the immediate area, no matter how small it may seem to be."
Raven removed her hands, closing her eyes so she could hear the engines clearer. Raven was used to smaller vessels, so while what she heard wasn't good, she couldn't put her finger on what it was because of how big the ship was.
Rala immediately cleared the engineering info from her console and accessed the sensor systems. They were always active to some degree, especially at warp, but a fresh, more detailed scan was called for. Clawtips fluttering over the console, she initially focused the sensors forward and aft, checking for anything that might cause them to change course or that they might have passed through to trigger the problem. Nothing. She widened the scans, searching all around them. “No unusual energy patterns within range, and the nearest object larger than three microns is a rogue comet six and a half light-years to port,” she announced. “We’re clear to maneuver as needed, and whatever caused this, I don’t think it came from outside. Rebecca, is the mission pod showing you anything different?”
The most interesting phrase to say was 'Rebecca stood tall on the Bridge', but Rebecca stood tall on the Bridge'. The only indicator that something was amiss was there was a tracer bracelet on her wrist, which the system used to track her motions so the Dollhouse Protocol could accurately render her projection. It looked innocent enough, but to those who knew, they knew. "Mission pod is picking up something at the extreme edge of its scanning distance. I'm not picking anything else up at the moment, nothing in our vicinity that could have caused us issue." a pause, "I *can* confirm Rala's Comet." she giggled gently. "Shall I enter it in the Federation registry?" she teased.
"Until we can resolve whatever's wrong with our engines, I want constant scans by everything we have. If we see it, I want it reported and logged." Cally said very cautiously, "Comets, asteroids, gravitational eddys, random energy spikes, you name it, I want to steer clear of it all."
“Aye, Captain, continuing scans,” Rala said, ignoring Becca’s jibe in favor of keeping the comms clear.
[tag Bridge, or back to Jenna?]
The bridge chatter had died to background noise down in Engineering.
Knots of two, or three engineers had clustered around the main floor, conversations mixing into a general hum. JJ moved between them. Checking data, getting schematic answers, and finding results she did not like.
Five minutes had passed. The redhead stood alone at the master system table, arms braced, sleeves rolled up. She had to make the report, there was nothing more to be said.
"Bridge, Engineering."
"Go ahead, Lieutenant." Calypso said as she glanced at the screen still showing stars, "What do you have for us?"
"So, long story short. It's not the coil itself. That's the good news. Trying to replace a coil at Warp would be genuinely impossible. The problem is in the magnetic conductance locks on the damn coil. They help regulate the magnetic flux, channeling..." JJ cut herself off. "Sorry, rambling."
Raven had been following along and almost protested the interruption, but caught herself in time...she'd just have to ask JJ after the fireworks to explain it so she could add it to her mental library of ship knowledge.
She took a breath. "It can be fixed. It's going to require someone—me—to go into the nacelle at Warp to do it, but I can do it."
Raven almost swore, but bit her tongue just in time. A move like that was...was...Raven swallowed hard.
Rala’s eyes widened and her ears angled down, pinning themselves to the sides of her head as she glanced back at Calypso in shock. “Inside the nacelle, at warp? That’s...” suicide, she thought, but refrained from voicing the word.
"Dangerous." Calypso said instead, sighing as she knew that her word was an understatement. "How bad would it be if we dropped out of warp? Is it even possible to drop out and maintain structural integrity?"
JJ had to pinch the bridge of her nose, and tried to think of how to explain it. "Okay, Warp 101. The Bubble is what allows us to both travel at Warp, and helps protect the ship as it enters and leaves subspace, as it plays with interial physics. An unstable field, like what we have right now, will collapse under the stress of dropping out of subspace, and the result will be like throwing an egg at a brick wall."
"All right." The Captain tapped a couple buttons on the side of the Captain's chair, bringing up a readout, "I want you to take a team, two others maximum with you, brief them in on what needs to be done and get it done." Cally knew she was potentially sentencing three irreplaceable engineers to death by giving this order, but she knew she couldn't send one person alone.
"Captain. With all due respect. I helped re-write the procedure. It can be done, and I know what I'm doing. More people means crowding. I appreciate the thought, but please. You need to trust me right now." Besides, JJ was only willing to risk her own skin in the endeavour. Her research paper. Her hand in drafting the idiotic protocol.
"Fine." Cally grumped briefly, then exhaled, "Brief Lieutenants Jade and Kellerman on what you're doing and what needs to be done. This is not optional. If you go down in there, I need a backup option, not a point failure source. Check with Medical, see if they can bolster your system against the radiation and have them prep an emergency transport straight to Sickbay. We're not going to lose you if we don't have to."
"Aye Captain. Already moving."
[tag Bridge]
JJ made a mental coin toss, and erred on the side of continued communication. "Computer, tie Sickbay into this comm channel." She waited for a half second. "Lieutenant Jeffries to Sickbay, Dr. Kellerman, I really hope you're in your office."
"I am, but given how the ship is shaking this isn't the time for that," Kally said. "What's going on, Lieutenant?"
Rala winced, for a few reasons. “Kally, you’re on open comms with the Bridge and Engineering,” she interjected quickly.
A pause and a sigh later. "Noted."
Raven put her hand to her mouth to hide the snicker.
JJ was already out the doors of Engineering and on her way to sickbay. "Long story, doc. The short version is we have serious issue with the Warp drive. I need to get inside the Nacelle catwalk while we're at Warp. Don't have time for the lecture. I need a hyronalin booster shot, and one of your medical monitor neck thingies. Be there in one minute." The turbolift was already moving.
There was a shrill whistle over the comm, then Kally's voice shouting. "Henry, Code Eighty-Eight! A.H.O.D.!" She closed the channel halfway through barking more orders.
True to her word, it was about a minute later that JJ walked through the doors of Sickbay. Her expression was set to one of determination, asking the sheer terror she felt at what was ahead of her. Academy simulations were one thing. This was the harsh truth of reality. Failure wouldn't be a research paper. At least not hers.
"Okay, doc, let's get this going." The Irish brogue usually kept to a minimum was leading the way in her voice. Her mind was running through too many thoughts to keep it under control.
Kally looked up at the new voice. "Over here," Kally said, leading her to a biobed in the main room. Other medical staff entered behind her and Kally nodded them to see Henry about assignments. She grabbed a hypospray and loaded it, then pressed it to JJ's neck. "I assume this stupidly dangerous stunt you're about to do is the only solution to the situation?"
JJ rolled her shoulders as the shot entered her system. They say never find out the side effects of medication. This was one time she absolutely did not want to know. "Lemme say doc, goin' into that microwave oven wasna on my To-Do List when I woke up this mornin'."
Kally's voice dropped to a whisper as she licked her lips nervously. "Is Katie going?"
The look the doctor got back was anger, tinged with hurt. "Ya seriously think I'd risk someone else's neck? Nah, just me being a bloody fool."
Kally gave a nod, trying not to let her relief show. "Okay. I'll have a team ready to administer hyronalin injections to the rest of Engineering just in case." She nodded to Tessa who brought her a biomonitor. She affixed it to JJ's neck and synched it to Sickbay's systems. "All right," she said, "monitoring is on. If anything spikes, we'll know immediately."
JJ didn't really want to answer. She didn't trust herself to say anything. It felt like she was never going to see any of these people again. She just offered a grin. Fake as it was, she was trying to be what she should be.
Kally nodded. "Good luck," she said, squeezing JJ's hand.
JJ hopped off the bed, took a breath, and headed out the doors of Sickbay, ready to face the hand the Universe had handed her.
As the engineer left, Kally leaned down over and whispered in Tessa's ear for a moment and handed the girl a tricorder. "Understood?" she said, standing up straight again.
"Yes, Doctor." Tessa agreed, going back over to the drawer she'd just been at and withdrawing another biomonitor. She gave Kally a brief smile and vanished out the door. It was time to outfit Katie with one of them, just in case.
"Kellerman to Gamma shift: Medical emergency, report for duty," she said, grabbing a medkit and whistling for Henry.
JJ rode the turbolift back the way she had come. What she was about to do was one of the most insane things an Engineer could do. The team was already set in Engineering, she knew that.
What she didn't want was the looks. The forced smiles. The odds were so drastically stacked against her. It was a hard choice to.not go back to Main Engineering, but JJ wasn't sure if she'd be able to do the job if she did.
It had to be now. Now, or never - for any of the crew. An override took her to the Nacelle entry hatch. Standard repair kits were available in most storage lockers all over the ship.
An eye piece HUD clicked over her right ear snugly. “Computer, set twenty minutes timer, show display only, no audio, start on my mark.” The digits appeared in the bottom corner of the display.
“Okay. I want a Comms link - Main Engineering, Bridge, Sickbay, and Transporter Room.”
A second later and overlapping background chatter surrounded her. “Jeffries to all parties. Welcome to the group call.”
"Lovely to be here," Kally's voice came over the system. "Sickbay is standing by, as am I."
JJ's uniform jacket was already being unzipped. The tank top beneath would be far more appropriate for the conditions she was about to endure.
“Transporter Chief, get a lock on my signal, and be ready with a site-to-site Transport to Sickbay.” JJ let out a silent breath. “Captain, about to head inside.”
“This is the Transporter Room.” It was Espersen’s voice. He had gone to Transporter Room One to work with the chief and do what was necessary to maintain that lock. “We are locked on you. Will advise if anything changes.”
"May the Four be with you." Calypso intoned from her spot on the deck. She had the main screen with a view of the nacelle spec and the dot showing where Jeanine was.
“I’m keeping my eyes on everything relating to this stunt of yours that I have room for on my console,” Rala piped up. “You need anything, consider it done.” Her fingers blurred as she squeezed readouts and functions she thought might be useful into every millimeter of space on her console, including her own separate site-to-site transport program on standby, just in case.
I'm monitoring you directly, as is Sickbay. If anything goes sideways, we'll act," Kally promised.
Raven took a slow breath, praying this mad-hatter endeavor would be worth the nail-biting.
JJ rested a hand on the hatch lever that would open up into the closest thing to the maw of hell. “Computer.” Her voice was rock solid, despite the abject fear in her gut. “Begin countdown.”
Her hand pulled the lever, the heavy manual lock releasing, and the hatch cover opened. A wave of thick heat spilled into the area, and JJ felt nauseous already as she climbed through, pulling the hatch closed behind her.
The air was heavy, and dry. The kind of heat that could dry a person out faster than a smokehouse. “Should have brought sunscreen.” The redhead half joked to herself. “Computer, display location of Warp Coil CZ-064-YYX.”
The HUD of the eyepiece showed a dot, far down the length of the Nacelle. “Great…” she muttered to herself, still broadcasting on open Comms.
JJ set off at a careful pace. Not wanting to waste time, but mindful of her bare arms, and the cramped confines of the catwalk.
Raven's breathing subconsciously synchronized with JJ's heart monitor, a habit that randomly popped up when Raven was stressed.
The time was down to fifteen.minutes when JJ reached the coil in question. It wasn't fun, or easy moving through the catwalk. Ducting, equipment, and the general cramped space had left it slow going.
The air smelled of heat. Smelled of dryness. She was already coated in a sheen of sweat. Hair already stuck to the back of her neck, and irritating her.
“Jeffries to Bridge. Have arrived at the coil, beginning work.”
The first question was to find out what was wrong. Tricorder readings showed the coil itself was sporadically powered—causing the ripple through the warp bubble. Tracking back through the system, JJ landed at the problem.
The four magcoils, powered through the EPS grid had tripped. Without those to stabilise the main warp coil, it was only partially functioning—worse than not functioning at all, in fact.
Twelve minutes.
JJ extracted a tool from her repair kit, and reached above her head, to the first magcoil. It was an awkward reach. The tool was about to unlock the housing case relatively easily. From there, the process to reinitialise the device was a straightforward one.
Nine minutes.
She blinked at the digital display on the eye-piece. Was she seriously down to less than ten minutes? The second magcoil took part longer than the first. The heat was beginning to impact her focus.
At least she had stopped sweating. That was good, right? JJ forced herself back on track.
Four minutes.
The third magcoil’s housing was jammed, the locking mechanism refusing to work. JJ almost dropped the tool in her frustration. Finally, she got the housing off.
With the third magcoil reengaged, JJ almost jumped out of her skin before she could rehouse the casing. The alarm for her twenty minute deadline was beeping at her.
“Computer, disable timer.” The nausea building up was the hyronalin, right? Sure, JJ. Keep telling yourself that.
She was half expecting a barked rebuke from Kellerman as she moved onto the final magcoil. She had begun to develop a cough.
The housing came off the magcoil reinitialised. A steady hum filled the air as the warp coil stabilised.
With the casing on the last magcoil locked back into place, JJ had to cough, to clear the dryness on her throat. It sort of worked.
The room wobbled in her vision as she straightened. JJ braced herself on a railing to keep the world stable.
“Rala.” There was still a rasp to her voice. “Scan the warp field. I am really hoping you get a field variance of less than three millicochranes.”
One of the things Rala had prepared earlier was continuous monitoring of the warp field. She glanced at the spot on her console where she’d crammed in those readouts in between a dozen other related ones. She found the warp field variance among them; it was fluctuating a tiny bit, but the highest figure she saw was 2.747. “Two point eight,” she called.
“Captain. Kindly drop us out of Warp, so I can run a complete diagnostic.”
[SHOOT A BRICK!] Raven thought, snarling under her breath.
Raven cracked her knuckles, her breath sounding loud in her ears.
JJ never heard the response. The deck tilted violently under her, and JJ was already unconscious by the time she struck the deck.
Kally didn't wait for the tremor in the deck before saying, "Espersen, beam her to the surgical bay!"
As the ship dropped out of warp, she stepped up to the surgical bed, Henry on the other side. Both of them were surrounded by every tool, medication and scanning object they could think they would need. Behind them, the three members of Gamma shift stood ready to assist, grabbing anything that was required. The room was crowded, but they were ready.
The whine of the transporter had never sounded so ominous, nor seemed to take so long in Kally's memory as in that moment. The body that materialized was burned and blistered, but it was whole, and, according to the biobed, still viable.
"Hyronalin, Tri-ox, Tricordrazine, fluid replacement, she said, pointing at Nurses Taylor, Jeh'tor, Dallas and Doctor F'Arra, respectively. As hyposprays were filled and Doctor F'Arra prepared an IV, Kally activated the surgical support frame and began radiation therapy. If they were lucky, their preventative care bought her some extra time.
