Subject: USS Grail: 'The Great Brightness' - Trouble brewing

NRPG: Apologies to both Blake and Kurt for not getting back

to them. Kurt, I've sent you something recently on our Joint Post.

Blake. Watch your mail box today... <G>

RPG:

USS Grail: 'The Great Brightness' - Trouble Brewing.

<<Stardate: 47307.31- 9.15>>

<<Location: CSO's Office>>

Eve had grown used to the almost constant juddering of the ship

as it fought its way through the Great Brightness. She was working

on a PADD now, since Engineering had cut power to non-essential

systems in order to feed more power to shields. She was working

on the problem of combining the works of Soren and Seyetik.

Jared Deshaine was doing the same, but the lack of a central

computer was hampering their efforts.

=/\=Prexis to Mallory.=/\

Eve looked up. It was unusual for the Prexis to call her during her

bridge shift; she only did that if it was something important.

"Yes, what's wrong?" She asked.

=/\=I believe you should come to the Bridge, Lieutenant. I

am unable to send the information to you.=/\

Mallory frowned. "I'm on my way up. Mallory out."

<<Main Bridge>>

Mallory stepped off, and almost immediately turned her eyes

away from the bright light flooding from the main viewscreen.

The filters were on, she could see that, but the stark light

flooding the bridge was still high. She waited until her eyes had

adjusted to the light, then made her way to the science station.

Prexis looked up as she approached and nodded in greeting.

"What's the problem?" Mallory asked.

"I have been monitoring the hull on an irregular basis," Prexis

replied, "It has not hithertoo been important, but recently..."

She indicated one screen.

Mallory studied it, and whistled. "Good god!" She murmured,

and tapped on a few keys. "Rate is steady," She said with a

certain amount of relief, "If it was increasing, I'd be more

concerned than I am."

The reason for her concern was the build-up of baryon particles

on the Grail's hull. Under normal circumstances, such a build-up

would go on for months before becoming harmful to organic

life. Right now, after only two hours of travelling through the

cluster of stars, those levels had built up to almost that level.

Once through the Brightness, the Grail would need a plasma

sweep as a matter of urgency to clear the hull of the

contamination.

Mallory drummed her fingers on the console for a moment.

"Monitor the build-up," She said to Prexis. "If the rate increases

I want to know about it. I'm going to report this to the captain."

She moved away from the science station and down the ramp to

the Captain's Chair. She'd downloaded the information onto a

PADD. Terrakian looked up as she approached, and seemed

almost startled as he noticed who it was who was handing him

the report. He glanced down and read the report. When he looked

up again, he looked... worried. At least that was the best guess

Eve could come up with.

"How long before the build-up becomes harmful?" He asked.

"At this rate, we should be through before that happens."

Mallory replied. "As long as we don't stop to enjoy the view,

we should be fine. We'll need as plasma sweep as soon as

possible though, to clear the hull."

Terrakian nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant." It was a dismissal.

Mallory headed back up to the science station and dismissed

Prexis, asking her to inform Deshaine that he would be working

on the problem alone for a moment, although he might ask Stellar

Cartography for some advice. For a moment, her mouth twiched;

it would be interesting to see how he handled the Gianinni twins.

Or should that be how they handled him?

Eve shook her head and returned her attention to the console.

and the scrolling data.

Jason Cleaver

Lieutenant (jg) Eve Mallory

Chief Science Officer: USS Grail

argo@easynet.co.uk / ICQ Number: #4194684

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is

where a train stops. On my desk I have a work station...

"Great, she's a toaster oven. Can we go now?"

Alien Resurrection