ALPHA QUADRANT — An experimental test aboard the USS Khitomer ended in crisis when the ship abruptly lost all main and emergency power in the Lagoon Nebula, leaving the crew stranded without gravity, communications, or ventilation as they scrambled to restore critical systems.
Not long into an experiment intended to help win the war against the Lattice Alliance, the Khitomer went completely dark. Its warp core shut down, and emergency batteries and generators failed to activate. The crew suddenly found themselves facing a ticking clock.
“It ain’t a problem of oxygen, it’s the ventilation,” said Lt. JG Amelia Semara, the Khitomer’s science officer. “There’s air for two hours, but a lot is essentially trapped in pockets no one’s in. Like cargo bays.”
Without light, gravity, communications, or ventilation, the Engineering crew had to work independently to restore power. It was a challenge made harder by the inability to coordinate ship-wide or even see beyond their immediate compartments—necessitating both quick thinking and creativity.
“There are two possibilities,” explained Ens. Lera Michaels, a Vulcan engineer. “Either we have suffered multiple simultaneous failures across several disparate systems, or we are experiencing a single common-cause failure that has triggered what we’re seeing.”
As previously reported, the Khitomer was quietly withdrawn from the front lines and redeployed to a remote sector of the Alpha Quadrant to test experimental technologies. These systems were designed to counter the Lattice’s use of Sencha radiation weaponry.
Sencha wave radiation was first discovered in Federation space by Trill scientists. Devastating to all known life forms, it affects both space and subspace—and is particularly harmful to species with telepathic or empathic abilities.
As efforts to restore the ship began to show signs of success, concerns grew regarding the crew’s potential exposure to lingering Sencha radiation in what now appears to be an experiment gone wrong.
Written by Nolen Hobart
