Adrift
Posted on Sun Jun 11th, 2017 @ 5:28am by Captain Daniel Westphalen & Lieutenant Azusa Nakano & Lieutenant Iona Myhr
1,158 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Taking Wing
Location: A safe distance from the Naldaya Star
Timeline: After the Waverider leaves
Daniel had been pacing the bridge for the better part of an hour, which was probably setting the two duty officers present, Iona on Ops and Ensign Markenberg on Conn, on edge. Daniel himself felt the tension, and couldn't make it go away. He wasn't used to being stuck, left waiting. And the fact that the Aurora's helm control hadn't been restored yet only added to his frustration.
"Bridge to Engineering," Daniel spoke, activating the comm system.
"Nakano here" Azusa replied from the engine room.
"Do you have an estimate on the timeframe for helm control's restoration?"
"I'm working on it Captain. I can give you limited thruster controls for now. However the Impulse drive is giving me some trouble" she replied.
He pursed his lips through her answer, finally nodding to himself. "Very well, keep me informed."
Engineering was a bustling hive of activity, as crewmen ran from station to station, trying to track down the problem. A crewman from damage control, Sazak, stopped near the chief engineer and offered her a PADD with details on the damage. "It's like the connections between the computer and the engines are just... cut."
The Bajoran crewman frowned, watching as Nakano read the report.
Back at the bridge Lieutenant Iona the other Bajoran crewman, did what Ops should be doing during a crisis and be watching for the next one while coordinating on radio as quietly and unobtrusively as possible, finishing his coffee he hung it from a peg on his console. He was in the middle of coordinating movements through the ship of engineering teams when he got some odd readings, after staring at it for three seconds hoping it would go away he spoke up.
"Sir I'm getting some chop on the external sensors and some weird readings on the internal bio sensors, working on something than that but I'm currently pulling all green from indicators."
"We require context, lieutenant - I'm not willing to accept an anomaly on sensors that is still within acceptable parameters, given that the moment it is not, we have no means to get away from it."
"I don't have it yet, sir," he said, frowning. "But I'll look into it."
__________________________
Elsewhere on the ship, Dr. Maxwell received a comm summons on her comm badge. "Crewman Teller to the Doctor! We need you in the astrophysics lab!"
"This is Maxwell, I'm on my way Crewman." Lucy grabbed a medkit and headed toward the lab.
The Astrophysics lab was a relatively short jaunt, and inside, she found the three-man team assigned to the lab gathered together, one lying on the floor and the others knelt around her. She was a human, sporting an ensign's pip - likely the team leader. Teller was staring at her, concerned, as bluish streaks seemed to be climbing up her face.
The human's uniform had two diagonal cuts on it which were bleeding heavily from two ultra fine cuts in the skin. While taking all that information in a brief hint of ozone filled the room. One of the astrolab workers wrinkled their nose at the scent.
Lucy ran to the Ensign, "Crewman, what can you tell me about what happened here?"
"We were using lateral sensor time to run charting algorithms - it wasn't dangerous or sensitive work, just recalculating star positions based on our relative position in the sector. All of a sudden, Ensign Selby screamed and fell over!"
"Ensign, can you hear me?" Lucy was sure she could, but the obvious agony did not allow for a response. Lucy pulled the scanner out of the medical tricorder.
"Crewman, there seems to be a biologic compound multiplying rapidly. Please join my in sickbay as soon as you are able to make sure you are not infected." Lucy tapped her com badge, and placed her hand gently on the side of the ensign's face. =/\= Computer, emergency transport to isolation bay in sickbay.=/\=
There wasn't verbal acknowledgement from the computer, only the sound of a transporter confinement beam activating around them. When they rematerialized, Ensign Selby was in a biobed, containment field active around it, and Lucy stood outside it, a sure sign that the biofilters on the transporter didn't find anything dangerous on the doctor herself.
She set to work diagnosing the crewman.
__________________________
[Engineering]
Azusa pushed herself from out under the console. She wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead as she threw the tools back into the nearby tool kit. She looked over towards the warp core which was still grey and dull.
"Ok, lets give this a shot" she said simply as she began to tap on the engine control console.
She smiled as shewsaw the results of what was starting to happen.
"Thats just what we want" she said with a slight outburst of glee. The console infront of her displayed her that the impulse generators were now beginning to power up back to normal operations.
With the intermix chamber offline, she had to find a way to bring it back online without risking a warp core breach. She made her way over to the warp core and looked it up and down. She then pulled open the panel in the floor to open up the magnetic constrictors.
"Lets open these up slowly" she said. "Ensign, watch the intermix ratio's as we start to allow the anti-matter back into the system"
Slowly turning the constrictors, millimeter by millimeter the anti-matter began to slowly seep back into the warp core. The core began to hum softly, occassionally spluttering. Eventually the console on the rail began to beep. Azusa jumped up and tapped at its surface. Manually re-starting a warp core was never easy, especially when the automated systems didn't seem to want to play.
"Ok" she called out to Engineering. "Watch the power outputs, standby on the coolant flow and someone watch those dilithium crystals closely" she ordered. After a few tense seconds the warp core began to whine, and then turn blue. Azusa's fingers ran over the console as she realigned the intermix ratio.
The warp core turned a nice bright blue and began to hum softly. The lights in Engineering switched from emergency power back to full power.
"Power levels are rising" she announced.
"Engineering to bridge. We've bypassed the problem with the computer control systems and manually re-started the impulse generators and warp core" Azusa said tapping her comm badge in the process. "Give the impulse generators about thirty minutes to warm up, and once we've got the core back to full capacity, we should have warp drive in two hours." Azusa said.
"Best news I've heard all day," came the reply over the comms. "Give your team my regards, lieutenant. I'll expect a report when the warp drive is online.'
Captain Daniel Westphalen
Commanding Officer
USS Aurora
Lieutenant Azusa Nakano
Chief Engineer
USS Aurora
Lieutenant Iona
Chief of Operations
USS Aurora
Dr. Lucy Maxwell
Chief Medical Officer
USS Aurora
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