Frayed Nerves (Time Zone 1)

Posted on 25 Aug 2018 @ 2:56pm by Story Teller & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant JG Ian Beckett
Edited on on 25 Aug 2018 @ 2:57pm

5,522 words; about a 28 minute read

Mission: Fractured
Location: USS Black Hawk, Various
Timeline: TZ1 || 1030 hours

===[Jeffries Tube - Location Unknown]===

After thirty minutes of crawling through tubes and rounding people up, Camila finally stopped to take a break. She had offered to go ahead through the tighter crawl spaces to give Joey a break, but didn't stop herself for anything. With the threat of the radiation slowly killing them, she was extremely worried and wondered if she were alive in the future if there was a future, or if she were dead. Would it matter if I were dead? she asked herself and didn't have an answer. The way things had been doing, it might be better if she was.

After getting as many people as she could, Joey found herself settled in a quiet part of the Jeffries tubes that was unlikely to see a lot of traffic. What was the point anymore? Her husband was missing. She was being exposed to deadly amounts of theta radiation that was doing who knew what to her unborn children. "Chances are... I'm never going to get to meet either of you," she said, glancing down at her swollen abdomen. Logically, she knew they couldn't hear her yet, but it felt better to talk to them than to feel as though she were talking to herself. "I wish I was stronger for you both. It's what you both deserve."

A tear rolled down her cheek and landed on her uniform, followed shortly by another. Joey had never been one to cry often, but this was one of those times where she just couldn't seem to help herself. This all seemed impossible, and it was eating away at her in ways she wished it wouldn't.

Joey closed her eyes against the tears and wiped beneath them with a sniffle. Was this why the probe was sent from the future? Was someone responsible for getting them into the position they were currently in. Then, she recalled the letter she'd found on the PADD in Harvey's ready room.

From: CAPT Harvey Geisler
To: Harvey

Trust no one. The Federation depends on it.

Was this what future Harvey had been referring to?

A growl escaped her lips. Maybe she was fueled by anger, maybe she was fueled by need, but no matter what it was, the Intel Chief found herself carefully climbing onto the ladder to begin moving again. There was work to be done, and sitting on her ass waiting to die wasn't going to accomplish anything. Especially when there was a chance they could get their people back. Wherever they were. "Thanks, kiddos. Your Mama is going to do her part to get us the hell out of this mess."

Camila had just started making her way back when Joey didn't catch up to her after the last batch of people was sent into the Jeffries Tubes and she was worried. She was worried not just for the Captain's wife, but their unborn children as well and with the thought of the theta radiation saturating the ship, she didn't want to take any chances. She stopped and grabbed a medkit and hoped it wasn't ruined, too, but there wasn't time to check.

Five minutes later, she spotted the tall brunette woman coming her way in one of the tubes. "Joey, are you okay?" she asked.

"I had my meltdown, and I'm better now," she assured her friend, not even a little surprised that Camila had sought her out. "We have to find a way to get the antimatter off of the ship. I'm fairly sure that's playing a huge role in what's causing all of our current problems. I was going to say it earlier, but no one seemed to listen to me." She paused momentarily, wondering how long something like that would take. "I have a ton of data I need to begin going over, and I'm the only one in my department right now, which means I'm on my own. What's the status of the computer? Are we capable of doing anymore with it yet?"

"I'm no Engineer, but I think I can get sensors up and running," Camila said. "As for your earlier comment, I have to admit that I was lost in self loathing and wondering if it were better if I were dead. But I'm feeling better now. We need to get to Operations and try to power things up and go from there. Are you ready to go some more, or do you need another small break?"

Joey shook her head. How could she take a break when there were so many things wrong right now? "No. My husband is missing, Camila. More than two-thirds of our crew are missing. Not to mention we're all going to die a slow, painful death if we don't figure all of this out. There's no time to take any breaks, not to mention we lack the man power. I'm not going to be resting until the threat of death is no longer looming over our heads and everyone is home." She altered her course in the right direction that would get them to Operations. "My babies deserve a chance at life. And they also deserve to know their father. Nothing is going to stop me from giving them both of those things."

"Lucky for us, Operations is only one deck up," the blonde said. "And you're right. We don't have time to waste." She grabbed a rung and began to pull herself up and started to climb once more. "And for the record, if I hate climbing, you really have to loathe it and whoever didn't put anti-gravity in these access shafts."

"It's not on my list of favorite things to do right now given my added girth, but I'll do what I have to," the taller woman said, getting to the hatch and pushing it open. Joey wanted things done now, but that was unrealistic. They were going to have to work for it. "I've had some pretty exciting things happen to me during my career, but none of it holds a candle to what's happened since I've been on board this ship. Never a dull moment."


===[Bridge]===

After a ling and tiresome climb, Arjin came back out the hatch they had taken to descend to Engineering earlier.
He stepped onto the floor and made his way towards the bridge. Hoping at least a few crew members would be present.
Entering the open doors, he automatically went towards the science station where his spot on the bridge was. When he suddenly realised that he was the acting Captain. With a sigh he sat down. Feeling uneasy and out of place. It wasn't the first time he had sat in this chair. But that was mostly during a delta shift when it had fallen onto him to lead the bridge. But that was routine and this was different.

He adressed the few crew who where there. "I would like an update please."

Ensign Bek, the resident Denobulan, turned around. "As well as can be expected," he replied. "Considering the current situation."

After being properly briefed, he opened a channel to contact the remaining Chief Officers. "Lieutenants Di Pasquale and Geisler. How is the redeployment going? Lieutenants Adan and Kemm , how is work progressing in Engineering?"

=^=We're on our way to Operations to check to see if we can get the sensors operational, Commander=^= The Chief of Security's voice came back a moment later. =^=All the personnel have been rounded up and sent to Cargo Bay One. The other areas are free to shut down now.=^=

Lieutenant Kemm, one of two of the ship's Kelpians, replied over the channel, "Making some progress, Commander. We've recovered the logs before the crash and we have some leads on where to start working. We've stabilized all that we can for now."

"Very well. Keep me up to date of your orogress. I will commence the shut down from here. And reroute extra power to Operations and Engineering. No need to stress out that speed is of the essence. But so is caution. Good Luck Lieutenants.", Djinx replied.

===[Jefferies Tube]===

"That's one way to put it," Camila grunted. "I'd use some other choice adjectives, but that's just me." She paused as she heard Commander Djinx voice asking for updates and tapped her combadge to reply. =^=We're on our way to Operations to check to see if we can get the sensors operational, Commander=^= The Chief of Security'responded =^=All the personnel have been rounded up and sent to Cargo Bay One. The other areas are free to shut down now.=^=

She looked at Joey. "And now the fun stuff begins!"

"I don't consider any of this to be fun, but your sarcasm has been noted," Joey said, taking a moment to look around. "We need to get someone working on the antimatter, otherwise the rest of this will be for nothing."

"Whatever is causing this," Camila said as she pushed open a hatch that led to the deck where Operations was located and crawled through. "We need to find it and stop it."

Joey followed behind Camila and stood upright, grateful to be on solid ground again. Climbing around the Jeffries tubes like a chimp was beginning to take its toll on her. She could feel the strain in her lower back and abdomen, but despite that, she needed to keep pushing forward. "Camila..." the Intel Chief began as the wheels in her head began turning. "What if we got far enough away from this area of space that we could get the ship back in working order again? We still don't have all systems, and the theta radiation is surrounding us. What if we used the Mississippi and Euphrates to tow the ship to a safer area of space? They should have power. It might buy us a little more time."

The blonde thought about it as she made her way to the door marked Sensor Control and opened it manually. "It's an idea. They might have the power if they put everything that they have into it. We have shuttles that can assist, too. We just need to get these sensors online first to even know what's around us."

She went to the controls and urged the sluggish computer to reroute power to it as she did a manual start on the consoles.

"We also have the fighters is we need to use them," Joey said, moving over to another console. She still had mountains of data to dig through, and maybe if they were lucky, something would be in there. Without hesitating, the Intel Chief tapped in her authorization code and pulled up the data she was supposed to dig through, then began to process it. "Do you get the feeling that someone is behind this?"

Her mind wandered back to the letter Harvey received from himself, then she blinked. "Camila... after we went through the Zone and got our memories back, Harvey and I were in his Ready Room. I came across something I don't think I was meant to. It was a letter to Harvey that was hidden on a PADD. Had I not been at just the right angle, I would have missed it entirely," she explained, her brows furrowing. "It said Trust no one. The Federation depends on it. Do you think it's possible that this is what caused him to send it? Do you think it's possible that... that our lost crew is somehow in the future?" Was it reaching? Maybe. But they knew the probe was sent from future Harvey, and she knew future Harvey had sent present Harvey the letter to begin with. It didn't seem like much of a reach anymore.

"I'm getting a lot of feelings about this that I don't like," Camila said as she waited for the computer to respond to her commands. "What I don't like is being blind, helpless and having no idea where most of the crew are. If the Captain sent that kind of message back to himself, it's possible that one of our own tried to kill us all. It could be some hidden Consortium person we never ferreted out or one of the aliens we met on the station here or any of a hundred other things. What I do know is that if we don't get everything up and running, we're all going to die of this radiation poisoning. Can you see if the external sensors are up now, please?"

Joey moved to another console since the one she'd been standing at previously was still running a scan on the collected data, then began to move her fingers over the screen. "External sensors are online, running a scan now," she said, watching the readings as they began to come through. "Sensors are picking up quantum filaments."

"Quantum filaments?" the Security Chief echoed. "No wonder we're dead in space. How many do you detect?"

"It appears that there are five total," the Intel Chief replied as she continued to move her fingers over the console. Now, Joey had to wonder if towing the ship out was still a possibility, or if the runabouts and shuttles would suffer the same fate. "I'm still scanning."

"Five? So we're basically in a zone where any wrong move can cause severe damage to the ship while whatever is causing the theta radiation is slowly killing us," Camila said and tried not to sound like she was broken. She wasn't by a long shot, but it was looking pretty hopeless. "Computer, what is the current year?" she asked as she looked up.

A buzz was the first sound to reply. "Unable to connect to Starfleet's Chronometric Network for verification. The current date on record is February 4th, 2389."

"Sensors aren't picking anything else up," Joey said, retreating from that console to go to the original one she was looking at. With the language matrices Camila and her group got, she began to run the scan on the dumped computer cores from those who attempted to leave the Zone... unsuccessfully at that. Maybe there would be something on one of those that would help them out in their current predicament. "Our chances of getting out of here seem to be getting slimmer and slimmer, but there's got to be a way."

"We'll find it," Camila said. "Should we get back to the bridge or to Security to get as many phasers as we can in case we're ambushed?"

Joey looked thoughtful for a moment. "What if, in the event we have been separated by time, we leave a signal buoy?" she asked, waiting for Camila to look at her as if she were totally insane. "Think about it. If we did somehow manage to get split up through time, chances are we're all in the same place and fighting the same fight. The buoy would be there. We could warn them about the things we know. The radiation, that we're missing more than three quarters of our crew, the quantum filaments and anything else we can think of that would be important to survival. From there, we can work on getting the ship out of here and saving everyone."

"Computer, prepare message buoy and record the following," Camila said. "We are currently stuck in space with almost all the power on the ship drained. We have approximately one hundred and twenty-nine personnel on the ship with no trace of the others. Sensors have revealed quantum filaments which have struck the ship in several places." She paused the recording and looked at Joey. "Do you want to inform whoever is listening to this of the really bad news?" she asked.

The Intel Chief didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but what choice did they have given their current situation. "We've been exposed to lethal levels of theta radiation, and if we don't do something about our currently situation quickly, we'll all succumb to it and die. The ship cannot stay where it is now, so we're going to attempt to use the Mississippi and Euphrates to tow it out. We're unsure at this time if it will work, but it seems to be one of the only options we have presently," she said, taking a moment to compose herself. "If any of our crew finds this, and you're out there, we will find you and bring you home."

"Good luck to whoever finds this," Camila added. "Computer, launch buoy to maintain orbit with the ship, low power settings."

"Confirmed," the computer responded.

"Launch," the Security Chief said and a moment later, the buoy was launched. She looked back at Joey. "We better get back to the others."

"Let's get back to the bridge, then," Joey said. Instead of waiting for a response, though, she made her way out of Operations. Things needed to go in their favor at least once, and right now, she was definitely hoping that was when they tried to move the ship.

With a grunt, Camila followed her out. "We really should get the turbolifts going, but one thing at a time."

"I can't wait to have them back online," the taller woman said, pulling the hatch to the Jeffries tube open. Joey wasn't looking forward to going back inside of them, but what choice did she have? "This is just one of the many perks of being in Starfleet." Was that sarcasm? It was hard to tell, but the smile on her face said it all as she crawled inside and made her way up again.

===[Bridge]===

Joey made her way onto the bridge and looked at those posing as the bridge crew with the exception of the Science Chief. None of this was okay with her. Her husband was supposed to be sitting in the center chair. Commander Teixeira was supposed to be at his station, as was the rest of them. And it took every last ounce of her self control to keep from snapping on Djinx for taking the liberty of being somewhere she felt he didn't deserve to be, but now wasn't the time to let anything like that get to her. Her attention was needed elsewhere, but she'd give her last breath to see to it that things went back the way they were supposed to. "Commander Djinx," she greeted. "Lieutenant Di Pasquale and I think we've figured out a way to get the ship out of the area."

"Sensors are online and Lieutenant Geisler suggested that we use the Mississippi and the Euphrates to pull the ship out of the nebula," Camila told the Commander. "We've spotted a total of five quantum filaments outside the ship which have damaged us and we deployed a log buoy stating what happened to us."

Arjin listened carefully to the opinions of the remaining Staff Officers present. "Quantum filaments.", he responded. That might be what got us stranded in the first place. We might consider us lucky then that we are still in one piece."
He looked directly at both women. "Towing the ship might get us out of the area. If either the Euprates or Missisippi is hit by a filament, they might suffer a worse fate than the Black Hawk. But it would get us nowhere in terms of the Theta Radiation poisoning. We are basically doing that to ourselfves. No matter where the ship is."
Pondering the possibilities a bit, he asked: "Did any if you scan the filaments to look at their quantum signature?"

Joey shook her head. "No, but sensors are back online now, so we can run that scan from here," she replied, moving over toward one of the consoles to run the scan on the quantum signatures. "Also, we've picked up lethal amounts of Theta radiation outside of the ship, so getting shields up again is quite necessary. However, until we're out of this nebula, raising the shields won't do us any good." She looked toward their Acting Captain without even glancing toward Camila. Even she knew the Security Chief was about to blow a gasket after she said what she planned to. "I'm volunteering myself to pilot one of the runabouts as well."

"Absolutely not, Lieutenant Geisler," Camila said as she looked at Joey. "You have more to lose than the rest of us do. I'm going on one of the runabouts and I'm sure we can find another pilot from the hundred and twenty nine other personnel still onboard."

"I'm aware what I have to lose, Lieutenant. I'm also aware that we need every able body we have right now, and at my last checkup, I was made aware that I'm pregnant... not an invalid," Joey stated in a deadly calm tone. "So, while I'm still able bodied, I plan to do everything I can to see to it that all of our crew gets back safely. I'm sorry if you have a problem with that, but that's how it is."

"You're also the Captain's wife and under my protection as well as everyone on this ship, and as Acting Executive Officer, I do have the power to deny your request, Lieutenant," Camila responded.

Joey was on the verge of seeing red. Did Camila think she was incapable of taking care of herself? That she wasn't able to keep herself, or anyone else, safe? She'd only been doing those very things her entire Starfleet career. "Then do it," she snapped in challenge. "Deny my request, Lieutenant. And while you're doing that, you can think about the fact that the Captain, my husband as you pointed out, is missing with the cast majority of our crew. Instead of letting people do what they can to help, you'd rather sit here and argue over something that makes no sense than except that I can help." She shook her head and turned her attention back to the console in front of her. "I'm not wasting anymore time on this, because there are more important things to deal with at the moment. I'm denying my own request and staying on the ship. That's the end of this conversation."

Arjin didn't know what he heard just yet. It was unappropriate as leading officers in front of all the others at the bridge. So he stood and raised his voice to be heard over the quarreling, but kept it steady nevertheless.
"Lieutenants. At ease. This will be enough. I will speak with both of you in the conference room." Making his voice stern so that his intention was clear, he added. "Now." And proceded towards the conference room doors.

Camila turned and headed into the conference room without another word.

Joey's irritation began to bubble over. Did she not just end things? That meant she was done with it, and now, Acting Captain Djinx wanted them in the conference room to continue discussions about something she was officially over. This wasn't going to end well. At least for her. The Intel Chief could already see it now, but the plus side, there wasn't a brig for her to be tossed into given their power situation. It seemed that poking the proverbial bear, who just so happened to be incredibly hormonal, was the order of the day. Like Camila, though, she walked into the conference room in silence.

Ensign Bek, the resident Denobulan shook his head as the three officers left. As far as he could tell, he was the only officer left on the Bridge. That meant no one was manning the most important part of the ship. He walked over to the center chair and stared for a moment. He whacked the back and seat for good measure and then sat down. He tried accessing the arm console to check on the status of things. Someone had to step up and man the position while the more senior officers were in the Conference Room.

===[Conference Room]===

Arjin entered the room but did not sit down. Instead he looked outside the window and waited till both officers would have taken their place.

Camila waited to see what the Lieutenant Commander had to say before she made any decisions on what would happen next.

Joey wasn't going to waste her time sitting down. Instead, she moved toward the table and crossed her arms, looking between her makeshift Command team. Only one of them truly deserved their acting role as far as she was concerned, but which one, she'd never say out loud. "We're wasting time by being in here," she pointed out, looking directly toward the Commander as he stood next to the window. Their people were lost somewhere, and that meant there were more important things that needed to be dealt with. Yep, poking the bear when she was stressed out, worried beyond the point of normal and about to vomit all the over the place... smart.

Arjin turned slowly and took a few stepts towards the edge of the table. Keeping his voice neutral, but with a hint of steel in his eyes, he slowly responded to that remark. "Really? Are we waisting time? You both could have fooled me just a few minutes ago." Looking from one officer to the other, he continued. "
"You both are Staff Officers and department heads and as such have had lessons in tactics at Starfleet., did you not?" Turning to Lieutenant Di Pasquale, he asked: "So tell me Lieutenant. If an army has just lost his general and morale is low and the remaining officers start bickering amonst themselves. Would you say they will achieve their goal?." Turning towards Lieutenant Geisler, he added: " When a government is faced with absent leadership and their people are malcontent and the remaining politicians start argue amongst oneselves. Do you think they will achieve anything?"

"I will not have morale of our crew lowered because two of their four remaining Staff Officers are arguing with one another in front of them. If you have issues, you do it in private or go to your commanding officer with your problem. So now is the time if there any issues. After that I want only focus on solutions."

Joey resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Anyone that knew her relationship with Camila knew they had the tendency to butt heads with one another, and after talking it out, they were always okay with it. Not to mention the fact tensions were running high for multiple reasons, and the biggest reasons being they were all dying a very slow death and more than half of their crew were missing. Not knowing if they were dead or alive, to her, was a pretty damn good reason to feel a little high strung, especially considering the last time she saw her husband, he was unconscious on the floor with a gaping head wound.

"Commander..." she began, then cut herself off before she said anything scathing that would only make the situation worse. Now wasn't the time. Instead, Joey turned her attention toward Camila. As much as she wanted to let it go, she needed to apologize. "Camila, I'm sorry. I know you've got our best interests at heart." And every word that left her mouth was sincere and heartfelt. "I'll stay on the ship. It means one less thing you have to worry about."

Then, she turned her attention to Commander Djinx. She'd just spoken from the heart, and planned to continue to do so. "I'm aware that you're our Acting Captain right now, and I know that that's a huge responsibility to shoulder," Joey stated. After all, she had a front row seat to the stresses being a Commanding Officer entailed every single day of her life in part to her husband's career. She could sympathize with the Trill man, but the annoyance she felt at the thought he was vying for her Harvey's spot was something she needed to let go of. They were going to get their people back. "But, you're also our Chief Science Officer, and a fellow Department Head. We need your brain to help us get out of this. We need you to help us come up with those solutions you're talking about. Lieutenant Di Pasquale is the Chief of Security. I'm the Chief of Intelligence with a background in Security. Out of the three of us, this is more your field than it is ours. Once we try to move the ship, we need to brainstorm and get our people back. There is no other option here. We have to get them back. All of them." There was nothing in her tone that could lead anyone to believe she was being condescending or trying to attack anyone.

"With all due respect, Commander, you just seconded a judgement call that I had made as your acting Executive Officer," Camila said. "in front of everyone, may I point out. Which you just said is bad for morale. As the Chief of Security of this ship, it's my job to protect the ship and everyone on it and I can't do that when my decisions are called into question. I'll respectfully withdraw my objection to Lieutenant Geisler staying on the ship, Sir."

Arjin sighed inwardly. Could it be he had misinterpreted the whole situation? Was he cut for this job? He had never asked for it. Nevertheless the situation had forced it upon him. Maybe the stress was getting to himalso. Could it be that he was guilty of what he had accused the others of, like Lieutenant Di Pasquale said? At this moment he was feeling a lot of mixed emotions. Between Arjin's wounded pride and Djinx's sense of self preservatiion, it was common sense that won in the end.

He sat down in one of the chairs before speaking again. "Maybe we are all three in the right and in the wrong here. I don't know. But indeed instead we should focus on solving this. I will permit if you still want that you both pilot a shuttle to tow us out of here. But only if you take another pilot with you in case something should happen in the proces. As an astrometrics expert I should be able to give you the best possible course to achieve this task. And God knows I am not nimble finguered enough to fly one of those shuttles myself for such a complicated manouvering."

Closing his eyes for a second before continuing, he added. "As for those filaments. I want to know their quantum signature first. Since one of the side effects of hitting them could lead to us being thrown in an alternate universe. I really want to know we are still in the same place we were before. Maybe you could do that Lieutenant Geisler? In the mean time you could make the preparation for the shuttles, Lieutenant Di Pasquale. Whilst I plot the best possible trajectory. That is unless you both have other options that would help us?"

"I've already looked into their signatures, Commander, but I wasn't picking up any readings. I think our only option here is to get out there and try again," Joey stated. Yes, it was risky, but that was one of their only options at the moment. "I think if we stayed relatively close to the ship, we can run those scans and get the necessary information we need to plot a safe course to get ourselves out of here."

She ran her hands through her hair as her brows furrowed. "We've already consulted the computer, and according to it, our current date is February 4, 2389. That being said, the computer is also unable to connect to Starfleet's chronological network, so what you're asking me to do presently, is impossible," she stated. "I think our possibilities will increase the moment we're able to get the ship away from this nebula."

"I'm in agreement with Lieutenant Geisler," Camila said. "As for a third pilot, I'm not sure who else can pilot the runabouts and who can't. Is anyone from Operations still on the bridge that would know?"

"I'll find someone who can help with the second runabout," the Intel Chief said. With communications up, it would be easier to find someone. She tapped her combadge and opened a ship wide channel. "This is Lieutenant Geisler to all available personnel. If any of you are pilots, or familiar with flying a runabout, report to the flight deck immediately." She tapped the badge a second time to close the channel, then looked between the ship's makeshift Command crew. "We know what we have to do, and the only thing left at this point is to execute it."

"Then this is how we will proceed.", Arjin agreed to both Lieutenants. "Get out there, but be careful. Feed me the scans in Astrometrics and I will help with the route. Now lets show the crew a united front and succeed."

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