It's Raining in Engineering

Posted on 09 Aug 2016 @ 7:01pm by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Vorian Sulvai

2,301 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: MD6 || 1100 Hours

Operations Office
1100 Hours

Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast was in the Operations office, still going over the logs of everything that had happened earlier that morning. He'd been in his quarters, sitting at his desk planning the next day's maintenance schedules, when "down" had suddenly shifted to a point somewhere around the port bulkhead. He still had a painful bruise on his left shoulder to show for it, but he was otherwise none the worse for wear. The gravitational eddies that had led to the incident had subsided, but he'd submitted a request to the Stellar Cartography department to see if there was anything that could be done to help anticipate these events.

The problem was compounded by the current state of the sensors - that is to say, the fact that they had no sensors at all, not beyond a few hundred meters. But he was running on a theory that a gravitational eddy such as the one they'd experienced would be preceded by a compression wave in the nebular gases that the sensors might detect - a split-second before the gravitational anomaly, but a split-second would be all that the computer required to adjust the inertial dampeners. He was still waiting for stellar Cartography's response, though.

He wasn't due on the Bridge for another hour, and was glad to have a bit of time to go over the logs, when the red alert klaxons went off, followed about ten seconds later by an intruder alert, coming from Deck Six. He reached into a desk drawer, drew out a phaser, and set out for the Bridge.

In short order though, the deck below his feet shook under the impact of weapons fire, knocking him sideways into a bulkhead. The lights dimmed momentarily, and the alert klaxons rang again, their song not managing to cover the telltale decompression explosions he was hearing from nearby. He could tell that whoever they'd found had scored a direct hit on the black Hawk. And without shields, their phaser fire would strike like hell's fury.

Sparks flew from a nearby power junction. He knew the power grid was vulnerable, and had to be protected at all costs. Confident in Ensign Mallory's expertise on the Bridge, he doubled back, and headed for Engineering. He ran into the Engineering area, and saw the chaos he expected, with engineers running all over the place, trying to contain the damage they were sustaining and keep the ship operational.

Chief Rykov was nowhere to be seen. But at the far end of the room, he could see an officer whom he remembered from a staff memo he'd received from the First Officer as having just been assigned as her Assistant Chief. He couldn't remember the man's name, and now wasn't the best time to search his memory for that particular information.

He ran to the officer's side. "Status report, Lieutenant," he called out as he approached.

Tearing his eyes away from the monitor he was just surveying, Vorian raised his head to look at the man that spoke. Two seconds were needed to make a short assessment of him, Joined Trill, male, not Engineering or he would've know him. Meaning he was either Security, Tactical or Operations. Security and Tactical had no logical reasoning to be in Engineering at this given time, so that meant he was Operations. Given his rank that made him the department head.

A bit disturbed by the amount of background emotional noise that was bothering him, Vorian nodded towards the screen. If it had been a bit more quiet on the emotional side around him, he could've gotten a proper read on the Trill, but given the current situation of the crew around him that made it very difficult for him. After all he never did properly hone his Betazoid skills.

"If you look at the screen Lt. Commander Temerant Bast you can see we have suffered multiple breaches." he guessed the man's identity hoping his analyses was correct and he was the chief of Operations. "Our weapons systems have taken some damage but they are still operations while some of the shield grids are down and no longer operational. The power grid itself has taken sustained damage and we are suffering from energy leaks in several locations."

Looking back at the Lt. Commander he continued. "I have been working on plan to team to team up the available engineers and micro manage their assignments so we can seal some of the breaches at least and conduct the needed repairs to the power grid. I intend it all to progress like a surgery, fixing vital problems that risk the safety of the ship the most. I've also taken into consideration cutting off power to the replicators and rerouting it to the Sickbay and other essential systems."

The ship rocked again under the impact of enemy weapons, pushing them toward the console in front of them. Bast steadied himself against the panel. "Divert power from everything you can - holodecks, rec rooms, arboretum, and the science labs. Don't worry about the shield generators, they don't work in this nebula anyway. Concentrate on life support, structural integrity, propulsion, and weapons." He pointed at the Warp core. "And antimatter containment."

Vorian took a second to recover himself as he focused on the console, starting to divert power as Bast had ordered him. "Right away sir. Rec room and arboretum I have already diverted from. Diverting from science labs and holodecks. To my shame I have completely forgotten about the existence of the holodecks." As his fingers worked with as much speed as the console would process information, he looked over the console to his right where he had the vital systems of the ship brought up.

"Life support, weapons and antimatter containment already set on high priority to receive. Diverting more power to structural integrity and propulsion." he reported as he switched his hands to the console on the right, only to return to the previous one quickly. "If shields are of no use, diverting power from the shield generators as well. This nebula is starting to actually upset me. I appreciate your guidance Lt. Commander, I am not used to combat situations."

"You're doing fine," replied Bast. "Forget about the battle. Focus on your priorities, and keep the ship afloat."

Bast tapped into the console, and accessed the power grid, trying to reroute the power flow and bypass the damaged power relays.

The ship rocked again, and sparks flew from one of the consoles to his far left. "Hull breach on Deck 5!" called out one of the engineers. "Crew quarters. We're venting atmosphere." Bast looked at the junior engineer, and saw the colour drain from her face.

He knew that people might have been in those quarters when the hull was breached, and they might have just lost some of their own to open space. She might have just lost a friend.

"Evacuate all crew quarters located along the outer hull," ordered Bast. "Have people in those areas relocate to the inner sections."

"Delay that order! Resume the assignment that I have handed out to you!" Vorian's voice boomed suddenly. "My apologies Lt. Commander but I cannot let you send my engineers off to handle evacuations. You have the Operations department for that if you wish. I need all my engineers hands on deck to handle repairs. I am already in need of more hands than those currently available, I can't spare anyone that can fix anything to engage in any other activity than repairing what's been damaged."

Bast spared the Assistant Chief Engineer a look, then looked back at the junior engineer. "Send a message to those areas, telling them to evacuate," he ordered, "then get back to your repairs."

He looked at Sulvai again, and lowered his voice. "Saving the lives of your crewmates is worth the twenty seconds it would take to send a message."

Vorian raised an eyebrow at Bast. "I understand. I miss understood you Lt. Commander, my apologies. Between the dual emotions coming from you, the host and the symbiote, your words in our current situation, the stress I am under and the intense emotions coming from my staff and those in the nearby rooms, I find myself having trouble understanding the proper intent and meaning of some words or expressions. I did not mean to offend." he spoke calmly yet with some hint of uncharacteristic regret for a Vulcan.

"Put it out of your mind," advised Bast, as the ship rocked again. "Focus on the task at hand, and disregard everything else."

"Yes sir." he acknowledged as he continued to work his console. Taking his PADD he placed next to his console as he began working his engineers into teams and assigning them repair targets. "Sir can I ask you to handle the weapons systems? It seems to have sustained some damage and I'd like to focus on keeping us afloat."

"Acknowledged," replied Bast. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He'd been in a few combat situations before, but he could feel some of the Bast symbiont's anxiety. This was a fairly new situation for the symbiont. Lamorra, his first Host, had been a musician. She had never been in combat. Wilem Bast, the second Host, had been a scientist. He'd been in a few tense situations, and had been involved in the war effort against the Dominion back during the war, but he'd never been in combat either. Temerant was the first Host to serve in Starfleet. The Bast symbiont was a calming influence, but in some ways, it was also seeking its calm from the Temerant host, which was an unusual situation.

"There is nothing to fear Lt. Commander. Death comes to us all eventually and the less you fear it, the less power it has over you. It is simply illogical to fear the inevitable." stopping for a second to look at Bast before turning back to his screen, he continued. "To avoid any misunderstanding, I was talking to your symbiont. You exhibit emotions that are expected of a sentient in such a situation, but I can feel your symbiont is new to this. Quite distracting, but we shall all be fine. I wish I knew more about how a Trill functions in relations to his symbiont, it would save me from making so many mistakes when engaging in social interaction." he spoke without looking at Bast at all this time around, focus on damage control and supervising his engineering teams.

"Don't worry about me, I know all about dying. I've done it twice," replied Bast, shutting out the distraction.

Vorian smiled to himself, genuinely at the answer he had received. For some reason he found it humorous coming from a Trill. Or was it the symbiont answering him? So confusing...

There was another alarm to his far left. "Another hull breach, on Deck 9," called out one of the junior engineers. "We've lost gravity on Decks 11, 12 and 13."

Bast looked at Sulvai. "The flight deck," he pointed out in a low voice. Sulvai needed to issue orders himself to ascertain his authority over his staff. The Second Officer's presence shouldn't divert the staff's attention away from the Assistant Chief Engineer. "Restoring gravity to the flight deck has to be a priority. All other areas on those decks can wait until later."

Nodding to the superior officer at his side Vorian tapped his combadge as he looked at his PADD. =^="Team four divert from your current assignment to Deck 12 with due haste. Gravity is off in decks 11 to 13. Restoring gravity to those Decks is your highest priority. When successful divert to the Impulse Engines on Deck 12, we have a power leak there."=^=

Turning back towards those still present in main engineering. "You, you and you. Stop your current activities and pack up your kits. Go down to Deck 14 to the Fusion Power Generators I'm getting an error I can't explain and I need eyes and a team there." he spoke singling out three engineers before turning back to his console. "My gratitude for your discretion Lt. Commander." he spoke on a low tone trying to sound as grateful as he was truly feeling.

"Focus on the task at hand," replied Bast, reminding Sulvai to save it for later.

It was then that they noticed that the shaking had finally stopped. Bast wondered if it meant that the battle was finally over. He finished stabilizing the power grid, and cut off the damaged power relays from the network.

As the action around them seemed to slow a bit, Bast turned to Sulvai. "You handled it well," he said. "But remember to push your emotions aside during a crisis like this one. Focus on your job, delegate to your staff, and coordinate their actions. If they see you struggling with your emotions, or if they sense you're in over your head, they'll lose their concentration and start panicking," he advised, inwardly smiling at the irony of telling a Vulcan to handle his emotions.

Vorian shook his head slightly. "While I do appreciate the advice, it was not my emotions I was having problems with. But thank you for the advice nonetheless Lt. Commander. Your help was valuable." he gave a polite nod to the superior officer before turning back to the console to start working on reassigning his teams for repairs.

Bast logged out of the console, and looked at Sulvai one last time. "Please get a damage report ready within the hour. Send it to the Captain, First Officer, Lieutenant Rykov and myself. Good job, everyone," he added for everyone's attention. "Now let's get this bird fixed up before the Consortium springs another surprise on us."

With that, he walked out of Engineering, and headed for the Bridge.

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