Disoriented Command (Time Zone 3)

Posted on 11 Aug 2018 @ 9:04am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Terry Walsh & Senior Chief Petty Officer Charles Stephens Jr. & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D. & Ensign Kelly Khan

6,002 words; about a 30 minute read

Mission: Fractured
Location: USS Black Hawk
Timeline: TZ3 || 0930 hours

===[Deck 9]===

A disheveled Kelly stumbled out of her quarters in a pair of Hello Kitty pajamas and looked around blearily. Not that she could see anything with the lights being out, but she had been rudely woken up by being thrown out of bed and there was no alert klaxon. "Hello?" she called out as she ran one hand along the corridor wall and rubbed at her eyes with the other hand. "Can we get some lights on?"

When no one answered her, the Ensign grunted and went back into her quarters to change into a uniform by the weird blue light, then headed out again after checking on Gizmo. Fortunately, the kitten had plenty of food and water, so she turned and headed back out, pushing the door closed behind her. She headed to the nearest access hatch, opened it and began to climb towards the bridge. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be someone on the bridge and hopefully they would know why it was so dusty and stale on the ship.


===[Deck 6]===

Lucas pushed himself to his feet and looked around sickbay. The place was practically deserted and the air was thick... stale even. This was definitely unusual. A frown formed as he tried to make sense of the situation, but it was next to impossible. There was no power, which meant there were no turbolifts, and after what happened, there were definitely going to be injured aboard.

He wanted to panic, but that wouldn't do him any good. It wouldn't do anyone any good. After a quick search of the facility, Luc discovered there were only five other people in his department that hadn't vanished into thin air, and one of which was a patient that hadn't been critical, thankfully, and released him to get to his station to await whatever orders his department head might have for him. "Grab medkits," he ordered. "And start looking for anyone that might be injured. We're without power, so that means we're going to be making use of the Jeffries tubes." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. That was the last place he wanted to be, but desperate times and all. "You two, go to the lower levels, and you two, take the mid levels. I'll go to the top."

Once the orders were given, Luc grabbed a medkit and began adding a few more things to it, blowing dust off as he did. This was getting more and more unusual as the minutes ticked by, but he couldn't focus on that right now. Answers would be had in time. No, right now, he still had a job to do no matter what was going on around him, and that was exactly what he planned to do. Without hesitation, he and his very small team left the facility and began to make their journeys to other parts of the ship with his destination being deck one.


===[Deck 1]===

A deep groan escaped Harvey's lips. His first sign of consciousness was greeted with near-crippling pain, as if his head had slammed into something rigid and unforgiving. Other sensations soon came to Harvey's attention, fueling his growing consciousness with other information such as the taste of stale air and a chill that traveled around his skin.

He groaned again as his fingers slowly flexed, feeling a gritty, yet hard, surface. "What...?" he tried to ask before again being overwhelmed by the pain coming from his head. It'd been months since he felt something like this. Of course, the last time that happened, he'd been shot point blank with a phaser held by a former Chief of Security. Had he been shot? Harvey couldn't remember. All he knew was that he lacked the strength to fight through the pain and sit up.

"I have no idea," Terry said as he stumbled backwards, attempting to get up. He fell back against a cold, hard surface and rubbed his eyes. Getting them to adjust to everything wasn't easy and he naturally fell to rubbing them. "Between not being able to see clearly yet and this gut wrenching pain in my, well, gut...." He trailed off as he gently shook his head. "Anyone else got any ideas?"

The behemoth of a man pushed the hatch open and got his medkit out of the shaft first, then hefted his massive body out. Before standing upright, he grabbed his gear and looked around. The bridge was just up ahead, and that had Luc moving in that direction... until something tripped him. Somehow, he managed to catch himself, then turned his attention behind him to see what it was. It was... the color drained from his face as the body of an Andorian fell into his line of vision. She was motionless, and it didn't appear that she was breathing, but that didn't keep him from crouching down and checking for a pulse. It was just as he expected. She was dead. Were there others? His brow furrowed at the thought. Twenty-fourth century medicine was quite advanced, but they still hadn't mastered the ability of bringing people back from the dead.

Unable to help her, he made his way to the door leading onto the bridge and got it open in record time, stepping inside and covering his nose as he moved, stirring up dust as he went. The nearest door lead to the conference room. It only made sense to start there. Luc carefully set the medkit down and popped the panel free to get the door open. "Anyone in here?" he asked, peering inside, but thanks to the dust clouding his vision, it was difficult for him to see.

"Finally," Terry called out. "I was beginning to wonder." He was still up against the bulkhead. But now he was rubbing his entire face. "Who is that, by the way?"

"Lieutenant Abrams from sickbay. Anyone injured in here?" he asked, finally getting inside the room.

Was that a voice? thought Harvey, his vision still swirling in black. He tried to speak, but he found himself unable to move his lips or mouth. Maybe he was just asleep in his ready room. Yes... sleep...

Luc noticed someone lying on the floor and quickly made his way over to whoever it was, but it didn't take long before he realized it was the Captain. After seeing the dead body out in the corridor, he didn't want to take any chances. "Captain, can you hear me?" he asked, pressing his fingers against Harvey's neck to check for a pulse. Thankfully, there was one, but without treatment, there was no telling how long it would be there.

He quickly opened the medkit and pulled out a tricorder, removing the probe as he powered on the device. As he waved it over Harvey to get a reading, the device died. A curse escaped the tall man's lips as he tossed it aside. Without power, there was no way to charge it. Frustration made its presence known as he reached for a dermal regenerator to take care of the obvious gash on the Captain's head. He thumbed the device on and began to move it over the bloodied area only to have it do the same thing the tricorder did. What the hell!? Without his equipment, he would have to resort to more archaic methods, but thankfully, he had the means to do it. "Captain..." he began, pulling out a sterile pack of gauze and opening it. "This isn't going to be pleasant, but it's necessary."

The large man, pressed the sterile gauze to Harvey's head and fished around inside the medkit for something else, producing a second sterile pack, but dropped it back inside. Easing the man's pain was a must, which had Luc reaching for an ampule of pain medication and a hypospray. With a single hand, he loaded it up and pressed it against Harvey's neck, then thumbed the probe that would release the medicine. Stitching the wound and wrapping it would happen as soon as the meds did their thing.

Terry walked over to where the large Lieutenant was kneeling. "Thanks for showing up." He looked down at the Captain. "Is he okay?"

A groan escaped the captain's mouth as the medication attempted to take effect. Soon thereafter, the groan was heard again, but it wasn't the groan associated with regaining consciousness. It was one of severe pain. The injection point began to turn red as the residual amount of the medication on the skin began to irritate the living tissue. Harvey groaned again, his consciousness returning as the severe pain gave him little other choice.

"I... I don't know," Lucas said in answer to Terry's question. The medication should have helped, but it seemed to be making things worse. Why? The big man shined his light toward the area where he injected Harvey and frowned. That wasn't good. "I'm going to have to try something else." He began to rummage through the medkit until he found something that could work. "Captain Geisler, I'm going to have you feeling better in just a minute."

He replaced the previous ampule with one that contained a numbing agent and pressed it to the Captain's neck, then released the medication. If this didn't work, he'd have to resort to other methods, none of which Luc was too keen on. Now, he just needed to see if this would take effect so he could get the wound stitched.

Harvey's groan subsided. Slowly his eyes opened, only for a lot of blackness to enter. "Wha....?" he whispered, finding it difficult to muster the strength to talk. "Am I... Dark..."

"We've lost power, and you hit your head. There's a pretty nasty gash I need to take care of, but my equipment isn't working. I'm going to have to stitch it," the big guy said, prepping the items he was going to need to sew the wound on Harvey's head shut. "I'll fill you in on everything I've seen as soon as we get you taken care of. I'm about to begin. Are you ready?"

"Begin...?" Harvey stammered, still unable to comprehend what was being said to him. Something was wrong. He couldn't see. He couldn't understand anyone. He hurt and felt strangely numb at the same time. Had he been captured? Had the ship been boarded? If only he could move on his own power. "Red..."

Charles was trying his best to shake off the cobwebs in his head as he sat in the corner of the room. For the longest time he was in and out of a conscious state where he didn't register where or who he was. His first fear was he forgot who he was again. That was not a fun experience just a few days prior. He heard "Red..." And that started to snap him out of it and he could barely make out a couple images across the room. He made his way over slowly. As he did he saw other bodies on the ground. He knelt down and checked a pulse... but there wasn't one. As he got closer he could make out the Captain with a heavy cut on his head. "What can I do to help?"

Lucas looked toward Charles. "Hold this palm light above the wound for me, and try to keep it as still as possible," the big guy replied, removing the gauze from Harvey's head once the light was in place. He cleaned the area a little bit, then began the process of getting the Captain stitched up. Once power was restored, and his equipment worked, he'd be able to do a better assessment of his injuries and treat him properly. For now, though, he planned to stick by their Commanding Officer like glue to monitor him.

Charles did as he was told. He looked at the Captain as Lucas did his thing. "What happen to us?" he asked to no one in particular as he looks around the room.

Eight decks later, a tired Ensign Khan clambered out of the access patch and looked around and the first thing she spotted two very large men, one bald and one a behemoth that she recognized as Commander Walsh and Lieutenant Abrams. "Don't shoot, it's just me," she said. "Ensign Khan. What's going on here?"

Terry stepped back and watched as the Medical professional continued his work. He watched as the Senior Chief checked one of the other bodies and then Ensign Khan coming forth. He wasn't going to be of much help medically, so he decided to check out the rest of the room. Things had fallen down around motionless bodies, but what struck him as odd was the blue light in the room. Red alert was, well, red. He stepped around things and to the nearest wall panel. The bald Squadron Commander tapped at the panel and watched as a faint glow emanated from a few areas. He tried tapping them, but got nothing. "Blue lights...powered down monitors? What in the world," he murmured. After another failed attempt, he decided to try something simple yet necessary. Especially for the medical treatment that was going on. "Computer, restore lighting to normal in the Conference Room."

A slow whirring noise came over the speakers as the computer attempted to process the request. Finally, it sputtered, "Unaaaable to comply."

"Well that doesn't sound good at all," said Terry. Turning to the group, he continued, "I know the Captain's injured and in and out, but that computer sounded like it needs a swift kick in the bio-neural gelpacks. Anybody know how to jury rig something in here to at least get lighting back to normal? And maybe power to the wall consoles? Might be helpful for the Lieutenant to be able replicate something better for Captain Geisler?"

Kelly looked at the gathered officers and tried to figure who was in charge. Finally, she shrugged and went to a terminal which was offline. "Does anyone know why the power is off all over the ship, or why it's all dusty and stale smelling?"

Charles turned to Kelly. "I am not sure I am having a hard time even with my last memory before I blacked out. I may have hit my head because none of this makes sense." He knew it probably didn't help but it was all he had.

"I don't have any memory loss," Kelly told the Chief. "Did you hit your head on something?"

"I am not sure maybe." Charles said flatly

As the two individuals stood over him, Harvey's mind slowly began to regain control of his senses. His breathing began to visibly show stronger, and his eyesight began to focus, though all he could see was a bright light shining in his eyes. He started to squint, a futile attempt to filter the light. "What's...?" he whispered, his voice still weak. "Happ... ening?"

While Stephens held the light for him, Lucas meticulously got Harvey's head stitched up and covered the wound with more sterile gauze and tape, then reached down to help him sit up slowly. "The ship started jolting, then the lights went out," he said, explaining the situation as best he could. "It seems that some of the crew are dead, and some seem to be missing. When things settled, there were only six of us in sickbay. I sent the others to look for injured, then made my way up here. I don't really know what happened other than that, though."

"Dead?" Harvey asked, instinctively wanting to stand and assess the situation for himself. His muscles, however, completely refused to comply, keeping him sitting for now. It was only then that he noticed that he didn't hear the whine of traditional medical tools. "What's wrong with your toolkit, Doctor?"

Lucas looked toward the kit before turning his attention back to Harvey. "The equipment inside died relatively quickly. I wasn't even able to scan you to get a proper reading on your injuries. Which is why I'm going to be sticking close by you to monitor you," he replied, looking around at the others. "I also tried to give you something for pain, but you had a reaction to it. I don't recall seeing allergies in your chart, but those can develop over time, I suppose. This, however, would be a pretty rapid development."

He rose to his feet and carefully lifted Harvey from the ground to deposit him in one of the conference room's empty chairs. If Harvey wanted to protest his actions, he could, but it would be a lot easier for the Captain to stand from a chair than it would be to get up from the ground. "I haven't even checked the state of the bridge yet, though, it was my next place to visit." He looked toward Kelly. "Ensign Khan, can you search the bridge for anyone who might be injured for me while I finish up with the Captain?"

Kelly gave a nod to the mountain of a Doctor and then headed out to the bridge. With only vague red emergency lighting, she was going more by feel than sight as everything was cast in dim shadows that merged with the darkness. She was working her way around the back wall and towards the front when she stumbled and fell, thrusting a hand out in front of her to stop herself. Then she felt cloth and something brittle under her hand and froze after coming to a landing.

Something soft and dry tickled her nose and she reached up a hand hesitantly to brush it away and found her hand tangled in something that felt like hair. She yanked her hand back and felt a heavy weight on it and scooted back away from whatever it was, a dry thump following. Kelly came to her feet with the strands of whatever it was and weight still attached to her hand and held it up so the weird blue glow could give her some weight to see by. Then she screamed when she saw that it was a skull staring back at her and the hair was wrapped around her hand.

When Kelly screamed, Luc found himself racing toward her after grabbing the palm light from Stephens. He'd been through the bridge once and knew visibility was difficult. He shined the light in the young woman's direction and went pale when he saw what was tangled around her hand. As quickly as his long legs would take him, he closed the distance between them and removed the skull from her hand, then turned her away. "Go back to the conference room, Kelly," he urged her softly.

The big guy had seen his share of the various stages of death before, but when he turned to place the skull back with the rest of the body, nothing would have prepared him for what else he'd see. Two smaller skeletons curled up in the fetal position, not yet completely formed. Luc sank heavily to the ground, falling back on his rump. It wasn't hard to determine who it was on the floor before him. "Keep Captain Geisler off the bridge," he called back to those he'd left behind, then placed the skull back where it belonged.

Kelly immediately bolted, not hearing a word that Luc said because she was too busy screaming, wiping her hand on her uniform over and over, and ran into the conference room. "Bodies!There'sdeadbodiesonthebridge!Onewasstucktomyhand!"

Terry walked over to Kelly and put his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down, Ensign. They're out there and you're not. Try to focus on something else," he said, taking his hands off. Terry knew that Kelly had taken some engineering courses in the Academy and thought that might help. "Maybe you could help us in here. Do we have anything that could be pieced together to create an alternate power source? No matter how small the levels."

The young, panicked Ensign looked at the big bald man as if a weasel sprouted from his neck licking its lips and demanded a chicken. "What?" she said as she ground to a stop. "I had a head stuck to my hand and you want me to piece together something?! Here, let me go put the body back together that I just beheaded!"

Somehow, Lucas managed to compose himself and rose to his feet, making his way back into the conference room. "Ensign Khan, that's enough," the Lieutenant said a bit more forcefully than he would have liked, but considering what was just discovered, a little tough love was in order. Not to mention she was sharing far too much information. "Captain Geisler, I'd like to request that you remain where you are for the time being. Just until I can get the bridge secure. It shouldn't take long." He had a feeling nothing was going to keep the Captain from getting to his bridge no matter what.

"Secure the bridge?" Harvey asked with a curious yet agitated tone. "What's wrong with the bridge?" He sat and listened, but did not hear anything unusual. He was the Captain, dammit, and he wasn't going to sit on the sidelines. Therefore, he mustered what energy he could and tried to stand.

The Captain was allowed to stand, but that didn't mean he was going to be getting out of the conference room, unless he pulled rank of course. Luc moved to stand in the doorway. "Captain..." he began, wondering how he could break the news to the man gently. "The body on the bridge..." He hesitated, swallowing a lump back in his throat. "I'm ninety-five percent sure it belongs to your wife, Sir." Now, he braced himself to intercept the man should he try to get by.

Either Harvey was groggy, or he heard the doctor suggest that Joey was dead on the bridge. Just the accusation forced a confused Harvey to surge into action, driving every shaky limb of his in an attempt to pass through the mountain of a man. "Jo... Joey!" he called out.

The big guy's heart went out to Harvey in that moment, and he found himself admitting that had it been Aurilia, he'd want to see her no matter what. In fact, he'd toss whoever was keeping him from her out of the way without question. With that in mind, he stepped aside so Harvey could make his way onto the bridge, but planned to follow behind him closely. It didn't matter how anyone else felt about his actions, either. Luc reached out to hold on to Harvey's upper arm to help him forward. "Are you sure you want to go?" he asked the Commanding Officer softly.

"J-Joey?" Kelly echoed. "But...but...she's incredible. No!" She turned and tried to head out of the conference room a second time.

Harvey was too stunned to comprehend Kelly's outburst. Ever since Doctor Abrams broke the news, all he could think about was what had happened to his wife, and his two unborn children. Harvey staggered out onto the dimly lit bridge. He was looking for her familiar figure, but was rudely greeted with an unexpected sight.

His mind had flashbacks to Betazed during the war, hearing of Alison's death after months of just wishing to see her again. It was a wish that was still unfulfilled as her body had been vaporized by a Jem'Hadar attack. Seeing what remained of Joey made him wish that she'd befallen the same fate. The way her skeleton lay, despite the awkwardness of the head, suggested that she died peacefully. It made Harvey sick and deranged, knowing that there had been a chance to stop whatever it was that caused her untimely demise, only for that chance to never be realized.

Harvey fell to his knees beside her, wanting to reach out and touch what was left, or left up a body that was no longer there into a heartwrenching embrace. Something inside of him prevented that, and that something made him suddenly and painfully aware that he had been sobbing all the way to her.

He wanted to grieve. So desperately he wanted to grieve this massive loss. It wasn't just Joey, it was his two children. Two souls that would never have a chance at life. This moment was the realization of his greatest fear, and all Harvey could do was wish that he'd forced Joey to stay behind in the Gamma Quadrant, or even at Earth with her family while he pursued this predestination paradox.

Was this it? Was this the threat that was going to befall the rest of the galaxy? An unseeable power that could escape the Convergence Zone and wreck havoc on organic life? How did she get from the conference room to out here anyway. How long had he been unconscious? He should have been sitting next to her so that they would have died together, and not alone.

Focus, Harvey, commanded a voice in his head. Focus.

Despite the tears and the heaving cries, Harvey tried to heed the instruction. There was still a ship to command. There was still a threat out there. He had to finish the mission. Only then could he truly grieve.

Harvey reached up as the sobs began to calm themselves. Using the console above her as an anchor, Harvey pushed himself up. "Somebody, report. Someone has to know something."

Luc's heart went out to Harvey, and he found himself having to look away from the sight before him to keep from tearing up himself, though it was impossible to keep that from happening. He couldn't imagine going through anything like that, but now the large man had to wonder if Aurilia had suffered the same fate Lieutenant Geisler had. Sadly, that was something he wouldn't be able to find out right away. "Captain," he began. "All I know is that the ship is at a complete standstill right now. We have no power, no communications, and most of our crew has either disappeared or died." He paused for a moment and took a look around the bridge. "It almost seems like we've been sitting stagnant for years given the state the ship and our deceased crew are in, but that just doesn't seem possible."

The sight of the Captain sobbing and in tears brought Kelly to a standstill and she swallowed hard. She felt for the Captain and was amazed that he was able to ask for a report. Lieutenant Abrams covered what everyone seemed to know, but she felt the need to say or do something. She slowly made her way onto the bridge and to where the Captain was. "Sir, I'm willing to do whatever you need," she said quietly. "I woke up with the ship this way and don't know much, but I have a secondary in Engineering. Should I go there to see if anything can be done?"

Charles was having a hard time taking this all in over the top of his splitting headache. He had just watched as his Captain had his scalp stitched up and not Joey was dead?? With the orders coming from the Captain snapping him out of his daze he hush to an ops station on the bridge and was trying to figure out where the power was and wasn't they needed enough power to run some consoles so the investigation can start. "Sir, we have power to life support and I am trying to run some scans to check on damage and... casualties."

"Can you get communications back online?" Harvey asked. "We need to find out who's still alive and start coordinating efforts. Ensign Khan, can you give a hand?"

"Yes, Sir," Kelly said. She really wanted to give the Captain a hug, but it would be highly inappropriate with his dead wife and children nearby and what she had done to the body. She looked at Chief Stephens. "Shall we?"

"Sure" He said with the best attempt at a smile he could muster. "Looks like the power isn't offline so much as most of the systems have been turned off." he said as he examined the display in front of him. "I think there is plenty of power allocated if you want to start a quick boot of the system and we can see if there is any malfunctions."

"The systems were turned off?" the Captain inquired, moving almost too quickly to their station. He staggered and stumbled on the way over, proof that his equilibrium had not fully returned. Surely Doctor Abrams would be on his tail any instant, forcing him to sit down and rest.

"If they were shut down, then we can boot them back up," Kelly said as she headed to investigate.

The team started to work on bringing systems online. And as it had appeared it wasn't a power flow issue it was just that the systems were down. "Sir, you have comms and shipwide sensors will be up shortly. Power is stable at this point. Like I said it is like what ever happened knocked all the main systems offline." Charles turned to the wobbly Captain hovering over him.

"It's a start," Harvey mumbled, tapping his badge. "All hands, this is the Captain. As of now, this ship is on red alert. All hands are to report to their duty station. In five minutes, each department is to check into the bridge with a head count, even if your supervisor isn't there to make the report. Standby for further instruction."

Charles could tell that the crew on the bridge where almost in shock much like he was. What had happened and why where these casualty numbers coming in so high. As the last of the departments called in, some by the Department heads some just a random officer, Charles was not looking forward to breaking the news. "Captain, all departments check in. Our current head count is 149 crew." Charles swallowed hard. That was less then half the crew list from this morning. He didn't even give the amount of dead or missing because that number was to hard to wrap his head around. "Internal sensors confirm the 149 count."

That number wasn't just less than half of the crew. It wasn't even a quarter of it. Harvey's heart sunk deeper at that revelation. "How..." he tried to say before having to swallow his emotions once more. "Can we confirm all casualties? Scan for inactive badges."

"Captain," Luc began, closing the distance between himself and Harvey. He didn't want to impose his size on the CO, but he would if it was required given the state the man was in. No one bounced back from a head injury like his, along with the mental and emotional blow he'd just been dealt. "You can give orders while stationary. I'm going to have to advise against you moving around. Our medical equipment isn't working, and you had a reaction to a medication that you've never had one to before. Until I can figure out why, you need to remain as still as possible. Do you want to sit in your chair?"

"Reaction?" Harvey mumbled, looking over at the doctor. Anything prior to being told his wife was dead was shielded by a haze in his memory. "What sort of reaction?" he asked, reaching up to his neck where he very clearly felt boils and blisters forming around some swelling.

"The injection site began to turn red, and the medication seemed to irritate your skin," the behemoth of a man replied, moving over to the Captain to examine his neck. "I'm not entirely sure why it happened, but now there's definitive evidence of some kind of reaction. If at any time you begin to feel funny, make sure you let me know."

"I'm not allergic to anything," Harvey muttered, still feeling the injection site. Except coffee withdrawal. Oh, he could use a cup of joe right about now. "Did you use a standard medkit?" he asked, mentally running through its contents. "The only thing I can think of is Triptacederine, but it's perfectly safe, unless it was expired."

"Standard yes," Abrams replied. "There's no way for it to be expired, either. We inventory all medications regularly, and the ones that have reached that point are disposed of properly. I don't have an explanation for the reaction, but if it happened to you, that means it could happen to anyone."

"We need to figure it out soon," Harvey said, feeling his voice getting a little raspy. This wasn't going to end well if they couldn't fix it all.

Lucas was pretty concerned about Harvey, but without the proper equipment, he couldn't run a complete scan on him. This entire situation was extremely frustrating. "Captain, are you okay?" he asked. Yes, there were many things that needed to be done, but he needed to see to it that their CO was in decent shape first.

Harvey had a choice. He could tell the truth, or he could obscure his true feelings, which by now should have been obvious to everyone. His wife and unborn children were dead, a haunting reminder of what he'd experienced nearly fifteen years ago. His ship was powerless, and he had no idea what was going on. "I'll be fine," he gritted, "as soon as we're out of this mess."

The large man knew that wasn't the truth, but he wasn't going to push the issue. For now, they all needed to focus on getting out of their current predicament... as big as it was. "What are your orders, sir? I'm sure what's left of the crew will agree with me when I say we'll do whatever you need us to to get out of this."

Meanwhile, Kelly was under a console working on pulling isolinear chips and checking them one by one before she slid them back in. "I don't get it. Everything works as it should. It's just powered off," she said as she climbed back out and did a diagnostic on it.

Charles was equally befuddled by what was going on with the systems. He was running the scan the Captain had asked for. When he saw the number his heart sank and he really debated telling anyone. Orders where orders. "Captain scan is complete we have 400 inactive badge signatures."

"Four hundred?" Harvey gasped, rising quickly from his chair to see the scans for himself. "Where's the rest of the crew?" he demanded, though he did not expect the Senior Chief or the Ensign to have any answers. Several ideas circulated through his mind, ideas he was not sure if he should share considering the confidential information surrounding a certain science lab on the decks below. He needed more information. "Get into the ship's logs. Collect all information you can about what we hit, or what hit us." Looking to Doctor Abrams, Harvey added, "And find out what killed the crew. If we are to avoid their fate, we need to know fast."

"Will do." Was all Charles could say he was still trying to take it all in. From the headache to the shock of the data they were getting in. He was really starting to question his transfer to the Black Hawk.

Terry stood by and watched the Engineers and the Doctors do what they did best. All the while, listening to the conversation. There was so much death. He shook his head as part of him wished he was down in the hangar bay. At least he could try to power up a fighter since they had their own miniature warp core and see what he could from the onboard tactical sensors. And maybe even punch a hole through the bay doors to find out what was happening from the outside. But alas, that was not the case in this situation.

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