Cargo Conversion

Posted on 15 Jul 2016 @ 3:50am by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast

1,342 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Cargo Bay
Timeline: MD 3 || 1030 Hours

When the meeting with the Captain and other senior staff was dismissed, Camila headed back to Security and called in twenty enlisted personnel, then got a number of forcefield emitters and a watch console. With her personnel in tow, she headed down to Deck Five where Cargo Bay's One and Two were located and began to arrange everything for delivery down to Cargo Bay Three on Deck Six. It was going to take time, but by the time they got done, the two cargo bays would be primed and set up as temporary Brig's for the crews of the Chimera and Cochrane.

Bast was quick to follow in the Cargo bay, three of his staff in tow, along with a couple of engineers he'd borrowed from Rykov. He got them to work immediately.

"All right," he said, addressing the group. "This cargo bay, along with Cargo Bay Two, are going to be converted into detention areas, in case we manage to apprehend the crews of the Chimera and the Cochrane. We need to clear out everything that in here," he said, pointing to the crates that were stacked up against one of the far walls. "I don't know what's in those crates right now, and I don't care. Everything needs to be moved to Cargo Bay Three.

"Once everything has been beamed over there," he added, turning to the two engineers, "we need to physically disassemble the transporter pad, and the console. We wouldn't want anyone who manages to escape their detention cell to gain access to a functioning transporter. Then we need to set up the security console for the detention area, and set up the forcefield partitions."

He turned to Camila, letting his staff fan out to carry out their duties.

Camila already had her personnel split between Cargo Bay One and Cargo Bay Two transporting the crates to the Cargo Bay Three when Bast came in. "I brought two teams with me to get this done faster," she said. "We've got the bulk of the crates out of her and being organized in Bay Three, but we have a few more to go before we can start setting up cells. I brought the force field emitters and the work consoles and all we have to do is start setting them up once the transporter pads are removed."

"Good," said Bast. He looked around the cargo bay, which was roughly square-shaped, around twenty meters across. "What do you figure would be the best layout for the detention cells? What's the standard size for a holding cell in the Security handbook?"

"Six feet by eight feet," she said. "But we're going to have to put a lot more people in these two cargo bays than we would a normal brig, so I'd suggest six feet by four feet and a cot for each prisoner until we can sort out who's Consortium and who isn't. The senior staff of both ships will be sent to the main Brig and separated from the rest of the crews."

Bast nodded, and flipped out his own tricorder to take exact measurements of the cargo bay. "We could put the civilians in crew quarters, and confine them there. Disable the replicators and anything else they might use in a hostile manner."

"That will work," Camila agreed. "I can have the rooms locked down, too."

"As for the rest," said Bast, "we have about three hundred forty people to house under detention conditions." He looked up at the ceiling. "This cargo bay is what, six meters high? What if we install the structure to create a second floor? Double the number of cells."

"It'll take some extra time and usage of the industrial replicators, but we can do it," Camila said. "Since that's your area, I'll stay here and get the force field emitters set up and begin mapping out the cells and prepared."

Bast nodded, and turned toward his staff. "All right," he said. He had to speak louder to be heard over the whine of the cargo transporter, which had begun beaming away the crates. "We have three hours to install a second floor inside this cargo bay. Duranium armature, deck plates, and staircase over there by the door. A second Security console on the top floor. And don't forget a waste extraction station."

"Barns," Camila called to one of her officers. "Bring in extra force field emitters and three more Security console. Vasquez, map these out for six by eight each. DeLorian, do a diagnostics on the console we brought and make sure it's working properly." She turned to Temerant. "What else do we need?"

Bast stared into nothingness while he did a mental review of everything they needed. After a few seconds, he focused on her. "When you map out the cells, don't forget to leave about two feet between each row. Gotta have a few corridors at least."

"That's a given," she laughed. "We don't need wall to wall cells or no one would be getting in or out. We also have Cargo Bay Three to set up and then one of the recreation rooms if it comes down to it. I'm glad we have that Betazoid on loan from Unity to help us sort out who is Consortium and who isn't. Without her, our job would be a lot more difficult."

As Camila's and Basts teams got to work on creating the cells, Camila made certain that they were properly spaced and tested each one on the Security station as it was brought on line. The Engineering personnel checked the power links and installed the portable toilets for hygienic reasons and made sure that everything was functioning. Once they gave the okay, the double bunk beds were brought in and the first level of improvised cells were completed.

More personnel came in with scaffolding and the process slowed down as they were built above the first level of cells and reinforced in the event that the ship were attacked. It was a tedious process, but as with the first tier, everything had to be set up, including walkways among the cells and the sanitation system for waste reclamation had to be installed for the second level as well. By the time the second tier was done, everyone was ready to find an excuse to be done for the day.

When Beta shift came one, personnel were switched out and the new personnel now had a tried and true method to get Cargo Bay Three ready as an improvised Brig and it went much smoother and quicker than Cargo Bay Two had been. There were a few difficulties with the power flow and an Engineering team had to check the EPS conduits and replace two before the issue were cleared before the process could be completed. All in all, one hundred people could be put in each cargo bay without causing overcrowding.

For an additional matter of Security, Camila had another layer of force field emitters set up around the perimeter of the brig and an external control station for that as well as a checkpoint on both cargo bays. The last thing the teams did before heading back to their regular posts or to bed or anything else, Recreation Room one had been cleared out and another improvised brig was set up with a capacity for another fifty people, but it was hoped that many of the personnel from the Chimera and the Cochrane could be cleared and moved to other quarters with orders to remain there until everything could be sorted out.

It was nearly seventeen hundred hours before everything was set up, tested and double checked before the last of the personnel filtered back to various parts of the shift and Camila was one of them, promising Bast she would see him another time when she felt more like a living being instead of a wet rag that had been used to clean a shuttle.

RSS Feed