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The State of Things
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The engine room was organised chaos. Though Sinajj didn’t know where all the casualties had originated from she suspected that the engineering had taken a substantial hit, though with full damage control and emergency response measures in place every able-bodied member of the crew would be pitching in, as such there was a number of red and teal uniforms among the gold. She spotted a pair of engineers and Ensign Ral-Aani standing around the master systems display table, among the group was the Ktarian she was looking for.
“Lieutenant Drikahrys,” she began as she approached the ‘pool table’.
“Captain, we’ve patched up the fractures in the warp drives power transfer conduits and realigned the matter injectors, so we should have warp drive back online within the hour after we’ve completed final diagnostics.”
Sinajj nodded. “So far this is all sounding like good news. What’s the catch?”
“Ensign Barnes caught it, sir,” Drikahrys replied nodded at the only human at the table as she pulled up a status report from the antimatter pods down on deck seventeen.
She looked at the junior diagnostics officer, who was clearly nervous. Barnes cleared his throat and pointed to the display. “Well, sir, I was checking the antimatter assembly, sir, to make sure that it hadn’t been damaged during our transit through the rift, sir.”
“Ensign,” she interrupted, “just relax and tell me what you found.”
He nodded. “We have an unexpected fluctuation in the antimatter containment fields,” he stated plainly. She shot the trio around the table a concerned look. “The fields dipped slightly for a fraction of a second then returned to normal, then dipped again a few minutes later though to a lower level than before. It’s happened seven times since then, each time the field integrity has dropped lower than previously.”
“How low was it on the last drop?”
“Eighty-nine-point-seven percent,” the junior officer said. “It’s still well within safety margins,” he added trying to sound optimistic.
“But it might not for much longer, and who know what might happen when we engage the drive.”
Drikahrys folded her arms and frowned as she looked at the display. “That was my thoughts exactly, sir.”
She looked at her chief engineer. “Can it be repaired?”
“I’m still not even sure what’s causing the issue. Until I can figure that out I can’t say how it can be repaired,” the younger woman admitted.
Sinajj looked at the readouts, watching the records of all the previous drops in the field integrity. From what she could see there wasn’t any pattern to the drops, the time in between them, the duration they lasted for, it all seemed completely random.
“We need warp drive, but I’d rather not engage it until we get this sorted. So, what are you all thinking?”
There was a pause as the two engineers and conn officer shared a look. “We eject a couple of the antimatter pods.”
She looked at the lieutenant, not quite believing what she was hearing. “Come again?”
“If we eject two pods then we have fewer containment fields to maintain, so any further drains would be negligible.”
“That would only leave us with eight pods,” she pointed out.
“I admit, it’s not ideal, but those pods are good for a few thousand light-years before needing to be replenished.”
How about one hundred and fifty thousand light-years? she quipped, though kept her lips sealed. Heading back towards the Milky Way under conventional means was the last option she was considering, so they might never need their full supply of antimatter. That being said, they could well need all the power the ship could generate which might see them guzzling more fuel than they would normally. Whatever happened the needed warp drive ASAP.
“Do it. Reinforce the containment fields however you can, once the pods have been ejected, and find out exactly what the source of that problem is.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“Ral-Aani, lend a hand with the remaining repairs and diagnostics then get back to the bridge.”
“Aye sir.”
“Lieutenant, inform the bridge when you’ll be proceeding and jettison when ready.”
“We’ll be good to go in ten minutes.”
Sinajj gave her a single nod and headed for the exit. This latest problem was just another one to be added to the list to be looked at once they’d had a moment to catch their breath, but before then they still had too much to be getting on with. At the top of her list was finding a way to break it to the crew exactly where they were and what the situation was. Well, the crew that were still on their feet.
She stopped dead in her tracks in the empty corridor. Up until now she’d been able to keep herself to busy to dwell on just how badly they’d been hurt, the damage to the ship was one thing but the damage to the crew was quite another. There was no getting away from it now, she knew what her next destination was.
Forcing her legs to work, she proceeded to the nearest turbolift and ordered it to deck five. She squared her shoulders and gritted her teeth for what she was about to face. At the Academy, she’d sat through all the lectures on Professor Somak had given on Moral and Ethical Issues of Command, being told the necessity to maintain emotional distance between commander and crew which sounded easy enough in the classroom but when in the field was so much harder to do. These officers and crew were her responsibility, she had to put her faith in them to carry out her orders and they had to put their trust in her to lead them effectively, but to do that there had to be some sort of relationship between a Captain and their crew, they were mindless automatons—though just what that balance was she was still trying to figure out.
She would find out soon enough how much trust they had in her once she dropped the bomb.
The lift stopped and she left out a heavy sigh before stepping off and making herself head for the centre of the deck. One of the safest places on the ship, it was the logical place for the medical facilities. As she neared them she half expected to see gurneys in the corridors and blood on the bulkheads, but all was as it should be. Before she knew it she was standing before the wide double doors of the main ward and stepped forward.
The room was an L-shape, with a pair of biobeds on either side if her as she entered, all of them occupied with a nurse or corpsman checking on the patient, around the corner were another pair of beds most likely also filled, whilst in the corner was a screened off exam table the semi-opaque setting of the screens allowed her to see the silhouettes of another couple of medics leaning over another wounded crewman. Directly opposite the entry was the CMO’s private office where she spotted Doctor Shual Tian at his desk. Being the only Tauari onboard he was an easy man to spot, with his pale skin, flat face, large round eyes, speckled forehead and large, almost cat-like, ears on top of his head.
She stealthily slipped past the other medical staff and made it to the entryway of his office before he noticed her, the slight twitching on his right ear signalling he’d heard her. As he looked up she saw his weary expression.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you, Doctor, but I thought I’d check in and see how things were going.”
“Please, take a seat, Captain,” he said gesturing to the empty chair opposite him which she eased herself into, her back remaining ramrod straight. “I’ve just completed my rounds and was putting together an update for you.”
“How bad is it?”
“Five others have died from their injuries. Eight more are in critical condition and will need treatment at a starbase as soon as possible.”
She winced feeling a sharp shudder like an icy blade run down her spine. “Is there nothing that can be done for them onboard?”
“I’m afraid not, sir. They’ll all require very delicate surgery that starships just can’t provide.” His marbled blue eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “I take it there are issues with getting to a station in a prompt manner.”
Leaning closer, she dropped her voice and told him just where the fissure had taken them. Stunned silence was his reply.
“Can those crewmembers be put into stasis until we get back to the Milky Way?”
Tian was quiet for a moment longer. “Five of them could manage it, but the others wouldn’t survive either the stasis or revival process. I’ll make arrangements to preserve those that can and ensure the others are as comfortable as possible.”
“What about the other casualties?”
“Twenty-eight have been treated and released, I have recommended light duties though with repairs to be done I suspect most won’t listen to that. The remaining fifteen will all need a few more days for treatment and observation.”
She nodded slowly, her brain still trying to process what she’d been told. Sixteen of her crew were either dead or going to die in the next few days, unless she got them home somehow. She tried to shake it off and remember Somak’s lessons, though they provided no comfort or guidance in that moment.
“I’d like the list of all those we’ve lost, as well as the critical cases.”
He picked up a PADD and handed it to her. “I thought you might.”
She accepted it and rose. “Thank you for this, Doctor. I won’t keep you any longer.”
Gripping the tablet so tightly her knuckles turned white, she left sickbay as quietly as she’d entered. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the list of names quite yet, but she knew that it was all on her to get the crew home, to make sure that no others were added to the sixteen.
* * * * *
The State of Things
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The engine room was organised chaos. Though Sinajj didn’t know where all the casualties had originated from she suspected that the engineering had taken a substantial hit, though with full damage control and emergency response measures in place every able-bodied member of the crew would be pitching in, as such there was a number of red and teal uniforms among the gold. She spotted a pair of engineers and Ensign Ral-Aani standing around the master systems display table, among the group was the Ktarian she was looking for.
“Lieutenant Drikahrys,” she began as she approached the ‘pool table’.
“Captain, we’ve patched up the fractures in the warp drives power transfer conduits and realigned the matter injectors, so we should have warp drive back online within the hour after we’ve completed final diagnostics.”
Sinajj nodded. “So far this is all sounding like good news. What’s the catch?”
“Ensign Barnes caught it, sir,” Drikahrys replied nodded at the only human at the table as she pulled up a status report from the antimatter pods down on deck seventeen.
She looked at the junior diagnostics officer, who was clearly nervous. Barnes cleared his throat and pointed to the display. “Well, sir, I was checking the antimatter assembly, sir, to make sure that it hadn’t been damaged during our transit through the rift, sir.”
“Ensign,” she interrupted, “just relax and tell me what you found.”
He nodded. “We have an unexpected fluctuation in the antimatter containment fields,” he stated plainly. She shot the trio around the table a concerned look. “The fields dipped slightly for a fraction of a second then returned to normal, then dipped again a few minutes later though to a lower level than before. It’s happened seven times since then, each time the field integrity has dropped lower than previously.”
“How low was it on the last drop?”
“Eighty-nine-point-seven percent,” the junior officer said. “It’s still well within safety margins,” he added trying to sound optimistic.
“But it might not for much longer, and who know what might happen when we engage the drive.”
Drikahrys folded her arms and frowned as she looked at the display. “That was my thoughts exactly, sir.”
She looked at her chief engineer. “Can it be repaired?”
“I’m still not even sure what’s causing the issue. Until I can figure that out I can’t say how it can be repaired,” the younger woman admitted.
Sinajj looked at the readouts, watching the records of all the previous drops in the field integrity. From what she could see there wasn’t any pattern to the drops, the time in between them, the duration they lasted for, it all seemed completely random.
“We need warp drive, but I’d rather not engage it until we get this sorted. So, what are you all thinking?”
There was a pause as the two engineers and conn officer shared a look. “We eject a couple of the antimatter pods.”
She looked at the lieutenant, not quite believing what she was hearing. “Come again?”
“If we eject two pods then we have fewer containment fields to maintain, so any further drains would be negligible.”
“That would only leave us with eight pods,” she pointed out.
“I admit, it’s not ideal, but those pods are good for a few thousand light-years before needing to be replenished.”
How about one hundred and fifty thousand light-years? she quipped, though kept her lips sealed. Heading back towards the Milky Way under conventional means was the last option she was considering, so they might never need their full supply of antimatter. That being said, they could well need all the power the ship could generate which might see them guzzling more fuel than they would normally. Whatever happened the needed warp drive ASAP.
“Do it. Reinforce the containment fields however you can, once the pods have been ejected, and find out exactly what the source of that problem is.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“Ral-Aani, lend a hand with the remaining repairs and diagnostics then get back to the bridge.”
“Aye sir.”
“Lieutenant, inform the bridge when you’ll be proceeding and jettison when ready.”
“We’ll be good to go in ten minutes.”
Sinajj gave her a single nod and headed for the exit. This latest problem was just another one to be added to the list to be looked at once they’d had a moment to catch their breath, but before then they still had too much to be getting on with. At the top of her list was finding a way to break it to the crew exactly where they were and what the situation was. Well, the crew that were still on their feet.
She stopped dead in her tracks in the empty corridor. Up until now she’d been able to keep herself to busy to dwell on just how badly they’d been hurt, the damage to the ship was one thing but the damage to the crew was quite another. There was no getting away from it now, she knew what her next destination was.
Forcing her legs to work, she proceeded to the nearest turbolift and ordered it to deck five. She squared her shoulders and gritted her teeth for what she was about to face. At the Academy, she’d sat through all the lectures on Professor Somak had given on Moral and Ethical Issues of Command, being told the necessity to maintain emotional distance between commander and crew which sounded easy enough in the classroom but when in the field was so much harder to do. These officers and crew were her responsibility, she had to put her faith in them to carry out her orders and they had to put their trust in her to lead them effectively, but to do that there had to be some sort of relationship between a Captain and their crew, they were mindless automatons—though just what that balance was she was still trying to figure out.
She would find out soon enough how much trust they had in her once she dropped the bomb.
The lift stopped and she left out a heavy sigh before stepping off and making herself head for the centre of the deck. One of the safest places on the ship, it was the logical place for the medical facilities. As she neared them she half expected to see gurneys in the corridors and blood on the bulkheads, but all was as it should be. Before she knew it she was standing before the wide double doors of the main ward and stepped forward.
The room was an L-shape, with a pair of biobeds on either side if her as she entered, all of them occupied with a nurse or corpsman checking on the patient, around the corner were another pair of beds most likely also filled, whilst in the corner was a screened off exam table the semi-opaque setting of the screens allowed her to see the silhouettes of another couple of medics leaning over another wounded crewman. Directly opposite the entry was the CMO’s private office where she spotted Doctor Shual Tian at his desk. Being the only Tauari onboard he was an easy man to spot, with his pale skin, flat face, large round eyes, speckled forehead and large, almost cat-like, ears on top of his head.
She stealthily slipped past the other medical staff and made it to the entryway of his office before he noticed her, the slight twitching on his right ear signalling he’d heard her. As he looked up she saw his weary expression.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you, Doctor, but I thought I’d check in and see how things were going.”
“Please, take a seat, Captain,” he said gesturing to the empty chair opposite him which she eased herself into, her back remaining ramrod straight. “I’ve just completed my rounds and was putting together an update for you.”
“How bad is it?”
“Five others have died from their injuries. Eight more are in critical condition and will need treatment at a starbase as soon as possible.”
She winced feeling a sharp shudder like an icy blade run down her spine. “Is there nothing that can be done for them onboard?”
“I’m afraid not, sir. They’ll all require very delicate surgery that starships just can’t provide.” His marbled blue eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “I take it there are issues with getting to a station in a prompt manner.”
Leaning closer, she dropped her voice and told him just where the fissure had taken them. Stunned silence was his reply.
“Can those crewmembers be put into stasis until we get back to the Milky Way?”
Tian was quiet for a moment longer. “Five of them could manage it, but the others wouldn’t survive either the stasis or revival process. I’ll make arrangements to preserve those that can and ensure the others are as comfortable as possible.”
“What about the other casualties?”
“Twenty-eight have been treated and released, I have recommended light duties though with repairs to be done I suspect most won’t listen to that. The remaining fifteen will all need a few more days for treatment and observation.”
She nodded slowly, her brain still trying to process what she’d been told. Sixteen of her crew were either dead or going to die in the next few days, unless she got them home somehow. She tried to shake it off and remember Somak’s lessons, though they provided no comfort or guidance in that moment.
“I’d like the list of all those we’ve lost, as well as the critical cases.”
He picked up a PADD and handed it to her. “I thought you might.”
She accepted it and rose. “Thank you for this, Doctor. I won’t keep you any longer.”
Gripping the tablet so tightly her knuckles turned white, she left sickbay as quietly as she’d entered. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the list of names quite yet, but she knew that it was all on her to get the crew home, to make sure that no others were added to the sixteen.
* * * * *
