Flying Dark (Part II of VIII)
Posted on Tue Mar 17, 2020 @ 4:29am by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Captain Lazanos Torena & Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca & Civilian T'gan
1,936 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: DS5, various
Timeline: MD 01 1500
Previously on Gremlins
It started on the Promenade four hours ago. The water filters in the ornamental lake had failed, and the whole thing had been flooded in sewage from around the Prom. And then the main replimat had served nothing but white fish hasperat regardless of what was ordered. Operations had pulled their hair out, and then it had solved itself twenty minutes later.
An hour later, the gravity had failed in the Creche that served the Square Mile, and whilst no one had been hurt, it made the third surprise malfunction. And that did not bode well. Operations and Engineering were running around trying to fix things, and then it seemed to be everywhere, random power fluxes and glitches all over the Square Mile.
And now the continuation
Main Engineering - Decks 1128-1157
Everything went offline, though light absorbing strips of tape, paint, whatever had a long time exposure so as the lights went out the various hard lines of Main Engineering shined with glow-in-the-dark lines.
They help illuminate nearby people and the structure so people didn't injure themselves. "Well, this is fantastic," Scaliontis said, muttering curses and colourful choice words in Romulan.
He took a deep breath. He knew it would soon be one of his last. Though it would take a while for the current station's oxygen levels to reach critical as the vents and so on will still be generating air for several more minutes as things power down.
Power down. Scaliontis suddenly realised that the power was shut down, not terminated or disrupted or blocked. Though that still required at least three high level clearance codes to trigger.
Moments later several wrist torches switched on and engineers floated about.
"Okay, everyone, listen up!" He yelled, his feet now leaving the floor. "Team Alpha grab the portable generators and connect them to primary systems, chain them if you need to speed up the transfer. Team Beta get everyone rebreather kits, then head down to the reactors with portables. Team Gamma start rounding up people and take portables with you so you can set up safe zones until main power is restored. Team Delta, you're with me here. Hook up the portables to consoles and let’s see what we have to work with. Make sure you have equipment kits with you at all times. Get to it people."
The engineers not in Delta team made their way to the door, and one had to be vertical with a foot on the door frame while holding the door handle. A few others had to help open the door. Scaliontis watched them leave before floating over to where a portable would be plugged in when someone in Delta team returned with one.
Another deep breath, and he could hear something groaning. He didn't think much of it as he got to work with team Delta on restoring temporary power to Engineering so they can see how the station currently is.
Arboretum
The water stopped when the power went out. Brianthe had a moment of relief, then she floated off the ground. Unfortunately, so did the water collecting on every surface, and some of the wet leaves. When gravity came back, she was going to have a far-too-sudden reunion with the wet soil and detritus. What had she been taught in the academy? Oh, yes. To swim. She could swim, even if it felt strange to swim through air. Wet air, but air nonetheless. She closed her eyes to picture the layout of the room. She hit a tree and clung to it. Maybe she should get down to the ground and move through the trees where she knew her way.
She heard someone scream outside. "In here. Come in here if you can," she called back, not sure if the woman heard her.
The botanist made her way from tree to tree, feeling her way to the bulkhead wall. She'd been soaked before, but now she was muddy and covered in bits of mulch. She needed a hot shower, but not until the gravity righted itself again. There were towels in the workroom, and a lower ceiling. At least she would be safer there until things righted themselves. But as she moved around the bulkhead toward the door, she ran into the water from the small stream that meandered through the arboretum. It was about waist-high and colder than she remembered. She gasped, then decided to use the chilly water to rinse off the worst of the mud and debris.
Finally she reached the door to the workroom, which refused to slide open. It took her a few minutes to feel around for the manual override and slip inside. "Made it." She used the counter as a guide until she reached the compartment with her towels and began to dry off. It shouldn't be long before the lights and gravity came back on. Power had been fluctuating for most of the day, surely it would be on soon?
Growing more daring, she floated over to the table and pulled out a padd so she could read while she waited. She found the couch, eased herself down, and began to read.
Temporal Science
Alanna and T'gan were in temporal science 3, going over the recent adjustments to Jason's original theory. It gave both women something to do while they waited for power to return. They occasionally paused to listen to people move around outside in the emergency lighting. But then, it grew silent.
"What happened?" Alanna asked.
"From the lack of ambient sound, I would assume that emergency power is no longer working."
Well, yes, that was obvious, but Alanna had asked it as a general question. She could feel the panic rise as beings across the station reacted. She closed her eyes and concentrated on strengthening her mental shields to block out some of the fear that was now a sharp, acidic tang that smeared across all her senses. "What would take down all the fail-safes on the station?" she asked, trying to use logic and reason as a bugger.
"I do not know. An attack is the most logical," T'gan mused, sounding more curious than anything.
A thought struck Alanna. "Could this be caused by a temporal flux on Pangaea?" She didn't want to think that TI had been right all along, but it was something they had to consider.
T'gan switched screens. "The data stopped when the emergency power failed, but from what we had to that point does not show a correlation. There appears to be no increase in temporal activity."
"At least there's that. So, while we wait for power to come back on," and she tried to block the waves of fear and panic, "let's see if we have any data that can help explain what happened." She knew that whatever had caused the entire station to go dark was going to be complicated. The question was, man-made or natural?
T'gan nodded. "I will look at activity on Pangaea if you will look at solar flares and other spatial anomalies."
The two women fell silent as they sifted through the data.
Marine Mess Hall
When the gravity kicked out, Laz felt it in his stomach first, that familiar wave of nausea he knew well from zero-g training. Even the emergency lights kicked off this time, which was even worse. Complete blackness and no gravity. Laz hooked his foot under the secured bench of one of the mess hall tables to keep himself from drifting somewhere he didn’t want to go.
“Why did the emergency lighting turn off?” he heard somebody ask. “Isn’t that the purpose of emergency lighting, to not turn off?”
“Marines,” Laz said in in as authoritative a voice as he had, “Grav boots are in weapon storage.” He dug into his cargo pocket for the small light he kept there. Several other Marines had the same idea, and in a few seconds thin streams of light were illuminating the room. “Roll out,” Laz ordered.
Like all Starfleet officers, they’d had training in survival in zero gravity, but Marines drilled more frequently than standard officers. They relied on their training to help each other move out of the mess hall. The door was stuck closed, and they yanked the emergency panel from the bulkhead next to the door, found the manual control, and forced the door open. Weapon storage was on the same deck, luckily, and the Marines floated down the corridor in darkness.
“It’s quiet,” somebody said.
“Everything’s off,” another Marine agreed. “What’s the plan, Captain?”
“We get to weapon storage, we get our grav boots, gear, and weapons, and we find out how we can help.”
Promenade
Unsurprisingly things were a complete mess on the Promenade. When gravity was restored, plenty of items came crashing down to the deck. Shopkeepers, and a few good Samaritans, were attempting to clean up the mess. Several malcontents had taken advantage of the chaos, starting various fights across the decks.
Stepping out onto Deck 400, Annora and Greitens tried to help the beleaguered security teams in restoring order. Several people were seated against the bulkhead, their hands tied behind their back. A lone crewman in yellow stood watch over the miscreants. It took a moment for Annora to place a name to the face. It was Crewman Th'vhythan. DS5 was the first assignment for the young Andorian.
"At ease, Crewman. What's the situation?"
He motioned towards the group on the floor.
"At the moment, we're holding them here until everything can be sorted out. Several are accused of striking security guards when we tried to break up the fights. Some were trying to steal items once the gravity returned."
Security's actions were standard procedure when dealing with a large situation such as this, but Annora was concerned about another power failure.
"If you have their information and there's no active warrants, go ahead and release them. We have enough to deal with right now."
She turned to the detainees. "If any of you are picked up again by security in the next week, I will throw the book at you. Is that understood."
Most seemed grateful for the reprieve, but a few still seemed quite angry. Most scrambled for the turbolift when released, and a few disappeared down the corridor.
"Mr Th'vhythan, find an equipment locker and get some grav boots. If you find others, have them do the same."
Greitens and Annora were nearing Gourmet Alley when all power failed. The deck was plunged into total darkness. Not even the emergency lighting kicked on. Annora activated the boots on her suit before pulling on the helmet. Power failures weren't unheard of, but the failure of everything, including emergency systems, was disconcerting.
"Greitens, how's your engineering expertise?"
The Denobulan face looked slightly confused behind his helmet. "Ma'am?"
Annora pointed towards an access hatch. "If we can reach one of the life support controls, there's a chance we can do some good."
The chances were slim, but it was worth trying. If nothing else, they might be able to rig a lifepod to emit a distress call.
To be Continued…
Lt Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
DS5
Ensign Brianthe Oaxaca
Botanist
Deep Space Five
Paula
Botanist
NPCd by Alanna Wells
T'gan
Temporal Physicist
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok
Chief Engineer
Deep Space Five
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