Flying Dark (Part V of VIII)
Posted on Wed Mar 18, 2020 @ 3:38am by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant Commander River Morgan & Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson & Civilian T'gan & Civilian Opal Oliver (Deceased) Dr
1,572 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: DS5, various
Timeline: MD01 1500
Previously on
"There's something not working correctly." Glinn Harnuv said as he looked towards his subordinate. Gil Reklav checked the generator to confirm that it was working correctly, but he too shared a look of confusion and frustration. "Something. . .is drawing far too much power from the portable generator than you would expect from just one console." The Gil replied. "It's almost as if something is stealing the power directly from the console.
Lieutenant Ta'Gas made his way over to another console and tried to use a secondary system to initiate the reactors. Unfortunately, all that he could get in response were initial lights indicating some activity, but not enough to operate.
And now the continuation
Primary Sickbay
As Terry helped River, he said, "Let me get straps ready at the bio-beds. It will make the compressions easier and you won't risk separating from the patient as much. May I, Doctor?"
"Yes," River panted softly. "If you would please." She was so glad to have Terry here. He was a resourceful and clever doctor, and she was glad of his practical and helpful ideas and help.
Science
When life support and gravity failed, Alanna manoeuvred to a cabinet with wrist lights. "I'm going to sickbay to get some rebreathers."
T'gan shook her head. "No. I am Vulcan. I will go."
Alanna almost argued the point. She nodded. "I'll check the labs and bring everyone to main science. Join us there." She could at least make sure nobody got injured. She grabbed another light and took it over to T'gan. "Take anyone you find to sickbay with you. They'll have power there, too."
T'gan nodded and took the light. "I shall return."
Alanna let her go first, then followed her out.
Intelligence
From behind her desk, Natalie had been monitoring the situation for several hours now. This situation was an ideal opportunity for someone to take advantage of their misfortune. Determined not to allow that to happen she instructed her team to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, monitoring anything and everything they could.
Then everything failed.
"Damn it!" She slammed her fist onto her desk in frustration.
"Ma'am." A voice from the direction of her door called out.
"Yes." She replied raising from her desk.
"We're completely down. Back-ups, and all."
A heavy sigh escaped her lips. "Gather everyone and take count. Make sure everything is accounted for, and don't allow anyone in here without authorization. Stay vigilant."
"Understood."
Caleb’s Quarters
Caleb sighed a bit with relief as Opal’s ministrations soothed away the burns. Unfortunately, they were having another rising effect, decidedly less painful, but no less bad timing.
“Um…” Caleb chuckled.
And then power and gravity went out completely, leaving the naked Caleb slowly floating off the couch with the doctor between his knees.
“Oh, now what?”
Opal was still clutching the torch, but it was decidedly ineffective in helping their situation. The medkit drifted out of reach over to the other side of the room, and she was very much more aware of her positioning as she and Caleb floated around, locked together.
"Oh dear, whatever should we do now? We're stranded here until someone repairs the gravity and the power so we can get out." She smirked, asking as if totally innocent of what might be suggested.
"And I think you may need some more medical interventions to assist with the swelling that appears to have recurred in the same place that your previous injuries used to be, and my med kit is out of reach,” she lamented. She could feel the new swelling that she was referring to and was softly holding it safe in an attempt to make sure it didn't get any worse, apparently, and who was he to gainsay a doctor in the course of her further ministrations.
"I may not have completely finished your care, it seems," she suggested, and switched off the torch. "And in the meantime, we'll have to save the battery, naturally," her voice purred in the darkness as she returned the extinguished torch to her trouser pocket. "In case they might need it later."
Caleb groaned as Opal did her manual check. He gently took her wrist and stopped her. “As enticin’ as this is, love, Ah’d be court martialed,” he told her softly. “Let’s save it for the holodeck.” He gave her a kiss that lingered a bit longer than he’d intended it to, then said, “Can we get that light again an’ find mah clothes?
Opal giggled and put the light back on. She shone it around and located some clothes meandering lazily around above them. They had to separate to push against the walls to lean nearer to items one by one. Opal managed to corner a sock and his tunic from the other side of the room, where he presumably had stacked them before getting into the shower, as they were close together and heading up towards the same stretch of ceiling. It wasn't hard to locate the matching sock in a similar area, but he must have put his trousers in a different place, as they were a long way across the room on their own. They had fun with the retrieval, being already in a mischievous mood, but before long he was dressed and looking to find his boots, which had sloped off into the bedroom. Presumably he'd left them by the door, closer to the front of the suite of rooms.
They could only find the clothes with the torch pointed directly at each item, so if Caleb went left to capture his underwear, Opal had to either follow his path with the torch so he could get all the way there, or point it back in a different direction to aim her own self off in pursuit of something else. Leaving him in the dark one minute and herself in it the next, they both started well but ended up wide of their targets as they got closer to them.
It was bizarre in weightlessness, but no less challenging for the exercise they were getting swimming through zero-G. In the end, they collected it all up and managed to get it onto the XO in the right order and with some element of respectability. Opal was quite proud of them. "I think we did very well," she began, and then noticed his undershirt was inside out and dissolved into fits of laughter.
Caleb laughed with her, and turned his shirt right side out. He pulled Opal to him and kissed her. “Ah’ll get ya back ta Sickbay safe,” he promised her. “Ah have no idea what’s causin’ this. There should be multiple redundancies in the power system.”
"When I left Sickbay, major systems were failing that should never be able to do that. We should have a full emergency back up at all times, even if we have to bypass to the ancient generators. It can't fail like this. It's not possible," Opal replied, shaking her head in disbelief and disappointment.
“It’s gotta be somethin’ drainin’ power from the outside, then,” Caleb mused. “We need ta get into contact with someone off station, in one a the ships, see if they can’t get somethin’ on sensors.”
Caleb helped Opal slip back out through the door into the corridor. Navigating the corridors was a bit easier, since the area was narrower, and they headed toward Sickbay.
Opal had never had the stomach for weightlessness but she had been told it was something you got used to. She did find that 'swimming' (which was the best title she could give to the motion they were using) got easier and with Caleb to help her if she missed her balance she was actually getting along okay, much to her own surprise and delight.
"What was so hard about this?" she joked, watching Caleb as he turned the next corner adeptly and realising that his physical strength was making it look a lot easier for him, although it was probably no such thing. He just did it with style Damn the man, how dare he be so perfect! She smiled to herself, allowing her own annoyance at his prowess and skills to remind her how lucky she was and to hurry along to keep up.
Engineering Support Lab
Maritza checked her comm badge. The battery was almost gone. It shouldn't have gone out so fast. Maybe she should start taking her own advice. Grabbing a wrench, she pulled the paneling off and hauled herself into the jefferies tubes. There she found one of the tertiary pipes from the EPS trunk, the typical powerline into most quarters and other low need labs and workshops. It was cool to the touch, suggesting the power was dead. She went through the isolation process anyway, and then opened the access pipe.
She looked at what was inside with surprise. "What the--?"
To Be Continued
Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson
Combat Medic
NPC Jason Haines
Lieutenant Commander River Morgan
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
NPC Amia Telamon
Doctor Opal Oliver
Civilian Doctor
NPC Amia Telamon
T'gan
Temporal Physicist
Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
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