Season 2, Mission 2: Ariadne and Her Thread

Jaden Terak wrote:

[Bridge - Tactical]

He nodded to Mira and smiled a bit, thinking he'd need all the luck he could get.

"Aye Commander", he said, looking toward Lt. Pardek's position. He wondered if there was any relation to Pardek on Romulus, Jaden had read a report from the Enterprise where Picard and Data had gone to Romulus to find Ambassador Spock. Perhaps a coincidence, he thought as the bridge turned more busy.

[Bridge]

"Acknowledged," the Romulan replied in response to Julia's orders. Rotating shield frequencies and playing with their modulations reminded her of her days in Ops. Those days were long gone now, but the familiarity with the systems remained. Preemptively, she opened up the shield array's layout on one of her console screens before turning to see this.. Terak.

She didn't recognize the trill. Clearly, he was a new transfer that had not yet been added to be roster. Though she'd had mostly worn out her amicable socialization for the day, she did have the sense not to ignore the man. "Jolan'tru," she greeted dryly. "I suggest you begin calibration of some of the EM band emitters."

Her attention flickered back her console, where an alert had just popped up. It looked like she was going to have to divert from the assigned task for a moment. "There is a distress call ahead," she announced to the bridge at large. "I am putting it through."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

"Acknowledged," Archangel replied to the report, staying on her feet despite Julia getting up from the centre seat.  It had always been a little habit of hers to stay on her feet while there was something happening.  It just felt wrong to be sat down in such situations.

She folded her arms, thinking over the report and pondering possible courses of actions.  "That nebula's going to complicate our scans to determine what happened to that ship, so everyone keep their eyes open.  If necessary, station someone by a window to make sure we don't get any surprises."

[Bridge - Sciences]

"Actually," Gavin said, tapping his lower lip in thought as he turned to the captain, "it might not be a bad idea to execute the probe idea. Certainly wouldn't hurt." He swiveled back to the computer console, quickly speeding through a few more screens. "Thing about a nebula...while we might be skirting the edge of it, the fact that we're going through dangerous territory means that we should probably stack the cards in our favor as much as possible."

Blinking, Gavin was quiet for a half second. "Uh. Just my suggestion." Way to tell the entire bridge staff what to do, genius.

Safefta Pardek wrote:

[Bridge]

"Acknowledged," the Romulan replied in response to Julia's orders. Rotating shield frequencies and playing with their modulations reminded her of her days in Ops. Those days were long gone now, but the familiarity with the systems remained. Preemptively, she opened up the shield array's layout on one of her console screens before turning to see this.. Terak.

She didn't recognize the trill. Clearly, he was a new transfer that had not yet been added to be roster. Though she'd had mostly worn out her amicable socialization for the day, she did have the sense not to ignore the man. "Jolan'tru," she greeted dryly. "I suggest you begin calibration of some of the EM band emitters."

Her attention flickered back her console, where an alert had just popped up. It looked like she was going to have to divert from the assigned task for a moment. "There is a distress call ahead," she announced to the bridge at large. "I am putting it through."

"Jolan'tru", he replied and nodded at her comment, knowing she was correct, and that it was best to hold any formal greetings until later. Jaden began to recalibrate the EM band emitters to counter the anomaly, finding it difficult to find the right frequency at first, but noticing a pattern in the modulation of the anomaly's EM field. Could a pattern such as this truly be natural? Jaden shrugged it off, knowing his experience in the field, at least in this lifetime, was limited, and his experience with this particular type of anomaly, ironically, was even less. His spots continued to itch, now becoming slightly more irritated than before, though he still wasn't sure why they were itching. Was it the uniform? The coffee he drank before boarding the ship? Oh, but it couldn't be the single alda berry he ate... could it?

He focused his attention back to the emitters and continued to work.

Gavin Van Gelder wrote:

[Bridge - Sciences]

"Actually," Gavin said, tapping his lower lip in thought as he turned to the captain, "it might not be a bad idea to execute the probe idea.  Certainly wouldn't hurt."  He swiveled back to the computer console, quickly speeding through a few more screens.  "Thing about a nebula...while we might be skirting the edge of it, the fact that we're going through dangerous territory means that we should probably stack the cards in our favor as much as possible."

Blinking, Gavin was quiet for a half second.  "Uh.  Just my suggestion."  Way to tell the entire bridge staff what to do, genius.

"There's a lot of EM interference out there, are you sure a probe's transmission can cut through all that?" he asked Gavin.

Bradley Miller wrote:

“So … I go grab a new plasma relay from the spares and then we install it up here, or do you have a different plan?”

Bradley’s tricorder had picked up that the power relay he’d been scanning had been working the electrical equivalent of overtime to cover for its fallen comrade a few meters down the tube/tunnel/thing (Jefferies tube).

Of course, it made sense that Gabriel and Bradley had stumbled upon the damaged section so quickly. The first thing you would do when trying to solve any problem on a starship would be to run diagnostics, and these would tell you at least the general deck on which the power drain was occurring.

At the same time however, when you had people to spare, and you had a major problem to look into, you used those spare people to look into the problem. This was the precise reason why there were other small Engineering teams looking through the other Jefferies tubes on the ship. If the Phoenix was lucky, they wouldn’t find anything. If they were unlucky, then whatever problem existed would be solved anyhow.

[Forward Section]

Nodding, Gabriel watched the scintillating plasmatic energy arc as it skipped the relay that it needed. "Sounds about like a plan," he replied. Reaching over, he swapped some of the offered tools with Miller. He quickly engaged the safetys, shutting off the main flow of power to the node. "Alright. We're running on full backups for this forward section. No pressure," he grinned.

A few more minutes had the busted part of the old relay removed. Plain, simple, run-of-the-mill engineering work.

Until, of course, the power surge shot through the network, blasting plasma energy in a shower of sparks that sent Gabriel flying backward, slamming into the corridor bulkhead, the relay part clattering to the grate, sounding much louder than its relatively small size should allow.

Safefta Pardek wrote:

Her attention flickered back her console, where an alert had just popped up. It looked like she was going to have to divert from the assigned task for a moment. "There is a distress call ahead," she announced to the bridge at large. "I am putting it through."

[Bridge]

If someone wanted to watch volcanic hazel freeze to a stare as cold as the heart of Andorian winter, all they had to do was meet Raynor's eyes as he watched Kejal Buris enter the bridge area with Captain T'Koris.  The yapping targ pup had been fortunate to not get a blade in the throat on the Athena.  Raynor didn't give a slime-devil's damn what the Bajoran thought of him.  But the second he threatened Ilana?  Well.

Fortunately, a new problem sprung up.  The Klingon crossed his arms, frowning severely as a distress message came through.

*FZZZZT* --s the Zephyr, a cultural research passenger liner outbound from *FZZZZT* --tems failure.  We are neither Federation nor Romu-- *FZZZZZZT* --re aid rendered.  Repeating...

Safefta Pardek wrote:

Her attention flickered back her console, where an alert had just popped up. It looked like she was going to have to divert from the assigned task for a moment. "There is a distress call ahead," she announced to the bridge at large. "I am putting it through."

Raynor Hughes wrote:

Fortunately, a new problem sprung up.  The Klingon crossed his arms, frowning severely as a distress message came through.

*FZZZZT* --s the Zephyr, a cultural research passenger liner outbound from *FZZZZT* --tems failure.  We are neither Federation nor Romu-- *FZZZZZZT* --re aid rendered.  Repeating...

[Bridge]

Hearing that a distress call was being put through, Archangel turned around to look toward the tactical station, her head tilting slightly to one side as she listened to it. Her upswept eyebrows furrowed slightly as her mind filled in what blanks it would, but the message was still very fragmented.

"Pardek, work with Terak and Kejal to see if you can clean up that message any more," she said. "My guess is that they've encountered difficulty with the nebula, but I don't want to take any chances. There may be a warning we haven't heard."

Gavin Van Gelder wrote:

"Actually," Gavin said, tapping his lower lip in thought as he turned to the captain, "it might not be a bad idea to execute the probe idea. Certainly wouldn't hurt." He swiveled back to the computer console, quickly speeding through a few more screens. "Thing about a nebula...while we might be skirting the edge of it, the fact that we're going through dangerous territory means that we should probably stack the cards in our favor as much as possible."

Blinking, Gavin was quiet for a half second. "Uh. Just my suggestion." Way to tell the entire bridge staff what to do, genius.

Turning her attention to the science station, she sighed quietly through her nose. While she felt able to dismiss an idea from one station when it appeared to be overkill for their current situation, she was less inclined to do so when the same idea was brought forth by several.

"Ok, prepare a probe, but don't launch it yet."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

"Pardek, work with Terak and Kejal to see if you can clean up that message any more," she said. "My guess is that they've encountered difficulty with the nebula, but I don't want to take any chances. There may be a warning we haven't heard."

Jaden nodded and began working on it right away, along with the EM emitters. What awaited us in that nebula? Was there an unknown danger? Jaden put it out of his mind for the time being.

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

[Forward Section]

Nodding, Gabriel watched the scintillating plasmatic energy arc as it skipped the relay that it needed.  "Sounds about like a plan," he replied.  Reaching over, he swapped some of the offered tools with Miller.  He quickly engaged the safetys, shutting off the main flow of power to the node.  "Alright.  We're running on full backups for this forward section.  No pressure," he grinned.

Bradley supplied the tools that Gabriel would need to remove the faulty relay from the system and got ready to leave. Just after he’d shifted from sitting on his butt to crawling on his knees, Gabriel decided to give a status update in his characteristic style. Bradley let off yet another chuckle in reply.

“Ha ha. No pressure indeed.”

It was just a few more meters to the end of the tube and then Bradley began descending the ladder back down to Main Engineering. The trip there took roughly about ninety seconds and of course finding a spare relay took only about thirty. Bradley figured in the total three and a half minutes he was gone, Gabriel would have the faulty relay almost if not completely removed by the time he got back.

He popped open the door to the ladder and began climbing back up with the new relay, smiling to himself as he tried to think of something clever to say regarding the situation. He’d always been one that appreciated making people smile, and it didn’t bother him that Gabriel was better than him at making jokes, but it did subconsciously make him try harder.

Alright, I’ve got a brand new one here … nah that’s not even a joke … new pressure value incoming? … Eh … maybe … am I trying too hard with this?

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

A few more minutes had the busted part of the old relay removed.  Plain, simple, run-of-the-mill engineering work.

Until, of course, the power surge shot through the network, blasting plasma energy in a shower of sparks that sent Gabriel flying backward, slamming into the corridor bulkhead, the relay part clattering to the grate, sounding much louder than its relatively small size should allow.

As Bradley reached the top of the ladder and got his first look down the tube however, his blood went cold.

“Gabriel?”

It was half a question and half a shout. Gabriel’s body lay slumped in a truly unnatural position on the opposite side of the tube from the relay. A second passed.

”Gabriel!”

This time there was no question involved in his speech. Bradley shot up the ladder, discarding the new relay near the entrance to the tube in the process. Banging his knees and one elbow slightly as he rushed through the cramped space over to what he could only imagine was his fallen friend, none of the would-be pain registered in his body as the adrenaline caused by fear shut out all but one thought.

No … oh no. Oh dear Lord no.

In what seemed like half an hour but was only a second and a half, Bradley reached his friend and turned him over. He wasn’t a doctor by any means but he’d had standard medical training. He immediately hit his combadge, his voice suddenly all business.

=^= “Lieutenant Bradley to Sickbay, Medical Emergency, Deck 23, Jefferies tube Alpha. I’ve got one wounded with burns on his arms and torso. He’s unconscious but still with us.” =^=

He went through the ABC’s of first Aid. Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. It was evident from the burns and the original positioning of Gabriel’s body that he’d been knocked back by what must have been something to the effect of a small explosion. Bradley first repositioned him to give his chest as much flat area on the floor as he could. Hunched over as he had been, breathing would have been difficult even without being injured. Now that he was on his back and Bradley could check his face, he observed that there was no apparent bleeding near or in the mouth.

Good … the chest is rising and falling … good.

Finally Bradley gave his friend’s wrist a gentle squeeze. After he found a pulse he had another quick thought, being completely controlled by adrenaline now.

=^= “Lieutenant Bradley to Engineering. I need two Engineers in the Jefferies tube on Deck 23, as fast as you can get here.” =^=

I’ve gotta’ shut that thing down before it hurts me or anyone else, but I can’t move Gabriel’s body out of here on my own.

He nearly ripped the bulkhead covering off of the wall to get to the control panel. Breathing heavy from the adrenaline alone, he began to deactivate the entire section’s power relay system, rerouting power through other decks and other relays. Having been an Engineer for years, he knew exactly how to do it to minimize the impact on the ship; the tough part was doing it while repeatedly looking over his shoulder to check and make sure Gabriel kept breathing.

Anyone who would have entered the scene over the next sixty seconds would have observed what looked like a small war zone. An injured Gabriel laying on his back unconscious. Two power relays and two bulkhead coverings laying on the floor in various locations, one of the relays scorched to a nice burnt black color, and the wall across from Gabriel still giving off random but infrequent spurts of electrical sparks.

Bradley Miller wrote:

=^= “Lieutenant Bradley to Engineering. I need two Engineers in the Jefferies tube on Deck 23, as fast as you can get here.” =^=

Leela heard the urgency in his voice. =/\="Acknowledged Commander."=/\= She tapped her communicator and closed the channel. In one swift motion she grabbed her repair kit and pointed to Ensign Nunez. "Nunez you're with me." The pair ran across the engine room and entered the access point and moved through the tubes.

"Commander Miller! Where are you!" She screamed trying to isolate their precise position.

Leela Kaz wrote:

Leela heard the urgency in his voice. =/\="Acknowledged Commander."=/\= She tapped her communicator and closed the channel. In one swift motion she grabbed her repair kit and pointed to Ensign Nunez. "Nunez you're with me." The pair ran across the engine room and entered the access point and moved through the tubes.

"Commander Miller! Where are you!" She screamed trying to isolate their precise position.

"Section Alpha! Keep going, the very front!"

His figures worked on the access panel still, redirecting the power and just starting to stop the flow of electricity through the exposed conduit in the wall. He was still glancing back every few moments to check on his unconscious friend.

Leela made her way to the end of the tube opening into a larger area. Her eyes focused in on Gabe, ignoring the world around her. She let go of the handle to her repair kit and it fell to the floor. The world seemed to slow in that moment. Her case broke open upon impact with the deck plating the contents of her repair kit fell across the deck plating.

"Gabe!" She screamed as she rushed towards his seemingly lifeless body. "What the hell happened?"

Leela Kaz wrote:

Leela made her way to the end of the tube opening into a larger area. Her eyes focused in on Gabe, ignoring the world around her. She let go of the handle to her repair kit and it fell to the floor. The world seemed to slow in that moment. Her case broke open upon impact with the deck plating the contents of her repair kit fell across the deck plating.

"Gabe!" She screamed as she rushed towards his seemingly lifeless body. "What the hell happened?"

Bradley had just finished shutting down the power flow to the exposed relay when Leela and Nunez entered the scene.

"As far as I can tell, the conduit exploded right as he was working on it. Get ready: we're not Engineers today, we're medics. We're gonna' move him out of the Jefferies tube into the hallway so that the medical techs can take care of him once they get here."

Bradley moved over to support Gabriel's head for when they'd start to move him. With four people in the cramped space, not to mention all the debris, partly from the wall and partly from what was now four separate repair kits, it would be very interesting indeed for them to move around. Bradley figured that he could support the head and neck, while the other two supported the torso and legs.

It had taken less than two minutes for Leela and Nunez to arrive on scene from when he'd called them. With Sickbay a full 11 decks above them, the arrival time for them would be much longer.

Bradley should have also informed the bridge crew and the captain about their situation, but at the moment his first priority was getting Gabriel to safety.

Ilana Telak wrote:

Her train of thought was derailed as Kintiss spoke again and she offered him another slight smile.  "Th-th-thank y-y-you, K-K-Kintiss.  I j-j-just h-h-hope it w-w-works."

[Sickbay]

"It will work, don't worry," Kintiss said. "I ssssuggessst you tell your Klingon friend about thisss. Wouldn't want to worry him unnecessssssarily ." That, and he was concerned with keeping his arms in his sockets. He didn't want them ripped out by an angry Klingon.

"Sssssigma, I'll need ssssome consssultation about what sssstrength of antirejection medication to adminisssster for an implant of thisss kind," he added, looking to the Deltan. He would have asked her for more advice, but he suddenly heard a new voice coming from his combadge.

Bradley Miller wrote:

=^= “Lieutenant Bradley to Sickbay, Medical Emergency, Deck 23, Jefferies tube Alpha. I’ve got one wounded with burns on his arms and torso. He’s unconscious but still with us.” =^=

Ah, a medical emergency. It wasn't a normal day on board the Phoenix without at least one.

"Ssssickbay to Bradley, I'm on my way." Quickly packing a medical kit, he headed for the door. "We'll finissssh thisss later. For now, Ilana, you can return to your dutiesssss."

Bradley Miller wrote:

Bradley had just finished shutting down the power flow to the exposed relay when Leela and Nunez entered the scene.

"As far as I can tell, the conduit exploded right as he was working on it. Get ready: we're not Engineers today, we're medics. We're gonna' move him out of the Jefferies tube into the hallway so that the medical techs can take care of him once they get here."

Bradley moved over to support Gabriel's head for when they'd start to move him. With four people in the cramped space, not to mention all the debris, partly from the wall and partly from what was now four separate repair kits, it would be very interesting indeed for them to move around. Bradley figured that he could support the head and neck, while the other two supported the torso and legs.

It had taken less than two minutes for Leela and Nunez to arrive on scene from when he'd called them. With Sickbay a full 11 decks above them, the arrival time for them would be much longer.

Bradley should have also informed the bridge crew and the captain about their situation, but at the moment his first priority was getting Gabriel to safety.

[Conduits - Forward Section]

Warm today, Gabriel thought, feeling the sunlight on his face. He squinted at the glare of it as the light played off the subtle little waves caused by an errant breeze. It was late April, but it could start to warm up in the daytime. "Arry caught one but she dropped it!" Seika called out from where she and her sister were wading in the creek, and...

Wait.

No, I'm not safe on Earth with my wife and children. I'm blown to kingdom come on a starship. Oh well. Gabriel preferred the first option, but the second was reality.

His eyes briefly fluttered open, all daydreams of lazy late spring days replaced by pounding pain. It still felt as if plasma voltage was flowing through his veins instead of blood. In fact, just as soon as he opened his eyes, Gabriel felt his grasp on consciousness rapidly fading. Reaching up, he gripped Miller's sleeve cuff. "Get it fixed," he said through clenched teeth, passing out once again.

Kintiss wrote:

"It will work, don't worry," Kintiss said. "I ssssuggessst you tell your Klingon friend about thisss. Wouldn't want to worry him unnecessssssarily ." That, and he was concerned with keeping his arms in his sockets. He didn't want them ripped out by an angry Klingon.

"Sssssigma, I'll need ssssome consssultation about what sssstrength of antirejection medication to adminisssster for an implant of thisss kind," he added, looking to the Deltan. He would have asked her for more advice, but he suddenly heard a new voice coming from his combadge.

Ah, a medical emergency. It wasn't a normal day on board the Phoenix without at least one.

"Ssssickbay to Bradley, I'm on my way." Quickly packing a medical kit, he headed for the door. "We'll finissssh thisss later. For now, Ilana, you can return to your dutiesssss."

[Sickbay]

Nodding to the Selay, Ilana offered him a small smile as she slipped off the biobed. She was a little concerned about telling Raynor anything about the appointment she had just had, knowing that it would only exacerbate his current mother hen tendencies toward her, but on the other hand, he would find out sooner or later and then come asking her why she hadn't told him.

"I'll s-s-set up th-th-the s-s-s-surgical b-b-biobed f-f-for y-y-you," she said as Kintiss headed out to an emergency call. It wouldn't take him long to get there or to bring the patient back, but she still had time to put in one quick call.

"Telak to Hughes. When you have a break, could you come down to sickbay, please?"

Buris couldn’t have cared less about the cold glare from the Klingon. If he wanted to get so defensive over the child of a monster, then it was no concern of Buris’. Not that he couldn’t sympathize, certainly. However, at the same time… he didn’t care. He despised Ilana on principal, not action. No… that “honor” fell to Gul Epath. He had taken his station and started moving on the situation at hand anyway.

He nodded wordlessly to the Captain’s order to prep the probe without firing it – not bothering to tell her that he’d been a half-step ahead of her. Then again, that was part of being on this Bridge regularly was knowing the ebb and flow, the way the commands went regularly. Rarely did T’Koris nix something when it came from two or more stations. Even the less sane and sensible plans.

He saw a note of an EPS surge in the forward section and with a curious eyebrow started investigating. Apparently the Engineering crew were replacing hot relays – normal everyday work, but not without its inherent dangers. EPS plasma wasn’t exactly the safest stuff in the galaxy, after all. It just happened to be the only reliable way to power a starship under Cochrane drive systems. Something had blown, he’d trust the Engineers down there to handle it, though – and didn’t mention it yet to the Captain. After all, it was just a power surge.

At the same time, a distress signal coming across his board, which demanded higher priority.

Quote :

*FZZZZT* --s the Zephyr, a cultural research passenger liner outbound from *FZZZZT* --tems failure. We are neither Federation nor Romu-- *FZZZZZZT* --re aid rendered. Repeating...

Quote :

"Pardek, work with Terak and Kejal to see if you can clean up that message any more," she said. "My guess is that they've encountered difficulty with the nebula, but I don't want to take any chances. There may be a warning we haven't heard."

Without a word, he started typing, the EPS system status updates banished to a small corner of his terminal as he brought the communications sensors to bear on this distress signal. Terak had been working on it, and that allowed Buris to get a better resolution than he’d had before.
“Narrowing in on the band now, Captain. Signal seems to be clearing up. Tactical, are you getting an origin on this yet?”

Soon the situation with the EPS system turned critical – he saw the explosion from his panel, not visually, but any engineer knew what a sudden energy spike and then a zeroing meant. The call to Sickbay was logged. He knew all too well that the eleven decks between them could mean life or death. Still, he remained externally calm, though he raised his voice over the cross-conversation about the distress signal. Any other ship would have to wait, the Phoenix and the safety of her crew came first. “Captain, there’s been an explosion in section 23-Alpha Jeffries tube. Sickbay’s been contacted. Stand by for more information.”

He checked the computer quickly to find out which officers’ commbadges were down there in the last few minutes and queried them. What he saw, he didn’t like. He resisted the urge to look back at T’Koris, afraid the look in his eye would tell her what he saw from Commander Arthur. “Captain. We have one Engineer with severe plasma burns. Permission to engage site-to-site directly to Sickbay? They’re in a Jeffries tube in the forward section of Deck 23.”

You didn’t mess around with plasma burns – that distance without stabilization could easily prove fatal. When death was on the line he didn’t hesitate to go beyond minimum regulation. Hell, he was half-ready to hit the button without her and sit in the Brig while Commander Arthur was put back together. The situation called for slightly extreme measures; but his mention of ‘one Engineer’ and not calling the section or Sickbay first might give away the identity of the Engineer in question faster than if he’d looked at her… or if she saw his board. After all, it wasn’t like he’d be reacting like this over Gul Epath. He didn’t always like the woman… but telling her that her husband would die would cloud her judgment. And at the end of the day, his loyalty was to her as a Starfleet Captain - not her as a woman. And the Captain needed to act impartially.

As soon as the site-to-site was authorized he'd tell her.

Kejal Buris wrote:

Without a word, he started typing, the EPS system status updates banished to a small corner of his terminal as he brought the communications sensors to bear on this distress signal.  Terak had been working on it, and that allowed Buris to get a better resolution than he’d had before.
“Narrowing in on the band now, Captain.  Signal seems to be clearing up.  Tactical, are you getting an origin on this yet?”

Soon the situation with the EPS system turned critical – he saw the explosion from his panel, not visually, but any engineer knew what a sudden energy spike and then a zeroing meant.  The call to Sickbay was logged.  He knew all too well that the eleven decks between them could mean life or death.  Still, he remained externally calm, though he raised his voice over the cross-conversation about the distress signal.  Any other ship would have to wait, the Phoenix and the safety of her crew came first.  “Captain, there’s been an explosion in section 23-Alpha Jeffries tube.  Sickbay’s been contacted.  Stand by for more information.”

He checked the computer quickly to find out which officers’ commbadges were down there in the last few minutes and queried them. What he saw, he didn’t like.  He resisted the urge to look back at T’Koris, afraid the look in his eye would tell her what he saw from Commander Arthur.  “Captain.  We have one Engineer with severe plasma burns.  Permission to engage site-to-site directly to Sickbay?  They’re in a Jeffries tube in the forward section of Deck 23.”

[Bridge]

Knowing that her officers were perfectly capable of descrambling the message without her hovering over their shoulders and getting in the way, Archangel turned her attention to the viewscreen, looking at the nebula they were skirting the edge of. For such a beautiful stellar phenomenon, they were a surprisingly large pain in the backside.

I suppose it's just continued proof that the prettier something is in nature, the more likely it is to kill you, she mused to herself.

Kejal's voice broke into her thoughts and she snapped back to focusing attention on him. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him, clearly not amused by his request.

"Kejal, if sickbay has already been contacted, then it's not your place to interfere, understood? For all you know, there could be a reason that the engineer hasn't been beamed directly to sickbay. Maybe they need medical attention before it's safe to transport them. You do not second guess the medical officers on this ship and if I catch you trying to do their job for them again, I'll put you on beta shift in sickbay every day for two weeks."

Bradley Miller wrote:

Bradley had just finished shutting down the power flow to the exposed relay when Leela and Nunez entered the scene.

"As far as I can tell, the conduit exploded right as he was working on it. Get ready: we're not Engineers today, we're medics. We're gonna' move him out of the Jefferies tube into the hallway so that the medical techs can take care of him once they get here."

Bradley moved over to support Gabriel's head for when they'd start to move him. With four people in the cramped space, not to mention all the debris, partly from the wall and partly from what was now four separate repair kits, it would be very interesting indeed for them to move around. Bradley figured that he could support the head and neck, while the other two supported the torso and legs.

It had taken less than two minutes for Leela and Nunez to arrive on scene from when he'd called them. With Sickbay a full 11 decks above them, the arrival time for them would be much longer.

Bradley should have also informed the bridge crew and the captain about their situation, but at the moment his first priority was getting Gabriel to safety.

Leela knelt down next to Gabe and saw his eyes flicker for a moment. "Gabe, its okay, we'll get you out of here." She shifted her attention to Bradley and his plan to move him out of the Jeffries tube.

"No Commander, we are engineers, not medics. What if we use our tricorders to cut through the interference from the power systems? I bet we can get a transporter beam to cut through so we can get him to sickbay or at least out of this conduit? I'm afraid to move him. There is no telling what kind of damage has been done."

Leela didn't typically dish out orders like that but having been a doctor in a past life she knew moving him could be the riskiest thing to try. Something best left to trained medical professionals.

Buris glanced back at the Captain, his expression grim, but he nodded. "Aye, Captain."

If only he had the spine to tell her exactly who she had left in a Jeffries tube following a plasma explosion. Still, he felt he'd made the right choice. Checking in with the Engineers in the damaged area was the next step. He tapped the comm stud on his panel - and for a moment he missed the old earpieces the Communications staff used to wear, which would allow them to process reports without half the bridge hearing every panicked moment during a crisis. "Bridge Operations to Section J-23-Forward, status report. We saw you contacted Sickbay, do you require further assistance at this time?"

He switched over to the Medical channel, monitoring for one of the engineers to get back to him. He was almost afraid of who he'd talk to in Sickbay. "Bridge Operations to Sickbay, status report. We saw the explosion and the comm record from J-23-Forward, do you require any assistance?"

He glanced back towards the back of the Bridge, where the Engineering panels and the MSD sat, completely out of his sight. "Somebody at the back of the Bridge, is the MSD showing any critical systems' EPS flow still coming through that junction? Do we need to manually reroute anything?"

Kejal Buris wrote:

"Bridge Operations to Sickbay, status report.  We saw the explosion and the comm record from J-23-Forward, do you require any assistance?"

[Sickbay]

Instead of standing around sickbay like a lemon while she waited for her par'mach'kai to respond, Ilana got to work prepping the surgical bay for Kintiss' return. The last thing he would need would be to come back and then have to find everything he needed.

She had just pulled out the trauma kits when another communication came through on a different channel, this one from the bridge.  Her heart sank at the voice that happened to speak, but she put aside her own discomfort to answer the hail.  Thankfully, for those on the other end of the comm line, the computer filtered out her stammer.

"Bridge, this is sickbay.  Lieutenant Kintiss is already en route to respond to the call and sickbay is being prepped to receive the casualty.  Everything's in hand down here."

[Deck 23]

Stepping out of the turbolift, Kintiss didn't have to search hard for the medical emergency. The crewmen were more than happy to point him towards Jeffries Tube Alpha. He just hoped he wasn't too late to act.

When he reached the entrance, he looked inside, spotting Kaz, an unknown crewman, and Lieutenant Commander Arthur. Somehow, this emergency had become even more important. Not only did he have to worry about getting Arthur to safety and patching him up right, if he messed this one up, it was likely the Captain herself would hang him.

"Kaz!" he called into the Jeffries Tube. "Can you move him?"

Kejal Buris wrote:

He glanced back towards the back of the Bridge, where the Engineering panels and the MSD sat, completely out of his sight.  "Somebody at the back of the Bridge, is the MSD showing any critical systems' EPS flow still coming through that junction?  Do we need to manually reroute anything?"

[Bridge]

Thrice-damned seats, designed for svelte, slim human bodies, Kyano thought, shifting in his chair before giving it up and standing.  No matter what was written on the tin about inclusion and equality, it just seemed like starship designers kept those without large, carapace-like bodies in mind when making the furniture.

The Chelon turned his neck toward the Ops station when he heard someone call out to Engineering.  He'd been on alert since the power surge, and apparently one of his engineers-in-arms had taken a fall.  Hopefully whoever it was recovered.  "Somebody at the front of the bridge," the turtle-man dryly replied, his gravelly voice sounding stern even when he wasn't, "the junction has been shut off.  Apparently that was a...wild surge.  An accident."

[Bridge]

Raynor could practically feel the dislike rolling off of Buris (or Kejal, however the hell Bajoran names worked).  The feeling was mutual.  By legend, Klingons could read intent in the eyes, but it didn't take a blooded warrior to sense how they both felt about each other.  Did the Bajoran have the cutthroat in him?  Likely so, if he was a resistance fighter.  Raynor would have to be on guard.  Not for his sake, of course.  He did not fear his own death, nor did he think the Bajoran could deliver it.  However, for Ilana's sake...

Whatever Raynor thought of Kejal, the Ops officer at least knew his job.  The band narrowing had done the trick to make that distress call a little clearer.

*FZZzzz* is the Zephyr, a cultural research passenger liner outbound from Regulus to the Chelis Field.  Our mission is one of historical survey.  We have suffered a drive systems failure, life support is on backup battery only!  We are neither Federation nor Romulan in sympathy.  We only require any aid rendered.  Repeating, this is the Zephyr...

"Captain," the Klingon said, turning back from the forward viewer.  "I recommend full tactical alert.  We --"

Ilana Telak wrote:

"Telak to Hughes. When you have a break, could you come down to sickbay, please?"

Blinking, Raynor realized he was standing mid-sentence with his mouth open.  It took him a moment to realize that the comm system automatically filtered out Ilana's stammer.  Then it hit him - she knew very well that he was serving as tactical adviser on this mission.  If she was trying to call him away...it must be for a damn good reason.  He felt a man torn in two - his sworn duty in a possibly dangerous situation, or a situation in sickbay.

"...Permission to investigate Ensign Telak's problem?"

Raynor Hughes wrote:

Whatever Raynor thought of Kejal, the Ops officer at least knew his job.  The band narrowing had done the trick to make that distress call a little clearer.

*FZZzzz* is the Zephyr, a cultural research passenger liner outbound from Regulus to the Chelis Field.  Our mission is one of historical survey.  We have suffered a drive systems failure, life support is on backup battery only!  We are neither Federation nor Romulan in sympathy.  We only require any aid rendered.  Repeating, this is the Zephyr...

"Captain," the Klingon said, turning back from the forward viewer.  "I recommend full tactical alert.  We --"

Blinking, Raynor realized he was standing mid-sentence with his mouth open.  It took him a moment to realize that the comm system automatically filtered out Ilana's stammer.  Then it hit him - she knew very well that he was serving as tactical adviser on this mission.  If she was trying to call him away...it must be for a damn good reason.  He felt a man torn in two - his sworn duty in a possibly dangerous situation, or a situation in sickbay.

"...Permission to investigate Ensign Telak's problem?"

[Bridge]

Hearing the unscrambled version of the distress call put Archangel's mind slightly more at ease as to heading out toward it. Of course, it could just be a ruse, but she was trying not to let her inner Romulan paranoia take over and blow things out of proportion. It sounded as if it was a simple case of systems failure.

Turning to the tactical station, where Raynor was standing, she considered the Klingon and his request for a moment. On the one hand, yes, she needed his expertise on the bridge, but on the other hand, she could understand that he would be concerned as to why the Cardassian had called him down to sickbay.

"Go. You can bring back a report on the injured engineer while your down there, but in the event that we go to red alert, I need you back up here immediately."