Engineering Works

Posted on Wed 21st Nov, 2012 @ 8:41pm by Colonel Horatio Drake & Lieutenant Colonel Cara Karikkar & Lieutenant JG Xavier Lee

1,136 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Deck 14: Senior Officer's Conference Room
Timeline: MD-01: 1230 Hours

ON:

The Observation Lounge was now empty... the mess was surprisingly minimal... Drake had come to expect a mess where Starfleet Officers and food were involved. He had requested that Major Treia and Lieutenant Lee remain behind to discuss the ongoing repair works to the starbase. Naturally Winchester had also stayed behind.

"So" Ashton pushed his plate out in front of him "how goes it, Lieutenant?" He asked, not really wanting to know the answer. In ten years the FCDA had managed to virtually destroy the base. It was in such bad disrepair that much longer and it would have had to have been decommissioned.

Xavier wiped his mouth with his napkin and discarded it on his now empty plate before he answered Drake's question. "In truth? It's a mess." Xavier wasn't one for beating around the bush and from what he could gather from the Colonel, he wasn't either. "A good portion of my staff arrived yesterday which helps, but we've had reports from every department with a list of things that needs attending to. I've set up an Ops Liaison for every major department so that we can prioritise things, hopefully that will make things easier, Sir."

Cara sat back and listened to the report her mind on it and on the situation that was coming at the same time.

"Indeed, very prudent, Lieutenant" He put his elbows on the table and rubbed his eyes... this was turning into a nightmare... would the station ever be back up at full operational standards again?

No sooner had he felt the fatigue come on, had it disappeared. "Well, personally, I've been lending a hand where I can to the tactical department... who are very understaffed. Nearly forty percent of phaser arrays are at one hundred percent now. However torpedoes are still a no go. Our only viable line of defense, at the moment, is the Guardian Defense Platforms."

He pondered it for a moment and nearly said under his breath, "Not that anyone is ever going to attack us, out here in the arse end of no where."

"Nevertheless, concentrate on more important issues first... I'll carry on working on the tactical systems with Major Riva." That was mainly his input into the meeting.

In 2386 Starfleet knew that they would be facing an all out war with the Dominion in less than a year. Resources were tightened and funneled into war production. Any facility or ship that wouldn't be directly involved was either decommissioned and scavenged for materials, abandoned or handed over to the Federation Civilian Defense Authority (FCDA) for 'safe keeping'. With this being the plan, virtually all ships were brought back from long term missions - all exploratory and scientific missions were scrapped. Older ships were taken apart for spare parts, newer ships were refitted, Nebula Classes had their sections changed for battle and so on.

With regards to static facilities, Starfleet faced a more difficult decision. Scientific and Research facilities were simply abandoned - often complimented with very old equipment and no real weaponry, to speak of, it didn't matter if they were broken into and components removed by privateers... they could easily be rebuilt after the war. However, with regards to starbases... well, there was no way Starfleet could allow that sort of arsenal of weapons to fall into the wrong hands. They had no choice but to hand over a large amount of facilities to the FCDA.

The FCDA were setup just over a hundred years ago, when recruitment into Starfleet was at an all time low. With the expansion of the Federation, citizens were realising that the 'no money' policy of Earth couldn't possibly work with other cultures who still had monetary systems. Starfleet rapidly became one of the only organisations not to pay their officers. Potential new recruits opted to go into cargo hauling or passenger ships rather than Starfleet... simply to get paid. There was a clear niche in the market... thus came the FCDA. A privatised military organisation, similar to Starfleet on virtually all levels. These were the people that did all the jobs that Starfleet didn't want to... negotiate treaties for minor materials and resources... repair low priority facilities and ships... maintain border patrols... etc.

When the likes of Starbase Protector were handed over to them... they were given a very small remit; 'to keep the base operational with the lowest possible amount of resources'. Well, if ever there was an ambiguous statement... it was this! The FCDA took the term 'operational', to mean shutting down all non essential areas of the base and the term 'lowest possible amount of resources' to mean, no more than a team of fifty. On a base that takes thousands of officers to operate and maintain... they had all but fifty, on a good day. One can imagine how quickly the base fell into disrepair. Sixteen years on, Drake and his team were trying desperately to pick up the pieces.

The FCDA had to keep the upper decks operational, due to the communication and command facilities. Similarly they had to keep some of the lower decks operational because of the Engineering importance. But everything in between (except a few areas) was deemed as low priority. Essentially the entire middle of the station was a mess.

Drake grabbed one of the PADDS that he had, had sitting next to him. The worst decks were roughly from 1100 to 1400 - virtually nothing of importance on these. "How are we doing with the worst of the decks?" Ashton asked.

Xavier knew exactly which decks Drake was referring to, he had not long read the report of priority jobs and these decks definitely fell within that category. "We've not long gained control of life support in the 'middle section' of the station, can you believe some decks had hull breaches that we had to seal?" Xavier asked in a surprised tone.

"Anyways, we're trying our best with internal senors today but I want to send a team down to deck 1030 in the morning so we can assess the condition of the shuttle and reactant storage facilities. In terms of priorities, they're high up on my list."

"Very good, Lieutenant" He smiled at the decision of making Lee the Chief Operations Officer - by the looks of it he could certainly handle the position and to cope with it on a starbase like this, meant he was made of tough stuff.

Xavier returned the smile. This was his first official meeting as the head of a department and it seemed to be going smoothly. At this rate he could be in charge of this whole station within a year, he mused to himself.

OFF:

Written By:
Lt JG Xavier Lee
Chief of Operations
Starbase Protector
&
Major Cara Treia
Executive Officer
&
Lieutenant Colonel Ashton Drake
Commanding Officer

 

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