Discovering Section 49 Alpha - Part II

Posted on Wed 23rd Jan, 2013 @ 5:34pm by Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Colonel Horatio Drake & Lieutenant JG Xavier Lee
Edited on on Wed 30th Jan, 2013 @ 3:25am

867 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Deck 1030 - Section 48 Alpha
Timeline: MD-02: 1902 Hours

ON:

It hadn't taken Drake and Graves long to get from Orchids & Jazz down to the lower depths of the Starbase. Stepping over the various tools and equipment that was laid out on the floor, Drake spotted Lee at a corner of the corridor.

"Report," he asked the Engineer.

Xavier was glad when he saw Drake heading down the hall to meet him and surprisingly he was even happier to see that Paul was with him. There was something about the half-Betazoid counselor that Xavier found calming, as if for the first time since the accident happened Xavier could finally gather his thoughts and think like an engineer and not a ship caught in a tractor beam.

"Sir," Xavier started after taking a steadying breath. "We were mapping this section of the station when we discovered something that didn't quite add up with the station schematics. As Ensign Drekk was investigating, the conduit behind that bulkhead-" he pointed to the bulkhead in question, "exploded revealing some kind dampening field within. The strange part and the reason I called you down here," Xavier continued, "is that the dampening field and whatever lies beyond isn't running off the main power grid. In fact, I have no idea how or why there is even power to this section."

Drake glanced at the Counselor, as if for some clarification to the issue that had just been presented to him.

Paul mutely shook his head at Ashton. "Someone wanted this either hidden or forgotten entirely," he said.

"Are you saying that there's an entire section that, for whatever reason, has been made to appear like it doesn't exist?" He posed the question more to himself than anyone else.

"Aye Sir," Xavier answered. That was the only conclusion he could come to, too.

Paul waited until Drake had had a look before bending to gaze past the shredded remains of the conduit.

A dampening field could have many uses, depending on the type it was. It could block communications, block sensors, or drain energy from its surroundings. But, since it had existed all this time with no one knowing of its existence, Paul had a pretty good idea of what type of dampening field it probably was.

"It looks to me as if someone wanted something very well hidden," Paul remarked.

Xavier nodded at Paul. "My thoughts exactly, Counselor."

"Do we know how long the dampening field has been active, Lieutenant?" This time he directed the question towards the Engineer.

"There's no way to determine as of yet," Xavier answered honestly. "We've only just restored power to this part of the station so I doubt we'll get much information from the internal sensor logs. But to be frank, my main concern is what is feeding the dampening field and what is so important or dangerous that someone would go to such lengths to hide it?"

The question bounced around in his head. This was certainly an odd situation, to say the least. What, exactly, had happened in the ten years that the FCDA had held the station for Starfleet?

"Has the dampening field been damaged, at all, by the explosions?" Once again, Drake was trying to keep his questions to one at a time.

Xavier wished he had more answers for Drake, he felt that a better, more experienced officer would. The truth was he didn't, not without looking into this further. He kind of wished he had waited until he had called the Colonel down here, but what's done is done. "It's hard to determine Sir," he admitted. "Until an hour ago we didn't even know it existed not to mention what kind of integral strength it had. All of our scans have so far been negative, though i do have an idea of how to collapse the dampening field, if I can locate the power source."

Drake was almost subconsciously picking up something from the Engineer... some kind of hesitancy in what he was saying? He doubted very much he would be hesitating if he knew how Drake was feeling at the moment. The truth was that he really didn't have any idea of how to proceed in this situation.

"Right... well... we know that something exists behind the dampening field and we knew where that location is. Perhaps we should be shifting our attention away from the field itself and start concentrating on what it's concealing. How long would it take to remove that wall?" Drake pointed towards the wall at the back of where the explosion took place.

"Not long, we should be able to access behind it within an hour," Xavier said.

"Do it, Lieutenant" He paused for a second. "But do not proceed into the sealed off section". He wasn't sure why he gave that last order... something was nagging at him... something wasn't sitting right.

"Drake to Security" He said, tapping his Comm. Badge.

"Security here, sir" came the instantaneous reply.

"Send a team down to Deck ten-thirty, Section forty nine alpha".

"On their way, sir"

No, something wasn't right at all...

TO BE CONTINUED...

OFF:

A Post By:

Colonel Ashton Drake
Commanding Officer
&
Lieutenant Paul Graves
Chief Counsellor
&
Lieutenant (JG) Xavier Lee
Chief Operations Officer

 

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