Just Another Day On The Job

Posted on Fri 18th Jan, 2013 @ 2:40am by Lieutenant JG Xavier Lee

1,220 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Deck 1030 - Section 48 Alpha
Timeline: MD02: 1830

[Set just before "Discovering Section 49 Alpha"]

As long as this day had been Xavier had really enjoyed it, in a strange kind of way. He had spent the majority of it working on the Yorktown refit. Xavier knew that the station maintenance really took priority over the Yorktown and any one of his staff could have over seen her refit but he was drawn to the starship and one of the benefits of running his own department was being able to pick and choose between his assignments. His reasons for doing so were rather simple; he missed being able to work on engines and overhauling a warp drive seemed too good of an opportunity to pass, especially since the station wasn't going anywhere, literally. Also he was hoping for a chance to meet Captain Dobbs, which really was the main reason for his defection; it paid off as Xavier was able to converse with the Starfleet legend for a solid forty-five minutes about his unique field of work, a feat that would make many of Xavier's old classmates extremely jealous. Xavier was still beaming as he rode the turbolift to Deck 1030 to check on the progress of his acting-Assistant Lt. Matt Fisher.

As the lift doors parted Xavier quickly spotted the red haired officer and made his way over to him. "Report Lieutenant."

Matt looked up as he heard Lt. Lee's voice and cleared his throat. "We're nearly done here." He couldn't help but notice as his superior glanced around the tool-ridden corridor and quickly corrected himself, "for the day anyway."

Xavier couldn't help but grin. "How are the shuttle and reactant storage facilities?" These areas were the reason why Col. Drake had wanted to start repairs on this deck and would go a long way to help improving the standards of the station.

Matt handed Xavier a PADD. "Here's a list of the maintenance that will need to be conducted. All six bays are in a bad state but I think with a little hard work we can get them up to scratch in just over a week."

Xavier took the PADD and skimmed the list of repair work. There was nothing too grueling on the list, a lot of little annoying jobs as opposed to one big one. Matt's estimation seemed accurate, a week seemed appropriate to get things up and running again, but like any good Starfleet department head, Xavier wanted to push his men. "I'm sure you can get this completed within five days Lieutenant." Was it mean that Xavier secretly enjoyed seeing Fisher's eyes pop for a second before he collected himself?

"Aye Sir," Fisher said, thinking of all the overtime he had just signed himself up to.

"If there's nothing else..."

"Actually there was one thing," Fisher said.

Xavier could tell that whatever Fisher was about to say he was hesitant about it. "Go on," Xavier encouraged.

"Well as we were working in these sections we noticed something... peculiar."

Xavier raised an eyebrow, obviously intrigued. "Peculiar?"

Fisher simply nodded. "It might be easier if I showed you Sir."

It was Xavier's turn to nod and he followed Matt down the corridor through several sections of the deck. There was no one else about, this was a restricted area of the base and Matt had obviously sent the work crew home for the day. After a minute or so Fisher's pace slowed and as they turned a corner Xavier realised they weren't entirely alone. A young woman was on the floor, laser-torch in hand and a tricorder lying on the floor at her side.

"What's the problem?" Xavier asked, his curiosity killing him.

"According to the schematic," Fisher answered, "there should be an unused holding area here but instead there is just a bulkhead."

"Then we just need to update the schematic," Xavier said a little disappointed.

"That's what I thought," Fisher said. "However, we can't get a sensor reading beyond the bulkhead, not from the tricorders or the internal sensors it just reads as nothing, as if our readings are being blocked some how."

"That can't be right," Xavier said as he pulled his own tricorder out of its holster and expertly flipped it open with one hand. The small instrument buzzed to life and he waved it in the direction of the suspicious bulkhead. It didn't take him long to confirm Fisher's conclusion. "Mmmm," was all he said.

"That's not all," Fisher continued. "Ensign Drekk keeps detecting strange power spikes inside of that bulkhead."

At this point the woman looked up as if she had just noticed that she had company. "Report," Xavier said sternly.

"As the Lieutenant said, I keep detecting power spikes in this conduit but I can't find the source or even an energy signature," the Trill answered dryly.

"Have you tried scanning on a gamma band wave?" Xavier asked.

"Of course," Drekk answered looking slightly offended. "I'm just trying to disengage this power node... there got it."

Whatever Drekk did seemed to have the desired effect as both Xavier's and her tricorder beeped uncontrollably. As she went to pick hers up, the conduit in front of her exploded in a shower of sparks and sent the young officer flying across the deck, smashing into the opposite wall. Her body slumped to the ground, twitched a few times and then went still. Xavier and Matt flew to her side as they both checked her vitals; she was breathing, just about.

Xavier's hand smashed into his own chest as his fingers found his combadge. "Lee to Sickbay. Medical emergency, prepare to receive casualties." Xavier turned to Fisher before he waited for Sickbay's response. "Go with her, use the transporter."

Matt nodded and tapped his own combadge. "Fisher to transporter room, two to beam directly to Sickbay." Matt crouched down by Ensign Drekk and cradled her head in his arms. "Energise."

Xavier watched as the two vanished in the familiar blue hue and breathed out a long breath. His intention was to finish up here and then head down to Sickbay himself. He bent down and picked up Drekk's tricorder. He was going to transfer the readings from it directly to his office so he could try and piece together this puzzle but as he looked at the screen he noticed that the readings were different from earlier. Instead of reading the bulkhead, Drekk's tricorder was now reading a dampening field. Xavier raised an eyebrow and pulled his tricorder out of it pouch. It confirmed what the other one was telling him, there was definitely a dampening field in place. What ever Drekk had done to the conduit had some how damaged its masking field. But why was it there in the first place? And who knew about it?

Xavier tapped his combadge once again. "Lee to Drake."

"Drake here, Lieutenant," he replied.

"Sir, I'm on deck one thousand and thirty... something doesn't add up down here. You need to get down here, Sir," Xavier said clearly.

"On my way, Drake out."

Now all Xavier could do was wait until the Colonel showed up and try and figure out what the hell was going on.

[TBC]

Lt. (JG) Xavier Lee
Chief of Operations
SB Protector

Lt. (JG) Matt Fisher
Acting Assistant Chief of Operations
SB Protector

Ensign Drekk
Operations Officer
SB Protector

 

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