The Rescue

Posted on Sat 28th May, 2022 @ 12:12am by Captain Jason Harrington & Exo-Comp EXQT

1,628 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Hunted
Location: Antero
Timeline: MD 1, 1020 hours

Previously ...

H'tek bellowed, "RETREAT? From a Cargo ship, we will fall on them like a wave."

Anslo spoke as firmly as he could, "The damage is done. We must live to fight another day, And We Will."

H'tek blindly threw his goblet, resting on the arm in a socket. It clattered in the dimly lit recesses of the smoke-filled bridge, signaling defeat on its own accord.

Anslo didn't wait, time was up.

"Get us out of here, cloak, and take us into the field."

****

{Antero}

The rescue had been totally unexpected, but very welcome. As she made her way up to the bridge to see how Jason was doing, Mia thought about the actions of the EXO Comps. Would they have made it without the help of the little computer robots? She had her doubts. Stepping on the bridge, she looked around at the destruction and wondered how they were ever going to get things put to rights again.

"Jason?" she called out. "Are you still in here?"

Jason was in no condition to answer anyone at the time. He had been rendered unconscious by the sonic blast from the EXO Comp and if that had not happened, he would be in shock from his wound.

Rounding the console, Mia saw Jason on the floor, his arm twisted under him. She hurried over and put her fingers to his throat, relieved to find a strong pulse. "Computer, medical team to the bridge, stat."

USS New Zealand

It always seemed to be a Captain's value that he had only one love, his ship. That was not the case for Amanda Stark, she had two. The New Zealand, a gracefully aging Galaxy-class Star Ship, and her husband, Commander Marcus Flynn her First Officer. Marcus was a lady's man, charismatic, he could really put on the charm, at least up until a year ago when he fell in love with the one woman in the universe who could tame him. A few months after they were married she lost him on an away mission to a crew of zombie-like people when he selflessly stayed behind to make sure the away team escaped. Being resourceful he manage to escape the onslaught and found away off of the doomed ship.

The New Zealand rattled as it sped through space. After Amanda received the SOS from the Antero she ordered the New Zealand to maximum warp speed. Normally a Galaxy Class could sustain warp factor 9.8 for a few hours, however, the New Zealand had achieved 9.82 which caused the whole ship to rattle and vibrate. She thought that it might somehow fly apart, but she wanted to make every second count, a life could depend on it. She glanced over at Marcus, "Flynn, take the helm. I want you to drop right between the two ships." This was a tricky move. Dropping out of warp that close to an object could cause a collision since the point of arrival was not exact. Marcus Flynn was the best pilot on the ship and if anyone could do it, he could.

Marcus sat down at the helm and triple checks the coordinates, he had to be perfect "Dropping out of warp....."

Amanda glanced back at Tactical, "As soon as we drop out of warp, target that Bird of Prey. That should scare them off." Amanda believed in using the least amount of force necessary to gain control of the situation and if just physical presence was enough then she would take it over bloodshed any day.

"Now!" Marcus said, finishing his sentence. The New Zealand dropped out right in between the two ships. The Antero was in bad shape. She looked like she had taken damage. The Bird of Prey began to move off quickly before cloaking.

"Flynn, get a team over there, now," Amanda ordered.

Marcus looked at the Tactical Officer, a tall, athletic Andorian female, "You're with me." He tapped his comm badge, =A=Doctor, meet me in Transporter Room One.=A=

Talas, the Andorian followed closely behind Marcus as they entered the turbolift She would be personally responsible for Marcus' safety.

The three met up in the Transporter room and were immediately transported over as soon as they were ready. The team materialized on the Bridge. Marcus began to cough and immediately covered his mouth with his sleeve. The smoke and fumes were thick here and made it hard to see in the dim light but shapes could be made out. The form of a woman leaning over a form prone on the floor could be seen.

Zombie was inert, with barely enough power remaining for memory systems. Banshee had exceeded its auditory capabilities and blown out its own dampening ability, violently squelching itself. Peggy had taken to helping Banshee repair some of its functions while Nessy linked to revive Zombie. The sight of the away team materializing was a sweet gift of mercy, the blue light illuminated the smoky arena, and multiple bodies strewn across the floor.

Nessy was on the ball with an immediate response, "Starfleet Away Team, Captain Harrington has suffered severe injury! Antero is under attack by a Raider Group intent to capture-"

Peggy pinged audibly and Nessy stopped speaking, a mechanized version of the same voice followed up, "Medical assistance required, Raider has disengaged, briefing to follow. Antero Core systems in critical, plasma interlock failing in starboard Nacelle, coolant leak detected, containment fields in effect."

On the bridge, Dr. Kayla had materialized with the Away Team, pulling out her tricorder she approached, and Mia moved away from Harrington.

Kneeling next to the injured man, the doctor ran her tricorder up and down both sides of his body. "He's battered and bruised, but the hand is the only major injury," she informed Merel, without looking at her. "This is fixable. And see if you can fix that obnoxious alarm."

Immediately, she tapped her comm badge. =A=This is Doctor Kayla, two for medical transport to Sickbay.=A= Before Mia could move to shut off the alarm, the doctor and Jason shimmered away.

Peggy observed the away team's return, the doctor from USS Da Vinci would be able to help Captain Harrington, Miarau was not injured, so it was time to worry over the Antero. A systems check revealed the crisis point in the starboard Nacelles as getting worse, it was generating power surges and deficits throughout the ship. Another leak like this one and there wouldn't be reliable power to contain it short of venting.

<{[ZOMBIE]*([PEGGY]- Starboard/Interlock!FAILURE!=Imminent @ J-23.7;Arrival 12S(MANDATE:REPAIR))([ALL] Interlock/STRB, 114 Microfracture ^2 failures, molecular integrity@87%.)}>

Zombie was already on the way, and with only a small charge to light it. The determined bot sounded the alarm just prior to the hull breach alarm which leaked plasma into the ship's interior. Peggy had enough power to contain the site but didn't have anymore. As it was the breach site was well within a toxic cloud of radioactive engine coolant. Zombie was the only one rugged enough to reach it, Peggy understood in a grim sudden way. With only twelve percent of its power remaining, Zombie was again asking for lethal damage with these heroics. If it powered its own shield, it would drop dead from power loss, but the corrosive coolant would cause damage over even short exposures. Zombie was facing death at this moment.

This entire exchange took place in a matter of seconds, and Nessy proclaimed,

"USSNEWZEALAND priority message, Perform rescue, unit designee Zombie, Mechanical Exo-Unit location engineering. Beam out to Antero Repair bay requested upon notification of repairs to interlock."

The broadcast came over all frequencies to include Starfleet's emergency frequency at least in close proximity to the New Zealand. Amanda turned in her chair to face the Tactical Officer, "Who sent that?"

"The message was sent by one of the of the Exo-Comp units abord the Antero. The transponder designates it as Nessy."

"Exo-Comp, I've heard of those. There was a debate years ago as to where they were sentient beings. The whole debate was spearheaded by then, Commander Data." Amanda thought for a moment, "Do as instructed."

"But ma'am, according to sensors the unit Zombie will have expended all of his power reserves to complete the repair and there is a chance that he could be damaged by the corrosive environment if he loses his protective shielding. There is no one in Antero's Repair Bay to perform measures to keep him going. He could be damaged if he is not helped immediately by our Engineers. He could have irreparable damage or he may not survive without our help."

"Very well, once the repair has been completed beam that Exo-Comp straight to Engineering and have the Chief Engineer and his crew standing by to render imidate action for the Unit," Amanda said.

In return, she got a stiff nod.

Seconds passed and the molecular integrity stopped plummeting. Regenerative metallic therapies prevented the microfeatures from forming together, and the breaches shrank to become a smooth conduit once again. The ship's safeties finally kicked in, and the coolant began to vent safely, as the alarms reduced in severity. Peggy sent a message to Zombie but the reply showed Zombie had turned off its comms unit, presumably for power conservation.

Peggy Observed the transporter signal from USSNEWZEALAND claim an object that was likely Zombie, but couldn't scan the Starfleet ship at all. Zombie didn't appear in their repair bay as requested, so Peggy asked if Starfleet took it and why? Their computer was secured under Red Alert, and it had far more formidable defenses than Antero's WATCHDOG program. When their computer didn't bother to reply, Peggy sent a query, and Nessy spoke aloud,

"MIARAUMEREL, where is Zombie?"

 

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