IBEX part 7

Posted on Wed 22nd May, 2024 @ 12:30am by Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide
Edited on on Tue 4th Jun, 2024 @ 2:16am

2,022 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: O' the Cardiff Rose
Location: The Triangle
Timeline: MD?

Previously… https://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/2323

And now…

Duke was still trying to get his panel to work, a professional soldier to the end, when he saw Dralir get truly angry. She raged at the information on Alex’s display. “Reggie, you have to divert everything to weapons for fire control. We are bleeding and leaking fuel, we can't launch a single one, much less five!”

Duke followed up, “And what are we going to do without air or heat or even power for air scrubbers?”

Reggie didn’t reply; there was no need. The power to charge the warp torpedoes wasn’t normally such a strain, but the fact that the ship was only held together by internal forcefields, had taken direct hull damage to vital systems, and was now trying to fuel, charge and launch high-yield torpedoes made the peril immediate. This decision was being made by a computer who could survive the cold, poisoned air. The mandate was secured by this course of action; it was protocol.

Alex muttered, “I’ve got the command deck isolated for life support, we can maintain heat, and radiation shouldn’t get to us through the outer hull.”

”There has to be another way!” Dralir noticed three of their number had remained silent, Makoto was to be expected but Grazia had a survival streak which had carried her through dark days. Was this there way of tacitly endorsing the plan?

Reggie did reply after a moment. “In seven minutes at our speed, the Chalnoth cruiser will be out of range for even the warp torp-“

Dralir was on the spot, “Then we cut speed-”

Alex shook his head, “We are still being pursued by other Chalnoth.”

Dralir argued back, “Ready the Raven then; we can attempt-“ She stopped as she remembered the direct hit to their shuttle bay.

Reggie spoke to the fears in her heart, “The Raven took direct damage in the auxiliary shuttlebay and is unavailable. We have time for five charges at maximum yield, which is sufficient to destroy the vessel-“

Duke shouted over Reggie, “But leave us gasping for air, and tossed around without dampeners-“

Reggie didn't argue; he simply stated “The DOTS will manage the emergency repair systems and internal structural integrity fields. You would be without advanced life support, however, for approximately 29 days before we can get to our secure berth at Deep Space Five. Basic gravity will remain and climate control will become available in three days.”

Dralir wished she could look at the details of what was happening, but Reggie had his protocols, and nobody could override him in a Sigma-level security threat. Grazia had been listening, her ears didn’t miss much, and what she heard made her want to weep in impotent rage. They were practically killing themselves to kill Alan, all for their precious secrets. She knew intellectually they had to keep to their mission, and that Alan had tacitly agreed this might be necessary by coming aboard.

She fingered a small storage device she kept with her, it was a Sigma-9 clearance code, the third highest in all of Starfleet, higher than Alex’s. It could override Reggie, she had gone through a small fortune of contacts to get it, but it was Bill Ross’s algorithm, there was only one other cipher, and it was with Alynna Nechayev. Her moment of thought had distracted her and she returned her attention to the gangly pale holo-human.

“…whatever is left will be reallocated to the solar sails, and internal dampening fields. I recommend you seal yourselves in the command deck.”

Grazia wished some kind of miracle would present itself, but they were already light-years away and time was short. She added this to a long list of evils this ship had forced her into, and she pocketed the device, offering her apologies to Alan. The fob was certainly a one-time use, and its time would come soon. Her role in things was mission oriented, this spy stuff was her least favorite part of the job. The agents and professionals were supposed to be the ones in danger.

Grazia rarely spoke idly, a trait that caused her to gain everyone's attention when she did speak. “Alan would want every one of us to survive, too many of us have died today. We will need blankets, food and water, cards... I need to get my medical kit and supplies.” She looked like she might have something else to say but thought better of it and left the dais to go to her supply locker at the entrance to the room.

Duke and Alex were already on their way to the emergency supplies stored in the deck. Alex had started to pull rebreather masks with medical equipment and large packs of food while Duke scanned the upper deck for microbreaches, sealing them with small pulses. The two Starfleet officers worked in silence as the minutes ticked by. Kolor and Grazia made their way into the command deck, preparing it for the six bodies it would have to hold soon.

Even Dralir was silent as the seconds ticked away, and they used their last minutes with power to move around. They stacked food and water in their one-room command deck, the five of them filling the space efficiently, but very tightly. They knew time was nearly over when Reggie cut all systems except for rudimentary lighting and dampening fields. Gravity was at twenty-five percent loss and falling; the cold was already turning their breath to visible vapor.

Kolor hated confined spaces, his whole species were averse to cold temperatures, and now he was forced to wedge into a bunker with five other people. Dralir had removed the seats moments ago, which made new space to occupy feeling practically opulent. The compartment had a head which he had kept intact, for he knew there was only so much misery one group could share without going mad. Still his shivers and claustrophobia made him miserable, and when he was unhappy he always had the temptation to activate his neural implant. He had known operatives to do this, but knew it often led to disaster.

Grazia sat next to him and shared a large blanket with him, wordlessly understanding his need. They were warm, at least, and that was a mercy for both of them. Ferengi don’t like the cold, either, but mostly due to their sensitive appendages. Ferengi earmuffs were a heat loss surface prone to easy infections. She had wrapped her head in furs as well, trying to prevent exactly that.

Reggie’s voice piped over the comm announcing fifty seconds until shipwide loss of life support. Dralir spoke quietly, “We are all here. Go ahead, save every bit of power you can.”

Five people sat in anguished silence as they saw the lights go out, and felt the gravity let go all the way. Residual gravitons in the assembly would keep them grounded for a few days. With hope, they cold recover power enough to keep lower levels of power to the grav plates. With all of the lights off and the Command axis retreated into a bunker shell, they might as well have been in outer space, it was so dark and cold.

Duke had a beacon which he lit and set on the control board above them. “It’s fully charged, good for four or five days of straight use, if we ration it a few weeks maybe. I have three of them in here.”

”The DOTS will restore life support first, but until then we need to conserve.”

Kolor wasn’t in good shape, quite angrily he snapped, “We need to record our final statements. Reggie is sealing us in a tomb-“

Alex cut him off, “Hush, we need to conserve as much oxygen as possible. Try to sleep as much as you can, I have some Delta inducers and tranquilizers if you need them.”

Kolor gritted his teeth and leaned back into the wall against Grazia. She moved tighter against him for warmth, and he didn't seem to mind.

For another half minute they sat in silence until a jolt shook the ship. Five jolts specifically. There were no windows, but Dralir had seen these torpedoes fire before a few times now. Dreadnought-class missiles, they were the size of a shuttlepod and launched like classic torpedoes, except these would engage to Warp four and deliver a demolition yield that could split planets. That cruiser and its cohorts sitting out there wouldn’t know what had hit them.

Repairs would be underway and they would see a blip of incoming vessels at warp 4 and assume small craft. They would be alarmed for a split second as they realized these blips weren’t slowing and were headed right for them. They’d transition out of warp point-blank, and by then it would be too late. Three meant for the warship, one each for the raiders at her sides.

These payloads fired at great expense would hit at the same time, so no warnings could be issued and the ships would turn to atoms in the solar breeze.

Alan Weathers had done his duty well, but now faced an end of brutality and violence. with no other options to save him these rounds fired from their gun killed him as assuredly as the enemies he was surrounded by. Kolor lightly placed his hands on Grazias knee, offering condolence, but saying nothing. She let it sit then stood up, moving to Duke with great caution.

The large man had a wound that was still bleeding, Grazia was an accomplished medic and began to work. Her power levels weren’t great after the extensive therapies but his injury was the most severe. Darkness and silence reigned; the next sounds came an hour later as Reggie deployed the solar sails. Far enough and free from pursuit meant they could finally collect ambient particles for power and reallocate propulsion. Hours spent in darkness in fear of attack ended as they could feel internal dampening systems return.

Alex lit up one console, which Dralir practically jumped to. It showed their status, heading, remaining power reserves, and ship conditions. With C02 scrubbers and rebreathers, they had three weeks of breathable air, maybe more if they could get some real power flowing through their ship. The DOTS were hard at work still, fixing things by priority, but they were months away from self-repair without a star dock.

Alex and Dralir had a cadence, he began breaking down their tactical, “We are free of pursuit, stealth is at half, but we are low on power and dark.”

Dralir replied in her own way, “We can power a passive scan in a day or so; make sure of that.”

Alex indicated their heading, “We can maintain cruising at Warp 1.3, putting us… 28 days from Deep Space 5… oh god…”

Dralir knew the DOTS wouldn’t be able to get the ship life support functional on their own in that time, “We can find a solution, sir.”

Alex was upset, “Engines are operating at a dismal 16?ficiency. DOTS have to do that first, or all of it collapses.”

The low power was likely due to extreme damage; the Chalnoth had tried repeatedly to disable them, but this ship could take a beating and still keep running. Now the crew was trapped in the command bunker, and they had to get life support working somehow, or the Ibex would fly to DS5 with five corpses and a guilty hologram.

”It’s time to sleep. Sentry duty on twelves. The sooner we pass out the more air we save.”

Grazia had already prepared shots and methods for inducing deep sleeps. Time release nutrients, numbing agents, straight up sedatives, even.

Makoto shook her head, saying only “No” to the offer. She could sleep by closing her eyes, a superpower, practically.

They each came to their moment of decision and chose their poisons. Reggie would monitor repairs and keep life support going as long as possible. So there was nothing else to do now but wait.

-TBC-

 

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