... it begins to spread (pt2 "Fire...burn)

Posted on Thu 16th Oct, 2025 @ 6:32pm by Captain Izwyx 'Lo & Lieutenant JG Bikram Auden & Crewman MED-Comps Pentaptych LPN & Exo-Comp EXQT & Captain Gordon Francis & Commander Heriah Rex & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Commander Azusa Nakano & Lieutenant Sufai Kell & Lieutenant Victor Delling MD & Khellian s'Siedhri MD

2,910 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: Quarantine zones
Timeline: 1500, right after https://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/write/missionpost/2454/view

-Start-

Previously... https://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/2047

-71 hours from the arrival of Tigris and Euphrates hospital relief ships.-

{Primary Medical Ward- Quaratine zone.}

Bikram had never seen every bed filled in a hospital, but today was a lesson in efficiency. Everybody had a job to do and they made it seem like a dance. The Plasma transfusions were the hardest to manage, it took close contact and deft handling to work the machines, but the EMH was made for these moments, overseeing the Quarantine ward alongside his five vertiform robotic nurses.

"Eudora..." The Indian origin Humanoid avatar of the EMH spoke to them in machine "screech" and they replied in kind. Only their names were verbalized. They worked the room taking vitals, alerting on changes, and doing so tirelessly. the labs had so far determined the chance for cross species implication was very high, especially after undergoing the radiations of space travel. The solitary EMH and five robot assistants worked at inhuman rates of speed, but it was still insufficient.

=/\= "Bikram to Sufai, we need more processing power and another EMH as soon as possible."

"I've already spent our resources in the A17 ward, you have it good there. Use what you have, and I'll allocate more when I get it. Out."

Bikram huffed, but knew she was correct. He was in a hospital, and the nurses wore bio-suits, but there was a better solution. Then it occurred to him, his experimental pylon tech. There were two of them in his research station.

"Dr. Delling!" Bikram called out, "Permission to leave for my lab, I need to retrieve some equipment, it will be very helpful!"

The Doctor was too busy to rely, so Bikram took the lack of a “No” as tacit endorsement. He ran to the Labs, one level beneath them.


...Meanwhile...


Izzy thundered over the horn at the Ticonderoga crew, "All transit to SB109 is suspended until further notice." She turned to her doctor, Lyssa Smyd, a small Xenexian woman with impeccable freckles, "Lys, begin retrofitting as much space as possible for quarantine purposes..." Then she turned to her second in command, Sepp Agandar, "...and get Francis on the line!"

Within minutes, the tired voice of Captain Francis came over the speakers.

"Captain Francis here. What can I do for you, Izzy?" he asked, adding, "Please make it quick."

"Captain, we're reconfiguring Ticonderoga to help the next wave of incoming. Problem is, our power plant is running overtime from the refit, Thunderchild is largely inoperable, reversing any aspects of the hookups is gonna take a day. We need to hook into 109's main power grid. Also in progress, we are purposing our runabout fleets to automated flight, they can run EMH, and hold up to ten in a pinch, we have forty-one on flight deck presently being refit. Your orders?"

"Getting your runabouts fixed up and modifying the Ticonderoga should be your first priority," Francis replied. "Our main power grid is currently running at..." he glanced at the officer standing at the Engineering station, who gave him a nod, "...full capacity. If you can find a spot to hitch the Thunderchild, feel free."

She nodded, knowing he hadn’t considered the long term of it so she added in, “Aye sir. It will mean powering down the Thunderchild. We presently don’t have an external vehicle to put Alidade into. We can rig batteries on a trickle recharge for a few days till we know something better to do, but the Ensign will essentially be put into a coma.”

Captain Francis winced. "If a person can survive a coma, so can a computer. You have your orders!"

Izzy cut the channel with a curt, "Sir!"

She looked for her science officer, seeing Fouran at his station. "Can you prep the ship, I'll go speak to her."


...Meanwhile...


The La'an docked at Airlock 17 without fanfare or witness. it was a desolate area, evacuated in an a hurry and left for the beleaguered to conquer. Crew in bio-suits, along side the Habitat Ring EMH, and four janky looking drone robots were all there to greet them. As the airlocks joined to the passenger ship, the first sicks and there caretakers limped onto the station.

Kya had formed a volunteer brigade to prepare meals, tend to laundry, be the extra hands for the nurses who were clearly overwhelmed at the sudden numbers.

“Nurses are sorting by days of symptoms showing. Critical cases jump to front of line!” Kya coordinated her people, the first four days had treatable symptoms, but once the seizures and blindness began they could only sedate and apply treatments to slow its course.

Kya saw Jannik, one of her people, frantically trying to help a seizing child. Jannik screamed for a medic, and one came. Kya stopped moving towards them. The child was being seen; there was other stuff to do.

She heard the Commander, Locke or something like that, announce the La’an was finished with the treatable cases. The terminal cases were to be left on board, as nothing could be done for them, in a cold but practical choice. This still left hundreds of people slowly getting sorted to their beds, and who for now had taken up residence on the floors, in desperate shivers.

Kya hit her badge, “CRC, Kya here. Rally the moms, get blankets and childcare basics sent from the wards, pull from beds, get 'em all here. Station power is taxed, replicators on these levels are shut down, food, candy, anything comforting for these folks, bring that too. Tell 'em there are kids here who just lost their parents, books, and stuffed animals, just whoever they can carry.”

Within minutes the first folks arrived, sleds full of the non-perishables and toys, blankets, games, whatever people had in their small spaces added in charity to the cart. Kya immediately began sorting the items and inputting names to the faces coming in. The scared folks had nothing, but when they were handed a canteen and a blanket, there was at least something to hold again. The sight of her own children's stuffed animals made her pause for a second, a grateful tear welling before being put away for later.

…Meanwhile…

Sufai monitored the progress in OPS, seeing the wards pass quarantine checks in time for the influx to be processed without issue. There was however a problem, the next wave.

"Alert status update, OPS team... First wave of refugees is in our hold. We have the Cumberland on its way, with another group in twenty-one hours, carrying seven hundred, infections present onboard. We have capacity for potentially up to four hundred more safe spaces on board. Tigris and Euphrates are due in thirty-four. We need a plan for fourteen hours. Once the Hospital ships arrive they can take the further burdens, but as of now, there is no solution for nearly three hundred infected refugees. The Cumberland will need to leave for further relief missions, as La'an will do shortly, they can't stay on board... and I have no safe spaces left."

Entaaro took the opportunity while everyone was paused and listening, "Diplomatic outreach is underway, we will receive the envoy to their homeworld within the next three days and are expected to form an escort. Starfleet vessels are however not being permitted into Xir'kai-controlled space, we have been asked to provide a non-flag vessel for transit."

As the Klingon spoke, Sufai was racing ahead. The Ticonderoga suddenly came online in her panel, offering a staggering 560 beds. Station power took a hit, and the dip forced the reactors to churn at 92%. Life support was consuming over half of it, the containment fields were ten percent themselves. They were staying ahead of a deadly problem but if power failed even for a second, containment fields would only last for minutes at best on battery.

"Captain! At 92% of maximum power, and rising to compensate for the Ticonderoga. We will hit critical any moment. Permission to disable tier two systems in non-critical areas. Also, there's wiggle room with increasing antimatter mix; can bring us to 82% of the max reactor capacity. There won't be a problem to run that, but it's a strain."

Azusa hadn't been meant to start her duties for another couple of days yet; however, after monitoring the current situation she had made her way up to the Operations center. She made her way over to where Sufari was.

"Hey there, need some help?" She asked with a smile as she lowered herself into the seat next to her. "How about we relieve some of the strain?"

Sufai glared without meaning to, as she didn't recognize Azusa. However her brain served up the information fast enough to recover,

"Yes, I cannot manage Ticonderoga's and 109's energy output simultaneously!"

"Let's make a few changes here." Azusa said, her fingers gliding across the smooth glass panels of the console. "Let's have the Ticonderoga bring their warp core online to full power; we're gonna use them as a battery. Also have any available shuttlecraft that's sat around do the same," she told Sufai. "Even those little cores can produce some power. Any other docked starship should do the same if their warp core is operable."

"Anything large enough to make a dent evacuated from here full of people; the other civilians left. Ticonderoga's reactor is at maximum, but the warp drive systems can fuel it past redlines... we have the Thunderchild reactor, and that's being hooked up now. Ordering techs to serial link the shuttlecraft in tandems and place in key points for added maneuverability."

"That'll give us a little boost," Azusa replied. "Why are we so low on power, anyways? This station should have twenty high-power fusion reactors and at least twelve independent backups. Surely we can't be using all of them?" She asked.

"Oh yes, we can," said Heriah as she stormed into Ops. "Guardian Class starbases were not meant to permanently function in the capacity that we are forcing 109. Sooner or later, the gas runs out." She speedily stepped to the sandtable and brought up the docking area being converted. "We have emergency containment shields spread out here, here, and here," she pointed, "as well as these corridors and quarters being prepped to house med beds, injured, infected, you name it. Medical, Ops, and Security all have rotations going to keep the area staffed at all hours. Azusa," Heriah spun to the new Ops Officer. Though it felt a bit weird to already be on a first name basis with her, this was not the time to dwell on such things. "I have several ships out there, willing to physically dock and plug their warp cores, reactors, etc., directly into our power grid. That should give us a boost. Some of these ships are non-Federation types, so I do not know if their power relays are compatible with ours. I need you to help filter out who is compatible and who can provide the most power."

Entaaro recognized the problem was this officer had clearly not been briefed on the current emergency. He stood from his station to cross over to her,

"Lieutenant Commander Nakano?! I am Entaaro Nasz, Comms Chief. Allow me to bring you up to speed."

"Well it's my first day, so sure." Azusa replied.

He read from a padd, "A civil war nearby has seen the use of a bio-weapon, based on reports coming from the scene. Diplomatic corps hasn't achieved a connection yet, and if Intelligence has anything, it hasn't been disseminated to us. At present, we have four hundred patients in a sudden influx, each of whom requires quarantine and extensive medical care, taxing our capacity in the infirmary. We have four EMHs active in the Hospital Ward, reports of additional ones are still coming in. Containment has been ensured with the use of type ten fields at Airlock 17, and two decks comprising the hospital wards. Our flight squadrons are using runabouts and shuttles as well, all of which have taken fuel and operate off of the station's resources. Then there is the Cumberland in twenty-one hours, carrying seven hundred more.

"We have capacity for potentially up to four hundred more adequately quarantined spaces on board here. The Ticonderoga has switched to our mains and used their own power systems for internal containment, offering five hundred safe space for patients. More are coming, and we must stay ahead by preparing more space. We have two hospital ships due in 71 hours, with a capacity for ten thousand medical cases and overall support for twenty-five thousand. We are also utilizing internal transporters. Our computer is running at full. Allocating resources to departments has been an impossible task. Our reactors are still keeping up but at the maximum levels of their operational capacity. This must last until the Tigris and Euphrates arrive to take on our burden."

"A lot that's taking up all the juice then," Azusa said. "Thank you, I appreciate your help." Her hands once again ran over the console. She turned in her chair to face the station's executive officer.

"Commander. I recommend relocating personnel from the lower decks into the upper areas of the station. I can then divert power from the life support systems on those empty decks to the areas that need it." She paused. "I would also recommend closing the promenade and all establishments. Pulling power from them for a few hours will also help. We can keep the replicators online. I can pull power from the holosuites, too. Yes, we'll have annoyed business owners, but that extra power can be utilised elsewhere."

Azusa knew that she was basically suggesting a mini-lockdown of the entire station and shutting off areas that weren't necessarily essential at the moment. It wasn't ideal, but she had to come up with solutions to save power and get it to where it was needed the most.

"Relocating personnel may be problematic," Heriah said. "Decks with Starfleet personnel only. Start there. Getting civilians and refugees to move will be met with resistance. Starfleet personnel will not ask questions. And I agree with taking from the holosuites as well as a curfew on the promenade. Make that happen and do put my name on the order."

'That's it, girl. Let them know who is boss.'

"With some of these ships offering us their power, if we can reopen the promenade and get the holosuites going again, but use it for our needs first," Heriah finished.

"Yes, Sir," Azusa replied she turned back to her console. "I'm having the computer announce both verbally and visually to the decks that require shutdown. I'll only shut down life support once the evacuations are confirmed," she said. "I'd say we'd have them cleared and ready to shut down in thirty minutes."

Sufai called over the din, "Holosuites are being used to supply processing power to EMH, they are all needed. We are running nine emergency holograms and at computational limits as is."

"Remind me to put in an order to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers for a computer upgrade. " Azusa muttered.

Entaaro had been busy, but the exchange between Sufai and Azusa caught his attention, "Lieutenants, there is a pending action plan from one of your officers. I'd imagine you haven't had time to look it over yet, but he has something which can help."

He found the proposal, still unread by Dr. Delling who was probably too busy attending patients. It was an emergency action plan to replicate towers that could host their own EMH and broadcast a portable containment field and holo-projected ward. The pattern buffer in it contained four bio-beds, linked to a battery that could maintain this autonomously for forty eight hours, The towers making a portable tiny hospital able to be set up in emergencies.

"Do we have the resources for such a thing?" Azusa asked looking over at Sufai.

Sufai shook her head, "We dont have components prepared, fabrication and holographic construction from raw would take three hours per unit, approximately four hundred terajoules per as well.... However he has a lab on medbay, Academy adjunct facility. He had equipment there...

Sufai hit her comm badge, =/\= Sufai to Bikram

"Bikram here."

"How many of your pylons are ready to go now?"

There was a hesitation, "I have the prototype, a tester unit, and the pieces for three more. With some assistance I can get them operational in an hour or two."

"See to it, then deliver them to Airlock 17 wards."

A message came through to Entaaro's console.

This is Ignatius Collins of Collins-Griffin Mining. I've been informed that you need starship engines to jack into the station's grid to supply additional power. If that's the case, I have a heavy-haul mining craft I can donate to the effort. Please let me know.

Sufai called to Entaaro, "Yes, but have them power Ticonderoga. We are playing with lightning already with all the hookups and power sources as it is."

Estimates in her head brought the totals in line, if they could reduce the hungry beast of the Ticonderoga, it would free station resources enough to power things evenly without brown outs.

Sufai sent the good news, "Captain! We have an action plan in place and station needs are met. Sending action report now."

"Good to hear," came Captain Francis' voice. "You have my approval to commence with the plan."

-End-

 

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