In Engineering (A Battlestations Post)

Posted on Fri 2nd Mar, 2018 @ 4:20pm by

997 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: USS Suzuki, Main Engineering
Timeline: Two Days Ago

Lieutenant Junior Grade January Winter looked up from the "pool table" as Commander Perry entered the engineering Main Space. "Commander! We've got to jettison the port nacelle! It's arcing randomly across the warp coil, feeding back into the energized plama system -- and the starboard nacelle is about to tear itself apart trying to synch with it!"

Henry listened to the Winter sister over the emergency klaxon ringing in his ear. With the red lights flashing in his eyes he almost felt disoriented while listening to the Winter sister. He quickly looked over to the ship diagnostics screen across the room. Instantly he confirmed her assessment when he noticed that the port nacelle was flashing red.

"January, starting venting the plasma in the nacelle. Hopefully that will keep the plasma from igniting." The Chief Engineer then ran over to the "Pool Table" and entered some commands onto the table's instrument pad. "Computer, initiate nacelle jettison procedure now." The computer chirped in compliance with the Chiefs commands.

Henry then tapped his comm badge. "Captain, we have to conduct an emergency jettison of the port nacelle. Y'all hang on yo there, it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

"Understood," the Captain replied.

"Wait," October Winter said. "Give me... wait..." She leaned over the table beside her sister, quickly punching in commands. "Just...." Apparently, talking and working on whatever she was doing were not compatible. "Okay! Go!"

January hit the final control. In the port pylon, explosive bolts popped open connections, and the reaction control gasses remaining in the nacelle pushed it away from the ship. January focused on the pylon and the remaining nacelle, trying to guide the computer in bringing them back under control.

October, however, was focused on the jettisoned remains of the port nacelle. "C'mon," she coaxed it. "Do it!" The RCS system kicked in as she'd programmed: the nacelle launched itself at the Lyran battlecruiser. The plasma arcing within the nacelle flickered across half-melted warp coils, bringing partial Alcubierre warp bubbles into being and letting them pop. The randomness and varied directions of the stresses brought down the battlecruiser's shields, then distorted the space-time of the vessel itself. It imploded, shrinking into a singularity no more than a Planck length across the event horizon. "Yeah, baby!" October enthused.

"Good thinking October. Now help me with a full damage report. We need to get as much power to the shields and the weapons. I have a feeling that the Captain is gonna ask for everything we've got." Henry looked around engineering and was actually frightened by what he saw. The entire area was filled with smoke , along with wires hanging from multiple ceiling compartments and wall units. Screens flickered as power fluctuations ran through the panels, making it hard for anyone to use their workstations. The ship was rocked by a heavy hit, and an explosion came from one of the wall panels. A blood curdling scream came immediately after. As soon as the Chief Engineer turned his head, he saw an ensign was caught by the explosion and was now fully engulfed in flames.

Henry quickly retrieved a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the burning ensign as fast as he could, but it didn't matter. The young man was dead by the time all the flames were put out. Henry dropped the extinguisher and fell to his knees. "This isn't good." he said to himself as he looked over the smoldering body before him.

From the coms came Commander McCord's voice, "McCord here. Does anyone read me? Bridge is blown. I repeat, Bridge is blown."

October called across the commander, "Port side shield grid is non-functional! Switching control to aux bridge!" She heard the deep thrum of outgoing torpedoes before her combadge chirped.

"October!" March's voice came through. "One of the Romulans has a shielding fluctuation. I'm taking a boarding party, but I need someone who can safely shut down a singularity reactor!"

"Understood," October said. She looked at the ChEng. "Commander? Permission to accompany the boarding party?"

Perry looked over the one of the few functioning displays in front of him and accessed how much help she could actually be with things being in the shape that they are.

"Go. I'll grab a few extra hands from wherever I can. You have to try and end this as soon as possible."

"Doin' my best, boss!" October promised, running out of the main space toward a transporter room.

The ChEng tapped his comm badge, to try and reach the Captain. Wherever she may be.

"Engineering to Suzuki. Captain, things are bad down here. I don't know how much longer I can hold her together. We have one nacelle, but she is about to go down soon unless I shut her down. Everything I have left is going to shields and weapons. What are your orders?"

"ChEng, this is the XO," Commander Bowditch's smooth computer-generated voice came back. "The bridge is lost; I have control in AuxCon. I don't know what the current status of the Captain is. Do your best, but I need the phaser banks as a bare minimum."

Henry stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Bowditch's comment about the Captain. "What do you mean you don't know where the Captain is? Wasn't she with you on the bridge? What happened?"

"I'm not on the bridge, ChEng," Bowditch responded. "I am at my battlestation, in auxiliary control. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a battle to fight." The channel closed with a chirp.

Annoyed, Henry closed the communication channel before he said something he regretted. He could hear the Commander's panic and fret, but Perry didn't like the lack of concern for the Captain in her voice. At the terminal in front of him, the ChEng tried to find the Captain's comm signal, but the terminal sparked and slowly dimmed to nothingness.

Again, the ChEng tapped his comm badge. "Perry to Suzuki, please come in."

Silence was the only answer.

 

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