A Captain Without a Command

Posted on Wed 3rd Oct, 2012 @ 11:18am by Colonel Horatio Drake

634 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/2
Location: USS Bretagne: Main Bridge
Timeline: Boarding + 14.5 Hours

ON:

REMAINING AIR: 11.5 Hours + 8 EVA Suits

Drake had got back to the Bridge only twenty minutes ago - the journey, which should have been simple, took more time than expected. He checked on the MSD how much air they had left - at current consumption they were looking at just over eleven hours on the ship and another seven or eight in their EVA suits.

Moving into the Ready Room, once again, he slouched into the Captain's chair and looked around the small alcove, barely a quarter of the size of his back on Protector.

"Well, you're finally sitting in the Captain's chair of a Starship, Ashton" he said to himself, smiling.

Activating the console in front of him, he could see the last log he played - there were two more. He selected the second to last one. As the female Captain's face appeared on the view screen he could instantly see she was in more distress than last time, her composure was off and she looked truly worried.

"Captain's Personal Log - Stardate five-two-one-two-mark-three-four

We're only fifteen hours away from Starbase Seventy-Seven now, but things have gone from bad to worse. This illness that originally caused the crew to experience some mild fever has heightened - the crew first stricken down are now experiencing extreme anxiety and paranoia. What's odd is that Doctor Tyler assures me that, physiologically, there is nothing wrong with them apart from a slight fever. Sickbay is now reserved for those new cases, in the hope it can be remedied before it gets to the latter stages.

Cargo Bay two has been converted into a sort of triage for those first cases - After a series of violent events, I've just had to triple security on it.

To make matters worse we're experiencing problems with some sort of warp field flux and have had to drop out of warp... Lieutenant Commander Tri'al, the new Chief Engineering Officer, assures me he will have the issue fixed within the next few hours. This sort of problem is so rare, I'm beginning to wonder exactly who I can and who I can't trust.

Of a crew of over five-hundred-and-sixty, nearly two hundred of those are either in triage, Sickbay, or starting to show the first signs of falling victim to this... disease. If we're not back at warp in the next half hour I shall launch a general distress beacon and order those still without illness, to abandon ship.

End of Log"

Ashton cupped his mouth with his right hand, he could barely believe what he was hearing. In five hours this had gone from being a mild fever to crew experience crippling effects on their mental state. Where had this illness come from? Had the Ferengi's had a part to play - it was hard to believe, but possible.

He spun in his chair and looked out of the porthole behind him, considering the events that he knew so far. He considered how the Captain must have felt as she slowly lost control of her ship and could, literally, do nothing about it. The feeling must be overwhelming, to know that it is your sole responsibility to protect those under your command, but those who you're sworn to protect don't want or need it and, simultaneously, by the sounds of it probably suspect you of infecting them.

Spinning round to face the desk once again the realisation hit him like a slap on a cold winters night - if this infection had been responsible for taking down a Ship of the Line and infecting over two-hundred officers... what in God's name was protecting him and Graves. He now remember what Graves had said in Sickbay... he was right... if the infection was airborne, then they had both been infected.

OFF:

 

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