What The Hell? - BRIDGE CREW

Posted on Mon Nov 21st, 2022 @ 3:15am by Lieutenant Samaire MacBride-Reece [Lalor] & Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Captain Gary Taylor & Captain Samuel Woolheater & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander Malakai Starr [Taylor] & Lieutenant JG Jason Danvers [Taylor] & Staff Warrant Officer Reo'thanra Sandtail & Senior Chief Petty Officer Fernando De La Rosa [Taylor] & Staff Sergeant Leilani Charles {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: Bridge
Timeline: MD3 - 02h30- 03h30
5777 words - 11.6 OF Standard Post Measure

From the darkness that had enveloped them, the bridge crew slowly came around, groans and moans echoed in the silence of the bridge. The Red Alert lights flashed and there was no sound from the klaxons.

The helm was dead, the lights, were out, Miraj could barely feel Elysium, emergency power a weak fuzz beneath her bare feet as it kicked in. But they were both alive. They had gone to warp and slipstream at the same time and lived to tell the tale! "Yes!" She punched the air. "I am the greatest!"

Then she looked around, realising there was no other sounds of life. That she was likely the only person conscious. "Captain? I mean Commodore?"

No response. Was she the only person still alive? She knew she had better tolerance for g-loc and extreme forces than most. Had her desperate stunt saved her only to doom the rest? Had she killed everyone on board? Hells bells, there were children on this ship. Babies!

And then Leilani groaned and Miraj had never heard such a beautiful sound.

Leilani slowly stirred from her collapsed position on the deck near her station, she groaned as she rolled onto her back, her head was thumping and the room was spinning. With her medical training she could tell the signs of a concussion, she could hear people groaning but couldn’t sense anyone, her senses blank due to her head injury.

Samaire made a sound from where she was now laying sprawled. "Oh that hurts" she moaned. "What the hell?"

Jason slowly stirred from his prone position on the floor. His face hurt. He moved his head and it hurt. Opening one eye and then the other. He saw dried blood on the carpet and the pain was more pronounced, his nose hurt. Reaching a hand up, he gingerly touched his nose and winced in pain. "Well crap." He whispered, "My nose is broken." He pushed himself into sitting position and took a quick inventory. Arms and legs moved with no pain. Hands worked as well. Eyes strained to see in the dim light. All in all he was okay, except for his nose.

Fernando groaned and groaned again, "Mama Mia. What happened? Who hit us?" He asked no one in particular as he pushed himself to stand and immediately fell back as his leg buckled. It didn't feel broken. He grabbed onto a console and propped himself up against it and he surveyed the bridge. It was a disaster. Bodies were sprawled everywhere. Commodore Lalor and Captain Taylor both lay unmoving on the lower lever of the bridge. He saw Leilani and he thought he heard someone else. This was bad, very bad.

Leilani slowly moved to get up, her head was thumping more but at least it wasn’t spinning for the moment. She needed to get to an emergency medical kit, fortunately she also had her own medical bag stored away in the same storage unit just incase she’d needed to head off in a hurry. Getting slowly up she stumbled across to the access point and pulled out both her bag, and the emergency kit.

It didn’t take long to pull out a mirror and a dermal regenerator, she could do a minor patch job on her own headwound to seal the wound and stop it bleeding anything else would have to wait. She ran a quick scan of herself, relieved her baby hadn’t come to any harm. With that she set about trying to help others.

Samaire pushed herself to her feet and wobbled. She grabbed the operations console. "ok.ayyy" she groaned. "Someone get the number of that bus?"

Leilani looked around. “Fernando, rest that leg I’ll be with you as soon as I can.” She saw Danvers nursing his nose, but her main focus was on the Commodore and Captain. She moved across to Phoenix first.

“Commodore... Commodore Richardson, can you hear me?

There was a soft moan from the commodore and she slowly opened her eyes. Her left arm was bent at a bad angle. "Mani marte?" she asked the Erisian flowing off her tongue as she was dazed. "Mani marte?"

“I’m sorry Commodore, I don’t understand Erisian.” Leilani pulled out a hypo giving a dose of pain relief. “I’m going to need to sort out your arm, do you understand?”

Malakai had come around to the moans of the injured. He heard Leilani speaking to Phoenix and saw her bent over her in the dim light the emergency lights provided. He got up and wobbled over to Leilani and the Commodore. "How is Pho...I mean the Commodore?" He asked.

Leilani looked at Malakai. “She’s dazed, talking Erisian. I also need to set her arm before she loses blood flow, and her arm.

Whatever Phoenix was going to say still came out in Erisian as she was in pain "Aenil'it cheb- mui faer in cín" She rolled onto her right side and raised dazed eyes to Malakai. "Mal" she managed showing recognition.

"Hiya Phoenix." He answered, now was not the time for ranks. "Your arm is broken. Leilani needs to set it." He told her, "Once she does, we'll make a sling to limit it's movement and keep it from further damage."

Phee nodded and let her eyes drift closed.

"What do you need me to do to help you Leilani?" Malakai asked as he looked to Phoenix and then to where Captain Taylor lay unmoving against a bulkhead.

“Just help me set this arm, then check on Captain Taylor.” Leilani looked across at Gary, she was worried he wasn’t showing signs of consciousness yet. “Support the Commodore, this isn’t going to be pleasant.” She wasn’t kidding as Phoenix’s arm made a very horrible cracking sound as she manipulated it back to where it needed to be. “Okay...pulse is good, I can’t fully heal it here only repair superficial damage. I’ll splint it for support.”

It was a good thing Phoenix had succumbed back to the darkness of unconsciousness or she would have screamed.

Malakai did as Leilani instructed him and soon Phoenix's arm was set and splinted. "Good work Leilani." He told her as he moved to Captain Taylor, reaching the man he rolled him over and was greeted by the sight of a large goose egg above Gary's left eye. "Captain Taylor? Captain Taylor?" He addressed the man and was rewarded with a groan and a flickering of his eyelids. "Leilani, I need you over here." He called out as Gary's eyes opened and stayed open, a groan escaping his throat.

Fernando had moved from his location down to the lower level of the bridge, His uniform was torn and dirty. He went to Samaire, "Samaire, are you alright?" He asked the Ops officer. As she assisted Miraj. He saw Jason and his broken nose. "Be right back." He stated and went to Jason. "Your nose is broken, Hold still." He commanded as he placed his hands on either side of Jason's nose and snapped the nose back in place. "There, all done, gives you character."

"Screw character de la Rosa, it hurts." Jason answered, touching his nose gingerly. "Look around Jason, everyone is hurt. Just deal with it ." Fernando fired back.

Leilani moved quickly over to Taylor’s side. “Ouch! That’s some bump!” She pulled out her medical tricorder and ran a scan. “No sign of brain trauma..yet! He’s obviously disoriented, probable severe concussion. I’ll try get this swelling down, and we’ll have to see how he goes.” She pulled out a regenerator and started working on the wound. “Stay with me Captain! We’ll get you sorted out.”

Gary reached a hand out to Leilani. his eyes finding hers, "Cr...crew?" He asked slowly.

Leilani looked around then back at Gary. “A lot of injuries on the bridge Sir, no fatalities though. Comms are down, ship is...badly damaged. We don’t know about anyone else.”

Gary nodded, "Good work Le...Leilani." He paused, seemed to gather his thoughts. His eyes sweeping the bridge in the dim light. "What about the Commodore? Can we get the injured off the bridge?"

“The Commodore will be okay, her arm is badly broken but I’ve splinted it for now. As for getting off the bridge...” Leilani shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know Sir, isolation protocols are in place due to the damage to the ship. I just wish I could sense something! My senses are foggy at best...” she sighed continuing to run the regenerator over Gary’s head. “Just relax, any vision disturbances, nausea, headaches, let me know.”

Gary nodded; he was becoming more focused. "What works?" He asked getting right to the point.

“Not much I don’t think, bridge stations appear to be down. Not surprising given the damage to the ship.” Leilani motioned towards the centre chairs. “Can you walk?”

Gary nodded slowly. "I believe so Leilani. Thank you for your help." As he moved slowly but steadily to the center chair.

Samaire meanwhile moved to Miraj's side. "ok, what happened Miraj?"

Fernando had gotten to her side. " Jason's nose has been set." He commented. "How is Miraj?" He asked.

Miraj thumped the helm, hoping some percussive maintenance would overcome a lack of power and bring the helm online again. "I jumped to QSD whilst at warp 2, slipstream held for five seconds! Five! It did something because there was some sort of massive pressure wave, and I got grey around the edges, like the start of g-loc, and then all the lights went out, and when emergency power came up," She looked around and gestured at the rest of the bridge "Everyone else was down."

Samaire nodded. She glanced back to the Commodore and the Captain "So ... where are we?" she asked softly.

"Somewhere near starbase thirty-nine, I hope. But without a functioning helm or astrometrics?" Miraj shrugged. "I have no idea."

Samaire nodded. "Let me see if I can get the sensors working." She replied.

Leilani set her sights on Fernando next, he was hobbling around on a suspected fractured, possibly broken leg. How in the hell he was doing it was a question in itself. “Fernando..” She motioned for Fernando to sit down as best as he could. “I told you to stay off that leg.”

Fernando had a guilty look cross his face. "I know Leilani but I need to help others." He gestured at the others scattered across the bridge. "To not attempt to help is not the definition of a good Starfleet officer."

Leilani nodded. “I’ll tell Heather you said that.” She smiled.

Fernando slowly lowered himself into a chair, trying desperately to keep the weight of his injured leg. "Thank you, Leilani, for that and seeing to my leg." He replied, managing a weak grin.

“Let’s just say it’s a good job you have a combat Medic on the bridge.” Leilani smiled as she got to work doing what she could to repair the damage to his leg. “Your leg is fractured, I can do a basic repair but you’ll have to go easy on it. Too much hard work on it, and you’ll risk making it a full break.”

"I am extremely grateful that you are Leilani." Fernando replied honestly. He nodded at her words. "I shall endeavor to do so. I have no wish to fully break my leg. Thank you again for assisting me and the others. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

“I wish...” she paused. “My family...” Leilani smiled as she got to her feet knowing there wasn’t a lot anyone could do right now, and headed over to Danvers. “Let me see” She gently placed her hands on Jason’s face, turning his head from side to side to get a good look at his nose. “Fernando did a good job setting your nose. Let’s get you cleaned up, and I’ll repair the damage for you.” She handed him a wet wipe to clean up before grabbing out some pain relief, she pressed it to his neck before getting to work with the regenerator. “Just don’t go bashing your nose into anything else.”

Jason couldn't help but chuckle. "Sage advice Leilani. " He replied as he used the wipe to clean his face off. He gave an audible sigh as the pain relief took effect. "I never knew a broken nose could hurt so much." He lowered his voice as he said his next. "Did I hear you say Fernando has a fractured leg? He helped me and I snapped at him."

“He understands, just apologise later” Leilani smiled before coming over lightheaded. She’d done a lot since injuring herself, probably too much. “Don’t mind me I’ll just...sit down here for a minute.” She sat down on the deck to rest.

Fernando hobbled over to her and lowered himself down the best he was able. "You have overdone it, Leilani." He announced. As he took her pulse. "Your pulse is racing. Sit still and rest. What have you got in your kit to help you?"

“I err...there’s an analgesic, but I can’t take too much, not good for the baby.” She offered Fernando a smile. “I just need to sit here for a little while.”

"I am no doctor, not even a nurse however I think if you half your dosage to take the edge off, both you and the baby will be fine." Fernando suggested.

Leilani nodded. “Since when did you become a doctor?” She loaded up her hypo, adjusting the dose and pressed it to her neck. “Thank you Fernando, I appreciate your help.”

He shrugged his shoulders, "Just common-sense Leilani and I am glad to help you. We must all help each other for I fear this is very bad."

Leilani nodded. “We’re stuck up here, what about the crew? Our families?” She wiped away a few tears. “Need to be strong they need us.”

Fernando nodded, "I know. I am worried about Heather and Cody." he said quietly. "But as you said, we must be strong."

The commodore was slowly coming back around and she gave a soft groan. "Report?"

Malakai looked over to Gary, the XO was stable, but Mal knew he didn't know the full damage to the ship. Not that he did either, but he could give a more complete report. He took a shaky breath and made his report. "In a word, bad. More precisely, very bad Commodore. Multiple injured here on the bridge and I am sure all over the ship. Leilani has done her best in treating those injured. Main power is out, running on emergency power or the batteries. coms are down as well; emergency isolation protocols are in effect. We're stuck here on the bridge. Weapons, shields and sensors are down as well. I'm sure there is structural damage to the ship as well but until we get even partial power, we can't tell the full extent." He finished, wiping at blood coming from a gash on his forehead.

"Your head, get it looked at" Phee said softly.

"Later." Malakai answered. "Once we get some stations back up and we know more about our situation."

And who knew when that would be. She nodded though.

Miraj walked over to the captains ready room and after a quick fiddle with the manual door release managed to get a good look out through the windows there. For a moment she watched the stars wheel past. "We're in normal space, doing approximately" she watched. It was definitely faster than full impulse. "Maybe a third of the speed of light? in a two axle spin." She wouldn't be able to pick up planets with the naked eye unless they were about to crash into one, but she also didn't see anything big enough to count as a sun. "And I'm ninety percent sure we are in interstellar space, rather than in a system."

Meanwhile Samaire was under the Operations console. "Sandtail?" She called out. "Can you give some power to the viewer? That might help me."

"Standby.." the short alien grumbled as he tapped in a long series of Commands, both into his station and his Armors Wrist Mounted computer. "You've Got all the power I Can give you..." he said as his Armor hissed down and quieted. "Now..." he added as the Main View Screen flickered and shimmered back online, though with a noticeably dimmer and lower resolution. "I'll see if I can Route in some additional power as the systems come back.." he added.

Leilani was feeling a little better, getting to her feet she walked over to Gary to take another look. “I can take care of that Captain” she pulled out a dermal regenerator, it didn’t take long to heal his cut. “The cut is sorted, but your underlying trauma is still there, just don’t overdo it.”

Gary nodded; he was more of his old self. "Thank you, Leilani. I'll do my best but no promises." As he managed a weak grin. "How is the Commodore and the others? How are you?" He asked.

“I’ll take another look around, check on everyone” Leilani offered a brief smile. “As for me... I’m worried about George and Hendor, my senses are foggy thanks to hitting my head, I can’t contact George.”

"Thank you, Leilani." Gary replied sincerely. "Keep trying to see if you can reach George, he may be able to provide more information as to the seriousness of our situation. But don't tax yourself." He stressed. "Help me get Phoenix into the centre seat, so she can rest more comfortably." With Leilani's help the pair got Phoenix into her command chair, where she could rest more comfortably.

“Thank you” Phoenix said as she looked at her console to try and figure things out.

“Aye Sir, Thank you.” Leilani smiled warmly. “Marines leave no man, or woman unaccounted for. They’ll come looking for us, if they can.”

"I have no doubt you are right Leilani." Gary replied even as his thoughts went to Lia. He had left her asleep in their quarters. Was she alright? Injured? Nor knowing was the worst. However much he hated it, he pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on the here and now. "Maybe we can help them, if we can get some power and release the isolation protocols. People can move from wherever they are, and we can get some answers."

Leilani nodded. “I took Ops as a speciality at the Academy, I can help out trying to get some power to the down stations? I might be able to sacrifice one to get another up and running, though that depends on what power we’ve got overall.”

Gary nodded, "Go and help Samaire, see what you can do about getting Ops back up. I'll work on rerouting power to the stations we deem necessary." He looked around, "Life support is still functional so that's a plus and we must be on emergency power for the isolation protocols to still be in effect. If it was batteries, they would have released by now." He observed.

Leilani nodded and made her way across to Samaire. “Lieutenant, I have some Ops experience, I might be of some use.”

“Sure, grab a panel and have a look” Samaire was not going to be touchy in this situation.

The screen flickered again. “Sandtail?” Samaire called out “Battery power will end in 20 minutes, we need to get main power back on.”

"I can't Promise Main power, but The Impulse Fusion Reactors are spooling up now...Should be at output capacity In Approximately twenty two minutes...I see what I can do to buy us time!" the short alien snapped as he shivered and worked his paws across the Console.

Miraj returned to helm, but it still hadn't powered up. Getting down onto her knees she popped the underside casing open. The smell of burnt ozone rolled out to meet her and she twitched back, waving the odor away briskly. When the smell cleared she leant forward and had a good look. And sighed. The EPS conduits, small as they were for the helm, were burnt out. The plasma they had contained had been sprayed out, and had cut the data transfer from astrometrics to boot. She was also seventy percent sure both the main and auxiliary connections to the impulse engines were gone too. "Helm's gone to Davy Jones, sir," she told Gary. "I'll need to get to the Battle Bridge to get us back under control."

Gary scowled, "Can't' go anywhere yet, Miraj, until we get the isolation protocols released. However, once we do, head to the battle bridge. Do you need to take Danvers with you to assist you?"

Miraj shook her head. "Ensign Talan's on duty down there, he should be enough. And I made need a reliable spotter here if we can't get the blast shields open." With all the damage, it was entirely possible they'd be trying to come out of the spin on visual data alone. Something always fun in a ship over a kilometer long. If they couldn't get visual data on the battle bridge, they'd need to do it through relay.

"As you wish Miraj." Gary replied to the young pilot. He wasn't going to force the issue or argue with her. Miraj knew her stuff when it came to piloting. She was a natural, with intuitive feelings he couldn't begin to understand when it came to the ship and piloting, so he gave her a free hand and let her do what she did best.

Phoenix nodded "I wish we had security to send with you." she said softly.

MEANWHILE - TURBOSHAFT 0011 - 2ND LIEUTENANT JAMAAL KINGMAN TRYING TO REACH THE BRIDGE

It was hot, hot as a summer night in Atlanta, Georgia back on Earth. There were buzzing sounds in all directions and in some spots on his increasingly dangerous journey, the hairs on the back of his head would stand up with static electricity. It was slow going. Growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Jamaal was used to heat and humidity. But nothing like this. It seemed like the higher he went the more damaged the ship was. It took 2nd Lieutenant Kingman a half-hour, maybe forty-five minutes to finally reach the bridge turbolift doors. The turboshaft was damaged and a turbolift had been crushed. It looked like a crushed can of soda. Blood was leaking out of it and dripping down the side of the turboshaft. He had to go around. He used the wrench he had been carrying to unlock the deadbolts on emergency bulkheads. He cursed the damn thing because these bolts were tight. One wasn't supposed to be "out for a stroll" at a time like this. Regrettably, none of the Engineers were here to "educate". He crawled through an ACL hatchway and came out above the accordioned turbolift car. The ladder here along the shaft was also destroyed but he could climb on it anyway. It was dark at the top. No lights and Jamaal feared the worst. He took a breath, wiped the sweat off his brow and looked around. The air seemed positively charged with energy. He clmbed and struggled to the top. The door was magnetically sealed. He used his combat tricorder and saw atmosphere...and lifesigns! Thank God!

He pulled the wrench from his waist and started to bang on the turbolift doors to the bridge. He couldn't climb any higher in the shaft. He had no way to hold on. He banged on them a dozen times, "HEYYY!! ANYBODY IN THERE? HEEEEEYYY!" he called loudly.

Leilani looked up as did several others. “There’s someone in the turbolift shaft! We have to get those doors open!!”

"I hear them Leilani." Gary answered as he moved to the lift. He looked back at Malakai and Jason. "Malakai, Jason, give me a hand to get these doors open. Leilani, you move out of the way but stand ready to give aid if required. Once Mal and Jason had moved to the doors, they joined Gary in working on pulling the doors apart.

Leilani stood ready just in case whoever was on the other side had sustained any injuries. She was hoping whoever it was would have news about the rest of crew...of George and Hendor.

Gary, Malakai and Jason threw their strength into prying the lift doors open. The bridge was soon filled with their grunts and groans as the lift doors remained stubborn and wouldn't open. However, with the trio continuing to work the doors slowly began to yield with a groan of their own. Slowly, glacially slowly the doors opened to about halfway and stopped and would move no further. Eager hands reached into the lift to pull the marine onto the bridge. "We are glad to see you!" Gary told the lieutenant. "What about the rest of the ship?" He questioned even as he waved Leilani over to examine the marine.

Leilani checked over her fellow marine, he seemed in pretty good considering the state of things. “Looking good Lieutenant” she offered a brief smile.

Jamaal was glad to be able to catch his breath, Kingman wiped his brow and took a look around. Everyone on the bridge, it looked like to him at least, had been injured. The XO had a large bump on the head that looked like it would hurt. The other people that pulled him up and into the bridge also were bandaged or bloody. And the bridge looked like a bomb had gone off. LCARS panels were either smashed, cracked or smoking. Most were not on at all; a few. Kingman didn't know anything about bridge operations. But he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to look like this. Jamaal recognized Reo Sandtail and he nodded to him in a brief greeting. "Yes sir, Captain Taylor. Second Lieutenant Jamaal Kingman, second platoon; it took a while to get here sir. I have orders from Captain Woolheater to make my report directly to the OIC. Is that you Captain?"

Gary looked at Phoenix, she was resting comfortably in her chair. He wouldn't bother her with this and he would personally tell her what Kingman had to say. "It is Lieutenant, make your report."

"Yes sir, Jamaal nodded, “Captain Woolheater gave me my orders and I am to deliver the following report to you, the officer-in-charge. First let me say that the information I have to share with you is now almost two-hours old. We were, marines, we were training on boarding and repelling maneuvers since 0100 this morning. Around 0200, we hot the deck and then were slammed against the holodeck wall. Everything went dark. No power, communications down, no internal sensors and from what we can tell the main computer is offline too. That was on deck thirty-three. Here, Woolheater wrote this and wanted you to have it.”

Jamall reached into his body armor and withdrew a small slip of paper. On it, in Sam’s handwriting was the following:

two marine teams SAR the ship. 1 team to bridge and 2nd team to main engineering. deck 33 mostly destroyed. Hull breach but forcefields in place. Don’t know how long they will hold. Emergency bulkheads in place and they are difficult to manually open. Very slow going, very time consuming. Deck 32 damaged but no hull breach. Life support seems in minimal mode. Suspect that we are on batteries. Very many casualities. Deck 32 fast become emergency shelter for civilians and crew we picked up from deck 33 and 31. Turbolifts non-functional. Attempting to SAR as many survivors as possible. Unable to get below deck 33 and we cannot get anywhere easily. This is team of four marines under command of 2nd Lt. Kingman is to report what is left of the bridge and the command structure of the ship. I have taken command of the marine detachment until we find Tonelly or Azhul. Am working as quickly as possible. Please advise Kingman and have him return with instructions.
Sam signed it.

Kingman looked at the rest as he continued, “I’ve never seen a ship this bad. We were only able to access decks 33, 32, 31 then 23 and 13. There are fires in a lot of places. Some decks look like they have power. But the LCARS are all non-responsive. It gets worse the higher you go. We started out as a party of four, using the turboshafts mostly. To try and keep everybody together. People are hurt bad everywhere. Not a single place we have been that isn’t in a bad way. We tried to go lower than 33 and we can’t. The doors, emergency bulkheads are either fused shut or they is no ship left below the bulkhead.”


“Lieutenant I’m Staff Sergeant Leilani Charles, Combat Medic.” She paused for a moment. “Is there...any news on my family? George and Hendor Charles?”

Jamaal looked at Leilana, “I’m sorry, Staff Sergeant, I don’t know those people. I didn’t see anyone or hear those names. I know Captain George Charles is a fighter pilot, but I only know the name. I would say that there must be about 125 people there on deck 32 when I left? Maybe more. It took me a while to reach you. And it’s a long slog back through the ship. What happened? What’s going on? Are we under attack sir?”

"No, not under attack Lieutenant, we seem to have collided with a quantum filament.'' Gary answered as he moved to read the note from Woolheater and absorbed the severity of the situation. As Leilani questioned him about her family, he went to work on informing Sam of their situation as well as issuing orders. It took several minutes but, in the end, he had composed a message. "Lieutenant." He interrupted, "Here are instructions for Captain Woolheater." The note read.

Sam,

Bridge extensively damaged. Multiple injuries but none life threatening. We are attempting to bring the ship under control. May have to use battle bridge if unsuccessful here. Understand your situation and extent of damage to ship. See if you can contact main engineering and get power even partial restored. We are attempting to restore power from here to sensors and other systems as well as bring Avalon online. If successful, bulkheads will be released. Set up temporary command post for you and your personnel. Set up triage area for injured. Continue to evac areas of ship that you can and move personnel to a central holding area. We will work on restoring ship wide coms to make communication easier. Above all else ensure safety of personal as integrity of ship is suspect.

Gary


Jamaal took the paper, folded it and put it in his body armor, “Yes sir. I will deliver this to Captain Woolheater. Are there any other messages you want me to deliver?”

Leilani quickly grabbed a piece of paper and made a quick note, just one telling her family she was alive and well. “Can you take this please? If you find my husband, or my sister-in-law Emily Charles, please give it to them.”

Jamaal accepted the slip of paper from her, "It will be done staff sergeant. I'll see to it myself."

Jamaal said, “There will be a lot of people who will be glad to know that you all are alive. I will tell them the good news. With your permission Captain Taylor, I will carry these messages to my CO.”

"By all means Lieutenant. Safe journey back to the others." Gary answered, relieved to know others were alive.

"Wait!" Miraj stepped forward. "I need to get to the battlebridge, I'm coming with you."

Kingman looked at the ship's navigator and her bare feet, "Ensign, I would recommend foot coverings. If the battlebridge is destroyed and we can't open it; then you're coming with me to deck thirty-two agreed?"

Miraj looked at her feet. "well, my shoes are on deck sixteen so..." She shrugged. "Lead the way?"

"Miraj, I don't think that is a good idea right now. I know you want to bring the Elysium out of its spin however, we don't even know if the battle bridge is accessible." Gary pointed out.

"Its one way to find out." She pointed out. "And if its not, I go with Liutenant Kingman."

"And I think you forget yourself Ensign." Gary replied. "You don't make policy. Your safety is my responsibility. You could get halfway there and become trapped or injured which puts others at risk to get you out because you were hell bent of getting to the battle bridge. You want to go to the battle bridge? Great. Go when we know more about the overall damage to the ship." Gary finished.

Miraj looked down, stomach rolling at the dressing down. "Yes sir. Sorry sir."

Gary eased off, "Miraj. I think it's great you want to get to the battle bridge. You just need to be smart about it."

Phoenix was still very out of it in the command chair but she was getting better.

Kingman waited and tried to think of some alternative, but he couldn't. There wasn't enough time and he had limited knowledge of ships operations. Jamaal said, "There's probably nobody who knows how to pilot the ship better than the Ensign here. A second team was going to try and reach main engineering. Woolheater said something about regaining control of the ship from there in case the bridge was gone. Maybe the ensign could help out in main engineering? Somehow sir? We still have the problem of no shoes though. There is a lot of debris, jumping, climbing. In one spot we have to use the jeffries tube for about forty meters."

"No." Gary answered firmly. "Not going to send a crewmember into an unknown situation where she could be seriously injured or killed along with whoever is with her. Or a rescue team being placed in danger needlessly."

Nodding, Kingman said, "I have my orders sir. And I will carry them out. I best be on my way” he said before being helped into the turboshaft again. “We will see you again. You are not forgotten. Be back soon.” And with that, 2LT Kingman climbed down the turboshaft, into the darkness and was gone.

~TBC~