Maintaining Order

Posted on Tue Nov 15th, 2022 @ 6:27am by Gunnery Sergeant Luxa Gami [Naxea] & Captain Samuel Woolheater

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: DECK THIRTY-TWO - MARINE COUNTRY
Timeline: MD03: 0245 hours
1320 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON: “Maintaining Order”]


USS ELYSIUM – DECK 32 – MARINE COUNTRY

They had managed to get the emergency lights on and that helped calm the crew some. Captain Woolheater had the survivors; the crew and civilians help perform an inventory of the supplies they had. That was for two purposes. Number one was to keep people’s mind on everyday things and not on the catastrophe that they found themselves in. Secondly, there was no guarantee that they would regain even the secondary processors for the computer back. Of all the systems onboard a modern starship, the ship’s computer was one of the most hardened systems that they had. Quadruple redundancy, four power systems and backups to each one of those. There were even some starships that really didn’t need crews at all.

Universal Spacecraft Systems, the contracted maker of most Federation starships kept many secrets. This is one of them. That most starships in service today could run by themselves autonomously. Especially if the starship was conceived to do so from the very beginning. The fact is, the ships AI ‘Avalon’ could, barring extreme conditions, could manage the ship without her crew. Not for longer than that. Because the ship was habitable, maintenance had to be done to the environment, the arboretum and the energy systems for life support. Those would go first, and the ship could still perform. But to what end?

For very long missions far from a friendly port for sure. But this was not the case for Elysium. The crew of this ship was not an afterthought. Someone to keep the wheels greased and the ODN lines dusted. Elysium needed a crew to fulfill her mission. And right now, both crew and ship were in dire straits.

Captain Samuel Woolheater surveyed the marine dead. Eleven of them in body bags on the floor of a storeroom to keep them out of sight. They had been killed either by being crushed, or trauma while they slept or had succumbed to wounds in the crash. Sam didn’t know what to call it. He didn’t even know what had happened. He was making so many command decisions. Were they the right ones? He had sent parties of marines to the bridge and to engineering. Along the way, they picked up survivors and sent them to deck thirty-two. Marine Country was fast becoming a place for refugees. The number of crew and civilians now outnumbered the marines. He had lost people before under his command. But not like this. This was a faceless enemy. The killings were from a damaged ship. And from ignorance.

He felt the weight of the job now on his shoulders and wanted none of it. Was he making the right choices? Anxiety and doubt began to creep into his mind. And what about those people he cared about? The Colonel and the XO? Where were they. He never saw them have doubts or second guesses. He had to be focused and strong make the right call every time. And even trying to do that, there were still eleven dead marines in bodybags on the floor. He never wanted a command. He didn’t want this. There were so many marines combing the ship. What if some never came back?”

He turned around when he heard someone enter the room. It was Gunnery Sergeant Luxa Gami. Sam shoved all of those feelings and those doubts and all that crap down, “Gunny. What’s the status on the inventory? It sounded like there was a scuffle with the civvies earlier?” he inquired of her.

"Status of the inventory so far is that we have two hundred and fifty freeze dried field rations from our storage, weapons in the armory are availiable." Normally they needed the computer to access the weapons stored in the Armory but it was built with manual override procedures should such an event occur where the computer went offline. "Field equipment such as sleeping bags and whatnot are still accessible. If we could get to the secondary power units, we might be able to get power restored to this deck, but they're blocked by fallen support beams, Sir." Marine Country, thanks to the Colonel had its own independent batteries as a backup for the power installed after the Mirror Universe incident.

"And as for the two civvies, they were fighting because one tripped over the other. They're much calmer now...gotta love the stun setting on phasers," she grinned.

Samuel grinned back, "Indeed! My most favorite of settings!" He nodded, "Thank you for the report. That sounds like a good second project for everybody. Getting secondary power restored. Gives everybody a chance to focus on something else. Our provisions, that doesn't include any of the medical supplies?"

"Nothing major," Sir," Gami replied. Just the field medical packs that are with our field equipment. The Medical station is near the secondary batteries, so it's still blocked off for the moment."

"Hmmm...well...I know that we've just got access to deck twenty-three. There are hull breaches but we're confident we can shore that up. De La Rosa is on it I heard. I trust her to get twenty-three up, star drive section of course. Then we can start sending the worse off there. How about the armory? I don't like thinking...negatively...but. There's always a but. I think it prudent to station a marine guard at the armory. I don't want a panic on our hands if the news from our bridge SAR team comes back...with more bad news. Let's keep an eye on the weapons?"

"Already on it, Sir," Gami replied with a grin. She was sure Naxea would be proud to know that Captain Woolheater seemed to be doing as well as can be. Speaking of Naxea, she reached out for her friend. Across the ship, she could sense pain, panic, confusion, and fear. She then sensed confusion from her friend. But it was a strange confusion, like a person would have being in a strange dream.

Samuel noticed her far and away look. "Good work Gunny. I know I can count on you. Something on your mind Sergeant? I see you often but we hardly ever speak. Out of the office I mean."

"Just wondering how you're holding up, Sir. This isn't the easiest of situations to deal with," she replied with a slight shrug.

"Thanks for asking, no it is certainly not how I planned to spend my day. It is what it is Gunny. This is Colonel Azhul's command. I'm just keeping the chair warm. Trying to do the right thing. Not get anyone killed. The Colonel and the XO...they make it look so easy don't they? Well, now I know better."

Sam exhaled a pent up breath he didn't even know he was holding, "I should be going; I've got people to check in on" he said. He reached for and gathered all eleven dog tags in his hand. As he did so, silently at first, he added, "It's been over fifty-minutes. SAR team to the bridge should be making contact soon." He held the dog tags in his hand, the chains falling away out of his palm. He opened his hand to look at the tags, "Did you know any of them Sergeant?"

Gami nodded solemnly. "I live on this deck, Sir. I knew all of them."

Sam closed his hand around them, looked at her a moment and said, "No more dead marines today. Let's get the power back on and get control of our ship."

"Yes, Sir," Gami replied with a slight nod.

Sam said to her, "We will find our people. We will survive this. You know that right?"

"Yes Sir, I do," Gami grinned. She was starting to like this Captain Woolheater.


[OFF:]

Gunnery Sergeant Luxa Gami

and

Captain Samuel Woolheater