Battle Bridge

Posted on Thu Dec 22nd, 2022 @ 9:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Captain Samuel Woolheater & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG T'Kek [Naxea] & Lieutenant JG Heather De La Rosa {Kelea-Salik} & Avalon [ADMIN NPC]

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: Battle Bridge Deck 23 Star Drive Section
Timeline: MD3 0600 hrs
2398 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure

The smaller, darkened environment of the Elysium's Battle Bridge was an unfamiliar environment for T'Kek. Hell, even the Main bridge was alien to him. As a medical officer, he mainly stuck to Main or Secondary Sickbay. Yet, he was relieved that he and Rin had finally arrive at their destination, thanks in part to Avalon. A part of him wondered what good he could be on the battle bridge at not having any bridge experience. He wasn't even sure which consoles were which. Therefore, he moved towards the back of the bridge to stay out of Rin's way as he noticed two others arrive.

Heather had been called up from Secondary medical to help crew the battle bridge, fortunately she had her prior marine training to fall back upon. Even medics were expected to undergo the full training everyone else underwent and situations like this were covered by those areas. Not that she was a marines anymore, the training still came in useful.

Rin took stock of the situations. She had two doctors and an ensign whom she assumed was part of flight control since that's where she was situating herself. Not exactly the ideal crew, but that's what she had.

She was still in a tank top and shorts. Normally, it wouldn't bother her, but...she was dropping into the captain's chair in her pajamas.

"T'Kek, De la Rosa, can you work on getting sensors up and running? We need to know what's going on outside the ship," Rin delegated, figuring that was the function the two doctors were most likely to have experience with. "If either of you have other applicable bridge skills, I need to know. But our first priority is data."

She looked to the individual at flight control. "Ensign, can you get any data on the ship's movements? I want to know if we're spinning out of control. If we are, I'm going to assume the bridge is unable to establish control of the ship, and we're going to divert control to the battle bridge."

"Avalon, provide any assistance you can for them. I also need a holographic damage report and map of life signs to the best of your ability. Continue to try establishing contact with the bridge."

Ensign Anish Talan pulled himself out from under the helm. "Good news, bad news" he reported, a nasal quality in his voice that matched the deep bruising forming around the denobulan's clearly broken nose. "We have helm, but no astrometrics. So I can steer, but I've got no idea where we are, no idea where we're going, or how fast. There's no propulsion currently, so if we're moving, its the physical Laws of motions doing it."

T'Kek looked around the bridge for a moment, studying each console before he spotted one that read "Science". That would have access to sensors, right? The helm officer reminded T'Kek of Miraj and he hoped silently that she was alright as he focused on the science station that was currently dark. He knelt down to remove the paneling for the console underneath and sighed. I'm a doctor not an engineer," he muttered, looking at the mess of wires, cables, and neural boards.

Heather moved towards the Ops and Engineering consoles, Ops would include status of the ship as would Engineering, plus she could reroute power using the Engineering console so they could get stations they needed up and running. She pulled off the panelling and got to work underneath.

"Avalon, another query: what sections of the ship can you communicate with? And if not by traditional comms, other methods such as computer screens. Hell, I'll take being able to flash lights in morse code."

The voice came out but no holographic interface. "Holographic interface offline. I have limited communications to this deck currently, am rerouting to try to reach the bridge but damage is extensive. Engineering and medical unable to connect to."

T'Kek fumbled with the circuitry underneath the science console. Several of the wires appeared to be fried as he pulled the bad wires out and began to study the connections. He removed wires that appeared to be to non crtical systems such as secondary subsystems monitoring and placed them to the main connectors. As he did so, a small green blinking led light caught his attention. There was power coming from within the ship as he traced the line to Deck 32 monitoring. 'It appeared the console is receiving power from Deck 32," he announced. "That is the Marine Detachment Deck is it not? Why would they have power while the rest of the ship did not?"

Rin didn't know the answer to the Marine Country question, but Avalon did just hand her a considerably longer list of resources than she had 30 seconds ago.
"Avalon, broadcast everywhere on this deck you can reach: This is Lt. Rin on the battle bridge. We currently have no communications with the main bridge. If you can hear me, please report your status. If you can, we need engineering and ops on the battle bridge."

"Paranoid bastards in Marine Country probably installed their own generator." Anish murmured from where he was trying to reconnect external sensors without any luck. "Anyone tried paging the CAG? The drop hanger might have more redundancies too."

Coms crackled to life a various people throughout deck 23 responded to the hail. Several of them had been wandering the deck looking for others, unsure where they should - and could - be going.

Rin extended the tubules from her hand and one more plugged into the computer system. Avalon was currently limited in ways to express what information was available to her. This gave her another avenue. Avalon didn't need to project a holographic map when Rin could map out the data in her own head.

"Ensign, we have no data for the section beyond bulkhead 14. There's jefferies tube access about 300 feet behind you.... Crewman, I cannot contact the secondary medical bay, bring the injured to the battle bridge. We have doctors..."

Because data is what Rin did. Analyze. Organize. Corroborate. Connect. So that is what she was going to do.

T'Kek plugged in a few more wires, hoping for the science station to power up but it remained dark in defiance. Out of frustration, T'Kek smacked the power converter for the station, leaving a sizeable dent in its place. He then paused, closing his eyes, to allow his frustrations to abide before a thought occurred to him. There are life pods on this deck, correct?"

Anish spent more time on Deck 23 than he ever wanted to. "Yeah. In case the Battle Bridge takes a hit. Why?"

"Well," he scooted out from underneath the science console and sat up. "Could we draw power from them to power the bridge?"

The Denobulan looked like he was about to say no, but abruptly aborted the gesture. "Probably?..." He thought about it. "I haven't done power ops since the Academy, but we could try. Get something to comms at least, that doesn't take much. Then we can at least co-ordinate. For all we know we're dragging power from each other like a tug-of-war right now."

Heather popped her head up from where she was working. “I suggest we don’t pull too much power from the life pods, right now we don’t know what condition this ship is in, if the worst comes to the worst those pods may be needed.”

MEANWHILE - ON DECK TWENTY-THREE

Everyone was surprised when their comm badges whistled, those who had them on of course. The communication was clear but it wavered in pitch and tone. Sounding a bit...wavy, ~~~ This is Lt. Rin on the battle bridge. We currently have no communications with the main bridge. If you can hear me, please report your status. If you can, we need engineering and ops on the battle bridge.~~~

PFC Groover tapped his comm badge back, but he was not getting through. =A= Lieutenant Rin? So glad to hear your voice. This is PFC Groover. How can we assist Lieutenant? Hello? Lieutenant? =A= There was no reply. They checked other comm badges but it would seem that the communication was one way only.

=A= PFC Groover to Captain Woolheater? =A=

=A= Woolheater here =A=

=A= Captain, we're on deck twenty-three sir. We just heard from Lieutenant Rin on the battle bridge. =A=

=A= Understood. What was her message? =A=

=A= She sounded like she was in command of the situation sir. She's calling for a status report and any engineers and ops personnel. =A=

=A= Copy. Proceed to the battle bridge. Give her your status report and give her these additional status reports. Ready? =A=

=A= Yes sir! Ready. =A=

=A= Very good. In case we lose comms again. Tell her that an hour ago contact was made with the main bridge and Captain Taylor. They are trying to regain control of the ship and they may be sending additional crew to the battle bridge. Main medical has many casualties. Decks 23 and 32 are acting as triage and additional medical areas, especially marine medical. Deck 32 has battery power only and limited comms. Civillians and crew are being rescued throughout the ship. Tell Lieutenant Rin that we cannot get below to deck 34 to 37 without going EVA. We are preparing to do so. Lastly, SAR team lead by Sergeant Gami is going to Main Engineering to see what happened to engineers. We have the ACEO here in marine medical with a severe back injury. Ask her if she needs and medical? Do you got that Groover? =A=

=A= Yes Captain. I got it. We're proceeding to the battle bridge now. I will report as ordered. Groover out. =A=

The four marines started off to the battle bridge.

BATTLE BRIDGE

Rin looked over to the open door of the bridge as people started to arrive. She set a couple engineers to start working getting additional power from the life pods without compromising them.

"T'kek, De la Rosa, set up triage in the adjoining rooms." Rin figured they would be much happier putting their doctoring skills to use.

Heather nodded as she looked to T’kek. “That we can do Lieutenant.”

Then the Marines arrived and gave their report, and Rin afforded herself a sigh of relief. "I have two doctors here to provide triage. This portion deck 23 has no access to the secondary medical bay. Can the marines create a relay to connect the battle bridge to main bridge?"

Groover thought about what was needed and answered, "Yes Lieutenant, we can do that. It looks like the computer is using some energy from deck thirty-two to power some of your terminals. Probably not enough to get the whole thing back online. But we can setup a relay. We know that the signal is good from thirty-two to here. I suggest we setup the next relay at main medical on deck eleven. And then on the main bridge on deck one. Also, emergency medkits are on their way. With your permission sir, we'll get the relay started and get someone to the main bridge?" Groover asked as hopes started to rise.

"Do it. Thank you. Is there anything the Marines need?" Rin asked. "Avalon is having trouble communicating what data she has access to. So I'm...translating, effectively."

Groover nodded and in a moment communicated everything that was needed back to the temporary marine commander. The operation was approved and Groover and the other three marines were authorized to follow the commands of Lieutenant Rin without having to consult Woolheater. There was no need to complicate a desperate situation with more protocol. Once this rifle team was given their orders the channel was closed although they could still hear the continued comm exchanges.

PFC Groover returned and said, "Captain Rin?, we are authorized to be at your service." He introduced the other three marines and what their relay point would be. Saying, "And I'll be staying here to coordinate." When that was done and they had their orders, the other three marines were dismissed and they set about to their destinations with orders to check in once they had arrived and were on site. "Captain Rin? You asked if there was anything marines needed? Have you any reports or has anyone seen XO Tonelly or the Colonel?" he asked.

"Just lieutenant, Groover. Taylor is on the main bridge, which is still in control of the ship," Rin said. She was relieved to hear they had been in contact with Taylor, but she had noted that Groover had not mentioned Lalor. There were several people higher than Rin in the chain of command, but, other than Taylor, she had no idea how many might have survived.

"Avalon has no data on the location of Tonelly or Naxea, but there's large sections of the ship she cannot reach."

He nodded, "Yes lieutenant, sorry sir. Another ten or twenty minutes and we'll be in position."

T'Kek stepped into one of the adjoining rooms, seeting his field medical kit down by the door. The room was a mess overturned chairs and a large central table with consoles installed on the opposite bulkhead with a large viewscreen. "Must be an Operations or planning room," he concluded as he began to quickly get to work at turning the table right side up, along with the chairs.

“Looks that way” Heather nodded as she plotted out the best layout for them. “I suggest we use this central table as an emergency bed. It’s not comfortable but should anyone need minor surgery it’ll be the best area. The chairs can line the walls for walking wounded, anyone else will have to lie on the floor.” She shook her head. “How in the hell did we get in this mess!?”

"I do not know," T'Kek began. "I was headed back to Sickbay from making a visitation call to a couple when the ship lurched hard, tossing me into the bulkhead and the deck. I only hope we don't receive any serious injuries. I only have my field medical kit with me, so supplies are limited until we get the replicators back online."

“We’ll just have to make do” Heather looked around. “There’s not much else we can do.”