Under the ashes

Posted on Thu Apr 20th, 2023 @ 4:04am by Lieutenant Commander S'hib

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: S’hib and Naxea's quarters
873 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

“As you can see… Plasma fires gutted a good portion of this deck, all we could do at the time was contain it with bulkheads and forcefields, let it burn itself out.”

The older man shook his head as he looked down at the PADD in his hands, brushing off the soot and dust. “It would take months in dry dock to fix this kind of damage… its a complete write off.”

“Where there any casualties?” S’hib replied, his oxygen mask fogging up as he spoke.

“Thankfully no… plasma fires don’t move fast, its why this kind of damage is rare… in-fact the last time i saw anything like this was during the war with the Dominion.”

S’hib nodded with a sigh, grateful that no more life had been needlessly lost. “I see… well, thank you Lieutenant, i’ll let you get back to work…”

“Commander.” He nodded back before trudging off, stepping over the debris that littered the corridor to return to his team as they worked tirelessly to cry through panels that had fused shut from the intense heat.

“Red sands…”

it was complete chaos around him as he raised his torch down the length of the corridor, peering through the thick cloud of smoke and toxic ash hung in the air.

“And this isn't even the worst of it.” He muttered before looking down and stepping forward, making sure every hoofstep was on level ground.

Wires and tubing hung from the ceiling, exposing the bulkheads and raw hull, panels littered the floor… had he not known exactly what had happened he would have been forgiven to think a torpedo had struck this section.

It was a miracle nobody had died, least… not in this part of the ship.

Ahead of him a thin column of light rose up from the floor to the ceiling, the same hatch he and Naxea had escaped through, apparently it should have been locked or so he had been told, the same power surges that caused the viscous plasma fires also, by chance… short circuited the control network, killing the motors before they could seal the hatch.

It was something he had rather not been told, the possibility still weighing heavily on him as he moved around the hatch, spotting engineers below working.

Had he and Naxea really come that close to dying?

He shook his head, casting the thought away like the soot that clung to his mane.

but now he was back in the dark, using his small flashlight to expose the floor and corridor around him as best as he could.

but even with its bright beam he was practically blind, instead counting the doors he had passed until he found the one he was after.

the door was still open, just as they had left it when they escaped.

not that it mattered, the fires had gutted every room regardless, but still… it stung, standing there, looking at the black maw that has been slowly turning into a home for Sle’anna. Not anymore… it was all gone.

He stepped inside, climbing over a ceiling beam that had collapsed, noting the viewports covered in thick black soot, the stars barley visible behind.

Then his heart sank even more, his torch flicking over the remains of the bed he and Naxea had made together, its metal supports the only thing left.

Nothing but ash he thought with a deep exhale, forcing himself to walk further inside.

clothes, plants, what few pictures they had together. Nothing but vague outlines remained, the parts they couldn't burn.

but they still had each other, that was what was important. And it gave him the strength to keep looking, to keep searching for anything that had survived.

A chest of draws, or where one had been was where he looked next, kneeling down to shift through the charcoal and ash, watching necklaces he had made for Sle’anna crumble at the touch… he could grow more hair he thought stubbornly, he would make better ones he nodded even as a tear ran down his cheek from inside his mask.

Then his fingers found something more or less still together, burnt for sure… nearly unrecognisably so until he moved the torch over it.

“Dunes bless…” He smiled excitedly, opening the small box to reveal his present for Miraj’s upcoming birthday

Sat inside, covered in soot was a Dilithium blank, a small slither of a crystal unique to Sequella that are rendered inert due to the rich and exotic metals in the planets crust, but once exposed to an artificial warp field, begin to mimic and echo at the exact resonance, vibrating gently at the same frequency as the host ships warp core, which was now the Elysium.

The process was simple but irreversible, the random crystalline matrix of the Dilithium blanks at the nanoscopic scale forever shifting and fixing into place.

Normally they would be used as a physical analog to retune warp nacelles aboard Sequus ships.

But in this case, for Miraj… it would be a constant hum of the ship she loved in the palm of her hand, no matter where she found herself.

A gift he was sure she would adore.