"We can do it in beige, stipple effect, two days?"

Posted on 10 Oct 2024 @ 11:06am by Lieutenant T'Lara Ahmad & Lieutenant JG Kaelyth Solmarr

2,733 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Stranded
Location: Deck 24 - Main Engineering
Timeline: Current

A dull ringing sound slowly rose in pitch and intensity until it became quite...uncomfortable. T'Lara's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she continued to blink as her brain furiously scrambled to make sense of the input her sluggishly responding eyes was trying to transmit. Shaking, sluggish hands pushed against the decking to push herself upright, and succeeded, somewhat. She leaned against something hard to keep herself upright and looked about the ruin that was main engineering. The place was dark with the exception of sparks and small fires erupting from various consoles.

The vision in T'Lara's right eye was blurred by a semi-opaque film of blood, all from a laceration at her hairline. Her tongue tasted blood as she licked her lips in an unconscious physical action meant to garner some semblance of control...what had happened? She slowly pushed herself upright still trying to put together well...anything from her mind that would explain her current circumstances, and there was...nothing. A blank. She must be concussed. There was no time for that.

"Hello?" She called out, her normally confident voice sounding strident.

Kaelyth had been fortunate -- or unfortunate depending on one's point of view -- enough to have been in a crawlspace when the ship had shaken intensely and then gone dark. This had meant that he had less space to be tossed about in, and it would be easier for him to brace, feet against one side and back against the other. Unfortunately for him, this also meant that when the EPS conduit behind him flared, he had absorbed the energy of the resulting minor explosion. This had two effects. One, it had burned through the back of his uniform jacket, which was not really a problem for him. The second, however, was. That was that absorbing that amount of energy had burned half of the Shaelyth in him out. That was a potentially large problem.

Fortunately, knowing the field he worked in, he had stored one of his cases of Shaelyth in Engineering. So he made his way out of the crawlspace and slowly toward the locker it was stored in. As he reached it and tried to open it, he heard someone call out.

Blinking, he hesitated. He could not see much of anything except in flickers from the sparks that were occasionally flaring from panels. "I am here," he responded, his normally quiet tones carrying very well in the near-silence that Main Engineering had fallen into since the Core was down. "Do you need assistance?"

T'Lara blinked as her eyes tried to focus in the direction of the voice...it was rather dark - she was effectively blind at the moment.

She opened her mouth to respond but paused, turning inwardly. Did she need any assistance? Oh sure, there was the laceration to her scalp, a concussion, and numerous abrasions and contusions, but no. She did not require assistance...at least not immediately.

"What has happened? Is auxilliary power down?" It took a moment, looking about and using the meagre lighting from the sparks and flames, but T'Lara believed she knew exactly where she was in main engineering...150 steps laterally 17 degrees and there should be a tool locker. A flash light...tool kit...

Kaelyth finished opening the locker as she was speaking. Her response as well as the sound of her voice and the fact that she was not slurring or showing any other vocal signs of something that would require Medical -- granted, he could not see her, so he might be missing a visual sign, and she might be a very good faker, but -- gave him her answer to his question. Taking out the silver case and a belt light, he turned the light on and affixed it to his uniform belt. Then he paused before continuing with his infusing to turn in the direction her voice had come from to let the light fall on her.

"Everything is down," he answered relatively calmly -- no one was perfectly calm in a situation like this, but he was as close as could be without being Vulcan -- though there was a very slight waver in his voice. He ignored it as it was likely being caused by the aches that were spreading through his body as the remainder of the Shaelyth continued to burn out. "From the fact that we are still here, I would guess that the antimatter containment is still functioning, though," he added thoughtfully. After all, if that had gone, the resulting explosion would have taken the ship with it. So at least one backup system was functioning. That was something at least.

T'Lara heard the other crewman's assessment of the situation but she found she could not place his voice. She had no recollection of what caused this incident...in fact she had no idea where she was. Reaching up, her hand came back wet...a head injury? A logical presumption given her current recall difficulties.

"We have to get up to the impulse reactor...attempt to get the plant running. That should give aux power, and we can make a more in-depth assessment of...damage." Her head was beginning to pound - and although it wasn't currently life threatening, a significant concussion posed its own challenges. Enough. She mentally chided herself. There was no time for personal concerns; powering back up the ship in some capacity was paramount.

She made her way to the weapons locker, effectively blind given the poor lighting in what was left of main engineering. Vulcans might be superior in a lot of things, but seeing in the dark was not one of them.

Kaelyth kept his light pointed toward her as she moved, hoping to help her out at least until she got herself one. "That makes sense," he agreed. "It does mean a great deal of climbing through crawlspaces and potentially lift shafts," he mused aloud. He did not have an issue with doing so, however.

He also did not need to turn the light toward the locker he was near as he knew where he had placed the silver case he needed. His hand closed around its handle even as he spoke. Inwardly, he was actually glad that she could not see him clearly or she would have noticed the slight tremor in his hand, another sign of the Shaelyth burning itself out. This would be solved in short order, though. Once she had her own light, he would turn his attention to his own needs.

Kaelyth was, in general, selfless. However, if he let the Shaelyth burn out fully, he would not only be useless to them; he would be dead in hours. So this was definitely a case where it was better to see to his own health first. Besides, it would only take a few moments once he set himself to the task.

If they had auxiliary power, Kaelyth might have suggested that they divide the tasks that needed the most urgent doing between them. But the situation being what it was, that would be fruitless given that nothing could be done until they had some power to work with.

The flashlight shined on the young Chief, the right side of her face curtained with blood from a laceration on her forehead. However, from the distance the other officer was standing, there was not much more to determine from that. T'Lara visibly recoiled as the bright light hit her eyes. Normally, her inner eyelid would have automatically closed in a reflex to protect her vision from the sudden change in illumination. However, only one closed and the other, unprotected eye, was temporarily blinded from the beam. A lance of pain shot through her head and it took everything within her controls to keep from vomiting.

She, apparently, was more injured than her initial inspection had determined. Unfortunate. The priority now wasn't her own health, but the continuation of this ship. Once...if...some semblance of power could be restored, then...sickbay?

The voice speaking to her...the timbre, male. Unrecognizable. She couldn't remember anything and her mind wanted to focus on the mystery of the missing context of the ship's current state. As fascinating as that line of thought was, to engage in her curiosity was not in the best interest of the ship. Triage. First things first.

"Yes. Climbing. It will be necessary. Power...comms...determination of causation..." The last of her needed tools had been clipped to a belt designed for such a purpose and stuffed into the hidden pockets on her legs. "Are...are you alright? I...can not recall your name."

Kaelyth was immediately struck by the sight of her injury as his light illuminated her face. From here, it looked bad enough that, normally, he would have insisted that she go to Sickbay, but this was not, by any stretch, a normal situation. As she gathered her tools, he opened the silver case he held and removed three clips from it, closing the case and replacing it in the locker -- he would replace those clips later.

"I am Kaelyth Solmarr," he identified for her. "I am the Structural and Environmental Specialist." He took the Injector from his pocket and inserted the clip, pressing it to his upper arm. "And yes, I am all right. Or I will be once I have finished these," he said, holding the remaining two clips where she could see them. "Then we can--"

He did not get a chance to finish that sentence as the doors to Main Engineering were forced open, and someone, a feline, in Security colors entered. He looked somewhat bedraggled but none the worse for wear.

For his part, Maralen was not concerned so much with his appearance. It was currently irrelevant. He had spent far too long just trying to get down here to these two as it was, and that annoyed him. There was nothing for it, though, so he discarded that thought as irrelevant as well and focused on the two people he could see in the dim light -- thank the universe for feline vision.

"I am Maralen Seitha, the Chief of Security," he began without preamble -- there was not really time for pleasantries. "I have come from the bridge, The captain has laid out the order he would like systems repaired in." At this point is where most officers might refer to notes they had taken, but his eidetic memory did the work for him. "He said he wanted internal comms, life support and internal sensors to be the main priority. Once those systems are online, we should focus on long-range communication, external sensors, warp power, and finally shields and weapons." He realized this was a lot, but he would stick around to help if he could. The captain had not told him to return to the bridge.

Kaelyth frowned as he finished the injections and tucked the Injector back into his pocket. "For that much, we will need to locate more engineers," he mused. "Perhaps," he added, looking to the chief, "you and I could begin the repairs and our friend from Security," he indicated Maralen, "could try to get us more help?" If she had another or a better idea, he would do as she preferred; he was merely attempting to help.

It took longer than expected for T'Lara to respond. Her lips moved silently as she repeated the captain's order to herself and dipped her head incredulously at the end of the internal recitation.

"The captain does not ask for much..." She said dryly.

"Yes. Repairs. The impulse reactor. We must restore power. Then...the list. Hmm. Lieutenant Seitha, we are in urgent need of additional hands. There are not enough of us currently to get the necessary systems back online in an efficient manner."

Kaelyth frowned slightly. He had just said that, in essence. Perhaps that head injury was worse even than it had looked. He let it pass for now though and glanced to the feline officer.

Maralen nodded. He did not mention that she had just repeated her officer's idea though in different words. That would have been a waste of resources -- time and words. Therefore, he focused on the request itself. "I can either help you directly or I can check the safety locations where people have been gathered to see if I can gather more engineers. If I do that, where would you like me to send them? Here to you?"

That made Kaelyth pause. That was a good point. If both he and T'Lara left to repair the impulse reactor, there would be no one here to coordinate efforts. He glanced to her. "That is a good point. One of us should remain here to dispatch any engineers he finds to specific tasks." He paused for only a second before continuing. "And as you are the head of the department, you are the logical choice to perform that task." Not to mention that she was injured; he could move faster.

T'Lara looked down, her expression shifted to almost a frown as she furiously struggled to make a case to join him...but she could not. Recognition dawned. Her head injury was more significant than a laceration and a concussion. A vague sense of nausea began to form in the pit of her stomach. "You will be more...efficient, without me. I agree. It is logical." Perhaps a short healing trance while she waited for the reactor to get back online?...perhaps that would be enough.

"Seitha...A spare medical officer would also be acceptable...If you find one."

Maralen assessed both of the officers before him. The male, Kaelyth Solmarr, looked fairly undamaged, though his uniform showed signs of having been burned. Maralen narrowed his eyes but saw no signs of any burns on the man. Interesting but not currently relevant. However he had managed to avoid damage, Maralen could ask him later. Much later.

The female however, T'Lara Ahmad, did show signs of injury. Besides the laceration he could see on her head, her eyes looked slightly less focused. She was holding together well, though, and that was to be commended. Vulcans were sturdy, but that did not mean they were invincible. A medical officer was indeed a good idea.

"I will keep an eye out for a medical officer as well," he assured. "Is there anything else you need?"

T'Lara looked thoughtful...really thoughtful. Anything else she needed? She needed medical attention...but...she had just told them that, right?

"Just power. With power comes the ability to satisfy Captain...Captain..." T'Lara's voice faltered. She couldn't remember the captain's name, nor recall their face. "The captain's repair requirements."

Kaelyth was concerned now. T'Lara was definitely not well, and he was concerned about leaving her alone in this state. He did not have a choice, however. A situation like this made him wish that he had more than one of his native communications devices, though without the Iytha Rhaen, he was not sure that would work either. Well, failing that, he wished he had more medical training to help. He did not have that either, so there was nothing he could do. Literally the best thing he could do for her was to move fast and get power back online.

"I will start making my way to the impulse reactor," he informed, moving off toward the Access Tubes that ran both horizontally and vertically (at intervals) throughout the ship. That would likely be the fastest way to get to the impulse reactor, and time was of the essence.

For his part, Maralen noticed the Lieutenant's memory glitch, but he said nothing about it. She already likely knew she was in bad shape, so his commenting on it would be a waste of time and words. The best thing he could do for her now was to find her a medical officer and more engineers. "I'll be as fast as I can, Lieutenant," he assured.

"Understood." T'Lara responded and then shuffled off to the nearby wall and slid down it. Everyone had their tasks now. Her lips began to move as she began to softly recite Seitha's words, "Internal comms...life support...internal sensors.."

 

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