All Scienced Up and No Place to Go

Posted on 02 Oct 2024 @ 11:58am by Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant Liala Ziyal
Edited on on 02 Oct 2024 @ 11:59am

1,289 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Stranded
Location: Main Bridge
Timeline: Immediately after Assess and Ascend

ON
Bridge
USS Cygnus (or what is left of her)


The Captain had just watched Commander Stovek depart through the aft Jeffries Tubes, hoping against hope that Ensign McConnor's recommendation to not take them due to collapse and plasma fires was for naught. Plase had no idea how many people were still alive on his stricken ship, and could not afford to lose any more. Just as he was about to get to reading over the information that Stovek had been able to coax from the busted station, a new noise emanated from the front of the Bridge. As he moved towards it, the panel to the Jeffries tube there popped off, revealing his Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Ziyal.

Rushing forward to help her from the tube, he said, "Thank the Prophets you're still alive," in way of greeting. Unusual, yes, but not at present with their current predicament.

"Thank you Captain." Liala said as she struggled to get herself out. Her leg was sore and the makeshift bandage had been struggling to keep up. "I've just been lucky sir. I was trapped in the science lab and thought this was the best place to be." she winced. "What do you need me to do?" she asked, her piercing blue eyes set on her commanding officer.

He looked her over once, thankful she was alive, then got to business. "You just missed Commander Stovek. He is headed to the Engineering Hull to see if we can get some power. We haven't gotten any word from the whole section, and I fear the worst," he said, including her in on things. "We have already seen Lieutenant Seitha; he has gone to make relief efforts in one of the gathering areas. Commander Bast," he said, motioning to the Doctor and nurse behind him, "Well, he is in a bad state. As soon as he is stabilized, maybe you can get Dr. Winters to take a quick look at you before she heads back to Sickbay. In the meantime, before Stovek left, he was able to coax some power out of this console, and was able to download this information. I tell you, I could use some help deciphering it," he said, picking up the PADD that he had discarded when he saw Ziyal emerging from the Jeffries Tube. "What do you make of this?"

"I'm in no rush to been seen sir." Liala replied in response to seeing Dr Winters. This was by far one of the worst injuries she had received in her life, and it was quite painful, but she was in a stable condition as far as she could tell with the bleeding on her leg stemmed due to the makeshift bandage she had created.

Taking the PADD Liala could do nothing but frown at the state of the data. "This looks like the computer has had a seizure." she sighed. "From what I can see..." she began to scroll through the screen using one of her fingers, "the data is partially corrupted. Probably due to what happened. What did happen captain? Were we attacked?" she asked briefly looking up before back down at the PADD.

The question she asked was the question of the hour, and a thumping good one. "I do not think we were attacked. If we were, we would not be standing here having this pleasant conversation," he said, attempted to inject some sarcastic humor into the situation. "To be frank, we don't yet know what happened. That is what I am hoping you can figure out here," the Captain stated, pointing at the PADD she was holding. "Commander Stovek was able to use a portable power supply and power up this station so he could download what he could. Whatever information is there will be helpful to the extreme." He looked around his all-but-destroyed Bridge and sighed. "Even if the information is partial, as you pointed out. We need information, so we do not keep running around like a Denobulan rawrferian bird with our heads cuts off."

Liala nodded as she listened. She understood he was attempting to lighten the mood with some humour, but all she could sense on board, due to her empathic abilities, was a spectrum of emotions: confusion, panic, fear, but also determination, compassion, and a resolve to overcome this.

She analysed the PADD, her finger tracing the data. "According to this, our power reserves were at 70% when this data was extracted," she noted. "I'm unsure how much Stovek has relayed to you, but the situation is graver than we thought." With a heavy sigh, Liala continued, "The records show that an external explosion has hit our vessel, inflicting severe damage. Our science pod is a total loss, obliterated. We're now contending with several hull breaches due to the impact, and life support is down on multiple decks. Without our sensor pod, long-distance communication is impossible, and it seems our port nacelle is damaged beyond function. It's my belief that the Orion ship is behind this. Considering we were traveling at warp speed without our shields, it stands to reason that the Bixilfiz suffered some kind of rupture, and we're now dealing with the aftermath of its demise."

Plase whistled through his teeth. No, Stovek had not told him all this, but the Captain gave the Vulcan second officer the benefit of the doubt. It was extremely likely he had not been able to process all the information contained in the corrupted report that the Chief Science Officer had just done, and with some difficulty. "Several massive area's of the ship have been destroyed, battery backups are draining, life-support has failed on multiple decks, and no hope for communication with Starfleet. Okay, the situation seems dire, but we can work with this. Stovek has already headed to one of the impulse reactors to see if he can get it back online. If he can, we will have power. Next step is to get internal communications online. That is our next priority," the Captain commanded.

"We are still alive, Captain. Where there is life, there is hope," Liala said in a soft tone. "I can check the communications system and see if I can fix it enough so that when Commander Stovek restores power, we'll be able to thank him for his efforts," she added with a smile, hoping to buoy the Captain's spirits. The Captain smirked, thinking how wonderful a surprise that would be for the Vulcan Ops officer, and indeed for everyone on the ship.

The situation was more dire than the crew realised, but Starfleet never surrendered, and Humans even less so. Faced with a mere 1% chance of survival, they would continue to strive and battle to the very end. Observing her Captain, a man she scarcely knew, she sensed the burden of command on his shoulders, yet also a resilience that she was certain would keep him standing resolute.

While working on the communications system, she would also attempt to restore any onboard sensors she could. Indeed, most were located on the science pod, but the ship wasn't entirely without vision. To borrow a human expression, they hadn't put all their eggs in one basket.

Liala placed a hand on the captain's shoulder, an attempt to show empathy and compassion. "We will get through this sir. I promise you that. My time in this universe is not over, and neither is yours."

Bane loved her confidence and her resilience. He felt lifted and renewed by her words, her actions, her determination. "Alright then," he said after a large inhale through the nose, "That sounds. perfect. Let's kick a chicken, shall we?"



OFF

Liala Ziyal, Lieutenant
Chief Science Officer, USS Cygnus

&

Bane Plase, Captain
USS Cygnus, Commanding

 

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