Regrouping

Posted on 10 Dec 2024 @ 6:34pm by Lieutenant Maralen Seitha

3,774 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Stranded
Location: Various
Timeline: Just after The Hunt For Help

Maralen had left the medic and two ensigns with the Chief Engineer and turned his attention to his own normal duties, protecting the ship. A duty which you failed spectacularly at, his mind chided him mercilessly.

Maralen growled softly. He had not failed; there had been no way for him to know that the ship they had been towing would blow itself to hell and try taking them with it! No one could have predicted that!

You should have! his mind accused. You're the master strategist, the adaptable one. You didn't adapt to the changing situation fast enough.

It was litterbox contents, and he knew it. Still, he couldn't help but to think it.

Climbing down to Deck 25, he began a methodical search through the ship. He was looking for anyone who might not have been able to get to one of the Safe Zones, but he was also looking for any of his Security personnel.

First, he entered Maintenance Bay 2. As he did, the lights came back on, and he heard the air circulation system kick in... at least a little bit.

The place looked as though a massive storm had torn through it. Tools and parts were strewn all over the room. Pieces of equipment -- both those that had been under maintenance at the time as well as those that were designed to aid in said maintenance -- were damaged and/or tossed about. In one wall, the handle of some tool or other stuck out of the bulkhead. But there were no prople in here. Either there had been no one in the room at the time of the accident or they had vacated it safely. Either way, he closed the bay and moved on to Engineering labs 1-3.

Labs 2 and 3 were empty but showed the same signs of having been tossed by a professional mess-maker. Lab 1 had also been tossed, but something smelled different here.

It was not empty.

Maralen paused, listening and taking a scenting of the air once more. Yes, there was definitely someone in here. "Hello?" he called to whomever was inside. There was the slight smell of blood, but it was not overwhelming, so very likely, the injury was not too severe... he hoped.

From a shadowy corner, he heard movement. As the person cleared the shadows, he noted that it was a small fellow who appeared to be rather shaken. The man wore the gold of Operations, Engineering and Security and the rank pips of a lieutenant junior grade. He paused and seemed to study Maralen for several long moments.

"Are you injured?" Maralen asked the man, prodding gently for something, anything. The man appeared to be in some kind of shock.

The younger man blinked several times at Maralen before giving himself a pat-down. "I-I don't... th-think so, Sir," he finally answered. "E-everyth-thing went... dark and, and--" he shuddered.

Maralen put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I know. Right now, though, I need to know your name and section."

Again, the blining, followed by "M-Marcus. Everett Marcus, Sir. I'm... Engineering."

The young lieutenant was regaining some steadiness as he answered Maralen's questions. That was good. "Good, Everett," he said gently, using his natural warmth to continue to inspire calm. "I need you to go one level up to Main Engineering and report to Lieutenant Ahmad, all right?"

The man looked, for a second, as though he was going to protest, but he didn't. Instead, he nodded. "O-okay, Sir." Maralen moved out of the doorway, and the engineer scurried past him.

Maralen felt bad for the man. He had not asked what had happened here as that seemed fairly obvious to him, and he needed to move on to the next location. Hopefully, soon, he would find some of his Security people. Some of them should have been patrolling on these decks.

The only things left on this deck were Science Labs 11-15. He was not sure what breeds of science these labs were devoted to, and so he had no idea what to expect as he began inspecting them except for the obvious. Devastation.

Oddly, these were empty save for ruined equipment and two science officers and one security officer who had not survived. No one else. And only one security officer?

Well, that actually makes some sense, he reasoned. Any of my people who survived would have tasked themselves with moving folks to Safe Zones.

He moved on, making his way up one level to Deck 24. As he came out of the Tubes on that level, his mind went over what was here. Main Engineering, which he had already been in; he knew who and what was there -- nothing he was looking for. There was also the Chief Engineer's office, Storage Bays 1-6, and one of the Graviton Polarity Generators -- number 5 to be precise. That he could eliminate as there should not have been anyone in there when this happened. And that left the office and the Storage Bays.

The office would be the easiest, and quickest, to search, so Maralen moved off to do that. So far, on these two decks, he had not run into any bodies in the corridors, but he knew from memory that there would be some on decks above these. He was not looking forward to that, but that was a thought for later. For now, he needed to focus on the current task.

When he entered the office, he froze for a moment, and his heart dropped into his shoes. On the floor lay three people. The two adults he knew by their dossiers (and that dinner they had hosted). Christina and Kin'Fuji Hartley. The child he had seen at the dinner though only briefly. He remembered that she had been introduced as their child, K'tress. It was this third tiny body that had stopped the security chief cold. Children were his weakness, always had been. And, for a split second when he had seen her lying there, his mind had taken him back to a planet far from this place and another child lying deathly still before him. That one, though, had been--

Irrelevant, growled the voice of the Executive in his thoughts. Of course, as always, the man was not anywhere near him nor could he speak to him. No, this was just a manifestation of a part of his mind that the Partnership had trained so thoroughly that it intruded on his thoughts like this. He pushed it aside and moved to kneel beside the bodies.

Kin'Fuji was closest to his position, so he checked her first. Deceased. Sadness for the family pushed forward, but he channeled it as he had been taught, into caring. He then reached out to check on K'tress. She was so still. It made his heart ache to think that this innocent child might have died here. But to his relief, she was alive, though her pulse was slow, and her breathing was shallow. He would carry her himself to Sickbay if necessary, but there might still be a doctor in Main Engineering tending the chief engineer. He would check that first.

But before that, he checked Christina. She also was alive, though barely. He did not think he could carry both of them, so he very much hoped that there was a doctor nearby.

Rising from the floor, he made his way back to Main Engineering. There was a doctor present, so Maralen approached and whispered the situation to him, letting just a touch of the urgency he felt enter his voice and eyes. The doctor nodded. "I will take care of them," he assured, already standing to do so. Maralen, reassured that they were in good hands now, left to continue his search.

Next were Storage Bays 1-6. He had not really expected to find anyone in them, but he checked them anyway just to be sure. As expected, the cargo had been tossed about violently. From what he could tell, though, none of it was damaged in such a way as to be dangerous, but some of it was materials he was not an expert on. He would have to tell someone from Science or Engineering. Until then, he moved on, making his way up to Deck 23. It contained the Main Navigational Deflector and Graviton Polarity Generators 2-4, both places there should not have been anyone inside. But Maralen was taking no chances; he searched them anyway. Fortunately, there was no one there, so he moved on to Deck 22.

Deck 22 contained the Structural Integrity Field Systems, Deuterium Storage, Matter Injectors, Forward Torpedo Launcher, Torpedo Loading Mechanism, Torpedo Bay, Graviton Polarity Generator 1, Shuttlebay 2, and Shuttle Maintenance. Much of it was taken up with places that there should not have been anyone inside, but he would need to check them anyway. He would never forgive himself if he didn't check and someone died who might have been saved.

Therefore, methodically -- well, as much so as he was able given that he had to skirt around some areas being unable to pass through them -- Maralen made his search of the areas that should have been empty. They were; however, he did find a few bodies in the corridors. Two were members of one of his security teams, and one was Maintenance. He noted their identities and locations and continued.

He knew that, to some, he might seem heartless, but it was not that at all. Quite the opposite, actually. The problem was that he tended to care too much, and so he could not allow himself to idle too long on this or he would be useless. So he moved on to Shuttle Maintenance.

That location was not empty, sadly. Three officers whom he guessed were the shift officers at the time had been battered and were quite dead. He added their names to his growing list and moved on. He could not check the Shuttlebay, however. The door refused to open, and it was icy cold, which likely meant that it was open to space. Sighing, he continued his climb through the ship.

Deck 21 held Holodecks 5 and 6 as well as Deuterium Storage and the Main Probe Storage. As before, he cleared the places no one should be first, finding them empty and then moved on to the Holodecks. Number 5 was empty, but number 6 he found locked. As with the shuttlebay door, he touched it to see if it was cold. Theoretically, it should not be open to space as these were deeper into the body of the ship as opposed to being at the edges.

Assured that it was not -- he hoped -- Maralen used the manual release to crank the doors open enough that he could get between them. Inside, the grid was dark. There were emergency lights, but the grid itself was not functioning. Inside were several crewmembers from different departments by the color of their uniforms. Two were science, one was medical, and three were security. He gave them all a once-over with his eyes before he spoke.

"Vargas, Blake, and Ramirez, I need you to split up and help me search the reat of the ship for any more stragglers who couldn't make it to one of the Safety Zones as well as more Security people. If we work in pairs, we can search the ship faster while still having some idea where each of us is. So, Vargas and Ramirez, you take Deck 20, and Blake and I will take Deck 19. Then all of us will meet on Deck 18 and divide up from there if any of us have found more. Any questions?"

The three security folks shook their heads, and Maralen turned his attention to the scientists and one doctor. "You three head up to Fat Alice's. For now, you two" he indicated the scientists "stay there. You" he looked at the doctor "can move on to the next Safety Zone if you are not needed there. Any questions?"

Having been in the holodeck through all of it, all of them actually had many questions, but they would get answered eventually, and now was not the time, so they shook their heads.

"Good. Head out."

The scientists and doctor left first, making their way to Fat Alice's. Vargas and Ramirez were next, then he and Blake. All of them made their way up, Vargas and Ramirez splitting off on the next deck. Maralen and Blake accompanied the scientists and doctor up one more deck. Then Maralen considered what was on this deck and how best to split it while their three charges continued to Fat Alice's.

This deck housed Crew Quarters, Fat Alice's Crew Lounge, Lateral Sensor Arrays, and the Secondary Computer Core (Upper Level). "We need to check everywhere, even places where there shouldn't have been people... just in case. So I'll take the Sensor Arrays, and you take the Secondary Computer Core upper level. Then we'll split up the crew quarters and meet back at Fat Alice's before moving up to Deck 18."

Blake nodded. "Yes, sir." No more needed to be said, so he moved off to do as instructed.

They each moved off to their respective search areas but returned shortly with no results. That, Maralen thought, was good. It meant that either no one had been in those areas or someone had moved them already and taken those in need of aid to either Sickbay or the nearest Safety Zone for treatment by whatever doctor might be there.

The two of them split up the crew quarters that were on this deck, searching them thoroughly. When they met at Fat Alice's, Blake was accompanied by an engineer and a scientist. Maralen had brought back one more security officer and an Operations officer. The three non-security people went into the lounge, and Maralen followed, looking over the crowd of crew there to see if any security folks were present. The fact that there were not could be either good or bad, so he moved on.

Maralen, Blake and Kinsey -- the officer Maralen had found -- made their way up to Deck 18 to meet up with Vargas and Ramirez. The other two had found several security personnel, a couple in the crew quarters on their deck as well as a few in the mess decks. Maralen nodded approval and addressed the group, now 10 in all. It was a small number compared to the number that were assigned to the ship, but he knew that some of his teams would be dead, and he would find out which ones when they could take a proper head count. But for now, the added 6 would help them speed up the search process.

Maralen split the ten of them up into teams of two, keeping the original two teams unchanged but pairing the rest off. Then he assigned each pair a deck, 18 through 14. They would then meet on Deck 13 to regroup again and go from there. His people acknowledged, and they began the climb, pairs each peeling off at their deck until it was only Blake and himself at Deck 14. As they emerged onto the deck, the lights came up. Maralen paused and gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the change in lighting, turning off his belt light and clipping it to his belt.

Their deck contained Cargo Bays 3 and 4, the Cargo Loading Doors and Residential Quarters. He suspected they might find people in those quarters. He and Blake each took one of the Cargo Bays, then they split up the residential quarters.

As they had climbed and passed through the halls, Maralen felt the weight of what had happened to his crew settle onto his shoulders and into his heart once again. So many lost, and how many more before they finished? In 9 decks, he had found only a handful of people -- except, of course, for in Fat Alice's -- and only ten of them were security. Was this a sign for what remained?

Not relevant. Focus on the task at hand. That cold voice in his mind again, the part of him trained by that... man, scolding him for letting his focus waver. He mentally hissed at it and then focused on channeling his feelings, finding the calm, and finding his people.

He was grateful that the lights had come back on, and air began to circulate once more. While the light from his belt light did give his feline eyes enough to see by, it was the air that had been wearing on him, or rather the lack of it. Now, he could breathe freely.

As he had suspected, they had indeed found people in the residential quarters. Unfortunately, they had all been deceased. Four were Security. He suspected they had been patrolling this deck or checking in on the civilians when the disaster had struck. He made a mental note of their names as well as the images of the civilians so that he could look their names up later.

Blake noticed his boss' hesitation and stopped. "Boss, you okay?" he asked, concern in his tones.

Maralen was not sure whether that concern was more about him personally or that Blake didn't want his job. In truth, it didn't matter. He stood from where he had been knelt beside a pair of civilians, nodding. "Yes, I'm fine. Just... remembering them." He started back up the corridor toward the lift shaft.

Blake followed silently for a moment, then asked as they reached the shaft, "You knew them, sir?"

Maralen pushed the call key to see if the lift was working again. He heard a somewhat distant hum. "No," he confessed, listening to the hum draw closer.

Again, Blake was silent for a moment. The lift car arrived, and the doors parted halfway. Maralen and Blake pulled them the rest of the way apart and entered. Maralen had to coax the terminal to take his command to go up one deck, but eventually, it did start into motion. He noted that the doors did not fully close.

Finally, Blake asked, "I'm confused then, sir. If you don't know them, how do you mean you're 'remembering them'?" The confusion was evident in the man's voice; Maralen did not need to look at him.

The lift car jerked to a halt on Deck 13, and they had to force the doors open to get out. Once they had exited, Maralen paused and looked around for the rest of his team. Some had more places to search, so they had not all gathered yet. He looked at Blake.

"My people believe," he paused, and his expression registered pain for a second before he banished it once more and continued, "believed that no one is truly gone unless they're forgotten. I intend to look up all I can find on those I have found deceased and, thus, remember them in some fashion."

Blake said nothing, but Maralen could see that the man was thinking about that. While he did so, the rest of his teams began to arrive. With them, they had brought 8 more. That was four more teams he could set to searching. He really hoped that most of his people were in these upper decks, though they should not have been if they were patrolling correctly. The sickening realization settled into his mind that a good many may have been lost to the hull breaches and the places that they had been unable to search because they were cut off.

He tool reports from all present then divided them up again. Now they could cover 9 decks, this one through Deck 5. He assigned each group a deck and they began the upward movement, each team again peeling off at their assigned deck. He and Blake continued to Deck 5.

This time, their deck included the Lower Shuttle Maintenance Bay, VIP Quarters, and the Primary Communications Array. This close to the top of the ship, there was less blockage. Also, someone had cleaned up the bodies that must have been in these halls. They had not cleaned the corridors themselves, only moved the bodies. That meant that there were people alive up here... he hoped.

Hope is irrelevant and useless. Only facts matter. Focus. He ignored the voice this time, giving it the equivalent of a mental order to go and do unseemly things with itself. Hope was very relevant. It was what would keep this crew going when everything in them screamed that it was over. Hope was--

His thoughts were cut off by the captain's voice crackling over his commbadge. Frowning slightly, he looked down, pausing in the corridor between the lift shaft and the shuttle maintenance bay. "Attention all hands. Red alert. Arm yourselves if you can. Defend the ship. This is not a drill."

"Sshrral!" Maralen hissed under his breath. Being both who he was and Security, he never went anywhere unarmed. However, he would have preferred something better than a Type III hand Phaser. Oh, well, it would have to do for now. He tried his own commbadge.

=/\= This is Seitha. Copy that. =/\=

Whether the captain heard or not, he knew that his security people had heard the captain's order. He tapped it again, this time to hopefully open the channel to his security folks wherever they were on the ship. =/\= Seitha to Security forces. You heard the order. Arm up if you aren't already =/\= -- their weapons could have been lost/damaged during the accident -- =/\= Stay on the decks you're on and protect as many as you can. =/\=

Immediately, he turned and made his way to the Primary Communications Array. Maybe he could coordinate from there or at least get comms more reliably online. On his way, he passed Blake.

"Blake, check the VIP quarters then the maintenance bay. I'm heading to the Communications Array."

Blake shook his head. "Maintenance Bay is locked off. I'll check the VIP quarters though, sir. Good luck."

Luck was nothing to do with it, Maralen thought to himself. Unlike hope, luck was a useless offering as it very much, in his experience at least, did not exist... unless you counted bad luck. Still, it was one of those things people said to boost morale.

"Good luck to us all, Blake," he returned then made his way quickly down the corridor.

OFF

Lieutenant Maralen Seitha
Chief Security Officer
USS Cygnus

&

Multiple NPCs
Played by Seitha

 

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