Seconds from Disaster

Posted on Fri May 30th, 2025 @ 9:57am by Captain Mikoto Misaka & Lieutenant Touma Kamijou & Ensign Wendy Marvell & Commander Eila Juutilainen 'Illu' & Lieutenant JG Kenneth Hunt & Lieutenant JG Erskin Mon & Lieutenant JG Feeva Drylo & Lieutenant S'Mira & Lieutenant Aleksandra Litvyak 'Sanya'

2,247 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Atlantic Trouble
Location: Various

[USS Ermiana - Main Bridge]

The bridge of the Ermiana was rather quiet. With the Captain not there, command if the overall ship had been given to the ships second officer, Commander Lurath, whilst the command of the scientific survey mission had been assigned to Commander Sonak. So far it seemed to be going well and smoothly.

Ensign Marvell had been assigned to bridge duty and was manning the auxiliary Engineering console. Usually this wasn't necessary, however considering the ship was surveying a Nebula, Chief Carter had suggested it be manned 'just in case'.

Down in Medical, Feeva was rushing around, getting things set up for the day. She was exhausted. Felicie's quick absence when she was reassigned had left the younger Vissian to take over as acting Chief and she wasn't ready yet. She always felt like she wasn't good enough.

Ltjg. Kenneth Hunt stood at the tactical station. Things were fairly quiet, which didn't bother him at all. Most security personnel longed for constant action. The young Lieutenant on the other hand enjoyed the maintained piece and order.

Lieutenant S'Mira was one of a new batch of crew rotations. The young Caitian Lieutenant had been assigned bridge duty, and was watching over the ship's systems from the Ops station.

Slightly later for duty than he meant to be, newly minted Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Erskin Mod stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge of the Starship Ermiana for the first time. He had been excited to start this new part of his career, but mainly as a means of moving forward as a new Trill Initiate. While he had been selected to host a symbiont, the fact he was hosting a newborn was still hard to get a handle on. Glancing around the Bridge he quickly found the Operations console, but noticed that a Caitian was sitting there. Rather than assume his typical station, Erskin chose instead to take the Mission Ops station to get a feel for the ship.

[RMS Olympic - Holodeck]

The sunset was beautiful over the Atlantic Ocean. The soft oranges and hues of reds reflected off the water as the majestic steamer cut through the waves. A cold breeze swept the decks as its crew and passengers were busy with their evenings.

Captain Misaka fresh from Dinner made her way to the bridge at the front of the boat deck. She stood looking over the bow, nothing was in front of them apart from open ocean. She stepped into the wheelhouse. "How's she holding?"

"Holding steady and tru to course Captain." The helmsmsn replied as he gripped the wooden wheel.

Misaka smiled. "Good. Keep on course."

She then retreated towards the Captain's Quarters which were set just behind the bridge.

[USS Ermiana Bridge]

"Commander, I'm detecting several power fluctuations amongst several of the ships secondary systems." Wendy reported looking back from the Engineering console.

"It seems to be jumping from system to system..." Wendy reported.

"I'm on it..." S'Mira responded, attempting to isolate the fluctuations, cussing quietly to herself as she did so.

The bridge lights seemed to flicker for a brief moment. The helm of the Ermiana began to beep loudly as the ships engines suddenly stalled sending the Galaxy Class starship into a drift.

At the Mission Operations console, Lieutenant Mon started accessing the ship's computer systems trying to help isolate the problem to see if it was a software issue.

[RMS Olympic - Holodeck]

The Olympic shook for a brief second before the orange sunset was suddenly replaced with dark star filled skies. The outside of the ship also changed as the ships promenade deck suddenly became enclosed with new metal sheeting on the exterior.

Eila had only just returned to the bridge from the round of cards in the smoking room when the magnificent sunset was suddenly replaced by the dark of night on a flat calm ocean. It was cold, too, and Eila wished she'd picked up a spot of tea on the way back.

As Eila peered out over the starboard bridge wing, she squinted towards the black horizon, as she swore she could see something blotting it out directly ahead of the Olympic. The sound of the bell from the crow's nest seconds later suddenly confirmed her suspicion.

Soon after the bell rang, a phone on the bridge began to ring. Eila moved to answer it, but a Junior officer stepping onto the bridge beat her to it:

"Is there anyone there??" Came the panicked voice of the lookout.

"Yes, what do you see?"

"Iceberg, right ahead!" The lookout reported.

"Thank you."

The junior officer hung up the phone and ran up to Eila.

"Iceberg, right ahead!"

"Hard to starboard!" Eila shouted, with the Junior officer echoing her command.

As the helmsman began to turn, Eila moved over to the engine order telegraphs, and began ringing each one full astern.

Misaka stood up from the chair she had been dozing in. She moved to the window and looked out. It had been sunset only seconds ago, the ship had shook and now the clock was showing 23:39.

Suddenly the sound of the bell from the crows nest got her attention. She jumped out of her chair. She rushed to the bridge, only to hear the officer on watch order the ship hard to starboard. Misaka stood on the balcony as a huge iceberg emerged out if the gloom.

"Wait... this can't be right." She muttered. Slowly the bow of the Olympic began to turn, moving away from the Iceberg. Misaka looked at the helm.

"Is she hard over?!" Eila called out.

"Aye Sir, she's hard over!"

But that wasn't enough, they were far too close. With a tremendous crash, the bow of the Olympic brushed against the side of the Iceberg. The huge ship behan to shake and shudder, the sound of metal scraping and rivets popping could be heard as the once artic ice scraped along the ships Portside.

As Sanya had taken the role of Thomas Andrews, she was in the cabin he would have otherwise occupied, and felt a slight vibration. She had been studying Olympic's plans when the vibration interrupted her from her work. When she looked back on the plans, she noticed something peculiar: The plans before her had changed. Alterations that weren't there previously had suddenly appeared, and instead of the plans bearing Olympic's name, they suddenly bore a different name: Titanic.

Feeva took off at a ladylike trot for the medical facilities. Hopefully someone would kill this simulation because this dress was going to hinder her work. She made her way to the ship's clinic, and put on her stupid pinafore and tricorn hat that nurses of that day would wear. Demeaning, that's what it was!! Still, she made an announcement on the ship's system. "The clinic is prepped to receive," she said.

It lasted only a minute, but the damage was done. Slowly the Olympic came to a stop not far past the Iceberg. Misaka walked onto the bridge. "What the hell was that?"

"A berg Captain. Hard to see in these conditions." Eila said. "I ordered the helm hard over and the engines full astern, but we were right on top of it! We've likely taken damage. Should I close the watertight doors?"

Misaka nodded. Much like her own ship these old steam ships had bulkheads which could be closed to prevent flooding in case of a hull breach. Eila pulled a switch on the back wall, initiating the closure of the watertight doors down below.

"I need a damage assessment now." Misaka ordered. This didn't seem right to her at all, this was meant to be a peaceful no drama, no worry crossing. It was then something caught her eye on the ships wheel, the name was different. She approached it slowly. Instead of RMS Olympic, the engraving on the wheel now read, RMS Titanic.

"Ah... crap..." Misaka cursed, if she remembered her ancient Earth history well enough, this was going to be a Night to Remember.

[USS Ermiana]

"WARNING!" the ships computer wailed. "Containment fields of the anti-matter storage pods are down to forty per cent. Failure of containment at fifteen per cent". This message was been called out not only on the bridge but also in main engineering.

"Damnit!" S'Mira cursed as her console became increasingly filled with error messages. "I can't reroute power to the containment fields! Every which way I try has some kind of blown relay."

S'Mira knew that a blown relay was a barrier that prevented power from being rerouted through the lines. As she was Operations and not Engineering, there was little she could do other than report the problem and hope the engineers weren't sleeping on the job.

"Let's try to isolate the remaining forcefield equipment," Erskin suggested from the Mission Ops console. "We may be able to stabilize the containment fields at the current levels, even as low as they are it's better than nothing." The Trill Operations Manager suggested, his fingers gliding across the Mission Ops console.

"I can pull power from other systems," Wendy replied looking back from the Engineering console towards the rear of the bridge. "How much do you need Lieutenant?"

The young Trill was typing rapidly on the workstation as he heard the question, but still carefully examined the readouts that were on his display. It was a very good question and one that he hoped he'd have the answer to quickly otherwise the ship may not be around much longer to even need to worry about those other systems. "I need a thirty second overcharge of, at least, 115% and that should be enough to stabilize the fields. Do we have enough power for that?" He really only needed 113.67% but felt it better to round up.

"I think I can do that for you." Wendy replied. "But it's going to put strain on the power network."

[RMS Titanic - Holodeck]

By this time, Sanya had been down below to assess the iceberg damage, and things were not looking good. Having had to stop and assure several first class holograms that everything was fine when historical records pointed to the contrary was a hard thing to do. Especially when down below, her own eyes saw the icy waters of the North Atlantic rushing in.

Having fetched the ship's plans, Sanya rushed to report her findings to the ship's officers. Along the way, she was joined by a hologram of J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star Line's chairman.

"Most unfortunate, Captain:" Ismay said as Sanya unrolled what were now the Titanic's plans on a desk.

"Water, four meters above keel in ten minutes." Sanya breathlessly reported. "In the forepeak, all three holds, and Boiler Room Six."

"That's right, sir." A junior officer confirmed.

"When can we get underway, damnit?" Ismay asked.

"That's five compartments!" Sanya stated, turning to Mikoto. "She can stay afloat with four compartments flooded, but not five... Not five... As she goes down by head, water will spill over tops of bulkheads, at E Deck, from one to another, and back and back, there's no stopping it."

"This ship has... pumps right?" Misaka asked. "How long?"

"The pumps buy you time, but not much." Sanya responded. "Minutes, at most! From this point on, no matter what we do... Titanic will founder."

"But this ship can't sink!" Ismay attempted to object.

"She's made of iron, Mr. Ismay: I assure you, she can... And she will." Sanya replied. "It is mathematical certainty..."

"There's something wrong." Misaka said. "This should be the Olympic not the Titanic." She told them. "I'm going to check the program files. Computer, arch."

Usually the entrance arch would appear, however this time it didn't. "Computer, freeze program." Yet nothing froze, people kept moving and the program didn't freeze. "Ok then. Computer, end program."

Misaka ran a hand through her hair. "It seems as if we have a problem." She said turning to Eila. "Get everyone real together. We need to find the auxiliary control panel."

"Yes, Captain." Eila nodded before heading off to find the people from the Ermiana who were in the holodeck, pushing her way past Ismay.

"Now, I've seen everything:" The hologram grumbled. "The captain's gone mad!"

"I should go with her:" Sanya said to Mikoto. "Two pairs of eyes is better than one."

Mikoto nodded. "Stay as natural as you can. We don't know if The safety protocols are active. Stay alert too and make your way towards the stern." She ordered. She Lee Sanya away pointing towards the wheelhouse which was towards the holodecks back wall.

Nodding, Sanya set off after Eila.

"What is this talk of arches and safety protocols, Captain?" Ismay proceeded to ask. "That kind of deranged speech should have a man institutionalized."

Ignoring Ismay, Misaka made her way into the wheelhouse locking the door behind her. Then she pulled off the panel to the holodeck controls.

As she tapped on the buttons she frowned. "The holodeck controls aren't responding. Safeties are off and we're locked in here." She sighed. "Damn holodecks."

She pondered for a brief moment. "The only way for us to get out is for the Simulation to end, and if I remember rightly, this ship sinks killing over a thousand people. Damn it!" She cursed. This was definitely going to be a Night to Remember...

To be continued...

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