30 days (Backpost)

Posted on Thu Feb 4th, 2021 @ 6:29pm by Captain Mikoto Misaka & Lieutenant Commander Peter Carter Jr & Lieutenant Zon th'Tetz

934 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Cleaning Up
Location: Bridge Conference Room

A month had passed since work started on the surface of Veridian III, and things were moving along steadily. Pete came in the back way to the conference room and plopped into a chair. He was bone tired, but never felt better.

"You look more tired than usual Chief" Mikoto said from the head chair.

"Just a bit stiff ma'am." Pete said pulling his notepad from inside his blouse. "Those emergency cots aren't the best. I may hit the holodeck for a message before I get back to work. With your blessing that is."

Mikoto couldn't help but smile. They had been having their own problems the last few weeks with the Klingons constantly knocking around and keeping an eye on them. She admitted to herself she had felt more uneasy with them constantly on their toes. "I'm sure you've earned some time off. Your report?"

"Since we started transporting material aboard on the 21st of last month we've averaged 3 shuttles per day of useable salvage. Plus an additional one per day of non-usable material to the Renault. In round numbers some 100 thousand ton. We have also recovered around 10 ton of personal items to be returned to the Enterprise personnel. All of the small arms known to be aboard, have been brought aboard. From talking to Cayne they have been inspected, certified usable and secured."

"At the rate we are going ma'am, I'd say we are on schedule or slightly ahead of it." Pete said slowly getting to his feet, and called up a visual representation of the saucer section on the large wall display. "Now this is how far along we've gotten. Anything in red." He pressed a button on the side of the screen and the top 6 decks of the ship were shaded in red to varying degrees. "The outer skin will be the last to come down to keep her from flooding while we're in the middle of pulling her apart."

Mikoto studied the image. "Any trouble from our onlooking guests?" She asked referring to the Klingons who had been knocking around. "They seem to be biding their time, but I doubt that they'll hesitate at any chance to get access to the Enterprise's Computer Core."

Pete shook his head. "Except for the one visit, no ma'am they haven't. I have a round the clock security on the main core, and all access points have been welded shut. That includes all the secondary processor rooms." He touched the visual on the large display at roughly where those sections are. "That's on top of the transport inhibitors we installed, that cover the entire area."

"Good work" Misaka replied. "Starfleet want us to keep a close eye on these Klingons" she paused. "How are your people holding up?"

"Our people are holding up alright. The civilians are to as near as I can tell. The have been the odd squabble of course, but nothing worth getting sore over truthfully." Pete crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Tina Quincannon, has been trying to keep me updated on things up here. I gotta ask ma'am. How does McDowell go and shatter both hands at once?"

Misaka sighed. "I don't know. Something to do with a dodgy shuttle. He's having to go under reconstruction surgery at the nearest starbase and a long time in physiotherapy" she said.

"Keep up the good work Chief. Just make sure we're doing this by the book. Starfleet want all essential systems removed in under three weeks. Focus on computers, weapons, internal systems and anything not considered 'sensitive'".

Pete rolled his right shoulder a little. "The primary computer core is going to be our largest problem. One of them, anyway. It stands 4 decks high and its roughly fifteen meters square, and it has to be removed in one piece. When the time comes for that ....." Carter stopped himself mid sentence. The thought of moving that sent shivers down his spine. He touched the display marking it on the screen and drew a box in its general area.

Misaka nodded. "Use any resources or personnel you need. Double shifts if need be. Starfleet doesn't like the idea of the Klingons knocking around either so time is of the essence"

"We've placed explosive devices around the core, just in case we need to make a quick getaway," Zon chimed in. He had been reading the PaDD in front of him, "The core has been completely wiped but as you know it is impossible to 100% wipe everything from an isolinear chip."

"No, it can be done." Carter said as he returned to his chair. "It just isn't easy." He sat back down. "According to Tina, the damages to the ship were little more than cosmetic, and taking into account the excess stores we have no trouble."

"Ok, it can be done... But even then it isn't worth the effort," Zon responded, "Even then the process is new and we don't have the equipment to do so."

"I explained to Starfleet about our situation" Mikoto said. "They're sending some heavy removal craft, however they're still a good few days out. Hopefully that should give you the correct equipment to get the core out" she paused. "For now, strip down as much as you can until they arrive"

"Bridge to Captain Misaka" Misaka's comm badge chirrped. She tapped it in response. "Misaka here" she said in response. "Starfleet Command is sending you a transmission"

"Route it through to my ready room" she replied. "Dismissed gentlemen"

Posting by

Captain Mikoto Misaka
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Peter Carter Jr
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Zon th'Tetz
Chief of Operations

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