Different Options (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Jan 21st, 2024 @ 3:23am by Captain Mikoto Misaka & Lieutenant Commander Peter Carter Jr & Lieutenant Commander Lurath, Son of Grogori & Lieutenant Commander Sonak & Commander Eila Juutilainen 'Illu' & Lieutenant James Henderson & Lieutenant Felicie Giehl & Lieutenant JG Kromal Ezazzan
Edited on on Sun Jan 21st, 2024 @ 3:23am

1,651 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Search
Location: Observation Lounge - Deck 1

Mikoto paced up and down against the windows of the observation lounge. The swirls and plasma storms of the badlands casting an eerie yellow and gold backdrop as she awaited the arrival of the senior staff. The situation was not good, with the Ermiana still far from fully operational and the Cardassians now out for blood, she needed to find options and fast.

Kromal entered first, no doubt just ahead of Peter who wouldn't be far behind. The Gorn gave a nod to the Captain as he moved near the table, stopping to admire the view of the badlands from the viewports. A moment later he took his seat, adjusting his tail to be comfortable in the non-formal seating arrangement and relaxed a bit.

James entered the conference room, still rubbing his shoulder and temples and headed straight for the replicator.

"Computer, painkillers and water please"

The 2 items materialised in the machine. James grabbed the pills, swallowed them dry and then followed up with the water. He emptied the glass and put in back into the replicator. As the machine hummed as it broke down the glass, he went to his usual chair, way down the table. He went over his PADD to make sure that he had his report ready for when the captain asked.

Eila was next to arrive. Having successfully located Commander Lurath, the XO had made her way back to the bridge. Arriving in the conference room, Eila too made straight for the replicator.

"Computer, Raktajino, iced; extra cream and sugar." She ordered.

After her ordered beverage materialized, Eila grabbed it from the replicator and turned to Mikoto.

"Apologies for being late, Captain:" She said. "It's not easy to find a needle in a haystack while being shot at."

Misaka nodded simply at her executive officer. It was clear that there was more on her mind. She expected some late arrivals due to the status of the ship.

Lurath walked out of the turbolift, followed by Lieutenant Shandro. Both officers looked worse for wear, but Lurath looked the worst. He had just came from sickbay so he didn't have time to change into a clean uniform. The nurses and doctor insisted he stay but they weren't about to force this Klingon to lay there in a weakened state. He was driven by honor and frustration. He didn't like being caught off guard and blood will spill for this deception.

"I knew having that Cardassian scum on board would lead to trouble." Lurath growled as he walked down the corridor.

"There is no way the Maquis could have known he was on board, Lurath." Shandro countered. "I went through the proper channels to ensure no one but this crew knew he was onboard.

Lurath stopped and looked fiercely at Shandro. Had he his dagger he would hold it to the man's throat. "Your words say one thing but this attack proves your words are false." He growled as he leaned slowly forward and added. "You brought him on board. I blame you for this attack, P'tak" before continuing on.

"I can promise you the information didn't come from any of my people!" Shandro shouted before continuing on and adding. "And that was uncalled for."

The two officers walked into the Observation Lounge and took a seat.

It was surprising to see Lurath walk into the room. Misaka gave him a polite nod, and a look of 'I won't ask'.

Felicie wanted to stay in Sickbay working on everything as they were still tending to the wounded. However, she couldn't ignore the request from the Captain for a status meeting after everything that happened. Her staff were more than capable of completing everything that needed to get done and if they couldn't, she was only a call away.

Her sleeves were still rolled up and her over jacket had been left in Sickbay. Her forehead was still taped for the moment as it was no longer bleeding. She would get one of her nurses to run a dermal regenerator over it later. Entering the Observation lounge, she had a large bottle of water that she had and a PADD to give the latest reports. She made her way to the table realizing that she had just missed an interaction and felt it was best to not ask.

Sonak held a Padd in front of him as he walked into the conference room. He'd been studying sensor data telemetry, of the Bismarck and the Maquis fighters departing the system. Maintaining sensor lock on them for as long as possible would enable them to pick up the trail when they could pursue. The long range sensors were down, so there was very little data to work from. He could work on extrapolating their course based on the departure trajectory, and compensating for any course corrections based on probability factors.

Once everyone had arrived and sat down, Misaka turned and opted to stand at the end of the table instead of taking a seat. "Right, how bad is it?" she asked simply directing her question at the Operations Officer and Chief Engineer.

"I'll let Lieutenant Commander Carter relay the information, but I believe we've narrowed down the power issue to multiple power relay failures," Kromal reported as he looked toward the Captain. "I hypothesize the Computer Core is damaged. I was just about to investigate when you called for a meeting, so I ordered my division instead to assist with repairing all power relays on board."

Carter stepped into the room mid way through Kromals opinion on things. He stepped up to where the Captain was sitting and handed her a PaDD. "Ma'am that's a rough list of where things sit at the moment." Pete reached down and tapped a few buttons built into the table top. The holographic display activated showing a 3 dimensional version of the ship, much the same as the master display in Main Engineering. "As I said we're not in good shape. I agree with Kromals assessment of possibly having damage to the main computer core. The Maquis knew just how and where to hit us. As I said earlier, I'm surprised we're having this conversation."

"Currently I have teams all over the ship working on the gravity generators, controlling two chemical fires, and getting the shield generators back online. I'm going to let Kromals people worry about the power relays, and the internal sensor net. The computer core ... Kromal and I are going to tackle that ourselves, he and I have a few sneaky suspicions to check out." Pete glanced over at Kromal and he gave the slightest of nodds. "Unless you have a more pressing issue I'm not aware of." Pete stepped over to the long wall of windows and leaned against a bulkhead.

"What about the engines?" Misaka asked simply. "We need to be on the move. The Cardassians are now out for blood and they have a head start against the Bismarck. This has turned into a race now." She stated to them simply.

"Chief Engineer Carter would be better suited for that answer," Kromal said as he gave a nod back to the Chief. "However, my hypothesis on the situation is that the computer core needs to be addressed first. We're in bad shape, Captain. The ship is in the midst of a meltdown that was only saved by our power relay network. I don't think you understand how close we came to a sudden and catastrophic core explosion."

For emphasis, Kromal pointed a claw at several points on the holographic display.

"It was only by the surge protection capacity of our relays that whatever was utilized against us, be it unintentional or not, didn't reach our Warp Core. I'm positive if we address the issues with the computer core we can help the ship properly situate itself and redistribute power." Kromal briefly pointed at the warp core displayed as he continued. "Your systems are directly based and improved off of an Ambassador-classes systems, Captain. The computer core, the computer itself, should of already figured out the distribution problems. The mere fact it didn't signals something bypassed several highly advanced contingency systems and nearly killed us all."

While a bold assertion, in Kromals mind he was sure he saw what he remembered seeing in both training and real life. The situation before on his previous posting, the USS Gandhi, had been minor and less life threatening - a computer error fixed easily. This, the situation on the Ermiana, was more severe but still had the indications he had previously observed. Kromal then looked to Pete for confirmation of his assertions or, at the very least, support.

"Ma'am without stating the obvious ... We need to get atleast half of the power relays fixed first, and at the very least the main computer stabilized. Without that our long range sensors are useless, and the strain on the impulse engines are pushing the red line now. I need at least 12 hours on the relays." Pete said rubbing the side of his face. Just then the secondary lighting went dark. "What now!"

=A= Sorry about that folks ... the lights will be back on in a minute. =A= Tine Quincannon's voice came from an emergency speaker. A few minutes passed and the lights came back on.

=A= Quincannon to Misaka ... sorry about that Captain but sometimes you need to make things worse in order to fix them. Quincannon out. =A=

"Captain if you'll forgive us, we need to get back to work." Pete said more than asking.

Misaka sighed. She waved a hand. "Go, both of you. I'll make sure that Commander Juutilainen sends you the minutes from the rest of the meeting, right now you have bigger fish to fry," she said directing her sentence at both Commander Carter and Lieutenant Ezazzan.

To Be Continued...

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