Out of the Frying Pan...
Posted on Mon Dec 31st, 2018 @ 10:40pm by Captain Liarra Von & Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD & Commander Walter Prescott
Mission:
Weathering the Storm
Location: Station Operations
As the storm subsided the mood in the Sensor Control Center changed rapidly. Dread and worry faded as last effects of the storm passed over the station’s hull, replaced by applause and celebration as the main lights returned to the room. And following closely behind was a smattering of both excitement and disappointment at the prospect of the data analysis yet to come. But Cadet Emma Phelps was not celebrating with the rest the science team. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Long range sensors took longer to come back online than the lights, but as soon as she did she was able to confirm the suspicions caused by what she had read on the short range display. She practically tumbled out her chair while trying to get the attention of her supervising officer. “Lieutenant Whitlam! I think you need to come look at this!”
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A few more hours had passed since the generator repairs had been completed. Commander Luciano and Colonel S’er’in’e had checked into the infirmary with severe radiation burns, though Captain Von still awaited confirmation of their condition. But their efforts and extreme risk had not been in vane. The power leak from the reactor was plugged, enabling the emergency batteries and remaining auxiliary power to properly compensate for the effects of the ion storm. The remaining hours of the storm passed without any further significant incidents, at least none that had seemed to threaten the station.
Relief washed over Liarra as main power came back online. Without the effects of the storm draining their power, the station’s electrical generation systems were able to operate optimally. Well, at least optimally enough to start the return to normalcy. Liarra squinted as the main lights came back online. She had grown so accustomed to the lower light that it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Her first stop was the communications officer on duty. “As soon as comms are back online, contact traffic control on the surface and let them know our status. And find out if they need any assistance.”
The officer replied in quick acknowledgement before getting to work. Liarra didn’t wait to hear the reply before making her way to her chief of operations. “Commander Prescott, how are we looking?”
Indicators started flashing all over the place as Walter watched report after report come streaming in. Everything from a damaged emergency reactor to ruptured EPS conduits to non-functioning replicators was being recorded and filed. Thankfully, he had a little help from the station's computer to organize them and sort them based on priority, but it was still quite a bit of information to be processing all at once. They were definitely going to have their hands full for the next several days at least cleaning up the place.
"I've got a list of damage reports as long as my arm, captain," Walter said, "but main power is coming back online. Structural integrity is holding and we should be getting communications, sensors, turbolifts and transporters...momentarily."
Von had been expecting damage, but at least the primary systems were starting to come back online on their own. “Good. Prioritize your repair teams to secure any dangerous systems, and then get docking operations back online. I’m sure we have a lot of ships that would like to get underway now that the danger has passed. Once we have a better idea of the storm’s trajectory, we can direct traffic away.”
"Yes, ma'am."
The next stop on her tour of Ops was the science station. She had no doubt that Commander Drusus was interested in observing the storm more closely. But she was no more than a couple of steps away from the engineering station before the communication officer shouted over the commotion. “Captain, I’m not able to reach Archa IV. I’m not getting anything back from my pings.”
Von’s eyebrow twitched in an unconvincingly inquisitive manner. “Commander Prescott, are we still experiencing problems with our comm systems?”
"No, ma'am," Walter replied, glancing at his readouts, "Communications are showing green across the board."
Liarra was further perplexed, and moved to the comm officer’s side. “Then we have to be getting some sort of signal from the planet. The storm might have interfered with their systems, but the Archa IV was not in the path of the storm.”
At Science, Drusus had shifted a junior officer out of her seat and was frantically tapping away at the console. It had to be a mistake. He tried everything; double checked the initial data, reset each node in the sensor suite in case they had overloaded during the storm, realigned the targeting servos, and even had the telescopes run a quick three-sixty scan of the surrounding space. It all confirmed the report from sensor control.
A chill passed down his spine as Drusus looked over towards Von. "Ah, Captain," he said, his voice uncharacteristically shaky. "I have an explanation. Archa IV is ... it's no longer there. Or, more precisely, we are ... we're no longer there."
To be continued…
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
Commander Titus Drusus [P: Whitlam]
Chief Science Officer
Starbase 332
Lt. Commander Walter Prescott [P: Rutilius]
Chief of Operations
Starbase 332
Cadet Emma Phelps [P: Von]
Intern, Science Department
Starfleet Academy, Starbase 332 Adjunct
