Station Security - Habitation Evacuation
Posted on Mon Nov 23rd, 2015 @ 7:27am by Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Jani Engstrom
Mission:
By Dawn's Early Light
Location: Habitation Section
Timeline: 1045hrs.
[Habitation Section]
It was now ten-forty-hours. Standing at the head of a phalanx of security personnel Lieutenant Jani Engstrom felt nervous and could feel the nerves of every single one of her team coursing through her veins as well. Their function wasn't combative but each still wore a Type-II hand phaser attached to their belts and had a tricorder handy in case they ended up being short.
The habitation section was huge and she was one of three dozen small security personnel who were each tasked with sweeping through five decks and ensuring that everyone had gone to their muster point.
At the muster point itself, each individual would be assigned to a secure area which had been set up in much the same way as a disaster relief zone with bunks and rudimentary ration supplies in case replicator control had to be given over to other ship functions. Thankfully it was Lieutenant Alayna Bancroft, the kid they'd put in as Gunning's assistant who had to deal with all of that.
"Anyone got anything so far?" Engstrom asked, although she already knew the answer. Their task was to ring the chime on each set of quarters and perform a close-range lifeform scan in order to make doubly sure that no-one had taken leave of their senses. Quite why it wasn't enough to just use the station's internal scanners to do the checks, she didn't know. The Captain was thorough in her preparations and she supposed - through gritted teeth - that it paid to be certain.
"Okay, this level's done." She said bringing relieved looks from a lot of her team. They had been at this gruelling task for more than five hours and had so far turned up a single lifesign which turned out to be someone's pet fish. Jani couldn't fathom the thought of keeping a pet, let alone some dumb fish, but she let it slide. At least it proved their task was a necessary one since it hadn't shown up on the initial sensor sweep.
One of the young crewmen toward the rear of the group was shouting something which sounded almost hysterical and she pushed through the team to see what the commotion was. There, sitting next to the bulkhead, with her knees drawn up to her chest was a little girl.
"I just told her that she shouldn't be here and that it's probably fine." The young enlisted man told the Lieutenant as she reached him.
This is all I need. She thought as she knelt next to the little girl, almost overcome by the sense of terror and... was that loss? "What's the matter?"
"My cat! He's gone!" Engstrom had almost as little time for cats as she did for fish.
She ignored the cause of the girl's distress. "Why aren't you with your parents?"
She began to wail an uncompromising, terrifying howl which threatened to bring down the corridor on top of them. "Okay, okay." Engstrom could feel herself capitulate. "What's his name?"
She began to burble as she seemed to pull together what little strength she had to answer. "M-m-m-m-miles." She eventually said.
"Okay, the Crewman here is going to take you back to your Muster Point and get you back to your parents." Engstrom smiled as genuinely as she could, given the circumstances. "We'll look for little Milo."
The girl's face brightened a little and Engstrom cursed another job to add to her already bulging to-do list. Thankfully a quick tricorder scan had spared her having to ask the girl her name or where she lived. She wasn't the biggest fan of kids but thankfully they didn't put that on your service record - Gunning must have thought he was getting a much more sympathetic empath.
She chuckled at her little joke and sent one of the other enlisted kids off to look for a cat.
Lieutenant (JG) Jani Engstrom
Section Chief - Habitation
