Baptism of Fire

Posted on Tuesday 31 May 2016 @ 20:54 by Petty Officer 2nd Class Pete Burg & Lieutenant Commander Gregory Alein & Captain Melody Jones & Lieutenant JG Velin Ikiri

Mission: Old, New Ship
Location: Main Bridge / Engineering
Timeline: Current
1285 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been half an hour since both the Captain and first officer had both left the bridge leaving Melody in command and she was just starting to relax into the big chair.

When she first sat down, she thought she would sink right into it. It certainly was comfy. Straightening her back and crossing her legs, she attempted to show an air of confidence while hiding the knot that was forming in the pit of her stomach. She thought back to the conversation she had with Captain Liconie when she had been promoted. "Now you're an officer, others will look to you for strength and guidance. In a command situation you can't afford to show any doubt, any hesitation. That will kill a crew, faster than a torpedo."

So, she thought. Above all else was the appearance of self control. In other words, fake it till you make it.

The ensign sat at the helm interrupted her thoughts "Ahhh, sir I think you better have a look at this." he stammered slightly "Pressure is building in the EPS system and....... Wait! WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!"

Red alert suddenly snapped on and the ship lurched hard as it dropped out of warp. Melody was on her feet approaching the helm "Report!"

The young ensign was frantically working the console "The warp field has collapsed and..... and oh......... That's really very not good."

Melody placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder "Play by play ensign. Just call it, ok?"

"Ok" He seemed a little less shaken now, drawing on her clam exterior. "There been an EPS overload on deck 2. Hull breach on decks 2 and 3. We have partial failure in the main computer. Forcefields have failed, emergency bulkheads have completely isolated decks 1 through 4. Power output of the warp core is increasing rapidly and the main ODN connection to engineering is severed."

"Great!" Melody said "Anything else?"

He paused and then added "And the elastic snapped on the furry dice"

"Funny Ensign" She quipped. Returning to the Captain chair she hit the Comm system "Bridge to Engineering. What's going on down there? All hell has broken loose!"

Velin watched as system after system failed, "There's a cascade failure in the primary computer core and its sending out random operations Core pressure is rising 200,000 kilopasicales and rising at 600,000 the core will breech. He looked around, "I will attempt an emergency shutdown of the main engines. Do you have access to the ODN Network and the primary computer core?" His fingers flew across the board, "Levetti Davis i want you to stand by to vent warp plasma from the nacelles it will be our last stop before we eject the core."

Burg had taken up a position at Ops at Barstows request. The Petty Officer had started his career in operations, so, the request made sense to him and he had agreed, it beat shuffling PADDs all day. When the ship dropped from warp he grabbed the console so as not to be thrown forward. As engineering reported his own hands flew over the horseshoe console, pulling up schematics of the ship with red blips flashing all over the image, "we have people trapped in turbolifts all over the ship and emergency force fields are up around sickbay and the lounge, life support is......I can't get a good reading," Pete reported as his screens started to flicker and dim.

Melody was thinking, her mind racing trying to work the problem She knew venting plasma that hot would fry the warp coils, but it was better than breaching the core. "Can we divert emergency power to the turbolifts? We need to get those people free. Stand by to eject the warp core if engineering cant shut it down. Can we access the ODN network from the bridge? And will someone please fine the captain! Ill be damned if I'm going to loose this ship on my first day!"

Velin shook his head, "Power is not the issue as much as the failures in the main computer core. The people in the turbolifts and the sealed-off sections will be inconvenienced. If I do not fix the warp core malfunction they will be dead. Try to focus on shunting computer control to the secondary computer core." He continued to bark orders to the other engineers trying to perform the emergency shutdown procedure for the warp core.

"Internal sensors are going out, I can't get location readings on any specific crewmembers," Burg replied before standing up and moving to the side of the Bridge to pull a panel off to expose the conduits behind, "I'll see about the ODN," he added.

"Copy that Engineering." Melody responded, having to bite her lip to stop her adding "I'm well aware of my responsibilities mister." Then added "What's the warp core pressure now? If you can't shut it down, I need to know."

Then changing the Comm channel "Captain, this is Lieutenant Jones. Sir, we have a serious situation developing. It may become necessary .... to abandon ship!"

Velin looked to a readout 350,000 and increasing i estimate 5 minuets to warp core breech." He turned to the engineers if this fails we will have to manually eject the core."

From deep within the ship Greg was monitoring the problems as he prepped the security teams to be ready for any possibility, he was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the crew at any point he was certain that they would have this problem figured out and reset. It was a fact that he didn't want to happen, he wanted to see them tested more. He turned to Barstow, "Phase two Sir," he winked as he took off to find his Marine that he'd placed in charge of the Security detail.

"Engineering, any progress? Engineering respond!" Melody waited, but no response was forthcoming.

"What's happened to the comm system. Ops, I need that comm system online now!"

Velin looked up and said, "Bridge... " He looked down and saw that the comm had failed. He looked to his bolian assistant chief, "Continue here i will proceed to the central computer core and force the reroute. Can you handle this?" The man nodded, "I guess were about to find out but your right sir unless we get some sort of computer control restored we aren't going to get the situation back under control." He nodded and turned running from the room at top speed grabbing a kit along the way.

Burg gritted his teeth and stood up, moving to the nearest console, "I can't, I have no access to any systems....Lieutenant, I need your help, ma'am....we need to hotwire this console."

Melody walked over to the open panel and crouched down next to Burg. "Right, the Comm system isn't getting any power. Looks like the EPS discharge overloaded the main power relays. The rest of the system appears undamaged." Melody reached over and grabbed the coil spanner form the emergency tool box. "I'm going to divert power from the main phaser array and dump it into the comm system. It wont be pretty, but it should bring the system back online. I think you better stand back!"

A shower of sparks rocked Melody back and all on the bridge covered their ears as a short burst of loud static filled the room. "There we go, eat your heart out Kobayashi Maru!" Melody quipped, picking herself up. "The Captain might be a bit ticked off I almost fried the comm system, oh well..." Then activating her Comm badge.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Ikiri, I need a miracle right about now, I'd heard all Starfleet engineers could turn rocks into replicators. Tell me some good news and that is an order!"



TBC