Making Connections

Posted on Monday 16 May 2022 @ 14:20 by
Edited on on Friday 20 May 2022 @ 18:04

Mission: Disaster!
Location: Somewhere in the ship
Timeline: 0800
5295 words - 10.6 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

Deck 14 near the recreational facilities, Pearl crawled out into the corridor from the jefferies tubes and looked around, "Okay this place is clear so far, at least where we are. Shall we check to see if there is anyone that needs assistance before we resume our travel to Engineering?"

There was the sound of something just a little bit from where she and Jack were at. "What is that?"

Gregor heard a noise and shined the torch strapped to his wrist in that direction. " Hello! Are you alright? If you can't speak then make a noise and I'll find you and help you. " He waited and listened intently for any indication of a sound.

"Yo, Lieutenant Morgan is that you?" Pearl coming around the bend and shielding her eyes for a moment against the light shining towards her. "You are a sight for sore eyes." giving a smile.

Gregor lowered the torch as not to shine it directly into pearl's face. " Are you alright? Is there anyone with you? We were struck by a quantum filament and we're dead in the water. Have you heard from anyone else? "

“That’s a lot of questions Lieutenant, how about we go one at a time” Jack said, coming up behind Pearl, “we we stuck in the lounge when everything shut off. Currently we’re trying to get to engineering to find out what’s going on down there”

" Hello Jack. Your right it was three important questions that require only short answers. One was answered were you showed up, Besides I'm security it's my job to ask questions." He said with a grin. " I was headed towards engineering myself when I bumped into you two. The Admiral is waiting for answers, or at least communications. "

There was a loud thud from behind a closed door followed by a loud string of swearing. "Damn door!"

Kyhl could hear someone moving and talking outside, so she threw the chair at the door for the fifth time in an effort to get the damn thing to move. Since the power had gone out she'd been stuck in what amounted to a medical supply closet.

"Get me out of this blasted -" the door thudded as she kicked it again "closet!"

Gregor was startled briefly as the door behind him thumped loudly. " Jack!! Come over here and give me a hand with this door, There's someone stuck in there!! " He popped the panel off and tried the hand actuator. The door opened only five or six centimeters and stopped. " It's jammed! We're going to have to pry it open!. " He grabbed a hold of one side and waited for Jack to get the other side. Whenever your ready give us a three count Jack and we'll get it open. "

Quickly moving to the other door, Jack got a good grip before nodding to Gregor, “Right, Three….Two….One” he said before giving the door a pull. The door initially moved another few centimetres but then seemed to jam up again, “bloody hell, who ever though of sliding doors is a dick”

" You won't hear me arguing the point there Jack. Only someone with to much time on their hands would come up with something like this. " Gregor spotted a length of pipe. " This is long enough that both of us should be able to use this as a lever and perhaps get the door open wide enough to get the lady out of there, can't hurt to try. "

Jack shook his head, “unless you’re going to use it to beat the door down, it won’t do any good at this point” he said as he let go of the door and took a step back to think, “does anyone have a phaser on them? I should be able to use the power cell from a phaser to give these doors enough juice to move them”

Kyhl picked up the chair from where it lay and righted it to sit down on it. "How about a spoon? I'm sure I could dig my way out eventually." She sighed. "Sorry, not a fan of being stuck somewhere against my will."

Tapping her long blue fingers on the arm of the chair, she began to sing under her breath. "99 bottles of ale on the wall... "

“You’re not helping” Jack called back, “just give us a sec”

Morgan looked to Jack. " Yes I have a phaser and an extra power cell. " As he handed the extra cell to Jack. " If that doesn't work, I can always cut the door and get her out that way. " Gregor thought a moment and turned towards the door. " Out of curiosity, what were you doing in that storage closet before you got trapped? "

Taking the spare power cell, Jack moved over to the doors panel, tore off the front and started his work, “right, so who the hell worked on this door last….” He thought to himself.

"I was doing inventory." Khyl replied with a sigh. "The ancillary medical bay was running low on a few non-replicables so I was picking some up." She tapped her fingers again.

"I need to get back there, who knows how many injured will need treatment." The Andorian closed her eyes, which did very little in the dim closet beside allow her to focus her thoughts.

Pearl spoke up, "You'll be okay, Dr. Kyhl. We'll be getting you out soon." she held her torch so that Jack had more light to work with. "I will be glad when we can get some power to the ship, however I am also glad that we've got life support as we'd be in really big trouble."

" Wait...Doctor? Medical supplies? I can help carry some extra gear to sickbay if you need Doctor " Then he thought to himself When was the last time I had a physical? he shrugged. he had been quite busy as of late and the doctor would remind him when it was due or past due.

"I'd appreciate that." Kyhl replied from inside the closet. "I'll take you up on that... once I'm out of here." For all her candor and complaining, her biggest feeling right now was concern. She had no idea what was going on at medical and here she was, stuck in a damn closet when she should be doing... well... anything really.

Scarlet's voice chirped over the comms Pearl and MacGyver had. "Status and location check."

"We are on deck level 14, and freeing Doctor Kyhl" Pearl answered, taking a look at the inner workings of the door. "Once that is done we'll be proceeding on. Lieutenant Morgan is with us."

After a few moments, and a few quietly said curses, Jack managed to jerry rig the power cell into the door, “there, that should work. Make it fast, that cell’s not going to last long” he said as he moved to grab hold of the doors again.

Gregor grabbed the length of pipe from earlier and wedged it on the frame to the door to keep it open. " Alright, that should hold it. " He stepped inside the storage room. " Ok Doc, what extra gear do you want me to carry? " He asked.

Unfortunately for Kailu he had been in a turbolift upon the ding dong with the filament. He never could sleep very well and usually kept himself occupied with whatever he could. Being that he had arrived via roundabout the previous night he had been having a look around the ship. He was between decks when the turbolifts shut down and he had to climb out on his own.

A couple of jeffries tubes later and he was at a stubborn hatch that would not open. Swearing to himself he battered his foot off the panel to free it with no such luck. He just needed to be persistent, a few decent weighted kicks and the hatch popped off and skipped across the floor of the corridor.

Kailu grumbled to himself as he manoeuvred his over 600 year old body out of the hatch to see others just down from him working on a door down the hall.

" Hey!! What was that crashing sound just now? Did something collapse out there? " Called Gregor from inside the medical supply room.

Kailu touched his head, just on his hairline, a little blood had began to trickle down it. The bouncing turbolift must have caused some minor damage. He used a finger and collected some of the blood, he then licked in and thought for a moment. "Definitely mine." he said to himself. Sometimes you could never be sure who's blood you had on you...

He moved down the corridor slowly as he heard a voice shout from inside another room. "Only thing that collapsed was my idea that this ship would be boring... maybe it wont be." he chuckled darkly to himself.

Pearl's head perked up, and she looked at Gregor in the medical supply room, "I'm going to check it out." she replied and headed carefully down the corridor, this was her job and she was going to do this. With her phaser out, Pearl treaded lightly and turned the corner, facing someone she wasn't familiar with, then again, she wasn't familiar with a lot of the crew members. "Excuse me, who are you!" holding her light upon the man,( Kailu) and her phaser at the ready. "Identify yourself."

"Argh." he moan as the light hit his eyes. The dark skinned woman was trying to blind him, or that is what is felt like. He'd only just gotten out of a small dark tube and now he was being interrogated in the open corridor. He covered his face, covering the torch with his hand. "Is everyone on this ship so touchy?" he asked as a whisper filled his ear. He nodded as if in answer and looked around his hand to the woman. "You identify yourself... you are the woman pointing a weapon at an unarmed man. Seems a bit rude." he commented.

Pearl lowered her light, "sorry, don't know what is going on whether we have been attacked by surprise just trying to find that out, and I am LC Pearl Bijoux. So.. who are you?"

"Annoyed." He answered as his eyes slowly moved to one side. It looked as though he relented after someone kept nagging him. "Lieutenant Kailu Grekas." He added with a small nod. "As far as I can tell we were hit by something. The force of the hit was not weapons fire, but something more natural." This is what Kailu had sensed from the impact. His senses being more finely tuned to space, and the universe they inhabited.

“Well whatever hit us has fried circuits all across the ship. Maybe those bio-neural gel packs are a good idea after all” Jack said as he stepped up to stand beside Pearl, “should I be surprised to see our intelligence officer crawling around the jefferies tubes? I mean you spooks do like to poke into things” he said before offering the man a hand, “Chief Petty Officer MacGyver.”

"Usually when we do look into things it is quietly... and usually I take the turbolift instead of the jeffries tubes, more space to breathe." Kailu said taking the mans hand and giving it a firm shake. "I was between decks, what exactly is on this one?" he asked.

Gregor popped his head out from the storage room to see what was going on. he saw pearl and the newcomer talking and recognized the intelligence uniform. " Ahh.. You must be Lieutenant Grekas. " As he extended his hand. " I try to read all incoming crew bios when they come aboard, I haven't had a chance to stop by and....." He stopped mid sentence. " Hey Doc! Come out here I got and officer bleeding from his head, come take a look at it would you? " He turned back to Kailu. " Are you all right? " He asked showing some concern on his face. " I'm CSTO Gregor Morgan, The doctor will be with you in just a moment. "

He turned to Pearl. " I guess you forgot what I told you and Jack what happened when I ran into you two, But a lot has happened and it must have slipped your mind. I was on the bridge and the ship ran into a quantum filament, We are currently dead in the water and drifting. We were able to launch a distress buoy. Once we get some more power we can download the ships logs and include them in a probe transmitting all pertinent information and location, So until then we repair what we can to survive and wait for rescue or manage to get underway again somehow. "

Kyhl stepped out from the supply closet and glanced at Kailu. She walked over with a tricorder and gave him a quick scan. "Looks like a standard contusion. This'll just take a second." Pulling a dermal regenerator out of her pocket she activated it over the area as it knitted the skin back together.

"Now, before we get distracted again, we're going to need to load up on antibiotics, antiseptics, scanners and musculature knitters." She began to walk back to the supply closet. "More hands make for less work."

Kailu felt like waving the Doctor away. It was a simple abrasion and he felt it wasn't worth the trouble, but he often found arguing with a woman was never worth the hassle. The group was already an interesting mix of people in the mere moments he'd just spent going 'speed dating' with people. He would help with the moving of supplies for those in need.

Standing up straight, Jack turned to Gregor, “I hadn’t forgotten, but all the same we did get a little distracted with this rescue mission. Now who of us is heading to engineering?”

There was a crackling from the tactical radio, "Princess, and Major Scarlet, do you copy, we've got people already going to engineering. Have made contact with others, we've found other survivors."

Pearl answered, "Copy that. We've made contact as well with the Chief of Security, plus found Dr. Kyhl" She looked at Gregor, "Lieutenant Morgan, since it seems that ship's communication is still not working, may I suggest we get a radio up there for communication and also get these supplies to sickbay too?"

Gregor nodded his agreement. " We need to drop off doctor Kyhl and the supplies at Sickbay and then we'll make the climb up to the bridge and give the Admiral the emergency radio. After that we'll need to take a bit of a break before going on to the next job in search and rescue. Sound good to you? " Gregor stopped talking and started to grin. " Hold on, We're on deck fourteen aren't we? The lower levels of shuttle bay one and two are on this level. We can get this gear into a shuttlecraft and beam the Doctor and her supplies directly into Sickbay, and then we can beam the emergency radio to the bridge and contact the Admiral on the situation using the shuttle communications system. We'll figure out what to do after that. "

Jack gave a concerned look, “I’m not sure that’ll work. If the filament did this to a starship, there’s no knowing what it would’ve done to the shuttle, even if they weren’t directly hit” he said, thinking over the perceived problem, “but, then again, it may be worth a shot. If we can get one of the shuttles operational, we can use it to survey the damage from the outside as well as transport people around”

it was Gregor's turn to look doubtful. " True we'll need to have the shuttle fired up and run a diagnostic of the systems first before using it of course, But as for taking it out I think we're going to have to wait until more power has been restored. I don't know if we have enough power to open the shuttle bay doors, let alone to activate the force field to keep in the atmosphere. That and I was just thinking about using it for a sight to sight transport. " He paused as he had a thought. " There is one way we could check the outside of the ship and not have to worry about opening a shuttle bay door, At the bottom of every saucer section is the captain's yacht. We'd have to do a manual release and redock it without a tractor beam, but it's the only option I can think of to safely leave the ship without venting atmosphere. "

"Either way we need to get moving and we get to the others. So shall we?" Pearl responded. She took a look at those with her, then she headed down the corridor towards where the shuttle bay is at. Once they arrived outside the doors, "Okay, lets get a reading first before we open that door. Would hate to be sucked out into the vacuum of space."

Gregor pulled out his tricorder and checked. " The atmosphere is normal on the other side of the door, it is safe to proceed. " The door was pried open easily enough and allowed access into the shuttle bay. Gregor looked around seeing if he could spot anything out of place or hazardous. " Well it seems safe enough, Let's get to work and see if our plan will work. "

Pearl nodded. "I really hope that does, now just to check on the energy level of the shuttles and runabout in here." she was relieved to see that there was atmosphere inside and when she approached the runabout, she keyed in a code and the craft opened up. "Okay so far so good, lets get inside and have a look." moving her way in to the front. "Looks safe on this end." powering things up. "Okay it looks like it is none worse for the wear."

“Let’s just hope the emergency power holds out until engineering can get the warp core back online” Jack commented as he followed Pearl into the bay. Quickening his pace a little, he moved to walk beside her and leant in a little closer, “how you holding up marine?” He half whispered to her.

Gregor went into the runabout and did a visual check of the interior to make certain that there were no safety hazards inside before moving up to the cockpit and began powering up the shuttle craft, He called out the door. " I'm going to start running a systems diagnostics before we try anything else, sound good? "

Kyhl followed along and upon arriving at the shuttle she dropped her supplies on the transporter pad. She just hoped it worked and this detour was worth it. "Can we just make sure you don't spread my atoms across subspace when we fire this thing up? I kind of like them where they are at the moment."

Pearl listened to what was going on, then she answered Jack, "I'm okay, just wanting us to get things more connected to the rest of the ship." giving a slight encouraging smile. Then she looked over at Gregor, "that shouldn't take long between you and Jack here." she moving out of the way for both Gregor and Jack to check things out. She walked over to Kailu and Khyl "So I am thinking that this will work, we need some good luck, something with how things have shaped up."

"I am already getting a feeling that my transfer here hasn't exactly been blessed... less than a couple of hours and I'm on a crippled ship carrying around supplies and looking for working transport." Kailu replied. Internally he thought he should have just stayed undercover... it was less complicated and oddly somewhat safer than what was currently going on.

Gregor was surprised to hear Khyl's remark. " Doc your not one of those people that's afraid of transporters are you? " He asked. " I'll have you know that transporting is one of the safest ways to go about anywhere. Do you know how many backup safety systems and back up sub routines are built into a transporter system? Hardly anything bad ever happens using a transporter, what could possibly go wrong? " He asked with a grin.

Pearl cast a sharp glance towards Gregor, almost growling when she made her comment. "Sir! That is just something you do not say especially with what has happened to the ship. It's like saying the Q word. I don't want to run the risk of anything else going wrong." giving a slight huff. "Lets just get the supplies to sickbay, and get a radio to the bridge. We have to get communication up and running."

Giving a sigh, Jack had to keep himself from listing the several things that had gone wrong with transporters over the past 40 years like creating duplicates, de-ageing people and even sending them to an alternate universe. Instead, he kept his mind on the job at hand.

"I'm not bothered when all the systems are working." Kyhl said with a quick roll of her eyes. "But as it's been pointed out, we're in the middle of the unknown right now and hoping that whatever darken the ship didn't affect the shuttles."

She glanced at Kailu. "You're that new here? Once we're back in ship shape you'll have to drop by for a physical." Kyhl watched his reaction and then winked.

“Hey doc, how about we worry about getting out of this alive before you start hitting on the shiny new crew” Jack said before opening up an external access panel for the runabouts computer core and hooking up his tricorder.

Kailu glanced over at the Andorian and let a weak smile form. "I am in fine physical form." He commented, but knew he would have to as procedure dictated it. "And I am far from shiny... but we will remain alive. I do not die today." He added, his confidence in his statement totally unquestionable in his mind.

"Hey Jack, how about you focus more on making sure that thing works properly and less on my bedside manner?" Kyhl said with a tilt of her head before she smiled once again.

"Good attitude Kailu. None of us die today. And when I get back to medical with these supplies I'll do what I can to instill that attitude on anyone else who needs it." Kyhl walked over to the supplies and mindlessly adjusted them while she waited.

Pearl stifled a chuckle looking towards Jack, she was actually liking the good natured ribbing that was happening. It seemed to be taking away the stress that was evident in people's faces. Or reflecting in their eyes. "First stop, sending the medical supplies to sickbay as well as Dr. Kyhle afterwards, then well the rest of us we'll decide. Wait need to get to the bridge which will probably be you, Lieutenant Morgan. With radio. Which reminds me, I am going to see if there is one here in the shuttle bay this way we will have more than one. If we are lucky, there will be more than one which can be sent to medical as well. This way we can have a network. Wonder if something could be done here to make a hub I think that is what it is called for communications. I think someone had commented on that." Pearl musing outloud.

" I agree. " Said Gregor. " First we transport the supplies and then the doctor. But let's see if we can find those radios first. That way we know iof the doctor made it there safely. " Gregor glanced at the panels in front of him. " Systems diagnostics on the runabout systems are all in the green, we're good to go. " Gregor looked about the ship and knew it was heavily damaged and sighed and shook his head. " Once we get the Merlin back to Star Base 308, it's going to take weeks to get her back in shape before she's put back into service again. But in a way I'm looking forward to going back to Star Base 308 again, It's the only other place I'd want to be at, other then the Merlin. " He said with a broad smile.

Jack gave a groan, “great, another week of work added to the list” he said as he stood up straight and gave a stretch, “and here I was hoping I’d have time to show a less mechanical lady a great evening, but it seems the big girl wants me all to herself” he said, forgetting for a moment that Pearl was standing near him.

" Don't worry about it Jack. You'll be able to see your lady love. It's not like they're going to keep you on the ship twenty four seven. I know That they'll have me helping out doing some repairs to help out, But trust me, Once my shift is over I'll be hotfooting it on to the station just as fast as I can, believe it. " He stated in a matter of fact tone.

“While that does sound like a good plan, we’ll just have to see how much damage there is” Jack replied before looking around the shuttle bay, “should we look at any of these other craft?”

" Dr. Kyhl came down here to get medical supplies to take back to sickbay before getting stuck in that storeroom. " Said Gregor. He turned to address Kyhl. " Your call Doctor Kyhl, Do you want to go back to Sickbay right now or stick around here with us for a bit? If you want to go back right away we can do that. But first one question, Is there anyplace in sickbay that isn't used a lot? We don't want to beam medical supplies on top of someone. " He turned to face Jack. " To be honest I think our top priority right now is getting the Doctor to Sickbay and also those emergency radios to key locations so that the Admiral can have communications and direct repairs. After that we can start checking out the shuttle craft, who knows we might be able to power up some energy storage devices and use them else where on the ship if need be. "

Pearl came back with several other tactical radios, "Okay I think we need to get ourselves going." her tone almost a commanding one. She was just being direct though. "Sickbay, supplies..." she climbed back into the runabout and put in the coordinates for the supplies to get to Medical, they disappeared in the shimmering pattern. "Okay that seemed to work but.. I am going to go next, and be beamed to medical. Just to make certain it worked. Lieutenant Morgan if you would please? I'll take another radio with me and will contact you." Pearl was doing her job as a Marine, also she was a low person on the totem pole. If she didn't make it, there wouldn't be much of a loss, well except for where Jack was concerned. "Okay beam me up, and please, don't argue with me. It has to be done."

Gregor nodded and moved over to the control panel and made a few quick readjustments to the coordinates. " Had to make a minor adjustment, Don't want you to materialize in the middle of the medical supplies. I'll wait until you move and call us before sending the doctor. Afterwards I can take one to the Bridge and give it to the Admiral so he can be in the loop, and did promise him I'd return. Of course I'll come back and help get the tactical radios out to where they'll do some good and get the repairs fast tracked where it's needed. Just remember to leave the radio with the doctor before you come back. Are you ready? " He asked. He waited until she answered and watched as her body materialized and faded from sight. Gregor held his breath as he waited to hear her response from the radio.

=^=Okay I made it and I have all my bits and pieces.=^= Pearl called back =^= I'll return once the doctor arrives. If I am able to do so that is. What do you think, Jack?=^=

Giving a sigh of relief as he heard Pearl’s voice, Jack picked up the mouth piece of the radio, “that shouldn’t be a problem, the runabout had plenty of power” he said before looking over to Gregor, “you’re next big man. You wanted to head for the bridge right?”

"While we have the coordinates for Medical, I should go next and get to work." Kyhl offered with a shrug. "Then Bijoux can return and you can go on your merry way."

=^="I am waiting for the Doctor to arrive and you've got some anxious people waiting for her arrival. The doctor first, then Morgan to the bridge. Hey Lieutenant Grekas, where will you be wanting to go?=^= Pearl asked.

Gregor nodded to Jack. " Yeah I do need to get to the Bridge, I really have to get this radio to the admiral so he can be in the loop of what's going on in the ship. If the Admiral needs me on the bridge then I'll stay put, If not I'll have you bring me back and I'll continue to help out here. " Gregor thought a moment. " You know we should really here these tactical radios set aside for emergency use in each department throughout the ship. I think I will suggest that to the Admiral and include it in my report to Starfleet security as well, something like that could save time and lives. "

"Saving lives is my thing." Kyhl said as she stepped onto the transporter. "So anything to help with that is a plus in my books."

Taking a breath, she gave a nod. "Energize."

Nodding to Kyhl, Jack triggered the transporter, sending her to sickbay, “I’ll admit, I never thought much of these runabouts, but they’ve proven rather robust”

" Starfleet built these runabouts rather well. " Said Gregor. " They are mission adaptable and can be fitted to evacuate fifty personal in a crisis. Be made ready for heavy atmosphere or set up with micro torpedo launchers for an offensive punch. It won't hold up long against a heavier opponent like a frigate or bigger, but for just about anything else it's a worthy little ship. We might not be able to get her out of the cargo bay at the moment, but we can still use it to help others. " Gregor looked to Jack and nodded. " Well I guess it's my turn to go, I really should get this radio to the Admiral. " He stepped onto the transporter pad. " We're going to have to get a drink after this is all over, That sound good to you? "

“You’re buying” Jack said before triggering the transporter cycle, not giving Gregor much time to argue. As the whine died down, Jack looked around the almost lifeless shuttle bay and gave a sigh, ”All by my seeeeelf…..” he sang quietly

=^="Beam me back, Jack."=^= Pearl called after handing the radio to Doctor Kyhl. And when she materialized she said to him. "Okay time for us to start handing these things out."


○● Lieutenant JG Gregor Morgan
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Merlin



●● Lieutenant Kyhl Ch'rehroni
Assistant Medical Officer
USS Merlin


CPO Jack MacGyver
Operation Specialist
USS Merlin

●● Lieutenant Kailu Grekas
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Merlin


Lance Corporal Pearl Bijoux
USS Merlin