NXS Second Star

Posted on Wed Jul 27th, 2016 @ 12:38am by Second Mate Quinton Beck & MERCHANT RANKS Fala Gaz (NPC)
Edited on on Sat Aug 27th, 2016 @ 3:29am

4,005 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Tenuous Grasp on Destiny
Location: RMF Second Star
Timeline: 2393 May 7th 2100 hours

-START-

{Bridge- NXS Second Star}

“Captains Log; Final.”

Quinton grimaced at the phrase, it was just a signifier for the final day log, but it felt like a grim omen. What was the point really, in saying that when the situation looked bleak as it was? A subtle glance confirmed he was alone on the tiny bridge, but he felt compelled to whisper anyway. It was how he felt, more than anything. Such loss, such a setback, how could it be anything other than the end. Still, to speak of the devil….

"Computer... Delete that."

Their bridge was small, a split level affair with a catwalk raised over a lower level which saw the avionics and subsystems controls. Up top was Ops and navigation, a narrow cockpit canopy stretched over them illuminating the dark space with starlight. The last of the fires put out shrouded everything in darkness. He stood straight, lowering the hose and canister he held, the hose flailing slightly in the reduced gravity. Reduced power meant the only light was from his panels, a series of holo displays and glass screens arrayed around the Command seat, with adjacent OPS console and bench. With a deep sigh he tapped his communicator at the collar.

=0= Bridge reporting in, secure. reports from all stations.

He lay the extinguisher at his feet as he sat and swiveled the undersized seat taking a practiced slump into it. Rotating back into the semi circle of digital display in one motion he began flipping toggles making a few panels additionally light up. Various readouts on ship status and sensor readings feeding him information from all over. The outlook was cleak certainly with more of the ship highlighted in the red than green.

“Recommence recording… Ship log, Stardate 58331.... " He had to look at the readout, "point 1,2.”

Quinton shifted in the awkward seat, its upraised ridge line from the bench row was supposed to confer his seat as a “power seat” or some kind of social nonsense but it made it near impossible to sit back and actually be comfortable, one had to always push off the floor to make the chair recline otherwise you just pitched forward. It was a silent agony borne in silence as he had no way of expressing this without feeling petty or weak. This minor tangent was a needed respite as the gloom returned, and dampened any chances of further solace.

The only light in the narrow bridge shown dimly through the ribbed back of the navigation chair directly in front of him. Judah was their pilot for the most part, but when they needed the firm hand on the wheel that was Quinton's home. Systems displays showed a critical report on the aft engine, among other urgent markers denoting the damages. They had lost their Power plant, their warp core, impulse maybe even as well. Those left standing had taken to repairs, but there were already two deaths he knew of. Gravity was reduced to half, lights and doors set to manual and powered down, heat was no longer as vital and was set to just above freezing. It was quiet and cold, dark as the grave, even consoles lighting up only when needed. His last recording had been only an hour before the explosion which had stopped them cold.

He had been off duty, enjoyed the birthday cake and presents, had only just gotten around to opening them when it happened. An explosion in the lower decks nearly tore through to the dining room where they sat. Chaos, power loss, fires, Somewhere in the darkness motion was happening, betrayal was happening.

“Corrin betrayed us…. I know I've expressed my doubts doubts as to his ethics and ability in times past, I never thought he could just turn on us like that. The offer must have been good. He’ll never get to spend it though….”

His recollection of the man had always shown him to be fair, equanimous even. He had epitomized the notion of paying a fair wage, and receiving an earnest worker. Now Corrin was frozen by the void of space, airlocked by a disloyal ally in a hasty escape. It just wasn’t how any of this was supposed to end. It was a betrayal to his sensibilities of what their collective story had been so far, what they had gone through. He chose to burn it all, for what? Who wanted this information so bad they'd arrange a transport and then kill everyone on board?

“Tasco could have waited to leave, I think he chose to kill Corry, finish the job and take the pay for himself, unless it was orders, but I didnt get patriot or spook from that bastards shifty demeanor. The price had to be good for the trouble of bribing a crewman and then murdering him… I’ll see to it that Corry has some point to his death. I'll find this Tasco and settle up... Or he'll find me soon enough. I just hope to hell we can get underway-"

The door opened at the lower gantry beneath his feet, and Quinton flipped a toggle to silence the recording. He knew from the jangle of jewelry and shuffling footfall it was Fala, her Ferengi sensibilities lending to garish appointments and lavish attire. She would sit resplendent upon a throne of trash, and sell it to you as something royal, she certainly did so here.

“!Quint!”

Her nasal tone and sharp manner in the way she said his name made him flinch. It sounded like a curse sometimes as it fired out of her mouth. He knew what was about to happen, but there was no preparing for this.

“There won’t be another loan, I have prospects beyond this measly hull so I hope you have a plan because one third of a broken ship is not the investment I was promised!”

Quinton had a defeated expression, he couldn't afford to lose her, and she was beyond litigious. He swallowed pride and simply endured what was sure to be a brutal session by silently staring and offering only his slumped posture in apology.

“I told you the commission was sour, and now one man is dead and we have a hole in our engines. They are 'Clarion. Class. Impulse. Manifolds...

Quinton mouthed the words as she said, them, she bought the damned engines at an auction for a steal and never let anyone forget it. She really regarded the whole ship as hers. Fala had only hit full steam at the time when he clued back in it was only for a moment;

"...Tyrillium bromide sensor suites from a Zakdorn Cruiser..."

This ship was a good one, but repair would be more akin to just building the whole thing again. The ship of Theseus came to mind, a philosophical postulate of Earth he always enjoyed.

..."mind you, so I hope you have a plan to replace those too! And by the Grand Exchequer I ... “

He felt it necessary to at least try and make a stand, “Fala, I can replace-”

She cut him off without pausing, “And that's only if our saboteur spy doesn't finish us off after murdering the contacts I ESTABLISHED-!”

“Without Corry, he won't know the rendezvous…” Quinton didnt like the new look on her face. She hadn't considered that, it meant Tasco had to come back and capture one of them to get the details. It wasn’t a secret to many of them, but he hadn't exactly made it a bulletin. Upon realizing the implication of what he said she only got more angry, and Quinton let his head thud against the rest.

“Oh I tell you Quinton if this mess you've landed us in doesn't get me killed I will own all of this ship and every stinking scrap you own by the blessed Material river I swear-”

Enough was enough and by the time she had reached her fever pitch he turned to stand in his seat but the inter-ship comm sounded from engineering.

"Uhh, Bridge? Hello?"

Akio Itachi wasn’t an engineer, Corry had filled that role before his sabotage and subsequent death. Akio knew enough about engines just not the mechanics of it, and Lui had fought in the Bajoran Resistance as well as the Maquis and had plenty of experience turning a wrench. They had a fair shake at making things work but from Akio’s tone it was grim indeed.

“The Impulse drive is damaged beyond my ability to repair. Clarions like these are finicky and I can't repair it without their custom parts."

Quinton shot the nastiest look he could at Fala, her precious engines a liability in this instance. From her expression, she wasn't fazed.

Akio continued unaware of the feud, "I can however restore sublight functions up to .31 impulse for short bursts."

Judah's face appeared on the console, in a sort of poor mans holo-projection. it was a digital avatar of a teenage human boy, his mouth synced to the comm unit as it spoke. The avatar was young, and hits the uncanny valley hard for the odd expressions it holds. His voice was projected and synthetic, but there were emotional tics in his tones to make it more than a computer talking.

"Inertia from the bursts can carry us back into Beta Ro, micro bursts of tetra thrusters will keep us on course.

Fala there her hands up in outrage, "And what is there beyond a icy rock?

Judah replied quickly, "It’s the best I can do, unless Lui has other ideas?”

Lui gained a place among the holo busts, the sensor suit only revealed her eyes inside the helmet. Speaking over the comm, Lui Kania crackled in response, she was presently in the bowels of the ship in a mechanized exo-suit making welds to offset shearing damage. The level of damage from the blowback was impressive, the impulse engines were definitely oversized for this ship. Fala had insisted and they had come in handy a few times, but the poor containment cells were outclassed by the high performance engine.

Lui had certainly done her share of emergency maintenance but had hoped for a quieter life and quick retirement after ten years or so of saving. Nonetheless, duty compelled her. Ripping off a piece of jagged hull plate twice her size, she lets it float and drift away. Behind it there are more damaged sections, and her laser gets back to cutting.

“No, the work I’ve done so far is simply preventative, I haven't yet begun to repair. Looks like the blowback took out the warp assembly mostly, Impulse wasn't the target. My guess he was hoping to trigger a breach, but the explosion was far larger and slower than he thought. Our containment field took the brunt of the blast saving us from the core breach, but we still have no chance of flying out of this.”

Fala’s eyes burned Quintons neck, he thumbed the displays and saw the imagery from her helmet camera. Only an hour ago they had all toasted to a mans 54th year of life, his 30th on this ship, now they faced a possible end.

Now… was the time for leading, he felt his fathers voice booming through the ship like when he stalked these corridors once as a much younger person. They had a fragile situation, but they could make it through. He would carry them if he had to.

”Okay, so our goal at this point is safety, then recovery. We can expect the Aerowing to return, and I believe its two phaser strips outnumber our none so we need a plan for that as well. So, considering the charts-"

A holographic representation winked into view casting light over them all. He showed the starmap which had them at almost half of a light year from a star System, Beta Ro. he had several highlighted areas on the grid, but Judah, the teenage avatar, had already begun dismissing many of them as places to take refuge. However he did finally speak as Quinton pointed at one that had been dismissed.

"Do you see this gravitic field way out here? I think it’s a scrapyard..."

He tapped a device on the collar of his jacket, a small circular symbol.

=0= Quint to Kas, can you come to the bridge after you've completed your rounds?"

A Faceless but strong feminine voice responded,

=0= We are presently on the way, I have a report ready. Out.

Fala was consulting with Judah - "there were dozens in this system it was a salvage field during the Dominion War-"

Quinton agreed via a simple, "mmhmm," he stepped back towards the display, "we hide there, possibly make repairs if we can find parts, and get out of here as soon as we can. That Aerowing can't search forever, it has at most, 190 isograms of antimatter. He'll need some fop that just to get to a civilized world. We hide, we repair, we make the call or limp home when we are all clear. Alternatives?”

The small bridge had two levels, Quinton was at the helm, in the top and most forward section, with ease of access to a wealth of panels and screen and a canopy view of space. Below him in a steel jungle, what they coined as the “bunker,” Two Andorians entered speaking in hushed tones but as Quinton finished his speech he turned to them, expecting a report.

Kas Shar’ zhen was imposing, large and tall, with biting wit and a keen intellect. She motioned to the other Andorian she walked in with, and he respectfully waited for Kas to deliver her report.

“Avor secured the armory, we lost quite a bit, but we can still defend ourselves if Tasco returns. Our aft Phaser array is destroyed utterly, but I can make a single shot fire out of the remains of the Forward Array.”

Duren smiled at Kas and spoke up despite her clear intent he stay quiet.

“We can offer a choice for Tasco. It would drain more power certainly, but if the Aerowing has only two shots and a four second recharge. That's from mere type II pulse phasers mind you.”

Kas spoke over him continuing the argument from earlier, “A gamble. This wastes time and accomplishes little."

Quinton held his hand up, "Anything to give us a better chance, what do you have in mind Duren?"

Duren shot a special smile at Kas, spouses had their own feuds and Andorian interfamily drama was the spiciest of them all. “He needs both shots to guarantee the whole bank is destroyed, I say we power both arrays, so he will have to choose one or the other-”

Kas wouldn't relent, “And hemorrhage power to a defunct system when we are already bleeding our life's blood into space-”

Fala began shouting again, adding to the din, “Quinton I need more than your assurances here, I will make a distress call on my own if you don’t-”

Quinton barked, “No! Our stealth profile is still strong, we send a beacon out and that Aerowing can find us easily. As it is now we can hope to hide… somewhere.”

Duren was still bickering, “A deflector is only effective outside 1500 Kc, he will fly right inside that bubble and know right where to hit us, why bother powering it at all if..."

A lurch cut them all off, then what lights there were cut off abruptly.

{Engineering}

In Engineering, Judah was next to Akio his back to a clearly ruined Warp Core. The Engine room resembled a swamp of cables and tubes from a misty under-croft of mechanics. A gnarled and oak like mass emerged from the mists, looking as though it had been burned from the inside out. The circular gantry at the decks obscured by the curling smoke and the upper level utterly blackened from fires. The deadly radiation it is emitting was contained by a force field which sputtered and crackled constantly as it stopped the bombardment of deadly particles to the crew and ship. The one hallway leading up to it had the bulkhead doors propped open with a crate of spare stembolts, venting smoke while they worked.

Judah is sitting in a mobile life support unit, utterly unable to move save for small facial twitches, but his interface with the ships computers was his interaction with the world. Akio was working on several screens and using small autonomous exo comp devices to scan and affect repairs. Judah had been had been interfacing through a cybernetic interface up to this point and was laughing at the two of them bicker. His eyes and subtle motions also coordinated the machines as he performed diagnostics for Akio. With urgency he pressed an image on several panels with a new message.

He brought one section to their attention, the galley and water reclamation. There was a problem, and it would cause an explosion in their chemical tanks soon. Without words he brought up the sections for everyone's view no matter where they were on the ship highlighting his plea, water reclamation tied into Oxygen production and Life Support. They were at reduced capacity and running out of time until they were breathing bad air. One of the chemical mixers had started condensing moisture which had turned to ice which lead to punctured lines... there was about to be an explosion!

Akio called in urgency, “Lui, drop that, get to the Port quarter deck 4 aft. Life Support is venting!"

Lui called as well, "Vicente, suit up, I need you out here!”

Judah showed that he was shunting and redirecting as needed, the triangular ship was only five decks tall, under-powered and generally cobbled in many parts. There were problems all over and his conclusion was they needed to make repairs or they were going to die. Judah's conclusions were sometimes not helpful, just factual.

Quinton was in action, “Clear the bridge, Vicente to the Airlock for Exo repairs. Kas, Avor continue internal repairs and prepare for boarding, Fala you have the Conn, Akio keep the ship together… Judah plot course for the nearest Gravitic anomaly, best speed, but nothing that endangers our people on the outside, move!”

In the airlock a young man rushes to don an exo suit, well worn but sturdy looking. He is very confident and able to snap the pieces into place. Despite his speed, Lui calls over the horn, “Vicente, I need your ass out here pronto. Port Quarter 7- aft assembly.”

For the third time the Comm chimed him into the calls where they referenced him. He had barely had time to set the galley back up when crisis had taken over. Now he fetched and carried for the Ice Queen Andorian in her repairs and was presently being summoned for exo-repairs outside the ship. Vicente swore he would remember this when he was given his own command so that he could make sure nobody ever suffered like he did.

“Maldita Sea” Vicente was expertly going through several motions going as fast as he can, when he dared not to reply over the comm she yelled back, “Vicente I swear by the Prophets to haunt you if I'm left out here-”

He tossed a pocket fob against the wall and hit the comm while anchoring his boots and cycling the airlock closed. “Lui, what makes you think I'm scared of you after three years together?” He caught the rebounded fob as gravity was lowered and it sailed back to him and slid it into his jacket

Lui spoke over Vicente, the young man was still inexperienced but had certainly earned his place on the permanent crew. “Oh tell me more about the years of experience you have, Bosun, you must be ready for the Captaincy any day-”

Vicente cut the line from his end and worked in silence for a moment. He had two batons with deployable magnetic pitons which fired silk like cables. It was meant for moving quickly on the exo walks, and he was well versed in their use. He made his way to the port quarter in no time, the silk line and magnetic boots making it easy.

As the two bickered they worked in tandem, the cadence to their debate a matter of timing as he passed an anchor line for her to return to him for their journey to the port quarter. As she flew at him from the secured line he had already gracefully pirouetted and freehand threw the anchor line for their next leg. It hit precisely where he meant it to, and the two now pulled their way to the damaged assembly. Kas monitored the two of them from the bridge one deck above the airlock and in plain view from her window.

"All clear for now, we are diverting what we can to reduce pressure in the lines, patch that breach, or set up the containment field units for the exocomps." She knew the little bots could do great work, bu they needed help, Lui had to get there fast or there would be another explosion on board.

[Bridge]

On the Bridge Quinton began piloting the ship, Judah was remotely present as well, coordinating with him to make sure they were on course. They were moving in slow micro pulse bursts, with luck they could hope to achieve .3c within a days time. Their course was uncertain, if this gravitic anomaly wasn’t a scrap yard they’d have to re-orient entirely, and they may not have the time. Judah showed him the nearest inhabited world, 14 Light Years away. Beta Ro could provide stable orbit, but was not suitable for life.

He also showed a Federation Starship, 22 Light Years away but able to reach them in time.

Besides the Aerowing likely hunting them, and in spite of the clear danger they were in, he told Judah in as kind a manner as possible, “No Judah, we can’t run to Starfleet, not anymore. Nobody would ask you to make that sacrifice.”

Judah was a work of art and a miracle of Science rolled together, he had been killed in an accident but resurrected with a biological interface using advanced circuitry. To Starfleet he was an illegal biogenic experiment banned in known federation Spaces. Judah would be remanded to medical authority and imprisoned. It was intolerable to think of.

Judah said nothing of course, he was totally unable to move. However there was an uptick in his interface rate, the closest he could come to smiling.

Fala was scouring over the data on the anomaly, “I believe you may be right !Quint!. I’ve seen this type of mass profile and gravitic index. It’s a mass generator to hold scrap close to it. Even sorts it by size over time.”

Kas conferred and nodded, “It’s likely untethered from Beta Ro, they were dealers in this kind of stuff, Federation members before they were taken . It isn't far from here and was occupied during the Dominion war. Twenty years drifting… it’s possible…”

Fala grinned, “A lost treasure, your luck holds… Captain.”

Quinton hated luck, it was a crutch the weak used to justify their petty sense of importance.

“No, we dont need luck. We have a good crew, and our ship is flying. The rest will work itself out if we try hard enough. Keep our stealth profile high as you can Kas. and be ready for that Aerowing… power up the forward array just a little.”

Kas was exasperated, “Duren is not trained in ship combat sir, this idea is just a notion he has come up with and he has no idea-”

“Kas, It’ll take every bit of ingenuity we have to pull out of this, but we can do it. All Cards in play, let’s get it done.”

-END-

=/\=Captain Quinton Beck

Oothor Jaxz

Fala Gaz

And other NPC's played as needed.

 

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