Threshold

Posted on Thu Jul 28th, 2016 @ 6:14pm by Second Mate Quinton Beck & MERCHANT RANKS Fala Gaz (NPC) & Master Steward Othor Jaxz Ghost of the Second Star
Edited on on Mon Oct 31st, 2016 @ 2:46am

3,976 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Tenuous Grasp on Destiny
Location: Beta Ro scrapyard
Timeline: 2393 May 8th 0100

Ships Log:
11/12 able crew. O/1 civilians (1-KIA) (1 MIA-presumed hostile)
Main Power- 12%/31% (reduced at moment for stealth/conservation. 31% is maximum power)
Auxiliary power reserve: 38 140,000 teradyne Capacitors. Emergency Conservation Measures Active. approx 59 days of low power.
Stealth profile- 80% (compromised due to damaged engine)
Cargo- Mission critical cargo Missing/Stolen. 1 Body in cryo storage.
Auxiliary Craft: Missing
Life Support Systems: 16 days.

-START-

{Main Cargo Bay/Airlock}

"This is not the time Dure!" Kas was busy, but Dure was persisting.

"Sha-li kkol ctoaaw-" Dure began his statement in Andorian to make his point, he ended it like she did, in Federation Standard.

... "You can speak in your own tongue.”

Even with the universal translator you can sound to all others, as you would in your native language. It was a choice Andorians often made when speaking amongst each other, their culture was being absorbed into the Federation by the years, somethin ghe was not supportive of. He was telling her he was homesick and she should be too. She didn't even speak her native language comfortably after all!

“We have to stay,” implored Kas, “we have a commitment to this crew this vessel and Ina and the children.”

“We owe it to the children to love them.” Dure had taken to fatherhood well, and missed his children dearly, Kas responded in such a way as to leave him breathless in his hatred.

“I can’t believe your cowardice Dure. When did you lose your backbone.” Things had decayed between them. Like the slow and ambling course of the Second Star had ambled into it’s current predicament Dure and Kas had casually marched into a state of marital stagnation. In the quiet hours they had grown distant and far from each other and worried about the course they had taken away from each other.

“We have to make it home,” he implored, "if not but one of us.”

Kas always considered for a split second before firing off a response, the instinct was well learned. She considered what he said, he was scared he would never see his family again, afraid to lose what he loved. She was appalled at the bare faced cowardice, but a part of her warred that it wasn't cowardice but rather commitment; love.

“We can’t live this life with bare pockets,” Avor was a dark and unscrupulous he spoke little and when he did the room was arrested by his dark and somber timbre. Per usual his simple statement did much, resolving their awkward silence while furthering the actual conversation. Dure regarded the darker Andorian with pity, he opened his mouth to reply, but Kas beat him to the punch.

“One more run Dure,” Kas was implacable. She was a feminine mystery. Who knew that such a slight and petite frame could harbor an iron will, that a beauty so small could hold the hearts of two warriors of ice and wind.

“You can rest with Ina and raise the little ones. But you can't... you won't go empty handed."

Dure was a mighty Brute of a male but his stamina was lacking and Kas had found that his increasing domesticity was unattractive. Her beast had been tamed by time and void but at least her knight had remained. Avor lived and breathed by her wishes, he acted only when it was in her interests, he lived by her needs… he was… noble.

Dure heaved, restraining himself mightily with a matrimonial cocktail of emotion all swirled together. His love, hate, spite, frustration, confusion pity rage,resignation... they piled and fomented a deadly bile in his spirit.

“You have other options on Andoria. We’ve… you’ve chosen not to take them.”

=0= “Entering Debris Field, duty stations.”

They heard the announcement at the same time, ending their spat. Dure held her gaze, not letting Kas break him, and she blinked. Guilt, he knew she felt it.

{ Entering Beta Ro Scrapyard}

Navigating the Scrapyard was no simple matter, the tight gravity field had kept items clustered and revolving around its own center, collisions and deviations were constant and no matter of automated system could adequately predict the volatile changes. Their nimble craft was hobbled, there was little certainty they could navigate in the tighter bands safely and would have to leave the ecliptic plane to transit.

This would also make it far easier for their pursuer to find them. So Judah and Quinton piloted very carefully, Judah showed their deflector profile was still strong, but anything direct would be fatal given how precarious systems were. The whole crew was busy preparing whatever they could for Tasco’s eventual return, and to limit the damage from spreading beyond the affected systems.

{Bridge}

"Happy Birthday Captain."
The message appeared on Quinton's console, it was indeed the day of his birthday. He had forgotten, who could remember such a thing while so much was going on? Nonetheless he needed to keep up Morale, if this was low hanging fruit he would take the favor.

"Thanks Judah, I'd like a warp core please, you can gift wrap the box and just give it to me directly..." He was sure to smile widely so Judah could see over the channel. That uptick in the interface rate sounded, and Judah lightly twitched. It was jubilation, and Beck felt such gratitude to the boy for sharing.

There was quiet, and all of the experienced deck crew were afraid of it. It was the quiet times when the worst things happened, so long as a crisis was seen and able to be understood the matter at hand stayed their fears. Now with nothing but the long minutes and inexorable distance to mark the passage a tension had arisen among the crew.

He was privy to all of it, the bridge was a natural bottleneck for sounds, and even those trying to be discreet often didn't realize the Helm could still hear every word. He was certain this was a purposeful feature in the Rigelian freighter, they had a talent for producing ships for commercial use. He was used to listening to Kas from beneath the gantry, but not having her fourth domestic of the day. Unfortunately there was nobody else to listen to so he had to abide in stereo. The cold slap in response to a whispered comment punctuated the moment and they both left the bridge going separate ways.

In silence, Beck returned to the vigil, his head spinning trying to find a way out of this. He allowed himself five seconds to hate Tasco, lament their circumstances, and shift the burden of command on his shoulders. Then it was time to get back to work. With Kas and Dure arguing over their place in the galaxy, Fala was trying to re-arrange components in their communication grid to send a tight band signal nobody could eavesdrop on. Akio was coordinating with Lui and Vicente on the hull with their repairs… His mental rundown of the crew stopped at Corrin. The simple truth of his betrayal had yet to really take hold in his mind. Corrin had been the Chief Engineer and able crew for Second Star over at least the last three years non stop, dozens of contracts before then had cemented a genuine understanding and mutual respect.

Reverie was secondary to duty, Vicente broke the silence when he signalled the bridge, Quinton put it on the displays. The young man's features were handsome, but too young to be taken as anything other than a child of his species.

“Captain, the damage,” he shakes head, “Esta jodido, so we aren't going to Warp, or having fresh air unless we hit a drydock. Lui has it under control now but without replacement parts, we are stuck at our present speed.”

Kas was always listening, always making those connection that matter. “Vicente you have to learn to take full inventory of your options. Just cut off life support to the cargo hold and all unnecessary systems. I'll meet with you in a moment, we have Warp sustainers in the plasma probes and two escape pod jump packs, I'll show you what to do.”

“You’re shutting down power to the replicators too” cried Vicente analyzing her changes in his display. Kas was strict but this would leave them eating rations.

“They consume far too much power, we’ll be eating late this evening.” A sweet smile spread across her sylvan face, “You’ll live.”

{Outer Hull- Aft Engine Compartment Port Quarter}

Vicente was staring into the open spacescape, despite their present conditions it was always a rare opportunity to be out in an exosuit, to have this particular view. He heard Lui grunting in exertion over their comm line, inasmuch as he wanted to help he knew he had to remain planted for her safety. Should anything happen he was the last failsafe, this buddy systems had saved too many lives in his experience, so he didn't feel bad for staring off into space while she did the hard work.

“I need the torque spanner and prepare to counter.”

“Going down.”

Mindlessly he picked the part and gently lofted it in the weightless environs directly to her, a small spool unraveling for recall should she miss it. Vicente stood along the “top” portion of the ship, between the two flat planed nacelles and Lui was at a 90 degree angle to him, it made him nauseous to move against the ship's gravity plane. Lui never let him live it down when he lost his lunch during a particularly upsetting walk.

“Counter, in three.”

Vicente acknowledged via the rope and tugged to indicate he had a grip. Whenever she had to apply power tools, it took effort to keep her from spinning instead of the drill head.

“Two, one” Lui counted.

In Unison, they both said, “Mark”

Lui takes the large tool and applies it to a tattered hull plate. A drill head is placed on it which will cut an even circle into a growing rip in the metal and allow them to stop the tear from spreading. It is hard and heavy machinery work, and Lui makes it look easy. With her anchor line secured she placed her feet on the wall and pressed the drill to the plate, activating the bit. From her angle she couldn't see the fault-line forming. A new tear was forming before their eyes and it would shear off the plate she was anchored to.

“Lui, stop! The tear is-!” Vicente lost his voice to a scream of terror as the hull plate they were working on violently began to shear off. The plate was easily fifteen meters square, it was the primary reactor housing and the size of drifting continent as far as he was concerned. It took one moment to realize the danger, one more to warn her, with his final moment claimed in a scream of unbridled terror as the entire deck plate blew off, the explosive bolts firing in response to the computers automated systems.

On the Bridge Quinton sat bolt upright at the alarms, Judah had sounded them for Lui and Vicente the moment safeties blew off the hull plate they were working on.

“Kas, we just lost Lui and Vicente! Get…”

Quinton stopped as he realized they had no working transporter, nor shuttle. And with the scrap floating within a hundred meters of their hull at times, no way to maneuver safely. He found himself at a loss for words, he had no way to help them and only one more exosuit. He couldn't ask anyone else to go out there, it would be him.

He continued after a pause, “... this ship on lockdown, station keeping and maneuvering to avoid debris if needed, I’m going out there.” he was quick to action and immediately ran to the rear of the cabin, however-

Kas was already in the airlock.

With the grace of an arctic zephyr she was in motion towards the third and final suit, not one instant after the tremors rocked the ship. She pulled it over her uniform and placed the helmet on her head securing it with a click of her thumb and forefinger. “Too slow old timer,” she said to herself in levity as she opened the hatch and stepped out into the void her boots sticking to the hull. She broke into a full sprint and used a peculiar Zero G method for sprinting with mag boots. Though she had despised her time in Service, the skills had come in handy, and Andorian veterans came at a high cost for crew for good reasons. It looked like running in sand but it made progress in the loping and disgraceful manner.
Away in the closing distance she could see Vicente struggling against the line trying to keep Lui from drifting away. She wouldn’t get there in time, Vicente was at the end of the line.

“Vicente, prepare you other line now! I will use a parabolic trajectory to bring her-” She was cut off as she saw him reach the end of his line and jump from the ship.

Vicente had braced himself against the precipice of metal and radiation, struggling to stay on the hull plate. Lui drifted away, even after she freed herself from the hull plate her exosuit had only microthrusters and she hurtled away from the ship. the buddy line attached to Vicente at the other end. The coil he held pulled violently through his grip, and the final knot he made to anchor himself to held, but it dragged him with it in jerks and steps. When he reached the edge of the ships “top” profile, the coil pulled harder than he could handle. He was going to be pulled off, but rather than let her go he jumped off the edge, firing off the piton for the other coil. It attached securely to the Second Star, linking the lifelines one in each hand. In moments he would be torn free when the slack ran out, and he already felt the intense wash of radioactive afterglow.

The reactor was cooking them in their suits when Kas arrived moments after Vicente had heroically doomed himself by keeping the leash on Lui and jumping after her. Only moments but moments were all that was needed in the heat of that torrent, the engine's output lethal with no housing. She had little time to save her friends, followed in kind leaping from the edge. Her line trailed and her running leap accelerated her out towards him.

Hooking the line to her belt, the angle and force from her jump carried her from her anchor point in a gentle arc, her line intersecting Vicentes. She grabbed Vicente and lent him her strength, rigging their harness to hold the lines. The two of them held the line and together and pulled Lui to safety as Kas reeled them back in. Moments were all that was needed to saturate all of them in radiation, Lui had been exposed for nearly two minutes to over twenty thousand roentgens. For Kas it was a small exposure, Andorians could easily handle it as they had grown in the thin atmospheres of a moon. Lui had already gone unconscious and Vicente was clearly in distress as well.

Though it was weightless beyond the hull, it was still difficult to move both of them. She landed and Vicente had lost consciousness as well. Dragging them from the deployable line, she was able to make progress as they floated behind her. Once they returned to the ship plane Kas made her best effort to the airlock, Oothor and Vollad were waiting for them.

{Bridge}

Judah sent messages frantically, desperate to reach Vicente or Lui. The secondary fact that their radiation was now no longer masked was lost on him. Or the sudden surge in power through the deflector. Judah would have caught them right away, but so concerned as he was it took him seconds to consider these things. He knew Quinton was already managing the rescue, but he had to add to the burden.

On the screens directly in front of Quinton he was watching Kas’s progress, the panel display sent from Judah jumped into his view obscuring Kas. He leapt to remove it from the panel but it lodged, forcing his attention.

“The Hell? Judah…” Quinton noticed their radiation profile… "Engineering get some kind of containment on the breach now!"

“Oh Sugh’La,” cried Terence over the com. In a peaceful situation and with time Terrence efficient and effective but in the midst of stress he was less than adequate or so said his Starfleet review. He never lived that one down.

Akio replied in a grave tone, “We are leaking radiation, Internal containment is shielding us, but there is no containment for the exposed reactor.

Quinton followed Kas on his screens, he was desperate to do anything to help her bu she had a solid minute of running ahead of her already, and no more space suits. "Terry, Akio, it’ll be a trail to us wherever we are if Tasco picks it up…”

Terrence was clearly overwhelmed, a squat and pallid man, he largely cleaned the ship, and was responsible for basic maintenance. The poor man is crying in panic as he struggled to keep systems in check running from one bank to the other, unknowing of many of the actions Akio has asked him to perform. Akio was not a mechanic and the pressing urgency of so many repairs needed was making him panic as well. With a solemnity he normally does not possess he responded gravely,

“Quinton, the reactor housing was in danger of being pulled into the manifolds. It appears the explosive bolts misfired in response to the ambitious repair efforts of Ms. Kania. We have an exposed engine to space, I can modify a containment field, but that will at best keep us safe from the prolonged exposure to the leak.” Quinton was trying to maintain his composure but after a point there is only so much one can do.

Othor had been observed them in silence. Dark eyes watching the furious tumult of men and women pushed to the extreme. They were a tangle of furies on the verge of a pit of sorrows. He had much work to do, but no idea where to start.

The voice came to him as gentle thunder,. “Captain,” he caught Othor with his gaze. “You are not alone in this peril.”

Quinton took the earnest opinion and held the mans gaze. He was a mind reader, true, but he had a way of making you feel like he really understood. Their friendship had taken them both all over, this was just one more milestone. He still had work to do, and Kas hadn’t given up on their lost crew yet. They were still alive, they had a chance. He monitored all the screens at once. Vollad, the steward in the galley had been injured slightly, the purple bruising stretched over the Orion green contrasting sharply. He said he was fine but watching him move heavy objects showed the extent of his injury. They were all working as hard as they could, and it steadied him, they would get through this, together.

The monitors played out several dramas at once, but if he thought he lost his lunch when Vicente jumped, he cried out in fear when Kas did as well. Her graceful maneuver hooked them all and brought them back. In a miracle he could scarcely believe, Kas returned with two souls who by all rights had met their just end. She was fighting hard, they all were. He looked to Othor, whose gentle reminder had kept him grounded. He had good people, he had to trust in them. Kas was making great time in response, but wasn't answering his hails, the com read an open line meaning Kas was talking to someone else.

Kas announced she was inside with the two of them, and there was a moment of cheer, until her conversation was actually heard. They heard her cry out for Akio who had secured Lui in the bio bed and rushed her to the infirmary. Avor and Dure also praised their bondmate for her bravery over the comm, but she did not reply, her urgency to care for Lui the only object of her attention.

She was something special, born to this life, happy. With Lui and Vicente both returned to the Airlock Quinton dared to breathe but Kas looked stricken. She yelled for Akio who had met her there accompanied by Vollad, the Orion steward, and he saw what had shaken Kas so. Lui’s face was blistered from the radiation, her eyes, hair, her whole body had been burned.

{Sickbay}

As the crew run to sickbay, Lui awoke in dire pain, from the mild treatment the bio bed had begun. She wailed, unnaturally awake in the face of the damage sustained. Akio retrieved his instruments, yelling for everyone to get out. The tiny infirmary shared a wall with the Galley and the Main Head. Many onboard had taken to calling it the "Closet Doctor" As the room was tiny, with two operating multi purpose beds, Lui and Vicente laid out took up most of the room, Kas and Akio were all that fit.

Kas had already shed her suit, Vollad had taken it for Decon without orders and begun treating the room as well. Kas begins removing the Exosuit handing the pieces off to him. They both noticed a grimace when he grabbed the chest plate, easily 130 kilos and it seemed to hurt him. He didnt complain and Kas was grateful for his stoicism. Kas was no doctor but did well in her medical classes in Basic, so they worked in tandem to save her. They exchange clipped medical terms, Fala joined the group as they watch Lui in surgery.

Vicente awoke as well, his condition worsened and he moaned deeply, blood draining from his eyes and nose.
“Kas, tend to Vicente, load him up with the Diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid as I prepare the main vials.”

Kas left Lui with clear regret, Luis grip was strong and she had to gently pull from it. She turned to Vicente and his condition was progressing rapidly, he was facing organ failure as well. She turned to Akio, who looked equally worried. He began to load up a hypospray when he looked at the bedside table in dismay, there were only four vials of Crotharapim, it wasn’t enough to treat both of them. Certainly not at the levels they had been exposed to, he could probably save one of them, but definitely not both.

Even though he had other methods and medicines, none were here and now. For what they were exposed to and what they had available, these vials were the only cure. He stared at Lui, and somehow she understood. She saw it in his face, saw the agony in the moment.

“You use every drop if that's what it takes to get him back.” Her eyes bore great pain, but she looked to Vicente, his vitals hitting critical.

Akio set the hypospray down, and grabbed another. There was nothing he could do for her, but she let him know it was okay.

She whispered to him, “He’s a hero.”

Wincing in pain, her breath caught and he let her withdraw her hand and rest. He could only weep for the pain she had to be in, but turned quickly to attend to Vicente. Kas programmed her bio bed for anesthesia, but little else would help her. They both looked to Vicente, four courses over four hours, it was all he could do, all any of them could do.

-END-

 

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