Surprise

Posted on Fri Dec 6th, 2024 @ 9:53am by Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Michael Amato & Ensign Carter Page & Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous & Lieutenant Azrel Vox

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 5: The Price of Paradise
Location: Deck 1: Bridge; Deck 23: Cargo Bay 5
Timeline: M5 MD09 (2268.08.1) 1600

Lights flickered in Cargo Bay #5 on deck 23, in the lowest bowels of the Stardrive section of the massive Starship. The expansive bay was filled with blue shipping containers each labeled with a bright white caduceus. Each time the lights flicked so did the containment field put around the shipment.

Damage Control Team #1 was on site, led by Ensign Carter Page. The team of engineers clad in red were spread through the bay, bulkheads open, several of which were blackened.

Carter stood at the control console, boosting power to the containment field. Commander Hanous didn't trust the Orions or the shipment, concerned about traps or other hazardous material being present in the containers. Usually he was right... The lights flickered and then went out, the containment field with it. The bay was instantly flooded with red lighting as the emergency lights snapped on.

An alarm indicator went off in the bay. Carter looked down at the console, there was something seeping out of one of the containers... He tapped the white button next to the communicator built into the console, "Cargo Bay 5 to any Transporter room..." he said. The channel didn't open.

The young man looked up and around the bay, "Hang on to something," he yelled as he grabbed onto the console. He tapped one of the jeweled buttons on the console. Vents opened on the ceiling as the exhaust systems kicked on, violently sucking the atmosphere out of cargo bay.

Carter dangled in the air. He was starting to lose his grib on the console. He tapped the console with his right hand as his left hand slipped. After being lifted ten feet into the air the gravity shifted and he fell to the deck like a stone. He was out cold.

---

Bridge
An indicator beeped on the Bridge Engineering console, indicating a loss of atmosphere.

Darrod had been previously focused on the Orion ships outside. He'd been hoping that the systems aboard the Midway would protect them from the worst of the Orion sabotage. But then, there was an alert from Deck 23. Cargo Bay 5, where the supplies had been beamed into under the watchful eye of a half dozen engineers (waiting for the doctors, security, and scientists who would also want in), was indicating a sudden loss of atmosphere and the grav sensors weren't happy either. There hadn't been any word from Page (or any of his team) about it. That meant whatever happened was in an emergency. And now all that Dar was getting back from a few urgent calls was an eerie silence. There wasn't time to study logs and try to figure it out, good men might be dying in there. His voice was quiet, but his tone carried urgency. "Page, what happened!?" A moment of silence later, he spoke again. "Ensign! Respond!" More silence, more worrying from the Chief Engineer. "Carter, if you can hear me, if there's enough air to carry sound and you're still alive - I won't let you die down there."

He turned to Tristan, trying to remain calm. Trying, of course, and not wholly failing. Worry was due, panic would cause issues. "Captain! Cargo Bay 5 just vented atmosphere. No word from the team before or since, I can't raise them. It must have been urgent; they must have encountered a trap of some kind. There's a half-dozen men dying in low atmosphere after a gravity inversion and exposure to vacuum. We need to get in there and find out what's wrong. I need to go and get those men to safety."

The Captain nodded before standing up out of the chair, "Commander take over," he said to Commander Heartfilia.

"Lt. Vox, signal for an engineering team and medical team to meet us down in Cargo bay 5," Tristan added before following Darrod into the turbolift.

"On it sir," Aze responded. She turned back to her console, tapping one of the brightly lit keys. =Engineering, this is the bridge; please assign a technical team and have them meet the Captain and others in Cargo Bay 5 ASAP. = She paused. =Sickbay, this is the bridge; please assign a medical team and have them meet the Captain and others in Cargo Bay 5 ASAP.= She closed the internal channels.

The Orion stood up like his chair was electrified. He nodded to Aze, his expression tight. "Thanks, Vox. If you could call Lemaire up to take the station, I owe you." He quickly turned to Chief Corden, the Yeoman, with as much of a smile as he could muster. "Mer, remind me, I owe Vox." It was no secret that the Engineer and the Yeoman were in a relationship; and little things like that could help ground him in a time of crisis.

Vox nods. =Bridge to Lemaire, please report to duty station.=

Darrod dashed into the turbolift, holding the rail hard and willing that the car would move that one erg faster.

As the turbolift doors closed, he could see the engineer was still on edge, "We'll get them out, Commander," Tristan said calmly, "Was there any indication of explosives or foreign objects in the shipment?" With the chaos of the tactical situation, the Captain had not been briefed on any abnormalities from transport.

He turned to the Captain, and his mind stilled. A simple question - was there an indication of explosives? He shook his head. "No, sir. Nothing tripped the weapons filter, the venting was done by one of my men. A few of the containers were off their target weights, though. I figured it was additional tracking hardware that the Cartel added, but it's possible it was some form of trap to disable a thief. I was hoping Page would give me a scan on the electronics. Obviously it was some kind of trap. Page and his team aren't the type to try and blow themselves out into space. We've only got one Engineer who's gone space-happy before, Petty Malvin. We keep him medicated with Sickbay's help, monitored, and close to the core. Good man, when his moods don't take him."

It was a fact of life in space, some people didn't adjust well. For a man like Darrod who'd seen more than his fair share of ships on their way to dock with 'unusual' crewmen, it wasn't something to be embarrassed about either. But his damage control teams were hand picked, seasoned officers. There was a reason it bothered him so much when the head of Team 2 returned to his people. Then again, his silent cursing of the turbolift for not exceeding top speed was proof enough of what he was feeling. For the first time, Darrod had a crew he trusted. He had something like a family again, and a group of friends. What every Engineer felt in his own first engine room, Dar felt here, but with all the weight of his life behind it.

"Those men are alive, Captain. Maybe not by much right now, but they're alive. I'm sure of it."

The Captain nodded as the turbolift sped through the ship, "We bought us some time to figure this out," he said, "Regardless, we need to get the Xenoderm to New Paradise, that is the priority..." He looked over at the seething Orion engineer, "There's no time for vendettas... Even if it is justified..."

Darrod muttered under his breath for a moment, then turned to the Captain. "Captain, with all due respect both to you and those suffering on New Paradise, my focus is on my men. We'll get these people their xenoderm. If not, I'm sure we'll figure something out. Worst comes to worst we bake them all in microwaves. It leaves a hell of an itch for a few years, and a couple scars, but it's better than dying." He sighed heavily. "This isn't a vendetta. I just refuse to allow those men to die. I don't care why or how they got spaced right now."

The Captain just nodded. Now wasn't the time to try and reason with the engineer. He was fixated on a problem and clearly Tristan's attempts to calm the situation weren't sinking in.

The turbolift doors opened onto Deck 23. The deck was one of the smallest on the ship, as it was essentially the underbelly of the starship. The bulkhead next to the door to the cargobay was open and a group of engineers were busy at work.

"Report," the Captain said as he stepped onto the deck.

One of the engineers looked over, "Atmosphere is back to normal Captain, but the emergency locking bolts are still in place and won't release," he said, "According to the readout the containment field is holding the shipment..."

The Captain nodded, "And the engineering crew?" he asked.

"Not sure sir, a medical team is on the way, but they can't do much until we get the door open," the engineer responded.

As soon as Darrod heard the words 'atmosphere is back to normal', the orion's expression eased, and he patted the engineer on the shoulder. "Good job, Crewman." He looked over the mentioned readouts. Being able to put more thought into it, he nodded and stepped away from the Captain, in amidst his men where he was more at home. "Looks like there was a power fluctuation right before they vented. We should have had the environmental scanners on full. Someone get me that report ASAP."

He looked over the effort to release the locking bolts, and weighed their options. "In case we can't get in with the manual override by the time the med team get here, get a plasma torch ready."

He stepped back, leaving the computer scan with one of his team, sighing heavily. "It's much better than I feared. Floor weight sensors didn't show loss equal to a human mass. I'm confident enough to say they're going to live."

The door suddenly flicked open, "Ah, there we go," the engineer said.

The Captain was the first through the doors. The engineering crew littered the floor of the cargo bay with the pile of shipping crates in the middle. He ran to Carter who was lying next to the control console. He was breathing at least. "Mr. Page," he said, "Mr. Page... Carter!"

The young man's hazel eyes opened and he looked up at the Captain who was cradling him. To a lot of the crew the Captain was like an older brother since he wasn't much older than they were. "Captain..." He said, "Aye okay..."

The Captain smiled in response.

Darrod's charge in beside the captain was no less determined. He knelt down beside Page and looked him over. He was okay, and that much, for today, was good. "Carter, next time you want to do an EVA, remember to put on a suit first, huh?" He patted the younger man on the shoulder gingerly.

After a moment, he straightened up, walking toward the ratings who worked under Page, gently rousing them from their passed-out state, and making sure that the medical personnel took adequate care of his men. For the moment, the shipment was being neglected, because this crew always came first. Once the medical team had gotten in and started working, Dar returned to Page and the Captain. His expression shifted as he looked at the shipment and the main monitoring pedestal, then back at Carter. Still, his voice was gentle enough. "Everyone will be fine. I think one broken hand and some reparable respiratory damage is the whole of the butcher's bill. Thank whatever you want to pray to for that. Report, Page. What the hell happened in here?"

"During the last disruptor hit the power flickered down here," Carter responded. By now he was sitting, his back against the console, the medic checking him out, "The containment field flickered with it and then something seeped out... That container." He leaned over and pointed to the container on top of the others, "Transporter Room 5 didn't respond and the only course of action I saw was to vent whatever gas that was out of here... The Orions definitely left something for us..." He finished.

Dar nodded, putting a hand on Page's shoulder for a moment. "You did the right thing." Considering the situation briefly, he looked at the container and looked up. "Someone get a tricorder and get readings on the container - get them to the Science lab. Also ask Science if they can get the external hull sensors on this section and check to see the composition of the gas before we lose it. We should know what they tried to dose our people with."

"Aye aye chief," responded one of the engineering crew leads as they descended upon the container.

As Dar stood up, the medical team approached and put Carter and the rest of his team on a stretcher to bring them to sickbay. The Captain turned to him, "Hate to say this, but you were right," he commented as he watched the medical teams spirit away Carter's team, "I guess it's not paranoia when everyone is trying to kill you..."

Darrod nodded and straightened slightly, though it was obvious he was far less than pleased about being right. "Unfortunately so, Captain. When dealing with pirates, you can be assured that they are out to get you. I'm just glad that my worries and Page's good sense saved lives." He watched as the rest of his team descended on the shielded container, working in a coordinated group to figure out how the trick had been pulled off. "I'd appreciate it if I could sign off on the commendation for bravery in Page's file, sir."

The Captain nodded, "Of course," he responded as the doors closed behind the medical team.

 

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