Batten Down The Hatches!

Posted on Wed Apr 27th, 2022 @ 10:32am by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Curtis Vaan & Delaney O'Callaghan & Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Nollel Livaam (*)

Mission: Mission 15: Adrift
Location: Rosie - Deck 6
Timeline: MD-01 21:25
1229 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Coordinating with the others had taken a couple of rushed conversations, but between Jake and Nollel the precious few minutes Burnie had given them had given the small crew enough time to grab emergency provisions and supplies. Between them they'd pitched a couple of locations to set-up their emergency shelter, but the positioning of the water tanks and the food storage areas in the cargo bays won out as a reasonable bet. The deuterium tanks, although one of the noisier ends of the ship, did come with additional shielding that they figured would help if things went seriously wrong.

Jake was almost breathless as he approached their 'command post' in the Impulse Drive control room. With a few connections to the sublight drives, it was adequate as a space to monitor the ship, or at least what they could monitor from there. Thankfully he was joined by Kali and Delaney, who apparently were ready and available to lend a hand. Underneath a semi-deconstructed console, Curtis was complaining.

"You realise this won't work, right? None of this old stuff was designed to do the job of steering the ship and managing more than a couple of systems. We're gonna be blind, deaf and dumb. Be a miracle if we can get any of this working."

"There's what it was designed to do and then there is what you can push the envelope to make it do." Kali said, and if there was a definite touch of annoyance at the situation - and probably at the rapidly greening bruising along one side of her face that hinted at a less than graceful encounter with something in the initial lurch - in her voice, there was also the confidence of someone whose life had once depended on knowing exactly how far outside the envelope they could push their ship or equipment, how close to or past the edge they could take it and still have a chance they might survive. At the moment she had one hand stuffed inside an access panel along one bulkhead, linking wires together that weren't meant to be; the other was holding the PADD she was referencing ship model schematics on the fly for; and in the end she was mostly hoping she got it right; because her only engineering skills were the sort taught to most pilots...Though in some senses that might have been beneficial here in the mental sense if nothing else; the skills were more limited; but the exhortations of 'in a pinch do what it takes to use these skills however needed to make your own repairs in an emergency' in that training were possibly less ingrained against freak-chance emergency patches and more outright in favor of them if it was your only option. Nearby, in a pile in one corner, was an unholy collection of pillows, blankets, and duffels bags that she'd grabbed from her own quarters on the way, dumped together haphazardly at the moment like some invasive organism threatening to take over the area.

Delaney had her own qualms about her usefulness in the actual management of the emergency repairs but, as was typical of the woman, had risen to the occasion has one of the least-shaken to settle on an attitude of resolve and determination. The situation was concerning, alarming, all the way down to outright terrifying, but the Operations officer took a book from her Romulan colleague and opted for action rather than fretting. Unlike Kali, however, Delaney hadn't rushed to improvise any engineering input but had, instead, rebounded into her particular niche with nothing more than a pen and paper to record, annotate and begin to organise the supplies they'd salvaged. By preference, she'd have preferred access to the manifest software she'd designed for the armory but powering the PADDs seemed more imperative for repair crews at the moment. She flicked through pages, already sorted into categories, and surreptitiously added Kali's pile of belongings to the makeshift asset register.

"I can't make a fifty-year-old computer system do something just because I want it to!" Curtis complained back at Kali.

"Just do your best," Jake suggested, trying to be a little more diplomatic whilst remaining firm. "Delaney - there's a passenger on the manifest: Evelyn. She should be the only non-crew member we have on board, and...well, she's a friend. I'd appreciate it if you could make sure she got to the shelter? Let me know when you find her, and I'll be along to check in personally."

The casual flip of a pencil in mock salute was promptly followed by a good-natured grin that had nothing to do with disrespect and everything to do with the fact that Delaney had a very casual approach to command hierarchies. At the very least, she was a natural optimist and, for the time being, was determined to approach their situation with her usual humour. "I'll go check now." To Curtis, and by extension Kali, she called out, "Just reverse the polarity of the neutron flow," and then ducked out before something got thrown at her.

"Nollel - how are the supplies looking? I know we only had a few minutes. Did we get the essentials?" Jake asked.

The blonde looked tired and worn out but nodded at him quickly as she lugged in the last cargo pod she had managed to round up to make sure they had food to eat. “I managed to get more than enough for everyone onboard but if Curtis carries on might be worth getting the only person who was alive when it was on new involved.” She hinted at using Cassie. Science department used to do a lot more than science if her memory was correct. She would have experience in the mechanics and it would keep her busy.

"Someone grab Cassie from wherever she is..." he replied, rubbing his forehead with stress.

"Hey boss," Delaney stuck her head back in, "doesn't look like your friend's arrived and, as far as I can tell, nobody's seen her. I don't think she's one of the unmovables from Sickbay; you want me to grab Leiddem and see if we can find her?"

Jake felt his gut tighten internally. If something had happened to Evie he'd never forgive himself for inviting her on board. "Grab whoever you need. We don't have internal sensors but there might be a tricorder floating around."

The confirmation of an order Delaney had already decided was likely received a literal thumb's up before the redhead disappeared to track down a certain Betazoid.

Nollel gripped Jake's shoulder as she passed and disappeared off to do what she needed to do to make sure they all survive. It would be close but like any other situation they would flourish.

"Good news, I didn't break anything!" Curtis exclaimed, still with his upper body in the bulkhead. "You might be able to nudge things a little here and there but without a direct access to deflector control the ride is likely to be rough. No chance I can do anything about the other automation controls. They'll need the better part of a week to reconstruct."

"Looks like Liha's shuttle plan is our best bet," Jake grunted. "All right. Get everyone into the cargo holds. I'll try to explain our situation once everyone is together."