Mission 002: The Eye of Bewilderment

[Deleted]

The engineer stared after the chief then tapped his combadge. "Goffert to sickbay. Doctor, you're needed in engineering."

"I do not have time to come down ensign. But I will send a nurse down to take care of injured. I have an emergency here in sickbay, we are losing power and-"

"You need to come doctor, it's important and well...part of your emergency sir."

"I cannot my son-"

"Is being restrained by security, right here in engineering doctor. You need to come down, now before he gets hurt or before anyone else gets hurt."

"On my way."

"What a..." the ensign muttered as he signed off, uttering a few profanities under his breath before relocating the chief engineer. "Doc's on his way, didn't want to come at first."

It didn't take long for the doctor to arrive and he was a whirlwind of activity when he came runing into engineering. "Where is he!" he demanded as he approached.

Nearby, Savin struggled with the two guards that held him, fighting them despite his pain. "Father!" he cried out, panic resounding in his voice. He tugged and pulled, putting up a good fight. The youth's eyes sparkled bright blue, but they were flecked with their usual brown.

Saryn was at a loss. How could the boy be here, and why was he injured further. He whirled to face Walters. "What did you do to him," he demanded angrily, "he is hurt." He had thought only for his firstborn, not even knowing that the boy had in fact killed an engineer.

[Deleted]

"I didn't do anything, I showed up when everything was over." Will said with an unusual bark in his voice. "From what I'm told if Hriss hadn't done what he did then Savin would be unconscious or worse." Saryn started to say something else but the engineer cut him off with a roar. "Savin killed someone and shut down the warp core Doctor! And with all due respect, every second I waste talking to you makes it much more likely that this ship will fit inside of a cargo container. Now get him out of here and let me do my job!"

With that said, Commander Walters turned back to the console and worked the controls as fast as he could. The magnetic constrictors were aligned and back into a standby mode already, now he had to get the computer to accept the dilithium matrix. Since that was the central control for the extremely energetic matter/antimatter reaction it had to be just right, no skipping of steps like he could with the constrictors. All he could do was run through the process as quickly as possible.

While the computer was checking the current crystal density the hull groaned again, this time much deeper than the first. Will ignored it, telling the computer that 98% of optimal dilithium density was adequate. "Why don't we just activate the saucer's warp core?" He was concentrating on the emergency that he almost didn't hear the question.

"What?"

"Why not use the saucer's warp core?" the junior engineer repeated. "It's always in a hot standby for whenever we separate the ship, right?"

"Standby yes, but some bright spark at Utopia Planetia thought it was a good idea to put in a hardware lockout to prevent us from using it while the ship's in one piece. Now go find some more power to feed to the..." The hull groaned again, but this time a rolling shake accompanied it, an alarm quickly following.

"We've got hull fractures opening up in the centerline of the saucer Commander! And yellow lights along the full length of the bottom nacelles!" someone shouted over the din. Indeed, anyone looking from the outside could see the nacelles in question crumpling inward a little, squeezed by a giant that was all around them.

"Evacuate those sections, shut them down, and redirect the power to the nacelle SIF generators!" Will quickly ordered, cursing under his breath as the dilithium matrix's thermal shielding recycled to full strength. They were quickly running out of time.

[Deleted]

The engineering jammering meant nothing to the doctor, who had eyes only for his son. The young Vulcan was struggling within the grasp of the two security men, who tried with all their might to hang on to him. The boy seemed to be fired up by adrenalin because even with a broken arm, he was fighting to break free.

Saryn observed the spectacle for a moment, watching his son finally break free, render two strong security men unconscious, and make for the nearest console. He was desperate to help the boy, but he was at a loss on how. He couldn't even understand how he was conscious and up and about as it was, because only an hour ago, he had been close to death.

Taking a few steps, the doctor barred his son's way to the console. "Savin.." He spoke and signed his name, knowing full well he would not hear. "Please, let me help."

Sparkling, ice blue eyes settled on the older Vulcan, seeming to look right through him. "Let me pass, this ship must be stopped." He watched as the big cat who'd tackled him, raced to help the chief engineer. His friend. Savin shook his head. No, he had no friends, he was firmly reminded, he was a vessel to do her bidding, no more. "Out of my way." He firmly shoved his father aside.

Saryn fell, loosing his footing with the firm shove that he hadn't expected to come. "Captain.." He tapped his combadge, while trying to keep his son away from the console. "We have a problem.." He tried to apply a nerve pinch, tried to render the boy unconscious but for some unknown reason, he was thwarted at every attempt. His vision grayed when the younger Vulcan returned the favour in a moment of distraction and he went down to his knees, feeling dizzy. "Savin no.."

Savin stood over his father, hand on his shoulder. "I must." Slender fingers squeezed firmly and the older man slumped to the deck, unable to counter the effects of a nerve pinch. Fear crossed the younger man's features, but only briefly before a mask of determination was set in it's place. He had work to do.

[Deleted]

Walters had the dilithium chamber ready to go at last, now he had to bring the injector assemblies online. Thankfully that was a much easier task than the chamber, but still something that couldn't be skipped. He already began the necessary diagnostic when someone called out from behind him. "Commander!" Will turned around to see what the matter was and followed the pointing finger. On the other side he could see Saryn and the two guards on the deck and Savin fussing with another console.

"Enough of this." he muttered, racing to the small weapons locker mounted on the wall.

Savin appeared oblivious to the commotion around him; he didn't appear to have any remorse about having incapacitated two very well trained security men and even less about having rendered his father unconscious. The young man was focusing on his task, trying again and again to engage the warp core eject mode but he lacked the codes to trigger it. He wasn't working as fast as she liked him to do, because he was severely hindered by his broken right arm. The young man was in pain, but she didn't allow it to let it slow him down and he was terrified of her wrath. How long would this have to go on? He did feel himself weakening by the minute, only the adrenalin in his veins now keeping him on his feet. That, and the will she exerted over him. She had won, almost.

Will grabbed a phaser out of the weapons locker and quickly set it to heavy stun. He didn't like the idea of shooting his friend but he had no choice. With as much emotion as a Vulcan he lined up the shot and pressed the trigger. The orange beam struck Savin square in the spine just below the shoulder blades, a perfect shot.

The Vulcan slammed forward against the console, his expression a mix of fury, pain and surprise. He felt his body go numb but he managed to turn anyway, his right arm pressed against his chest. The blue in his eyes seemed to dim briefly, a few specks of brown coming through as the battle renewed but within seconds any hint of that which was Savin was gone and she had reasserted control. "You dare.." He struggled to step forward, but it was a battle to move, barely side-stepping the body of his father.

"Savin, stop!" Walters cried, resetting the phaser to kill. The ship shuddered and groaned again, punctuating the fact that he had no time to waste.

The cry fell on deaf ears - literally. The young man continued his slow advance, though each step was slower than the previous one. He was hurt, in more ways than one. A brief, pleading look crossed his young features, almost begging his friend to fire. To end this misery.

The ship shook again, this time much more violently than before. "Hull fractures, deck 15!" someone shouted. That was it, he was out of time. With a pained look he pressed the trigger again, sending a brighter and lethal beam into the Vulcan's chest.

The force of the shot sent the Vulcan staggering back, before he crumpled soundlessly to the deck.

Will dropped the phaser and choked back some tears. He could grieve later, he had a ship to save. "Beam them all to sickbay then shut down the transporters, replicators, and holodecks, then transfer their power to the SIF!" he ordered, getting back to the warp core control console. The injectors' diagnostics were done, next was the EPS manifold. "Computer, reduce gravity plating to 90% and redirect power to SIF system." he called out, fingers flying as he raced against the clock.

JP with Saryn

[Deleted]

Five forms shimmered out of view and re-appeared out of nowhere in the middle of sickbay. A shrill cry cut across sickbay and a pale form flew from one side to the other, kneeling next to one of the still forms. "Father!"

Numike shook the doctor's form, trying to rouse him, while a couple of nurses tended to the unconscious guards. Between trying to rouse her father, she looked over her shoulder at her brother's unusually still form. She saw the scorch marks on his tunic, and she wondered why his sickbay clothes were scorched.

Pale blue eyes looked up at a nurse, who knelt by his side together with a second nurse, and watched them lift his still form onto the bed he'd occupied before. The monitors stayed eerily silent and she saw a nurse shake her head.

The girl screamed, bloody tears falling from her eyes, streaking across her cheeks. "Father please, wake up..." What had happened? Why was her father unconscious? Why was her brother...dead? She rolled the Vulcan onto his back and tapped his combadge. "Captain? Captain this is Numike. Please captain you must come to sickbay, you must!" Panic was etched on her childish features. "Father's unconscious, and Savin..." Her voice broke as she crumpled over her father's still form. "Dead..." she whispered, not sure if the captain had heard.

(tag Ghes, do your magic ;-))

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana said farewell to Saryn relived that he was finally getting some rest. When he had left, she bent her head over the console she had commandered and continued to work. Then there was the notification that the Enzio was launching probes to further examine what was around them. Tiana assigned a couple of her team to assist Lieutenant Sari. She was focussing on Savin while her team focussed on the larger problem. There was a lot to do on all fronts. She didn't notice Savin leaving sickbay she had far too much to do. She had recorded data to work with that was updating every five minutes, it was simily a matter to not getting over loaded by data. =/\=Tiana, this is the Captain," Ghes had tapped his commbadge, "You have your data now. Or rather what we have of it so far.=/\=

Tiana tapped her comm badge without ceasing her typing with the other hand. The ideas were coming together, she didn't have time for that.

=/\=Copy that, Captain=/\= She brought that up on a subscreen knowing it would also be being looked at in the labs and likely on the bridge as well.

There was a small black object at the centre of the remaining probe's transmitted image. Hazy clouds of orange Jupiter-matter whipped around it; the black nimbus seemed to be growing and shrinking indeterminately. Tiny sparks of milky light glittered around it, barely visible but with an odd luminescence.

The lights flickered once, and the background hum changed in pitch. Then all returned to what seemed to be normal, yet of course that sort of behaviour was nowhere near normal.

Tiana's data feed from Savin disappeared from the screen. She looked up to notice the disappearance of the younger vulcan had been noted and several members of the medical staff were very worried. Tiana joined them. The ship started to shudder and alert warnings sounded. Tiana did her best to block them all out and carry on. She knew, in detail, what would happen if the SIF failed but she was in no position to do anything.

Tiana heard a transport occur behind her, by the time she turned there were five people on the floor, including Savin and Saryn. A young girl screamed, bloody tears falling from her eyes, streaking across her cheeks. "Father please, wake up..." What had happened? Why was her father unconscious? Why was her brother...dead? She rolled the Vulcan onto his back and tapped his combadge. "Captain? Captain this is Numike. Please captain you must come to sickbay, you must!" Panic was etched on her childish features. "Father's unconscious, and Savin..." Her voice broke as she crumpled over her father's still form. "Dead..." she whispered, not sure if the captain had heard.Tiana's stomach knotted, she couldn't have failed. The medical staff were still working, she wouldn't quit until... Well, she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She grabbed a tricorder, it was similar to the ones she was used to and she thought she could make the necessary modifications.

[Gheskori]

"The hull is buckling in the area of the lower nacelles. We're starting to vent plasma. And we have breaches across several decks, on all three hull sections." The officer repeated an ever worsening report from engineering.

Ghes gripped the armrests of his chair, steeling himself. We have to leave. Now! Steam hissed from a nearby console and toxins were airborne. He coughed at the acrid taste filling his mouth and distributed new orders. "Science, Ops, get all the data you can from the last probe. Helm, as soon as you get any engine power at all, I want you to push for space at full speed." The helmsman nodded in response, wiping perspiration from his brow.

The Captain wanted, and in a way thought that the Enzio 'needed' to stay. This strange discovery they'd made here, at the heart of the storm in Jupiter's Red Spot had to be understood and nullified, but they'd run out of time.

A whispery static filled the bridge. "... Please captain you must come to sickbay, you must!" It took Ghes an appreciable length of time before he realised that the sound was coming from the intercom, and another moment before the identity of the person and the subject matter became apparent. He suddenly found himself crushed with empathy, his command discipline faltering in the face of something quite awful.

"Father's unconscious, and Savin... Dead..." The disembodied voice sounded thin and ghostly, broken in an indescribable way.

Slowly and solemnly, Ghes replied. "Numike, it's Gheskori," he said quietly, "Your father's doctors will do everything they can for him, and for your brother." There wasn't much he could think to say.

Savin... He'd been assured that the young man had been subdued. Some insanity had gripped him, he didn't full understand what but had a dreadful suspicion. But now... dead? The link was tighter than they knew: they'd drawn so close to the grav wave source, and Savin's condition had been worsening.

"Numike, could you perhaps let me speak to Commander Galwyn if she's there?" he enquired of the child. Seconds later, his science officer was on the comm.

Ghes didn't waste time, "Tiana, is it reasonable to assume that the central anomaly is the direct cause of Savin's behaviour? A source of neural patterns, or something?" He held up a hand to stop her, which would've worked if she'd been in front of him. "And could we counter the flow somehow?"

<Tag Tiana>

As she replied, a horrid throat-scratching scream came from portside. The duty science officer was on his knees, having collapsed from his console. Ghes got up to help the man - although he had no idea what was going on. He was feeling a slight bounce in his step, but was unaware that the chief engineer had taken power from artificial gravity to sustain the ship. When he saw the officer's face look up at him, features wracked in pain, he didn't see the man's eyes. He saw bright globes of azure, crackling with mute, endless energy.

Similar reports shot in from around the ship; by way of explanation, Commander Matthew reported that the anomaly was emitting its grav waves at twenty times the previous rate. "Tactical, restrain this man," Gheskori ordered the makeshift security chief who pinned the gibbering scientist to the wall.

"Sickbay, report, have there been any changes in Savin's condition?" Gheskori stood dead-still on the bridge as crewmembers below-deck seemed to descend to psychosis. The reality, he mused, could be far worse.

<Tag Sickbay; Tag All>

[Deleted]

The ship shuddered again, this time hard enough that Will had to grab the console to keep from falling over. Alarms blared all around him, the dim red emergency lighting making the room look like a scene from a nightmare. In a very real sense though, the engineer was in the middle of a living nightmare.

Once more, the ship shook and groaned under the extreme pressure of the Jovian atmosphere, and a new alarm sounded. A long deep tone was followed by the computer: “Structural collapse in 60 seconds.” Commander Walters cursed for what seemed to be the hundredth time and skipped half a dozen steps for restarting the warp core. It was a huge gamble, but if he didn’t do it everyone would be dead.

“Hull fractures are expanding throughout the ship!” someone shouted over all the noise. “Ventral nacelles at extreme hull stresses!” Will ignored them, routing the warp plasma so that fresh particles will be energized right away. The computer ran through several diagnostics, green and yellow status lights appearing throughout the warp core system. As long as nothing went red the core will start.

“Structural collapse in 45 seconds.”

Outside of the Enzio, a hull plate in one of the nacelles snapped from it connectors and crumpled inward. Gasses compressed nearly to the point of turning liquid poured into the hole fast enough that the hole quickly expanded and the coil behind it bent inward. It was only a second before the emergency forcefield snapped into place, but the damage was done.

“Hull breach, port ventral nacelle!” the damage control officer yelled and the coil systems went red on the status screen. Without a stay in Spacedock the ship was stuck at impulse. That was a concern for another day though, the coils weren’t needed to provide power. Will overrode the computer when it tried to abort the start-up sequence and shut down the coil systems. He didn’t need warp drive, just the matter/antimatter reaction.

“Structural collapse in 30 seconds.”

The Enzio was shuddering nonstop now and the groaning of the hull was ever-present. The support beams installed in the nacelles were beginning to bend as were the nacelle pylons themselves. Cracks in the hull expanded at frightening speeds, threatening to collapse under the megapascals of pressure all around them. Crewmembers began to panic, others prayed or prepared for death in some manner. In front of the warp core control console, Commander William Walters watched the diagnostic screen as it ran through every subsystem related to the core.

“Structural collapse in 15 seconds.”

The console beeped, the diagnostics complete at last. Everything was green or yellow. The human’s hands flew across the console. “Initialize deuterium and antideuterium streams.” The long cylinders began to glow as highly energized ion streams shot into the dilitihium matrix. “Align streams, energize warp plasma.”

“Warning, stream density and flow not synchronized.” the computer droned, oblivious to its impending destruction.

“Override, begin annihilation reaction!” Will yelled, his patience gone.

“Structural collapse in 10 seconds.”

“SHUT UP!!” he shouted again, the volume startling everyone who could hear it. The reaction chamber flashed white through the viewport and warp plasma energized, filling the ship with full power.

A sharp, loud shriek pierced everyone’s ears, a sure sign that something had torn loose. Despite the pain Will ignored it, routing as much power into the SIF system as he could. Every joule the warp core was producing went to it, as well as more energy from the artificial gravity (now reduced to 75%), every lab except medical, every empty room, every source he could think of in the five seconds he had. It was a huge risk, the field emitters might not be able to handle such a massive power boost and blow out, but there was no time for a gentle raise.

Anyone who could see the outer hull could see the blue glow of the integrity field as it quickly jumped to full power and beyond. Buckling hull plates slowed their inward deflections, the nacelles stopped twisting aft and moving towards the engineering hull. Cracks slowed their expansions.

11 seconds after the computer’s last announcement the Enzio was silent.

[Deleted]

Down in sickbay things weren't much happier. The nurses stared in silent shock after Numike's last message, and after the captain's response. There wasn't anything they could do, the boy was dead, wasn't he? His readings were a single flat-line, there was no readable brain activity.

On the floor, Saryn stirred and, with a nurse's help, sat up. He reached to rub his shoulder, where his own son had pinched him, memory rushing back to him. He took one confused glance at the faces around him, Numike's grief hitting him like a brick wall. Then he shot to his feet and darted to the bed that held his son's still form. No... His face drained of all colour as he observed the phaser burns to the younger man's chest.

Carefully he peeled the remains of the fabric away, breathing harshly. “Intubate,” he finally ordered, his voice sounding broken, “no arguments. Intubate!” He turned but due to the decreased gravity he nearly overshot his mark as he reached for a tricorder. Sickbay's systems seemed to be partially operational and he could feel the deck plates vibrate under his feet as the ship struggled against Jupiter's gravity. “You, keep pressing the pump. Slowly, yes that is it, keep that rhythm,” he instructed as the nurse pressed the balloon that would force air into Savin's lungs.

“You,” he pointed at another nurse, “CPR, stat! Do not argue with me, just do it, keep his heart moving no matter what you do. You.” Another nurse. “Find an old fashioned set of paddles. Anything that is not connected to the ship's computer and does not cause a possible power drain.” Frantic, he placed a pair of cortical stimulators on his son's temples letting them do their work, sending pulses into the boy's brain to activate it.

The nurse came running back with the paddles, which he all but snatched from her hands and placed to the young man's right side. “Clear!” The nurse pressing the balloon let go and stepped back, while a second nurse removed the cortical stimulator. Saryn hit the switch and watched the boy's body jerk as hundreds of Joules were sent straight into his body. “Adrenalin!”

A syringe was handed to him and he jammed it straight into the boy's heart, slamming down the plunger that would release the fluid within. Then he replaced the paddles and let them do their job again and again.

“Doctor please, he's dead. There are other patients.” A nurse tried to pull him away but he wouldn't hear of it. Suddenly, the boy gasped and gagged, his eyes flying open. The nurse turned to hold him down, to keep him from struggling against that which helped him breathe. “His eyes,” she exclaimed, “they aren't blue anymore. Look!”

Saryn barely took note of that fact, too relieved that he was alive to begin with. “Shhhh, lie still my son. All will be well, lie still and rest. I know you are in pain but I need you to rest now.” He had eyes only for his son, working hard to keep him alive now that he was breathing again. The wound to his chest was severe and Saryn could tell from the degree of necrosis that it had been a phaser set to kill. Without a need to ask for it, a dermal regenerator was shoved into his hand. Afraid to move him, Saryn never checked the stun burn on the younger man's lower back.

“Numike, run to the bridge. I do not care how you get there, as long as you do.” He presumed communications to be down now, because plenty other systems appeared to be down. “Tell the captain Savin lives. I do not know yet if he will pull through, but he is alive at least. Tell him that.” He stretched his shoulder and neck, still feeling the ill-effects of being pinched. “And tell him, his eyes are brown. He will know what it means.”

The girl nodded and raced off, finding it difficult to reach the bridge but through sheer determination she did so. “Captain, captain!” Her pale blue eyes were bright with relief as she darted towards him and wrapped her slim arms around his waist, burying her blood stained face into his side. “He's alive! Father doesn't know if he'll make it, but he's alive and he told me to tell you, his eyes are brown.” She turned to face the inferno on the screen, the wirls and twists of Jupiter's atmosphere. “Are we going to make it too?” she asked, her voice small now.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

=/\=Numike, could you perhaps let me speak to Commander Galwyn if she's there?=/\= Ghes enquired Listening with half an ear Tiana heard the request and linked herself into the comm conversation.

=/\=Commander Galwyn here, Captain=/\= Her fingers continued to flick across the console in front of her as she spoke. She had nearly finished. Her voice sounded tired even to her ears.

=/\=Tiana, is it reasonable to assume that the central anomaly is the direct cause of Savin's behaviour? A source of neural patterns, or something?=/\= Tiana took a breath to reply but Ghes carried on talking. =/\=And could we counter the flow somehow?=/\=

=/\=I believe it is Captain. I believe I can create a limited range counter wave as soon as I've finished decomposing the gravametic disturbance into its constitutent frequencies.=/\= As she spoke the console beeped indicating completion of her analysis. =/\=Got it, Captain. On my way to deflector control=/\=

She turn on her heel and left sickbay as fast as she was able. She could feel the reduction in the artifical gravity and was quite prepared to take advantage of it to move faster. When she made it down to Deflector Control she saw two of her team who had been on duty here. They were all ready implementing the changes she had suggested.

=/\=Commander Galwyn to Bridge and Sickbay. Deflector wave initiates in three, two, one=/\= She jabbed the button. Her mind's eye invisioning the counterwave forming a bubble around the Enzio. She knew it couldn't be maintained for long, not with the Enzio's current power state. She'd been lucky that the deflectors had been completely charged.

[Deleted]

Zack looked around the tactical and security office, he always found it funny that on most ships this sort of office would be the brig of the bridge and there would not be a dedicated office but not on a Prometheus Class ship. Everyone looked tired, no one had slept well lately and no one was telling him why that was. As the red alert alarm activated everyone quickly moved to their stations, even though there was no enemy attacking them when those lights flash they all jumped to be ready to react to anything. “Brace for impact” was the one line none of them wanted to hear, Zack quickly gripped the consol readying himself to be thrown in some direction. As the ship rocked very quickly everyone was thrown away from their consols, Zack managed to hold on and watched the display showing massive areas of the ship in trouble but he was unsure if this was hull damage or power relay issue ‘I really need to read up on this ships alert screens’.

As everyone began to get their bearings again they all looked at each other wondering what they could do to help. Zack did not like it but the chief had gone to the bridge and as no communications were coming down from him Zack had to take the lead or else they would all still be here waiting for orders. “Ok everyone the boards are saying that the ship is not holding well with these impacts so I want everyone to split into pairs and start moving anyone non essential to safe zones near the core of the ship encase we have a hull breach”. Not even the lieutenants listening objected to the suggestion and in minutes teams were heading out as orders from the bridge matched what Zack had suggested.

As time passed and things seemed to be going well, the lights suddenly dimmed and the damage display screen showed that structural integrity was falling across the board. ‘What the hell are engineering doing?’ were Zack’s thoughts but he was quickly brought back to reality as a call came in =/\=Security to Main Engineering. Commander Walters, we need you down here as well =/\= Zack felt like hitting something which was not like him, ‘what is going on in there’ Zack waited a moment and when no orders came in from the chief Zack quickly worked out which team was nearest to engineering, Zack then gave the order to get to engineering and assist with what ever was happening down there. By the time Zack completed the order he wondered why the Chief had not acted on that, he should have already seen everything that was going on. Zack wanted to try and contact the bridge but the messages he was sending up were either being ignored or were getting lost as he was not receiving a reply.

“Ensign Wei, could you run up to the bridge and see what is going on up there, I have not heard from the chief in a while and beings as we have had one problem after another I am surprised that we are not receiving orders more often”. The ensign who should not even be listening to Zack jumped out of her seat with a quick “Yes Sir”. Zack took a few seconds to realise what she had said but was not able to correct her as she was already half way to the nearest turbolift. “You are going to have to be careful she does not do that around a senior officer or they might think you are playing up ranks” Zack turned to spot one of the Lieutenants that has stayed to look after things here, growing nervous Zack simply nodded and returned to work.

As time went on the office was receiving all sorts of reports, some were saying that the CMO, CEO and several engineers and security officers were down, others were saying the CMO was using a death pinch on everyone. Zack laughed as he read the last one knowing there was no such thing to his knowledge, finally a report came in from medical which sounded more robust, the chief medical officer was down and so were 2 security officers but would be fine alongside an engineer. One engineer was dead as was the assailant who had lost it. Zack did not like the sounds of it so deciding it was time to not only investigate what was happening in engineering but to find out what had happened to the chief Zack turned to the Lieutenant “If you don’t mind sir, I think I should head up to sickbay and find out what happened in engineering because either everyone is losing it or we might have a big problem on our hands”. The Lieutenant nodded and turned back to what he was doing.

Zack took a lot longer than he thought trying to get to Sickbay with so many systems down, but he eventually arrived to find a scene out of an old medical drama. “Nurse were are the two dead from Engineering” Zack asked one of the nurses that was watching as things unfolded “One is in the morgue sir, the engineer is, but the boy Savin is there” the nurse pointed to the young Vulcan on the table with medical staff all around. Zack realised that there may be a problem if he was revived and went off on one so Zack watched on with a hand on his phaser in case anything happened. But before the doctor managed to revive the boy Ensign Wei came through the door and straight to Zack. “Zack, the chief is down, some sort of coolant leak gone mad, he should live but it is taking a while to get him down here with transporters down”

<Tag All>

(OOC: Sorry for the long post / time jumping I am trying to effectively show I have been here and getting. Hope I have not made any continuity errors, if I have PM me and I will re-write the section if needed)

[Deleted]

The nurse pointed to one bed situated off to the side, where there was a body covered with a Starfleet blue sheet, then towards where Savin was being fussed over by his own father. "One's overthere and by the looks of him he was probably a grease monkey. The other's overthere but by some odd miracle, he was revived."

She shrugged. "I don't understand the finer mechanics sir, I'm just a simple nurse. But I assure you, he was dead, dead as a doornail sir."

Another nurse walked up, having overheard the conversation. "I'm just not sure what killed him, though on first glance it seems to be he was shot with a phaser set to kill. At least that's what first readings said. Kid knocked his own dad cold, rumour has it." She nodded towards the older Vulcan. "That's him over there, and the girl is his daughter. Mind, be wary of that little witch, she got nasty teeth she does."

The first nurse frowned. "That's no way to talk about the doctor and his family Jadine. Both of them work real hard to keep everyone in top shape. So the child is protective, I admire her for her courage there, young as she is. Sir, I'd go over and have a chat with Doctor Saryn if I were you. Kid's going nowhere I assure you, he's in no shape to get up, weak as he is. Look he can't even breathe for himself."

(Zack)

[Gheskori]

"Copy that, Tiana," Ghes had said after the junior science officer had been restrained, and after internal comms had gone down. He could hardly make himself heard anyway as the ship seemed to be tearing itself apart beneath his feet. He wouldn't have been surprised if there was nothing left except for the bridge - tumbling through the atmosphere like a jettisoned lifepod.

In actuality they were intact, but myriad areas of the hull were crumpling, new warnings flashing across the consoles that still worked. Steam and coolant hissed out from everywhere, as if the bridge had been transformed into some ophidian zoo.

Finally there was news. It was James Matthew's voice that broke through the storm, "We have structural integrity!" he croaked.

Indeed they did. Triumphantly Ghes surveyed the tactical console from over the chief's shoulder. The SIF grid was unstable but its power was beyond 100%. His relief was total, but only Mr. Walters and his engineers knew just how close they had come to disintegration. The rate of newly forming hull fissures was slowly decreasing, but it wouldn't last long if they didn't make a quick escape.

Ghes ordered for some of the newly found power to be dragged from SIF over to impulse drive, as soon as it was safe to do so. The helmsman would then plot a course out of the largest storm in the solar system.

A small pale girl ran on to the bridge and wrapped herself around Ghes's midsection. “He's alive! Father doesn't know if he'll make it, but he's alive and he told me to tell you, his eyes are brown.”

"Numike," Ghes mumbled, unbelieving at the sudden presence of the girl and stunned at the news, "I'm very glad to hear that." Most bizarrely, Ghes felt himself having to bite back tears.

“Are we going to make it too?”

Ghes was silent; he genuinely had no answer. With comms down, there was no way of knowing the current mental state of the crew. The increase in 'neural waves' from the anomaly could well have snapped some minds.

"I'm reading an increase in power to the deflector," the tactical officer said to Ghes, who still stood close by with Numike.

"That's Galwyn. Let her do it." Upon receiving the order, the tactical chief seized up. Blue fury built behind the man's eyes and he lashed out at Ghes with a fist. The Captain crashed to the deck, taking the prehensive Numike with him. A madness gripped the tactical officer and he bashed at his console. It was clear that one of the neural patterns had seized his mind; perhaps it was attempting to circumvent the activation of the deflector wave.

One of the other bridge crew acted, bundling the tactical officer to the floor and striking him unconscious. Ghes dragged himself to his feet and saw the melting azure tint of the man's eyes - replaced with the normal vibrant green Ghes hadn't really noticed before - just before he lost consciousness.

"Get him to sickbay," Ghes said, rubbing at his jaw, "And get a replacement tactical officer up here."

<Tag McCluskey, Saryn>

He turned back to Numike, asked if she was alright. He desperately wanted to contact engineering, just to get vocal confirmation of the facts, but the comm was down. Console-delivered reports from around the ship seemed to say that no one was succumbing to the neural waves any longer, thanks solely to Tiana's work, but they still had the ship itself to worry about.

"It might be best for you to stay here until we ride this out," he said gently to Numike, and led her down to the command area, picking through wreckage. He sat her in the first officer's chair and took his own seat, and there they waited patiently for the end of the storm.

<Tag Walters, Saryn, All>

[Deleted]

Commander Walters coughed as a cloud of something wafted past him. When the internal pressure shot through the roof before the SIF system came back online numerous pipes and conduits had burst and spewed pressurized liquids and gasses everywhere. Even now that the pressure was back to normal they were still leaking. He turned to look at the status board, wondering just how bad things were. The hull had red lights everywhere, and the entire conduit system was in shambles.

The engineer turned to his unofficial assistant who was still trying to get his fur to settle down. “Hriss, gather everyone you can and get them working on the hull and any leaking conduit they come across. Don’t check with me down here first, just patch what you see.”

The Caitian nodded, but frowned. “That’ll take a lot of manpower. I don’t know if we have enough engineers on board to work at a fast enough pace to make a difference.”

“I’ll see if the Captain can’t release people from other departments to help out. I’ll have them report to the nearest damage control party. Patching and damage inventory should be well within their ability.”

Hriss nodded and jumped to work, grabbing several others as he ran out the door. Walters turned back to the main status board. “Engineering to Bridge.” When no one responded he repeated the call.

“Comm’s down Commander.” someone confirmed before he could ask.

Will sighed. “Of course it is. Switch the system to direct commbadge to commbadge communication. We’ll have to treat communication as an away team.”

A minute later the communications engineer nodded in Will’s direction. Tapping his commbadge, “Walters to Captain Gheskori.” This time he got a response. “Things are pretty bad down here Captain. We’ve got various levels of hull damage over 80% of the ship, including a hull breach in the port ventral nacelle. The pressure smashed a coil and knocked the rest of the coil assembly out of alignment. Worse, the nacelles are all twisted out of position; warp drive is definitely out when we’re finished up here.” He chuckled. “When we get back to spacedock we’ll probably get the Engineer’s Nightmare award.”

Walters leaned forward on the console, sighing. “We can probably stay here for about another hour, but any longer and we’ll be in deep trouble again Captain. And when we do leave we don’t want to rush. Even with the SIF back online a rapid ascent might cause too much of a differential and cause a rupture, similar to the bends in a water diver. Also, I could use a number of crewmembers from other departments to help out with the repairs. They can just report to the closest damage control party and they’ll be told everything they’ll need to know.”

<tag Ghes>

[Gheskori]

"Very well, Mr. Walters, you have your extra men," he nodded at Commander Matthew, silently requesting that he reassign the personnel to assist the damage teams. "If you're still short of manpower, give me a call. I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty. And... thank you, for all your good work, Commander."

Walters acknowledged and the channel closed. Gheskori dusted his hands off and gave Numike an enthusiastic look. They were nearly free of the Jovian's clutches.

The Enzio had paid dearly for this atmospheric venture, in fact coming close to destruction. If they had perished, their memory might've been one of ignominy. The Captain who lost a state-of-the-art vessel on its second assignment. Ghes wouldn't have wanted to be remembered like that, but he also knew that that wasn't how it would be. They would've been remembered as sacrificing their lives in the pursuit of trying to safeguard the Martian population, in an action not many other ships had ever tried.

An hour later...

It would've been a fondly romanticised version of the tale, if one were to imagine the Enzio breaking free of Jupiter's atmosphere with colourful streamers breaking off her bow, that curled back into the mass of the planet while the ship shot gloriously for Mars, gleaming from prow to stern. In reality, it limped like a crippled frog; discoloured, ugly and misshapen from its exploits in the filthy pond of spawn-matter that was the Red Spot.

The port ventral nacelle was dark and barren, twisted out of shape and sparking like a malfunctioning twentieth century television set. The rest of the ship was similarly deformed, great black streaks across its flanks and occasional tears where the stress had become too great and breaches had occurred.

The atmospheric density decreased gradually, until only the faintest haze remained of the diffusing Jovian sky, and then it disappeared altogether, replaced with the familiar pure black pinpricked with jewels of silver.

Gheskori had headed to sickbay with Numike, running into Tiana on the way. He congratulated her for the countering-wave she had initiated, and said he was expecting a report on the anomaly soon. He hoped their task wouldn't end up being a failure. Mars relied on an understanding of that anomaly.

He entered the sickbay with the child to find Savin recovering, although his condition still seemed uncertain. "Doctor, how is your son?" he respectfully inquired of Saryn.

"I just wonder what those... lifeforms, or neural patterns were. Or who they were," Ghes said, furrowing his brow and tapping a finger at his lip. He gazed pensively at Savin. Perhaps the young vulcan would be able to tell them something about it - in time.

Ghes walked along the row of biobeds, coming to one which held his Acting CTSO. A junior tactical officer stood next to the biobed, a phaser at his hip. Ghes suspected the man had been watching those who had been 'taken over'. "Ensign McCluskey, isn't it?" he asked, "How is your Chief? I heard you had a big hand in coordinating your department without him."

<Tag Zack McCluskey> <Tag All>

OOC: We're basically finished here in terms of the main mission, but let's keep going and close it out before I set up a shore leave. I believe there are a few tags open, including some of mine that I haven't labelled, so there's a bit to respond to as well as a few plots to close out, although naturally we should leave some of them open-ended.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Everything around Tiana was humming and she was doing her best not glance up at the monitor above her head which was monitoring the power flow through the deflector circuits. Many of them were redlined and several were past that. She was making the deflector do something that it had never really been intended to do. She would have to apologise to the Chief Engineer after this, no doubt she had made main warning alarms howl in Engineering.

The power was limited and she didn't want to burn anything out. No doubt things would have to be re-calibrated but that was a small price to pay. Maybe she could help.

Tiana shut the deflector down. She could only hope that she had done enough. That her counterwave had done enough. All she could do now was wait. She gathered up her things and retreated from deflector control. She headed back to the main lab.

[Deleted]

Parsons came walking into sickbay in a filthy uniform, face blackened by soot. He had been coordinating damage control teams during the ordeal with the red spot and just now had a moment to report to the Captain since things were relatively in hand. "Captain, damage control teams have isolated the affected areas of the ship and a performing repairs."

<TAG Ghes>

Parsons walked over to the bed of the acting chief tactical officer. "Lieutenant Simmons was leading one of the damage control teams. He was standing next to an EPS conduit when it blew. The sight of the man was grotesque, and Parsons got a little choked up remembering the incident and looking at the unconscious body of the Acting Tactical Chief. The XO looked to the junior doctor tending to the burned officer, "Will he make it?"

"I don't know yet, Commander," replied the doctor. "If he does, he will need months of rehab at a starbase or planetary medical facility."

<Later in the Captain's ready room going over damage and repair as well as the after action report>

"Captain, there is another matter we need to discuss. The doctor informs me that Lieutenant Simmons will need to be transferred to the Starbase when we arrive to undergo extensive medical treatment. It is unlikely he will be able to return to duty any time soon, if ever. I have reviewed the files of several junior officers and one stands out. It seems he took charge in the absence of orders during the red spot incident. I recommend Ensign McKluskey as the new Acting Chief Tactical and Security Officer. There are a couple of lieutenants junior grade in the department that outrank him, but I feel confident he is the right officer for the job, at least temporarily."

<TAG Ghes>

OCC: Good to be back all.

[Gheskori]

Ghes took the PADD with a sigh, scanning cursorily through the information. It'd been the same depressing story for the last couple of hours. Ensign Marilyn Varcoe; Petty Officer Beramt Dapkor. Two young talented crewmen who had been new additions to his crew, neither of whom would gaze on the stars again.

The count was fifteen dead now. It was surprising, in a way, considering how much damage they'd taken. The Denobulan supposed it was down to the modern design of the ship... The Prometheus class was designed to minimise casualties, which was partly achieved by having a small crew compared to other vessels of similar tonnage.

"Well," he said, addressing everyone and no one, and cheering himself up as he saw his XO entering the bridge from the turbolift, "We did it, I hope. Time will tell if Jupiter Station can come up with a more permanent solution."

It certainly will, he thought. The Enzio had collected swathes of data on the anomaly that was the cause of the Martian earthquakes, the 'radiation storms' and the recent neural kidnappings among the Enzio crew. Not only that, but the crew had also come up with a counterattack. Tiana's deflector wave would hopefully provide the basis for Dr. Fallan and his team to permanently nullify the 'anomaly' in the Great Red Spot.

Ghes settled back into the flow of the bridge's activity. He was constantly receiving information from the department heads, especially engineering, all informing him of their progress in repairs and keeping him aware of the limitations of his vessel. They were only slowly recuperating, and Ghes didn't want to push their ship too hard after such a strenuous mission. Eventually he had the XO accompany to the ready room, to discuss the damage situation as well as some crucial issues. They took their respective seats. The bridge was still something of a shambles, but the ready room curiously remained spotless.

"It's good to have you back up here, Adam." Ghes said, smiling warmly. "I'd thought for a moment something had happened to you below-deck with the damage teams. When we reach Martian orbit, I'd like for us to take a journey to the surface. There's someone we have to see."

"Captain, there is another matter we need to discuss. The doctor informs me that Lieutenant Simmons will need to be transferred to the Starbase when we arrive to undergo extensive medical treatment. It is unlikely he will be able to return to duty any time soon, if ever. I have reviewed the files of several junior officers and one stands out. It seems he took charge in the absence of orders during the red spot incident. I recommend Ensign McKluskey as the new Acting Chief Tactical and Security Officer. There are a couple of lieutenants junior grade in the department that outrank him, but I feel confident he is the right officer for the job, at least temporarily."

Ghes nodded, "If you are confident in his ability then I am happy to go with your recommendation, Commander. There shouldn't be too much fuss from the junior lieutenants, I wouldn't have thought. It takes a fine officer to perform above and beyond like that under the direst of circumstances."

They continued discuss ship reports and other pressing matters. "In the mean time we must remain on duty, but I think once we get to Mars we can finally relax, and perhaps clean up," Ghes almost murmured, wiping his brow of dirt and sweat.

<Tag All>

[Deleted]

Sickbay was flooded with injured and Saryn was grateful for any assistance he could get. Some of the crew had stopped by to help out and right now an extra pair of hands was more than welcome to assist. While not neglecting his patients, Saryn's main concern was still his own son.

One glance on the monitors told him that the boy was struggling his way back to consciousness and it went with ups and downs. At least he was breathing on his own now and that was much to his father's relief. Still, all kinds of monitors were keeping an eye on things just to be safe, after all the boy had been dead. ANd by some kind of miracle, they had been able to revive him. Saryn still didn't quite understand and he feared for the boy's katra.

Saryn reached for Savin's hand, coaxing him back to consciousness. "Easy," he whispered, "just wake up my son." He was oblivious to the officers around him, his entire focus on his eldest child. Of course the doctor wondered what would happen as soon as Savin was well enough to be discharged from sickbay; would he be arrested? Saryn knew he had killed an engineer, and had disabled a few more people, including himself. Not only that, his actions had almost destroyed the ship and all crew on board.

Savin stirred and coughed a few times, before finally opening his eyes. Then, he closed them again and looked away, tears falling down his cheeks. He felt broken, violated and above all: guilty. He remembered everything, every single detail of what he'd been forced to do. Leave me. He signed weakly. I do not deserve all this attention. I have killed, I have caused this.

The older Vulcan sighed. I will leave you for now. Sleep my son, and you will feel better soon. This was not your fault, you have to remember that. In a rare sign of affection he ran his hand over the younger man's hair, then turned away to tend to other patients.

[Deleted]

A turbolift opened and Commander Walters ran out, hustling to Sickbay. A bloody rag was wrapped around one of his hands and despite his best efforts some drips marked a trail along the deck as he moved. The doors parted as soon as he reached them and Will stepped into the still busy medical bay.

Saryn turned at the sound of the doors and walked up to the chief engineer. "This way," he said solemnly. Since he had been unconscious, he didn't know the man had been the one to shoot and kill his son.

Will followed without reaction. The pain in his hand was too great to fuss over who worked on it. “Thanks.”

"What happened," the Vulcan asked as he gestured for Will to sit on a bed, close to where Savin was lying, attached to several medical devices. "You are bleeding, what did you do?"

“I was pulling a torn bulkhead so that we could replace it and my hand slipped. Ran the whole thing across the jagged edge. Hurts like hell.” Seeing Savin close by without a sheet covering him surprised the engineer. He tried to get a look at the readouts but they were too small for him to make anything out.

"Give me your hand." The Vulcan's words were short, sounding exhausted. He even looked the part but he didn't let it stop him. "You should wear gloves when moving damaged parts. Or let engineers designed to perform maintenance handle it."

Will shook his head as he offered the wrapped hand. “Didn’t think about gloves, and there’s just too much work to do for me to leave it to the maintenance techs. Besides, I needed to get out of engineering for a while.” He glanced at Savin again, a look of guilt showing on his face.

Saryn caught the second look at his son and arched an eyebrow, sensing the guilt. "What is it?" he asked, not really understanding the man's feelings.

“In what kind of shape is he?” Will asked, nodding towards Savin. “I can see that he’s alive, but that’s about it.”

"He will live," Saryn stated quietly, glancing backwards at his son. The boy was still in the process of waking up, and the indicators on the monitor were slowly rising. "But he was dead. Someone shot and killed him." He paused. "yet apparently, that very action saved his life. Apparently, he needed to die, in order to live."

“I know.” He gulped. “He didn’t give me any choice. I tried the stun setting first but it didn’t do anything.” Will’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “If I hadn’t done it he would’ve destroyed the ship.” He looked back at Saryn after a few moments of silence. “What was wrong with him? His eyes had changed color and he was acting like a madman.”

"What.." Disbelief crossed the older Vulcan's face as he stared at the chief engineer. "What?" he repeated. "Something...possessed him. We do not know what exactly but he was not himself, He was behaving erratically ever since leaving Mars."

“The quake?”

Saryn nodded slowly. "Something happened, and I do not know what. But he was afraid." He looked up. "You shot him? Why?"

“He was trying to eject the warp core. Not only was it questionable if the forcefields would’ve been able to hold against the pressure we were using warp power to reinforce the structural integrity field. Without the core the ship would’ve been crushed.” Will sighed and resisted the urge to twitch his hand as it was mended. “He wouldn’t listen to reason and was able to overpower everyone who tried to stop him. There was nothing else we could do.”

"I do not blame you," Saryn answered, "he overpowered me too." He watched as the younger Vulcan stirred again and opened his eyes once more. "He is awake."

Will turned in a flash, a twinge of pain coming from his hand as it interrupted the healing process. He waved at the younger Vulcan in an attempt to get his attention.

Slowly, Savin turned his head after staring at the ceiling for several seconds. Saryn signed to him that everything would be all right, then stepped aside. "He should be able to see what you say, and if he can, he will respond. I will give you some privacy."

“Thanks Doctor.” Will said, rubbing his newly healed hand. He turned back to Savin and walked over to his bed, staying a respectful distance away. “How are you feeling Savin?

Savin said nothing, but simply stared at him. He didn't try to speak but his eyes were filled with regret and guilt.

The human reached out and rested his hand on Savin’s shoulder, ignoring his preference to not be touched. “Hey, it’s ok. We’re still here and your father told me what happened.”

Savin flinched away, his eyes widening. "You.." he breathed, trying to find the words, "..shot me..."

Will grimaced and looked down. “I...it was the only choice I had. You had overpowered anyone who had tried to restrain you and there wasn’t any time to keep going. If I hadn’t done it whatever it was that was controlling you would have destroyed the ship.”

Now Savin looked away, shame colouring his cheeks. "She made me," he whispered, tears running down his cheek. "I could not fight her, I was too weak. I wanted to.."

Will touched Savin’s shoulder again. “It doesn’t matter now. We beat her, whoever she was and Commander Cet found a way to block the anomaly. We survived and the quakes should be over. Now that everything is getting back to normal Jupiter Station can study the problem and work to prevent it from ever happening again.”

Again, he flinched away, not wanting to be touched. Feeling he didn't deserve the comfort. "I have killed someone," Savin said, his voice breaking, "I took a life. I am a doctor, and I took a life. How can I live with that?"

Will shook his head. “From what I’ve come to understand about it...her possession abilities you weren’t in control. No court would ever convict you and no one would hold you accountable.”

"But there is no proof of that. It was my hand that killed that engineer. My mind..." The young Vulcan was visibly shaken. "I deserve to be held accountable. I should have fought harder, I could have defeated her."

“Sure there is proof. Acting completely contrary to a person’s nature complete with knowledge that the person could not have had and a sudden change in eye color is not a normal event.” Throwing all caution to the wind, the engineer grabbed Savin’s wrist. “Sometimes things happen that we can not help.”

In reflex, Savin swung his opposite hand towards the engineer. "Do not touch me!" he screeched in blind panic.

Will raised his arm to block the strike. “No.” he said forcefully, tightening his grip more, hoping it wasn’t enough to hurt him. “I know you don’t like it but you need to calm down and think about it. Use that Vulcan brain of yours. You have nothing to worry about. Sure, the chief of security will probably let you stay in the brig if you insist but if he presses charges he’ll have several officers protesting it.”

Savin was desperate to get his friend's hand off him, and he literally tried to pry his fingers off. "I deserve it," he insisted, "let go, you are hurting me." Though it was something to focus on. The pain seemed almost welcome, almost a relief.

Out of reflex he let go. Will looked at Savin in silence for a minute then started to chuckle. “Damned Vulcan stubbornness. You really want to take the fall for something you clearly didn’t do? Why?”

"But I did do it. I did kill that engineer, I did sabotage the ship and I did nearly destroy it. I manned the controls. You should call security."

A thought came to Will. “Your body may have, but what about this?” He tapped his own cranium. “Crime requires both action and intent.”

"There was intent. I meant to kill him, I meant to destroy the ship." He gazed directly at his friend, fear and plea in his eyes. "Please..."

“You, or her? That’s a huge difference Savin, and you know it.” He looked at Savin’s gaze and sighed. “Fine, if you want an escort that badly I’ll mention it to the security chief.”

"I deserve it," the Vulcan whispered again, "call security."

“I’ll tell your father. Since it’s his Sickbay technically it’s his call.”

"He will abide by my wish."

Will shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see. In the meantime you lay here and get back up to speed. You’ll be free of security in no time and back at work.”

"I doubt it." Yet he lay back and closed his eyes, but did not fully relax.

(JP with Saryn)

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

OOC: Assume this is several hours after Tiana has more or less over loaded the deflector. (I'm assuming she doesn't know that Savin has been arrested or why)

Tiana had got the science staff back in order and dismissed all those who weren't supposed to be on duty. She supposed that she should really go and rest herself, she had taken herself off duty but before she turned in she went down to main engineering. She stepped into the large room well aware that the blue on her sleeves and collar made her stand out here. Still she wasn't here to blend in.

She located Commander Walters, he seemed to be very intent on something, maybe she should interrupt...

She cleared her throat. "Commander Walters, I wanted to apologise personally for any damage I did to the Enzio's systems. I would be happy to be part of the repair detail."

Tag: Commander Walters

"It was what needed to be done, although I suspect that there might have been a better way to do it, if I had had more time to think about it." She sighed. She hoped the CEO wasn't too annoyed, they were usually very protective of their ships and Tiana was feeling a bit bad for abusing the Enzio the way she had. It lacked finesse.

[Deleted]

May 7, 2012 20:44:15 GMT Tiana Galwyn Cet said:

She cleared her throat. "Commander Walters, I wanted to apologise personally for any damage I did to the Enzio's systems. I would be happy to be part of the repair detail."

Walters didn't turn around from the console he was working on. "Considering what was going on with the hull at the time I was a little too busy to notice any problems with the deflector array. As long as it did what you needed it to do I see no reason why you should be apologizing for it. After all, millions of lives in addition to ours were at stake."

May 7, 2012 20:44:15 GMT Tiana Galwyn Cet said:

"It was what needed to be done, although I suspect that there might have been a better way to do it, if I had had more time to think about it."

Will sighed. "Commander, we've all been under a lot of pressure, literally and figuratively. We needed solutions in a hurry, and if it cost us a few pieces of equipment so be it. We don't need to go to warp and Spacedock is just around the corner so to speak. Anything you did will be fixed in no time flat." He rested his hands on the console, head bowed. "What you can do for me is figure out just what the hell was going on in that storm. Until we know what it was someone's well-being in question, and until we have some facts to back up what we've been trying to say he won't listen."

The engineer went silent, signifying that the conversation was over. A moment after Tiana started to walk away he called out to her. "Commander?" He finally turned and looked at her, a bit of a grin on his face. "If you want to help with the repairs you could help collect some bailing wire." With that he winked.

[Gheskori]

The Enzio had not long been in Martian orbit before it was hailed by the planet's administrative HQ. The solemn features of the administrator they'd dealt with before appeared on the bridge's viewscreen. His face seemed greyer than before, as if all the life had been drained from him with the tumult of recent affairs.

"Mr. Koscek. It's good to see you again," Ghes smiled, rising from the creaking command chair 

Nodding, Koscek replied stonily, "And the same to you, Captain. We've heard of your success and eagerly await Jupiter Station's solution. I heard of your losses in Jupiter's atmosphere... I'm sorry."

Ghes's smile faded slightly, "Indeed. Such things we have to expect, but it's not over yet. I wouldn't call our atmospheric incursion a success at this stage. We've collected data and managed to nullify the emissions of the anomaly, but we have no idea what the anomaly is or what was being carried on those gravimetric waves. Further study is required and I'll be recommending to Starfleet that -"

"None of that matters to me, Gheskori." Koscek sounded exasperated, "My only concern is the security of the Martian population. Anomaly be damned." He bashed a fist on the desk. "You've done your work; you've interfered enough. Again, my thanks to you and your crew. Now report back to your commanders and leave Mars in peace."

Gheskori stared at the viewscreen, betraying nothing. The administrator straightened his tunic and cleared his throat, the gave a miniscule nod, before reaching behind him and closing the channel.

The Denobulan turned to his XO, the two exchanging knowing looks. "Plot a course to Earth, Commander." Ghes glided to the back of the bridge and paused by the turbolift, "And signal Spacedock that we will be arriving shortly. I shall be in my quarters."

<Tag Parsons>

[Gheskori]

Mission 002: The Eye of Bewilderment is concluded.


* * * * *

Thank you all for an enjoyable mission that really built in momentum towards the end, albeit at the ship's cost! I'm proud of our performance and believe that we are helping to show the way. Mars should now be secure, but what of Savin and the condition of the Enzio? Shore leave has now commenced on Earth Spacedock.