The Morning after the Horrors prior

Posted on Sun Oct 10th, 2021 @ 9:14pm by Commodore Keiben Haistro & Lieutenant Commander Hiro Sommers-Yoshida & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Commander Peter Horn & Commander Lillian Carter & Lieutenant JG Anek Tua & Lieutenant Commander Junjie Han & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Stoun & Admiral David Jackson

1,964 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 3 - Fear Is Fear Itself
Location: Ops
Timeline: Mission Day 5 @ 0700 Hours

ON:

The lift rose up and came to a stop in Ops and Lillian stepped off and down the short flight of stairs to the central command area. It would have been her shift on the bridge of the Copernicus this morning but the ship was still too badly damaged. She was now a pilot with no helm to sit at, but she was determined to make the best of it. Hopefully, the Copernicus would be repaired soon.

The morning staff briefing would be held in Ops. She approached Ensign Adams was who had been on the night shift.

"Good morning Ensign." Lillian said cheerily. "0700 hrs, I relieve you. Quiet night?"

"If only!" the usually jovial mountain of a man looked tired and covered almost completely in grease, presumably some form of Cardassian Coolant used on the systems by and large. "I have the Central Core environmental controls operating at seventy three percent. We can start moving into more sections of the habitat ring as the environmental control has been restored to eighteen percent of that section. Docking ring is a different matter. We have only the area's that the AI powered up before it was taken offline and over half is open to space... It's going to take some effort to get it up and running again. All main systems in Ops are functional but sensors are limited. We have the runabout secured at upper pylon three... Look, sufficed to say it's working but not stable here at the moment."

Adams couldn't help himself as he again started to yawn, the efforts of the evening taking its toll on him and the other three engineers that had remained on shift overnight to effect what repairs they could.
"I'm sorry Lieutenant... Long night. With your permission, I am going to go find somewhere to pass out for at least ten hours!"

Lillian smiled "Of course Ensign. That's some good work." She looked at him for a moment. He was the first person she had run into that hadn't frowned at her or given her a strange look.

"Carry on." she said as she sat down at the central control console. "Oh, she added as an afterthought "Any estimations on repairs to the Copernicus?

"You may want to speak to the Chief about that... By the way, love the new hair colour!"
He threw her a wink before turning on his heel and striding from Ops in search of a place to sleep.

She watch him walk out and replied, now to herself. "Thanks, me too."

Having had a bit of a rough night trying to keep his sons calm and quiet a very tired looking counsellor walked into OPS. He still hadn't been able to locate his wife, and now he was hoping she wasn't left behind on the Copernicus, or still adrift in a pod somewhere. All he knew, was that she was still alive, somewhere because his bond was still intact. He gave those assembled a simple nod, not quite sure what else to say.

Lillian looked at him as he entered. "Morning Counsellor. Oh, You don't look too good this morning. Are you ok?"

Peter shook his head. "My wife is still missing, and my boys are very worried, as am I. Especially my youngest is taking this hard."

She gave him a supportive look. “According to sensors, all the crew of the Copernicus is onboard the station so she must be here somewhere. I’m sure we can find her.”

In the midst of their conversation the lift stopped once more in Ops and Hiro stepped off. He briefly looked around. This will take some getting used to. He took the short stairs into the central command area. "Good morning. At least, I hope it is a good morning, or will be."

"Morning Lieutenant. It will be better when they fix the replicators." Lillian replied "I don't know about you but I'm missing my coffee. The only food patterns that are working are the Cardassian ones. I am not drinking hot fish juice in the morning, I can tell you that now." she added.

Tamaska walked in and made her appearance, "What's wrong with a cup of fish juice in the morning? I make mine piping hot and call it fish soup." trying to make a bit of a joke, and taking a sip of her fish juice. "Has anyone found Mrs. Horn yet?" hiding a yawn. She had been searching and so far there hasn't been any sign of Horn's wife. It worried Tam about not knowing where the counselor's wife was at.

"I can't say where Mrs. Horn is, ma'am. I just arrived here with Runabout Zambezi" Hiro said as he watched the Commander enter Ops. "But I have to agree with the Lieutenant here, fish juice doesn't sound like something I want to try."

Peter said nothing, though his expression was a mask of worry, and he made no effort to hide it from anyone.

"OK folks, I know I've been unconscious but if I cannot start the day with a Raktajino or know that I will be able to have one in the next fifteen minutes then non of you will be leaving this meeting alive! Have we tried to download the runabouts active replicator memory directly into the replicator pattern buffers?"
Keiben strode into Ops from the door to the side of the engineering pit, a dire expression on his face as he took in the collection of his officers

Lilian spoke up. “There seems to be a problem with the food replication patterns. They’re not compatible with these replicators. Garments and other non food items seem to be ok for some reason. The engineers have been busy trying to stabilise critical systems and start repairs to the Copernicus. “

"Hmmm. This is news you may live to regret Lieutenant!" was all the Captain said, a dangerous tone in his voice, one that was partly humorous but another part that spoke volumes to the darker aspect of the Captain's psychological make up.

Keiben held Lillian's gaze locked with his own, something was different about her and he couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe the events of the last day or so had changed her but she seemed to have found her confidence.
"All senior Officers please report to Operations!" he had slapped his combadge. "Let's have a full status report in person... and if anyone is near the runabout it would be in your best interest to bring a tray of Raktajino with you!"

"Captain," Hiro turned to Keiben. "I think everyone near the Zambezi are too busy with doing repairs. I could go and get some Coffee and Raktajino from the Runabout. It shouldn't take too long."

“Ohhh Coffee.” Lillian said. “Please make mine a large double strong one.”

" A Raktajino sounds wonderful. " Said Junjie as he walked in. " And that fish sauce mixed with some miso soup base and veggies made a nice breakfast. " He smiled and nodded at Tam as he walked towards her. He stopped before he reached her.

"We better pray they're friendly." Lillian muttered "With all the torpedos that were thrown at the Copernicus, we're virtually defenceless. We have a few phaser emitters and our shield strength is only twenty percent."

"Sorry I'm late," Mel said walking in. "There's still people turning up in the infirmary having been retrieved and brought here. Now my head nurse is up and running again i thought it safe ...." the Trill stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes fell on Lillian. Then she pulled her medical tricorder out and scanned her. "Lieutenant accompany me to the infirmary after this meeting please. Your .... well ..... your appearance and genetics has changed. Just another mystery on this station then," she mused taking her seat.

"You're the doc, Doc." Lillian agreed with her as she continued to monitor the approaching ships.

Liam appeared a moment after the doctor, "Captain Keiben. I'm so sorry. I was on time but I got spat up on by one of my new nephews. So I had to change but I'm here now."

"Commander Reynolds... You bear a remarkable resemblance to another man with the same surname... Might you be his Brother?" Keiben shook the hand of the would be but not quite rescuer. Why Starfleet had dispatched a runabout with a number of civilians on board, one of whom heavily pregnant was anyone guess.

An alarm suddenly started to sound and Lillian looked at the console “We’re picking up 3 ships approaching. The Briar patch is still interfering with the sensors. I can’t get a clear reading.”

" Three ships? I hope the heck they're friendly after what we've gone through. " The science officer added in quick succession.

As the distinctively Cardassian turbolift rose through the opening and into the Operations Center of their new home, Lieutenant Anek Tua let out an exasperated sigh at the sight of the Cardassian monstrosity. It was eerily beautiful in its design, but the Cardassian architecture was highly authoritarian and autocratic. The harsh colors and sharp angles were strangely appealing. He had to wonder what Tua thought of it all, but Tua was not in a chatty mood.

Ever since their abrupt departure from the Copernicus Tua had been quiet. They had run several tests on the Symbiont, all the readings were normal, but it just wasn't talking. It was strange. Anek could feel Tua, but it was like Tua was not really there. The first time he wanted to be insulted by the slug it decided to be shy.

Walking toward the Operations Workstation, he arrived just in time to hear.

Lillian let out a sigh of relief "Captain, I'm reading Federation warp signatures from the approaching ship. It's Starfleet."

"Tell me the communication array is functioning?"
Keiben allowed himself to relax maybe for the first time in what seemed like days.

"Good enough, I suppose. may need some fine tuning but short range is good to go." Stoun moved his fingers over the command console."

This really was the news he had wanted and rescue having arrived would be a massive boost to morale.
"Open a channel!"

"Channel open Sir" came the voice of Shailyn from the communication station.

"Federation task fleet, this is Captain Keiben Haistro of the federation starship Copernicus. We are in need of aid, we have a number of wounded. Please respond!"

Captain Haistro!" It's good to hear your voice, we feared the worse. This is Admiral David Jackson in command of the USS Cerberus. There are medical teams and a few engineers on the Princeton and Missouri. Request permission to dock."

"Bring the Cerberus into Upper Pylon three. Princeton and Missouri to docking ports nine and ten!" his eyes down on the Ops Table giving him a clear read out of operation dockins on the station. It didn't make good reading.

”Acknowledged Captain. Jackson out.

Junjie lowered his head and let out a sigh. " Finally some good news! At least we'll have the crew we need to get this place livable while the ships are bring repaired. "

"OK people... Chief, I don't need to tell you what you need to do so I will leave you be. Commander Horn can I ask you to find ways to keep moral high, Mel, like the Chief, you know what you have to do. The rest of us just do what we can. With luck the task fleet will be able to tow Copernicus back to Starbase Three Zero Eight and we can start getting things back on track... Any questions!"
Keiben clapped his hands before him, leaving just a moments pause to see if anyone spoke up.
"In that case, dismissed!"

END

 

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