Once More Unto The Breach - For Science : Part 2

Posted on Mon Jan 3rd, 2022 @ 6:11am by Lieutenant Commander Junjie Han & Commodore Keiben Haistro & Commander Lillian Carter & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Lieutenant JG Alena Alessa & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Stoun

2,005 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - The Fires Of Hades
Location: Operations
Timeline: Mission Day 16 @ 1100 Hours

Commander Office

The office was calm, just the space he needed to review the personal that were arriving in the next few days to help supplement the crew complement to the number they needed to run this behemoth of a station. Gentle music was playing, a lost Vulcan composer called T'Rath. He was still amazed at how such a passionless race could produce music that far surpassed the elegance and somber beauty of most other species, the only one that seemed to surpass where the ancient composers from Bajor.

He took a moment to look through the glass panels in his door through to Operations. Junjie sitting at the science station looking as if he had been here forever, seemingly the one person who had settled in quicker than any barring Chief Stoun who was on the other side of Ops. Down at the Ops table were Commander Holt and Ensign Aleesa deep in conversation while he could see Commander Carter just entering Ops and making her way across to the Strategic Operations suit, standing in while he found a replacement.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose before finding his raktajino cup and taking a sip of the now tepid liquid. He placed the cup back on his desk, pulling a face at the cold bitter taste before leaning back in his chair again and returning to his reading.

"You look full of thought Sir," Mel said. It was only them but in a work environment, she still called him Sir. "I brought you a report," she passed the padd, and then her demeanor changed and she pushed forward something wrapped up. "And something sweet they were bartering in the promenade. If you need an energy boost," she grinned.

He could already smell the telltale scent of cinnamon and mopa fruit, one of her favorites but he had to admit the sweet Bajoran wrap was more than welcomed.

"You can call me Kei when we are alone you know!"

"We'll see," she grinned. "Now that there report. This vole problem I may have a drug we can knock them out with. It's a bit more humane than some of the other solutions that people seem to be turning to..... But if we round them up then what do we do? They are breeding like Benzites Kei."

"Dear god... That bad?"

Having returned from deploying the communications relays, Lillian thought she better brief the Captain on the Romulan activity in the Briar patch. She headed through operations, up the stairs, and pressed the chime on the Captain's office.

Keiben kissed Mel once more before waving his Intelligence Officer into the office. He had picked up his raktajino again but realized it was stone cold so quickly abandoned the idea and pushed it out of reach.

"Commander!"

Lillian entered. "Good Morning Captain, Doctor." She handed a PADD to the Captain. "The communication relays have been deployed successfully and we've got communication with Starbase 308 established. We also had some Romulans sniffing about. At least two warbirds, one of which was playing a game of hide and seek with one of our runabouts."

"Commander Horn filled me in... Excellent work out there Commander!"
He felt a swell of pride from his go-to officer but also from himself at what she was achieving in so short a time. It was heartening. "Now, I believe Starfleet has sent another round of Intel reports and if you have the time we still haven't found a replacement for Lieutenant Tua yet... There won't be much to do in that area, fleet deployments in the area are not expansive at the moment!"

Lillian smiled "Thank you, Captain, If there isn't anything else, I'll be in Ops."

Operations

Lillian had come out of the Captain's office and headed down to the central station. She sat down only to rocket back up again when she felt she had sat on something soft and moving!

"What the hell!" She exclaimed as she picked up a rather fat and rather ugly-looking vole. It was then she noticed several other groups of voles scuttling around the perimeter of ops. She tapped her comm badge. "Carter to Haistro. Captain, did you know we have a serious Vole infestation out here?"

Kei emerged from the Office, the Doctor on his heel as Carter called out. This was the first time he had actually seen one of the voles and he was struck at just how unpleasant they looked. He went over to get a better look.

Junjie rubbed his eyes as he collected the last of the environmental data from the sensor readings. The expanded communication and sensor capability was a godsend and made his lot that much easier to provide accurate information to the command staff. He had also had a few ideas on the vole infestation but was uncertain how it would be received. First, they would invite any and all Caitians in this sector to the station and hold a contest for the best Voleatouille recipe or just a catch and eat buffet, either prospect would be a win-win situation for the station.

Satisfied with his work he went to treat himself with a Raktajino. and returned to his station. "Captain, the sensor array has been recalibrated, and nothing noteworthy to report in the surrounding area. That and I'm thinking of holding a contest for the best way to eliminate voles."

"Good work Lieutenant... And let's not get to distracted by our vermin problems... I'm sure the Cardassian's would have developed some kind of counter-measure. Has anyone looked at the Cardassian database yet?"

"I've assigned some of our best people to work on the Vole situation. I've heard stories about the Cardassians having field days where they start one end of the ship and systematically move to the other end hunting them. You never quite get them all." Jon was leaning back in his chair, this was the first time in a while that nothing needed immediate attention from the engineering team.

Tamaska smiled at Ensign Alessa, I am very grateful that you've joined our team on DS21, It's a bit rough around the edges but it has character", giving a warm chuckle.

Then her attention was caught by Carter's squawk about a vole, those things are definitely getting everywhere like a tribble does though she would prefer a tribble due to their calming sounds.

Alena smiled back at Tamaska. "I'm happy to be here. It does certainly have its charm. I'm looking forward to starting work here", she told the other woman. She meant every word. Alena looked around, trying to figure out who everyone was.

Tam smiled, "We do have our...quirks, some endearing some not." she laughed quietly. "That gentleman wearing the colour of science, LT. Junjie Han is my fiance'. Captain Haistro and the Doctor there they are married now, and that redhead." nodding towards Carter, she is Commander Carter. A lovely woman and a fantastic helmsman."

Alena nodded. "It's nice to see who everyone is. There are a lot of new people to get to know. I am looking forward to talk to everyone, though it is a tad overwhelming", she told Tamaska.

Without warning the deck started to vibrate, gently to start with but it began to build. Soft green light started to spill in from the small oval windows at the very top of the Operations center.
"Junjie, Chief... report" Keiben called, abandoning his plans to walk to promenade with Mel for the first time.

"Um." Jon taken completely off guard sat back up and started accessing a console. "Running scans now, but it is a terrible color green, I'll make sure to have it replaced."

Junjie read over the data and his eyes went wide. "Captain!! I'm reading a temporal anomaly forming right here at the station. We're the epicenter of this event, I could try disrupting it using EM band sub-space harmonics but with how fast the temporal energies are building I doubt it would have any impact."

Tam shot a glance at the green light, feeling slightly ill at the moment, including a little bit dizzy. An anomaly? What the heck? Tamaska was also worried about Alessa, as well as those who had Betazed blood in them. How was this affecting them?

"It's meant to happen," Mel said calmly. "Everything this station is throwing at us I believe is meant to be occurring. Are you okay Captain?" the Trill asked her husband who looked a little green. "Everyone okay? Ensign?" she asked the new diplomatic aid. A lot were panicking and people with empathic ability were being assaulted with everyone else's panic.

Keiben started to bolster his telepathic defenses but in truth, he was still feeling weakened from the recent incident, instead, he pushed aside the cacophony of noise from the station's residents that he could hear in his mind. "Junji do what you can, chief divert as much power as you can to support!"

It was now the light began to intensify, the deck vibration escalating knocking him and a few others to the deck or scrambling to find a handhold to steady themselves, the light now almost blinding. It was at this moment that he caught on to what Mel had said... Was she again displaying more evidence of what had happened to her? Some form of precognition?

Lillian was holding on to the desk. "I've got a bad feeling about this!" She muttered to herself.

Alena had to agree with Lillian. There was something ominous about this situation. She might not have been at the starbase for long, but even she knew trouble when she saw it. Whatever was going on, wouldn't bode well for any of them.

A feeling of nausea washed over Keiben followed by dizziness that was verging on vertigo and this instantly told him that the anomaly was exactly what Junjie had reported it to be, the problem was they were in the middle of it and who knows where or even when they might reappear.

"Report!" he called out trying to be heard over the noise of the station's superstructure which was undergoing temporal stress and sounding as if the metals holding her together were twisting and contorting.

The engineer had pulled himself back to the console. "Massive structural irregularity, force fields and integrity fields compensating as much as they can. Sucked power from some of the nonessential systems to keep us together, but if it keeps going, we are going to be spaced."

" Captain the EM band sub harmonic pulse had no effect. Whatever is happening is going to take place whether we like it or not. " Reported Junjie. He swayed in his chair as a bout of dizziness washed over him, he started to slump in his seat but managed to fight through it. " Engineering!! " Junjie called out. " I am transferring about seventy five percent of my remaining power to you if you think it will help to reinforce the structural integrity. I'll need the remainder for sensors so we're not blind when this is done. "

Tamaska took a look towards Melanie, saw her friend seeming to have an aura of calmness radiating from her. Tamaska actually gave a smile towards Melanie, holding on to a handhold to keep herself from hitting the deck. She also put a reassuring arm about Alena. The reason behind the smile was due to both she, Keiben, and Melanie have looked death in his eyes and spit in them. It may be a cocky attitude to have but, they survived a terrible tragedy. "Don't worry I have faith we will make it through this," she whispered softly. We will." there was a strength in her words and her belief.

Alena was grateful for Tamaska's arm around her shoulders. The woman's words gave her faith that things would be alright. Though she did have a nagging feeling that they wouldn't come off of whatever was going on, unscathed.

END - To Be Continued

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