The Boarding - Part 1

Posted on 21 Mar 2024 @ 7:14am by Lieutenant JG Lisald Vaat & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Lieutenant Commander Stovek & Lieutenant Maralen Seitha & Lieutenant Raviran Dattek-Winters & Lieutenant JG Christina Hartley & Lieutenant JG Kin'Fuji Hartley MD

Mission: Enigma Variations
Location: Independent Freighter Bixilfiz
Timeline: Following "At the Scene"
Tags: 'Kin Fuji

ON:

The transporter room dissolved in a stream of blinding light, replaced within a fraction of a second by the dark corridors of the derelict freighter. There was no debris surrounding the Away team members, any material that would have fallen to the floor had been blown out into space through the two-meter-wide tear in the outer hull that was just a few meters off to their left. The edges of the opening were jagged, and bits of flesh and blood, freeze-desiccated from the vacuum of space, were visible. The poor soul who had been blown out through the opening had also been ripped apart in the process.

"Fan out, give me complete scans," ordered Bast to the Security team that was accompanying him. Lieutenant Seitha stood to his right, and four other Security officers surrounded them. An Engineering and a Medical team were standing by on the Cygnus, waiting for them to secure the area before being deployed.

Bast turned to the tall cylinder that they had beamed along with the Away team, and opened the device. A dozen spherical sensor drones were inside, each roughly the size of a softball. He touched the control panel. The drones powered up, lifted out of the cylinder, and started floating around the area. They soon started to drift away, taking detailed sensor scans of the area, and moved out to patrol and scan the entire deck, their sensors penetrating where the Cygnus's sensors couldn't reach. The cylinder itself collected their scans, aggregated the data and relayed it back to the Cygnus.

-------
Sickbay
USS Cygnus
-------

On board the Cygnus the scans were being transmitted to all appropriately ranked officers or stations such as the Sickbays Complex so Ravi was able to take a look and attempt to see more detail on the occupants of the stricken wreck. She had asked for the receiving Medical Team at the Transporter to Triage for her and then transport the casualties into the Quarantine Bay as soon as they came aboard, so she wasn't expecting them to do a lot of 'first response' on instant arrival as the transfer would be so quickly initiated. The Team were there in case of anything going wrong - perhaps if there were casualties from their own crew coming back, also needing quarantine on return but destined, according to Ravi's plan to be shipped to the Quarantine Bays at Main Sickbay where Tiani was waiting to assist them.

This would offer a split between those casualties who were new imports to the ship, plus whatever microbes or radiation they might be bringing in and those who belonged here and were only bringing back whatever they managed to pick up on their short trip over to the wreckage.

She had taken an educated guess that these would have different levels of contamination and bring back fewer problematic "extras" having all their vaccinations intact and so on.

-------
Main science Lab
USS Cygnus
-------

Also aboard the Cygnus, but in the Main Science Lab, Lieutenant Lisald worked furiously as the data began to come through, both from the Away Teams personal Tricorders, as well as the sensor drones that were beginning to map out and analyze every micron of the ship, down to the atom level, from the metal and synthetic components used, to the makeup of the air. As it came in, his role as Assistant Chief Science Officer (and acting upwards as Spangler was on leave), he began delegating tasks to various sections within the vast and layered department that was the sciences.

-------
Main Engineering
USS Cygnus
-------

Christina frowned as she looked at the scans of the freighter the Cygnus had discovered. "This... how the hell is this even possible? Some of these components shouldn't be able to work together," Christina said, looking at one of the engineers with her, Marla Winters.

"You got me, Chief," Marla replied. "Never seen anything like it either. Think we can get a close up?"

"If there's an away team to be led, fairly certain engineers will be needed. I want Alpha team ready to go, including you Marla. Have everyone get their kits ready, for when the call comes in," Christina said.

--------
Independent Freighter Bixilfiz
--------

On the freighter, the four junior Security Officers fanned out as ordered by their commanding officer, phasers out and at the ready to respond should something jump out at them, tricorders in each of their other hands, scanning for lifeforms, booby traps, compromised structures or anything else out of the ordinary. Thanks to the sensor drones, each tricorder was enhanced greatly in their information-gathering ability.

Of course, the data was being continually sent to the Cygnus for review there by other security and tactical officers, as well as the egg-head scientists below decks, and even Operations officers and medical officers for real-time review. Two minutes passed by before one of them, Petty Officer Gerald Fitzhugh, tapped his comm badge. "Fitz to Bast. Commander, I have a survivor here. He is pinned under a fallen I-beam."

"Is the area secure for medical and engineering teams?" asked the First Officer over the comm.

Fitz looked at his tricorder, hit two buttons on it, then scanned the bulkhead, deck, air and structural integrity before responding. The whole process took about five seconds. "Yes sir, I believe so. In fact, it would be a great idea to get Engineers over here to shore things up." The power distribution network was showing signs of heavy stress, probably from the shield sealing the breach of the hull in another compartment. It was holding, but without engineers to manage it, and fix the damage, it would eventually give out.

"Understood." Bast tapped his combadge again. "Bast to Cygnus. Medical and Engineering teams are cleared for boarding. Doctor Winters, we have an injured patient here for evaluation."

Christina tapped her comm. badge. "Hartley here, we've got Alpha team ready to go, sir," Christina said. "We'll meet you in the transporter room, if you like."

"Beam a structural engineer directly to Ensign Fitz's location," ordered Bast. "Assess and secure the structural integrity field, make sure it's not putting the ship at risk."

"Understood. I'm sending Crewman Anderson, she's good with structural Engineering," Christina said, automatically recalling the names of every structural engineer under her direct command. "I've also got a team ready to go to the engine room on your command."

"We'll let you know as soon as we've secured the area. Bast out."

Christina immediately gave the order to Anderson, to get her to the transporter room, whilst her team grabbed their gear, including a portable replicator in case they needed parts. She had to admit, she was looking forward to studying the ship.


-------
Engine Room
Independent Freighter Bixilfiz
-------

As Christina materialised in the engine room, the first thing she noted was the smell. The air was stale, and there was the smell of death in the air as well. She ignored that though, seeing the mess that the engine room was in.

"Alright people, just as we talked about. Let's get this place clean first, then we can move without risking our lives," Christina said, setting up the portable replicator they had brought with them. "Let's recycle what can't be fixed, and use that energy to replace the parts," she said, as she went to the main core. "Williams, Jackson, Edwards, let's make sure this core doesn't have a leak or something before we try to give it some juice," she ordered. "Watkinson, Stone, get the power cells hooked up to keep life support and the structural integrity field going until we're done with the core," she added.

-------
Bridge
USS Cygnus
-------

On the Bridge of the Cygnus, Bane looked to his right, where Lieutenant Commander Stovek was sitting. That position was reserved for Commander Bast, but since he was leading the Away Team, it was vacant. When Bast was off ship or off the bridge, it defaulted to Lieutenant Seitha, as he was the ships Second Officer. However, with him also being on the Away Team, it defaulted to the next highest ranking officer, which was, as mentioned, Stovek. "How are they doing over there, Commander? Any updates yet?"

In anticipation of such a question, the Vulcan had a wealth of information ready to disseminate; he was prepared to give a status update down to the smallest detail, if ordered to do such. Feeling that the Captain might prefer brevity in this case instead, Stovek spoke. “Commander Bast’s team are presently using the Mark II Search & Rescue Drones to both evaluate the damaged systems and the freighter’s structural stability. As for the remainder of the away team, they are deployed in a standard pattern for such an operation,” he said in his customary flat tone.

-------
Emergency/Temporary Sickbay
USS Cygnus
-------

=^= Winters here Sir, on my way to the transporter room =^= Ravi responded to Commander Bast over the Comms system. She flicked the channel closed and immediately on again as she was hurrying out of the uninhabited Secondary Sickbay, leaving the staff there to await her (and any patients') return. As she hurried along the corridors to the turbolift she flicked the comm again.

=^= Winters to Dr 'Kin Fuji - Kin, could you please leave your post in the Main sickbay and come down to take over in the Secondary as I have to go to board the craft with the casualties on to triage one of them, so I need you down here to hold the fort in my absence please? Tiani can cope up in Main until I'm back =^=

=^= On my way sir. =^= Kin'Fuji said as she handed off what she was working on to another Doctor.

Ravi repeated the call to Tiani so everyone knew who was to be where for the next little while.

OFF