Just Keep Flying
Posted on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 @ 7:54am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Commander Larim Myles & Lieutenant Commander Vaebn tr'Hwersuil & Lieutenant Elen Diari
Edited on on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 @ 7:59am
1,744 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 7 - Home Again
Location: Various - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD001 0500 hrs
It had been a long day one of the longest that Tyler could ever remember. However, there was something very important to remember. They were alive, and they were flying. The past twenty four hours revealed exactly how crowded the sky was around Cardassia. Tyler did not like it, he knew that if he reported this to Starfleet they would want to pull the Pioneer and all resources out of the area. Malbrooke could not let that happen. So he resigned himself to fudging his report he would tell them that it was not as bad as it was.
During these early morning hours Tyler walked the ship. He saw the wounded limping about as the medical staff patched up his people. He saw the Ops and Engineering personell working tirelessly to patch up the ship. He has asked too much of them, this crew, but they were flying... Still flying. The intesity of the situation was overwhelming him and Tyler leaned over onto one of the bulkheads. "You didn't let us down and we won't let you down." He whispered to the ship as he laid his hand on the wall. Tyler wished there was more that could be done, after all he had already drudged all available staff into engineering for repair duty. Then all at once it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was first and foremost an Operations Officer. But where to begin, Tyler looked about and as it happened he saw an open access hatch. Through it he heard the familiar tones of Elen Diari cussing at something she just could not get quite right. Tyler climbed into the jefferies tube and found her laid out on the catwalk working on something above. He smiled "Reporting for engineering duty Chief. What can I do for you?"
"Sure. Head down to engineering. Grab one of the tubes of Mylar sheeting there, and patch up THE MASSIVE HOLE IN THE SIDE OF THE SHIP." she shouted angrily, shaking her hand as she got a shock from the circuit she had just replaced. Twice. " Sorry, this relay just bit me. Again." She looked at it like she was about to tear it apart through shear force of will.
Tyler got down next to his engineer. "Why don't we both take a look at it sometimes two sets of eyes." Tyler began to poke around a bit trying to see where he could find the problem. "Elen you ain't going to get her perfect ya know that right. There are teams waitin for us at Empok Nor." A beat later Tyler reached down for the hyperspanner. "Here is your issue the power flow is going from the tertiary junction to the gelpack. The junction is overloading, two shake of a tail and bingo. Now that is done."
"I just want us off Cardassia as soon as. Once we're up and away, might be able to focus... too many bad memories of occupation during the war when I was a kid." El anguished "Once this is done, can get the SIF up, and hopefully get airborne. Yeah, we won't get above warp 2 but we'll be going."
"Ok so what do we have to do to achieve these goals. I have already put all personnel on engineering." Tyler said and he contemplated what she had said. "I am sorry I did not know what happened during the war. But you have to know that it is not the same down there. It is a different Cardassia. We need to keep flying so that we can figure out who is trying to bring them back to the old ways."
"Really, just seal the hull breach. Once we're airtight, it's all good. The Structural Integrity Field will hold us together enough to get us home for the major repairs, like replacing the port nacelle, which is limiting us at low warp. Most of the major things are being fixed, you've got a good crew Captain, trust us- in a few hours most of the internal systems will be OK." Elen explained, calming down with each thought.
Tyler smiled broadly. "That's what I like to hear. Now I may be a Captain but I cut my teeth in Operations. So that said I believe that hull breach on Deck 3 needs some sealing. How bout it Lieutenant?" Tyler started to make for the breach through the jerfferies tubes.
"Sure. Let's go and get the Mylar- it'll hold us together until we get back to the dock, thinking I might ask them for some strengthening on the hull if we're going to be in more battles, not armour, more like stronger bulkheads" El chatted, her mood lifted as she wasn't getting electric shocks now.
Within minutes the two climbed from the jefferies tubes with the gear needed. The two actually had some smiles on their face. The sight of the Security Chief laying with his head in a bulkhead actually made Tyler laugh out loud.
Larim was on deck three, Knee buzzing in pain, but tolerable. And he was about to rip his hair out. He sat in torpedo loading maintenance, and looked on at a depressing scene. "Well, at least I know why torpedoes are busted." he said. "One problem, how to fix it. I'm the wrong Myles for this job." he tried to laugh.
He sighed. Grabbing a tool he started in to do...something. Larim wasn't the handiest of people. Plus he was distracted. All this damage. All the fight they put up. Yeah, they were still "afloat." but they took a major licking.
"Wow Elen, you really did rope everyone into fixing the ship." Tyler mused.
"Told them that the sooner the ship was fixed, sooner the replicators would be back online. People work fast when they know they'd don't have to eat MREs" She replied.
"Right Larim what do you have? It's getting real crowded in my sky." Tyler said with a smirk as he offered his hand to help the Security Chief up.
Vaebn sat on the floor in the corridor of deck 3 with electronic parts strewn about with more cables hanging from a blown out terminal on the wall. The replacement panel leaned against the wall behind him as he checked an assortment of parts with a small hand device. This was the third junction that needed to be repaired and re-calibrated before he could direct some of the repair crews to the port lateral sensors; but since the engineering department was stretched so thin, Vaebn had taken it upon himself to start the internal repairs.
Larim perked up. "A hatred of torpedo tubes and a new appreciation for maintenance." He eager took the hand up.
"Well now I have seen everything..." Tyler said as he glimpsed the science officer deep in cables. "...So you see Elen no need to take this weight entirely on yourself. Let us know what to do and we can get it done. What are you working on Lieutenant?" Tyler said as he looked at Vaebn.
"Everything Okay, Vaebn honey ?" El asked
"It seems that the Lieutenant is attempting to get the lateral sensors back online. Think we can give these two a hand." Tyler said with a smirk. He was rather enjoying getting his hand dirty and repairing his ship. It felt good to be an Ops Officer again.
"That's correct sir. Unfortunately we seem to have burned out multiple sensor relays leaving a number of blind spots around the ship. The passive arrays are running through their redundant sub-systems, but they are of little use beyond a 100 km range." He pulled another blown connector and selected a replacement from the pile on the tool kit. "Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, especially since I seem to be running into some issues with interior space, and the lack of it."
"well then, Captain, help me move this fallen pylon, and he'll be able to get to the junction box here, sadly the sensor grid would be about here", El replied, waving at the large hole, triggering the shield to glitter "which makes repairing it slightly difficult."
"Indeed" Vaebn nodded in agreement, "although I believe we might be able to bypass the system to the next junction by including a standing planetside portable relay from the away mission profiles. It won't be perfect, but it may serve as a good stop-gap for the time being." He turned to look at Elen, "The damage here is quite significant as well. I'm glad we didn't loose more systems, otherwise we'd be looking for a tow back to Empok Nor."
"That is true and the nearest tug is light years from here. But we will just keep flying." Tyler quipped back.
"Might take a sample of this pylon for analysis, if the metal's sheared, can ask the repair team to just replace it like for like, but if its deformed, might have to put newer type supports in. Will mean we're dry docked longer." Elen mused, looking at the edge of the damage.
Tyler gave the assistance as requested. "Elen take whatever time you need to get the Pioneer back to normal. She is family and you're her doctor. So if we have to stay in dock a bit to get her back up and running so be it. For now I think I will stick around here and see if I can help these two gentlemen. Elen go ahead and take care of one of the larger projects." Tyler was careful to make this a suggestion and not an order.
"I go and see if the replicators are back up, could really do with a grilled cheese sandwich" She answered, hoping the earlier repair had worked.
"Just remember Keep Flying! So long as we have that we have everything..." Tyler spoke to himself and the ship more than anyone else present. It became his mantra as his lady, his ship was banged up.
A Joint Post By
Captain Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Vaebn tr'Hwersuil
Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Elen Diari
Chief Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Commander Larim Myles
Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
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