Recovery Efforts - Pt 2
Posted on Sun Aug 23rd, 2026 @ 9:53pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant JG Jacob Rosen & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell
2,242 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Beholder
Location: Sunfire
Previously..
Dean's plan had worked. He'd taken the Runabout 'Hitori' out and with the assistance of the Defiant-Class ship, dragging the ISS Sunfire and the Dreadnaught towards the open rift. Going on the side of caution not doing it himself. Dean had remembered the correct frequency and configure the deflector to that and the correct flow rate with a quantum signature in parallel of the convergence variables that's ripped the hole through subspace. Setting it to the exact opposite variables to cause it to collapse in on itself.
Once the signal was given the Defiant-Class all but flug the other two ships into the rift right before it collapsed. At least for now, they were back where they belong. Following the Sunfire and the 'Bristol' out of the Badlands.
And now the conclusion..
The oranges and pinks that signified the turmoil within the Badlands continued to slowly slide past the viewports, indicating the pace of their travel. The Bristol was far from powerful in her current state but managed to tow the very much broken Sunfire towards open space, the rest of their battered fleet accompanying them.
"Commander - I have Captain Kira for you" Ronson advised, manning the comms station whilst other starting working on repairs.
"Thank you Mr. Ronson." Savar intoned before speaking to Captain Kira.
In the absence of the viewscreen the communique was audio only.
"Sunfire - I've warned DS9 to expect us in a day at current speed. Starfleet are sending us more Engineering resources but they'll be a few days away at best. We'll get started on patching everyone up as soon as we get back" Kira advised from the bridge of the Defiant - one of the less damaged ships amongst them.
"Understood Captain. Arriving at Deep Space Nine as well as receiving more Engineering resources is welcome news indeed." Savar commented.
T’Lilbit remained at her station, listening to the exchange over the comm. She reviewed the navigation data at the science station. One month, one week, and three days. That remained her estimate.
The logic was increasingly difficult to reconcile. They were returning to the station, instead of traveling to the shipyards, because it was convenient. They were delaying proper repairs because the station was convenient. From an efficiency standpoint, this was questionable. T’Lilbit filed the discrepancy away for later consideration.
Her sensors chimed and she looked down at the display. “Commander Savar.”
Savar inclined his head toward T'Lilbit, "Yes T'Lilbit?"
“Commander House’s runabout has rejoined the Sunfire. I am also detecting no further vessels associated with the enemy force.” Her fingers ran a refining the sensor sweep. “The rift appears to have collapsed completely. There is no residual subspace aperture of sufficient magnitude to indicate that it remains operational.”
A brief pause. “Therefore, it would appear that we have successfully returned the problem to its original location.” She turned back toward her instruments.
"That is very much welcomed news and only time will tell if we have seen the last of the mirrors. I for one have no desire to repeat what we just went through." Savar commented.
USS Bristol - Sickbay - Surgical Suite
Meanwhile aboard the Bristol, Dr Roth emerged from the surgical suite, blood covering his hands and gown but a comfortable expression on his face. He approached Jenna as the rest of his team transferred Rhenora only a biobed.
"She'll be fine, we repaired the damage, she lost a lot of blood but we were able to synthesize a replacement volume. When she wakes up, keep her calm and quiet. We'll check on her as often as we can but we're stretched a bit thin staff wise" Roth nodded once, checked the readings one last time, and disappeared to the next emergency.
Jenna watched Dr. Roth disappear back into the chaos of the sickbay, his final instructions lingering in her mind. Keep her calm. Keep her quiet. The first thought that occurred to Jenna involved the practical requirements of the assignment, and specifically when someone would finally let her have a cup of coffee. She almost smiled at the absurdity of it before settling more carefully into the chair beside Rhenora's biobed, one hand resting protectively against her bruised ribs.
Her attention returned to her friend. They had been through too much together for Jenna to count, survived too many battles and too many impossible days to mistake another quiet moment for safety. She found herself smiling softly as she watched Rhenora sleep, thinking about the life growing inside her and the secret Jenna now carried alongside the Captain. She was genuinely happy for her, even if a small part of her wondered whether the universe might allow Rhenora to experience motherhood without immediately arranging some grand battle to commemorate the occasion, much like last time.
USS Sunfire - Engineering Section
Bonnie had returned to the Sunfire with her arm secured in a temporary support and promptly ignored every suggestion that she should take it easy. She found the Engineering crews working their way through the ship's crippled power distribution network and slipped into the work beside them, using her good hand to trace damaged EPS pathways and identify which secondary systems could be brought online without overloading what remained of the grid.
One by one, auxiliary power nodes came alive, followed by emergency lighting, life support, and the control systems that had been silent since the explosion.
The computer core proved less cooperative. Several of its primary systems had been forced offline by the explosive wave, while others had shut themselves down automatically to prevent catastrophic cascade failure. Bonnie worked methodically through the damage, restoring isolated processing clusters and rebuilding the command pathways that had been severed when the ship tore itself apart.
When the first core indicator finally flickered back to life, she stopped for a moment and smiled at it, tired and battered but genuinely pleased. "There you go." She rested her fingertips against the console. "Welcome back, sweetheart. We've got a lot of work to do."
USS Sunfire - Bridge
The bridge settled into a rhythm, Ronson relaying communications through the audio system as required, ducking off now and again to raid what food was left in the cold storage before the lack of power left it to go bad. He returned with simple but wholesome food, hastily prepared but would keep as many people fed as possible.
"Commander, I've liaised with the mess hall - we have enough fresh food to get us back to DS9. It won't be gourmet, but with the replicators down at least we won't starve. Oh, and the Engineering team have the waste reclamations units working again. I believe there was a queue beginning to form at the one working unit" He couldn't keep the smirk from his face.
"Excellent news Mr. Ronson. Very good. I leave the preparation and presentation of food in your capable hands. As for the reclamation units working that is welcomed news. I believe that the lack up until now was the most trying for the crew as their comfort levels were tested quite severely." Savar answered his dark eyes settling on Ronson.
"Engineering took the replicators offline to shunt the power to structural integrity and waste reclamations. Makes sense i guess" Ronson shrugged. "We've been through worse, but this would be close to it" he munched on a nondescript snack and wished he could pilfer some of the Captain's coffee. They would be back at DS9 within a day, thankfully said Captain was too unwell to miss said coffee. Unless.of course the Bristol had some.
USS Bristol - Sickbay - Surgical Suite
A few hours later, Remal and Patina were transported over to the *Bristol*. The moment Remal stepped into sickbay, his attention went immediately to Rhenora. He found Jenna exactly where he expected her to be, seated beside the biobed and keeping watch over the Captain with the stubborn determination of someone who had decided that leaving was simply not an option. She looked exhausted, but steadfast.
Jenna started to rise when she noticed him approaching.
“No, don't get up,” Remal said gently, raising a hand. “You're right where you're needed.” He moved closer to the biobed, his eyes settling on Rhenora's sleeping form before glancing back to Jenna. “I wanted to check in, see how she's doing.” A small smile touched his face. “And let the little one see her Ma.” His attention dropped briefly toward Rhenora's abdomen, the humor in his expression softening into something more affectionate.
Jenna's expression softened as well. “She's stable. Dr. Roth repaired the damage and replaced the blood she lost. He wants her kept quiet when she wakes up.”
“Then quiet she shall have.” Remal looked at Rhenora again, studying the monitors rather than disturbing her. “How long has she been asleep?”
“Since her surgery.”
Remal nodded. He pulled a chair closer but did not sit immediately. His gaze moved over the medical displays, then back to Jenna. “And you?”
Jenna gave him a tired look that suggested she had been expecting the question. “I'm fine.”
“That wasn't the intent behind the question.”
A faint smile tugged at Jenna's mouth. “Tired.”
“I'll accept tired.” Remal finally sat, keeping his voice low enough that it would not disturb Rhenora. “You've had a long day.”
“We all have.”
“Yes,” he admitted. “But I had someone else worrying about me.”
His gaze shifted toward the entrance, where Patina had disappeared toward the quieter end of sickbay. For a moment, something heavier passed across his expression before he returned his attention to Rhenora. “We're all here,” he said quietly. “That's what matters.”
He reached out and rested two fingers lightly against the edge of the biobed, careful not to disturb either Rhenora or the monitoring leads. “Sleep, Captain,” he murmured. “The rest of us can manage for a little while.” Then he settled back into the chair beside Jenna, apparently content to share the vigil rather than add another demand to it.
Jenna sat back and rested her eyes, content to simply remain vigilant.
Deep Space 9 - Level 29 - Loading Bay
"43 Pallets of Replicator Mass. We can load those right away, the restock of Photon Torpedoes... 8 pallets it looks like." Jacob said as he eyeballed the supplies in front of him, looking down at his PADD to reference the requisition orders. "I need to hold off on signing for those Lieutenant Nog, at least until I talk to Commander House to make sure our storage containment for them is back up and running." He looked back to the Ferengi Chief of Operations. "I do think I will need to ask to use your transporters to move the goods unfortunately."
"That will be fine Lieutenant. I took the liberty of examining your Engineering team's logs so I am not surprised. Always inspect the merchandise before making the deal ." He said pointing to his lobes with a smile.
"Knowledge equals profit." Jacob returned with his own smile before turning back to his PADD. "2 pallets assorted Medical supplies, 5 pallets non-replicable Fighter parts." Thumbing his official reception of the supplies, he flicked a copy to Nog's PADD. "We appreciate the help."
"It's nothing. The Colonel... sorry the Captain was adamant we do what we can to get you guys back on your feet. It'll take a while for Starfleet to send out a full yard dog team." Nog finished.
=^= Rosen to Kla'ren=^=
=^=Kla'ren here.=^=
Thriss said from a debris filled jefferies tube. He was currently multitasking by clearing the debris and trying to access an eps conduit to repair; combined both were tedious when most of his staff was still out of commission.
=^= Commander, standby for resupply transport. DS9 is sending several pallets to the Cargo Bay.=^=
=^=Understood. I'll be there with Commander Durnell shortly.=^=
The Andorian quickly finished up what he was doing before relaying the message to Bonnie.
=^=Understood sir, I'll head over to give you and Commander Durnell a hand right after this=^=
=^=Its greatly appreciated Lieutenant. Kla'ren out.=^=
*Bristol Sickbay*
By the time the Bristol had reached DS9 the majority of the wounded from.the Sunfire had been tended to, and were receiving follow up treatment. The more serious would be transferred to DS9's much larger infirmary, the rest discharged either back to the Sunfire or to temporary quarters on the station.
Rhenora first became aware of sound. Muted beeping of equipment, hushed words, and the barely perceptible hiss of the environmental systems exchanging the air gasses. Feeling returned next. A warmth in one hand, the tickle of a hair near her ear. Smell followed, blood, death superimposed by the clean sterility of a healing ward. Her mouth was dry but her eyes slowly opened, revealing she suspected, a Federation sickbay. The lights were far too bright consequently, and her eyes needed time to adjust. She saw Remal out of the corner of one eye, and Jenna on the other side. They had survived, a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding released. If they had survived, others had too. Although the last thing she remembered was an explosion that took out nearly a third of the bridge. For now though - simple knowledge that her crew or at least some of her crew - as well as her family made it - was enough.
TBC
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