Away Team pt VI
Posted on Thu Aug 18th, 2022 @ 11:07pm by Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Chester "Duo" Maxwell & Lieutenant Ashlesha 4827/A & Lieutenant Anna S. Thesia M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali
Mission:
New Harrington
Location: Weather Platform
Timeline: Current-ish
Aurora stood looking out on the view as the station’s orbit continued to decay. Snapping herself out of wishing she’d never left the ship, she turned to look at Ashlesha.
“Ashlesha are you able to continue as you are? Is there anything I can do to help you?”
"Hmmm? What?" Ashlesha had been focusing on the task at hand. She wiped at her eyes with a free hand, the other one clutching a spanner.
"I...can't understand how people can exist with so little input!" she finally exclaimed, "I...it's so weird and frightening, being in one place, absorbing data through one set of senses. Am I dead? I mean, is the rest of me dead? Is this it for me now, one body? I-"
She dropped the spanner, hands flying to the sides of her head as that spike of white-hot pained returned. If she hadn't wished she were dead she did now...!
Aurora moved across to Ashlesha. “We need you Ashlesha, what can I do to help you through this?”
"I-I don't know," Ashlesha replied, "I understand machinery, not people. I never understood me, not really. Not how I worked. All the research was destroyed, the scientists disappeared. Starfleet's had to start from square one with me."
She rubbed her temples, the pain had receded a bit, "If you have any ideas I'm more than willing to hear 'em..."
Aurora wasn’t sure what to say. “You’re normally connected to your other selves, you share a hive mind of sorts correct? Can you connect to me? Can I serve to stabilise you for now?”
"I-I'm willing to try anything at this point," Ashlesha confessed, an expression of quiet desperation on her face...
Aurora nodded. “Then if you can do it, do it. We need you.” She hoped she would be able to cope with sharing her mind with Ashlesha, she was about to find out.
"Okay," Ashlesha replied with a nod.
Aurora smiled. “This is going to feel a little...odd, for both of us.”
A few minutes later they were connected via a mind meld, for Aurora it felt odd to share her mind with someone other than Savar. She just hoped the connection would hold over a distance while Ashlesha got back to work.
Duo picked himself up off the deck with the help of Thr'iss. The EPS conduit he was monitoring had erupted in a shower of sparks when the quantum torpedo detonated. Luckily, there were no injuries, just a little singed hair. The com link had been left open, so Duo and Thr'iss had heard what had happened.
The pair jogged down the passageways headed for the engineering section. Time was of the essence now. They had to move quickly.
A short time later they came to the door. It was slightly ajar. "Give me a hand." Duo said. He and Thr'iss were able to brute force the door enough to get inside. The inside of engineering had taken some feedback damage from the shock wave. Several of the terminals and consoles were blown out. Duo began looking for one that was still operational. "Looks like we have our work cut out for us on this one, Thr'iss. Where should we start?"
Kla'ren waved his tricorder around. "We sure do. I recommend we start by looking at the power core and going from there. It appears there is an slightly undamaged console near the core. We may be able to begin our diagnostics there."
The comms being opened helped maintain the open communication across the teams. As Bonnie and Ashlesha entered ops the station shuddered. On the main viewer a clear image of the planet below growing ever larger as their orbit decayed. Bonnie sat down at the nearest station and began accessing controls. "We've made it to Ops. Looks like we have partial power in some areas, but not in others. Our virus friend is still benign and I'm not yet sure why, but there still doesn't seem to be a way to call the Sunfire."
She scanned engineering, "Any luck yet finding the missing repair teams?" If they were found they would be instrumental in fixing engineering, or so she thought. Bonnie glanced at Ashlesha as she sat down too. "You feeling okay? I need you to see if you can bring port side stabilizers back online."
Ashlesha nodded. Her link with Aurora was, well, weird as hell. Nothing at all like having three heads and their set of senses. But having Aurora in her skull felt...comforting, less alone.
And Ashlesha had thought she would feel ashamed of all those xenophobic thoughts in her head, the product of an insular human culture bent on turning inward, of relishing their fear of the unknown, of outsiders. But Aurora understood; that was her job, to see people as a whole and not just their flaws and-
"I think I've got it!" Ashlesha exclaimed as she slapped the panel shut, "Let's give it a try!"
Ashlesha prayed she would not forget this experience if...when she was made whole again...
Pressing a few buttons to reset and reconfigure, Bonnie activated the stabilizers. There was an immediate improvement in the shaking of the station. "Good work, now if we can get engineering to give us thruster control we might be able to save the station. Either that, or the Sunfire will have to pull us out before we burn up."
Ashlesha gave a curt nod, "Perhaps we need to-"
Her voice was cut off when she saw a status light register on Bonnie's panel. She let the young woman check it out, but the expression of alarm on her face told Ashlesha things had just gone from bad to worse...
Savar and Aurora moved cautiously but steadily down the corridors looking for the missing repair teams. He was listening for any sound that would help serve as a guide. He looked over to Aurora. "Are you able to sense anything Aurora?"
Aurora shook her head. “I’m sorry I’m a little fuzzy right now, stabilising Ashlesha is having a knock on effect on my abilities.”
"You have nothing to apologize for or explain Aurora. Do not push yourself. We will find the repair teams." Savar replied steadfastly. As the pair moved down the corridor looking, for any sign of the repair teams.
“It’s a peculiar sensation Imzadi, sharing my mind with Ashlesha.” She gazed at Savar. “It’s not at all like the bond we share, it’s...like I’m two people, not just me.”
Savar listened as Aurora explained the bond, she had established with Lt. Ashlesha. "Fascinating." He remarked. "Are either of you in any danger because of this bond?"
Aurora shook her head. “I don’t think so, it’s a sharing of minds but in a different way to our bond. I wouldn’t put myself, or our baby at risk.”
Savar nodded his head at Aurora's answer. " Forgive me Aurora. I should have known you would not put yourself or the baby at risk."
Aurora smiled. “It’s okay, I should have asked you first but it was all I could think of to do. We need Ashlesha.”
"You have nothing to apologize for or explain Aurora. I trust you to know the limits of your abilities and not put yourself or the baby at risk." Savar paused and then added. "We, I need you. Please do not lose sight of that."
Aurora paused making sure they were alone before stepping up to her husband and brushing his cheek with her hand. “I will never lose sight of that Imzadi. I need you, I couldn’t keep going without you.”
Savar nodded, his hand going to hers and giving it a light squeeze and then dropping his head to place a kiss on her lips. " I think it safe to say, we need each other Aurora.''
Aurora returned Savar’s kiss before smiling. “I don’t want to die here Imzadi, we need to get the hell off this station!”
"A most astute and logical statement Aurora. I have no desire to die here as well. We need to find the missing repair teams." Savar replied.
Aurora nodded. “Let’s keep going, I think I’m getting a sense from this way.” She pointed on ahead.
"Then let us proceed in that direction Aurora." Savar replied as the pair moved down the corridor.
The temperature inside the orbital platform was beginning to climb as the atmospheric pressure outside the station grew nearer. Bonnie could sense the change as she reached up and unzipped her jumper slightly and then returned her focus to the problems at hand. They were now ten minutes from burning up in the atmosphere and all of their hopes were reliant upon the people below deck.
Aurora and Savar walked on for a while longer, Aurora fanned herself as the temperature started to rise past comfort levels. “Wait...” she paused. “Here! I can sense something from behind these doors!” The problem was the doors were jammed shut.
From within the enclosed room came a weakened shout, "Hey, I hear voices" and then a repetitive rapping upon the door, "we're in here. Help us! We are dying in here!" It was as desperate a plea if there ever was one.
"We hear you; we are attempting to free you." Savar answered as he tried to use his Vulcan strength to open the doors. He got his fingers into an opening and pulled back. The doors groaned and squealed and did move back several inches. To allow air into the room but not enough to get the trapped workers out.
“Try again, together” Aurora wasn’t full Vulcan but she was still stronger than any other Betazoid. “Let’s concentrate on one door at a time.”
A pair of fingers reached through the gap from the other side, and then another. There were three repair teams sent after all and they now sensed freedom. They may not have been as strong as Vulcans, but they were going to fight to survive.
The door opening registered on the sensor panel. Bonnie noticed it light up and then proceeded to check the status of the virus. Her eyes lit up and her hands jumped to action, one tapping her badge and two attempting to occupy the bigger. "Commander, whatever you just did, you've garnered the attention of the virus. I'm attempting to keep it occupied, but whatever you're doing I suggest you move quickly."
Savar heard Bonnie over his combadge and threw his strength into getting the door open a little more. The door groaned but did yield and slid back just enough for a person to squeeze by.
Aurora looked towards the survivors. “Quickly! You have to get out of there!” She motioned them through what gap there was in the door.
"Time is of the essence Savar added, "We must regain altitude control of the station."
After a small amount of diagnostics, Thriss began to work on repairing the thrusters to keep the platform stable so that it wouldn't burn up in the atmosphere. "Alright, it appears according to these scans that EPS conduits 76, 77, and 78 are heavily damaged and they connect to the system that leads to the thrusters. They are located in the Jefferies Tube, sections 20, 21, and 22 just below us. Think you can get it?"
The station suddenly jerked, then steadied. A hue of blue filled any and all portals that allowed a view from outside. "We've been locked onto by a tractor beam." Bonnie commented, "Looks like the Sunfire came to the rescue." She checked the status of the virus. It was jittery, what she had once heard described as 'spazzing out'. But it wasn't doing anything retaliatory which eased Bonnie's worries. She still wondered how it had arrived on the station to begin with and why it was there to wreak havoc on the planet via it's weather systems.
She took the opportunity to check the logs a little more indepthly for anything they may have missed previously.
TBC
