Those Left Behind 3
Posted on Sun Nov 20th, 2022 @ 12:50am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis & Lieutenant Thomas Haldeman & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell
Mission:
Planet of the Dinosaurs
Location: USS Sunfire - Deck 1
Timeline: Current- Ish
On the bridge, Tom worked at the Ops station. "Station looks intact, I don't see or smell any brunt circuits. Just need to get power to it. To know for sure." He told Ronson. "I wish I knew how Bonnie and Kit are doing. We're blind up here."
"Not entirely Sir, I have rudimentary data available, that is until the power gives out and to be honest that will be at any time. We need to get that solar sail or whatever it is up and running otherwise the beacon will go down as well. I have all available power going to it and the fire pumps" Ronson advised as he tapped at the belligerent controls.
Tom nodded in approval, "Very good Ronson. Once Bonnie and Kit finished venting the smoke and putting out the remaining fires. We'll get the sails put up so we can recharge the batteries and get power to at least a few of these systems and the beacon as well." He flashed a smile as he said the next. "Once we get all that done, I think you should work on Rhenora's coffee machine. See what you can do about getting it functional again. I know how Rhenora loves her coffee."
" As much as the Captain loves her coffee, I think she's got bigger fish to fry, at this point possibly literally." Ronson retorted in good nature. "Now if I recall correctly, the sails are stored in cargo bay 2, it's been badly damaged but I'm hoping they're intact. Shall we go and have a look?"
"I'm sure you are the right Mr. Mitchell." Tom replied. "Now let's go to cargo bay 2 and take a look at those sails. Can't let Bonnie and Kit have all the fun now, can we?"
"On it" Ronson secured what was left of the control panel and headed to the access port, looking down the long ladder. "Good thing keeping active is stardard proceedure" He muttered as he swung onto the ladder and starting to descend the many decks towards the cargo bay. By the time he arrived he had stripped his tunic and turtleneck and was working on his trousers and a singlet with sweat running in rivulets down his spine.
"Indeed it is." Tom agreed as he swung onto the ladder and began to follow Ronson down the ladder. he had his phaser securely clipped to his waistband just in case they encountered any 'visitors'. Like Ronson by the time, they reached the cargo bay his tunic was soaked with perspiration. But he kept his uniform on as he didn't want to keep up with if he took it off. Standing at the entrance of the cargo bay, Tom looked to Ronson. "Let's find the sails and see what kind of shape they are in."
Before he could process it, Ronson and Haldeman had already disappeared off of the bridge. For the moment he was alone and in the current situation it wasn't ideal. However, the Andorian could take care of himself. However, his expertise could be needed with the sails, but also he needed to restore engineering functions, and use them to his advantage as best as possible. Either option would help the team largely.
It didn't take them long to locate the sails and to ascertain that they should be in working order. However the Chief Engineer would know best how to deploy them. Having caught his breath Ronson pressed his communicator "Mitchell to Kla'ren, we've located the sails, how should we deploy them or would you prefer to do it yourself?" He asked.
The Engineer tapped his badge. "Kla'ren here. Solar sails are supposed to draw energy from the sun in order to give propulsion on some types of vessels. In this case, we can use it similar to solar grids found on planets. To connect them, we need to place them outside the ship. It can be anywhere, as long as the location can have a stable connection to our computer and power grids, and as long as each sail gets enough sunlight to power the needed systems. Given we are technically a skeleton crew, I trust that you guys can get the sail connected and assembled. If that is the case, I can monitor your progress from here and I can also make sure that it connects to the systems from here" he began.
"However, if you feel more confident with me being down there to aid, I'm alright with that Chief" the Andorian answered honestly.
"You tell us where you think we should put them, and we'll do the rest. Are you thinking setting them up on the ground or attaching them to the hull?" Ronson replied, eyeing off the large sails.
Tom was listening to the conversation even as he was mapping in his mind where to put the sails. To him it made the best sense to attach the sails to the hull, but he wasn't an engineer and would wait to hear what the CEO's opinion was.
"If we attach them to the hull, then we may have a better chance at having a strong connection with less interference. Plus, if we- no when we get the Sunfire space worthy again, if it is when we are in this system, we may need an alternative form of propulsion if the warp and or impulse drives are inoperative. However on the flip side, if the areas around the hull aren't getting the best sunlight, then around the ship could be a better option since there are more chances to get enough sunlight to power the ship via the sails" Thriss scratched his chin.
"Both are valid options to me. If we go with the route of setting the sails on the ground outside the Sunfire, we can reattach them if we need them in space, however, it could take a while to do so, especially if we are getting off of this rock in a pinch. This is why I recommend attaching them to the hull. However, if we could find a way to make more sails, that could help to our advantage as well, since we could attach some to the hull and or place some on the ground" the Engineering Chief added.
Tom listened to the CEO give his opinion, when he finished Tom spoke to Ronson, "Come on Chief, let's get these babies attached to the hull and get some life back into the Sunfire." With that he went over and picked up a sail or at least part of one. "Some help here Chief."
"Sure thing" Ronson replied and together they hefted the first sail out of the crate and shoved it towards the nearest airlock. It took then a further hour to get it out the airlock and onto the hull to begin unfurling it. "Chief, does this location work?" Mitchell used his combadge to contact the chief engineer.
As the engineering station he was at was still intact, he pulled up a schematic of the Sunfire and cross referenced it with Ronson and Hadleman's location. "That should work for now Chief. Good work."
" Thanks Chief" Ronson replied back as they fastened the sail to the hull the best they could and connected up the leads to the small plug sitting recessed within the hull. Hopefully the heat of the now setting sun would provide a trickle of juice to keep things running until the morning.
She had hoped to have progressed much further before things went to shit. What could she have possibly been thinking? As Bonnie lay flat on her back, staring briefly into the black void of smoke, she psychosomatically wanted to rub her eyes as if they burned, which they didn't. It was the tears of failure that burned. Tears she was glad Kit could not see forming. The pressure of the heat and smoke made her cough, which she didn't fully understand at the time. She was getting plenty of oxygen in the rebreather.
The vents continued to eject the smoke, but not as quickly as it was being made. The blue green flames reminded her of her training. It wasn't red, meaning it was burning something other than oxygen. There was a chemical being burned behind that panel. This was odd for deck one but not impossible. Kit had saved her life. Not able to see, she sat bolt upright, smacking her noggin on the tight ceiling of the J-tube. "Ow. She felt around, "Kit! Kit where are you?" Her hands landed on something soft and she gave it a squeeze.
Kit began to laugh, sounding weirdly in the rebreather "Now we're having fun Lieutenant. Are you okay? Thenis sat up, careful not to hit her head. She shined her wrist lamp and hood lamp at Bonnie. She quickly examined her, "Okay, we need to feel for the two cut off valves. They are approximately one meter apart. When we find the cut off valves, we must cut both use them at the same time. This will cut the supply of electrical plasma causing the fire. Understand? Once we cut the supply, we go to the closest diagonal, get the hose and dose the fire." Kitiuas sounded confident in the plan, sensing Bonnie's panic. "This isn't your fault, Lieutenant; it is the result of the crash."
Her brow furled, "I'm okay, and I get it. And yes I blame myself for the ship crashing. I probably will unless we find evidence otherwise. Remember, I was there, I saw what created the initial explosion." She playfully smacked Kit's arm. "And don't laugh, but thanks again for saving my bacon." Her voice sounded funny inside the mask as well, like she was talking to herself inside a play tunnel as a child. "Let's just get this down so we can move forward. We have so many decks left, and no doctor if we fuck it up." She started to move forward then stopped. "Did... did we ever free the people in the holodeck?"
Kit sighed "Trust me Lieutenant, what happened on the Holodeck in no way caused the Sunfire to crash land. Nothing and I mean NOTHING, that occurred on that holodeck could have caused what happened. Don't worry those on the holodeck are making the track with the others, with a very special reminder that when an Officer makes a suggestion to take it as an order. Now when we cut this supply be careful, after we cut it feel the wall paneling if you can feel heat get all the way down the Jefferies tube as you can." Kit then crawled to the first cut off valve. "Ready when you are."
TBC
