Double Trouble
Posted on Wed Jan 30th, 2019 @ 8:01am by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Theodore Winslow & Diane Kent & Oliver Stone
Edited on on Wed Jan 30th, 2019 @ 7:07pm
1,367 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Groundwork
Location: USS Io, Bridge
Timeline: MD 30 - 1320 Hrs
Captain James Matthews sat in his humble Captain’s chair, mug full of piping hot coffee in his hand. To his left sat Luka Mahone, who was hard at work ensuring the Io’s arrival into the planet’s atmosphere would go smoothly. The Executive Officer had previously been quoted saying to never underestimate the power of a planet, but James was a little more confident in his team.
Indeed, at the early hours of the morning, Xaeprea’s conditions were bright, beautiful, and (according to the science team), clear of all disaster. But he would happily leave the worrying to the newly minted Commander Mahone.
“Tell me, Miss Kent,” the Captain began, leaning over to his right, “Do you think this planetside angle would be alright for your article? I want to make sure you’re getting everything you need for this.”
“It is perfect,” Diane began as she made the last minute calibrations for the holorecorder that had been placed on the Bridge to record the momentous occasion. “I just want to make sure the recorder won’t be a problem for your crew?” she asked as she motioned her hand to indicate the recording device.
“Not a problem for me darlin’.” Oliver said with his southern drawl.
“Absolutely not, Miss Kent.” James waved a hand. “We've made sure this was all cleared, anyone who didn't want to be filmed was notified and switched for comfort, and your equipment was given the right placement. Not to worry, we're a much more flexible bunch than Starfleet gives us credit for.”
“Very good,” Diane smiled. This was a historic moment and she wanted to be sure to not cause too much a distraction as she documented this historical event.
Meanwhile, Luka looked to the gathered Starfleet officers at their stations. There were extra hands buzzing about, as he demanded both upon the Bridge and in Engineering, on the pure happenstance complications arose. So far, he felt a little silly asking for so many of the crew to work toward the end of their current mission. “All hands, report,” he asked, once he realized everyone had their seats settled.
Oliver looked up, he said nothing but still he almost opened his mouth as the ex-Starfleet officer in him woke up for a minute. He stood to the rear of the bridge near the mission operations console and occasionally moved over the the Engineering console just to take a peak at what was going on.
Looking into the holo-recorder, Diane tried to keep her voice at a whisper. The tiny mic on her shirt was meant to pick up her speech so she could only minimally disturb those around her. “The Io is in orbit and the first landing parties are making their way to their staging areas. Excitement is high as the crew and colonists look to create a new life on their new colony. The Starfleet crew has been working diligently around the clock to ensure everything goes as planned. More updates as they come, Diane Kent reporting for FNN.” The report’s attention went from the holo-recorder back to the activity going on around her, her hands typing out notes into her PADD for her report.
Theo stayed stoic as ever not even glancing at the reporter despite her being right in his eyesight and hearing. He just kept checking over deck reporting secure and his officers checking and rechecking what he required from them. They should by now expect the standard of what he required of them. “Security secure.” He finally said answering the request.
"Engineering reports are all green." Antennae twitching, Crewman Th'zines dutifully piped in with his response.
The Captain gave Luka an amused look, as the other departments reported similar green light status. “Looks like we're all good to go, wouldn't you say so Commander?”
After a confident nod from Luka, Captain James Matthews stood up, looking forward as to give the camera a good angle of his features. "Ensign Beezles, make it so, and Commander Mahone, set us to Blue Alert, of course." The helm officer gave a nod, turning to his console and maneuvering the ship toward atmospheric trajectory. As he did, James turned to Diane to explain. "Miss Kent, and for any viewers of the Federation, all we're doing right now is what's called an 'atmospheric landing.' All routine, and as you're about to find out, not exactly a 'landing' either. But this way, we can deploy the modules for the colony exactly where they need to go without having to carry them groundside. It happens to be much more effective for some of Starfleet's colonization deployment crews."
"Is there any added risk to the crew or the colonists aboard?" Diane asked, she of course knew the answer was no. The degree of extreme conditions a starship faced while in space was exponentially greater than a simple atmospheric journey, but the question was meant more for the viewers.
Unfortunately for Diane, the Captain was more honest than he intended. "I can assure you we will do everything in our power to ensure safety of crew and colonists, but this was... not intended." Before he could continue his explanation, the soft lighting for blue alert shifted into an alarming yellow color, and a computerized chirrup sounded off. The Captain had his hand to his badge. "Who authorized a yellow alert?"
Ops Chief Iboh’s voice lulled over the speaker. “Sir, apologies, there’s a blip in the computer system that appeared once the subroutines for atmospheric landing started up. We’ve had the yellow alert turned on for precaution.”
The Captain exchanged a serious look with Luka, who was up and moving to the lift in the next instant. "Keep me informed, Ops. Helm, continue course, but inform me the immediate moment you see something amiss."
"Yessir."
"Sir, Lieutenant Shurlok is reporting an unidentified explosive device within Main Engineering," came the dutiful Andorian seated at the bridge station. “Main Engineering is also being evacuated until it can be sorted out.”
Matthews gave pause, his brow furrowing in concern. Then, he turned to Theodore. “Was everything checked before it left the starbase?”
"Very much so Sir. And daily sweeps by different personnel as I ordered." Theodore said without a second’s hesitation as he brought up the information from Engineering. He refused to believe that his crewmen had missed something.
The Captain frowned. “Then we’ll have to get down to the bottom of this. Engineering, keep me apprised. Ops, what’s the situation-” Before he could finish, the ship lurched, tossing Matthews onto the floor of the Bridge. The lights above clicked to an ominous red, and the sirens blared.
As the Captain stood, he shouted a curt “Status report!” before turning to the civilians on board. There was little time for him to react, but his duty was to crew and denizens aboard.
The young Ops officer at their bridge station piped in. “Sir, there was an explosion in Medical, resulting in major damages and a minor hull breech.”
“Sir,” came the concerned helm officer. “I’m having issues with the port nacelle’s warp coils. They seem to be misfiring every time I activate landing subroutines.”
The Security Chief stay static as if he was a Vulcan as the ship shook again and he looked at the console. How was this possible? How could a month's worth of rotated Officers and enlisted miss something so important? How could he miss something so important on his spot checks?
“Abort the landing sequence,” the Captain ordered, “And give me updates as soon as you have them. And someone take care of that hull breech.” The Captain tapped his badge, ready to relay more orders, when the ship gave another sickening lurch, coupled with a rumble from below their feet. “What was that? Commander, come in!”
Luka’s voice crackled over the static, before cutting out to silence. There was no time for hesitation, Matthews decided. Not when lives were on the line. “Operations, open a ship-wide channel, and while you’re at it get a message to the colony and appraise them on the situation. We’re abandoning ship.”
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