Troubled Waters

Posted on Sun Oct 16th, 2011 @ 7:52am by Lieutenant Jason McIntyre & Lieutenant Janus Heyerdahl & http://starbase900.info/index.php/personnel/character/23
Edited on on Mon Oct 17th, 2011 @ 11:26am

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Starbase Engineering
Timeline: backpost, just prior to Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Jason slowly opened his eyes. The dull ache that was pounding his head was still there albeit more tolerable. It had been a long day and an even longer night as the Engineering team had spent the last 16 hours repairing the damage to the EPS conduits and secondary manifold which had perished in the aftermath of the rupture. What Jason couldn't figure out was how the power flow taps to the EPS regulator were allowed to reach such a critical pressure before being detected. The investigators were looking at the pieces of the conduits from the explosions and trying to work out what went wrong. Jason replicated another mug of Java when Lt Heyderdal walked into Main Engineering.

"You look like death Heyderdal."

"You don't look much better."

"Any news?"

"Well initial analysis of the optronic processor suggests there was a pressure calibration anomaly."

"No way. That's bull and they should know that. Any fluctuation would be detected and if necessary the secondary processor would come online."

"They know that and they are still looking but first indications are that this was no accident. The secondary processor was tampered with."

Jason sipped his coffee rubbed his eyes.

"Look Jason you need to get some sleep before you collapse. You're exhausted."

"I will but I want to get an update from the Medics. I'm on my way to Deck 361 to the Doctor Mark Piper Memorial Medical Center."

Lt Heyderdal took a sip of his Raktageno as he contemplated the long shift he was just wrapping up. It amused him that his co-workers would always stress themselves out so much over what he considered minor stuff. For him a busy shift was a good shift. It kept the bad thoughts away. For a brief moment he thought about the ones who had been sent to sick bay due to the accident in the department then he shrugged it off as he took another sip of his drink. Caring just took too much effort especially when one did not sleep well.


***Piper Memorial Medical Center***

As he attempted to 'go through the motions', pretend his whole world wasn't breaking apart, Connor walked into his office and let himself feel the depression on top of depression. First, there was his and Oralia's... scene in the corridor. He couldn't get it to stop replaying in his head; sometimes, the replay took a violent spin and tormented him even more. Then, there was the loss of the engineer during the night. Both had compounded, making it impossible for him to sleep. His time in the bed seemed interminable but was finally interrupted when he received an emergency call from the medbay.

He sat at his desk, and began going through the report when he heard someones approach to his office doorway. Someone who looked just as bad as he did.

"Doctor McKinney I'm Lieutenant McIntyre. I'm just calling in to see how my people are doing. I apologise for not coming sooner but the damage caused on Deck 87 was more extensive than first thought and took a while to put right."

Jason looked on at the Doctor with a degree of anxiety as the last thing he wanted was more bad news.

Connor took in the man's stress, standing and extending a hand, "Understood, Lieutenant." and he indicated to one of the chairs placed in front of his desk. For Connor, what he had to do next was the hardest part of being a Doctor.

Jason Looked at Doctor McKinney in an attempt to preamble what was etched on the man's face. It appeared as though the news he was about to receive was not good.

"Doctor I believe that of those who were injured two are dealing with serious injuries and a third is resting comfortably. If you have bad news I'd appreciate it if you could give it to me straight. The families are waiting on news and I want to end their agony."

"I understand, I would have it no other way", Connor said quietly, his eyes studying the man. "Chief Petty Officer Chambers will be released back to duty within the next couple of days. Crewman Omaru underwent emergency major surgery at Thomas Linacre. He is stable, 'n' I expect a full recovery. He will be transferred down here to Piper this afternoon." Connor paused, only for a moment, "I am sorry, Lieutenant. Ensign Peter Jensen's internal injuries were so severe, the trauma was too much for him...we nearly lost him twice during surgery, there was nothing more that could be done...His systems began shutting down, 'n' he died early this morning."

Jason was only a few short weeks into his new assignment but it felt like a lot longer. It was the one duty that an officer detested more than any other, to tell a family that their loved one had been lost. It was never easy and now he would have to delivered the bad news to the family of Ensign Peter Jensen.

"Thank you Doctor for giving it to me straight. If you'll excuse me I need to make a call to Jensen's family."

Jason stood up and left Doctor McKinney's office to make his way back to Engineering. The burden of command was bearing down ever more on his shoulders and for the first time since arriving he wished that Commander Frost was back at Starbase 900.