Recovery

Posted on Sat Nov 12th, 2011 @ 4:02pm by Lieutenant Norval Tigan

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Operations
Timeline: Concurrent with "The Shining Blade of Destruction"

=^= Starbase 900 - Operations =^=

Norval stepped out of the turbolift and into Ops, where he was predictably greeted by a sudden silence and furtive glances. For once, that did nothing to concern him. He kept right on smiling, placing his hands on the railing that overlooked the command pit. Being Beta Shift, there wasn't much in the way of brass present, and that suited the Trill just fine as he cleared his throat.

"I would just like to announce that I am not sleeping with Li Hawke," he said, causing at least one ensign to nearly gag on the mug of coffee she had just sipped from, "and add that if I were, I would be quite unable to keep my mouth shut about it." Someone over at Engineering laughed, which Norval accepted as a good sign. These people knew him. They knew he would unabashedly blab about just about anything. "As I am not telling everyone I meet that I bedded arguably the most attractive woman on this base, who happens to be a very good friend of mine and also the wife of my department head," he added for emphasis, knowing the profound impact that would have on his career... and health, "I would appreciate it if we could go back to accepting that I am the most enjoyable person on this spinning space heap to be around."

A little egocentric quip, an easy grin, and Norval already noticed things in Ops change. Conversations took on their usual easy nature all around him, he got a few hellos as he strode over to his station, one "I knew it wasn't true all along!" which Norval simply nodded along with, and Owen, the Warrant Officer he relieved, actually managed to make eye contact with him. Hopefully this would spread as quickly as the rumor itself had.

"What have we got?" the Lieutenant asked as he took his seat.

"There's a Skareen freighter on approach. We had to move Dublin to facilitate their docking. Oh, and Science is running some kind of experiment with the lateral sensor array. Power consumption is up 12% on decks 301 through 303."

"Sustainable?" Norval asked.

Owen simply shrugged. "For the time being. We may have to start cycling some other systems if it goes on longer than scheduled. And you know Science - give them an inch, and they take a mi---"

Staff Warrant Officer Owen Thornton III never managed to finish that sentence. The lurch took his feet from under him, and nearly knocked Norval from his seat; only grabbing the main Operations console kept him planted. The lights in Ops flickered briefly, consoles intermittently dim before everything was awash in red and the only sound anyone registered was the klaxon that had begun sounding.

"GET THAT DAMN THING TURNED OFF AND REPORT!" Master Chief Brooke was graciously even louder than Red Alert as stunned officers tried to make sense of what was going on. Norval had no opportunity to check on Warren, his hands flying across his console. He was trying to piece together what had just happened, disabling the klaxon in the process.

"I'm reading an explosion in Hangar 51," Norval said, his voice stricken as the station lurched again. He had to close his eyes against the wave of nausea that almost overcame him. Damn it, Darius, he thought to himself. Stations aren't supposed to be turbulent. He'd had a difficult time dealing with rough patches ever since his joining - a direct result of his second host dying in a shuttle accident.

Still, he needed to force his eyes back open. He was the acting Chief of Operations and no one else was going to handle this for him.

"The hull's been breached, emergency force fields are holding," Norval went on, trying to focus on the words and his screen and not the queasy feeling in his stomach. "Fire suppression systems are active station-side, but... my God..."

"Out with it!" Brooke demanded.

"The Dublin and the Conquest were both caught in the blast. I'm reading significant structural damage to both ships. Conquest is venting atmosphere."

Brooke went to his comm badge. "Transporter Control, lock onto the survivors from the Skareen vessel and beam them aboard!"

=^= "Aye, sir." =^=

Norval was still busy with his console, and the curse that passed his lips turned the Command Master Chief's attention back to the Trill.

"What is it?" Brooke asked as he stepped over.

"The blast destabilized our orbit. We're losing artificial gravity in some of the outlying sections of the station."

"Can you compensate?"

"I'm trying," Norval admitted. "Owen, those experiments are gonna hafta wait! Get me Science's power to the stabilizing thrusters." The Trill wasn't even sure his Operations officer was conscious behind him, but he must have been and found his feet, because moments later the stabilizers were firing beyond safety limits. Two of them burned out as they slowly put 900 back where it belonged, but a few repairs were worth making sure the position of the entire base didn't decay.

"We're back," Norval reported a moment later, looking to Brooke with a nod.

"Good. Get Engineering teams down there to found out what the hell just happened and fix it," the Master Chief moved off towards Communications, "now get me the Dublin!"

Norval took a moment to look over his shoulder. Owen was bleeding from a wound across his forehead. He could only assume the Warrant Officer had struck it when he went down, and despite the fact that he was standing it looked bad. "I can handle things up here, get to Sickbay."

"I'm fine," Owen began to protest, but Norval wasn't having any of it.

"That was an order, Warrant Officer."

"...Aye, Lieutenant," was the begrudging but thankful reply, and the Trill turned back to his station. A frown had taken up residence on his features as he continued to coordinate recovery and repair processes across the station. Kh'ali kidnapped, Connor stabbed, and now this. Something told him Engineering wasn't going to find a faulty EPS conduit had detonated down in Hangar 51. This reeked of sabotage. And by pulling two other ships into the mix things were going to be even more hectic.

It was a perfect diversion, he might have thought, if he hadn't been so distracted...

_________________________
Lieutenant (j.g.) Norval Tigan
Acting Chief of Operations
Starbase 900