Through Fog & Fire

Posted on Mon Aug 17th, 2020 @ 8:27pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Commander Thy'lissa Shan & Lieutenant Leah Bailey & Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone & Petty Officer 3rd Class Sam Saghir

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD-03 after "Deadlines"
2042 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

After giving Petty Officer Saghir the status of his request, Finnley hastily made her way to the EPS conduit a few paces away, concerned that it was the cause of the energy spike reading she had seen on the diagnostic console.

Suddenly, as she arrived at the conduit, the ship jolted. The conduit burst into flames sending her reeling across the room. "Uhhgg," she winced as she picked herself up, brushed the debris off of her uniform and pulled pieces of conduit shrapnel from her forearm. While regaining her composure, Finnley shook her head and blinked as if waking up from a deep sleep. What the hell was that? She asked herself as she took in the surroundings. White fog was creeping through engineering creating an eerie red glow every time the alert went off and plasma fires were popping up all over the place.

Sam staggered through the thick gases, he couldn’t see anyone aside from vague silhouettes. Every time the ship rocked, he lost even that faint connection to the rest of the crew in engineering. They were obviously being fired upon, but that first blast was something on another level entirely, as if Athena had been right next to a warp core breach. “Pico...” he told himself, holding onto a diagnostic station as Athena jolted again.

Quickly realizing that they had a lot more problems than one blown EPS conduit, Finnley ran to the center console. Nausea had already set in from her recent flight across the room and it only worsened as she looked down and read the system's status. Warp drive was down, no quantum slipstream, multiple EPS conduits fried, and a coolant leak. She cursed under her breath. This was not how she anticipated the day would go.

Finnley tapped her combadge, hoping that the bridge had fared better than engineering. “Keating to Shan” she said urgently, “We have a coolant leak down here. If we don’t get it fixed we’ll be looking at a warp core breach. I could use any extra hands you can give me!"

"Shan here. I'm on my way. Try not to detonate the ship while I'm en route..." the Andorian Second Officer responded.

Sam finally found Keating, he could see an arm was thickly damp with blood, he looked at her for instructions, suggestions, anything - he was out of his depth right now.

Through the door, a flash of blue uniform appeared. Not the 2XO, but rather a Science Officer.

"How can I help??" Leah asked, pushing stray hair away from her face.

The emergency shut off valve for the coolant wasn’t working. “Aggh!” Finnley slammed her fist into the console, frustrated that it wouldn’t operate. It would have to be closed manually. “Try not to detonate the ship,” she mockingly repeated the chief’s line. If they didn’t work fast, the ship would detonate all on it’s own.

Knowing this would be a multiple person job, she looked up, hoping to spot someone that could help. Her eyes fell on Sam just a few feet away. What had previously been a young and enthusiastic Petty Officer had been replaced by a battered and bruised figure. He had certainly looked better, but thankfully he was still in one piece.

Just as she went to shout at Sam to join her at the center console, a bright-eyed science officer followed by a Senior Chief Petty Officer appeared through the fog asking if they could assist.

“Over here!” Finnley commanded as she waved the three of them over. She quickly brought them up to speed as they approached the console, “The coolant lines are ruptured here and here” she stated, pointing to the schematic on the screen. “I’ll need one of you to come with me to manually engage the emergency shut off valve. The other two will take a repair kit and go to the largest rupture here, then wait for my signal. Once we’ve got the coolant shut down, you’ll need to seal the tears in the line. Seal the larger one first, then fix the smaller one”

Sam rubbed his head, his normally perfectly positioned hair now loose and flopping irritatingly over his brow. “I’m with you” he said to Keating, inappropriate for the moment but not totally against the idea of being trapped in a confined crawl space with the Lieutenant. Thankfully the violent jerking had stopped, though he could still feel rumbles through the decks as if relays were still blowing out nearby; this was no ordinary explosion either, the continued pelting of the ship from several explosions had to be deliberate. Somehow, Pico had gone up, and she was either filled with some kind of mine which detonated later, or her anti-matter pods didn’t all blow at the same time. There was definitely more afoot here than an accidental ship explosion.

"I'll head for the rupture," Leah nodded. Although it wasn't necessarily her area of real expertise, she was more than capable of the job. "Be careful in there; if one of those EPS conduits ruptures you'll need to get out fast."

"I'll come with you to close the valve," Mason said, "are you going to be alright though?" He cast the female engineer a questioning look. "Unless you need me elsewhere?"

“I need you to help seal the ruptures. Sam & I can handle the shut off valve,” Finnley replied, Purposely ignoring the question about whether she was alright. She’d have rather died than admit any weakness, besides there was enough adrenaline coursing through her veins to keep going and that was good enough.

She pointed the Senior Chief and Science Officer to the repair kit and then sprinted to the jefferies tube where the emergency coolant shut off valve was located, Sam keeping up pace close behind her. Finnley entered the tube and instantly recoiled in pain as she started to crawl. Her whole body still felt like it was on fire after the explosion so she hadn’t noticed the piece of conduit shrapnel that had embedded itself in her shin. Realizing there was no time to worry about it, she sharply inhaled, grit her teeth and moved forward. They were all sitting next to a ticking time bomb, and time was not in their favor.

They arrived at the shut off valve about thirty paces in. Finnley turned towards Sam as she grabbed one side of the steering wheel sized shut off mechanism. “We need to turn it 360 degrees clockwise, that should close the coolant line,” she announced. She doubted that she could’ve moved it much on her own. Though she wouldn’t admit it out loud, she was grateful that Sam was there to help.

Sam nodded his understanding and reached out to the control valve, he couldn’t help noticing how the Lieutenant looked now; the glow of the dimming fires shining against her skin, giving her a radiance. “Alright on three” he said, pushing his weight into the turn and being thankful to feel it budge a little.

After a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, the mechanism finally clicked shut. “The emergency shut off valve has been engaged, get those ruptures sealed, now! Let me know when you’re done so we can get the coolant running again,” Finnley commanded through her combadge.

Relieved for the moment, she slowly collapsed against the jefferies tube wall, allowing herself a quick respite as the others worked to seal the ruptures. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes and took a long breath before fixing her attention on Sam. He looked as exhausted as she felt. “Are you ok?” She inquired. Even though they barely knew each other, she now felt connected to him. Who had before just been the bumbling Petty Officer that came by for a status update, was now someone she’d consider a close friend.

“I will be!” Sam replied with a smile, a twinge in his shoulder telling him otherwise and that he’d probably strained a muscle on that dammed valve.

Mason had hurried after the science officer but he had to admit to feeling a little clueless. "You'll have to direct me ma'am," he apologized, "I know things about communications but this is well beyond my expertise. What would you like me to do?"

"Don't worry, I worked crisis response for years..." Leah replied. "Though I must admit, it was usually investigating the aftermath rather than getting stuck in the middle of one." She pointed to high up on the massive cylindrical warp core. "We need to seal the ruptures before the reaction grows out of control. I can do the math to regulate the plasma flow, but you'll only have a few seconds before it reaches a critical level." She handed him a pair of engineering tools. "You take these. Try not to blow up."

"I'd love to hear more about that sometime ma'am... I used to help coordinate teams, being a radioman. This...is another cup of tea entirely." He took the tools she handed him and stood at the ready. "Just tell me when just a few seconds before I need to do anything." He looked up the core. "Gosh these things are massive, good thing I'm not afraid of heights huh?" he added, "just in case I need to get up there that is."

Leah realised he probably didn't know where to even look. "The largest rupture is up by the injector assembly." She pointed to a spot halfway up the core. "You'll need to climb up the ladder over there and reach through. There's...a bit of a gap. The divide was probably about arm's length. Not a great distance, but challenging for someone to work with their arms extended for too long. "You'd better get up there, I don't know how long we've got."

"yes ma'am!" the former marine snapped off before running up the ladder. He was perspiring a little when he got up there and he caught himself wondering what Kevan might do in his place. He shook the thought off, wiping sweat from his eyes. "What do I do?" he yelled down, hoping she'd hear him over the steady hum of the core.

"Use the sealant tool to close the holes!" Leah called back up. Honestly, it was a pretty obvious job but the guy was probably not used to engineering problems. She started to dial-back the plasma flow, enough so that he wouldn't be playing with liquid fire as he did it.

"Yes ma'am!" Mason yelled down as he fiddled with the sealant tool while getting himself in place. "Oh boy," he murmured as he noticed the big drop down. "I won't get zapped by some kind of forcefield will I?" he added, raising his voice again while reaching out towards the rupture.

"Nope. Because there isn't one." Leah shrugged. "Try not to burn your hands. Or blow up." Her mouth curled up just faintly in the corners.

"Son of a...." Mason cursed as he nearly lost his balance and felt the heat singe his skin. "No protection indeed," he muttered as sweat poured down his face. "Almost done!" He called down. "I hope anyway... Bloody hell, this hurts." He worked as fast as he could, singing his left hand a few times more, his shoulder burning with the strain of stretching to reach.

Finally, he clambered back down. "Done, let's see if it worked?"

"Flow looks nominal." Leah touched her commbadge. "Lieutenant Keating? The ruptures are sealed, things are starting to creep out of the red zone. Looks like it worked."

"Okay, we'll get the coolant running again. Thanks for the assist!" Finnley responded. She looked at Sam, "On three we'll turn the shut off valve back to disengage it....one, two, three." It took less effort this time to twist the mechanism and open the valve back up. Coolant started running back through the system. They had successfully avoided a ship detonation, at least for now.

"See?" Leah nudged Mason lightly. "Easy. And you managed not to blow us up, so...bonus."

"No just got myself singed," Mason answered, carefully flexing his left hand, "or burned...."