Rescuers... Always Late

Posted on Sun Mar 27th, 2011 @ 7:45pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Commodore Jovi Varela & Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jones & Lieutenant JG Mykel Owen

Mission: Bug-Eyed Bogies
Location: USS Endeavour - Bridge

"Jenarian to bridge. The queen is dead and the other bugs appear to have been neutralized."

"Acknowledged, Engineering. Good job, Byrne out," Benjamin responded, as the main viewer switched back to a view of space, Vanders' headset no longer being required. Benjamin stood from his command chair, looking around as the remaining dark consoles slowly began flickering to life. They still only had marginal power, what with the core having to send out the burst of energy to kill off the bugs, but at least what power they had wasn't being hoarded in Main Engineering anymore.

"OK people, we need to start combing the ship. There are likely injured throughout, and I want to make sure that all of the bugs are neutralised. Anyone who has lacerations goes straight to medical. Ensi-" He stopped mid-sentence as the instantly recognisable whine of a transporter filled the air, along with the unmistakeable blue glow, as several figures materialised on the bridge.

Commodore Varela materialized on the bridge of the Endeavour and looked around. Over her shoulders was a sack with first aid supplies and in her hand a phaser. Seeing the faces look back at the group, she dropped her arm. "I told that freaking base commander that he was dragging his feet," she complained.

As Lieutenant Jones materialized on the bridge she was fuming, the possibility that more lives have been lost by the jack a of a station commander annoyed her. She stood silent by the Commodore trying to catch her composure.

Ballard walked out of the ready room having attempted to alleviate himself of some of the grime and muck that had built up on his skin during the course of the day. It was the last thing he should have been doing really, he knew that, but he felt the need to take his mind off what they'd seen and the fear these kids around him had felt. However, being confronted by a sharply-dressed Flag Officer and several other officers who had either just arrived or had run into a tailor on the way to the bridge made him feel suddenly uncomfortable. He made a move to the furthest away console as quickly as he could and took a seat.

"Commodore Varela, I presume," Benjamin said, straightening to his full height at he addressed the senior officer. "I'm afraid you've arrived a little bit late for the party."

"Yes," she breathed out looking around. "I can see that. I suppose now all we can offer is our support in repairs and getting the ship back to operational."

"That would be much appreciated," Byrne said, smiling before glancing at his command chair's armrest display. "Most of our systems are still isolated to main engineering, or offline completely, and we still have a lot of bugs on the ship. From reports we've had, they seem to still be alive... but brain dead, as far as our equipment can confirm. It seems that they were telepathically linked to their Queen. When she died, their minds went with her."

The curiosity in Jovi jumped. "Intriguing. And their bodies are still on board? May I suggest putting them into stasis so that they can be studied in a controlled environment? Oh! Yes! Your new Chief Engineer happened to be on the station that I went to for assistance. This would be a great time for her to get her feet wet." As if on cue, she turned to indicate the woman behind her.

"Lieutenant, good to have you with us," Benjamin said, nodding in the direction of his new officer. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to throw you in the deep end. Most of the ship's systems are all cut off, and still focused in main engineering. I'm going to need you to get started straight away on restoring our systems." He turned towards his helmsman. "Mykel, I want you and Chief Ballard to get started on retrieving our auxiliary craft. Make sure to screen them all for any of these bug's eggs as you do so."

"Aye Sir," Liz said quickly saluting her new commander. She had great experience with the repair of a ship such as her new home and her mind already started to work with the supplies they had brought for the rescue mission go get the Endeavour back on her feet. "Sir, is there a priority for the system repairs or would you like me to use my own judgement?"

"Propulsion is your first task," Byrne told her. "After that, prioritise at will. I want to get moving under our own power as soon as we can."

"You've got it, sir." Ballard replied, setting about the task of rerouting priorities to the external sensors and the tractor beams. He was instantly thankful for the tractor beam. With it being a relatively minor system, its resource allocation was relatively low and therefore... voila! "Ensign, could you work on the targeting for the tractor beam? I don't think we'll get enough from the external sensors to allow us to target them too."

Owen nodded, looking up from the Helm console, pausing his attempts to get thrusters back online. "Yes Sir" He said, recalibrating his console to Tractor Beam Control, and started manually writing targeting algorithms, for the craft, and locking onto them.

"Okay, all we've got to do now is try to guide them into the shuttlebay." Ballard hummed quietly, trying to sound as though this action would be the easiest thing in the world. However, without the auto-target, it probably wouldn't be.

As the officers set to work, Benjamin directed his attention back towards the Commodore. "We can put as many of the bugs as we can into stasis," he began, strolling towards her. "But there are a lot of them on board, and we can't accommodate all of the bodies. We're going to have to space a good number of them." Loathe as he was, under Starfleet principles, to simply space so many essentially living bodies, he tried to separate those feelings from the logical side of the argument - they're brain dead husks, who have harmed and in some cases killed members of his crew. He wasn't one to act on revenge, but it and the sheer logistics of storing so many bodies compelled him to make the decision.

"Space what can't be taken. I'll cosign on that with you...Just to cover you Captain. Command is - eager to study these things," she replied with a slight snarl in her voice. Typical woman...hates bugs.

"Gotcha. Until we manage to get power and control restored to propulsion though, we could sure use a bit of a tow from whichever ship you came here on, if they're up to it," Benjamin said, hoping that they'd be able to get moving as soon as possible, even if not under their own power. "As soon as our shuttles and runabouts are back onboard, that is."

-----------------
Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

Chief Petty Officer Narayn Ballard
Chief Intelligence Officer, Chief of the Boat

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jones
Chief Engineering Officer

Ensign Mykel Owen
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Endeavour

&

Commodore Jovi Varela
11th Fleet Academy Commandant
Guest Character