[AU] To The Edge Of The Abyss

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 11:16pm by Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Commander James Smith & Sasha Vieers (Deceased)
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:07pm

Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Thirteen years into the Bubble

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri & Lieutenant James Smith & Ensign Sasha Vieers
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Thirteen years into the Bubble.
Fri Aug 31st, 2018 @ 10:12pm

When the shields started to fail, it was a gradual thing. There was no running in the halls, no frantic escape, no blaring klaxons. With hours to evacuate and after thirteen long years of drills for that exact emergency, the inhabitants of the Pandora's remnant were able to retreat with relative luxury. The children were hurried to the relative safety of the Bridge by their parents while the crew calmly and efficiently got to work. It wasn't the first time that this had happened, after all. The shields had failed five times in previous years, but Kaleri and her technicians always found a way to repair the overtaxed escape pods.

This time, however, there would be no repairs. The escape pods, having served as the community's only power source and life support for thirteen years, had finally failed permanently, the power conduits of several pods burning out within hours of each other in a cascade failure. The crew did what they could, but ultimately the only option was to bring the entire community of twenty four people up to the Bridge along with whatever supplies could be brought. Per the emergency plan, the shields were withdrawn to cover only the Bridge, Conference Room, Ready Room, the garden and the Jeffries tubes where the feral Shae dwelled.

That was it. The rest of the ship was now completely exposed to total vacuum while everyone huddled together on Deck 1. When they'd finished the evacuation, everyone had been forced into uncomfortably close quarters to wait out the crisis.

That was eight days ago.

After eight days, the crew were nearing the breaking point. Privacy was now completely abandoned out of necessity, while with only one bathroom for twenty four, hygiene was maintained by the thinnest of threads. The parents and children were granted Cailus' old quarters in the Ready Room, while everyone else was stuck with simply laying out a small mattress on the deck of the Bridge. Morale had plummeted. Though noone dared say it, they all felt that bone-deep chill, that awful certainty in their hearts.

The end had come.

On that eighth day, Cailus emerged from the Jeffries tube with forced sprightliness, pushing his aching limbs into an approximation of vigour. It was critical that he still appear enthused and strong to the crew, even if privately, he felt exhausted in a way beyond what mere sleep could cure. Cailus had just spent nearly an hour with his wife in the Jeffries tubes, just as he had every day since she had lost her sanity and gone utterly feral, and just like always, she made no sign of understanding him. Cailus talked and talked, explaining the grave situation to Shae, but she didn't respond except to nuzzle his cheek, cuddling with her mate.

It was to be expected, of course. Even so, each time he had visited Shae since the shields had started to fail, Cailus had borne a private fantasy that the crisis would somehow spark her mind, pull her back to him. That she'd come home and use her brilliant mind to find a solution and save them all. Every time that fantasy crumbled in the face of Shae's animal-like behaviour, it was as if Cailus had been punched in the gut.

Lacking that, the crew had to rely on their other resident genius, who had been granted the Conference Room to work on the project that marked the crew's last hope for salvation. Thus Cailus carefully stepped around the maze of people on the deck, most of them were lying down in their beds. He reached the Conference Room door and, in a ridiculous gesture of polite courtesy under the circumstances, knocked.

"Come in" Krysia called as she heard the knock at the door, as it opened Cailus was greeted by 4 year old Nick who was busy racing around the room after his sister Aurora who was trying to keep him occupied as Krysia & James were going over plans with Sasha. She smiled as she saw Cailus entering the room, she'd learned over the years to stop asking how Shae was as she could see the pain in Cailus' eyes & face every time she had asked.

Walking in, Cailus watched the children with a bemused frown as Nick came a hairsbreadth from crashing into him. The center of the room was dominated by a large and complicated device that ran from the deck to the ceiling, with various bits of technology tacked onto to a wide, transparent tube that looked oddly similar to a miniature warp core. The machine was makeshift and ugly, but for all that, it had consumed over half of the community's available resources to construct it, and before walking over to James, Krysia and Sasha, Cailus eyed the device with concern.

Sasha stood up right when the CO entered the room, as she was still used to doing. “Sir, we’ve had to reduce rations to three quarter portions.” She said gravely, not seeing the point in wasting time.

"Thank you, Sasha," Cailus acknowledged with a nod. They were all a lot older now, all with the occasional extra wrinkle or fleck of grey, although Cailus himself was by far the worst casualty of the years. His hair was completely silver, his eyes growing increasingly aged, although as he looked at Krysia, the spirit behind the eyes was every bit as stern and firm as he'd always been. "You wanted eight days, Krysia, and you've had them. Is the reactor ready?"

Krysia turned to look at Cailus and reluctantly nodded, "It's as ready as I can make it..." she looked at James then at her children then back at Cailus, "it's a massive risk Cailus, once this is operational it either works or it completely destroys the bubble we've come to call home! there is NO in-between."

“If you don’t have a religion, now might be the time to find one.” Sasha quipped as she returned to her seat. She felt like she should be doing something to prepare, but really there was nothing else to do but hope that this worked.

"Not funny Sasha!" Krysia looked towards Sasha, "I know you're trying to lighten the mood but that really isn't helping."

James knew that this was either going to work or they were all going to die, reaching over he pulled his family close to hug them all and saying a small prayer he said, ”Lets do this”

Krysia nodded and with a single finger she initiated the program, there was a low hum and the lights flickered worryingly before the lighting slowly got brighter. Krysia looked at the readouts "It's working! it's really working!!" she grinned like a Cheshire Cat as she hugged James, Aurora & Nick.

At Krysia's announcement, Cailus let out a tense breath that he hadn't even realised that he'd been holding. Without saying a word, he turned around and went back to the Bridge, walking straight to Tactical, the console that he had once manned as a lieutenant back in their home universe. Now, the console displayed the power readings and shield layouts that were the community's lifeblood, the only difference between life and the horrible nothingness that awaited them outside.

Even as he watched, the multicoloured bars, having been firmly in the red and very nearly depleted, began to rise. The shield bubble, having just barely protected the Bridge and a couple of compartments below, began to expand on the display, further and further out. The shields were power-hungry, Krysia's revolutionary reactor had power to spare, so the shield generators kept pushing out further, down the entire of Deck 2, then even all of Deck 3...and even further.

For the first time in thirteen years, since the tragic death of Mauricio Arnaldo, the entirety of the hull was available. Their available living space had tripled in an instant. The garden directly below the Bridge, having been perilously close to being compromised, was now safe, as was Shae, whose own little den in the tunnels had been brushing up right against the shield perimeter.

"Okay, listen up," Cailus called out as he turned back around, surprising everyone in the deathly silence of the Bridge. "Krysia's reactor is online. Our shields are back up to strength and we have reclaimed the entirety of the hull, but we need to be careful, people. I want everyone to stay here for now until search teams have swept Decks 2 and 3 and confirmed that they're safe. Regardless, our power supply is no longer a critical issue. Kaleri's reactor should last us decades. Maybe even longer."

He glanced at the the woman in question as she, James, Sasha and the children sidled onto the Bridge, and nodded gratefully at the group before getting back to business. "Alright, search teams," Cailus continued with his deep drill sergeant voice. "James, take a team and cover Deck 2. Sasha, I want your team covering Deck 3, starboard side. Takada, your team and I will be covering Deck 3, port side. Everyone else, stay here, at least for the time being. Do not leave this deck under any circumstances."

With that, the search teams spread throughout the hull, and to their amazement, extended exposure to the total nothingness of the Bubble had no serious effect on the metal bulkheads, furniture or even the supplies that had been lost thirteen years ago on Deck 3. It was strange, but nobody minded, as soon enough, the entire community spread out to reclaim their homes on Deck 2 and build new ones on the deck below. With the reactor running happily, drawing upon radiation absorbed by the outer hull when the hull fragment had been ripped from the rest of the Pandora, they could even get a couple of rudimentary replicators functioning, while the garden's harvest yield would grow spectacuarly as the big light panels shined brighter.

They were all finally safe, finally secure. The darkness would come one day, to be sure, and it always lurked at the farthest reaches of everyone's thoughts, but the abyss had been pushed back just a bit further.