Patching It Up

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:53am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant JG Judd Samson & Petty Officer 1st Class Greep
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 6:04pm

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Engineering

ON:

Unbeknownst to the fury about the rage upon him, Nyx Temple was making the rounds through the Pandora to check up on the repairs and operations of the ship. It had been a rough journey through Hesiod Green's atmosphere and the sudden need to move due to violent earthquakes on the planet's surface had not helped matters. But Nyx also figured they had been through enough scrapes already over the course of the Pandora's voyage into the Inconnu Expanse that the Engineering team would simply be used to patching her back up again. As always, he just hoped he hadn't done too much damage.

Turning quickly into Engineering, Nyx walked purposely over to the warp core where the team were working to get an updated report.

Lieutenant Samson, Officer Greep, and two other crewmen were conferring with each other when Samson saw Temple round the corner and stopped mid-sentence.

"...but Greep, blowing up the ship should be our last... Captain on deck!" At this, everyone stopped what they were doing to stand at attention.

Nyx couldn't help but smile, "I'm always open to suggestions, Team. How goes the repairs?"

"Awful," blurted Greep, causing Lieutenant Samson to wince.

"Uh," Samson stuttered, with a small nervous laugh. "Heh! Uh, things are going as well as can be expected, Captain. The Chief, er, Lieutenant Mindo left us with quite a mess to clean up. If we were to leave now we wouldn't be able to go to warp. The nacelles took major structural damage and while the core remains in tact, we've had to take it offline. To be honest, I don't know if we'll be able to even get off the ground for another five or six hours. However, we've made more progress in the last couple of hours than I originally anticipated, so that estimate could change for the better. All internal systems are secure and accessible, including replicators and other essential operations. Right now we're more concerned with the various hull breaches in several sections of the ship."

Samson stopped for a minute before asking the next question. "Um, when were you planning to leave here sir? Damage only increases with each tremor. It's all we can do to keep up. On the one hand, we can't safely leave at this point, but these quakes seem to be getting worse."

"We can't leave without our teams, Lieutenant." Nyx replied. "As soon as we make contact and can get them back onboard, believe me, I'll be giving the order to leave."

Greep chimed in again. "Tell him about the transporter!"

Samson nodded. "Of course!" his face lit up. "Sir, I've found a way to get the transporter to work. The range is greatly reduced, only a few kilometers, but it should work. The team on Pithos is inaccessible of course, due to the protective barrier, but anyone outside the barrier could be transported, provided they are in range. I can begin tests of my theory if you approve."

"Yes, definitely," Nyx nodded, "We have an away team on mission to local indigenous species that I've very much like to see return alive."

"Officer Greep is also working on a way to increase sensor range," Samson said.

Greep made his usual clicking noise before responding, "I'm making quite a bit of progress, Captain. I can have the improvements online within the hour."

"Good work, Mr. Greep," Nyx replied, "Work as fast as you can. I want to know where our people are as soon as possible."

Looking around, Temple couldn’t help but feel a moment a guilt and reflection. “I’m sorry we are once again in this position to ask a lot of you, and I can only offer you my sincere gratitude for all your hard work. I am, as always, in awe of your talents and capacity. Now.” He smiled, “Let’s get this bird patched up and flying again so we can get out of this hell hole.”

It wasn’t exactly his best speech but it was honest and Temple was able to leave Engineering feeling like they were coming through this mission alive, once more. The Pandora’s ability to cheat death would make stuff of legends one day, he was sure of it, and Nyx knew a large part of that was due to the Engineering team’s ability to fix all the damage he inflicted.

For now, that was a victory.

OFF