JL | Lt. Evan Merlin & Cmdr. th'Zarath | AXO & CEO | "Suspicions..."

Posted on Thu Apr 19th, 2018 @ 10:51pm by Commander Thelin th'Zarath & Commander Evan Merlin

Mission: Lacuna
Location: Cold Station Theta

The Lieutenant threw the last PADD of the morning on the 'finished' pile and stretched with a sigh. No doubt there would be a pile of equal height by the end of the afternoon. They'd have to wait, though. For now he was done here, and there was something else he wanted to do, quite badly.

Earlier today – actually, the first thing he'd done – he had visited sick bay, where the injured of the explosion had been tended. Only two remained there, being treated for heavy burns and internal injuries. The others had been discharged, but with orders to take it easy for now.

Now it was time to see with his own eyes just how bad the damage really was.

He tapped his comm badge. "Merlin to Commander th'Zarath. Where are you at the moment, and mind if I join you?"

The repairs had been slow to progress even with the new hands that had been provided for him, Thelin had found himself in yet another section, this time overseeing repairs that were being undertaken by other Engineers, he was sat on an old supply case with a PADD in hand when the call came through, "Section Fourteen Alpha Seven, Deck 4 of the Engineering section," the Andorian replied with a slight smile, "The company is always welcome, though you might want to get a new uniform afterwards."

"I'll see if I can dreg up some old digs, and I'll join you in a moment." Changing was a matter of just grabbing an old overall and pulling it on. Then he grabbed a spare tool kit and ordered a side-to-side to the Commander's location. He figured that Thelin could just as easily talk him through his findings while they worked, and though the Lieutenant wasn't an Engineer, he'd helped out often enough that he could tell a hyperspanner from a phase modulator.

"Hi," he said once he beamed in. "So, how bad is it?"

"Bad enough that it might not have been a good idea to beam in like that," the Andorian replied with a chuckle as the man affectionately known to many as the Weirdo materialised and spoke again, "The next section over is currently decompressed and open to space, we're working on getting the emergency forcefields online so we can begin bringing in structural supports, once its been secured we can get the workerbees to work on the external plating while we work on rewiring and fitting it out again."

The Lieutenant laughed briefly. "I trusted that you'd have the side-to-sides set to override if somone tried to beam into a place where they shouldn't." He looked around in the corridor and the smile which could usually be found on his face disappeared. "Do you have any idea what caused all this? More specific than 'something said boom'?"

"Overrides are set in place for most people, however you're Command Staff now, Lieutenant, your personal codes give you full authority and often reset without the newer protections I've put in place." Thelin replied with a nod as he handed over one of the PADDs that magically appeared in his hand, "We have a number of theories but they only present more questions than answers."

"Hm," the Lieutenant mused thoughtfully. "Somehow they must've missed that paragraph in 'How To Be An XO For Dummies'. Remind me to post a stern review in triplicate." He accepted the PADD with what was rapidly becoming an automatic gesture and speed-read through it. This was clearly not an official report yet, since it was written in Engineers – a true language of its own, not yet translated into anything remotely readable for non-Engineers. He was sufficiently proficient to understand the gist of it, though he knew an hour with a dictionary – also known as the 'Handbook For Engineers' – would be helpful if he wanted to get the full story.

The PADD listed the facts, though, not the theories. "Can you walk me through a few?"

"There's trace elements of something in the smoke residue, it can be seen in scans taken from any section that was damaged severely by the fires," Thelin replied with a slight chuckle, "I'm not sure what it is, I'm going to be sending samples up to the labs to determine, the science bods will have more luck with it than I," he added as he scrolled through another PADD that appeared in his hands, "Computer Control is partially restored to the Engineering section, we have a few more junctions to repair or re-route but we should have full control back online within the day." he shifted uncomfortably on his chosen perch and lowered his voice, "Between you and I, this wasn't an accident, I think this was intentional, it's also damned convenient, don't you think? It happens just when we're investigating losing the Vorta? Distracting us, redirecting our attentions."

The Lieutenant looked grim, a look which was ill-suited on his face. "I cannot deny that thought had crossed my mind as well. Too convenient by far. But fires have been known to destroy a lot of traces…" He looked around with a sigh. "I think we've been very lucky that you managed to act as promptly as you did. The damage could've been a lot more severe if you hadn't been around." If Thelin had been in bed, like most of the senior staff at that time.

"I was pulling the swing shift when the call came in, I'd actually been in the lower section working on some of the sensor suites," the Andorian replied, "I think whoever set this thing in motion were sloppy, if I had to guess, the traces will be from some form of chemical used to set the initial explosion, the blast must have put enough of it into the atmospheric systems to spread it around."

"And we cannot exclude the possibility that if there was one such device here, there might be others," the Lieutenant said, running his hand through his hair. "Is there any possible way to scan for that? Oh, by the way, just tell me what you need me to do. I can work while we talk, too."

"We need to get the emergency forcefields back online," Thelin replied with a slight smile as he hefted a tool case from the floor next to him, "Petty Officer Kemp is working on the emitters on the other side of the door, in an environmental suit, obviously," he added quickly, "I'm monitoring his progress from here, but an extra set of hands working on the control junction on this side would help," the Andorian finished before thinking for a few moments about the question posed, "Until we get an identifiable trace, it's hard to scan for anything non-specific, we need to narrow it down first."

"And in order to get an identifiable trace, we have to be able to reach the core of the explosion, but we currently cannot because that area is in vacuum for the moment. Got it," the Lieutenant said, nodding to himself. He walked over to the control junction and opened the tool kit. "Well, the sooner we can get this repaired, the sooner we'll have answers, I take it," he added.

"We may be able to get a clear reading from one of the samples I've sent up to the lab, but the best chance for an immediate answer is the epicenter of the explosion and you're right, until we can get the forcefields online it is a vacuum." Thelin replied with a nod, "Once this section is online, we have two more until we get to the point where the incident happened."

The Lieutenant looked around again. The Engineering section was the backbone of the station, and its corridors were not the soft-lighted, subtly decorated affairs of the areas near Central Ops and the conference rooms. Bold-lighted and utilitarian, normally. But most of the bright lights had been doused, and dark patches on the walls told the story of the recent disaster. It pained him to see them. "Alright then," he said softly and rested one hand against the wall panel. "We'll have you back up and running in no time. Trust me." He gave a half-apologetic smile over his shoulder in Thelin's direction and began to work.

The mechanical sympathy that the newly minted First Officer held for the station was admirable to the engineer inside Thelin and he offered him a smile as he looked back, "Of course we will, sir," he replied with a light chuckle.

(To Be Continued...)

Lt. Evan 'Weirdo' Merlin
AXO/CStratOps
Cold Station Theta

&

Cmdr Thelin th'Zarath
CEO
Cold Station Theta