NRPG: *hic* Just one day this time huh? *hic* I guess the old guy knew what he was talkin' *hic* about. 'Kay, so, *hic* here's the thing.... Here is where I sit, all cloudy and blitzed with the Primo bottles lying everywhere Got a guitar in my hand and a Wesson Oil can Under my okole for a chair. It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo! It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo! The cousins all here, drinking up my beer got keikies running everywhere. I got some poki on the side while mama's trying to hide the Miller and the Heineken beer. It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo! It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo! Kimo and the crew sucking up the brew pulehu meat smoking on the side All the surfers are a-droppin' while the highschool are a-poppin' down Kaluakaua for a ride. It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo! It's Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Doo be doo, doo doo be, doo be doo be doo be doo! Today's Compile Index is brought to you by Dr. Daniels, Dr. Jack Daniels. Day 12 (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 14.49) (USS Boudicca - Engineering - ACEO Lorimar - 1450) (USS Boudicca - Bridge -- AOps- Lt. Tollian Yalix- 1452) (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 16.00) (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Lorimar - 1601) (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 17.50) (USS Boudicca - Bridge -- AOps- Lt. Tollian Yalix- 1753) (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - Ensign Lorimar - 1753) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aFO Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 12 - 1754) (USS Boudicca - Deck 15, Deflector Control - ACEO Ensign Lorimar - 1755) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aFO Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 12 - 1802) (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 18.03) (USS Boudicca - Bridge -- AOps- Lt. Tollian Yalix- 1805) (USS Boudicca - Turbolift- aFO Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 12 - 1805) RPG: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Mission: The Fires of Heaven, Day 12 Stardate: 2407.07.09 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 14.49) The whirr of humans, machinery and basically everyone and everything overwhelmed and resonated off of the many hard, reflective surfaces that was engineering. The physical and psychic noise was nearly deafening. And yet, it was here that Lise found her calm. Directing traffic, trying to stay on top of one series of damaged areas over another, the engineering team seamlessly interacted with one another and were, thus far, managing to keep a handle on things in a manner of speaking. It didn't help that an array of fires had just spread through the decks resulting from the damage. It appeared, however, that things were approaching a more normal level of control. Lise's attention turned to the voice she knew was addressing her, piercing a space within the waves of noise. "Lieutenant, they want a visual confirmation that the fire is oot. It's under the torpedo stowage, so ah cannae blame them. Ah'll meet the damage control party there... there's bound tae be other things gone wrong in that section if there was cause for a fire..." Lise nodded. "Got it... You up for it?" Lorimar needed no other incentive, for he was immediately off and hot on the trail of the hopefully extinguished fires. A series of crew members came up to Lise again. "Yes, make sure that's rerouted, we can't afford any possible damage in that area. Get those backups back online.." And they were off to work again. (USS Boudicca - Engineering - ACEO Lorimar - 1450) Engineering was a beehive of activity. To one unfamiliar with the complex dance of control, operation, management and repair, it might indeed seem a madhouse. Lorimar preferred to think of it as a process of controlled chaos. Very much like the triage process in a medical emergency, engineering on a starship in battle was a place where prioritization and optimization reigned supreme. The fact was that no matter how many people crammed in during red alert, no matter how skilled, there just were never enough hands to do everything immediately. Something... sometimes many somethings... simply needed to wait. At least that was the case now. Things were getting very busy indeed. The 'trouble board' at the duty engineer's station began lighting up with all too many damage indications. Then came the signal from OPS. A plasma fire on Deck 9. ~Deck 9... section... Och! That's a deck below torpedo stowage! Not a guid prospect laddie... nae at all!~ Lorimar gave it only a moments thought. He turned toward al-Sharif and spoke clearly. "Lieutenant, they want a visual confirmation that the fire is oot. It's under the torpedo stowage, so ah cannae blame them. Ah'll meet the damage control party there... there's bound tae be other things gone wrong in that section if there was cause for a fire..." (Reply al-Sharif, iyw) With that, he rushed out the doors from Main Engineering headed for the turbolift. During the turbocar ride, he informed the bridge, "Ops, this is Ensign Lorimar. I'm on my way to meet the damage control party on Deck 9, will advise." (Reply OPS, Any iyw) Once he exited the turbocar, Bob would have known which way to turn without any senses save smell. The acrid burning smell led him directly toward the fire site. He bumped into the damage control party at a corridor junction. They were in full fire suppression gear, carrying various portable equipment to handle almost any conceivable emergency. "Come along lads an' lassies... it should be just around the bend ahead." No telltale glow, no billowing clouds of smoke... both good signs. Just that awful scorched smell that wrinkled his nostrils. Rounding the corner he noted that not even the battle illumination was active. Two of the damage control party flanked him with thermal imaging equipment checking for extension of the fire; Lorimar was equally busy with his engineering tricorder trying to assess the damage. Petty Officer LaCoste spoke up first, her voice calm and clear. "Sir, all clear in this section. No evidence of fire extension, it appears the suppression system held it in check." "Aye lass... are the walls cool? Nae chance of a reflash?" "Affirmative sir... the whole section is almost isothermal. No power apparently though." "Aye... I can... or rather I cannae see that myself." Lorimar switched on his handlamp, eerie shadows casting about the corridor as he played the light over the bulkheads and overhead. With the light on, a heavily scorched section of bulkhead was readily apparent. Making another quick sweep with his tricorder to ensure that power was indeed off, he popped open an inspection panel adjacent to the damaged section. He was rewarded for his effort with a puddle of sludge that flowed out of the panel onto the decking. He recognized it immediately: Bio neural gel... or rather what was left of it. Removing two damaged panels with help from the damage control team told the tale. He tapped his commbadge with a sigh. "Lorimar to OPS. The fire is out on deck 9. Damage is confined to section 21. Several EPS taps overloaded. The mess hall replicator system is down, we lost a bio neural processor node, and power to this section of the deck. It'll take time to fix, but its all repairable. No critical damage, recommend we leave it shut down for now. Until its fixed ye'll hae tae reroute power around this section of the EPS... it's shot in this section" (Reply OPS, Any) (Posted by Russ) (USS Boudicca - Bridge -- AOps- Lt. Tollian Yalix- 1452) Tollian was up to his elbows in power redistribution and surge prevention when McLaren started issuing him orders. Matthew replied, "Mister Tollian dispatch a damage control team to deck nine and have them verify that the fire is out visually." "Yes, Lieutenant" Yalix replied as he entered the commands into the console. The one skill that every operations officer should have is multitasking. It was an essential ability to do dozens of things at once. He had sent the request and gone right back to his power distribution work. (reply None, Any) (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 16.00) Lise was just climbing out of a Jeffries' tube that she had been in for the purposes of repairing an unstable junction in the power matrix, when all of a sudden the ship lurched. As she had just peered her head out of the access-space, she was thrown clear out of the tube and skidded to a stop on the Engineering floor right at Lorimar's feet. (Reply Lorimar) Grumbling something about Qo'noS and how Kahless himself couldn't have arranged a precisely worse moment for such a thing to happen, Lise shook her head, as she got to her feet. (Reply Lorimar, I won't go on, so we can interact (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Lorimar - 1601) Lorimar was making his rounds from console to console, trying to stay a step ahead of the ever changing and certainly not improving situation. The Boudicca was taking a heavy pounding; he guessed (and hoped) that they were nearing the most intense part of the battle. ~Perhaps... perhaps not... but ah certainly hope it doesnae get much worse, we've our hands full now as it is!~ Just then the ship made a heavy lurch, whether from weapons fire or radical evasive action he could not be sure. What he could be sure of, however as he barely kept his feet by grabbing a section of conduit, was that Lieutenant al-Sharif came tumbling rather unceremoniously out of a Jeffries tube and pitched onto the floor with a thud. He heard her muttering something about Kahless, but it was not quite clear above the din in engineering. Unsure what the ship might do next, Bob kept his grip on the conduit with one hand, bent his knees and reached out with his free hand toward the aCEO. "Kind o' ye tae drop in lass... ah'm afraid the hoose is a bit messy, but we're glad tae hae ye in any case." He grinned, then recalled the last time he had tried to help someone off the deck. He'd been thought a crazy goat-wrangler then... and the person he had only wished to help had practically run screaming into the night. ~What'll happen this time? A kick in the groin? A curse? Phaser pistols at twenty paces? Hmm...~ (Reply al-Sharif, Any) (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 17.50) Engineering continued doing what it did best. Everyone in on their own teams, repairing what it was that needed to be done. Period. However, things were becoming more complex by the minute. The computer piped up: [Warning. EPS conduit 14, section 12 approaching thermal limit.] Lise was about ready to jump to action but saw that it was already under control. Almost smiling, she gave a nod in Lorimar's direction to express how she was impressed at his quick reflexes. "Computer, increase peltier effect conduit cooling system to maximum in that section." [Unable to comply. Cooling system at maximum capacity.] "Computer, override protocol, authorization engineering Omega 14. Increase cooling system operation by seven percent." [Override accepted. Conduit temperature decreasing. Six degrees below thermal limit and leveling off.] "That's a bandage on a broken leg" muttered Bob to no one in particular. Lise turned her attention back to the matrix she had been dealing with. It seemed that the problem lay in one of the damaged junctions. However, there had already been a repair crew down there and they had completely replaced the relays and repaired the damage. So, she was left to believe that perhaps her damage indicating systems were not telling the entire truth of the matter. That was dangerous, and needed to be sorted out as quickly as was humanly possible. Lise was about to explain that potentially they were going to have a lot more *interesting* things going potentially without their knowledge -- however, her train of thought was interrupted by a call from the bridge. =^=McLaren to Engineering. I need a couple of volunteers with handheld antilepton field collectors to report to the outer and lateral shields emitters and start manually purging the emitter coils. We've got less than 15 minutes so I need it done now.=^= ~And, engineers grow on trees?~ Lise thought to herself sarcastically, as she looked around her crew. They were exhausted, having been on duty and under intense conditions for quite a while now, and the impacts, fires and explosions had taken their toll. She did not care to think how many of her crew had been injured, or even worse.... She caught Lorimar's eye and he gave her the "what-is-going-to-go-wrong-next?" expression, with which she was becoming all to familiar. Lorimar stepped into action. He responded by soliciting volunteers. Lise turned her attention back to her readings. This, was not a good sign. She frowned. (USS Boudicca - Bridge -- AOps- Lt. Tollian Yalix- 1753) "We're through!" came the exclamation of disbelief from one of the bridge crew. Tollian however, never had any doubt. It was as if his personal belief that his destiny was not yet fulfilled had acted to preserve the Boudicca through sheer force of will. The Efrosian took a few moments to glance around the bridge. He noted the tension on the faces of his shipmates and marveled at the ability of the human species to persevere through such trauma without a strong spiritual belief to support their culture. To him it was a mystery that someday, he might learn the answer to. A minor alarm sounded on his console and Tollian turned back to his displays and his work. (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - Ensign Lorimar - 1753) Time continued to pass in a blur. For the fourth time in a minute, Lorimar found himself overriding computer protocols. He was doing his level best to work in concert with OPS to balance supply and demand in the ship's power distribution system. A delicate and tricky job under the best of circumstances, it was one step short of a nightmare now. Between the ever changing and oft increasing demands of the deflector system and the nearly maximum ~Maybe at or beyond maximum now... ah'm nae sure anymore~ sustained firing rate of the ship's weapons, the energy flow from reactors to the EPS system to the ever demanding tactical systems was like nothing he had ever seen before. The noise level in engineering was much louder than normal. Not deafening, but Lorimar envied the security troops with their combat armor... ~surely that provided some noise dampening capability?~ He shook that thought clear. After all, a great deal of his situational awareness came from his hearing. Loud or not, he needed and wanted to hear the sounds of the ship... all the better to judge her condition. His hands traced over the controls in front of him, eyes leaving the displays for a second or so, just enough time to glance around the room quickly to see if anything or anyone needed his attention. Apparently the computer did. [Warning. EPS conduit 14, section 12 approaching thermal limit.] "Computer, increase peltier effect conduit cooling system to maximum in that section." [Unable to comply. Cooling system at maximum capacity.] "Computer, override protocol, authorization engineering Omega 14. Increase cooling system operation by seven percent." [Override accepted. Conduit temperature decreasing. Six degrees below thermal limit and leveling off.] "That's a bandage on a broken leg" muttered Bob to no one in particular. "OPS, engineering. We need tae find a way tae reroute power for the ventral phaser strips, or slow the firing rate a wee bit. We're dangerously close tae an overload. Ah've got the cooling system running beyond maximum, but that will only buy us five... maybe six minutes at the current rate of fire." (Reply OPS, Any) He turned to inform al-Sharif of the developments, and his actions when another call came from the bridge. =^=McLaren to Engineering. I need a couple of volunteers with handheld antilepton field collectors to report to the outer and lateral shields emitters and start manually purging the emitter coils. We've got less than 15 minutes so I need it done now.=^= He gave al-Sharif a what-is-going-to-go-wrong-next? look and then spoke clearly over the background noise in engineering. "Aye sir, we're on it. We'll report our progress as we proceed." Lorimar looked around the deck and raised his voice yet again. "Right lads an' lassies... ah'm needin a couple volunteers for a rush repair..." Several crew exchanged busy and brief glances, then Crewman Enright approached him, toolkit in hand. "I'll go Mister Lorimar." He gave her a thankful look and a nod. He was about to call again for another volunteer when Crewman Carpenter came sliding down an access ladder from the upper gallery toting a bulging carryall bag. "I brought the collectors... consider me volunteered too!" Another appreciative look and Bob addressed them. "Right... Enright and Carpenter. We're needin tae rush, but nae shortcuts. This is a right dangerous job, so we'll be extra careful. Let's go." With a nod toward al-Sharif, Lorimar led the two volunteers out the blast doors toward deflector control. (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aFO Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 12 - 1754) "Scanning, Sir. They are all heavy vessels, five Nebula's, eight Galaxies and three Sovereigns. I'm searching the database for their transponder signals. Got them. The unit is the 42nd Black Watch, Sir, with four additional vessels, one of the Sovereigns and three of the Galaxies are part of the 53rd heavy battle group." Stolev turned as he heard a curse from the heretofore stoic aCO. Stakes sat back in his chair and looked at Sasha. "We are either extremely lucky, Commander or unbelievably unlucky. I wonder which one it will be." He fell silent for a moment, before adding, "The 42nd is commanded by Rear Admiral Stakes," as if it was an afterthought. "I guess there is only one way to find out. Mister Sevant? Set course for the enemy group. Best speed." He then turned back to Sasha. "This is going to be .... interesting," he said. Stolev nodded. "I suppose that's one word for it," he replied dryly as he turned his attention back to the viewscreen. (USS Boudicca - Deck 15, Deflector Control - ACEO Ensign Lorimar - 1755) It had been easier and faster going up just one deck via Jeffries Tube, rather than taking the turbolift. The three engineers arrived as quickly as they possibly could, knowing that time was truly of the essence in this situation. They had quickly discussed a division of labor during the trip from engineering. Each crewman would take a lateral emitter; Lorimar would take the outer emitter. He had assisted with the installation of the additional shielding systems, so of the three he was most familiar with the difficult to access layout. As they split up in the deflector control room, Lorimar admonished them once again, "Be bloody careful... this is tricky work as ye know. Take your time but work as best ye can." With that, he headed to the upper catwalk, Enright and Carpenter going to the port and starboard lateral arrays. Lorimar reached the access panel with some difficulty; it was a non-standard installation, but a very clever one. It was amazing just how much equipment could be packed into a given space. Therein lay the trouble though. Bob had to wriggle his upper body into a space barely larger than he was. In order to reach the access point, he needed to bury himself almost to his knees in the surrounding equipment. ~Ah should be supervisin' an' helping them... but ah cannae be two places at once, an' this should be the trickiest job...~ He worked as quickly as he could, stopping only to swab the perspiration from his eyes with his sleeve. He blinked to clear his vision as he removed the last fastener from the access panel. Despite his orders to the contrary he himself was cutting corners. He *had* to. He hadn't taken the extra time to fasten a retaining clamp on the access panel, and it slipped from his fingers and struck the deck below with a loud 'CLANG'. Crewman Enright shouted up to make sure he was okay; he assured her he was just clumsy but okay. He reached into the toolkit slung over his shoulder and retrieved a non conductive polarizer. With it, he interrupted the shield emitters cohesion field in a controlled fashion. He then attached the intake end of the portable antilepton collector, and waited for the 'ready' telltale to illuminate. Essentially, this was like piercing a membrane with a drinking straw. If the connection were not absolutely perfect... Well, he tried very hard not to think about that. There. Ready light on. He activated the collector, and it began to hum as the particles streamed into the containment field within the portable collector. Satisfied, he slowly backed out of the confined space and glanced at his two fellow engineers. All he could see of Enright was the top of her blond head; but he called down to her and she raised a hand giving him a 'thumbs up' gesture. He cast a glance in Carpenter's direction, and again only the top of his head was visible from Bob's viewpoint. Just as Lorimar was about to inquire as to his progress, a blinding green flash enveloped Carpenter. Before Lorimar's horrified eyes the radiation burst flared and died and he lost sight of the engineer. It was soundless... or at least not audible above the equipment noise in the room. The sound reached Bob's ears then. The beginning of a scream, which mercifully stopped only a second after it began. Lorimar nearly shouted into his commbadge, just barely maintaining his professional control. "Lorimar to Sickbay! Medical Emergency! Deck 15... Deflector Control!" (Reply Any Medical) The shocking sight and sound galvanized him into action. He slid down the ladder from the upper catwalk, braking to a stop by dragging his boots on the beams of the ladder. The scene had not escaped Enright's attention either, for he nearly knocked her down at the bottom of the ladder. She rushed ahead. He wrapped his arms around her waist, nearly tackling her before she stopped. "Wait lassie!" as he activated his tricorder. "If there's still a leak we need to know and seal it first, or it will flood this whole compartment!" He waited an impatient several seconds for the tricorder to complete its scan. Save for the residual radiation, it seemed the leak had been a burst and was no longer active. He released his grip on Crewman Enright and rushed forward, dreading what he was certain he would find near the emitter. He poked his head around the corner and was horrified to see his worst nightmares could do the scene no justice. Unthinking, he reached down to check the obviously lifeless body of Joshua Carpenter. Automatically he checked for a pulse, nearly burning his hand on the charred and hideous corpse. He found his voice for a moment, half turning around to stop Enright from coming any closer. "Lassie... stay back," he managed in a husky and trembling voice. He turned back toward his former crewmate, only to be assailed by an odor so noisome as to defy description. He tasted the hot bile rising in his throat and just barely managed to turn away from both the body and Enright before he vomited on the deck. He continued for what seemed hours, but was in fact mere seconds. He coughed several times to clear his throat and found his voice once again. "Sickbay... this is Lorimar." His voice was a hoarse whisper, all traces of excitement long gone. 'Have your medical team slow down... ah dinnae believe they can help the lad now..." (Reply Medical iyw) He ran his sleeve across his eyes to wipe the tears of grief and stress and anger away, then looked at the collector that Carpenter had connected. It was reading full. He had done his job. Lorimar turned away to check the other two collectors and once again told Enright to stay back as he passed. There was no need for her to see him that way. He remembered seeing them sharing a meal or coffee together in the past. ~Lord, ah hope they were nae... och. Does it matter? Tis' done... an' no one should hae tae remember a friend that way... no matter how close they were...~ He examined both remaining collectors. They had done their job. ~An' we have done our duty~ As he waited for the medical personnel, he tapped his commbadge again. "Lieutenant McLaren, this is Lorimar. We're finished with the purge sir. And sir... Crewman Carpenter is dead sir." (Reply Any) Lorimar shook the fuzz from his brain and monitored the equipment in deflector control. That is to say, he was trying to keep his mind off the horror of what had occurred by doing some incidental work while waiting for the arrival of the medical team. He had been greatly impressed by Crewman Enright's resolve and stoicism. On the outside at least, it seemed she were dealing much better with the situation than Lorimar himself had been. He felt a hand on his shoulder as he bent down to retrieve one of the antilepton collectors. "Sir, its not your fault..." That simple phrase brought all the suppressed emotion immediately boiling to the surface. He took a ragged breath to control it, then stood and turned to Enright with his eyes brimming. "Lassie... anythin' that happens tae an engineer is mah responsibility. Ah dinnae hae time for self recrimination... but ah'm responsible none the less. Volunteer or no... accident or no... 'tis mah responsibility. We can..." He was interrupted by the arrival of the medical team. He quickly wiped his eyes and led them over to the collector, assuring them that the radiation levels were safe as he did so. Feeling the pressure of time once again, he sent Enright back to engineering, asking her to tell Lt. al-Sharif he would be along directly. He spent the next several moments with the medical team and what remained of Carpenter. It was at once far too little, and far too much time to be with him. It could not be helped of course. There would be time for memorials and mourning later. If there were a later that is. (Reply Any) (Posted by Russ) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aFO Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 12 - 1802) "Sir! Enemy ship decloaking aft port! It's a Spectre class! She's firing her torpedoes!" "Evas..." was all Stolev could manage before the ship lurched violently, sending him sprawling to the floor, along with several other officers. He saw Stakes gingerly pick himself up from the deck, blood streaming from a fresh wound on the side of his head. "Status!" he barked. "Dorsal shields are gone, Sir! Heavy damage on decks seventeen, eighteen and nineteen!" Archibald cursed. "Mister Laroon! Return fi........." Archibald was suddenly silenced by alarms going off, indicating intruder alerts. "Mister McLaren, get those shields back up! Mister Stolev! As Mister Laroon is busy at the moment, take charge of the boarder repel action." "Aye, sir," replied Stolev. He grabbed his phaser from its holster and jogged for the turbolift, where he turned back at the sound of Stakes's voice. "Oh, and Commander? They are Starfleet personnel, just like you and me. Offer them quarter, if you can." Stolev nodded. "Understood." He then stepped into the turbolift, where he checked the settings on his phaser before pulling up a schematic on the lift's display terminal. Boarding parties were on decks three and nineteen -- the anti-transporter fields had prevented them from beaming directly into Engineering and the Bridge, but they were within two decks, as close as the fields would allow. Stolev hit his comm badge. "Stolev to Security and Marines. Boarding parties are on decks three and nineteen. Initiate boarding repel plan alpha. I'll see you on deck three. Major Thrall, please lead the party to deck nineteen. Stolev out." (reply ALL) (posted by Aaron) (USS Boudicca, Main Engineering, aCEO Jael al-Sharif, 18.03) The ship rocked. Lise grabbed onto a piece of welded titanium that was beside her. Immediately she kicked into high gear. Racing for the nearest damage control panel, the results in number form inundated the screen before her. "Lorimar!" She yelled amongst the mass confusion. Already, teams were shutting off coolant leaks, sealing off potential areas with increased radiation, and coordinating repair efforts. The reports came in, Lise cursed, loudly: in Klingon. There was a line near Jeffries tube junction 28A which had breaks between decks 18 and 19. It looked like a plasma fire. Nothing was responding in that section, or didn't seem to be. Not hesitating, Lise turned to Lorimar. "You're in control. This needs attention NOW" (Reply Lorimar, iyw) With that, Lise diverted power from that section and closed off the plasma lines. Grabbing her medkit, and pointing to a few engineers that were closest to her; "you, you, you, you and YOU! NOW! Let's move it people!!!!", she made her way out the door. Lise knew that the justification to leave engineering was a difficult one in this time, however, if the break in the line was indeed a plasma fire, and if they were unable to get it under control, then, very few things would matter in a series of moments. Lise was counting on the structure that they had in place, the bridge and engineering's coordination was strong. Lorimar would do an excellent job of coordinating with the bridge, and McLaren had everything in place there. Pressing her hand to her enunciator she contacted the bridge. "Al-sharif to Bridge, we have a repair crew on our way to the plasma fire site right now. We have cut the plasma flow to affected areas and also areas to prevent its spread. I am coordinating the repair team and we are on it. Just, if we could avoid being directly hit in the next half-hour or so, that would make our lives just a little easier." (Reply Bridge) (Reply Lorimar, Bridge, the partridge in the pear tree, random people who desperately want to be an S/NPC engineer who don't even know it, any) (Posted by Kat) (USS Boudicca - Bridge -- AOps- Lt. Tollian Yalix- 1805) There was a tremendous jerk as the ship was struck by the Spectre's class vessel's torpedoes. Tollian relaxed his knees and gripped the console tightly. He rode out the impact with all the skill of a battle-seasoned officer. He noted that several of the Bridge crew had not been as fortunate. "Status!" the captain barked. "Dorsal shields are gone, Sir! Heavy damage on decks seventeen, eighteen and nineteen!" Matthew replied as he took in the console information. "What in God's name did they hit us with?" he asked. Tollian quickly pulled up the sensor logs and noted the incredible output of the enemy torpedoes. "The enemy torpedo had been modified for exceptionally short range and were carrying a warhead approximately 5 times that of a normal quantum torpedo." Tollian reported, extrapolating some details from the data. A moment later alarms sounded. They had been boarded. "Mister Tollian I need a power flow diagnostic on Line 12-Tau, from the primary trunk to the aft shield emitters post haste." "Running the diagnostic now." the Efrosian replied as he tapped his fingers against the buttons on his console. He watched as the diagnostic retraced the live power flow to it's breaking point. Thousands of tiny power sensors lined every conduit on the ship, allowing for a relatively precise location of the break in very short order. As soon as the information was verified, Tollian reported. "There is a break in the line near Jeffries tube junction 28A between decks 18 and 19. Internal sensors indicate there is a thermal increase in that compartment. I can not say for certain but we may have a plasma fire. Fire suppression in the section does not seem to be responding." The Chief Engineer nodded. "Send that information to Engineering, tell them we need a damage control team to respond immediately in fire control gear." Matthew replied. "Understood, sir. Internal sensors also indicate that it was decks 18 and 19 where the intruder alert was sounded." While McLaren dealt with the problem, Tollian began looking at ways he could reroute power to the aft shield emitters. Perhaps if he retuned the SIF fields in the affected sections to modulate their nuation instead of remaining constant that might interfere with a transporter's sensors and prevent further boarding. Tollian pulled up the sensor specifications for the standard Starfleet Transporter. All sensors were effectively the same, they all used the same band of frequencies for their site acquisition and ACB placement. Tollian found the information that he was looking for and made the adjustments. To test his work, he grabbed an empty cargo container and tried to transport it through the aft quarter and through the modified SIF fields. He received an error indicating that he could not get a sensor lock. In order to over come the field effect, the enemy would need to completely recalibrate their transporter sensors. That could take hours. "Captain, I have modulated the SIF to interfere with transporter sensor frequencies. This should prevent the enemy from reinforcing their troops already on board, at least until they recalibrate and modify their transporter sensor arrays. As a result of this modulation, however, SIF efficiency is down by 6%." (reply Stakes, Any) (posted by Daniel Greene) (USS Boudicca - Turbolift- aFO Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 12 - 1805) "Halt," ordered Stolev, and he felt the turbolift glide to a stop somewhere between decks two and three. "Computer, initiate containment protocol, deck 3. Level ten." The computer beeped its acknowledgement. There would now be level ten force fields trapping the boarding party on the deck -- for now. It would slow them down a little bit, at least. Stolev then popped open the small supply locker and pulled out a tricorder and a spare phaser. Then, placing a foot firmly on the handrail, he raised himself up so that he could reach the access hatch on top of the turbolift. He quickly activated the latch release and moved the hatch aside, then pulled himself up through. Stolev glanced around the interior of the lift shaft quickly to get his bearings and to locate the access hatch to the Jeffries tube running between decks two and three. He quickly scanned with his tricorder and happily discovered that the boarding party had not yet breached the tube, so he pulled open the hatch and scrambled through the tube. moving as quickly as he could without making too much noise. After he had crawled several meters through the tube, Stolev pulled out the tricorder to get his bearings and locate the boarding party. They were still clustered down the corridor, likely working to disengage the force fields. His tricorder picked up traces of weapons fire; either someone who happened to be on deck three had engaged the boarding party, or the first of the security forces had arrived. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head, and he rechecked the tricorder. As it turned out, Stolev was only a few more meters from being directly above his own quarters. Since he had moved in to Eva's quarters, and they had yet to arrange for official "family quarters", he had been using his quarters as a workshop, where he could tinker with various electronic devices -- and weapons -- on his off-duty time. And there were a few things in there that could cause the boarding party some unexpected problems. Stolev stopped at the access hatch to his own quarters. He took out his tricorder and made a quick scan to verify that his quarters were empty. He then quickly keyed in the commands to override the force field for this hatch only and popped it open. Noiselessly he lowered himself through the hatch and onto the sofa. He quickly moved over to his workbench and looked through the items there, in various stages of disassembly, until he found the ones he was looking for. The first item looked like a hand phaser wired together with a small orb. The second was a hand-sized disc. Stolev tapped in a few commands to each, then slipped them into his belt and pulled out his tricorder. The boarding party was clustered around a turbolift entrance a ways down the corridor. There appeared to be twelve of them -- a full squad -- with a few working at the lift door and the rest providing covering fire. They appeared to be engaged with an organized defense team down the corridor, judging by the frequency and dispersal pattern of the phaser discharges. Stolev pulled the modified phaser back out of his belt and tapped in a few more commands. The device was simply a hand phaser attached to a small hoverbot. The bot was programmed to discharge the phaser at random intervals, random frequencies, and in a random direction, while changing its own position randomly so as to make it difficult to shoot at. The time interval and degree constraints for direction were manually entered parameters, which Stolev adjusted so that the phaser would only fire in the direction of the boarding party and not the defense team. He also set the power level on the phaser to maximum. It wouldn't likely be enough to penetrate the BDUs without several direct hits, but the randomized frequency would at least defeat the adaptive armor components. It was his hope that the addition of this element would tip the scales in favor of the more lightly-armed security team. The other device was a slightly-modified z-pinch, which Stolev had programmed to emit its EM pulse within a radius small enough to affect the boarding party but not much else. He didn't have very high hopes for this, as the BDUs would likely be able to compensate for the EM pulse disruption pretty quickly, but even a momentary disorientation would help. Stolev then walked quickly over to his personal weapons locker and pulled out the standard phaser rifle he kept there. He checked its settings and its power charge, then walked over to the door and checked the tricorder once more. The firefight was a ways down the corridor, so he could safely emerge from his quarters unnoticed. He quickly scurried down the corridor until he came upon a group of security officers crouched behind a bulkhead, firing phasers every so often at the boarding party while dodging the incoming blasts. One of them whipped around upon hearing his approach, ready to fire his phaser, before he recognized Stolev and a look of relief crossed his face. "Commander Stolev is here," he informed his comrades as he turned back to rejoin the firefight, just as a phaser blast struck him in the shoulder. The last look on his face was one of complete surprise before he disintegrated completely. Stolev ducked down among the troops, unable to take even a moment to mourn the loss of one of his officers. "Cover me," he said as he pulled the z-pinch and the modified phaser out of his belt. He tapped in a few final parameters as the security squad laid down an intense burst of cover fire, then he leaned out and slid the z-pinch disc down the corridor. The disc skidded to a halt amid the enemy marines, one of whom looked down and was about to crush it beneath his heel when it discharged its EM pulse. The marines staggered slightly, disoriented, and one of them was caught in the chest by blasts from at least two of the security party's phasers. He was knocked back against the bulkhead and slumped to the deck, a smouldering hole in the front of his BDU. Stolev then tapped the activation switch and flung the hoverbot down the corridor, where it began its dance of phaser fire. He nodded with grim satisfaction as at least two of the enemy marines tried in vain to shoot it once their systems came back online. Another marine staggered as he took a blast from the hoverbot, but managed to recover and send another shot down the corridor towards the security party. Stolev sighted the fellow up in his own phaser rifle and managed to hit him in the spot that had already been weakened by the hoverbot's blast; one of the marine's arms went flying across the deck as the rest of him was flung in the opposite direction. ~Two down,~ he told himself as they continued the firefight. "Try to take out the CEs if you can," he shouted above the din of the phaser blasts. "Without them it'll be a lot harder for them to get to the bridge." (reply any) (posted by Aaron) NRPG: She's drunk? How can she be drunk? I can smell her all the way down here. What's with that song? That's not from a tv show! I think some radio station in Hawaii plays that thing on Fridays. When's the other guy coming back...... -USS Boudicca, NCC 49901 Star Trek: Freedom - http://www.startrekfreedom.com