Captain’s Quarters

USS San Diego

January, 2402

Orex sank gratefully onto the backless Edoan style stool after dropping his bags. The unique, tripodal physiology of the Edoan people made for some equally unique furniture. He sometimes amusedly wondered how bipeds didn’t just fall down. He looked around his currently undecorated quarters.

Well he was here, his first command. His stepping stone to greater things down the path. He was weary, it had been a long trip from Vespen II. His path to the San Diego had also seemed a long, sometimes wearisome one. One fateful day as an engineer when he had stood tall under adversity, thereby causing the chain of command on the Dorvall to recommend he switch to the command track. Now that he was finally here, his mind drifted back to that day when this journey to this command started.

Main Engineering

USS Dorvall

April, 2388

Lieutenant Orex stirred, slowly coming back to consciousness. His first impressions were of steam, heat and screaming klaxons. Climbing unsteadily to his feet, his three legs set wide while he regained his senses, Orex slapped his comm badge, his voice even more gravelly than normal from the uncharacteristically steamy air of the Nebula-class starship’s Main Engineering space.

“Orex to Commander Konalewski.”

Silence.

“Orex to Konalewski, respond.”

Nothing.

Orex called out, “Solek! Peyton!”

“Here!”, Coughing, Ensign Solek came out of the mist permeating Engineering.

“Report!”, Orex had to keep his voice raised to be heard over the wailing of the klaxons.

“Half of the control panels are dead, sir. I was heading towards one I saw that could be functional when I heard your call.”, Even with his voice raised, the calm so typical of Vulcans somehow managed to shine through.

“Lead the way.”, Orex ordered, then asked, “Did you find anyone else?”

“No, sir.”, Solek responded, “However I have not been conscious for long.”

“Understood, Ensign.”, Orex stated as they arrived at the wall mounted LCARS panel only to find Ensign Peyton busily tapping away at the controls. 

“Agreeable to see you functional, Ensign Peyton.”, Solek said.

“Glad you’re ok too, Solek.”, the tall thin Human gave a sort of coughing laugh at the Vulcan’s formality given the current circumstances. Orex slapped his combadge again.

“Lieutenant Orex to Bridge.”

“Orex this is Marsden.”, the XO’s voice was overlaid with static, but she was comprehensible. Before Orex could respond, Commander Marsden spoke again, “Where is Commander Konalewski?”

“Unknown, sir. So far it’s just myself and Ensigns Solek and Peyton.”

Peyton called out, “I found Lieutenant Nguyen and Van der Jahns. Pulled them to a sheltered spot.”

Marsden’s static filled voice hissed out again, “Can you give us a report on what happened and our current status.”

“Wait one, sir, we’re sorting that out as we speak.”, Orex looked expectantly at the two ensigns in front of the panel. Solek peered at the panel a little more closely for a moment and then turned and spoke, 

“Multiple overloaded conduits throughout the ship including the main computer core, we are currently working with the secondary. No hull breaches evident. Warp core off line and we are currently on reserve power, which is at 86% and falling. Shields are draining and are currently at 64%.”

The Dorvall had been studying a very strange energy field from a distance, but Orex felt that somehow it was involved. Orex confirmed this when he made a query of his own.

“Commander, what happened up there?”

There was a pause and then Commander Marsden replied, “The energy field moved to envelop us and it was so fast and unexpected it was on us before we could react. There was a power surge of biblical proportions and half the crew is now incapacitated.”, there was another pause before she continued, “Captain Singh is unconscious. How does it look in Engineering?”

During the conversation, the steam had cleared somewhat and Orex could see several forms laying on the ground or slumped over consoles.

“So far only Solek, Peyton and myself are up and moving. We need medical here as soon as possible.”

“We already have one on the way, they have to take the Jeffries’ Tubes so it’s slower going. We need to figure a way out of this fast, we’re on reserve power and the only thing keeping us alive are the shields.”

“Understood, sir. One moment.”

Orex looked around and found another operational console, this one with Lieutenant (j.g.) Ramirez slumped over it. Gently laying the unconscious officer down nearby, Orex then moved the seat out of the way and tapped at the console to take stock of the energy field surrounding the ship. As he went over the readings he called out, “Solek, get me a complete status report, what works, what doesn’t, what can be fixed quickly, that sort of thing. Start with the warp core. Peyton, find another console. Look for any power source that you can find minus life support and give it to the shields. Buy us as much time as you can, every second helps.”

Orex then focused on the readings from the energy field currently attempting to murder the Dorvall. He’d never seen anything quite like it, especially in the lower bands of radiation such as radio and microwave. The higher bands like gamma were very prevalent. Something about how odd the readings involving the lower bands were was nagging at the back of Orex’s mind, like his subconscious was screaming at him about something his forebrain hadn’t caught up with yet.

“The warp core is undamaged, the safety interlocks made it dormant to protect the core from the surge. I’m sending the rest to you now.”, Solek stated from behind Orex.

“Thank you.”, Orex quickly scanned the report, face grim. It wasn’t great, though admittedly not as bad as he expected. Most of the problem was power conduits being blown out, affecting power flow throughout the ship. He turned his head as he heard Ensign Peyton walk up.

Peyton coughed into his hand and then said, “I’m still looking but I’ve transferred what I could. The problem is shunting the power to the shields. The power conduit situation is really causing problems there. I’ve bought us a whopping nine minutes so far.”

“Nine minutes we didn’t have.”, Orex looked at his console. 71% reserve power, 53% shields. “Take, a look.”, Orex gestured at the energy field’s readings on his console. The two ensigns peered over Orex’s shoulders. After a few moments, Peyton gestured towards the screen.

“Hey, Solek you see that?”

“Indeed.”, the Vulcan replied with an arched eyebrow.

“The low band radiation?”, Orex asked.

Receiving a “Uh huh” and “Yes, sir.”, from Peyton and Solek respectively Orex continued, “There’s something there but I’m missing it. It’s right on the edge of my brain.”

The three peered at the screen hard, each lost in contemplation, when Orex’s combadge chirped making him jump.

“Marsden to Orex, tell me you have something, time’s getting real short here.”

Orex was about to respond when he heard a moan from his left. Ensign Peyton went to investigate.

“Lieutenant Orex?”

Orex watched as Peyton helped Ensign Vinson to a sitting position, the Human rubbing her head.

“We’re seeing something with the field’s interaction with low band radiation, we just need a little more time, sir.”

“Don’t tell me, Lieutenant, tell the energy field.”, was Marsden’s curt reply.

“Ensign Peyton has bought us a little more time with the shields.”, Orex diplomatically left out it was only nine minutes, but details, details.

Ensign Solek spoke, “I am starting to see a pattern involving microw-”, whatever Solek was going to say was lost forever as Orex suddenly shouted.

“MICROWAVES!!! THAT’S IT!”

Ensign Solek snapped his head down to look at Orex. Orex met his gaze and said a short sentence, “Microwaves bounce off of metallics.”. 

Solek quirked a quizzical eyebrow. Orex tapped at the controls, bringing up aspects of the energy field’s make up. “That’s what was bothering me. The “field” isn’t just radiation and energy. It has a loose, well very loose, physical structure made up of metallics. Everything from soft metals like beryllium to the hard, denser ones like tungsten and osmium. I think it uses the metallics as a sort of atomic level skeletal structure.”, which raised all sorts of questions but that was for the Science Division to look into, “It’s used to adjusting to background radiation but a sudden shock to it….”

Solek nodded as he went back to the wall console, “I see it now, sir. Shields at 43% and Emergency power at 51%. How would we get a burst of microwaves strong enough to destabilize the field?”

“Through the shield grid, Mr. Solek, through the shield grid. Orex to Bridge.”

“Bridge, Singh here.”

“Good to hear you up and about Captain, and we have a plan.”

“Thank you Lieutenant,” the Captain’s normally smooth voice sounded as gravelly as Orex’s as he continued, “Commander Marsden said you were working on something using low band radiation.”

Looking at his running calculations, he didn’t like it one bit. “It looks like we’ll only have one shot and if it fails we’re dead. The plan is-.”

“Shiva will take us if we do nothing and we have no time for niceties. Do what you must.”, Captain Singh’s tone was grim yet firm.

“Understood, sir. Taking control of the shields from here.”

“Vishnu be with you, Bridge out.”

“Solek! Peyton!”, Orex roared. Stoke the flames on the warp core, I ensured I included the start up in my calculations! Do it now!”

The two ensigns moved to the core along with Ensign Vinson, who gave a shaky but definite nod at Orex’s questioning stare. He jerked his head towards the core, indicating she should help Solek and Peyton. With a smile even the Edoan could tell was forced, Vinson left him.

He had taken the rate of drain into account, but the calculations had been done very quickly under pressure and the margin for error was higher than Orex would’ve liked. All three of his hands flew over the console. One by one the shield generators were adjusted to throw out a fierce burst of microwave radiation. Then he saw it. Of all things a power conduit junction a deck down, almost right underneath him, was malfunctioning. The circuit wouldn’t complete. Orex almost panicked and then a sudden wash of calm came over Orex. He knew what he had to do. 

Orex got up, went to a wall locker and retrieved a tool kit and slung it over his shoulder.

“Sir?”, Peyton’s question hung in the air over the klaxons.

Orex didn’t even look at the three ensigns as he left Engineering, simply growling, “Remain at your posts.”

Orex flew down the corridor like only a tripoidal being could, reaching the closest Jeffirie’s Tube entrance. He knew the tubes like the back of his hand and he quickly made his way to the power junction in question. It wasn’t sparking. It sat there silent and cold. He pulled out a tricorder from the tool kit and scanned the junction. It might look cold but it was definitely hot. It just wouldn’t complete the circuit as the central part of the conduit was damaged. He didn’t have time for niceties. He ripped a swatch of cloth from his pants leg and grabbed a spanner from his kit. 

The cloth was probably not enough and he was probably going to die anyway, but a forlorn hope was better than none. Wrapping the torn cloth around the spanner, Orex took a breath and a made a silent, brief prayer to the stars and thrust the spanner into the gap in the junction box completing the circuit. Orex’s last memory was a shock and the sudden feeling of slamming against a bulkhead, then darkness.

Orex blinked, he was lying down. A face was blurry against the light. A voice spoke, sounding as if it was coming from a great distance.

“Easy there, Lieutenant. You were badly injured.”, Orex groggily recognized Captain Singh’s voice, “Your plan worked, the microwave burst did indeed drive the….entity….off.”

“The…others?”, Orex’s voice was dry as dust.

“They got the warp core started and we went to emergency warp and escaped. Commander Konalewski is overseeing repairs now. He’s quite proud of you, you know. As am I. Vishna was with us, but I find comfort that you were as well.” 

Orex tried to thank the Captain for his kind words, but drifted back to unconsciousness instead.

Captain’s Quarters

USS San Diego

January, 2402

Orex stood up and drifted over to the wide window in his quarters, the ship in the next berth over, a Nebula-class of all things, filling his view. Taking a deep breath and releasing it as the memory faded, Orex suddenly said to himself, “And now I am here.”