Steps That Tread Lightly

Posted on Tue Sep 26th, 2017 @ 8:35am by

1,366 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Unknown Life, Unknown Dangers
Location: Main Engineering

Considering the sensativity of the issue Will went to Engineering knowing James would be busy and didn't want to pull him from the place he was needed most. It also served to help get him away from the Bridge where he felt he spent too much time there and not enough actually doing anything while his ship was under threat. He had a difficult issue to discuss with the Lieutenant following the incident in Sickbay.

"Could you point me to where Lt. Bradshaw works please?" Will asked one of the engineers who stopped to ask him if everything was ok.

"Just round this corner sir, in the corner by the table." The engineer spoke.

"Thank you." Will thanked and then walked where directed to see James hunched over a table showing the nacelle and the supporting strut. A pulsating red glow within it, it didn't take him but a second to figure out what it was. "That bad?"

"It's only a matter of time before it gets past that door. It's trapped but it broke through 30cm of ablative armour." I knew that armour was meant to be impacted on, not from within what it was trying to protect but it had to be strong to do that kind of damage. "I have an idea but I really doubt you are going to like it."

It was a long shot, but at the rate of growth and spread through the ship, it was the only one I saw working.

"I'm all ears." Will spoke as he stepped up to the table and leaned against it looking at the display.

"So far it's sealed mostly behind this door, but it's still feeding off the residual radiation. There is nothing we can do about that. We can't go in there without risking the people we send." I swallowed, Crunch time! "The only way, and I don't suggest it lightly. Is to sever the nacelle from the strut here."

I pointed to the section of the strut that would be the weakest under sustained direct fire. "If we seal off the sections here, through here. Reinforce structural integrity along this section but deactivate it from this point up the strut. We can't use the ships weapons that close to the ship, to our CAG will have to do it."

Will didn't like the idea however, in light of having no other feasible options it was worth hearing it out. "She's a big ship James...." Will rubbed his chin. "Can you sustain a warp field on a ship this size with only one nacelle?"

"I can, but you are looking at Warp 2, at best and even that is being hopeful." I replied, I'd already crunched the numbers for a proposal but since the man was here I figured it was best to lay it on him here and now.

"What sort of damage are you projecting?" Will asked, hoping for the best.

"Aside from the missing nacelle and severed strut, minimal. I already had the feeds to the nacelle cut when the door came down when this thing was found. Thats why if we severe it here, we can seal it in like a prison" I answered seeing the look on the Commodores face as he thought about things.

"What about the organism already in the ship?" That would be the next problem.

"Well we know they come from a source, that source is in the nacelle. If we lose the nacelle and a vast bulk of the organism into say....this star here. The rest should die off or at the very least without the source it should make clean up a lot easier. We would still need decon when we got to the yards, evacuate the ship for the sweep which will kill anything organic." That was my hope at least.

"Probably mean the crew will be under QT for a bit while we are checked but at least it would get rid of what ever this thing is on the ship."

"There is something else I wanted to talk to you about James." Will broached the subject. "About Sickbay."

"I thought you might at some point sir." I replied, I expected it so it didn't come as a shock when the Commodore mentioned it.

"I'm put in a difficult situation at the moment over what happened, between yourself and Commander Reign when you effected rescue Doctor Patrovski." Will said. "I'd like to talk to you about it."

I wiped my brow and leant against the table, looking at it briefly as I considered my answer. "Do I like what happened, no. Was it a stressful situation, yes and I can respect that. I'm guessing by her reaction it confirmed my suspicions about something going on between those two because people talk. People have seen them together, they left the ship together when we were in orbit. The point is, she had to stand there and watch."

That was something I couldn't imagine enduring myself, watching while someone else did all the work. "What she did was wrong, we all know that but the position she was in....When I looked through the window and saw that thing..trying to get to the Doctor, its limbs wrapped around his forcefield, who wouldn't feel for that?" I continued. "If I were the type to hold a grudge then yeah, maybe things would have gotten worse but I had a job to do and I did it."

"You should know I'm forced to discuss the matter with the Admiral, I simply can't avoid it, its a Flagship after all." Will said, letting James know just how high this was going to go.

"What's happened to her so far if you don't mind my asking?"

"I've confined her to quarters with permission to visit Sickbay as needed to be with the Doctor." Will replied. "Do you want to press charges?"

That was a question I'd given loads of thought to. In the one hand yes because of her conduct, in the other hand...having to watch, helpless, that had to be hard. Back in the other hand I had no idea what would happen if I did but I knew it wouldn't be anything good for the Commander and I had no idea if she'd even be allowed to stay on board a Flagship after conduct like that. "No, I've been thinking about it a lot. Things were stressful, we were short on time and lives were at stake. If that was my partner in there I wouldn't want someone else doing the work, it would be me."

"You should be aware that even if you choose not to press charges, the Admiral still may." Will explained.

"I know, but if the Admiral is the sort of person I've read about, he's the kind of person who looks at all the factors to an equation before making his answer." I replied. "Besides, at the end of the day, she didn't pull the trigger."

"For how much longer though?" Will put forward to him.

"Guess we will never know will we. Besides we have enough on our hands without charges being thrown around. My idea about the nacelle is a long but our best shot. We could live today but die tomorrow, if that is the case I don't want the grief of a charge situation." I hoped that would answer the Commodore's question and put it to rest, at least from my end.

"Alright." Will sighed partially with relief, the other half worried about the next discussion he was going to have with the Admiral putting this proposal forward and...the Sickbay incident to him. "Make preparations, I'll need anything you can give me to make the separation clean, I know the main strut brace is built to take a beating so CAG will need to know where to hit it and how hard so to not cause additional damage to the ship."

"I'll have all of that for you in a few hours, I'm already running calculations." I pointed over my shoulder to the displays running simulations.

"Carry on then." Will nodded and then left, his next destination.....The Admiral.

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