Wages of War

Posted on Mon Dec 13th, 2010 @ 3:20am by Commodore Edward Fannin & Captain Anna Johnson & Commander Basil Hart & Commander Krang Darkmoon & Commander Raven Adams

1,580 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: Starbase Typhon

::Main Bridge, Starbase Typhon::

Fanin has drifted off again. The bridge was silent. Operations staff had been on their toes for the last several shifts as the Commodore had remained on the bridge. The USS Odin was close but out of contact, scans showed nothing but routine supply vessels and ore carriers. Edward had been on the bridge for three shifts, keeping close in case the word came in.

Fannin noted some movement at the main operations consoles...

"Sir, we have a signal. Scans are showing a large cluster of vessels on edge of our scan area." Several seconds passed...

"That's them Sir, has to be. I'm getting the scan signature of a Wallace class in the cluster."

Fannin was out of the Chair and standing in front of the main console. "Well done, hail the strongest signal and open the channel."

"This is Commodore Fannin, Starbase Typhon, Please identify."

Several seconds went by until the transmission was returned.

"USS Odin, Lieutenant Victor Cullen, Senior officer reporting."

Fannin thought and remembered Cullen, but he was the chief engineer on the Thor...

"Vic, I need a situation report, what's your status?"

"Well, Sir, it sure looks better now. Dealing with many issues here Sir, and we're at the end of our rope at the moment."

Edward waited calmly as a staff member gave him a fresh mug of coffee.

"The Odin has several hull breeches but we been lucky to have contained them. Port nacell had to be cut lose... Lost a few crew on that one. At the moment we're drifting, but or drift is still on course towards you."

"Very Good Vic, wheres the Thor?"

"We are towing the Thor sir, Most of the critically wounded are on Thor as she had the most life support systems running. I have four freighters with us loaded with people... Need assistance with that too. I started with six, but two didn't make it."

"Alright Vic, where's the CO?"

"Captain Redd didn't make it to Exeter Sir, and the XO, Commander Kelis was killed a few shifts ago moving wounded in an air lock malfunction."

Fannin stepped back and rubbed his chin. "Vic , I need you to stay with us now on this channel, Do you still have transporters?"

"The Thor does, but the rest are shot Sir."

"OK, we're coming to get you, so just hold on and stay in com with us."

Edward returned to his chair and started waving staff towards him. "Notify all department heads to report to their stations and that we have made contact with our garrison vessels. Also contact the CO's of all docked vessels and send them to me as fast as they can get here."

Officers scattered off the bridge in several directions. Fannin made a few notes and wrote a message to Fleet and handed it to one of the Ops staff.

"Get this message sent right away"

Fannin returned to the Com station... "Attention all hands. This is the Captain. Begin vessel recovery actions, I say again, Begin vessel recovery actions. All hands and civilian crew report to your stations."

Anna stepped off the lift with coffee in hand and moved to her station as executive officer. "What do we know so far, Sir?" She asked as she checked the departments for people checking in.

"Engineering reports cargo tugs are ready. Docking bay 17 is ready with several work crews, half a dozen work bees, and a lot of spare parts ready to go." Skylar's voice came over the intercom.

Krang had been on the bridge for the morning check in when the fur hit the fan. He activated his commbadge, "Darkmoon to Security. I need all available officers to report to the docking ring. We have mass casualties coming in on multiple vessels."

Basil was in one of the holodecks, setting up another surgery bay when he heard the call. His stomach tightened as the urgency of Edward's voice hit him with visceral force. This was not going to be pretty. "Hart to all medical staff: report to emergency stations, STAT! We have large volumes of incoming wounded! Triage units alpha, bravo, charlie and delta are on full alert! I want echo, fox, and golf on standby! Medical teams Hotel through Lima, get to the transporter rooms and standby for transport! Begin triage there, and transport most critically wounded directly to surgery! GO!" He headed for the main surgery bay on the medical deck as his teams scrambled to be ready.

Most of the rescue vessels had departed within hours and it was just a waiting game until they returned, Fannin made a few calls and spoke at length with Vic Cullen about his desperate voyage.

::Main Starship bay One::

Several freighters had docked The first was a an old but large bulk storage vessel called the Simpson James. The refugees we're in fairly good condition and waited for the medical teams to enter and pull out the sick and dead. After that it was processing the 2500 that remained...

It was a different story on the next one, The USS Gornan was crammed full of Women and children, most hadn't had food or water in days. When security opened her up a mass of people exploded outward overwhelming the teams..

Krang was almost knocked over by the flood of people surging forward. The efforts of his team to hold back the stampede were having little effect. He pushed himself flat against the wall, tapped his commbadge and said "Emergency protocol 23 Alpha, Docking bay 2."

With a buzzing snap and a blue shimmer, a level 5 force field activated at the airlock and another 15 feet up the corridor. The first 200 odd people were trapped in the corridor between the fields and the rest were not able to exit the ship.

"Alright folks, we're going try this again, and this time we're going to do so in an orderly fashion." Krang called out in his deep, booming, 'I'm in charge here so listen up' voice.

[Ops Center]

Fannin was watching on a remote camera on the bridge.. Commander Darkmoon had his hands full to be sure with the task of sorting these people out. He thought about many issues going on the station. He tapped his commbadge, "Commander Skylar I need the warp cores checked on all vessels entering the Station."

"At once." Skylar's voice noted.

As the vessels came in one after another it was hard not to notice crying and confused children. Some as young as Three years old. A few were completely hysterical or in shock. Food and rest was needed. Fannin had grabbed Teachers from the station schools to start settling them into housing areas by families, then males and females. It would take time to sort it all out. Counselors helped all they could and focused on those that were totally alone.

Fannin turned and saw Commander Adams carrying a small child. "Raven, when your done I need to see you"

"Yes, sir. It may be a while. There are a number of children that need attention," Raven said. She was helping take care of a number of orphans being relocated to a special section of the starbase.

Anna was in the area and asked, "What can I do to help?"

A young crew member turned to Anna, "Ma'am we sure could use a portable hologram down here to show something that will calm them down"

"I think that can be arranged." Anna said. She quickly moved to the industrial replicator to get the holo-emitters and screen to project onto.
She while she set that up she suggested they may want some snacks as well. Once done Anna searched the database and chose several animated shows that were about various holidays for this time of year and set them playing.

[Docking Ring]

Krang had spent quite a while getting order restored. He finally had the check in going forward in an orderly fashion. Everyone was retina scanned as they came through the line and, not to anyone's real surprise, four people in the group turned out to be wanted on Federation warrants. They had been detained separately and would be processed later.

[Main Ops]

Raven came back a half hour later, looking for Fannin. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, as soon as we get these people sorted and identified I need you to get a list sent to the Federation authorities. Many will need to know who the survivors are, others will have to be notified."

"Yes, sir. I'll see to it," Raven said. She nodded to Fannin and headed to her office to begin the process of accounting for all the survivors. She wished she'd been asked to do this before the refugees arrived. It would have been much easier then. But she could still get the job done. As she walked down the corridor, she began formulating a plan.

Fannin returned to the bridge, much to do including a report to Fleet. There was a stack of messages as he arrived, He observed that the station was at One Hundred percent. That would strain his crew to the maximum for the next Five or Six watches. He would have to make sure to notify Fleet he would need additional personnel...

::OFF::

Commodore Edward Fannin
Comanding Officer, Task Force 42

Commander Krang Darkmoon
Chief of Station Security

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer

Commander Skylar
Chief Engineer

Commander Basil Hart
Chief Medical Officer

Captain Anna Johnson
Executive Officer

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