Hazard Pay

Posted on Fri Apr 11th, 2025 @ 12:17pm by Commander Siora Carberos & Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis

2,490 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Interlude 1 Gamma Quadrant
Location: DS18 Main Weapons control systems
Timeline: A day or two after taking control of DS18

[ON]

Siora exited the turbolift and sighed. Immediately she was hit by the somewhat fragile looking obstacle course laid out in front of her. The Coalition had done a number on the station that was for sure and other areas had seen better focus for clearance of debris and damage.

Now, it wasn't that this area wasn't important, far from it. It was just that places such as security and engineering took precedence first before they could begin to take stock and move forward on areas that required a more delicate touch.

Seeing the door to the main weapons control room was not enough. In front of Siora was debris of multiples shapes and sizes. "Better get started." she said to herself as she moved forward. Siora was not the strongest, or tallest, but she had an inner strength and determination to drive her forward.

Moments later, the turbolift doors opened again and the chief of security and tactical stepped out. She took an instant to survey the area but showed no sign of surprise or despair. "I hope your brought your toolkit," Rhiana said and indicated a section a few meters ahead of them where the lighting was working only sporadically and sparks were spewing out of a tear in the bulkhead in a completely different, random fashion. She herself was carrying a holster with a phaser strapped to her hip and a compact backpack on her back. "It is safe to assume that the interior of the main weapons control centre looks similar to what we are seeing here."

Siora turned to see a woman with pointed ears and captivating eyes. For a moment, no one could be faulted for being mesmerized by them as they took in the destruction blocking the hallway. Clearing her mind of distractions, she smiled at the woman, whose presence vibrated with a distinctly Romulan essence. Each individual and species emitted a unique vibration, yet there were common traits within a species.

"I never leave my quarters without it," Siora responded, tapping her toolkit. It would be quite unbecoming of an engineer to arrive at a scene like this without the essential tools for the job. "And yes, it's almost a certainty. The Coalition was strategic in their attack here, but considering the station was still under construction, the extent of the damage is not surprising."

Rhiana nodded in agreement and fully turned to Siora. "I am Lieutenant Commander t'Aegis, the Firebird's second officer and chief of security and tactical," she introduced herself. It was more out of politeness than necessity since them coming here had been planned, but they still had not formally met yet. Instead of offering her hand, she inclined her head in a polite nod. "We should begin to make our way to the control centre. Only then will we know its condition for certain. How many engineers can you spare should the damage be too extensive?"

"Commander Siora Carberos." Siora bowed slightly as was her people's custom. She never understood the Human necessity of always needing to touch when meeting...

"At the moment given how other parts of the station are damaged I am limited on how many I can bring in sadly. I have Lieutenants Gantt and T'Kuvo that I can spare. They've been made aware of what we're doing and this takes priority over the repairs they are doing. Right now this corridor needs to be stabilised better before we think about bringing any other people here." she gestured to the creaking of the bulkheads in front of them.

Rhiana looked in indicated direction and nodded. She had noticed the creaking, too. It was one of the first sounds one feared to encounter on a metallic structure on space. "I agree." She pulled a tricorder from her holster and began scanning the immediate area for structural damages. After all, it would be stupid if they broke through the floor by merely trying to reach the more urgent looking issue. "We can proceed to the first bulkhead. While the debris needs to be cleared, there is no immediate hazard to our lives." As if to demonstrate it, she holstered the tricorder again and walked confidently to the first obstacle, a distorted wall panel from a nearby bulkhead, lifted it and placed it to the side to clear the first bit of the way.

As t'Aegis strode forward and hoisted the wall panel aside, Siora couldn't help but muse over the number of Romulans who'd donned the Starfleet uniform. Surely a rare sight, but a shining example of interstellar cooperation. Siora bore no grudge against any species, Borg excluded, always seeing individuals for who they were, not what.

With the panel now askew, a tangle of wires dangled, sporadically spitting sparks. "I've got this," declared Siora, striding to a nearby maintenance panel. She whipped off the hatch with a flourish, her nose wrinkling in focus. Crouching down, she rifled through her toolkit, selected a gadget, and with a flick, the errant sparks were tamed. "No getting shocked on our first steps," she quipped.

"That would be unfortunate," Rhiana agreed from a few steps away. She had not waited for Siora to fully neutralise this first potentially fatal danger but was already busy with another wall panel that had not withstood the attack and was shattered in several larger pieces. She pushed them to the side and piled them up to make life a little easier for the true clean-up crew that would need go come here after them. She did so silently, apparently content with her own thoughts and not seeking out conversation.

"Definitely unfortunate." Siora mused, a light chuckle escaping her. The other woman seemed unfazed, busying herself with another task nearby. With the risk of burns now mitigated, Siora advanced down the corridor Rhiana had cleared. The damage was severe, yet not as catastrophic as she had initially feared. They approached the main weapons control doors, noting a faint crack down the centre where they normally parted. Rhiana, in sync with her, moved to bridge the distance between them and the door.

While there should not be any attackers roaming freely about the station anymore, one could not be too prudent. Rhiana reached for her tricorder once again to scan the weapons control centre through the still closed doors, but shook her head after a few moments. "There appears to be some interference. I cannot get a precise reading." She holstered her tricorder again and continued, "I will cover you while you open the doors manually." Taking several steps away from the door, she pulled out her phaser and got in position to fire without accidentally hitting Siora in the potential crossfire.

Siora was puzzled by the interference cloaking Rhiana's tricorder. "Strange..." she murmured, crouching to remove the panel from the manual release crank. She noticed Rhiana positioning herself to peer into the room, ensuring her safety. The crank was stubborn, but with some effort, Siora triggered a release that cracked the doors slightly. Standing, she wedged her fingers into the narrow opening and strained to pry the doors further apart, gradually exposing the weapon control center's chaotic state.

There was a bright light, followed by the sound and shockwave of a not-quite minor explosion through the half open doors. It was not strong enough to knock the officers to the ground, but they could feel the hot pressure against their bodies.

Rhiana's instinctive reaction was drop to the ground and remain there for a few seconds, waiting to see whether there would be another explosion or anything else happening. Her phaser was still in her hand, but not exactly aimed at the door. "Are you alright, Commander?" she called out in a muted voice, though she had no doubt that if anyone was still in there, they knew that someone was out here.

The added oxygen of opening the doors must have ignited something in the room. Siora felt the rush of air hit her face, the heat and 'grit' of intense but quick shockwave.

Spinning quickly so that her back was against the wall beside the door her chest rose and fell quicker as her heart rapidly beat in her chest. "Oh yeah." Siora replied to Rhianna. "Maybe next time we send some ensigns to do this?" she joked trying to lift the mood. She was one who always had a joke. Whereas some could see it as her not taking things seriously it was often to make herself feel better more than anything else.

"Crewmen would be a good alternative as well," Rhiana agreed as she rose to her feet. Her tone did not change and it was difficult to tell whether she thought this was actually a sensible idea or whether she was continuing the joke.

She took two steps to the side to avoid being in the direct line of sight of anyone who might be inside the weapons control centre and approached the door from the side opposite of Siora. Without speaking, Rhiana held her tricorder towards the larger opening of the sliding door and scanned the room again. "All clear," she announced after an instant and holstered the device again.

"No more explosions?" Siora asked. "No lingering danger that may ruin our day?" she added. "I can call crewmen." she chuckled as she began to move into the room. "Well, this isn't going to be a quick clean up, but at least the main console doesn't look too badly damaged."

"There does not appear to be obvious danger here now," Rhiana replied tentatively as she followed Siora into the room. Her eyes were darting everywhere, including the ceiling and every nook and cranny. The phaser was in her hand now, ready to be used at any time. She had been jumped by aliens once already on that station and had no intention of this being a repeat situation. "The crewmen can clean up once we have some weapons control capacity back. Unless you require immediate assistance, Commander."

"All good here." Siora gave a thumbs up and a cheesy grin at the slightly less energetic woman. She had always been bubbly and care-free but she could see Rhiana looking around the room expecting trouble to appear, to jump out of the shadows, but given that Siora didn't know if anything like that had happened before to Rhiana she shrugged it off and moved towards the main console. "If I can power this up, maintain the power supply, we should be able to see a rise in the power of the stations weapons." she said as she ducked under the console and popped a panel off. "The weapons themselves should be fine, but lacking any power they are of course useless." she mumbled to herself but loud enough for Rhiana to hear her. That way she would know what she was up to under a surprisingly undamaged console.

"We do not yet know the full extent of the damage to our weapons systems," Rhiana replied while she continued to check the room for potential attackers. Once she was satisfied that they were as safe as they could be in this potentially still hazardous room, she holstered her phaser and approached another of the weapons control consoles.

This one was not intact. While the work surface was merely covered in dust and tiny pieces of debris, what looked like phaser or disruptor fire had damaged the pedestal and some of the hardware inside. Rhiana crouched down to better take in the damage. While she was certainly not an engineer, security console maintenance had been a mandatory part of her coursework at Starfleet Academy. Not her favourite part, though. "Lieutenants Soto and T'Kuvo are excellent engineers, but it will likely take them a considerable amount of time to repair all the damage here."

"Mhm..." Siora mumbled from underneath the more workable console. She had something in her mouth that stopped her from speaking normally as she lay on her back. Most of the internal workings of this console seemed to be okay and she tugged and connected a node to her tricorder.

The diagnostic proved most weapons themselves were functional, it was just the lack of power and direction of instructions that proved the problem. Spitting the coil spanner onto her chest she could now speak. "I think I can reroute most weapons functions to this console for now, but we won't be able to get them all up and running until we repair the other stations. This one can only take so much."

"Understood," Rhiana replied while she was still looking at the innards of 'her' workstation. "But partial functionality will be better than none. As it is, we cannot defend ourselves. How long do you think it will take for you to reroute the weapons functions?"

Siora thought about the answer to that question. In truth an engineer never gives the true estimation of their work, they always leave wiggle room or extend it so they look good when completing it early. To give the precise estimate would leave a higher expectation, and she'd learned over a long lifetime that people didn't always want the truth. "It'll take me at least an hour or so. The station has a lot of weapons systems with their command routes burned out or damaged. To reroute them all through functioning systems will take time and patience. I'd rather it be done right than fry another power junction or system we need."

When Siora hesitated, Rhiana expected the answer to be something along the lines of 'at least three months', knowing that engineers liked to give themselves very generous time allowances. "One hour is fine," she quickly assured the chief engineer. "I, too, prefer for you to do it correctly the first time."

She decided to abandon the pretense of knowing how to repair a seriously damaged console and rose to her feet. "How can I help you?"

"I guess at the moment if you don't have a strong engineering/operations background then leaving me to it is best. Maybe clearing some more debris from other consoles, access points and the like so that when I get another team in here to properly they can just get straight to work. I would greatly appreciate that, Commander." Siora smiled at the woman not wanting to be condescending in anyway.

Rhiana did not take it in a negative way. As much as she wanted to be infallible, she knew her limitations. "Very well." And so, instead of staring at irregularly blinking circuits and smoking hardware, she began clearing away the bigger debris to allow the engineers to do their job.

---

Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis
Second Officer / Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Commander Siora Carberos
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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