Chapter 2.1

Posted on Sun Apr 23rd, 2023 @ 12:26am by Captain Wilkan Targaryen

952 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: No Sleep Tonight
Location: U.S.S. Poseidon
Timeline: 2431-05-30, 21:30

Lieutenant Mokii sat in the First Officer's Chair on the Bridge of the Starship Poseidon trying his best to stay awake. Normally the Chief Engineer of the Poseidon, recently the Saurian officer had decided to try his hand at building his skills in command and had passed the Bridge Command Training course. Not long afterward the Captain had approved him to serve as Night Watch Officer of the Deck. Problem was that, most of the time, he was still expected to watch his normal rotation in Engineering during Alpha Watch. That made for some very long days and they were starting to add up.

He had, thus far, loved his time aboard the Poseidon though for many different reasons. Starfleet had assigned the ship to a long-term research mission within the Maelstrom Sector to investigate the higher levels of ambient radiation within the region. It sounded boring to most, but for him it was a fascinating opportunity to make real discoveries that mattered. The ship was also almost ancient by today's Engineering standards, which added to his fun in trying to keep the ship in one piece as its Chief Engineer.

Today had been one of those fun days too. Earlier, shortly after he'd reported in for the morning, the Captain had contacted him about something unusual for a Nebula Class ship. Ever since the Impulse Reactors had been upgraded there was a loud buzzing noise in the Main Shuttlebay when Full Impulse was reached and the hangar bay doors wouldn't fully open. The Captain had brought it to his attention, probably because he was returning from a conference and nearly crashed his shuttle into the doors as he was docking. It had taken most of the day, but he believed he'd isolated the problem and would be able to get it repaired on his next shift.

"I still have no idea how you do it, Lieutenant."

Mokii looked over his shoulder to see that their Science Officer, Lieutenant D'ereq, had entered through the aft doors behind the Captain's Chair. Turning toward the Romulan woman, he relaxed a bit as he spoke, "Sometimes I don't know how I do it either. Do what exactly?" He quickly asked realizing he wasn't sure what she was referencing.

The Scientist laughed, "Stay up for so long. I barely make it through one shift, let alone two."

"Some days are harder than others. I chalk it up to my species having a much more troubling environment to grow in than most species." Saurians were the ultimate product of their world's environment as their gravity was a fifth above that of Earth with toxic gases and unpredictable shifts in temperature caused by the planet's hot climate and active vulcanism making them a robust race, capable of surviving in environments that would be fatal to most other humanoids. The only bad part of their upbringing was a more complex need for nocturnalism because of some of the challenges they experienced. "At least the lights are more flattering on the night watch."

The Romulan walked from near her wall mounted workstation, waving the Petty Officer sitting there to stay, to the lower level, looking for something. "All this darkness makes it next to impossible to see my missing earring though."

"I can help you look," Mahlik Howell said from the Ops Console.

D'ereq waved him off as well, "Your offer is appreciated, Ensign, but I will not pull you from your duties."

"Really it's no," his words were broken up by the sounds of internal explosions tearing into the Poseidon, followed by strong shaking and rumbles that knocked them from the safety of their feet to the deck below. Mahlik held tightly to the side of his station as he fell, struggling to read the display off for the Commander, "We have an explosion in the Stardrive. I'm reading severe structural damage!"

"Red Alert," Mokii ordered as he pulled himself back into the Center Seat. "Someone get the Captain up here," the Saurian ordered as he brought up a holodisplay before him, which included a replica of the Master Situation Display for the Poseidon. Several areas of the ship were highlighted in red and black, indicating that the regions were gone. From their positions he knew that they were direct hits to the primary power supply of the Poseidon, almost coordinated.

Mahlik interrupted, "We're close to the Cardassian Border. Could they have struck us?"

Ensign Aenmi had regained his placement at the Helm, "My people are capable tactically, but they don't possess cloaking or other invisibility technology."

"I do not rule out any possibility," D'ereq said flatly from her upper-level station. Typing on the keyboard, the harried Petty Officer trying to work there next to her, the Romulan looked at the readings carefully. "The Cardassian Republic has proven themselves technologically capable in the past. They may have been able to successfully develop such technologies or negotiated with a nearby power for the equipment."

"My people wouldn't be able to keep such a development secret," the pilot chided.

"You are probably correct," The Romulan Science Officer commented off handed, "Military secrets are the most fleeting."

Mokii looked up from the hologram quickly, "Divert all available power to structural integrity now!"

Howell nodded and typed, right as the ship rocked from another impact. The damage wasn't as severe as the first time, but the situation was still significant. This time portions of the Saucer took the same damage appearance as before, an entire portion of the saucer going dark. The Saurian looked at the viewscreen, the scene of the saucer breaking to pieces tearing him apart inside.

"Send a distress call," the Night Watch Duty Officer ordered. "All hands abandon ship."

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