Won't Be Coming Home

Posted on Thu Jan 1st, 2026 @ 3:47pm by Commodore Wilkan Targaryen & Enterprise Enlisted NPC & Petty Officer 1st Class Akaathaan Saarnosh & Petty Officer 2nd Class Lulka Wescou & Lieutenant Commander Kuzos & Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte & Lieutenant (J.G.) Dylan Blake & Ensign Mirakylin Yumerieva

6,637 words; about a 33 minute read

Mission: Distress
Location: Computer Core Section, Deep Space 47
Timeline: 2439-08-12, 10:30

Death had come to Deep Space 47, and it took no prisoners.

The transporter beams of the away team provided the only light in the corridor as the Enterprise's crew arrived aboard DS47 for the first time. It wasn't exactly a warm homecoming. The entire station felt cold, foreboding as they began to explore the only Starfleet outpost in the Gamma Quadrant. The air was growing stale and thin as the Away Team got their bearings, the faint scent of smoke and ozone assaulting their noses along with it.

Sora had prepared herself extensively for this mission. Before heading to the transporter room, she had gone back to her quarters to grab some of her personal equipment. Now, she was wearing her old Terran tactical belt, along with the shoulder strap. On her right hip, a series of holsters and clips held a compact PADD loaded with the station specs, a multitool, and her personal sidearm, a modified Type II phaser, again standard-issue by the Terran Starfleet. On her left hip, meanwhile, she had strapped on her rapier, Myrtenaster, as well as a compact rebreather apparatus, just in case. Finally, she had attached a small flashlight to her right shoulder.

Mira was in engineering garb, engineering go bag backpack, type two phaser, 10mm mag scout pistol with special ammo, twin daggers, padd with downloaded DS47 schematics, and a life support belt just above the engineering belt with its many pockets. She immediately reached for her tricorder to start scanning for active panels besides power sources. She crinkled her nose at the smells but otherwise paid them no mind yet, except for some of the memories of worse hiding within her mind from her early childhood. She activated her belt lights to help illuminate the scene around them.

"Enterprise to Away Team," Petty Officer Akaathaan Saarnosh's voice interrupted. "Commodore wanted me to check in with you."

"Bernadotte to Enterprise, we're in position and ready to proceed."

Slightly down the corridor the light of a SIMS beacon caught something lying upon the floor of the corridor. Shining the light over it was easy to discern what they saw, but it was far from comforting. It was the body of a Bolian civilian contractor, most likely one of the Computer Core technicians that Starfleet employed. The state she was left in was heartbreaking as a large wound had taken over her upper torso. While Phasers and Disruptors cauterized a wound, this was jagged and brutal. Whoever did this they were determine that no one would survive.

"You're as close as we could get you to the Computer Core for the Station. The Commodore wanted me to remind you that lockdown protocols are in place so you'll have to find a way in. We're not picking up any lifesigns aside from those of yours and the other away teams, but be careful."

"Understood," Sora replied. "Got a dead Bolian here. Eviscerated. Definitely not killed by an energy weapon. This looks like either a blade or a projectile weapon to me." She had seen many horrifying things in her time as a Terran, but this ranked towards the top. Whoever, or whatever, had done this, clearly wanted to send a message. Or simply enjoyed the carnage. Either way, it was not good news.

She turned to her away team as she drew her rapier, the silver blade glinting in the light of her flashlight. "Okay, everyone. They're saying no lifesigns, but that doesn't mean we are any less careful, got it? Weapons ready, and watch each others' backs. I'll go take a closer look at this poor soul."

Mira nodded as she withdrew a dagger with her tail while also undoing the holding clasp on her scout pistol to allow for fast draw when necessary. She looked over to Lt. Barbax, her eyes liking his nice facial ridges, then pointed to herself and over to the left of the corridor. With him knowing her destination, she moved over to a control surface to see if she could activate it and access any station systems still operational.

A memory came to Mira and she quickly spoke, "Commander Bernadotte, I.. have seen wounds similar caused by a heretic cleansing sword... I think the nearest equivalent would be the Jagged Dao Sword, except offset the jagged edges and put in small spurs.. it takes a lot of force to be wielded though.." Mira shivered, looking at the bodies, thoughts immediately leaping to a force of Alekians having left Ferinh to cleanse heretic and abominations, i.e., any other race not Alekian, and had come across DS47. She glanced nervously about, no longer feeling safe.

Sora nodded as she approached the body and knelt down beside it, activating her tricorder. "I've seen similar wounds myself, and would agree with you. Definitely looks like a jagged sword or blade of some kind. Judging by how deep these go, the wielder must have been very strong. Almost cut through the poor woman's spine." She poked at the wound with Myrtenaster to show her point, before noticing a PADD on the Bolian's belt. "Maybe this can tell us something," she said, picking it up and turning it on.

"Trixena Dawas, freelance computer technician," Sora read out loud from the ID page on the PADD, before looking around for recent entries or communications. "Here's something. Timestamped a few hours ago, roughly when the Commodore reported losing contact with 47. 'Station under attack by unknown ship, all civilian personnel report to escape pods and evacuate immediately.' Doesn't tell us much, unfortunately. The rest is just regular duty updates and so on." She slipped the PADD into her belt and turned towards Mira. "Found anything, Ensign?"

Mira's concentration was on exposed circuitry beneath the panel. "Lockout protocols on a Caradassian space station powers down the corridor panels under attack, don't want the intruders to gain any knowledge of where they are at, however, there is always a security protocol entry panel so that command to activate the information panel, and the security feeds.... there it is.." She reached in with a circuit bypass tool, touched two points, and then a panel opened to the right of the Information Panel to show a glowing access panel. "There, found it... Commander Kuzos, if you would please, you should have the code to unlock the panel and security feeds."

As was his want, Kuzos didn't offer a verbal reply he just went to work. he stepped up to the panel and with a few quick deft taps of his fingers the panel was unlocked followed quickly by the multiple security feed.

While the others spoke softly around him Lieutenant JG Blake was feeling incredibly unsettled by the scene and wished dearly he hadn't accepted a second drink from Quark. His heart was racing, this veins filled with adrenaline and stomach churned like a centrifuge. He gripped the phaser handle tightly in a poor attempt to control his trembling and distract from his twisting gut. Blake's feet had remained pinned to the deck as Commander Bernadotte described how Trixena had died before voicing her experience of seeing similar incidents previously. The prospect of crossing paths with such a violent enemy force didn't help his current state.

Denobulan Engineer Lieutenant Barbax had wandered a bit down the corridor from the rest of the group. When he'd complained to Commander Randall about not being picked for away missions this wasn't the type of mission he was interested in going on though. If anything he just wanted to go check out alien technology or maybe visit a planet, not visit the Cardassian equivalent of a haunted house. He'd read about DS47, or rather Empok Nor, when Enterprise had been assigned to the Gamma Quadrant. It had been the site of all kinds of nasty things. It was even a research lab once for a psychotropic drug that would make Cardassians into mindless killers.

Maybe that's what happened here? Maybe they were all wrong and someone found that drug again?

Barbax sighed as he walked along the corridor, the light of the SIMS beacon reflecting off the oval shaped windows back at him. He was about to turn back when he saw another body. Normally he'd have been cautious, but the Denobulan moved closer than even he was comfortable toward the victim. It was an Andorian man, but he couldn't be sure of the subgender, who was dressed in an Operations uniform. He'd been holding onto a Phaser Rifle so, most likely, he was a Security Officer instead of an Engineer or Ops Manager. Reaching down, Barbax grabbed the Phaser and lifted it to see it was set to the highest level. Whatever he came across, he wanted to kill it.

Hearing a buzzing noise, Barbax turned to see a spherical orb hovering behind him that hadn't been there a second ago. About the size of a Human baseball, strips of red started to glow on the sphere before it exploded in front of the Engineer and sent him flying.

When Sora heard the explosion, she immediately got up and turned in the direction of the noise. "What was that? And where the hell is Barbax? Did the idiot wander off on his own? Okay everyone, weapons ready and fall in." She drew her own phaser pistol in her left hand, holding the rapier out in a guard position, and began carefully moving down the corridor.

At the explosion, Mira immediately crouched, her tail putting away the dagger to grab her phaser, even while her hands were busy putting away tools. After they were secured, her tail handed herself her phaser even as it drew out a dagger once more. Her left hand now held her engineering tricorder to try and pinpoint where the explosion occurred even as she looked for Lt. Barbax. She whispered, "Ahead and left was the explosion... Barbax should be near."

The explosion sounded deafening in the stillness of the corridor and had scaring the daylights out of Blake. The tremble of his limbs had worsened as he obeyed Bernadotte instruction and followed the others towards the sound and where Barbax had last been seen.

Sora suddenly stopped as she noticed a small fragment of metal on the floor, moments before noticing Barbax, who appeared to have been flung against a bulkhead by the explosion. "Ensign, check him over. Careful, though, might be more of whatever just blew up nearby." She crouched down, stowed her weapons momentarily, and picked up the fragment. "This does not look like it would be part of the station," she observed, running a scan on it. "This is not possible," she muttered to herself, before switching up some settings on her tricorder and running the scan again.

Mira approached Barbax with haste, yet caution, her tricorder scanning for any other incendiary devices. She didn't have a medical tricorder, but she did have a personal medical kit she could try to use with him. Noting nothing on tricorder, she crouched down to Barbax with her tail reaching out to feel for a pulse even as she asked, "Lt. Barbax? Lieutenant? Can you speak? Can you move?"

The Denobulan remained silent, unconscious from the explosion of the mine.

Mira was relieved that the Denobulan had a pulse and was alive. She called out, "Commander Bernadotte, Lt. Barbax is still with us, the explosion causing percussion damage, however, he may still wake up for the mission. However, there is the reality he may need transported directly to sick bay and be no longer a part of our away team." Mira was drawing upon her own experience in dealing with the Alekian Zealots and their overlooking the unconscious as gone.

"Good news, then. Still, better not risk it," Sora replied as she tapped her Combadge. "Bernadotte to Enterprise, we have one injured by an exploding hidden mine. Transport directly to sickbay."

Saarnosh's voice came over the communicator, "We're having a bit of trouble with locking in. There's a lot of subspace interference in your area." There was a pause on the other end, "We're sending over a technician with pattern enhancers."

At the same time a message came through over the Tricorder for Commander Kuzos from Lieutenant Rrawran. It was a collection of details about the mines that were uncovered by the other team. Included was a theoretical way to track them, but they were subspace based which would make it significantly harder to accomplish.

Glancing down at his tricorder , Kuzos saw the message from Lieutenant Rrawran and the discovery of mines that existed in subspace. Also there was a theoretical way to track the mines. he began to read and as he read he began to formulate a plan of action that would hopefully spare any other crewmembers from injury or death.

Mira heard the details. There was a subspace component, not typical. But, what if they isolated the subspace through Science team tricorders, then attach that information to a map through ops tricorders. That should work, right? She asked, "Commander Kuzos, Commander Bernadotte, what if we combine scans or subspace anomalies with Science team tricorders, then map that information with the DS47 map and location information. That should give a baseline for energies as well as transport paths for moved assets/antagonists. I look forward to your feedback."

Sora nodded. "Subspace would explain the trace Tetryon presence I'm getting from this shard here. Good thinking, Ensign Yumerieva, let's proceed with your plan. Transmit it to the other teams as well."

Mutely Blake clenched his jaw at the fresh discovery and for the uptenth time wished he'd not been selected to join the away teams. Whomever attacked the station wanted to inflict carnage, both to those caught up in the moment and those who were sent in to investigate. He hoped the others received the data before they came to harm or worse including Urvasi.

"Who would do such a thing?" he asked speaking his mind and wondered if Kuzos had any suspicious.

"An enemy both savage and cunning who wishes to engage in mental conflict but has not the honor for physical face to face conflict." Kuzos replied without hesitation.

Another question was on Blake's lips when the sound of hurried footsteps drew closer causing him to turn and lift his phaser defensively.

"What the frinx happened here?" Bajoran Petty Officer Wescou Lulka questioned as she came running down the corridor with a collection of Field Modulators in their carrying case. A member of the Enterprise's Engineering team, she quickly got to work placing the Field Modulators into their positions around Lieutenant Barbax. Activating them in sequence, a beam of energy appeared that connected the units together.

The Bajoran tapped her communicator, "Enterprise, this is Wescou, you should be able to get a transporter lock."

"Energizing now," Saarnosh's confirmed as the transporter beam enveloped the Denobulan and beamed him back to the Enterprise.

"So," the Petty Officer interrupted, "what now because I think the Commodore wants me to fill in for Barbax? If not I can always go back to the Enterprise," she smiled before seeing the nearby body, "actually, I think that may not be a bad idea."

"Thank you for coming, and welcome to the party," Sora greeted the Petty Officer, before turning to the rest of the team. "Right, people. We still have a mission to complete. The computer core should not be far now. Keep aware, and keep scanning for mines or anything else out of the ordinary. The station is running on the absolute minimum of power, so any power signature is suspect." She holstered her weapons. "I have a feeling we won't encounter any living hostiles, but still. Move out."

Wishing to draw comfort from the Commander's belief they wouldn't meet any hostiles, or at least in the flesh Dylan still swallowed heavily fearful what they may encounter further on into the dark station.

Mira nodded to Petty Officer Wescou Lulka, "Hello Petty Officer Lulka, yes, welcome to our party. You're with me. I'm Ensign Yumerieva, Engineering. Your hands on will be welcome."

The Bajoran nodded, "Well lead the way!"

A few minutes later, the team had arrived by the door to the Computer Core, without encountering any further mines. A quick scan, however, revealed that the door itself was going to be the next major obstacle. "Company, halt!," Sora ordered with a smirk. "We find ourselves in front of a sealed door, with no power. Since this is the door to the main computer, I highly doubt we'll be able to physically push it open. According to the spec sheets, while there is a manual override, for security reasons it's only on the inside. Ideas?"

"Is this the only way in, or is there another route?" Blake asked first.

Mira chirped with a, "Always another way. To totally prevent access is to never allow maintenance engineering to never get to a core problem. We need to find the main computer links. There will be a Jeffries tube tied to those links, which will have a side access to get to the aux panels within the core area for damage control and maintenance." She zoomed in on the DS47 connection schematics, then turned to look at Wescou, "Well, I found a possible way in. Petty Officer Lulka, will you accompany me through the maintenance troughs? I... realize my size may cause me to get stuck despite my being very limber, yuet, smaller than I can easily pass." She looked over the others, "Any other volunteers? The smaller in size, the better."

Sora nodded, but held up her hand. "Excellent thinking, Ensign. But, be very, very careful. I find it strange that we have not yet encountered any more of those mines. Make sure to scan for anything suspicious, both within the Jeffries tube, as well as inside the core room. Once you get in, hit the manual override for the main door."

The Bajoran woman nodded, briefly considering letting the team know that he first name was Lulka and her last name was Wescou, but she decided against it. She was just happy to be on an away mission for the first time in what seemed like forever. Even though there were more enlisted personnel on Federation starships she always had wondered why it seemed like the officers always got to go on the trips. Then again it didn't seem to go all that well for Lieutenant Barbax so maybe they were right to keep the noncoms safely aboard the ship. Otherwise, well who'd actually run the ship?

As they were getting ready to deploy the sound of transporter rematerializations echoed in the nearly deserted halls. In the distance, where Petty Officer Wescou's pattern enhancers had been left, the forms of three people appeared. As they arrived it was clear that the trio were part of Starfleet and had arrived wearing the Service Uniform instead of the Working Uniforms that Commodore Targaryen preferred. The person at point wore an Operations yellow uniform and was the tallest of the group, easily almost two meters in height. The leader's build was agile and lean, befitting a dignified bearing that commanded attention. The leader of the other away team's hair was cut in a short, neat style that contributed to his authoritative yet approachable look. Despite being Starfleet, they weren't from the Enterprise.

The Lieutenant Commander spoke in a rich, smooth voice, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Ektis Samti, First Officer of the Defiant. Commodore Targaryen asked us to come assist you with gaining access to the Computer Core."

Sora turned to face the new arrivals and nodded a curt greeting. "Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte, Chief Operations Officer, Enterprise. I'm in charge of the team. Wasn't told we were getting reinforcements. It's a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one." She briefly informed the Commander of their situation, as well as Mira's plan, before turning back to the Ensign. "Right, Ensign. Proceed. But make sure you stay safe."

The Bajoran watched as the Operations Manager of the Enterprise issued orders. He added, "I don't think we knew we were your reinforcements until just a few minutes ago. My Captain had been informed of what had happened here by your Captain and, after he tried to talk her out of coming, she decided to come out here to help. There are other ships coming too. Your Captain sent a recall order for every ship in the GQ to return to 47."

The arrival of the Defiant party was a pleasant surprise Blake agreed as the senior staff spoke. The Commander's comment of Targaryen instruction to recall vessels to the Starbase had him wondering what had the Enterprise found to prompt such a response. And why hadn't Enterprise mentioned the second team? Given how tense and jumpy he'd been feeling earlier he could have easily stunned them in a moment of panic.

Mira nodded to Sora and then said to Petty Officer Lulka, "Okay Petty Officer, your up. You go in first, then I will follow. That way, I have your back if something gets to tight for you, while if you can get through and I can't somebody can make it into the Computer Core Room." She held up her tricorder, "And I have my tricorder set for subspace anomalies and... wait..... " She looked harder at her tricorder. She paled. "Nobody move. I am picking up gravity fluctuations right in front of the door to the computer room.... and... fine tuning now... crap, there, subspace anomalies... ummm, there are four houdini mines right in front of the main computer door... "

"The Cardies are paranoid about the security of their stations and vessels," Commander Ektis interrupted the group, "even the service conduits don't give you ready access to where we need to go. We need to find a way through that door or we're never getting the main computer back online."

Petty Officer Wescou continued, "Unless you want me to try doing a ritual using dead sea brine, mercury, lamb’s blood, holy oil, and the sacrifice of a life I really would prefer a technobabble type solution here, people!"

"Thank you Petty Officer Wescou for that overly dramatic suggestion," the elder Bajoran answered before getting back to business. "We need to treat the subspace rifts concealing these mines like a wound that needs to be "cauterized" or "stitched" back together. If we were doing this in open space it would be simpler because of the options available to our vessels. A Positron Beam, an Inverse-Tachyon Pulse, or a Polarized Chroniton Burst could do the trick because we could flood the rift's event horizon with localized graviton pulses to induce a spatial contraction. By modulating the deflector array to a rotating phase variance, we could create a triaxially-aligned containment field that forces the ruptured membranes of subspace to re-bond. Again, though that was if we were in space itself and not aboard the station."

Sora frowned as she contemplated for a minute, before she arrived at an admittedly very Terran idea. "You say there are mines right by the door. Can any of you think of a way we could use that to our advantage? Use the mines to blow the door, I mean." For a moment, she reached into her pocket, clutching an unseen object. She took a deep breath, and continued. "Or we could try a much more extreme option to get rid of the mines. If they are hiding within subspace rifts, there may be a way. If we could open a rift of our own, stronger than the one the mines are inside, we could use that as a magnet to drag them out into the open." She looked around at the others. "Or we shift them to another quantum reality. Which would be the most effective option, but also by far the most complicated."

"A controlled explosion would be easier," Blake injected. "And faster, though, perhaps not the safest idea."

"Overload the mine's power. It will result in the mine's self detonating." Kuzos spoke without looking at the others as he was busy with his tricorder.

Mira thought about it a moment, then she said, "The mines respond to a body interfacing with the gravity tether which causes them to appear and then explode. What... um.. what if we use a body to force them to manifest and then explode, taking down the door? We have... " she gulped, blushed, then looked small despite her 6' 1" size, "the dead who wouldn't mind such if it means their death would not be in vain... While we stay in safety and then enter the Computer core..."

Sora simply nodded. Her Terran side was very proud of Mira's matter-of-fact approach. "I must commend you on your problem solving skills, Ensign. That's some very out-of-the-box thinking. However, there is one little issue with your idea. How would we get a body to the mines, in order to trigger them?"

While Bernadotte seemed impressed by the prospect of using a fallen officer as a trigger agent Dylan felt himself pale and bile rise in this throat. Her suggestion was very degrading and disrespectful to the sacrifice these people had endured.

Wescou interrupted, "You're not going to try sacrificing yourself, are you?" She paused a moment, "Are you?"

Mira looked confused at Wescou, then realized the mix up. She shook her head and said, "No, Petty officer Wescou, I'm not. I was suggesting using an already dead body. Alive, Dead, bodies have the same density and disruption of the gravity field. Sorry for the confusion."

Commander Ektis' eyebrow rose from the question, worried a bit about the outcome himself. The First Officer of the Defiant pulled his Tricorder's data, studying the information available on the mines a second time. He wondered if maybe the Field Modulator programming in the devices could be used to do just as the Vorta Commander had suggested: causing the mines to self-detonate. The only risk was damage to the equipment, but could it work?

"My suggestion is the better, safer option with no one getting hurt." Kuzos answered but did not push the issue.

"I agree with the Commander," Wescou defended, "there's already been enough injuries on this mission as it is!" She hadn't been there when Lieutenant Barbax was injured, but she didn't want to see anyone else get hurt.

Mira looked over at Kuzos, "Commander Kuzos, does the Deflector array have enough fine control with focus emitters to affect just a space 3 meters square? If so... your solution will work. If not... hmm, Commander, could a Field Modulator modded for Gravitons with Subspace detection be able to trip the tether to bring up the mines and take out the door, or at least get them out of our hair to then use a phaser cutter on the door?"

"What about a portable shield generator?" Blake suggested relieved the idea of using a fallen officer had been rejected. "We could erect a force field around the mines to contain the explosion of damaging the computer core and ourselves."

"The Deflector array is not suitable for this sort of operation." Kuzos replied simply. "However a Field Modulator can be adapted to do what you suggest." He stopped as Blake offered a suggestion of his own. "Hmm, yes that could work quite well to minimize the damage especially to ourselves."

Sora was beginning to feel frustrated. As much as they could debate the best steps forward, all this talk was getting them nowhere. Just as she was about to say something, however, the lights in the hallway began turning on. "Huh," she commented. "Looks like the power core team did their job. And that means that the 'opening the door' part of our issue should at least be resolved."

She stepped over to the control panel next to the door, now lit up, and entered a command code - and a moment later, the door to the computer core slid open. "Now, as for dealing with the mines, a field modulator is exactly what we need. Let's get it set up."

"Sometimes directness is the way to go!" The Bajoran Operations Manager laughed at his counterpart opening the door. "These mines seem to be operating on their own agendas so they may just choose to ignore rather than harm from time to time. That gives us a bit of an advantage," he used the Tricorder to interface with the field modulators, "the only problem is these aren't meant to be too far away from each other. Where do you want them focused?"

Mira looked at her own engineering tricorder. Engineers generally tweaked theirs to become their own, and she was loath to give hers up. But, what if... "Commander Bernadotte, how about we transport over direct control Engineering Tricorders to sink with the field modulators and leave them with each one. That way... we don't have to give up our personally customized tricorders we have gotten attached too..?"

"That really won't be necessary," Wescou said as she spoke to the group, "I've programmed the changes that we've talked about into my Tricorder and I think that I've gotten our working plan in place. If we just adjust the enhancers locations, we can get this all settled and the mines will overload in a safe manner." She looked at the Operations Officer, "On your order?"

Mira looked over to Wescou and gave an admiring nod with a shift of her tail to say, 'Awesome'. While the officers knew all the theoreticals, designs, and operational override tweaks, it was the enlisted who could repair those systems, tweak those systems, and find ways to get the mundane to do more than it could. She really appreciated that the Enlisted were the core to hold a ship together while the Officers were the management and placement of the enlisted for best workforce dynamics for continued operation. Hell, she would love to see pay scales reversed... she knew what the trenches were like, being Alekian, but also knew that good managers who understood the systems who could direct those who knew how to repair the systems were less common, and hence the structure and pay. Still... she would definitely invite Wescou out for drinks after this was over. She sent a padd message over the padd links, 'You're awesome Petty Officer Wescou, and very much appreciated by this lowly ensign. Drinks on me after this. Also... umm.. Lt. Elandorn is from the L'Tandrey Protectorate, whose main Vulpinoid race has backwards names... sooo, is Wescou your family name or given name? I truly would like to know.'

Glancing over after reading the details on the PADD, the Bajoran woman held off on responding until after hearing from Commander Bernadotte or Kuzos on how to proceed with the mines.

Sora smiled, impressed at the efficiency shown by Petty Officer Wescou. "Proceed. Let's get these mines out of the way so we can finally get our mission done. If we can recover one intact, however, it may be helpful to examine it. After all, we still don't know who or what we are up against, really."

Once she'd been given the order, the Petty Officer responded to the message quickly. 'The Bajoran custom has the family name first and the individual's name second. It's an old custom. Most Bajorans agree to flip their names in order to avoid confusion. I prefer the old ways, but I don't make a big deal about it.'

Mira smiled pleasantly as she quickly typed a response, 'Thank you for that information, Petty Officer Lulka, I will be mindful.'

The sequence that Petty Officer Wescou had entered began to process, with the mines responding far more quickly that she expected that they would. Instead of detonating though they appeared, floating peacefully in the corridors and rooms near the computer core. That was the good news because, had they detonated, the mines were actually surrounding the away team and would've probably taken everyone in the team out. A gentle buzzing came from each of the mines as they fell out of the sky and to the deck below. The Bajoran held her breath, hoping that they didn't explode as they landed. Fortunately, they didn't.

Wescou looked at the Vorta Tactical Officer, offering a respectful nod as the power came back on.

When the minds dropped around the party, Mira didn't even flinch. Instead, she was like a statue, an ingrained response to movement based antipersonnel mines from being a separatist child on Ferinh. She didn't even realize she had brought up her TK field around her as well.

Kuzos spoke, "The mines are deactivated." he said simply.

Upon Kuzos words, Mira unfroze and her TK field went away.

Unlike the others Blake had held his breathe and winced as they deactivated the mines. Once they'd troubled to the ground now naturalised did the Lieutenant sag with relief.

With the mines finally taken care of, Sora proceeded towards the main computer core. Since backup power was still online, rebooting the core should not take long. "Wescou, Mira. You two get to the auxiliary consoles, make sure the computer systems are still fully networked. Kuzos, Blake, keep an eye out for any other surprises that may be around to blow us up. I'll turn this thing on once everyone's in position."

Wescou did as she was told and took position at one of the auxiliary consoles in the control room, quickly accessing the computer functions to check their network status.

Mira nodded to Wescou as she went to the other aux control console. She checked for power and found a feed to get the console activated. As it came up, she began the diagnostic checks on the console and then began probing the network for what was still there and powered.

Kuzos used his tricorder to scan their surroundings for any other potential surprises but found none but he would continue to scan the area to make certain.

Shooting the Vorta a dark glare Blake stepped away from the party in search for any other threats they hadn't yet detected. Though the Vorta Dominion Liaison Officer now portrayed the role of Starfleet Commander the younger Lieutenant had not warmed to the man after their encounter on the Enterprise bridge months previous.

With the team ready to proceed, Sora entered the command code sequence to reboot the computer core. A moment later, the core hummed to life, and the synthetic voice of the computer sounded through the room. "Systems rebooting. Estimated time to completion, two minutes."

She looked around to the others, and smiled. "Well. That's that done, then. We just need to wait for the reboot sequence to complete, download the relevant logs from the attack, and then we can finally get out of here."

Mira called out, "Hey Team, does anybody have a reading on the power feeds? My console is still coming online but the telltales still show main station power is still out. With the new draws, how long before current backup power runs out?"

"Main power systems are stabilizing," Commander Ektis answered from nearby. "We're not at full power yet, but it's looking like it'll be back to normal within the next four minutes."

Mira hrmphed out, "Really? Hmmm..." She dropped to her knees to break out her repair kit.

Sora nodded, looking up from the console she was working on. "Based on current power readings, the station's backup power systems are currently spooling up. Even with those generators at full capacity, there will of course be some power restrictions, but power distribution is prioritised. First comes life support. Gravity, air, climate control, lights and doors. In that order. Then comes essential computer functions, sensors, communication. Finally, transporters and defensive systems. So, we should see the performance of the computers improve as the generators get up to speed."

Just as the Lieutenant Commander finished speaking, the computer announced that the reboot sequence had been completed. Immediately, Sora accessed the logs. "Okay, this is strange," she commented once she had accessed the sensor data. "The sensor logs are corrupted. Well, some of them. Based on what we know from the Commodore, it seems they are corrupted from the moment he lost contact with the station. Communications logs as well." She took a datachip from one of the pockets of her utility belt, and began downloading the logs. "We will definitely need to analyse this further. Once we get back to the ship, that is."

Meanwhile, Mira had the access panel open and was partway into it. She pulled out with a module as she said to no one in particular, "Gotcha." She tossed it aside as she pulled a spare out of her engineering kit and went back inside the console.

With a smile, Sora tapped her combadge. "Bernadotte to Enterprise and all boarding teams. Computer core is restored to full function. Log data has been downloaded onto physical media, I don't trust the comms system of the station yet. Mission complete, unless there are further orders?"

Defiant's First Officer looked over at the Enterprise's Operations Officer, "Odd, they didn't receive your transmission. Maybe we should head up to Operations? We have a team there too. It may be... helpful."

Mira came out of her console and attached the access panel. She returned to standing and checked over the telltales. Now everything was showing correct instead of only a few networked system sending heartbeats. She called out, "Network connections for Promenade, Resident ring and Habitat ring showing fully online. Other console has other areas." She waited to see if they were going to move out to Ops or stay put, or maybe have two stay behind to stay with the computer core while the others moved on to ops.

"It really looks like we've done it, Commander!" Wescou announced proudly. "We've restored the computers."

Mira chirped out a noise of exultation. She held a thumbs up towards Wescou with a grin. She definitely had a tale to tell Anzai, her roomate, when next they met in their quarters.

Sora couldn't help but smile at the Ensign's excitement. "Good job, everyone. Now to deal with the next problem. We can't reach Enterprise." She waved the team over to her. "Heading up to Ops is our safest bet. I would assume the power core team are on their way up right now. However, we need to have some people hold position here." With a nod, she turned to the two engineers that had joined them from Defiant. "That will be your job, provided Commander Ektis agrees, of course. Do what you can to reinitialise internal and external communications. Everyone else, move out. We should have turbolifts again, which will make this trip a whole lot easier, but watch out for any surprises along the way."

The Bajoran First Officer from the Defiant nodded simply in agreement to the Enterprise's Operations Officer and joined her in her trek to Ops.

Kuzos lagged behind. "I will stay here and monitor the systems and once I am convinced they have stabilized I will join you."

"I'll stay behind with the Commander to monitor the system as well," Wescou confirmed.

Kuzos looked to Wescou, "You do not need to stay with me Petty Officer.... but I am glad you are."

Sora looked at the Vorta, then at the Bajoran, and simply nodded. "Very well. Keep our guests from Defiant safe, and, if possible, call if anything happens." With a gesture to indicate to the rest of the team to follow, she headed towards the door.

Mira had a wide smile upon her muzzle as she held a thumbs up towards Wescou. She then turned and headed towards the door with Sora to head towards operations.

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