Lt. Robin Hopper: It’s Off To Work We Go (Part 1)
Robin Hopper
((OOC – Putting our hour jump ahead in Part 2, which will be much shorter than Part 1))
((Loading Bay – Mining Rig, Asteroid))
A whirring hum and a little flash of light broke the eerie silence that pervaded the mining rig’s cavernous loading bay after the ‘shaking’ that had taken place moments earlier. The computer terminal had come to life at last. Nathan stood up from working under the console and looked down at the readout. Robin peered over his shoulder – it appeared blank. Active, but blank. She sighed in disappointment.
Nathan shook his head, smacking the side of the console with his prosthetic hand with a loud CLANG! The screen flickered briefly as it began to light up with text. Predominantly error messages – but it was still a step in the right direction.
Richards: There we go! Damn thing.
Hopper: ::Standing beside him:: Show me what you've got… Damage reports? Internal sensor logs?
Richards: ::Pulling up the information:: The damage is about what we saw from the outside. Internal sensors are down in the areas of the hull breaches, and it appears that there are random rolling outages that correspond with the Delta waves. ::Cursing quietly:: Shield emitters all over the station are damaged. I’m showing 23% and still dropping slowly.
oO Oof… Not good… Oo Without internal sensors it would be difficult to figure out exactly how bad the damage was or, more importantly, how to contain or repair it. Which meant the station would definitely need to be evacuated, with damage control and repairs taking a back seat… which presented a whole host of other logistical issues… oO And all under the added time pressure of rapidly dropping shields! Oo
Robin placed her hands on her hips and shook her head, trying to figure out their next steps.
Hopper: We need to prioritize evacuation – have you located the miners?
Nathan tapped at the console a few more times, bringing up the display of life signs aboard the station. She looked where he was pointing, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Richards: There they are. It looks like they have all evacuated the lower levels. They are all grouped within the upper 3 levels.
Hopper: Makes sense. That’s about the opposite end of the rig from the benamite reactions. Their shields may be failing, but the rig itself would be mostly built out of duranium-tungsten alloy. Putting as many layers of hull between them and the accident would give them the best chance of survival.
Richards: Shields will give out before life support does. But without the shields, there won’t be much life to support after a while.
There was another loud rumble from the rig’s PA system. Their tricorders beeped again. Robin took a look, expecting additional damage, and was surprised by what she saw.
Hopper: Huh… It looks like something is drawing energy away from the benamite reactions – soaking up the Delta Waves… Unusual, but – ::glancing at Nathan:: – that might buy us some time… Where’s our backup?
Richards tapped his combadge, and Hopper stepped away trying to figure out the source of the power draw. As best as she could tell from her tricorder, there was some sort of anomalous energy tap outside the rig, absorbing radiation – no, not just absorbing, redirecting, not unlike a small singularity. Whatever it was, it must be incredibly dense.
Richards: =/\= Halsey shuttle, what is your ETA? =/\=
Reade: =/\= Nat -- We are on the st--- aion, heading towards you gu--ys now =/\=
Iovianus: =/\= Response =/\=
She was now a few meters away from Nathan, and put her tricorder back on her hip for a moment, tapping her combadge and crossing her arms.
Hopper: =/\= Understood. Meet us in the loading bay and we’ll go from there. =/\=
Richards: Cutting it kind of close, don’t you think?
Hopper: ::Shrug:: Maybe. But we’ve got about 230 miners to get off this rig, and our shuttles aren’t going to cut it. This rig must have some sort of evacuation procedure – meaning there are escape pods. See if you can figure out why the miners haven’t made use of them. Maybe it’s something that you and Scotty can get fixed.
Richards: Response
She walked back over towards him, rubbing her temple and regretting putting her hair in such a tight bun.
Hopper: It’s either get the miners off the rig or get the benamite off the rig and, to be honest, both seem like terrible options.
Richards: Response
Reade: =/\= Come in Lieutenants Hopper and Richards, I have triangulated your location to the loading bay? Is this correct? =/\=
She glanced at Nathan, eyebrows raised.
Hopper: =/\= Coming in loud and clear, Scotty. Yes, that’s right. We should regroup here… We’ve got a bit more information and the early stages of a plan. =/\=
Richards: Response?
Iko/Iovianus: Response?
Reade: =/\= Excellent, we will make our way to you guys. See you soon =/\=
Hopper: =/\= Right. Make it quick. But don’t rush – just hurry. =/\=
She rolled her eyes at herself. “Don’t rush, just hurry” was something her mom had always used to tell her when she was dilly-dallying in the crops instead of coming home for dinner. Put a red uniform on Robin Hopper and suddenly she started welcoming “ma’am” and quoting her mother.
Richards: Response?
Iko/Iovianus: Responses?
Hopper: ::To Richards:: Right. Escape pods?
((Five Minutes Later))
As Reade, Iko, and Iovianus arrived in the Loading Bay, Hopper was busy working away at one of the terminals – Richards at the other, back-to-back. She glanced up as Reade approached, offering him a beleaguered smile and a small wave.
Reade: Hello all!
Hopper: Aren’t you guys a sight for sore eyes! ::Smile fading:: I’m afraid, the situation is looking serious. But we have some news, and slightly more of a plan.
Richards/Iko/Iovianus: Response
Reade: What have you guys found?
Robin leaned on the console in front of her.
Hopper: I’ve managed to make contact with the miners – or at least one of their emergency response group leaders, on the upper decks. We’ve got a number of injuries and quite a few suffering from radiation poisoning.
She nodded towards Nathan.
Hopper: That’s not all, but I’ll let the Engineer explain the situation with the escape pods.
Richards: Response
Reade: Response
Hopper: Yeah… It’s rough. I still think if we can get their evacuation systems functioning, that’s our best bet for getting them off the station alive. ::To Iovianus and Bec:: But we’ll want to prioritize ferrying the sick and injured back to the Jemison and Halsey for treatment ASAP. What’s the situation out there?
Reade/Iovianus/Iko: Responses
Hopper: Flint can pilot our shuttle, but we’ll need someone else in the Halsey’s to coordinate with him and make runs… Thoughts?
Iovianus/Iko: Responses
She nodded, then hoisted the case of hyronalyn hyposprays replicated by their EMH.
Hopper: Whoever sticks around here will be playing damage control and triage with me. We’ve got a number of doses here for those who’ve suffered the most exposure. We can distribute those to the miners and work with them to get their injured to the shuttles. ::Sighing:: And, if at all possible, try to contain the benamite reaction…
Reade/Iovianus/Iko/Richards: Responses?
Hopper: It’s not going to be easy, but none of us signed up for Starfleet because we figured it’d be easy, right? ::Smiling::
TBC in Part 2
