LT Tamio K'Wara - Within the Shield
LT Tamio K'Wara
(( Main Engineering - Deck 4, USS Karnack Crashsite ))
What the team could accomplish from Main Engineering was starting to run out. While Main Engineering was in every sense the heart of the Ship, as the Computer Core was the brain, they needed to spread out the systems a little. This was true when the Ship was fully functional, and very much still true in their crippled state. The last thing they could do was establish a multi-deck shield bubble to allow more systems to function within.
And even with that, they ran into trouble.
Imril: Number Two and Three distortion field relays have burned out. They’re not leaking energy, they’re damming it up. Not something we can fix from here.
More than that, with the excess heat venting currently happening one deck above them and one deck below, the Dark Things were starting to close in. They didn’t know this as viscerally as Imril and Jaran did, but they felt it gnawing at them from the inside. They had to go. But they couldn’t leave the Warp Core defenseless. The Things were clever, they would soon find out a way to impede their repairs.
K'Wara: That’s our cue. Jaran, grab the engineering kit and get into that shaft. Imril, can you come up with anything to make sure the Things can’t take a whack at the core while we’re away?
Jaran: response
Imril: Well, first, I can close the emergency bulkhead…
Tamio watched with barely concealed fear as more power was drained from their sparse pool to release the massive bulkhead. Thankfully, once that was down, it didn’t need any power to stay down, though the amount of power needed to pull it back up was likely going to be hard to come by in their current state.
Imril: Second, I can lock the access to bulkhead controls down with an encrypted access code, double-randomized…
Which raised an interesting question, as Tamio headed towards the maintenance shaft. Did the Things even remember how to operate consoles? Or had the capacity for that deteriorated along with their civilization?
Imril: Third… ::Devious grin:: I can set Main Engineering’s Crew Comfort setting to Winter in The Yukon. Or even all the way down to Andorian Summer.
That actually made Tamio laugh a little, at least until the room’s life-support vents started releasing frigid gusts of air, and they hissed between gritted teeth. Then, Tamio realized the danger. Yes, it would certainly deter the Things from coming in here, but it would also make it near impossible for them to come in there. If Tamio was already starting to feel the effects, they could only imagine how Imril and Jaran - with their stronger connection to the Things - would react.
Jaran: response
Cole: My codes should help remove some obstacles.
K’Wara: Do it. ::to Cole:: Nat, you bring up the rear once Imril’s down. Make sure to shoot those things between the eyes if they poke their heads in before you close the hatch.
Natasha nodded sternly, faced with a problem that had an ‘easy fix’ - as if any of their current issues had that - as Tamio hurried down the maintenance hatch after Doctor Jaran. Their pacing was slow, set entirely by the Doctor with a wounded leg and carrying an engineering kit over their shoulder, and Tamio reached down.
K’Wara: Give me that. You don’t need extra weight on the leg.
From somewhere above them, they heard claws scraping against metal floors, angry howls and Nat’s responding exclamation.
Cole: Time to go pardner!
Imril: This train doesn’t make stops.
Jaran: Response
Tamio nodded. While the hatch was still open, the cold air started seeping in after them, making their skin prick like needles.
K’Wara: I know. ::hisses:: Move quickly. The cold won’t follow us past the perimeter of Main Engineering.
Hopefully, it would still delay the Things. Cold didn’t harm them, at least not in any way that was perceivable to Tamio, so it wasn’t a foolproof defense. But it would certainly make them very unwilling to go into Main Engineering without good reason.
And the Starfleet crew needed all the time they could claim from their pursuers.
(((OOC: I’ve left in Cole’s tags from here on for context, but presume that she’s too far away for Jaran and Tamio to hear her. )))
Cole: Move. Now.
Finally, they and Doctor Jaran reached the end of the ladder, and they arrived at a comfortably heated walkway. The excess heat that Tamio had vented to the deck just below their feet likely seeped in through the maintenance hatches. They tried to ignore how comfortable that felt.
Cole: I’ve got the door.
They heard the maintenance hatch high above them slam shut as, finally, both Natasha and Imril had made it into the safety of the shaft, and then, another - a more unexpected - sound filled the air around them. Within the hum of the warp core above them, they heard a familiar and delightful chirp.
The sound of their combadges.
K’Wara: Wha- ::taps combadge:: =/\= LT K’Wara here? =/\=
Jaran: Response
Breys/Bergmen/MacKenzie: =/\= Response =/\=
Jaran: Response
Tamio nodded, the surprise on their face a clear indicator at how astonished they were with that development too. And then, fear and annoyance. Annoyance wasn’t exactly a normal state of being for Tamio, but considering their severe power shortages, unnecessary wastes of it made panic rise in their gut.
Nothing would be worse than if they powered everything on, and then realized they would no longer have enough power to get the thrusters online because of frivolous spending.
K’Wara: They must be inside the shield bubble around Main Engineering... But this can’t be good for the power systems, coupled with the atmospheric adjustments Imril just made. ::taps combadge:: =/\= We’re working on shielding Decks 1 to 3 in a modified shield, and then we’ll move to the Shuttlecraft Control Room to work on the Deflector and forward thrusters. Main Engineering’s warded against the Things, for now. Imril’s turned the temperature down far enough the Things should be thinking thrice about going in there, but it won’t work forever. =/\=
No response came back to them... They tried tapping the combadge again, but there was no response. Had the shield retreated back in an effort to conserve power? Or had the other team deliberately cut off? Either way, it was becoming clear that they were running out of time.
Cole: GO!
They looked up as Imril arrived at the same level as them, nodding in greeting.
K’Wara: Welcome. We’re running out of time - the Captains’ team need that shield up, now.
Imril pointed in the direction of the power relay housing, and Tamio led Doctor Jaran in that direction, as Imril waited for Natasha to make the final stretch.
Jaran/Cole: Response
Imril: Glad you made it. ::Passing the Chief Engineer’s padd to Cole:: The access code to reopen the warpcore bulkhead is on this. You’re the only one of us who hasn’t gone through the transporter. You should be the only one who sees it. So the rest of us can’t be made to commit any sabotage.
Cole: Response
Meanwhile, Tamio and Jaran had arrived at the relay housing, and Tamio looked around, their felinoid eyes dragging in what little lighting was available to them to offer them a better view of the area. The thin cylinders running parallel to the pathway were easily located, and Tamio knelt down, lifting it so it was easier for them to follow their path to the locking mechanism.
K’Wara: It’s these ones. ::hands a torque wrench to the Doctor:: Here, take this.
Jaran: Response
Imril and Natasha rejoined them now, and Imril headed straight for the other side of the machinery, finding the other set of cylinders with ease.
Imril: ::Speaking while they disengage a manual lock with a torque wrench:: See those two junction tubes? We just have to rotate them to move the backup relays into place. ::Steps back, points:: Me and Jira on one, K’Wara and Cole on the other. ::Reaching out to a cylinder:: On three… One… Two… Three!
K’Wara: Pull!
Jaran/Cole: Response
With their exhertion, the hums around them intensified, and they were no longer bathed in powerless darkness, but in the bright blue lighting of power coursing through transparent cables. The humming around them intensified as the shield emitter powered on, and Tamio quickly rushed to the nearby console at the same time as Imril did.
Imril: ::Fist pump:: Yes! We have a shield! Wrapped around the whole warp core!
K’Wara: And- ::accesses console:: In two shakes, around Decks 1 to 3 too. ::clicks tongue:: We’re running out of power reserves. That stunt with the combadges drained a lot of it, and the atmospheric manipulations in Main Engineering isn’t cheap either.
Imril/Jaran/Cole: Response
They had limited options. The fact that the Warp Core was functional at all was a miracle - nothing short of it - so they had to do with what power it was able to give them. Thankfully, there were quite a few decks that were, in the wider scope of things, unnecessary to that one last desperate flight they were trying to coax the Karnack into.
Stealing all the power intended for Decks 6-8 and rerouting it wasn’t going to be elegant, but it should be possible. It had to be possible.
K’Wara: We may need to repurpose some other systems for extra power, but that should be doable from the Shuttlecraft Control Room. ::enters the final sequence and breathes out::
With a sleepy pulse, they felt the shield expand, that scent of power in the air dissipating slightly as the power expenditure was no longer centralized around them, but instead spread to encompass the closer Decks. And then, it was another race against time, as Tamio tried to ensure that nothing powered on that would expend copious amounts of power, either by design or by crash damage.
Imril/Jaran/Cole: Response
Tamio held their breath for a few moments, their gaze fixed on the power expenditure graph, and they didn’t dare move until they were certain that it had settled into a stable output. And then, before they took the ill-advised liberty of resting, Tamio turned back to the rest of the team.
K’Wara: Nothing like the feeling of humming bulkheads underneath your feet. Okay, it’s time to go.
Imril/Jaran/Cole: Response
TAG/TBC
LT Tamio K’Wara
Chief of Operations
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1