[BEGIN ACT III] Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen - Leaving you breaks my heart again… (part 1)

[CPT Arianus]

(( OOC: I know this is long, I did not know myself before it was writen to cover all my singled tags - at least it fits the sim name and cliffhanger at the moment where tags for others starts, so for simming purposes, others can go with feasible long Part 2 without disruption ))

(( Karnack Engineering - Deck 4 - USS Karnack ))
(( 4 days later ))

It was the irony of serving in Starfleet: you expect to meet every day in different places, on various decks, and at different times to steal a little time together. And even when you can't, you always know, somehow, that they are here somewhere on the ship with you, even if you can't have them by your side.

And then an emergency planetfall on an inhospitable world happens, leaving him not knowing whether they are alive or if they know he is. Somehow, he went forward, not thinking he was alive and that they might not be. Left that thought lingering somewhere outside the periphery of his mind during waking hours. And that's why it got that horrible when he was sleeping, as his mind needed to cope with the trauma he suppressed so much as he to be able to function awake - even if that meant he had vivid dreams of the person he love, burning and trapped in a crashing ship, when he closed his eyes, which can make his nights anything but restful.

Maybe that's why he always woke up feeling tired and sweaty, but a little better than the day before. His mind came to terms. Or he thought so. In reality, he just got better at compartmentalizing. The trauma of the unknown was still here, all that sadness over the lost, carefully waiting for its moment to jump out like a jack-in-the-box, someday.

Maybe that's why Ollie had been walking on eggshells around Imril for the past four days, when it turned out that the young Bactrican Engineer was alive. Stealing glances from afar, leaving plates of fruit next to their bedroll when they slept. He thought he had more time…

To feel right again…

To do things right again…

Which was a petty thought now, especially as they all gathered at Karnack Engineering. Now, Lieutenant JG Olliver Kimmi Bergmen needed to be just that. An officer of the Starfleet. A professional. An expert in his topic…

MacKenzie: A semi-functioning warp core is a good place to start. What should we prioritize first?

Munro: Getting the shield emitters to mimic the properties of a Faraday Cage long enough to get us out of the system is going to be no mean feat. Especially since we have no operational systems. But I think we can do it - if we can figure out a way to replicate the Faraday Cage effectively. Brexis, Bergmen, Breys, we'll need your help getting this set up.

Brexis: ::Nodding.:: I’ll do what I can.

Breys: I have a few ideas, I think the information we need might already be in the computer banks from our first encounter with the Maelstrom.

…even if that meant he would leave Imril again.

Bergmen: ::to Munro:: Understood, ma’am.

Bergmen nodded, and as the captain spoke again, he glanced with her to the gaping hole in the hull, the point of her words.

MacKenzie: Even if we did get it set up, we need other functional systems to actually make us space-faring.

Munro: That's true. Even if the shield emitters work, we won't get far with the Karnack in this state.

Jovenan: Force fields and inner bulkheads can keep some of the pressure in, but we should try to close some of the breaches. The less we have to rely on force fields, the more we can use power in other systems. And the less we have to fear about them failing.

Vitor smiled at Nan as he nodded. Ollie still stood in his place, awaiting the senior officers to lay out the basic plan for the immediate future.

Silveira: I concur.

Munro: Agreed. Bring Storm and Bancroft with you, and get those holes fixed. But be careful, the Things are still out here, and as it gets dark, they'll get more daring.

MacKenzie: Some of the upper decks should provide relative security from the creatures - I haven't seen them climb yet.

The Thing. This is how they call them now. Bergmen didn’t go that way in his thoughts, yet the mere mention of the name triggered a memory of eyes staring - filled with hate, hunger, and malice…

K'Wara: We won’t get very far with Main Engineering in this state, either, Sirs. While the warp core is stable, it’s hardly safe for use at the moment.

Munro: In its current state the warp core power distribution would likely cause a cascade failure. We're more likely to blow up the ship and this corner of the planet than get off this planet. Tamio, work with Imril to find a workaround, I don't think I need to tell you how important it is :: pauses :: Cole and Jaran, you're temporarily reassigned as technicians :: smiles :: Congratulations.

Cole: ::nodded:: Grandpa Dorian, would be so proud.

A familiar chuckle floated through the air, prompting Ollie to look at Imril, who was making their way towards him. So that's how it was now. Imril was the one who made the first move.

Imril: ::To Ollie:: It’s good to see you again.

Ollie slightly lowered his gaze, not wanting Imril to notice just how much he wanted right now to snuggle them until they were sick of it, then snuggle them some more.

So he calmed himself in the second, and looked up again - face straight, posture professional. Just his eyes betrayed him.

Bergmen: ::sighs sorrowfully:: You would never know… (beat) Sorry for… me… I should… we promised to sit down and speak, and for the past four days I was… (beat) I was doing everything just not that. ::smiles a little::

Imril: That conversation we were going to have? If luck holds, we can have it on the way to the Artemis. If not, Callis I is as good a place as any.

Ollie's gaze slowly slid to Imril's hands as he moved his own closer.

Bergmen: I will be there, I promise, when the time comes. When you are ready.

In that moment, with those words, it felt to him as if only he and they were standing here. The planet disappeared. Problems disappeared. The grimness of their situation no longer bothered him. The tips of his fingers brushed against theirs as he pressed gently, trying to reassure Imril about his words.

But they were not alone there. He was on one team while Imril was on another. He gave them one last, lovely yet melancholic smile and pulled his hands away. As they were Starfleet officers. As they were professionals. They had duty, they had work to do…

…and he knew they both would comply, even if that meant they would leave each other again…


(( Computer Core Upper Level - Deck 5 - USS Karnack ))

Saber-class starships were tiny, especially compared to Artemis. What would take quite a time and effort on Artemis - like traveling through the Jefferies tubes from Engineering to the Computer Core - felt almost like going to another room here on Karnack.

One deck below Engineering, there they were, with the ship’s computer core, on its upper deck.

Munro: I think we need to establish how we can insulate key systems from the Maelstrom. Propulsion and shields should be the priority. And connect systems to the warp core.

MacKenzie: Agreed. Shields, propulsion, structural integrity and life support… not necessarily in that order.

Brexis: I will help however I can.

Breys: Well step one is get the computer core itself online, right?

Bergmen nodded and smiled warmly at Brey.

Bergmen: Correct, Ensign. And then we find where things go wrong, and ensure it won't repeat again.

Scratches and howls from the outer hull voided that optimism. They needed to press on and get things done, right now. Seal the ship. Secure the systems against Maelstrom so they will not cascade into failure again. Restart the warpcore to be able to return to space... and not get eaten by the Things lurking outside in the meantime.

Munro: Let’s make it quick. That sounds closer than I’d like.

MacKenzie: Think they can get through duranium?

Brexis: Let’s hope we don’t have to find out. ::wincing:: They are too close. ::gesturing:: Let's get this done.

Breys: Yeah, let’s try to get this up and running before they get here.

Ollie found himself torn between priorities, but that last thought seemed to be pretty high on that list. He glanced at Munro and the captain, awaiting their wishes.

Munro: While we wait on engineering to give us some power to the core, let's check for physical damage.

Bergmen: On it, ma'am.

Even the captain took it upon herself to do the work.

MacKenzie: Right. Someone give me a hand with this.

Ensign Breys joined the captain to help.

Brexis: Where do we even start?

Breys: Where are the plasma conduits that connect this to the warp core? That might be a good place to start.

Munro: Nice to see someone remembers their Mechanics from the Academy :: to the others :: We're back to basics; power flow is our focus. That doesn't mean we forget protocol, we move carefully, once engineering is able to establish energy flow you don't want your hand in a conduit. That won't be a good day for you.

Bergmen liked his hands. Bergmen needed his hands. So he didn't need to be reminded not to leave them where hot plasma was flowing. He had seen many younger colleagues sent to the sickbay with burns as they forgot that simple lesson learned in basic.

MacKenzie: Is there any way to get more power from the warp core to actually get this thing up and running without frying it? We cook this computer and we’re all toast…

Brexis: Can we get power from non-essential systems and re-route them here?

oO Uff, that was a difficult question… Yesss? Oo

Ollie closed the conduit and turned the flow to parallel, which seemed more ok.

Breys: I think that’s the right idea, but instead of rerouting what if we closed off existing junctions between here and the warp core, forcing the plasma into a known path. It should concentrate our power while limiting throughput to the conduit’s capacity. I’ll need an extra hand to reorient the junctions. ::her breathing quickened, she pivoted on her heels:: If you support that decision sirs!

Munro: :: impressed :: I support it :: looks to MacKenzie :: It's the most efficient way to direct the plasma flow. It also means we could shut down any systems we don't need between the core and engineering and hopefully keep us insulated from the effects of the Maelstrom.

The captain shrugged, taking the advice of her first officer.

MacKenzie: Then let's proceed.

And so they had a plan. Commander Munro went to assist the ensign, and while they worked, the lights above began to flicker, prompting Ollie to take his hands off the junction he was working on. A few adjustments and touches on Brye and Muro's side stabilized the flickering, and work could continue.

Brexis: Do you think there are stored batteries somewhere? Or possibly a redundant fusion generator?

Breys: The ship’s batteries have probably been drained by the Malestrom. There is probably a generator somewhere on the ship, I don’t know where though.

Munro: Good thinking, Lieutenant. Bergmen, take Brexis and find a generator. There should be one in the lower section. Don’t wander too far, keep within eye contact with us. If you can’t see us or hear us you’ve gone too far.

Ollie nodded, finished the final touches on his conduit he was working on and closed the panel.

Bergmen: Aye, ma’am.

Gideon glanced at Brexis to see if she was ready to go too, but StratOfficer already taken the lead on where to search for a possible generator.

Munro: You might be able to kickstart the generator and recharge the batteries that way. I think we’re gonna need them.

Brexis: If we can find it and it’s functional that’ll be our first priority.

Bergmen nodded in support of Brexis words and followed her steps as the light from above brightened.

Breys: ::pointing to the lights:: I think the warp core just got turned on, we just don’t have enough power to access anything. We need to find a way to insulate the room from the effects of the Maelstrom.

Munro: Well, we know from the Faraday Rooms that certain metals and alloys insulate systems from the effects of the Maelstrom :: points to the lights :: The fact that we have lights tells us that the warp core harmonics must cause a similar effects :: to MacKenzie :: Captain, this means that out theory about the shield emitters could work.

MacKenzie: That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.

Brexis: ::Mumbling to herself:: That’s not saying much…

Bergmen smiled a little, sharing the same sentiment.

Bergmen: ::whispers to Brexis:: Hope and magic, Lieutenant. Hope and magic.

Breys: What if we use every bit of juice we have to remodulate a force field around the computer core. When it passes the right frequency everything should flicker on for a moment, and we can narrow the range of the search with each pass until we're close enough to block off a notable amount of the maelstrom. It should only take a couple minutes, and we’ll at least have a weak force field while we’re looking. We can even stop at an adjacent frequency so we don’t overload the systems. That should lead to a power feedback loop where increased force field strength blocks out the Maelstrom, which increases force field strength till we reach equilibrium.

Munro: :: energised by the suggestion :: We’ll need to compensate for the electromagnetic flux, as it’s likely to destabilise the field harmonics :: thinks :: If we remodulated the deflector by reversing the shield polarity using the graviton emitters on this deck. It would act as a buffer?

MacKenzie: Sounds like now we’re getting somewhere. Let’s do it.

Brexis stopped again, and from what Ollie could see, the sounds of beasts roaming outside made her feel uneasy.

Brexis: ::To Bergmen:: Do you know exactly what it is we are looking for?

He wanted to respond to "a radiation warning sign", but then realized they were still in the engineering space. Mentioning it would be like pointing out water in the middle of the ocean.

So he glanced around, searching for a cover large enough to conceal the reactor. But instead of finding cover, he noticed the part of the machinery itself and pointed that direction.

oO Lesson learned. Small ship, no space for insulation. Oo

Bergmen: That one, I think.

Charlotte nodded and continued walking.

Breys: Does anyone know how to manually remodulate a force field?

Munro: I guess that’s me -

Munro moved to help the Ensign when the sounds of screeching over the metal sounded close. Ollie froze for a second. No. Not close to them. Close to Engineering... To Imril.

MacKenzie: ::narrowing her eyes as she listened to the sound:: I believe they’ve breached the hull…


TBC

–– ○● ––
Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1