LCDR Nolen Hobart — Where Were You When the Lights Went Out
Nolen Hobart
((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Khitomer, the Lagoon Nebula))
Lieutenant Commander Nolen Hobart shifted in his command chair and began to fiddle with the display on the armrest. Semara and Michaels had said one hour. Hopefully they were far below that now, but no matter—there were reports to read, and he began to bring them up.
Semara: =/\= Lieutenant Semara to all, stand by for main power shutoff. Outta take an hour. I'll call again when we're done. Semara out. =/\=
Hobart: Ensign Prix, alert me when power is restored to the deflector.
He stared at the small screen beside him, focused on a detailed water distribution efficiency analysis of… the Arboretum? That couldn't be right. He scrolled back up, and confirmed that's what this was about. Of all the blasted things to concern the Commanding Officer with right now! No wonder Shayne cracked. He looked up and around in disbelief, only to find that there were no other souls on the bridge beside him and Ensign Prix, who was at that moment looking straight at him.
Prix: My console will throw an alert when the power comes up again. ::pause:: You look exhausted, Nolen.
Hobart: ::forced smile:: Well, that's actually a relief, because I feel almost dead.
He could have pulled rank and insisted on formality, but from the moment Nolen graduated the academy that was a standard he only held himself to with regard to officers above him, with one pointed exception—okay, two. He'd rejected Cadet Jenna Perim’s romantic overtures before she left, and then came around to accepting Lt. Commander Ohnari’s around the time that Ensign Jenna Prix came back.
Prix: I imagine it’s a lot on your shoulders right now, but that’s not it…
She looked around conspiratorially and he quirked an eyebrow.
Hobart: Oh? You’ve got a pip above your shoulders and a slug beneath them. Maybe you're just seeing things through new eyes.
Prix: Well, things have changed. I am not exactly the Cadet you lost your cufflinks to anymore. ::smile:: So how are you different?
Hobart: Well, for one thing I'd kill to have a day where the biggest thing I had to worry about was my—
An alarm sounded. Not the friendly chirp of a navigational waypoint, or the confident toot of a system restored, but the harried screech of something gone wrong. Ensign Prix turned back to look at her screen, her slender fingers dashing across the console’s embedded controls.
Prix: Minor energy fluctuations in the holodeck and transporter systems…. Engineering is working on it…
Hobart: ::shaking his head:: There shouldn't be any energy fluctuations. Half the ship is shut down for maintenance.
Prix: Response
He raised a hand and held it out as of to smooth over the Ensign's ruffled feathers. He needed to have a word with the ship's Chief Engineer and technically acting First Officer. He wanted Connor to fully understand how embarrassing it would be for a man holding both those titles if they all blew up.
Hobart: Not saying I don't believe you. ::tapping combadge:: =/\= Bridge to— =/\=
Semara / Engineering: =/\= Response =/\=
Prix: Response
Hobart: =/\= That's good news, Lieutenant, but I was about to call down there about some power fluctuations.=/\=
Semara / C. Dewitt / Engineering: =/\= Response =/\=
Hobart: =/\= Uh huh. Is this gonna jeopardize the sea trials? Or maybe kill us all? =/\=
In hindsight, he probably should have reversed the order there.
Semara / C. Dewitt / Engineering: =/\= Response =/\=
Hobart: =/\= Alright. Then we're moving forward. Ensign Prix, launch the probe. Lieutenant Semara, bring your team up here. Bridge out. =/\=
Prix: Response
((Timeskip, forty minutes later))
The probe was long ago launched, its emitters armed. And commendably without any further suggestion of delay, the science team was on the bridge, with Engineering teams hard at work below decks to ensure, as usual, that things went as smooth as Starfleet missions ever allowed.
Hobart: =/\= All hands, we're entering phase one of the trials. Bridge out. =/\=
Semara / Bridge: Response
Hobart: Alright, let's start the deflector at quarter strength, a single pulse.
It was probably fine to just switch the damn thing on, but between the probe and Khitomer’s deflector, with as much subspace manipulation as was going on, he didn't especially relish the idea of getting them stranded in a stretch of space rendered incompatible with warp travel.
Semara / T’Dara / Bridge: Response
The only indication from Lt. Commander Hobart’s perspective was as series of blips and chirps from stations that ringed the Bridge. That, and a faint high pitched whir that briefly echoed up through the decks beneath his feet. Otherwise there were no alarms. No exploding consoles.
Hobart: Did… the probe emit?
Semara / T’Dara / Bridge: Response
Hobart: =/\= Hobart to Sickbay. First pulse is complete, any casualties? I don't know if I was supposed to feel anything, with the, uh, thing. =/\=
Ohnari / Sickbay: =/\= Response =/\=
Nolen looked around the Bridge, pleased. At this rate, they'd be able to wrap up the mission, head back to Sector 001, and join Captain Shayne for the second half of his medically-mandated vacation. Though probably it wouldn't be much of a vacation, under those circumstances.
Hobart: =/\= Alright, well, keep us posted. We'll be moving forward with more tests. =/\=
Ohnari / Sickbay: =/\= Response =/\=
He tapped his combadge again.
Hobart: =/\= Bridge to Engineering. Con, we're going to increase the intensity and move forward. Any trouble signs, feel free to pull the plug. =/\=
Dewitt / Engineering: =/\= Response =/\=
Hobart: Alright, let's do it. Increase to full strength and repeat.
Semara / T’Dara / Bridge: Response
The same chirps and blips, and the same lack of explosions. Though, did those lights just flicker? No pain. No falling unconscious. Though, would he really know? The whirring was louder, too. And sustained a bit longer. Its volume increased to the point that he started to look around with mild concern. Was it supposed to do that?
And then there was a pop.
And then all was dark. Every light, every indicator, every display—even the viewscreen—was gone in an instant. And if it weren't for the loud screeching whir of the deflector, which had somehow started to come from all around them, he might have thought himself to be unconscious.
Hobart: Too good to be true I guess. Okay, kill it.
Semara / T’Dara / Bridge: Response
Well, he should have seen that coming. With all the instrumentation around them out of commission, nobody was going to kill anything from the Bridge. So Hobart did what he should do next, and tapped his combadge. He felt the thing, he knew he'd connected to it even though he couldn't see his own hand. But no chirp came. No response from the ship's computer. And that's when he knew he was in trouble.
He'd had a filthy mouth at the Academy. Before it, too. But he'd mostly rid himself of it by the time he graduated and became an officer. Still, there were days when he wanted to curse. When he needed to curse. And, once, when he'd been off teaching an academy class one shore leave, he'd found the perfect substitute. It didn't make sense to most anybody who heard him, and he especially liked to use it around unsuspecting security officers. But it had become almost a tick for the Betazoid-Human hybrid, that he fell back on when things were most dire.
Hobart: ::hissing:: Ah, Romulans!
Semara / T’Dara / Bridge: Response
Tags/TBC
———
Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3