LCDR Nolen Hobart — The First Transport (Pad) Is Away (Yay.)
Nolen Hobart
((Cargo Bay A24, Main Module, Deep Space 33))
Hobart: Let’s look at the transporter together, Matthews, and see if we can’t increase that resolution.
Matthews: If you can take the controls for the actual transporting? I can cover monitoring the systems – I’m out of practice.
Nolen sensed an understatement in there, and nodded. He’d done mass-transport work in the past, first in the rescue from the Hex, and then again at Emisa III. He wasn’t sure how this would stack up to those. At the Hex, it was a high-pressure situation, with a need for speed. That, plus the heightened emotional trauma of the passengers they were taking on had proved a difficult burden to carry. Here, the stakes were indeed high, but until people started showing up to the evac point, the pressure felt frustratingly hypothetical.
Dr. El’Heem approached a pair of marines in the compartment, and recruited them in his and Lieutenant Jacin’s efforts to assist incoming evacuees.
El’Heem: You two, can I get some help? We’re going to have a lot of evacuees coming this way and I may be a lizard but I’m not Saurian. ::Holding up his hands. Then walking back to the entrance as they followed.:: Keep the peace and conduct the evacuees in an orderly fashion. I need to inoculate all of them but we must prioritize telepaths. Anyone who can’t seem to calm down, you direct them to doctor
Matthews: ::To himself:: The one doctor to rule them all, and in the darkness. . . Drug them.
Nolen gave Matthews a confused look.
Hobart: Right, well, yeah I’ll manage the operational aspect. See if you can remove some of the hazmat protocols, that might increase throughput.
Ensign Matthews returned his attention to the console he was working on, and plugged it back off. Behind him, Nolen heard the faint traces of conversation. He and Matthews continued their work. It was a straightforward task, to recalibrate a cargo transporter for personnel instead. Heck, all transporters started out that way. After a time, the trickle of escaping residents began. One of the marines raised her voice.
Bobbart: Please keep calm, come this way. We will administer a preventative for the lattice’s attacks. Once you receive your inoculation, please procced to the staging area for further instruction.
Matthews: Please try to not move around too much when on the transport pad. We’ll be beaming you, too. . . The Billable Hours, once Doctor El’Heem inoculates you.
Nolen checked the settings one more time. Folks were hoping to keep their lives in a warzone, but Lt. Commander Hobart was more concerned with keeping their fingers and toes. Ensign Matthes consulted his PADD, linked to the station’s systems.
Matthews: Sir, a station, is it similar or different to a starship when it comes to power supply? It has to be right? Do different sections have different power sources or, something? Can we start conserving power for this area? When we start transporting, I’m worried about losing power while we’re at it.
Hobart: Larger stations have auxiliary cores, but this is one of those old Regula types. Pretty small. The draw from the transporters shouldn’t be too great, but keep an eye on the power supply. If things start to get interrupted, we’ll want to sacrifice from everything else before we let the transporter fail.
He realized, then, just exactly how many points of failure there could be. A person’s pattern in the buffer could be corrupted or lost. Or, more messy, they could be partially dematerialized or rematerialized. The pair looked over towards the entrance, which was starting to get crowded.
Matthews: And we’re going to try to get everyone in the one go?
Hobart: No, but as few go’s as we can manage.
They watched and waited for folks to get through the bottleneck. Hobart could sense the singed impatience on Ensign Matthews, like a scent of ozone from a spark. Eventually, it became too much for the young man, who called out.
Matthews: How’s it going, doctor? Think you can get everyone now? We can group up vaccinated people when we send them over – and you can start right in on them again?
El’Heem: Response
Hobart had by then again returned his attention to the controls as the first few people stepped onto the transporter pad. He didn’t catch Dr. El’Heem’s response, and he wasn’t sure Ensign Matthews did, either.
Matthews: Wait, no wait, what? ::He glanced around:: They explode? Okay, back to the energy field idea. The cargo bay would have the option for shielding. When we’re sure everyone is in. I’ll work on fortification. Slow down anyone that comes knocking.
Hobart: I’d rather not fortify this section if we can avoid it. I don’t want to prevent people from escaping.
Matthews: Might not be necessary, but I’m suddenly less inclined to get into a fire fight in here now.
Hobart: ::chuckling:: Being chock full of civilians wasn’t a good enough reason?
The pad filled as tightly as Nolen was comfortable allowing it to. Too many people made violent errors more likely, and there was more than one child already there. He locked onto the group and programmed in the destination. He was reminded of his first day on the Arrow out of the Academy. Secure the lock, dematerialize, rematerialize. Clear the buffer. Repeat.
The first group of evacuees were away. They were the Billable Hours’s problem, now.
End of Act 1
———
Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3