Prologue: Lt. Cmdr. Ben Garcia & Lt. Cmdr. Geoffrey Teller - Hammerfall Part 2
Geoffrey Teller
((Thirteen Hours Later, Bridge, USS Thor))
With the first leg of their evaluation done and the QSD itself recharged, they were finally ready to return to Captain Kells & the Tharsis. Geoff had enjoyed his brief stint in command, and had found it pleasantly uneventful. Their QSD field emitters had been less than half a percent outside of optimal, the ships overall systems efficiency was above 97% and a kitten that had made its way out of crew quarters had been located, improbably, in the bowling alley. Geoff was more than ready to turn the reins back over to the Fleet Captain. Geoff sank back in the chair slightly. He wasn’t in too much of a rush.
Teller: Alright Mr. Garcia, you know the drill.
Garcia: Already on it, sir. (Beat.)
Ben acknowledged the system updates for the final phases of the pre-flight check with a flick of the fingers. As each notification was swiped aside, Ben double checked the digi-gauges on the split screen console manually confirming systems were safe and ready for the all clear.
With the Thor purring beneath his finger tips, Ben shifted in his seat and looked up at the viewscreen; Ben’s eyes widened at the expanse of space and the thrill of hurtling through it at speeds only once dreamed of.
Garcia: Ready for Slipstream travel on your mark, sir.
Geoff appreciated the man's steady confidence as he worked through the checklist almost without looking.
Teller: Engage.
Once again, the ship surged forward with an easy grace as they were enveloped by the corridor. Geoff didn’t have time to notice the ringing vibration or the sudden sheering on the viewscreen. The ship's sophisticated sensors and state of the art computer systems had less than a picosecond before they were overwhelmed.
Between one heartbeat and the next, cataclysm struck.
Geoff felt, more than heard, a thunderous tearing before he was thrown laterally out of the Captains chair and into a nearby console, the plexi shattering under the sudden blow. The whole of the bridge was listing, horribly off axis. A deafening cacophony of alarms erupted from the consoles that were still online, and Geoff, still dazed, watched with sickening alarm as the ship tumbled and lurched through the slipstream.
Teller: Helm! Report!
Ben dug his heels into the carpet and braced against the jolt. The console pulsed from the QSD warm, deep hues of blue to the cutting pierce of the red auto-alert.
Garcia: We’ve hit -- (beat) --something hit us (beat). Port side.
Ben slapped a palm of frustration on the helm console - the explosion had compromised phase variance. Ben immediately compensated for this, backed up by the computer’s auto-adjustments.
Garcia: The Thor she’s (Ben paused a beat searching helplessly for words) … she’s lagging - minimal response to helm.
Ben lurched over the helm in disbelief at what he now saw.
Garcia: We’re losing altitude - we’re gonna bumped right through the Slipstream.
Geoff wiped his brow as he pulled his way back towards the Captain's chair, and it’s multitude of redundant command functions. He could feel his teeth shaking as a deep, horrible oscillation began ringing through the very bones of the ship. The Thor was screaming.
Teller: Emergency Attitude Control - if we go into a tumble the shearing forces will rip us apart.
Garcia: Engaging (beat) altitude climbing. (Relieved.) We’re on the up.
Teller: Prepare to drop us out of QSD, full emergency stop.
As Ben struggled to control the wildly skewing starship, Geoff’s attention drifted to the mountain of damage reports that had begun flooding in. Whole decks were offline and venting to space. Initial casualty reports were coming in from sections of the ship they could still reach. But there was something else.
Ben hit the comm and called out sternly as he began initiating emergency full stop.
Garcia: =/\= All hands, brace for full stop. (beat.) Full stop -- all brace. =/\=
Teller wasn’t listening, eyes fixed on the data from the ships sensors in the last few moments. They were a jumbled mess of corrupted readings, but one thing was clear. Immediately after they crossed the threshold into slipstream, a massive gravity well appeared in their path and struck the ship.
The same gravity well, sensors suggested, that was still embedded somewhere in the ship. If they dropped out of QSD now, the ship would be torn apart and smeared across subspace, truly lost.
Teller: Belay my last command! Ben, whatever you do, you’ve got to keep us in the corridor. It’s the only reason we haven’t lost the ship already.
Ben raised both arms into the air. His heart pounded at twice the speed. The Emergency Stop panel pulsed on the console. Ben cleared the emergency operations panel from the console and initiated the Thor’s QSD auto-compensate algorithms.
Garcia: Copy that. Trying to stabilize QSD now.
Long moments passed as Teller watched their helmsman struggle to bring the ship back under control, the horrible ringing in the ship's structural members slowly receding, but not vanishing completely. The bridge was a mess, and if their half functioning diagnostics were to be believed, the ship herself was deeply wounded and bleeding badly. The crew was scattered all over the ship, some trapped behind emergency bulkheads and forcefields, desperately trying to understand the nature of the sudden disaster that had befallen them.
Teller: Ben, how long before we have to shut down the QSD to prevent an overload?
Ben took a deep breath and called out loudly to the XO, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the helm.
Garcia: In theory? Twelve hours before auto-shut down - that’ll kick in, abruptly. In reality? Depends on the strain. The Thor’s in good nick, but I’d advise a cautious time frame.
Less than twelve hours. They were moving at titanic speeds, trapped away from the larger universe and any hope for assistance or rescue. They had less than twelve hours to save the ship, and themselves, if that was even still possible. There was no time to waste.
Teller: =/\= Teller to all department heads, conference in five minutes. =/\=
To be continued!
===============================
Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Teller
Executive Officer
USS Thor - NCC 82607
Fleet Captain A. Kells, Commanding
V239509GT0
&
Lieutenant Commander Ben Garcia
Second Officer/HCO
USS Thor NCC-82607
Author ID number: G239102MR0
SB118 News Team