Cold Comfort pt 2: Drop Ins
Posted on 25 Sep 2022 @ 10:34am by Commander Calliope Zahn & Command Master Chief Tāne HaiRoa
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:44pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: DSSO 717
Timeline: M3 - Backstory 2140hrs - (following Cold Comfort pt 1: Seven Seventeen)
3246 words - 6.5 OF Standard Post Measure
HaiRoa stacked the case onto the cargo pallet and checked his PaDD. That should be the last one of the boxes of isolinear chip boards they needed. Franks had given them a list of other supplies and components to gather while they were on the Outpost.
He shut the cargo container door, feeling the cold surface under his hand. In the seven hours they had been aboard, with the reactor and life support up and running, the temperature had slowly climbed up to fifty two degrees Fahrenheit. Better than the below freezing it had been, so he did not need his hood, visor, mask or gloves but it was still chilly. He shivered, rubbed his hands together and blew on them to warm them up. At least the atmosphere was practically normal now.
Once they had got everything operational the Scorpio had beamed over the atmospheric stabilization scrubbers and departed. Rowle had got the electroplating process working within a couple of hours, it was a three -stage procedure. First the scrubbers were dipped to remove any remaining Topalaine coating; then they were etched to provide a fresh base for the new coat, which was applied in the last step. Depending on the amount of cleaning and etching required, it took about six to eight hours for each one. Once they got going, they could have a scrubber in each stage simultaneously. It was mostly an automatic process, just requiring somebody to physically move the scrubbers between each stage and keep an eye on things.
He checked the time, it was coming up on twenty-forty, he was due to relieve Rowle in the electroplating shop in twenty minutes. Zahn had come up with a roster— one in the control room, one sleeping, one monitoring the electroplating and the other one gathering supplies. It was going to be a long few days.
He activated the anti-grav lift on the pallet and pushed it back out into the corridor. The next item was meant to be in a compartment two doors down. He turned left, went along and then in through the second door. As he did so the floor shook and lurched and the containers in the bay rattled and vibrated. The incoming storm was almost on top of them, it had steadily gotten worse over the last three or four hours. Despite the stabilizers the outpost felt like it was bobbing about like a ship on the ocean. Lucky for HaiRoa, who had grown up with the sea, he had never been seasick.
He found the right bay, checking the numbers painted on the deck and parked the pallet, shutting down the anti-grav and placed the PaDD down on top of it. The next one could carry on where he had left off. Exiting the compartment, he made a mental note of the number on the door, so as to pass that on and headed back to the central lift shafts.
....Seven hours since the Scorpio had dropped them off. Calliope had her cadet cruise on the same ship and the Operations chief had asked for her assignment after graduation. Still, she felt like the kid who needed to prove herself. Lt. Franks seemed especially unconcerned about this ion storm being much of an issue, so she felt she just had to believe he was right, even while she watched her mug of hot tea rattle around on the side console and splash from one side of the lip to the other. She snatched it up to quick sip some off the top in an effort to solve two problems at once— keeping it from spilling over and trying to stay warm.
Besides, she needed to finish it off before the first shift change she had planned put her below working on inventory. Malmrose was just down the hall in the crew cabins, getting the nap he was ordered to take so he'd be able to relieve her when she rotated for HaiRoa in the supply rooms.
She was mid slurp when some buzzing and flashing started up, illuminating a row of lights like a string of oversized Christmas bulbs. Calliope still couldn't believe this place was comprised of tech so out of date they used literal bulbs! She looked at the error code readings to try to make heads or tails of them, but had to do some cross referencing since the computer was just puking out strings of characters. There was more than a small chance the computer was just blowing raspberries.
"Huh." She squinted and set the half-full cup of tea back down. "Looks like a proximity alert. More than likely just some space debris, I guess. Let's call up the sensors for a closer look." She was talking to herself and humming lightly, partly to keep everything feeling light. Her colony had a stormy season when she was growing up and she couldn't help but recall the wind rattling the windows and the nightmares that brought on as a child. Back then, she'd tried to drown it out with the clock radio, but the storm buffeted the airwaves as badly as the sides of their prefab home.
And now this ion storm was fuzzing up the sensors, making imaging grainy and details indecipherable. She took the best three readings and pulled out her tricorder. "Probably can do better with a tricoder than with this old computer..." Calliope decided, using one of Rowle's jiggered hook ups to interface the tricorder with the sensors via cable. When she got it to find the sensor recording banks, she started a recompile of the hashed images.
It went over them in passes, filtering out the noise and adding other levels of information like approximate size and distance. At first Calliope squinted, as if by concentrating she could make the data any clearer. But as the image clarified and the computer added engine signature resonance to the sensor readings, Calliope's eyes grew huge.
She'd only ever identified one of those on an Academy exam, but she'd hoped to never actually run into one—
HaiRoa was just about to step on to one for the cargo lifts to go up to Deck Two when a warning buzzer sounded. Poking his head back into the corridor he looked left and right, to his left the panel on the Outpost's sole docking hatch and air lock was illuminated and an orange strobe light above the internal hatch was flashing.
He walked down towards it. There was some message in red flashing on the screen. As he got closer, he could read it WARNING DOCKING HATCH EXTERNAL SEAL FAILURE!
"What the...!?" He tapped his commbadge =^=HaiRoa to Zahn. Ensign, are you getting an alarm from the docking hatch? Looks like the storm blew out the outer seal =^=
=^= That's not the storm!=^= Calliope shouted over the comm, the static not masking the panic in the young woman's voice. =^= I'm reading a Breen scoutship! We're about to be boarded! =^=
=^= A what?! Breen? No way... =^= HaiRoa had heard the anxiety in her voice =^= Are you sure Ensign? It's not a sensor glitch or one of our shuttles? =^= What the hell would a Breen ship be doing here? He racked his mind, their territory was not that far away, But they would have had to skirt around the Ferengi to get here... Why though? He tapped the panel, trying to find the video feed from the outer door.
=^=HaiRo-- =^= the comms crackled, breaking apart the Ensign's urgent voice. =^=Get out of the corrid--There's -- good --ance --don't kno- -e're even aboard. --get -- and -meet- - at -- th-- en.=^=
He tapped his commbadge but just got a hiss of static. He managed to get the panel controls figured out, a small viewscreen came to life. A small, grainy, black and white image flashed up, distorted and full of hash, but the profile was unmistakable, the helmet with distinctive snout of a Breen!
"Awww shit!" Lights began blinking on the panel. They were trying to hotwire the door. HaiRoa scanned the panel, found the lock controls and stabbed the button several times with his finger. Nothing happened!
"Dammit!" His hand dropped to his hip, but there was no weapon there. He turned and ran, sprinting down the corridor heading for the elevator shaft. He was nearly there when the alarm buzzer changed tone, there was a heavy clunking noise and the rattle of the inner hatch starting to raise.
He ducked into the lift recess and chanced a look back. The door was moving upwards, but slowly. If he took the open cargo elevator the odds were they would hear it running. Across the corridor was a hatch way to a ladder, but did he have time to cross over, open the hatch, scramble in and close it before the door was fully raised?
He risked it. Rushing over he grabbed the wheel and went to spin the hatch open, except it was stuck! "Oh come on!"
He gripped it tightly with both hands and heaved upwards, he strained for a second then it came free and spun open. he clambered through and pulled it shut behind him, careful not to let it clang closed. He gave the wheel a quick spin to lock the hatch and waited, listening.
He could not hear anything through the door, glancing up and down the dimly lit tube he decided he needed to get back up to the control deck as soon as he could. Zahn had said something about meeting up, but her transmission had been broken up. He would try her last location first, stopping on Deck two to find Rowle on the way.
He began climbing, trying desperately not to let his boots clatter on the rungs.
"HaiRoa? Chief?" She kept repeating. "Do you read? Get out of the Corridor! Get Rowle and meet us on deck four. Deck four." She waited, but the only thing on comms was the ion storm.
Flipping switches and banging code into mechanical console keys, Calliope decisively moved to minimize power and began a computer lock out and systems shut down. The reactor would run low-power and maintain the environmental controls but everything would appear automated and unmanned. As she finished up she grabbed all her gear and rolled the cable adapters into her pockets.
The Scorpio wouldn't be back for four days! And no matter how many times she ran the inventory in her head, her team was unarmed and had no means of escape. She grabbed her gloves and shoved them inside her coat before zippering it up, then headed over to the sleeper cabin.
When she left to rouse Malmrose, all she forgot was her remaining hot tea.
HaiRoa went up the ladder as fast as he could, climbing quickly up the tube.
What the hell were the Breen doing here? he wondered. Probably to steal whatever they could get their thieving hands on! Which will include us if they find us!
He passed Decks Four and Three and reached Two. He cautiously cracked the hatch and listened. Hearing nothing beyond the noise of the storm he swung it open and climbed out. He crossed over to the open elevator shaft and risked a quick peep over the edge. Three decks below he could see the cargo elevator still in place.
He listened again, perhaps he heard that mechanical blaring noise the Breen made, but he was not sure. The Engineering Bay was down the corridor and left, he ran off that way.
Opening the door he found Rowle bent over an electroplating bath, hauling out one of the scrubber units. The technician turned around as he entered.
'Hey Bosun, time to change over already?" he asked with a smile. "This one's etched and ready to re-plate, I was-"
"Didn't you hear Zahn? " HaiRoa interrupted him "We've been boarded, by the Breen!"
"Boarded? Breen? You're joking right?" Rowle asked, looking confused.
"No I'm not!! We need to get this shut down and out of here immediately!"
"But we're not done.."
"Now!" HaiRoa repeated and snatched the scrubber from him, he turned to place the unit down with the others. "Get everything shut down now!"
"But.."
"C'mon, don't argue, shut it all down and fast!"
Rowle shrugged and started the shut down procedures while HaiRoa grabbed up the tools and stuffed them back into the tool boxes.
Placing the box under one of the tanks, he went back to the door, cracked it and listened. Still nothing. He stuck his head out and scanned the corridor, it was empty.
He stayed there until Rowle was done and joined him. One of the tanks was still running.
"What about that one?"
"It's the re-plating cycle, it's almost finished, three minutes left. It takes longer than that to cancel the process and shut it down... "Rowles replied.
HaiRoa glanced at the tank and back to the technician. He nodded. "Ok, have to risk it, lets go."
"Where to?"
"Back to the ladder and then up to One to find Zahn and Malmrose!" HaiRoa led the way. "And keep the noise down!"
They reached the elevator shaft and listened. Again there was maybe the noise of a Breen from below but it was hard to tell.
The lights suddenly dimmed down and the soft rushing noise from the air vents slowed down.
"That's the power getting reduced!" HaiRoa commented. "Hopefully that was Zahn. C' mon!" HaiRoa ushered Rowle into the ladder tube and they started climbing.
"Malmrose! Get up!" Calliope burst into the cabin and shook him from the hammock he had strung, flipping the net and pulling him down.
He woke up between the hammock and the floor just in time to catch himself from the fall, landing in his socks. "What, what is it?"
Any other time, Calliope might have commented on Jack's extreme bedhead of hair shooting up on one side. But there was no time for that. "Gather everything and stow it! Stow it out of sight. All the bedding, the bags, everything." She was snatching up ready made meals and water to take along in four shoulder bags, wearing two of them cross body herself and making up two more for Malmrose.
While blinking sleep from his eyes, Malmrose unstrung his hammock, gathered the sleeping bag he was no longer using, and began rolling it up. "Some kind of surprise inspection?" Was the Ensign testing them? Give these new officers one ounce of authority and they had to flex on everyone.
"There's a Breen scout ship that just docked."
"...Breen?"
"Probably looking for an easy supply raid. Maybe we can hide out until they look around and take what they want and go. And thanks to the storm, comms are out. I can't get a message to the Scorpio. So I put the station into low power. The Breen might not even think to check for anyone."
Malmrose was suddenly more awake than before, grabbing up all the rolls and checking around, finally settling on a panel he could pull off the wall and stack everything inside.
"Hide and wait them out? Let them raid? That's your plan, Ensign?"
"You want to fight some Breen off using welding wands?"
"Not especially."
"Then let's get down to deck four. Hopefully HaiRoa and Rowle will be there waiting."
"Just crack the hatch a little," HaiRoa called up to Rowle. "See if you hear anything before we open it."
The technician did as instructed, opening the hatch and pressing his ear to the gap. He looked down and shook his head 'Nothing'.
"Ok lets get out and find the others."
They clambered out, and quickly moved to the control compartment, only to find it empty and the panels in standby. "Damn! Check the rest area."
They left, missing the still steaming mug on the desk.
The crew rest area was deserted as well, although HaiRoa did notice their packs and provisions were gone.
"Where are they?" Rowle asked.
"I don't know, last comm I had from her was all broken up," HaiRoa replied. "But we can't stay here! " He led the way back to the ladder.
As they were getting in, there was a whirring noise from the cargo lift shaft across the corridor.
"Shit! They're coming up! Move!" HaiRoa urged Rowle
The pair scrambled in through the hatch, HaiRoa swinging it shut behind him but stopping the door at the last moment before it could clang into the frame. He closed it gently and gave the wheel one quick turn just to engage the lock rather than spinning it fully closed.
He looked down at Rowle below him on the ladder. "Go!" he mouthed silently and they began descending again, moving as fast and as quietly as they could.
Calliope kept walking the circuit of deck four, trying to stay as quiet as she could.
"Ensign, they're not here." Malmrose told her about the 3rd time around the corridor loop.
She sighed. Only one deck below was where the Breen had docked. In her reasoning the Breen would begin by heading up to the control room and down to the reactor room. It was pretty much everyone's standard procedure when securing a place you'd boarded. So she'd picked somewhere central for regrouping.
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know!" She snapped.
"Officers aren't supposed to say that." Malmorose was trying not to look shaken, but his faith in the younger woman was thin at best. "They probably went back up to the control room to find us!"
"Yeah, probably." Calliope adjusted her scarf. "Let's take the tube back up."
Jack Malmrose already had the cover off of the next Jeffrey's tube before she'd finished directing him to. He started to stick his head inside to begin the climb, but jumped back. "Someone's coming down!" He hissed.
Calliope motioned for him to take cover in the next alcove, as she detached a large service wrench from a kit on the wall. With her heart hammering in her ears, she was poised to drop it over whoever came through.
HaiRoa had been counting off the decks as they descended, they had just passed three when he felt a tap on his boot, he looked down. Below him Rowle had stopped and when he saw he HaiRoa's attention, he pointed down and mouthed up "The hatch is open"
HaiRoa leaned out and looked down past the Technician, sure enough, about nine feet below them the hatch was open.
"Damn!" he muttered silently and wracked his mind on what to do. This was not the ladder he had used to ascend from Deck Five on, that was on the other side of the Deck One Control room from this one. He therefore did not know if the hatch had already been left open from whenever the Outpost had last been visited, or if the Breen had found them and just opened it now.
What were they going to do?
