Aftermath

Posted on Thu Mar 25th, 2021 @ 5:28am by Lieutenant Commander Ryssa Toric & Lieutenant Honoka Kousaka & Captain Ian West

1,258 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Upon Wings Anew
Location: USS Hyperion, Drydock in orbit of Mars

The red ball of Mars spun below the floating orbital slips that made up Utopia Planitia shipyards. Captain Ian West stood in the observation lounge of one of those slips and waited for the briefing with Captain Theisman. Dominating the majority of his view was the sleek starship that was the newest ship to bear the name Hyperion, and hopefully she would fare better than her predecessor. Ian knew that Theisman was being hard nosed to get out and search for his former command, and who could blame him? But there were some concerns and Ian's presence was to sort out everything. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to do what he had been told to expect to do. The older captain was a few minutes late, which wasn't a problem, but Ian was about to comm the Hyperion when the drydock scafolding structure shook. From the viewport, Ian could see the flaming fireball of an internal explosion at the Hyperion's airlock that connected the ship to the drydock and immediately alarms rang out.

"This is Captain Ian West to Hyperion, status report!" he snapped.

[Hyperion]

The ship shook with the force of the explosion. The umbilical was sealed while crew on both ends raced to put out the fire.

On the bridge, Ryssa was giving orders and taking damage reports. Where was the captain? She knew he was on his way to a meeting, but didn't know if he'd left the ship or not. She turned to a yeoman. "Locate Captain Theisman." She had to keep her focus on the ship and its crew.

She heard the message and paused. "This is Lieutenant Commander Ryssa Toric. With all due respect, sir, I'm a bit busy to give you a damage report except to say we're working on it."

"Understood," Ian said as he started moving. Pausing by the computer panel in the observation room, he typed in a query as he spoke. "Can you get a DC team to your starboard airlock? I'm on my way with a team from the shipyard." Knowing where the response team was, he hurried out into the corridor and started towards the Endeavour airlock.

"Already en route, sir. I believe both ends of the umbilical have been sealed and fire suppression activated." She turned to ops. "Any signs of life there?"

The ops officer shook her head. "No ma'am, but the sensors in there are most likely damaged by the explosion or the fire," she said.

Ian met the response team and made good time to the Hyperion's docking port. The emergency doors had sealed shut, but Ian could see movement inside. "Open those doors and let's get those people out of there!" he snapped. Tapping his commbadge again, he hailed the Hyperion. "Hyperion, we need DC teams to fight this fire manually and medics standing by. We're coming through."

"Aye, sir," Ryssa said. "On their way." She sent an order to sickbay to send a med team to the umbilical. The team to help put out the fire should already be working from the Hyperion's side.

"Engineering to bridge" Came the sound of the Chief Engineer Lieutenant Kousaka. "Damage control teams are en route, however we've taken quite a bit of damage"

Ryssa continued to organize repair and relief efforts, all the while worrying about the captain and those who were trapped.

Ordering his team to break through the airlock doors, Ian led his team into the inferno that had once been the Hyperion's airlock and connection to the drydock scaffolding. There were several people in a sheltered alcove, so while the DC teams took care of the fire Ian led the medics over. Kneeling, he winced as he recognized Captain Theisman. Taking his vitals, Ian nodded as he realized that Theisman was still alive. Backing up to let the medics in, he turned towards where the DC teams were starting to get the fires under control.

"Sir, give us another 15 minutes and we'll have the fires out," the office in charge of the team reported.

"Very well, get them under control and get the wounded to station infirmary ASAP," Ian ordered as he looked around and wondered where the Hyperion senior officer was before he picked Theisman up and carried him towards the Hyperion's airlock.

Ryssa was standing on the Hyperion side of the umbilical, waiting with medical. As soon as the team was able to get through the security lock she sent in the team and waited to help with triage.

Carrying Theisman, Ian staggered through the smoke and onto the Hyperion. Coughing, he managed to avoid dropping the older captain and propped up against the bulkhead. Waving the medics away, he motioned for them to tend to Theisman instead. "Bloody hell," he finally managed.

Ryssa didn't want to get in the way of the medics, so she went over to Ian. "Do you know what happened?"

"Some form of explosion," Ian answered as he stood and faced the commander. "From what I saw, it was internal."

"Inside the umbilical?" Ryssa shook her head, not sure what to make of it. Ï'll ask security to start an investigation on our end and work with the station."

"Under your own authority, I'd like to ask you to keep this as an internal investigation for now," Ian said. "Your chief of security and chief engineer should work together on the investigation. I'll contact Starfleet Command and let them know of the situation, but from what I understand the Hyperion was supposed to launch by the end of the week. Post extra guards from your ship board compliment and keep the repair team internal. Until we know more about this situation, I'm going to declare this as an act of possible terrorism pending outcome of the investigation."

She nodded as he spoke. Yes, there would need to be an investigation. Yes, they were to leave by the end of the week. Yes, she would post extra guards. She would expand the investigation to include the computer and its logs. "I'll restrict crew to the ship for now, until you tell me it's safe to let them roam the station. I need to find out if someone on the ship was involved."

"At this time, I think it's best to suggest that no one leave the Hyperion, or the drydock," Ian said with a nod. "Not until we find out who did this and why. I'll inform Starfleet Command of the situation and begin the investigation on the drydock."

Again, she nodded. "May I ask why you were meeting with Captain Theisman?"

Ian coughed one final time to clear his lungs before he finally stood upright and turned squarely towards the commander. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he answered. "We were going to discuss a number of situations in the Romulan Empire and a few ideas for the Hyperion," he answered. "The rest of the conversation would have to be behind closed doors, I'm afraid."

She wondered about the timing of the meeting, but this was not the place for that conversation. "Understood. As the Hyperion's first officer, I'd like to speak with you later, after I know how Captain Theisman is doing."

"Understood," Ian said with a nod. "I'll schedule a meeting with you in one hour, if that's acceptable."

Ryssa mentally ran through any appointments she had that day and nodded. "One hour is fine. I'll be on the bridge."

____
OFF

Captain Ian West
Starfleet Officer

Lieutenant Commander Ryssa Toric
Executive Officer
USS Hyperion

Lieutenant Honoka Kousaka
Chief Engineer
USS Hyperion

 

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