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» LCARS » Newspaper: The Federation Tribune » Newspaper Archives » 2005 » October 2005 » Back to the Calhoun, part 3, by Rob Versteegt.
 | Back to the Calhoun, part 3, by Rob Versteegt. |  |
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Summary: Jeff Jalando has been sent back in time to the launch of the USS Calhoun. Temporal agents suspected him from destroying the Calhoun just after launch, but so far, he hadn't done anything to destroy the first working Transwarp vessel. Now though, the Calhoun itself runs into trouble, since it is stuck in transwarp, and there are several systems in Engineering about to blow up. . . will Jalando save the day, or only speed up the Calhoun's destruction? Find out, in:
Part 3 of "Back to the Calhoun".
Jalando was running like a madman, trying to get to Engineering. He had to get there soon: from there, he would be able to stop whatever systems were threatening to blow up. Oh sure, the Calhoun's engineering department would probably have things under control. . . but still, armed with the knowledge that the Calhoun could be destroyed at any moment, - and that he was thought to be responsible for its destruction. No, he had to make sure the Calhoun would not be destroyed.
When he entered Engineering, there were people working everywhere. Immediately, Jalando decided he would help in. . . whatever these people were doing. He knew how the transwarpdrive worked, he knew how to repair broken conduits. . . he could be a valuable asset to this Engineering crew. Or at least, he hoped he would.
After a little while of working, repairing, rerouting power and trying to stop the power from leaking away, a voice filled the room: it was ACEO Harris, talking to CEO Baugh. "Sir, I've got the by-pass system ready in two minutes and fifteen seconds. Is there anything we need to do between now and then?" The man asked, before the computer chimed in.
<>By-pass system online in two minutes.<> The computer now said, telling everyone that time was running out.
But before anyone could answer, Engineering, and probably the rest of the ship, shook hard. People started falling down, hitting heads, losing consciousness. . . or at least, that was what seemed to happen to the ACEO. Mr. Harris, with blood pouring from an open wound, lay there, unconscious, on the floor.
Few Engineering people were still on their feet, but Jalando was one of them. So was the CEO. Their priority now was to make the Calhoun stable again. . . to make sure that the powersurges which were about to happen -as Jalando could see on the controls- would in fact *not* happen. In order for the Calhoun to be saved though, some things still had to be done. Jalando was working on making sure that the main power could be shut down. . . but that could, as everyone well knew, only be done by the lever in the corner of Engineering. . . and with this much power having to be shut down, in the condition the Calhoun was in now. . . well, that was pretty dangerous. And everyone knew that.
"That does it." Jalando reported, before turning towards Mr. Baugh, the CEO. "That lever has to be pulled. . . but. . ."
He didn't have to finish his sentence. . . the CEO knew the dangers, but he still walked towards that lever. One final look at the Engineering crew who were working in this section. . . and then. . . the lever was pulled. Again, shocks echoed through the Calhoun's Engineering, and again several crewmembers fell to the ground. Explosions were everywhere. . .
When Jalando opened his eyes, he looked at the CEO, who lay there, nearly buried by rubble. The ACEO was sitting next to him, only to stand up now. It was obvious: The CEO had lost his life, saying the ship.
"What's the news?" ACEO Harris now asked, his voice thick with emotions. How could it not be? After losing one's superior officer. . .
Another officer, who was standing near the ACEO, spoke up, giving him the reports. "We have minimal main power...next to none. It fails in thirty seconds. Auxiliary is standing by. Engineering is pretty bad. Two officers on their way to sickbay. Power relays shot to hell, override blew and we are nearly dead in the water."
Mr. Harris seemed to go through emotional turmoil. That was only logical: who wouldn't? Still, the man seemed to realise that orders had to be given. So he gave them. "Get me auxiliary power." The man said. "I want damage control to start me a list of what's affected, starting from top to bottom of the ship. Three, I need a report on those two engineers. Fourth, get me a medkit. Fifth, get this ship up and running. I'll be at the ship map. You have your orders."
Jalando merely nodded, and, like most of the Engineering crew, walked away. But he didn't stay in Engineering: The Engineering crew could manage things on their own now. No. . . Jalando would go somewhere else now. . . he would see how the status of the rest of the ship was now, at this point. . . maybe there was something else he could help with. Just to keep his mind from that last look CEO Baugh gave him. . . to think about something else than the death of this man.
But he didn't walk very far. Only a few minutes had passed, when he heard the voice of Ensign Harris through his commbadge. =/\=Attention crew of the Calhoun. For the next seven minutes, we are gonna get hit with massive power surges. Watch your stations and watch your levels. Engineering is going to Red Alert. Harris out.=/\=
Jalando sighed. He wanted to help these Engineering people. . . he wanted to make sure that the Calhoun would not be destroyed. But. . . he had already interfered. . . he had made it possible for the Calhoun to be saved, but in the process, he had been responsible for CEO Baugh's death.
No. He wouldn't go back to Engineering. Not now. He wasn't part of the Engineering crew anyway. He would go somewhere where he could find out what was happening, and what the consequences were of this emergency power being activated. . .
*****
He had gone to Sickbay. Not only because there he could see what this emergency power had done to people -since as a result of that, there seemed to be many injuries- but also because if these power surges Mr. Harris was talking about would strike Sickbay, there could be loss of life. . . and Jalando wanted to prevent that.
Sickbay it was. Well, that was also a good place to find out what had happened. Or at least, that was what Jalando discovered. There was a scientist lying here, who had been injured while one of the consoles exploded in his face. The man had told Jalando that the Calhoun had been pursued by several space-creatures, who seemed to be living in the transwarprealm. They seemed to have been attracted to the ship -or to Captain Vaun. . . the rumours about that were vague-, until a larger creature came along, and was going to ram the Calhoun. Dr. Bren had ordered all the power to go down, including the shields, so that this creature would not see the Calhoun as a threat anymore. However, Commander Main -who had been locked in his quarters for assaulting a child- had somehow overruled Mr. Logix, the STC, and had thereby raised the shields, protecting the Calhoun from the impact of this creature. It had worked. . . and if the Commander had not been there, the Calhoun would have been destroyed.
Jalando swallowed. If he had been in Commander Main's place, and Captain Kane would have ordered something Jalando had not liked. . . would he have overridden the consoles? He didn't know, and in fact, he hoped never to find out.
Now that Jalando knew what had happened, he decided it was time to pay Commander Main a visit. Could he perhaps be the saboteur who would destroy the Calhoun? Maybe. . . Before he would go there though, he would check on the Sickbay systems here. Just to make sure that no systems would shut down, and thus be unable to save patients.
"Doctor, what's your name?"
Jalando looked up from his work -he was checking some consoles for damage- and saw the EMH looking at a patient. "A name?" The EMH said, while he shook his head. "I don't have a name. . . EMH's done have a name, so I don't have one either. Now hold still, so that I can treat you, okay?"
But the patient didn't like this. "No doc. I won't be treated by some nameless doctor. That's like a. . . a nameless Captain commanding a ship! It's just not right!" The patient shook his head violently. Obviously the man was shaken up by what he had experienced during these explosions or whatever had caused him to be injured.
The EMH sighed. "Very well, I'll get a name." With that, the hologram turned to Jalando. "You there. Ensign. Think of a name."
Jalando's eyes opened wide. "Me?"
"No, the Easter bunny." The EMH replied. "Look man, this man needs treatment, and he doesn't let me treat him, if I don't have a name. So give me a name. . . any name. . . so that I can treat this man, and he'll live."
Jalando swallowed. Any name. . . countless names ran through his mind. "Uhm. . . Uh. . ." He started.
"Come on, I don't have all day!" The still-nameless EMH nearly shouted. "I need to treat this man *now*! Give me a name!"
"Uh. . . Zoe!" Jalando shouted out the first name which came up in his mind. It was a strange name. . . one not really fit for a hologram. But this EMH seemed to like it. "Sounds good." 'Zoe' told him. "Thank you Ensign, you might have just saved this man's life." With that, Zoe started working on treating these injuries.
Jalando frowned, and shook his head. "You're welcome." He muttered, before he looked around Sickbay again. There, on a biobed, he saw someone familiar. . . "Bill Janssens. . ." It was future-captain Janssens' brother. And he was unconscious! The blast must have knocked him out as well. "Excuse me nurse." Jalando said to a passing medical officer. "But. . . will Mr. Janssens there be alright?"
The nurse looked and him in a way which let Jalando know that there was something wrong. "Maybe." She simply said, and then looked down at Jalando's hand. "Ah. . . I see."
Jalando looked down at his hand as well. During the explosions in Engineering, he had cut his hand. Nothing to go to sickbay for, but still, this nurse seemed to have focussed her attention on that. A moment later though, Jalando saw why. There were all kinds of red spots surrounding the wounds. "Uhm. . . those spots. . ." Jalando started. "Is that a good sign?"
The nurse now shook her head. "It seems to be a virus." She told Jalando. "A manufactured virus, but a virus nonetheless. Dr. Bren has found that out, and went to the conference room, to report that we have a saboteur on board."
"Saboteur?" Jalando repeated. "How so?"
"This virus is, as I said, manufactured." The nurse told him. "It's not natural. Whoever created it, had the intention to kill the entire crew. . ." She swallowed. . . not surprisingly, since this was certainly some disturbing news. "Anyway, the virus works slowly, so it shouldn't affect you, or any of us, just yet. Maybe in a day or so. . . a few hours. . . then, if no treatment is being found, we'll start feeling the effects. But. . . not yet."
"Thank you nurse." Jalando said with a worried look on his face. "That's. . . good to know. Can I leave Sickbay in the meantime?" The success of his mission relied on him moving around the ship freely. Being confined in Sickbay would seriously hamper his freedom of movement.
The nurse looked at him as if he was crazy. "You're ill, Ensign. You should be in Sickbay."
But Jalando shook his head. "I need to repair several systems, before we can even start thinking about a cure." This wasn't really the truth, but he needed to get out of Sickbay. "I'll come back later. Anything I can. . . bring along for you then?"
The nurse sighed, and shook her head. "Very well then. But this goes against my better judgement. If you're out there, bring me canister B 32 from the storage area: Deck 10, section. . . 5, I think. It contains some medical equipment which we might need."
"Acknowledged." Jalando said in reply, and then nodded at the nurse, as he walked out of the Sickbay. ~Well, let's go to the Storage Room first then. . . ~ He figured.
When he got there though, it seemed as if someone already got there earlier. In front of him, stood STC, Mr. Logix. "Computer," The Android said, "open this door. Authorization Logix, four gamma seven theta six."
With that, a heavy, secured door was opened. Jalando could not yet see what was inside, but he would, later. He didn't want the STC to see him lurking around here: that might make the android suspicious. When Mr. Logix left though, Jalando quickly entered the room. . . only to see several grenades, canisters which seemed to contain the virus, Borg nanoprobes. . . this wasn't a storage room, it was an armoury!
But behind all of that, another door opened. A man stepped in. . . a rather familiar man. A man who didn't belong on the Calhoun. . . that much was certain. "What?" Jalando nearly shouted out. "You?"
To be continued.
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