A Post By Major Alira Graystone
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ON
The Bridge of the John Kelly was silent as Ali stepped out from the turbolift. Final checks were made hours ago and therefore the bridge was empty. She walked slowly, inspecting each station as she went. The fact that one day, each of these stations would be requesting orders from her was a slightly nerve racking thought. She noted the pristine look of the small bridge, and hoped that it would always remain this way.
She finally made her way to the Center Chair, and stood there in awe for more than a minute. All the thoughts of command went rushing through her head, being the ultimate decider of everything in the field, making life and death decisions, when suddenly the memory of her bridge officer's test flashed before her eyes.
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Smoke filled the bridge as Ali made her way from the turbolift. The Galaxy class starship was slowly falling into the planets atmosphere while her Diligent class escort tried her best to fend off the Warbirds. Bodies covered the floor as Ali attempted to find the Commodore, trying to see through the ever expanding smoke. "Computer, vent the smoke from the Bridge, and get the fire suppression systems online!" She yelled. The computer was slow to respond, but the smoke slowly began to escape the bridge, leaving a grim scene. Either by trauma or asphyxiation, the entire bridge crew was dead. What felt like a lightning bolt shot up her spine as she came to the conclusion that she was now the highest ranking officer on board. She froze, trying to remember her training, it had been a while since she did a stint in the gamma shift center chair. Taking a deep breath she hit her comm badge =/="Emergency medical teams to the Bridge. Bravo shift Bridge officers, report to the Bridge at once."=/= Grimacing slightly she stepped over the body of the dead Commodore to take a seat in the center chair. She re-routed helm controls temporarily to her console as she tried to bring the ship out of its deadly fall.
=/="Bridge to Engineering. Impulse engines are not responding and we're not going to be able to pull out of the planets gravity field on thrusters alone."=/=
It took the ranking Engineering officer a few moments to respond. <i>"This is Lieutenant Brooks. Impulse engines on the stardrive section are shot. Impulse engines on the saucer section however are functioning at 40% power, we had to re-route a number of power relays to activate them, but we got it done."</i>
"Understood, is there any way to activate the stardrive impulse engines? The ship is too far into the gravity field to break free without them, especially with the others only on 40%." She responded as she transferred control back to the helm, as the bravo shift officers were now present. She looked towards the new acting XO, Lieutenant Commander Moore "Ed the Commodore is dead, along with everyone that outranks us. We're falling into the planet's atmosphere and we may not have enough power to break free..."
Before he could respond, the Lieutenant Brooks interrupted <i>"Major, theres no way to get those engines online, the EPS conduits are shot. The only other option would be to try a quick warp jump. The field is barely stable, but its better than doing nothing."</i>
Ali turned back to Ed, a look of horror on her face. He returned the same look, both of them totally at a loss. She was forcing herself to tune out the fears and negative emotions that were growing around the ship. She knew what had to be done, she didn't like it, but its what had to be done. Ali turned to the science officer "Ensign Tooms, how long before we reach terminal depth for the saucer section?"
The Ensign looked confused by the Major's question.
Before he could make a stupid reply, she explained "If we separate the saucer, how long will it take before the impulse engines cannot break us free?"
He understood what she asked this time "We would have maybe two minutes at max."
Ali looked towards Ed but before she could speak he said it for her "Theres not enough time to get everyone out. Some would be left behind."
She now knew what the burden of command was about. She decided to let everyone know what was going on =/="All hands, this is Major Graystone. We will begin an evacuation to the saucer section immediately, however I feel it is your right to know that we will not be able to get everyone out. Those of you in the stardrive section, you have two minutes to make it to the saucer section. We will use transporters and every auxiliary craft possible to extract everyone. Good luck to you all."=/= She nodded towards the Ops officer, who began the separation sequence.
After just a little over a minute, Alira gave the authorization to separate the saucer. The time told was going to be two minutes, however the ship began picking up speed at an unexpected rate, not to mention the Diligent class vessel that was still fending off they're enemies, was losing ground. She would have to warp soon if she did not receive some sort of aid, leaving the rest of Alira's vessel pretty much defenseless. With a heavy heart, and a confirmation that everything was go for separation Alira quietly said "Initiate saucer separation." The saucer popped off of the stardrive section with precision, and slowly began to move away from the planet. The stardrive section continued its decent towards the planet, with the hope that maybe somebody would survive the crash.
Before she could give the order to assist in the fight, everyone froze. A tall man, sporting four pips on his collar came out of the Captain's ready room clapping his hands slowly. "Well done Alira" He said "You made the decision no one wanted to make. Save as many as possible, instead of losing everyone. Just remember that one day you may have to make one of these decisions in a real scenario, and hesitation can cost lives. Good luck Major."
The bridge scene faded, leaving only the emptiness of the holodeck. Captain Lee smiled and exited, leaving Ali to her thoughts.
==========
Slowly she sat down in the center chair, jerking herself from her flashback. She took in the full experience of sitting in her chair for the first time...Her chair.
END
Location:
Timeline:
Tag:
ON
The Bridge of the John Kelly was silent as Ali stepped out from the turbolift. Final checks were made hours ago and therefore the bridge was empty. She walked slowly, inspecting each station as she went. The fact that one day, each of these stations would be requesting orders from her was a slightly nerve racking thought. She noted the pristine look of the small bridge, and hoped that it would always remain this way.
She finally made her way to the Center Chair, and stood there in awe for more than a minute. All the thoughts of command went rushing through her head, being the ultimate decider of everything in the field, making life and death decisions, when suddenly the memory of her bridge officer's test flashed before her eyes.
==========
Smoke filled the bridge as Ali made her way from the turbolift. The Galaxy class starship was slowly falling into the planets atmosphere while her Diligent class escort tried her best to fend off the Warbirds. Bodies covered the floor as Ali attempted to find the Commodore, trying to see through the ever expanding smoke. "Computer, vent the smoke from the Bridge, and get the fire suppression systems online!" She yelled. The computer was slow to respond, but the smoke slowly began to escape the bridge, leaving a grim scene. Either by trauma or asphyxiation, the entire bridge crew was dead. What felt like a lightning bolt shot up her spine as she came to the conclusion that she was now the highest ranking officer on board. She froze, trying to remember her training, it had been a while since she did a stint in the gamma shift center chair. Taking a deep breath she hit her comm badge =/="Emergency medical teams to the Bridge. Bravo shift Bridge officers, report to the Bridge at once."=/= Grimacing slightly she stepped over the body of the dead Commodore to take a seat in the center chair. She re-routed helm controls temporarily to her console as she tried to bring the ship out of its deadly fall.
=/="Bridge to Engineering. Impulse engines are not responding and we're not going to be able to pull out of the planets gravity field on thrusters alone."=/=
It took the ranking Engineering officer a few moments to respond. <i>"This is Lieutenant Brooks. Impulse engines on the stardrive section are shot. Impulse engines on the saucer section however are functioning at 40% power, we had to re-route a number of power relays to activate them, but we got it done."</i>
"Understood, is there any way to activate the stardrive impulse engines? The ship is too far into the gravity field to break free without them, especially with the others only on 40%." She responded as she transferred control back to the helm, as the bravo shift officers were now present. She looked towards the new acting XO, Lieutenant Commander Moore "Ed the Commodore is dead, along with everyone that outranks us. We're falling into the planet's atmosphere and we may not have enough power to break free..."
Before he could respond, the Lieutenant Brooks interrupted <i>"Major, theres no way to get those engines online, the EPS conduits are shot. The only other option would be to try a quick warp jump. The field is barely stable, but its better than doing nothing."</i>
Ali turned back to Ed, a look of horror on her face. He returned the same look, both of them totally at a loss. She was forcing herself to tune out the fears and negative emotions that were growing around the ship. She knew what had to be done, she didn't like it, but its what had to be done. Ali turned to the science officer "Ensign Tooms, how long before we reach terminal depth for the saucer section?"
The Ensign looked confused by the Major's question.
Before he could make a stupid reply, she explained "If we separate the saucer, how long will it take before the impulse engines cannot break us free?"
He understood what she asked this time "We would have maybe two minutes at max."
Ali looked towards Ed but before she could speak he said it for her "Theres not enough time to get everyone out. Some would be left behind."
She now knew what the burden of command was about. She decided to let everyone know what was going on =/="All hands, this is Major Graystone. We will begin an evacuation to the saucer section immediately, however I feel it is your right to know that we will not be able to get everyone out. Those of you in the stardrive section, you have two minutes to make it to the saucer section. We will use transporters and every auxiliary craft possible to extract everyone. Good luck to you all."=/= She nodded towards the Ops officer, who began the separation sequence.
After just a little over a minute, Alira gave the authorization to separate the saucer. The time told was going to be two minutes, however the ship began picking up speed at an unexpected rate, not to mention the Diligent class vessel that was still fending off they're enemies, was losing ground. She would have to warp soon if she did not receive some sort of aid, leaving the rest of Alira's vessel pretty much defenseless. With a heavy heart, and a confirmation that everything was go for separation Alira quietly said "Initiate saucer separation." The saucer popped off of the stardrive section with precision, and slowly began to move away from the planet. The stardrive section continued its decent towards the planet, with the hope that maybe somebody would survive the crash.
Before she could give the order to assist in the fight, everyone froze. A tall man, sporting four pips on his collar came out of the Captain's ready room clapping his hands slowly. "Well done Alira" He said "You made the decision no one wanted to make. Save as many as possible, instead of losing everyone. Just remember that one day you may have to make one of these decisions in a real scenario, and hesitation can cost lives. Good luck Major."
The bridge scene faded, leaving only the emptiness of the holodeck. Captain Lee smiled and exited, leaving Ali to her thoughts.
==========
Slowly she sat down in the center chair, jerking herself from her flashback. She took in the full experience of sitting in her chair for the first time...Her chair.
END