Respite

Posted on Thu Aug 25th, 2016 @ 7:56am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale

Elijah had the Crew on Repairs, it didn't matter if you were an Engineer or a Yeoman, you were assigned to the Chief Engineer. The Captain had Called Cor and Bertand to Engineering for an assessment of Damage and repairs.

The Captain met his Officers in the Engine Room. It was a mess, with bulkhead damaged and sparks.

"Bloody hell." He said looking round.

It was actually worse then that but the bulk of the damage wasn't visible from the standard walkways. Some areas were still cordoned off as a 'Radiation Hazard' and it was suggested that any who were working with Cordale on anything more serious than simple repairs were to wear protective gear.

Though, it was a peculiar tweak of the Thux that they could actually withstand exposure to radiation better than a baseline human. Nothing amazing, but it allowed him to work in these hazardous areas without protective gear. At least, for the moment. If the situation didn't improve, even he would be reaching for a suit soon.

He joined the Captain and the Commander, and gave a look around, "Yeah, it's not much but you'd be surprised how much actually still works. We're re-routing power through most of the ship to ensure vital systems stay powered. There's almost a full six seconds of latency between power request and power delivery, most minor systems are better off turned off, and we're a stone's throw away from a fire or another leak. Though, according to Mickey we're fine so... I dunno, something about barn doors. Whatever the hell a 'Barn' is." a pause, "We're good now, for very optimistic definitions of 'Good', and as long as we don't encounter any issues on the way to a nice star dock, best estimate I have on a full repair..." and at this the Thux looked at the scene before him.

"Three weeks?"

Bertrand was just staring into face ahead of him. He started as the Thux named his figure.

"Huh? Oh... er ... yes.. that sounds... yeah..." he mumbled of towards the end. He glanced down at the PADD in his hand trying to remember what he was holding it for. The title snapped him back. "Casualty reports, sir. We took heavy losses. Medical avoided most of the damage but we are pressed with the number of injured. What with crew doubling on repairs, medical aide and their own rosters... We can function, but we are going to need to give people some serious down time when we get back. Three weeks might just be enough."

"Good news is, once we left the Golum expanse the enemy seemed to loose interest in us. I am not sure if their ships only function in the expanse, or they felt they had driven us off sufficiently. They went back and made short work of Mickey's warning bouys though."

"Those Ships, they weren't familiar." Elijah commented to the two of them. "But they were using a standard Cruiser and two Escort formation." He didn't like this one bit. "They knew the territory and we didn't know a damn thing about them."

"Well, standard formations means they either have military training or they at least know a thing or two about posturing. Once we left their territory they probably didn't feel the need to follow. Either that, or they didn't want to risk following us out of their home field into whatever ambush we had planned outside the expanse. Man, it would have been nice to have an ambush waiting." Cor said while scratching the back of his neck, under his collar. "No down time for this Thux. I've got one hand left and three hands worth of work. We found two of our missing, in the heaviest of radiation exposure areas. They might not make it." a pause, "Sent them to Medical with Emerson. Everyone else is hurting but not hurting enough for time off."

"Truth be told, we'll be drilling for more midnight oil to burn."

"I'm free to help if you need me Cor." The Captain said with a nod to his Engineer. "We will get ourselves back to reasonable condition even if it kills us."

"Being dead won't help anyone, but I get where you're coming from. Honestly, I may take you up on that offer, boss... but right now, I think the crew of the ship needs to see you out and about rather than up to your wrists in gel fixing chips. Sure, I mean two more hands would help... but it'd go miles for the morale to see the Captain." Cordale said with a smirk. "If I need help, more than I got, believe me I'll yell."

Elijah nodded. Understood, thanks Cor."

Bert jerked awake again, "Yes... Security is still sweeping sections of ship as we regain access to them. Port Section 32 is still cut of by hull breaches so we don't know if anyone is in there. Once we are done, I'll assign them to medical and engineering support. I think we can stand down from yellow alert now though."

"Agreed, the XO is still recuperating herself." The Captain nodded to the two of them. "I am relying n both of you to keep the Crew active and supporting the..."

The Captain waved his hand vaguely to take in everything around them.

"The?" Bert asked, not quite paying attention. "Oh, yes the ..." he copied the hand wave equally unable to put it all into words, "... ship ... and stuff. Aye, sir."