Making Mines

Posted on 31 Jul 2024 @ 10:17pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Ensign Mimi & Ensign Mackenzie Laren & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin

3,050 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Torpedo Launching System; Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 06, 0020 hrs

[ON]

Deck 4, Torpedo Launching Room

It had already been a longer shift that anyone had wanted it to be. Saelihn often muttered internally that she wished potential threats to the ship would only attack between 0900 and 1700 but sadly none were ever that considerate.

Even now as three Klingon ships advanced on the both Galileo's all Saelihn could think about was how the Gal-A would survive given their older technology. Looking up her thoughts compounded even further as the first class 9 probe came up from the floor looking innocent enough in its stationary form.

"I hope this works." Saelihn commented to Mimi as her eyes focussed on the probe.

"There is a lot that can wrong with an idea like this." Mimi replied. "From it not working, to us blowing the ship up ourselves." She quickly clarified, while in the heat of the moment this had sounded like a good idea the more she thought about it the more crazy it sounded.

"We'll just need to make sure we are careful." Saelihn replied as the probe moved onto the grav-carrier and she began to bring up the second. "I like my body the way it is." she joked a little to ease the tension.

"Very careful, this is the easiest part." Mimi said as she pulled the second grav carrier into position to hold the next probe. "Pulling the warp core out of a shuttle and... jury rigging I think is the term, into a probe casing...... very crazy."

"Tell me about it." Saelihn replied as now both grav-carriers were loaded. "Sometimes a crazy idea is just what you need, I doubt the Klingon's would expect anything like this so hopefully we catch them off guard." she gestured to the door. "Let's get these down to the shuttlebay."


Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay

The interior of the Nova-class' compact yet expansive hangar was pristine and tidy. No stray toolkits or FOD could be spotted on the glossy tarmac and the chamber was currently devoid of all sentient life. A single Type 6 shuttlecraft - Virginia - was present in the middle of the bay atop the large service elevator. The antiquated support craft's silver outer hull was immaculately clean and its registry displayed within the Galileo livery accented its angular curves. Out of sight below the main launch and recovery platform was Virginia's sister shuttle, Livia, which was an identical copy of the other currently resting in the designated storage area.

T'Lin arrived in the shuttle bay. She had briefly heard about utilizing the two craft in an attempt to disrupt space or even to lure the Klingons close enough to damage them. "As pristine as this craft is, it will fool no one."

"If I'd have known we'd be sending these shuttles out to be destroyed, I wouldn't have wasted time buffing them." Came a heavy Bajoran accent entering the shuttlebay.

At this moment, Mackenzie Laren arrived in shuttlebay. If Mack had it her way, she would have brought at least two more engineers with her to assist with this task, but Sera could not spare any, so she would have to make do with just herself.

Upon entering the shuttlebay, sitting in the center of the bay lay the gleaming results of upwards of three hours' work: The shuttle Virginia, as pristine as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Mack had grown familiar with polishing shuttle craft between missions: A Type 6 shuttle craft like the Virginia took about an hour and a half to fully clean and detail just the exterior. The interior somehow always got dirtier than the exterior, and as such, cleaning that took at least the same amount of time, but sometimes the detailing could go upwards of two hours. Mack never understood why the crew always brought so much dirt back with them from away missions. Maybe because they weren't the ones responsible for the shuttle's cleaning, they didn't care what they tracked inside.

And now, they were going to make all that hard work for naught anyways, as they were about to jerry rig the Virginia into an IED. Truly a great use of crew resources, Mack thought as she approached the shuttle.

"It is unfortunate, but logically without our warp core, and the fact that hostile forces we cannot stand against for long are inbound, this offers the most logical course of action. If you would be so kind as to start simulating battle damage I shall enter the craft and begin the process of making this thing into a bomb."

"Seems to me like we need to be doing the other's work." Mack responded, stepping in a manner as if to prohibit T'Lin from entering the craft. "Do you know how a shuttle's warp core comes apart or the best way to make it into an IED? If you do, then have at it, and I'll run those simulations."

"Very well. I will attempt to make the damage look like disruptor damage. Phaser might be noted and become suspicious," T'Lin replied and wandered off to see how to calibrate weapons to simulate disruptors.

Entering the shuttlebay, followed the the light hum of two grav-carriers with torpedo casings on them, Saelihn and Mimi approached the shuttles that currently had their doors open.

Saelihn could sense people inside, as well as the light muffled sounds of them speaking. Approaching the nearest shuttle she stopped with the grav-carrier she had been operating and moved to poke her head around the open hatch as the deck creaked a little with her weight. "Got two probes for you. We can begin stripping them if you like?" she asked.

As Mimi pushed her grav cart into the shuttlebay it didn't take her long to notice the state of the shuttle; burn marks and great gouges in the duranium hull plating. "What have you done to this shuttle." She added.

"Preparing it as though it has been in battle and taken heavy disruptor fire. The Klingons could logically become suspicious with two pristine shuttles sitting there. I shall let you deal with Ensign Laren about the probes," T'Lin responded to the question.

Mimi looked across to Saelihn then back to T'Lin. "We have orders to pull the warp cores from the shuttles."

"Pull the warp cores?" Mack called out from within the shuttle before peeking her head out. "I thought we were turning the shuttles into IEDs?"

"I did as well. Then why this order to make the shuttles look battle damaged?" T'Lin echoed the ensign.

Saelihn shrugged. "Maybe there has been a miscommunication somewhere but the shuttles are definitely not going anywhere. Just these." she gestured to the class 9 probes that hovered beside both Saelihn and Mimi.

Mack glanced with a rather puzzled expression at T'Lin before turning back to Saelihn and Mimi.

"Well, I guess cleaning the shuttles after this is going back on my to do list..." She sighed.

"Very well," T'Lin replied. "Then show me what needs to get done. I am a biochemist not an engineer, but I can lift, or turn a bolt."

"We need to... gut these probes of anything not critical and cram a working shuttle warp core into them." Mimi explained. "And try not to blow the ship up while we do all of this."

"I will get started on that. I would prefer someone with more technical expertise removing the shuttle warp cores."

"I think myself and Ensign Mackenzie are better suited for that task." Mimi suggested, she smiled slightly at the Bajoran woman, she'd never worked with her before and it'd be interesting to see what her work ethic was like.

"Yes ma'am. I will get immediately to work on the probes," T'Lin made a salute and turned to do her task.

Mack nodded at the Nekomi woman. She had seen Mimi in passing, but hadn't worked with her until now.

"Well, why don't you give me a hand, then?" Mack proposed. "I hear the Virginia's warp core is particularly finnicky to extract... This is what happens when these things aren't properly maintained..."


Approximately 98 Seconds Later...

While the conglomeration of Starfleet officers from various departments worked together to cannibalize the Type 6 shuttlecraft Virginia, the distinctive mechanical sound of the shuttlebay's personnel entrance opening suddenly echoed throughout the hangar as the doors began to part. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius' distinctive red-collared form became present holding a large PADD in one of his hands which he slowly lowered to his thigh when he immediately observed something very wrong occurring in his shuttlebay.

"Hey!" Darius called out, followed by loud and firm steps as he power-walked to the assembled group of NCOs and officers surrounding one of his shuttles. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded while observing at least one individual inside the rear of compartment of Virginia dismantling something. Then his eyes widened when he saw the outer hull of the shuttle. Where the eggshell-colored duranium-tritantium panels had once been spotless from his constant maintenance administrations, now they appeared disheveled and scarred, as if the support craft had taken sustained weapons fire after fighting for its life. Darius' left eye began to twitch then he reached up and pointed at the side of the shuttle's vandalized exterior. "...And what the hell is that?! What did you do to my shuttle??" the conn officer demanded.

T'Lin finished helping get one probe gutted out. "The initial orders I got was to camouflage the shuttles as derelict with battle damage and then explode the warp cores. Then we get to remove the cores and put them in probes. Personally, either way would work, but logically the Klingons would scan derelict shuttles and ignore them more than probes sitting out in the middle of space."

Darius tilted his head with bewilderment at the explanation. "Orders? From who?! Because no one sure as hell told me." And he was one of the few personnel on board Galileo in charge of the vessel's shuttlecraft operations. His dark eyes narrowed while his brow creased, his exasperation becoming palpable if it wasn't already.

"Whatever things might have been said, done is done, and logically the only thing to do right now is complete this task. We can worry about shuttles being pretty or not, if we all survive this low probability exploit," T'Lin allowed a tinge of exasperation into her otherwise cool voice.

Throwing up his hands before they dropped back to his thighs, Darius shook his head at the familiar scientist's rebuttal. "Where I come from you can't just do anything you want then use 'logic' and 'orders' to defend it," he retorted, now walking across the side of the shuttle with his hand running against the outer hull panels before turning the aft corner. Suddenly he saw a yellow-collared woman inside the rear hatch just beyond the ramp performing abominable procedures. "Why are you disassembling the entire propulsion mainframe? Who are you?!"

The yellow-collared woman looked up from her work, and Lamar found himself staring down an auburn haired Bajoran woman who was evidently not amused by the human man's antics.

"I am Ensign Mackenzie Laren." She said. "And I am disassembling the propulsion mainframe so that we may extract the warp core. Now, Chief Warrant Officer, if you are only here to complain at our work, I will kindly have you escorted out of the area."

The words which exuded from the wrinkly-nosed ensign were shocking enough to elicit a silent double take from Darius. His dark brown eyes were wide and he casually glanced around to the crew members present and in particular the blond security officer. Then he looked back to the ensign with a perplexed tilt of the head. "You...have me escorted out of my shuttlebay?" Was this some kind of ill-timed prank the first officer had devised to keep everyone on their toes? He turned to Valenis then held his arms slightly up as if surrendering. "Well, L-T, you heard the ensign - take me away," he mocked.

Saelihn sighed and shook her head. "I don't think that'll be necessary." She knew tempers were fraying a little under the tension of the impending Klingon ships and, well, the whole situation they were in. "My cells are full." she joked a little to defuse the tension. "If this works and we survive the Klingons, enter the temporal rift and go back to our own time then technically everything will reset and your shuttles will be unharmed." she flashed a little smile at the man. "So, for now you can help us fulfil the task we've been given, and give us some advantage, or you can go wallow about your shuttles in a dark corner somewhere." Saelihn still said in a pleasant tone. The last thing they needed was an argument breaking out in a situation such as this.

"Oh I can do both. Don't you know all us old marines are experts at bitchin' while working? Complaining's a fundamental human right to us." Darius' transition to fleet life had been easy enough in the late '70s and life aboard a starship was inherently more docile. This future and the chaos of the past 96 hours, however, reminded him of harrowing days long past and had awakened a heightened state of alert within him.

He stepped closer to observe the work the junior officer named Mackenzie was doing then shook his head to himself before folding his arms across his broad chest like a disapproving father. "You're going to fry the entire power distribution node if you don't take the plasma injectors offline first. I know you don't care about the rest of Virginia's systems but the feedback pulse won't do anything good to the reaction chamber."

"Not true; I care about the systems I have to fix after you break them." Mack shot back as she proceeded to take the plasma injectors offline. "Or whenever you get... I don't even want to know on them..."

Lamar rolled his eyes at the youthful-appearing woman. "Yeah, you only have to fix them because that's your job. Not like you fly them or have any connection to their hulls." Typical arrogant fleet ensign, he silently judged.

"So, you think flying the shuttles is the only way to develop a connection to them?" Mack asked. "Well, maybe you develop a connection to their hulls that way, but when you service them, you develop an appreciation of their systems."

This was why Mack hated working with flyboys like Darius: Always breathing down the necks of engineers and not truly appreciating the work that goes into keeping their beloved craft factory fresh. The pilots would never be blamed if a shuttle put out with a faulty repair, it would always circle back to the engineer who performed the shoddy work. Mack should know, because she had been the one on the receiving end of inquiries following the loss of poorly-maintained shuttles.

He reached up over her head with his hands and helped detach a primary power coupling from its housing. "Systems...hulls...this old girl brought an entire away team back from the cold station and lived to tell about it. More than you've done on this ship."

"It is nothing but a piece of equipment. Why do humans and others attach such sentimental value to inanimate objects?" T'Lin interjected while working on a task.

"Mister Darius, not all crucial work done on the ship gets its time in the limelight." Mack explained. "May the prophets have mercy if that kind of attitude is getting sent down the Jefferies tubes to fix a vital system."

The conn officer completed his brief task then tapped several commands into the relay system's adjacent power distribution conduit to take it offline. He privately scowled, unseen to the rest of those in the shuttlebay. "Well, your prophets better hope I don't start coming down to main engineering and tinkering with your systems before asking anyone," he countered with an edge in his deep voice. Darius still wasn't pleased at the shuttlebay intrusion and no amount of order-flinging or excuses would change his mind.

"Well, it's your funeral if you decide to crosswire vital systems and blow up the ship out of spite." Mack said, turning towards Saelihn in an attempt to get the other woman's attention. "And good luck facing down the inquiries if you somehow manage to survive..."

"I think we all need to just settle down and focus on the task. Mr Darius if you want to help then help, if not then you can leave. Your shuttlebay or not you are distracting those that need focus. If nothing else you should know that it takes people of all levels to make a difference. A hull, systems, even a shuttle means nothing if you don't have people who know how to use them. So, have faith in this team to keep us safe and not blow a hole in the ship." she ended a little lightly.

"Considering that the chances of what is planned. The probability of success is not high," T'Lin said.

Great. They were all probably going to die and he was getting an earful from a couple arrogant butterbars. "If you all want to live - and I definitely do - then you better make sure you have the best people for the job working on it," he replied to the entire group before taking a deep breath to reset. Darius focused his attention on this new task they all seemed to be preoccupied with. "Luckily you have me here. An actual conn officer. So show me the specs you're working with and let's get to work."

[OFF]

--

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis
Chief of Security
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Mackenzie Laren
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO1 T'Lin
Biochemistry specialist
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

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