| Chapter 2 |
| Tranquil Pond |
| UNGG Space 12:48 SET 2195 Lieutenant Matt Ingle, the Explorer’s tactical officer, was the first to move. He quickly did a mental check to make sure nothing major was hurt, and crawled over to his Captain. Mansel was face down in a small pool of blood forming under him. Rolling him over, Ingle could see that a fragment of the console that had exploded near Mansel had embedded itself in the Captain’s shoulder. The same went for Vaughn and General Brungess. A piece of flying console had scraped Vaughn’s temple, and flew on the strike Brungess in his side where it was currently lodged. Ingle helped Mansel into a sitting position. Activating the comm. system on Mansel’s chair, Ingle said, “Doctor to the bridge, immediately.” “On my way,” came the reply. "Fleury, what in blazes happened?" Commander Vaughn asked the Cheif Engineer. It had been ten minutes since the Explorer had rocked and lost internal life support. While Lt. Patterson-Mansel worked to restore life support, Vaughn, Mansel, and General Brungess met with Fleury in Engineering. The Cheif Engineer shrugged. "I'm not sure myself, Commander," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "The Captain told me to vent the deutronium and the neutridium, and I did." "Using which vents?" General Brungess asked. "The front vents." Captain Mansel chewed his bottom lop. The shot the doctor had given him to numb the pain was finally starting to kick in. The object had been removed from Mansel's shoulder, but the starship captain had refused immediate treatment. Currently, the wound was still open, occasstionally leaking blood. The same went for Vaughn annd Brungess. "I think we should head back to Starbase 4," said Mansel. "See if we can sort out what's happened and report to Admiral Blackbird." "Right," said Vaughn. He crossed Engineering to a comm station and notified Lieutenant Commander Broadaway to head for Starbase 4, best possible speed. He also requested from Lieutenant Hardy a full damage report. The printoff came directly to Vaughn. "Life support, structual integrity, sublight engines, one torpedo bay, hull damage...the list goes on," said Vaughn as he skimmed through the readout before handing it to Mansel. "Fleury, get to work on those sublight engines," said Mansel. "Let's get back to the bridge. "What's our ETA, Commander?" Brungess asked, coming out of the turbolift with Mansel and Vaughn. "Approximately two and a half hours, sir" the helmsman responded. "It's a good thing we're at a cease-fire agreement with the Imperials," commented Lieutenant Ingle. "We're sitting ducks right now." "Quite right," said Mansel, retaking his chair from Broadaway. "Lieutenant Commander Talaj, are the sensors working?" "Short range sensors are opertational, sir. Longe range sensors are offline." "Scan the immediate area for any vessels to see if they can escort us in." To his helmsman, he said, "Broadaway, are we gonna be able to dock properly?" Taking a quick moment to think, Broadaway responded the affirmative. General Brungess looked around the bridge aas he sat down in the guest chair. "I know never to ride with you people again," he said. *** UNGG Space 14:15 Standard Earth Time (SET) 2195 Broadaway frowned as the Explorer neared the location of Starbase 4. "Something's not right," he said. Unfortunately, Talaj found no ships in the immediate area to ensure their safety to the Starbase, but at the moment, that was the least of their problems. Starbase 4 wasn't there. |
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