The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 43
"Commander Luke ! I have stabalized the core. There is nothing more I can do now.", the lieutenant colonel was shouting into his combadge. He looked at the displays again. Some radiation leeks in some conduits just on the inside of the hull were not promissing, but after rerouting power from some unnecessary backup systems the damaged conduits were out of the circulation. Jan took the same way back to ops, over the bulkheads, through the tubes, up, left, up again. The smell, the bodies ... Commander Luke was just standing there in the operations center, noncialontly scribbling on a data pad, as if he was waiting for the next ship to Risa.
"Here you are. What are you still doing here commander ?", asked the lieutenant colonel surprised, not having a clue what commander Luke could have done so long. Jan tapped his commbadge.
"Nadine ! Everything is safe here except for some lower decks."
As captain Arthur was looking at the long range sensor read outs for yet another time, he realised that he had trouble finding answers to his questions. Maybe the junior lieutenant could clear some of those things up. The captain had taken some time to read the young officer's Starfleet file. There was not much in it what couldn't be expected. The Doc already had cleared Chris out of sickbay. It was not determined yet how much he would remember, but the first results were promissing. Chris could remember who he was and what Starfleet was. Maybe the first thing was more valuable to Chris than the second, but that was on a personal level. When he entered DS2 ops he noticed that the captain was alone. It did look a
bit strange to him, but he didn't ask any questions. On the contrary, it was the captain who asked the questions. Without turning around ...
"So lieutenant, tell me what you were doing on a, let's say, secret station in the middle of nowhere.", and captain Arthur turned to face Chris, probably more to observe his reaction than to expect an answer.
"I am sorry sir. I can't remember that part. It's no fun not knowing what, who and where. I am afraid I can't help you, and even worse, myself at the moment." and as he spoke, Chris walked up to the tactical station.
"I know this", Chris said, apparently glad that he at least recognized something.
"Were there any weapons on station 4465-A ?", was the next direct question of the captain. He could only get information from this officer investigating what he knew, not what he could not know.
"This is a tactical station. Much more advanced than I am used to. This station has more firepower than anything in the fleet. I know because I have been around." In this Chris seemed very sure of himself.
"Where ?", another direct question.
"I don't know. Captain, sir. I am sure it will come back to me. I will report anything which ..."
"Beta to DS2, everything is under control on 4465-A."
The captain answered the call.
"Beta, this is the captain. We need the lieutenant colonel and the commander on the station now. Louis is going to transport both of them directly to ops with the subspace transporters. Gentlemen, maybe you shouldn't move for a second."
With these last words the captain expressed his concern over this subspace transporter system and he was clearly not thinking the same about it as commander Luke.Chris only murmured something to himself.
"Subspace transporter ? I didn't know Starfleet had such a thing."
"Captain ! This is Louis ! Something is blocking our transporter's targetting scanners."
"What the ???!"
"Sir, incomming vessels, from ... everywhere.", reported Chris. There was no time for more questions. Junior lieutenant Chris was at tactical, the captain initiated red alert and called the two cadets to ops. Jan Roel joined Louis in engineering just in time to pick Louis from the floor. The station was shaking.