Burkely stood in the center of Engineering, the glow of the warp core reflected off his chiseled frame as he stood there. His eyes looked into everyone’s eyes; including his Commanding Officers’.

“As some of you may have noticed we have a couple of additional people here,” he stated as his muscular arm motioned towards Captain Fitzpatrick and Commander Talon. “They are here to render aid in getting the Denver patched up so please use them as you see fit within reason.

He then looked at both of them and nodded. “Damage Control team three, take Captain Fitzpatrick and head to deck 5 and continue with the removal of the damaged sections there.”

A young Lieutenant nodded and turned to the Captain, “Sir, if you will follow me to the locker room to suit up.”

The captain nodded, “Lead the way Lieutenant.”

Burkely nodded as he returned his attention to Commander Talon and Crewmen Aoife McKenzie as he stepped away from the group and toward them. “I think the three of us will tackle decks 6 and 7,” he stated as he looked at the two of them.

Rebecca nodded, “Deck 6 first?”

Aoife snapped to attention,  “Yes sir.”

Burkely shook his head. “I was thinking 7 first as it has the least amount of damage and shouldn’t take us all that long to prep for. Deck 6 is smack dab in the middle of all of the carnage and is going to take all hands from the damage control teams to prep it for the welding and fabrication of hull pieces.”

“That makes sense,” Rebecca agreed.

It then hit him, “Captain, would you be so kind as to inform the Lieutenant, that when you two have finished with deck 5 to move to deck 6 and the rest of us will meet you all there.”

Micah nodded, “Absolutely Commander.” The captain was actually excited about this.  It had been a long time since he had gotten his hands dirty.

Burkely turned back to Commander Talon and Crewman Mckenzie, “Shall we,” he stated as his muscular arm motioned towards the locker room and the EVA suits.

“It’s been a long time since a donned an EVA suit,” Rebecca replied. She took a moment and realized it was at the Academy.

“It’s like riding a bike,” Aoife said with a frown. “An uncomfortable,  and claustrophobic bike.”

Burkely could not help but chuckle at the crewmen’s description of the EVA suits, “I used to feel that way as well crewman, but after logging nearly 15,000 hours in total in every conceivable form of EVA suits that the federation has I have grown accustomed to them and consider them as a second skin these days,” he stated as he pulled the torso shell over his head and turned to help the Commander with her’s.

-Later-

Captain Micah Fitzpatrick sighed.  He had been up for nearly forty hours and his eyelids were heavy.  He stared at the damaged EPS conduit.  The burning plasma had burned through the bulkhead and charred the area around it.  The smell of burned plastics and fabric still lingered heavily in the area.

Flow to this conduit had already been shut off and he kneeled down and pulled on the panel that covered the inner workings of the ship. It refused to budge. This repair was needed in order to bring the structural integrity systems to full power in this section.

In frustration, he kicked the panel several times until it started to shift and move under the onslaught.  This time when he pulled on it the panel came away from the bulkhead with a grinding of metal on metal.

Micah tossed the damaged panel to the side with a clatter. Pulling out a tricorder he scanned the conduit which had ruptured in several key places.  There was no repairing the conduit. A replacement was the only option.

Using a laser cutter he sliced through the conduit on either side of the damage,  and set the now severed meter long piece off to the side.  He slid sleeves over both of the now severed ends poking out of the wall.

The ship shook and shuddered with a flickering of lights followed by the red alert klaxons blaring.

“Captain,” came the voice of his operations officer over his combadge.  “There’s an EPS overload in your section.  You need to get out of there now!”

As if the computer understood the conversation it interrupted with its own announcement.  “Warning EPS overload: Deck 5, Section 23 through 31.  Structural failure in 90 seconds. Emergency evacuation of Deck 5 recommended.”

“Understood Lieutenant,” Fitzpatrick said as he ran down the corridor ushering officers to turbolifts and Jefferies Tubes.

There was another shake from the ship as the overheated warp core sent out surges along the EPS power grid.  Something exploded and the ceiling came crashing down in its already weakened state.

Dodging falling beams Micah fell to the deck elbows first. He growled as pain shot up his arms.  He crawled over the debris and was about to make a dash for a Jefferies Tube when the shout of a crewman stopped him.

“Captain!” He shouted eyes wide in terror.  A beam had fallen on him pinning him to the deck.

Micah hesitated and then rushed to the crewman’s side, and horror dawned on him as the computer made a third warning announcement.

“Warning EPS overload: Deck 5, Section 23 through 31.  Structural failure fifteen seconds. Emergency evacuation of Deck 5 recommended.”

Micah turned and ran from the pinned crewman who wailed in pain and terror, “Captain!”

“Warning EPS overload: Deck 5, Section 23 through 31.  Structural failure in ten seconds.”

Micah was almost to safety

“9… 8… 7… 6…”

Just a few more steps, but even though he told himself that he knew he wasn’t going to make it.

“5… 4… 3… 2…”

-Bridge-

The operations officer was staring down at her display, “Deck 5, Sections 23 to 31 are gone and exposed to space.  Structural integrity is down to ten percent,  and the warp core is shutting down to prevent a breach.”

“Dominion ships are closing in,” a very young Ensign reported from tactical, his eyes wide in horror.  “Two Jem’Hadar fighters are breaking formation and are on an intercept course.”

-Deck 7-

Rebecca has finished up a relay when the whole ship shook violently sending her into the bulkhead in front of her and falling into an ungainly pile on top of Crewman Mckenzie.

Burkely tossed the remains of a charred panel that was twice his size to the side and slid a replacement in its place. He was about to place a plasma torch on it when he felt the flooring under him shift and the sound of an explosion. He turned his head in time to see the others with him in a pile on the floor as his knees buckled. Gathering himself off the floor he rushed to their sides and knelt. “Does someone want to take a wild guess as to what that…” he was cut off as the intercom activated and the voice of the operations officer came over, “Commander Talon please report to the bridge immediately.”

Burkely looked at Rebecca and then helped up his crewman. “After you Commander,” he stated.

It was then that he spotted the Jem’Hadar ships in space and wrapped both of his massive arms around the ladies and lept through the open door, just moments before it exploded.

“Jem’Hadar!” He yelled as he lay there between the two of them. He coughed several times and groaned as the wind had been knocked out of him.

Three crewmen that had been down the hall came to their aid helping Rebecca and McKenzie to their feet. As Burkley rolled onto his hands and knees he accepted the hand from the Lieutenant that had been with the Captain. It was then that he realized something was seriously wrong. He turned to look at Rebecca and knew then that she was now in Command.

Coughing a couple more times he pointed to the nearest Jefferies Tube, “Go.”