Part of USS Altai: Here Be Monsters

The Lonely Sentry – Part IV

Outpost 1-SZ, Main Transporter Room
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The transport shimmer faded, there was that momentary sensation of disorientation that came with being torn up into a data stream hurled across space and reassembled elsewhere.

Van Der Luan looked around the dim compartment, lit only by the soft glow of the standby lighting. He activated his helmet lights for more illumination. It was a similar size to the Altai’s eight pads but the panel across the room looked to be a a much older design. He reached up and wiped his helmet, the frigid cold air had begun to condense on the warmer surface of his suit and ran in streaks down his visor.

Both Alex and Cooper did pretty much the same thing as the Lieutenant did, looking around at the similar but different room they were in. Cooper had gone over to the transporter console to check on it while Alex was checking the box with all the isolinear chips.

Cam looked around with her helmet as she turned on the lights of her own EVO suit. it was dark and very dusty all around her own position as it seemed like nothing had been moved in decades. Wiping off her own visor thanks to the cold air around her, she made her way towards a small control panel nearby her to investigate the functionality of the circuits inside.

Doctor N’Vea moved her tricorder around the area scanning. The temperature was below comfortable levels for terrans and some other species but well within survivable range. Her scans picked up nothing that would indicate long term exposure to the environment would pose a hazard to any of the crew. Satisfied that they were safe she put her tricorder away, but did not yet remove her EV suit until the technical team had surveyed their environment.

Olafsen joined the rest in looking around the room. Things don’t really get musty in space, but the room reminded her of an old basement in one of the older farmhouses where she grew up. No spiders, no dust, but it really felt the same.

Van Der Luan activated his comm =^= All good?=^= He looked around the team. =^= Let’s make a start, Mister Beck, the door if you please =^= He was not sure what would be functional with the power in standby and the station left empty for years.

“Aye.” Said Beck as he put the isolinear chip back in that he was checking, closing the box before going over to the door. Cooper came along side him, “Let me help you with that.” She said as they both opened up the door panel and started to mess with some components inside. “Is the station still running on minimal power for automation?”

“Aye, lass. Maybe we can bypass some o thon power tae this door.” Beck said.

“And run risk of shutting down the life support that’s already running on minimum power?” Cooper asked.

“No gin we tak it from somewhere else, like external sensors.” He told her.

“Fair enough, not like we will need them right away and with two ships in orbit, station’s sensors might as well take a break.” She smiled.

“Agreed.” He said, “But we neit only juist a wee bit o power really. An here we gae!” He said as the panel came to life and the door split open when it’s sensor detected a presence.

Cam was glad that the systems of the automatic doors still functioned. At least it would be easier to get around the ship now. Looking around her, she could see that there was a lot of work to be done to get this outpost fully functional again. She hoped that it would only take a little bit of time to make that happen.

While the Engineer got the door open Van Der Luan contacted the ship. =^=Away Team to the Bridge. All arrived, we’re going to move up to Deck Six =^=

=^=Acknowledged, away team.=^= Streth replied as Van Der Luan’s voice came through loud and clear across the bridge intercom, =^=We’ve got a good read on you. Scans indicate jeffries tube 261B will be your shortest route up to the reactors. No substitute for eyes on the ground though, use your best judgement Lieutenant.=^=

=^= Aye sir. We’ll keep you informed =^= Van Der Luan replied, waving to Beck and Cooper to lead the way.

“He say tube 261B?” Cooper asked.

“Aye. A studiit the schematics on our way here, the tube is ower this way.” Becker said as he pointed and led the way.

Van Der Luan passed through the compartment door into the corridor. It curved off to the left and right continuing out of sight, like the Transporter room it was dimly lit. There were a couple of doors to the left but Beck and Cooper had gone right and he followed them, wiping his visor again as the cold thin air continued to condense on his suit.

There was a recces in the corridor wall up ahead and he could see the Engineer working on an access hatchway.

Cam followed the team behind them as she noticed the engineer working on the hatchway. She figured that Ops and Engineering usually worked in tandem on many away teams so she slowly walked towards the Engineer. “Is there anything that I can help with… readings of systems, wires, and such?” She asked, hoping that her voice projected loud enough through the EVO suit so that Beck could hear her.

Beck heard her voice over his helmet’s intercom and he reached over to his tricorder on his belt, pulling it out and flipping it open. He spoke with his thick scottish accent. “Check everything, lass. Run detailed scans, whatever your tricorder records, we can send back ta the Don S Davis. That way they have a bigger picture on how much work they need ta do. If something interesting grabs your attention though, don’t be afraid to share with the group.” He added a smile into his voice, or at least a tone of one.

The doctor remained with the rest of the team, allowing them to work. Until they found the station’s medical bay, she would have little to do other than to continue to run a series of environmental scans to monitor for any alteration of the habitability of the station.

[Deck 6 – Lower Main Engineering compartment]

The climb up the Jeffries Tube had been accomplished without incident, besides the cumbersome nature of climbing a ladder in the EVO Suits in regular gravity. Clambering though the open hatch Van Der Luan got to his feet and looked around.

The compartment was cylindrical and extended up another deck above his head. Dimly lit like the rest of the station, but at least here the majority of the panels seemed activated and he could feel just the slightest thrum of the fusion reactor pumps through the soles of his boots.

He looked around for Beck and Cooper. “Mister Beck, Chief Cooper, this is your domain. We’ll continue up to Operations while you get the furnace fired up turn the lights on”

Beck stepped off when the order was given and watched Cooper do the same. “Aye, sir.” He spoke, “C’mon, lass. Let see what needs ta be done.”

Cooper smiled with a nod for him to see when they were looking at each other and then followed right behind Beck as he led the way to the reactor room.

Back in the Jeffries tube Van Der Luan led the rest up another two decks to Operations.

[Deck 4 – Operations Lower]

The hatchway was bit sticky and Van Der Luan had to climb up a few more rungs to give it a good kick with his booted foot before it opened. He crawled out of the hatch. Like Engineering, the Station’s Operations room was a a big conical compartment, covering two decks. A raised mezzanine level projected out from one wall.

The lower level housed the maneuvering control, Stellar Cartography & Sensor monitoring control; various other station control positions and panels, the main display, deck plans and internal sensors and cameras.

A stairway, a ladder and an open lift gave access to first the mezzanine and then the upper level.

The mezzanine was the equivalent of the Bridge command positions on a ship, the duty Mission Controller who commanded the station, along with the Security, Tactical and Operations positions were here. From the mezzanine they could see and control the entire Operations room.

On the upper level were Communications and Sensors positions, Station defense control and the Primary Power Distribution Network panel.

Like the rest of the station the entire room was in near darkness, lit only by the glow of the panels and standby lighting.

As the rest of the Away Team exited the tube there was a flicker and the lights came on. “Well done Beck” Van Der Luan said to himself.

He turned to the others. “Lets go to work! Cam, upper level, Power network position. Monitor the power systems, liase with Beck and Cooper as they bring systems on line. Let them know if any circuits fail and keep an eye on the fire control panel. No telling if that old insulation will decide to fail under a full load.”

“Doc, station environmental control and life support displays are over there” He pointed to a position across the room. “Once the power’s up, lets start getting some breathable air back”

The Vulcan doctor nodded, “Yes sir.”

“Christina, with me. We’ll go up to the mezzanine. Get tactical and security activated, bring them out of automated control. Then same as the rest, monitor the power-up, make sure we don’t have any issues with weapons or shield systems when they switch over to manual control”

“Aye Sir”

Van Der Luan crossed to the stairway and climbed up to the mezzanine, squeezing his EVO suit clad butt into the Controller’s chair he began accessing the control panel.

Olafsen followed him up the narrow stairs. She found the tactical station which didn’t have power just yet. They must have been working on something downstairs.

He was interrupted by a transmission from the ship. =^=Streth to Van Der Luan, we’ve detected an odd subspace signal that appears to be coming from an asteroid. We’re bringing it on board for a closer look. If you find anything unusual on the station, I want to know about it as soon as possible.=^=

=^=Away Team acknowledges. Nothing to report yet but we’ll keep our eyes open=^= Van Der Luan’s replied.