“Sir, we’re coming up on the system” Desiree announced.

“Ok. Fenris, are those Cardassians close?” Swiveling, Sky looked at the engineer.

“Yes sir, all three ships are following us, but keeping a distance so as not to alert the enemy.”

It was a good thing too, the Lost Fleet’s scouts had a knack for showing up midway through rescue missions.  In fact, this go around was to rescue the escape pods of a rescue vessel, the USS Ressha.  Soon after the Carlsbad had rescued the stranded crewmen, she had been set upon by a trio of Dominion Fighters and was quickly overwhelmed.  Long range scans had indicated that that particular patrol had moved on, so now it was our turn.

Desiree started the countdown “Dropping from warp in 3… 2… 1…”

Suddenly, a loud clanging could be heard all across the ship.

“Damage Report!”

It was Fenris who answered from the engineering station. “Sir, we’ve entered the debris field.  It appears the Carlsbad may not be as salvageable as originally reported.”

No duh, Sky thought to himself, “Start scanning for the escape pods.  A California class should have about 20 pods for us to look out for.  Hopefully there’s some survivors out here.”

3 hours later

It had been a long, disappointing 3 hours.  Of the 10 pods found, only one had anyone in it and they were currently in the converted sickbay.  10 people out of the 300 that were supposed to be here was a depressing number.  Luckily, the Keldon Class and Galor class ships hadn’t had to respond so far, as the Marduk appeared to be beneath Dominion notice.

As if called by his thoughts, a single Jem’Hadar Fighter dropped from warp at the edge of the debris field.  Sky rushed to the console in front of him. “Guys get ready they’ve just arrived, red alert”

Red Alert, Red Alert

He swore he could hear the entire crew all at once say “crap”.   They still had the latest escape pod docked at the hatch, so he pressed a button to secure it there, then sent the prescribed signal.  Almost immediately, a Cardassian Galor class entered the system, drawing the attention of the Jem Hadar Fighter.

“Now we need to rush this last bit.  Desiree, run one final scan of the system.  Any other pods out there?”

“sir, wouldn’t that reveal us to the Jem Hadar?”

“We’ll have to take that risk.”

“I scanned sir, and there’s one active lifepod remaining”

“I’m not giving up on them. Full speed to their location, and tell sickbay that I don’t care about the doctor’s preferences against transporters. We’re beaming them up on the fly.”

Racing across the debris field at top speeds, the Marduk does attract the attention of the Jem Hadar Fighter, however the Galor class ship was holding it’s own against the fighter giving it no chance to chase after the Marduk. 

Slowing just enough to let the transporter bring over the three officers in the pod, Sky brought the ship to warp as soon as they were aboard.  Soon after, the Galor class escaped as well, heavily damaged.

Sick Bay – 1st pod’s arrival

“Fenris, tell the Captain that we’re going to need to dock with each pod, I’m not sending these guys through the transporters if I can help it.” Doctor Phyllis Harper triple checked each of the treatment options for all the possible injuries she’d have to deal with.  Exploding starships tended to have hurt crews after all.

Not too long after, she felt the thud as the ship docked with the pod.  As soon as the doors opened, she rushed in alongside Fenris and Cruger.  Inside, she saw 2 men and a woman.  They seemed to relax when they saw a Starfleet uniform entering to assist them.

“Why Hello, long day?” She always did find humor as a good way to break the tension in her patients.

Sick Bay – 10th pod’s arrival

Treatment continued on the remaining rescued officers that needed it, and Doctor Harper was called away to meet with the XO.  “What is it? Don’t you know I’ve got a Caitian with a ruptured spleen? I’ve got to get back to work!”

Desiree kept her cool though, Doctor Harper, for all her faults, was passionate about her patients.  “Doctor, we could be discovered at any moment. The Captain says he’s found another pod, but we’ve been seeing more and more empty ones, or dead ones.  What is the point where we turn tail and head back?”

“when we reach 24 hours from lifepod launch, that’s when we’ll stop seeing survivors altogether, barring some miracle”  Dr. Harper didn’t like when her job had her making these kid of decisions, but it is important that they get the wounded to more advanced medical facilities than her triage bay.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Caitian spleen to get back to.”

As they parted ways, they could hear the thud of another pod docking with the ship resounded through the halls.

Sick Bay – Jem Hadar escape

The Intercom rang out again. “What?” Dr. Harper shouted over to the wall’s receiver.

“Doctor, this is Desiree,  Captain says to hold on, we’ve got one last one coming in, but this will be a running grab via transporters.”  

“I told him no transporters!  You never know if they have the type of radiation that gets aggravated by beaming!”  While this was true, there were other reasons she distrusted transporters. As a previous Doctor had once said ‘you never know how they’re going to put you back together.’

“Sorry, doctor, but our choices are beam them up or leave them there.”

Guess that meant she had to prep some beds then.  Just then the ship lurched forwards, throwing all three crew members off their feet. Luckily, the expanded sickbay had bio beds that secured their patients so nobody else had to deal with the sudden acceleration.  Fighting the momentum changes as the Captain flew like an ace pilot, she readied a couple more bio-beds. Just in time too, as the transporter deposited the three officers right in the beds just in time to get them secured before the familiar feeling of the warp drive engaging thrummed through the ship.