Cassandra Montgomery was working a shift in one of the emergency wards on Starbase Bravo when a dull klaxon rang through the department, and the Chief Resident at the main desk read out the report, “We’ve had an explosion in Holodeck 13.  They’re unable to transport them out.”  He glanced at Cass in her role as Deputy Director of General Medicine, and she moved quickly.

“Assemble a triage team to be here when we get them stabilized and can transport.  You three, with me.”  The three medics didn’t question the commander.  She marched them to the unit transporter, inputting the arrival location.  “Be ready to move,” was her only warning as they vanished into the bright lights.

The scene was chaos, and she ordered two of her hastily arranged team to follow her while the other pulled security in to secure the scene quickly.  Smoke was pouring out of the arch.  Two security officers threw themselves out and onto the floor, coughing and groaning.  “Marsten, triage and transport.  Jasa, let’s go.”  The Vulcan followed her into the maw of the holodeck.

If the scene outside had been chaos, this was hell.  The program was still running, and harmless phaser fire bounced off, around, and into them as they tried to see through the fire and smoke.  “Jasa, see if you can shut it down.”  She already had her medical tricorder out and moved to the nearest wounded.

Sonja had been on patrol when she heard the explosion. She went into a full sprint, heading for the area the sound originated from. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but on her way she picked up to of her security personnel. They finally arrived at the scene, where she could see medical had done their best to contain the scene. 

Sonja noticed the person giving orders and walked up to them. “Hi Commander, I’m Lieutenant Thompson, the Patrol Shift Lead. What happened here, and why didn’t anyone call us?”

Montgomery glanced up as more medical personnel arrived.  She ignored Thompson as she turned back to stabilizing the patient.  She stopped the blood loss and ordered an arriving triage crew to transport them.  Cass stood and narrowed her eyes at the Patrol Shift Leader, “Something went boom, Lieutenant.”  She accepted a PADD from one of her running orderlies, who dashed off into the still online simulation.  “And it looks like twenty security officers got caught in the boom – triage teams are evaluating those we’ve managed to stabilize. So far, no casualties, thank goodness.”  She handed the PADD to Thompson, “As for why nobody called you – I don’t know.”

The doctor’s demeanor was expected, given the current stress of the situation. Sonja ignored it and began looking over the information on the PADD. It was good that no casualties had come from the results of the explosion. The issue was that an explosion had occurred. She was about to speak to the doctor when a voice interrupted.

“Doc Montgomery!”  The urgent voice of the orderly pulled her away. 

Cass replied to the lieutenant, “If you can find a way to shut down this simulation, we’d be mighty appreciative.”  She took off, heading further into the simulation.

Sonja nodded and looked at the two officers that were with her “Let’s see what power grid the holodeck is on and get the power cut for this area. The biggest thing we need is to protect the people who are here.” The officers nodded and ran into two different directions while Sonja braved getting closer to the scene of the explosion. As she got closer the smell of the area permeated in her nose. The truth was this wasn’t a normal occurrence and the possibility of sabotage to the system was high. She was looking at the hole when the comm badge chirped, “Lieutenant, I have isolated the grid and can shut the holodeck down.” 

“Ensign Thomas, will this affect the main area grid?” she asked the other officer. 

“It will not cause any issue to the main grid.” She acknowledged the message and confirmed to shut down the holodeck. Moments later, the power was visibly off, and the holodeck had lost all power. She looked for the doctor but could not see her. She headed for the explosion spot, reaching it at the same time as her two officers.

Cass looked up from the injured officer as the security team, led by Thompson, arrived.  She called for her two orderlies, and they began to work on the patient.  The burns were extensive, and the young man was in extreme pain.  His screams lessened as they applied pain management.  Montgomery stood, “Whatever happened, it involved Ensign Macarthy.  We’re going to transport him to the emergency department.  We’ll keep the chain of custody on his clothes, and whatever we clean off him – we’ll do the same with the rest of the victims.”  She pulled her bad off her belt, tapping quickly, “I’m turning the scene over to you, Lieutenant.   Come find me when you’re ready for the next part of…whatever the hell this was.”

Sonja nodded at the doctor and turned looking at the detail with her. “Let’s get this site locked down. No unauthorized access. Once we have the evidence we will look into the needed opening of an investigation. I’ll be going to see the doctor shortly to see what else we can find out. Great work on getting things done quick and efficiently.”

The detail acknowledged and went to finishing the task their superior had tasked them with.