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     Maiko D`rall |
Maiko hunched in concentration over the helm console, peering at the sensor readouts now stretched halfway across its expanse. With the Coronado in some sort of sensor blackout, it was all Maiko could do to utilize the visual and EM sensor bands to try to get some readings of nearby activity. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could just spot the holographic projection of the docking arms the ship was locked in - arms that had resisted all efforts to escape. In all, it was a situation that Cadet Maiko D`rall found obnoxious and unsettling - after all, a person at the helm would normally have something to do, like observing local spatial readouts, running diagnostics, making sure the ship is on course... plenty of work for a non-Academy trained crewwoman like Maiko. But here, forcibly docked and blinded, Maiko found herself little use on a bridge staffed by seasoned veterans, all of whom were doing the same thing Maiko was doing, or trying to persuade the docking tendrils to stand down and release the ship. With little to do, Maiko's mind relaxed and did a little thinking about an earlier event. --- Maiko strolled down the corridors of Deck 12, not visibly in a rush but more than anxious to try out a simulation. In a conversation with Savant, the crash of the Enterprise-D's saucer had come up. One of several flight examples that had come up during training, Maiko remained convinced that had she been there, she could have pulled off a victory - prompting the creation of a simulation. Reaching the doors, Maiko tapped the nearby controls, which responded by opening the doors to a darkened view of the bridge of a Galaxy class starship. Several crew in older uniforms were hunched over consoles while others lay limp on the deck. A haze of smoke from burned transtators and overloaded power trunks blurred the archaic 2-D viewscreen and the helm console, though she could tell that the seat was vacant. Trying to ignore the stench of burned tripolymer, she stepped through the doors onto the bridge, allowing herself a minute to soak in the realism of the simulation and observe more about a bridge she had only seen in smaller desk-limited holoprojections. The harsh lighting and extended station wings on either side of the walkdown ramp indicated that the Enterprise had undergone at least one complete replacement of the bridge module before her untimely demise - one she was going to prevent. Slipping in front of the helm console, she glanced at the officer frozen behind her in the command seat, a bearded rugged-looking man who had a determined look plastered on his face and the pips of commander on his collar. A pale form sat at the Ops station - another old anachronism - with a worried look on his face. With a tap on the console, the simulation activated. The smoke began to waft through the air as overlabored air recyclers struggled to scrub the smoke, and the deck shuddered under her feet as the console before her confirmed that the saucer section had just detached. "Separation sequence complete." Maiko said, even as she prepared to lay in a straight-out run at full impulse away from the stricken star drive section and its overloading core. "Get us out of here, maximum impulse!" The commander's voice barked. Maiko complied, pushing the computer throttle to full, at the same time tapping some of the saucer's limited antimatter supplies to inject into the reactor assembly. The saucer surged under everyone's feet but not enough to throw anyone. The viewscreen blinked to a rear view of the stricken stardrive section. Crystalized water vapor spewed from the hull from several breaches as slush deuturium vented from the primary tank. Clearly the ship had been pummeled badly - so badly that even its core ejection systems had failed. Maiko looked back down at her board after her glance up, now concentrating on setting a course and getting on their way before the core breach tossed the saucer section. The officer who took the helm on its final flight had made the mistake of setting an angled course instead of going for maximum distance first, which put the saucer far too close to the exploding core. Maiko checked the flight sensors, then the ship's current path, and altered course to port by 5 degrees. The change was miniscule, but in a few seconds... The stardrive behind then exploded in the raw fury of a warp core breach, totally destroying the battered hull and sending a shock wave screaming towards the saucer. With nowhere to go and no warp drive, the saucer had no chance of avoiding the wave... ...except for the talents of one self-taught rookie pilot who had logged hours entering and leaving orbits of planets. The shock wave slammed into the aft of the saucer with a audible crash that resonated through the very deck plates below her feet. Maiko fought to hang onto the helm and barely succeeded even as the ship shook around her. Checking the new course forced on them by the wave, Maiko smiled - her course change earlier would now pay off. The operations officer next to her swore, but she never heard it, intent on the orbital decay values and impulse output. The hull of the saucer section had been tipped by the wave, putting the ship into a moderate decaying orbit. The front edge of the saucer glowed as it hit the upper atmosphere of the planet - Veridan or some name with a V, Maiko couldn't remember - and the flight console began warning of the high hull temperature. Using the RCS thrusters, Maiko concentrated on keeping the saucer's nose up, eventually dragging the glowing-red hull out of the atmosphere, but subjecting the underside of the saucer to the heat of friction. When the viewscreen finally showed nothing but space, Maiko kicked the impulse engines in at full again. Alarms began to blare as the ship began shaking steadily. The impulse engines, damaged by the shockwave, screamed loudy as the ship dragged through the atmosphere. The underside of the saucer glowed brighter with each passing minute, eventually becoming a blinding white as the tortured scream of the engines continued. Maiko held on as the ship bucked and shimmied, but through it all she knew that the worst would be over soon. The saucer bucked horribly one last time, finally unseating Maiko, who fell to the deck, grinding her face into the rough carpet. Grunting, she got to her knees, then her hands, and looked up at the viewscreen, which showed a rear view of the planet slowly receeding. Taking the console again, she angled the saucer around into a stable orbit before finally shutting down the damaged engines. The simulation suddenly paused, a holographic console display appearing in front of the helm console showing the results of the simulation - along with the dismal result of "Pyrrhic Victory". The wireframe schematic of the saucer was pristine on the top and midline, but its lower decks were a mess of charred holes, molten support beams, and several hundred red dots indicating a lost life. Maiko read over the results with mixed feelings. The tactic of 'bouncing' the saucer off the atmosphere of the planet had worked, but the damage suffered in the explosion meant the shields were weakened and the impulse engines damaged, prolonging the time exposed to the friction of air against the hull. The deaths caused by the landing ship had never been fully determined by Starfleet in their report - it was never clear whether everyone made it out of the stardrive in time because of the rushed evacuation, and the damage suffered on the lower decks of the ship in the landing was severe, but not as bad as Maiko's piloting caused. The simulation results noted there was a possibility of a discrepancy, but it was pretty low. Maiko sighed as she got up and left the holodeck. The saucer was saved and possibly even salvageable, but the loss in lives meant that landing was the best course of action - a reminder that sometimes duty involves making decisions in which any option involved considerable cost. --- Maiko stretched in her seat, letting herself focus on her duties again. Who was to say escaping the docking tendrils would improve their situation any than simply staying put was? With no sensors but for the bare minimum, flying a frigate around would be dangerous. Still, there were away teams down there, along with the Captain's Gig. With that in mind, she renewed her efforts with the sensors. |