We All Fall Down – Sifting through the wreckage
by Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas (NPC) & Lieutenant Commander Steve Wyman
Post Details
ON:
The remains of the destroyed Guardian platforms were strewn around the deck of the cargo bay. Bay 28 was one of the largest such facilities on the station, which made the sheer size of the debris field something bordering on impressive.
But that wasn't how Wyman saw it. Ceridwen was very nearly in shock after what had happened. He suspected that the destroyed freighter may have had a telepath on board, and his wife's weak empathic ability had been assaulted when the telepath died. She would undoubtedly be cursing her distant Betazoid ancestor for the next few weeks as a result.
"This... is an unmitigated disaster..." the engineer remarked to no one in particular as he picked his way around a charred hunk of hull plating.
"I've seen worst," The young man said as he stepped over a large piece of rubble that in a former life was probably a part of the fusion reactor. "The Amran Province was shelled by Dominion forces for over 6 hours before the first Federation Alliance was able to break through and fight off Jem'Hadar shock troops on Cardassia IV." He said as he ran his tricorder over the still smouldering beam.
Though he knew he wasn't alone, Wyman wasn't expecting anyone to speak to him as he picked through the debris. As such, he was momentarily startled and jumped slightly - nearly tripping over a scorched power converter.
"I apologize, my name is Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas, Assistant Propulsion Engineer." The tall Cardassian said as he closed his tricorder and approached his superior office. "I arrived on board several days prior, but I had not had a chance to formally introduce himself.
Collecting himself, Wyman gave the Cardassian the once over. "Lieutenant St... Commander Steve Wyman - chief engineer." he finally answered, stumbling over his rank. The promotion was still taking some getting used to. "Welcome aboard. I'd say you arrived at a fine time, but there's nothing fine about this."
Kivan continued to exam the beam before him with another instrument as he continued to address his superior officer. "I though the Guardian Platforms were fully responsive to station commands? What would make them become so hostile and attack defenseless civilian vessels?" He asked.
The original Orbital Weapon Platforms were standard material to study within the academy. Just about every armchair military historian had written volumes of scholarly articles and books on the lethal efficiency of the devices and how they could have easily prolonged the war.
"Do you have any definitive answers so far?" He asked.
Wyman shook his head. "Nothing definitive, but Commander Wallace said there was a training simulation running in the main computer core, which may be why the platforms thought the transport and freighter were Jem'Hadar attack ships." The mention of the main core made his stomach churn - that was one more mess he'd be cleaning up for the foreseeable future.
"As for why they stopped taking commands from the station, so far it's looking like a combo of chain of command break down mixed with a software problem - everyone in Ops was so frantic trying to shut everything down that the platforms thought they were being hacked, so they disregarded all commands to cease their attacks." Absently, he kicked a toasted phase inverter.
"So what now? How do you think the Brass will respond to such horrific demonstration? I'm not even sure how many people SURVIVED let alone died in the incident." Ta'Gas said heavily as he scanned a piece of wreckage that wasn't charred beyond recognition. "Who's to say something like this wouldn't happen again if the station were ever attacked?" He added.
To that, Steve initially said nothing. He simply set down his ever present toolbox and pulled out his tricorder - an old Mark VII that he'd been using since his Academy days, forsaking the newer Mark XI. Absently he flipped it open and closed for a minute. "Three hundred and fifty-two. That's how many lives were lost today because of a whole lot of screw ups. But I'll tell you Ensign - I'll be damned if I let it happen again as long as I'm breathing. We need to figure out how to fix this, and we need to do a hell of a lot more testing on these platforms before they ever go operational again."
Lt. Cmdr. Steve Wyman
Chief Engineering Officer
Deep Space 5
Ensign
Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Chief of Engineer
by Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas (NPC) & Lieutenant Commander Steve Wyman
Post Details
| Title | Sifting through the wreckage | |
| Mission | We All Fall Down | |
| Author(s) | Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas (NPC) & Lieutenant Commander Steve Wyman | |
| Posted | Tue Jul 29, 2014 @ 2:57am | |
| Location | Cargo Bay 28 | |
| Timeline | WAFD: Day 1 c. 1740 |
The remains of the destroyed Guardian platforms were strewn around the deck of the cargo bay. Bay 28 was one of the largest such facilities on the station, which made the sheer size of the debris field something bordering on impressive.
But that wasn't how Wyman saw it. Ceridwen was very nearly in shock after what had happened. He suspected that the destroyed freighter may have had a telepath on board, and his wife's weak empathic ability had been assaulted when the telepath died. She would undoubtedly be cursing her distant Betazoid ancestor for the next few weeks as a result.
"This... is an unmitigated disaster..." the engineer remarked to no one in particular as he picked his way around a charred hunk of hull plating.
"I've seen worst," The young man said as he stepped over a large piece of rubble that in a former life was probably a part of the fusion reactor. "The Amran Province was shelled by Dominion forces for over 6 hours before the first Federation Alliance was able to break through and fight off Jem'Hadar shock troops on Cardassia IV." He said as he ran his tricorder over the still smouldering beam.
Though he knew he wasn't alone, Wyman wasn't expecting anyone to speak to him as he picked through the debris. As such, he was momentarily startled and jumped slightly - nearly tripping over a scorched power converter.
"I apologize, my name is Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas, Assistant Propulsion Engineer." The tall Cardassian said as he closed his tricorder and approached his superior office. "I arrived on board several days prior, but I had not had a chance to formally introduce himself.
Collecting himself, Wyman gave the Cardassian the once over. "Lieutenant St... Commander Steve Wyman - chief engineer." he finally answered, stumbling over his rank. The promotion was still taking some getting used to. "Welcome aboard. I'd say you arrived at a fine time, but there's nothing fine about this."
Kivan continued to exam the beam before him with another instrument as he continued to address his superior officer. "I though the Guardian Platforms were fully responsive to station commands? What would make them become so hostile and attack defenseless civilian vessels?" He asked.
The original Orbital Weapon Platforms were standard material to study within the academy. Just about every armchair military historian had written volumes of scholarly articles and books on the lethal efficiency of the devices and how they could have easily prolonged the war.
"Do you have any definitive answers so far?" He asked.
Wyman shook his head. "Nothing definitive, but Commander Wallace said there was a training simulation running in the main computer core, which may be why the platforms thought the transport and freighter were Jem'Hadar attack ships." The mention of the main core made his stomach churn - that was one more mess he'd be cleaning up for the foreseeable future.
"As for why they stopped taking commands from the station, so far it's looking like a combo of chain of command break down mixed with a software problem - everyone in Ops was so frantic trying to shut everything down that the platforms thought they were being hacked, so they disregarded all commands to cease their attacks." Absently, he kicked a toasted phase inverter.
"So what now? How do you think the Brass will respond to such horrific demonstration? I'm not even sure how many people SURVIVED let alone died in the incident." Ta'Gas said heavily as he scanned a piece of wreckage that wasn't charred beyond recognition. "Who's to say something like this wouldn't happen again if the station were ever attacked?" He added.
To that, Steve initially said nothing. He simply set down his ever present toolbox and pulled out his tricorder - an old Mark VII that he'd been using since his Academy days, forsaking the newer Mark XI. Absently he flipped it open and closed for a minute. "Three hundred and fifty-two. That's how many lives were lost today because of a whole lot of screw ups. But I'll tell you Ensign - I'll be damned if I let it happen again as long as I'm breathing. We need to figure out how to fix this, and we need to do a hell of a lot more testing on these platforms before they ever go operational again."
Lt. Cmdr. Steve Wyman
Chief Engineering Officer
Deep Space 5
Ensign
Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Chief of Engineer