Remnants (Part 1 of 5)

Posted on 28 Oct 2016 @ 10:06pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Lieutenant JG Eelim Galan & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin
Edited on on 28 Oct 2016 @ 10:11pm

2,556 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo/Paulson Nebula
Timeline: MD 03 - 0055 hrs

Previously, on Panko Breadcrumbs (Part 7)...

Ryan nodded. "I understand sir. But I can't leave you, and Sir, it takes two Officer's to Initiate the sequence." Ryan said stoically.

She smiled weakly at the Alexander, a man she'd only known for less than a few months. He had made his choice as had she, and she weakly reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Great souls always perform great sacrifices," she said, repeating one of her homeworld's greatest philosophers. "Help me to the engineering console," she added, which was behind them by a few meters.

Ryan moved, looping his arm around her waist, even over the pregnant belly. "I am sorry that you wont be able to see your child sir." Ryan said, as centered there mass, and pushed off the bulkhead near the command console, and sent them both floating towards the engineering console. He braced himself and her against the bulkhead, taking the pull force on his arm. With a grunt, he steadied them both, easing her to the console. "Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret." Ryan said. He turned his attention to her. "Ready when you are Sir."

Lirha was grateful for the ensign's assistance and floated herself down to the console. It flashed bright red and indicated total system failures across the ship. "Computer," she began with a trembling voice. One of her green hands reached down to her belly and settled atop her unborn twins. "Begin auto-destruct sequence, authorization Saalm-zero-nine-alpha-romeo." She then looked over towards Alexander and awaited his input.

Ryan had never expected that he would ever have to use this code. "Authorization Alexander-One-Echo-Five-Juliet," he said, his voice steady, he wasn't going to leave her behind.

Galileo's main computer acknowledged the input of both officers and replied in prompt fashion. "Authorization confirmed. Submit final destruct code."

"This is Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm," she yelled, over the loud wreckage and bursting EPS conduits, "Destruct sequence delta-five. One minute, audible countdown, execute!"

"WARNING. AUTO DESTRUCT ACTIVATED," came the computers reply throughout the vessel. "FIFTY-FIVE SECONDS TILL DESTRUCT. WARNING. AUTO DESTRUCT ACTIVATED, FIFTY SECONDS TILL AUTO DESTRUCT," the computer began to repeat as it counted down.

Lirha looked back at the gold-collared ensign who had volunteered his life to help her accomplish her goal. She slowly pushed herself away from her console and began to float over to him, then grasped him for support once she came near. "Do not be afraid," she said to him, her eyes pouring with tears and her lips quivering while attempting to console him. "We will see each other again soon, in the next life."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

USS Galileo

"SELF DESTRUCT IN FIVE," the ship's computer voice continued, "FOUR, THREE, TWO..."

Lirha floated next to Ryan on the bridge and pulled him into a tight embrace. "I am so sorry," she wept in his ear.

"Don't be." Ryan said with a smile of understanding on his face, squeezing her in return.

"ONE-"

Lirha closed her eyes as the world around her exploded into oblivion. Shimmers of red sparkles quickly permeated her vision which soon became engulfed by a white light. Visions of her childhood surfaced and she remembered herself as a chubby green-skinned toddler running around the decks of her parents' trade freighter. She then remembered Nesh's birth and pulling her tiny younger sister from her crib to hold her for the first time. Memories of Earth and the Academy and all of her friends suddenly surfaced, followed by thoughts of Holliday and all of the other friends she had made in her life. Thoughts of her wedding with Siren and visits to the tribble farm on Rigel VII completed the circle of life which she had been privileged to be a part of and was now leaving.

Ryan watched as the bright light of Galileo took him to become one with the universe. His last moments were flooded memories were of his life. Every happy moment of his life on Minos Korva, and beyond flooded his last moments. From his first date and kiss, to when he first learned to change a diaper and the chaos that ensued. Images of his family sending him off to Marine Corps boot camp, and attending graduation. Even when he got his officer pips from the Academy. While he regretted that he wouldn't be able to say good bye, he knew that they would understand, and in that he was at bliss. Happiness was the last feeling he ever felt.

Galileo's bridge exploded in brilliant fashion, sending every remaining crew member and console into the vacuum of space. A series of subsequent detonations occurred throughout each of the lower decks in the primary hull. The front-end of the starship glowed from within then burst wide open as the force of the self-destruct charges tore her apart. What had once been the salvageable remains of a Nova-class vessel was now turned into a flaming fireworks display complete with utter destruction and incendiary debris launched at every angle.


Galileo Escape Pods

As the security officers tended to the wounded, Wilson looked out the viewport to look at the ship one last time. As he watched, he saw the bridge ignite in a massive fireball.

"Holy shit!" He yelled.

Greg and the others looked out the viewport to see what had happened. As Greg watched, the explosions went in a random affect around the ship, blowing open different parts of the hull. As the explosions grew and grew, fireballs reached out further and further away and more of the ship was torn apart. The last thing Greg saw of his most recent posting was the hull number get slowly burned away by the charges inside of it before the rest of the ship finally ignited into a blinding light and a massive explosion engulfed the now charred, dead hull.

As the ball of flame expanded, a shockwave was sent out. In an instant, Greg grabbed onto a handrail.

"EVERYONE HANG ON!" He yelled.

The shockwave impacted the escape pod and rocked the occupants. Greg's head was knocked into the wall and Rivetti slammed into the floor. Wilson had re-taken his seat and had held on as tight as he could. The other officer cried out in pain as he was tossed into the air and then back onto the ground, and his burned leg slammed down hard.

After a few seconds, the shock-wave dissipated. The security officers regained their composure and Greg slowly sat back up, holding the side of his head which was now bleeding. Between his injured back from slamming into the Galileo's ceiling, his singed shoulder from a Klingon disrupter, and now this new injury, he was basically falling apart.

"Damn it..." Greg mumbled and took his seat, "Everyone alright?"

"I think so," Rivetti said, getting up off the floor.

"I'm good Chief," Wilson responded.

The other officer groaned, "My leg hurts like hell...but I'm otherwise alright."

Greg looked back out the viewport as pieces of debris floated by. "That wasn't the core. Those were charges throughout the ship," He looked at his men, "That was the self destruct."

"What?!" Wilson asked, "The ship was salvageable. What happened?"

"I don't know. Maybe....maybe they had made it to the bridge..." Greg guessed.

"Did everyone make it out? Was there anyone left?" Rivetti asked.

"I don't know." Greg responded.

"But sir..."

"I DON'T know, Petty Officer. I was here the whole time. I don't run the ship." Greg snapped back.

Rivetti sat back on the floor and tended to the other officer's wounds.

Greg sat back down and laid his head in his hands. God help me, please. I know you're there. You got us off. I need to know you're here now. I need you to help us. This can't be happening....this can't be..... He smoothed his hair back as he sat back up and looked at his men. "Rivetti, I'm sorry. I just....I....I wasn't prepared for this."

The other officer took a deep breath to fight back the pain, then lifted himself up on his arm to look at the Chief. "No-one did sir. It took us all by surprise...."

The officers sat in silence as the escape pod drifted away.


Pod A150/1

Miraj pressed herself to the porthole, a bloody hand pressed to the cold aluminium, pale from blood loss and let out a sob as her inside twisted. The handsome little ship was all gone. Something had been wrenched out of her. They were just starting to really come together, she had known the feel of every level of warp, the thrum of the reactor, the hiss of the air scrubbers, the buzz of the gravity coils. She sat in his sweet spot between deck four and five. She had had a glimpse of what they would have grown into. And it was all gone. That curious, eager little creature was...over. She tried not to cry, and failed, slumping down against the side of the pod. There, exhausted and bleeding, the adrenaline seeped away and without fuss, she fainted.

Allyndra was still having problems keeping her eyes open. She knew she should or risk slipping into a coma. The events were overwhelming and she heard and felt rather than saw the final demise of the ship. "Twins bless," she whispered and slowly levered herself up. She had no idea who had made it, what the status was of anyone else in the command group but someone had to take charge.

Slowly she moved to the control panel and begin to send out distress signal for all the good it would do and also the beacon signal to the rest of the pods. She used the communicator, "All hands, this is Commander Allyndra, set distress signals, and use thrusters to center on this beacon. We will begin to link so we can begin to take care of each other."

After she got that going she turned her attention to Miraj. Her head swam as she moved and got the medkit and went to tend to the woman. "Well, let us see what we have here...." she said calmly. She slowly examined the wounds and begin treatment.

She was deathly pale, so white that her hair looked neon bright against the ashen skin, and her slashed jacket and shirt were soaked with blood. The girl's arms and chest had dozens of slashes across them. Most were shallow, though tiny shards of the helm touchscreen were embedded in them. Several larger pieces the size of Allyndra's fingers had embedded themselves in her stomach and forearms, managing to miss major blood vessels by the merest margin.

Allyndra went to work best she could with the materials at hand. She talked as she worked, more just out of habit to comfort the patient and some just to tamp down her own aches and pains and fears. "Well think of your luck, you got the chief medical officer instead of some clumsy ensign engineer. Now then this is not going to be pretty but I think we can get you feeling a little better." Some of the bits and pieces she could remove, others without a better scanner then the little portable job might require a bit more and she just verified that they were not hitting anything too critical. She put some analgesic and did what patching she could but also was thankful that the emergency kits included bone marrow and spleen inducers as well. She had no IV but if she could get her conscious there was plenty of water.

Before she could start trying to wake her, dark orange streaks of light enveloped the young hybrid, scattered here and there with some small white motes. It was recognizable a matter stream from a transporter, but not a federation one. Less than a second later, Miraj was gone.

Allyndra cursed something in Akkadian waiting but nothing seemed to happen. She was a bit puzzled and then wondered if the Klingon scan only was using a simple thermal image or perhaps they were not attuned so well to Akkadians. Being ectothermic and certainly not something very common perhaps she had been skipped over.


Pod A125/3

"Chief!" Rivetti called.

Greg sat up and listened as the order from Commander Allyndra came in. "What is...why is she responding?"

"Where is Admiral Saalm?" Wilson asked.

"I don't know." Greg said and moved over to this pods control panel. He tapped a few buttons on the comm and responded. "This is Chief Warrant Officer Greg Mitchell. We were off the port bow of the ship when it went. We may or may not be there now. We are in escape pod..." He looked at Wilson.

Wilson looked up at the designation on the wall. "Pod A125/3"

"Pod A125/3. I have one KIA, one wounded, and two other security officers with me. Activating beacon and emergency thrusters..." he tapped the console, "...now."

The ship shuddered and a beeping sound came from the console as the thrusters activated and the signal kicked on respectively.

"Hang on guys, we'll be out soon." Wilson re-assured everyone.

T'Lin heard the call and got up. "This is pod.....C354/1, responding." She turned to the Cardassian and nodded, "The control panel is next to you for the thrusters."

Eelim turned to the control panel and entered the proper codes. The thruster release sounded. He scooted over to make room for her. "All yours."

T'Lin set the course for the indicated call and sat back. "We are good then..." it was the last thing she said before disappearing in orangish light.

Eelim's eyes widened He knew what was going on. Before he could react he felt the pull of the transporter on himself. It took a mere few seconds for him to appear on the Klingon ship. As the transporter release him he launched himself at the Klingons, which proved not to be a good idea. One Cardassian against four Klingon Warriors was no fight at all. He felt every hit and every break in his bones, one, two, three ribs for sure.

He fought well but eventually they won and darkness claimed him.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Commander Langdale Wiggins
First Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Natalya Kirilova
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Junior Grade Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

Ensign Ryan Alexander
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

CWO3 Greg Mitchell
Security Officer
USS Galileo

CPO Torgier Naess
Security Officer
USS Galileo

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Second Officer
USS Galileo

PO2 T'Lin
Biochemistry expert
PNPC Warraquim
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Junior Grade Eelim Galan
Security Officer
USS Galileo
(PNPC MacKenzie)

Petty Officer Eviess
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LT Cmdr Luke Wyatt
Chief Strategic Operations officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Junior Grade Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security and Tactical
USS Galileo

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo
&
CPO2 Crispin Snow
Operations Officer

and other Galileans...

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