Answers don't come cheap.

[Reese_Hawkins 0]

Log 005

USS Arcadia

Ensign Reese Hawkins

 

 

It was another day, the same as any other.  He yawned tiredly as he stood at his post, glancing over the computer readout of the night before.  Nothing in particular stood out.  Warp Power useage was in acceptable limits, the dilythium intermix chamber was running within specified parameters, the crystals themselves were running smoothly, more smoothly than anything else StarFleet could have issued them.  His engine was running fine today.

 

He had heard about the shuttle explosion from members of the crew the other night, and it was quite a tragedy to hear, supposedly.  There was alot of speculation running about that it was faked.  And this was his opinion too, how do you explain a shuttle suddenly exploding?  You find out how shot it down or who bombed it.  Obviously no one shot it down, as there wasn't an uncloaked ship anywhere near them,  but the second option, a bomb, was quite feasible.  But why?  And where were they taken to, or was it suicide?  All that would be answered soon enough, as he was already packing up for the the scheduled scan of the debris in Cargo bay 2.

 

He saw Frox walk out from around the corner in a loose fasion responding to his presence.

" Hello Reese, another day, another shift."

 

He responded with a smile and a nod, and just then his comm badge beeped and the Captain came through clearly.

"Moose to Engineering, I need all hands to get down to Cargo Bay 2 and help science figure out what happened to our shuttle."

 

Reese nodded to himself and responded calmly.

"I'll have us right on it. Engineering out."

 

Frox headed off to Medical for a routine exam, so he called on Ensign Bradley to help out.  Reese reached the Bay first, only to find Loami on the job.  Bradley soon followed.  Reese waved his tricorder around the wreckage for awhile, scanning for for anomalous material and such, not sure of what he was looking for.  Kind of like telling you to go search for something in a haystack, and not telling you to look for the needle.  

 

Then, he thought back to the thoughts he had earlier:  bombs.  He instantly narrowed it down to one type, Cobalt.  Highly volitile, can be made into smaller compact versions, easily concealed.

" Mr. Loami, I think I have a theory.  I believe this was the cause of a Cobalt bomb.  Think about it, they obviosuly wanted us to find this, ruling out any kind of anti-matter intermix sabotauge.  Cobalt bombs are small enough to hide anywhere nowadays, and they can still hold enough power to destroy, say, a shuttle?  And you couldnt use an Ion bomb ar anything smaller than a Cobalt bomb, not enough punch.  And look, set your tricorder to search for the element CObalt, wide spread dispersal, and scanning range of 20 meters. It's everywhere."

 

 Reese did this as well.  And low and behold, there it was, all over the wreckage.  He saw some anomalous material in the readout, it was active Cobalt under the piece of a console, but in his excitement he left out that detail to Loami.  

 

Then, he got another comm from Moose, quickly telling him that they needed Warp 4.  He rushed out of cargo bay 2 without hesitation.  Just as he got out of the turbolift into engineering, the lights, and the engine, shut down.  He cursed to himself, and before he could even think about anything else, his comm badge beeped.

 

"Reese, it's Frox, Loami has been hurt.  Apparently something ignited leftover material in the shuttle, and he was hurt severely. Do you know anything about what might of happened?"

"Reese?  Reese are you there?  Reese respond!"

 

He couldn't hear Frox, he couldn't here the red alert claxons going off around him.  He was in a daze, and emotions flooded him like he was standing in front of a tidal wave.  He leaned up against the wall, and let out one small breath, seeing flashbacks of his tricorder readings.

 

Short of breath, and suddenly very tired, he whispered to himself.

"Loami...."

 

The only place he could think of going was his quarters, he couldn't face Loami now, and he didn't want to talk about it.  Yes, his quarters sounded quite nice right now...