Aboard the Ithaca

[Annabelle O'Halloran 0]

Anna’s suit light reflected sparkles off the frost covered bulkheads as she made her way to the bridge from main engineering. Both locations were on Deck 1 of the ten-deck ship, and that made it easier to maneuver. She wasn’t keen on trying to climb through the J tubes in an environmental suit. Wade was working to get ship systems online, and while he did that she wanted to see the bridge.

 

JJ made his way up to the bridge behind Anna. He was charged with piloting the ship out of the anomaly it currently sat in. They could only hope that Wade could get the well aged vessel’s systems online for them to make an exit. He was happy Anna was heading to the bridge with him, having never flown a vessel (purposely) in or out of a temporal anomaly before, the scientist’s presence on the bridge would most likely be needed. As the time ticked away here on the Ithaca, JJ knew that it was not doing so over on the Reaent. Now that he was here, a twinge of regret began to seep through him. He really didn’t want to return to the Reaent with any unneeded extra months or years on his body.

 

Anna crossed the bridge, the layout familiar from studying the Saber Class specs. The two science stations were along the port side and it was from here she planned to retrieve the logs after Wade restored ship’s power. If he was able to. Turning, she realized JJ had been right behind her and waved, speaking into the suit comm. “It’s a little lonely looking isn’t it?” she asked. She pointed to the console directly in front of the Command chair. “Flight Control Officer’s. Hopefully, you’ll get the chance to fly her.” Glancing at the tricorder in her gloved hands, she checked the readout of the monitoring of the emergency transport armbands.

 

JJ looked around the bridge, it was indeed a lonely place. “I’m hoping so as well, dearest Anna.” He moved to the chair that Anna had indicated. The console was draped with a thin layer of frost. He frowned inwardly, he wasn’t an engineer, but he knew that extreme cold and lack of use were not exactly the best thing for power conduits. “I have no doubts of the honorable Mr. Wade’s ability to bring the ship’s systems online,” he began “However, my fear is that maximum quality of those systems not be to standards we need.” He brushed some of the frost off of the console. “These systems have been inactivate for a very long time and have been exposed to very harsh elements, my dear Scientist.”

 

Enchanted as always by JJ’s highly formal, yet charmingly familiar speech pattern, Anna walked over to stand next to him, eyeing the layer of frost on the FO’s seat with a glint of amusement. “It looks like it’s set to maximum comfort for Brythtons,” she offered, before adding, “If Wade gets impulse online, and Captain McQueen gives the approval, these systems just have to give a last gasp to make it through the bubble. Time is slowed down enough here that the contrast between inside and outside isn’t so great it should be much of a barrier. The probes have come and gone across it. Of course, the probes aren’t showing the metal fatigue this ship is.” Anna shrugged, eyes back on the tricorder, as she hit the all call. “Away Team, just an update on the armbands. The fields are intact with no slippage and we still have 2.5 hours of charge left.”

 

Murray did some quick calculations in his head. “So let’s figure that’s two hours work, plus 30 minutes to clean up, get back to the shuttle, and get out of here before we start living laps around the Reaent. I think that’s manageable.” He glanced at the frozen settings around him and muttered to himself off-com. “It’d better be manageable.”

 

***

 

The Ithaca's engineering station certainly appeared as one would think it would, having been at station keeping without access to new parts or labor. Several inoperable workstations had been converted to work benches, with worn or otherwise broken equipment strewn about to be repaired. As Wade made his rounds he made it a point to inspect the parts the Ithaca crew had selected for repair. Several carbon scrubbers, turned to a sooty black littered the tables and staging areas. A conversion matrix, apparently from a replicator, lay in utter disrepair. It was obvious that the crew had given up on keeping the Ithaca's engines maintained, instead opting to focus on the essentials for prolonged life on a Starship.

 

Getting the ship’s power back online was his first order of business. Connecting his tricorder to the engine’s interface quickly gave him a brief status on the engines. The engines weren’t operating at the moment, so he had to go off of its operating state when last it was. It seemed that the engines were still within relatively safe operating conditions, aside from the fact that the antimatter storage was spent. With an exasperated sigh he engaged his comm, “Knight to O’Halloran.”

 

“O’Halloran here, Mr. Knight. Go ahead.” She looked up from the tricorder to the large, dark viewscreen at the front of the bridge. It would be comforting to be able to see the Reaent. The frost covered interior of the Ithaca felt vaguely haunted even though she knew from the undamaged portion of logs they’d decrypted that all crew had abandoned ship. It was very comforting to have JJ here with her.

 

“I just thought you’d like an update. It doesn’t look too pretty down here,” Wade said over the comm, reading over the data pouring into his tricorder from the engineering computer. “Its going to need a little cleaning up, I think. I’ve got some great remodeling ideas, though. How do you feel about chartreuse?”

 

“And suddenly he’s an interior decorator,” Anna muttered before activating the all comm. “Green is not my color, but something in an ice blue?” She glanced over to JJ. “You have any preference?”

 

The Brythton grinned, “Blues are good. So long as it comes in a shade doesn’t wash me out.” he motioned to his face, which was the only portion of his light blue skin within view.

 

Anna looked at him thoughtfully, and then nodded. “It would be pale enough to complement you.”

 

“Light blue, really? This is engineering we’re talking about, not a nursery,” Wade replied, grinning to himself behind his helmet. “Which reminds me, if we do get trapped over here, I hope you’re prepared to help carry on the Knight legacy. We’re a simple people, but we have a long and storied history...”

 

Anna could hear JJ’s chortle next to her. “ ‘Simple’ doesn’t begin to describe it,” Anna responded dryly through the suit comm. “As I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, we have a limited amount of time left. Ensuring the continuation of the Knight Dynasty is not on my agenda.”

 

Wade could be heard chuckling through the comm as Anna went on. Finishing his assessment of the engines he stepped over Murray, still speaking to O’Halloran through the comm. “Well, it is on mine. So you can know you haven’t a thing to worry about. That said, getting power back online shouldn’t take much longer. Everything still seems to be in working order here, but we’re going to need to cannibalize some antimatter fuel from the shuttle.”

 

Anna rolled her eyes, managing to keep from laughing. She looked over at JJ, saying, “Wade and Wim appear to be making progress.”

 

“I do not believe that vain attempts to ensure the proliferation of one’s family legacy is considered progress, but I shall take them at their word, dearest Anna.”

 

This time she didn’t bother to try holding it back and just burst out laughing.

 

***

 

Wade turned to Murray, “We do have spare antimatter pods in the shuttle, right?”

 

Murray nodded. “Should do, yeah. Not much, but it should be enough to get this giant popsicle up and running again.”

 

“Excellent, that’s first on our agenda. Shouldn’t be too difficult to get us up and running after that,” Wade replied, pausing for a moment before mumbling to himself, “moving is another matter.”

 

“Moving is another matter entirely, and not exactly what was on top of our priority list over here. However,” Wim paused for a moment, knowing that the subject would likely come up again in discussions with McQueen and Ridire, “it would not be out of line to at least set up an attempt to do so. This is, after all, lost Starfleet property, and it would be our duty to retrieve it. In the meantime,” he continued, “I’ll go back to the shuttle and retrieve some antimatter.” He paused for a moment of further discussion before leaving the room.