A Dangerous Situation

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

LIEUTENANT JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(Personal Log Stardate 11308.13)

 

John returned to his station in engineering after slipping out of sickbay.

The radiation levels continued to go up throughout the ship, it seemed

like, and Randall was determined to find out where the weak point of the

shields was. He sat down at his station, and saw chief engineer Lieutenant

Commander Eddie Freeman walk through the engineering doors. He

quickly gathered up the reports that had been sent to his computer, and

put them all into a massive e-mail, forwarding it to the chief's computer.

 

He then called up the shield monitoring program, and frowned as he read

it. The radiation levels were definitely climbing inside the ship; he raised

his head and looked around engineering, noticing many of the crew were

showing signs that the radiation level was getting to them. John's headache,

which had been pretty much taken care of by the machine in sickbay, was

remanifesting itself. And, it was coming back with a vengeance, as far as

he was concerned, massaging his temples.

 

He sent an e-mail to the chief's computer, informing Freeman that the 'comm

was down; he would have to use his communicator to contact anybody.

A few moments later, the chief appeared in his office doorway. "Hey, Randall!"

he called, and John looked up. "On my way, Chief!" he yelled back, and left

his station, moving toward the main console as he saw Freeman heading that

way. Freeman turned to him as they arrived at the console. "Shields dropping,"

he muttered, just loud enough for John to hear him. "Comm's down, nothin'

disastrous just yet, but.....", he trailed off as the men sat down at a couple of

terminals.

 

"Yep, this nebula is not exactly our friend, chief," replied the lieutenant as they

activated their monitors. Freeman squared his shoulders. "All right," he said.

"Gotta beef up the shields, then maybe cut some of this radiation," he continued.

John said, "Chief, I should inform you; Steve Davis and I have erected a level

three force field around the warp core. It should protect the warp engines from the

radiation. We may have to start re-routing power as I have the generators already

at maximum, sir." Freeman nodded, glancing at him. "Good work," he said. "All

right, reroute it is. We might want to mess with the shield frequencies a bit; let's

configure 'em for stopping radiation instead of disruptors." His fingers were

already playing over his panel, rerouting power as he spoke.

 

"Aye, sir," responded Randall, and he, too, began to reroute power. He looked

over at Freeman briefly. "Chief, if you need to contact the bridge, you'll have to

use your communicator. The radiation doesn't seem to be affecting them....yet."

Freeman nodded, and began massaging the left side of his head, which was not

lost on Randall. "Yeah," the chief replied. "This keeps gettin' worse, we'll have to

designate a runner...."; he trailed off again, massaging his temple. The two men

worked in silence for a few minutes, then Freeman glanced over to Randall. "Going

to want to----"; he suddenly broke off, and stared hard beyond John. "What the---?"

he exclaimed, and the lieutenant turned to see a crewman staggering toward them.

 

The man was holding both hands tightly to his head, and seemed to be trying to stay

out of the light. He moaned, "I need to get to sickbay....", and he staggered even

worse. John quickly left his chair, rushed over to the man, and caught him as the man

was about to hit the deck. He looked over at Freeman. "Permission to transport him

to sickbay, sir," he said, and the chief nodded quickly. "Do it," he said, then narrowed

his eyes at his assistant. "And Randall, were you starting to get a headache too, just

before we saw him?" John nodded. "Now that you mention it, chief, I was," he said,

not bothering to mention that he had already been to sickbay. "The radiation may

have begun seeping through the hull," he continued aloud.

 

"Fan---tastic," groaned Freeman. "I'll see what I can do, you get going with him."

Randall nodded, and he and the crewman left engineering. John assisted the man

to the turbolift, and they stepped in as the car arrived. "Deck 7," snapped Randall,

and the lift sped off. They arrived, and John assisted the man down the corridor to

the sickbay doors, which swooshed open as they approached. The men went inside,

and John looked around for a medtech. "I need a medic here!" he exclaimed, and,

a few seconds later, a technician arrived, and, right on his heels, came Dr. Gretchen

Hanson, the chief medical officer. They relieved John of his burden, and Hanson

told the medtech to place him on a nearby biobed. As the medtech began working

on the crewman, John grabbed the back of his head, and rubbed it, an action not

lost on Hanson.

 

Eyeing him, she suddenly turned to him. "You, too?" she asked, and indicated a

nearby chair. "Sit here before you fall down," she said kindly. John had noticed that

his headache had not intensified until he came to sickbay, and he thought, 'The

radiation is worse in the upper decks.' He waved the doctor off, and said, "Not yet,

Doc; I have to contact the chief." Hanson frowned at him, and pointed at the chair.

"Call from your backside, Mr. Randall," she said sternly. "Doctor's orders." John

looked at her for a second, saw she was serious, sighed, nodded, and sat down.

He took out his communicator. "Randall to Freeman," he said, and the answer came

back almost immediately.

 

"Freeman here, what's up?" asked the chief engineer. "Chief, the radiation seems to

be stronger in the upper decks of the ship," said John, who then looked around sickbay,

noting the number of crew who were obviously affected by the radiation. "There are

several of the ship's crew here in sickbay, and they have the same symptoms as our

crewman." Freeman replied, "Noted," then watched another of the engineering crew

slump over at her station. "It's not exactly a picnic down here, either." "I'm sure it's

not, sir," said Randall. "What I mean is, the forward deflectors may be where the leak

is, and the radiation is seeping through the hull." He put his hand to the back of his

head again as he finished speaking.

 

Randall suddenly felt drained; he slumped in his chair. 'It's definitely stronger up here,'

he thought to himself. He sat there for a few moments, then took a deep breath, and

summoned all the will power he could muster. The headache actually receded a bit,

and he got up out of the chair. The doctor was nowhere in sight, so he called over to

a medtech. "Tell the doctor I'm going back to engineering, we have to stop this leak,"

he said. John didn't wait for an answer; he turned and walked to the sickbay doors,

stepping through them as they swished open.

 

He made his way down the corridor to the turbolift, and waited for a car to arrive.

He stepped in as one did, and snapped, "Deck 12." The lift whisked him away, and

a few moments later, deposited him at the deck. During the ride, John took out his

communicator, and contacted Freeman. "Chief, suggest you and the crew put on

rad suits," he said. "Randall out." He stepped out of the lift as he arrived, and made

his way down the corridor to engineering. The doors swooshed open as he approached,

and he strode inside, heading straight for the equipment room. He put on a suit, and

exited the room, going back out into engineering.

 

 

END LOG