The Mission Explodes

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

LIEUTENANT JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(Personal Log Stardate 11602.06)

 

John arrived with his team on the upper floor of engineering. They were there to assess and evaluate the damage sustained by the cloaking device. John still wasn't sure what had happened to the ship; it had all at once began shuddering badly, so much so that anyone who was standing was thrown off their feet. Minor bumps and bruises so far, but there had been reports of heavy damage in the middle decks of the Challenger; Jeff Michaels had taken a team with him to inspect the damage and begin repairs.

 

John's other friend, Lieutenant Steve Davis, had checked in and was with a team at the warp core, trying to repair the damaged warp engines; the impulse engines were running, but sounded very rough, Davis had reported to John via communicator.

 

John directed his team to various points around the cloaking device, and they began assessing the damage. A few minutes into the investigation, John got a beep on his communicator, and whipped it out, flipping it open. "Randall here," he said, and the voice of Jeff Michaels came to him. "Chief, we've got a hell of a situation on deck six," he said. "We got a massive hull breach here, and it apparently was caused by one of the fighter squadron crashing into and through the ship. The craft itself is embedded in a corridor wall, and we think the pilot is still inside. We are endeavoring to try to get to the pilot. It's a royal mess up here, John."

 

Randall said, "Is the force field in place, Jeff?" "That's affirmative, Chief," Michaels replied. "There's no power where we are, but I have a team on that, including our new arrival Ensign Chaz. He's an Andorian, sir." "He should be able to provide some help," said John. "I read the file on him, he's well touted by the Academy, so use him, Jeff." "Acknowledged, Chief," came the reply. "We're starting to try to get into the craft now. Will keep you posted. Michaels out."

 

John replaced his communicator on his belt, and stood there thinking. What had happened that would cause a fighter craft to actually crash into the ship? There was more going on here than anyone knew, apparently, and he didn't like it. He took out his tricorder and scanned the device from the angle he had. The scans began showing readings that, frankly, didn't make any sense.

 

The team worked for a while, John receiving updates from Michaels and Davis periodically. The damage had apparently been somewhat localized to the middle decks of the Challenger; six, seven and eight were the most heavily damaged, but it was mostly structural and power outages. Challenger would definitely have to report back to the starbase for some of the repairs, however; the ship just didn't carry the materials required to repair the more heavily damaged structural areas.

 

Power was slowly being restored, but it was a hit-and-miss undertaking at best; there was simply too much damage in some areas to get to the junctions and relays. Michaels reported to Randall that they were doing the best they could, but it was just too big a mess to get to everything. John told his friend to stop worrying about what he couldn't do, and repair what he could.

 

The team had been working for about an hour on the cloaking device when suddenly a very ominous sound came from it. John's head snapped up from his tricorder, and gave an order for silence. After listening for fifteen seconds, he gave another order. "EVERYONE OUT OF HERE STAT!!!" he roared, and the team scrambled immediately for the door of the generator room.

 

They made their way to the glass lift, and rode it down in groups of three, which was unsafe, but this was no time to adhere to regulations. John kept urging his crew out, until finally he saw he would indeed be the last one out. He began to exit the room when suddenly the cloaking device gave a shrill, loud whistle, then exploded. John was caught in the blast and his body was hurled through the doorway, slamming into the corridor wall. As he began to crumple, a piece of the device caught him on the left side of his head. His head ricocheted off the wall, and he was unconscious before he hit the floor.

 

He was found a few moments later by ensign Susan Maloney, who screamed when she saw him, then whipped out her communicator and called for a med team. She went over to John, and saw the ugly wound on the side of his head, and it was bleeding profusely. She quickly took a rag she had hanging from her belt, and wrapped his head as best she could, lightly pressing her hand against the wound to try to slow down the bleeding. She was crying as she held his head; she had come to like and respect Lieutenant Randall, as he had been such a big help to her ever since she had come aboard the Challenger.

 

The med team arrived a few minutes later, and they took over the job of caring for the chief engineer. A fresh bandage was wrapped around John's head, and the team placed him gently on an anti-grav cart. They took his body to the glass lift and rode it down. They then took him over to the intra-ship transporter dais and they shimmered out of sight.

 

END LOG