The Cave Beyond Logic

[Tovan 0]

Lt. Tovan

Personal log

SD 50404.32

"The Cave Beyond Logic"

 

 

 

Tovan stood in main engineering, attempted to grab a hold of what has happened. He's been pulled from the PC project in mid testing and to the transporters. The away team was in trouble, their shuttle was near destruction. Lt. Betty improvised a radiation beam to be fired from the main deflector to the shuttle in the Chasma and piggyback a transporter signal through it.

 

It was crude and dangerous. He thought, but the away team made it back to the transporters. Except one, Ensign Hayden. He thought this logically and came to the same conclusion the 3rd time, the annular confinement beam was not wide enough to grab every one, then the shuttle plunged to its destruction along with the Ensign which the shuttle led her to her doom.

 

Two days earlier, Ensign Hayden had her Memorial service with all the senior officers. Tovan attended but said nothing, thought nothing, felt nothing. It was strange. He thought. Of all the things he could have done, he couldn't help save another life.

 

Tovan walked to the Turbolift and stepped inside, and rode to the transporter room, where the away team was brought up. He felt the Turbolift going upward, the lights blinked outside in the shaft.

 

He stepped off the turbolift and in to the corridor. Officers were walking, an engineer was running a diagnostic on the Eps relays on this deck and a radiation clean up crew, had just exited the Transporter room. Tovan stepped inside and relieved the Chief. The chief nodded and waited outside.

 

Tovan sat his hands upon the controls, and thought back to that day when they launched the shuttle. The shuttle was fully equiped with radiation resistant shield modifications, plus a redundent lifesupport system. But the energy expelled from the chasma overwhelmed the little ship. And sent the away team near their doom, and took Ensign Hayden's life. Tovan glanced over to the pads remembered where each away team member was exactly when they were brought up.

 

Ensign Kroells, laid on the far right. Lt. Castle right next to Kroells. He remembered all of this. He peered back to the invisible foot prints that were made by Commander Farrington as she stumpled out the door towards the bridge. And finally the medical team laid between the 3rd and 5th pads. Tovan looked at the controls.

 

He was both the support craft and transporter specialist aboard this ship, he knew these systems inside out, so why couldn't he save one single crewman in danger? He thought this but again came to the same conclusion. The Annular confinement beam was not wide enough to encompass everyone on that shuttle.

 

He tapped on a button on the control, and watched the pattern buffer schematics. He noted it was functioning at 67%. He thought back to that day, nearly 3 pattern buffers were turned in to dust from the massive amounts of radiation. He took out his padd and noted the repairs that needs to be made and more modifications were required inorder to prevent this accident.

 

He turned, walked out of the transporter room and gave back the chief, his post, and walked to the Turbolift down the corridor. It was a good shuttle. He thought. No doubt that another, with stronger shielding and emergency systems, must be built if we wanted to know what is down there in that chasma. The other alternative ... take Manticore itself in, which was not logical. He wasn't fond of accidents, more specificly shuttle accidendents. Which took his brother away from him.

 

He stepped in to the Turbolift.

 

Main Engineering. He commanded and the lift began its descent. In to what? Tovan did not have an answer but he was obligated to make sure this will not happen again, not while he's still alive.