Excalibur Hanging

[Sorehl 0]

Stepping off from the turbolift onto Deck 52, Captain Sorehl moved toward the triple-layered plasteel viewport of Drydock One, which provided an expansive view of the damage to the starship Excalibur. The extendable arms of the docking facility embraced the saucer section, while the remainder of the ship trailed away from the station.

 

He had managed to postpone his deposition with Weyoun, citing a pressing need to oversee station deployment with the return of Excalibur. His insights into Semil’s death would have to wait. Ensign Keegar had prepped the repair facility, coordinating with the largely enlisted contingent of Camelot Station engineering.

 

With Vulcan attention to detail, Sorehl surveyed the torn superstructure and wrenched nacelle. In his career as an engineer, he had overseen the repair of some sixty ships, supported the construction of four space stations, and shepherded five vessels from initial gamma weld through commissioning. Excalibur, however, had retained a degree of distinction in his mind. Although he had served in a number of planetside and starbase positions in the years beforehand, the Excalibur-A had been his first posting aboard a starship – Admiral Day had been its chief engineer in those days.

 

That ship had ultimately been replaced by the Excalibur-B, its worthy successor of the Sovereign-class. Now even that ship looked on the verge of being replaced.

 

Aside from the damage to the ship itself, the failure to recover the away team was even more problematic. It was now highly probable the Romulans had evidence of a Starfleet attempt to gather intelligence in the T-Rogoran system. Despite the questionable legality of their military action, the Romulans might choose to press the incident as a violation of their newly-declared territory, and by extension, the alliance itself.

 

Unlikely, Sorehl concluded, considering how often Federation and Romulan ships had violated their respective space over the last two decades. There had been close calls, but they’d always managed to come back from the brink.

 

He turned to observe more engineers arriving in advance of the announced “all-hands” meeting. Not for the first time, Sorehl observed that the sea of black and yellow uniforms gave the impression of a hive busy with activity. Despite his experience, he had opted not to make a personal walk-through to inspect the damage firsthand, deferring such a role to the ship’s chief engineer. Although Lieutenant Xavier was due to meet him shortly, the litany of incoming assessments had not been encouraging. It was becoming more and more evident that the scope of repairs seemed beyond what Camelot, and perhaps other shipyards, could support. If the chief engineer concurred, other less pleasant orders would surely follow.

 

Within the next hour, the fate of Excalibur hung in the balance.

Edited August 9, 2005 by Sorehl