Operations

[Hanna-Beth Rieve 0]

First Lieutenant Hanna-Beth Rieve couldn't let the dumbfounding surprise overtake her. The security procedures had somehow failed... there had been an explosion, many casualties, possibly including the president. She could no longer see the stage from the monitors through the thick smoke that now veiled the scene. One of the positioned cameras had fallen with a piece of the roof. It was transmitting the chaos of moving feet, running in all directions.

 

In a strange form of irony, the central control position knew the least about what was happening firsthand. Rieve received incoming communications from the Marines on the ground. She had sent an emergency notification to Starfleet command. With the size of the crowd in the hall, and the failure of the safety systems, the best mode of evacuation would be by transporter. But, she knew that it would take Starfleet a few minutes to have their transporter facilties ready. A few minutes may be too late. Lt. Kansas Jones was next to her, in the process of contacting Agincourt. The Marines and Starfleet security were rushing in to control the flow of people out of the auditorium. The danger of a trampling incident was high. One group of Marines started to open new exit routes in the rear by drilling phaser holes in the building walls.

 

The men on the ground reported in, and Hanna-Beth relayed the situation inside to the Marines outside, who were ordered to try to move the crowd away from the building, but keep them contained. Any one of them could have been the bomber, or one of the accomplices.

 

The ceiling was coming down. The building was collapsing. Even though the scenes from the auditorium were taking place only a few tens of meters away, it seemed like a world away. A few minutes after the explosion, the smoke and dust became visible at the security post. It was happening, it was here. It was real. The time had come to abandon position, and recall the Marines still inside.

 

Above the screaming, and the orders being sent back and forth, she could hear the hum of shuttes arriving. Starfleet Rescue had finally arrived. It seemed like an eternity. It was five minutes and sixteen seconds on the chronometer.

 

There was no time to think about the failure. There was no time to think about the consequences, or the future. There was barely time for rescue.