Chapter 8 Unavoidable Delays
The turbolift stopped somewhere around deck 6. He stepped onto the deck and tapped his combage. "Munro to the Chief."
"Chief here."
"Meet me outside engineering, there's a containment leak in engineering. The engineering crew needs our help to seal it."
"I'm on my way, what's your location?"
"Somewhere on deck 6, the turbolifts aren't working well. I may have to take the Jefferies tubes."
"Understood."
Munro proceeded down the hallway and around some corners. As he came around a corner he saw a wall conduit explode almost tossing a crew member down the hallway. The crewman got up a limped toward him.
"The EPS conduits are gonna blow! Hit that panel and bring up a containment field!" he said.
Munro waited until the crewman was past a bulkhead then pressed a button and a containment field went up.
"That was close. Where were you heading?"
"I need to take a turbolift to engineering."
"Well the aft turbolifts were the only ones working on this deck but they're behind the containment field." He tapped the console. "The explosion must have shorted out this console. I think there's an override somewhere on this deck but I'm not sure where."
"Thanks anyway."
Munro went down a corridor to his left. He passed a turbolift that was offline. As he got past it the door exploded. He went a little further and saw Chell and another crewman working on a relay. Chell looked up and said "Sorry Munro, the data shunt's been severed here everything down this way is shut off." An alarm beeped and the crewman said "Hey we're getting a power surge here."
"Munro, quick, hit that panel and shut off this relay."
He hit the panel.
"That was close."
"Chell I need to get this containment field down."
"There's an override in the Jefferies tube just down that corridor."
Going back the way he came, he climbed into the Jefferies tube. But about halfway down the ceiling collapsed. Turning back he stepped into the turbolift shaft with the blown out door and climbed up some stairs. Going into the Jefferies tube above that he crouch-walked until he came to the collapsed ceiling, hopping down to the level below he continued on. He came out of the tube and saw the override. Pressing it quickly he got back in the tube climbed over the debris and down the ladder to land once again on the deck. He went back to where Chell was still working and continued on.
Turning a corner he saw a turbolift ahead but it was still offline. So he went to his left and down several Jefferies tubes until he got to Deck 11. As he exited the tube he noticed that he was in a cargo bay and some hazardous material had spilled. He dropped onto a cargo container and hopped from one to the next until he came to a ladder. He climbed the ladder and activated the containment system, which drained the material. He again climbed down the ladder and exited the cargo bay.
He turned a corner and he saw the Chief was just arriving as well. B'Elanna was outside as well. "Munro what took you so long? We've got a warp core breach in progress you need to get in there and shut it down. There are two things you have to do so listen carefully, first, turn off the power relays on the main floor. Then go to the upper level and decouple the dilithium matrix."
Munro and the Chief moved to the door. The Chief already had his armor on. "Wait a minute Munro. You're going to need a helmet to get through that coolant leak." B'Elanna said.
"I've got one in my transporter buffer." Munro replied.
He tapped the buffer and a helmet appeared in his hands. They both entered engineering but there was a containment field up. As the door closed behind them B'Elanna said "Hurry guys, I'm not sure how much time you've got left!"
The field deactivated and the Chief went to the power relay station while Munro went to the upper level. "Chief, I just forgot you're going to need the access codes, go to the access code station." He went to the station which then displayed the power relay access codes. He went back to the relay station and turned them off. He then yelled to Munro "NOW!" and Munro decoupled the dilithium matrix. The computer came over the comm. with an automated message.
"Dilithium matrix decoupled. Warp core offline, core breach averted."
B'Elanna walked in. "Nice job Chief, Ensign, that was touch and go there for a little while."
"No problem Lieutenant." Said Munro.
With Munro back on the main floor he and the Chief walked out. As soon as they exited the AI Cortana came over the comm. "Intruder alert! All security and Hazard team personnel report to the loading dock!" The Chief and Munro looked at each other and both ran to the nearest turbolift and proceeded to the crisis…
