TALES

OF A

STARFLEET

ENGINEER

by

A. J. Trook

Chapter 11

Dear Mom and Dad,

Remember when I told you how versatile replicators were? Well, I think holodeck diagnostic systems are in need of some of that versatility. I had a run-in with a holodeck today that I won't soon forget. Did you ever consider how tricky it is to repair one of those things when it won't shut down? If it happens again, I'm going to beam the entire holofield projector assembly outside the ship's hull, then work on it with remotes!

We arrived in orbit around Altair Three. They've got some sort of civil war about to start, and we're here to serve as mediators between the two sides. Don't worry – I'm staying on board the ship. There's nothing for me to do down there, anyway.

Your son,

Max

-----

Max entered Engineering, only to find the place scrambling. He snagged a passing ensign. "What's going on?"

"Some mine collapsed down on the surface. Hundreds are dead, and hundreds more are trapped. We're putting together a team to go down and help." The ensign broke loose and headed deeper into engineering, intent on her particular task.

Max spotted Jones coordinating things. Shoving through the other engineers, he stepped in from of the chief engineer. "Sir, what do you want me to do?"

"We're sending several teams down with excavation gear. We need to get the survivors out as quickly as possible."

Max nodded. "Are we sending anyone into the mine itself?"

Jones shook his head. "I hadn't planned on it. We don't know if that mine will finish collapsing."

Max thought for a moment. "But sir, we could use the local layout of the mine to beam down a couple people, then reinforce sections of the mine from below. We could set up a safe spot to work from, then start handing out commbadges for the transporter room to lock onto. I'm just going to need-"

Jones cut him off. "Davis, it's not going to happen. The elements in that mine are scrambling our sensors - we have no way of telling if we'd be beaming you into an open space or a pile of solid rock. We can't trust the schematics - they just aren't precise enough for this kind of search-and-rescue."

"But sir-"

Jones scowled. "No, lieutenant! Now head up bravo team. You'll be the primary excavation team."

Max started to argue, then bit his tongue. "Aye, sir." He headed toward the tool room, then thought better of it. What he needed, he could replicate much faster. He left engineering and headed for cargo bay one. Once there, he replicated twenty portable structural supports, twenty light-weight spotlights, ten first-aid kits, and five hundred commbadges. Loading them all onto two antigrav sleds, he guided them both over to the bulk transporter. Calling up a local layout of the mine, he zeroed in on a large cavern that the miners had been using as a temporary underground headquarters. The additional supports installed by the mining company had made the cavern one of the more stable points in the mine, and it was deep enough to be insulated from the shock that had collapsed the upper levels.

He ran a quick scan of the area, but as Jones had pointed out, the mine's high mineral content bounced the sensors all over the hemisphere. Max sighed. He was truly leaping into the void.

Briefly he fingered his lieutenant's pips, wondering if Jones would be satisfied with taking just the one.

After setting the transporter controls to the dubious coordinates and overriding the safeties, Max stepped onto the transporter pad. He said a prayer even as he felt the transporter beam's tingle. After a brief instant of eternity, Max materialized, then blinked. He couldn't see a thing.

Either I'm in the mine, or I'm dead.

He activated his light, and a dusty cavern appeared in the narrow beam. Max let out a long breath, then turned and inventoried his equipment. Thankfully, everything made it.

Looking around, he determined that the excavation appeared stable, at least for the moment. No large boulders were littering the ground. No major cracks were criss-crossing the ceiling.

"Hello?"

Max whipped around. Two miners were staggering out of a tunnel into the cave, covered in dust. Their coveralls were torn, and they were bleeding in several places.

Max ran over to them, bringing an extra light and a first-aid kit. "I'm Lieutenant Davis from the Expeditious. Call me Max." He looked them over as he popped open the med-kit and ran the medical tricorder. He wasn't a corpsman, but he could tell that their injuries were minor.

Max gave each one of them a commbadge. "Put these on." He tapped his own badge. "Davis to Expeditious. I have two miners for you to beam to the surface. Can you lock onto them?"

"We've got their signals, but just barely. Do you have transporter enhancers?"

Max winced. How could he have forgotten those? "Negative, Expeditious. After you beam these two out, send me a few."

"Will do, Davis. Expeditious out."

The miners disappeared, and a moment later the transporter enhancers arrived. Max set them up, then started down a tunnel with the sleds in tow. "Hello? Anybody down here?"

He didn't get far before finding evidence that the tunnel had taken some damage. Pausing at a weak spot, he set up two of the structural reinforcement rods.

A moan from further down the tunnel caught his attention, and Max hurried toward it. He rounded a bend and stopped, stunned. The tunnel had caved in, blocking the way. Three miners lay partially exposed, caught in the rubble. Max could tell that they were in terrible shape. Kneeling beside the miners, he slapped commbadges on all three of them, then called the Expeditious for beam-out to the surface. Seconds later, they were gone.

Checking to make sure he wasn't missing anyone, he jogged back to the main cavern. There were about twenty miners gathered there, arguing about how to get out. Max introduced himself, and started dealing out commbadges.

Another rumble shook them all. Dust trickled down from several new faults in the ceiling of the cavern, and Max looked at the senior miner. "Look, I want to get you all out of here, but I need a couple people who know the mines to stay here and help me for a bit."

Nearly every hand went up. The senior miner started dividing them into four-man teams, and Max handed each of them a light. They immediately started down the different tunnels, looking for their comrades.

Max grabbed a few miners and started bracing the ceiling with the supports. The injured he had beamed to the surface.

He tapped his badge. "Davis to Expeditious. How are the topside operations going?"

Lieutenant Commander Bernel, the Operations officer, replied, "Things are going well, although it will be some time before they can get down to where you're at. How did you get down there, Lieutenant Davis?"

Max chose to ignore the question. "I need more structural support beams down here, and more lights. There are a lot of survivors down here."

Bernel's voice crackled back at him. "They will be transported as soon as possible, Lieutenant. Do you need any additional support?"

Max looked at the head miner, who shook his head. "No, Commander. The miners have all they need down here. I'm just helping keep the ceiling up and keeping out from underfoot while they dig out their friends. If I get low on commbadges, I'll call for more."

"Lieutenant, we are having difficulty maintaining a transporter lock on your location. If we lose our lock on your coordinates, your rescue mission will be delayed until corrections can be made."

Max swallowed. "Noted, Commander. I'll hurry, but if I'm still down here when that happens, I guess I'll just wait it out."

Like I'd have a choice.

Just then the cave rumbled again, and the ceiling's cracks widened. Max snatched up a support and started toward the center of the cave. The head miner grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. "Wait! It's about to go!"

Max pointed at the other tunnels opening into the main cavern. "If we lose this cave, we lose seven of these eight tunnels! Let's go!" Max broke free and dashed to brace the crumbling ceiling. The miner swore, then joined him with another support. Max took a medium-sized chunk of rock in the temple and saw stars, but managed to stabilize the center of the cave.

The miner scowled at the supports as he shuffled to get another brace. "It won't hold for long."

Max sat down, hoping to clear his head. "Every second counts. Any luck in tunnel five?"

The miner looked down the dark passageway where they knew a number of miners were trapped on the far side of a large cave-in. "Possibly. I'll go check."

Max watched as the miner hurried down the tunnel, his light dancing ahead of him. Max crawled over to another support beam, intent on setting up another brace. He only made it halfway to the stack before dizziness caused him to lay face-down and close his eyes waiting for the cave to stop spinning.

Dimly he heard cheers coming from the tunnel, and he opened his eyes to see almost a hundred miners pour out into the main cavern, many injured and being helped by their comrades. Several of them grabbed the remaining support struts and finished the job Max had started. Two of them ripped open a first-aid kit and started cleaning the wound on Max's forehead. "Are you all right?"

Max grinned. "Yeah, Mom. I'm fine. Can I go back to the playground now?"

The miners looked at each other nervously. Max pointed over at the case of replicated commbadges. "You guys want some of those? They'll beam you up where the sun's shining, I think."

The head miner nodded, and the badges were quickly passed out. Max nodded in dreamy approval. "Yeah, just stick 'em right on your coveralls." He flopped his head around and grinned at the head miner. "All right, who's first?"

The head miner gave the dazed engineer a worried look. "Everyone who was on the day shift has been accounted for. We're ready to go."

Max beamed. "Cool. Always nice to travel as a group. You get gre-e-e-eat discounts that way." He tapped his commbadge. "Hey, Expo! Max here! We got a crowd ready to go! Take us out, baby!"

On the bridge, T'skaut's jaw dropped open in shock. "This is Commander T'skaut speaking. Who is this?"

Max giggled. "I told you - Max! Maxwell Davis, engineer extraordinaire! Beam us up, T'skauty!"

T'skaut scowled, despite himself. "How many people are down there, Lieutenant Davis?"
Max rolled his eyes. He started counting, but between the movement in the group and the double-vision that was plaguing him, Max quickly gave up. "All of us! God bless us, every last one!"

T'skaut closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then turned to tactical. "Beam the miners to the surface, where we've been sending the other rescued workers. But I want Lieutenant Davis sent directly to the brig."

The ensign smirked. "Yes, sir."

Max materialized in a holding cell in the brig, covered in blood and dust. He looked up at the brig guards with a puzzled frown. "Hey! I'm gonna miss the party . . ."

He fell backwards and passed out, his protest only half-finished.