In the Middle of the Night
Commander Tucker was awakened during the night by the terrible cacophony of red alert klaxons sounding. Trip had spent three days and four nights aboard the Star Fleet training vessel Roosevelt what seemed like scarcely two months earlier and knew that baleful sound well. His skin was clammy with sweat as he automatically threw on his uniform, preparing to face the hell of a training drill. Then a shiver went up his spine as he realized that it was most likely not a drill, and that it was for real. He hesitated at his door, hanging his head as he tried to figure out what he should do, where his responsibilities lay.
"To the ship and to the captain." he said aloud, hurling himself through the door as the ship shuddered and pitched. "No, this is not a drill." he thought, catching his balance, though more easily that he had ever done, or remembered doing.
At first he thought the ship was under fire, although he did not understand exactly why that idea occurred to him. Attack had seldom been simulated on any training vessel that he had been aboard. Then he recognized the pattern of pitching and bucking. It was that of an ion storm, and a rather severe one at that.
Instinct took him to engineering with few wrong turns. The corridors along the way were thronged with crewman, only a few panicking, on their way to their stations or to where they were needed. Their faces were unfamiliar, but they were all in uniform. It wasn't like moving through a crowd of strangers, who may or may not have been dependable people. This was a crowd of fellow officers and crewman who shared a similar code of ethics and a similar destiny to his own. Of that, Tucker was certain when he occasionally glanced from their uniforms to their eyes.
As he entered engineering, a crewman called out to him, "It's a ion storm, sir! And a bad one!"
"I thought so." nodded Trip firmly, feeling at once in his element, although a bit scared as well. "How we doing?" he questioned.
"Not well, sir. The hull plating is down to minimal and we can't re-polarize. The ship is taking a beating." was the candid reply.
"Let's see if we can do something about that."
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