Michelle slowly scanned her console, searching the read-outs for any errors. Even if just one of the system commands were incorrect, the main deflector would malfunction, and eventually it could cause a system shutdown. In an emergency, the entire ship might be put in danger because of it. That is why she usually left it up to an engineer, but she wasn't sure the enlisted men in engineering could even count.
Michelle sat down at her console, her eyes searching the consoles for the button to contact engineering. The USS Hood had been rebuilt after it's primary space trials were sabotaged. A bomb had exploded in the computer core, destroying most of the interior. It was a story that had spread through the academy like a wild fire.
After the ship was towed back to Starfleet, a Constitution class refit was scraped for the necessary parts. Many of the systems are just endless rows of buttons, switches, and knobs.
Michelle punched in the command to send the codes to engineering, the button for the Comm lighting up. The readout changed to an acknowledgement that engineering had gotten the code.
The sudden sound of a claxon rudely interrupted the relative calm of the bridge. The high pitch squealing made Michelle's ears hurt, and made her head throb. She tried in vain, to silence it by putting her hands over her ears.
"Ensign McGregory, report!" Michelle shouted, her main goal was to be louder than the claxon. She quickly made her way over behind the tactical officer, hoping it would aid her ability to hear his response.
"A level two shockwave is emanating from the sun." He said loudly, his hand moving quickly to silence the alarm.
"Shields!" Michelle ordered, trying to brace herself against her console. The ship might survive a level two, if the shields got up in time to block the first blow, after that it kind of mellowed, or so she had heard. She wasn't quite sure whether to believe it or not.
Colliding with the shock wave didn't quite feel like she had expected, it was much more violent than she could possibly have ever imagined. Everything looked as if she was standing still, while the ship was thrown across several galaxies at once, and thrown back. She felt her rib cage collide with something on the bridge, before being slammed up against the doors leading from the bridge.
Michelle didn't even try to move, even though she knew she must, she must get to the helm. From there she could turn the ship into the wave. She would have shouted her order to the Helmswoman if she hadn't seen here go flying as well, but the woman hadn't faired quite as well a Michelle had. The sound of her scream would probably haunt her for the rest of her life.
With out giving the nerves in her body enough attention to actually feel the pain, Michelle slowly and painstakingly pulled herself across the vibrating floor. Each jolt tossed her around, as if she were weightless, or at least as light as a feather. Every time that she would reach out for the chair at the helm console, she would be thrown across the room again. She didn't know how Lt. McGregory could remain in his chair. Somehow he had managed to find something to hold onto.
Finally Michelle pulled herself into the chair at helm, her body trembling at the strain. She could feel her body beg her to give up, and surrender to the forces that waged against her. But she wouldn't let herself just give up, she couldn't, it wasn't in her character.
She quickly pushed the buttons that activated the impulse engines, and the RCS thrusters. If she could just turn the ship into the wave it would more than likely survive. But all of it's systems were stubborn and acted as if they wanted to destroy her ship, and space claim them as it's trophy's.
She couldn't even tell if it had turned fully, all of the sensors were off line. For all she knew, she was turning so that the other side could take the same kind of beating. But the ship slowly had a calm feeling about it, as the decks stopped pitching. The brightly colored wave even passed and was no longer visible.
"All stations, report." Michelle said as she slowly made her way over to the helmswoman and kneeled beside her. The lack of a pulse and the strange position that she was in made it very clear what had happened to her.
"It appears that several systems are off line." Ensign Liam McGregory said. I the five years that he had been in star fleet, He had never been trough something like this. Nor did he ever want to go through anything like this again.
"I would recommend that we land on the nearby planet and try to repair what we can." He said in his Scottish Brogue. He was from the planet that they had been orbiting when they were hit by the wave. He could only hope that his family survived, and that his home world had survived the fury that was unleashed on the Hood.
"Make it so, ensign." Michelle said, trying to pry the door open, in hopes that there were other survivors probably. Liam knew that he could only hope that there were other people who survived. He wouldn't be able to survive living on a ship full of dead people. Starfleet would probably have to lock him up in some insane hospital or something.
Michelle was a tall woman of roughly 25 or so years old, had long brown hair, and a commanding personality. In his opinion, she would have done well as CO, and not just the second officer, but Starfleet had a tendency to be prejudiced against the younger officers. But it now it looked like Michelle had temporary command of the Hood, and the chance to prove that she could handle the command.
"Starting the approach now, Ma'am." He said, moving to the helm station. There wasn't much left of it, just thruster controls, the maneuvering jet controls, plus a few others, only enough to land with.
"Just try to not to damage anything any worse." Michelle said. The doors were now open far enough for her to squeeze through, barely. "I'll check this deck for any other survivors. You have the bridge, Ensign."
"McGregory to Trav'Gondah" Liam said, gently tapping his partially crushed communicator. Somehow, it must have damaged during the shock wave, but after he had tested it, he had decided to continue using it.
"Go ahead." Michelle said, her voice somewhat muted by the static coming from his comm.
"This section's clear. I didn't find any one else." He said, crawling under a pile of rubble in order to get out of the room. He had barely managed to get into this room, and it seemed the pile was settling a little, or he was getting bigger.
"Make your way back to the bridge, and see if you can get the sensors on line." Liam almost thought he had lost her a couple of times when she cut out. He would need to get a new communicator when he got to the bridge.
"How many survivors do we have now?" Liam asked, not holding out any hope of finding anyone else. Last he knew there were five others, out of a crew of eighty-seven.
"Ten. I just sent the last one up to sick bay." He could feel his heart sinking. If this many died on the Hood, how many died on his home planet…
A/N: Thank you for reading. Press the little review button below.
Oh, and be sure to read it once I get the next chapter up…