Chapter 5 - Into the Sun
When Irina stepped into the big conference room the next day. Soltek, Dr. Zimmerman and a woman wearing a red uniform were already sitting at the conference table. Two guys in yellow were busy at the screen, obviously rehearsing their presentation.
'Good morning!' she greeted in a good mood and introduced herself quickly to the two sensor technicians and the woman, who introduced herself as a pilot. Then she sat next to Soltek, saying 'hi'.
'Good morning to you, Lt. Paranov,' came his stereotypical Vulcan response, but she liked the way he said it much better than her former Vulcan CO had.
Glenn was still nowhere to be seen and she overheard Zimmerman chatting away with the female pilot obviously flirting while the two technicians were still standing in front of the screen going over some part of their presentation.
After a quick glance out of the window which gave a beautiful view of Europa fully visible in front of Jupiter Irina turned to Soltek so she didn't have to listen to the Doctor's flights of ego, 'Already excited?' she asked with a humorous smile.
He looked her in the eyes and said 'Vulcans don't get excited as you should know after serving with many members of my species on the Asteria.' His tone was polite and educational, but Irina could tell that he enjoyed the conversation – or rather did the Vulcan equivalent of 'enjoying', whatever that was.
'Oh, I just wanted to make sure your logic is sharp and ready before we delve into the ball of fire,' she said in equal politeness and demonstratively folded her hands on the table in a Vulcan manner.
His surprised glance told her that he understood she was imitating Vulcan mannerism. 'I assure you it is and I will be able to counterbalance any slack on your part.'
She smiled satisfied that she had managed to provoke him into a retort, this Vulcan was much more fun than her previous encounters with his species, but before she could continue the doors opened and Glenn came in together with – to her surprise – Lamira's Bolian boyfriend Kalm. She nodded to Kalm and then the meeting started with the two technicians explaining their proposal.
She was quite impressed by their plan and after they had discussed the sensor configurations, the flight plan for two runabouts and the necessary adjustments for the metaphasic shielding, the mission was scheduled for 1400. Irina was teamed up with Lt. Antal, the female pilot, and Ensign Holgersson, one of the sensor technicians, while Kalm piloted the second runabout with Soltek and the other sensor technician, Lt. Remarque.
The moment the shuttle bay doors opened and they ventured out into space Irina realized that her heart was beating faster. This was going to be terrific!
She was sitting next to Ensign Holgersson going through the check of the sensor configurations. They had a comm channel open to the other team cross checking everything. After reporting readiness to Glenn, he issued the command to proceed.
'Prepare for a hot ride!' Antal announced from the helm obviously enjoying herself.
'Approaching the sun,' Antal said after a while.
'Activating metaphasic shielding,' Irina replied and busied herself on the controls. 'Metaphasic shielding active,' she announced after a few seconds.
She checked her controls and added, 'metaphasic shielding working inside specified parameters.'
'Callisto to Io', Antal voiced over the comm, 'prepare for formation flight when ready'.
Then Kalm replied from the Io, 'we're in formation, everything ready over here,' and Irina noticed that he too seemed to get quite a kick out of what they were about to do. She remembered how often Lamira had complained about him being reckless and only interested in flying his a.. into some kind of dangerous anomaly.
'Everyone take a good grip on your seats,' Antal announced, 'we're going in!'
Irina sneaked a quick look out of the shuttle windows, which were tinged like sunglasses by the automatic protection system and she saw the orange ball getting bigger and bigger. It made her feel dizzy so she quickly turned back to her controls.
'Entering Corona,' Antal announced.
'Everything fine here,' Kalm's voice sounded over the com.
'Sensor data coming in,' Remarque announced, 'here too', Holgersson replied excited, 'it's working!'
Irina and Holgersson stared at the incoming data for a while not believing their scientific bliss, then they heard Remarque's voice over the comm, 'there's an active spot I want to take a closer look on, transmitting coordinates.'
'I see it,' Holgerson replied.
'I'm calculating a safe distance,' Irina replied concentrating on her controls, 'transmitting'.
'Io ready,' Kalm replied over the comm.
'Callisto too,' Antal said and the two runabouts made their way towards the eruption.
'Wow, this is terrific!' Irina exclaimed as the data on the eruptions came in.
But then the magnet field alarm sounded and Irina looked at the control screen. 'Magnetic interference,' she shouted, 'return to a safer distance!'
She heard Antal curse in Betazoid, 'the helm doesn't react, Io, can you pull us out?'
But at that moment the runabout shook violently and as Irina was hurtled to the floor, taking the fall with her arms, she heard an explosion in her proximity.
When she got up Antal was lying on the floor with burns and bleeding from a head wound, she quickly walked over to her, but when she felt her pulse there was none.
Then she went to Holgersson in rising panic, he was still alive, but unconscious. After another tremor shook the runabout she went over to the helm going through the steps she was taught, but it was no use, no propulsion.
'Callisto, what's your status?' Soltek's voice came over the comm.
'Lost propulsion, Antal's dead and Holgersson unconscious,' she replied.
'How's your shielding?' he asked.
'At 62 percent,' she replied.
'I'm sending a distress call,' Soltek replied, 'lost helm control, Lt. Uzell and Lt. Remarque are injured, shield steady at 78 percent'
Another tremor shook the runabout and Irina barely managed to hold onto the station. When she looked at the shield controls it was down to 47 percent. She announced that to the comm, but there was no response.
'Soltek,' she shouted while she walked over to the shield control station, 'are you still there.'
'Yes,' he replied, 'I'm trying to regain propulsion.'
'I'm trying to stabilize my shields,' she said.
'Jupiter sta...to … and Cal...to,' Glenn's voice sounded over the comm with a lot of interference.
'Callisto here,' Irina replied.
'Help's...the way, ...you need to hold...for 15 minut...,' he said.
'Understood,' Irina replied while she did her best to stabilize the metaphasic shielding, but now it was down to 36 percent. The runabout had lost a lot of power, she transferred everything to the shields, even life support, but it would likely not be enough for 15 minutes.
'Shielding at 36 percent, I transferred all power I had left, but I think I'll not make it,' she reported, but got no response from Jupiter station, there must be too much interference.
'I've got minimal propulsion, I'll pull you to a safer position with the tractor beam,' Soltek replied.
'Soltek, you're risking yourself, stay where you are,' she said.
'The odds for success are at 34.5 percent while the odds for you and Ensign Holgersson to die if I do nothing are at 94.8 percent,' he replied while the runabout continued to shake and Irina was busy holding on to everything she could grab hold of.
Then the tremors suddenly got milder. 'Tractor beam engaged,' Soltek said.
Irina steadied herself as the tremors calmed down.
'Irina,' Soltek asked, 'are you alright?'
'Yes, I'm okay,' she said relieved, 'how's your status?'
'Shields at 60 percent, but I see your shielding is down to 31 percent. I will pull you closer and we can connect our shields, transmitting specifications,' he answered rapidly.
'Understood', she replied as her screen beeped with the data he had sent him. She reconfigured her shielding and said, 'ready!'
'On my mark,' he replied and she activated the new setting when he said 'now!'
The runabout vibrated for a few seconds, but then became still. She let out a sigh of relief. 'We made it! You're a genius! Shielding at 58 percent.'
There was a pause. 'Soltek?' she asked in panic.
'Yes, I'm still there,' he responded, 'I know.'
'Show-off,' she replied.
'I was just notifying you that you were stating the obvious,' he said.
She grinned and thought up a retort, but then saw that the shields were dropping again.
'Shields at 55 percent,' she announced.
'Shielding will suffice till we are rescued,' he said.
'Did you calculate that?' she asked.
'Yes,' he said, 'I assure you my calculations are accurate, Lt.'
'I trust you,' she replied and fetched the emergency kit to help the unconscious Ensign Holgersson, while she unpacked the medical tricorder she added, 'but please call me Irina.'
There was a moment of silence, then he said, 'will that help you to trust me and have a positive effect on your emotional equilibrium?' he asked.
'Yes,' she replied while scanning Holgersson. He had a mild concussion, but was stable.
'Then I will grant your request...Irina,' he replied.
'Thanks,' she said, 'you're the first Vulcan calling me by my given name, it's a great honor.'
'I know it is a human custom amongst co-workers,' he replied.
'It is, Mr. Coworker,' she replied, 'and discussions will be more efficient if you don't have to call me Lt. every time you talk to me.'
'Our discussions are far from efficient,' he replied, 'you keep adding humor to everything you say to me and some things you say don't seem to serve any purpose at all.'
She thought about that for a moment. 'Does that bother you?'
'Vulcans aren't bothered,' he replied, 'I was merely sharing an observation.'
'I had the impression you liked it,' she said frowning.
'That's a human interpretation, I merely find the way other species communicate fascinating from a scientific point of view,' he replied, but Irina wondered if she detected a little bit of defensiveness in his voice.
'If we survive this, I might even manage to teach you some humor,' she replied.
'I am able to detect humor, but it is unlikely that I will ever master it, humor doesn't follow any logic,' he replied.
'I'll not give up on you,' she said.
'Then your undue persistence will likely end in an emotional reaction you call disappointment,' he answered.
'Always the optimist,' she said.
'I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic, I simply state the facts and probabilities,' he replied.
'Whatever serves you,' she said.
Now the shields had dropped to 53 percent and their help was still 9 minutes away.
'Soltek,' she said, 'talk to me, I don't want to die here alone.'
'You are not alone, Ensign Holgersson is with you,' he replied.
'He is unconscious,' she said.
'I don't understand the human need for constant communication when there is nothing to communicate,' he replied.
She sighed. 'I'm spending what could be the last minutes of my life by discussing logic with a Vulcan.'
'Which subjects do humans discuss during their last minutes?' he asked.
'Dunno, saying goodbye to their loved ones, watching the sunrise for the last time or talk about favorite memories of your lifetime...' she replied.
'I am able to discuss any subject with you, without getting emotional about them of course,' he said.
After a moment of thinking she said 'I'm from Luna, I planned to visit my parents and my sister next weekend. I also have a couple of friends on earth I didn't yet manage to get re-acquainted with yet.'
'You will most likely be able to do that,' he replied.
'Do you have any family back home, Soltek?'
'My parents and their parents live on Vulcan, I have an aunt who lives off world,' he said.
'How is she?' Irina asked.
'I don't know,' Soltek said hesitantly, 'my family hasn't been in contact with her for 49.3 years.'
'What happened?' she asked.
'That is a private family business,' he replied.
'Oh,' she said, 'I never knew Vulcans had family rows and break ups.'
There was another pause. Irina noticed that the shields were down to 49 percent.
'Soltek,' she asked, 'are you still there?'
'Yes,' he replied.
'I'm glad we're getting along, I had a hard time with the Vulcans on the Asteria,' she said.
'Can you be more specific on the problem?' he asked.
'They corrected me on everything,' she said.
'I do that too,' he replied cautiously.
'Yeaaah,' she replied, 'but you do it in a friendly way.' She paused, 'I might consider you something of a friend – I mean as far as that is possible between a Vulcan and a human.'
There was a moment of silence and she noticed the shields had dropped to 45 percent.
'I'm satisfied that my form of communication ensures a smooth relationship between us,' he replied slowly.
She laughed, 'so you think it improves efficiency?'
'Affirmative, I have observed that friendly relationships improve the efficiency of many species, but this effect doesn't apply to Vulcans,' he replied.
'Suit yourself,' she replied chuckling.
Now the shields were at 43 percent.
'What's the first thing you will do, if we get out here?' she asked.
'Write the mission report,' he replied.
'I mean after work,' she said.
'Meditate,' he said.
'The favorite Vulcan hobby,' she said.
'It is not a hobby, but a daily discipline to purge emotion and ensure a logical mental equilibrium' he explained.
'When this is over I'm going to drink real not replicated cocktails with Lamira, that will ensure my mental equilibrium,' she replied.
'by intoxication?' he said.
'Yep,' she said, 'it's an old Russian tradition'.
The shields had dropped to 37 percent. Then there was another intense tremor and Irina hold onto the station very tightly while she heard a groan from Soltek.
'Soltek?' she asked. No reply. 'Soltek!' She shouted. There was no way to tell what was going on over on the Io. He might have broken his neck...
'I'm alive...I just broke my arm and hit my head,' he said in a strained voice, 'but I'm not dangerously injured.'
'Help must be there any minute,' she said.
The shields had dropped to 33 percent. Irina sighed and sat down, watching the shield controls.
'U.S.S. Discovery to Io and Callisto,' a female voice called.
'Callisto here, thanks goodness! I've lost propulsion, one crewman dead, one lightly injured, I'm okay, but the crewmen on the Io are injured,' she reported.
'This is Captain Fisher. We'll pull you out with our tractor beam and extend our shields around you, we'll beam you all to our sickbay once we are out of the corona,' she replied.
After a few minutes, Capt. Fisher said, 'Io and Callisto, please drop your shields so we can beam you out.'
Irina dropped the shields and rematerialized in a sickbay. 'I'm okay,' she said as a nurse looked at her. A doctor was already tending to Remarque who was lying on a biobed. Kalm was sitting on another biobed, looking dizzy with a nurse tending to him. Holgersson was also taken care of. Lt. Antal was lying abandoned on a bio bed as much dead as she had been after the first hit.
Irina turned around searching for Soltek and just saw him getting his arm fixed. Then the nurse hurried over to the doctor standing at Holgersson's biobed. Soltek flexed his freshly mended arm and got up from the bio bed.
Irina approached him, looked at him for a second and then pulled him into a hug. He instantly put his arms around her like on reflex and his cheeks felt very warm. But when she pulled away, he stared open-mouthed at her in shock and she wondered if she had crossed the line.
'Oh, I'm sorry,' she blurted out, 'please forgive me.'
He still stared at her and then he slowly said, 'I am not offended...please don't worry.' His voice sounded strained, maybe he still had some injuries and she had hurt him.
When she wanted to ask him if he was okay, the door opened and Lamira rushed in, shouting 'Kalm! Irina!' She first hugged and kissed her boyfriend, then she ran over to Irina, hugging and kissing her on the cheek.
Then Lamira turned to Soltek, who had been watching her display in shocked fascination and said, 'hi Lt. Soltek, I'm glad to see you're okay too.'
He stared at her and then said, 'thank you, Lt. Tash,' quickly collecting himself.
'Oh,' Lamira replied laughing, 'don't be afraid, I won't hug you.'
'You know each other?' Irina asked surprised before Soltek could reply.
'Yeah, we ran into each other in the arboretum the other day,' Lamira said. 'Let's go have some dinner, you guys must be starved,' she added taking Irina by the arm. Then she expectantly looked at Soltek.
'I will meditate,' he said.
She rolled her eyes, 'just call us if you get hungry while at it,' she replied. 'Let's go to the Green Leaf, they have spinach-feta-quiche today,' she said while walking over to Kalm pulling him also gently with her.