Chapter 4: Power Out
Captain George regained consciousness and he looked around the bridge. It looked intact, but it was dark, and he couldn't see much. He realized he had fallen about three feet from his chair and he was by another person. He did notice someone by Commander Riker's console.
"Emergency lights." He ordered, a little gargled.
"Yes sir." The Commander stated.
The dark blue lights flickered on to revile several people starting to get up and getting to there stations.
"Damage report." Captain George commanded.
"All systems are down Captain." Lieutenant Sulu informed the Captain.
"What happened Commander?" George asked his first officer.
"We hit a quantum filament sir. We didn't detect it until the last second." Riker explained
"Alright, I want communications back online, as well as the engineering display systems back online. I want to know how badly the warp core is damaged." George stated.
"Yes sir." Sulu stated.
"Two days out and already a system wide frailer." George rolled his eyes.
Down in engineering, things were a little more chaotic.
"Get that conduit sealed!" Chief engineer Jennings shouted over the noise of circuits and conduits blowing out.
"Sir! The containment field is failing!" One of the engineers shouted at Jennings informing him that the antimatter containment field was dropping below the safety limit of fifteen percent.
"Redirect the circuit flow and take power from the phaser array and dump it in the containment field!" Jennings told his staff.
"Sir that much raw power could tear the circuits apart!" One of them shouted.
"They'll hold up, just do it!" Jennings shouted.
The junior officer did as he was told.
"It's working sir! Containment field strength is increasing!" The officer shouted.
"Good, now let's seal these conduits." Jennings stated.
"Yes sir."
"Put them on the bed here." Dr. Kate Gabriel ordered.
"Yes doctor." One of the nurses stated as she put the patient on a medical bed.
"This place is filling up fast, I need more doctors here!" She ordered.
"They're on their way, but none of the turbolifts are working." One of the nurses informed the doctor.
"I'll have to thank the bridge for giving me this much power. Right over here." Dr. Kate pointed at another medical bed.
"Try it now, Commander." Captain George suggested to Commander Riker.
"That did it; we have partial interior sensors online. We have full interior communications back online." Riker listed off the systems that came back on line after Captain George rerouted the auxiliary power to the communications systems.
"How many are still alive?" Captain George asked.
"Four hundred and fifty five. Only two are missing." Riker informed the Captain.
"Good, let's keep it that way." Captain George stated.
"Sir, I have been reviewing the sensor logs, and I have discovered something." Riker stated.
"What is it?" Captain George asked.
"The quantum filament was not natural, it was artificial." Riker stated.
"Well, someone really doesn't want us in the Dalory belt." George commented.
"That would explain a lot of things." The commander stated.
"Indeed." The Captain agreed.
"Sir main power is coming back online." A junior officer informed him.
"Good, are the lifts back in working order?" George asked.
"Yes sir." He stated.
"Well commander, I think it's time we had a talk with our Ferengi friends." The Captain stated.
"Yes sir." Riker stated.
The two walked over to the turbolift door and stepped inside.
"Deck three." The Captain stated to the computer.