From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Dec 12 2007 - 23:50:37 PST
=Explanations=
(cont'd from "98")
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station
SCENE: Main Engineering
STARDATE: [2.7]1212.2333
"Re-polarize the auxiliary power shunt," Crichton shouted to a team of Engineers on an upper level.
"Modulate the power output on the EPS manifold," Crichton cried to another group of Engineers working on a nearby console.
"The fusion-weld you placed on the main-power drive conduit is coming loose!" Crichton scolded at yet another team near the main power core. "Are you trying to barbecue us all?"
So progressed the repairs in Engineering. With no clear leadership in Engineering since Lt. Salor had manifested the symptoms of Bendii-Syndrome, Crichton had somehow found himself coordinating the repairs, and the strain was beginning to show. His uniform jacket was unzipped, revealing a plain-white shirt beneath it that was stained in several places with coolant, and his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. More than anything, he wanted a coffee and a ten-minute break- but, as luck would have it, food and drink replicators were one of the subsystems that remained offline.
And on top of all that, the team of engineers he'd been saddled with were almost no help at all.
It wasn't that Crichton wasn't appreciative of the help- the Federation fleet had really saved GATEWAY's bacon. But he wished they'd had more Engineers on hand with a working knowledge of rapid repair of serious battle-damage. Oh, the teams the fleet had sent over were competent enough, but Crichton hadn't imagined they'd need such close supervision. As a mere Ensign, Crichton had half-expected a CEO from another ship to beam over and relieve him of duty, but when no one else seemed to have a plan of attack for getting Main Engineering back into a decent state of repair, Crichton had stepped up and taken over.
It had been almost thirteen hours since the battle had ended. In that time, the coordinated efforts of the Federation fleet and the surviving members of GATEWAY's crew had been quite successful. Most of the wounded had been treated (though more and more still continued to pour in from every deck cleared by Maverick's marines), and Crichton and his team had managed to restore power to GATEWAY's shields and repair about 34% of the damage to GATEWAY's subsystems. But despite all that success, Crichton still got the feeling that the Federation fleet was keeping the GATEWAY's crew at arms length, like they weren't sure that GATEWAY could be totally trusted.
If he had the time to think about it, it probably would have bothered Crichton. But, truth be told, he was far too focused on getting Main Engineering back online to worry about whether or not everybody was getting along.
[[Ensign Crichton,]] came the voice of Bret Maverick from over his communicator. Crichton slapped his comm-badge.
"What is it?"
[[What is the status of the repairs in Main Engineering?]]
"They're coming along," Crichton said, a little annoyed at the interruption. "Why? Your toilet clogged up or something?"
[[Cute,]] Maverick replied, obviously too busy himself to bother with rising to Crichton's bait. [[Captain Kenta of the PATRIOT has requested that all surviving members of GATEWAY's senior staff beam over to his vessel for immediate debriefing.]]
"I'm not on the senior staff," Crichton said, rolling his eyes.
[[You're the acting Chief Engineer,]] Maverick said. [[And according to Lt. Kor, you've been working closely with the senior staff since the wormhole closed, so you may as well be considered a part of it.]]
This surprised Crichton- he was only a few months out of ACT, certainly not an experienced officer. But, given the situation, he had to admit that he couldn't think of a better choice.
"Alright," Crichton said. "Give me an hour or so to get things in order down here-"
[[*Now*, Ensign,]] Maverick insisted. [[Captain Kenta wants this taken care of ASAP. There's no telling when or if the Dominion will be coming back.]]
Crichton sighed. "Alright, I'll be along."
[[Good. Maverick out.]]
Crichton gave some final instructions to another Engineer, then hurried out of Main Engineering.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: USS PATRIOT
SCENE: Conference Lounge
Jake Crichton sat on one side of the large conference table. Next to him sat Lt. Eish'nala Kor, Lt. Yao, Lt. Nick Cannon, and Commander Eugene McInnis. On the other side of the table, standing with his back to the large window that looked out on space, was Captain Benjamin Kenta, hands clasped behind his back, doing his best to not look *too* judicial. But thanks to his expression, Crichton knew that GATEWAY's crew had a lot of explaining to do.
"Alright," Kenta started, looking each of them over in turn. "Who wants to start?"
"Have you read my formal report?" Lt. Kor asked.
"Yes," Kenta nodded. "I'd like a more... *detailed* account, if you please."
"Well, the first few days after the wormhole closed were... chaotic, to say the least," Kor started. "People were confused, afraid..."
"And then the Andaran Prime Minister was assassinated," Cannon said.
"Yes, let's start with that," Kenta said, beginning to pace. "You say the Andaran Prime Minister was killed with an explosive device- a device whose components you believe came from GATEWAY Station, is that correct?"
"Yes sir," Kor nodded. "Our investigation led us to believe that a local Bolian and suspected crimelord, Zane Rixx, supplied the components for the explosive. Our investigation was interrupted, however, by the events on ANDARA. With the wormhole closed, the new Andaran Prime Minister saw fit to dissolve their treaty with the Federation and form an alliance with the Dominion. Of course, this did not improve moral aboard GATEWAY Station... already, the Dominion was pressuring Captain Kane to step down and allow them to annex the station."
"They had blockaded the station," Yao said. "They claimed that they would let us live in peace, if we would agree to let them install a Dominion governor aboard the station. Kane, of course, refused."
"At some point, the Borg arrived," Kenta said. "Tell me about that."
"The Borg arrived in time to bail us out of a sticky situation," Crichton recalled. "We had suffered a complete power-failure in the Entertainment Module. Everything was offline- lights, doors, and worst of all, life support. The Borg showed up and managed to repair the problem. Then, they offered us a ride home."
"Yes," Kenta nodded. "And Kane refused. Why?"
"It wasn't that simple, sir," Yao said. "The Borg invited an away team aboard their vessel to discuss the 'terms' for their aid. They offered us the schematics for a Borg transwarp device, which we hoped we might be able to install on one of the docked ships, so we could use it to get home. In exchange, the Borg wanted a small number of GATEWAY's crew to agree to... implantation."
"Assimilation?" Kenta asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not quite, sir," Yao shook nan's head. "This particular faction of Borg seemed to view cybernetic-enhancement as the natural course of evolution. It was their belief that organic life was... 'obsolete'."
"They weren't exactly unfriendly," Crichton said. "They basically told us that, if push came to shove, it wasn't worth it to assimilate us by force. The said that the day's of Borg conquest were over, and that now it was simply a question of natural evolution, that sooner or later we'd *all* have cybernetic implants, or we'd simply get left behind. If we didn't want their help, they were more than happy to leave us to our fate."
"And Kane refused their help," Kenta nodded. "Understandable."
"So, the Borg left," Lt. Kor said. "Leaving GATEWAY Station alone, 70,000 lightyears away from home, and blockaded by the Dominion."
"And what happened next?" Kenta asked.
"We had to adjust to our new life in the Gamma Quadrant," Lt. Nick Cannon shrugged. "With the Dominion blockading our station, we had no way of contacting any Federation colonies in the Gamma Quadrant. The Dominion wasn't letting any ships in or out, which meant the trade aboard the station was basically brought to a stand-still. That's why Kane authorized the stealth-fighter project."
"Stealth fighters?" Kenta asked.
"Modified Aurora-class fighters," Crichton said. "They don't use cloaking technology... rather, the energy-output of the fighter and modified to blend in exactly with the surrounding space. When the stealth-unit is active, the fighters become invisible to most conventional sensor-sweeps."
"Kane hoped that we could use the fighters to run the Dominion blockade, to re-establish some kind of trade aboard the station, to keep us from running out of supplies," Kor said.
"I see," Kenta nodded. "What about the secession from the Federation? Tell me about that."
"There was some growing concerned about the future of the station," McInnis said. "People were concerned that GATEWAY would eventually be living under martial law. Kane wanted to give the civilians a chance to... elect a leader. Someone to represent their interests. In order to do that, Kane believed we had to leave our old lives behind... everything. Including the Federation."
"And so, arrangements were made for election for governor," Yao said. "Three candidates were chosen."
"Right," Kenta said. "I remember- Ambassador Xana Bonviva, Martin Davies, and Zane Rixx were the candidates. And Davies was eventually assassinated."
"After the explosion, a Bajoran was arrested and found with a detonator," Kor said. "He was imprisoned as a suspected assassin... but, he was more than he seemed."
"A changeling," Kenta said.
"Indeed," Kor said. "The changeling killed two guards and severely wounded a third in its escape from the brig. The entire affair was recorded by GATEWAYs security cams."
"That's when we had a problem," Cannon said.
"Explain."
"The video showed a changeling prisoner- who had originally been arrested for suspicion of assassination- murdering station personelle to escape," Cannon said. "If the public saw it, they'd demand some kind of reprisal against the Dominion. But Kane couldn't exactly keep it from them, what with his claim that he wasn't going to bring the station under martial law."
"He was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't," McInnis said. "In the end, he ordered that the video be kept hidden."
"But somehow, it was leaked," Kor said, frowning.
"When the public saw it, they freaked," Cannon said. "Understandably so. It looked like the Starfleet staff had been lying to them- letting them *think* they were electing their own leader, while making a play for total control of the station. Zane Rixx jumped on that right away, and he managed to incite a mutiny."
"I guess that was what the Dominion had been waiting for," Crichton said. "Shortly after the riots started, we detected a message being beamed *out* of GATEWAY Station, towards the Dominion blockade. It was a signal from the changeling, to begin the attack."
"And that's how the battle started," Kor nodded. "You, of course, were there for the end, Captain."
"Yes, I remember," Kenta said with a slight smile. "And where is Captain Kane now?"
"Your guess is as good as ours," McInnis shrugged. "He just... disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"He and I were in a turbolift," Kor said. "He was going to the Promenade to face the crowd... to try and explain his actions, to reason with them. But suddenly, he fainted... and then, he was gone."
"Beamed out?" Kenta asked.
"No," Kor shook her head. "One moment he was there... the next, he was gone."
============================================================
NRPG: Just thought I'd take care of the debriefing.
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton, Ensign
Assistant Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
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