Hustle and Bustle

Posted on Sun Nov 2nd, 2025 @ 9:09am by Captain Piraa sh'Zamhlass & Commander T'Zara & Lieutenant Commander Eden Corwin & Lieutenant Kiran Arai & Lieutenant T'Razz & Lieutenant Kokoruda Teyali

1,874 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Green Sky
Timeline: July 26, 2401 || 1500 hours

The turbolift doors opened, depositing Captain sh'Zamhlass onto the bustling bridge of the Valiant. The rear conference room doors were still open, letting the blue glow of the passing ion storm highlight the cold steel edges of the bridge module. Several consoles were open as the Operations staff continued to depolarize and replace fried isolinear chips and reset critical functions.

"How are we doing?" she asked aloud. The question was directed to no one in particular, and yet also directly to everyone.

"I am here," T'Razz said. "Whether that is mental or physical I leave for you to decide." He had been one of the first to arrive, and had headed into sickbay and started getting things organized there.

T'Zara looked over from where she sat by the Captain at the Chief Medical Officer that she had already met and decided that she liked him and his sense of humor. "A physician that does not diagnose himself. I can get behind that."

Piraa chuckled, though it could have easily sounded like a grunt. After a day like today, being present both mentally and physically was a challenge for all of them. "How are our injured crewmembers coming along, Doctor?"

"The most lightly injured have been discharged already," T'Razz said, "though some are under orders to take it easy for a few days. The appropriate department heads have been notified to have them on light duty for the time being. The more seriously injured are still in sickbay and may need to be transferred to the starbase once we arrive for more intensive treatment and rehab as needed."

Eden had yet to officially meet their new Chief Medical Officer, but he had a sense of humor, which was alright in her book. Still, though, a proper introduction was necessary. Now didn't seem like the proper time for such a thing, so she decided to answer the Captain instead. "All is well for the time being, Captain."

"Time being?" Piraa asked as she took her seat at the center of the bridge. "Are you anticipating any more trouble or traps that Mister Mariwat might have set aboard the ship?"

"Security is conducting multiple sweeps of the ship, Captain, and so far, nothing has been found," the Security Chief answered. "I am hopeful that will remain the case."

"After a day like today, I'll gladly take nothing." A half hearted grin appeared on her face, inspired mostly by the ridiculous events of the day and the exhaustion that followed it. "I just spoke with Command. They understand the situation we just went through, but they are insisting that we complete our mission before returning to starbase."

Of course, they are, Eden thought to herself. "I will gladly take nothing as well, Captain, and I'm hoping that's exactly what we're going to get."

"And while we all hope that thing will always be uneventful," T'Razz said, "one must remember a warning that exists in some form among several species about being careful what you wish for, because you just might get it."

Piraa couldn't help but grin at the doctor's comment. In another life, and if the doctor's species were different, one might mistake him for an old country doctor. "Mister Arai, what's the status on repairs?"

Kiran looked up from the console and turned to face the Captain. "Going well so far. We've got a majority of the core systems back online, and we're still having little issues with environmental controls on a few decks, but nothing to the extreme that we had."

The Captain nodded at the engineer's report. She had expected something similar to come from the Lieutenant, given her own engineering background and experience dealing with the aftermath of a crisis. "How soon can we make warp speed?" she asked. "And is there anything that would prevent our mission from continuing?"

"We can probably get Warp 3 within the hour, but anything above that, we're looking at a minimum 5 hours." Kiran replied. "There shouldn't be anything preventing us from continuing, unless there's any more rogue officers."

T'Zara watched her Captain take the crew in her steady hand and get the results she expected without flaw. She aspired to be like the Andorian and have a command of her own one day, but for now, she would study under the masters.

"Hopefully there are none," Piraa shared. "Speed aside, it seems like we are ready to resume. Commmander T'Zara, what is EDEN's status?"

"EDEN is at one hundred percent and in standby mode, Captain," the blue skinned Executive Officer replied crisply.

The Captain nodded. She shifted in her chair as her antennae betrayed her feelings. This made her nervous, especially after Mariwat's meddling, but orders were orders. At worst case, if this went wrong, then EDEN would be decommissioned and they'd be relegated to simple patrols. On the other hand, if this were successful, the Valiant would likely be pressed into more serious service.

"Well," the Andorian said, "I suppose Warp 3 will be good enough." She took a moment to perform some calculations in her head, leaning on her knowledge of warp drive from her former career as an engineer. "That would put us there in the middle of the night. The science team on Epsilon Indi expected us hours ago, and I think we'd all rather attempt the scenario when we're fresh. So, let's take the afternoon and evening, conduct any repairs we can, and then resume at 0600 tomorrow. Mister Arai, can you get us full warp power by then?"

"No guarentees, but we can try. Might need a few extra pairs of hands, anyone with basic engineering skills. Then I can get them working on the lower level systems, and I can get every engineer I can working on the warp systems." Kiran answered.

"Perhaps we should consider enlisting EDEN as well?" Piraa suggested. "I know it's a risk considering everything we just went through, but it would give us an opportunity to observe the construct before the mission we're about to resume."

"I don't see why not," Eden offered as she turned her head to look at the Captain. "We can keep a close eye on things."

"Hopefully without another attempt on our lives," T'Zara said, but looked at the console dedicated to controlling EDEN. "Where and how many copies do you want it, and in what modes?"

Piraa tapped a command or two into her armrests to pull up a list of the construct's different modes. "Let's start with Damage Control," she confirmed once she took a moment to read. "This will allow Mister Arai to focus on general repairs and keep EDEN devoted to areas where it still may be dangerous to the crew."

T'Zara didn't like it, but gave a nod and looked at the Chief Engineer. "How many per team?"

"Lets say teams of four, including one EDEN per team. The larger the teams we have, the quicker we can get everything back to normal." Kiran replied, after some thought. Normally damage control teams were 3, but 4, including an EDEN would definitely make things move a bit quicker. Especially if they weren't all going to be experienced engineering officers.

"That sounds reasonable," the Captain remarked, nodding her head. If she were the Chief Engineer, she likely wouldn't have included so many holos so quickly. However, in the interest of trusting those around her, she decided to drop the matter. "In the meantime, the rest of us have plenty to do. Let's make sure all departments are squared away and reset as much as possible."

It was at this moment that the Captain's antennae drooped slightly as disappointment fell on her face. "Our Chief Operations and Science Officers have been unexpectedly reassigned to the starbase, so they will be joining those severely wounded. This means that Lieutenant Teyali will be taking over for Commander Tusalo. I don't yet have a replacement for Commander MacArthur, but I'll have that sorted by this evening."

T'Zara entered the command into EDEN's interface. "Would you like e to have EDEN hold stations in Ops and Science as well, Captain?"

"Sciences should be fine. Ma'am." Teyali interjected from the Sciences II station, Sciences I was currently a swarm of Engineers doing maintenance. She'd elected to stay out of the way and just take everything in. She was playing catch up after all. Coming aboard Tey hadn't expected to be thrust into the Chief of Sciences role, but the unexpected departing of Commander Tusalo meant she was it. "Before she departed a commander Tusalo assigned a team to study readings from the storm you all encountered. But we don't have other pressing projects at this time. Perhaps when we reach Epsilon Indi, EDEN can help make up some of the time we've lost."

Tey had gotten up from the station and walked to where the Captain and First Officer sat lowering her voice so she wasn't shouting across the bridge; and lowered again so only the two senior officers could hear her. "Also ma'am if you'd please. I am addressed Lieutenant Kokoruda. In the Bajoran custom, the Family name comes first, the individual second. I wasn't sure if you were aware. If you're looking for something more familiar Teyali or Tey is fine." In her you her days she might have spoken up so all could hear, Try had a lot of fire when she was younger, as many Bajoran women did. Thankfully age and experience had given her discretion.

"Lieutenant Kokoruda," T'Zara began as she turned her attention to the Bajoran woman. "Thank you for that cultural distinction. If you need further assistance from EDEN, please let me know."

Piraa had winced immediately. She normally took pride in knowing every member of her team, so much so that she would study manifests and personnel dossiers, something that had not been afforded to her during her short captaincy thus far. Her antennae drooped slightly in embarrassment. "My apologies, Miss Kokoruda," Piraa offered in a lower tone, her spirit dampened by the obvious lack of proper preparation. "It won't happen again."

"Thank you Captain, but no need to apologize." Tey didn't want the woman to feel bad or to embarrass her Captain in anyway. "I am a child of two cultures, Starfleet files don't often give room to tell you much more than that. Considering I try to honor customs of both my heritages it can be quite confusing."

"Still, I appreciate knowing your preference," the Captain acknowledged, pledging to do her best in honoring that. Piraa rose from her chair, gave the science officer a nod and then pulled down on her uniform. "All right, everyone. We've all got work to do. Commander T'Zara, you have the bridge. I'm going to follow our Chief Engineer and take a look at some of our wounds." She then nodded to the Betazoid lieutenant and gestured for him to lead the way.

Arai looked to the Captain, nodded and turned toward the turbolift. "Let's not take the scenic route." He replied with a small smile.

"Acknowledged." As the Captain left the bridge, T'Zara headed to the center seat and imagined what it would be like if it were hers. Until then, she would study and learn.

 

RSS Feed