Chapter 61. Bad news comes, five people died
Noah opened his mouth but had to swallow before he could find his voice. "I'll get through this, Doctor," he said, trying hard for a second time. "Give me something to relieve the nausea."
Celia looked at him sternly but made no comment, then gave him a potion gun and pressed it to his neck. The medication worked quickly and Noah felt better, spreading throughout his body. He immediately realized that if Celia complied with his request so quickly, the situation must be very serious.
"What happened?" he asked. Although he felt better, he slowly slid out of the recliner. He felt as if he had been run over by a truck.
"Go and ask on the bridge, I don't have time now." She gestured briefly to the room, then disappeared again.
Only now did Noah notice how full it was. Every couch was filled with people, and there were even wounded people lying on the floor. Then he recalled what had happened. The weapon was activated, striking the ship directly. He was thrown through the air and hit his head on the navigation console. From that point on, he had no memory of what happened. But miraculously, he is still alive. Miraculously, all of them are still alive. The weapons were supposed to tear them to pieces.
He had to get to the bridge quickly. Find out what happened. They may still be in extreme danger.
He walked towards the door as fast as he could. But before leaving the medical station, his eyes fell on Dr. Celia's office. He was petrified. There lay five bodies covered with cloth. Apparently, he was much luckier than first thought.
When he finally entered the bridge, he saw that there was only one person on duty. Ingemar was still sitting on the Ops console, breathing hard. Nilf and Jeffrey were also present, both slightly injured, with dry green blood clinging to their skin. But Ted and Carol were nowhere to be seen. Are they among the five corpses we just saw?
"Captain." Jeffrey noticed him first. "How are you feeling?"
Noah waved his hand. "I can still resist. How are you?"
"It's just some minor injuries that won't affect my movements." Jeffrey replied.
"Very good." Noah didn't know what else to say. He didn't notice any obvious wounds himself, but he couldn't say it didn't affect him. Sometimes, Vulcans are just enviable.
His eyes fell on the screen, which showed an empty universe before him, stars twinkling indifferently in the background. He pointed his finger at the screen. "What happened? That...?" Celia should have given him a stronger medicine. He felt like his brain was like a ball of goo, and he couldn't think at all.
"It's impossible to know." Fortunately, Jeffrey seemed to understand what he meant. "We're still analyzing the sensor data."
Noah just nodded. He walked down the stairs and sat down in the command chair. Was he hallucinating or was Ingmar's breathing really becoming rapid? "Are you OK?"
Ingemar just nodded and said with difficulty, "It's okay, sir."
"Mr. Ingmar appeared to have broken ribs, but he refused to leave the bridge," Nilf explained.
Noah squirmed back and forth in the command chair. Somehow the chair seemed oddly uncomfortable. Or is it his own problem? Then he looked at Ingmar again. "Mr. Ingmar, go to the medical station and let the doctor treat you. We need you to be energetic."
"Doctor Celia gave me painkillers. As long as no one comes to replace me, I will stay here. My injury will not affect my work." Ingmar replied.
Noah looked at him in surprise. Did he have a feeling of déjà vu? No, Jeffrey just said the same thing. Apparently there were some heroes on board. Or maybe Ingmar was just trying to impress. Regardless, he remained at his post so that he could monitor the sensors while Jeffrey could focus on analyzing the recorded data.
It was a good idea to focus, and he wished he could do that now. Is it a side effect of the powerful potion gun? It must be very powerful, otherwise why would he be in such a daze?
The propeller door opened and Murakami Ino walked in. The Andorran man appeared uninjured apart from a bleeding gash on his cheek. blue blood. He walked over to the tactical station and sat down there. His fingers worked the console deftly. Apparently, he was conducting an analysis of the tactical damage, although the computer was partially damaged.
"Captain, evaluation of the sensor data will take some time," Jeffrey finally said. "This data means nothing. You should take a break."
"No," Noah shook his head vigorously, but immediately regretted it. A slight dizziness came over me. "As long as there is danger, I will stay here."
"With all due respect, Captain, but you are simply not in a position to make decisions at this time. It would be in your and ours good for you to rest. I see no apparent danger at this time. There are no other ships within hundreds of light years."
Noah blinked. "Where are the weapons?"
Jeffrey seemed hesitant for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "I can't say yet. Like I said, the sensor data..."
"...It makes no sense," Noah interrupted. "Yes, I understand. Okay. I'll lie down and rest. Mr. Nilf, you take over Mr. Ingmar's post. And you, Mr. Ingmar, go to the medical station. This is an order, ” he emphasized quickly, as Ingmar seemed to want to retort.
Ingmar stood up silently and walked unsteadily to the elevator. Judging by the look on his face, the painkillers hadn't completely taken away all the pain, but he kept at it. Noah followed him expectantly, looking forward to getting into bed and resting.
Three hours later, they were sitting in a conference room. Noah was feeling better and his brain was regaining clarity. Ingmar sat to his left. Dr. Celia temporarily repaired his ribs and put a thick support band on him to prevent him from bumping into anything again. Daisy broke an arm, but thanks to medical technology, it has been straightened out.
Jeffrey and Neil were sitting on Noah's right. Despite the events, the pair looked calm. Dr. Celia was not present as she needed to attend to the wounded. Security chief Ted was also absent. He is still in the medical station and his condition is very critical. Celia dare not make a prediction yet. Instead, his deputy, Io Murakami, attended the meeting. Carol wasn't there either. She broke her pelvis in the fall and is still receiving treatment. She may need to rest for a few days. The captain's daughter is also still receiving treatment.
As Noah later learned, a total of eleven crew members were killed. Four of them were pulled from the hull as it ruptured. Others were killed by objects thrown from the impact of the emergency stop. They came to a stop from full speed almost immediately, as if they were crashing into a rock wall at 2.7 million kilometers per hour. Were it not for the inertial dampers, they might have all been crushed. Nearly all of them were injured, either minor or major. Two hundred personnel are currently unable to go to work. There are still 20 seriously injured people at the medical station. Three of them are in very critical condition and it is not known whether they will survive.
Although everything went wrong, they were lucky. The hull was still intact, which was considered lucky under the circumstances.
"Mr. Jeffrey," Noah said to the Vulcan. "Can you find out what happened?"
"No details at this time." He sounded almost apologetic. "Because we were within the weapons beam, the sensors could only collect limited data. Before the alien ship fired its weapons, the sensors detected not just us firing torpedoes. There were other torpedoes fired from an angle of 56 degrees. However these The origin of the torpedo is unknown. We have not previously detected any ships there. At such a short time, we have not been able to conduct a more detailed analysis."
Apparently, the weapon was eventually destroyed and its firing ceased. In total, the weapon only fired for 2.45 seconds. This is why the Republic was not destroyed. If the continuous fire lasts longer, our shields won't be able to withstand it.
It's unclear how the Cindy weapons were destroyed. An object of this magnitude should have left a significant debris field. Even the energy released by this weapon would not be able to break everything down at the atomic level.
Noah listened carefully. Finally, he said, "So what was the target of this weapon and what damage was caused?"
"We can only speculate about this. The object is oriented, as I said, toward Earth."
"Please believe that the earth is too far away from us and cannot be its target." Noah hoped that Jeffrey would agree with him. He really didn't want to imagine launching an attack on Earth.
"I can't answer that. But I don't think the object's orientation is a coincidence." The Vulcan disappointed him.
"Thank you, Mr. Jeffrey. I hope you can get more data from the sensors through further analysis. Starfleet will definitely be interested in this." Noah looked around, then asked Daisy to report the damage.
"We don't have a full grasp of the situation yet. The mechanical room has the most injuries, so we're a little behind on our work. So far, we know that the hull ruptured from the 19th to the 22nd floor. The emergency energy field has been restored, but directly The energy fields in these compartments were completely destroyed by the sudden pressure. The weapons failed. Broken plasma pipes appeared on the ship, but these did not affect the life support system. However, the replication device and the transmission system failed. Although it should not cause problems at the moment. The communication system also failed. The sensor's operating range is very limited. Safety measures shut down the Wa in time
p drive, so we have no damage here. It'll probably be functional again within an hour so we can get out of here. "
"Captain, I strongly suggest that we do not move from our current position," Jeffrey interjected.
"Why?"
"The hull is filled with time particles. If we start the engines, I'm not sure what the effect will be yet. We should at least reduce the particle density to a level that I can calculate."
Noah nodded. He has learned that time particles are no joke and there is much controversy even among scientists. Some believe time particles could cause cracks in the space-time continuum, while others believe the effect is exaggerated and that nothing may happen at all. However, Noah didn't want to take any chances.
"Ms. Daisy, work with Mr. Jeffrey to find a way to get rid of these particles and put Wa
p core restarts. This is an absolute priority. I fear that our destruction of weapons has not escaped observation. We have to expect Cindy's reaction. "
"Yes, I understand," Daisy nodded.
"Then we need weapons too," Murakami Io interjected.
"If we had time to get them back to a usable state, I'd have no problem with that," Noah agreed, but immediately qualified, "But only if the engines are back up and the time particle problem is solved. We might not have had the chance in the first place. Fight. If the Cindy notice their weapons being destroyed, they will send a fleet that we can't fight against."
"This means we are running away." Murakami's expression turned gloomy, and his tentacles bent forward dangerously.
"This means we will return to the Federation with the information we collected to avoid data loss. Then we will see how the situation develops and make decisions accordingly," Noah corrected his words.
Murakami Io said nothing more.
After looking around briefly, Noah said, "Okay, get to work."
The crew hurriedly left the conference room. Noah was still sitting there, looking out through the window. For the next few hours, they had to rely on improvised ideas. They didn't know what they were going to face. They were injured and trapped in hostile territory with no opportunity to defend themselves. And they may have just started a war. But they knew nothing about the enemy. Noah knew they had no other choice. The strange weapon must be destroyed. Still, he had some doubts. Did he do something wrong? Are there other options that he didn't see? No matter how much he thought, he could never think of any other solution.
Finally, he stood up. He could think about what happened later. Now he had to focus on the present. The danger has not passed yet. He decided to go to the infirmary first, the injured men needed encouragement from their commander. Then he wanted to get back to the bridge so he could make an immediate decision if there was danger.
With tired legs, Noah sat on the command chair. His stay in the infirmary was longer than planned. First, he visited his daughter. She had a broken arm so was delayed to a later treatment queue. Fractures are relatively minor injuries and can be easily cured with the help of modern medical technology. So she had to wait until the seriously injured were treated. She was comfortable with it, especially since the painkillers she was given were working. So, he waited with her for treatment. Then he visited the wounded in turn, encouraged them, asked about their situation, and encouraged them to get through the difficulties safely. Even the unconscious Mr. Ted offered a few words of encouragement, though no one knew whether he could hear them.
Dr. Celia pointed out that she could provide no further assistance here. Ted had to be transferred to Starfleet's large medical facility. Maybe at a medical center on Earth they might be able to help him. But she wasn't sure. Maybe Ted would be lucky and be able to pull through, since he was healthy and strong after all. She hasn't given up hope yet. But she must admit that medicine has its limitations and that many things still depend on chance.
As soon as Noah sat down, Lieutenant Shu Ran, who replaced Ingmar as the operator, turned around. "Captain, sensors have detected two ships approaching our position. They are heading towards our current course and will be within range in 20 minutes."
"Is it Cindy's spaceship?" Noah asked.
"Their design is completely unknown." She was busy at her console. "The computer doesn't recognize them."
