Post 507: Drastic Times

Stardate: 71019.0130
Title: Drastic Times Call For. . .
Author: Lt. Cmdr. Lair
Scene: USS Alchemy
Time: Concurrent with "In a dream."
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*Ensign. Lieutenant. Lt. Commander. Lieutenant. Lt. Commander.*

Lair Kellyn watched mutely as Xhian insisted on looking beyond the jagged tear into Alchemy's hull, to be sure they were alone before they went any farther.

*Commander, Lt. Commander.*

She'd changed pip counts more often than any other engineer in the fleet, she was certain of it.

*Engineer, Chief Engineer, Research Engineer, Engineer, Acting Chief Engineer.*

USS Independence.

USS Starion.

Through the course of a war, and covertly in peacetime, designing engine schematics in classified locations.

Aboard the deep space station in the Klingon outback, back to the Independence and now finally, aboard the USS Alchemy.

Lair Kellyn ticked off in her mind the list of the ranks, places and ways in which she had officially served Starfleet since her career began. She had certainly found herself in grim situations before. Hell, she even died, once.

*Wait, twice?* she corrected herself, figuring in the recent information she'd been given by Zanh Liis about an alternate past timeline, when Zanh was explaining how Kellyn and Salvek had come to adopt their own biological daughter across that timeline when it somehow merged into this one.

If she thought about the issues of time and alternate time too much, Kellyn found it made her dizzy and gave her a headache, so she really tried not to.

She also really tried to push all thoughts of Arie out of her head as best she could. Seeing the young girls who had just arrived did not make this any easier, but she knew that if she and the others had any chance at all of getting home she was going to have to stay focused.

Yes, she'd been in some tight scrapes before. But something about the particular set of circumstances scared her more than anything she had encountered previously. She was really beginning to wonder though how the hell they were going to get out of this one.

Retrieving the palm beacon from her backpack as they made their way through the hull breach, she took stock of her situation. Realistically and by all accounts it did not look good.

The Independence was likely looking for them in all the wrong places. They would not be able to find any sort of trail of breadcrumbs to lead them to the prototype ship, beyond where the Alchemy had exited trans-warp. Without knowing that they were looking at the false projection of a lifeless moon where a very much inhabited planet existed instead. . .

Things were further complicated at this point by the fact that someone else was also looking for them, and knew exactly where to find them.

She and Xhian were going to have to do something drastic, and do it soon.

"Orders, Lt. Commander?" the Ensign asked as they exited the Jeffries tubes and arrived at engineering.

"We need to restore main power," she began, "bypass the security systems and reroute command protocols here. Turn on every light bulb and power relay on this barge. Light the thing up like New York City on New Years Eve, or," she mumbled now under her breath, and Xhian barely made out the words "fireworks on the fourth of July."

"Sir, "Xhian objected, "Do you really think that is a wise decision? We will alert the Yensuli military to our presence aboard the ship much more quickly that way."

"That's right." Kellyn replied, her hands working two panels side by side, simultaneously. "We're going to give them a great big frigging 'look over here' to keep their minds off of the fact that there are several hundred other people on this planet we don't want them to find." The lights came on overhead, and she tossed her palm beacon aside.

"We're going to sacrifice ourselves for the rest, in hopes that they will be found by Independence somehow before it is too late?" Suddenly Xhian realized the gravity of his situation and wished he'd had the chance to say a proper goodbye to Ella Briggs.

"The needs of the many," Lair quoted softly, her husband's influence showing itself plainly.

"You are a logical woman, Lair Kellyn." Xhian commented, his antennae rotating thoughtfully in her direction as he worked at another set of controls.

"That wasn't always so, but what can I say," Kellyn shrugged, "I married up." She truly believed that when it came to the their relationship she had gotten the better end of the bargain, by far, than her husband had.

"Main power is coming on line." Xhian announced. "Everything except the engines, Sir. Should I begin rerouting power to try to initiate a total system restart?"

"Yes, and turn the heat up, will you? I'm freezing." Kellyn instructed, her teeth chattering. Her hands were numb, even through her thick gloves. Gloves which were making it too hard to work efficiently, so finally she was forced to pull them off. Her fingers smarted as she blew on them to try to restore some kind of feeling, without much success.

"Aren't we still concerned about conserving power, as Commander Salvek instructed us before?" Xhian asked.

"We're throwing the old playbook away. We're out of time," She paused a moment as she returned to work, initializing a repeating distress call to play on a loop, broadcast and amplified through the Alchemy's main deflector dish.

"We're out of options, and to put on a big enough show to get some attention. . ." her eyes locked on his, and he knew that she was completely serious as she added, "we will blow up the whole damned ship if we have to."

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Lt. Commander Lair Kellyn
Acting Chief Engineer
USS Independence