So essentially, I'm not really aiming for this to be taken too seriously as a story. But in a nutshell I've been out of creative writing for a while now, and this little sereies is my tentative warm up exercise to get myself back into it. So, please to leave comments, criticisms or what you might have done better.
So, here it is, probably full of plotholes and one aspect shamelessly ripped off from a popular and well known sci-fi. Betcha can't guess which
Routine Disasters
Part 1
Disclaimer: This artwork is not mine and will be removed on request
Mid-watch. What an absolute graveyard. 2300 to 0500, or stupid o'clock to fuck-off o'clock. Fortunately though, N'maro had managed to find a capable young officer to stand in for him, allowing his first off-duty night in weeks, and so he decided to at least try to take advantage of that, hashing out the plan in his head; coffee, a little light reading, then a decent six hours rack time, wake up 0600, back to work. So, for the first time in a while, there was a brief moment of tranquility and reflection for the Accord's X.O. He sat, slowly, into his chair behind his desk, pausing to savor it a little. He checks the time. "Twenty-three hundred. One hour." he mutters to himself, pausing before allowing a slight, wry smile. So much for plans then. One hour should be plenty of time for a little look at the pet-project, he thought semi-seriously to himself. He opens the file, and soon the schematics are laid out in front of him in crisp high-detail holographics, as well as the latest construction reports, all of which he scans with eager eyes, sipping his coffee and visualizing the finished product. So much for 6 hours sleep.
- - -
If Lieutenant Yahshi Tobara was nervous, it certainly didn't show. Doubtless the product of a stoic and tough tube-child upbringing, she seemed as if she were the eye of the storm in the organised chaos of The Synenose Accord Ops Center, which was an achievement that normally required months of practice for officers far beyond her age of 23. Never meant to house the amount of hardware it did, the 50 by 60 meter room looked as if the walls were made of nothing but wires, panels and screens, and the floor was a jigsaw puzzle with pieces separated by snaking power couplings, taped down to minimize the monumental trip hazard.
The Accord operates on simple Yulai Standard Time, but even at 2300 YST as the rest of the HQ complex was well into the night cycle, the Ops Center was like a neon beehive. Personnel carefully monitor their stations, diligently relaying information to its appropriate point, team leaders dart around their area and, inevitably, more than one technical team jury-rigging, maintaining, upgrading, or installing bits of hardware and software. Organised chaos, and at a flexible minimum of 85% operational readiness at any given time. The hectic, ad hoc method of management was unusual for a straight-edged Caldari strategist like Tobara, but never one to shy away from a challenge, she was quietly settling into this new and unfamiliar style. At that moment though, she was mostly just going over the maintenance issues with the duty technical officer, mundane and nit-picky but vital. Even if the technical officer was an asshole.
"... and my point is that the spatial telemetry console is unstable, it needs an overhaul
soon. You don't have to be custom built in a damn petri-dish to work that out!"
"Yes, I agree, and
my point is that you'll have to wait until scheduled downtime before you remove it. Those are the orders."
The tech ran his fingers through his graying hair in frustration. A former engineer in the Gallentean ground forces, he was clearly finding it difficult to stomach the meticulous matter-of-fact approach of the younger Caldari. On the other hand she seemed totally oblivious to the frustration of her colleague, eyes constantly fixed on the reports in front of her. The engineer sighed and ventured a suggestion:
"Alright, ok. But at least let me run a basic debug, it'll speed up the work later."
She broke her gaze at the datapads and looked swiftly to the Gallentean with a steely stare, about to put the hammer down for speaking out of turn. But, she restrains herself, reminding herself that this is still an environment with a lot more she needs to learn of. Perhaps a lighter approach is best now.
"Ok, do it." she says in her typical stoic fashion.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, the tech officer simply nods respectfully, picking up his datapad and gathering his assortment of tools. Tobara simply looks around at the room, pondering the lessons to be learned from that encounter, doubtless the first of many from her first stint in command if the Ops Center.
Her train of thought abruptly crashes however as a shrill electronic wail cuts like a chainsaw through the air of the room, amplified by her ear piece. Suddenly the buzzing beehive freezes. Everyone stays dead-still on the spot, some looking at each other knowingly, others simply pausing and going blank. Even Tobara pauses, her mind rapidly making mental charts of what is going on and what may happen. Privately, there's a little fear too. Split seconds after the sound is heard, she taps the earpiece and speaks, calmly, but with urgent authority.
"General alarm, security, report."
"Ma'am, emergency alarm, research labs, unspecified."
"Roger, set condition one, prep damage control team. Engineering, any hazard alarms?" She looked over to the graying technical officer who had been arguing with her not seconds before, but now fully absorbed in his command console.
"Negative, just generic emergency alarm. Could be a panic, but wouldn't advise stand-down yet. Commander and the science team might be doing something volatile again."
"Understood...
Damn it." Tobara cursed under her breath. This wasn't something minor, but it wasn't unusual either, given the propensity of the science team to push the limits of their own safety. But lately it had been quiet, and she'd privately hoped that her first watch would go smoothly.
"Ops, this is the X.O., report."
The familiar voice of the Executive Officer coming in via the headset snaps her into action again.
"X.O., this is ops, emergency alarm from the labs, no hazard alarms."
"Damage control?"
"Prepping to go in."
"Roger. I'm en route to the area now."
"Yes sir... Sir, should I have done more?" There were more questions that she meant to ask but simply stuffed into one, like could I have prevented it? Or have I forgotten everything. But the X.O. was swift to respond, in his typically amicable manner.
"Tobara, you've done everything that's sensible to. Stay level headed and keep your eyes on the dials."
"Yes sir. Thank you."
Tobara allowed herself the briefest of moments to compose herself before going back to co-ordinating the various teams in the electric atmosphere of the ops center. Just as well that it was a tiny moment. Only moments later, the main console in the center of the room sounded a different alarm, accompanied by red emergency lights.
"Hazard alarm, environment systems!" the tech officer shouted at the room, and Tobara swiftly barked in reply:
"Respirators, all staff, respirators!"
There was a small pause in the activity as the staff quickly took out the emergency kits from the lockers and from their own equipment, quickly putting the emergency breathing apparatus over their faces. The transparent visor offered a hard seal in case of gas or loss of air, but it was a temporary solution at best if something truly went wrong, and Tobara knew it. She hid it well, as she always did, but as she fitted her own respirator, Tobara was now praying quietly for their good fortune.
- - -
N'maro had been on the edge of a breakthrough when the first alarm sounded. Work now lost, he'd left his room at a brisk walk, cursing just a little. Had it been any other junior officer supervising the watch, he would have run full speed to the Ops room to resume control. But Yahshi Tobara was by far the most promising young leader he'd seen in years, certainly in all his time flying for the Accord. But still needs experience. Could she have panicked? No, he thought to himself, she's open to mistakes, still young after all, but she won't panic. This alarm sounded for a reason. He gave her exactly 40 seconds after he left his room, before calling in. The last thing she needed was second guessing from him right now. Sure enough, he was re-assured that she was alert and in-control, something that calmed him down until the red emergency lights flashed on. Instinctively he dashes for the nearest emergency locker, in one of the mess halls, quickly donning his mask and now breaking into a run down the wide main corridor towards the research section of the complex.
"Ninavask, I swear if you've done something huge..." he mutters to himself as he comes up to the entry point to the research area. Of all the places in the piecemeal complex that made up The Synenose Accord's HQ, this area was by far the most well protected, and for good reason. On more than one occasion, experiments had skirted close to disaster, a little too close for the slightly more risk-averse N'maro. In fact, the staff at HQ now referred to these occurrences ironically as "routine disasters", which thoroughly shook everyone up every time. Though as his boss and head of biotech, Ninavask, was always keen to point out, high risks have yielded high results, a point he grudgingly conceded.
The giant circular tritanium alloy airlock is still sealed, ensuring that whatever is causing the trouble is still contained. He heads over to the 7 strong damage control team, who are already suiting up into hazmat gear, and also notices a black body armor clad 6-person armed security squad a safe distance behind them. Another smart move, Tobara, he thinks to himself as he taps the team leader's helmet to get his attention.
"What's the situation here?" he asked the entity behind the extensive NBC clothing.
"Something in the lab is worrying the environmental system, nothing major so far as we can tell, just a minor decrease in air moisture and a bit of chemical imbalance..." the team leader taps the heavy-duty door "but thanks to the hard seal we don't know what's causing it, electronics, a loose pathogen, hopefully not cyber-spiders again." He couldn't properly see, but he knew the man was smiling at his own joke. Can't blame him for trying to break the ice, so N'maro grins back.
"All right, well lets get to work. Start the opening sequence and get ready to go, me and the security team will follow you. I'll see if I can get a line in."
The team leader nodded visibly in acknowledgement and got to work at the door console. N'maro meanwhile walked over to the comms panel and did his part. He muses to himself a little bit as he does, remembering some of the incidents he's had to put up with, the cyber-spiders for instance, had actually been a thing. Nothing extravagant, just a small but high-tensile powered metal exoskeleton on some tarantulas, but they caused quite a storm, stripping a lot of the electronics bare as well as other mischief. At the time, being in proper terms "shit scared" of spiders, his words to Ninavask afterwards were sharp edged, but truth be told, on reflection, he was glad he was in a place where this sort of thing happened from time to time. Apart from a good story to tell at parties, as it had often been done, it was exciting, engaging, and he felt it then as he did now that this was the place that suited him best, all the half-mad science, the vibrant and diverse personalities, and of course the healthy share of "routine disasters" to keep him on his toes. Although, thinking of routine, it occurred to him something wasn't quite right. It was quiet.
Normally, the science team would have checked in by simply using the hardline out of the labs to the console N'maro was now setting up. Maybe no-one was nearby, but it seems unlikely as the damage control team seems to have been there for a good 5 minutes. They could have missed them still? But then why do they not keep trying to call... The little niggling sensation at the back of his mind makes him check the logs. No messages... nothing. They hadn't called in. Fear starts to grip his heart, but kept in check by his training, professional pride and sense of crisis. It seems to be taking hold with the rest of the group too as the general chatter falls silent and they all become radically aware of how alone they are. The rest of the staff would either have evacuated or have locked themselves down in habitation or the ops center. N'maro gestures to the team to get ready, more to keep them focused than actual tactical necessity. And finally, the hardline is working again. Cautiously he raises the receiver to his mouth and speaks.
"Hello? Can you hear me? This is the X.O." Silence greets him. He waits a few seconds before trying again.
"I say again, science team, this is the X.O., can you hear me?" Nothing. He exchanges serious looks with the team, the armed security gripping their weapons a little tighter. N'maro gestures to one of them for a sidearm, and catches it as it's thrown his way. One more time, he thinks to himself.
"This is the X.O., can y-"
"
I hear you..."
The words, spoken in simple, relaxed monotone come a little distorted through the speaker and the group of 14 breathe an almost audible sigh of relief, exchanging smiles at each other a few relieved laughs too. Gesturing for everyone to quiet down, N'maro proceeds to reply:
"Nice to hear someone in there, who is this?"
"
..."
"Hello?"
"
... He is awake."
Seemingly meaningless words, but spoken so softly, so clearly, they changed the whole atmosphere back again. The team feel the icy grip on their hearts once more, N'maro attempting to keep them focused with a simple businesslike nod, a signal to get ready to move.
"Who is this?"
"
... He is awake."
N'maro simply drops the receiver to the ground and grips the sidearm with both hands, moving to the wall and making tactical hand-gestures to the armed security. Silently, the security team takes position on either side of the airlock, ready to go as soon as the damage control leader opens the door.
"
... He is awake"
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Topic: [Feedback plz] Routine Disasters; Part 1 (Read 936 times)