Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

April 10th, 005 SDE:

Countryman said goodbye to Rose and stepped out of his quarters. As usual, Rose was babysitting his daughter, but today he wasn't heading to the bridge. Instead, he was heading to a council meeting. The various department heads and high-ranking officers were meeting today to discuss the biggest issue on everyone's mind, the Storm and all the issues it brought with it.

It had only been two days, and he'd done what he could so far. Much of his efforts had been on damage control. Restoring power, getting the engines working, and making sure they weren't entirely defenseless. The critical items had been fixed with Richards reporting the Engines operational late last night. The list of repairs was still expansive, but at least they were no longer adrift. Naturally, there was still the question of where to go, but he figured Misaki would have a few areas of interest by now. He still wondered what kind of port they might find in this storm.

Reaching the lift near his quarters, he stepped inside and centered himself for the coming meeting. It was a short hop via the lift, and one thing he was happy about was the fact that the lift system was still working. Losing those would have been an utter pain, moving around on a ship as large as the Enterprise without a transport network. He shuddered at the thought, afterall she was five kilometers long with almost two hundred decks. The ship was basically a flying city, and like any city she needed good transportation.

In mere minutes the lift deposited him in the corridor not far from the conference room where the meeting was taking place. Several other officers could be seen in the corridor. He greeted them on his way into the room and soon took his seat. Looking around he could see a number of familiar faces settled at the table already. Ruri had taken her seat to his left. While Greyman had taken the spot to the right. Also at the table was Reynolds former captain of the Coto, and Drakes former captain of the Umikaze. Both ships they lost several months ago during the Raid on New Valoria. The two of them were among his best advisors, and he often listened to their thoughts.

In addition to those two were Generals Forrest and Kirk, yet he couldn't help noticing the empty seat where Evanov used to sit. The three of them were the leaders in charge of his marine contingent, with Forrest being the overall commander. Kirk was a division commander and Evanov used to be her counterpart. The empty seat was a reminder that they hadn't yet replaced Evanov. The man wasn't the only empty seat, a mark of the all too recent mutiny.

Also at the table were a few of his bridge officers. Lieutenant Commander Eri Maki, his chief helmsman and an able fighter pilot as well. Next to her was Lieutenant Commander Kaori Tani, his chief tactical officer, along with Ensign Misaki Amano, his operations officer. Commander Megumi Richards, his chief Engineer, had joined them as well.

Those faces formed the core of the council, especially now that Williams and her lackeys were no longer on the council, but they were not the only people here. There were a few more seats filled mainly by department heads. There was the Quartermaster William Kurtz, he was the guy responsible for finding lodgings for the hundred thousand people on the ship. Next to him was Technician Redfox, Chief of the Hydroponics division. In other words, Redfox was the man responsible for their food supply, his operation supplied them with a plentiful supply of grains, vegetables, fruit and fish.

Just now taking her chair was Commander June Smith, a talented engineer and head of the factory division. Commander Smith reported directly to Richards but she was pretty much in charge of the factories. Next to her was Captain April Baker, a former ship captain herself. These days she was the head of Security, a post she'd only recently taken following the recent mutiny.

The Valorians on the ship also had their representatives on the council. Notably, Commander Reia of Clan Urko, who'd taken to being their voice but was also a capable officer in her own right and a useful advisor. Her counterpart Vera was a talented researcher and an expert in shield technology. She'd proven vital in their project to develop atmospheric forcefields.

Countryman looked around and noted the mood was somewhat grim. Understandable given the situation, but everyone was here so it was time for the meeting. As the final member of the council walked in Chief Robins, head of the Medical Division. Countryman called the meeting to session.

Robins was the first to speak, "This damn radiation is my biggest concern. So far I've only seen mild symptoms but I fear this is just the beginning."

Baker quickly interjected, "The radiation is going to be an issue alright. So far I've seen a few cases of rash and coughing among my officers who I've sent to Robins, but I fear what this will mean for order aboard the ship. We just dealt with one mutiny, and my immediate predecessor resigned because of it."

Countryman leaned forward, "Yes the radiation is perhaps our largest issue. Unfortunately, Ruri has informed me that our shields will not function in this storm."

Robins and Baker shared a look, and then Robins commented, "That is most unfortunate. I presume that means I'll need to step up my game."

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"Agreed, I'd like you to expand our medical operations," said Countryman, then looking at Smith, he said, "We'll need to increase our production of medical nanites. They will be needed to repair the cellular damage caused by the radiation."

"Sounds good, but is there anything we can do to limit the damage of the radiation," inquired Reia.

Vera replied, "We could look into figuring out why our shields aren't working. If we can solve that issue, we could shield the craft from the radiation."

Countryman pulled up some data, "Our hull liner is only mildly effective at blocking it, large amounts are still getting through, but there is a notable drop in the most shielded areas of the ship. We should move people away from the outer sections if possible, levels will still be high, but more bearable."

Kurtz frowned, "It's hard enough housing people as it is, but I'll see what I can do. Not looking forward to the complaints, we are crowded enough as it is."

Robins inquired, "What about skinsuits? They were designed for hostile environments."

Ruri commented, "I looked into them, they do provide a little protection and should be useful for anyone working in high-risk areas."

Kurtz said, "In that case, I'll issue them out to anyone working in the outer sections."

Greyman who'd been silent so far said, "It sounds like a general plan of action is forming. I agree with it so far. Moving people deeper into the ship, issuing skin suits, and increasing the medical supply sounds like it should help limit the damage. That should give our scientists time to devise a solution."

Reynolds nodded, "Agreed, and I can't think of anything more we can do about the issue."

Countryman nodded and said, "In that case, we should move on to the next issue. Our efforts to repair the outer hull have been hampered by the storm. Now that the engines are fixed, our next order of business is to find somewhere calmer where we can conduct actual repairs."

Misaki smiled and pulled out a pad, "I've been working on it. My long range scans have been limited, but I do have something that looks promising."

She turned on the holoprojectors and loaded a chart of the storm. Its swirling eddies and turbulent waves were marked clearly. "This area of the storm isn't too active, nothing at all like the shell just a few lightyears from here. We've actually drifted deeper into the storm over the last two days, which has given me this."

She pointed at an area of the storm with several marked shadows. Countryman frowned and leaned forward as he looked it over.

Ruri blinked, "Mass readings?"

"I'm reading a lot of silicates, iron, and nickel. Along with varying quantities of other metals and minerals, the patterns aren't that different from say an asteroid field aside from the presence of refined alloys. I'm detecting both Duranium and Tritanium, both commonly used in the construction of space vessels."

"A debris field? Interesting, if nothing else that could present a source of materials."

Ruri frowned, "We'd have some difficulty with that, I've found the radiation disrupts tractor beams, we'd have to employ less conventional methods."

Eri commented, "It's hard enough flying in the storm, I wouldn't trust the average shuttle pilot with that, and we had a hard enough time salvaging things from that dreadnought."

Drakes interjected, "A debris field indicates that the storm currents must be drawing material swallowed by the storm to that area. I think we should consider the region possibly dangerous. We might not be the only survivors trapped in the storm. If anyone else was here, that sounds like a prime place for them to gather as well."

"Agreed, we'd have to go in on alert."

Eri said, "the pilots are ready for the challenge, we can scout ahead of the ship."

Countryman nodded, "Sounds good, and it should be even easier now. Ruri tells me we should be able to travel at faster-than-light speeds with our sublight engines."

Eri smiled, "Oh, fun, that will substantially increase the range of our fighters. I can organize a few long-range recon flights right away."

Countryman looked at the chart as he considered the implications. One of the biggest limitations of fighter craft was that they were limited to sublight speeds. Their small size meant they couldn't stray far from a mother craft, and typically couldn't operate out there for more than a few hours. A 1204 could carry enough fuel for seven days of operation, but in practice, they were rarely out there for half that time. Being limited to sublight speeds with relatively low operation times, they couldn't go too far from the mothership. If they could travel faster they could move further from the mothership, this had huge implications for recon missions, but also opened the door for a whole range of options.

Sadly they couldn't do this in normal space, since there was no way to miniaturize a warp drive and the required spatial folding engines into a form factor that could fit on a fighter craft. At least not with their current technology, but the idea would certainly be worth pursuing. Just not while they were beset by a storm. Countryman filed the thought away and focused back on the meeting, as they moved to logistics and supply discussions. There was a lot to discuss regarding the plan to supply people with skin suits, and to increase the supply of medicine.