Chapter 8: Preperations

[Livvy Sandoval]

Livvy ducked under a collapsed bulkhead, ignoring the skeletal remains of a Starfleet officer. The USS Indomitable was in worse shape than was rumored, but the bones of the old ship were still sound.

The Alliance had EVA fields, but in situations like this with the radiation and hazardous conditions the old suits were the best option even if they were bulky and uncomfortable.

She fumbled with the tricorder in her right hand, "I think getting the shields online would be a good idea. I know we got the inoculations for the radiation before we left Terra Alpha, but I'd feel safer if we just kept it outside the ship. This way. Environmental control is over here."

[Diana Talon]

"Where did you dig up these fossil suits?" Diana muttered. "You know I have better in my buffer." she shrugged her shoulders and scanned the computer terminal panel she found. "But too late now. Hmm... shield emitters and SI field generators are borked, but I think we can bypass some of the ones that are damaged long enough to replace the bad ones." glancing over her shoulder at Livvy. "It's been way too long since we did this. Remember the IKV Rem'ahr? That was a challenge, so many patched together systems and like next to nothing that even worked, yet we still got her battle ready."

Diana materialized a new component from her buffer band and installed it into the environmental control system. "Alright... give it a try now, we should have life support within a few moments shields are going to take a minute but even 4% shielding is enough for now."

[Livvy Sandoval]

Livvy flipped the activation switch and the touch panel remained stubbornly blank. "The emergency batteries must be dead. No surprise there after all this time."

She pressed a button on her buffer band and a portable generator materialized. She kneeled down and pulled a cable from the back of the generator and stretched it out. At the ODN junction she grimaced as she removed the panel. "Sorry to disturb you ma'am," she said to a set of remains that rested nearby. The tattered gold uniform still held the tarnished pips of a Lieutenant Commander. "We should contact President Ortiz. The crew needs a proper burial. A hero's farewell," Livvy added.

She pushed the plug into the junction box with a satisfying click and stood up, to see a single red light was now blinking slowly. Pressing the button the panel powered up along with the emergency lighting and various other critical systems terminals with a whir. After a few seconds, Livvy unlocked the helmet to her suit and removed it. "Oxygen is at 21% and nitrogen 79%, at 70 kilopascals and rising." She ran another scan, "Okay at current radiation levels we have about an hour to get the shields operational."

[Diana Talon]

"More than enough time now that I can get out of this bulky suit." Diana said as she pulled off her helmet and removed the gloves and started to break down the rest of the suit. Smoothing out the wrinkles in her tight black and grey bodysuit she tapped her buffer band and a tool kit and a small black box appeared. "Once I get the AliceCore online, we should be able to get this bird mobile again."

Opening the box she removed two bands and a small hexagonal shaped device and placed it on her chest where it expanded and covered her in a honeycomb of protective sheathing. "See, this is the new radiation suit I've been developing. A bit more form fitting and I still have use of my fingers, but..." she gestured and a small set of mechanical arms extended from the shoulder. "Manipulator waldoes. I love this new nano metal. Grandpa Nick barely scratched the surface of what it can do. Why don't you see if we can't get the bridge functional, I'll get the shields online. The Miki and Iris units are working on the rest of the damaged systems."

[Livvy Sandoval]

"We'll have to use site to site transporters to get to the bridge. The turbolifts are off line, and breeches on decks 2 and 3 have cut off access to deck one."

[Diana Talon]

"Something we'll have to fix when we get to a berth, but that's why I brought portable site to sites." Diana replied. "I'll admit, this ship is a bit more damaged than I thought, but there's a lot we can get repaired once we're able to get her in the stars." she took a swig from her bottle of water and offered one to Livvy. "Lot more bodies than I thought we'd see too. I want to run some dna checks, find out where their families are, not all of them are going to be with Ortiz after all. Some may be on Terra Alpha." she sighed heavily and grabbed her tool kit. "Even if we didn't use this ship, we're bringing closure to a lot of families. I'm sure if these bodies were us, our families would want to have our remains back. Just to be certain it was us and we weren't being held in some POW camp or worse. Like what almost happened to Lana when she was a little girl."

[Livvy Sandoval]

Livvy consulted a console, "Two-thirds of the escape pods have been launched. It stands to reason that the majority got off before it crashed. As for the damage, there is substantial battle damage consistent with phasers used by the Dominion. Honestly, I'm surprised it's in as good of shape as it is. Deck 19 was partially collapsed during the crash, and the port nacelle was heavily damaged. I assume also in the crash. Starboard nacelle has only minimal damage." She glanced over at Diana, "This will be good practical testing of the technology you brought. The Alliance will need our data from it."

[Diana Talon]

"That's why I jumped at it. Great-grandpa Nick and I were working on a few things but never really had a good chance to try them out in the field like this. I may even be able to get the nacelle that's damaged working again. We've developed a sort of portable 'nano-healer', once I program it, it'll remove the damaged parts, use the matter to replicate replacements and missing pieces and then install them in place. Crawling over the damaged portions of the ship like a spider... sort of a mini drydock. Navy hasn't cleared its use because they think it's too 'wild' but we'll see. After all if this works, then we can send ships out hurt and they'll be battle ready in hours not days."

[Livvy Sandoval]

"Brass tends to be far too conservative," she shrugged, "Though, the Founders certainly weren't. Grandma, your Grandma Angel, Nick Ryder. They broke the mold. I suspect that's a trait of every founding generation from Ben Franklin to Alice Huntington-Ryder. They weren't afraid to take a chance. To your great-grandfather risk was just another word for opportunity. I wonder if that's a trait Engineers share. Tinkering and always trying to improve, never satisfied with the status quo, and that's the difference. Don't get me wrong, I love your father, but he hasn't shook things up in... well, I don't if ever."

[Diana Talon]

"I know... mom always did try to encourage more creativity but she was always a bit more of a tactical mind than a engineer, even though the woman can still fix an engine in no time flat, in high heels and a skirt no less." Diana said with a laugh. "Great-grandpa Nick is always surprised that I find excuses to work with him, even though his brother Tony is the nanotech specialist, but I think I liked his vision of 'just because it's always been done that way, doesn't mean it has to stay that way.'"

Rolling a few of the MIKI balls out of her case she programmed them from her padd. "Like these, Grandma Angel developed these when she was my age. I want some of my creations to outlast me too. Course, Grandmas Angel and Becca are far from retired. Same with Alice, although I think ever since Gale moved out, she's been a bit more... feisty. She's trying to get Great-grandpa Nick to learn how to salsa dance." she sighed wistfully. "I still didn't think I'd be in my mid twenties and still single... ish. Shocked that none of my team mates when I was still competing in the Olympics didn't really take my not so subtle flirting serious. I liked Wayne too. We even costumed as Batman and Catwoman for Halloween that one year. Still... Simon... " she sighed again. "Gawd... we're failing the Bechdel test aren't we?"

"Only because you're a geek." Miki said as she looked around. "Akira class. Dominion War vintage. Nice. So... hull breaches and shield emitters. You sure think the world of us Mikis don't you?" she deadpanned. "Oh Lieutenant Sandoval... Admiral Ryder wanted me to remind you... both of you... that under the new salvage rights laws you're both responsible for this ship. Since you're the two that actually moved it from its position so y'know... don't start a war."