Lt. Cmdr. Kirsty Carpenter - Waiver Wire

[Quentin Beck]

I don't have an easy way of explaining what I mean, but the more I read @Kirsty L. Carpenter's sims, the more Kirsty she starts to sound to me.
 

Quote

((Bridge, Deck 3 Primary Hull, U.S.S Ronin.))

 

Kirsty had felt a little guilty ducking out of the Award's Ceremony as early as she did. Especially after all the promotions and Cap becoming an...actual, God's honest Cap and the grand vibes across the whole of the space. Kirsty's back always seemed to stand a mite straighter when an Admiral was on the deck, even a hardcase like Corcino, but the feeling of feeling like a goof standing around with a two new awards that only highlighted what a colossal shoot show Grus Beta Three ended up being...well, that seemed to outweigh her need to mingle and enjoy the finger-foods.

 

Sure, she had clapped, loudly and genuinely for the rest of her newly re-minted crew and had gratefully accepted the handshakes of her C & XOs, but she had only stayed long enough for decorum to dictate (and maybe one or two passing flutes of the bubbly). She had spent the rest of the night goofing off with Teryn (plenty of sweets involved there too) and prepping her rough plans for the days before reinstating the ship's operational status. 

 

She clung to the number Corcino had detailed to them all as she swept into the Primary Hull, up and through an active Bridge, in the right here and now, though. Entering the new mission repeating the number like a mantra. Sixteen hundred souls. That wasn't nothing. She resolved herself that this next operation would at the very least, better prepared for. 

 

Security shifts and their backups had been drilled and prepared, weapon stores had been topped up and further combat simulations completed toward the last days of leave, Kirsty had overseen to a lot of it herself over the last hours before operation.They were as prepared as possible heading into this next...whatever it ended up being. 

 

Command had been their usual tight-lipped selves about what they could expect. All they really knew for sure was that XO Raga was to be in the Big Chair, Chief Alieth serving as HIS XO, while a buncha new officers bolstered their ranks (one of which was a JAG Officer, to boot). Meanwhile, Cap Niac was to be Corcino's "Special Envoy", briefing a bunch of other flag officers on the situation out here in the Isles. Where this meeting was to be held, seemed strictly need to know, but thankfully Kirsty had plenty of other worries hounding her around the corridors before she could start to pull at that particular thread. 

 

But as she tugged at the Gold uniform coat she had come to love as a second skin, eying the assembly of officers around her, she had a lightning bolt of a troubling thought.

 

oO You had been "prepared" before Grus Beta Three too...Oo

She shook the thought from her brains as she relieved the Security Officer from the TAC Console. Retraining them back on the problem they were here to deal with. Random hit-and-fade attacks on non-Federation affiliated spaceways. Attacks that seemed rather staged by INTEL and Command's estimation of the evidence. And after what she had seen back on GB3, she wouldn't have been shocked. 

 

Cap Raga's voice brought her from the rote concentration of her thought process and her reinitializing the console for her use.

 

Raga: Very well, mister O’Connor. Take us out of warp. ::He added:: Commander Carpenter keep an eye on those sensors in case someone’s trying to bait us. 

 

Carpenter: Aye, sir. 

 

She reacclimated forward sensors and prepared another hard ping for the moment they dropped from warp, but even as they dropped, Kirsty didn't need scopes to see the mess in front of them. In the Main Viewer listed a merchant trawler. Hard-ridden, even maybe on the best of days. But as it hung across the space around them, it looked damn near shattered now. 

 

Carbon scoring, blatted hull plating, and glittering shattered delicates of the ship formed a broken galaxy across it's aimless rotating. But a quick look and solitary sensor ping from the scopes revealed nothing but them and the stars. Kirsty frowned down into the console and toward the Main Viewer in equal measure.

 

Raga: All stop, Mister O’Connor. ::He sat forward and glanced at the medical station Beck was at:: Lifesigns?

 

Beck:  ::frowning and turning to look at Raga over his shoulder, shaking his head:: Nothing.

 

The sound of a frustrated, but active Bridge Crew hammered through the uncertainty. Kirsty's heart panging at the flatness of the usually animated Dr. Beck's voice. 

 

Raga: Commander, scan the ship and let me know if you detect any residual traces of a Federation transporter signal. 

 

Some quick bleeps and whirls from the PADD in the Chief/XO's hand and the nearby Science Station started to course through the Bridge. After another beat the bespecticle Vulcan's face looked up from her sounds.

 

Alieth: At least half dozen transport signals with a Starfleet signature, sir, at least a dozen more of a questionable nature. :: Turning once more to the science station:: Miss Lorana can analyse them to confirm their source.

 

He rose from the big chair, cutting an impressive profile standing now in the middle of the Bridge, turning his cool, controlled gaze across the whole of the new, slightly ragtag new Bridge crew. 

 

Raga: She’s taken a beating. Chief Tucker, how bad is it? 

 

Tucker: :: grimacing:: It’s not a good Commander, with multiple hull breaches and environmental controls mainly offline, but some decks are fine. I’m scanning now to find any warp signatures headed in and out of this 

 

A new sort of darkness revealed itself on the listing vessel. Kirsty had to peer into the Main Viewer from her station to look at it properly, but there was no mistaking it as the ship started to show its belly to them and all. A gawping, yawning hull breach. Right in the aft, down toward more the doral sector of the ship. It looked...ragged to Kirsty. She hadn't seen a weapon or ballistic projectile ever do that to a ship. 

 

That was twice now the Isles had shown her a hurt she had never seen before. Cap Raga's voice once more brought her back from her woolgathering. 

 

Raga: Any other vessels in the vicinity? 

 

Kirsty checked and rechecked the scopes one more time (bolstered by another pinging scan pulse, one now in real-time) just to make sure.

 

Carpenter: Negative, Captain. Just us for the time bein'.

 

He slowly returned to his seat but gave them a sort of...cheeky, almost wry grin before he sat completely. Kirsty couldn't help scooting a bit forward on the station's seating, leaning heavily over her elbows in anticipation. Thinky types never really got like this unless they had a real doozy of a thought and Kirsty, for one, was really anxious to hear what it might be. 

 

With him and Chief Aleith callin' the shots for this new op, she didn't much figure there would be a limit to the kind of things they could get up to. 

 

Raga: Is the ship safe enough to beam an away team over to look for survivors and anything that will help us unravel who did this? 

 

Another beat crossed the smallish Vulcan, but after folding her hands across the back of her, she spoke once more.

Alieth: We are close enough for a transport, both in and for an emergency evacuation. Structurally it appears to be safe, can you verify that, Mister Tucker?

 

As Tuck ran some numbers, Doc Beck started to speak some of the things they (or at the very least, Kirsty) was thinking. 

 

Beck: ::frowning:: I'm going to guess there's no life support, so EVA suits would be necessary. A hull breach that big suggests whatever wasn't blown out into space is probably well-preserved. I'm not confident there's any survivors, but my scanner could be encountering interference.

 

Tucker: Life support varies from deck to deck, but let's assume that it doesn’t work at all. As the Doc said, EVA suits are the order of the day.

Carpenter: A search would be slow going, what with the EVAs and taking it compartment by compartment. But that's an advantage. That means it's methodical too...

 

From the Science Station came another bit of fine counsel. Along with the first time Kirsty had heard one of their newest arrivals speak for the first time. 

 

Lorana: You'd need to be careful. Trapped compartments not exposed to the initial breach would be pressurised. You accidentally open the wrong hatch you'll be faced with the effects of a focused containment breach. No EV suit would protect you from that. Trust me, I've seen it before. :: checks the scans :: With the amount of damage to the ship, it wouldn't be possible to determine those pockets. Not from here. 

 

Raedai: I don't think there are many air pockets. Yet just be on one side to avoid the worst of an explosive decompression.

oO And that's best possible scenario...Oo 

 

But Kirsty was almost embarrassed about how excited she was. That strange hole notwithstanding, she could deal with a derelict ship. That was solid. That was able to be searched and quantified. All she needed to do was get over there.

 

O’Connor: RESPONSE

 

Raga paced slightly. Back. Forth. Kirsty's eye's followed up and stopped with him as he finally settled in front of...Chief Alieth? Kirsty now found herself grinning slightly, she couldn't help it. It was likely nerves, but also his whole vibe was kinda, frustratingly infectious. Especially when he stood closer to the slight visual joke of the only Vulcan Kirsty knew of that wore glasses.They shared a silent acknowledgement of one another.

 

Raga: Very well, Commander. I want you to beam over there with a team and see what you can find out. Survivors if any, logs, thorough scans. Best to go in a bit fuller than usual. Carpenter, Tuck, you’re with the Commander. ::He looked at each in turn, then back at Alieth:: Might as well bring Rox and Dekas with you too. Just in case anyone’s still alive over there. ::The Al-Leyan quickly added:: And your newest subordinate, Crewman Barberra could benefit from getting a firsthand look at what the Isles has to offer. 

 

A momentary storm passed over the Commander's face. As if running a sort of calculus and misliking the results. Kirsty knew, maybe, of what he was thinking. Their likelihood of finding survivors, especially with that sort of damage to the ship and the possible dangerously unstable pockets of hard vacuum left ...it would have been a miracle.

 

But even as Kirsty stood and readied herself to cross off the Bridge, she respected and maybe even loved them all for the shared implicit understanding they all came to, even with the grim knowledge.

 

They had to try. 

 

XO Alieth snapped toward them both.

 

Alieth: Aye aye, Commander:: Turning to the other two officers:: I expect you ready in transporter room two in ten minutes. EVA-suit and any equipment you deem necessary for your work.

 

Tucker: ::salom::I’ll get my gear,

 

Carpenter: On it, sir. 

 

Captain Raga returned to his seat, tapping carefully the comm panel on the arm rest. 

 

Raga: =/\= Ensign Is’Kah. Please report to the bridge to cover the Engineering station. =/\=

 

The Bridge once more exploded into rich, powerfully directed work. XO Alieth was already up and out of the Bridge, conferring with what looked like Rox and...some other officer Kirsty couldn't see as the porthole door had hissssed closed before she could see the full scene. 

 

But she would see plenty soon enough...crossing up and out of the Bridge herself, heading right for the Quartermaster and a clunkily solid EVA suit...

 

She wouldn't want to keep the new First Officer, or her new teammates, waiting, after all. 

--

TAG/TBC

--

Lieutenant Commander 

Kirsty L. Carpenter

//\\

Chief of Security & Tactical

Starfleet SAR

(Marine Rank: Major)

//\\

U.S.S. RONIN

 NCC-34523

ID: E239512QC0

//\\

F.N.S. CONTRIBUTOR

(SB118 Forums)