Another 100 Day Crisis (MISSION START)

Posted on Sun Jun 9th, 2024 @ 8:45am by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Lieutenant Darru & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant Andre Rhodes & Ensign Mercy Mourne & Chief Petty Officer Nish Karalo

Mission: Remnant
Location: Deuterium Tank Controller Room
Timeline: Day 400 14:00
2772 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth hated holding meetings which was why she was specifically holding this one as far from a normal location to keep it simple and straight to the point. The Deuterium Tank controller room was an unusual setting, far removed from the regular meeting spots most of her colleagues were accustomed to. This unfamiliarity was intentional; she needed to drive her message home, and the stark, utilitarian environment would help underscore the gravity of their situation. They were facing a shortage, a critical one they hadn’t encountered in 400 days—not since their food and water had been irradiated. This wasn’t just an inconvenience; it was a potential disaster.

"Thank you for coming here and not questioning the strange location of my request." Beth began. She surveyed the faces before her, noting the mix of curiosity and concern. Rhodes had brought the issue to her and Gerhard’s attention that morning, which had given Beth just enough time to prepare. She needed to convey the urgency without causing panic. She had to be clear and decisive.

William took a moment to survey the assembled group before he returned his attention to Beth as she continued her briefing. The situation was dire, but he and Beth had already determined a rough course of action to proceed with. This meeting was to update the rest of the senior staff and finalize a strategy from everyone's input going forward.

Mercy stood at the back of the small group, her nose buried in a PADD as they waited for the Captain to reveal why they had been gathered here. In a room not designed for meetings there were only so so much space and as the most junior crew member present she would have felt awkward to push to the front of the group. Although, she thought sardonically to herself while she pretended to read so she didn’t need to make small talk, she likely would have felt awkward no matter what so really this was just an exercise in mitigation. Occasionally she shot Lieutenant Darru brief glances trying to gage if the Science Department lead was aware of why they had been summoned.

Darru could see the glances that were being shot his way but he did not know himself so he could not answer anything at all. He finally caught her gaze and shook his head hoping she understood that he did not know himself but there had to be reasons why they were both there.

Andre felt like he'd been grasping at straws since this morning, and even now wasn't entirely feeling defeated as the meeting was called. As such, and to save space in the tiny compartment, he was perched in an access point in the top bulkhead, rechecking sensors and functions. If he were a cynical man, he'd have called what he was doing the equivalent of tapping the fuel gauge and hoping the needle jumped back to the "FULL" indicator.

Nish had looked around the room and wondered why it was that she was invited to this particular meeting. She'd taken the helm based on need and very limited experience. Had they been nearer to Earth she'd never even have been offered the opportunity. She wasn't one to say times were desperate, but training her up to properly fly the NX class vessel was clearly a desperate measure. Taking context clues from their current meeting it was obvious more desperate measures were incoming.

Beth took a deep breath and began to outline the problem. "We are facing a deuterium shortage. Our reserves are critically low, and if we don’t address this immediately, it will be the end of us ever trying to get home." Beth brought up the display of the tanks that showed they had less than 100 days' worth of fuel.

Finally, Andre had to concede defeat. Every single diagnostic he'd used was coming back as good, which was somewhat of a silver lining but it was to the biggest storm cloud they could have had here. "And unfortunately, before anyone asks, I've spent all morning checking and rechecking that. It's accurate within about 8 to 12 hours." He said from his perch, "That's the normal error margin."

Darru nodded as he moved through the group to look at the indication for himself. “You are an accurate man. No one should question.” He did not need to recheck or anything because he knew the man’s work ethics and keen mind. He nodded to the engineer.

"Thanks. Just figure I should be clear here so we know what the score is." Andre replied with a nod back. He stayed in the access shaft to keep the cramped room from being any more cramped.

William had stepped aside to allow those in the room to see the indicators for themselves. When Rhodes had first reported the issue, William hadn’t second guessed the engineer’s calculations. He knew that Rhodes had already triple checked his own numbers before bringing it to their attention.

Mercy had dropped the pretence of looking at her PADD. Her eyes flicked between the display and her handheld device so she could make a few notes. Her jaw tightened slightly and a small wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows, the only signs of how she felt like her stomach had dropped with anxiety. Her brain swam with questions but she hesitated, waiting for the appropriate moment to speak up and ask.

Nish looked at the fuel gauge and then over at the science people in the room, "I'm sure we can find some in a 100 day radius, right? Anything on long range scanners I can point the ship towards?" There were quite a lot of officers around and it felt weird for her to speak up like this, but the seriousness of the situation and the nerves that accompanied that realisation seemed to have short circuited her filter.

"Not that I have yet," Darru answered already knowing that he tagged anything with potential for anything like this but he could boost the scanners.

"It will take us time to run the scans, but I am sure we can make it a priority." Mercy glanced at Darru. "Sir, I assume this will take precedence over other work until we can find a source?" She then looked around the group. "Do we have sufficient resources and equipment to refine the Deuterium or will we need to find a pure source? The ability to refine it ourselves from a gaseous source of hydrogen deuteride might increase our odds. Alternatively, if we are not able to do that, it naturally occurs in areas where there is an abundance of water, such as Earth's oceans. Searching for planets that match similar parameters with large oceans may help refine areas we need to scan." She then lets out a small sigh. "In terms of time frame? Honestly, until we start looking it's hard to say, I would recommend we take measures to reserve our fuel immediately, although I am sure that our engineering and helm colleagues have a clearer idea of how to accomplish that."

"Which is why they are here Ensign," Beth stated with a little smile at the words that were spilling out of Mourne not allowing her department head to speak properly. Darru had a patient look on his face, meaning he was going through the mental checklist and organising things whilst his more animated colleague spoke. Beth glanced at both helm operators that she had called there so there was no waste of time repeating conversations between them and something missed. The only reason comms and medical were not there was because she wanted to speak to them separately and they were the departments that could wait. "I need you both Lieutenant and Chief as the people at the helm the most of the ship and our shuttlepods to conserve what fuel we have whilst Engineering figures out the best approach but I know we do not have all the tools onboard to refine."

Mercy blushed realising that she had once more blurted out a bunch of information, and likely stepped all over Darru's toes in doing so. She gave the Captain a small nod, shot Lieutenant Darru an apologetic look, and then took a small step back to hide, incredibly ineffectively, in the small control room.

Darru shook his head at the apologetic expression. He did not need it nor want it. They both had different ways to get to what they needed to and the ship needed everyone in this room to find a way forward.

Nish took in a slow, even, breath through her nose. They hadn't found a source of deuterium yet which meant that every extra hour that they could squeeze out of their current supply would increase their chances to not end up dead in the water. "Might I suggest slowing down to at least warp factor two, ma'am?" She addressed the Captain directly. "Aside from the obvious power saving," everyone there was probably well aware of the exponential nature of the warp scale, going warp 2 in stead of warp 4 meant they'd be a factor of 4 slower, which also translated to about 2,5 to 3 times less fuel used. "It'll also allow us to get a better look at local clusters. Saves us from having to backtrack if we do spot a viable source."

"It can stretch our supply a bit but even impulse engines use deuterium so we're burning it no matter what." Andre added, "Like the Captain said, this stuff can't be refined on the ship, we don't have the facilities and as good as we are, we're not that good. Whatever we find has to be in as refined a state as we can get. Impurities we can work around - filters and such are no problem to rig up. Transporting's no issue either. Either we use our existing fueling lines or we can rig up some containers. It's honestly the matter of we have about 100 days to find it or we'll be flying on RCS thrusters."

“The Captain and I have already discussed this issue at length and have formulated a rough plan of action, but we wanted to make you all aware of the situation and get any possible input and suggestions to better finalize our plan,” he said before turning his attention back towards Andre, “How much longer would our reserves last with a reduction in speed to Warp 2 Mr. Rhodes?”

"I'd need to run the numbers. Like I said, we're burning it one way or the other. So we need to stick hard with 100 days right now just because deuterium is being burned by both warp and impulse engines and it can also affect the use of other systems. It's our general fuel." Andre replied.

Beth nodded firmly at the Engineer. They had spent all morning processing this news which had meant she had missed several meals which she was regretting as she stood there paling a little. "We are sticking to your timeline firmly." Once it was announced properly Beth had ways to monitor easier the passage of time.

“I agree with Lieutenant Rhodes.” Mercy piped up from the back of the group. “Deuterium is a stable hydrogen isotope so transport is relatively easy. The main challenge will likely be extracting and storing it until we can get it into the ship’s tank, as it is radioactive. If we have the requisite containers capable of shielding from the radiation, transport is really the easy part.” She looks to Lieutenant Darru. “Perhaps if you have not already considered it sir, we should think about moving all essential science projects to the Astrometrics Lab and diverting power from the Secondary Science Lab? We’ll need Astrometrics to run the scans anyway so that should help reserve energy. Space might be a little tight but it can’t hurt to have everyone working closely while this remains a priority?”

“Speaking for the Armory division, we can power down our targeting scanners and rely solely on the scientific sensor suites for target analysis and acquisition to conserve energy. We can also limit idle energy consumption from the phase cannons when they are not charged, but I’m hesitant to limit our power options for weapons given our track record out here,” William said looking towards Beth again.

Leroux glanced around and noted as people spoke up offering different ideas and points where their departments could save and conserve what they could. Flying slower would also give them time to look at other systems for strain.

“Ensign Mourne is correct in her statement of us moving back to one lab. All science personnel will be moved to lab 2 and scanning for Deuterium will be a priority.” Darru stated.

“We do not limit our power options for weapons. Much like you commander I do not like our track record, especially with how much more vulnerable we are with less power.” Beth said nodding at him. “We can stumble over fuel lines or containers once we know what our source is.”

Mercy straightened up slightly in response to her CO's confirmation. She did her best to hide the small touch of pride that it brought her, no need to give away how much that approval meant. Instead, she simply cleared her throat and gave the Captain a nod. "I'm happy to volunteer to liaise with Engineering once we have identified the source Captain, with Lieutenant's permission that is. That way they can begin to prepare when we know a little bit more about the type of environment we will be dealing with."

Darru inclined his head. He had no issue with her doing that. "As you wish Ensign," he said stuck in the data of the situation.

"What about shutting down the protein re-sequencers and going on what rations we currently have," William asked before he looked over at Darru, "I understand we have a decent crop from hydroponics?"

"We do, Commander," the Vulcan officer replied with his usual calm demeanour. "However, I am led to believe that humans require a variety of proteins from different sources." The Vulcan survived on vegetables and other meatless food types. Yet, he was aware of the dietary needs of humans, who often required more variety to maintain optimal health and physical performance.

"I understand," Beth responded, a hint of amusement in her tone. "It's true, we do enjoy and, in many cases, need a wider range of foods. Proteins from different sources—meat, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes—each contribute essential amino acids and other nutrients but I do believe we can go back to a simpler diet to conserve food for a little bit."

“We should…” Mercy hesitated and then changed tact slightly, not wanting to come across too bossy or dramatic. “Do we need to consider rolling blackouts of certain communal areas? Emergency lighting is dim and doesn’t require as much power right?” She looked to her colleagues for confirmation. “There are portions of the day when certain areas like the observation deck, gym and even the mess hall are less populated. Perhaps during these times, we can switch the lights to emergency only? Then publish a schedule so people know when they can access these areas? It won’t be popular but something to perhaps consider as fuel supplies get lower?”

"Rationing is going to be big - I would suggest not only that but also reduce other things like excess heating and other amenities. It's going to get tight but the rationing honestly is going to only do so much. We need to find it sooner rather than later because so long as this ship is moving, it's burning fuel." Andre added.

Beth nodded in agreement. It was like going back a year but she understood completely as would the crew once they wrapped their heads around it. Things would change as needs became apparent and changed.

"Liason with Commander Gerhard on your suggestions on best things but 100 days is all we have to sort this situation out but everything you have said is understood, Lieutenant. We will resume this conversation after I brief medical and communication. Excuse me." Beth commented quickly not at all looking forward to that conversation at all as she moved the group. But she supposed it might be slightly easier than this one as she would be able to have it in a better location that was not going to make her throw up but that was a whole other problem for her. The ship came first, there would be no baby if there was no ship.