Posted by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Nash (Chief Engineer) in Anger and Accountability…Nash and Emily…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Anger and Accountability…Nash and Emily…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present
Entering the promenade Nash would be dumbfounded. The number of weapons fired would lead one to believe the space would have been a smoldering mess with blackened pockmarks along the walls and floors. From his vantage point however the scene was vastly different than what he could have imagined. The promenade was more disarrayed except for the large robotic MECH’s that surveyed all movement with what appeared to be a blue sensor. Ethan’s entry swiveled most of the MECH’s sensor eyes on him and then directly to what was in his hands.

The promenade was a disaster but not destroyed. “Ethan,” Emily’s voice carried laced with panic and fear as she and a few others tried to open the steel bullet-shaped coffin that was holding the kids. “Ethan, I can’t get her out.” Her fingers slipped over the completely seamless metallic surface. “Do something.”

Emily Nash

“Hang on, I’m here.” Nash ran to where Emily was struggling against the metal cocoon, casting a sidelong look at the mechs and half expecting them to do something.

Upon entering the space the MECH’s scanner like eye trained on Ethan but made no move to react otherwise. The intense blue color remained the same on all the robotic-like equipment.

Emily turned immediately and threw her arms around Ethan. Hope had been trapped in the device for the past half an hour. If the worst was to happen, Hope was already gone however the tricorder stated the occupants were still alive and Jax had confirmed that. “I couldn’t stop it. It…it happened so fast. Like a blink. The alien showed up and then there was this inky oil everywhere and it coated,” her voice hitched as Emily held him tighter.

“Sir,” an Ensign security officer cleared his throat not wanting to break up the embrace with the missus but there would be time for that later. “Tricorders are showing the life signs are extremely low but holding steady. It is like they are in some kind of statis pod.” His comment sounded more like a question instead of an answer.

His comment seemed to agitate Emily more than console her. “Then you know how to open it.” Directing her attention to Ethan, Emily’s tone became more panicky and anxious. “You build them, fix them. You are an engineer. That is your sole career purpose is to make and fix things like this right?” Her tone was tense but the words showed her absolute faith in the man she married and his designation as chief engineer.

“Kelly and Dante had to have gotten stuck in something like this once so do what you did to get them out,” Emily moved back to the metallic-like coffin. Putting her palms flat on it, Emily began to talk slower but with more emotion.

“Hope…baby…Daddy is here okay,” she patted the device as if it were Hope’s arm. “He is gonna get you out okay,” Emily struggled to keep her tone steady and still.

“Baby step back, I’m not sure how this works but it must do something.”

In his hand was the device the aliens had brought with them onto the ship, but as yet had been all but forgotten about. Holding it out in front of him, he turned it over to see if there was a button or control panel.

As Ethan turned the device over, the MECH’s moved slightly to the right as if the movement of the staff shifted them. They produced no other reaction except the mental image of a certain lizard’s reaction when a ball was waved toward his face.

“Sir,” the security office gestured with his head at the MECHs not sure if the engineering chief saw what was happening around him as he inspected the staff.

Emily Nash

“What happened Em? How the hell did she get stuck in that thing? Has she done anything since she’s been in it?” The worry of course was if there was air in the cocoon, and his gut dropped as the thought flashed through his mind that maybe their daughter wasn’t just comatose, that brought a cold sweat to his skin and a feeling of deep anger inside him.

Nash