[snip]

After Joe and George followed Dr. Cross and both disappeared off down the Jefferies Tube to Engineering, that only left a few people remaining on the Bridge.

Dariusz Pokorski, the Navigator was also covering Helm while Eros was on the planet surface. He had heard the discussion about all kinds of things, including using what little power was left aboard the ship to raise the shields, or to move to a higher orbit. However, no order of such had been given, and anyway, he wasn’t sure that they could do either of those with the power reading he was getting now. Maybe if they had tried earlier? Of course, there were ways to save power, like cutting lighting and life support to some lower decks, although power already seemed to be off and a good many decks if he had heard right from the Doctor.

“Commander?” Dariusz asked Sanks. “I’m confused, sorry! Is it your intention to order me to try to move the ship to a higher orbit and attempt to avoid whatever dampening field has put out the Warp Core reactions, or am I to maintain the present orbit? The ship won’t be able to maintain the present orbit indefinitely. Without power it will also begin to decay. So unless someone fixes the problem with the Warp Core fairly soon, giving me any more orders will be pointless!”

Hercules, the Weapons officer, appeared out from the Jefferies Tube that now seemed to be the only way to get between the decks.

“Commander,” Kahuna said to the XO. “Sorry, I couldn’t get out my Quarters as the door was jammed, and power to that deck is completely off. I had to smash up my bed and then use one of the side supports as a crowbar to prise the doors apart. I got here as fast as I could!”

“What have I missed?” Kahuna said.

A somewhat larger crewmember was next to appear from the Jefferies Tube situated to the side to the entrance of the Captain’s ready room and stepped onto the Bridge. Cara Meow joined Sanks and Kahuna as Pokorski was briefly explaining what had been going on…

“After the XO got here, the CMO left for Sickbay,” Dariusz explained. “An Engineer was here to fix the Comms but he said that he couldn’t as it was a power problem, and he went away to Engineering with the barman, who used to be XO, and before that he was once the COS… Anyway, then you came up and now Cara has arrived. I was just asking what my orders are exactly, because doing our best to do nothing isn’t really a viable option. The power levels are draining, and even if we turn stuff off, they won’t last forever. We could try to move into a higher orbit where whatever it is that it is won’t affect us, but we may not have enough power for that any longer since we’ve wasted a lot of time just discussing it. Or else, ignoring it completely!”

Both Cara and Hercules looked to the XO for an answer. If Roger wasn’t going to make a decision, then Hercules would have to make one for him.

“When the power reaches a certain critical level,” Cara added, “then the Impulse Engines will no longer function, and then the Merrimack will begin a slow orbital decay due to atmospherically friction. After that, there will be nothing Dariusz can do to stop the deterioration. After entering the atmosphere of Ardan V the Merrimack will likely burn up, break up or explode.”

Hercules released that he would need to take charge of the Bridge as the XO had stood motionless for a very long time without replying to any conversations or even to direct questions to him.

“Cara,” he instructed, “Please determine if the XO is well or not?”

He walked around and sat in the Captain’s chair.

Not having communications was a huge problem. For all Hercules knew, the Captain could have already discovered the problem on the planet surface and was waiting to be beamed back up, or the engineers could soon have the Warp Engine back online. But he couldn’t know any of that and couldn’t think of a way to find out. He had to concentrate on the here and now.

“Dariusz,” he said, “Firstly, please calculate the course changes necessary to take up into a standard higher orbit. I want an orbit that will take us the furthest away from the planet surface but still within effective range of transporters and weapons. It doesn’t need to be geosynchronous. Then secondly, check what the power consumption that would require and whether it is possible with our present reserves, and if, as assume not, then what can we shut down that would make it possible. As quick as you can please!”

While Cara went to check on the condition of the XO, Dariusz ran the calculations to determine the power remaining and the power consumption required to change orbit.

Pokorski’s calculations showed the ship had full power actually, the problem was not the lack of power but the lack of anything running due to They would have sufficient power to change orbit once the warp core was running.

“Sir, we have enough power to change orbit,” Pokorski replied. “In fact, the warp core appears to be running again. The problem is the lack of anything else running because of the signal interruption between anything that required signals to run. Shall I make the course changes?”

“Yes, indeed crewman,” instructed Kahuna. “Make the course corrections!”

Dariusz laid in the course corrections that would lift the Merrimack into a higher orbit. “Impulse engines online, Sir!”

Cara was still busy investigating the condition of the XO.

• Dariusz, Navigator