Nicole looked at Magenta in the darkness, "What just happened?"
"I have no idea.", Magenta responded stepping out on their porch and looking into the sky.
Nicole tapped her combadge. Nothing. She tapped again, nothing. She walked into the house, "Computer, power on."
Nothing again.
Nicole struggled with what to do next, "Computer locate Commander Teero."
Nothing.
Magenta handed Nicole a glow stick made from irradiated Omega, "We gotta find out what happened? We gotta go the Federation Complex."
Magenta and Nicole wandered through the dark city. Nicole half expected rioting but instead, she found fear. People were terrified.
Nicole and Magenta entered the Complex, "Where is Vincent?"
Elora looked at Nicole, "No clue."
"What happened?", Nicole begged.
"It appears to be an Electromagnetic Pulse.", Elora responded.
"A natural occurrence?", Nicole asked.
"Not in this part of space.", Magenta, the scientist responded.
"We gotta get the grid up.", Nicole ordered.
"I agree.", Governor T'tan entered the room.
"What have you pathetic Phoenix-ites done now?", Commander T'Ros, the Romulan entered the Complex.
"We are trying to figure it out.", Elora snapped, not happy with the tone of the Romulan.
"We gotta get the grid up.", T'Ros repeated.
"Ya think?", Elora snapped.
A tiny flicker occurred on the famous Federation Complex table. Elora looked at the table, "Come on, Slick. Bring it up."
"Slick?", Nicole asked.
"Slick Willy. Long story.", the Betazoid laughed.
"Not following you.", Nicole looked puzzled.
"Bill Clinton was an American President in the 1990s on Earth. He was involved in many scandals but was able to avoid prosecution and impeachment earning him the nickname Slick Willy.", T'tan pointed out. Everyone looked at the Vulcan. How the hell did she know that?
The table flickered again. This time a voice could be heard.
"This is Captain Dominic Montgomery. Phoenix Colony please ackn....", Dominic tried to speak.
The lights went out again. Finally, Acrylos entered the room, "We have to get the grid back up."
Elora glared at the Bajoran, "What do you think we have been trying to do?"
Acrylos tried several subroutines, "I can't get the grid to maintain."
The table flickered once again. Nothing.
Amy looked at Dominic, "You gotta route the grid through the shutdown matrix."
"What?", Dominic had only recently graduated the academy. He barely understood Phoenix Fleet Rules and Regulations let alone crisis management.
"They are trying to reboot the grid rather than just hold the grid. The EMP prevents a total reboot.", Amy reported; not half bad for a former athletic coach turned Omega Academy student.
"How do we get them word?", Meadow asked.
"The turnover is not fast enough to get word.", Dominic responded.
"What about putting down the Diana?", Amy asked.
"With a great pilot, you might be able to set it on the lily pads. We just don't have that luxury.", Dominic responded.
"I can do it.", Felicity responded.
"Listen. You are good day to day operations officer. I have seen that. This would require S'Ari, Cheko or Click type skills.", Dominic reminded the former call girl.
"Hey, if she thinks she can. Maybe she can.", Amy snapped.
"There is one problem.", Meadow interrupted.
"What?", Amy looked at Meadow.
"Once we are in low altitude, the Diana will be affected by the EMP.", Meadow warned. Everyone looked at the doctor. Her assessment was bang on. Everyone is stepping up in this crisis.
"There will be no communication from the helm to engineering.", Meadow had served as XO on two ships. She may be a bimbo but she is one smart cookie.
"What about mimicking the adjustments in engineering.", Amy suggested.
"Say what?", Dominic interrupted.
"If I take a remote image of Felicity on the helm down to engineering and copy the actions of the helm officer manually, we can land the Diana on the pods and get the low level grid up and running. At least the replicators and communications will work.", Amy looked at Dominic.
"Do you have any idea how physically demanding that will be?", Dominic asked.
"We can do it.", Felicity gave a half smile.
Amy and Felicity put on a dazzling display of two great things. One, their skills as a team and the greatness of the legendary USS Princess Diana owing to its great history and its greatest Captain, Dr. Trista Coren and Two, the fact that life is about second chances. Amy Turin was once a physical trainer and now she is one of the greatest engineers in the Fleet. Felicity Powers was once nothing more than a call girl whose most famous as a concubine of Acrylos Teero and others. Now she is one of the best pilots in the Fleet.
Amy and Dominic headed straight for the Federation Complex. The lights continued to flicker. Amy looked at Acrylos, "Chief, you have the right idea, but you need to route the power through the shutdown protocol. What is happening is the equipment is continually trying to shutdown. The pulse forced the equipment to try to defend itself. As soon as it gets power, it tries to shutdown."
Acrylos ran the subroutine and sure enough, the grid came up as a low level mode.
"Elora, its Bill, can you hear me?", Bill hollered from Boston.
"My love, we got it. Great job.", Elora smiled.
Acrylos and Amy walked outside and looked at Omega Prime coming back to life. Amy looked at the Bajoran and smiled, "Good job, Chief."
"I think I love you.", Acrylos smiled.
Amy laughed, turning towards the Chief Engineer, "We are just getting started, Chief."
Posted by:
Nicole Branson
Vice President
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Federation
Special Guest Appearance by
Commander Acrylos Teero
Chief Engineer
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Federation
