All Turned Around

Niomo turned just as Thompson, Warner and Brenes walked back into the room. They quickly entered his office and began to give their reports. Most of it was good news. However, as he feared, one of the interlock couplings had broken and fused one of the primary coolant pipes closed. It would take hours to create a work-around.

"Lire to Oseno. As I feared, we lost one of the primary coolant lines to the core. It will take hours to get full power back online. I can run power from the secondary and tertiary cores, but the system wasn't designed to support the primary core like this. As I said before, maximum warp is going to be locked at 8.5. we can go to 9.0, but only for half an hour. Your call."

Without waiting for a response, he called out to his officers. "Thompson, Warner. Get started on the repairs, take everyone you need. Brenes, work on rerouting power. Have Sparbok help you."

After the officers left Niomo's office, and his door sealed, he brought up the sensor scans of the explosion from astrometrics. He spoke again to Jureth. "Lieutenant. I just looked over the sensor scans from the explosion. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

Before he answered the Alsea's chief engineer Jureth issued orders to the helm

"Mister Hunter, you heard the commander, warp 8.5 to the Artemis last known position."

"Aye Sir, course laid in."

"Engage."

As the Alsea went to warp Jureth turned his attention back to Niomo.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Commander, what can you tell me about the explosion?"

"I'll start with the good news then...I've seen readings like this before. It's a warp core breach of a Scimitar class warship. It looks like the Artemis was successful in defeating her. The bad news? The sensors also report a federation signature in that explosion. The Artemis is gone. I don't know if this was a scuttle attempt by Kheren, or if the Scimitar's destruction took them by surprise...but we probably should initiate Search and Rescue operations as soon as possible. At least until Starbase 10 gives us something else to do. I can get you Warp 9...Captain"

"As long as you're sure she won't come apart on us." Jureth replied not acknowledging the engineer's use of the title Jureth believed he hadn't earned.

"No promises." the engineer grumbled as the com closed.

On Starbase 10, the sensors, the only thing really back in working condition lit up. "Massive explosion detected, bearing two-one-five, Sir, at about five lightyears," the Trill science officer intoned, his voice belying the fact that he knew exactly where it was and likely what had happened. "It's created a multitude of subspace ruptures that are all lighting up on our sensors."

"Are you sure, Commander? That would put it exactly where the Artemis and Alsea were heading," Samji said regretfully.

"Confirmed, Sir."

"Attempt to hail them over subspace," he said and when he got the confirmation nod, he spoke. "USS Artemis, this is Starbase 10. Come in."

No answer was given, so he tried it a couple more times.

"USS Alsea, this is Starbase 10. Come in."

On the bridge of the Alsea it was Cat Steele who alerted Jureth to the incoming hail.

"Oseno, we're being hailed, its Starbase Ten."

"Put them through."

"USS Alsea, this is Starbase 10. Come in."

"Starbase Ten, this is Alsea, Lieutenant Oseno here, we read you."

Samji breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're alright, Alsea, we feared the worst. What is your position and do you have any information about the Artemis' position and status?"

"We're managing Sir," Jureth replied "We left the Artemis to engage the Shavok approximately four hours ago Sir to intercept a cloaked Romulan task force sent to destroy the Azimuth Horizon. We were able to successfully intercept and were forced to engage them when they fired on the anomaly. Captain Rivers has been injured Sir and I am in command. We are making best speed back toward the Artemis last known position Sir, but she's not responding to our hails and we've lost all sensor contact. I hate to say this Sir, but at this point I am assuming that the Artemis is lost."

Samji shook his head and thought about the likely lives lost in despair. The steadfast Captain Kheren, his ingenious and innovative newly minted First Officer Syntron, and all the others that may have given their lives to keep the Romulans from coming to destroy Starbase 10 with their horrific Thalaron Generator, or even worse, ruining their plan to contain the Anomaly, threatening all life in the Galaxy. It was to be their time, it was certainly the most noble and courageous deaths he could imagine, and at the very least, Captain Kheren acted to save hundreds of others.

He pushed the thoughts away, however, and focused on the task at hand at the mission. "I would have to agree, but let us not give up hope yet. Very admirable job thinking of the Romulans' diversion and stopping them." With the verbal summary, the Alsea had also sent over a full detail of the battle. "It looks like they did get a minor shot off and it affected the Anomaly just as our scientists theorized. It would've been the end of our mission had they truly succeeded in their plan and the Anomaly would've spread one-hundred-fold. Congratulations are in order, Lieutenant."

"As for your current course, I'm ordering you to come about and return to the Azimuth Horizon to continue your primary containment mission."

Before Jureth could object, he quickly continued. "Unfortunately we can't afford to use the Alsea on a rescue mission. It is very important we contain this thing before the Romulans or Klingons get a chance to do anything else. Although it will take more time, I will send the Wisconsin and Captain Onia to go assess the Artemis' situation."

Jureth frowned at the Fleet Captain's order to turn the Alsea around. He did not like the idea of leaving whatever survivors there might be to whatever elements they might be exposed to. The Alsea was here, now, it would take the Wisconsin nearly a day to reach the Artemis last known position. Jureth's first instinct was to close the channel and continue on course to the Artemis position, and for a long moment he considered doing just that. In the end his obligation to follow orders won out over his strong Bajoran emotions.

"I don't like it, but understand Sir and we will comply, Alsea out."

Jureth closed the channel himself from the command chair and addressed Shawn Hunter.

"Mister Hunter, bring us about and make best speed toward our assigned containment area."

"Aye Sir," Hunter replied easily making the course correction.

Jureth then looked over at Cat Steele "Cat dispatch a class four probe toward the Artemis last known position. I want data on whatever is out there."

"Aye...probe away."

Jureth nodded and then opened a channel to engineering "Bridge to engineering, Commander Lire I hope your repairs are going well. The Fleet Captain has ordered us to proceed to our Azimuth Horizon containment station. We're going to need those warp cores."

In Engineering, Niomo was watching sparks fly out of some of the consoles. "No!" he shouted at the crewman. "Reroute power through Console 23-B! B! This one was C."

He sighed and rubbed his brow in frustration as the Lieutenant's voice rang out. Niomo closed his eyes and listened to the report. "No way is she going to maximum warp without a picking up some spare parts. We'll need a new secondary coolant pipe as well as some new EPS mains to replace the ones we are burning out by bypassing some other damaged systems. My estimate was accurate before. 9.0 is the best I can give you. If you want more....well, I suggest leaving the primary section behind and running the operation with the Secondary and Tertiary sections. Their warp cores don't have any major damage, and can run at their full operating efficiency. Or at least a higher than 9.0. Additionally...it would allow us to leave the primary hull behind...We'd make the Fleet Captain happy by helping seal the rift. And if by chance, the Primary hull found it's way to the Artemis' last known coordinates, that would just be a bonus, if you catch my drift. Not that I would ever suggest going against orders, Sir."

Jureth listened to the obviously harried chief engineer of the Alsea, and contemplated his suggestion and implication for only a moment. He had already chosen to follow orders over his emotions once and he'd already decided that with the fate of millions of lives staked on Lotus Fleet's successful containment of the Azimuth Horizon now was not the time to disobey orders.

"Fleet Captain Samji is dispatching the Wisconsin to look after the Artemis fate Commander, and I've dispatched a class four probe to get us whatever data we can before the Wisconsin arrives. We are proceeding to our containment zone. I will inform Fleet Captain Samji of our diminished warp velocity and he can make the necessary changes in the Azimuth Horizon containment plan. Keep up the good work Commander, Bridge out."

Niomo sighed as his conversation ended. Starfleet once again was making a mistake. Why order them to sit at the anomaly and wait for the other sectors to be ready when they could reach the Artemis and wait at the same time. They had beaten the Romulans back. All that was left to do was make sure they didn't have a tendril wrap around them. And to wait.

He tapped his communicator and flatly stated, "Warner, where are you? I'm coming to help."

A nervous voice responded, "I'm in tube 45 Double D. We found a fused coolant line sector and are trying to figure out a way to bypass it."

Niomo nodded to no one and stated "I'm on my way." He quickly started scaling up the ladder to the closest jefferies tube entrance. Minutes later, after taking a wrong turn, he arrived to find Warner and Thompson trying to diagnose the problem.

"Status report?" Niomo inquired. He already knew what the answer was going to be, but he wanted to see if his subordinates did as well.

Thompson sighed, looking at Niomo and then at the pipe. "This is just one of the fused pipe feeds. Our scan located a dozen more. We shut down the coolant control so we could work on the pipe, but we don't even know where to start. We can't just rip out the pipe and replace it. There's still coolant in the tube, even if it isn't flowing."

Niomo nodded. "Good answer. Warner, suggestions?"

The woman looked down at her tricorder and shook her head. "The only suggestion I could give would be to deactivate the warp core and flush the coolant line. We'd be able to remove the section and at least give it a temporary patch. But that would take hours, and only a few engineers how to correctly place the patch without freezing their hands off."

Niomo nodded again. He was happy that the nervous Ensign was taking the initiative. "I agree. And, if you haven't noticed, we are at warp speed under the orders of Starfleet. Shutting down the warp core is not an option..."

"What about the bypass?" Thompson interrupted. "We could increase the flow of coolant from lines 3 through 6. They should be able to handle the extra pressure." He used his PADD to quickly generate a diagram of the proposed bypass and showed it to the other two.

"I initially thought the same," Warner responded, "But if you look at the ship as a whole, you'll see that it reduces the amount Core 2 and 3 receive. Power levels do not increase by a great deal."

Niomo sighed. "For now, let's go with that. I'm getting cramped sitting in this tube. Let's discuss the rest in my office. I assume you both have the scans you need from here. We also have to deal with those mains we are over-exerting."

The other two officers nodded, and they all began crawling their way out of the tube.

On the birdge, Jureth closed the intercom channel and sat silent for a long moment before looking at ops officer Ensign Wynn.

"Wynn, get me Starbase Ten back."

Wynn nodded as he opened the necessary channel "Go ahead Sir."

"Starbase Ten, this is USS Alsea, please respond."

"Alsea this is Starbase Ten Operations.."

"Starbase Ten, is the Fleet Captain available?"

"Negative Alsea, he's tied up with a little bit of a crisis at the moment."

"Understood," Jureth replied wondering exactly what was going on at Starbase Ten "Please inform him that our primary warp core sustained damage during our engagement with the Romulans and for purposes of Operation Horizon we are limited to warp nine."

"Acknowledged Alsea, Starbase Ten out."

The channel to the starbase closed and Jureth sat back in the command chair. It looked like for the first time in awhile the Alsea crew would get a chance to catch their breath while on their way to their containment station. He reflected on everything that had happened and how he had managed to end up in the chair he was sitting in. As he did so he was reminded of Rachele Rivers laying down in sickbay and decided he needed to get off the bridge. He stood up and looked down at Shawn Hunter who was the senior officer besides himself on the bridge.

"Mister Hunter, you have the conn, let's get some relief up here for everyone. I want them rested when we reach our containment station."

"Aye Sir," Hunter replied as he left the helm and one of the auxiliary bridge officers took his place.

"I'll be in Sickbay," Jureth said over his shoulder as he headed for the turbolift.

When the lift stopped Jureth moved down the corridor and entered the Alsea's Sickbay. The ship's holographic doctor, a replica of the EMH from USS Voyager, was running a medical tricorder over the inert form of Rachele Rivers. Jureth approached the biobed on the opposite side from where the doctor was working.

"Doctor, how is she?"

"As I said before, she is unconscious. Smacking one's head on the deck of a starship will tend to do that."

"Your prognosis?"

"She will need several days of treatment at a major medical facility. I can keep her in stasis until we can get to a starbase."

"But she will recover?"

"Eventually yes."

"Can I have a moment?"

"Certainly, I just finished my hourly scan."

The doctor moved away and Jureth closed his eyes once again asking for the Prophets to send their touch down upon his injured commander. Even though his rational mind knew that it wasn't true, he still felt that as a security chief he had failed somehow. Jureth opened his eyes and looked down at Rivers motionless form, he had promised Kalten Siduri he would bring the Alsea home and he made the same silent promise to Rachele Rivers now.

"Standing there isn't going to heal her any faster,"

Jureth turned to face the sound of the voice and came face to face with Cat Steele.

"Maybe not, but I wanted to check in just the same."

"Go rest Oseno, or I'll have the doctor sedate you for six hours. Like or not you're in command, and you're the one who needs to be rested most of all."

Jureth grudgingly accepted that his friend was right even though he could think of at least ten things he needed to do. In response he tapped his combage

"Oseno to bridge."

"Ensign Tomek here Sir,"

"Ensign, if you need me I will be in my quarters for awhile."

"Understood Sir, bridge out."

Jureth looked at Cat "There, happy?"

"Yes, now go."

Oseno made his way back to the crew quarters section of the Alsea and within minutes of laying down on his bunk he was out like the proverbial light.

About a half hour later, Niomo nodded with approval with Warner and Thompson sitting in his office. They had come to a decision about what to do about their repairs, but protocol dictated that the Captain make the final approval.

"Lire to Oseno."

"Oseno Jureth's communicator is deactivated per order of Lieutenant Junior Grade Steele." bleeped the computer.

Niomo sighed and pressed the brow of his forehead with his fingers.

"Engineering to the Bridge. Anyone still awake up there?"

"Sir, Ensign Tomek here. What can I do for you?"

"I need the Captain. Is he still around? I couldn't contact him directly."

"Negative sir. Something we can help you with? Lieutenant Steele asked for some peace and quiet for the captain. He's been up for about a day now.

"Son, everyone in engineering has been up for 3, myself a bit longer. Don't start with me on that. So unless you want the neolithium phased sublining of the suprafiring chamber coil to overheat, and us with it, I'll be needing the Captain...."

The other two engineers looked at Niomo, shocked. There was no such thing as a neolithium phased sublining of the suprafiring chamber coil.

The group could almost hear the Ensign mentally going through every technical manual he had studied and every Starfleet regulation for the situation. "I understand, sir. I can contact him from here--"

"No need. Just give me a direct channel." Niomo flatly stated. He was exhausted and there was little time for rest. His Italian frustration was clearly showing through.

"Aye, Sir. Authorization granted. Bridge out."

As the comm line closed, Warner was the first to speak up.

"Sir! That was a breech of at least 4 regulations, not to mention incredibly rude!"

Thompson only shook his head, "Up to your old games again, boss? I thought your retirement would have made you more like Santa Claus. Jessica, you haven't been with Niomo for long. But I served with him on the Lotus as well. He's a sarcastic man, who easily becomes rude. But he's the best engineer we could ask for." He shrugged in defeat. "You learn to deal with it."

Niomo smiled. "You are both right. However, if we want to deal with not burning out our EPS main, then we need to get these modifications approved. And we can't wait for Sleeping Beauty to wake up. That being said..."

"Lire to Oseno."

Jureth was dead asleep when the voice of the Alsea's chief engineer came over the ship's intercom system. His finely tuned security officer's reflexes caused him to sit bolt upright at the interruption and reach for the phaser that was sitting on his bedside table. When he realized that it was the intercom he set the phaser down, and responded.

"Oseno here, go ahead Commander."

"Morning sleepy head." Niomo started in a motherly voice. He quickly turned serious, "My team and I have determined that to maintain this speed, we need to make modifications to the EPS Main in Cargo Bay 4. Keeping it simple: It will basically attach two dialysis machines to keep the Main from blowing out on us. It's simple to make, but we are going to have to disconnect it from the entire system to make the final attachments. That part should take 5 minutes. But. That's five minutes without main power to the warp core. During that time, we'd like to shut down the main core and make some slap job repairs on our coolant lines. We won't have the hours needed to repair the whole line, nor do we think these minor repairs would make the pipe usable again. We just want to get some of the repair work started now while the core is offline anyway."

Niomo paused for a moment while he brought up the next idea.

"Speaking of the coolant lines, we determined that besides shutting the main warp core down for hours and make delicate repairs to the line, the best thing we can do is reduce power from the main core and shunt it to Cores 2 and 3. That's what is putting the extra strain on the Primary EPS, if you were wondering. We'd also increase the flow of coolant to these cores...and hope that we don't lose another coolant line. They're designed to take the amount of warp core coolant we're sending, but designed and recommended are always two different numbers. Our work-around wouldn't increase power by a significant amount. We'd be able to hold 9.1 for seventeen hours, however, I would not recommend activating MVAM until we can repair that line. The primary section would be dead in the water. Those are our recommendations. Orders, sir?"

Jureth could only shake his head at what Niomo was telling him. Like all Starfleet officers he'd taken a basic engineering class at the academy, but that had been cursory at best.

"I took basic engineering just like any other officer Commander, but I apparently need a refresher. Bottom line, with the primary core offline what is the impact on our current course and speed? Can the other two cores sustain us while you affect the needed repairs or do I need to take us out of warp? I don't like the idea of being without MVAM, but we can hold our own as a single unit as well, and finally what is the overall impact of our core status on our capabilities for Operation Horizon. I apologize if I sound uninformed, but I haven't been around a warp core since the academy let alone something as sophisticated as our engines."

Niomo rubbed his brow as he pointed to motioned to Warner to respond.

"S-Sir," She responded, "I think it would be best to drop out of warp for 15 minutes. That includes shut down and start up times for the core. It is possible that both cores could sustain us and we could keep flying...But there is also the chance that there isn't enough coolant flowing to both cores to maintain warp 9 and we would have a cascade failure and blow up. If we slow to warp 1 or 2, it might still be safe...B-But I think it's best to just stop and let the repairs go. It's only 15 minutes, right?"

Niomo cut in as she finished. "As for our Course and speed, once the repairs I suggested are complete, we will be able to maintain warp 9.1 for seventeen hours, Warp 9.15 for seven and Warp 9.2 for four. I don't recall the Fleet Captain telling us how long we'd need to spin in a circle, but I'd guess we'd still make our target time. That's where we stand, Sir."

"That's all I needed to hear. Repairs approved Commander, I will have the helm stop us shortly. Oseno out."

Jureth closed the intercom channel, threw back the sheets on the bed, and got up. He put on a fresh uniform, strapped on his holster and phaser; he was still a security officer after all; and made his way up to the Alsea's bridge. As he entered the vulcan ops officer Tomek turned his head to face the acting commander of the Alsea.

"Sir, we did not expect to see you for awhile."

"Change of plans Ensign."

"Sir, I should tell you that Lieutenant Steele indicated that if you showed up on the bridge that I was to 'throw you out'"

Oseno smiled slightly "Well, Lieutenant Steele is not in command now is she?"

"No Sir."

"Just checking," Jureth replied "I have the conn Mister Tomek."

"Aye Sir."

Jureth nodded as Tomek stepped aside and moved to one of the auxiliary bridge stations. Jureth then stepped in front of the command chair and addressed the helm.

"Helm, take us out of warp, and resume course on full impulse."

"Aye Sir, dropping out of warp."

The pinpoints streaking by on the Alsea's viewer shrunk until they looked like regular stars again, and Jureth opened the intercom.

"Bridge to engineering, she's all yours Commander, let me know when you are ready to resume warp speed."

"Affermative Sir. We are in position." Niomo quickly responded.

Closing the intercom Jureth turned to tactical where gamma shift's Garth Allen was at the console.

"Mister Allen, yellow alert, shields up. We know there are at least two hostile factions left out there and I don't want to be caught in an ambush."

"Aye Sir, shields up."

"Do we have any data from our probe yet?"

"Yes Sir," Allen replied "the probe arrived on station a short time ago. I'm not a scientist Sir, but the probe is reporting multiple subspace disturbances in the area as well as a significant amount of debris. Its internal diagnostics are indicating sensor interference from the subspace disturbances, and that it may change course to alleviate that."

"Very well, let me know if it comes across anything significant such as life pods or a Federation transponder signal, and funnel the probe data to Captain Onia on the Wisconsin as well."

"Aye Sir."

Before Oseno sat down in the chair he issued one final order "Ops, send a message to Starbase Ten informing them we've dropped out of warp to make repairs to our primary warp core."

"Aye Sir," replied the ops officer whose name Oseno didn't know.

Jureth watched as the bridge crew worked, and realized that without even knowing it he was acting like a captain. He was giving orders and having them carried out, and the people carrying them out trusted him to guide them through the remainder of the crisis involving the Azimuth Horizon. As a security officer and tactical specialist Jureth was supremely confident in his abilities, but as a ship captain he wasn't nearly as sure. Oseno could only hope that the Prophets would smile on one of their sons so far from home.

In Engineering, Niomo called out to the engineers he put in place before the Alsea slowed. "Alright! Cut power!"

"Warp Core Deactivation Sequence Initiated" the computer bleeped, confirming the nods he saw from the crewmen he ordered to watch the power levels.

Niomo watched as he saw the blue-white color start to fade from the warp core's tube as it turned a dull blackish-blue.

Thompson checked in first. "EPS Mains are clear. We are starting our repairs and modifications. The EPS must have been shunting more power than we estimated. It's a mess in here. I'm going to need some extra time to make sure we have everything clean."

Niomo frowned, "Very well Lieutenant. Take your time. I don't want to become a marshmellow."

He closed the channel and spoke again. "Warner, status."

A male Vulcan voice spoke up. "Sir, this is Sparbok. Ensign Warner is currently in the middle of removing the buffer between the pipe and the coolant line. She has requested...silence."

"Very well. Notify me when she is finished." Niomo could only laugh as the comm closed. With a smile he looked down at the diagnostic that was running on the warp cores. Units 2 and 3 were holding the power fairly well, though he had not taken a yellow alert into consideration. The extra power being drained by the shields was starting to push the system into the red. "Someone increase the flow of coolant into core 3 by 75%. Initiate the Flood Gate system. Deploy the Level 10 force fields around the impulse engine drives and start running them off of that. Lock power drain from all non-essential systems to 80%. Any reserve power that starts building up is classified as restricted to engineering and warp core integrity."

A call came out above him, "Sir. Core 3's numbers have return to nominal. Matter/Antimatter reaction is holding. Wait...now Core 2's readings are starting to fluctuate. There isn't enough coolant getting to both cores. You'd think they would have built her to handle this kind of operation!"

"Stow it crewman," Niomo quickly responded. "Reduce Core 2's intermix ratio from 25:1 to 35:1. That should reduce the amount of coolant needed." He sighed quietly. "Computer, run a level 4 diagnostic on the Warp Core coolant tube lines."

The computer bleeped in response as his assistant above him responded, "Negligible impact on the Core, sir. It's still not getting enough coolant."

Niomo cursed.

Moments later the computer responded, "There are multiple stress fractures at locations leading to Warp Core number 2. There are locations of complete blockage to Primary Warp Core. Manual override of coolant flow from Engineering. Recommended repairs, increase coolant flow to Warp Core 2 to compensate for reduced total flow, shut down Warp Core to perform repairs."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Niomo looked up at the Warp Core. Sometimes he did not believe that a simple tube could destroy an entire ship. "Alright people, you heard the lady. Increase Core 2's coolant levels by 45%... Keep the intermix ratio where I set it...." He pulled up the system read out on his console. "Ok, Ok. She's coming back down to Earth. For now. Until we can get the Primary Core online, let Core 3 take the brunt of the power requirements. 2's being too temperamental to be required for any heavy drain."

He activated his comm and asked for Thompson. "How are you doing on your end?"

"We are pretty much done here sir. Took a few minutes longer than expected......but the dialysis machines are in place and have been tested. They'll support the EPS systems. We're just waiting for the OK to reactivate the Main and see if she works for real."

"Very well. I had some trouble on my end, when you come back we'll look into it in more detail. I hope you like jefferies tubes." Niomo joked, ending the call and starting a new one. "Lire to Sparbok. Has Warner killed you yet?"

Sparbok responded as only a Vulcan could. "This is hardly the time for jokes, sir. I believ--"

"My team is all done, Sir. These patches should help the coolant at least trickle into the PriCore." Warner said, cutting Sparbok off. "We are returning to Engineering now."

"Negative, Warner. I need you and your team to look at the coolant leads for Core 2. Computer's telling me there's some stress fractures. Must have been from our fight. She isn't accepting as much coolant as she should be. Wear some gear, it might be cold in there."

Niomo could hear Jessica sigh. He knew he was pushing his entire staff beyond their limits, but these repairs had to be completed.

"I know how you feel, Jessica. Just a few more hours." he said, trying to sound more sympathetic than exhausted.

"Aye, sir. On my way. Warner out."

Finally, Niomo contacted the bridge. "Lire to Jureth. We have finished most of our repair work. We are currently snooping out a final problem which has just popped up. We'll need to stay at low impulse for another 10 minutes. The lights haven't gone out up there, have they?"

Moments before Lire's voice rang out over the intercom the bridge lights flickered for only a second before returning to full power. Jureth wondered just what exactly was going on down in engineering until he heard the commander's voice.

"Not exactly Commander though we did have a flicker a second ago..I will have the helm dial back the impulse engines. Can I do anything else to help alleviate any of your issues?"

Shawn Hunter, back at the helm after several hours rest, heard the conversation the acting CO of the Alsea was having with engineering and immediately slowed the ship to one quarter impulse without being asked.

Niomo sighed. "Honestly Oseno, taking down shields, going to full stop and cutting power to everything that isn't environmental controls would be a big help. But if any of that wouldn't make us vulnerable, I would have already done it myself."

Jureth could hear the frustration in the engineer's voice. He hadn't realized that the Alsea had sustained that much damage during their fight with the Romulans. Taking the ship dark would indeed make them vulnerable despite the fact that they were in Federation territory, but at the same time Jureth knew the Alsea needed to be able to fully participate in the coming containment operation. Oseno realized this was the type of decision that a captain had to make, and he also realized that the decision was his and his alone.

"Mister Allen," he said addressing the current tactical offcer "Anything on sensors?"

"No Sir, no contacts at this time."

Jureth stroked his chin in thought, and finally made up his mind.

"Mister Hunter, all stop."

"Helm answering all stop Sir," Hunter replied

"Mister Allen, cancel yellow alert, take our shields and weapons offline."

"Aye Sir."

"Mister Tomek, cut power to all non-essential systems, but leave me reserve power to sensors, internal communications, weapons, and shields in case I need them."

"Aye Sir," Tomek responded and as his fingers manipulated the auxiliary console the Alsea began to go dark.

"Okay Commander," Jureth finally said to Niomo "I've done everything I can from up here. Get us back up and going as soon as possible."

Niomo was silent for a few moments. He had not expected the Tactical minded captain to go against his programming and leave the ship mostly defenseless.

"Affirmative captain."

Turning to his staff, he shouted, "Alright, the Captain has graced us with some reduced power drain. Let's get our work done and get on our way!"

He saw Brenes running over to him with a PADD in his hand. "Sir, here are the new power readouts."

Niomo took the PADD and smiled. With the reduced strain from the shields and other non-essential systems, Core 2 was well back within parameters. "Excellent. Return the core to standard settings. She should be alright."

Brenes nodded and moved away to make the adjustments, leaving Niomo to silently reflect the repairs that had been done.

Thompson walked in moments later, a inquisitive look on his face. "Alright, boss. What's going on? We should have finished by now."

Niomo turned to him and shook his head. "A diagnostic brought out some stress fractures on some of the coolant lines going to Core2. We could probably apply patches while the ship was at full speed, but why risk it?"

"So the pipes themselves are flowing fine, but they could break? Hmm..." Thompson asked, rhetorically.

Niomo ignored the question, and instead questioned his prior task; "How did the dialysis machine go? We all set?" He tapped on the PADD he was still holding and brought up the system readout on the EPS Mains, which looked ready to be powered back up.

"We should be good to go, Sir. Just have to flip the big switch." he responded, motioning to the Warp Core.

As if on queue, Warner called in. "Commander, we've located the fractures. The repairs are very basic and shouldn't take much longer. We can power up the PriCore whenever, I guess."

Niomo frowned. He had no problem with officers being relaxed around him, but guesses were not acceptable. "Where were the fractures? Chance of them opening up?"

"Uh...Ports Alpha Charlie and Gamma had some cracks, Oddly enough, the holding bracket leading to the core was also mis-aligned. I've tasked someone to find the part and replace it. Assuming we don't get into another firefight within the next 10 minutes, we should be fine. It's strange though, these fractures don't seem like they were from the battle. But I've been stationed here for months. We've never detected them before..."

"Strange indeed. I'll note it in the log. I'll be started the Warp Core back up in 3 minutes." Niomo interrupted. He had to smile. Miss Warner seemed to either stutter her way through a conversation, or she never stopped talking.

True to his word, 3 minutes later, he initiated the Warp Core start-up procedures. The computer bleeped in acknowledgement, and like watching the previous scene in reverse, the Warp Core started glowing it's classic blue-white again.

"Thompson?..." Niomo said, glancing over his shoulder.

"Dialysis initiated, and working as planned. We have no problems shunting the extra power through that Main. We are good to go."

Niomo nodded without responding, he was too busy monitoring the Warp Core's coolant lines. "OK, it looks like we have a 15% increase to coolant flow. Core 2 is running fine, no further signs of fracture. All other repairs have been complete....Ok. This will have to do for now."

Tapping his comm badge, he reported this to his staff. "Alright everyone, good work. Skeleton Crew Charlie is on call. Everyone else is on rest until we are needed."

Turning to Thompson and Warner, he smiled, "Excellent work you two. You deserve your rest."

The two officers thanked him and the group went their separate ways.

The reserve lighting on the bridge gave it a sort of eerie glow as Jureth sat and waited for the call from engineering.He did not like being vulnerable like this, but he knew as well as did the entire crew that Operation Horizon could not fail and with the Artemis gone the Alsea would be even more pivotal to the success of that operation. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Niomo Lire's voice echoed through the bridge.

"Niomo to the bridge, Warp speed is back on-line. Locked in at Warp 9.2 maximum. If you need me, I'll be in my quarters."

"Understood Commander, get some rest...and Commander...good work. Bridge out."

As Jureth closed the link the main lights on the bridge came back on and auxiliary consoles resumed their readouts. Jureth looked to Tomek, who nodded.

"All systems are coming back online Sir."

"Thank you Ensign," Jureth replied "Mister Hunter, resume course to our containment station...warp eight."

"Aye Sir."

The Alsea lit back up on the outside as well and at Shawn Hunter's command, shot back into warp.