Getting The Station Back Online
Posted on Tue Nov 18, 2025 @ 9:31pm by Ensign T'Vren & Commodore T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Bronwyn P’ril & Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon & Lieutenant JG Hannah Reeves & Ensign Matilda Cromwell
2,072 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Chicken Run
Location: Operations/Engineering
Timeline: MD02
T'mpest walked into operations and looked around to see if any of the department heads or assistants were available. They'd received the station-wide notification and now she was here to give them more details--and information on what she hoped they could accomplish in the next 24 hours.
Ace was already in operations trying not to cuss at everything. Systems were not working the way they should. Matilda was a pain in his ass. Bri was apparently upset with him or at least siding with that disgusting grunt, Paula. Having spent the night with Naomi did not seem to help his temperament at all, either. He slammed his fist onto a console and shouted at it, "Stop that! Work, damn it!"
“Hitting it is counterproductive,” P’ril informed him as she passed carrying a tool kit. “Perhaps I can help. What is it not doing that it is supposed to be doing?”
Ace looked over at P'ril. Normally he might leer over her but he was tired and frustrated. "Hitting the console is about the only thing that I haven't tried to fix the current problem. I've had a number of complaints regarding replicators, something about creating sparkling purple chick shaped objects no matter what they program in. I've looked over all the source code and nothing seems to be out of place. It is like a virus. It is spreading and I cannot figure out the pattern or how to stop it. I even tried bypassing the main system and isolating the effected systems, but it is like our own programs are working against us. It is ridiculous."
P’ril’s brow wrinkled. That was strange. “Curious,” she said, frowning at the console. “Have you identified the source code? We may have to create a Trojan horse to attack it.”
"I have not been able to identify it at all," Ace responded simply. "It almost is as if something was living inside it." He sighed and despondently remarked, "I thought the freaky stuff only happened on starships."
Hannah Reeves entered Operations, her uniform a bit worse for wear and her jacket completely missing. To P'ril. "Sorry, I'm out of uniform ma'am, but I was attacked by someone who appeared to be intoxicated, he tore at my jacket, so I let him keep it. He was holding it and staring at it in wide wonder, as I fled."
Ace looked over at Hannah. Normally, he might leer over her, but there was something about her that stopped that, or maybe it was his exhaustion. Either way, he did not care. He just wanted these animals to get back to where they belonged and figure out why sleeping with Naomi did not solve all of his issues. Could the Vulcan counselor really be right? He visibly shook his head as if trying to rid himself of the thought.
Noticing Ace's distance expression, she asked. "Ace, are you okay? Where's your ogling at my body, your inappropriate, but somehow flattering comments about my breasts and bum?"
"Now is not the time to be such a beautiful ass, Reeves. As much as I would like to rest on your pillows, we need to solve this problem."
"That's better." Hannah said with a smile. "As for this goo, can we burn it?" She asked. "Or get medical to come up with some antibiotic?"
T'mpest noticed the group and went over to them. "Transporters, replicators and voice communications were taken offline from the command center. I apologize for giving you more work to do, but I need you to find out why they are malfunctioning so they can be brought back online. If you noticed the animals today, all are coated in a glittery substance. It is believed that is what has contaminated the system."
"I know where the animals came from but where did this glitter come from?" Ace asked, wondering what one did with glittery farm animals.
"That...is still supposition." T'mpest would not speculate. Until she could confirm her theory, they would work with the facts they had. "Intelligence will be working on that. Medical and science are working on how to detoxify the glitter. What I need from you is to find a way to remove the glitter from the transporters and replicators. For some reason, using a combadge affects the replicators. So, operations and engineering have the greater task to perform."
P’ril’s brow wrinkled and she actually frowned at that. “That should not be possible,” she said, now thoroughly perplexed.
"No, it should not," the commodore replied. "But the evidence shows otherwise."
"I repeat, I thought the freaky stuff was only supposed to happen on starships," Ace muttered. He never wanted to do a great deal of work. He just wanted to have easy access to women. Between this catastrophe, Bri, Paula, and Matilda, Ace started contemplating his options for the future.
"How does this 'goo' react to UV light?" Hannah asked. "Cause we could give it a really bad sunburn."
"To my knowledge, that has not been tested," T'mpest replied. "Both the glitter and this goo are unknown to us. Medical and science have been asked to find a way to make them inert."
Matilda arrived, looking to be bright-eyed and well rested. "Morning everyone," she told everyone, having a bit of a smile. "I came across something that is a bit strange, purplish pink glitter. I thought I saw a bird that sparkled beneath the lights of the station, kind of pretty but also it was fluttering its wings and spreading the glitter like natural dander. I've never seen anything like this at all."
Ace growled at Tillie, "Had you been here on time, Ensign, you would have already learned all of this information." He then turned back to Hannah and asked, "Have you run it by science? I know that I haven't. Given everything, we should probably bring them in on this."
"I did get the information; I had been spoken to by others letting me know of the problems." Matilda not letting Ace's foul mood bother her. "I was just sharing what I had seen on my way here. It just looked interesting that is all."
Matilda turned her gaze to T'mpest. "Hello Commodore." having a cheery smile.
"Hello, ensign," T'mpest replied with an inclination of her head.
She looked around again, then addressed anyone who was listening. "I will get out of your way so you can work on the problem. Please keep me informed of your progress."
"We will, Commodore," Ace answered. "Between myself, Lieutenant P'ril, and Science, we will sort this station out."
T'mpest gave a half bow and left to take care of the next item on her list.
Matilda watched as the commodore left, then turned towards Ace, Hannah, and P'rill. "Looks like we've got some clean up to do?"
"We had servants for that back home." Hannah said, only partly joking.
Ace looked at Hannah and Matilda and said, "Since you two seem so chatty and thinking this is fun and games, you can go down and check the generators. I want to know why our power is not working the way it is supposed to. See if there is any purple goo there."
"Okay we'll contact you when we get there, sir." Matilda threw a cheery smile towards Ace and headed to leave from where Ace and P'ril were. "Keep in touch!"
Hannah also gave Ace a smile and followed Matilda out.
What in the hell got in that nutty redhead Ace wondered. She's just enjoying making me look like an ass in front of Bri, isn't she? That WOMAN! Well, at least we got rid of her for the moment. He turned to P'ril, "What ideas do you have? I'm betting we are going to have to do a complete purge and reboot after we find the cause, which will be overtime for us."
“I cannot say that that is a welcome prospect,” replied P’ril. “However, you are likely correct. Unless we can identify and isolate whatever is doing this, we may have no choice.”
"I guess we're going to have to work closely together," Ace concluded with a small smirk. "Ready to get into close quarters?"
P’ril leveled him with a steady, unblinking gaze that while blank as was typical of Vulcans, nevertheless conveyed disdain. She didn’t get a chance to reply, however, as someone else interrupted them.
"A purge and reboot will cause issues of its own. For instance, the Universal Translator will be shut down during that time, potentially preventing communication with residents." T'Vren appeared quietly at their elbow. "My apologies for my late arrival. I was delayed by a large number of sheep."
"There are other universal languages," Ace informed P'ril with a sly smile. Maybe half Vulcans were more fun than full ones. "Regardless, I'm pretty certain that the station's safety is more important than the inconvenience of being able to communicate with one another. Besides," he said looking at the most annoying Vulcan that he ever knew. "I'm more than certain that Ensign T'Vren will have a field day translating for everyone."
"While Federation citizens universally learn Federation Standard, not all station residents are Federation citizens. Even those Federation citizens who speak additional languages do not always bother to learn languages from outside the Federation. In an emergency, inability to communicate could worsen the situation. While I am certainly willing to translate, I am only one person and the station is quite large. Nor will the communications systems be available to connect me to other portions of the station for the duration of the process." T'Vren had checked his service file. Cannon was not qualified in any language beyond Standard. He would find the loss of the Universal Translator difficult if it was not quickly restored.
"Then perhaps it would be logical to create some mobile universal translators like in the Earth 21st century," Ace replied with a pedantic tone and feeling more than a little satisfied that he thought of something that the insufferable linguistic Ops officer had not.
“We should not concern ourselves with that now,” P’ril said. “After all, it is only a slight possibility. We may be able to isolate and purge the faulty code without a hard reboot of the entire system.”
"Great optimism, P'ril. Unfortunately, my opinion is much more realistic. I think we're basically screwed."
Cannon would use a sex metaphor, T'Vren thought. "If we do nothing, certainly. I recommend we start by segmenting the systems to see if we can isolate the issue."
“I agree,” replied P’ril. “Our first step should be preventing it from spreading.”
"That is why I sent Cromwell and Reeves to go to the generator," Ace commented as if it was obvious.
T’Vren cocked her head to one side and raised an eyebrow. “As the generators do not run code, segmenting them from the rest of the systems will do little to isolate the source of the issue.”
"But if they are corrupted, we have no chance of a reboot. Safeguarding and segregating them must be a priority," Ace reminded the Vulcan.
She looked at him, her face Vulcan neutral. "If you were confident in your decision, you would not be convinced we are 'screwed.'" She turned to P'ril. "Are there any systems beyond replicators, transporters and comms that you would wish to include in the initial steps?"
Ace looked over at T'Vren, his eyes narrowing, and silently debated whether he despised Paula or T'Vren more.
“Life support, obviously,” P’ril answered. “And, if we can manage it, defense systems. As humans are fond of saying, we do not wish to be caught with our pants down.”
T'Vren nodded. "I recommend we isolate the later two systems and start our search with the three affected systems. Do you both concur?"
"I'll take life support. P'Ril could take defense. T'Vren, you take care of your linguistics," Ace decided.
“Agreed,” replied P’ril, already moving to fetch a tool kit. They had a lot of work ahead of them.
Commodore T'mpest Michaels
Commander
Deep Space 5
Ensign Matilda Cromwell
Engineering Officer
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant jg Hannah
Assistant Chief Engineer
Deep Space 5
Ensign T'Vren
Assistant Chief of Operations, Communications
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Junior Grade Ace Cannon
Assistant Chief of Operations
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Bronwyn P’ril
Chief Engineer
Deep Space 5
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