*** Temporary Sickbay * USS Chimera *** There was a lull...Chimera ceased the rocking shuddering motion caused by the battle. It seemed strangely still and quiet...ominously so. "You think it's over?" Lucy asked as she placed the last pieces of used equipment onto a tray. Rangi looked down at MCapt Walsh and watched him tentatively finger the dermapatch above his left eye. "I hope so" she replied and half turned away, waiting for the nurse to complete her work and frowning as she noticed the state of her own uniform. "Try to rest captain." the nurse said quietly as Jack glanced up at her and received a wink for her trouble. The two women moved away from their patient and headed towards the temporary work station. "I thought this was a diplomatic mission." Lucy remarked. "It is!" Rangi replied with a trace of irony.They exchanged amused glances. "How long before the Captain can..." Lucys words were cut off and she looked at Rangi who paused too in her movements. "We're launching Photon torpedos" she whispered as one, two...and three half second vibrations trembled through the deck. "They're not done then" Lucy said and swallowed. Her thought was confirmed by a violent wrenching, accompanied by a piercing screech of twisting metal and a low growling rumble from the bulkhead. They both knew that Chimera had suffered a direct hit to her hull. The tray Lucy carried clattered from her hand, spilling its contents across the floor as she and Rangi lost their balance and fell heavily. Without a flicker of warning, the lights went out...and no secondary system came on. There was a moments shocked silence and then people cried out, some in alarm, some giving orders, some in pain. "Bridge ... Si'...bay ..'.ve casualit'...'re, sen' ... medic'.....'eam.". Rangis heart missed a beat. The broken communication...the one she had so long dreaded... came at last. {Shane} It was her first and only thought. A dim light brightened the darkness to gloom and as the reduced power returned, alarms began to sound from various points in the sickbay. Rangi scrambled to her feet, searching for her medkit as she did so. "Lucy?" she cried urgently and saw a shadowy shape get up from the floor near her. "I'm here" the nurse replied in a shaky voice. "We're going to the Bridge....... Maikai!!" Rangi called, remembering the nearest AMO she had seen. "Bridge...now!!" From somewhere nearby she heard Maikai respond. Knowing they would follow her, Rangi headed for the nearest exit and met Steve on his way in. "I'm going to the Bridge, " she said not waiting to explain."Casualties there." she called over her shoulder. He stepped hurredly aside as Maikai and Lucy ran past him. ** Jefferies tube between decks 2 and 1 ** Glancing down Rangi saw Maikai eight rungs below her on the ladder and Lucy climbing steadily five or six rungs lower still. She looked up, resuming her ascent and trying to calm the foreboding that clawed at her. Ascending seven decks in a turbo lift took a minute or so.....climbing seven decks in a Jefferies tube seemed to take hours. Rangis legs and arms protested at every step but the top of the ladder was almost withing reach and she spurred herself to a final spurt. Turning left at the crossway she crawled along towards the hatch and began to unfasten it with shaking fingers. It stuck fast. With a sigh of annoyance Rangi twisted round and slammed her feet against hatch door with as much force as she could muster. It fell outwards onto the deck with a satisfying clatter. Rangi prepared to follow it and in two slithers emerged six paces from the Bridge door dragging her medcase behind her . "Halt!" a voice said roughly "....and identify yourself" Rangi looked up into the stern face of a marine who barred her way and aimed an active phaser at her chest. Rangi took two gasps of air, feeling hot, bothered, aching and not at all in the mood for an overzealous marine on sentry duty. "Corporal Pressman " she said somewhat breathlessly "I am the CMO...as you can see...I need to get to the Bridge...there are two others with me...Dr Quiocho and Nurse Fleming..please...stand aside." The marine hesitated, looked past Rangi to see Maikais head and shoulders appear from the hatch and lowered his phaser. "Thankyou!" Rangi strode forward, the Bridge doors slid open and she hurried inside. The Bridge, like the rest of the ship, had dim lighting, brightened at intervals of a second by the flashing Red Alert. Rangi ran her eyes across the room and with an inward sigh of relief saw the man she sought as he replied to a question. "Can it be done?" he queried and seemed to ease his way back onto the captains chair leaning against the back. "Shane" she said, hastening towards him, knowing it was unprofessional to use his first name even as she did so. "Commander...you're injured." She stood beside his chair, reaching towards his left arm where blood was oozing from a wound, partly hidden by his ripped sleeve. Acheson said something about telemetry. She thought she saw an expression of relief in Shanes eyes as they met hers and then he looked back to the CTAC. She quickly knelt and unclipped her medcase. *** End Log *** LtCmdr Rangi Summers CMO/AXO USS Chimera.