Your mission, should you chose to accept it

[WxMurray 0]

“This place is a mess.”

 

“Well, thank you for that in-depth report.”

 

Murray and Prell were standing in the building that housed the com array, assessing the damage. It didn’t look good. Consoles were blown out, either from overload or disruptor fire; isolinear chips and bioneural gelpacks were strewn throughout the compound, a number of which were broken, punctured, or otherwise destroyed; sparks were spewing from the consoles that weren’t destroyed. At least there was power, albeit auxiliary. They hadn’t yet made their way to the main fusion reactor, but Murray was almost afraid of the state they’d find it in. The whole place looked like a war had decided to take a detour through the building. Given that the Marines had met some heavy resistance and the away team had been fired upon, that assessment wasn’t too far from the truth.

 

Murray went from room to room on the first level, looking over the damage and noting it on his padd. After looking through several rooms, he was starting to think that he should scale the damage with a one-to-ten system, with one being “destroyed” and ten being “just short of a nuclear detonation”. That nuclear detonation might make clean-up easier.

 

Murray was on his way up to the next level when he heard his name called out from behind him. He turned to see Prell approaching him. “Yes, Chief. What can I do for you?”

 

“I gave some prelim data to Mr. Kroells who reported to the Captain.”

 

“And?”

 

“Well, it’ll take Starfleet Corps of Engineers several weeks to get here. The Captain is looking for someone to stay down here and do initial repairs until they get here. Now, you’ve spoken highly of Crewman Plierslip, and I was thinking we see if she would be willing…”

 

“Chief. No. I’ll do it.”

 

“Murray…Saf, I need you on the Agincourt. I’ve only got you as my senior assistant. As it is that leaves me one hull chief short in a battle situation.”

 

“You saw the resistance that the Romulans put up. We had to send two Marine contingents, and we still almost got sniped.”

 

“So what?”

 

“Chief, I’m the perfect person for the job. Not only am I a qualified engineer, but I also have a background in security. I’ve served in Starfleet as a Marine and as security for almost ten years. I can start piecing this place back together and keep everyone else safe.”

 

“No. Absolutely not. Murray…”

 

“Ensign!”

 

The two engineers turned to see Kroells strolling towards them.

 

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

 

“The Captain has approved your request to remain. Go back to the ship and get what you need for your stay.”

 

Prell turned to Murray aghast. “You…you…”

 

Murray grinned slightly, but hid it when he saw the look on Prell’s face. “This was not an on-the-spot decision by the Captain; he knew that we’d have to leave a crew to prepare for SCE. Lieutenant Kroells already approached me about the possibility of remaining.”

 

Murray turned and continued up to the second level. He could hear the Lieutenant’s sigh as he got to the top. Agincourt was his first real engineering assignment. He wasn’t going to turn up a challenge like this. And like he had told the Chief, he had the background necessary to keep the team safe until SCE arrived. Besides, he wasn’t going to be gone long. Maybe four months at the most.