Star Trek Discovery: Penitent's Walk

VI: Sitreps

"All Starfleet personnel, report in with a sitrep!"

"Owosekun, from Linus: Blue Section is about two-thirds clear. Compliance is good. All systems functioning normal so far."

"Copy, Linus."

"Owosekun, this is Nilsson. I think we're about half done here. There are a bunch of families in Orange Section, so the evac is going a little slower."

"Stay on it, Johanna. We're cutting it close as it is."

"Acknowledged. Nilsson out."

"Green sector is eighty-seven percent clear. Anticipate fully evacuated in the next ten minutes."

"Good work, Keyla."

"I caught some static from a freighter captain who didn't appreciate his floating dice game being broken up, but I stunned him and threatened to do the same to his compatriots."

"That would explain the high level of compliance."

"Lieutenant Owosekun, this is EunLee. Red Section is about three-fourths evacuated. Anticipate full evacuation in under ten minutes."

"All sectors: good copy. Send internal sensor reports of population numbers when you have the chance. Owosekun out.

"Owosekun to Commander Lucero."

Lucero hit the comm panel. "Go for Lucero."

"All sectors report evacuation in progress. Anticipate full evac in under ten minutes."

"Copy that, Owosekun. Report in when everyone's in the habitat pods."

"Aye sir. Owosekun out."

That phrase—aye sir—the trust, respect, and blind faith that infused it caught Lucero like a hook through her intestines. In truth, during the long solitude of this assignment she'd never really imagined having anyone reporting to her ever again. There was solace in that, since it meant the perch from which to fall was lowered significantly. But now, hearing it again—aye sir—she realized how much she missed it.

Lucero went back to her computer and brought up the models she'd worked on for the duration of her time here. The ones Administrator Z'Dar hadn't deigned to examine...

********

"We're good!" Detmer announced breathlessly as she skidded to a halt in the mess deck, where Owosekun had established a makeshift command center. The rest of the Discovery personnel were already there. They all looked stricken. "What'd I miss?" She asked.

Owosekun shook her head and keyed the comm panel. "Commander Lucero, we're green for evac. Repeat, all personnel are offloaded."

"Copy that, Lieutenant. I'm jettisoning the environment spokes now. Brace yourself—you may feel the concussion of the exploding bolts."

"We're secure, Commander." A moment later there was a dull rumble that shook the station and caused the abandoned plates and silverware to rattle and clatter off the empty tables. A second later a longer, more pronounced tremor when through the station, causing Keyla to scramble and flap her arms to maintain her balance.

"There went the rest," she said ruefully, then staggered against centrifugal force to reach Owosekun' s comm panel. She grabbed the edge and pulled herself close enough to see the display, which showed an exterior view of the station. The four habitat pods attached to their spokes drifted away from the station's central core like daisies floating on a current. "It looks like they'll get clear."

"But the station is on orbital approach," Nilsson said, her voice smaller than normal.

"It's true," Owosekun said sadly. "The station will be in the planetary gravity well soon."

"The shields might keep the Hazarian Station from burning up in the atmosphere, but when we impact the core will lose containment and breach." EunLee added. "The destruction will be catastrophic. The metropolitan area that abuts the impact site has a population of thirty million."

"Worse," Linus said gravely. "The ejecta from the impact and explosion has the potential to totally alter the biosphere."

It took a moment for the reality of the situation to sink in, but when her brain processed it, Detmer felt like an icicle had pierced her heart.

The planet below them was going to die. "We should get to the bridge," she said, her mouth dry.

"I believe it's an Operations Center on space stations," Linus corrected.

"Wherever," Detmer said impatiently. "We got to rendezvous with the Starfleet honcho here and see what we can do to keep this thing from full Starfall on the planet below."

Owosekun gestured at the nearest turbolift. "Four decks up..."

The spacious lift climbed the decks to Ops in a matter of moments, undelayed by other guests embarking and disembarking, but it was still an excruciating wait. By the time the doors slid apart and revealed the Ops Center, Detmer was ready to crawl out of her skin. She bolted out of the lift.

"Commander Lucero, Starship Discovery personnel are standing by to—oh...hel-lo..." She stopped short, nearly tripping over herself.

Commander Lucero was really cute. Downright hot, actually.

Petite, but curvy—the form-fitting Starfleet uniform was clearly her friend—she was dark in that classic Byronic manner, meeting in her aspect and her eyes...those eyes, ember dark (Spanish blood? Detmer wondered) held oceans of regret and loss. Who hurt you? Detmer thought. You can tell me your story while we luxuriate in my beech sheets and eat bagels, and I'll teach you how to trust again...to love again...

"Com-man-der!" Owosekun said sharply from her left elbow. "How can we help?" Then she threw a quick, but withering look at Detmer.

The Commander seemed thrown. "I...Sorry, Lieutenant. I expected your report in from the mess deck."

"We thought you'd want us," Detmer said, then blushed. "You'd need us...to help. To help the station not crash." Mentally she gave herself mad points for a graceful recovery, making Owosekun's exaggerated eye roll all the more perplexing. She took a step forward and saved Detmer for further embarrassment.

"I'm Lieutenant Owosekun. This is Lieutenant Detmer, Nilsson, Osullus, and Linus." The Discovery crewmembers nodded slightly as they were introduced.

Commander Lucero stood a little straighter. "Well, thank you all for what you've done. Hundreds of people owe you their lives. Now I need you to get to the escape pods. We can't stop the station's descent, and there's no reason for anyone else to die, too."