Stranded No Longer
Posted on Sun Jul 20th, 2025 @ 2:09am by Captain M'Raz
1,467 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Admiral Ambition and the Borg
Location: Deep Space Repair Beta Two, Theta Sculptoris
Timeline: MD004 - 1920
"Okay," Anders said. He entered Command, his brown eyes, framed by bushy eyebrows above and the beginning of dark circles beneath, trained on the PADD he held in one hand while the other hand rubbed his forehead as though the repetitive movement could banish his headache. Not that it ever had before. He was dressed in one-piece overalls, same as he always wore, though the worn spots on the knees and dark streaks along the sides of his thighs weren't typical for his infrequent visits up to the rarified atmosphere of Command.
His graying hair seemed permanently surprised, standing up in uneven clumps, and stubble outlined the stubborn set of his chin as he took a moment to yawn and found a corner of the console to lean against. "Finished the checklist. Well, this checklist anyway."
Mazurski, nearly half Anders' age and twice as energetic, bounced a ball off the bulkhead and caught it in his right hand, bounced it again and caught it in his left. "You're the last," he said, pausing to bounce the ball off nearly the exact spot on the bulkhead and catch it again, "to report in". He bounced the ball off the bulkhead and caught it twice more before continuing. "And you're late."
"As if you had anything better to do," Anders shot back. Mazurski pocketed the ball after one more catch and walked over to the Engineering console, keying in the sequence without bothering to sit down. "Begin the transfer." While the system worked, updating the project checklist to include Anders' data, Mazurski shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. "Want some coffee?"
Just the idea of coffee imparted enough energy for Anders to stand up and get moving, following the way-too-energetic Mazurski to the small break room intended for use by the command crew. Because the old man had a bias against replicated coffee, there was a working, if somewhat antique, coffee maker on the counter that Engineering maintained on a regular basis; there was also a bag of coffee, a dark roast from where the Captain had grown up, as well as the detritus that went along with having Mazurski in charge of anything other than his tools.
Mazurski opened an overhead compartment and fished out a tin of chocolate Biscotti, from Manzetti's last trip home, and walked it over to the small table jammed into one corner of the room. Anders followed it and dropped into one of the chairs with a tired sigh. "That's the last of the stash," Mazurski said, frowning at Anders, who had fished one of the last whole Biscotti. "So go easy."
"Clarke's got a bag of cookies he hasn't shared as yet," Anders said as he hunted out the largest of the broken pieces. Pulling it out of the tin triumphantly, he continued, "Besides, even if he's not here, he owes the stash."
"True," Mazurski said as he set up a new pot of coffee, going through a mental checklist, drilled into him by no less a personage than the Captain, first clean the pot, the filter, and the underside where it drips through. "My last visit home, I convinced my Mom to bake cookies so I didn't have to waste a day shopping for something that didn't come out of a replicator." The chuckle died stillborn as reality returned. Mom, Dad. Two cats and a livestock guardian, in the form of their massive dog, Boss. "I hope I get to see them again, you know, on the other side of this."
"Me too, kid," Anders said and then, to shift the subject away from the raw pain they all felt, "Captain should be reporting in soon though, I have to say, I don't love the idea of an automated process. Never did."
"You were very vocal on that point at the briefing," Mazurski said. He rinsed out the pot, found a filter and measured out a liberal portion of coffee, much more than the Captain would have liked, but Engineers were made of stronger stuff. Had to be. Didn't take long to brew fortunately because a big part of his job at the moment was making sure the skeletal crew was caffeinated. "But Gamelin was very insistent."
"Admiral Gamelin," Anders corrected though the tone of his voice and the disdain stamped on his features gave a clear message of what he thought (what they all thought) of the man. "He may be an idiot but he's an Admiral and we owe him that much at least. Red shirts give the orders," Anders said around a mouthful of Biscotti.
"... and Engineers clean up afterwards," Mazurski finished which got a chuckle out of Anders as it was meant to. Admiral Stillwell seems alright though and I admit I do like the idea of not being so close to the front lines and all." One the coffee started pouring through, he switched the pot out for a mug because Anders practically mainlined the stuff. "You know, with the way you are completing those checklists, we should be done only about twelve hours late ..."
Anders snorted, eyeing the coffee the way a hungry wolf eyes a herd of sheep, and swallowed the biscotti. "You know, we could switch communications down to Engineering tomorrow. I can give you a whole checklist of your own to work through."
Mazurski turned, blue eyes lighting up with pleasure, as the mug slipped out of the stream for a moment. At Anders' shout, he repositioned the mug, still grinning. "That would be great. Way too many ghosts up here what with everyone on the task force and all."
Any deprecating response from Anders was forestalled by the strident sound of a beep coming from Communications. Mazurski switched back to the coffee pot and placed the mug in front of Anders who sighed with appreciation at just the sight of it. "That should be the Captain." He fast-walked out of the break room and over to the console and sat down, accepting the message, and playing it aloud so that both he and Anders could hear.
"Bevil here," the Captain said, his familiar voice, with that never to be erased Jamaican lilt, filling the room. "I'll make this quick. We're heading into the Arcturus system. Gamelin says ..." Mazurski turned a smug look on Anders at the lack of the title, "... the Borg are attacking Arcturus so we're about to get busy down here. You're all doing a great job and with luck, we'll be back with you later today. Tomorrow at the latest. Bevil out."
"Setting up for the return," Mazurski said. "You ready?"
They switched seats and Anders spoke for several minutes, outlining what had been done, and updating their projected completion time. Once he was finished, Mazurski sent the message out and waited for the ping from the Yamaguchi that indicated receipt of the message. Five seconds turned to ten. Ten turned to twenty. By thirty seconds, Mazurski was actively frowning and running checks. "Everything's good on our end which means ..."
"...something's happened to their communications," Anders said quietly. "Fire up the sensor array and to be on the safe side, I'll notify everyone we might have incoming."
"Try hailing them directly while I work the sensors," Mazurski said and Anders, nodding his agreement, sent out the notification to their people. Mazurski tasked the facility's sensors to sweep the location of the distress beacon; in the background he could hear Anders repeating, over and over, 'Deep Space Repair Beta Two to Yamaguchi ... Yamaguchi, this is Deep Space Repair Beta Two...."
"Picking up a distress beacon," Mazurski called out. Behind them, the rest of the skeletal crew was exiting the turbolift, taking up positions at unoccupied stations. "Not the Yamaguchi. It's Ambassador Class. NCC-10641. The Jane Addams."
Kendricks, on the Engineering console, called out, "Been in service for twenty-two years and due in repairs. Crew's scheduled for a three-month leave. What are they doing out here?"
"No sign of the Yamaguchi," Mazurski said. "Or any other ship for that matter. Just this one. It's badly damaged though. Could be they were part of the task force."
"Not answering our hails," Anders said as he moved to the command seat while Ensign Sovak took over communications. "But a call for help is a call for help. Let's fire up both of the repair ships. We can tractor it back here." He looked around the room, with no one jumping, and bellowed. "Move people. We have work to do." And when they scurried off, Anders smiled, his first since the news about Sol.
Lt. Commander Jason Anders
Lead Engineer, Ghostkin Project
Deep Space Repair Beta Two
Theta Sculptoris
and
Lieutenant Daniel Mazurski
Engineer, Crazy Horse Project
Deep Space Repair Beta Two
Theta Scuptoris
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