Topsy turvy universe.

Posted on Wed Jan 26th, 2022 @ 6:29pm by Lieutenant Commander Finchley Kerr & Captain Sandy "Ghost" Shannon

Mission: Trapped in Time
Location: Bridge/Captains Ready Room/Sickbay
Timeline: Current

Thomo was standing at the Communications station talking with the officer on duty when a message came in.

The officer turned to him and said "It's a Priority One message for the Captain Sir."

Turning to Ghost he said "Captain, there's a Priority One message for you, shall I route it to your Ready Room?"

"Yes I'll take in in there," Ghost said and turned the center seat over to Tomo.

"Very good Sir" Thomo replied, and nodded for the Communications Officer to do it.

Getting up to head to her ready room, she felt something for a brief moment but dismissed it. Ghost continued to her ready room.

Stepping over to Command chair, he sat down and watched the main viewer.

Opening up her viewer she began to read when suddenly the Liberty literally exploded beneath Ghost throwing her hard into the far bulk head. Alarms went off as consoles exploded and debris fell from broken bulk heads burying Ghost in her ready room.

The bridge shook violently as the full force of the explosion from the Ready Room was felt. Darkness immediately plunged the crew into a panic and Thomo was thrown to the floor.

"Emergency lighting, NOW!" Thomo shouted, and within moments a red glow enveloped all. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked around to see what damage had been done to both crew and the bridge. A number of consoles had blown out and various bridge staff lay on the floor, some moving some completely still. Slapping his COMM badge he said "Bridge to sickbay, emergency trauma teams to the bridge immediately."

An affirmative message was sent back, so Thomo slowly and shakily lifted himself off the floor and stood holding the centre seat for support. He could already see those who had triage training were already attending to the wounded. Looking round towards the Ready Room, he saw that the doors were buckled and slightly open.

~The Captain~ he thought to himself and began stumbling over to the room she'd gone into to take the Priority One message. Making it there, he looked inside and saw the devastation that had been brought. Broken and twisted bulkheads lay everywhere, and though it was dangerous to enter the room he didn't care, what mattered was to find the Captain to see if they were still alive.

"GHOST...GHOST...CAN YOU HEAR ME!!!" he shouted as he entered and began pulling bulkhead sheeting up. There was no reply, so he frantically began making his way further in. Adrenalin seemed to give him more strength than he thought he'd ever had as he moved bigger and bigger pieces "GHOST...DAMMIT, ANSWER ME, WHERE ARE YOU???"

As he moved a piece that was roughly behind where the CO's desk had been situated, he saw her lying there.

"GHOST!!!", he tore pieces of console and bulkhead back from her motionless body. Tapping his COMM badge he said "Medical team, Captains Ready Room, now!!!"

As he waited on them arriving he began checking his friend over "Ghost, don't you go dying on me now, do you hear, if you do, I'll bring you back and then kill you myself for doing so!!!"

Ghost was walking through a grassy plain back on Betazed near her parents house. Riding her favorite horse, she went galloping off, breeze blowing her hair. She had no consciousness as to what was going on around her in her ready room. She did not hear Tomo, medical staff, only the voice of her mother. Her physical state should have been terminated by the explosion but it left her in grave critical condition.

Thomo watched as the Medics carefully removed the debris from around Ghost and made a quick prelimenary check over her. They spoke quickly as they worked, then one turned to him and said "Sir, we need to get the Captain to Sickbay right away, her injuries are severe and she needs to be operated on straight away if we're to have any chance of saving her. In our opinion, it's safer to transport the CO rather than risk moving her physically and exacerbating any of the injuries."

Thomo nodded and replied "Whatever you think is best, just make sure the Captain gets the best treatment."

"We'll do that Sir, she'll be on the operating table in minutes, the trauma surgery team are standing by to right now" one of the Medics replied.

Thomo watched as Ghost was starpped up and then transported away. He knew it was going to be several hours before surgery was finished, and many hours afterwards before he'd be able to visit to see how she was. In the meantime, he had a job to do, he had to find out what had happened here, how the explosion had happened, and also try to find out who had done it and why.

With the Captain incapacitated, it now left him temporarily in charge of the Liberty. He left the Ready Room and gathered together the Senior Staff and told them what had happened and what they'd be doing now. The Liberty would have to return to Deep Space Nine for repairs, it would also allow Thomo to try and piece together what had happened. Yes, there were many questions to be answered, the least of which was how did anyone manage to smuggle a bomb onboard, and why wasn't it detected.

===Several hours later===

Thomo entered the recovery room. He'd spoken to the head of the trauma surgery team and they'd relayed to him what injuries Ghost had got. A broken left arm and leg, a punctured lung, two of the vertebrate in her spine had been fractured and multiple lacerations on her body. She was asleep now, and Thomo sat by the side of her bed and watched her breathe.

"Where are you Ghost, are you coming back to us?" he asked quietly.

Ghost was skipping across the meadow of her home on Betazed. Watching her mother hang the blankets on the line and beat the dust from them with a wooden bat, she stopped just long enough to say hi and continue on. As she went past her father, he called to her, Ghost when you coming back?". That voice was distorted and it had the undertones of another familiar voice. Weakly she said, "Thomo?".

As Thomo watched, Ghost's demeanor changed and she began to slowly move her head and saying his name. Leaning forward he smiled at her and gently said "Hey, welcome back, thought you could take a holiday from us eh?"

Slowly Ghost turned her head and weakly whispered, "Thomo? What.....happened?," she asked. She still was only semi conscious with part of her mind still hearing her father.

"There was an explosion in your Ready Room" Thomo explained, "You were badly injured and brought here to sickbay. We have a team trying to piece together what happened, Can you tell me what you remember before the explosion?" he asked Ghost.

"I don't remember much other than I sat down, opened up the view screen and flying across the room," Ghost said weakly. Now Ghost had to makea a command decision, "Thomo, I promote you Captain. Take care of her.....(weakly) I'll be your XO....," as she passed out.

Thomo was taken aback by what Ghost had just said. Yes, she was injured in the explosion, yes with her being in Sickbay it fell to him as next in line to take over as temporaray CO, but for her to relinquish Command and effectively hand it to him, that was an extraordinary personal choice. It would have to be discussed with Starfleet HQ and verified.

Laying his hand on top of Ghosts arm he replied "I'll see to it the ship and crew are taken care of and when you're better we'll discuss this more, till then, rest."

One of the on duty Doctors came by and said "Sir, I think you'll need to go, let Commander Shannon rest and recuperate. Once she's up to seing anyone again we can contact you."

Thomo rose from his seat and replied "Of course Doctor and thank you, I'd appreciate that."

Turning from the biobed, he made his way out of Sickbay and towards the Conference Room. He had much to discuss with Starfleet HQ.