Damage Control

Posted on Fri Oct 30th, 2026 @ 5:25am by Captain Andre Hunt & Lieutenant Commander Mattys Plaatjes

1,422 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Ashes of Vega Colony
Location: Mining Operations Center

Mine Operations Chief Rourke Tomas stared at the data that was coming through. The worse of the explosion had been contained, but there still were far from being in the clear. But how could he prevent another issue without knowing what the problem was to begin with. Not to mention Starfleet had shown up to keep an eye on his every move. Yes, Rourke had to admit that they could seriously use all the help that they could receive. But there was going to questions on who was to blame for this catastrophe and that target was going to be placed on him, unless he found a viable excuse.

It wasn't just his career that the Operations Chief was concerned about. But there was the possibility of criminal charges, and the company would surely through him under the shuttle to save their company. The operations center door opened as a member of the mining staff entered with a Starfleet Officer in tow. Sighing to himself, he prepared for the onslaught of accusations that were to come his way. Turning from the panel, he moved in to greet him the Chief Engineer. "Lieutenant Commander Plaatjes, I'm Rourke Tomas, Mine Operations Chief."

'Mister Rourke,' Plaatjes replied with a serious tone, but a kindly smile, 'a pleasure to meet you, even under the circumstances.' He extended a hand, careful to treat the man with courtesy. 'I'm sure you realise there will be quite a few questions we'll need to ask?'

Rourke accepted the hand and nodded. "Go ahead with your questions, Commander."

'Thank you, I'm just out for answers, Rourke. Not to crucify people, eh,' Plaatjes replied, looking uncomfortable for a moment, before asking. 'In your words, what exactly happened here?'

Letting out a deep sigh, the Chief shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not exactly sure yet. Without warning, reactor three, just exploded. And every safety measure completely failed to the job their programed to do in such of an emergency. We still have people trapped who were working underground."

His interest piqued, Plaatjes folded his arms, expression turning grim. 'It's not often a reactor just explodes without warning - happens on some older models I've heard, but still ...' He looked at the man again, 'how do you intend to get the people out from there? Is this something we can help with now?'

"We have people digging them out." Rourke answered. "But it's a slow process. Way too slow for my liking." The one thing the Chief hated was admitting that he didn't have an answer. He wasn't a big fan of Starfleet Officer's and based on his experienced they had a way of looking down on people like him working on colonies. But there was something about Plaatjes that made him feel somewhat comfortable. "Its not easy for me to admit, but I could use some suggestion to speed up things up."

'Alright,' Plaatjes said gently, 'let's get my people down there and we can take a look - maybe there's some equipment we have that'll make the digging easier and faster on your men.' He nodded at him, 'want to take me down there? And mind getting me a copy of the readings from the reactor in the days leading up to the explosion? We can run an analysis - there may be something we see that you couldn't. It's a long shot, but there may be some answer there.'

Grabbing the laptop from his desk, he handed it over to the Chief Engineer. "That's the data right there. Everything appears to be functioning without issue. Then the monitoring system went down, so I have no clue what happened. We're going to need to get to the source to get a more accurate assessment." Exiting the operations center, he led Plaatjes to where the team of engineers and rescue team were trying to dig their way. It was a slow process, but all hands were on deck working as a well oiled machine.

'What equipment are you using?' Plaatjes enquired, laptop tucked under one arm as he looked at the set-up critically. It seemd from where he stood at the back of the mass of people in front that they were competent, if slow. Speed was of the essence here. He wondered. Then flipped open his communicator. 'Commander Carey,' he asked quickly, 'do you have two rifles you can spare?'

"Commander Plaatjes, I'm afraid that the Commander is occupied at this time," an armory officer responded. "He moved into an area where getting a signal is going to be difficult. But I can bring you those rifles."

'Thank you kindly,' Plaatjes replied with a smile. 'If you could run them down as quick as you like, eh? We might be able to give a hand to the locals.' Closing the comlink with a snap, he looked up at Rourke. 'Do you have a scan of the rock formation here?' He waved at the rockface the men were working on. 'If it's not too unstable, we might be able to clear it with the rifles.'

A few minutes later, a Petty Officer came running into the room. "Got rifles, Commander."

Rourke looked at the young man who brought in the rifles, then back to Plaatjes, "Are you sure this a good idea?"

Taking a look at the scans that the crew had provided, Plaatjes pointed out the way the rock had formed. 'Look, if we go slowly to start, and go from the top of the rockfall we might be able to carve out some space. Then we can put in some quick supports for the tunnel roof if you'll be ready to go. Then we can blast out the rock pile from top to bottom.'

Plaatjes looked at Rourke and hefted the rifle, setting it to a wide-dispersal vapourising setting as he did so. The rifle hummed to life. 'If you're happy for us to try?'

Looking at the collapsed rock formation, Rourke shrugged. "Go ahead Commander. In all honesty, I believe you might be right about this one."

Looking to the young Armoury Petty Officer, Plaatjes handed him the other rifle. 'Alright pal, hit the top left, mirror my descent, and pause once we hit about one meter down from the top. Clear?'

"Clear," the young man replied, following the Commanders lead.

Pleased that the officer understood his instructions, Plattjes put the butt of the rifle against his shoulder, and nodded at the Petty Officer, and pulled the trigger. A wide-dispersal beam hit the rock at full power, disintegrating it into nothingness as the beam bit into the rock. As they dragged the beams down the face of the rock face, the boulders turned to nothing, exposing the more collapsed rock behind.

Plaatjes paused, motioning the Armoury Officer to do the same, and waited a few moments. He turned to Rourke, cautiously saying, 'doesn't seem like there's more rock to fall, does it?'

Observing the Commander and Petty Officer clear the PADD, he was impressed. With the newfound open the recovery team proceeded to move forward followed by a couple of engineers. A few minutes passed by as the recovery team resurfaced with a group of survivors. They were dirty, injured and clearly had the look of trauma. Which was honestly expected, considering everything they had just endured.

The Operations Chief was relieved to hear that outside of a few serious injuries, majority of those in this section appeared to have suffered minor injuries. Witnessing more death was something that he mentally was no longer prepared for at this time. "Where do you want to start, Commander?"

'Reinforcing the roof of the tunnel should be the first thing, eh?' Plaatjes said, looking up from the PADD they had between them, his accent growing thicker as he concentrated on two things at once. 'Can't have it falling on your men again.' He shrugged. 'After that, we can hopefully get close to the scene and start investigating.'

Rourke looked at his men who were standing around waiting for them to instruct them. "You heard the Commander, get to it. Get to reinforcing this roof of the tunnel. I want this place to be secure enough for us to figure out what the hell happened here within the next six hours."

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Lt. Commander Mattys Plaatjes
Chief Engineer
USS Meridian

Rourke Tomas (apb Andre Hunt)
Mine Operations Chief
StellarCore

 

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