LSC-772 | L.N.S. Utah

[Spectre]

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[DATE]: August 7th, 823 A.S. - 0430 Hours ]
[LOCATION]: L.N.S. Utah - Engineering

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The operation went south, unlike Sentinel had suspected. Most of the Utah was a wreck. Holes in the hull. The armor blasted in places that were almost vital to the ship's defense. Even the ship's main 'Star Javelin' was offline, the line from the ship's primary power bank severed in an explosion of Deck 2. The only areas of the ship that didn't seem damaged was the bridge and parts of engineering.

Valkyrie enters engineering via a stairwell, proceeding in and taking a look around. The whole place was a mess, including the parts that were left mostly undamaged. The whole place was lit red with the lights of the emergency systems, and the whole ship itself was running at half capacity. She took a hell of a beating in Minnesota, and what crew there was aboard seemed to be either working themselves trying to fix immediate problems, or sitting down, exhausted or injured from the fight.

One of the engineers rushed by, Valkyrie watching as he ran off towards the aft end of the ship. He turned back towards the fore and walked down the corridor, inspecting the condition of the area and the crew. As he passed by the crew who were sitting, they looked up at him, half with a hopeful glance, the other half with remorse. After passing several of them, one nervously stood up in Valkyrie's way. He didn't look to be any older than his early twenties, and he was clearly shaken up.

"S-sir.." He asked, stumbling slightly over his own words.

"Go ahead... Lieutenant.." Valkyrie had to find some indication as to who this kid was. He saw the rank emblem on their lapel, and could identify at least what his was.

"When are w-we going to be.. h-home..?" There was a sense of fear in his words, as if he almost didn't believe they'd make it back to port in one piece. The ship, after all, was nothing more than a large wreck with engines at this point, torn apart by the fight in Minnesota.

"We'll be back in Virginia soon enough, son.. just keep your head on. We'll be alright."

The Lieutenant smiled slightly, somewhat relieved by his words. He gave a quick, if shaky, salute to Valkyrie, who happily gave one back. They then sat back down, allowing Valkyrie to keep walking.

He entered a rather decently sized room, home to the reactor and what pertinent personnel were manning the room. Like the bridge and other parts of engineering, this section had seen very little in the way of damage, but that didn't mean there weren't casualties littering the room. Some of the sides of the room were lined with a body bag or two. There weren't exactly many casualties when the ship only fielded 43 people within her hull.

Still, they were down four or five people, and that struck a blow to the ship's productivity as well as its morale.

One of the men in the room looks towards Valkyrie as he enters, holding a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Marshal."

Valkyrie wasted no time responding and approaching the man. "Ortega. How's she looking?"

Ortega looked around, as if watching the ship for anything unusual, then turning back to Valkyrie.

"She's looking pretty beat up, Marshal. While I can guarantee that we'll make it back to Washington, I can't say we won't have an easy time getting her back to 100%."

He motioned over towards the large glowing wall on the far fore end of the room. The glass separating the glow from them didn't appear to be cracked in any way, but the glow did seem a bit off.

"This experimental drive core may seem like a blessing at times. Boosted reaction to drive core problems. Dampened shock from system jump. I won't argue, it's damn useful. Not to mention pleasurable to look at.."

"Spit it out, Sergeant. What's wrong with it?"

Ortega spat him an almost menacing look, clearly not entertained. "The drive is laid out to run either at peek efficiency or forty-two percent, so as to either maximize efficiency or keep the whole ship operational."

He took a deep breath, and looked at his notepad. "Our reports indicate that the power fluctuations, in addition to the power not being supplied to the Javelin are causing the ship to.. overcharge itself.."

Valkyrie look at him curiously, with a sense of brief concern. "What do you mean 'overcharge itself'?"

"The power designated to supply the Star Javelin isn't reaching the gun, and is being redirected back here. The banks can't take the overload, and our efficiency and draw rates are going erratic."

"We'll still make it back to port though.." Valkyrie seemed a little more concerned with what mechanical bits he could understand.

"We will, but the Utah will need heavy work done. Her armor is blasted to shreds, and the cannon is non-operational. We'll also need new feet to fill in the boots we've lost.. and we might need to install a secondary power sink for the A.I.."

"Then I'll leave you to overlook the repairs once we arrive.." The whole ships shook momentarily, and the glow behind the glass flickered from a blue to a cyan, then back to a blue. ".. which it seems we have.."

"Understood. I'll do what I can, but it will take time, which I know is a luxury we can't really afford to waste now."

Valkyrie nodded and proceeded back out the door, making his way back to the bridge. Through the holes in the hull where force fields were holding space back he would see the distinctive surrounding starscape of Virginia.

"Nach Hause, mit Verlust."

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