"And All That Remains"

(OOC Notes: Bit of Raikon's backstory progress into the now. My first big solo post in a while 😊. Let me know what you guys think. This post happens in the morning of the mission on the 14th)

"And All That Remains"

Lt. Raikon Achaea, Chief Engineer

Location: Captain's office, USS Hoagland
Stardate: 56701.22, 11h30

Raikon walked into the captain's office. He had been urgently summoned only a few minutes earlier. Already there, waiting for him, were the captain and the XO. Both wore grim expressions, their faces pale.

"Well, this can't be good. Who died?" Raikon quipped.

Neither officer laughed.

Captain van Berkel looked up from his personal console. He was a man of average build, his expression unusually grim. Standing beside him was the ship's second-in-command, Lieutenant Commander Zharen, an Andorian of slight build.

"We called you in because we received an emergency communiqué from Admiral Hanson," the captain finally managed to say, his voice tinged with worry. "We're to rendezvous at Wolf 359. He's assembling a fleet there."

"For what?" Raikon asked. He was getting uneasy with the way both of them were acting.

Zharen finally spoke up. "The Borg...."

Blood drained away from his face. 

The ancient enemy of his people. The ones who had destroyed their home planet and scattered what remained across the galaxy. He had never encountered them himself; he had been too young. But from the few surviving El-Aurians he had spoken to, he had heard nothing but horror.

Raikon stared at the two officers.

"Do we know what we're up against?"

Zharen exchanged a glance with the captain.

"Reports are slim at best. But we are facing one cube."

Zharen grew quiet for a moment.

"And they've got Captain Picard, highly likely that he's been assimilated."

Raikon let out a nervous laugh.

"F*** sake....."

He had heard about Picard and the Enterprise. A very able tactician and a decorated Captain of many years. All of which are now incorporated into the borg. This fight became a whole lot harder.

"Whatever the case, regardless how dire the situation is. We have been called upon to join the fleet and the fight....there is no choice in the matter." The Captain spoke up breaking the silence in the room.

Raikon looked down at the deck for a moment before raising his eyes again.

"Then we'd better get the ship ready."

Half an hour later, Raikon stood in main engineering amidst a group of engineers. He'd just briefed them on the situation. The emotions were a mixed batch. Many had only heard rumours, while others knew nothing at all. Only through Raikon's briefing and grim face had they gotten a brief inkling of the dire situation they were going into.

Off to the side was Mira, his wife, her hand in front of her mouth in disbelief. She'd heard the stories through Raikon. She knew what was coming.

"You've got your orders. Get the ship ready as best as you can and shore up her defences. We are going to need everyone at their best to get through this. I have confidence in you, and you need to have confidence in each other. Only this way can we get through this. Dismissed."

He nodded to the team as they scattered to their posts and assignments.

Raikon walked over to Mira, who placed her hand on his chest. He used his frame to block the view as she tried to compose herself.

"Less than a day?" she whispered.

Raikon's heart broke. Mira, who was always so confident and strong, seemed so fragile now.

"Hanson is assembling a ragtag fleet, anyone who's close. The captain even said we might get some help from the Klingons."

"What about Emily? What about the other families?" she asked, as their seven-year-old daughter was in class today, oblivious to the situation they were finding themselves in.

Raikon sighed heavily.

"There's no time to drop them off anywhere, but the captain and admiral are confident that with the numbers we are gathering, it would swing the odds in our favour."

Raikon's faith in that last bit was flimsy. According to the reports he'd read and the briefing he received from the captain, the Enterprise had engaged the cube again with about as much success as the first time, but now compounded with the capture of Picard. The Enterprise would join the battle as soon as possible, but their engagement with the cube had bought them time.

Raikon held Mira by her upper arms and placed his forehead against hers.

"You're the best damage control engineer I know. If anybody can keep this ship together, it's you."

She looked up at him, rolling her eyes.

"Kiss ass," she replied as she balled her hand into a fist and thumped his chest a bit.

Raikon smirked as they shared a brief kiss.

"Get to work," Mira said as she pushed him away. "I'm sure you've got something to break on the ship."

Raikon laughed as he walked away.

"Why do you think they made me the Chief?"

Stardate: 56701.23, 10h00
 
"Resistance is futile. You will disarm your weapons and escort us to Sector 001. If you attempt to intervene, we will destroy you."

The multiphased voice sounded over the intercom. The voice was chilling, cold, deadly.

Not long after, the red alert alarm was ringing all over the ship, with the captain briefly sounding over the intercom.

"Prepare for battle."

Raikon was in main engineering. The team had prepared the ship as best as they could in the circumstances they were in.

"Keep an eye on the warp core readings. Get auxiliary power spun up in case they need it. Damage control, get your teams to their stations," he barked.

Engineers were scurrying about around him, hastening to their posts or carrying out the tasks they had been assigned.

In the end, Admiral Hanson managed to gather roughly forty ships to join the fleet. Raikon wondered if that was going to be enough.

Before the cube's arrival, Mira and Raikon collected Emily and made sure she joined the other families in the more secure sections of the ship. She was crying, angry and afraid, not understanding what was going on or why she had to stay locked away.

In situations like these, both parents serving was a bane, but it was something they couldn't solve now. They had their duties.

A large explosion rocked the ship. People were knocked over or thrown into things. It was not something he'd ever experienced before.

Raikon was just able to catch himself before falling over when the captain's voice shouted over the intercom.

"Chief! I need all the power you can give me!"

He looked at his console. Most systems were redlining already. Shields were barely there, and loads of systems on the starboard dorsal side of the ship were showing damage.

"Sir, I'll give you all she's got, but we won't be able to take another hit like that!"

Everything went black.

When Raikon came to, he was on the floor, alarms blaring in the background, a metallic taste of blood in his mouth and, added to that, a pounding headache.

Sitting himself upright against a wall, he tried to get his bearings. Looking around with his blurred vision slowly clearing, he saw fires, blown-out conduits, partially collapsed support structures, the dead and the living.

He tried to speak but only managed to cough.

A crewman ran over, looking dishevelled but relatively uninjured.

"Chief!" he yelled as he tried to lift Raikon off the ground.

Extending his hand towards the crewman and using the other to push himself off the ground, Raikon managed to get himself upright.

Spitting the blood out of his mouth, he finally managed...

"Status!"

The crewman looked around the chaos of engineering, then back at the chief.

"Main power is down, backups are intermittent, no comms or main computer. We haven’t been able to diagnose more. There’s a lot going on, plus this…" He pointed at what’s left of engineering.

Steadying himself, Raikon looked around while he processed the information. They were still alive. That was the important thing. Either the battle was still raging outside, or the Borg didn’t bother with ships that had been damaged beyond a certain point.

"You’ve done well so far."

When he finally looked at the crewman, he recognised him.

"Peter, wasn’t it? Peter Davies?"

The engineer nodded, brushing himself off a bit, trying to make himself more presentable. Behind him, a few more engineers started to gather, all in various states.

"Right. We need to get main power back online, that or the auxiliary. Then we’ll work ourselves up from there."

Pointing at two engineers standing behind Davies, he continued.

"You two, look after the wounded. Move them away to a safer location and treat them as best you can."

In a more grim and reluctant tone, he added.

"Leave the dead where they are for now. We’ve got more pressing matters to attend to."

Returning his gaze to Davies, he continued.

"I want you on getting the auxiliary back online and stable. I’ll look after the primary."

Davies looked confused for a second before replying.

"Sir?"

"We don’t know what’s happening inside, and we sure don’t know what’s happening outside. We need to get power back so we can do damage control and assess the situation. Then comms and the main computer."

Davies nodded and walked away.

"Yes, sir."

Raikon walked over to his console. Wiping the debris off his screen, he started querying the system, trying to find out why main power had gone offline.

He didn’t have to search long.

The starboard nacelle was gone. The ship was haemorrhaging fuel and, as a safety precaution, the ship had shut down the warp core.

Taking a deep breath, he steeled his emotions.

"Let’s get going," he mumbled to himself.

37 minutes later:

Raikon managed to stem the loss and bring main power back online, but at a severely reduced capacity. Davies, on his side, had some success as well, bringing the auxiliary power back to a stable position and, as a bonus, restoring the ship’s internal communications.

The console in front of him was filling with information, painting him a picture of the overall status of the ship.

Tapping his combadge, he called in to the bridge.

"Bridge, this is Engineering. We’ve got partial main power. What’s your status? I repeat… no…."

Raikon stopped mid-sentence as the computer finished its task.

The display in front of him showed that a great chunk of the starboard side was gone, which explained the missing nacelle.

But the bridge was gone as well.

No readings at all were coming from that section, just emergency bulkheads being shut around the area as they detected vacuum on the other side.

Raikon held his hand in front of his face. He knew things were bad, but… it made him sick to his stomach.

The silence was broken by a hail from the doctor.

"Engineering, this is Doctor Volar. Anybody there?"

Raikon snapped back into reality. He guessed that the doctor assumed someone was alive down in Engineering with the lights coming back on.

"Doctor, this is Chief Achaea. We’ve got wounded down here and could sure use your help."

The doctor, a Vulcan, was brief with his reply.

"Sorry, Chief. I’ve got my hands full. They’ll have to come to us. Have you been able to contact the bridge? I’m not getting through to them."

Raikon grew quiet for a moment before replying.

"Sorry, Doctor, if I’m reading this right, there’s no bridge anymore. Assume all are lost."

The doctor took a few seconds before replying.

"Until we know more, you’re the most senior officer left."

With that, the comms channel was closed. The doctor didn’t mince words, but Raikon guessed he would have his hands full at the moment.

Turning to his right, he looked at the two engineers taking care of the wounded.

"Escort them to sickbay. When you’re done, come back here and assist Davies."

Turning around to Davies, he continued.

"I need you to stay here and get the main computer online."

Davies nodded and went to work.

Raikon tapped his combadge again, this time for a shipwide communication.

"This is Chief Engineer Raikon Achaea. I’m taking command of the Hoagland until further notice. I need two people with piloting skills and Ops to come meet me on the auxiliary bridge. Chief out."

It took him longer than expected to reach the secondary bridge. Due to the extensive damage done to the ship, he had to go around and take the long way.

He was first to arrive, and he took that opportunity by transferring controls from the main to the secondary bridge. With the current state of the ship, that might take a few minutes.

He sat down in the captain's chair, an unfamiliar feeling, as he waited for the others to arrive. He finally had a few seconds to himself. Finally, a few minutes to collect his thoughts....

His heart was in his throat when he pressed the combadge.

"Raikon to Mira." He softly spoke. "Ja'lat.... are you there?"

Tears started to well in his eyes the longer his words remained unanswered.

But there was no answer. Slowly around him, monitors and control panels came alive as controls were being transferred.

"Computer.... locate Mira Achaea."

The computer acknowledged with a garbled chirp. A few tears fell down his face when the computer finally responded.

"Engi.... of...cer Mira.... Achaea... is... curr...y... not... on... shi..."

Raikon let out a painful groan as it hit him.

"Nooo....." he whimpered.

He held his head in his hands when he was interrupted by two people entering the secondary bridge. Quickly wiping his face with his sleeve, he looked up at who had entered.

A Trill in a blue uniform was holding up a colleague, who was hobbling along, a male human.

"Talira Renn, science officer reporting in, sir, and this is...."

The man hobbled further in, supported by Talira. She sat him down on the helm seat.

"James Talent, shuttle pilot. He looks a bit banged up, but I'm sure he can still fly. I was about to drop him off in sickbay when your call came in. It took us a bit to get here, especially with James's broken leg."

James just rolled his eyes at Talira's comment.

Raikon stood up, composing himself. He'd probably seen them in passing. The ship didn't have much crew, but it was good to be reminded who they were.

"Thank you. Please take the helm and Ops."

Both officers nodded and went to work at the stations.

"We're at drift, moving slowly away from the battlefield. We have impulse," James reported.

Before James could say anything else, Raikon cut in.

"Leave us to drift. Better to fool the Borg that we're still dead in the water."

"Aye, sir," James responded.

"Battle's over," Talira said, her face in shock.

Both Raikon and James turned around, looking at her.

"Forty ships... gone," James managed to get out.

"What about the cube?" Raikon cut in.

"We suffered some extensive damage. Long range is barely working." She squinted at the readings. "But..... no cube."

Talira let out a sigh of relief.

"Like flies, we were swatted away like it was nothing," Raikon said solemnly.

Loads of things were going through his head, but they were alive, for now.

"Send out a short-range distress signal. I want to know if there's anybody in the same situation as us and needs help."

Looking over at James, he continued.

"You can right the ship now."

pushing the combadge "Chief to engineering..."

But he was cut off by Talira. "Captain..."

Raikon looked at her for a moment. "Right....Captain to engineering." A moment later Davies replied.

"Yes Chi-Captain."

Even Davies was weirded out by the situation.

Raikon continued "Whats our status?"

"We got partial main power, we should have impulse but i wouldn't go past 1/2 due to severe structural damage. Life support is clinging on by a thread and one transporter, port side works. No shields or weapons not that we could produce the power for them anyway."

"Thank you Davies" Raikon replied. "Keep me posted."

"Yes sir." Davies replied and cut the channel.

Raikon stared at the viewscreen, contemplating what to do next, when Talira broke his train of thought.

"We've got several escape pods responding to our distress call. No other ship has responded."

There was no elation in her voice.

Raikon dreaded what would come next.

"How many?"

"Seven...." she replied, trying not to make eye contact.

"Seven...." Raikon repeated.

"Out of thirty-nine ships, only seven escape pods made it?"

He was having a hard time wrapping his brain around the numbers. One cube. Thirty-nine ships. This wasn't a battle. It was a slaughter.

Talira watched him for a moment before finally speaking.

"Your orders, Captain?" she finally asked, seeing that he was turning in on himself.

Raikon snapped back to reality.

"Let's go get them...."

Some time later:

"How many are we on now?" Raikon asked Talira.

Taking a moment to look at her console, she replied.

"We are picking up number six now. One left to go."

Raikon nodded solemnly.

"Good."

Standing up from his chair, he looked at Talira.

"You've got the conn. I'm going to check on the Doctor and see what he can do about this headache. Oh, and if we pick up number seven, set course for the nearest starbase."

Talira nodded as she looked at Raikon. Blood had dried on the side of his face where he'd probably hit his head when the ship got the fatal shot.

"We'll keep things together here, sir."

"Thank you," Raikon said as he walked out of the secondary bridge on his way to sickbay.

He was numb from the ordeal. He wasn't sure what to do next. He hoped that he'd made the right decisions. He was lost in thought, not even noticing that he had arrived at sickbay in the meantime.

Walking in, he saw nurses and the doctor busy with patients from the Hoagland, but also with people they had rescued along the way.

Doctor Volar spotted him standing in the doorway and walked over.

"How are we doing, Doctor?" Raikon asked when Volar was close enough.

"We are managing, but we still have more to do."

Looking over Raikon's face, he saw the gash on the side of his head.

"Let me look at that for you...."

"Why is he here?" Raikon said, cutting off the doctor and pointing at a man lying on a biobed.

The man looked traumatised and badly burned.

Raikon stared at him for a moment.

"He was supposed to be in the secure section.....with Emily."

Raikon stared at the doctor, dread enveloping him.

"We didn't have the time to tell you...."

The doctor hesitated.

"There were several secondary explosions."

He looked away.

"She didn't make it."

"Where is she..." Raikon said, fighting back tears and anger.

"Around the corner. There is a temporary morgue we set up... she's there."

Raikon had already left sickbay.

It didn't take him long to find her.

She was only little.

A tuft of her hair was sticking out from under the tarp.

Raikon stopped.

He knew before he even reached her.

Raikon kneeled beside her body, taking her hand from under the tarp.

"Nooo..." he whimpered.

But he finally let himself go.

"NOOOOO!"

Present time:

Stardate: 58807.14, 04:34
Location: Chief Engineer's Quarters, Deck 6, USS Vanguard

"OOOOOOOOO....."

Raikon bolted upright in his bed, panting, wiping the sweat and tears from his face.

He'd been having the same dream of his past for the last twenty years. It always ends the same....

"Computer, time please."

"04:34," the computer chirped.

His shift would start at 8.

"Less than four hours.... might as well do something."

In the end, Raikon decided to go to the gym before his shift, getting rid of the last traces of the dream and getting him ready for the day.