Just Another Saturday Night
Prelude
The Tellarite vessel Moarvol arrived at Starbase 989 on stardate 2413.12.30 after a particularly successful mining run in the Zeta Draconis System. The haul was some very rich and particularly pure Magnesite, which is readily found in the system's asteroid belt.
The ship's crew, led by Captain Galzoth included Kaylee Parker, Tegra, Vrek Seg and Lovall. They were an experienced mining freight crew, but none of them were aware that they had inadvertently picked up an infestation of Vexarak Spoilers along with their raw ore.
The Moarvol unloaded it's infested ore in bulk holding dock number sixty-three sigma, where it was scheduled to be processed within four days. Little did the station personnel or anyone else know that four days was far too long to allow for the effective decontamination of the threat posed by the spoilers.
Rest and Relaxation
With the development of additional duties that cropped up during the period where the crew of the USS Rosenante was supposed to be on Shore leave, Captain Salid petitioned for and received permission to extend the crew's leave time in order to allow his crew the alloted time to unwind.
Several of the crew disembarked the ship, headed for such locations as Braak's Bar, The County Cork or RJs.
Arrival of the Boudicca
The USS Boudicca a Keltoi Class starship arrived at Starbase 989 after a few months of mindless scientific surveys. The ship put in to dock and released her crew for shore leave.
Captain Alan Durand, commanding the Boudicca made arrangements with Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid of the USS Rosenante to meet. The two commanding officers, accompanied by their First Officers, Jennifer Caskie and T'Larah Sullivan met aboard the Rosenante where they participated in some friendly conversation and a delightful luncheon in the captain's mess.
There was a great deal of conversation about the engineering and design of the Rosenante, as well as the well-being of family and friends. Also discussed was the tactical capabilities of both ships.
The New Year's Eve Party
The largest single celebration of the year aboard Starbase 989 on her Promenade. A significant number of station's personnel, visitors and ship crews began to gather for the pre-drop celebration of a replica of the Manhattan Ball Drop.
Three establishments, RJs, The County Cork and Braak's Bar sponsored a more private party in the area immediately surrounding their establishments. The area was cordoned off by mobile security Force Fields borrowed from the station's security Chief Lieutenant Adraa Mosul. They were guarded by Nausicaan, Human, and Orion bodyguards.
There was a 100 credit charge to gain entry, but inside there was live music, food, drink and gambling. In addition, the location was optimal for observing the drop.
The Party began for the majority of the crew at the County Cork where Irish Ballads, jigs and drinking ensued. Members of the two starship crews mingled and shared conversation and stories throughout the evening in the gathering anticipation of the event.
The ball fell at exactly MIdnight and was greeted with a massive applause, cheering and a few stolen kisses among friends and casual acquaintances.
Where Were You When The Lights Went out?
Not long after the New Year's celebration kicked off in earnest, Crewman Martin Kosinsky, manning an engineering station in the Reactor Control room on Starbase 989 began to notice an unusual power flux in the industrial section of the station, somewhere near Deck three.
After reporting the incident to his duty chief, he was ordered to investigate the situation. Neither he nor the chief realized that the power flux was a direct result of the massive infestation of Vexarak Spoilers that had finally managed to burrow their way from their temporary confinement in the bulk storage bins of 63-Sigma.
The infestation had moved into the primary power feeds and was siphoning off Plasma energy from the conduits creating not only the power flux that he had detected but also the build up of thermal energy.
His investigation took him to Jefferies Tube Beta to a problematic EPS distribution system network junction. When he discovered the access panel was hot to the touch, he removed it, releasing a mass of Spoilers. In his haste to escape them, he managed to complete the power circuit between the live conduit, channeled through the insects and his body to be completed with the wall of the access tube.
The result was a sudden and devastating power spike that created a series of cascading power failures, that plunged the entire station into darkness. The critical bus was destroyed causing the secondary systems to also fail.
With all the power systems off-line as a result of the damage, back-ups failed to initialize and it soon became evident that the power failure could turn deadly as people began to realize that the life support was no longer functioning as well.
It Was A Regular Riot!
Panic swiftly spread throughout the station. On the Promenade, where thousands of individuals had gathered for the New Year's Celebration, a sense of panic turned into catastrophe.
Panicked civilians stampeded in an attempt to reach safety. Anger flared, opportunists took their chances and the entire situation degenerated into a primitive post-apocalyptic mayhem rivaled only by the rumors of the end of days.
Hundreds were injured in the crush, property destroyed by looters and vandals and complete chaos reigned.
Mixed up in this world gone mad, Starfleet personnel from both starships struggled to report to their vessel or to lend aid as they could. With communications on the station out, coordination of the relief efforts fell to the USS Boudicca and the USS Rosenante, both of which had been affected by the sudden loss of power themselves. The two starships had transferred their power systems into standby mode and had been under station supplied power when the event took place.
With those two vessels struggling to recall personnel as well as secure their now threatened vessels, it appeared that things may soon get exceptionally complicated for the two Starfleet crews.
