-- Meridian, outer hull, dorsal saucer section --

The clunk of magnetic boots alternately releasing and re-securing Meridian's outer skin could be heard within Chief Eversam's EVA suit, despite the silence of space surrounding him. There was always a frightening beauty when standing on the outside of a starship. It was a view that few in the world got to experience, and even fewer enjoyed. The thought that nothing stood between yourself and the vacuum of space but a centimeter-thick sheet of material was daunting to most. It made the damage control men and hull maintenance technicians a special breed.

++Alright, lower that panel now. Careful. Slowly...++ 

He called out directions as the team oriented a slab of titanium alloy into position over one of the more significant holes in the hull. The hunk of metal was probably about 500 kilograms in mass, but could still be muscled around by five men in the absence of gravity. One of the advantages of construction in outer space. However, that still didn't exactly make it completely safe. While the plate was weightless, it was easy for a novice engineer to forget that it still had inertia. You had to be careful that you didn't get it floating too quickly on one direction, because once it started moving it kept moving until you could push hard enough to stop it.

Eversam finished up the orders. ++Slow it up....slow....port...port....slow...release.++ The team couldn't hear the thud as the plate "fell" into the proper position, but hey cold feel a slight rumble in the hull beneath them as a reminder that the laws of physics still worked in zero-g. ++Alright. Seal it up.++

The HTs went to work with the plasma torches while the DCs marched off to fetch the next piece of hull plate. Eversam stood in place by the breach to continue supervision. He took a moment to look out over the former battlespace and take it all in. He still couldn't get over the size of the debris field that they had limped from after the last Klingon and Romulan had been destroyed. It hung, hazy like an artificial nebula of death and carnage.

HT1 Cale's voice in his earpiece interrupted his thoughts. ++Chief? What are you looking at?++

++I think they said the name of this area was Jupiter's Ghost.++ He turned and looked at the petty officer. ++I was just thinking the name seems even more appropriate now.++

++Mike's out there somewhere...++ Cale could still hear the terror in Crewman Robert's voice as he was thrown out of the hole in the port nacelle as they were trying to patch it during the battle.

Eversam:  ++Yep. A lot of good kids are out there, and a part of me has to remember that there are probably a lot of good Romulan and Klingon and Nausi- ...well, Klingons and Romulans, at any rate - out there too.++

Cale:  ++Chief?++

Eversam:  ++I'm willing to bet that there were at least a handful of aliens on those ships that were trying to blast us to hell and gone, just like us,  who felt that they were doing the right thing. They were sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers...friends. They probably felt they were just defending their homes and loved ones as much as we felt the same about our side. It's always easy to forget that.++

Cale:  ++But they were the ones that attacked us. They started it,++

Eversam:  ++Maybe, maybe. I work for a living, so it's not my job to know all those governmental details. But they say that history is written by the victors, Logan. I just hope that all of our higher ups and all of the intellectuals running the show, and all their grand muckety-mucks too, learn what happened here. I hope they understand, and remember, so that one of these days we can live in a galaxy without this sort of nonsense.++

Cale:  ++You don't think it was all a waste, do you?++

++Waste? I'm not sure of that. Avoidable? Hopefully.++ Eversam turned again and smiled wryly. ++I know one thing, though. I didn't help Henry Archer and Zephram Cochrane build their engine so we could come out here and start blowing up the galaxy. We're out here to explore. Strange new worlds, and new life and all that. We're out here to find out how much we can learn and how far we can grow.++

DC2 Thomas' voice suddenly came over the comm channel, interrupting the discussion. ++Careful, Chief. You're starting to talk like an officer or something.++ The squad was back with the next piece of plating.

Eversam grinned. ++Alright, alright! You all heard the lady. Let's get our asses back to work then, shall we??++ A ripple of laughter went though the engineers.

Cale remained behind just a moment longer, looking out to the debris field and thinking about the Chief's words. ++Bye, Roberts. Let's hope you're the last...++

-----

Damage Control Team

  apb 

LtCmdr Timo Vanhanen

CEO

NX-06 Meridian