Nico's head spun around a few times before he tamped down his emotions and focused his thoughts. Looking at the Marine NCO manning the station with him, he spoke with a practiced air of command. "Right. Recall anyone who's off station right now. Issue a stand-to order for planetside SAR. Advise the medical teams and the quartermaster to break out as many cold weather packs as they've got. Advise Serenity Medical that we'll have priority cold weather exposure cases for immediate care. Order the crew chiefs to bring two rescue vehicles to immediate standby and prep four more for ready status. Download the data on this storm out to the crew chiefs PADDs and uplink the information to the rescue vehicles."
As the NCO went to work, Nico stepped over to another station and toggled the comms unit. "Serenity Control, this is Serenity Rescue station."
"Serenity Control, go ahead Rescue."
"This is Chief Donovan. I need an immediate traffic override to clear the space around us and a priority traffic corridor to the following coordinates. I also need declaration of emergency for unrestricted rescue operations over the following mountain range." Nico fired off the information via the Serenity LCARS network and waited impatiently for the response.
"Serenity Rescue, unrestricted operations authorized. Traffic around the station and in the priority corridor will be clear in approximately 5 minutes. Advise for additional requests on Emergency 117. Serenity Control, out."
Nico rushed out into the vehicle bay as soon as he heard the confirmation. Glancing over the hastily assembled crew, he realized that there was enough folks here to commence immediate operations. "Alright folks, we've got people missing in a winter storm in the mountains. We've got the callup to go save some folks. We're out in 10 minutes, people. Prep for cold weather rescue. I need pilots and load chiefs up here ASAP. Go people!"
As the crowd dispersed, the pilots and chiefs came forward as ordered. "Listen up, folks. Review your storm data ASAP. I need two volunteers for the first rescue craft and the rest in the ready craft. Chiefs, the storm is playing havoc with rescue signals and possibly sensors. Make sure your rescuers have pattern enhancers, just in case we have transport problems. Keep your eyes open. Go!"
Nico ran forward to the Pennine, one of the rescue vehicles being prepped for immediate departure. Once inside, he brought his powered suit to hot standby and reviewed the onboard kit. Satisfied that he was ready, he called forward. "Pilot, rescue reports ready." With that, he went forward to the control deck.
After several minutes, the pilot opened his comm channel to Serenity Control. "Serenity Control, Rescue 1 and 2 requesting emergency clearance for immediate departure."
"Roger, Rescue. Switch to Emergency 117 for traffic control." As the pilots switched over and registered themselves, another voice came online. "Rescue, Control. Departure granted, unrestricted operations to 15,000 feet granted in priority corridor and area of operations. God speed."
We're on the way, Major. Hang on, Nico thought, hoping that they would be in time.
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