Future's End, Part II
Episode Name: Future's End - Part II Written By: Starfleet Cast: Edwards, Raxil, Laco, Ghorev, Starfleet, Dakin, Evans and Bailey. Produced By: Starfleet Directed By: Starfleet Aired On: Sun Feb 03 09:00:00 2002 Stardate: 52173
Time: Sun Feb 03 21:16:30 2002
Stardate: 52173.5
The Shuttle has completely run out of power. Ghorev has patched together six suits, two tricorders, three phasers and a medkit in a powered conditioned. The shuttle is slowly moving away from the Aegis from where it bumped into her darkened saucer section. The station sits several hundred meters away, with no lights.
Dakin stares out the viewport at the dead Aegis floating outside. He quietly recites a Bajoran prayer in his native language.
Ghorev, who has handed out tricorders to Evans and Laco, a medkit to Raxil, and phasers to Dakin and Edwards (keeping the third for himself), checks the final seals on his suit. "Okay, I guess those of us whose suits have maneuvering thrusters will need to go first, tugging on the rest?"
Edwards checks his phaser, making sure that it's set to stun, as he questions, "We all don't have maneuvering thrusters?"
Ghorev says "Some of these suits are Mark I. Some are Mark II. Blame the quartermaster."
Laco goes to scratch his nose, but encounters his faceplate first, and curses.
Evans looks around and says. "Maybe we should use the safety lines sir?" He starts to pick one up.
Dakin looks to Ghorev, "So which ones are which?"
Ghorev says "Safety lines are great, but that still means some of us have to get over there to hook the mup as makeshift tethers."
Ghorev says "Well, gentlemen, shall we declare ourselves Team Alpha and head across the divide to Aegis' hull?"
Dakin nods. "Absolutely. I'll get the door. Everything secured for decompression?"
Ghorev looks around.
Evans nods and is fully sealed.
Raxil nods silently, grabbing a convenient handhold and checking suit displays.
Laco says "I think so."
Edwards remarks, "Be careful, you guys."
Ghorev claps his hand on Edwards' shoulder. "If I don't return, I'm leaving you my favorite musical instrument in my will. It's rather like a harmonica." A pause and he shakes his head. "Don't play it at my funeral."
Edwards smirks faintly and replies, "Gotcha."
Raxil frowns for a moment, thinking. "So... we're securing tethers here... then heading across, finding a hatch, and having everyone else come over?"
Dakin shrugs as he reaches for the manual door control. "Sounds good to me..."
Ghorev says "That was the general plan."
Edwards nods at Ghorev's words, "So get to it."
Ghorev says "Aye, Sir."
GAME: Dakin spends a courage point.
GAME: Ghorev spends a courage point.
GAME: Raxil spends a courage point.
In a few moments, Dakin has blown the hatch. The three officers step out into
the void with the dimly recognizable hull of the Aegis getting steadier farther
and farther away. They guide their Mark II suits across the void and hook them
to the tertiary hatch on the port side that leads directly into the fighter bay.
Once they get the tethers secured, they open the airlock hatch and step inside
the dark chamber. The other three officers follow behind, pulling themselves
along the tethers.
Evans says "Ah guys. Can you pull me in quick...I dont think I'll last
much longer."
Laco looks over his shoulder at Evans as he scoots along the line. "Whats
wrong?"
Edwards moves along the line slowly, until his grip accidently slips. He
tries to grab a hold again, but begins to drift away before he can. "Oh,
this is just my luck." he comments.
Laco stops, and begins to back up along the line to see if he can assist
Edwards or Evans.
Evans is holding onto his leg. "YOu'd think in 24th century we'd have
suits that dont get cuts in them."
Dakin blinks as Edwards starts flailing away. "Damn... hang on,
Michael..!" He grabs one of the tethers and uses his thrusters to slide
across it, angling towards Edwards.
Ghorev says "Lieutenant Evans, are you depressurizing?"
Evans waves his hand forward in a groping motion. "Yes damnit! Now will
you please give me a hand!"
Edwards stops flailing as he waits for Dakin to play hero and rescue him.
"Evans, quit panicking!" he orders, mostly because it's making him
wanna panic.
Laco continues slowly along his line, toward Evans.
Raxil looks over to Ghorev. "The suit cutoffs in the joints should keep
him from completely losing suit pressure... but we should get him inside as soon
as possible."
Laco says "Okay, I don't know, keep your one hand on the hole or
something, and hold on to my foot with the other, and I'll try to pull you
across."
Ghorev nods. "As soon as we get him in here, I can try to seal his suit,
Doctor."
Dakin grabs hold of Edwards once he's close enough. "Easy, Michael, I
have you..." He then half-rockets back, half-uses the tether to pull then
both in.
Evans tries to normalize his breathing and reaches for Lacos leg.
With Laco's help, Evans is pulled into the airlock, just as the science
officer's suit warns of lethal decompression in five minutes. Evans is starting
to get a little dizzy, but all crew are in the airlock.
Evans has reconnected.
Laco says "Well, from the looks of things, maybe we didn't win the war
after all..."
Ghorev tries to close the outer hatch manually. "Alright, stand clear,
folks."
It takes some tugging, but the door manages to seal.
Edwards concentrates on enjoying the feel of solid ground beneath him,
"I hate zero-g."
Dakin nods. "Can't say as I'm too fond of it either." He looks
around. "Engineering then?"
Ghorev clumps in his mag-boots over to the inner hatch. "Let's see how
much pressure and atmosphere is left. Hang on."
Raxil shrugs. "I probably wouldn't be much use down there... I'd
actually like to stop by Sickbay, see if I can salvage anything."
Edwards eyes Raxil, "Unless you have a good reason why, I'd rather not
split us up."
Ghorev says "If we can get ahold of the dilithium we need, Doctor, the
rest should be moot." After a moment of tugging on the door. "Well,
who wants the good news?"
Evans stands by a wall trying to conserve energy and air.
Laco tries to scratch his nose again...stupid faceplate. "Whats the good
news, sir?"
Ghorev says "From the resistance I'm getting on the manual lever,
there's pressure -- therefore, an atmosphere -- on the other side of this door.
I'm going to do a full manual cycle to equalize pressure. THose of you who get
dizzy during such things, brace yourseves. Mister Evans, that applies *triply*
to you. Doctor, if you could keep an eye on him while I run the cycle and shout
out if something goes wrong?"
Raxil nods. "Sure thing." he says, moving a bit closer to Evans.
Dakin walks over towards the edge of the room and grabs onto a support beam.
"Ready."
As pressure floods into the airlock, it feels like riding an elevator. A
moment of discomfort and all is right again as the suits accommodate the new
environment. Evans' suit announces that pressure has stabilized and the red
light disappears, replaced with a yellow warning indicator inside his helmet.
Edwards whews when the elevator feel disappears, "Head still intact.
Good."
Ghorev says "Mister Evans, when we get to engineering, I'll try to find
the tools to patch that for you. UNless, of course, we can find three more Mark
II suits. In which case we can all be pleased."
Laco waits for the others to take off towards their destination.
Evans nods and waits for the others to go before moving again.
Dakin lets go of the support beam and shakes his head a couple times.
Edwards decides to take the lead, since he is in charge, "C'mon."
Raxil nods, looking over at Evans. "You able to walk on that?"
Dakin follows behind Edwards, phaser drawn.
Ghorev remains by the airlock, waiting for the others to go through before he
does, as well.
As the inner hatch to the fighter bay opens, all is dark from within. The
crew's suit lights are the only thing casting light in the empty cavern of a
bay. Corpses of Starfleet officers, decomposed beyond recognition, lie scattered
with officers dressed entirely in black. A pitched battle was fought here, but
it looks like the two different crews were on the same side. Shards of a crystal
looking substance is scattered about on the floor, crunching under the magnetic
clamp of the boots.
Dakin resists the urge to cringe at the sight of it all and trudges through.
Ghorev growls at the sight of things, muttering something in Andorian under
his breath. "Michael... We'd better hurry."
Laco looks down at his foot, seemingly oblivious to the corpses, "Whats
this? Glass?"
Edwards glances at Ghorev briefly, after the engineer speaks, then quickly
looks to Laco, "Don't touch it! Keep moving, people."
Raxil mouths something silently, looking from corpse to corpse. "I'm
-not- liking this..." he mutters, following Edwards.
Evans frowns. "I had hoped to never smell that smell again."
A blue light starts to coalesce behind the crew.
Ghorev turns, phaser at the ready.
Dakin whips around, phaser aimed. "What the..?"
Laco looks over his shoulder, "Hey, whats that?"
Raxil turns, keeping behind the people with the guns. "You're the one
with the tricorder... tell us."
Edwards follows everyone's lead and turns around, holding his phaser in front
of him, "I didn't tell you to stop moving, people." With a whole lot
of trepidation, he tries to walk backwards, so he can keep his eyes on the
light.
The light begins to ball up, flash repeatedly. It looks like a miniature
anomaly. Light starts to fill the bay, and the whole battle can be seen in its
gory detail - blackened phaser burns, hundreds of dead officers, and mountains
of crystal.
Evans backs away from whatever it is.
Laco flips open his tricorder, and begins to scan the light.
Ghorev slowly backs up, himself, still keeping his phaser trained on the
thing, and doing his best not to trip over anyhting.
A shadow can be seen forming in the light, and out steps...
Bailey has arrived.
Raxil gulps, swallowing back something-probably vomit. "I'm going to
have to agree with Lt. Edwards... let's get out of here."
Laco looks down at his tricorder as he backpedals slowly, "Wow, lots of
Chronitons, like a little Anomaly..."
Bailey, carrying a phaser rifle, a tricorder on her hip and wearing no
environmental suit, but rather a DTI field jumpsuit of an all suspicious black,
steps through the miniature anomaly and onto the deck. There are six men in
Federation environmental suits, three of which are pointing phasers in her
direction. Tyler was right, she could bullseye their location all right. The
fighter bay is littered with the corpses of Starfleet officers and Sinclaire-outfitted
crew. Shards of crystal crunch loudly underfoot. There is no gravity.
Evans takes one look at Baileys uniform and mouths something to himself.
Edwards blinks a few times and manages to resist opening fire. It can't be...
"Bailey?" he remarks. "I can't believe this. Someone hates
me."
Laco scans the new arrival, for lack of something better to do.
Ghorev says, quietly, "It's me. Our friendship has been a ruse. I've
hated you ever since you stopped me from spacing Cadet Zeel through an
airlock."
Dakin sighs and immediately holds his phaser towards the ceiling.
"Didn't know we'd sent invitations to DTI..."
"Thought I'd find you here," Bailey says matter-of-factly, giving
Edwards an uncharacteristic smile.
Raxil glances between Edwards, Bailey, various corpses, and begins to look
very shocked.
Evans looks well annoyed for some reason.
Edwards regains his composure and glowers. This mission has just gone from
bad to worse. "Wanna explain yourself?" he asks of the DTI agent.
"I don't need to explain myself, Lt. Commander. As soon as you went on
your little trip, DTI was involved." Bailey lowers her phaser rifle,
balancing it on her hip a moment. "You'll want to follow me, as I'm your
only way back to the Station."
Ghorev says "Does this mean we're to abandon Amazon?" He sighs.
"At this rate, we'll have the worst record of lost or destroyed Runabouts
in the fleet."
Evans hmmmss. "Im sure sir the Enterprise will still have us beat
there."
Raxil looks over to Edwards, awaiting orders.
Edwards uh-uhs, "I'm not blindly following you, Bailey." His phaser
most noticeably does not point away from her. "Explain yourself. I'm not
feeling a whole lot like putting blind faith into someone who just warped in
here from who knows where, when we're in who knows when and surrounded by dead
bodies and if one more person mentions the Enterprise..."
Dakin could say something about his birthplace but chooses not to. He simply
waits for SOMEONE to reach a consensus on a plan.
"Listen -Edwards-, you're no longer within Starfleet's jurisdiction.
You've stepped into a time where you have no business being, and I'm here to
bring you back out again." Bailey says, phaser rifle remaining lowered.
"If you wish to stay here and die when your EVA suit gives out, then by all
means..."
Ghorev says "Agent Bailey, if you can't understand why we're a bit
paranoid right now, then you haven't been doing your homework, and if you can't
understand the need to assuage that paranoia with a bit of an explanation, then
DTI wasted several years of training on you for lack of *one* course in
diplomacy."
Evans rolls his eyes at the officers and starts to move towards one of the
bodies.
Dakin simply crosses his arms over his chest and waits for someone to come to
an accord.
Laco shifts his weight, the crystal crunching under his feet. He occupies
himself with clearing a small area with his boot.
Edwards asides to Evans, "Don't play with the dead bodies, Leftenant."
Raxil adjusts his grip on the handle of the medkit, glancing at Evans.
Evans ignores Edwards remark and looks at something else and pulls out his
tricorder.
Bailey glances at Ghorev, seeming to acknowledge his point. "I can
understand the need to feel safe, but, you need to understand this from my point
of view... just you being here is a violation of the TPD, I can't tell you any
more." She focusses her attention on Evans. "Put your tricorder away,
Lieutenant. Now."
Laco notices dust from the stuff accumulating on his boot, and bends down to
brush it off. "Hmm...not glass..."
Dakin says "Laco, keep your hands off that...!"
Edwards clears his throat, "Bailey, it's not going to violate anything
if you tell us how you got here, how you figured out we were here, and why you
came here." He turns slight to face Evans, "I said don't play with the
dead bodies, /Ensign/."
Laco looks up at Dakin just as he finishes with the top of one boot. He pulls
his hand away quickly, "Sir?"
Raxil turns around nervously and lets his helmet lights sweep the major
expanse of the cargo bay, noticing that it's gotten pretty dark.
Evans closes his eyes at Edwards comment. Turns and puts his tricorder away.
He looks at Edwards like nothing anyone has seen him look before. "Sir.
These arent dead bodies. These are our fellow officers. In case you
forgot."
Dakin looks over to Edwards while still speaking to Laco, "Edwards said
hands off... I'm sure his reasons are valid."
Bailey turns her wrist beacon on Edwards. "As I said, I've come to take
you back to the Station, but I can't do it from here... You know -exactly- who
found where you were and helped me get here. There's not many people on Station
419 with that ability, yes?" She motions towards the exit to the cargo bay,
"Now, if you wouldn't mind, could we exit this tomb?"
Laco stands, wiping his hand on his thigh, "...alright..."
Edwards sighs faintly, "We can't do anything for them, Evans. Leave them
be." That said, he turns back toward the exit, "Come on, people. We
have a job to do. Ake, will you lead the way?"
Ghorev says "Of course. And, uh, I guess I'll be keeping that harmonica
for now."
Ghorev heads for the exit.
Ghorev still has his phaser at the ready, though.
From behind Ghorev, as he speaks, Raxil can see a shadow looming behind him.
Maybe he won't be keeping the harmonica as, before Raxil can warn the Andorian,
a pillar of living rock lashes out from the inky blackness.
Laco has reconnected.
Ghorev barely sees it out of the corner of his helmet but is too slow - the
Andorian is slammed in the side by... whatever it is... and he goes rolling
across the floor with an oof, kicking up a plume of dust as he does so. The
creature steps into the harried pool of light that the officers offer, and it
can vaguely be seen in the chaos as a rocky, man-sized and vaugely humanoid
thing. For those with the security clearance to know such things, it is a
Lithian.
Ghorev-- thank Borva for magboots -- manages to avoid drifting away in the
gravity. He hits with odd angle and a grunt of pain, and struggles to rise.
Dakin's eyes go wide and brings his phaser, which is set for heavy stun, to
bear on the Lithian and fires, all the while saying, "We have
COMPANY..!"
Raxil freezes for a split second before running for Ghorev, giving the
Lithian plenty of room.
Laco staps backwards, not wanting to get mauled too.
Edwards curses under his breath and calls out, "Raxil, Laco! Get Ghorev
out of here!" He raises his own phaser to fire at the Lithian, hoping to
buy some time, "Move it, people! Run!"
Evans tries to find some cover while reaching for his...Tricorder?
Bailey sets her rifle to it's highest setting and aims at the creature,
squeezing off a blast.
GAME: Bailey spends a courage point.
GAME: Dakin spends a courage point.
Bailey and Edwards all get off good shots, and the hideous thing slows
momentarily, but continues to fight through it. Dakin succeeds in only angering
the walking aberration as turns its attention to him. It rams its arm toward his
faceplate.
The creature's fist misses Dakin by a hair's width as it heavily stomps
through the melee.
Ghorev rises slowly -- clearly the odd angle and the struggles are the result
of the low gravity differential and the surprise more than actual injury -- and
confirms his status with "I'm alright." From a half-risen position, he
attempts to fire on the creature with his own phaser.
Dakin dives under the creature's swiping attack, barely avoiding a
connection. He uses the low gravity to dive a decent distance away, but as he's
gaining a better vantage pointm it'll take him a while to gain another shot.
Raxil skids to a halt a few meters away from Ghorev. "...okay..."
he mutters, sounding slightly exasperated. "Run? Where to?"
Laco screams as he is suddenly lifted from behind by another of the
creatures. THe beast hurls Laco across the room, where he collides with one of
the bulkheads. He hits the ground with an 'oof'.
Edwards starts to move in the direction of the exit as he fires another shot
off at the Lithian. "I said MOVE PEOPLE! Get in the corridor! We can't
fight this thing!" he shouts, a mixture of exasperation and fear in his
voice. And that is an odd combination.
Evans heads to where Laco is and tries to get him moving to the corriodor.
"Head for the bridge!" Bailey shouts, drawing a bead on the
creature that attacked Laco and firing.
GAME: Ghorev spends a courage point.
The first one is staggered by the concurrent beams from the crew. But then
continues on, lunging at Bailey but missing. Raxil manages to dodge a blow by
the second as he scurries by it to get to Ghorev. Dust continues to kick up,
turning the lights into stark beams and lowering their effectiveness.
Ghorev breaks towads the exit, himself, using cover fire to keep himself
mobile and keep the Lithians as far away as possible. If his thumb caresses the
controls and ups the power level of the phaser, one can hardly blame him.
Dakin too makes a break after his comrades, cranking up his phaser to a
higher setting (but not maximum) and laying down some cover fire as he moves for
the exit of choice.
Raxil follows Ghorev at a run, medkit at the ready in case he has to go down
swinging.
Laco gets to his feet shakily, thankful for the low gravity. He sees the rest
of the group fighting the Lithians, and promptly runs in the opposite direction,
hoping to find one of the other exits he saw when the light was stronger. Hey,
there's monsters over there...
Ghorev and his crew file through a door, but unfortunately it's across the
bay from where Evans and Laco are. Bailey is taking up the rear. Laco bolts for
a door, but both Lithians seem intent on the larger group, leaving Evans with a
choice.
Edwards jacks his phaser up a few more settings, to kill, and lays some more
cover fire. He definitely isn't pausing in his retreat, either.
Evans follows behind Laco. Heading away from the things he has no chance
against.
Covering the group's retreat, Bailey moves slowly enough to keep firing at
the Lithians. One could almost imagine there is a smirk on her face as she
fires.
The first one staggers back under the barage of lethal-setting fire. It
starts to shake, then explodes in a hail of crystalline shards. It took a lot of
power out of those phasers, power that, right now, the crew doesn't have. Both
teams manage to get the doors sealed, and the second one starts to pound on the
metal of Edwards' team. Metal nipples begin to appear in the surface of the door
as it is racked by the creature. The clanging is deafening. Evans and Laco are
separated, Edwards and his crew are having difficulty deciding who is in charge.
Who will prevail, we must ask ourselves, as we fade to black.
Ghorev says "Michael, it's your call: bridge or engineering?"
Dakin is exhaling heavily as his grip tightens on his phaser. His knuckles
are likely white underneath the suit's gloves.
Raxil swallows nervously, watching... dents appear on the door. "Ummm...
could we avoid quibbling over where exactly we're going and focus on getting
-away-?"
Laco breathes heavily for a moment, "Well....huh..."
Evans frowns and looks around the corner. Bridge..He turns his tricorder on.
How to get to the bridge.
Edwards eyes the nipples briefly, then glances over his team, "Wait.
We're missing some people. Damnit. We need to find our people, get to
engineering, and get the hell out of here before we all become a few more bodies
on the floor."
"It's the bridge, -if- you want to leave this place that is..."
Bailey says, taking a few breaths before turning to Edwards and saying,
"We're going to have to meet up with your other men on the way there."
