The Time Capsule Part III
Episode Name: The Time Capsule Part III
Written By: Fortunae
Cast: 2nd Imperium Horror, Absyn, Alarcon, Cross, Fortunae, Havaris, Medes,
Nilee and Poole.
Produced By: Starfleet
Directed By: Fortunae
Aired On: Thu Aug 07 05:21:57 2003
Stardate: 53416.8
Time: Wed Aug 06 20:28:26 2003
Stardate: 53416.0
Last time on Star Trek Anomaly --
...Alarcon moves into the room with all attendant caution, as well, eyes flickering between her creepy surroundings and the comforting glow of her trusty tricorder. "Roger that," she agrees. "Close and sharp, everyone." Clearly the shiny screen with its reassuring glow isn't picking up any horrible alien scourge... yet. Isobel continues further into the room with caution, pointing her tricorder this way and that...
..."Averaging about 3 km an hour in our suits... prrrrrobably about half an hour," Medes replies, shaking her head inside her helmet at Havaris's statement of ironies. "Thus, naturally, about a kilometer and a half for those of us who passed basic division, which should be everybody, at least I hope so." Ahem. "Nice going, Mister Nilee." ...
...
... Havaris grabs hold of Medes' arm to help foist himself and his EVA suit back to his feet. He slings his rifle and cracks his neck within his helmet, moving up to the doors to eye the relays. He brushes away the mold and examines the panel for a few moments before tapping at it. No luck. He then draws the panel open to expose its guts, fiddling with wires and swapping connections. In the end, he's answered with a series of sparks and no luck whatsoever. Then all at once, Kusto's head pops up. "Oh no." Too late to be of much good, Havaris springs to his feet and starts moving the hell out of the way, "EVERYBODY DOWN!" ...
...*GGGzzzzzzzzz-ksshkkkCHOWWW!* Arcs of charged plasma erupt from the door frame filling the immediate corridor environs with unbridled ancient fury! One blue white tendril sweeps just over the twisting and falling back form of Havaris Kusto, and missing that target strikes the chest plate of his wife's EVA suit and lifts her like a balloon from the floor and up crashing against the wall to writh a moment before being dropped back down, smoke roiling off the standard issue equipment...
...Nilee, completely innocently, begins doing tricorder scans of the room that they were only moments ago halted from scanning by very large doors. He starts scanning, and then is distracted. A holograph? A holograph of an Orion? Watching the apparition for a few seconds as it speaks, Galen misses the change in his tricorder from the taking to the giving of data. Looking back down, it doesn't take long for the fact to be realized by the science officer. "Ohh, that's bad." He doesn't even take the time to explain as he begins tapping vigorously at the controls on his tricorder. For a split second Nilee lifts his gloved hand up and thumps the top of his helmet, ohh right, in an EVA suit... can't wipe the sweat out of my eyes. "It's draining my tricorder's database... I'm trying to encrypt the data..." The Trill mumbles as he quickly starts tapping at the tricorder again...
...The hologram starts speaking again, "Language context files updated from portable PCUs. Attention sentients, you have entered a restricted area of the Final Menegerie facility. Internal scans indicate no Orions remain on station. Consultation with databanks identifies your species and Bajora, Tr'l and Aegyptine. Cross references with your portable computers indicates your species are all part of the Federation. Inference: Your species have allied against us with the First Federation. Speculation: You have killed all members of this bio-weapons development and storage facility and have come to secure the control databanks. Conclusion: You will not succeed. Resolution: Unleashing Ambulatory Hunter Killer Bio-forms to clean sweep facility resulting in your emminent termination of life functions...
In the distance... echoing in the maze of passages within the asteroid... a howl unheard in 350 centuries sounds...
It seems it is feeding time at the zoo...
And now...
The Hologram seems satisfied with it's terrible announcement but adds, "It would be easier on all of you if you simple stayed put and made peace with your gods now. False hope is the only benefit to attempting to flee at this point."
The call comes again, this time answered by others though the actual number is baffled by the reverating echoes.
Havaris spins about on his feet in a rather vain attempt to get a count on the audible signals. Really vain, given the fact they're piped into his helmet from outside. He finally plants his feet facing away from the control center and takes a few steps forward, lowering his rifle as he does so. His eyes flick up and about the corridor, then back down to the hallway ahead with a soft chuckle. "You know that really bad feeling I had? With the missing people and that being watched and the portents of doom and so on? It just got worse. I hate being right." A pause. "I suggest we bug out, Sir. Now."
GAME: Alarcon spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
"I am in complete agreement. Let's fall back, everyone, phasers at the ready. Let's head back to the ship." Tapping hurriedly at her tricorder with one gloved hand, the display reflecting dimly on the faceplate of her helmet, Isobel starts herding the team in the direction from which they came. "Okay, I -know- I ran that scan just -fine-, but I am picking up nothing. I'll try again once we're out of... the influence of this room, maybe." There is a definite urgency to her tone, now. "Medes, how close do we need to be to the runabout to be confidently beamed back there?"
"Uh, safely? The airlock at the bottom of the shuttle path." Don't need to tell Thea twice. She closes up her engineering kit and slings it back across her body, taking her PADD in one hand and her phaser in the other. Left hand for the PADD, right hand for the phaser. Left-handed Thea shoots right-handed. Convenient, that. "So we've got a good trek ahead of us." She starts back the way they came. "Of course, that's safe transport for us. I may be able to pull a couple of defensive tricks before then, though... "
Cross looks up towards the senior officers before looking to see if his phaser is still on him after he went flying down the hall, his hand patting around the holster. His eyes look back to Medes as she finishes his helmet. He looks in the direction of the hologram for a moment before turning down to listening the howl, hearing it clearly without a helmet. "Sir, maybe if it thinks an Orion is here, it might stop it."
. o O Medes thinks "Great. I've been shot, electrocuted, fallen off of cliffs, shot by /ancient guns of DOOM,/ and now we're being chased by ANCIENT CREATURES OF DOOM. Prophets. Could I maybe add, like, 'almost died from acute heart failure during sex' to the list? At least /then/ my near-death-experiences would be /fun while I was having them./"
Nilee is clearly listening to the orders being issued by his senior officers, but still stands facing the holograph for a bit longer than the rest of the team. He's back to tapping on his tricorder and then he looks up, "Mr. Holograph? Yes. Check what I've just pulled up on my tricorder. I've stopped the encryption protocols and if you cross reference your current star charts with mine, you should see that yours are very out of date. Thirty-five millenia, roughly - You can verify the data has not been tampered with - That would be over one thousand generations of your Imperium. They're all dead because of old-age. We're explorers, we're not here for your weapons... nor are we members of the First Federation." That said, he doesn't delay any longer and promptly turns to join the rest of the team in the retreat.
. o O Medes thinks "I guess that's the definition of 'adventure,' though. Fun to watch, not fun to actually go through. I'll have to put that in a personal log, if I don't become a snack for an ancient creature of doom."
Absyn looks at the computer terminals for a moment and then speaks into the communicator, "Sir.. might I try something which might help us a little bit, am unsure how useful it will be but it might disable the problem or at least buy us a little more time." Was already heading into the room in hopes of getting to try his hand at helping them out.
The howls cut off all at once, as if perhaps they were merely audio recordings being played ...or, wake up time is over and now it's time to hunt breakfast.
The Imperium Hologram actually rolls it's emitted eyes at Nilee's suggestion. "I am perfectly aware of the passage of time, but that is irrelevant. Security protocols approved by Imperial Command are not subject for debate by children species. The proximity of the Bajora to the First Federation, combined with the location of your own world and that of the Aegyptine suggest a likely collusion, particularly considering the name of your organization. That your data files indicate numerous references of hostility with the Orion people support this as well. I would recommend more praying and less laughable attempts to talk your way out of your imminent demise."
"Rust up and die, you pagh-blasted tinplated fossil," Havaris needlessly assures everyone, "you and the rock that carries you." See? Good with technology. Shaking his head in his helmet, Havaris paces forward all the more until he stands at the 'back' of the group. This is not, in the end, far enough for his tastes. He continues on a few meters more and settles down into a crouch along the side of the wall, readying his rifle. He waits for the team to make their comments and begin their retreat before hoisting himself back up and continuing on well ahead of the science officers. "I need tricorder sweeps of the area ahead of me. I seem to have lost mine, and don't really want to walk headlong into invisible claws or razor-toothed chameleon creatures. Thank you."
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
"Go for it, Medes. And nice going, Nilee. Worthy attempt, even if the holographic xenophobe is less than impressed." Alarcon is still moving, ushering people back the way they all came, standing just outside the door of the room with the projection, now. "Head for the shuttle bay and the access tunnel, people, no exceptions." Turning to Absyn, she shakes her head inside her helmet, a somewhat regretful expression on her face. "No, Absyn. We fall back. Whether or not anything is actually still alive in this ship, I am unwilling to risk any of you to find out for certain." Her tricorder makes little bloopy, beepy noises. "-Caray!-" spits Alarcon, borrowing her husband's accent to swear with for a moment. "That scan was perfect, but still nothing. I'll keep on it, Kusto."
Poole steps In Character.
Poole has left.
A series of Bajoran and Fed Standard epithets is chewed between Medes's teeth as she heads up to just behind Havaris. Reattaching her phaser to her belt, she switches it for a tricorder and starts in on the scanning. "I'll see what I can do, here, Lieutenant. Still keeping the PADD in hand for. Tricks."
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
"Yeah. I got nothin' either. Scans are right on the numbers, too." A pause. "WAIT." Medes points backward. "/He's/ a holograph... " She turns her head toward Alarcon. "I'll scan for... how do you scan for a /holograph?/ Emitters? Active emitters? What would they even function like?" And silence again. She's /thinking./ Moving, but thinking.
<CONTEST> Absyn (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Data Alteration) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
<PROVE> Nilee has the merit of Scientific Genius at 3.
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Physical Sciences (Mathematics) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
<CONTEST> Cross contests his Personal Equipment skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
Cross takes the helmet from Medes and moves to put it back on. He doubles checks the connections before sealing it. He groans lowly as he gets to his feet. His eyes shift as he catches the holograph's reaction. The Orions had the EMH? It definitely seem like his personality. He doubles the glowing panels inside his helmet as they read everything is fine. He takes a breath before arming himself, switching the tricorder into his other hand.
Nilee makes a face at the holograph through his mask, though his back is turned, so it's not like the holograph can see him anyways, "Guilt through proximity... I'd hate to be in your court system." Shaking his head, "I'd like to have a nice conversation with whoever it was that programmed you." He mumbles. All the while, he hasn't moved his free hand from the tricorder in front of him, busily working. Fortunately, the universal communicators don't translate curses, so the various words that spring from Galen's mouth aren't heard by the rest of the team, or atleast understood.
Absyn follows after the people at the command but he does pull out his PADD as does so and begins to move his fingers over it as he speaks to himself, "Lets see, few trasposes here, a couple of letters here," glad the EVA hides his temporary grin as he speaks, moving at a slow walk after the others, "Alright Sir.. I am right with you and let me see if I can throw up a few.." pauses for a moment, "Hmm, this might be a little harder than I thought, why cant they use Federation Standard damn it."
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
"Fall in, people, Alarcon's orders. Stay close. Please. We're bugging out of here. That's the new mission. Keep your eyes open and your weapons handy." Havaris is taking the practical route. The faster they move, the faster they get back to the shuttle. So his pace picks up a bit, roll-stepping as quietly as he can forward at a fairly easy gait. Medes' presence near to his back does not, in point of fact, distract him. If anything, it's got him all the more on his guard. His weapon -- and therefore his gaze -- continues to make sweeps across the corridor before him, beaconlight illuminating the vague shadows and outlines ahead. "Anything? Anyone?"
"No time to waste," crackles Isobel across the com. She's been outside the room with her tricorder hard at work all along, and keeps doing her best to usher people out of the area more quickly. She is definitely setting a fast-paced example, but keeps being stymied by any stragglers, as she won't just forge on ahead without the rest of the team. "You heard me, you heard Havaris. No lingering. Work on your feet, we were all trained for it." A slight, strained smile behind her faceplate, and she sighs, deeply, looking back over her shoulder from her position just behind Havaris, again, keeping track of everyone. "Still nothing on my scans."
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Trying to keep up with Havaris and reconfigure her tricorder proves a bit too much for Medes at the moment; she mutters irritatedly and shakes her head. "There may be holograms out there. This whole GRID is a photonic power grid, of /course,/ which would camoflage them... there's just this huge energy wash... I'll keep trying, but at the moment, I've got nothing. Just a huge... wash... like... /argh./" Oh, the eloquence of a frustrated Medes.
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Physical Sciences (Mathematics) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Absyn (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Progamming) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Cross contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Cross moves to follow after the group, running quickly to stay pace with them. His finger tabs the tricorder to BIO, starting scans for any lifeforms, but with it being in his wrong hand, plus running, He doesn't see anything popping up on the scans.
Nilee taps at the controls of his tricorder, he's moving, though still a little slower than the rest of the group, apparently, despite the noises, the doom still hasn't fully hit him. Finally, he gives a quick yelp, not an unpleasant one, but a sharp, happy one, as though he'd just accomplished something. "There we go!" He says afterwards. Realizing he had his radio on and the rest of his team likely heard him, "Nothing on my scanners yet either... I have managed to setup an encryption on my uplink to the minor systems. With any luck, it should let me keep control... I'm going to try and change the air mixture in the rooms we move through, I don't know if I'll have enough control, but it's worth a try. If these things are organic, it should slow them down atleast."
Absyn follows after the others but wasnt quite moving as fast as them as his fingers moved over his PADd as he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he tries to upgrade his used status. Is having a bit of trouble with it though and he shakes his head as he plods along with everyone else, hoping he doesnt trip as he continues his work.
The first leg of the trip seems uneventful... but as Absyn works and walks he falls father behind until he realizes when he looks up... he is quite alone in a darkened four way intersection. He sees no trace of the rest of the away team.
Meanwhile, further back along the path... the way seems clear... but Havaris Kusto is not one to trust such innocent appearances...
Havaris keeps his shuffling pace going until they come to a logical point of pause. Some cover, a dubious patch of shadow and gloom before them. Time to take stock. Havaris holds up a hand to slow the party down and turns about briefly to take a quick head count. One. Two. Three. Four... Expletive deleted. Swinging back to face-front, Havaris' voice crackles over the com-unit. "ABSYN! Get your head out of your crack and /get up here/! You fall out of line again, I will beat you like your daddy never did. /MOVE/." His voice crackles out, allowing him the liberty of some rather inelegant cursing in the confines of his helmet. Shaking his head, he takes a knee, readying his rifle again.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
Part of a stream of quiet, muttered Spanish invective is heard before abruptly cutting off with a smack to Isobel's com mute. When it crackles again, she has resumed with a far more calm tone. "Ensign Absyn, I remember telling you -not- to linger behind. Get back here with the rest of the group, stay with us /as I ordered you to/, and the only words I want to hear in reply to this are 'Yes' and 'Sir' in a respectful tone. If Lieutenant Havaris has to come back to fetch you, I guarantee you that you will return with a whole new appreciation for obeying orders." Her tone is tight, clipped, coolly furious.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
After a moment, Isobel suddenly adds, eeriely calmly and quietly, "Absyn. Behind you. There is something. Get your phaser up. Five meters and closing. We can't get to you before it can... you've fallen about eighty meters behind."
Again, she adds, "I don't know what it is. Like a... shadow on my bioscan."
"We're clear on the hologram frontier, at least," Medes offers in a faux-chipper half-whisper a second after Alarcon makes her prouncement. "Kusto. Please tell me you can peg a doombeast from eighty meters through a curved passageway. Please." That said, she steps /away/ from her husband, giving him space to move back toward the separated team member, take a shot... /something./
GAME: Absyn spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Absyn contests his Athletics (Running) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
GAME: Cross spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Cross (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
With Havaris taking a knee, Cross turns for a moment to concentrate more on his scans. He looks up inside his helmet as he hears the Lieutenant and begins to concentrate his scans in that area. Suddenly, he notices it on his tricorder. "I've got it too. Nothing solid..."
Nilee continues tapping at his tricorder without a word, there are three people scanning for the creature, a fourth won't find much more. Cursing again in Trill under his breath, the Ensign shakes his head slowly as he continues working.
Absyn blinks as he looks around.. tries to remember which corridor they took earlier and breaks into a full out run to catch up with them as he speaks, "I swear, you people dont understand genius, here I am, trying to get in control of the entire Computer System including their defenses and you threaten to beat me up.. if it was logical I would complain, but most likely I am just going to get in even more trouble.. bunch of mea..." pauses as he hears Alarcon and then speaks up making sure to sound every bit of respectful, "Yes Sir." Blinks and then he was moving about as fast as he could while inside his EVA, "I am on my way Sir," wasn't looking back, wasnt taking that risk, figures it would catch him though, always goes for the smart ones first, was also trying to fumble and get his phaser in his free hand.
<CONTEST> 2nd Imperium Horror contests his Unarmed Combat (Claw Attack) skill vs Absyn's Dodge skill and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Absyn contests his Presence (Willpower) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Abysn doesn't see the blackness behind him, unhindered by his suit lights as they face the other way, boil in a shadow flash of unglinting claws that seize and catch. He does feel though the sudden ferocious impact certainly as his suit's back is caught and suddenly his sprinting feet grace nothing but air to no avail. The crunching protest made by the suit clam shell beneath the helmet fills his ears and then the flat surface of what is the ceiling blitzes his view until there is a solid collision that rocks his head on his neck within the suit, then it seems to fall away at insane speed only to be replaced by a twisting of his stomach as he breaks to his left and collides full body into the neighboring wall. Then /teeth/ countless and diamond hard in appearance close on the top of his helmet and /scratch/ the transparent aluminum of his visor with enough time to worry his helmet back and forth before sliding off... and then he realizes the desperate scream that is filling his ears and the helmets of the rest of the team no doubt is his own...
Over the helmet comms of the rest of the team Absyn's words are cut off and then, "*krrrnk krnthunk greeeelk krnthnnk SQRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* AAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Havaris' voice breaks over the com, screaming right over Absyn's protests, "/LESS TALK AND MORE STALK, ENSIGN! YOU TOE THIS LINE! NOW THAT'S THE /LAST/ TIME WE GIVE YOU THIS ORDER!/" Havaris is rather incredibly angry if one could see his face. Few can, given his position at point and his back being to the group. When the report comes in of a reading to their rear, Havaris pushes back up to his feet and kicks the wall soundly. He hands his rifle off to Medes, plucks his Type II from his hip with his right hand and his knife from its sheathe with the other. "Isobel, you circle up here. If I'm not back with Absyn in two minutes, you keep moving." And with that, Havaris takes off at a sprint. Or as much as one can sprint in an EVA suit, legs and arms pumping, a weapon in either hand. He's rounding the curve as the sound of Absyn's attack carries over the com, but that doesn't seem to even slow him down.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Cross (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Alarcon is already prepared to circle the wagons and stay vigilant against more fangy, clawy Bad Things (tm). "You heard the Lieutenant, folks. Stay alert. I swear, if anyone else decides to endanger himself or other members of this away team by disobeying orders, your new 419 quarters will be the -brig-." This is a far cry from her formerly affable Frink persona... right now, Alarcon is all business, and none too happy about it.
Medes accepts the Type II somewhat clumsily and looks around the rest of the group. Right. That leaves /her/ as the gun-bunny protecting everyone. Now is when the fear sets in. /Really/ sets in. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that her husband is going back to where the screaming is, oh, there's /screaming/ from Absyn, and ANIMAL NOISES, and now SHE is the one with her phaser out. GREAT. All of this plays out rather visibly on her face before she swallows, hard, and nods her head a little bit. A brief whisper: "Make me useful," lost to the coms but visible through the transparent aluminum of her visor, and she breathes out. "Putting my PADD away, sir. We need someone to cover us while Lt. Havaris goes back." Her tricorder is shifted to her left hand, Type II in her right, the phaser rifle slung across her body; the straps of her engineering kit and the phaser rifle make an off-kilter 'X' across her small body inside its EVA suit. The tiny Engineer begins to prepare scanning again, Type II still at the ready.
. o O Medes thinks "Don't die, Kusto. Please don't die. Please."
<CONTEST> Absyn contests his Presence (Willpower) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Cross remains close to the group, moving slightly to stand closer to Alarcon, his gloved fingers still tapping away at his tricorder. He shifts and aims it in another direction. "Possible second bogey. It lost when it used a cross spoke to move to parallel passage." He looks in the directions, his phaser up and ready in case it doubled back.
Nilee stops as the group stops, turning back to look in the direction Absyn is apparently in. His assumption is confirmed when the screaming starts and his face goes white. All color gone. He blinks several times before he recovers and then looks back to the others briefly, nodding and stepping closer to the group. Strength in numbers... right? He knows he's going to be useless with a phaser, even more so when there's no targets around, so he goes back to his tricorder, his face clearly displeased by his lack of advancement in any of the leads he's tried.
Absyn would be happy to know he scraped under the brig quarters, after all, he was the first to get in trouble, were it not for the fact he was face to teeth with some unnamed horror. As such he just screamed like scared little girl and flapped his hands at the thing as he tried to get away in unthinking terror.
<CONTEST> 2nd Imperium Horror contests his Unarmed Combat (Claw Attack) skill vs Absyn's Dodge skill and Succeeds!
The dark and teeth and claws upon Absyn is completely undissuaded by his screams or his frantic efforts to bat at it with his gloved hands, and Absyn finds himself again slamming into the ceiling, but it seems that whatever it is has found the parts of the suit that aren't so hard and crunch... and there is a sharp searing pain which provokes another scream and Abysn can then no longer feel his left leg very well, and there is so much wetness...
Havaris sprints around the curve, his helmet lights bouncing wildly and making the terrain a blur of mold and oxidized gold. It isn't until he comes upon Absyn more or less floating in the air, his leg torn apart, that Havaris skids to a halt and swings up his weapon. It wobbles about for a moment, trying to find something substantial to fire at. Frustrated with the HUD, he pokes his visor controls and hisses it upwards, breathing in the stale air to howl at the creature in pure gargling rage. "BAJORA /THIS/ YOU SON OF A--" His final shout is drowned out by the hiss of his weapon.
<CONTEST> Havaris (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
*PPssssssssssswwwwwww* The high setting energy blast fires into what to all appearances would be empty darkness, and as it scores home a horrific shape is outlines, over 2 meters in height with a shovel shaped head in precisely shaped curves and streamlined mein, a long neck with whiplike qualities protectected by carapace plating clearly designed to offer some shielding to it. The torso is small in comparison to the other dimensions and the arms are long enough that the hands are mere inches from the floor when down as the left one clearly is. The legs are cocked in a stance that indicates it has two joints in them as opposed to a single knee, and the feet are broad with natural padding no doubt to enhance it's silent movement capabilities. The outline that forms from heat and energy is reminiscent of a laser burning off on an ablative surface, the shape does not go down but moves with such swiftness from the side of Absyn with a hurling wall walking and off bounding gait that Havaris has no doubt now that if it comes to a chase his people have no chance in an open run against these things... then it is gone, leaving just the crumpled form of Absyn, his helmet and wrist lights and darkness...
GAME: Alarcon spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Life Sciences (Biology) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
GAME: Absyn spends a courage point.
GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Absyn (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Programming) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Cross (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Life Sciences (Biology) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Alarcon has her phaser in one hand, her tricorder still in the other. More tapping at her screen ensues, and though she flinches slightly at the noises that are transmitted across the com link, it is nearly imperceptible, particularly given her helmet and all. It would be handy, right now, if she had several more eyes--so she could keep one on her tricorder, one on the away team members, one on every possibly menacing shadow, one behind her, et cetera. Even with her paltry standard-issue pair of eyes, however, she manages to note, "When you hit it, Kusto, I could see it... on my bioscan. It was a clear signature, for a moment... just a moment. But this is what I got.... Neurotoxin poison glands, apparently high end reasoning capabilities, vision into the thermal and ultraviolet spectrum, retractable claws on hands and feet, 4 rows of bio-steel teeth, modulatating olfactory system indicators, exoskeltal armor, reinforced endoskeloton..." It seems from one brief flash, she managed to get quite a good deal.
"All I got was where it is. Hey! See if you can give us whatever you got on your scan, Lieutenant. If we can use /that,/ we can target our scans better, maybe. What is it that's ghosting it like that?" Medes, despite her terror, despite the lingering annoyance of her earlier shot to the chest, coughs once and wonders, "If it's got that reasoning capability, has it got, like, some sort of weird cloaking device? Kusto, how's everyone down there? Everybody still alive? You need help?" She keeps her tricorder running in her left hand and her phaser clutched tightly in her right.
<PROVE> Cross has the merit of Curious at 1.
GAME: Cross spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Cross (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Cross (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
With everyone concentrating in the direction where Havaris and Absyn are, Cross keeps an eyes on the possible second one. He listens into the Lieutenant as she reports in the bio information about the creature and comes up with an idea, reconfiguring his tricorder for a second. "Their bodies are actually shaped to defeat standard sensor equipment. Definitely some sort of ultra stealth weapon."
GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Physical Sciences (Physics) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Nilee mumbles something to himself that isn't loud enough to get through to the other speakers. The muttering gradually grows louder until he curses once more, but he's cut short as his tricorder beeps and he begins tapping at it again, "Uhmm... this is strange. I'm picking up neutrino emmissions... there shouldn't be neutrino emmissions here..."
Absyn lies on the ground, his world becomeing mainly filled with pain and he relieze walking is now a challanege. He shakes his head trying to bring his thoughts back out of the pain, to focus on his work and he begins moving his fingers over the PADD again as he lies there, unable to get past the language problem and knew at this point there was alot more at stake then he thought there was earlier.
<CONTEST> Havaris (claiming advantage) contests his Fitness (Strength) skill vs Absyn's Fitness (Strength) skill and Succeeds!
The sound of the com reports crackle out of Havaris' open visor, though he pays them no mind for the moment. He watches as his fire evaporates off the shielded horror briefly visible before him and counts himself lucky it ran away, rather than towards him. His knife? It's stowed. His phaser is thumbed up to its maximum setting as he moves forward to the downed officer who is ... working on his PADD again. That, it seems, is the last straw for the Bajoran. He paces up to Absyn, yanks the PADD out of his hands, and flings it away into the shadows, after the clawed horror that has just left them behind. Reaching down, he pokes the front of Absyn's helmet, opens the visor, and crouches down before him with a scowl. "Mister Absyn, you are relieved and on report. One word. /ONE WORD/. And I leave you." With that, Havaris hooks his hand into the bowl of Absyn's helmet and starts dragging. "We're alive. Absyn's down, I'm on my way back with him. We're going to be slowed down. ETA... I don't know. Tempted to leave him, honestly. Setting seven just made it angry. I suggest /everyone/ get a phaser in hand -- except for you, Absyn -- and push them up to eight. Thea? Setting sixteen on the rifle." And off he goes, dragging Absyn with one hand, phaser in the other.
In the wake of Havaris dragging Absyn up the corridor, a slick trail of EVA suit brushed blood is left upon the floor almost like chum for sharks...
"Copy -that-," replies Isobel, who had been thumbing her phaser setting up just based on the screams alone. "We'll move on when we're all together." And what else is there to say? "Just stay sharp, people. I probably can't overstate that." As much as can be betrayed by her bulky suit, Alarcon seems to have adopted a coiled-spring-like tension to her stance. The CSO can definitely not leave here fast enough for her tastes.
"Make me useful. Make me useful... " Thea notes, "There's something shadowing you, Kusto," as she thumbs her Type II up to maximum, shoves it into her belt, and slings the phaser rifle off of her shoulder, starting to adjust its setting too. "It's like it felt the sensor and backed off. It's not... it's not stalking you, exactly. It's... it's like it's gathering intelligence. I'm going to drop my engineering kit. It's replaceable, and it's dead weight." That said, she unhooks /its/ strap and lets it fall to the floor before bringing the rifle up to cover the opposite end of the tunnel from the incoming pair. Last thing she needs is to have a shot go wild on a weapon she's not really trained with.
<CONTEST> Cross (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Cross keeps his fingers working on the tricorder, even if it is on his off hand. He frowns as he looks to the scans. "I think we're trying to be herded, Sir. They keep popping up in my scans and the only direction would be to the right passage. I would be suprised if they purposely keeped Absyn alive." His voice cacking across the com.
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Nilee is still tapping at his tricorder, he gives one single tap and nods finally, "There we go." He mutters under his breath. Shaking his head he looks back up, "We could try tracking the neutrino emmissions? The more I think about it, the more I'm confident that it's a byproduct of a cloaking device. Some cloaking technology has been known to give off unusually high neutrino emission."
Absyn blinks as his PAdd is chunked and he gets dragged along before he speaks, "You idiot.. I was trying to save all our damn lives. We done know what the hell we are fighting, we dont know what they are weak to. I cant walk.. I was trying to be useful damn it and now I have to start from scratch to try and take over this damn things computer systems before I lose to much blood that I cant think straight and possiably die." Shakes his head for a moment, "Get me a PADD I can take over this thing and get us help.. I might be able to call off what is attacking us, I just need a chance."
"You hear that, Mister Absyn?" Havaris asks calmly as he drags the bleeding officer along, "The answer is no. What you do not hear is that thing shadowing us. What you do not hear is something your commanding officer ordered you to move away from. You have, at this point, disobeyed no less than four direct orders from your commanding officers. You have put this mission in jeopardy, gotten yourself nearly killed, slowed down your comrades, defied your superior officers, insulted your superior officers, and acted out while relieved. We were making good time to our exit point. We are now dragging your bleeding half-eaten carcass. Pardon. This idiot, Ensign, is dragging your half-eaten carcass. This idiot that doubled back to save your life. This idiot that is, at present, /your/ only chance at survival. Because I am putting my life in the hands of my commanding officer and my suboordinates -- the ones that follow orders. The ones I've been on missions with a dozen times before I ever saw your smug, condescending, Ivory Tower preaching little pinhead. I walked off of Betazed, I walked off of Occa. Thea walked off of Fimdari. So has Isobel. Nilee, too. I've walked out of worse scrapes than this without a fleck of blood on me. I can drop you to the ground and leave, never look back, and have absolute faith that I will make it out of here alive. Because you, Mister Absyn, are no god. You are not the only mind on this team, nor the only skilled officer. In fact, I'd bet my-- am betting my life --that you're not even third or fourth. And. As my legs are getting tired, my arm, too. As that creature is staring at the back of my head, wondering if my shot was lucky or not? I'm wondering when you're going to shut your food chute. And just how much further I can drag you before I just /can't/ carry you any further." Havaris, despite his monologue, keeps on plodding.
Alarcon's voice slices across the com with continued cold fury, crackling with strident volume. "YOU DO NOT ORDER LIEUTENANT HAVARIS, YOU PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A BLUE SHIRT. LIEUTENANT HAVARIS ORDERS YOU, I ORDER YOU, AND YOU WILL OBEY THOSE ORDERS. Absyn, listen closely. I don't know how you got through the Academy, but this is AN ORDER: Shut the hell up, and use your amazing brainpower to reflect on the fact that the only reason you're getting out of here ALIVE is because of the superior officer who just relieved you of duty. Stop slowing us down. Every second you delay us, you endanger us all, and so help me, when we get out of here, you'll be lucky if you don't find your bleeding husk court-martialed." A brief pause for breath. "Nilee, you and Cross, if you can, carry Absyn between you when Havaris returns with him so the Lieutenant has his hands free. If you have to? Drag him. We go, immediately, when they get here."
From a branch of corridor off to the right of the current position of the clusters officers, the unmistakable sound of an infant wailing plaintively is heard echoing slightly down the darkened halls of the Final Minagerie.
. o O Medes thinks "OH NO YOU DO NOT. THAT IS BAIT! BAIT! BAIT!"
Medes kneels, propping the phaser rifle on one knee and using her tricorder with her left hand. It's set on the ground, and she's poking it. "Got anything for us, Galen?" She's just ignoring that cry. She is. But it's a visible effort. If you listen closely, you can hear her ovaries screaming in agony at the baby's wail. "I know... I know it's just beyond the sensors. It's right behind you, Kusto." That said, she stuffs her tricorder back into her belt and puts /both/ hands on the phaser rifle now.
Cross turns to the Lieutenant and nods to her, putting the tricorder away, keeping his phaser out, having a free hand to help with carrying Absyn. He listens to his aching muscles and bruises when he gets back to the station. He stops and looks in the direction of the cry, the direction he feels that they are being herded. "We're probablely the bottle for the baby." He mutters.
<PROVE> Nilee has the flaw of Impulsive at -1.
GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.
GAME: Nilee spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Programming) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Nilee has gone back to his tricorder, running gloved fingers over the buttons with surprising control and accuracy. Despite that, his project is interrupted as he hears the cries of a child. Looking almost involuntary, Nilee braces, takes three steps in the direction of the cry breaking into a run almost before he suddenly closes his eyes and stops all at once, free hand reaching down to grab the phaser at his waist. "Janzon. No." He mutters quietly. The hand reaching for the phaser balls into a tight fist and he swings around, "Lieutenant, it might be a trap, but I think we need to atleast investigate what the source is... if they've kept live guards here for 35,000 years, maybe when they released stasis on them they let something else out." His eyes are pleading, it's clear he's putting a lot of self control NOT to rush out himself.
Absyn growls slightly and decides to not point out the only reason he came on the away mission was cause a certain superiour officer told him he was coming. At any rate he does exactly as he was told, didnt move, didnt speak, just made himself a dead weight as they all seemed to want.
And then, Havaris comes into view dragging the deadweight of Absyn and when close enough his load it turned over to the designated replacements who discover they can in fact move him along quickly enough with an arm over each shoulder, but he'll never make it alive to the exit unless something is done and done soon about his profuse bleeding...
Havaris rounds the corridor, still moving at the same determined plod that had carried him all this way. He drags Absyn into the middle of the cluster of officers and simply lets go of the helmet, dropping it to the ground with a crack of metal on metal. He spends a moment wiping his glove over his face as he makes towards Medes. He holsters his Type II and claims the Type III with a nod, checking its charge before adjusting the sighting slightly back to rights. His rights, at least. "If you can't autosuture the wound, give him something to bite and I'll blast his leg off. It will stop the bleeding." And yes, Havaris says that in utter seriousness as he paces towards a post on the outside ring of the group. The crying of the child seems to pass in one ear of the Bajoran and out the other. "I don't advise checking it out, Sir. If the computer cared enough to keep it alive this long, it will put it back after we're gone. And if not, there's nothing we can do with one rifle. It's suicide."
"We're not checking it out, I'm sorry. It has to be bait, and if it's not? Like Kusto said. Cross, Nilee? While Havaris and Medes keep us covered, see what you can do about those sutures, quick as you can. It's your lucky day, Absyn. You hung onto the medkit." One gloved hand gestures at the kit, dripping with blood as it is, still slung around the injured Ensign's body. "Give the word if Havaris' cauterization is needed, and pass me Absyn's weapon. Any word on your front with transporters and such, Medes?" There is a strained note of hope in Alarcon's voice.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Computer (Data Alteration) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
"I think, if I get in, I might be able to use it to amp up our transporter's power... I've got the front door, now. Just gotta... get in... " Medes replies, biting her lower lip inside her helmet as she taps at her PADD with her left thumb, phaser in her right. "We going? Where we going? Someone point me."
Cross moves forward to grab at Absyn's arm as he is delievered. He looks up to make sure that Nilee does the same. He frowns. "I thought the Ensign Absyn had the medpack." He looks down at the man to see if he still had it or if it got thrown in the tussel with the beast. He pauses for a moment. "We could cauterize if we need to. It would stop the bleeding."
<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Medical Sciences (Surgery) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Nilee is still standing a few feet off towards the direction of the wailing child as Havaris comes back. Turning directly towards Alarcon as she gives her order, the pain is still clear in Nilee's eyes and in the expression on his face. Taking a few deep breaths, he moves towards the injured officer and carefully pulls the medkit off of his arm. He lays the blood-stained case down on the ground and pulls out the autosuture slowly. He pauses briefly and carefully examines it for a few seconds before activating it and turning towards Absyn once more. He manages to keep a steady hand and completely seal the wound, stopping the bleeding completely. Looking up he says, "I've managed to stop the bleeding, but he's not going to be walking." He looks towards the command officers, "Do you want me to carry the medkit with us, or ditch it along with Lieutenant Medes engineering kit?"
Absyn sighs as he hangs on to Cross, "Might as well just blow the thing off, less weight to drag that way." Went quiet again after that, letting Nilee do his work as he pouted, offering his phaser to Alarcon as well since he isnt allowed to really do anything, teach his superiours to not watch the new kid.
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Computer (Programming) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Computer (Data Alteration) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
And then, the leg stablized they are off. Stern expression and and hurried movements, at each possible ambush point the creatures hunting them try another ploy after the herding is unaffective, and baby cry bait... likewise ignored was the passionate sounds of a woman involved in pleasant mating activity, likewise ignored... and at each lull Medes continued to work on the process of hacking into the computer system to aid in possibly speeding up their exit... but as they continued to move, now only a kilometer to go to the exit, the harrying began.. probe rushes from one direction driven off by phaser fire... then another direction, then two directions at once, then three.. each attack draining valuable phaser charges and showing no joy in dead creatures... they even began to deliberately play off the fact that Havaris was the best shot among the group focusing harder on the sides he was not covering at any given moment...
Then, at a juncture three quarters of a kilometer from their egress point Medes crows with victory and rapidly explains that she got into the sytems, turned off the hologram in the CnC and has sent a recall and store command to the bioroids playing with them. They wait a few minutes then move again, and the probes don't come... a bit faster and no probes. Back to full speed and no more attacks, so even though there was no way to enchance the transporter process, she did secure them some breathing room, until the howls are heard again behind them now and Medes announces the software's maintainence routines found her tampering and wrote over them.. no more free movement so they start to run as fast as they might considering the fatigue and it is then that Alarcon checks on a hunch and confirms that the station has been turning up the gravity on them as they moved but subtly to wear them out not all at once to clue them in to a need to counter -- and in response to this Nilee's earlier established routines to access basic environmental services as he is able to turn the setting back down as they move along so that the gravity rises behind and before but stays not only manageable but lessoned where they move to speed up their passage... and then...
.. they arrive back at the airlock and shuttle bay, transporter range... the howls are gone but they can be sure the creatures are moving to finish the game with haste now...
Absyn steps In Character.
Absyn has left.
Havaris hustles up to end of the airlock and turns about to take up a firing position. Sweat is pouring down his face at this point, his lungs are huffing heavily with the exertion, but he's still -- somehow -- in fighting trim. He checks his rifle's charge and manages not to let on just how precarious this sitution is. He says only one thing to the others, primarily because there is nothing more to be said. Only one avenue of approach. Only one avenue of escape. Weapons nearly drained, bodies exhausted, barely any time at all. "I go last. Leave your weapons with me before you beam out." And with that, he plucks the Type II from his hip and places it between his teeth for later, wipes the sweat from his eyes, and steadies his rifle to receive the charge. His fingers make one rolling fidget along the underside of his weapon, then clamp down firmly. One can almost envision the line he's drawn across the corridor. Maybe it can't be seen, but by the Prophets, it's there.
Alarcon hangs onto her weapon for now. "Absyn needs to go over in the first pair." Beyond that, the CSO is a little strapped for creativity. She's still nervously looking around for sneaky stealthbeasts, her phaser thumbed all the way up.
GAME: Medes spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Transporter) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
"Lieutenant, I need for us to keep moving, /please./ I can get a transporter lock on us, but the closer we get to the exit, the easier you're going to make it on me. You're going to need to cover us and keep moving, it'll be very difficult for me to move you out and chances of mortality will be very high if the transport fails. If we can get about half a k closer to the exit, ease of transport will increase significantly. We need to get closer. We need to keep going. If... " Medes pauses, eyes Absyn's suit. "Right. I'm going to take myself and him out before the airlock is opened. Then I'm going to start bringing you out two at a time but please, /keep moving./ Prophets guard you all. Kusto... " And then silence. He knows. She doesn't say she loves him, she just taps at her PADD, calling up control over the runabout's systems and hitting the codes to begin transport.
Cross groans out lowly before he looks to Nilee with a nod to lay him down for a moment for rest. He frowns at himself. Suck it up, Medes was hit too and she isn't complaining runs through his head. He brings his phaser up down the passage before looking up and about, considering the stealthy ability, they can be anywhere. "Sir, Perhaps Lieutenant Medes should go over as well. Perhaps she can control the transport process better if she goes across. Then perhaps you with Ensign Nilee, you are the senior officer." He sighs. "I volunteer to stay with Lieutenant Havaris."
. o O Medes thinks "I love you, Kusto. Don't die."
Nilee grimaces as he looks over at Cross as he groans and comes to a stop, "Sir, we've got to keep going. Just another five hundred meters. Then we're at an easy beamout point." He's had his tricorder out the whole walk, phaser only coming out ocassionally when his tricorder is doing now good for the moment. It's out now and he notes, "I've got neutrino detection running on my tricorder now... if those things come near us, we'll atleast have something of a warning... or should."
Havaris glances back over his shoulder as Medes refers to him first by rank, nodding his head slightly prior to turning his gaze back to front and, frankly, reaffirming his position. When she speaks his name, however, Havaris shoots his head back around to stare at her for a long moment. His eyes flick to her PADD, brows knitting slightly prior to his head dipping forward. Go. I go when you go. So go. His brow softens for a moment prior to his head turning back about, his knee once more sliding over the floor as he prepares to meet the charge headlong from his position. The combined weight of Cross's volunteering to stay while suggesting they withdraw and Nilee's assertions finally break the Bajoran out of it. He lets out a sharp breath through his nose, nods his head faintly, and pushes up to his feet slowly as Medes' form begins to disappear. With -- let's face it -- his wife safely aboard, Kusto lowers his rifle and spits his Type II into his left hand, backing away with both weapons trained on the corridor in front of him. Yes. He's retreating. "Fall out by twos. Isobel, Nilee, cover our backs. Cross, you're on my hip. Let's give Mister Medes a hand in saving our skins."
. o O Havaris thinks "I said I'd fight for you. I'm fighting for you. Want me to stop, Alethea, you get your bald butt out of here." Pause. "I love you, too."
A shimmer of light, and the injured Ensign and the little bald Engineer disappear. Aboard the runabout, Medes pulls off the gloves of her EVA suit and drops her PADD, her tricorder, everything as she hurries up to drop herself into the pilot's chair. "Come on, baby, outta standby, that's right, wake up, Mommy needs you... time to bring daddy and the rest of the team out... "
Yes. She talks to the runabouts. And?
Alarcon has her weapon up and ready to provide cover fire, something she's slowly but surely getting used to doing. Silence from her on the com, for the first time in, well, some time, but she remains poised and ready, a bead of sweat running down her face inside the confines of her helmet. When it comes time to cycle the airlocks, however, she lowers her phaser to do that, instead. "Cycling the airlocks," she notes, for those expecting her to be providing continuous cover.
The heavy doors slide open again, this time not to let them into a unexplored tomb but to let them out for a chance at life beyond it....
Cross moves up to stand beside the Bajoran Lieutenant, nodding to him. "Aye, sir." He say, taking a breath once the wounded was away. His phaser is held up and ready for anything. He waits patiently for his turn, once everyone is safely aboard before a random thought pops into his head. "I forgot to get a rock." He says to himself, a chuckling sounding of all times.
Tricorder in one hand, and phaser at full power in the other hand, Nilee's eyes switch from the tricorder's readings to the corridor behind them constantly. He almost stops as he sees something on his tricorder, "I know we're already going as fast as we can... but... faster would be better. Now. I've got neutrino emissions going off the charts and coming in fast! Over two hundred kilometers an hour fast."
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Transporter) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Transporter) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
In response to the warning, as cross goes through, then so does Havaris hitting the door close function with his elbow and then moving along with the door as it closes training his rifle at the darkness and then there is cause.. he can't /see/ them but he /knows/ they are there and he yells for them to keep running as his finger pulls and pulls and beams of phased energy fire and highlight horrors when striking home and the doors which seem to be closing so slowly creep closer together.
Then they are closed.
And then the slamming and banging scratching come and he falls back across the shuttle bay as Alarcon opens the other door and with the loss of air the sounds go away even if he knows they are still just beyond eager for his heart's blood and perhaps even his Pagh.
Another door cycles open... more retreating and with a moment of less pressure until Alarcon mentions that based on her analysis from the scans earlier there is a high liklihood that these creature are at least vacuum resistant if not able to function for extended periods in the ice and airlessness of space... and then more running but the gravity gets weaker and then Alarcon and Nilee become light and are gone leaving just Havaris and Cross to keep moving and then...
Havaris and Cross materialize on the transporter pads of the U.S.S. Amazon...
Havaris throws his rifle and sidearm down and is turning the seal on his helmet to divest himself of it even as he's charging up to the cockpit. "Medes get us out of here! /NOW/!" He tosses his helmet aside as he drops into the chair not at Co-pilot, but at Tactical. He taps a few controls with gloved hands before turning their seals and tossing them away to resume his work. "Shields up. Weapons charged. Targetting aft of our position." The last thing Havaris wants is a fortuitous slice in a nacelle. "Nilee, Engineering. Cross, Ops. Isobel, I need you on sensors. Let me know if they get past that door." As an afterthought, Havaris glances aside at Absyn's unconscious body. "And someone toss that piece of garbage into a stasis bed for the trip home. We can all say it was to keep him stable, me, I just want the peace and quiet."
A bruised, battered and slightly seared Medes -- tenderized and seared for better flavor! -- is already taking off the minute that her husband and Cross materialize safely. She's got a hell of a shiner, and her uniform is burned away under her left breast. Luckily for the censors, Thea's small-chested enough that there's not even a hint of obscenity as she moves her stubby little fingers over the console. The Amazon, brought out of standby in between transports and in between Thea shucking off her EVA suit, lifts out of the shuttlebay and speeds off into the night. "I'm going to take us to warp as soon as I can, Lieutenant, and then we can high-tail it away from this cursed rock." She spits out the word cursed in that way that means: I REALLY MEAN THIS. THIS PLACE IS CURSED.
. o O Medes thinks "That'll teach us not to listen to our Pagh when it talks. Or something. Is that how you say that? Augh. CONCENTRATE, Thea!"
Relief rolls through Cross as he finds himself aboard the Amazon. He can still feel a tremor that was running through him at those last moments as if they were completely surround in the darkness. He slowly holsters the phaser before looking to the others, making sure everyone is okay. He thinks for a moment, a chance at a psychotropic flashback or being scared out of your goad from monster. Must be a new Ferengi ride. He blows out some air before chuckling at the thought He steps aside to remove the EVA suit. His body thanks him for it.
Cursed rock? No. But definetly not a place Nilee wants to visit again. Atleast without a full platoon of Starfleet marines equipment with heavy weaponry and neutrino-sensing eyewear. As orders are issued, he heads towards Absyn, picks up the limp body and moves him into the back to the stasis pod. Returning a few seconds later, he's got his EVA suit off and heads to the engineering console, pulling up diagnostics, to make sure everything is going to run fine. But this IS Medes' shuttle, so everything will be fine. Right?
Out the view port the rock turns and spins from view as Thea pulls away at best possible speed, and as the Amazon jumps immediately to warp the 2nd Imperium is left behind where it belongs, in memory.
Flight Commander's Log Supplemental: Lt. Havaris Medes Kusto, USS Amazon
We are currently speeding at warp six for 419, our only medical stasis bed occupied by Ensign Absyn who, regrettably, may earn a Combat Medal for his actions on the ground. While it's not my place to speak the merits of the Away Team, I will simply say that I am alive at this moment, entering this mission log, because I could count on four of my team to perform their tasks. Whatever those tasks happened to be.
Mister Absyn is regrettably detained because I couldn't count on lucky number six.
We've planted claim buoys on the surface and added a big loud warning beacon into the mix to get the point across. We had been worried that claim jumpers or criminals might enter into that rock and rape it for its archaeological artifacts.
At present, I'm relieved that I didn't become one myself.
Mission: Accomplished.
