Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Jul 20, 2018 1:09:29 GMT
Izzy managed a small laugh, despite the pain. “If we’re gonna have matching scars.. might as well have matching tattoos too.”
She grimaced as he went over the burn on her back with the protoplaser, distracting herself by looking around the room, trying to make sense of it. The pinkish white color of the walls was surprisingly soothing, yet completely out of place compared to the dark foreboding architecture present everywhere else in the Forge.
"It's weirdly.. normal.." she remarked. "As if.. you're not supposed to suspect what's in the rest of this place.."
“Where do the stairs go?” she asked. “We can’t be very far from the entrance, can we?”
"Commemorating the Battle of the Forge..." Soule continued going over the burn, being surprisingly delicate; more at ease now that she was able to laugh.
"If anything gets said about this place afterward..." Lynch started, as usual. "Then I will have to kill you both."
It was in that instant, as Lynch turned to threaten Soule and Izzy, Groll took his moment; powering his fist into Lynch's face, throwing him into the wall behind him.
"That is for threatening to kill me earlier." The Breen quipped, calmly sitting back down with Tholl; Lynch looking back with a bloodied nose, and daggers in his eyes.
"Thank you Groll..." Soule nodded, turning back to Izzy after the commotion. "I'm not actually sure... what this place is.... Zig, what do you see in the schematics?"
"Nothing... the door is on the plans... and it's only so big, because there are corridors around it... but this place is blank. It simply says the Command centre, the holocore and main power generator are here." Zigzy replied.
"Which is where?" Soule asked pressingly.
Zig shrugged, unable to give him a good answer, but looking up the stairs. "Don't think the power is up there somehow."
"So, the CC and holocore upstairs. And the power..." He looked through the foyer just down corridor. "We needa go up first..."
“I knew.. I shoulda dropped him back in the ‘lift...” Izzy grumbled, glaring at Lynch from the shelter of Soule’s arms. “Thanks, Groll.” She relaxed against Soule's shoulder, letting him work. The meds kicking in had begun to make her woozy also, and she closed her eyes for another few moments, opening them again when he seemed to come to a stopping point.
“..how's it looking, love? Am I patched up?”
"Almost... done." Soule breathed easy, kissing her on the head. "I think you're going to be ok." He gently helped her replace her armour, throwing a glare of his own at Lynch as he did. "Don't feel too bad... I shoulda dropped him when I first met him. Hindsight's a bitch, but then I suppose we wouldn't be here now, without him."
"Zig, how long will that door last?"
"Longer than the last one." Zig sighed. "Kim's the materials man... but I'd give us an hour at best. I mean... they can bring the stuff in."
"Ok... Klara, Zig, Vitro, you go up one side. Lynch... you go with the Twins up the other." Soule ordered, confidently. "Izzy... I want you to stay here with the holograms, keep Kim safe."
"Why do we have to stay down here?" Volcarn roared.
"Because he can't talk..." Soule pointed at Fa'mor. "I don't understand him..." Then to Gr'nx'ygt. "And you... are injured."
"I can still fight!"
"Maybe... which is why you'll be guarding the door, and roaring like you do if trouble comes." Soule then smiled at the Cardassian. "And I have a feeling, that she can help Izzy; perfect bedside manner for a doctor."
"Th...th... thank you...." Sinkat blushed a grey-violet hue.
"And what are you gonna do Douglas?" Lynch sneered.
"I'm gonna be watching you..."
“Understood.” Izzy nodded to Soule, feeling both relieved for not having to go through another fight, and trepidation; she still didn’t trust Lynch as far as she could kick him.. Which right now, would be about half an inch, if she was lucky. She got to her feet with a groan, still feeling as if she’d been run over by a pack of targs. Even if she’d tried to go with the others, she wasn’t sure if she’d have made it up the stairs, and she’d only slow them down.
“I’ll take care of Kim. I love you, stay safe..” she took Soule’s hand and squeezed it, giving him a brief kiss before letting him go.
"I love you too..." He closed his eyes as he savoured her kiss, before swinging his helmet back on and staring down Lynch. "Get up the stairs Lynch."
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Jul 21, 2018 5:40:31 GMT
Lynch glared back, wiping away the blood on his nose. "Sure thing..." He simmered beneath the calm tone of his voice, turning around and walking up the stairs first, his jaw clenched as he stepped up.
Soon following suite, the others started making their way up the staircases; quickly discovering they both did lead to different places. They both had two small passageways, leading to rooms at the end; the doors shifting vertically, in multiple pieces as each group approached respectively.
Zigzy's side found a nicely furnished room, with consoles and holographic displays. "Now, this, must be the command centre." His mood perked up.
"I'm taking it, that you can work some magic." Klara asked, almost afraid of his answer.
"This place is pristine... the overload evidently didn't make it through here..." He mosied up to one of the consoles and started accessing it; it had heavy encryption, which was to be expected, but had more of this Dewan code than he'd seen yet. "This... might take some time."
Meanwhile, Soule's group found four of main computer cores, fitted into the small space. "Well then..." He took out his tricorder, and started scanning them. "One of these is the holocore..."
"How will you know?" Groll asked.
"Holographic programs have high density data clusters; with the physical and psychographic information, a large group of them together would stand out."
"Could we not just rip them all out." Lynch queried.
"I wouldn't... no telling what would happen in this place if we did... and we still have to check out the power core." Soule shrugged. "I'd really hate for it to lose whatever shielding it has... and... explode."
Lynch suddenly went quiet at the thought, not having his usual aggressive retort or witty comeback. "How long will it take to remove once you find it?"
Soule started to smile, pointing at the one furthest from them; rushing up and kneeling down beside it. "There's a bunch of connections.. but not long. Moving it will be a problem."
"We'll grab it." Groll stated. "As long as you hold onto my new gun."
"Who's we?" Tholl protested.
"Thank you, Groll. I will." Soule got to work. "You may wanna step outside... it's hot in here...."
Izzy watched them go up, trying to quell her anxiety about what they might run into up there as they went out of sight. Then she turned back to Kimpor, easing herself painfully down to the floor next to him. "Kim.. I'm going to close up these wounds now, alright? You're gonna be ok."
“Sinkat, can you please set up the sterile field?” She indicated the device that she’d used earlier in Groll’s surgery. While Sinkat was doing that, she removed her armoured gloves and replaced them with surgical ones after running her hands through another small device to sterilise them. She carefully removed Kimpor’s armour again so she could work, and then the dermaline patch, setting it aside, revealing the blackened and raw wound underneath. “Ok, good... now hand me the protoplaser..”
"Y...Yes doctor." Sinkat nodded, passing Izzy the protoplaser, and opening up the tricorder and scanning him. "I've... never done this... before..." She scratched at her neck ridges again, nervously fidgeting at the tricorder bleeped in her hand. "Is he going to be ok?"
As she went over the wounds with the protoplaser, Isabelle watched the tricorder readouts whilst the cardassian hologram held it up, in lieu of a surgical console that she normally would have access to. “You’re doing fine. His vitals are stable enough for the time being; if something goes wrong, an alarm will beep. Just.. keep holding it up like that so I can see..” she smiled at Sinkat. “The protoplaser regenerates damaged tissues.. like in this burn” she added, helping her understand what was happening. “It’s a little like Volcarn’s arm, only I can’t replace an entire limb this way..” She looked over briefly, seeing that the injured tzenk’s arm was slowly growing back again.
"Ok." Sinkat nodded along, absorbing what Izzy was telling her, finding watching her work on Kimpor fascinating. She tilted her head, looking closer at the wound, surprised by how messy it all looked. "And all organics are like this? Squishy and watery on the inside?"
"What's wrong Cardassian?" Volcarn managed to roar, even when he wasn't angered. "Getting squeemish?"
Fa'mor slapped at the Tzenkethi, instructing him to be quiet; before making some signs at him, as he pressed his ear up against the door.
"What noises?"
The Reman had a pensive look on his face, as he tried to filter out his friend, replying with his signs again.
““Mostly..” Izzy nodded, thinking of Groll’s emergency surgery, deciding that the Breen were not so much watery, as slushy.
She continued with repairing the Rigellian’s wounds layer by layer, with an occasional glance at the tricorder readings, having to force herself to stay focused; as she tried not to let her thoughts wander to what might be going on up the stairs.
"How does it all... stay in and working..." Sinkat sounded confused, yet engrossed; like a child.
There was a loud ding at the door, Fa'mor jumping back with a startle, cradling his ringing ear; whilst he signed frantically in one hand.
"W...what was that?" Sinkat shook nervously.
"He says... they're trying to get in. They were shooting at it, but he thinks that might have been an antimatter charge..." The Tzenkethi stared at the Cardassian for a moment, grumbling, before feeling guilty, and relenting a little bit with a sigh. "But he said it'll take them a long time at this rate."
Sinkat let out a sigh of relief, looking back to Izzy as she continued operating on Kimpor, finding the blood and viscera more comfortable the more she watched it.
““It.. um..” Izzy glanced in alarm at the noise at the door.. “It stays in because the tissue’s all connected together, basically.. “ She turned again, at the exchange of dialogue between Sinkat and Volcarn. “They’re.. They’re coming through the door?” She didn’t want to hurry what she was doing, but forced herself to remain steady..wincing in pain from time to time as as she tensed involuntarily from the stress of wondering if they'd be attacked again soon. Kim’s main wound was almost halfway closed up by now. “I just hope they hold off long enough for me to finish this...”
Meanwhile, back in the command centre, Zigzy slaved away decrypting this computer code. He took his helmet, placing it on the console next to him, wiping away at sweat around his mouth.
"How's it coming Zig...?" Klara asked, not wanting to rush him, but really wanting him to hurry up. "Oh I'm sorry... do you read Dewan... cuz I don't." He huffed. "I at least get languages in general, and you shoot things in the face." She pointed her rifle at him. "Your right, I do." "Do it bitch! I dare you. Do it! Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it...." Zig turned, staring down the barrel.
"You are definitely friends of Soule's." Vitro stated in bemusement. "Weeellll..." They both replied, getting back to what they were previously doing. "Maybe after this." Klara said, going to pace around the room. "We just kinda knew him, beforehand." "I got drunk with him, a few times." Zigzy added. "Klara's his... godsister's best friend?" He looked up from the console for Klara's nod, before continuing. "And Kimpor was one of his classmates."
"Then who is that Lynch? And why the Breen?" Vitro asked curiously "I think the Twins actually are old friends of Soule's." Klara answered. "And just... don’t ask about Lynch." "Yeah... don't trust him either." Zigzy added. "Those Breen, totally cool so far; Lynch... fuckin' prick."
As Klara paced around looking at the consoles and holographic displays, she decided to call in what they've found. "Soule... we found the command centre, and Zigzy is taking his sweet time accessing it." The comm was static. "Doctor...? Annie...?" She paused. "Oh no Zig... the comms are being jammed..."
"Interference..." Vitro stated. "They used to complain about it alot. From whatever the power source is. And I believe the walls dampen them as well."
"I'm gonna go tell Soule what we found... you two... don’t break anything but that code." Klara ordered, before dashing out.
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Jul 21, 2018 23:41:41 GMT
Izzy kept on going over Kim’s wounds, the clock ticking down. She startled more than once as the noises at the door continued with increasing regularity. His vitals appeared to be dipping; his heart rate was slower than normal; his blood pressure still lower than she would have liked. He remained on the bare edge of consciousness, occasionally letting out a weak grimace or groan.
“Sinkat, five more milligrams Lectrazine.. The dosage meter is on the side.. There.” she indicated a small indicator on the hypospray.
“Almost done. I just need.. maybe ten more minutes.” She gave an anxious glance to the door and continued the last few passes of regenerating the main wound, which was now less of a hole and more of a concave dip in the surface of the skin.
"On it, doctor." Sinkat almost cheerfully obliged, readying the hypospray for Izzy. "5 milligrams... lectrazine." "Thank you Sinkat," she smiled at the Cardassian in gratitude.
Klara rushed down they stairs, jumping down the last few steps. "Hey doc, bad news, no comms." She dashed passed and up the other set of stairs. As she reached the top, she met the Twins pacing around the passageway, waiting for Soule's signal. "So... you guys found something then?"
They simply pointed to the door.
Soule was carefully removing connections from the holocore when she entered, surrounded by isolinear chips and fragments of bits he'd already removed, Lynch leaning against the wall opposite him. "Having fun Soule?"
"Oodles..." A small EPS line sparked. "This thing is so integrated... nearly got it though, after these next few bits. Last thing will be disconnecting it from the mains..." "And if he fucks it up, he'll be barbied." Lynch quipped. "No pressure."
"Thanks..." Soule growled, removing another thing. "So you found the command centre?"
"Yeah, and when your done pissballing around, he could use your help. Oh, and interference has disabled our communications." "Oh... shit.... that means we can't reach Annie." Soule replied, less than happy.
"That means no beam out... right?"
Soule sighed. "I'll be finished here in five, one way or the other... then I'll be there." "But how are we gonna get out if..."
"Maybe the command centre has something... five minutes..." Soule snapped, desperate as he had tried not to. "Okay?" "Ok... hope you don't snap at Izzy like that." She plodded back off, out door again.
Meanwhile, Izzy was fervently focusing on closing the last epidermal layer. She almost missed Klara’s dash down the stairs to deliver her message.. Klara was halfway upstairs again when what she said finally filtered through Izzy’s ears. As the protoplaser finished doing its job, she straightened up with another grimace and glanced to the others for confirmation of what she thought she’d heard. “..What? Did she say comms are out? That’s.. no good.”
She shifted herself exhaustedly over to the wall, leaning against it, her sore muscles and bruises loudly complaining at being sat crouched for so long. “..Done.” she nodded to Sinkat.
"I hope things are going ok up there."
Sinkat continued to crouch over Kimpor, stroking the side of his face gently, as he rolled his head, looking surprisingly peaceful. "So do I." She said sadly.
Klara suddenly stomped back down the stairs, huffing as she did. "Your husband!" She looked over at Izzy. "Snapping at me." She started to walk back up the other set of stairs to the command centre, being met by Vitro rushing down.
"We got through!" He said excitedly. "Mr Zigzy is currently trying to reprogram the defensive systems..."
Izzy’s gaze followed Klara back up the stairs with a bewildered expression. “oookay.. Why would he...?” She got interrupted from asking what happened when Vee came bounding down the stairs, and huffed a sigh of relief at his report. That at least sounded positive. “That’s good to hear, Vee.” She gave him a tired but relieved smile. At that instant, another loud dinging sound came from the door, causing her to jerk her head in that direction. “They’re trying to get through,” she called up to him. “I don’t know how much longer it’s going to take them..”
At the same time, Kim groaned, seeming to wake up a little bit more, perhaps aware of some of what was going on. “We’ll get through this...” she tried to reassure him.
Vitro smiled back at Izzy, then looked back to Klara. "Has Soule secured the Holocore?"
"Nearly... few more things to disconnect, then he can get it moving. Zig has access to the defensive systems?" Klara looked down the corridor, anxious to find out what’s down there, and finally get out of here.
Vitro nodded. "But, he says someone else is tapped into the system, possibly on one of the ships in orbit; they're resisting his attempts. He fears they may be able to lock out access to the orbital platforms..."
A loud bang echoed above, Fa'mor waving as he heard Section 31 stop their activity at the same time. "Raised voices, some phaser blasts, and some thuds." He signed. Then the sound of dings at the door livened up.
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Post by spacedaisy on Jul 21, 2018 23:59:17 GMT
It’s so intense! What is happening?!
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Jul 23, 2018 20:14:41 GMT
Moments later, Soule plodded down the stairs, looking slightly dazed; with the Twins following behind, carrying the holocore.
"What was that bang? Klara gazed over at him, as Lynch started coming down, a fresh char mark on his back.
"An energy discharge... its fine..." He replied sheepishly. "Take me to Zig."
“I.. take it you're ok..?” Izzy asked, curiously looking Soule over, relieved that he seemed fine. She instinctively held her breath as the dings got louder, while casting an eye around for her rifle, not remembering if she’d dropped in the corridor; but she didn't see it anywhere... “Vee, did you say someone was tapped into the system? Do you know anything about an 010?”
Soule gave Izzy a nod, the stress and exhaustion starting to finally show in his eyes, before walking up to the command centre.
Vitro watched Soule go by, frowning, uncomfortable seeing Soule like that, before turning to answer Izzy. "I do not believe I am familiar with that term." He pondered, definitely not recalling any mention of 010. "What does it mean?"
“We were attacked by a Borg drone in the weapons bay. And when Soule removed its neural processor and they decrypted the data, one of the Borg’s directives was..” she stopped short, realising that Lynch was paused on the stairs, listening to them.
"No no... go on... don't mind me..." Lynch glared at Izzy, then to the hologram.
Vitro defensively stood between Izzy and Lynch, scowling back at him. "What was the Borg's directive?" He asked Izzy again.
Izzy eyed Lynch cautiously, not liking the cold glare he was giving them. "I.. " she sighed, looking to Vitro. "I'm sorry, I um.. I misspoke. I’m not allowed to know anything about that..” her eyes flickered back to Lynch.
Then they narrowed, and a flush of anger showed in her face that she'd been bottling back the entire time they were here. She was getting tired of his outbursts, and snide remarks, and threats that Lynch had made so far to Soule and herself and the others, and the death threat he’d made earlier was last straw.
“Even though we have nearly died trying to get to you, and knowing that one thing might just help us solve how to get out of here faster..” she glared at Lynch openly now, no longer caring if she angered him or not. "But it's classified.." she hissed up at Lynch, and then turned back to Vitro. "I'm sorry, Vee. I guess we'll just have to find out the hard way, what the Borg were protecting.."
"I understand." Vitro gave her a reassuring smile. "He is Starfleet Intelligence of some kind, and he is withholding information."
"See the hologram gets it..." Lynch sneered.
"However, I could tear his arms off, in a effort to loosen his tongue, if you would not mind putting him back together again, Isabelle." Vitro retorted instantly, with a serious look on his face.
Isabelle glared up at Lynch again, on the very edge of seriously considering it... before finally shaking her head. “No, Vee. As much as that sounds tempting.. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.. Not even him..” she replied, slumping wearily against the wall again. “Besides,” she grimaced, shifting her back away from the wall where her bruised ribs were touching. “Annie also didn’t want us to talk about that, so it must be serious. And I respect her...” she explained to Vitro.
“Sinkat, please go ahead and take down the sterile field and put away the equipment. I've done as much as I can right now. Now, we wait..” she sighed wearily.
Vitro relented, but still held his defensive position, between Izzy and Lynch; staring him down, silently. Lynch returning the favour with a glare of entirely unveiled contempt.
"Yes, Doctor." Sinkat replied, not engaging with the heavier conversation going on around her, whilst she quickly tidied up the medical equipment; something she was finding calming amidst all the chaos.
Back upstairs, Soule rocked up beside Zigzy, looking over his shoulder at the display. "What have you got Zig?"
"I've gained partial access to the planetary defence systems... but someone else is also in, from the looks of it, hard access on one of the orbital platforms." Zigzy replied, not having the time to look to Soule.
"What do you need you need me to do?" Soule asked, pulling up the seat, and getting to work at the console next to him. "I can't stop them from taking control of that one... but you can slow them down... whilst I try to get a strongest hold on the others." Zigzy typed away. "On it..." Soule replied, seeing the platform he was talking about; setting about to slow the enemy in orbit down. A task much harder than it sounds. "I don't think I'll be able to hold 'em for long."
"You can't." Zigzy said honestly. "Neither could I, but I can do something useful, whilst you give them the runaround." "Like what?" "Like..." Zigzy smiled. "Get a weapons lock on them." He looked to Soule. "With platform Zeta."
Soule looked back, some the weight being lifted from his eyes. "Fire.."
High above in orbit, the weapons platform powered up, rotating in its relative position in space, and fired a barrage of torpedoes at one the Galaxy class lead ships. Five quantums slammed into the starboard side of the ship, dealing devastating damage, before the fleet were able to react; taking out some of the other oncoming torpedoes, and making a run at the platform. Within moments, the Defiants had begun swarm tactics, targeting the platform from all sides.
"The platform won't last much longer..." Zigzy stated, trying to access one of the others. "Target the defiants, then set the platform to overload; and move onto another one." Soule ordered, as he lost control of his platform.
Its targeting systems had been damaged in the first few volleys, but it could still fire blindly; hitting one of the defiants in it's impulse drive, throwing the ship wildly off course and into the platform; tearing the ship in half. Heavily damaged and losing orientation thrusters, the platform spun out of control, before it's core overloaded, and the device detonated in a blinding light. The shock wave taking out another defiant, and damaging two more.
Back below the surface, behind the Command centre door, the little group anxiously stood their ground as the 31’s attempted to break in. Ding…The door shuddered....Ding…It shuddered again.…...Ding…The explosions were occurring with increasing frequency each time. With each explosion, Izzy held her breath, looking to the Tzenkethi and Reman as they trained their weapons on the door.
Boom. The door shuddered again, dust coming down from the top of the doorway, a crack starting to form. She gulped and slowly reached down to her thigh, unstrapping her mek’leth, and gripped its well-worn handle tightly in her hand, and looked to Vitro. ”Vee.. Be ready.”
"Indeed..." Vitro replied, turning to face the door; raising his rifle.
With everyone distracted with the door, Lynch took his moment to duck away from the group, moving silently down the corridor and into the foyer.
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Post by spacedaisy on Jul 23, 2018 21:15:20 GMT
Now what is Lynch up to? Ahhhh... you guys are killing me.
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Post by Einar on Jul 24, 2018 11:58:03 GMT
haha agreed, go on!
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Jul 25, 2018 2:50:30 GMT
Meanwhile back upstairs, Soule and Zigzy were still working away at the defence platforms. "Accessing platforms Beta and Delta..." Zigzy said. "That's good... I'm about to lose control of Gamma." Soule replied. "Lost it..." "Damn..." Zig huffed at the news, but smiled in return. "I'm in... targetting platform Gamma... firing."
The two newly controlled platforms powered up like the first, firing on the Platform Gamma; which in turn returned fire on them, before the fleet joined in. With two platforms, section 31 was having a harder time destroying them outright like they had the first, but they were taking heavy damage nonetheless; slowly buckling under the increasing pressure. Within a few minutes, Gamma had been disabled and a number of defiants and an akira had been destroyed, with several more being damaged; before Beta and Delta finally gave way and exploded.
"There goes another three..." Zigzy chuckled. "What are you working on, now?" "Looking for the base commander's logs."
That moment Klara's voice echoed up the stairs. "Where the fuck is Lynch!"
Izzy shot a glance up to Klara. “Oh shit..” Another Boom and another shudder with more dust falling down, this time with chunks of stone. “Umm.. Sinkat. Grab that tricorder and scan for lifesigns. Anyone moving away from this area..”
Sinkat pulled out the tricorder, and started scanning. "There appears to be one lifesign down the corridor, Doctor..."
"SOULE!" Klara screamed up, as the groups attention was split between the missing Lynch and the door that was starting to disintergrate.
Soule and Zigzy shared a look of shock, before Soule stood up and sprinted for the door. "Zig, you know what to do..." "Aye... those weapons platforms aren't gonna last long at this rate... once they fall I'll get on the..." Zig paused realising Soule was now out of earshot. "...Facility logs..."
Soule jumped down the stairs, surveying the scene. "Where is he?"
“Down the corridor.” Izzy replied without looking, busy staring towards the door. She tensed, bracing herself against the wall, still gripping her mek’leth; the door gave another shudder, and the walls shook.
Soule sprinted down the corridor in pursuit. "LYNCH!"
He wasn't in the foyer long, unable to notice how it continued the strange architecture, only with an enhanced, ethereal quality to the lighting. Beyond, there was a spiralling ramp leading downwards, curving around underneath the foyer. As he came to the bottom, he raised his rifle, walking out into a cavernous room; Lynch standing there in the middle, staring ahead.
"Lynch!" Soule armed the phaser rifle.
Lynch just turned, shook his head, and looked back to what was before them.
Soule's jaw dropped, his eyes widening, and he lowered his weapon again; in shock at what he was seeing. "That's... that's not possible."
"Yes... yes it is..." Lynch replied.
"But... they weren't... they were a myth!" Soule staggered, rocking up beside Lynch.
"And now you know... why this place has to be destroyed at all costs."
"An Iconian gateway..." Soule croaked.
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Post by spacedaisy on Jul 25, 2018 4:06:14 GMT
Whaaaaaat...
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Aug 11, 2018 4:47:56 GMT
Boom.. The weakened door shuddered and buckled. Another chunk of stone fell from the lintel, and the pillar on the left side lost a piece from the top of its column.
“Vee…We’re gonna have to retreat!” Izzy looked to Vitro, her eyes wide; fear apparent in her voice. “We can’t go through another one of these battles..”
Vitro quickly rushed to Kimpor's side, throwing the Rigellian's arm over his shoulder, and hoisting him into the air. "Where to?"
"Down the corridor after Soule and Issac...." Klara said, panic starting to set into her voice. "ZIGZY..." She shouted up, getting no reply. "I'll go get him. Doctor, you and Vitro get down there after those two with the holograms..."
"We'll hold this position." Tholl stated, kneeling down with Groll beside the stairs. "I'll take this..." Volcarn added, standing up, and taking the holocore; Gr'nx'ygt and Fa'mor falling in line with him, willing to guard the device with their lives. "Go." Klara finished, running up the stairs.
"Zigzy..." She shouted again, running into the command centre. "We have to go..." "I don't have control of all the defence platforms yet..." He replied, feeling rushed. "Zig... if you don't stop now, we are never leaving this place... the door is about to give." "Shiiiit...." He slammed his fist into the console, before standing up. "Lead the way... just... " He started walking away from the console. "Wait...!!!"
He ran back, kneeling down at the console, removing a panel and placing his tricorder inside. "Gimmie your tricorder..." "Why!?" Klara shifted uneasily, looking at the door. "Damn it woman... just give it to me."
As she cautiously removed her tricorder, he quickly snatched it away, entering a few commands into it and closing up the panel. "I might be able to continue working on their systems, whilst we move." "But the interference..." "Point to point transmission... instead of a broad spectrum... might be enough..."
"So are you done?" Klara grumbled exasperatedly. "Done...." Zigzy replied, finally getting a move on.
Meanwhile, Soule and Lynch stared at the gateway before them. "How... how is it here...?" Soule asked, astounded. "I don't know." Lynch replied. "But that's 010...?" "Nope..." Lynch craned his neck upwards. "That... is 010..."
Above them, was an eerie greenish blue light, made up of rings of particles, spinning together like gyroscopes, pulsating a strange energy. "The most dangerous substance in the universe..."
"What is it, Lynch?" Soule asked, exhausted with the secrets and the lies.
"I can't tell you Soule..." Lynch's eyes met Soule's. "I can't. The very fact that you are gazing upon it, would normally be enough to have you, me and everyone else on the team, arrested without trial. This... this is Starfleet's dirty secret. Something the Borg worship as a god... their very definition of perfection." He ran his hand through his hair. "You'll find out one day when you're a captain... you will... but until then... I need you to trust me for once Soule, we have to destroy it... maybe the entire planet."
Back in the main room, Isabelle gave Klara a quick nod, not wasting any time in hauling herself to her feet, casting an eye to the door. More stone crumbled from around the frame and the adjacent ceiling. She grunted as she stood, needing to lean against the wall for a moment. “Sinkat..” she panted. “Get my kit please. I can’t take the extra weight right now...” She paused a moment to make sure everyone else was following, and stumbled down the corridor behind Vitro.
"How the hell do we do we blow up a planet?" Soule asked, seriously not knowing the answer.
Issac stared up; himself finding the answers difficult to come by. "There'd normally be a specially trained team sent to deal with something like this... well two teams... we've never found this with Iconian technology before..." He wiped at his mouth. "We need a gravimetric torpedo... the explosion will be massive, but it wont destabilise subspace."
"But we don’t have a gravimetric torpedo." Soule replied, desperation in his voice. "But Annie can make one, out of one of our photon torpedoes." The agent nodded. "It's a synch." "And how do we get it down here?"
Issac looked over at the gateway again. "You like a challenge don't you..." Soule joined Issac's gaze, shaking his head. "There's no fucking way..."
Back above, the group were falling back into the Foyer; the door behind them at it's structural limit. "Keep going!" Volcarn shouted at the group, as he, Gr'nx'ygt and Fa'mor took up defensive positions at the top of the long winding ramp down.
Izzy limped her way down the long spiral ramp as quickly as she could, following the others to the bottom, finally reaching the cavernous room. She saw the gateway first, and stopped, staring in awe at it. Then she saw Soule and Lynch standing in the middle of the cavern, also staring upwards. She followed their gaze, her jaw dropping open, the eerie green glow of the gyroscoping particles reflected in her helmet’s faceplate and in her eyes.
“Soule.. What is that? What am I looking at….?”
Soule reacted with a startle, looking at Izzy speechlessly, as he tried to find an answer; settling on an inappropriate chuckle, before breaking into a rapturous laugh.
"Dude..." Issac blinked, not expecting that at all. "What... the fuck? This is not the time for you to lose your marbles."
"It’s just..." Soule continued to laugh, literally creasing over. "The fucking absurdity of it all..." He coughed, clearing his throat as he straightened himself out. "Section 31, the Borg, an Iconian gateway... whatever the fuck that is." He pointed up.
"It doesn't matter." He approached Izzy, gently taking her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. "We're gonna destroy it, no matter what it is."
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Mar 13, 2019 23:08:19 GMT
Klara and the others soon joined them in the gate room, all looking at the gate itself, before their gaze was directed upwards; all shouting their own questions and shocked expletives.
"Alright... only gonna say this once." Soule spoke above the rabble, squeezing Izzy's hand. "We need to get the gateway open, we need to regain contact with Annie, and we need to hold Section 31 long enough for us to do that." He gave a final glance up. "And that up there... is our target. It must be destroyed at all costs before we leave. Anymore questions?"
Klara, the Twins and Vitro simply nodded, turning back to the ramp to hold the position as long as possible with the other three; Vitro stopping to put Kimpor and the holocore down, leaving them in Izzy and Sinkat's hands again.
"I guess I'll try to crack... Iconian..." Zigzy scarpered off to the gate. "Yaaaay...."
"I'll try and get Annie." Lynch walked of to the bottom of the ramp, pulling out his tricorder.
"And I need you to keep Kimpor and yourself alive." Soule told Izzy, sighing wearily.
Izzy gazed upwards again, just staring at the greenish blue light before finally replying. “Huh. So.. that is somehow important enough for section 31 and Lynch to kill us over? I see...” A smirk started to form, which turned into a mirthful grin, Soule’s reaction becoming contagious. ”And that’s what the borg wanted to protect. And we’re going to destroy…”
A giggle started to build in her chest, then she stopped abruptly when she took a sharp inhale to laugh.”Oww.. Fuck.” She looked back up the ramp, muffled sounds of bootsteps and weapons fire coming from somewhere above, a reminder that the battle was not quite over yet.
“I’ll do my best, love. We won’t die if I can help it.” She gripped Soule’s hand for support, gingerly lowering herself to the ground near Kimpor, who was still wavering between states of consciousness, completely unaware of the gate and the deadly energies that swirled above them.
Soule walked over to Zigzy, as the pair of them went over the strange spherical monitor and alien keys; scanning it with their tricorders, desperately trying to decipher it.
"If this thing could be activated, I'm pretty sure Section 31 woulda cracked it by now." Zigzy quipped.
"Who says they haven't... they're always getting around places without explanation, showing up when you least expect them." Soule replied, typing away at his tricorder.
"That... would explain a few things." Zigzy paused typing away, and analysing the data coming back, before grunting. "Oh fuck it...!"
Zigzy pocketed his tricorder, and just went for it, using his intuition to access to the console; pressing a green cube, a yellow cross and a red pyramid, before a set of buttons with shafts and incrementally increasing strikes and dashes.
"Zigzy what the fuck are you doing?" Soule shouted. "Uhhhhmmm..." He paused again, peering at Soule's tricorder for a second. "I think I dialled up some coordinates. Oh... wait..." He then pushed a blue bird shaped icon, a red spear, and the green cube again. "That shoulda worked..."
"So perhaps we actually should do it scientifically." Soule quipped.
Suddenly the device exploded into life; energy discharges firing from the ceiling onto the gateway's supporting, arcing around to the centre of the aperture. A sphere of energy formed, collapsing in on itself, sending out a pulse once it reach critical mass; the force of the pulse throwing Soule and Zigzy back ten feet and to the ground.
"Owww..." Soule groaned. "Duuuuuuude." Zig rested his head on the floor. "Not cool."
Soule managed to sit up, really feeling shaken up by the impact, before seeing the shimmer ahead of him. "No fuckin' way."
"What happened? Zig groaned. "Did it work?"
"Yeah..."
An explosion could be heard overhead, before volleys of weapons fire and the thunder of a Tzenkethi's roar.
"Get the fuck up Zigelmann!" Lynch shouted back at them, before running up the ramp.
"Come on Zig!" Soule limped up to the console. "Now we have to figure out where the fuck it's going."
"Oh will this day never end!" Zig rolled over, and pushed himself up, before joining Soule again, pulling his tricorder back out. "Reading a Y-class atmosphere."
"Not there then..." Soule pushed a few buttons, and the portal face changed; the sight of gunfire plain to see to the pair.
"Thats... fucking... upstairs... give it to me." Zigzy took over.
Meanwhile, the firefight was heavily underway. Volcarn stood acting as a shield for Fa'mor and Gr'nx'ygt crouched down behind him, whilst Vitro and Klara picked off specific targets peaking behind the cover of the wall.
The Xindi garbled something out, with the Reman signalling something out with one hand.
"What are they saying?" Klara yelled over the gunfire. "They say something is up." Vitro answered, tilting his head toward the Risan. "People are fucking shooting at us. What could be more up than that?"
The Tzenkthi roared. "Get down!" He grabbed the Reman and Xindi and jumped back, as an isomorphic charge passed through his head and detonated on the wall behind them, the holograms all falling to the gate room below. The force of the explosion shattering Klara's visor and throwing both her and Vitro against the wall.
Lynch running up the ramp with the Twins, staring in shock at the sight of the falling holograms. "That can't be good."
Isabelle huddled over Kimpor to protect him as the discharge from the gate hit them, throwing her sideways with a grunt. She picked herself up and turned around, staring in wonder at the world beyond. Hellish swirling yellowish clouds of gases floated over noxious looking pools of liquid in an unwelcoming rocky landscape; then the image flickered out as the scene shifted again.
Baaaooom! The gate room shuddered with the blast of the isomorphic charge. She didn’t get to see what the scene shifted to, her attention pulled to the sudden arrival of the holograms as they fell to the floor of the gate room like so much debris, followed by a cry of pain as Klara was thrown against the wall.
As the trio doubletimed it to the top of the ramp, Vitro was picking himself up. He fired down the corridor, as he crossed over the doorway to tend to Klara. She was bleary eyed, her face cut up, some of her armour plating ablated from the explosion. "Are you alright Klara?"
Just as a 31 operative was coming up behind the Hirogen, they were cut in half by the beam of Groll's weapon, as he moved up to take Vitro's previous position.
Vitro turned to Lynch, holding Klara as she flailed; trying to get herself back to action. "She has a concussion and lacerations on her face. We can't hold this position."
"Tholl... get her downstairs to the doctor. Hologram; you, me and the Breen are gonna hold this as long as we can." He fired down the corridor, crossing his fire with Groll's beam.
Tholl slung the Risan over his shoulder, firing a few shots as he backed away down the ramp again. "Don’t get blown up yourselves."
At the base of the ramp, the three holograms fizzled for a moment, before Volcarn planted his palm to the floor, stabilising himself with his signature roar. Fa'mor stared up at him, not looking so good, signing slowly.
"Yes... that hurt..." The Tzenkethi leapt some twenty foot into the air, scrambling up the ramp's railing, passing Tholl on his way down. "AND I WILL BREAK THEM!!!"
The Reman laid back, giving a thumbs up, signing something to Gr'nx'ygt. The Xindi hit itself in the head in response, finding its feet and picking the Reman up. The pair following behind the Breen as he rushed passed them and into the gateroom.
"Doctor." Tholl grumbled. "We have another patient." "Nooo... I can... still fight." Klara murmured in protest. The Xindi chirped at the Risan in response, collapsing with Fa'mor next to Sinkat.
"The Xindi says they cannot. They are holograms. You cannot." Tholl gently lowered Klara to the floor. "Doctor..." The Breen nodded to Izzy, then looked over at Soule and Zigzy working away. "You must inform him, that we cannot hold out for much longer."
Isabelle gave Tholl a quick nod, glancing beyond at the bursts of weapons fire that were getting closer. If the holograms couldn’t hold the line and there were no safe places beyond the gate, there was nowhere left to go.
“Just.. keep fighting. I’ll take care of her.” Isabelle knelt down next to Klara and loosened her helmet to get a better look at her injuries, then turned to Soule. “Hurry, Imzadi! They’re almost on us.”
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Apr 24, 2019 13:48:35 GMT
"Nope... nope... no... no... not that one... no..." Zigzy muttered as he just kept pushing buttons.
"Fucks sake Zig, stop skimming through the fucking channels! Its not a television." Soule shouted.
"I don’t know what that means... but I'm getting close. I can feel it..."
As various weird and wonderful looking places showed up on the portal, most of them were barren and hostile environments, almost certainly as bad as their current situation. "Wait... stop... go back two." Soule placed his hand on Zigzy's shoulder.
Doing as Soule asked, he flicked the portal two destinations back, then just stared at Douglas indignantly, the portal seeming to be in a low orbit of some planet. "That's space Soule, its not a way out."
"Yeah but look..." Soule titled his good eye at the image on the portal. "That's here... that's this planet."
Zigzy looked at the portal. "There's no way you can tell that... its a white ball. Those could be clouds, not snow."
"I'm telling you..." Soule typed at his tricorder. "Link your tricorder up to mine, I'm patching our comms into it." He stepped in front of the portal and threw the tricorder through, watching it float away into the empty vacuum of space. Then snatching the tricorder from Zig, he typed away before tapping his comm unit. "Annie... can you hear us... this is Soule."
Whilst Soule and Zigzy continued trying to find a way out, Izzy continued working feverishly to patch up Klara. Klara kept protesting, insisting she was ready to get up and fight, with Izzy impatiently responded more than once, “Just another couple of minutes and then you can get up.” In between, she looked anxiously between the gate and the fighting, desperately hoping whatever solution Soule had in mind was going to work.
There were some tense moments of static, before a friendly voice came back through. "Soule! Oh my god, I was getting worried. Why is your signal coming from orbit?"
"Long story Annie. Do you have those gravimetric charges Issac talked about? We're kinda in a bind here." Soule gasped briefly, before the sound of another explosion rocked the chamber. "Time is a factor."
"Ummm... yeah they're ready. Lynch read you in on what they're for?" She typed away at her console, trying to clear up interference she was picking up on their end; the bridge of the Argonaut suddenly being cast over with the symbol of Omega. Annie clearing her display, and gulping. "I can't beam you out from this range, and I doubt I'll go unnoticed picking you up from orbit.
"We can't go through the portal, too many injuries and compromised suits. Zigzy is getting close to locking in on somewhere planetside." Soule looked to Zig, hopefully. "Then fire back through the portal."
"Dude... I'm surprised our signal is getting through, let alone a torpedo." Zigzy was cut off, as a team of 31 operatives beamed into the gateroom, the visage of an Akira flying passed the portal.
In the split second it took the five man team to beam in, Soule had a knife in one, and shot another. As the other three turned to engage, Zigzy ran his hand over the console changing the destination the comm with Annie being severed. One of them turned to him with their raised weapon, only to be shot down by Soule, who was then on turn shot in the back, knocking him to the ground.
Izzy’s heart stopped, seeing Soule on the ground and the 31 operatives standing over him. She couldn’t move, huddling over Klara and Kimpor to offer whatever slim protection she could.
As the remaining two lined up their shots, to finish Soule and Zigzy off, a bolt from afar took care of one of them; as a Breen warrior charged them down, lighting the target up again multiple times. As the final operative moved to react, he was taken down by the crossfire of Zigzy, Tholl and Soule; who had managed to roll over and fire.
Soule growled, cradling his shoulder, scooting to his knees, before standing up. "Zig... you have to find somewhere."
"Atleast we can be beamed out..." Zigzy's hands shook. "I dont know if i can find somewhere useful... close... I can't do it Soule!"
Soule gritted his teeth, resting on Tholl's shoulder. "Yes you can. And as soon as you do, we're gonna use the emergency beacons to teleport out, and beam the torpedoes in." He straightened up, powering through the pain. "You've worked out how to flip the channels... we are so close. You can do it Zig."
Zigzy nodded and wiped at his brow, before typing at the Iconian console some more. "Soooo close..."
Tholl forcefully guided Soule in the direction of Izzy, pulling him along by the arm. "Doctor, Soule has been shot."
Soule shrugged off the Breen, and stared over the injured, then walked over and inspected the damaged holograms. "I'll be fine for a second love..." He muttered to Izzy, as he realised Gr'nx'ygt and Fa'mor were starting to decompile. "I'm going to deactivate them, put their emitters with the holocore."
As the Xindi and Reman, straining to look up at Soule, rolled on the floor. He knelt down beside them and enter a command into their belts. "We will wake you up again."
Fa'mor nodded as Gr'nx'ygt chirped, before they both dematerialised, their belts flopping to the floor,before Soule wrapped them around the holocore. He also removed something from his suit, before placing it too to the holocore.
At that moment, Lynch ran down the ramp; his eyes immediately training on Soule, before surveying the scene. "What the fuck happened here?"
"We had visitors... Annie called... we had a picnic..." Soule replied in a sardonic tone, before kneeling down in front of Izzy; hoping she has a quick patch for him. "Zigzy almost has it, and we're gonna need everyone in the same place for beam out."
"What about the charges?"
"How do you think those fucker's got in." Soule nodded to the five downed 31 agents near the gate.
"Well, that's fortuitous then, because we cant hold the ramp any longer. They've moved portable forcefield generators into place." Lynch then produced a commbadge. "Someone also threw us this."
"They want to talk?" Soule looked back to Izzy, hoping to hear what she has to say on this.
Issac shrugged as he waited for Douglas's decision. "We've made alot of noise, and they're hoping we dont have an ace in the hole." He blinked.
Izzy glanced between Issac and Soule, pulling aside the damaged armor around Soule’s shoulder injury and knitting together the damaged tissue. Then she closed up the wound and gave him a quick hypo for the pain. “It’s not perfect, it really needed a skin graft, but it’s the best I’m going to be able to do right now. I’m just glad you’re alive.” she said, pressing her forehead to his and closing her eyes momentarily.
“Issac,” she asked. “Why should we talk to them? We’ve got what we came here for and we’re almost out, at least I hope we are.” She worriedly glanced back towards the gate, scenes still flickering past as Zigzy tried different combinations. ”You even have a plan for destroying whatever that is up there.” she pointed up. “It’s not as if we need to do alot of negotiating...”
Soule threw Izzy a quick smile for reassurance, before squinting at Issac and sighing. "Showmanship? You wanna take the call for some theatrics, to stall them a little longer."
"Honestly Douglas... the Holograms are getting fucked up, we got two team members down, one in critical condition, and a Breen with a severe head wound and a cutting beam thats running low on juice. Our armour is battered and burnt, we have no heavy ordinance left, and all of our weapons are either running out of ammo, or the shit beating we've been taking has taken it's toll on them. Unless Zigellman gets us a way out now, they're gonna overrun us." Lynch shrugged again. "Your call. Just don't let them get inside your head."
Soule looked between Lynch and Izzy again, clearing his throat, before taking the commbadge and squeezing it with his thumb. "Speak." He said in said in an uncharacteristically authoritative tone.
A laugh came through the badge. "Lieutenant Douglas, I take it. No, wait... your file says you like Leftenant." A chuckle. "Quite the contrarian, thinking your part of some imaginary counter culture, straying from the flock. Mary, Mary quite contrary. How does your garden grow?"
Soule looked to Lynch, who simply shook his head; his face becoming paler, and his mouth a gasp. "Who is this?"
"Oh, you should ask Issac. I know he's there... looming in the forest of the night, waiting to strike, like a tyger tyger burning bright." Another disconcerting laugh. "You should probably just let us big boys talk amongst ourselves, Douglas. Remember your place in society, as a halfbreed mongrol."
Something in Soule's chest tightened, as he heard words he had only heard from one person in his life; his grandmother Djinni, but they were coming from someone elses mouth. He looked to Lynch, who's face was suddenly red with an inner fire, shaking his head at Soule, and gently taking the commbadge from him.
As the oily, chilling voice oozed from the commbadge, Izzy began to lose whatever hope she had left. Lynch’s assessment of the situation didn’t help. Whatever ground they had managed to gain, seemed to be rapidly diminishing.
"Darius... I see they got you out of Facility 4028." Lynch growled.
"And he speaks!" The voice practically simmered with joy. "It's so nice to hear you. You never call, you never write. You'd think we weren't friends."
"We're not friends Darius. You're a dangerous abomination; a science experiment that should have been sterilised whilst it was still in the petri dish, instead of being allowed to grow, into what can only be called a stereotypical megalomaniacal sociopath."
"You're really showing your true colours now, Issac." Darius sighed, almost cartoonishly for effect, before snapping to a dark seriousness. "How long did you think you could play for both sides, Lynch? Seriously, did you think we didn't know?"
Lynch looked down at Soule, then over Izzy and the injured, finally settling on the portal ahead. "I figured some of you might have twigged I was playing for the other team, which is why I've almost made it hard to kill me."
"Yes, you've done alot of good work for us over the years, and Starfleet in general, doing juuuuuuuust enough to keep in good grace for both of us. But..." He sighed again. "You played a well balanced game, up until now, why would you attack the Forge?" That chuckle returned. "And with silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row. You've made yourself so much easier to kill. And you're such a hypocrite, lecturing me on the ethics of human augmentation."
"Yeah, but atleast I was born human. You weren't even born, you were grown."
"See you soon Issac." He chuckled to himself again. "Oh, and Leftenant Douglas, Doctor Rousseau... congratulations on your marriage, however short lived it was." The comm went dead, leaving everyone to stare at each other.
"Ok. Info drop. Augment, badman, will kill some of us, torture the rest for funsies. We need to go in like two minutes ago." Lynch gave a thumbs up.
The sound of gunfire and roaring upstairs intensified, and the haunting scene of parts of someone hitting the deck, before two mostly intact operatives pancaked on the floor; a pool of blood forming around their crumpled forms. Soule and Lynch responding by shouting the same thing. "Zigzy!"
"I've almost got it..." He replied hurriedly.
"Vitro" Soule shouted over the team comms. "Fall back... I repeat, fall back to the gateroom."
"Already ahead of you!" Vitro shouted back, as he Groll and Volcarn walked backwards down the ramp, firing at the entrance until it was no long in sight, doubletiming it down to the bottom. They took up positions at the doorway, and fired up the ramp.
As Tholl took a spot next to them, Groll's beam started to falter; Tholl passing his backup disruptor. "Seems we're all about to die." He muttered.
"I got that impression." Groll gladly took the weapon, slinging his beam cannon over his shoulder and continuing firing with the disruptor.
"It's been fun." Bolts of energy started flying blindly down the ramp now.
"Vitro, Sinkat, Volcarn. Deactivate yourselves. Twins, you take Vitro and Volcarn." Soule stood up, giving the order. "Izzy, you take Sinkat." He looked to his beloved with a smile, looking around at everyone, before fixing on the portal. "ZIGZY!!!"
"I've almost... got it." The image on the portal showed whiteness, but an all encompassing storm cloud swirling above stood out. "I... I got... it..."
“Klara, help me get Kimpor up.” Isabelle slung one of Kimpor’s arms over her shoulder after grabbing Sinkat’s holoemitter and shoving it into a pocket of her suit. A bolt of energy whizzed past, sending sparks flying on the gate’s edge, another flew over her head narrowly missing her helmet. She and Klara dragged Kimpor to the gate’s edge. She looked through at the image in the gate, and then at the battle in front of them; Soule, Issac and the Twins covering everyone else to keep them from being turned into a pile of dust by a disentegrator’s bolt. Her heart pounded in her throat, flashing back to the terrifying moment when she had witnessed the final fiery moments of the Hyperion through an evacuation shuttle’s viewscreen, not knowing whether Soule had lived or died.
“Soule? Zig, Issac, Twins?” She hesitated, wondering if she went through now, she might never see them again.
Klara’s voice piped up next to her ear. “C’mon, we’ve gotta go, Izzy!” Izzy continued to hang back, seemingly frozen.
“Ohh.. fuckit. Just.. forgive me later.”
She reached over and nudged a startled Izzy through the gate, then dragged Kimpor in after them. The last thing Izzy saw of the gate room were flashes of disruptor fire as the section 31 operatives closed in on the remainder of the team.
What the image on the portal couldn't relay to the team stepping through, was that the portal's exit point wasn't quite on the planet's surface; it was above it. The trio materialised on the other side, and fell, passing the complex's central tower on the way down. The team's comm being flooded with Izzy and Klara's screams, whilst Kimpor silently rotated in the air, the ground below rushing towards them. Then silence.
"Izzy..." Soule shuddered, his heart stopping. "IZZY!"
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Babs
Lore Committee
Posts: 210
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Post by Babs on Jul 7, 2019 19:05:14 GMT
"I got 'em." Annie's voice returned on the comms; as she turned around in her seat to breathe a sigh of relief at Izzy and the others. "Are you guys ok?"
Izzy remained huddled in a heap on the floor, in the same position as when Annie beamed her in, her heart pounding in shock for a few long seconds before realising they were safe back on the Argonaut. When she finally spoke, it came out in a hoarse gasp. “Holy shit, I never want to do that again..”
“We’re.. um.. we’re mostly ok.” Her thoughts raced, her mind still half on the surface with the rest of the team. “Soule.. the others.. They still need to get out.” She scooted over to Kimpor checking his pulse. “Kimpor’s still alive. We’ve gotta get him to medbay.”
"It's down the corridor passed the lounge." Annie smiled at them, glad they were alright. "Klara can get you there." She gave a wincing glance at the cuts she could see through Klara's visior.
Klara groaned. "A'ight..." Slowly bringing herself to her feet, lifting Kimpor's arm around her shoulder, carrying him quickly and carefully as she could down the corridor, despite how dazed she was from her injuries and the fall. "This way Izzy..."
Annie turned in her seat, prepping the Argonaut for launch. "Soule..." she called back over the comm. "Now I know where you guys are coming out, I can get you quicker. Come through..."
"Already ahead of you, Annie...." Soule shouted back.
On Annie's scopes Tholl, Groll, Zigzy and Soule's emergency transmitters appeared. Where she was quickly able to teleport them to the ship; turning to greet them. But only Zigzy and the Twins materialised, carrying the holocore.
"Where are Soule... and Issac."
"He... he told us to take the core and go through." Zigzy replied, dumbfounded.
"Oh no..." Annie gasped. "Those IDIOTS!"
The Twins stared between each other, before taking up posts on the bridge. "Ready, on your order's Annabelle."
"Zigzy, buckle up, we have to gun it to the facility. Get the transporter ready to beam the charges through." Annie growled, as the Argonaut shuddered, her engines returning to life.
Experience on the Hyperion had taught Izzy to turn on the bridge feed while she was in sickbay during a crisis. And as she worked to get Kimpor stabilised inside the small medbay, she nearly dropped the vials of medication she was holding when the news about Soule and Issac came through.
She mashed the comm button to the bridge, her voice sharp with panic. “Annie, what’s going on? What do you mean they’re not back?”
"Soule's beacon is here..." Annie glanced at Zigzy.
He did a preliminary search, before finding it on the Holocore.
"Son of a bitch. Soule ditched his beacon, and Issac has fucking.... turned his off." Annie hit her console. "Goddamn it Soule, what the hell are you two doing down there?" She shouted.
"Making sure the portal stays open." Soule replied, flicking his comms off.
"Speak soon sweetie, got work to do. Please fire, or launch, or teleport those torpedoes when you have a lock." Lynch said sarcastically, before too switching his comms off.
"Those bastards!" Annie groaned. "What the fuck is wrong with your husband?"
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"I didn't expect you to stick around, Lynch." Soule mumbled, opening up a panel on the underside of the Iconian console; and after a few modifications to a phaser, closed the panel up with the phaser inside.
"I knew you'd do something disgustingly heroic and saccharine, and I just wanted to let you know, that I fucking hate you." Lynch practically spat back in reply, Soule and he taking up positions fifteen foot from the mouth of the gateway, aiming weapons at the back at the entrance.
"And yet you're still here."
"Someone had to make sure you didn't do something fucking stupid." Lynch sighed. "And Annie would have been cross with me; let alone your goddamn wife. She'd probably poison me if I returned without you."
"You just wanna kill the badguy don’t you?" Soule quipped.
"And you dont?" Lynch raised his eyebrow at Soule. "Besides, it's more about making sure he's dead."
A single set of footsteps could be heard moving down the ramp. "Have the ship launched. You few with me." Darius let out a chuckle, as a number of the 31 operatives could be heard marching down the ramp with him. "I'm coming Issac."
"Come and get us mother fucker." Lynch whispered at Soule, gritting through his teeth. "How long did you set that phaser to build up an overload?"
"Five minutes." Soule shrugged. "No long enough?"
"Too long." Lynch knelt at the sight of shadows at the entranceway, pulling something from his suit and dropping it to the floor. "But we'll find a way to manage." They both opened fire as the first operative turned the corner.
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