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Post by CO_Capt_Savage on Aug 6, 2018 15:34:29 GMT
“It was a dark and stormy night…” A short story by Dan - AKA Oliver Savage
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale... USS Mogami NCC-73101 (Danube Class Runabout)
Lieutenant George Wilbur Brackenridge - Engineering
Lieutenant J.G. Samantha Knapp - Science
Ensign Ver’nal (Andorian) - Security
Ensign Zoe Preston - Security
Cadet Linus P. Herlanger - Security
Cadet Koral’na (Bolian) - Engineering
So I had a bit of inspiration pop into my head, and figured why not. Gave me an Excuse to use a Character that's kind of like my random appearance character GW Brackenridge. GW was kind of a joke that was inspired by my past visit to Texas to visit SpaceDaisy and her husband. We were visiting this really old Saloon, it was also a Taxidermy/Texas Ranger Museum thing, and they had this very cheesy narrator voice for the trek through. I started Emulating the voice and hilarity ensued. Well anyway, now you know where the Character GW comes from anyhow.. Enjoy this random creation.
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Post by CO_Capt_Savage on Aug 6, 2018 15:34:54 GMT
“Someone remind me exactly why we are here again?” Cadet Koral’na asked, there was an edge to her voice that telegraphed her nervous state. She stood staring out the aft windows of the Runabout, glancing nervously back at the rest of the crew gathered. The elegant sound of a violin playing softly in the background accompanied the swirling colors like a conductor to an orchestra, it was almost serene. It was also the definition of deadly.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Samantha Knapp glanced over the top of a Padd she was engrossed with a slight grin appearing at the shaky sound in the Cadet’s voice. “Because Cadet, Starfleet said so?” she asked, an eyebrow arching in response.
“Waste of time if you ask me.” Zoe Preston responded from the couch. It wasn’t clear if she had been sleeping or just relaxing.
The Runabout jostled as some unseen force exerted some turbulence against the craft, it was enough that young Bolian Cadet changed shades as she looked around nervously. “You know they tell stories about this area of space, what it used to be like!”
“Cadet Koral’na, there is nothing to fear here. This area is not nearly as big as it used to be and this is only residual that was left over from when this place used to be called the Delphic Expanse.”
“It’s not really called that anymore Cadet. It’s just the Delphic Nebula now.” Samantha said from over the top of her Padd again. “It’s not nearly as unusual, and threatening as it was back when it was a true threat to vessels passing through this area.”
Finally the Cadet turned away from the windows, and the swirling gases outside. “Then why is the area avoided if its not as dangerous?”
“You worry too much Koral’na.” Cadet Linus Herlanger said as he entered the aft cabin, he was still fussing about his hair clearly having taken a recent shower.
The Bolian scoffed at him and dropped down on the couch just narrowly missing Zoe’s feet.
The Craft jostled again hitting some sort of unknown force buffeting the craft, the lights dimmed a moment and came back up to normal just as quickly. The intercom suddenly made a popping noise as it came alive and much to Koral’na’s chagrin everyone nearly jumped at the sound. “Things are going to get a bit rough, time to go to work people!” a voice called over the open intercom, with a thick and cliche Texan accent.
“Oh great, space turbulence. Whatever shall we do!” Zoe said as she got to her feet and started forward towards the pilot cabin. The rest of the crew slowly made their way forward behind her, though with far less enthusiasm.
“Strap in!” The elder gentleman sitting in the pilot seat said as he swung around giving Zoe a wink as she entered the cabin. “This area’s a bit more dense.”
“Right.” She said as she dropped into a seat and activated the manual restraints. “The others are right behind me.” she said activating her console.
As the others began to file into the cabin they paused as the vessel rocked suddenly, it was more like a ship passing through a wave on the sea than a sudden shift in the inertial dampening system, but what made them stop was the sudden activation of the communication system signaling what sounded like a distress beacon but it was gone as quickly as it had started.
“Uh…” The Bolian expression taking on a dire look. “What was that?”
The rest scrambled to their consoles and seats as the ship was again buffeted by the storm raging outside. “Well that’s a sight.” The Texan said staring ahead through the viewports.
That brought everyone's attention around, it was chilling, the sudden change in colors. From seemingly bright and vibrant to dark and sinister colors of black, dark reds, and purples swirling violently ahead of them, suddenly causing them to flinch as it was suddenly punctuated by bright flashes of what seemed almost like lightning. “What is that!”
“Yeah…” Zoe said, her expression locked on the site, her face was few shades lighter than it had been. “Gates of hell I think.” she muttered and returned to her console starting a scan.
“Better increase power to the Inertial dampeners, that looks nasty.” George said giving the Bolian a glance. “Koral’na?” she asked trying to get the Bolian’s attention.
Koral’na continued to stare into the maw of the nebula that was threatening to swallow them.
“Koral’na!” George called a bit more stern.
“What?!?!” The Young officer nearly jumped out of their seat, had it not have been for the restraints they might have hit the upper bulkhead.
“Increase power to the structural integrity.” The Texan said as he turned back to his console.
“Its expanding!” Zoe said, as she watched the sensor data scroll past on her screen. “Rapidly!”
“Yup, no goin’ round this thing!” George said. “Raise shields!”
“Shields up!” the ever quiet Linus said as he activated the vessels protective energy barrier. “Though with all that ionization I doubt it will help too terribly much.”
“That Ionization is rising rapidly,” There was an edge to Sam’s voice that immediately said something was wrong, and it became clear both to her and the rest of them that she was more than right. “I think an Ion storm may have collided with the Expanse.”
“That would explain the sudden change.” George said as he scanned the Navigational sensors for anything that could be a danger, as well as easier flight path but to his dismay there wasn’t one.
“I recommend we shut down the Warp Drive, that much Ionization might affect containment.” Koral’na’s voice called from the engineering console, her voice was shaking.
“Do it.” George said watching the front grow closer, it now consumed the entire real estate of the viewports, the cabin lights were casting an eerie glow across the dimly lit cabin.
The ship’s communications equipment suddenly lit up again, the steady pinging of a distress beacon coming to life somewhere nearby. George glanced back at Samantha, and their eyes met. Instant realization and worry was written on the womans face. “Can ya find that?” he asked.
“Seriously you want to go looking for a distress call in this?” Zoe asked, her voice taking on an edge of concern.
“Yup!” George said simply and offered a reassuring smile. “Were obligated.”
“Were gonna die.” Zoe said, half jokingly.
“Cores down, switching to Auxiliary power.” the Bolian called again.
The Runabouts lights dimmed, and systems began shutting down that were unnecessary to the function of the craft to adjust with the sudden drop in power. The vessel shuttered, and shook hard as it hit the leading edge of the storm. Light’s and consoles flickered but stayed alive. The vessel groaned in protest as it tried to suddenly change course, but through the adept hands of George W. the craft came back in line.
“Got it!” Sam called out. “Your not going to like this.” she said glancing toward the front of the craft.
“It’s in that mess?” George asked pointing the way with a nod of his chin, his eyes intently trained on his sensor readout as he tried to plot a course around the worst of the storm coming their way.
“Yup, feeding you the coordinates.” she said dancing her fingers across the console.
“Got them, changing course.” George said.
“The distress signal just died again!” Linus said, he too was intently staring at his displays, possibly out of interest, possibly wanting not to look out at the storm ahead.
George glanced up at the viewports ahead of him as the stormfront approached, he could feel his hands gripping the console waiting, and it felt like an eternity as the inevitable approached. A blinding flash of light ripped across the scene, the vessel jumped as it was struck, sparks flew from one of the monitors, and the lights flickered. The horrible sound of metal straining wrenched their ears. His hands flew across the console as he fought to bring the craft back in line, just to be nearly slammed into the console as the leading edge of the storm struck them. He fought the craft with one hand dancing across the console, and the other with a death grip on the edge trying to keep himself upright and steady.
“Were losing impulse power, one of the generators just failed!” he heard a voice cry out over the chaos.
George continued his fight with the Runabout’s controls ignoring the warning.
“I’m picking up something ahead, solid object, sensors are having trouble making it out.” he heard Sam’s voice call through the din. “Lots of them!” she said in a hurried voice.
George once again glanced up, and could see the shadows through the flashes of light, they were large objects alright, looked like asteroid, he could instantly feel his heart quicken. “Find me a path!” he shouted.
“Working!” Sam’s voice called out as she too fought to keep herself steady long enough to input information, and parameters. “Best I got!” she shouted back.
A defined path suddenly appeared as a line on his screen clear as day, the sudden impact of something against the hull made him look up in time to catch a large piece of rock bouncing off the viewport, it left a terrible scratch and a spiderweb crack which continued to grow. “Shit! Close the blast doors!” he shouted, watching as Linus was already on it. The thick metal doors closed over the viewports quickly shutting off the view from outside. Part of George felt relief as the visage of the nebula was suddenly tucked away out of sight.
“I have another contact on sensors!” Sam said. “Starboard of us, about fifty thousand kilometers. Its large enough to be a ship!”
“Adjusting course!” George said as he went about turning the vessel, but taking care to avoid any of the large rocks.
“Confirmed, origin unknown!” Linus said as he stared intently at his displays.
“There is a clearing around it I think!” Sam’s voice called again.
George felt the craft slip into the space, it was as if they had been traveling like a bullet through gel, and they had suddenly popped out into a pocket of air, the vessel settled and stopped shaking. Though the occasional sound of thunder reverberated off the hull causing them to flinch. George scanned his display’s, the space around them was full of debris, but it was easy enough to manage. “Report!” he said
“Were on one Fusion Generator, the others down. Life support is good, Minor hull damage, few shorts, and a blown EPS distributor.” Koral’na rattled off, his voice was still edgy but he seemed a little at ease.
“Sensor systems are recovering, our range is limited. The ionization has done a number on them, but they work. I won't be able to do any deep scans for some time.” Sam said glancing forward.
“Shields are an option on reduced power, phasers are down, but our torpedo launcher still works, but targeting is shot.” Linus said as he looked over his displays. He seemed rather calm considering what they had just gone through.
“Im here!” Zoe said, with a sheepish smile. Her consoles were all dark, and smoke was still whafting up from a hole in it. She looked uninjured which was a blessing in itself.
“RIght then,” George said returning his attention to his console and the task at hand. “Let’s go have a closer look Ya’ll.”
“Seriously, after all that you want to go look at that…” Koral’na asked jutting a frustrated finger towards the sensor read out showing the dark foreboding image of the distant object.
Ver’nal turned toward her with a smile. “It’s kind of part of the job Kora.” the young Andorian Ensign said as he went about arming himself. “Might want to focus on getting that other Impulse reactor up and going or it’s going to be a long hard trip through that mess when we finally get out.”
The Bolian woman opened her mouth to say something, her color shifting clearly as she in a very short amount of time went through a few different emotions before she finally went towards the aft of the craft.
“She’s a bit punchy isn’t she.” Zoe asked as she too got up and began to arm herself.
George glanced back but only for a moment as he was navigating through debris, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves we don’t know what we're walking into yet.” he said.
Sam perked up. “I’m getting something!” she ran her hands over her console trying to focus the sensors better to pick up more detail. “It’s a ship alright, I don’t recognize any of the markings or design at all.” she said peering closer to the screen as if to will it to give her more information. “Actually…” she blinked sitting back in her chair. “It was a really big ship!”
“Transporters?” Linus asked.
“Ours are offline, and the interference coming off that thing. I wouldn’t risk it.” Sam said pointing to one of the readouts. “You’d bounce your signal off into oblivion.”
George brought the runabout to a standstill in what appeared to be a safe pocket of space, and glanced over at Linus. “What say we open those things, and take a gander.” he said gesturing to the blast doors with a grin.
“The Transparent Aluminum although damaged is still intact, so yes it would be safe. Though I wouldn’t recommend taking any more large rocks off it.” he said checking a readout before pressing the button to retract the blast shields.
The metal doors slowly parted retracting away to reveal a strange sight, the vessel was clearly massive and had been much larger it almost looked as if it might have been a small moon installation but as you slowly made your way to the other end the shear mass of the vessels engine became apparent. This was mean to push something massive. Not far ahead of it there was a large sphere with a soft violet glow to it, pulsing. It almost seemed alive, like a heartbeat. The length of the structure was considerable, and equally as eerie. There were homes visible still intact with yards and structures that one would assume kids had played on at some point. Industrious areas that were destroyed as if some massive fist had punched down and destroyed them. Some still showed signs of activity, but it was hard to make out what from this distance.
“What the hell was that thing, its massive!” Linus said staring, his mouth agape.
“Yeah…” Sam said, she had joined them at the front of the craft and was leaning between them to get a look. She craned herself and pointed up towards a series of Orange flashing lights. “Right there GW.”
George craned his head and looked and slowly worked the ships thrusters and started guiding the craft towards it. “Landing bay of some kind?” he asked.
“I think so.” Sam said moving back to her seat. “I’m picking up an atmosphere inside.”
“How do we open the doors?” Linus asked also intrigued by their discovery.
George shrugged. “I reckon we knock.”
“Hailing frequencies?” Linus asked exchanging glances with the elder engineer.
George simply nodded and Linus sent the hail.
The orange lights shifted to blue, flashing steadily.
“Well we either made it angry or that worked.” Linus said watching sensors intently for any signs of aggression.
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Post by CO_Capt_Savage on Aug 6, 2018 15:35:25 GMT
“It’s cycling.” Sam said. “It just decompressed a section, and it looks like a force field went up.”
“Well hot damn if we aren't going to get some splorn’ done today.” George said excitedly clapping a hand down on one of his thighs. “This is gonna to be a great trip after all.” He went about guiding the craft slowly closer, the lights turned solid and the doors parted enough for them to get in, the green hue of the forcefield in place was their guiding light as he touched the craft down onto the debris strewn deck.
The doors made a loud bang as they came back together and nearly made them all jump out of their skin. Each glancing around expecting an alarm or something more sinister but each let out a breath as the feeling faded.
“Clearly the door is mechanical, or damaged in someway.” Linus said as he vacated his seat. “I recommend EVA suits just to be safe.” he said making his way aft.
“Right, sounds good to me.” George said as he went about securing the vessels engines.
“What the hell was that?” Koral’nal’s voice suddenly blared through the vessels intercom.
Everyone laughed knowing that the poor woman was probably waist deep in a small access tube to one of the impulse engines trying to figure out how to bring the reactor back online. Sam smiled and hit the intercom. “The eagle has landed, I repeat the eagle has landed.”
George had to fight the urge to laugh, and smiled broadly as he vacated the pilot seat. “Everything's fine Kora, keep working on repairs. I'm going to leave Ver’nal here with you while we go have a looksey at our find.”
The channel abruptly closed without a response.
“She’s a bit punchy.” George repeated.
It took them little time to pull themselves into their EVA suits, the anticipation of exploring the massive wreck was palpable. When the airlock cycled to let them out it was as if they had stepped into the aftermath of a warzone. Stretching for some distance were all manner of craft some similar others hardly recognizable. Some looked as if they had just been damaged or pulled apart by some great monster, others were charred wrecks. There was an audible crunch and the feeling of something giving way under George’s boot as he stepped out of the Runabout’s cabin onto the deck. He slowly looked down and his heart sunk instantly. It was the remains of some long dead alien, a species he didn’t rightly recognize on sight.
“You alright GW?” Sam’s voice called with concern. He had not realized that he had gasped, but everyone else sure did. They were peering out at him with concern.
“I’m good, watch yer step.” he said gesturing with his sims beacon at the remains. “Bad enough we dropped a Runabout on them.” he said turning away as the others carefully piled out of the craft.
The lighting in the large bay seemed to be coming from an algae like substance that graced the walls of the place, most of the actual light fixtures seemed to be caked with the organic substance and it emitted a light green glow which cast odd shadows across the space.
“This way I think!” Sam’s voice called over the intercom. “There’s a control panel and what looks like a door.” She lead the way with her Tricorder, and the others followed closely behind her.
“All these remains…” Zoe said as they walked past several bodies that clearly had been here for some time, they were merely bones. “What do you think happened to them?”
“They’ve been here a long time for them to be turned to bone like that, no remaining flesh, or even remnants of it…” Linus said stopping to examine one of the bodies more closely. “It’s almost like someone vaporized all the flesh and organics except the bones.” he reached out running a finger across one, and as the dark brown substance came off it revealed a slightly yellowing bone underneath.
“Don’t play with the dead things!” Sam’s voice called out as she stared back at them. “We don’t know what happened here, lets keep it safe and not touch anything children.” there was a hint of playfulness to her voice, she was clearly trying to break the tension with humor.
George gave the two security officers a nod. “Let’s get a move on ya’ll!” he said turning to fall back into step with Sam who was determined to lead the way.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the door, they stood staring at the large set of doors that went up at least two decks, they were shut and pockmarked. Linus also had a Tricorder out, scanning the door and the blackened divots.
“What’s cook’n” George asked as he came to stand next to Linus.
“Looks like weapons fire, but it's more like someone slung acid against the door and it stuck till it burned itself out. There is some plasma residue, and some organic residue I can’t find.
“I think i’ve got this door mechanism figured out.” Sam said, glancing over at the others standing in front of the doors. “Ready?” she asked.
George gave a nod, and the three standing in front of the doors moved out of the way. A moment later there was a metallic grating sound that set them all on edge even through their suits. Sparks issued forth from the edges of the doors as they struggled to open, and as the doors came to their first pock marks they screeched to a halt giving of a shower of sparks, and the motors gave a loud goan in protest then stopped casing everything in silence.
“Well if anyone’s home they probably know were here now.” Linus said.
“Yup!” George said, a slight grin appearing on his face.
“We going in? Or are you three going to keep staring into that dark hole?” Sam asked peering around the edge of one of the doors. They made it open about six feet which was nearly halfway.
“What do they need to move that is this big?” Zoe asked.
“Really big livestock?” George asked, there was a playful tone in his voice as he stepped through first shining his Sims beacon at the corridor walls. They appeared to be in pristine shape aside from spots of that same algae which continued to pulse its eerie green color.
“Would be nice if there were lights.” Linus said following right behind George, the other two were not far behind. The corridor seemed to go on for eternity. “Seems like a main hall, might go the length of the ship.”
“Indeed this goes on for nearly a Kilometer.” Sam said, her eyes glued to her tricorder. She slowly moved over to the wall and began scanning a patch of the pulsing Algae. “Bioluminescence…” she continued running the scanner over the patch. “Sulfuric Acid.. this stuff is eating the metal!” she said as if she just had a profound Eureka.
“Is that bad?” Linus asked.
George shifted and took a good step away from the algae he had been examining up close. “Sounds bad.”
“Yes, and no. It’s not secreting it in quantities enough to harm us. Though if it did we could be in trouble. I would suggest limited contact with it though.” Sam said turning her tricorder onto a panel on the wall. “I’ve already started the universal translation program on all these symbols in hopes to read it. So far the systems while organic in nature are very similar to ours.” she said snapping her tricorder shut for the moment, looking down the long maw of a hallway.
“That might work in our favor, thank goodness for small blessings.” George said as he started walking slowly down the corridor. “Looks like there is a turn off or door up ahead. Lets go check it out.”
The troop continued up the corridor, probably another hundred yards, there were signs of debris and more bodies down the hall further, but it did indeed split off in both directions from this main room. George stood in front of the left most door staring at the surface, there was a strange blue residue covering it. “What is this?” he asked pointing.
Sam moved over her tricorder instantly out and scanning. “Its organic, looks like a sealant maybe. I’m not detecting an atmosphere on the other side of this door.” She said, and then gasped taking a long step back as the liquid seemed to shift. “The hell!”
“Did that thing just move?” Linus asked, his Phaser was already in hand clearly punchy himself. “It moved didn’t it!”
“Yes, Cadet I do believe it did.” George said as he glanced back. “Might do well by putting that thing away for now. It’s keeping to itself.”
“Aye..aye..” he said reluctantly putting the Phaser away.
“Sam?” George asked looking at her.
She had already been scanning but the shock of the sudden movement had shaken her a little. She snapped out of it hearing her voice and shook her head focusing on the display. “Pressure change of some kind.”
“Interesting.” George said peering closer to the goo.
“I think I can open the door.” Sam said, fiddling with the controls on her tricorder.
George nodded. “Do it!”
It took her a few minutes fiddling with the tricorder before the doors made a grinding noise and slowly split apart. Beyond the door lay destruction. What had clearly once been a large room was now just twisted metal, and the nebula beyond. The destruction was total, there was no organic’s in sight other than the algae which was starting to be a constant.
“Close it.” Zoe pleaded, there was a hint of panic in her voice.
Sam worked the tricorder and slowly the doors grinded closed causing a slight trill in the blue goo barrier. “Yeah, we get to see enough of that. Maybe this is the equivalent of a force field for them.” she said gesturing to the blue goo.
“Seems that way.” Linus said as he stared down the dark hallway. “Be nice if we could get some lights on.”
Sam shrugged. “That algae would likely be attracted to it and we’d lose it soon after. Besides it could be on and we wouldn’t know it really. I need to get a physical sample of this stuff.” she said. “I’ll get it when we head back to the Runabout.” she said absentmindedly as they started down the corridor again. “That other compartment is in the same shape.”
“Figured.” Geroge said as they continued on but stopped to examine a series of long dead life forms much like the ones they found in the cargo bay, it was clear they had averaged about seven foot in height. They were not matching anything yet in the Starfleet Database. “What do you think they were?”
“Probably the owners of this thing.” Zoe said continuing on.
“That one looks different.” Linus said as he came to a stop just ahead of them. “Wait.. are those..”
Sam stopped staring down at the collection of bones, and electronics. She felt her heart quicken. She knelt and frowned. “Cybernetic, yes.” she went about running her tricorder over them. “I’m not entirely sure but this technology is very old. Extremely old even, and yes to answer your question it does have some of the properties of Borg Technology. But..”
“But what?” George asked leaning in with mild curiosity.
“This was not your typical drone. It has short range communications equipment built into it. Not like modern Borg who come equipped with Subspace communications. Most of this tech is very low tech for a Borg drone.” Same said as she looked up at George. “I don’t think this Borg was part of a Hive.”
“How old are we talking?” George asked.
She shrugged. “Without the right equipment I can only give you a ballpark, based on its decay, and carbon signature somewhere from around eight hundred years, maybe eight hundred fifty.”
“Jezz, your talking like very early Borg Civilization.” Linus said.
Sam nodded, and began taking key pieces of equipment off the body, and glanced up at the others as she reached out for the skull pulling it free. “I know, don’t make it weird.” she said dropping those items in a satchel hanging from her suit.
“I get it, trying to get ahead with the scientific community.” Zoe said which brought a chuckle from all of them, it was a much needed change in the general mood.
“That was terrible Zoe.” Sam said, shaking her head. She couldn’t help but laugh herself.
“It’s what I do.” Zoe said as she joined Linus in their long march down the corridor. The came across another area of deep scoring and algae on the walls stopping a moment to take further scans.
“How far would you say we are from the Engine room?” George asked as they came to another junction.
“There is a pressure door another four hundred yards up this corridor, and another long section that goes on, about as long as this one I would assume but I can only scan so far ahead. This material is dense.” She said gesturing the walls.
“What’s in here?” Zoe asked pointing to a door that for a change was not covered in blue goo.
Sam moved over and began scanning. “There is pressure on the other side, I think this is safe.” she went to move a little closer and the door quickly snapped open startling them all. Weapons flew from their holsters in response and their hearts quickened. They stood silent and still for a long moment waiting. The room beyond was indeed pressurized and to their surprise lights graced the room, it was a large space and it seemed at first glance to be a barracks of sorts, there were large rows of bunk beds stretching into the distance.
“Anything?” George’s voice called pulling them from their heightened state of alertness.
Sam swallowed and licked her lips wetting them. “Nothing, No life signs. Obviously power, but nothing else. Not that I’m detecting.” she said.
“We going in?” Linus asked as he stepped ahead of the others.
“Yes!” George said.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this!” Zoe’s uneasy voice called.
“Let’s do our job people, in and out.” George said, his voice was calm, level, and yet firm.
Linus was the first in checking to the sides before moving further in. They could easily see every direction in the room, as the beds afforded clear field of view. After Sam stepped far enough in the door snapped silently shut behind her.
“What are we looking for?” Zoe asked.
George shrugged. “Take scans, see if you can pull anything with DNA from the beds. Check some of the lockers at the ends.” he said gesturing to the boxes situated at the ends of each bed. Some hung from the frame others on the floor. “See what you can find out about our long lost friends.”
“Koral’na to Away Team!” the sudden call from the communications system startled them all, and Zoe let out a startled yelp.
George glanced between each of them, shaking his head before activating his comm. “Go ahead Kora.” he said.
“Just wanted to update you on my progress. I’ve got that other Impulse unit back online, and I figured a way to cut through this crap with the communications gear. Still limited range but it works.”
“Good job Kora!” George said with a smile. “See what you can do about the other systems, report back in about a half hour. Sound good?”
There was a prolonged silence, then the sound of something dropping. “Uhh..”
“Everything alright Kora?” George asked.
“I think I just saw something moving outside!” She said, which caused all of them to look back at George.
“You think?” George asked.
“Sensors don't detect anything. But I swear I saw something. It was… it was big!”
“Have Ver’nal keep an eye on things up there, focus on the ship systems. We may need to get out of here in a hurry if something goes wrong. Were a good distance away but we should be able to get back to you fairly quickly.” George said.
“Okay.” Koral’na said. “Out.” The channel beeped closed.
“You sure we shouldn’t head back?” Sam asked.
George considered his options for a moment, then shook his head. “No, we’ll continue our trek. It might just be the Algae she’s seeing. Without a threat really presenting itself we should continue on.” He gestured to the beds. “Keep looking.” he said as he too turned to one of the footlockers and popped the simple latches and slowly rotated the lid upward. Inside was what he might expect to find in a soldier’s footlocker. He slowly put everything back the way he had found it, the only thing he didn’t find was pictures. Most of the time you’d find some kind of picture of a loved one.
“Is this some kind of fish?” Zoe asked suddenly breaking the silence.
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Post by CO_Capt_Savage on Aug 6, 2018 15:35:48 GMT
“What?” Sam asked, as she quickly moved across the room to meet her. “Would you look at that.” she said whipping out her tricorder. “How is that thing alive after all this time?”
“Good question.” Linus said as he continue to search through lockers.
“It is a fish, but not one I’ve ever seen and certainly not in our database. This is Hydrogen.” She said pointing to the tank.
“So that thing’s breathing Hydrogen?” Zoe asked peering closer at the fish like creature floating in the tank.
“Yes.” Sam said continuing her scans. “This is a compressed hydrogen tank, its volume is incredible. I think that’s maybe food.” she said pointing to another black box with a few flashing lights which almost looked like a clock in frequency.
“Wow. Can we keep it?” Linus said sarcastically.
“No.” George said almost instantly. He had not said much so it certainly drew their attention. “We need to leave this how we found it. While this is a major find, it’s a graveyard.” he said and let that hang in the air for a long moment. “Keep looking for a few minutes more and then we’ll move on.
They went about continuing their search in silence. George turned his attention to the next footlocker and pushed opened its lid. He scanned the interior it was well groomed and as he removed one of the upper trays his heart sank, sitting inside nestled into a careful alcove was a bottle of some kind of amber liquid, he knew what it was and while part of him wanted to take it as a souvenir his previous words rang out in the back of his mind and he shook the desire away. As he went to return the tray he stopped spotting something just beyond the bottle. He carefully shifted the bottle and pulled the photograph from under it, and stared. “Nice to meet ya.” he said tipping an imaginary hat.
The photograph showed two Alien’s, both were obviously tall, and had a dense skeletal structure which he imagined was what all the bones they had come across might have looked like. They had a very gorn like appearance, but had hair, and vulcan like ears accept much larger. Their eyes were almond shaped, and while they had humanoid like hands, each finger ended in a claw that looked like it could cut through duranium.
“Find something?” Sam asked as she approached.
George nodded. “Yup, I reckon its the species of the owners of this massive beast.” George showed her the pictures. “Pretty coloring.” he said.
She held up the tricorder and began scanning the image. “Very.” she said admiring the difference in skin colorings. One of the two was huges of dark green, brown, and a sea green. The other was tans, and oranges.
Everyone tensed and stood very still as a sound much like a giant bell rang through the ship, the plates at their feet resonated setting their teeth on edge, the lights in the room flickered, and a sound echoed through the ship sounding much like a creature of nightmares. Each of them exchanged glances with one another. Slowly the vibration slipped away and silence reigned once more.
“What the hell was that?” Zoe asked, her voice unsteady.
Linus was slowly moving towards the door his weapon drawn, he stopped short holding his position.
George continued to listen for another long moment before finally turning ot Sam. “Life signs?” he asked.
“None. I’m not even picking up the fish.” she said with a perplexed look on her face.
“Ships don’t howl Sam!” Zoe snapped.
She tapped furiously on her tricorder. “No Kidding Zoe!”
George moved towards the door drawing his own weapon. “Let's have a looksey shall we?” He asked glancing over at Linus who nodded in turn and the two approached the door.
Both men tensed as the door grinded open to reveal the dark corridor. After a moment of listening George slowly stepped out into the corridor, glancing cautiously both ways. He snapped on his sims beacon and shined it both ways down the corridor, frowning.
“Anything?” Zoe asked taking a few steps closer to the door herself.
“No.” Linus said now standing in the middle of the corridor also shining his light down the hallways. “What the hell was that.”
George shrugged holstering his phaser turning back to the room stepping back inside. “I think it’s time we moved one don’t you?” he said glancing between the two women. He paused staring at Zoe. Her face was the look of storybook horror, she began fumbling for her weapon.
A blood curdling scream echoed in their helmets, coming from Linus. It was clearly from the young man as George spun releasing his weapon from its holster one more with practiced grace, he leveled it on the hallway and he too suddenly paused taken back by the visage before him.
Linus was dangling in the air his limbs flopping about as he struggled against the tentacles that had both ensnared and pierced through his abdomen in his suit, the communications gear had compensated and his screams were empty now. The creature filled the entire corridor, its massive maw of razor sharp teeth snapped at him repeatedly but he still was out of reach.
George continued to try and aim for a safe place to shoot but each time the creature pulled Linus into his path. He started to tense to fire, but the creature pulled Linus into the path once again but another phaser beam streaked past striking the creature.
It’s howl rattled George to his core, he was almost certain he could see the sound coming off the creature in waves. The floor shook, and he raised his weapon again to fire but had to duck out of the way as the creature’s mouth opened wide and a stream of glowing liquid came spraying out. He hit the side of one of the bunks falling between them. The deck plates vibrated harshly under him, and slowly faded.
“GW…” It was Zoe’s voice, it was quiet and pained.
Slowly George picked himself up off the floor and he slowly turned his body protesting. There was now a scar running across the deck and through bunk beds, and footlockers of rapidly pulsing algae, his eyes stopped on the figure that was stuck to the wall nearly at the ceiling, she was moving but slowly, her suit covered all the way to the visor. “Zoe!” he said as he crossed the room.
“Don’t touch it!” Sam yelled out.
“How do we get her out?” George said stopping short of nearly running into the pool on the deck which was slowly expanding.
Sam was tapping furiously on her tricorder. “I…” she glanced around and then back at her tricorder. “I don’t know. We don’t have anything to neutralize that stuff.”
George looked back at the pulsating goo covering his officer, his heart sank, he knew he was grasping at straws. “Phaser?” he asked turning back to Sam.
“I don’t know I can’t get a proper read on this, its not entirely like the Algae all over everything.
George shook his head in frustration and set the Phaser to a narrow beam on a high heat setting, he aimed it at the expanding goo on the ground and fired running a line through it. He watched as the goo vaporized under the beams scrutiny.
“Its working!” Sam said.
George changed the beam to a wider cone, and lowered the power output, and turned it onto Zoe, and pulled the trigger. The reaction wasn’t immediate but it slowly worked burning away layer after layer finally revealing Zoe’s suit underneath, she slipped from the wall and into the goo on the floor, George was able to get a hold of her and pull her free, and continued to use the phaser to clean away what still clung to her suit.
“She’s unconscious.” Sam said running her tricorder over her friend.
George stared down through several holes in the EVA suit, angry red skin and blood could be seen through a few spots, but it was clear that the Algae had done its damage. “Zoe, can you hear me?” he asked, he waited but go no response. “Damn.”
“We have to go after Linus!” Sam said pointedly.
“I know. Let’s take care of Zoe first.” George said as he began to pull the young woman into a fireman's carry. “Back to the runabout!” he said.
The two stepped cautiously out into the corridor and it was very clear which way the creature had gone, there was a combination of algae, pockmarked walls, and blood splattering the walls heading deeper into the ship. George felt his heart sink again, that much blood loss would be hard to survive. Even if the suits automedic functions went to work Linus wouldn’t have much time. The knowledge of that made him quicken his pace despite the additional weight the elder officer moved swiftly.
George didn’t skip a beat as they broke into the Shuttlebay, he made straight for the runabout, taking only a moment to activate his communicator. “Away team to Mogami!” he said, his breathing a bit labored now.
It took a moment but for a response to come but the worried voice of Koral’na came over the speakers. “I’m here, what’s wrong?”
“Get the outer airlock cycled, then get the Medical Suite started up.” he said as they grew closer to the craft. He saw the lights come on around the lock and the outer door slid aside.
“Okay, okay…” Kora’s voice called back, her voice was suddenly all business. “Doors open, I’m heading aft.” she said and the channel popped close.
It took only another moment for the two of them to reach the Runabout, she helped him get into the small space holding Sam’s body close as she cycled the doors to let the two of them in. As soon as he was able to he slapped the controls to cycle the system for Sam behind him and hefted Zoe again and headed down the corridor turning into the Aft compartment. The typically hidden away medical station was now visible and powering up. He moved over quickly settling Zoe onto the table with Kora’s help. He body settled lifelessly on the table, he stared past the fogged visor looking for any sign that she was still with them. He quickly activated the sensor cluster and waited for the device to detect her life signs. The two of them stared at it hoping. And when the first jump of the heart monitor hit, George scrambled to pull his own helmet free.
“Please tell me one of you have advanced medical training?” Sam’s voice called as she entered the room.
George shook his head, and looked over at Kora who was also shaking her head. “No.”
“Great.” Sam said as she crossed the room pulling her gloves off. “I took it, but it didn’t go so well.” she pulled a medical tricorder out of the wall next to the biobed sensor cluster and began scanning.
“Do yer best.” George said stepping out of the way.
Sam only nodded, and began pulling off Zoe’s helmet with Kora’s help. ‘Rest of the suits fused, all the joints are melted.”
“I think we have a cutting tool.” George said as he moved to a storage locker pulling a few different engineer’s kits from the storage. “Here…” he said pulling one of the cases open spilling its contents on the table before pulling out a small snipping tool. “That thing will cut conduit, and just about anything.” he said.
She took the tool, and took just a moment to figure out how it worked, then starting at Zoe’s Collar she worked her way down the suit. It took a few cuts but the suit fell down the sides of the table, the smell of burned flesh and chemicals accompanied the woman out of the suit. The chemical burns on her skin and disruption effect where the phaser had hit left the woman with angry dark red spots all over, her uniform had all but had been eaten away.
“What do you need?” Kora asked staring at Sam.
Sam was looking between the tricorder and the medical scanner readouts on the wall. “Umm.” she said nervously. “Let’s start with…” she was clearly thinking trying to remember her training from years back. “Her heartbeat is Irregular, she’s having subtle micro seizures, low respiration, blood pressures falling, and her immune system is going nuts.”
“What do we do?” George asked staring at the woman.
“Okay..” Sam said, there was a nervous hesitation. “Find the burn kit.” She said pointing to the drawers, we need to clean the wound areas. Fluids..” She said pointing to a cabinet door.
George opened the drawer and spotted the case marked burn kit, and pulled it out handing it to Sam. “Here…”
“Kora you remember how to do an IV?” Sam asked as she opened the kit and began pulling out various vials, and a couple of small devices.
Kora stared at her for a moment. “I only did it once.”
“Do it!” Sam said gesturing to Zoe’s arm with her chin. “It’s like riding a bike. The patch will show you everything you need to get it in.”
Kora stared down at the IV kit in her hand sand set the kit down next to Zoe’s head and pulled out the Needle patch which she held over Zoe’s arm, the patch lit up showing the veins under the skin allowing her to find the one she needed, and settled the bandage down over the right one, and pushed in the needle. She breathed a sigh of relief and started hooking up the bag full of solution.
“Good job Kora!” George said offering some encouragement.
“Okay…” Sam said and held out a small device which she put a vial into the back of. “Use this over the burns, it should clean away any further corrosive and sterilize the area.’ she said dropping the device into George’s hand. She held the other out to Kora. “When he finishes run this over the sanitized area.”
The two went to work in concert, George running his device over the damaged skin, and Kora following behind him applying a sterile film like bandage.
Sam watched Zoe’s vitals as they started to level off and signs of the micro seizures faded, Sam breathed a sigh of relief as her vitals at least stabilized. “Okay..Okay..” she repeated.
“We good?” George asked looking up from his task.
“She’s stabilizing, keep doing that, I’m going to take samples and further scans.” Sam said, as she pulled another hypospray with an empty vial from a drawer and began taking a blood sample. She Gasped staring down at the vial, the blood had come out thicker than it should, and had small glowing particles.
George and Kora both peered over at what Sam was looking at. George frowned. “That’s not good is it.”
“No…” Sam said. “I don’t have what we need to fix this. We should put her in stasis until we can get her to a real medical facility!” Sam said putting the sample into a tray.
George nodded. “Were done with this.” he said collecting the burn kit contents.
“Computer engage stasis field.” Sam said stepping back and the field snapped to life encompassing the biobed. “That should do until we can get her to a medical facility.”
“Good job you two.” George said with a resounding sigh of relief. “Now we need to figure out what poor Linus’s fate was.” he said turning to head to the front of the cabin but stopped at the door as Ver’nal appeared.
“Where’s Linus?” The Andorian asked, his antenna swiveling nervously.
George pointed down the hallway behind the young Andorian Security officer. “Lets see if we can find out.” he said, and started to push past when he noticed he had not moved, in fact he was staring at Zoe’s motionless body. “Where not going to do Linus any good if we don’t get a move on.” George said pulling Ver’nal’s attention back.
“What happened?” he asked as he turned leading the way back towards the front cabin.
“We were attacked by something. Not sure what, but I reckon it has something to do with all the glowy stuff out there.” he said pointing as they entered the cabin.
The young officer dropped into the second seat at the front and began bringing the vessels sensors online, and began actively scanning. “Where did it take him? I assume it took him right?”
“Yes it took him. I have no rightly idea. Maybe all the way to Africa. But let your sensors do the walking towards the aft of the ship maybe we’ll get lucky.” George said clapping a reassuring hand on the young man's shoulder.
“Got something!” Ver’nal said suddenly startling George.
“Dang man, that was quick.” he peered in at the screen. “What do ya got?”
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Post by CO_Capt_Savage on Aug 6, 2018 15:36:09 GMT
“Here!” he said pointing to the scanner. “That almost looks like a Sarium Krellide battery cell signature, and that..” he pointed to a faint blip that kept appearing and disappearing. “Too much shielding, but that almost looks like a distress beacon based on the frequency and pulse.”
George nodded. “Let’s get along then and find Linus.” he said turning just as the other two women arrived. “Alright ya’ll one of us needs to stay behind to keep an eye on Zoe, and the ship. The rest of us need to find Linus.”
“I’ll stay.” Kora said. “Besides I’m not as handy with a phaser I’d probably just be in the way.”
“Fair enough, you keep the lights on, and we’ll be back before dark.” he said heading towards the airlock. “Ver’nal, suit up we’ll meet ya outside. Let’s go Sam.” he said stepping into the airlock. She squeezed in with him and they cycled it through.
“Do you think he’s alive?” Sam asked lookup up at him as they waited.
“That boy’s got some grit, I think he’ll be fine.” he said trying to convey some confidence with his words but even he had his doubts.
The outer door cycled and they stepped out still careful not to disturb the remains under the nacelle any further. “It’s a shame, these beings probably came from so far away only to be taken down by a biological.”
“How do you know it’s not something they cooked up in a lab somewhere on this wreck.” she said.
George nodded. “Fair point. I guess I’m more the optimist. Any of yer scan’s lend to that conclusion?” he asked casting a glance her way looking for a reaction to his inquiry.
She shrugged visibly in the suit. “No, scans have been mostly inconclusive, I need some real science equipment to study this. I did leave all my samples and records on board just in case….” her voice trailed off as she glanced up at the ceiling. “It is one of those moments when you can look upon beauty, and the face of death all at the same time.”
“Life of a Starfleet Officer.” George said.
“Okay folks, I’m ready.” Ver’nal said as he appeared between the two, this time with a compression rifle in hand.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Sam said with a slight chuckle.
“Because your science.” Ver’nal said pointedly.
George shook his head as he gestured towards the awaiting maw in the distance, the door they had left open. “After you buckaroo.” George fell in line at the back taking a moment to check his Phaser settings, he wasn’t pulling any punches he set it to maximum.
“What did this thing look like?” Ver’nal asked half looking over his shoulder. “So i know what I’m looking for you know.”
“Oh believe me, you’ll know it when you see it.” George said.
“Know what a Malboro is?” Sam asked as she pulled her tricorder as they neared the doors.
“No.” Ver’nal said.
“What about Audrey, from that little shop of horrors?” George asked as they passed through the doors.
“Have you seriously watched that old movie GW?” Sam asked, there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Your old but not that old.”
“Respect yer elders girl.” George said playfully.
“No, and no. But if you think I should I will look into it when we get back.” Ver’nal said finally getting a word in. “Is this where it happened?” he asked looking at the scared walls, and smeared blood.
“Yup.” George said.
“Okay, how much further are those signals we scanned?”
“It’s past those doors!” Sam said pointing into the darkness. The three of them continued moving down the corridor, only the sound of their own respiration to keep them company now. None of them were entirely sure what they were going to find. A short distance later they came to a similar set of doors as the large shuttlebay, the only difference was these thick doors were forced open, torn open.
“It looks like it must have spit at this at some point, weakened it and then forced its way through.” Sam said scanning the edges of the blacked twisted metal. “It should be safe to crawl over.”
“Look!” George said pointing to something white laying on the ground just beyond the door. They scrambled over it trying to find out what clue might have been left behind, and a clue it was indeed. “This is the right leg control module.” George said picking it up carefully, turning it over in his hand.
“That’s a good sign right?” Ver’nal asked, continuing to scan down the corridor.
“It’s a clue that were on the right path!” George said and started forward, they had to be careful with where they walked as parts of the floor had clearly been subjected to the algae like acid. “Watch your foot’n, don’t want to go tumbling down one of those things.”
“Blood.” Ver’nal said gesturing with his rifle.
“Is it his?” George asked as Sam stopped to examine it. She gave a nod.
“Linus?” Ver’nal called out suddenly.
George straightened and looked ahead and just barely visible in the darkness was the silhouette of a humanoid. It was swaying gently, unmoving. No one said anything for some time waiting, willing it to respond.
“Linus, can ye hear me?” George asked taking a few steps closer.
“I don’t think he can.” Sam said watching.
Ver’nal took a few steps forward staying out in front of both Sam and George, his weapon trained on the figure in the darkness. “Linus?”
George took a moment and made sure his external speakers and microphones on his EVA suit were working, then increased the volume. “Linus can you hear me?” his voice echoed, it was much louder than he intended but it got the desired effect.
The figure started to come into view in the light of their sims beacons, there was no doubt it was Linus, the suit had two gaping holes in the abdomen, you could practically see right through one of them, George felt his stomach churn. “Oh my god.”
“Linus, were here to help.” Sam said starting to move forward but a steady hand from Ver’nal stopped her.
“No, wait.”
Slowly the body began to shake, and turn. Its steps labord as he made a semicircle, what they saw when the body finally came around was horrifying, in addition to the two gaping holes in Linus body, the skin had been stripped from his head and upper torso. The jaw muscles struggled to work, but nothing came out.
“Oh my…” George said, and it took all his might to not lose what food he had eaten.
“Linus, no…” Ver’nal said, his tone full of sorrow. “I’m so sorry my friend.”
Sam couldn’t look, she held the scanner out taking scans of the body from a distance and when she finally looked at the screen she shook her head. “He’s gone...high brain functions gone. Linus isn..” but she couldn’t finish her words in time before Ver’nal bumped her out of the way.
With startling speed what was left of Linus closed the distance, and while its intended target Sam was knocked out of the way a new person had interjected.
Ver’nal’s weapon fired three times two of those connecting with Linus’s animated corpse but it did little to deter it. He latched onto Ver’nal’s suit with both hands, it was as if two great vices had clamped down and dug into the suit.
“No!” George shouted, he raised his weapon and waited for a clear shot again he felt his heart racing trying desperately to find an opening, but none came. He heard a snapping sound, the rushing of wind and a gurgle that sent a shiver down his spin, and Ver’nal’s body tensed.
“Shoot them!” Sam yelled. “Do it!” she was fumbling for her own weapon and as she raised her weapon to fire, a gout of algae and acid slammed her into the wall covering her body, and she slipped into one of the holes in the deck along with the sludge. George stared in horror, before his instincts kicked back in.
“NO!” He shouted, and fired his phaser catching both Ver’nal and Linus square on, and they slowly disappeared, vaporized instantly. George looked up in time to see the great maw of the unknown beast peer out of the shadows, its razor sharp teeth dripping with anticipation of its coming prey.
George raised his weapon and fired running a strip across the creatures face leaving a black line in its wake. It reared up letting out an intense howl, all of its tentacles snapping at him more to keep him and his weapon at bay.
George’s adrenaline was pumping, he had the frame of mind to pick up the compression rifle laying on the ground and he turned and ran, ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He could feel the great monster thrashing about, and for a moment it seemed to recede into the distance, but it was short lived. He could feel it coming, each movement down the hall after the next shook.
He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, stopping to shoot back down the hall with the rifle as he continued to run trying to keep it at bay. His breath was the only thing keeping him company now, he burst through the doors to the bay and kept running it was only when he felt the creature impact the doors behind him that he slowed and turned to look.
The angry ball of death was writhing in the door, trying to will itself through the small space. George could see it suddenly stop, it was as if the two had locked eyes, and in response he raised the rifle once again. But only had a split second to dodge out of the way rolling away quickly as a gout of acid algae filled the space he had been occupying just moments before. He didn’t hesitate, he raised the weapon and fired several shots before turning to run once again back towards the distant Runabout.
“GW?” a worried voice called out suddenly over his intercom.
“Start the engines!” he shouted through his labored breathing.
“What’s going on?”
“Just get the ship ready!” he shouted between breaths as he pumped his legs as fast as they would go. The sound of wrenching metal echoed through the shuttlebay, but he didn’t bother to look back, he just kept running. “Open the outer hatch!”
He was closing rapidly and could see the lights around the airlock come alive and the door slide open just in time for him to valt the nacelle into it. He hit the inner door with a audible thud. “Cycle!” he shouted.
The outer door slid shut, and the sound of the airlock equalizing with the shuttles interior accompanied it. Then the inner door slid open and he didn’t skip a beat, letting his helmet fall behind him on the floor as he quickly discarded it moving towards the pilot seat. “Weapons!” he said pointing to the second seat.
Kora quickly moved out of the determined man’s way, and he didn’t skip a beat slipping into the pilot's seat as she vacated. He stopped only long enough to pull his gloves off and toss them behind him on the deck, his fingers dancing nimbly across the controls, and the Runabout’s engines roared to life picking the craft up. He rotated it bringing the nose around to face the door, the creature was pushing the doors open and was nearly through. “Weapons?” he asked again glancing over at Kora.
“What the hell is that!” she asked staring at the creature.
“Fire the Phasers Kora!” George said sternly.
She flinched visibly, and then hit the key causing the Runabouts Phasers to lance out scoring the walls and leaving an angry black scar across the face of the creature, tentacles vaporized. It trembled physically, and had they not have been inside their ship their ears would have paid dearly as the creature howeld.
“Again!” George said.
She hit the button again this time both beams converging on the creature, this time one of them punched completely through the creature leaving it a smoking expanding pool of fluids. George bounced a hand off the edge of the console in a quick self celebration.
“Where are the others?” Kora asked staring at him.
He simply just shook his head.
They sat in silence for a long moment watching to make sure that the creature wasn’t going to reanimate or more were coming but nothing happened. “Let’s get the hell out of dodge.” he said spinning the craft towards the doors. “Hailing frequencies.” he said gesturing to the door. And as if on queue the door split and he shot the Runabout through them as fast as he could safely, and sped the craft away from the alien vessel, bringing it into a long arc back towards the vessels aft. “Load a torpedo.” he said and pointed with his chin at the distant glowing engine.
“You sure?” she asked looking over at him. “This is a significant find.”
“Do it!” he said continuing to stare at the craft.
She hesitated for a moment longer then armed a torpedo, and sent it on its way. The red blur flashed out into the distance slamming into the glowing engine, the explosion didn’t seem that significant but it was clear after a few moments that it had done the trick as purple lighting began to arc and smoke began pouring from the impact sight, then explosions began ripping through the housing.
George angled the craft away and kicked in the impulse drive, heading back towards the distant storm, it loomed angrily in the window for a moment longer until the blast doors slipped shut. George let out the breath he was holding. “Strap in.” he said hitting the button for the restraints from his own seat. “Were gonna punch through this thing.” he said, and as if on queue it was like a great hand had taken hold of the ship and shook it violently, and it got better but the trembling and the sound of the vessel being shaken by the turbulence in the nebula set their teeth on edge.
“How long are we going to have to endure this?” She asked looking over at George.
“Much longer than I want!” he said as his fingers danced across the console. There was a sudden and blinding flash that seemed to come from behind the craft, he glanced over at the sensor display. “Ut oh.” he said.
“What ut oh?” Kora asked in a panic.
“Brace yourself!” he shouted, and he barely had the time to finish his own words when the shockwave hit them from behind pitching the ship violently, the lights flickered and went out, and power began fluctuating, the craft pitched again this time rolling hard into a spin on its ‘x’ axis, the ships inertial dampeners strained to compensate, and the craft let out a terrible groan in protest.
“Hang on!” George said through his teeth straining against the pull. He could see his vision starting to narrow and darkness began to creep in. He strained bearing down all he could to try and fight it but it was too much, it collapsed in casting him into darkness.
Geroge wasn’t sure how long he had been out when his eyes began to flutter back open, the cabin was dimly light by emergency lighting, but it was still in one piece. He glanced over and found Kora leaning awkwardly to her side, still held in place by her restraints, it took him a moment to get his senses about him long enough to see that her chest was still rising and falling. It took him long enough to realize he was also leaning forward into his restraints, and slowly sat back lessening the strain on his breathing.
He took a moment longer to let his vision clear, and slowly scanned the Runabout’s cockpit, it was still mostly intact. Several of the consoles were blown out, there was a section of the ceiling dangling from ODN conduit and other debris, clearly a blow out of some kind. A light mist hung close to the deck, he wasn’t entirely sure what it might be right off but clearly they could breath so it wasn’t life threatening. He reached up and touched the console in front of him and it came to life, it flickers occasionally but it at least worked.
It took him a moment but he was able to retract the blast doors, and the sight of star’s greeted him, he smiled at the sight. They were clear of the nebula, they were either throne free or the Runabout’s impulse engines had driven them free. He reached over and tapped on Kora’s shoulder. “Kora…” he said.
It took him another attempt to get her to come around, he was almost at the point of going to get a medical kit when her eyes fluttered open too. He offered her a reassuring smile, and pointed to the open viewports. “We did it.”
She glanced up sitting back in her chair, she grimaced but smiled seeing the star’s herself. “Thanks GW.” she said.
“You alright?” he asked, his fingers dancing over the console trying to triangulate their position.
“Yeah I think so.” Kora said.
“That was one hell of a trip.” he said. “Looks like we made it about half a light year, can you check the warp systems and bring those back online so we can jump to the station?” he asked as he started adjusting their course.
“We made it.” she said, and went about accessing the Warp Systems. “Yeah, they are fine, starting the power up sequence.” She said, her tone suddenly slipping into something more somber.
“We did.” George said. “This is going to make for one hell of a repor…” he shot a glance over as he heard a strange noise from beside him, and the sudden slap of liquid on the console. His eyes grew wide as he could see a tentacle sticking out through Kora’s chest, the look of shock and horror on her face, blood pouring from her mouth. As he followed the path of the tentacle he locked eyes with Zoe, they were glowing with a deep purple hue, her mouth agape full of razor sharp teeth she reared back to strike at him next withdrawing her appendage from Kora’s chest. She flopped forward against the console with a sickening sound. He had nowhere to go, slapping at the release to his restraints he slammed himself against the console as the whip like tentacle flew threw through the air intending to impale him.
The sheer pain he felt as the hardened appendage pierced through his shoulder sent ripples of pain through is body, but before the other tentacle could finish the job his phaser went off catching his former crewman in the abdomen causing her to spin away screeching in pain. He didn’t hesitate, his second shot catching her in the back squarely, then another as she tumbled to the deck. He slumped against the console. “Damn…” he stammered looking at the hole in his shoulder. He aimed and fired three more times into the creature for good measure.
The pain was intense, his body was screaming at him as he dropped back into his seat he pushed the pain away as it was threatening to send him into oblivion again, he hit the button he needed too before the pain pulled him into darkness. Through his blurring vision he caught the telltale signs of the craft going to Warp.
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