"Lets find a way out"

Posted on Mon Oct 5th, 2020 @ 3:20am by Lieutenant Sapphire Morgan [Lalor] & Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG Ryan Kade III & Lieutenant JG T'Kek [Naxea]

Mission: SEASON 4: Episode 1: Know Thy Self!
Location: Arena Station
Timeline: MD2 time uncertain.
2251 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

-/\-
At 7h30 in the arena, several screens lit up, showing a suspended Phoenix Lalor drenched in water, sweat and more hanging in an Agony Booth. Sound accompanied it as it showed the torture she was placed under.

-/\-

The small group had survived the night. And now they crept down a hall towards a glowing viewscreen.

Sapphire was dreading what was going to be shown on that screen.

Miraj could guess, from the sound alone. She'd seen a preview when 'captain' Gary Taylor had first made contact. She didn't want to see it, so stayed back, fingers trailing across the bulkhead as if just the touch to the station was enough to calm her nerves, keeping T'kek, Ryan and especially S'hib's massive bulk, between her and whatever they would find ahead.

His pace was a little slower than normal. Nerve endings were firing at random, his arms and legs giving in to the occasional twitch. His knife was currently back in its’ hiding place in his left boot, lest he accidentally drop it during a spasm. Ryan was told to try and sleep by the others, but he didn’t manage more than fifteen minutes at a time. He could feel his fingertips complaining, and he clenched his hands into fists, hoping to white-knuckle his way through the pain.

Idiot. He chided himself, You should’ve looked for something to cover your hands with before you grabbed live wires. Now you’re injured, and if anything happens… He sighed, quietly, looking around at the group he walked with. You’re gonna be responsible.

"Move to the right and don't look down," S'hib snorted, more to Miraj than anyone else, his hand reaching out behind and tugging her quickly along as the group moved passed what little remained of someone who had not escaped the beasts that prowled the hallways. "Just keep moving..." He said with a sigh.

Too late. She looked down. Miraj couldn't help it. And then immediately wished she hadn't. The Bolian had been shredded. The muscles of his leg torn off. His belly clawed open and the contents ripped out. His insides were chewed open, his throat just a red hole.

The young ensign turned away, and retched. She hadn't eaten in nearly a day, so there was nothing to come up, just burning bile and stomach acid. And they had no water to wash it out with. If they survived whatever today brought, they still might die of dehydration. She decided not to think about it, and hurried after them, towards the light of the screens

"When I tell you to do something Ensign, do it please... ok?" S'hib huffed, trying to sound somewhat sympathetic towards the end. "Now, comere..." He said softly while holding up his long tail, its tightly knotted braids starting to fray and unwind. "Hold on to me and stay close, if they turn the lights out you'll at least know where I am."

"Yes, sir," Miraj wiped her mouth, and did as she was told, "Though I wouldn't mind a bit if they shut those screens down." Their captain's laboured breathing and intermittent screams was like fingernails on the blackboard of her soul.

"We have to worry about ourselves first Miraj, they won't kill the Captain, they need... shhh, Everyone," S'hib said as he stopped suddenly, ears perking up to a noise behind them.

"Everyone be quiet..." He said in a hushed tone, moving to the back of the group and slowly crouching down, eyes and ears pointed down the way they came.

Miraj turned. She couldn't see anything down there, but she'd trust S'hib's ears over anyone's. She backed away from S'hib a pace or two.

Sapphire froze and pressed against the wall.

He could not truly see in the dark, not like a Caitain could, but his Sequus eyes gifted him far more than his humanoid kin. "Find an access hatch, we have to get off this deck..." He said, slowly rising back to full height, staring at something shrouded in the dark, scaring him to his core.

It stared back for a while, letting out a high pitched chattering that bordered on a manic laugh as it disappeared from sight.

Miraj shivered at the sound and hastily looked around. "I think we're on a sigma class. Like 375. I got lost there once." She started walking backwards towards the light, counting the ceiling panels, before she spotted the one she was looking for. "Up there." She pointed, "Jeffries Tubes."

Sapphire frowned. "We all won't fit in there!"

Miraj looked at her, then at S'hibs massive frame. The rest of them would be able to get in. But they had never been designed for a seven foot bipedal horse. "Then we need to find a lift shaft. good chance there's one along here somewhere. I just don't know how far."

Sapphire reached down and picked up a piece of pipe. "Lead on."

"I've been-" Ryan winced as he bent forward, yet again readying himself for danger as he removed the knife from his boot, "serving on space stations my whole career, up until now." He stood up straight and tilted his head sideways until a satisfying series of pops could be heard. The security officer was lumbering up and shaking off the dull state he'd been in. "Most lifts are centralized. We should head down that way. " He pointed.

“We don’t have time for this, everyone up into the Jeffries tube... that's an order.” S’hib snorted as he reached up and grabbed the manual release, its unmaintained frame creaking as he pumped the handle three times. “Ensign, are you sure its that direction.” He said, looking over at Ryan, his ears flicking nervously around them.

"Assuming this 'mirror universe' is anything like ours," He nodded, "Yes. You'll find them in pairs."

“Alright then, give me your foot.” S’hib nodded before cupping both hands in front of him, waiting to help Ryan into the Jeffries tube.

Ryan followed orders and took the assist, only wavering slightly during the push. Once up, he turned about and offered his hand to those who came next.

"Miraj you are next" Sapphire said. "then you T'kek" She glanced at S'hib.

Miraj nodded, and let S'hib lift her up to Ryan, before squirming past him in the tight space to make room for the Vulcan doctor to come up behind her.

T'Kek nodded as he slipped through into the Jeffries Tube behind Miraj.

"Now you Lieutenant..." S'hib said with a weak smile, trying his best not to show how scared he was.

"Yeah no" Sapphire said softly. "Ensign Derani, You three get to the lifts the quick way. Do not wait for us. Lieutenant S'hib and I will go the long way around ok?"

"Lieutenant, no offense but if you stay down here you're gonna die..." He snorted before pointing up at the hatch above them. "They're gonna need you up there, for whatever else finds them... Now give me your foot." He said, as he glanced over the top of Sapphire and then back down the way they had come, the louder chattering and growls getting ever closer.

"No offense back, but let's get moving." She turned and headed in the opposite direction to the growls. "I am not leaving you here alone. Move S'hib."

"Ensign shut that hatch... we'll see you up there..." He snorted grimly before turning and running after Sapphire, his hooves echoing into the Jeffries tubes as the howls grew louder and the pitter patter of clawed toes grew closer.

Ryan closed the hatch, pulling until it fully snapped shut. He turned to the others in the claustrophobic crawl space, "Let's move."

"Lieutenant, I hope you made the right choice..." S'hib called out as he paced along behind her, his hooves thumping onto the deck as they ran.

"one never knows until the end of their lives if they have" She replied over her shoulder.

"Well, I don't know about you but I don't intend on finding out, not yet anyway." S'hib said through rushed breaths, ignoring the gory sights that he had the misfortune of spotting down branching corridors to his right, and the hounds keeping pace in a parallel corridor beyond them.

Sapphire nodded and kept running. They were still a distance off from where they needed to be. She considered. "Go ahead," she told him. "I will lead them off, and meet back with you."

"No, the moment we split up is the moment they get us both... they're pack animals, sticking together will keep them double guessing... but not forever." S'hib pleaded, wishing she had climbed up with the rest of them.

__________

Inside the jeffries tubes, Miraj felt a bit calmer. Even the anxiety for her friend soothed a bit. If this was a sigma, there was a good chance they were in the main section. No point putting them in the docking rings. A sigma was three thousand meters wide, and they had been moving in toward the core.

It only took a few minutes to reach the core, smaller than the two men she moved easily along the passageways between decks. There were two options, a hatch straight into the lift shafts, and one leading down to the deck. She lifted it up and checked the corridor below. "No sign of them. What do we do?"

"We should stay in the shafts. It is safer, at least until we can acquire weapons," T'Kek stated.

She didn't like it. Her friend was out there. "We could get in the lift shaft. Assuming they do what we do, and pressurize the lift shafts and switch off the gravity. Or we'd have to go back and see if we can find another junction."

"Getting to the lifts seems like the best idea. That's where the other two are heading." Ryan put in. "I want to be there in case they run into trouble."

Miraj pointed at the hatch that went through into the turbo lift shafts. "We'll we're here, and they're not. How long should we wait before we start looking?"

"There's no time like the present, my gramps always said." Ryan reached for the indicated hatch after positioning himself next to it. His hand touched metal and his fingers wrapped around the bar. With a half-turn and a shove, it opened up.

The hall below was, of course, dark and uninviting. The security officer dropped down, rolling to avoid any major noise or injury, and came to a stop with one hand on the ground, the other wielding his knife.

After a cursory look, Ryan signaled to the others it was clear.

Miraj lowed herself carefully until there was only a few inches for her to drop and then stood back for tkek to jump down. They were effectively in a dead end, the corridor ahead of them, the closed turbo lift doors at their back. "At least no one can sneak up on us, I guess."

"I'll keep watch," Ryan said, "You two deal with the turbo lift. If it doesn't open, we might need to force it."

T'Kek nodded. "Agreed." Moving towards the turbolift, he began to push as his half-vulcan muscles strained. A second later the doors began to part. Quickly readjusting himself, he continued to push the doors open wider until they finally gave. "The doors are open," he stated, taking a deep breath.

Miraj waited for T'kek to finish straining, eyes jumping from him to the corridor she had turned her back on. Then she looked at the turbo lift car he had opened up. The light was on, and it spilled out brightly, making her wince away from it. She stepped in, heading for the rear to make room for the others.

She hadn't got inside two steps before the turbo lift doors snapped shut like a guillotine. She whirled and hammered on the shut doors. "Hey. Not funny. Open the doors!"

Ryan looked back after hearing the protest. The lift was closed and Miraj was missing. "What- what happened?" He asked.

T'Kek immediately tried to open the doors, just as a whoosh sound came from the shaft, indicating that the lift had moved. "The lift has left!" T'Kek announced as he continued to pull the outer doors open again.

"If anyone uses the lift while we're in there, we'll get crushed." Ryan commented while still watching for enemies. "I think we need to wait for it to come back. Or we need to get out of this dead-end hallway before a pack of beasts find us. What do you think?"

"What in the red sands are you lot doing back down here!" S'hib barked as he and Sapphire turned onto their corridor, the sound of chittering howls close behind.

"Sir, the lift left with Ensign Derani as soon as she stepped inside of it." T'Kek explained.

The targ hybrids howled in the distance, but closer than before.

Sapphire cursed. "Oh ffs."

"I'll hold them off, Lieutenant get them to safety." S'hib snorted as he pushed Sapphire into the corridor with the rest of them and turned around, Nostrils flared and hooves stomping on the floor as he readied himself for what was to come.

Sapphire nodded, and pushed Ryan and T'Kek ahead of her. Pausing she turned and kissed S'hib on the cheek. "Good luck" She said before pushing the two ensigns away and vanishing into the dark with them.