Away Mission: Group 4

Posted on Fri Jul 15th, 2022 @ 11:24am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant JG T'Kek [Naxea] & Senior Chief Petty Officer Fernando De La Rosa [Taylor] & Senior Chief Petty Officer Emily Charles {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Season 5: Episode 4: Reef
Location: USS Jefferson; Deck 7
Timeline: MD1: 11h00
2757 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

== USS Jefferson, Deck 7 ==

The light was low as the group dropped down through the hatch onto the deck plating of deck 7. Red lights flashed but the accompanying alarm was muted. Nothing moved around them.

S'hib was the first to hit the deck, still wearing his Sequus deep space mining suit, its once white dura plastic exterior still showing cosmetic damage from its encounter on the moon. "Last one down, seal the hatch behind you..." The Commander said as he thumped forward, an awkward tilt to his stride as the ship lay listing ever so slightly on the ocean floor.

"Last thing we need is more holes..." He repeated, his voice garbled behind a dusty old microphone inside his suit as he awkwardly crouched beside a Jefferies tube, analysing the moisture slowly dripping down onto the floor below. "The Jefferson has enough already..."

As Fernando was the last one down, he made sure to close and dog the hatch securely shut. "Hatch is sealed Commander. Pressure is holding." He remarked as he moved to join the others.

Focusing on the task at hand, T'Kek activated his tricorder. "Reading reduced power levels...but no life signs, Commander.

"Keep scanning, we'll go room by room if we have to... but I want one thing clear." He snorted as he slowly turned the handle on the hatch door, manually locking and sealing it tight. "Nobody opens anything," He said, standing back up to full height, towering over everyone with his suit's thick and imposing frame barely beneath the ceiling. "not until you scan what's on the other side first." He added, pointing a stubby mechanical finger at the group before him. "Understood?"

“Crystal, Sir!” Emily nodded as she looked towards S’hib. She’d never actually seen him until the recent briefing, let alone worked with him before. “What’s our plan incase of breach? Apart from not get drowned.”

"Depends on the size..." He replied, his featureless helmet turning ever so slightly to face Emily with the myriad of sensor dots across its surface focusing on her.

"If it's small enough we seal it, but if it's a catastrophic breach... don't even bother running for the shuttle, get to another deck." He added, motioning towards the Jefferies tube he just sealed. "Use the Jefferies tubes and deck hatches where safe to do so, just remember to close everything behind you."

"Ensign," S'hib snorted, shifting his bulk to face T'Kek. "Focus your scans towards the core of the ship, I doubt survivors would be congregating in their quarters admiring the fish." He finished, leaving little room for discussion as he slowly turned, the combined torso and helmet configuration of his suit reducing his dexterity, giving the Sequus Commander a crude android vibe to his movements, even as he slowly thumped forward.

T'Kek nodded. "Aye, Sir," he continued as he redirected the tricorder's scans. He managed to see a blip on the tricorder's sensor display before it disappeared. He quickly cross referenced the ship's layout with the blip's location. "I...thought I got something, Sir. It was brief but it disappeared. It was near Section Fifteen Bravo in Main Engineering. Specifications indicate there is a good number of shielding that could be interfering with my tricorder's readings, Sir."

"Shielding?" S'hib frowned as he stopped, turning slightly as though questioning T'Kek. "I suppose it could be a precaution in the event the ship starts to fill with water... but why would they waste what little emergency power they have instead of manually sealing bulkheads..." It didn't make sense he thought as he slowly turned back to the corridor before him, the red lights flashing in slow rhythmic beats.

"I guess we'll find out." He snorted as they continued walking.

“There are survivors” Emily looked towards S’hib, “I can sense them. I might be able to lead you to them once we get closer.”

"Good, we may need to rely on you more as we get closer to engineering," S'hib remarked, his voice rattling out of his suit and into their comm badges. "Even my helmet display is picking up on the interference." He finished, turning a corner slowly as a hiss of pressurised CO2 vented from the rear of his suit.

He paused briefly, his suits internal sensors analysing the corridor before him with a grid of light that only he could see, mapping out the internal structures of the rooms nearby and giving him the ability to see a few dozen meters around him regardless of if a wall was in his way or not.

"Ensign, if you need to, combine your sensor data with Chief Charles... might help narrow things down."

Emily nodded to T’Kek and offered a smile; she was happy to be of use in more than one capacity.

T'Kek nodded at the suggestion from Commander S'hib as he linked his tricorder with Emily's and began to transfer the data stored on his tricorder. "You should have my data now, Chief Charles," he grinned at the woman's attractive smile.

“Thank you Ensign,” Emily smiled warmly at T’Kek. “I should be able to pinpoint a little easier as we get closer to where people are. My senses should be more accurate when I’m closer.”

The group continued walking for several minutes, the quiet and ominously lit corridors of the Jefferson giving infuriatingly little context to her fate.

"I'm picking up something in the room ahead, anyone else reading it?" S'hib called out as his pace quickened slightly as he moved towards the door, stopping suddenly before thumping the back of his fist on its exterior.

Emily nodded. “I’m definitely sensing life in there Sir. Looks like we’ve got survivors.”

Now that they were closer, T'Kek could get a clearer reading. I'm reading eight lifeforms in the room, Sir," he commented as he studied his Medical Tricorder. "Possible injuries among them."

Fernando continued to bring up the rear. His eyes swept the corridor as they moved along and even checked behind them, in case they had missed anything.

"Pressure readings are normal... I'm opening it." S'hib snorted as his eight fingers mag locked against its frame and effortlessly parted it, stopping briefly to peer into the gap with his suit lights before readjusting his grip and pulling the door open fully, shunting the two halves into their alcoves before stepping back.

A man in a bloodied engineering gold uniform stood shakily on his legs with a crudely bandaged head wound. "H-hey, you, y-you're Starfleet? I-I'm Lieutenant Goldman, um, Assistant Engineering officer," he stammered weakly as the others in the room showed a visible sign of relief at seeing the Away Team.

"Sir, I'm a medic, please sit down so I can have a look at your wound," T'Kek offered.

"Yeah...sure," he sat down, barely keeping himself from collapsing onto the deck as T'Kek briskly approached him and scanned him with his Medical Tricorder. He looked at S'hib. "Commander, he has a severe concussion and several bruised ribs."

Emily was checking out some of the others in the room. “I have more wounded here too Sir.” She looked at S’hib. “There’s two patients here that need emergency medical care, I can only do so much for them here.”

The deck plating beneath their feet suddenly shook and there was the horrible sound of grinding metal on stone that rent the air.

T'Kek instantly shot a look at S'hib. "That doesn't sound good. Sir, I'd recommend we transport these survivors to the Elysium and keep moving."

Emily nodded. “The wounded need away from here as soon as possible.”

"We're running out of time... My suits started detecting micro fractures all over the hull, structural integrity isn't going to hold forever." S'hib remarked, staring up blankly at the ceiling as his internal sensors, which were originally designed to aid in the mining of asteroids, flared red warning dots on the grids that highlighted the blueprint of the ship.

"Get isolinear tags on these people and reroute their transport signals through the shuttle's sensors," S'hib remarked as he quickly left the room, stopping briefly to stare through the opposite wall. "When you're all done, there's a Jefferies tube in torpedo storage, it's a short crawl into engineering... I'll meet you there, I gotta go the long way." He snorted before servo's whirled to life and he thumped off down the corridor.

T'Kek watched the commander turn and leave before looking at Emily. "I always heard he has a reputation of going off on his own," he commented as he began to tag the survivors with the isolinear tags

Emily smiled. “Let’s make sure everyone is ready to go, I’ll check and see if there are any more wounded.”

Even as they spoke and discussed, the ship around them creaked ominously and the deck plating shifted beneath their feet.

After a few moments, T'Kek tagged his last patient. "That does it for me. How are you coming along?"

Emily sighed. “I’m done, we just need to get these people out of here!”


=/\= ELYSIUM TO ALL AWAY TEAMS - EVAC And STAND READY. We have problems up here!=/\=


"Red sands..." S'hib snorted as his mind raced, pausing briefly before his eyes flicked to the comms on his helmet HUD. "T'Kek, get everyone back to the shuttle. I'll be right behind you."

His lie was obvious, though he gave little room for protest as he eye flicked the comms to silent before quickening up his pace, heavy industrial hooves thumping as he approached the turbolift door. His heart racing as his hands' mag locked the two panels apart with little care, the internal gears of the alcove grind and splinter as he shunted them into place.

The view beyond was dark, far darker than the corridor he was in. an infinite void of emptiness above and below, doing nothing else but highlight the gap he needed to cross to the turbolift intersection. A gap he needed to cross while wearing twice his body weight in carbon duraplastic alloy.

"Dunes betray me... why is it never simple." He muttered as he backed up until his back hit the wall, the surprise of having such little runway making him jump more than actually hitting the wall.

A brief pause as his eyes flicked back to his HUD, reading the comm chatter of various teams including his own... the problems with the Elysium would have to wait he thought, he didn't have time to think about it.

Then he lurched forward, his second hoof step barely landing inside the corridor as he threw himself over the gap, landing hard as his legs clipped the inside wall of the vertical turbolift tunnel, tripping him into an awkward but brief slide.

"Ok," He breathed out, the sudden panic of almost falling sapping the strength out of his arms as he pushed himself up, relying solely on his Exo suit as he heaved his bulky frame back upright, grabbing hold of anything he could to leverage himself back onto his hooves.

"Almost there." He huffed, willing himself forward as his hooved echoed loudly down the dark tunnel.

"Ensign, how's everyone looking... we good?" S'hib asked as he stopped, his helmet lights illuminating a turbolift car sitting in front of the door to engineering.

"Yes sir, we have all survivors tagged and are in the process of beaming them to the shuttles. Where are you at, Sir?" came T'Kek's response.

"Like I said, right behind you..." S'hib replied, audibly straining as he shouldered his weight into the car blocking his path, his suit whining as its servos and hydraulics were pushed to the limit. "Just, making sure we aren't leaving anyone." He continued, watching the door slowly come into view as his hooves pushed against whatever they could find purchase on, buckling support struts and crushing anti-grav plates in the process.

"Regulations state that..." T'Kek began.

"Quote one more damn regulation, Ensign, and I'll stay here out of spite... now get ready to lock onto my suits' Tetryon power cell, it should be the only thing emitting Epsilon radiation." S'hib huffed as he slid the door open and heaved himself up inside engineering, the maglocks in his gloves tearing at the carpeted floor until he was out of the turboshaft.

"Where is every one..." He snorted, still on his hands and knees as his head pivoted slowly around, the faint glow of the dying warpcore doing little to illuminate the vast room inside the Jeffersons' engineering.

"Half the crew should be here..." S'hib questioned as he slowly got back up onto his hooves, his eyes glancing at his HUD as the words ---Unknown bio signatures detected--- flashed at him, demanding far more attention than he was giving it.

"This doesn't make any sense." He muttered quietly as he slowly thumped forward, unable to fit the puzzle pieces together.

It was strangely silent as he walked further into Engineering, a thick layer of dust hung in the air as he panned around, his helmet lights flickering off numerous specs before catching glimpses of what first appeared like droplets of water dripping down from above.

He assumed sea water at first, a leak somewhere in the shaft above until a droplet landed on his helmet, the residue having more of a sap-like consistency as it clung to him.

Then a sound, off to his left grabbed his attention before he could give it a second thought, forcing him to turn quickly only to find his lights illuminating a chair, its small seat still swivelling in situ as the sound of clattering on the deck plating abruptly stopped with no visible cause.

"Uhhh... Ensign, have you got that lock yet?" He asked nervously as his hand slowly crept towards his hip, thumbing loose the strap on his holster as he glanced higher, noticing more and more strands of glistening globules in the thick air slowly abseiling down towards him.

---Unknown biosignatures detected---

"T'kek, come in." He growled in a hushed tone as his hand gripped hold of his phaser pistol, alarm bells ringing in his mind as he looked higher, following the dim light of the warp core up to the ceiling, or what was left visible beneath the desiccated masses of thickly covered and vaguely humanoid shapes.

"Ensign, I'd really appreciate it if you'd-" He started before the clattering of carapace and insect wings filled the air above him, his helmet lights barely catching a glimpse before it, whatever it was landed on top of him. leaving him in a moment of terrified silence until it skittered over and sat directly on the front of his helmet.

His eyes went wide at the sight, freezing him to the spot until its fangs started thumping harmlessly against his EVA, prompting a very undignified scream as he battered it off and stumbled back, watching it twitching on its side before rolling back over, hissing at him with its wings fluttering behind it.

S'hib hissed back in kind, having found some of his dignity again before throwing his phaser forward and firing, splattering the creature into a gore-stained smear and bathing a hundred others in a yellow hue before they vanished back into the darkness.

---Transporter lock detected---

Then the silence was no more as a cacophony of wings filled the sterile air as they swarmed, their curiosity sated, their hunger soon to be as they sprayed a clear but vicious solution from their mandibles, some jumped onto him attempting to bite, others buzzing around, seemingly waiting their turn as they followed his slower and slower steps.

Even as he fell into the turbolift shaft, phaser fire slicing off legs or outright eviscerating others they still came, a flurry of insect mass barreling through the door after him until the blue glow of the transporter left them scurrying about in confusion, their wings fluttering in unison until the hive had calmed down from its frenzy.

T'Kek stood sat at the Operations controls, having managed to get a lock onto S'hib and transport him aboard the shuttle. "Apologies, Commander. But I was busy focusing on establishing a lock which was difficult to do due to the shielding in Engineering."

"Yeah... And I think I know why they put shields up around Engineering." He huffed as he sat up and looked at his phaser, dangling from his hand by a mass of sticky clear residue that was caked all over his EVA suit.

TBC

 

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