When the Bough Breaks...

Posted on Tue Nov 15th, 2022 @ 8:12am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Skylah McBride [Lalor] & Staff Sergeant Liam "Swede" Reece [Reece]

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: USS Elysium, McBride-Reece Quarters
Timeline: Md3 02h00 Approx
1335 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Liam had just gotten up to get a drink of water. Afterwards, he decided to peak in on Skylah, make sure she was sleeping peacefully.

He exited the master bedroom and was about to reach Skylah's door, when the ship suddenly pitched wildly, hurling him into the bulkhead next to her bedroom door. As he collided with the duranium bulkhead, he struck his head first, stunning him briefly. He quickly fought to regain his senses when he heard his little girl screaming in pain and fear. "Skylah! I'm coming, baby!!"

As the bulkhead was now the deck, by his vantage point, he quickly rolled over and smacked her door controls. As the doors slid open, the ship lurched again, reversing the angle they were already in. With all his strength and speed, Liam caught the open door frame and pulled himself into her room, just as she started to fall towards him. Reaching out, he latched onto her arms and pulled her against his chest, holding her tightly and wrapping his body around hers. "I got you baby!"

Sky clung to him whimpering.

The ship continued to to rock and twist, consoles blew out everywhere. Out in the living room, the sound of duranium being twisted and shearing away could easily be heard of the cacophony of the red alert klaxons.

"AVALON!" He shouted, "ACTIVATE EMERGENCY FORCEFIELDS IN SKYLAH'S ROOM NOW!!"

The force fields shimmered into place. Just in time.

Skylah buried her face in his chest and shook from fear.

An instant after the forcefuelds activated, there was an explosion in the living room. As there was no Jeffries tube access from here, for now they were completely cut off and isolated from the ship.

The ship lurched a few more times, then seemed to settle. During the calm, Liam carefully checked Skylah for any injuries.

Skylah raised a tear stained face to him. "Where is Aunt Sam?" she asked softly.

Liam gently moved the loose hair from Skylah's face, then pulled her back against his chest. "She's on the bridge, sweetheart." He started to feel a headache coming on as he spoke. Then he felt warm fluid start to drip from his nose.

"You're bleeding" Skylah said to Liam.

He reached up and touched his face. When he pulled it away, his fingers were covered in his blood. "Must've been when I hit the bulkhead." Keeping her in his lap as they sat there, he reached for one of her pillows nearby and ripped some of the pillow case free. He then carefully packed it in his nose.

"I'll be okay..." he assured her as best he could, even though his headache was getting worse. "Computer, open a channel to sickbay."

There was no response.

Liam's brows furrowed slightly. "Avalon?" He called out to the ship's Artificial Intelligence program.

There was no reply.

Skylah frowned. "What do we do?"

Suddenly, a muffled meow could be heard, coming from under Skylah's bed.

"Seraph!" Liam exclaimed. "In all of this, I forgot about the cat!" He and Skylah slid over to her bed and, after he released her to lift it, the family feline crawled out into the open.

Skylah scooped up the cat and cuddled her close. "She... was sleeping with me" she confessed.

Liam put the bed back down and turned to scoop them both up into his arms. "Oh, honey, that's okay. I let her out most nights that you have her in here." He started to look around the small bedroom as he spoke. His eyes flashed to the forcefield at her open door, as it continued to pulse slightly, as it continued to hold back the fire and sparks that were still going strong out in the destroyed living room.

"Why don't you and Seraph go sit in that corner over there." He indicated the corner farthest from her open door. "While I try to get that door closed and figure out how to get us out of here."

"okay" Skylah crawled over to the corner with the cat in her arms.

As soon as Skylah was in position, Liam picked up her mattress and pulled it over to her. "I'm going to prop this up over you two, honey. Stay under it until I say it's safe."

She nodded. "ok... come back?" she asked softly as she held tightly to the cat.

"Of course I will!" Liam replied, putting a smile on his face as he lifted the mattress to look at her again. "Do you think I'd leave my Little Miss? We still have to design and build that tree house, remember?"

Skylah nodded and the cat purred as she buried her face in Seraph's fur.

Liam gently lowered the mattress again, then turned and started to see about getting some tools, even if he had to jury rig something. As a Sapper, he was trained how not only to destroy something, but build as well.

Skylah meanwhile held tight to their pet and prayed.

Once he was confident that Skylah and Seraph were as protected as possible, Liam moved over to the open bedroom door. Though the active forcefield was keeping the plasma fire out, it did not stop the heat. As he moved closer to the door controls, he started to feel like his skin was getting an equivalent of a sunburn. However, he would not stop, not until his little girl was safe.

Pulling off his tank top, he wrapped it around his left hand and reached for the manual door controls. As he reached it, his exposed skin started to blister. He clenched his teeth and grunted through the pain. Finally reaching the controls, he opened the access cover and yanked the handle, forcing the doors shut, giving some additional protection to the carnage that was their living room.

Moving back to the other side of the small room, he collapsed onto his back. His chest, arms and face covered in burn blisters.

Skylah listened and waited, and waited. "Liam?" she eventually called out.

He coughed and replied, his voice strained. "I'm...here...baby. Can you.. get me a... a towel soaked in cool water...?"

Skylah let the cat go and scampered to the bathroom and grabbed a towel and soaked it before carrying it over to Liam.

The cat hunkered down behind the mattress.

Liam looked up at Skylah and smiled as best he could through the pain. "Thank you, sweetheart. Now, I need you to lay it as flat as possible on my chest and belly. Can you do that for me?"

She nodded and did her best. Even at nearly 6 she was capable and she was very neat.

Once Liam's injured chest was covered, he asked her to repeat the process for his arms and then his face. While he knew any damage could be repaired in sickbay, the coolness of the cloths helped alleviate the pain he was feeling. "Thank you, baby," he sighed when she was done. "I just need a moment...to catch my breath..."

She nodded. "Liam... are we going to die here?" she asked her voice scared.

Hearing the fear in her voice, Liam slowly sat up, sliding back away from the door and told her to come sit by him. When she did, he put his right arm around her, holding her close. "So long as we are breathing, there is a chance we will get out of here, Sky. While I try to figure out how to get us out of her, I need you to take care of Seraph. Can you do that for me?"

Skylah nodded. "Yes" she replied softly then she looked towards the mattress where the cat was hunkered down.

Liam nodded slowly. "That's...that's my...gir...." he then lost consciousness, due to the shock that his body was under.

Skylah stared at his now silent face and with tears running down her face scrambled across to gather her pet in her arms. She curled into a ball sobbing.

~TBC~