Tossed Outta Bed...

Posted on Tue Nov 15th, 2022 @ 3:50pm by Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: Cavendish/Reece Cabin - Deck 15
Timeline: Md3 02h00
1042 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Her first thought was What the? Her second was holy fuck. And her third was OW.

Cassia came to on the deck beside the bed she shared with Nicholas, the blankets in a tangle around her feet and legs. The ship was bucking and rolling and as she lifted her head off of the deck, all she could think of was 'Not again'..

From the other side of the room, Nicholas groaned softly. "What the hell was that?" But before either of them could gather their wits, the ship started shaking violently around them, tossing them about again. Somewhere nearby, the sound of explosions could be heard. Then the red alert klaxons started to blare.

"Are we under attack?!" Nicholas stood as best he could, given everything around him was shaking.

Cassia shook her head. "I am not sure..." she pushed herself to her hands and knees. "We... need to find out..." she reached for her uniform jacket which she had slung over the chair.

He nodded and moved to where his uniform was, out in the living room, but stopped, when he reached the door, which didn't open. "Cassy...it's hot behind this door!" He backed away again and moved to the small bulkhead monitor. He pressed it a few times, but nothing happened. "Looks like power is out." He considered the implications for a few beats.

"Great, that also means we might not have a cabin past that door," Cassia said as she began getting dressed.

Nicholas grabbed his pants and boots, getting as dresses as he could. "Computer, ship status. Are we under attack?!"

There was no response.

Cassia sighed and went to their wardrobe. "Here, I have Environmental suits" she said. "Its a bad habit."

Nicholas chuckled as he moved over to her. "No...it's a very good habit, apparently." He then started to get dressed in the environmental suit.

Once he was done, he double checked Cassia's for any damage. "How's mine?" He asked as he lifted his arms so she could inspect closer.

She nodded and checked him over "Looks good." she said softly.

"Okay," he replied. He then lowered his arms. "We need to get out of here, see if anyone needs help."

Cassia nodded. "Yeah let's do this. But opening that door..."

Nicholas glanced back at the door, then seed to remember something. "We don't need to go that way." He moved into the bathroom and started to run his fingers over the interior shower bulkhead. "There should be a maintenance hatch in here. There's a Jeffries tube on the other side of this bulkhead. Where our quarters are located, there is a lot of water and sewage piping, so the engineers need to be able to access any section easily and quickly."

"Lets go then" Cassia said "A lot of families on this deck."

He nodded as he kept searching. Then, "Found it!" He pressed the release mechanism in and the panel, located at his knees, pooped open. After checking to make sure it was safe, he looked back at Cassia. "Okay, follow me." He then squeezed his large frame through the opening.

Cassia followed him through the acess panel and took a look around. "Nico, isnt Liam's family on this deck?"

That question made the big man pause. "Shit!" He cursed under his breath. "We gotta move!" He then moved through the Jeffries tube as quickly as his large frame and environmental suit would allow. "There should be an access hatch to the corridor about five meters ahead!"

Cassia followed and muttered "Helmet," and her helmet slammed into place. She was not taking any risks.

Nicholas heard her and followed suit. He then reached the access hatch. After scanning it quickly with the suites built in emergency tricorder, he found that it was safe to open the hatch. "Okay, opening the hatch," he said aloud.

Reaching up, he grabbed the locking handle and twisted, releasing the bolts. He then pushed and the hatched pooped our and fell onto the deck.

After carefully climbing out, Nicholas offered a hand to Cassia, if she needed it.

Cassia allowed him to help her out of the tube and looked around the deck as she did so.

There was damage and debris everywhere. There were also bodies of the dead.

Nicholas tried to stay calm, but Cassia would have picked up the fears that his family was dead. "Come on," he said finally. "Their quarters are this way." He then started off down the corridor.

Cassia followed as she kept an eye open for danger. "Shit, our deck got hit bad." She muttered as she checked a victim for a pulse. Finding none, she continued on.

Nicholas's mind kept churning over the fact that his brothers were dead. And then he thought of his newly discovered sister-in-law and beautiful little niece.

He finally had to stop and lean against the bulkhead to just left. He had a feeling that he had just been gut punched. He silently prayed that his intuition was wrong this time.

Cassia put her hand on his shoulder. "Come on, lets check their cabin. Its just there." she pointed to the door a few meters away.

Nicholas had to take a few deep breaths to steady himself, then he nodded in reply.

As they started forward, a sudden cracking was heard above them. Nicholas looked up and saw that a support beam was about to collapse. Without a word, he reached back, grabbed Cassia's left upper arm, hard, and yanked her forward as he practically leapt forward as well. Had he waited even long enough to shout a warning, they both would have Bern crushed as the large section of duranium broke free and slammed to the deck where they had been standing.

After he stood back up, he looked over at Cassia, concern in his eyes and voice. "Are you alright?! I am so sorry! I saw the danger and just reacted!"

"I am fine" she said breathlessly. "Keep moving Nico."

He nodded, though he was still feeling bad that he might very hurt the woman he loved. However, the need to reach Liam and his family quickly overrode his unease. Turning, they made their way to the McBride-Reece quarters.

~TBC~