Rescue...

Posted on Sat Nov 26th, 2022 @ 1:17am by Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Staff Sergeant Liam "Swede" Reece [Reece] & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish & Skylah McBride [Lalor]

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: USS Elysium, McBride-Reece Quarters
Timeline: MD 3 / 0310 hours
2028 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Finally reaching the door to his brother's quarters, Nicholas went to open the door, but his suit's safety alarms started to go off. After quickly checking the readings, he cursed. "I read three biosigns inside, but, there's a plasma fire in the living room, blocking us from getting to them!"

Cassia moved to the panel beside the door and pried it open. She studied it carefully. Then she pressed a finger to a control within the panel. "extinguishers" She said. "Check your readings now."

Nicholas quickly ran the tricorder again. "Shows cleat now." He reached up and slowly pried the exterior doors open. Which the computer apparently down, the locks were not engaged. What met them inside was a scene from hell itself. Every single surface was burned and twisted. The only place that seemed unmarred was the room off the the right, which still had its forcefield operating. "That's were I'd be!" Nicholas said as he carefully made his way over through the destroyed living room.

Cassia followed and looked around. No bodies. A good sign.

When Nicholas reached the forcefield, he looked for a way to deactivate it. After wrenching a bent section of control panel away, he found the circuit that controlled the forcefield. The only way that he could see to deactivate it, though, was to smash the circuit. He quickly looked around and found a piece of duranium piping that he could use.

Lifting it and getting ready, he said, "Brace yourself, just in case."

Cassia nodded and shifted her feet slightly.

Nicholas pulled back and slammed the pipe home, completely destroying the circuit. The forcefield fell instantly and Nicholas rushed over and forced the door open. As he stepped inside, he saw that the room must've been Skylah's room. As he kept scanning, his eyes fell upon his baby brother, unconscious and covered in towels. '"Fuck...Liam..." Nicholas gasped. Then he called out, "Skylah, sweetheart, it's Uncle Nico!"

Inside the room Skylah had curled up with Seraph under the mattress again, while Liam was passed out. Hearing her uncle call out to her, she looked up. "I am here!" She called out.

Cassia moved to the mattress and lifted it off of the child and scared feline. "Hey sweetheart," she said to Skylah. "You two okay?" She knelt down.

Skylah nodded "Liam isn't," she said. It was clear the child had been crying, tears stained her cheeks.

"Nico will help Liam. I will help you. Does this lovely cat have a name?"

"Seraph" Skylah replied.

"And does she have a carrier?"

Skylah nodded. "Yes, in my wardrobe."

Cassia stood with a smile. "I'll go get it."

As Cassia took care of Skykah and her cat, Nicholas poured all of his attention into his little brother. Reaching down, Nicholas felt a pulse in Liam's neck. He closed his eyes and let out a relived breath. His brother was alive!

He then started to access Liam's injuries. He had second and third degree burns on his face, chest and arms. Looking over at his niece, Nicholas asked softly. "Sweetheart, how did Liam get burned?"

"He-he was shutting the door..." Skylah replied.

Cassai brought out the carrier and with Skylah's help put the family pet into the carrier.

Nicholas nodded as he could very well see his little brother doing something brave like that. He looked back at Liam and his heart was breaking to see him in that condition.

Knowing they couldn't wait any longer, Nicholas moved over to his brother, knelt down on his right side, and scooped him up in his arms. After a few beats, Nicholas found the inner strength to stand up, cradling his baby brother in his strong arms. "Okay ladies," he said with some effort. "Sickbay."

Cassia nodded and put the strap of the carrier over her shoulder and took Skylah's hand. "Its three decks up" she reminded Nico.

He nodded. "Yeah, and with no working turbolift, nor stairs, it's going to be tough going. But, we will get there." Before he walked out, he paused long enough to say, grab Skylah's sheets. We will turn them into temporary roping for the climb." He then turned and started take his way back to the corridor. They had to hurry. While he was strong, his full strength hadn't returned yet and his brother was just dead weight at the moment. It was bad enough that Nicholas was going to have to hurt his baby brother with the roping, he decided to carry him in his arms, as opposed to across his shoulders for now.

Cassia put a hand on his shoulder. "Nico" She said softly then used their link. ~I have .. training.. in lifting dead weights up cliffs, I can help~

Understanding what she meant, Nicholas nodded his appreciation. They then continued towards the nearest turbolift.

Skylah clung close to the two of them as they reached the lift. She looked around "It's quiet" she said.

After gently putting his brother down on the deck, Nicholas turned toward his niece and knelt down. "I know, honey. Main power seems to be out. The ship, whatever happened to it, caused a lot of damage. But don't worry, the starship designers built this ship with all the known dangers of spaceflight taken into account. They built in se ondary and tertiary back emergency systems. That's why we still have gravity, air and some power. Once the Commodore gets a handle on the situation, she'll start getting repair teams out to fix everything. Now," he put his left hand gently on her right shoulder. "I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to take a while to fix things, and, some of the people you may have known...are probably no longer with us. All we can do, is stay strong, remain brave, and get back up on our feet." He stood, gently lifting her up in his arms and held her against her left side. "Can I count on you, young lady? I may need your muscles and sharp mind in the coming days."

Skylah nodded "yes" she said softly.

Cassia smiled. She took the sheet and began tearing it into strips and tying them together.

"That's my little Buddy," Nicholas smiled warmly, then leaned in and kissed Skylah on her left cheek. "Okay Skylah, right now, Cassia and I need you to watch over Seraph while we get Liam ready for the climb up the turbolift. Sit over here, so we can keep an eye on you." He indicated a relatively clean section of corridor on the other side of the open turboshaft. "Now, don't peek down the shaft. It's a long way down and I don't want you to fall."

The child nodded and took the cat carrier and moved and sat down.

Cassia meanwhile was looking up into the shaft. "Debris everywhere in there. Be good for Climbing if they are solid."

Nicholas looked as well. "As I'm heavier, I'll go first. If it can hold my weight, it should be safe for you both." He then glanced back down at Skylah and Seraph, before looking back up at the shaft. "On second thought, is their enough sheet rope to fashion a harness for Sky, so I can carry her on my back while I climb up? Then we could use the rope to pull up Seraph's carrier, then, as I pull Liam up, you could climb up next to him, making sure he doesn't get caught on anything?"

"Okay, lets get to it." Cassia stripped off her own jacket and looked at Skylah. "I will use my jacket." she said softly.

After getting Skylah secured to his back, Nicholas reached out and took hold of the rungs of the turboshaft maintenance ladder. Before he stepped put, he turned his head to speak to his niece. "Okay now, sweety, keep your eyes closed and your head against my back."

She did so in silence, she trembled slightly.

When he felt that she was ready, Nicholas looked over at Cassia. "See you up there, Imzadi." He then started the climb up to the turboshaft.

"Take care Imzadi" Cassia replied as she knelt beside Liam and began to strap him into a harness as well.

After a meter, Nicholas reached the first obstacle, a duranium girder that had punctured the turboshaft. He has to climb over and around it to reach the next deck. He used his suit's built-in tricorder to scan passed the door. "No good!" He called down. "The section on the other side of this door is open to space. Gonna try the next one up."

"Okay," Cassia called out from the open door below them.

Continuing the climb, Nicholas had to move around more debris. Finally, he reached the next deck, to find the door open and the area relatively clear. Carefully, he made his way up onto the deck. "Okay, Sweetheart," he said softly to Skylah as he knelt down. "I'm gonna release you from the harness. Have a seat right there, and your Aunt Cassy and I will get to work getting Seraph and your dad up here."

Skylah nodded and sat where she was told. The normally outgoing child was quiet and stunned. But that could be dealt with later.

As soon as Nicholas felt that Skylah was in a safe spot, he turned back to the open turboshaft door and knelt down. Removing the length of sheet rope that Cassia had made, he made sure the end tied to him was secure, before tossing the rest of the length back down to Cassia. "Is it long enough? Or do you need me to climb down some?"

She snagged it easily. "No I think we should be fine." She said. "Cat first!" She tied it to the cat carrier and tugged.

Carefully, Nicholas pulled the rope, bringing g the carrier, sereph mewing inside, up the turboshaft.

In moments, he had the carrier. Looking inside, he spoke calmly to the frightened animal. "It's going to be okay, Seraph. Here's your favorite girl." He put the carrier down next to Skylah. "Pet her through the bars, sweetie, but don't let her put yet. Not until we are somewhere where she can't get hurt, okay?"

Skylah took the carrier and pulled it close to her. "Ok." She replied.

Nodding, Nicholas reached down and gently caressed the right side of her face. "You are being very brave, young lady. I'm sure your aunt and Liam would be very proud of you, if they knew. I know I am."

The child nodded. She was struggling but she would not cry, not yet.

"Okay now, stay back right here, while Cassy and I get Liam uo here." He moved back to the open shaft. "Rope coming down!" He shouted right before he dropped the untied end of the rope down the shaft to Cassia's waiting hands.

It took Cassia a long time to get Liam fully secured and then herself so she could move him through the beams that intersected the lift. But soon she was tugging to let Nico know they were ready. Once they were in the shaft, Cassia climbed and carefully guided the unconscious form of Liam through the debris.

It took a few stressful moments, but they finally got Liam up on the deck. Nicholas cringed when he saw the additional injuries to his baby brother. Reaching down, he picked up his brother. "Come on, sickbay is just a short way away."

Cassia picked up the cat carrier and then picked up the child who curled against her. They followed Liam and Nicolas to the medical bay.

A few minutes later, they finally made it to sickbay, altering a few dozen other injured crewmembers. "Doc!" Nicholas cried out as he continued to carry his critically injured brother.

Sthilg heard his name being called and hurried out. He looked like how most of the crew felt his uniform coated with a layer of multiple species blood. " Get him in to quarantine bay two there sssome ssspace on the floor." he yelled over the loud noise of the his sickbay which resembled a battlefield.

~TBC~