Infiltration Specialist

Posted on Fri Mar 8th, 2024 @ 10:05am by Lieutenant M'Tuuri Sh'iss [S'hib] & Commander Kyle Reece

Mission: Season 6: Episode 4: Memory Lane
Location: K'ithai, M Class world, Owned by the Thaih'ae
Timeline: MD9 15h00
1683 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

"That ssshould do it..." M'Tuuri purred as she stared into the alien circuitry she lay under, ignoring the globule of vibrant blue organic coolant as it dripped onto her cheek for the umpteenth time.

Her gloves were equally stained, shimmering next to the lights of the circuits as the ship's power flickered, its landing lights briefly stuttering as power was reallocated along unconventional channels.

Consoles bleeped and chirped to life as she sat up, looking at her helmet on the seat in front of her, wires and other components both Starfleet and from this ship twisted and wrapped around one another.

She hummed quietly. "Give me sssome good news." before sitting there for a moment, eyeing up the visor.

Restrained excitement flickered across her face as the data stream read across the curved glass, even if everything was back to front she could still make out the important parts.

It took a few moments but eventually, a positive connection was confirmed.

"Ah, well aren't you well-behaved..." She sighed in relief, trying to forget about the last ship she visited as she went to wipe the coolant off her cheek.

A frown, boarding on a snarl crept on her face as she was assaulted by the stink of the ship's internals. Stopping she looked at the gloop all over her gloves, this... This! was what she was doing instead of sitting in a bar gathering Intel, like the rest of them.

"Fuck sssake." She hissed, flicking her hands to either side, spraying the fluorescent coolant over the floor before nuzzling into her arm to wipe her cheek clean; even if all it did was smear the stain into her fur.

Then a thought crept in as M'Tuuri sat there, wiping her hands over various surfaces. Why was she doing this, she could have just taken this ship and just left, It's not like she wasn't already alone anyway.

She leaned forward, trying to shake the idea away before slowly getting on her knees and using the chair to drag herself up.

Just a few more minutes she said internally, looking at the data feed on her wrist, watching the plethora of star charts and navigational data pour in, her tail flicking lazily at the tip.

Suddenly, the hatch opened and an ape-like humanoid stepped inside. He was young, possibly on his first voyage across the stars. As he stepped into the compartment, he studied a datapad, making notes with a stylus. He was so engrossed with what he was reading, that he didn't even realize that he wasn't alone until he was practically upon M'Tuuri. Then he realized the danger.

"Hrugo?" He asked in his native tongue. Unrecognized by the universal translator inside M'tuuri's comm badge. "Tragollo fis'talla!!" Shock was clearly etched on his face as he started to step backwards from the creature before him.

She stared at the boy, her eyes quickly shifting from narrow slits into large black orbs. "Don't run," She murmured, more to herself as her hands slowly moved to one another, thumbs clicking into the latches that attached the gloves to her suit.

"Don't run..." She added with more emphasis as she watched the boy stepping further back.

Without hesitation, the young male turned and scurried for the closed hatch, in his fear, he mistyped the access codes and a red light appeared over the keypad. Shouting in his native tongue he kept trying.

M’Tuuri was already moving before he’d failed the first time, her gloves clattering to the floor as she pounced, tackling him before he had time to finish the second attempt.

In a panic, the young crewman started to swing blindly at the creature that was attacking him. In an example of the strength that his people were known for, he drove several hard elbows into the creature's ribs, hearing a crack as he did so. He threw another to its face, feeling a solid hit on his opponent's right cheekbone.

The blows to her ribs had left her winded and in immense pain, pain that only fueled her predatory instincts even as a fanged tooth went flying across the ship.

Restraining him was no longer an option, if it ever was to begin with.

So she hissed, a bloodied visage dripping from her snarled lips as she thrust a hand forward in the blink of an eye, slashing at the boy's neck with her claws before pushing away and clambering to her feet.

"I fffucking told you," M'Tuuri wheezed, clutching her chest as she stepped back further, watching through fierce eyes at the grim scene playing out before her.

"I told you not to rrrun..." She added, stumbling backwards until she was leaning against one of the cockpit consoles.

The young crewman struggled to breathe, grasping at his destroyed throat. He knew, in an instant, that he was going to die, drowning in his own blood. If only he had told Getalua how he had felt.

Then, he was gone, becoming nothing more than a pile of flesh and meat.

M'Tuuri had long lost interest by the time the boy died, already retrieving her gloves before the wet gurgling from his throat had stopped.

Her mind was already fixating not on what she had just done, but on how she was going to hide her injuries from the away team, every variable, every question. What to prioritise first, what could be waved away.

But first, she just had to get back to the Saucy Minx M'Tuuri thought as she leaned down to retrieve the last glove, gasping in pain as she did.

The sudden shock on her face from the blinding pain quickly turned into an annoyed snarl as she leaned back up, feeling the tightness in her chest increasing.

But she didn't have time to be in pain she told herself as she slipped on each glove, ignoring the blood and skin that clung to her claws, she would worry about that later.

Then she turned, moving stiffly over to the seat her helmet still sat on and began tearing free the myriad of wires that had been attached to it, much to the disapproval of the ship's computer.

Whatever data she had scraped would have to be enough she thought as the last few cables fell to the floor.

Not that she had a choice in the matter she sighed before lifting her muzzle and sliding her head inside the helmet face first.

The HUD was slow to turn on she noted while fastening the locks around the neck, the suits onboard computer seemingly still busy compiling the swaths of new data it had just absorbed.

This she thought with a pained exhale that briefly clouded up her visor as she moved down the ship, was something she also didn't have time for.

A few steps later everything came online.

+++Critical injury detected, administering first aid+++

The words flashed up on her visor as pinpricks from the micro hyposprays injected her with various concoctions, hitting her almost as hard as that blow to her ribs did as Polyadrenaline, Terakine and other pain suppressants flooded her system.

She felt her core body temperature dip as the blood rushed from her head, forcing her to take a moment to lean against the side of the ship as her vision narrowed.

Then an involuntary cough left her lips, peppering the inside of her helmet with a fine mist of red specks.

"Fuck..." She cursed, tasting the strong metallic tinge in her throat as her vision returned to normal, but even with the medication coursing through her veins she still ached.

Still, it had taken the edge off she thought as she glanced back towards the cockpit, checking to see if she had left anything.

Satisfied she turned again, taking a few steps forward before kneeling awkwardly down on one knee.

In front of her lay the boy, his eyes still wide open in shock.

Hers in contrast was entirely apathetic, simply looking at him because he was there to look at.

"Oh, come on..." She hissed, not wanting to bend over further as her left hand fumbled about for something.

"Where arrre you... there." She said as her padded fingers clasped her missing fang, briefly looking at it before pocketing it into a pouch on her waist.

Standing back up, however, took far more effort than she was comfortable admitting to herself. The sooner she got back to their ship she thought as she stepped over the boy's lifeless body, the better.

=/\="M'Tuuri to away team..."=/\= She called out as she opened the rear hatch, the same one she came in through. =/\="I'm on my way back to the shipurr,"=/\=

She paused briefly, glancing outside before rushing out of view of the landing lights. =/\=Nothing of note to report, Over."=/\=

As soon as she cut the feed she gasped, spraying more red specks of blood over her visor.

+++Warning blood pressure dropping, the likelihood of cardiac arrest within the next ten minutes is now at forty-three percent+++

She was on her knees now, clutching her chest as the suit administered more microdoses of medication.

Her eyes looked between the HUD and everything else, watching her vitals spiking even as she felt the thump in her chest calming ever so slightly.

"Good enough..." M'Tuuri grimaced as she got back up, her muscles aching as she reached up to her shoulders and tugged her cloak tightly around herself.

She felt cold even inside the insulated and heated EVA suit.

But that feeling soon vanished as she reached the path that connected all the landing sites in a ring around the encampment.

Now she felt how she did back in her bathroom when the Quantum filaments tore her quarters into voidspace, how she felt when the corridor collapsed around her, helpless and afraid.

It was not a sensation she enjoyed, nor one she was familiar with.

So she ignored it as best she could, focusing instead on the task at hand... getting back to the ship.