IKC FHew 7C6110
Darkness Dawning – Dark passage
by HoD Ro' Matlh & HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared
Post Details
At some point in the design of the Nihlus their makers expected to need to move on the ships to make repairs or check systems. Long after those same makers had been eliminated the design remained unchanged. Unlike the Borg, the Nihlus sort to replicate their design without alteration.
Marie had paused on her way to the cabinet holding the EVA suits. She stood listening intently while the discussion on the bridge played itself out. She did not like what she was hearing.
She didn't like a lot of what she heard on the FHew. Ro' had an uncanny knack for landing them in dangerous situations but, credit where credit was due, he also had an uncanny knack for getting them out again.
This sounded altogether different.
Now she continued. A ship without life support mean only one thing – the suit would be necessary. From what Jared had said they wouldn't be pausing to get an oxygen supply up and running.
The corridor the crew arrived in was barely wide enough for two people to squeeze past each other in the bulky EVA armour. The walls passed into darkness above them and below the gantry on which they stood. The walls themselves were made of dull metal made of interlocking lumps and plates. A dull blue light filtered from lights in the floor.
The gantry opened up on one end as a wide platform. It was obviously an engineering room of some sort and a large machine could be accessed from one side.
Ro' drew his paired disruptor pistols and placed himself in the corridor approach, "Jared get what you need form the engine. Tell and Marie, help him. Marla, Lach and May'bel, you make sure nothing gets to them. Ru'fimohp, You're front line with me. Thor'nan and Cha'a', second line of defence. Jason, HIchop you get where ever is needed."
He pulled his communicator, "Ro' to Tierk and Germite. We are in. Stand by."
"Yes sir. " replied Tierk.
"Well Marie here we go again." said Tell "Nice little mission, blue skies and nice warm sunshine, slight tang in the air and a promise of a shower later on. Meet you on the terrace later on for a drink later?"
“Bring your swimmers with you,” Marie replied, to her surprise. Damn, Tell’s warped humour must be getting to me. She’s actually cheering me up!
She might have sounded jovial to the others but it was Tells way of dealing with things. Showing fear to her was a sign of weakness and she didn't have the time for it. She laid equipment out in front of her. "Hey Marie have you heard how many engineers it takes to change the damn bulb in the damn hold?"
"Alright, tell me."
"None. We are all too busy trying to design the perfect light bulb." Tell replied
“I think the correct answer is: Any other engineer than you. I’d say one but with you around a whole army of them couldn’t manage it.”
Jared had placed number of complicated looking pieces of electronics around him and was looking over the wall of gadgets with a discerning eye. He grabbed at a small device and with a sharp twist withdrew it from its housing.
There was a small noise and a piece of machinery in the wall closest to Jared lifted out of the wall, extended legs and began to scuttle towards the hole left by the missing component.
"You might like the light-bulbs here then," Jared commented grimly as he worked swiftly - keeping one eye on the scuttling shape, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a replacement part carried by what looked like a fist-sized metallic beetle.
"They replace themselves..."
There was a flash and the walking spare part vanished in a red glow. Lach had his disruptor levelled at the space. Jared reached up and pulled a second device from the wall. Three different areas moved now, two moving with spare parts towards the sections that were destroyed, and one to the place where the first beetle-bot had been vaporised.
"Nihlus scarabs," Jared commented without looking up from his work. "The scarabs aren't all that dangerous themselves. There's just thousands of them. And they fix things. And make other machinery into more Nihlus."
A yellow light above the engine turned on and began to spin, giving an eerie strobe lighting to the scene.
"They've recognised a problem, but not yet labelled it an attack. That light's sort of like yellow alert, for the benefit of any technicians."
"Well that's different. I look a bit sickly in this light. Any one got an aspirin?" Tell asked as she destroyed another walking part. "I hate these creepy, crawly, clicky things just as much as I hate Klingon poetry. That's one to me Marie."
Other parts of the wall began to sprout legs and move. For each one the engineers destroyed another two would appear. At one point a bright purple pinpoint beam of light lanced out and came to rest on Lach's Disruptor. He moved the gun but the beam of light followed it as if attached. A Nihlus-scarab fell from the roof and onto the barrel of the disruptor. Lach gave a cry and tried to shake it off, but it dug its pointed legs like a vice into the sides of the gun. From the scarab's head, a bright purple ribbon of light began to sweep back and forth across the gun, peeling away the metal layer by layer. Lach dropped it in dismay, pulling his Mak'leth blade instead. The Nihlus continued to carve the gun up and he watched as in a matter of moments it was gone.
The scarab began to sweep it's tiny purple ribbon of light back and forth in front of it again, this time creating something from the harvested disruptor metal. Within a few seconds, another scarab was beginning to take shape.
Suddenly other pinpoint-beams of light lanced out form the dark recesses, coming to rest on everyone's disruptor. Only Jason, with his Phaser rifle, was not targeted.
Jared paused a moment in his work, and snatched the disruptor rifle he'd brought off his shoulder. He quickly fiddled with the controls.
"They've recognised a dangerous energy signature!" He called.
May'Bel, with both his disruptors drawn, smiled, "Target practice, boys! Stay mobile!"
The room was suddenly strobed with red light as May'Bel began rapid firing into the gloom, using each beam that focussed on his guns as a guide to his next target.
What the light began to show was alarming. The walls of the corridor seemed to seethe as more and more scarabs came out of the wall. Some move to recover the broken bodies of their comrades, but others moved along the walls towards the group.
There was a clink and a hum as Jared fixed the first of the three missing parts into his device. He winced slightly at the noise it made but moved on, extracting a larger set of silver tubing from the engine.
Cha'a' bellowed as she felt something drop onto her back. She could not reach the scarab as it scuttle dexterously over her back plate.
F'Hew transporter room
Germite had been monitoring the battle from the F'Hew. He saw that both Lach and then Cha'a had been attacked. He yelled at Tierk to get them out of there.
Tierk, struggling to understand the commands that were not given in Klingon, panicked and looked at the board, "'Iv? [Which one]"
Germite did a quick calculation and saw that he had a higher probability of saving Cha'a, no matter the complications that may arise after the fact. "Cha'a!!!"
Tierk's hands flew now and the transporter glowed. Cha'a' appeared in the red glow, still struggling to catch at the tiny, scuttling drone.
Germite picked up a mek'leth that was leaning against the wall and ran over to Cha'a. He slid the blade between Cha'a and the scarab and pried it loose. Once the scarab was loose, it scuttled towards the transporter console looking for materials to use to replicate itself. Germite glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Tierk was dealing with the scarab, while he dealt with Cha'a's injuries.
"YImev! [Freeze]" Tierk barked and fired his disruptor. The shot blew it away, allowing Germite to finally drag what was left of the heavy sealed suit off the Klingon woman. She appeared uninjured from a quick tricorder scan.
Nhilus ship
"F'Hew!" Jared shouted into the comms over the din of the fight. "Copy F'Hew! Do NOT beam anything with a scarab aboard! Just one of those things loose on the F'Hew and we're all dead anyway!"
Lach was slashing with his blade now, trying to mash the bots to bits with pure force. Suddenly one fell onto the clear faceplate of his suit. He grabbed at it to try and tear it free but the metal arms dug in and there was a hiss as oxygen began to escape form the holes it had dug.
"Lach! Look toward me!" May'Bel roared into the comms.
As the frantic warrior turned, May'Bel levelled a disruptor and shot him in the face. The scarab drone flew apart but Lach's face plate was cracked and leaking. He was gasping for air. HIchop was on him in a second, binding the faceplate with a sealant tape. It wouldn't hold for long and Lach mask was now covered.
Ro' barked, "Get him out of here. Close ranks. "
There was a red glow and Lach disappeared.
Ro' aimed at the roof and let out a long blast with the disruptor, heating the metal to just molten. It stopped the scarabs unfolding from the roof but more were scuttling towards the place he had damaged.
Ru'fimohp was firing randomly down the corridor in the hope he could do enough damage to distract the scarabs and draw some away. it was unclear if this was working.
In the meantime, Thor'nan was dealing with a few scarabs at the rear of the formation. He had a disruptor pistol in each hand, firing down the corridor.
"Come to die, Qu'vatlh! " he yelled.
"I might be able to set up a force field for a while." said Tell pressing buttons on her PADD but I don't know how long it will last. It might give us a little time, though I don't know how much."
There was a flash of blue light and a small field rose over the group. This seemed to confuse the Nhilus, as scarabs found it impossible to climb on or through the field. The purple light beams played over it, probing for a weakness or a way in.
F'Hew transporter room
Tierk slammed his fist into the console, "ChaHDaq vIchIl. YoDHey luchu'choH. [I've lost the lock. There is some sort of shield up]"
Cha'a and Lach were half way through donning replacement suits, "JIcheghnIS [I have to get back over there]"
"YoDHey luchu'taHvIsbe'. [Not while that field is up]" Tierk shook his head.
Nhilus ship
There was a click as Jared connected the silver tubing for his device. he looked back at the engine. The last part was the Null point reactor. Once extracted and set in the device the bomb would be ready. Trouble was, they couldn't rely on a timer or remote detonation system. The Nhilus were far too good at taking that sort of thing apart. Someone would have to remain to press the button.
"Uhh... not sure how to put this," he called as he sliced into the null-point device mounts with a plasma cutter, "but... does anyone feel this is a PARTICULARLY good day to die?"
"Your joking right? Been there, seen that and I have even got the damn t-shirt... twice" replied Tell "Whats new? Ahhhh Jared you sure know how to show a girl a good time, but your chat up lines leave a lot to be desired."
For goodness sake what was wrong with her? "Is now a good time to talk about the damn bug Dr Doom found inside me mmm?" Tell felt eyes on her. "What... what did I say?"
There was a new noise from the corridor. A larger form was moving down the gantry now, which creaked under it's weight. It looked a little like a Giant metal spider... in the same way as a dragon looks a little like a geko lizard. The smaller scarabs scattered in front of it as it approached. It reached the field a dozen tiny purple beams played over the field - each one a cluster of of purple pinpoints.
There was the faintest of flickers as a beam passed for a moment through the field, then with a sudden shift all of the beams passed right through the field and locked onto a different warrior each - the three points drawing together towards a single point. The moment one of the trios converged, a device on the things shoulder suddenly erupted in a brilliant lancing purple beam which passed straight through the field, hitting the purple pinpoint dead on and catching Ru'fimohp in the chest - passing right though him effortlessly. He dropped dead at Ro's feet, and the purple beam shifted to lock onto another warrior.
Jared paused and snatched up the disruptor rifle, which was now emitting a loud whine. He tweaked something, and it began making a rather shrill and alarming noise.
"Drop the field!"
"Field dropped." replied Tell only hoping that if they needed it that she would be able to put it up again.
Warriors ducked and weaved as the field went down and the thing attempted to aquire a target. Marie came within a few inches of having her head taken off by a beam as she ducked - the brilliant lance of purple light leaving an after image across her vision. She could hear something in the side of her helmet sizzling.
Jared hurled the disruptor rifle towards the huge robot, managing to loop the shoulder strap over a protruding weapon. The thing paused for a moment as the sensor housing pivoted around, trying to see what it had just been thrown at it.
"RAISE THE FIELD AGAIN!" Jared shouted rather urgently.
Tells blades had loosened from their sheaths and had found their targets easily before she raised the field again. She breathed a sigh of relief as a shimmer appeared around them.
The field flickered back to life as just as the robot managed to grab the snagged weapon with some kind of manipulator claw. A moment later, the rifle detonated with a brilliant flash of red energy and a deafening boom. The shield flared bright blue and flickered rather alarmingly, but it held.
As the smoke and light cleared, they watched the lumbering war-bot keel over and crash to the deck, crippled for now. But scarabs were swarming over it before it even fell - starting repairs.
Jared was already back at his work, carving into the second to last null-point mounting.
"They use the targeting beams to probe shield frequencies. I'm not exactly sure how to counter that, with the resources we have. Open to suggestions!"
Marie hurried over. "I don't have any suggestions but I can help if you need it. I'm useless in the fight now that the disruptors don't work."
Jason grabbed the PADD from Tell and began tapping furiously. The field shimmered and the purple beams all cut off again. the approaching Drone stopped and began to play it's beams all over the shield looking for an opening.
"Modulating shield," Jason explained. "Standard Tactic against the Borg. Provided these things aren't any better at adapting, this should keep them ou...AAARGH!."
Jason clutched at his leg. He had been so engrossed by adapting the shields that he had not noticed a scarab attach itself to his boot. It had been meticulously stripping away the metal outer casing, and now was through the the flesh beneath. Each pass of the purple line stripped away more and more flesh. Jason fell to the ground in agony. May'bel levelled his disruptor at his leg, but HIchop stopped him.
"No armour. You'll take his foot off."
A cloud of red spray erupted from the ankle, born by the pressurised atmosphere in the suit. HIchop dropped next to the man and began to seal the suit at the knee to minimise blood and atmosphere loss. Marla, in the meantime, had an engineering tool from her belt pressed it against the back of the scarab. There was a fat blue spark and the scarab shivered and stopped moving.
Already they could see several other large shapes moving down the corridor towards their chamber. Another bot like the one Jared had crippled, and two things that looked like robot octopuses designed to perform surgery on several whales at once - all arms and gleaming metal blades.
Ro' looked at those around him. Jared and Marie were working on the device. Tell trying to keep the shield up. Marla and HIchop were working on Jason. May'bel, Thor'nan and he holding the line. Ru'fimohp was dead. Cha'a' and Lach, injured and out of the fight. There were nine still on board the ship, and only 6 could beam at a time. When the shield came down, all hell would break loose.
Ro' watched the field beginning to flicker and fail and called back, "How much longer, TiQ?"
"Fifteen seconds to cut this last mounting. Maybe twenty to hook it up, and then maybe fifteen to arm the detonator assembly. But Captain... it's going to be a dead man's switch. The scarabs are too good at disabling bombs. Someone's going to need to hold down the trigger till the very last moment! No last second beam outs, either! This thing will start bending space and time around itself from the instant you release the trigger. No beaming through that!"
Tell continued to work frantically at keeping the field together. Every minute counted, soon, and very soon it would be every second. Damn it she thought Come on, come on, you can do this.
Ro' pulled his communicator, "Tierk, Listen closely. When the field drops we will need immediate beam out of the following personnel. Tell, Thor'nan, Marie, Marla, HIchop, Jason. Maybel, Jared and I will remain behind to protect the device till it detonates."
May'Bel grinned, and gave Ro an enthusiastic thump on the shoulder. Obliterated by a doomsday bomb at the height of an epic against-the-odds battle, fighting by the side of Ro Matlh. What a way to go!
"Damn it Ro'. If you think I am going to leave you here and have all the fun you are severely mistaken. I'm staying whether you like it or not." She knew it would be 'not'.
Marie knew getting out was the safe, sensible option. She also had a gut feeling Ro’ wasn’t quite ready to go out in a blaze of glory yet. He might talk about honourable deaths but he had a healthy sense of self-preservation that had seen them through many tough situations.
Damn it, I must be mad. Before I joined this ship I would have been out of here like a shot. Hell, I wouldn’t have been here in the first place. Now I’m about to volunteer to stay. Next time we’re back in port I’m going to see a counsellor!
“I’m staying too,” she said.
Ro' was just taking a breath to dress down Tell for insubordination. Marie's statement was so unexpected that it took him a step back. Most of the rest of the crew turned ot looka t her as well.
"What?" Ro' asked incredulously.
“Someone’s got to watch Tell’s back.”
Ro' rolled his eyes, "Why do humans think I am inviting discussion?"
He faced the others, "I am Captain, and I give the orders. I did not ask for volunteers, since all of you would say yes. This is my choice and I have made it. Tell, the Ship is yours. Marie, consider yourself promoted as well. I am trusting you to use that survival instinct to get the rest of the crew out alive."
He glanced at Jared still working furiously, 'That instinct seems to have escaped the TiQ and I. It would have been nice to have a song to be remembered by..."
At that moment the PADD in Tell's hands gave a big fat spark and the shield vanished. Instantly a warm red glow filled the chamber.
Then next thing The team new they were looking at the inside of the Fhew Hull and Tierk and Germite's worried faces. There was no sign of Ro', Maybel or Jared.
by HoD Ro' Matlh & HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared
Post Details
| Title | Dark passage | |
| Mission | Darkness Dawning | |
| Author(s) | HoD Ro' Matlh & HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared | |
| Posted | Wed Aug 01, 2012 @ 3:22am | |
| Location | Nihlus Engineering |
Marie had paused on her way to the cabinet holding the EVA suits. She stood listening intently while the discussion on the bridge played itself out. She did not like what she was hearing.
She didn't like a lot of what she heard on the FHew. Ro' had an uncanny knack for landing them in dangerous situations but, credit where credit was due, he also had an uncanny knack for getting them out again.
This sounded altogether different.
Now she continued. A ship without life support mean only one thing – the suit would be necessary. From what Jared had said they wouldn't be pausing to get an oxygen supply up and running.
The corridor the crew arrived in was barely wide enough for two people to squeeze past each other in the bulky EVA armour. The walls passed into darkness above them and below the gantry on which they stood. The walls themselves were made of dull metal made of interlocking lumps and plates. A dull blue light filtered from lights in the floor.
The gantry opened up on one end as a wide platform. It was obviously an engineering room of some sort and a large machine could be accessed from one side.
Ro' drew his paired disruptor pistols and placed himself in the corridor approach, "Jared get what you need form the engine. Tell and Marie, help him. Marla, Lach and May'bel, you make sure nothing gets to them. Ru'fimohp, You're front line with me. Thor'nan and Cha'a', second line of defence. Jason, HIchop you get where ever is needed."
He pulled his communicator, "Ro' to Tierk and Germite. We are in. Stand by."
"Yes sir. " replied Tierk.
"Well Marie here we go again." said Tell "Nice little mission, blue skies and nice warm sunshine, slight tang in the air and a promise of a shower later on. Meet you on the terrace later on for a drink later?"
“Bring your swimmers with you,” Marie replied, to her surprise. Damn, Tell’s warped humour must be getting to me. She’s actually cheering me up!
She might have sounded jovial to the others but it was Tells way of dealing with things. Showing fear to her was a sign of weakness and she didn't have the time for it. She laid equipment out in front of her. "Hey Marie have you heard how many engineers it takes to change the damn bulb in the damn hold?"
"Alright, tell me."
"None. We are all too busy trying to design the perfect light bulb." Tell replied
“I think the correct answer is: Any other engineer than you. I’d say one but with you around a whole army of them couldn’t manage it.”
Jared had placed number of complicated looking pieces of electronics around him and was looking over the wall of gadgets with a discerning eye. He grabbed at a small device and with a sharp twist withdrew it from its housing.
There was a small noise and a piece of machinery in the wall closest to Jared lifted out of the wall, extended legs and began to scuttle towards the hole left by the missing component.
"You might like the light-bulbs here then," Jared commented grimly as he worked swiftly - keeping one eye on the scuttling shape, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a replacement part carried by what looked like a fist-sized metallic beetle.
"They replace themselves..."
There was a flash and the walking spare part vanished in a red glow. Lach had his disruptor levelled at the space. Jared reached up and pulled a second device from the wall. Three different areas moved now, two moving with spare parts towards the sections that were destroyed, and one to the place where the first beetle-bot had been vaporised.
"Nihlus scarabs," Jared commented without looking up from his work. "The scarabs aren't all that dangerous themselves. There's just thousands of them. And they fix things. And make other machinery into more Nihlus."
A yellow light above the engine turned on and began to spin, giving an eerie strobe lighting to the scene.
"They've recognised a problem, but not yet labelled it an attack. That light's sort of like yellow alert, for the benefit of any technicians."
"Well that's different. I look a bit sickly in this light. Any one got an aspirin?" Tell asked as she destroyed another walking part. "I hate these creepy, crawly, clicky things just as much as I hate Klingon poetry. That's one to me Marie."
Other parts of the wall began to sprout legs and move. For each one the engineers destroyed another two would appear. At one point a bright purple pinpoint beam of light lanced out and came to rest on Lach's Disruptor. He moved the gun but the beam of light followed it as if attached. A Nihlus-scarab fell from the roof and onto the barrel of the disruptor. Lach gave a cry and tried to shake it off, but it dug its pointed legs like a vice into the sides of the gun. From the scarab's head, a bright purple ribbon of light began to sweep back and forth across the gun, peeling away the metal layer by layer. Lach dropped it in dismay, pulling his Mak'leth blade instead. The Nihlus continued to carve the gun up and he watched as in a matter of moments it was gone.
The scarab began to sweep it's tiny purple ribbon of light back and forth in front of it again, this time creating something from the harvested disruptor metal. Within a few seconds, another scarab was beginning to take shape.
Suddenly other pinpoint-beams of light lanced out form the dark recesses, coming to rest on everyone's disruptor. Only Jason, with his Phaser rifle, was not targeted.
Jared paused a moment in his work, and snatched the disruptor rifle he'd brought off his shoulder. He quickly fiddled with the controls.
"They've recognised a dangerous energy signature!" He called.
May'Bel, with both his disruptors drawn, smiled, "Target practice, boys! Stay mobile!"
The room was suddenly strobed with red light as May'Bel began rapid firing into the gloom, using each beam that focussed on his guns as a guide to his next target.
What the light began to show was alarming. The walls of the corridor seemed to seethe as more and more scarabs came out of the wall. Some move to recover the broken bodies of their comrades, but others moved along the walls towards the group.
There was a clink and a hum as Jared fixed the first of the three missing parts into his device. He winced slightly at the noise it made but moved on, extracting a larger set of silver tubing from the engine.
Cha'a' bellowed as she felt something drop onto her back. She could not reach the scarab as it scuttle dexterously over her back plate.
F'Hew transporter room
Germite had been monitoring the battle from the F'Hew. He saw that both Lach and then Cha'a had been attacked. He yelled at Tierk to get them out of there.
Tierk, struggling to understand the commands that were not given in Klingon, panicked and looked at the board, "'Iv? [Which one]"
Germite did a quick calculation and saw that he had a higher probability of saving Cha'a, no matter the complications that may arise after the fact. "Cha'a!!!"
Tierk's hands flew now and the transporter glowed. Cha'a' appeared in the red glow, still struggling to catch at the tiny, scuttling drone.
Germite picked up a mek'leth that was leaning against the wall and ran over to Cha'a. He slid the blade between Cha'a and the scarab and pried it loose. Once the scarab was loose, it scuttled towards the transporter console looking for materials to use to replicate itself. Germite glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Tierk was dealing with the scarab, while he dealt with Cha'a's injuries.
"YImev! [Freeze]" Tierk barked and fired his disruptor. The shot blew it away, allowing Germite to finally drag what was left of the heavy sealed suit off the Klingon woman. She appeared uninjured from a quick tricorder scan.
Nhilus ship
"F'Hew!" Jared shouted into the comms over the din of the fight. "Copy F'Hew! Do NOT beam anything with a scarab aboard! Just one of those things loose on the F'Hew and we're all dead anyway!"
Lach was slashing with his blade now, trying to mash the bots to bits with pure force. Suddenly one fell onto the clear faceplate of his suit. He grabbed at it to try and tear it free but the metal arms dug in and there was a hiss as oxygen began to escape form the holes it had dug.
"Lach! Look toward me!" May'Bel roared into the comms.
As the frantic warrior turned, May'Bel levelled a disruptor and shot him in the face. The scarab drone flew apart but Lach's face plate was cracked and leaking. He was gasping for air. HIchop was on him in a second, binding the faceplate with a sealant tape. It wouldn't hold for long and Lach mask was now covered.
Ro' barked, "Get him out of here. Close ranks. "
There was a red glow and Lach disappeared.
Ro' aimed at the roof and let out a long blast with the disruptor, heating the metal to just molten. It stopped the scarabs unfolding from the roof but more were scuttling towards the place he had damaged.
Ru'fimohp was firing randomly down the corridor in the hope he could do enough damage to distract the scarabs and draw some away. it was unclear if this was working.
In the meantime, Thor'nan was dealing with a few scarabs at the rear of the formation. He had a disruptor pistol in each hand, firing down the corridor.
"Come to die, Qu'vatlh! " he yelled.
"I might be able to set up a force field for a while." said Tell pressing buttons on her PADD but I don't know how long it will last. It might give us a little time, though I don't know how much."
There was a flash of blue light and a small field rose over the group. This seemed to confuse the Nhilus, as scarabs found it impossible to climb on or through the field. The purple light beams played over it, probing for a weakness or a way in.
F'Hew transporter room
Tierk slammed his fist into the console, "ChaHDaq vIchIl. YoDHey luchu'choH. [I've lost the lock. There is some sort of shield up]"
Cha'a and Lach were half way through donning replacement suits, "JIcheghnIS [I have to get back over there]"
"YoDHey luchu'taHvIsbe'. [Not while that field is up]" Tierk shook his head.
Nhilus ship
There was a click as Jared connected the silver tubing for his device. he looked back at the engine. The last part was the Null point reactor. Once extracted and set in the device the bomb would be ready. Trouble was, they couldn't rely on a timer or remote detonation system. The Nhilus were far too good at taking that sort of thing apart. Someone would have to remain to press the button.
"Uhh... not sure how to put this," he called as he sliced into the null-point device mounts with a plasma cutter, "but... does anyone feel this is a PARTICULARLY good day to die?"
"Your joking right? Been there, seen that and I have even got the damn t-shirt... twice" replied Tell "Whats new? Ahhhh Jared you sure know how to show a girl a good time, but your chat up lines leave a lot to be desired."
For goodness sake what was wrong with her? "Is now a good time to talk about the damn bug Dr Doom found inside me mmm?" Tell felt eyes on her. "What... what did I say?"
There was a new noise from the corridor. A larger form was moving down the gantry now, which creaked under it's weight. It looked a little like a Giant metal spider... in the same way as a dragon looks a little like a geko lizard. The smaller scarabs scattered in front of it as it approached. It reached the field a dozen tiny purple beams played over the field - each one a cluster of of purple pinpoints.
There was the faintest of flickers as a beam passed for a moment through the field, then with a sudden shift all of the beams passed right through the field and locked onto a different warrior each - the three points drawing together towards a single point. The moment one of the trios converged, a device on the things shoulder suddenly erupted in a brilliant lancing purple beam which passed straight through the field, hitting the purple pinpoint dead on and catching Ru'fimohp in the chest - passing right though him effortlessly. He dropped dead at Ro's feet, and the purple beam shifted to lock onto another warrior.
Jared paused and snatched up the disruptor rifle, which was now emitting a loud whine. He tweaked something, and it began making a rather shrill and alarming noise.
"Drop the field!"
"Field dropped." replied Tell only hoping that if they needed it that she would be able to put it up again.
Warriors ducked and weaved as the field went down and the thing attempted to aquire a target. Marie came within a few inches of having her head taken off by a beam as she ducked - the brilliant lance of purple light leaving an after image across her vision. She could hear something in the side of her helmet sizzling.
Jared hurled the disruptor rifle towards the huge robot, managing to loop the shoulder strap over a protruding weapon. The thing paused for a moment as the sensor housing pivoted around, trying to see what it had just been thrown at it.
"RAISE THE FIELD AGAIN!" Jared shouted rather urgently.
Tells blades had loosened from their sheaths and had found their targets easily before she raised the field again. She breathed a sigh of relief as a shimmer appeared around them.
The field flickered back to life as just as the robot managed to grab the snagged weapon with some kind of manipulator claw. A moment later, the rifle detonated with a brilliant flash of red energy and a deafening boom. The shield flared bright blue and flickered rather alarmingly, but it held.
As the smoke and light cleared, they watched the lumbering war-bot keel over and crash to the deck, crippled for now. But scarabs were swarming over it before it even fell - starting repairs.
Jared was already back at his work, carving into the second to last null-point mounting.
"They use the targeting beams to probe shield frequencies. I'm not exactly sure how to counter that, with the resources we have. Open to suggestions!"
Marie hurried over. "I don't have any suggestions but I can help if you need it. I'm useless in the fight now that the disruptors don't work."
Jason grabbed the PADD from Tell and began tapping furiously. The field shimmered and the purple beams all cut off again. the approaching Drone stopped and began to play it's beams all over the shield looking for an opening.
"Modulating shield," Jason explained. "Standard Tactic against the Borg. Provided these things aren't any better at adapting, this should keep them ou...AAARGH!."
Jason clutched at his leg. He had been so engrossed by adapting the shields that he had not noticed a scarab attach itself to his boot. It had been meticulously stripping away the metal outer casing, and now was through the the flesh beneath. Each pass of the purple line stripped away more and more flesh. Jason fell to the ground in agony. May'bel levelled his disruptor at his leg, but HIchop stopped him.
"No armour. You'll take his foot off."
A cloud of red spray erupted from the ankle, born by the pressurised atmosphere in the suit. HIchop dropped next to the man and began to seal the suit at the knee to minimise blood and atmosphere loss. Marla, in the meantime, had an engineering tool from her belt pressed it against the back of the scarab. There was a fat blue spark and the scarab shivered and stopped moving.
Already they could see several other large shapes moving down the corridor towards their chamber. Another bot like the one Jared had crippled, and two things that looked like robot octopuses designed to perform surgery on several whales at once - all arms and gleaming metal blades.
Ro' looked at those around him. Jared and Marie were working on the device. Tell trying to keep the shield up. Marla and HIchop were working on Jason. May'bel, Thor'nan and he holding the line. Ru'fimohp was dead. Cha'a' and Lach, injured and out of the fight. There were nine still on board the ship, and only 6 could beam at a time. When the shield came down, all hell would break loose.
Ro' watched the field beginning to flicker and fail and called back, "How much longer, TiQ?"
"Fifteen seconds to cut this last mounting. Maybe twenty to hook it up, and then maybe fifteen to arm the detonator assembly. But Captain... it's going to be a dead man's switch. The scarabs are too good at disabling bombs. Someone's going to need to hold down the trigger till the very last moment! No last second beam outs, either! This thing will start bending space and time around itself from the instant you release the trigger. No beaming through that!"
Tell continued to work frantically at keeping the field together. Every minute counted, soon, and very soon it would be every second. Damn it she thought Come on, come on, you can do this.
Ro' pulled his communicator, "Tierk, Listen closely. When the field drops we will need immediate beam out of the following personnel. Tell, Thor'nan, Marie, Marla, HIchop, Jason. Maybel, Jared and I will remain behind to protect the device till it detonates."
May'Bel grinned, and gave Ro an enthusiastic thump on the shoulder. Obliterated by a doomsday bomb at the height of an epic against-the-odds battle, fighting by the side of Ro Matlh. What a way to go!
"Damn it Ro'. If you think I am going to leave you here and have all the fun you are severely mistaken. I'm staying whether you like it or not." She knew it would be 'not'.
Marie knew getting out was the safe, sensible option. She also had a gut feeling Ro’ wasn’t quite ready to go out in a blaze of glory yet. He might talk about honourable deaths but he had a healthy sense of self-preservation that had seen them through many tough situations.
Damn it, I must be mad. Before I joined this ship I would have been out of here like a shot. Hell, I wouldn’t have been here in the first place. Now I’m about to volunteer to stay. Next time we’re back in port I’m going to see a counsellor!
“I’m staying too,” she said.
Ro' was just taking a breath to dress down Tell for insubordination. Marie's statement was so unexpected that it took him a step back. Most of the rest of the crew turned ot looka t her as well.
"What?" Ro' asked incredulously.
“Someone’s got to watch Tell’s back.”
Ro' rolled his eyes, "Why do humans think I am inviting discussion?"
He faced the others, "I am Captain, and I give the orders. I did not ask for volunteers, since all of you would say yes. This is my choice and I have made it. Tell, the Ship is yours. Marie, consider yourself promoted as well. I am trusting you to use that survival instinct to get the rest of the crew out alive."
He glanced at Jared still working furiously, 'That instinct seems to have escaped the TiQ and I. It would have been nice to have a song to be remembered by..."
At that moment the PADD in Tell's hands gave a big fat spark and the shield vanished. Instantly a warm red glow filled the chamber.
Then next thing The team new they were looking at the inside of the Fhew Hull and Tierk and Germite's worried faces. There was no sign of Ro', Maybel or Jared.