IKC FHew 7C6110
Cold Realisation – Cold Comfort
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Beq Marcus Quexana & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow
Post Details
May'bel stepped up to the narrow opening where the door had not fully sealed. He held his light up to peer through the crack and leapt back three meters into a fighting crouch. When nothing else happened for a few moments he relaxed and moved back tot he door signalling HIchop to grab the other side and pull it open.
When they did the others were able to see what had startled the warrior. Immediately on the other side of the door was the frozen figure of a Maego. It arms were up, but it was unclear if it was in an action of pushing the doors closed or pulling them open.
Pushing past him the away team's lights played over a macabre scene. This was obviously some form of medical station, given the variety of tools Germite was able to recognize at a glance, but what exactly was going on was unclear.
There were nine frozen Mageo in the small room, including the one at the door. One was smashing a console with the shaft of his staff weapon. Another was frantically tearing panels from the wall to expose the Borg circuitry, while his colleague was pointing his own weapon into the opening. On the opposite side of the room another pair were frozen, but in this case it looked as if the one with the weapon had fired at the individual by the wall who was clutching at his hand.
In the centre of the room an operating table dominated the space. On it was a struggling Maego, being held down by a colleague while a third was tearing open his leg with a large blade. A crimson fountain had been frozen in mid spurt from the man's leg, and it was obvious to all that there was no form of aesthetic being used.
Germite walked over to the operating table. He started examining the body without touching it and without the use of any of the tech gear that he would normally use. "Without the use of a tricorder or other advanced device, I cannot fully determine why they are cutting his leg open." He waved his arm around the room. "It would appear that they are trying to remove something from his leg. Again, this would be more accurate with access to some technology." He set his gaze on May'bel, "Maybe you'd like to venture an opinion as to why they are cutting his leg open."
May'Bel raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
Marie took in the scene around her in a quick glance. "My guess is they thought he/she/it had Borg implants in him/her and were determined to get them out as quickly as possible. Believe me, it's no fun having someone trying to tell you what to do and offering stupid suggestions all the time. And before you say anything, Tell Hope, I do know the difference between my own stupid ideas and those of some moron in my head."
"Yea right." Tell snorted walking past her "I'll agree with whatever the two of you say... not"
Marcus suppressed a shudder at the charnel house scene. He'd seen much worse than this, even done it himself, but there was something unnerving about seeing such violence frozen in place like some bizarre hologram, knowing that what he was seeing was not mere representations but real, living beings frozen forever in their death throes by the merciless cold of space. The chaos of the scene didn't help either.
These people seemed to have been fighting something that had penetrated both their ship's systems and their bodies. And lost, decisively, to an unknown foe that might still be lurking to attack the FHew's crew.
Germite looked closer again. He looked at the leg being operated on, and then the opposite leg and back. It appeared there was a lump, like very localized bruising or a tumor, or possibly something more sinister, in the leg just next to where the incision was being placed. In fact, looking at the nature of the cut, he would almost swear the medic had been trying to catch the object as it progressed quickly down the inside of the patient's leg.
May'Bel looked around at the engineers and medics staring at the grisly scene, and thoughtfully contemplating the nature of the mysterious lump. He rolled his eyes and placed the spear-gun on the table beside him, reaching over his back.
A curt "Watch out" was all the warning Germite and Marie got. They had just enough time to duck aside before May'Bel's bat'leth came sweeping down on the frozen warrior's leg. The mysterious frozen scene of fountaining blood and gouging blade was shattered into a hundred dark red shards, sending the end of the leg sliding down to the far end of the operating table, and spraying frozen bits around the gravity deprived room.
Marcus ducked, instinctively grabbing for his hilt at the warning and sudden movement, but did not draw his blade. He actually smiled a little, if somewhat grimly, when he realized what had happened.
'Klingon decisiveness', he mused, 'A blessing and a curse.'
He looked around at the swirling mass of fragments floating in the compartment. There was a strange poetry to it, this view and he wished he had the equipment to make a visual log for later contemplation. Reaching out, he snagged a glittering bit about the size of his thumb. Stress fracturing had faceted it like a crystal and, in the light of his headlamp, the faceting and embedded ice crystals glittered like some priceless gem. Priceless indeed, since it had cost someone's life to make.
May'Bel gave Germite a nod, and then scanned the crimson shards for anything that didn't seem to belong.
He nudged aside some of the gory remains; somehow beautiful in their frozen state. Something metal rattled against the floor. At first he though it might be some shrapnel or the like, but he bent to sort through with his finger. He noticed a dark metal fragment and brushed aside the material that was covering it. It was buried in a mess of red ice, but it was obviously foreign material and far to large to be a nanite of any type.
Something that resembled an eyeball, probably loosened by the bat'leth, rolled on the floor and came to a stop on the edge of Tells boot. It stared up at her with a baleful look that was both threatening and harmful. She kicked it aside with disgust and irreverence. While the others waded through swathes of frozen blood and gore Tell turned her attention to panels and relays. Again some were left untouched but most were damaged and burnt out but all showing signs of Borg implants. She wanted to find out were engineering, somehow she thought the answer would lie there instead of in this butchers shop.
Germite wasn't very happy about May'bel's methods, but there was no denying that he had gotten results. He stepped forward and picked up the metal fragment with a gloved hand. He set the fragment on the operating table.
"So what have we got?" asked Tell walking up to Germite.
Germite leaned over and took a closer look at it. "Hmmm, it appears to be some sort of implant."
Oh, great, Marie thought, more of the damned things. Is this what I’ve got to look forward to, a knife in the leg without anaesthetic and a swift slice from May'bel’s bat’leth if the operation doesn’t go according to plan?
She shivered involuntarily and looked away. She did not wish to contemplate her future any further.
Germite turn the item over. It was about an inch across and had a number of thin protrusions which may have linked to never endings or muscle fibre. He blew warm breath on it to melt of the thin coverage of red ice.
Then the thing was revealed and, like the moment when a shadow in the wood resolves into a wolf, the item in Germites hand became obvious to all.
A Nihlus!
"We kill it!" ordered Tell as a sharp edged blade suddenly appeared in her right hand "Before it kills us."
As if in response to Tell the little robot gave a slight twitch of its legs.
Germite threw the Nihlus on the table and jumped back.
May'Bel brushed him aside with deadly earnest, and brought his Bat'leth down on the table in a heavy double handed stroke, cleaving the beetle-like Nihlus scarab in two and leaving a deep gouge in the operating table. Yanking the weapon free, he used the tip to brush the two halves onto the floor, and then brought his armoured boots down hard on the two halves, stamping repeatedly until the thing was reduced to a few dozen fragments.
He stepped back and looked warily around at the walls, Bat'leth ready.
"I think we could be in trouble," he said gravely.
'That's the understatement of the year," Marie said, acerbically. She too was watching the walls, fully expecting hordes of nihlus to emerge at any moment.
"We've been in trouble before Marie." snapped Tell as her eyes scanned around them, her knives itching to be let loose from her wrists. "And we've got out of it. This is just a walk in the park."
This time, Marcus had drawn his gladiolus and now held it ready as he scanned for anything amiss. There was definitely more going on here than he was aware of and it made him distinctly nervous. He let his free hand cup the pommel of the weapon, containing as it did relics of his family's long line of warriors, and silently said a short prayer to his ancestors to share with him their strength and courage.
"What was that thing?" he asked aloud.
"That thing is a nihlus." replied Tell with such vehemence that she almost spat the words out. "Believe me you don't want to mess around with one of them."
May'Bel spoke up again.
"Tell! If we get to engineering, what are the odds of being able to blow this ship?"
He unhooked a couple of grenades from his harness, and held them out - part of Tell's possible toolkit for the job.
She took the grenades and put them in her pocket. "You see that's what I love about my job. I get to blow things up for a living. Lets find engineering."
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Beq Marcus Quexana & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow
Post Details
| Title | Cold Comfort | |
| Mission | Cold Realisation | |
| Author(s) | HoD Ro' Matlh & Beq Marcus Quexana & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow | |
| Posted | Tue Aug 06, 2013 @ 1:29am | |
| Location | Maego Medical | |
| Timeline | After Corridor |
When they did the others were able to see what had startled the warrior. Immediately on the other side of the door was the frozen figure of a Maego. It arms were up, but it was unclear if it was in an action of pushing the doors closed or pulling them open.
Pushing past him the away team's lights played over a macabre scene. This was obviously some form of medical station, given the variety of tools Germite was able to recognize at a glance, but what exactly was going on was unclear.
There were nine frozen Mageo in the small room, including the one at the door. One was smashing a console with the shaft of his staff weapon. Another was frantically tearing panels from the wall to expose the Borg circuitry, while his colleague was pointing his own weapon into the opening. On the opposite side of the room another pair were frozen, but in this case it looked as if the one with the weapon had fired at the individual by the wall who was clutching at his hand.
In the centre of the room an operating table dominated the space. On it was a struggling Maego, being held down by a colleague while a third was tearing open his leg with a large blade. A crimson fountain had been frozen in mid spurt from the man's leg, and it was obvious to all that there was no form of aesthetic being used.
Germite walked over to the operating table. He started examining the body without touching it and without the use of any of the tech gear that he would normally use. "Without the use of a tricorder or other advanced device, I cannot fully determine why they are cutting his leg open." He waved his arm around the room. "It would appear that they are trying to remove something from his leg. Again, this would be more accurate with access to some technology." He set his gaze on May'bel, "Maybe you'd like to venture an opinion as to why they are cutting his leg open."
May'Bel raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
Marie took in the scene around her in a quick glance. "My guess is they thought he/she/it had Borg implants in him/her and were determined to get them out as quickly as possible. Believe me, it's no fun having someone trying to tell you what to do and offering stupid suggestions all the time. And before you say anything, Tell Hope, I do know the difference between my own stupid ideas and those of some moron in my head."
"Yea right." Tell snorted walking past her "I'll agree with whatever the two of you say... not"
Marcus suppressed a shudder at the charnel house scene. He'd seen much worse than this, even done it himself, but there was something unnerving about seeing such violence frozen in place like some bizarre hologram, knowing that what he was seeing was not mere representations but real, living beings frozen forever in their death throes by the merciless cold of space. The chaos of the scene didn't help either.
These people seemed to have been fighting something that had penetrated both their ship's systems and their bodies. And lost, decisively, to an unknown foe that might still be lurking to attack the FHew's crew.
Germite looked closer again. He looked at the leg being operated on, and then the opposite leg and back. It appeared there was a lump, like very localized bruising or a tumor, or possibly something more sinister, in the leg just next to where the incision was being placed. In fact, looking at the nature of the cut, he would almost swear the medic had been trying to catch the object as it progressed quickly down the inside of the patient's leg.
May'Bel looked around at the engineers and medics staring at the grisly scene, and thoughtfully contemplating the nature of the mysterious lump. He rolled his eyes and placed the spear-gun on the table beside him, reaching over his back.
A curt "Watch out" was all the warning Germite and Marie got. They had just enough time to duck aside before May'Bel's bat'leth came sweeping down on the frozen warrior's leg. The mysterious frozen scene of fountaining blood and gouging blade was shattered into a hundred dark red shards, sending the end of the leg sliding down to the far end of the operating table, and spraying frozen bits around the gravity deprived room.
Marcus ducked, instinctively grabbing for his hilt at the warning and sudden movement, but did not draw his blade. He actually smiled a little, if somewhat grimly, when he realized what had happened.
'Klingon decisiveness', he mused, 'A blessing and a curse.'
He looked around at the swirling mass of fragments floating in the compartment. There was a strange poetry to it, this view and he wished he had the equipment to make a visual log for later contemplation. Reaching out, he snagged a glittering bit about the size of his thumb. Stress fracturing had faceted it like a crystal and, in the light of his headlamp, the faceting and embedded ice crystals glittered like some priceless gem. Priceless indeed, since it had cost someone's life to make.
May'Bel gave Germite a nod, and then scanned the crimson shards for anything that didn't seem to belong.
He nudged aside some of the gory remains; somehow beautiful in their frozen state. Something metal rattled against the floor. At first he though it might be some shrapnel or the like, but he bent to sort through with his finger. He noticed a dark metal fragment and brushed aside the material that was covering it. It was buried in a mess of red ice, but it was obviously foreign material and far to large to be a nanite of any type.
Something that resembled an eyeball, probably loosened by the bat'leth, rolled on the floor and came to a stop on the edge of Tells boot. It stared up at her with a baleful look that was both threatening and harmful. She kicked it aside with disgust and irreverence. While the others waded through swathes of frozen blood and gore Tell turned her attention to panels and relays. Again some were left untouched but most were damaged and burnt out but all showing signs of Borg implants. She wanted to find out were engineering, somehow she thought the answer would lie there instead of in this butchers shop.
Germite wasn't very happy about May'bel's methods, but there was no denying that he had gotten results. He stepped forward and picked up the metal fragment with a gloved hand. He set the fragment on the operating table.
"So what have we got?" asked Tell walking up to Germite.
Germite leaned over and took a closer look at it. "Hmmm, it appears to be some sort of implant."
Oh, great, Marie thought, more of the damned things. Is this what I’ve got to look forward to, a knife in the leg without anaesthetic and a swift slice from May'bel’s bat’leth if the operation doesn’t go according to plan?
She shivered involuntarily and looked away. She did not wish to contemplate her future any further.
Germite turn the item over. It was about an inch across and had a number of thin protrusions which may have linked to never endings or muscle fibre. He blew warm breath on it to melt of the thin coverage of red ice.
Then the thing was revealed and, like the moment when a shadow in the wood resolves into a wolf, the item in Germites hand became obvious to all.
A Nihlus!
"We kill it!" ordered Tell as a sharp edged blade suddenly appeared in her right hand "Before it kills us."
As if in response to Tell the little robot gave a slight twitch of its legs.
Germite threw the Nihlus on the table and jumped back.
May'Bel brushed him aside with deadly earnest, and brought his Bat'leth down on the table in a heavy double handed stroke, cleaving the beetle-like Nihlus scarab in two and leaving a deep gouge in the operating table. Yanking the weapon free, he used the tip to brush the two halves onto the floor, and then brought his armoured boots down hard on the two halves, stamping repeatedly until the thing was reduced to a few dozen fragments.
He stepped back and looked warily around at the walls, Bat'leth ready.
"I think we could be in trouble," he said gravely.
'That's the understatement of the year," Marie said, acerbically. She too was watching the walls, fully expecting hordes of nihlus to emerge at any moment.
"We've been in trouble before Marie." snapped Tell as her eyes scanned around them, her knives itching to be let loose from her wrists. "And we've got out of it. This is just a walk in the park."
This time, Marcus had drawn his gladiolus and now held it ready as he scanned for anything amiss. There was definitely more going on here than he was aware of and it made him distinctly nervous. He let his free hand cup the pommel of the weapon, containing as it did relics of his family's long line of warriors, and silently said a short prayer to his ancestors to share with him their strength and courage.
"What was that thing?" he asked aloud.
"That thing is a nihlus." replied Tell with such vehemence that she almost spat the words out. "Believe me you don't want to mess around with one of them."
May'Bel spoke up again.
"Tell! If we get to engineering, what are the odds of being able to blow this ship?"
He unhooked a couple of grenades from his harness, and held them out - part of Tell's possible toolkit for the job.
She took the grenades and put them in her pocket. "You see that's what I love about my job. I get to blow things up for a living. Lets find engineering."