Bugging Out – The running bit
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Ne' Michelle "Mike" Young & Ne' Mariaa'n Si'van & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Ensign Israna Haan

Post Details

Title		The running bit
Mission		Bugging Out
Author(s)		HoD Ro' Matlh & Lieutenant JG Linx Moonshadow & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Ne' Michelle "Mike" Young & Ne' Mariaa'n Si'van & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Ensign Israna Haan
Posted		Tue Sep 30, 2014 @ 3:25am
Location		Corporation Station
Timeline		After leaving the display floor

The station was designed with many long parallel corridors running from the Docking area to the rear of the station. Standard station design dictated that the generators would usually be in the centre of the station where they are best protected from attack. As such HIchop lead the team away from the docking area they had been in.

He glanced at May'bel and Jared as they ran. "I expect you can bring him around again when we need him?"

May'bel shrugged noncommittally.

As they passed along the corridors they found more signs of fighting; Disruptor and solid slug holes in the walls, acid scouring, shredded body parts. Occasionally they would hear screams or short bursts of weapon fire. They stayed away from the conflicts, but one of the Marines did wonder aloud, "If not us, who are they fighting?"

The team arrived at a set of turbo lifts which opened at their approach. As they stepped inside Jeeves voice said gently, "A reminder that this station is undergoing cleansing. All authorised personnel should abandon the base without delay. Which floor please?"

Hichop realised there was going to be little tech that could be done when they got to wherever they were going. That left brute force. Fortunately they had that.

"Main Engineering!"

The happy voice burbled as the lift began to move downwards, "Main Reactor Control is currently undergoing Level 5 Cleansing. All authorised personnel should evacuate."

The doors opened to a short empty corridor flooded with yellow spinning lights. As they stepped out of the lift the voice said, "Warning Level 4 Cleansing now initiated."

The corridor ended in a large room similar to the engineering rooms on most stations with a set of three giant reactor cores dominating the open area in the center and a number of gantries on floors above and below.

Suddenly HIchop's Belt communicator chimed.

,'. Hello? This is Israna? I need immediate help! Repeat, I am calling in for immediate help! HELLO!? ,'.

,'.Tell here Israna, what's happened?,'. the engineer asked

There is only static on the radio, before Israna replies.

,'.We need immediate help. I will send you my location hopefully so you can track me.... Marie is unconscious and we were just attacked by weird bug-plant-like creatures. I will fill you in later we we meet! ,'.

A bleep goes off on one of Tel''s devices... A signal.

,'. There! I sent you my location... Did it get through? ,'.

,'.Yes its right here,'. replied Tell ,'.We'll try and get someone to you.,'.

,'. Thank you. Please come and get us... I'm not sure whether that "thing" will be back or not.... ,'.

There are loud, high pitched screeches and snarles coming from the radio.

,'. Ahh.... Okay... So maybe it will? That was something I think.... I'm going to hide us both, just to make sure. May- ,'.

There was a click as the radio lost contact with the other.

Hichop did not respond to Israna's plea for help. "We will not be going anywhere until we can bring about this stations destruction. If we are lucky we will collect them on the run out. If not then Israna will be left to carry Marie out"

Hichop looked at the room. There was nothing familiar at all about it to him, not that he was expecting it to be. What he would do for a Jeeves right now, "Where are you when I need you Jeeves".

He looked around and moved to a control panel, "If anyone has any ideas now is the time to share them. Short of finding warp cores I might need some some help to overload the system."

Indeed there were all the standard controls humans used; controls for plasma flow, reaction regulation, antimatter flow, containment field strength, etc. Without the security access codes, though it was impossible to get the systems to respond.

A computer voice intoned, "Warning Level 4 Cleansing now initiated."

The yellow spinning lights were joined by red flashing panels.

"This doesn't look good," said Tell indicating to the blinking panels. "We might want to set some charges now and get the hell out of here."

May'Bel was clipping what grenades and charges he had onto fragile looking structures, dialing up a few minutes on each timer.

The Marine looked at what he was doing doubtfully, "Is that going to be enough?"

May'Bel shook his head, "I have no idea what any of this is, so I'm just guessing at what looks fragile."

After he'd clipped the last grenade onto some kind of conduit, he deposited the unconscious Jared face-first on the deckplate. Then he opened the little man's backpack and started rummaging.

"But what I AM sure of is that Jared hated the idea of this place enough that he would have brought something that he WAS sure would do the job."

After a few moment's rummaging, he pulled out something that looked like an egg built out of engine parts. There was a magnetic clip on the side, and it had an odd purplish light that didn't seem to illuminate anything shining out of it's cracks.

"This looks promising," May'Bel commented.

He fiddled with it for a moment or two, until the top and bottom of the device seemed to seperate a little - showing more of the ultra-violet glow though the gap. Then May'Bel twisted the two halves in opposite directions and they snapped back together with an ominous "Clack".

There was a deep, resonant thrumming sound that felt like it came from behind each person's eyes. It started off like a whale yawning and rapidly decended in pitch until it was no-longer audible - although they could all feel it as an uncomfortable sensation in their stomachs for several seconds afterwards. The device in May'Bel's hands suddenly seemed to be distorting light around it in strange ways, something like a heat-shimmer.

"Warning," The computer voice calmly intoned. "Imminent Subspacial Bridging Fracture detected in Reactor Control. Level 1 Cleansing imminent in Reactor Control."

"That sounds like it's armed to me!" May'Bel said, calmly locking the device onto the outer surface of the reactor.

He closed Jared's backpack again, and then picked the little man up and slung him back over one shoulder.

Hichop finally came out of his own thoughts. He wished he had time to make sense of all that was going on. He wished he knew that it was actually a bomb they had taken out of Jarad's bag, He wished the little kitty videos on the console could be downloaded onto his pad... They were some funny videos. But now was not a time for all that thought. Now was time for just one word, "RUN!"

The crew did need to be told twice. They all moved rapidly back to the lift.

Meanwhile, Israna has managed to shove Marie into a locker and close the door. As she did the same, she heard growling from the corridor..... Something was coming. Through the slats in the locker she could see the corridor was now bathed in red warning lights. There were the sounds of things moving along the corridor. Sometimes she heard distant, metallic screams.

From somewhere the computer voice said, "Warning Level 2 Cleansing now initiated station wide. Lock down has commenced. The Corporation extends its deepest sympathies to any remaining staff or visitors."

Marie groaned. Something hurt. Actually, most of her hurt. She forced her eyes to stay closed, hoping that that would shut out the pain. It did not.

She opened her eyes. Bad mistake! She shut them again but the damage had been done and there was no turning back. She opened them again and looked around. Only then did she hear the strident voice coming from...somewhere. It was not a voice she recognised. She ran it through her memory. It wasn’t Tell: a pity. It wasn’t Ro’: that was good. It wasn’t Maybel or one of the other Klingons: a mixed blessing. It wasn’t that new woman. She couldn’t decide whether that was good or bad.

Her eyes caught movement. She saw the new woman. Oh well, it could have been worse. “Hi,” she said.

Something large had been moving past the locker, but at the sound of Marie's voice it stopped short. Through the slats they could see a dark shadow approaching carefully.

Suddenly the door was ripped open and the women were faced with a terrifying visage of snarling teeth and shining blades...

..that resolved itself quickly into the shape of Maybel who seemed almost as surprised as they to find something mundane on the other side of a locker door. Behind him the rest of the away team were ready for a fight, except for Jared who was lying in a heap on the floor.

Hichop snorted. He would have left the women behind for abandoning their positions with the team, but they were here now. Punishment could wait.

"Run!" her ordered and, as May'bel scooped Jared onto his shoulders once more the away team sprinted for the main hangar where they had left the FHew.