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Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #25 –
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | SuD Lang Dilithium Cargo Bay | The Coreless Moon ] [Show/Hide]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Kaligos @Mathis

Mariner hailed a private channel to the Sabine Pilot, and her personnel picture would be replaced with her face on a small screen next to her vitals. In a favicon on his upper-middle HUD, he read her name and species type, being unfamiliar with it, though in no rush to ask. He awaited an internal camera shot to have the option of catching where she'd look-- either at him or at anything of mission importance...  admittedly, he wanted to have something else to look at when their fields of vision aligned, so that it would be more personal and compartmentalized in case something was afoot.

"Please, Sera, It's just Jimmy to you. Nice flying, by the way, so no harm done." Jimmy always led with politeness when meeting a new crewmate. He knew he could see her eyes through the visor but pretended not to be interested, instead, he focused on the assignment: increasing the range of his personal sensors. "Take point, I'm just here to watch your six. Mine's on the line if anything happens to you."

Jimmy stacked up on Sera, walking in backstep in pike formation as she took the lead; He could see her face in the corner of his eye, but kept watch on the duo's pair and flank, not giving his back to their environment. This was her arena, and Mariner had an odd feeling of being watched, so he needed to make sure no one crept up on them or from above them in the darkness. The coastal-dwelling Australian farmboy decided when they were far enough from the others that this was good a time as any to break the ice with another Theurgy resident on their private channel, but he kept his voice to a whisper, so his audiofilters could assess their surroundings.  "So, how'd a nice girl like you wind up working in a place like this? ...Off the record, of course: what brought you here in the first place?" Mariner spoke as an in-moment comrade in arms, not a security officer. Just then, Jimmy thought he heard that sound again, of liquid dripping, or at least a semi-rhytmic kinetic sound as if something were clicking incessantly. Mariner glanced in the direction of a shadowy outcropping when the station's lights and atmosphere blinked to life, improving Mariner's sense of security, but not changing anything in his alertness.

<ATMO PRESSURE AND GRAVITY RESTORED.
TEMPERATURE REGULATING. AIR FILTERING.
MAKE CONTACT WITH HI'JAK FOR ANY ACCESS NEEDED.
BE ADVISED: DOCKING BAY IS STILL DEPRESSURISED.>

<Mariner to Lieutenant zh'Wann: Let there be light. Cheers.> Mariner texted to Ida's padd. Jimmy returned to his and Sera's private channel. As the minutes and conversation carried out in whispers, Mariner recollected his OCS harsh-survival training from 'Project Eagle' aboard the T'kumbra to carry him through this rocky terrain. Even still, Mariner hadn't done any space walks for about 18 months now and was just a little out of practice, the Security specialist soon made up for it when the gravity came back on line, and reportedly, the atmosphere, but Jimmy trusted his helmet.

It was his turn to take the high ground and pull Sera up, uttering 'cheers' in an expression of thanks when she'd helped him out prior. Jimmy was glad he'd gotten around to building that stationary bycicle in his quarters after all and dedicated time to it that morning, so he could get around without breaking a sweat. "You oughta look into getting that lovely ship of yours a treadmill." Mariner brought up as he followed her up to their path, taking his first real appreciative glance at her hourglass form and her exo-suit's feminine features, still mindful his face was showing up on a corner of her visor. "It's a good way to kill time and get a leg up on outings like these. Good practice for other things, too. Running, kicking, pilates, tango." He smiled, veiling a flirt, unslinging his rifle when they were on their way to the cargo bay Sera interfaced with and opening the doors to... "Crikey." He whispered with a tone of astonishment as the large imposing cargo bay doors opened ahead of him with a louder series of machinery than Mariner would've liked. During the entire encounter, he kept the chatter to a whisper, but this was an octave louder, but only his helmet and hers could hear him-- or so he hoped.

Jimmy's eyes widened a notch as he moved to inspect one of the old rugged olive-colored red-tinted Klingon hover-movers Sera mentioned, taking his carbine in one hand and lowering it as he approached a crate and confirmed Sera's scans to varying degrees of refinement to identify which containers were ready to be loaded. "Too bad we can't call in one of the Vectors to warp in and give us a hand with this stuff. Not to hoard it, but to hopefully use as currency." Mariner clarified, after using his HUD's scanning suites to determine the immediate area was secure. 

"I wouldn't make such a bad pirate myself, but you know: no more greed. My dad used to say in his neighborhood, that you can get further with a kind word and some credits than you can with just a kind word." Jimmy briefly sighed, reminding himself of their overall situation. The bloodsuckers in Starfleet Command, even this mission, this... shaky at best, sortie into a Klingon base. Mariner caught himself eyeing Sera again as if to step in to assist her in scans when he felt he had a moment to afford glancing at her features. He was initially testing first to see if she was looking his way when he caught those feiry orbs whip over at something he happened to be facing and Jimmy saw it too. He couldn't tell if what he saw for a moment was some sort of spider, a dog, or both.

"Contact!" Jimmy hissed as his tricorder indicated movement in the direction of the sighting with a trilling chirp. He holstered his tricorder and gripped his carbine's foregrip, taking aim and a defensive posture near Sera to stack up and form a tight perimiter with her phaser pistol's firing arc. "Careful what you shoot at, most things in here might not react too well to phasers." Mariner hissed in a whisper, keeping his carbine aimed in the 270' arc of the creature's last known position. Of all people, Jimmy knew that a phaser blast in this environment could set the whole stockpile of Dilithium ablaze, and his gun was reactively set to 'sniper' configuration on low-yield stun, his IFF targeting systems gave him a solid assurance of a clear shot, not before. He heard that clicking sound again... only more frequent, and seeming to approach the duo.

<Mariner to Team: Be advised. Possible nonsentient life form spotted in dilithium storage bay. Insectoid. Might be calling for his mates. Standby for happy hour.>  It was an old but offtimes-used euphimism for a potential firefight. Mariner's warning was clear enough to his immediate CO. <Mariner to zh'Wann: Reccomend yellow alert. Target in volatile atmosphere, Opposing force numbers unknown, refined dilithium retrieval under way. Over.> Jimmy trained his rifle and knew from his training that he was entering a delta-state of hyper alertness, otherwise known in the shorthand as the 'fight-or-flight' state of alert.

Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #26 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | SS Sabine NX-59846 | SuD Lang Outpost ] attn: @Doc M. @Triage

Starfleet's internal culture had always been one that favoured officers a great deal, and enlisted personnel was pretty well generally expected to be silent, compliant, and mostly invisible to the commissioned luminaries unless they were specifically needed for something.  Eliska had learned that a long time ago, and as a rule she kept her mouth shut and let the officers lead the way.  But that wasn't something she could afford to do just about now.  Oh, she was the lowest ranking member of the entire party; after all, civilians tended to enjoy a spot somewhere between the Chiefs and Warrants and actual officers at the very least.  And in her specific team, she was certainly low bitch on that totem pole.  But from observation?  She was also the most qualified and the one most likely to survive even if things went perfectly smooth from there on out. 

So when she did offer a strong suggestion of the order of march, she'd hoped the good Lieutenant would take it as such... but instead she got an earful.  Granted, ell-tee wasn't exactly an official mode of address, but it was generally tolerated; though primadonna tendencies were hardly unheard of among pilots, so she ought to have expected that kind of response.  And it made sense, given how Lance had first decided to take exception to the recommendations Bremmer had put forward. 

Though the surprise was her retraction, and how quickly she'd accepted to take a back seat...  Which led Eliska to key a private channel to the pilot.  "Ma'am, Lieutenant Goldeneye?  With respect, if you want to play rock, paper, rank, you win; but if it will help, I can recommend a course of action, and call's yours in the end."  But something was left unsaid: time and circumstances permitting.  Bremmer was used to dealing with people whose status towered above her own, from civilian captains to high level diplomats.   But what she did know, she knew it damn well. 

As they made their way deeper into the ruins, it would be clear that Eliska was quite at ease in her suit.  Save for a slight pull at her feet, she was moving in the armoured exosuit with the same kind of grace she would in her regular uniform, or just her own skin for that matter and she was making use of her sensor suite as well as the old-fashioned Mark I eyeball to keep scanning the area around them.  And, of course, she had received the message from the Deputy about the atmosphere being breathable again, and when gravity did come back it was fitful and uneven, but it did beat the 0.08G they had been dealing with since landing.  And while she kept her own helmet sealed, and McMillan's for that matter, he did open up their suits' life support intakes, using the local air instead of their precious, limited supply a they'd walk deeper into the asteroid; after all, the first rule of EVA was 'don't run out of air'. 

And given how clumsy both the pilot and the scientist were, any way to stretch out their life support was a good thing.

Eliska was only peripherally aware of what was being discussed; she was entirely too busy keeping an eye out for things that could hurt them... and the skittering shapes she saw moving here and there; some kind of spiders, at first glance.  Well, if they were anything like bugs back home, they would't bother them unless bothered first.  However when reaching a different set of ruins, the Petty Officer came to a dead stop.

Before her, blocking the path, was some sort of a barrier that didn't appear in the visible light spectrum; if anything, it was her suit's EM scanners that picked whatever was in front of them, but it looked... weird.  "Lieutenant, Warrant, I'm picking up something.... weird here.  My suit's sensors are calling it x-ray-band lasers... but what I'm seeing makes no sense.  I'm not exactly boned up on physics, but I don't think a laser wall that could melt through my suit on contact is supposed to happen."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #27 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SuD Lang Command Center ]
[Show/Hide]
It seemed the rash scientist knew better than to challenge her further, eventually turning back to his computer console and asking for the message Ives had to Martok. Since Hi'Jak offered no immediate threat, Ida shifted her grip on the stock of her rifle so that she could read from the Forearm PADD, and keyed up the Captain's Message.

"Chancellor Martok, this is Captain Jien Ives of the Federation starship Theurgy, and I am sending this message because the truth about recent events in Federation space has been tarnished by a common enemy. An enemy, of the likes we have yet seen since the Dominion War, where the repute of our leadership and the veracity of Starfleet Command's orders could be questioned. The Changelings infiltrated the Admiralty of our fleet, just like it usurped the power of the Klingon Empire. We both now face the same possibility, and even the current means of detection is crude, it is my hope that this message will reach your Empire in time. It is also my hope that you will remember how Starfleet and Klingon fought together last this happened, and that you will heed this call to arms before doubt takes hold."

Ida clenched her jaw, hoping that the Ridgeheads would heed her Captain, and continued to recite Ives' message. "The means of detection is of import, and while I hope to speak with you directly, you must learn of it, should my ship be destroyed before then. Maximum stun, while the Klingon subject is not forewarned, and then have him - or her - scanned. If the subject's readings show anything else than what they should, that he - or she - is not entirely subdued, then the subject might be host to a parasite that exist in flux. This enemy thrives on chaos, tearing down all construct and society, meaning to return all of Galactic civilisation to its primordial state. It has taken actions to send all powers into war, and thrives in the process of anti-creation."

Pausing, Ida then added the last part. "Be vigilant, and do not trust the Federation media outlets. The crew of my ship knows the truth of this, and we are therefore a target. We are protecting this truth with our lives, at great cost, and we hope to spread the word before it is too late. Contact me through the encrypted subspace channel included in this message, and the key to the encryption... is the answer you gave me on Romulus, when I asked you about the future of the Empire, back when the Romulan peace talks ended. Let us speak, and perhaps we'll find a different answer."

Saying this, Ida then directed herself to Hi'Jak. "My PADD's ID is Alpha-Niner-Epsilon-Five. Transmitting the file now. Make sure it is attached to the message you send."

This was when Ensign Mariner spoke up over the comm channel, and Ida glanced back in the direction of the door. She doubted there was any kind of yellow alert setting on SuD Lang, and it served them little. "This is Ida to all teams," she said, "alert the others if these insectoids are indeed hostile. The creatures may not engage us, but if they do, give the rest fair warning."

Then, she turned to Hi'Jak. "Is the message sent?"

OOC: Current Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) @Kaligos  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Mathis 2) @Striker N7
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @Triage 2) @Doc M. 3) @CanadianVet 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #28 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]

Hearing the message Jack had to draw the conclusion that he had been betrayed. Trent had promised him the ability to adapt and approve any messages that were sent between him and the Klingon Empire. Doing so he would have been able to tell the captain that telling Martok a man who had once said that he would sooner die than betray the honor of his uniform, and who has backed those words with every action he had taken while High Chancellor, to shoot his own men in the back would be stupid and foolish. It was why he had demanded more time before he had to present this parasite theory as fact to his empire. It was why he had spoken out as a skeptic to the situation.

Because the truth, and their way of finding the truth would not work for the empire. If Martok was free of influence and he tested this on some of his men he would be challenged for his seat and be dishonored as a mad man. If Martok was a parasite this would have the entire empire rain down upon the Theurgy in an attempt to suppress the information, and it would be used to declare open war with the Federation claiming that they had been infiltrated from the inside.

What was more the fact that it was a direct message from Ives to the Empire meant that if he sent this it would be clear to the empire who was sending it out, and once his name was written in as a failed operative, or a captured man, he would be marked for death it was another thing that he had told Trent he had wished to avoid.

He had to send something however, accessing the pad with the message. He didn't really have the time to completely alter the message if he took too long than he would get shot by Ida and die here.

He could just leave the message here, not send out anything, but when would be the next time he would have access to a Klingon computer core? This was a chance to speak to his homeland. He couldn't alter the message too much, but he could change who it went too, that was easy enough.

If Jack handed it to his handlers in Imperial Intelligence he would be disavowed any of the other houses could use this information to attack Martok who was the only one holding the dogs of war back. He needed someone week, someone that could command one or a handful of ships, but who's actions would make him worthless in regard to taking a seat. Someone the empire could overlook sending ships, and whom the parasites had no reason to infest because they were a laughing stock within the empire.

He needed Drex, Martok's failure of a son. Drex had a ship, his father's name, but none of the actions that would make him capable of usurping his father. If Drex acted out his various disgraces would prevent Martok from giving the full support. Ives would get the ear they wanted, and there would be less of a chance for a direct war. Just the actions of one bold idiot who's reputation would stop him from ascending any further to the throne.

Jack could at some later time swoop in and kill Drex in an honorable combat, and take that ship, re-integrate into klingons, and have a deed to his name. General status could fall into the half breeds lap.

Of course that hinged on no one ever knowing where this message came from.

"oH pongwIj'e Hi'Jak, DaHjaj ta'be'nalwI'  moj matlh, eH USS Theurgy, tIj yaH pe'vIlHa. mu' 'oH HoD, qIm Dun vIt QamtaH chaH. wa'logh ghu' yaj SoH, Qaw' SuD Lang." Attatching the message to his smaller one, he sent it via a secure direct connection to the ship which Drex commanded.

"Message away Lieutenant." The moment he got back to the Theurgy he would take actions against this woman. If she was acting on her own than the command would have some words for her. If she wasn't, and this assassination at gun point had been ordered, well, hey there was always a chance that she wouldn't make it back to the ship alive.

~~~
Translation: [Show/Hide]

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #29 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SuD Lang Command Center ]
[Show/Hide]
Looking at the halfbreed, Ida frowned, unable to shake the notion that the younger man had resigned a tad too quickly to doing as he was told. Then again, perhaps the words of the Captain had gotten through to the scientist, and there was no greater cause for concern. Trent's report had painted the Junior Lieutenant up to be somewhat of a simpleton, but then again, it would not be the first time an Intelligence operative did not let on how sharp he was. Rez had them all fooled, her open and friendly nature as a counsellor having been a facade for a ruthless field agent that would have killed them all if her mission parameters had been met.

"Don't worry, Ridgehead," she said, sighing as she looked him in the eye, rifle at her side, "the Captain knows what he is doing. He - or she - knows Martok. Have faith in how, together, they will be able to figure this out. We'll have a strong ally in Martok."

This was the precise moment when the inhabitants on SuD Lang made themselves known. A rattling sound, the new air in the outpost acting as a conduit. Ida heard it through the receptors in her helmet, and saw a long shadow cast across the wall. She rounded on the creature, seeing how it had emerged through the old outpost's maintenance chute. It was not even a conscious act, how she had the stock of her rifle against her shoulder and the sights aligned. She stared at it through the targeting scope, curling her upper lip at the sight.

It was ugly thing, clearly insectoid, iridescent reflections from the room's lighting coming off it's chitin and mandibles. Dark eyes, several of them, fitted in soulless features. The clatter of its claws seemed light compared to the size of its limbs, the head being level with her hip, and it made a bloodcurdling, clicking sound that was universal to the ears of all manner of prey. It was hungry, and heading straight for them - moving faster than any bug had any right to.

"Contact," said Ida, surprised at how calm she sounded when she squeezed the trigger of her rifle.

Her phaser bolts struck through the chitin armour of the bug as if it was wet tissue paper, chunks of hidden meat and ichor spilling unto the floor. It screeched at them in agony, denied its feast, before it collapsed in a heap of quivering legs.

Where the first one fell, two more emerged from the chute.

OOC: Current Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) @Kaligos  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Mathis 2) @Striker N7
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @Triage 2) @Doc M. 3) @CanadianVet 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #30 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]

Of course Jack was interested in this crew, and it wasn't like he hadn't wanted to help, but it was clear more or less that he had been betrayed by this crew, and that was what he could expect. Looking at Ida he wanted to find someway he could get rid of her, make a statement that his trust was not something to fuck with. He had been promised the power to vet messages and this captain had just fucked him.

Of course he wasn't going to play by their rules in that situation, and there was the fact that this racist Andorian bitch refereed to him as Ridgehead, not giving him any credence to the rank he had earned though it was lower than hers, he still deserved to at least get called by his last name. Especially when he had just at least from her perspective complied with her orders. "Must you constantly be the most belligerent person?"

Still he couldn't outright kill her, but that also didn't mean he had to expend any energy to save her.  He just needed some opportunity to... wait why were the motion sensors picking up movement.

He quickly looked over the map for a second, switching his display to the security feeds before his own question was answered for him with the sudden appearance of what had come out of the stations piping. Jack's brain froze when he saw the multi legged horrific creature that seemed to drop ungracefully before them, before it looked them over. For a moment he had Ida's back to him, and he was glad that she both served as a wall between him and that creature, and that she had finally turned away.

As yet more crawled free from their imprisonment in the walls, he glanced at the exit. How easy it would be to just run, with Ida destracted he could leave her to die against the infestation.

But then what? The only ship in the hanger had been the Sabine, he had the codes for the thing sure Sera had taught them to him while he was being a co-pilot. He had been set up in the ships registry. Their was also the valkyrie out there, far more  manuverable, but he had no idea how to fly it.

Both would leave Sera, and the rest of them. As much as he loathed Ida he knew that if he wanted to make it off this rock in one piece, if he wanted to avoid the noose with either the Federation or the Empire, the only ship in the galaxy where he could technically have sanctuary was the theurgy.

So the blue bitch had to live.

He grabbed her shoulder, pulling her away from the creatures, and into movement. The moment both he and Ida were past the door he hit the controls. "lojmIt yIngaQmoH, NaD, Varris Mohg." The door sealed in time to hear a loud thud as one of the bugs slammed it's body against the exit. Screaming in whatever hellbeast tongue it had behind the solid door, before it was cut off by the room being completely sealed off.

On his PADD he had access to the entirety of SuD Lang and her systems, and as he went over the motion sensors things were starting to come alive. "We need to get out of here."


There was nothing he could do to really contian or destroy the seemingly demonic infestation, probably one reason the station had been truly abandoned. The Hakkarl would be there in a few hours to destroy the base anyway. They just needed to make sure that they were gone before the others showed up.
~~
translation
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #31 –
[ Heather McMillan | Entrance to the Lightborn Ruins | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Kaligos, @CanadianVet, @Striker N7, @Mathis, @Havenborn, @Josie & @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
Now that she was this close to uncovering a centuries-old mystery of the origins of her people, Heather McMillan felt no more pain. It was there, her head was splitting wide open like a cracked eggshell, but she could set it aside, for now. Taking out her PADD in one hand, and the tricorder in the other, she turned to look at Bremmer, and then Lance, and smiled, her face glowing within the suit. “These are my people,” said McMillan, “I'm quite sure of it.”

Grinning from ear to ear in sheer excitement, she turned back, then added without looking behind her, “Oh, Lieutenant Lance? Cascadium is a kind of metal unique to my people. It is a metal that responds to my light. I never really noticed until quite recently. And the Lightborn...well, I think I am one...”

She glanced down at her PADD and frowned, “I think the translation's off by quite a bit, though...I imagine, I can't decipher the words or language...yet.”

She'd just need a few hours with all this. Well, a few hours free of pain and sickness.

And she'd need to set aside some time to pay attention to Carrigan Trent.

She stepped onto the carved road. Trace lines etched in an artistic manner lit up immediately, igniting from under her feet, and going all the way along the path, right up the walls, and even all around the statues, the whole one, and the broken, allowing all a good look at the markings. It was like a story being told all across the structure, the gates, and everything else, and yet, a silent song that made no sense. McMillan for her part did not know why she thought it was a song rather than something spoken in words. A low hum made her look up to see that the eyes of the lone statue shone brightly, and it seemed as it the eyes of the monolithic design was now fixed on her, on Bremmer and on Lance.

“Hold on...I-I mean...wait here...just a moment.” said McMillan, one hand upraised to stall the other two. She heard what Bremmer said about the x-ray bands. The gates were pulsing with a myriad of coloured lights, emiting through the lines and curves of the lost civilization's language. She adjusted the strength of her boots' magnets, so that she could almost walk normally. She needed every ounce of grace and agility that she could muster, if what she suspected was true. Moving forward, but in a sideways manner, McMillan slowly drew nearer towards the massive gates, the feeling of the statue's eyes lingering on her never dissipating, but instead growing more certain as she drew closer.

She looked back, to see if the other two had followed or stayed, and noticed that unlike her, light did not emerge from under their feet. “I think it could be some sort of security system...but...why would my people make such things?”

It went against a pacifist nature. Especially what she had been taught about the Radiant. They wouldn't raise their hands even in defense. So a security system? She hadn't stopped approaching the gates, and now she felt a humming that sent vibrations from right under her feet, and she watched in horror as the statue's eyes grew brighter, the hands lowered from its crossed position and the legs shifted. Somehow, she knew it signalled an imminent attack. Casting a panicked glance at Bremmer, the Radiant used her left hand to remove the gauntlet of her right, and she raised her hand up, immitating the pattern of light that only she could vaguely make out. The x-rays that Bremmer mentioned, and she shouted a warning, “Avert your eyes!”

She let her light shine through that bare hand, frantic, and without a clue if she was doing this right. “Stop!” she shouted at the statue.

The statue stopped. Silence filled the air.

Then, the gates slowly grated open.

Lowering her hand, McMillan allowed the light of her hand to dim so that her companions could safely look in her general direction without getting blinded.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #32 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Docking Bay | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Striker N7
[Show/Hide]
Wary of whatever was lurking in the far shadows of the dilithium processing area, Sera found herself quite grateful for the Starfleet phaser in her gauntleted hand, even if she'd heed the advise not to shoot unless she had to. She listened to Jimmy as he reported the sighting to the Andorian mission leader, and after hearing the brief answer, Sera supposed it was too early to tell whether or not the creatures they'd glimpsed were hostile. Nonetheless, she certainly wasn't going to take any risks. Whenever she encountered something in the places she scavenged across the Galaxy, rarely as it happened, the creatures were often famished, having lived off whatever fungi and moisture remaining in the deep subterranean abyss.

"Let's hope they are just overgrown tribbles, right?" she said, her dry tone betraying how much she doubted it. It was not the first time something had come crawling after restoring atmosphere in a dig-site. Now, it was too late, the air restored to breathe and no means to vent all of SuD Lang quickly with such old Klingon tech. As she resumed to walk towards the farthest side of the area, and the door to the refined dilithium, she kept her phaser at her side with two hands around the grip - the visor of her Câroon helmet moving slowly from side to side. She could still hear them in the distance, making clicking noises, scraping the reinforced plating they moved across. Burn me, definitely not Tribbles...

Without being able to sight whatever had stirred in SuD Lang, Sera did reach the far side of the area after another minute. She looked away from the shadows to check the condition of the reinforced door. It looked the same as she'd left it, the disruptor rifle she had lost on Starbase 84 had been able to carve gashes into it, but in the end, she had triggered a security system, and she had abandoned the attempt. I might have better luck with it now.

"Sera to Jack and zh'Wann," she said, fingers on the side of her helmet to access the comm frequency to her newfound lover and the Andorian in the base's Ops center. "Could I bother you to open the security area in dilithium processing? We're at the door now."

While she spoke with Jack, she didn't see the shadows coming alive behind her.


[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Outside SuD Lang Command Center ] Attn: @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]
Ida had chosen a kill-setting on her rifle, which might not have been according to protocol, but it had happened intuitively, having judged the threat too quick and and armoured to stop with a stun setting. By Lor'Vela, so much for First Contact... It also became clear that the current residents of SuD Lang not only scurried across the floor. Indeed, the creatures had leaped unto the work stations in the Command Center once they were clear from the maintenance chute. There were more coming, their imminent arrival clearly heard as their talons scraped against metal. The sharp ends of each leg looked like curved parsteel blades.

She had been ready to fire again, to stand her ground, but the Klingon spy tugged at her shoulder, and she needn't be asked twice if he saw a way for them to extract themselves in time. And they did, ending up in the corridor outside and with the door shut and the Command Center sealed. Still, Ida stepped up to the reinforced glass that allowed her to look through the door, seeing how the creatures were pouring into the room. A moment later, the glass was splattered with some kind of blue, corrosive substance, making her back away a step. Evidently, they spit too... Dissolving their prey for ingestion....

In her helmet, Ida then heard the voice of Fire-Eyes. [Could I bother you to open the security area in dilithium processing? We're at the door now.]

She saw that the spy had the presence of mind to reroute the antiquated command access to his PADD, and she nodded appreciatively that he had done so unbidden. Even if her heart beat fast in her chest because of the assault of the creatures, she cleared her throat. "zh'Wann to all teams, the creatures are clearly hostile and armoured with thick chitin armour. Avoid contact or defend yourselves. Weapons free."

After Hi'Jak had spoken with Sera and handled the matter with the door, Ida set their steps back towards the Sabine, since there was no reason to stay at their current location. "Seems you think on your toes, Ridgehead," she began to say, and realised why he might have called her belligerent. It made her sigh mentally, realising she had to explain some of her own native culture if the younger man were to swallow his hurt pride and accept that he was a junior officer and didn't get to decide the course of the mission. She was just the messenger, but it was her duty to enforce her message got through.

She bit her teeth together, rifle raised and eyes along the sights as she walked, but she spoke through the helmet to the scientist. "Are you offended by me calling you Ridgehead?" she asked after pausing, taking a deep breath, "Andorians do not mean any disrespect by doing so, Junior Lieutenant. I was raised to speak this way. Just like we merely use a fraction of our full names when communing amongst each other, we tend to give nicknames to people around us. It is a a cultural habit of ours," she explained in a low voice, her eyes searching the shadows as they moved. Talking about something else than the imminent threat helped her to focus.

"True, before the formation of the Federation, we mistrusted strangers and used the name in the way you describe, yet over the centuries since First Contact, the expressions have become commonplace - changing meaning like words tend to do. Now, it's a form of casual recognition, where we call Bajorans Ridgenoses, Klingons Ridgeheads, Humans Pinkskins, etc. Yet not out of belittlement, for Andorians knows that we are quite easy targets to be made fun of - should that have been the case - given our quite... exotic appearance. My apologies, Junior Lieutenant, for while I may have to enforce orders, I meant no offence."

Talking helped calm her nerves, Ida eyeing every shadow as they carefully made their way back.

OOC: Current Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) @Kaligos (Feel free to add spiders!)  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Striker N7 (Feel free to add spiders!) 2) Auctor Lucan
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @Doc M. (Feel free to add spiders!) 2) @CanadianVet 3) @Triage 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #33 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | Outside SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]

Oh great they spit fucking acid! Like these things weren't already the most horrific monsters he had ever seen in his life. Jack's heart pounded in his chest for a moment as he looked over what had just happened, the world outside of his EV suit seeming infinetly more terrifying and the protection offered by that suit seemingly completely pathetic. Now more than ever he wished he had been given the tactical pilot suit or something better than this.


"I should be used too it by now Liutenant, but in truth it's a touchy subject." Jack said as he picked up on Sera's message and got to work on the problem, setting himself to his task, it didn't take long for him to access the door.

"Mellon*." He said to himself jokingly as he unlocked the door to the security center and the dilithium hold. "Your good Sera, doors are unlocked, ready to open at your pleasure."

"I only have half a name." Jack said shaking his head for a moment, the context of andorian culture was not something he had considered previously, did it matter? did it make it better? well in truth the context and the step forward was appreciated, but at the same time any slight towards his race always felt sensitive, his face was not something he found attractive, and he had always stood apart from others. Being called Ridgehead instead of his own name, well it was just another out casting moment. "In Klingon culture, you carry the name of your house established by your ancestors great deeds. Only a father can pass on their house name, unless a mother has done some deed great enough to earn a special exemption of the rules. So me being a half breed, with a human father. I get to be Hi'Jak, my half siblings got to share their fathers house, and his deeds and his ancestors. If I were to die approach the gates of Stovokor, and they were to look upon my name and lack of a house i'd be cast from the bridge, no name no house, nothing would recall me."

His fingers tapped along the PADD as he accessed the system and got to work on unlocking the door that Sera was in front of, at the same time he was also trying to look for a safe path, with internal sensors going nuts it was like they had woken up an entire swarm. Which made navigation while talking and working difficult, but there was a point to this story, and if there had ever been a time to share it, well now would be the only chance he got.

"I decided early in life that wasn't good enough. That I needed a deed, that I would do anything to have a full name. So I joined the academy of the first city, I would become a warrior and fight my way up to serve my empire. But I learned really quickly that I am a pathetic warrior."

Jack walked trying to stay away from the vents, but they could hear the skittering all around them now, it was tense, and he shook his head trying to think as he typed. He had to focus on his work, both because he had the map, and because if he didn't he would be so shitting himself right now. He decided that story time made the most sense in helping him stay calm, even if this wasn't a story he liked to tell. He showed Ida the map and silently indicated the path they were going to take towards the ruins so he could continue his story, of course she would be able to see the hundreds of red plips that made up the enemy of the day. Whatever those things were there had been a lot of them, and apparently they were making more or something because it seemed like there were more crawling. Every now and then from the shadows claws and fangs hisses and cries would show themselves struggling to get out of the vents and towards the food.

"I lasted three months, before I was woken up in the middle of the night, dragged into a room with twenty other half breeds each who had wanted to serve the empire. Speaking to any of the others would earn you a quick beating. We were addressed by Gowron himself... We were told that there was an enemy, and a war brewing, that though we were the scraps of the empire we would have a greater purpose, not with honor but with service, and that we would go to the Federation. Over the next few years we were trained, and filtered into the academy twenty half breeds showing up at once would have raised red flags. You can say what you want about Gowron, and how my job may have been a lark, a joke to get unwanted halfbreeds out of the empire's sight but... I remember being told I had been chosen for this and thinking 'finally a chance to prove to my empire that I could be worth something!' I was young, and I had just been given orders from the emperor himself you can't imagine the high that gives you."

As Jack finished one part of his story a leg of a critter would swipe at them from a locked vent, Jack just hurried his pace and tried not to piss his pants hoping that the walls wouldn't break.

Jack shook his head. Of course now he had a few more thoughts on the empire having seen it from inside it and outside of it, but he didn't want to get political. "During the training there were no names used. We were all being trained to be spies we couldn't risk recognizing one another. After that it was Starfleet academy. I was terrified, earth was the farthest I had ever been from my empire, I had just spent a year being taught that this was the enemy, and I was in their schools I couldn't get close to anyone, so yet more insults came my way. Earth was somehow less hospitable than Qo'Nos.  Then came 84, and my boss was a joke, I gave up the people there didn't even know my name half the time. I was never gonna get a chance to have respect I could have a rank, but I would never have a friend or a home hell my co-workers couldn't even remember my name."

"Now I have a chance for a deed worthy of a full name, but all I can think of is how that name would go down in history. 'wrote a letter to home, and because of that billions of people died.' If your captain is wrong, and I just beat the drums of war, than I have to spend the rest of my life being the guy who started the galactic war. I don't know your captain, I don't know you, I have no reason to trust you when you so easily point that gun at me, so the least you can do lieutenant Ida is use my name because no one else in this fucking galaxy does."

~~~
OOC:

*Mellon: Elvish for friend, (speak friend and enter)

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #34 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]   Atten:  @CanadianVet, @Triage 

”Lieutenant, Warrant, I'm picking up something.... weird here,” Petty Officer Eliska Bremmer  reported.  “My suit's sensors are calling it x-ray-band lasers... but what I'm seeing makes no sense.  I'm not exactly boned up on physics, but I don't think a laser wall that could melt through my suit on contact is supposed to happen."

“Oh my gosh!  What could it be?” Lieutenant Tessa Lance chirped.

"Hold on...I-I mean...wait here...just a moment." Provisional Warrant Officer Heather McMillan stammered as she raised an admonishing hand.

“Um, are they supposed to be doing that?” Tessa timidly asked as Heather inched forward hesitantly.  The gates to the ruins of the Lightborn were shining with a myriad of colorful lights, the emissions pulsing through arcane hieroglyphs previously hidden by the dust and darkness.  

Heather looked back at Tessa and Eliska. "I think it could be some sort of security system...but...why would my people make such things?"

Taking the time for a closer look, Tessa stared at the glowing runes in disbelief, “Holy cow, it looks just like the entrance to the ruins of Odinfall!  And what’s happening to your feet…  Ooh!  Never mind that; did you say ‘security system’?  As in a ‘deal with intruders’ kind of security system?  As in the kind that can hurt you…”  Suddenly the plucky pilot let out a terrified squeak and pointed at the statue behind the little scientist.   “Heather!  Look out behind you!”

The statues eyes began to glow with an eldritch light.  A strange vibration that Tessa hoped was the variable microgravity of the hollow moon accompanied the glow, turning a visual effect into something that paralyzed the pilot with fear.  

Acting quickly Heather actually removed her right glove to reveal a hand that was glowing with the same eerie light as the glowing runes.  "Avert your eyes!" the little scientist warned them.

As Tessa closed her eyes she heard Heather give a shout that Gandalf the Grey would be proud of.

"Stop!" Heather ordered.

Silence, then a dragging vibration as the Gates to Odinfall opened.

“Jinkies, are you some kind of wizard or what?” Tessa burbled without a trace of sarcasm as she opened her eyes and took some unsteady steps forward to follow Heather and Eliska into the ruins of the Lightborn… whoever they were.  “Honestly, this whole thing seems like something out of Tales of the Hero-Kings.  At least we don’t gotta worry about monsters or anything.  Goblins and Orcs can’t survive an airless vacuum.  Now that you’ve shut off the security system, it should be safe now.”

Behind them, a flat rocky bulge approximately a sixth of a meter in diameter on the floor behind them expanded like a rubber raft being inflated until it rose from the deck and unfolded its legs in an eerily fluid motion.  Three hind legs were attached to the flat disk-like body before being divided into two more jointed and articulated legs that ended in tiny feet that appeared to be sharp hooks.  It scuttled behind them almost silently in the thin dusty atmosphere and when similar bulges on the floor and walls of the tunnel started sprouting legs it was clear that the spidery creature wasn’t alone.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #35 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | SS Sabine NX-59846 | SuD Lang Outpost ] attn: @Doc M.  @Triage

"Roger that, Ell-Tee." 

Eliska's acknowledgement was on the channel the away team's security detachment shared, but as she spoke she never took her eyes off the statues before them.  They looked ancient, and not quite human... and there was something about them that made the fine hairs at the back of her neck stand on end.  Oh yes, there was something ominous there.  She'd yet to get an answer either way, but the Petty Officer was certain that while there could be lasers in the x-ray band, they weren't supposed to behave like that... but then again, she knew her role on this mission: she was the muscle for Warrant MacMillan, and her job was to keep that sunny little thing in one piece; and, while on paper Goldeneye was supposed to augment her security presence, Eliska harboured serious doubts as to her usefulness in a scrap...

Even as the Radiant moved towards what she identified as a security system, Eliska followed, her rifle in her shoulder and pointed towards the statue with spotlights for eyes.  Her thumb was near the power selector controls, ready to drive them all the way up to maximum to take the bloody thing apart if she had to.  And it was getting close to there... until MacMillan, of all things, removed one gauntlet and her hand started to glow brighter and brighter, until the filters of her exosuit's faceplate darkened automatically as the brightness was reaching genuine retina-searing levels.  And the emanations Eliska's suit sensors read as being a threat ended as the scientist simply shouted... 

What in the world was going on? 

While the doors opened, the Security officer spoke to her charge, somewhat sharply at that.  "Warrant, put that gauntlet back on. It's just sheer dumb luck there's an atmosphere beyond those doors, but for all we know it's a hard vacuum behind the next ones."  Eliska knew damn well she was the most junior member of this team, and by rights even the PWO could order her around if she was so inclined.  But while so far she'd steered the Warrant around with suggestions and advice, this time there was no such nicety; she was her bodyguard, and charged with keeping her alive.  And not wearing her full suit in this environment was definitely not conducive to that particular desired end-result. 

Though no sooner had she spoken that Bremmer turned around, her suit's sensors warning her of motion around them.  As she turned around, she saw the ground and walls start to ripple... no, her eyes were not playing tricks on her, and shapes were detaching themselves from the stone.  Shapes with long, spindly legs that terminated with long claws.  How those things had survived the cold and the vacuum, Bremmer did not care about.  What she saw, though, was that atmosphere, light, warmth and their presence seemed to be waking them up...

"Warrant, kindly move with a sense of urgency with that gauntlet, and keep the ell-tee or myself between you and them."  Eliska's voice was cool and calm, but carried the hard edge of a consummate professional even if she'd referred to Goldeneye in a term she hardly cared for.  But this was not a time for niceties, it was a time to make sure everyone came back...  "And Warrant, if you're planning to take a look in there, let's make it quick, before too many of these things wake up and start coming at us... something tells me they might be hungry after fuck-knows-how-long they've been hibernating or whatever."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #36 –
[ Heather McMillan | Entrance to the Lightborn Ruins | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @CanadianVet & @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
Don't throw up...don't throw up...please don't throw up... McMillan repeated to herself over and over in her mind. She felt more sick than ever, and her equilibrium couldn't decide if she was standing upright or on her head. She really wanted to throw up, which would be pretty disgusting inside her helmet. So she did her best to quell her queasiness, and to force her head back up as she slowly straightened up from the bent position she'd suddenly found herself in. Normally, using her light was almost pleasurable, ever since she stopped suppressing it, and it was addictive. But right now, it hurt to suppress, and hurt even more to use beyond just the normal manner of use in which she was a walking aurora.

“I...I cannot...” said McMillan, gasping for breath, “I'm sorry...but that statue is...active and still...watching us. If I cover my hand it might attack us again. You need to...stay close to me.”

She looked towards Bremmer and then doubled over for a moment, clutching her midsection with her still-covered hand. But she kept the other hand in view of the statue, and let all her light go to just her hand, so that the rest of her body went dark. It hurt less now, but she had to get this looked into soon, or she was in real trouble. She knew...she was sick. Very sick, and getting worse, but this was the only chance they had to find out about her people. She needed to know. She also knew that Bremmer was irked with her for her reckless action. The tiny Radiant didn't dare incur more fury from the woman, but she didn't know what else she could do. And she was still puzzling out why her people would have something lethal guarding their sanctuary. As far as her Wisdoms knew, all Radiant were instinctually and genetically passive. It was impossible to even think of a violent thought without feeling so filthy and horrible. Sometimes Heather would cry if she so much as thought about frowning at a puppy.

Not that she'd ever frown at a puppy.

Raising her tricorder, she scanned the interior, and to her pleasant surprise, found that it was nearly identical to Earth's atmosphere beyond the doors. “There's actually a better atmosphere in there, ma'am,” said McMillan, perking up so suddenly. She still felt ill, but hopefulness buoyed her spirits a bit, and nearly threw up again when she recalled what she heard Bremmer warning her about, and then seeing it for herself. But more than that, she noticed the statue was also reacting to them. The sparks and flow of cascading light around the eyes began to work again, but this time not aimed at her, Bremmer or Lance. “We should go inside...now.”

Clutching her stomach, her exposed hand held up, she placed that glowing hand on Lance and smiled at the pilot in a queasy manner, “Hardly a wizard...” she said, remembering vaguely hearing her ask her that question, “...c'mon. Let's go see what's inside, yeah?”

She felt less afraid around Lance. It was probably because she was nearly as bad as she was at walking around here, or maybe the woman's nature just made her more approachable to someone as timid as McMillan, especially with Bremmer or Ida for comparison, two imposing women who made the little Radiant jump just by being around. But more terrifying right now were those spiders, and she didn't even have time to scream when one skittered towards her and the others when a coherent beam of multicoloured light struck the creature, and when the beam vanished, so did the spider. Gently tugging Lance to go on ahead, she then made a retreat for the large door, which was starting to close again, “Bremmer please hurry!” said McMillan, holding her light up and she stood near the door, acting as the buffer against them being targeted by the sentry, intending to leap in after Bremmer once she was inside.

From where she stood, she could see what looked like a few swollen petrified trees with holes or doors in them at strategic locations. There was a hangar bay in the easternmost side that sank into a small valley, and what might be a commercial sector towards the west, branching from the residential centre.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #37 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]   Atten:  @CanadianVet, @Triage 

“Wow, looks like I spoke too soon!” Tessa chirped as she turned to look at the creatures that had gotten Bremmer and McMillan’s attention.  She jerked and let out an involuntary squeak as one of the spiders darted forward only to be disintegrated by a security system that was probably older than Zephram Cochrane’s physics degree. 

Heather tugged on Tessa’s arm to let her know that she could still be in the line of fire as she held up her glowing hand to pacify the sentry again.  "Bremmer please hurry!" the little scientist implored the remaining member of their party.

Tessa turned and staggered into a large cathedral-like chamber or cavern carved out of the crumbling stone that invoked the fantasy realms of the Dwarves like the Mines of Moria, Thorbardin, or Odinfall.   Pinnacles of stone disappeared into the darkness above but not before revealing openings that indicated they were buildings, indoor towers of some sort.  What information she could pull off her tricorder indicated that the cavity in the shattered moon was huge, big enough to contain an entire settlement at one time.


OOC:  I need some indication of what Tessa’s seeing if I’m to describe it!

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #38 –
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | SuD Lang Dilithium Cargo Bay | The Coreless Moon ] [Show/Hide]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Kaligos

"Affirmative, Left-tenant. My team needs access to the doors to get the goods out. But we're in a bloody Shelob's nest here. Securing both the goods and our necks now. Keep yours on a swivel. Mariner out." Jimmy confirmed on a reply to his CO, his inner-soldier now at full operational capacity. Eight weeks at the notoriously-selective Vulcan boot camp had been admittedly-biased toward Romulans and their hooded, faceless unidentified (later-confirmed as Reman; codenamed the 'Shadow Guard') foot soldiers. Damned nightmares to adapt against, but a measurement to rival and prepare for.

As a result of a mandatory fortnight during training, amidst perpetual darkness, Mariner had something of a familiar advantage when comparing this engagement to something in his comfort zone: the Vulcan Starfleet Security instructors took an approach that included preparation for sudden contrasts. During his training cruise, he could be fighting in arid Vulcan deserts one day, and suddenly deep, possibly underwater caverns underground that required a familiarity with so-called "night ops" gear at only a moment's notice to pursue fleeing adversaries. The intenton was to hunt the elite 'Romulan' Shadow Guard in subterranean caverns within the terrain of a Federation Founder world. Being Australian and raised with few cities around for many hundreds of kilometers, Jimmy was capable of finding his path the darkness of deep Australian moonless nights by the time the ensign was old enough to brush his teeth. He bared them when it was time to entirely remember his Project Eagle training and engage his current foe accordingly.

But despite his respect for his department chief and deputy-chief, Ensign James Mariner cared about more than a good post-combat-debriefing: A good war story.

His HUD light up with textual advisory warnings:


Opposing Force: Overwhelming! - Recommend Retreat -


Run from a fight, yeah right. Jimmy scoffed at his HUD's readout, despite the characteristic 'no-retreat, no-surrender' attitude that cost many the life of a fellow redshirt, Mariner had to face the facts: He was outnumbered and he could be ambushed and swarmed at any time, there were more of these... things crawling out of everywhere, including...

Jimmy glued his eyes at the enemy's origin points directly ahead but he abruptly bounded about four feet back, increased both the fire rate and stun setting to a higher voltage. Without warning, Mariner fired two resounding bolts from his rifle in the ceiling directly above him and Sera, apparently at random. Where he'd been standing there were two resounding kinetic impacts, as if two beehives had been clipped from a tree and landed nearby. A sickening hissing sound was heard as the floor showed signs of corrosion beneath the fallen arachnids.

THUD! THUD--Splat!

"That's no Tribble. Not bloody 'Pulakoo', either." Jimmy affirmed, his sensors catching a quick but informative scan of the alien spider's acid-drenched carcass from his suit's computer for later identification. Jimmy summarily obeyed the first Australian rule of the wilderness-- "Run!" Mariner observed his own advice out of instinct, blurting out his father's old term for a sticky situation involving a nest of trouble that would soon be untenable if Jimmy and his fellow intruder didn't leave it at once.

To Sera, he quipped on their local channel, "Real pirates know when to fight, and when to run away. Old tradition. A lot of running involved, so let's go!" Jimmy pressed his point as he leveled his phaser rifle and summoned his favorite settings.

Rapid-Fire Mode:<<--Engaged-->>

The footfalls of the spiders increased as more and more of these creatures began to appear by the dozens at first, then came Mariner's response to the sound of hail falling at fill force over a thin roof, a most unpleasant personal experience. Mariner pressed a directional-pad shaped 4-button hotkey button that gave him fire options at the push of a button and weapon intensity with a similar-corresponding intensity setting.

"Tell your mates, beasties: This one's... for Frodo."  The comment was only heard on the local private frequency as the sound of phased energy rectification radiated out of Mariner's carbine at just under the fire rate of a comparable Jem'Hadar assault rifle. This was a model which Jimmy had specifically studied and preset his fire rate as one of four presets on his personalized settings. Personally, he loathed automatic fire but for suppression purposes or -- more bitterly, to the inner-soldier's mind-- for 'a tactical reassessment of his surroundings'. That was Jimmy's story and he was sticking to it in his report. 'Retreat' wasn't in his vocabulary, no matter the logic. This had been the tagline of his signature officer-exam final report, whatever he'd call this scenario, Mariner afforded his fall back with several phaser bolt volleys that saw a growing kill count on his HUD as the sonic filtered phaser fire left a growing wake of dead and mutilated spiders.

"Oi, Sera? We've only got so many of our shots versus so many of their bloody creepers." Mariner told Sera as he found himself and his charge finding themselves in a position that would soon be out of room as the smell of copper filled the filtration systems. One seemingly-redundant feature he'd forgotten to turn off. Rather, left on for the sake of personal experience authenticity if anyone asked about that detail. "Ask your mate--err, your... 'Pal'-- about making our getaway a most... hasty one, ey?"

Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #39 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Docking Bay | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Striker N7
[Show/Hide]
Turning her red helmet around, she saw how Mariner opened fire - engaging whatever crawled in the darkness. What it was became quite clear, since two deft shots dumped the remains of arachnid-like creatures from the darkness above their heads. Not only did they seem insectoid and sinister, but rife with acidic fluids too. Sera hated being right, and it was too late to advise the Andorian to keep SuD Lang void of both atmo pressure and air. Now, they were up against the hungry inhabitants of whatever the 'Lightborn' left behind, and their place in the Coreless Moon's food chain was yet to be determined. Mariner said 'run' and it was too far back across the outer mining area. The only way to run was beyond the sealed door, which Hi'Jak was getting open for them.

"Now would be very convenient!" said Sera to Hi'Jak, raising her phaser to fire against the gleaming figures in the darkenss, which was cast into garish light by their weapons fire. There were more of them, climbing over their fallen, and acid sizzled below their clicking feet. "Burn you, I mean right now, Hi'Jak!"

The sound of the reinforced door opening was one of pure bliss, and Sera tapped Mariner's shoulder before she backed through the doorway, her phaser coughing directed energy into the chitin masses. They had somewhere to run now, but even better... they had a means to shut the creatures out. As soon as Mariner was through, Sera had her free hand at her temple again, accessing the comm channel. "Close it, close it, close it! We don't care for the company following us!"

The doorway made it easier, since even if they could crawl through all four sides of that opening, they were forced to meet the phaser fire they lay unto them. Sera found it difficult to aim properly through the visor of her helment, but it was a narrow area to shoot at, and soon enough, Hi'Jak got the door sealed again. At which point, she rounded on Mariner.

"For the record, he is not my mate," she said before releasing a string of fire-related curses in Câroon, her suppressed fear speaking more than any indignation towards what she had happened to do with the scientist a couple of times. "If he was, and I was fire-dancing with him all nights long, it wouldn't be any business of yours. Nice shooting though, seems like there is more to you than a quick wit and an easy smile." Then, she opened a channel to Hi'Jak again.

"Sera to zh'Wann and Hi'Jak, we are both in the relative safety of the back area now, and as I look around... we have plenty of dilithium crystals here, but no means to leave this area the ashen way we came. Could we get an alternative route, please?"

Saying this, she waited for a reply. Her rapid breathing was loud in her own ears as she looked around for something to gather up crystals with. Their options were limited, but at least no spiders had found themselves into this new area... which admittedly wasn't that positive if they were placing any hopes into a second way out, because Sera figured that SuD Lang's fauna would likely have found any second means to access the area already...


[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | En-Route to the Docking Bay ] Attn: @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]
Listening to Hi'Jak, she realised he was telling her his life's story to make a point, but she was grateful he kept his mind on the situation at hand. He even handled the needs of the Câroon and Ensign Mariner while she spoke, opening up the dilithium storage area for them. Ida kept her eyes along the sights of her rifle as she walked, and did not allow the urgency of Sera's voice over the comm channel get to her. She could not afford to be distracted if she were to stay alive and get the away team back to the Theurgy.

Something was becoming quite clear, judging by the sounds in the maintenance tunnels running along their corridors and from the fate of Sera and Mariner, and that was that it was time to abort the mission, so when Hi'Jak made his point about her using his name instead, she was overdue to make the call. Before she could give the order, however, Sera spoke anew.

[Sera to zh'Wann and Hi'Jak, we are in the back area now, and as I look around... we have plenty of dilithium crystals here, but no means to leave this area the ashen way we came. Could we get an alternative route, please?]

Ida glanced towards the halfbreed that followed in her wake. "Tell her to bring as much crystals as they can carry, and to make it back to the Sabine as quickly as they can. If there is a second way for them, send it to Mariner's PADD, and tell them to rendevouz with us in the Docking Bay. The message is sent, and if we're fortunate, we'll get some dilithium as well, but we are not equipped for this kind of situation. I'll speak with Bremmer and tell them to fall back as well."

Yet while Hi'Jak tried to plot a second route for Sera and Mariner, Ida felt compelled to address the halfbreed's concerns. She remembered Starbase 84, and the cloaked figure they had encountered in the EOC Tower. The Romulan who revealed just how late they had been.

"Take them out!" Ida ordered, and as one, they opened fire.

By the point that the last guards fell down, the mysterious figure had rounded on them - his rifle pointing their way before his cloak settled around him. Yet he did not shoot, merely staring at them though the darkness of his hood. Ida had set her aim towards him as well, and but since the man in the cloak wouldn't open fire at them, she had her hand raised in Sel's and Zaraq's direction - signalling form them to stand down. Narrowing her eyes, Ida could almost imagine seeing how the man's gaze moved within the darkness of his hood - looking between the three of them in a silence that was only broken by their breathing.

As if he had seen or sensed something from them that made up his mind, the man lowered his rifle and raised his scarred hand - pulling the hood back from his face. Dark, burgundy hair fell into light, as well as the pointed ears of a Romulan, the only thing off about him being how his forehead had more surgical scars than ridges. Yet the fact that they were face to face with a Romulan did not make Ida's eyes widen.

It was the fact that his face was the spitting image of Nathaniel Isley's.

"You are too late," he rasped in a damaged voice, "the galactic war has already begun."
Ida kept her nerves in check despite the sounds coming from beyond the walls, and said her final piece in regard to the Junior Lieutenant's lofty opinion about his own importance and how she had hurt feelings. "Whatever you think you might have done, you should remember what Ian Hawthorne had already been doing long before we came to Starbase 84," she said quietly, putting one foot before the other, eyes never wavering from the path ahead. "The galactic war began when the parasites put Starfleet weapons in the hands of Donatra's fleet. The Praetor will come for the Federation, and only we know the truth of it all. Thanks to you, High Chansellor Martok now knows as well, and we can mitigate the cost of this pending war... by dealing with the true enemy first. If we don't, they will stand the victor."

Glancing over her shoulder for a moment, Ida made her point clear. "In fact, you have just saved us all, Hi'Jak, so get over it, will you?"

Turning back, she keyed up the channel to Bremmer, Lance and McMillan. "This is Lieutenant zh'Wann, fal-"

The impact of the spider cast her off her feet. It had come from a vent in the side of the corridor, and she could feel it's talons and mandibles try to pierce her armour. She fought, fear-incised ire pushing her back to her feet and jamming the muzzle of her rifle into the hard body of the creature. She fired two bursts of phaser bolts into it, spraying acid over her own suit, but she would have to worry about that later. She got her rifle to her shoulder in time to blast apart the second one emerging from the same vent, and then the third. She cast her visor about to Hi'Jak and saw the grate of a second vent burst open, and a fourth spider going for the Junior Lieutenant.

"Behind you!" she called, fearing she was too late.

OOC: Current Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) @Kaligos  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Striker N7 2) Auctor Lucan
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @CanadianVet 2) @Triage 3) @Doc M.
 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #40 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | Outside SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]

Jack was listening to Sera's voice as she asked them for an alternate route, his eyes scanning the path they had taken which was now over flowing with bugs. The problem was the bugs they had apparently survived when this place was open to the container of space, which meant they either did not need to breath or more likely could allow themselves to freeze through hibernation which would explain why there had been no life signs on this station and why it was now overflowing with movement. They had probably survived near the stations ancient core, and had been brought aboard accidentally, bugs like these could easily hitch a ride on an old bird of prey considering the klingon fleet never washed the damn things.

"Hold tight love, working on a solution for you." He couldn't really take them out the way they had come in, but klingon architecture being what it was he couldn't see another way out of the room save for... oh... "Sera how is your EV suites? When I restored power to the plant I only did so on the mission important areas. There is a floor directly above you with no oxygen, and just as cold as the space these things are running from. If you set your Phasers to a high setting, you should have no problem cutting the wall, i'm not reading any movement from that area so it should be clear."

Should was the optimum word.

His work was hardly done as he still had to map out the area for Mariner working on that he focused a little on the conversation between him and Ida. "And don't think I don't feel like a fool for that. My captain was a traitor, and not even a very good one. I mean he encrypted his messages with a captain's signature, who does that? If it were me I would have just rerouted the signal through someone elses con, matched security clearance to whom ever i was framing it on, and then just wired the network to send it out at a random time from a random level. Or better yet do what I actually did, make my reports so long and boring with hidden key words that no one actually wanted to read and then just label them letters to my sister, but I digress."

"I worked alongside Hawthorne, was in the same room as him probably more times than I could count, and I completely failed to see him for what he was. So how can you have faith in anyone at this point? I mean literally anyone could be this true enemy. How are you so sure that Martok isn't infected? I mean all of our power political and otherwise rests with our council and our emperor. You bet I would be shoving a parasite in his gut the moment i had a chance."

He had been so focused on the path out for Sera that he had ignored his personal body for a moment, the shout from Ida coming a few seconds too late for him to get out of the way as he turned something hit him, his hand went instinctively to the ancient gun as he was faced with a creature comprised of razor teeth, and acid, he could already see some of it's drool dripping down onto his helmat the acid burning away some of the protective glass as he managed to lift the gun upwards shoving his own hand into the creatures maw to prevent it form biting down onto his head.

The pain was immediate and his right hand burned, still the gun was now inside the creature, and all he had to do was pull the trigger. As he did the ancient disruptor worked, the charge of the plasma from the gun worked with a loud hum as the old weapon came to life, it's ancient power cell had been stored in below freezing temperatures retaining it's power, however the same void that had stored it's power had also broken it in ways Jack couldn't have noticed.

The ice had caused the containment unit to warp and expand causing micro fractures along the barrel, Jack only noticed it when the green bale fire started sparking and spewing inside the creature. "Son of a~"

The explosion ripped through the creature, washing it in green fire, but the plasma did not stop at the one creature that it was meant for falling down onto the man under it, his arm and right side of his body awash with plasma and fire, the glass of the suit already damaged from the creatures acid offered little resistance as the plasma burned  away.

It only took a touch across Jack's face for him to scream in agony. The green plasma ignited inside his suit as the temperature cooled the electric state into a green flame that burned him. Scrambling he pulled off his helmet throwing it away from him as hard as he could, but the touch of the fire persisted and as he tried to intake air into his lungs he could feel the fumes burn the back of his throat denying him his screams.

The saving grace was that the weapon was ancient, and Jack's body was more dense than a humans.  as he flailed and burned the fire subsided before it could kill him, but all he could see was a deep liquid green, and nothing. The flash had burned his retina, and the fire had destroyed the right side of his body, leaving Jack coughing, and blind, but for some ungodly reason still alive.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #41 –
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | SuD Lang Dilithium Cargo Bay | The Coreless Moon ] [Show/Hide]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan


Whatever these creatures were, they didn't lack for hunger or for innovative hunting. Once Jimmy saw these buggers could spit acid back at him, that upped the ante. The projectile advent was turning this engagement into a form of fire fight, and he drew inspiration from a story written by Federation News Service reporter titled, "nor battle to the strong." the son of a documentarian, Jimmy learned from his father if nothing else, how to get the perfect shot for the audience-- he took that literally. Though satisfied with the scores of spiders his scythe of a phaser carbine had mowed down, he had an idea.

"Computer. Reduce HUD transparency to 15%, but apply a 33% brightness factor in a thermal and EM filter." Mariner calmly ordered into his helmet. "Find me a Hole."

Mariner prepared to swap phaser batteries as he charged a directed-area pulsewave that was costly in battery power depending on the phaser setting, but after this shot, Mariner was going to swap ammunition in favor of guaranteed suppressive automatic fire-- this time, to kill. Jimmy hoped he'd save one with the queen of the nest if there was one.

The Phaser carbine's foregrip hummed to life as the gun prepared Mariner's settings. The clawspiders were scattered, unfocused, only enraged and angered as their ranks were decimated by his 'sniper' fire. Over the course of his 'tactical repositioning' he averaged a kill every few seconds, ensuring each pulse punished the ranks of the enemy behind-- Jimmy aimed for their opening maws when possible.

This might've been a better opportunity for his prior holonovel reference; The Sud Lang Clawspiders were soon to be put on the endandgered species list. Or so he hoped, either way, he was going to nuke a few of them once he had a shot during his fallback and determined there would be no significant structural damage or high risk of dilithium detonation.

Mariner hustled as he followed Sera through the refinery, taking out some stragglers attempting to outrun and surround the away team duo. The pulses Jimmy fired into the ceiling earlier were also flares, prompting his idea to buy some time with as minimal risk of an accidental detonation of refined dilithium, whether by his application or the residual acid from the creatures' carcasses. Crikey, that stuff stank! But the smell didn't last as the doors that had previously cornered the duo opened. Uninimously in agreement with the Need to get in and get clear of their competition, Jimmy took aim and fired a fully charged pulsewave blast.

Dozens of clawspiders protruded from crevaces in the plating and from rocky tunnels, some were smaller than others, while others had a nasty, imposing wingspan of claw-tipped talons. Some argued among eacohtoer or let the smaller buggers fight eachother over the wounded bodies of larger spiders. Those on the ceiling where two 'scouts' had appeared were in for a surprise when a wide, high-velocity phaser bolt arced into their point of origin, detonating a moment later, sending a shockwave of debris and incinerated spider carcasses out behind them, the stones and plating crushing untold numbers of spiders; the result causing a makeshift barricade just as the doors slammed shut behind Sera and Jimmy, who'd reloaded phaser energy clips. That door closed with a satisfying sound of slamming steel. The Phaser was set and at once, Jimmy pulled up his tricorder to get a better readout of their new battlefield. He confirmed that they happened upon the mother lode of refined Dilithium. "Shiney." he admitted into his readings as Sera communicated with Jak before regarding him. He found the Câroon's accent (particularly when cursing) ticklish as he noticed her eyes showcasing a range of her emotions.

"Don't worry, Fiery. If I'd wanted to blast a total cave in, you'd know before I were to have saved your arse before getting mine out." Mariner remarked as he picked off some misfortunate survivors who made it through the doors. One almost got away, but Mariner shot this scout as it retreated then double-tapped it as Sera clarified her... association with the team's resident Klingon.

"For the record, he is not my mate, If he was, and I was fire-dancing with him all nights long, it wouldn't be any business of yours. Nice shooting though, seems like there is more to you than a quick wit and an easy smile."

Mariner listened with interest about Sera's status or involvement with the resident Klingon-- he had no reason to be jealous of Lt Jak, except maybe a vertical difference in inches; probably all under that scalp anyway'. It wasn't prudent to ask more about what fire-dancing was, even if it wasn't as intimidating as the title sounded. Jimmy weld-sealed the doors shut with a phaser beam from his rifle. Next, the mischievous Australian spared two dots for eyes and a corresponding decorative smile in a basic depiction of an archaic 'smiley face' to match the emblem of the Klingon Empire already emblazoned on the doors. The symbol was called the Tiq Goq if Mariner recalled Torlek's holonovel correctly. Now whoever saw this chamber in a few hundred years would happen upon his own contributions to its history, a human symbol for, 'have a nice day'. Jimmy beamed at his own handiwork, which took just under four seconds, as if he were handwriting it before holstering his rifle on his back in favor of his Padd.

"That's for you, then, Sera." Mariner smirked, affording a moment to lock eyes with her favicon, which also transmitted his somewhere on her monitor alongside his vitals. "On my world, some men carve initials at certain landmarks for women; some for flattery, others romance-- usually just initials or symbols. Under the circumstances, that's just my 'sorry about asking about your business' gesture."  and, the gesture had another intention: hoping she wasn't telepathic, he briefly wondered something that prompted The Australian got back to business, but after he cast a look at Sera when he had the opportunity to ponder who of the two was a better dancer when that thought came back up.

Before this mission was out, Mariner swore he'd cause an even more random act of graffiti somewhere important-looking. It was around now where Mariner wished he'd learned Klingon dialects from General Torlek's holoprogram, it was probably the Australian's only knowldege of Klingon culture, and he spoke more Klingoni far more than he could read any of it without the universal translator-- the one language he was fluent in.

"Any chance we could beam this stuff over to the shuttle? We can summarily beam ourselves out of here and rally up with the others." Mariner went about the refinery's surroundings once he was certain there were no spiders past the 'smiling barricade' he'd helped set up, looking for any crate, container or means of transporting all this refined dilithium. He reconsidered his previous idea about absconding with enough excess dilithium to stockpile and barter with other species later on their adventures. It was logical, given that resources would be stretched thin on a renegade ship and any alien species could take a down payment in these valuable crystals that made Warp possible for most spacefaring races. He awaited a reply as he found some containers and wasted no time loading the cubes with as much care afforded to the crystals. "Before I run out of moves... and batteries. And time."
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #42 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | En-Route to the Docking Bay ] Attn: @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]
Even though she saw what happened to Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak, it didn't let Ida fully take in how badly he was hurt, at least not when there were more of SuD Lang's creatures coming for the man after the first one perished. Some of the acid splatter from when it exploded hit Ida too, since she was advancing towards the incoming cluster of spiders - charging against her and Hi'Jak from whence they came. With her teeth bared, she fired into the mass of talons and mandibles, cutting them down in droves.

"Hi'Jak, on your feet!" she called, yet a glance told her that the junior officer had likely passed out from his injuries. He had torn off his helmet, and his face was a mess. She wasn't sure he was alive, and she couldn't tell how much of his arm remained. Since he wore an unarmored, standard EVA suit, there had been little to no protection against the kind of discharge that the disruptor had made. What was certain was that whatever the plasma discharge hadn't done to him, the acid from the ruptured spider had done the rest. She could spare him no more than a glance, since the mass was making progress down the corridor. She swore under her breath, and even if it would deplete her energy cell more quickly, she changed to wide dispersal beams, and laid waste to the corridor and spiders both. "Shelat shax!"

The walls and ceiling crumbled, sparks flying and the plasma conduits blowing out behind the Klingon plating. The walls of phaser energy she sent into the writhing face of the swarm also undermined the structure beneath its collective legs. It took a few seconds until another plasma conduit was ruptured, and the entire flooring gave away in front of Ida. The detonation made Ida stumble, but it didn't stop her from firing again, and again... until the energy cell was depleted, and there were no movements in the chasm to the lower level.

Her hard breath was only overridden by the hiss of acid on her suit. Focus, Ida. You're still standing... If there were any surviving bugs left, she hoped they had some sense of self-preservation and had scuttled off. Look away. Check the suit. Focus. You were an Imperial Guardsman, now pull yourself together. With a grimace, she yanked out her energy cell and tossed it, reloading her rifle with a fresh one. Yet as she did, she found that the acid had not only gotten to the energy cell, but bathed her whole utility belt. Even worse, she felt the plating of her suit give away, and how the acid was getting inside. "Zztann..."

Before she could see to Hi'Jak, she had to see to herself first, otherwise she wouldn't be of any help. "Ida to all teams," she said as she began to strip off her suit, but realised that there were no HUD messages on her visor. "This is Ida, all teams, report!"

Still no answer.

She tore off her helmet, saw through the tresses of her white hair that the acid had eaten away at her comm unit, and swore as she tossed the helmet away. The unfiltered air was foul to her, made worse by the burning corridor behind her. Deftly, efficiently, she stripped away her useless suit, wearing only Starfleet issue underwear and a black tank top. Some areas of her body stung, affected by the acid, but her suit had saved her. Lastly, she picked up her pulse phase pistol, test-fired it against the wall, and found that despite it's condition, it was still functioning. She only had the energy cell inside it left.

"Junior Lieutenant, are you still with me?" she said, crouching down next to him with her eyes still on her surroundings, her pistol at the ready. She had no combat tricorder to read his life signs, but checked his pulse with her fingertips instead. "I need you to tell me where the transporters are..."

Her eyes caught his PADD, and decided that if he couldn't tell her, she would have to try and find the area herself.

OOC: Another one coming up with Sera! :)

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #43 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Dilithium Refinery Area | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Striker N7
[Show/Hide]
While Hi'Jak had worked on an alternative route, Sera had folded her arms below her plated chest and raised an eyebrow at Mariner's antiques - a smile creasing her eyes as she looked at the face he had drawn on the door that separated them from the deadly cluster of spiders.

"Apology accepted," she had said and chuckled, continuing to look for suitable containers. Mariner had found some when Hi'Jak's reply was heard.

"Sera, how is your EV suites? When I restored power to the plant I only did so on the mission important areas. There is a floor directly above you with no oxygen, and just as cold as the space these things are running from. If you set your phasers to a high setting, you should have no problem cutting through, i'm not reading any movement from that area so it should be clear."

Sera looked up and started to think about how they were supposed to get the containers back to the Sabine. If there wasn't any gravity up there either, it could work, just tugging the containers with them as they used the thrusters on their suits. Mariner offered an alternative, suggesting transporters, but after she checked the possibilites in her uplink to the Sabine, Sera shook her head. "We only have one transporter pad on the Sabine, and no operator aboard to lock on to us. My suit is, however, linked to that transporter, so I can make a swift retreat myself with a voice command - quite handy when deep down in a dig site and having lost your way - but if I could beam things out of this area, burn you, don't you think I would have done so the first time I was here?"

She looked at Mariner with a rueful smile. "The way I see it, we have no real options. I suppose we have to blast our way through to the depressurised level above on your own, trying to get away from whatever transporter inhibitor is set up in this area, and once we get far enough away from here with the containers, I can beam out. On the Sabine, I then lock on to the the containers, and then you, along with the rest of the team."

Saying this, she changed the setting on her phaser and raised her eyebrow at Mariner. "So, do you want to have the honours of getting us-"

[This is Lieutenant zh'Wann, fa-] It was the voice of the Andorian, and what followed was commotion and static, the sounds of phasers firing. Screaming. Then, the transmission ended. The sound made the rueful expression that touched Sera's eyes die out, and she swore in Câroon.

"Sera to zh'Wann, come in," she said, without answer from the Andorian. "Sera to Hi'Jak! Are you there? What happened?" When no answer came from her lover, Sera felt her face go numb, and she swallowed. Had she just heard Hi'Jak screaming for his life before the channel was cut off? Hi'Jak was the only one she truly knew from before she got aboard the Theurgy, and she hadn't even known him that well. First Melissa Wright. Now Hi'Jak. Blast you, you can't die too. Fire and ashes...

Looking at Mariner, it was plain that their situation remained the same, the mission yet to be completed, but they might just have lost the Andorian mission leader and the only Klingon that knew the base. Sera didn't know if it changed any priorities. "Should we... contact the others? See if they are alive?"

OOC: Current Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Corridors: 1) @Kaligos  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Striker N7 2) Auctor Lucan
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @CanadianVet 2) @Triage 3) @Doc M.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #44 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | Outside SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]

Jack's breathing was steady, and for a moment he lingured in that uncomfortable silence between life, shock, and death. The darkness around him consumed everything with a green tinge. In his current state he knew very little of the outside world, his mind was slowly compensating and he felt tired, so tired. Klingon basic training had been forever ago, the academy's of the klingon and the Federation had prepped him for battle, but he had forgotten the taste.

He hated the taste of war. He was unconcious in that dark place for too long, the bridge before him the path told him things. Whispered that it would be okay if he just closed his eyes, gave up, it was too much pain to keep moving on. Then there was another voice.

"Hi'Jak, on your feet!"

He groaned, he didn't want to get up. there was a sting all around his chest, and his body hurt, the woman who's voice spoke to him at least got his name right, but getting up?

Time was folding inwards and outwards, Jack felt a gentle touch on his neck, which again linked him back to the pain the world of the living, and slowly his eye opened, the world was dim, painful to look at, his one remaining eye had to do the work of two, and it was burned heavily from the flash of light, leaving everything dim, and tainted green. His vision flickered like the flame, and was an unreliable haze of doubles and wetness. It took a moment before he could physically respond to the world. A hand reaching up and out, grasping for something that would help him keep his balance and finding the edges of the hall.


It took effort to roll himself over, his muscles creaked and screamed. You can not move! it wanted nothing of this, and sent physical waves of displeasure at his every moment of existence. Which reaffirmed one thing, there was far too much pain for him to be dead.

Finally he opened his mouth, a coughing physical sputter came out as he lifted himself up, his knees giving just as much resistance as his torso and arm. He could survey the damage done to his body from the green fire and bugs acid.

The stinging in his chest was the bugs acid burning away at what remained of his hazmat suit, he had to toss off the standard unprotective layer, but he would need help to do so, because his other arm was in no condition to help with that task. His hand wasn't gone, but some fingers most certainly were. The one he had used to pull the trigger had been incinerated, and the middle finger arguably his favorite had been twisted and broken, the the apendage it's self felt no pain, and was more a twisted black husk with the occasional bloody crack burns the like of which he honestly had never seen had welded his hand to the gun's handle unable to let go or even move the appendage.

When he tried to speak he was met with an interesting problem, his throat had been touched by the plasma's fumes. not long enough to seal his windpipe but it seemed his command over speech was gone. With no heads up display or throat he was left unable to communicate. He looked to Ida now in her underwear, and gestured towards his coat where the spiders burns were. he pulled at the holes of his own suit and attempted to pull at it to get it off.

Then he reached out and grabbed his pad, checking it over as he started to stand. He cradled the device with his broken twisted arm, the nerve damage far to great for him to actually feel for the loss of the appendage which made life easier to work with, for once there wasn't a part of his body screaming in agony. With his other hand he started to scan the map. before he pushed it towards the center of the two doubles of Ida, which was about three to six inches past Ida's left.

He gestured to his throat with a closed fist, and opened it to signify the explosion as he looked at her. He was alive, standing, and capable of assisting, but it seemed everything else was gone from him. Still he gestured through the map, and showed her two rooms. One marked Qutluch the other marked Jolpat.

~~~
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #45 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | En-Route to the Docking Bay ] Attn: @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]
Ida saw Hi'Jak moving, and when he reached up, Ida grasped his hand and helped him roll over. At least he was alive, which had to be attributed to his Klingon blood.

When he got to his knees, Ida clenched her jaw and looked away from the burning end of the corridor, looking instead at the scientist as he tried to speak, coughing and sputtering nonsense. That he was still alive was quite impressive. She could take the same stock of his injures that he did. The EVA suit was in tatters, laying sizzling flesh bare, with his chest area being worst for wear. The hand which still held the handle of the disruptor, fused to bone and flesh, would have to be replaced,  and half his face was a charred mess - whatever remained in the darkness of the eye-socket never to see again. Despite how he tried, his throat was too damaged to speak with, but he wanted to be rid of the acid-coated suit he wore.

"Breathe deeply, you need the oxygen to stay up and focused. Do you hear me?" Ida murmured to him, not letting the sight of his injuries getting to her. Only in the past five months, protecting the Theurgy from boarding parties, she had seen enough to last her a lifetime. She had not expected him to stay conscious, thinking that he would succumb to shock, but apparently, the Klingon blood was indeed strong in him. She decided to not give up in him, and she would do what she could to help him, getting started with the EVA suit while he reached for the PADD. There was, however, no way that she could tear the suit's dense fabric off his body with her bare hands, it would have to be cut off, but her parsteel blade was just as useless as the rest of her suit.

She did have her phaser, but that meant she couldn't defend them if more bugs came. She loathed the prospect, but she just couldn't let the scientist get more injured by the acid that ate away at his suit. She had to make a split decision, and she took it, remembering Wenn Cinn's teachings. The big Ridgenose had showed it several times. For in the filed, an away team might find it necessary to perform emergency surgery, and the situation called for something to cut with. Cursing under her breath, giving the corridor a final glance, she set to work.

She could almost hear Wenn Cinn's voice as she put her phaser on the floor and set to work. "Two components of the phaser must be modified in order to use it safely and efficiently as a scalpel: The beam control assembly and the prefire capacitor. First, remove the protective casing from the phaser, Ida." She almost didn't get it open because of its condition, but once it parted, she set her blue fingers to the beam control assembly master circuit and gave it a more tightly condensed beam, which would converge to apex at a distance of approximately 5 centimeters from the emitter crystal. Wenn Cinn spoke in her mind again.

"Next, access the safety interlock circuit of the prefire capacitor, which is located immediately behind the housing of the prefire chamber. Increase the capacitance value to maximum. This will help reduce the beam intensity to well below normal specification." Ida knew it would be essential to preserving tight beam control and stability, but also reduce the feedback from the emitter crystal. Using a continuous beam would be safe, and to preserve the energy cell, she set the phaser to its lowest beam intensity, foregoing the standard pulse, and chose the most narrow beam width. Done, she quickly assembled the phaser again, her blue eyes returning to the corridor. No movements...

Hi'Jak pushed the PADD towards her when she was done, and she tried to make out what he tried to tell her. Her Klingonese was rusty at best, but she knew the two words well enough. "Well done. Now, hold still, and keep breathing..."

She did not care to be attacked by the bugs with just a scalpel in her hand, so she got to work on the ruined suit. Tearing the fabric from the parts of the suit that the disruptor had fused to his flesh would tear of parts of him too, so she the walked the knife's edge of being quick about it, and yet being careful enough to just remove the parts touched by acid. She got some of it on her thigh, making her hiss and scrape it off with a clean piece of the suit, but eventually, after having done some thinking on their situation, Hi'Jak's upper body and parts of his thighs were bared. As quickly as she could, she began to restore her pulse phaser to its original setup, taking it apart anew.

"Listen. Arachnids don't have ears," he whispered to him, catching his remaining eye and making sure he could still hear her despite the susurrous anlage of the burning corridor. "Instead of eardrums, these kinds of creatures can use the sensitive hairs on their legs to detect noises, airborne vibrations. Since we wore suits, they couldn't have smelled us from such a distance. In other words... try not to make any noise, and just keep breathing. Let's go."

Finished with her phaser, to her great relief, she got back on her feet and led the way, holding the PADD with its map in her free hand and making sure he could keep up with her. If he straggled too much, she supposed she would have to give him a shoulder to lean on. Regardless, she had no plans to die that day, and if she could, she would get the scientist out too. The fears she held, unprotected and exposed as she was to the creatures, she kept on a short leash. She refused to give in to fright, and focused - antennae angled forth as she moved.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #46 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | SS Sabine NX-59846 | SuD Lang Outpost ] attn: @Doc M.   @Triage

On one hand, retreating into the ruins, and past those massive doors, seemed like a bad idea to Petty Officer Bremmer.  But putting those between the team and those hungry spiders was one she could get behind.  And, given that both Goldeneye and the Warrant were making their way in there, it seemed Eliska's choice had been made for her and she started to back towards the opening, her rifle up at her shoulder, pointed towards the spiders, ready to fire. 

And, the critters started moving.  But before she could fire, one of the beams from the statues locked upon it, and turned off almost immediately after, leaving little more than a sooty stain on the stone.  And then it happened again, and again, and again, the beams coming from the statues looking much like the effect of an old-fashioned disco-ball.  If a disco-ball's effect was to generate x-ray band lasers of incredible powers that were shearing through the mass of spiders like plasma cutters through warm butter.  And even if the statues were keeping up with the flood of spiders, Eliska was glad when the stone doors boomed shut in front of her. 

Only then did she turn around to face the space they found themselves in, and she lowered her rifle as she spoke the three most eloquent words that came through her mind.  "What. The.  Fuck."  However, they were not spoken in fear or anger, but her heavily accented voice was laden with a heavy sense of wonder and awe.  For, deep under the surface of the moon, was an entire city carved from what had once been living rock.  A city that looked like nothing she'd ever seen before.  And it was wonderful.  No, beyond wonderful.  It was... She didn't know what it was.  But it certainly was awe-inspiring. 

And then, the commlink from the Deputy crackled.  The transmission was faint to begin with, but when it was cut short.  And that was hardly good news.  And it meant their time down there, at this low-priority objective, had to be short. 

"Hey, Warrant, sounds like there's trouble out there, so we need to get a move on and expedite down here.  We got people who need help, and there's no way we're getting out the way we came in, so we better find an alternate route, and fast."

But just as the Security Petty Officer said as much, a light came on, high above them.  At first, there was nothing to be see there but a bright, diffuse beam of light, but there was something within it.  There was a form, a humanoid.  And instinctively Eliska's rifle snapped up towards it and she took aim, even before she registered the readings of her suit's sensors revealing that it was some form of photonic projection.  And, if Bremmer would say so, a rather appealing one.  She was tiny, maybe a hundred and fifty centimeters tall, a redhead, and delightfully slim.  And what she wore, a silky, wispy little thing that was clearly translucent and left very little of her curves to imagination, but while the parts the whipped away from her were see-through, her inborn light obscured the more... interesting details. 

"Ma'am!  Warrant!  We got something happening here!"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #47 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | En-Route to SuD Lang Transporter Room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
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Jack could barely see the world around him, with only one eye, and the vision burns he had suffered everything was doubled over or blurry. So he couldn't really follow the movements of Ida with the phaser, and when she started to work on him he just did as he was told, closing his remaining eye, and breathing trying his best to mitigate the soreness and pain he felt. He could only do so much for himself however and he still felt himself swaying as he stood.

As she worked on them she mentioned that the creatures used a sort of tremor sense, and that he shouldn't make any noise. He nodded, as that fit basically with the appraisal of the creatures he had seen so far. It would be hard to deal with them if they came as a swarm, and the lack of a space suit meant there was no real way out of this place for them except ancient transporters. For now he just had to hope that they worked better than the ancient weapons.

Jack nodded in agreement. Ida was the one with the weapons, and the capacity to use them, in this instance he to rely on her to keep them alive. He on the other hand was the map, and navigation, it would be up to him to operate the antiquated technology on the station. If either wanted to survive this than they were going to need to work together regardless.

The pain kept Jack from running. He took back the pad and cradled it with his bad arm ignoring the fact that just touching the corrupted and burnt flesh caused some of it to flake off, the smell of burnt flesh was impossible to avoid. Checking the stations motion sensors they didn't really have a lot of time to recover, and he started to walk away from the fire.

His good arm held around Ida's shoulder helping him to move slightly faster. He was with a limp at the moment, and he couldn't shake it, his breath was ragged with exhaustion, and then he started to see them, first as a red blip on the map on his pad, his blurred vision making it difficult to actually count the blips on his screen as it swayed, but hearing it as well. He looked to Ida, the spiders were back, their rest was short, and they needed to get moving.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #48 –
[ Heather McMillan | Entrance to the Lightborn Ruins | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @CanadianVet & @Doc M.
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Casting a weak grin at Bremmer when the woman threw an awed expletive after entering the massive doors closed shut with a thunderous sound, McMillan staggered ahead, kneeling on the softy ground to pick up some odd looking eggs. A quick scan with her tricorder indicated a rodent-like lifeform that was unlike the arachnoids that were attacking them out there. Her guess was that these little critters were what the spiders usually ate. What was even more interesting was that these eggs still held life, it had been dormant until the sudden restoration of atmosphere and a breathable air supply that the eggs began to slowly come out of dormancy. She placed the eggs in a storage compartment attached to her right hip.

It seemed like Lance had a point regarding the design of the buildings and the place. Aside from signs of advanced technology, the entire place looked like a scene taken right out of the books of the ancient historical author, Tolkien. It was a mixture of technology with nature, which, contrary to popular opinion, seemed to blend well enough together. Closer inspection of the nearest hometrees showed doors and windows that blended with the colour and design of the tree's bark and leaves. Naturally occuring patterns and petrified flowers only added to the beauty of the trees, despite the fact that they were long dead, by a few centuries at the least, based on her tricorder's scans. The young Radiant kept her hand as aloft as often as she could, because she couldn't shake the sensation that they were being watched, and just in case there were security statues like the working one outside.

The sound of the statue's eye-beams blasting the spiders could be heard like a muffled thunder of sonorous tune and the doors reverberated with each blast. Despite centuries of inactivity or power, McMillan's presence had triggered some sort of reactivation, and the light emanating from her hand was not done triggering things. The beautiful engravings on the floor and the walls flowed with light starting from beneath wherever the girl stood, marking her as the source of the reactivation of the entire city. Gazing towards the starport, McMillan could see a colossal derelict starship that looked almost curved and rounded like a turtle's shell, but a proper look revealed a more angular design with tense edges, and a diamond-shape that flared on one side, where the impulse engines were probably located.

It was a warship.

Were the Radiant actually aggressive people? How was it that she came from such peaceful pacifist folk that taught one another about peace and non-violence? In fact, their pacifism was literally hardwired in McMillan to a point that it was part of her DNA. So she believed, but what she was seeing now was making her question her origins, because she was certain that this was her people. A closer inspection was needed, and as she took a few steps her communicator came alive with a crackle that made the little Radiant jump in fright. Then her fear deepened when she heard Ida's voice disappearing. When Bremmer spoke, she nodded, “We should get to her as soon as-AH!” Bremmer's rifle whipping up to point at something above her prompted McMillan to all but drop to the ground, and cower on her knees like a trembling lump of jell-o. “Is it the spiders?!?”

But all the woman would say was that something was happening. That probably meant Bremmer had no idea what it was. That was a relief and brought a different kind of dread to her.

Reluctantly rising, McMillan tilted her head and her jaw hit the floor. Descending upon them was another Radiant, clad in beautiful silken material that covered the body but also allowed her light to shine unhindered. It was likely that Bremmer and Lance wouldn't be able to withstand the brightness of the woman's body, but McMillan could see right through to the soul of a light. Still, something seemed off about it. There was only a few occasions on Earth where the Radiant would reveal their true selves, and for all their brightness, it was nothing quite like this, and neither could any of the Radiant on Earth float or hover the way this one was doing. When she was three feet off the ground, she remained in place. Arms and head moving with slow, deliberate grace and languor, she studied each of the people around her. She smiled serenely at McMillan, showing an expression of approval, but her beautiful face was mired briefly by a sneer at Lance and Bremmer.

When she spoke, none of the translators worked, “Êl síla erin lû e-govaned vîn.”

“Pardon???” was all McMillan blurted out first. “S-sorry! I mean...uhm...hi? My name is Heather McMillan,” she gestured to herself, and then gestured to Lance, “This is Tessa May Lance,” next, she gestured to Bremmer, “and this is Eliska Bremmer.”

The girl had deliberately left out titles or ranks, unsure if the Radiant before them would confuse the titles as part of their names. But she wasn't even sure if the woman could begin to comprehend. Yet, there was a chance, since Radiant had a natural affinity for languages and culture, so her Wisdoms told her once.

There was an expression of understanding dawning on the flying Radiant's face, and her displeasure began to show on her face, “Pedin i phith in aníron, a nin ú-cheniathog.”

She gestured daintily to herself as she floated lower, “Im Shâ'Nyél.”

Closing her eyes, a tendril of white light floated between her and McMillan, and when she opened her eyes, she smirked and said, “I now speak your filthy language, Adhartim. You,” she pointed at McMillan, “why do you hold yourself beneath these two? Are they not your slaves? You hide your light like you want to be one of the lightless. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“I-I-I'm sorry!” said McMillan, “B-but I thought we never hold ourselves as above the gods!”

“By the Light of the Maker,” said Shâ'Nyél, “I am on the last vestiges of my power supply, and the first Bright Soul is a Lost One!” The Radiant threw her hands up in the air in the first act of hasty action. Giving McMillan such a withering glare, that the Radiant whimpered and shivered, Shâ'Nyél shook her head and began to ascend again, “I have no choice. You will have to do. Follow me.”

Taking a few steps forward reluctantly, McMillan heard a faint whine and she turned to see a wall of light made of the same level of strength and intensity as the beams used by the statue outside to destroy the spiders. “Lance, Bremmer! Stay there! Don't touch the light!” she warned frantically.

“Only the Alata comes with me, you two must leave,” said Shâ'Nyél, flying towards the commercial sector in the west.

McMillan wanted to leap through the light, knowing she would be unharmed, and go with Bremmer and Lance, but this was her only chance to find out more about her people, and understand some of the things the strange Radiant had said to her. Finally, she said to them through the light, “Lieutenant, Bremmer, go back, give Ida a hand. I'll rejoin you guys soon. I won't be long, I promise! This could be important, and more than we realized.”

She turned, paying little heed to their replies, she began to run after the flying Radiant, wishing she could fly too. Behind Bremmer and Lance, the walls began to break and crumble, and a hole appeared, from which a spider began to poke through with its legs, whilst the wall of light slowly moved, expanding and pushing the two back towards the doors, which opened, the statue seemed to intensify its firing rate, helping to clear a path for them.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #49 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | Entrance to the Lightborn Ruins | The Coreless Moon ]   Atten:  @CanadianVet, @Triage 

“H-hey!  Wait a minute!” Tessa protested. “H-how do you know you can trust her?  That gal is a species supremacist!  From the distant past so her culture is completely outdated and probably extinct!” she added as the two glowing women glided away.  “For all you know she comes from a historical period like my planet’s Nazi Germany or something!” she shouted as she remained rooted to the spot.  “She probably needs you to release some kind of doomsday device!” she called out just before the two Radiants were lost from sight.  “You who!  McMillian!” she bawled before she lowered her voice in defeat.  “I’m afraid if we follow them we’ll get zapped,” the pilot admitted to Bremmer.  “Do you think it’s safe to go back?” she asked the petty officer as she glanced back at the statue that had so recently dispatched the arachnid-like creatures.
 
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