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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [Day 1 | 1810 hrs] A Friend Indeed...
Last post by Dumedion -The ‘light-tube’ pulsed eerily all around her. Cora grunted and contorted her body awkwardly in order to right herself once Sylvain managed to do the same, only narrowly missing a boot to her face. The amusement she felt at the scene quickly died as she huffed and crawled out to join him in what she only guessed was some junction or relay area, connected by various other access tubes on every surface. Her head popped out, then panned around, squinting in the oddly unpleasant light. A queasy feeling permeated in her stomach at the weirdly organic appearance of it all – like they were contaminants crawling around in a giant brain – neuron to neuron.
Right. Keep that nonsense to yourself, the analyst snorted mentally. She met Sylvain’s gaze evenly while she settled herself across from him; it wasn’t hard to pick up the tension the Ensign was giving off. Cora didn’t judge him for it; everyone handled stressful situations differently, each by their own strengths and character. He seemed awfully put-off with her, but Cora guessed he was more scared and angry at the situation. The analyst pulled her knees up to her chest and watched him through the tangles of her hair with occasional glances at her feet. When his hails were met with silence, Cora took a deep breath and waited, lips pulled down in a slight frown of guilt, head tilted fractionally to the side. She watched him close his eyes in what could only have been frustration; when they opened, they were hard, angry, and more than a little disappointed.
Her brows flickered together in confusion at first; Cora had to search her memory for what ‘carte blanche’ meant. Is that French, she wondered, then blinked and refocused. It wouldn’t do to get distracted in the midst of what she assumed was a dressing-down – although he had started off with a rather large assumption. The analyst blinked that away for later, resisting the urge to interrupt. Her eyes followed his briefly to the Savi device at her hip and the tricorder there, quietly beeping; she blinked again at what appeared to be an accusation, but the Ensign quite comically seemed to struggle with his words for a moment.
Poor bloke isn’t very good at this, Cora frowned and focused on her shoes, then dismissed the thought as thoroughly unfair. He’s probably never been somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be his whole life. That certainly set them apart; Anderson had made a point of throwing her history right at Cora’s face – the good, the bad, the ugly. It was impressive, really…she had no idea Starfleet kept such an eye on her. Of course, she had no idea Starfleet was riven from within either, until he told her and then sent her on this job. Irony abounds.
When he finally found his words again, Cora flinched at the steel in Sylvain’s tone; her brows rose at his assumption of ‘personal gain’, however – mildly insulted at the implication. Her mouth opened to spit a flippant rebuttal but closed just as quickly as his emotional tirade continued. He wasn’t wrong, per se; yes, she’d borrowed the Savi’s PDA. Yes, she hadn’t been entirely forthcoming about her intentions. Yes, she was well aware of the potential consequences of her actions, as well as what might happen if they got caught, as well as the fact that she was responsible for dragging him – literally – into all of it. All that could happen, but it could also not happen, if they played their cards right; Cora guessed the Ensign wasn’t much of a card player.
Yet the analyst was also very aware of the fact that she was following orders, from an authority far beyond his or anyone else aboard the ship, but for all the good that did. It wasn’t as if she could tell him; Intel played their cards close – that just came with the job.
Cora frowned again at his seething exclamation of his own duties; unsure what bearing that had on the situation at hand. It’s not as if she knew he was the Conn chief, after all – but she chocked it up to more emotional outpouring and let it lie, while he continued laying into her. Her head came up at his desire to know what she planned to do, with another reminder that apprehension would not serve anyone’s interest – yes, quite right – Cora nodded, then her brows rose at his additional reprimand regarding her conduct. Well, he wasn’t wrong there either, and there was a very good reason for that, but of course she couldn’t disclose that either. Still, Cora felt a pulse of pleasant pride, knowing she still had the chops to pull it off.
You’ve no idea, she smiled mentally, but betrayed no physical reaction whatsoever – aside from the carefully maintained appearance of a person caught wrong-handed while attempting to do the right thing, albeit in the wrong way. Even that softened with a tilt of Cora’s head at him, followed by a quick gesture to her face and then his own. “Oh! You need to turn on.” The breathing strips – for lack of a better term – that she’d found back in the lab were secured to each of their noses; in the haste of their exit, followed by Sylvain’s…assessment…of the situation, Cora simply hadn’t had the opportunity to activate his. She corrected that immediately, using her own face as a demonstration. Cora got the distinct impression the Ensign didn’t like to be touched; odd, but understandable, she reckoned.
Once that was taken care of, the analyst paused for a few seconds to let him catch his breath and hopefully gather his wits. Fear was understandable, but if they panicked, it would only make things worse, and told him as much, while still trying to keep her tone calm and friendly. “As far as getting caught, I happen to agree, sir – so let’s not do that, alright,” she nodded, then gestured around at the glowing semi-organic mass of conduits that surrounded them. “These lead somewhere, I wager,” Cora shrugged slightly, none the wiser. Her “plan” had been tossed out the airlock the moment the good Ensign collapsed; it was all improvisation and luck now. “Proximity might be jamming our comms; EM interference or material composition, perhaps. Either way, we shouldn’t linger here too long, and we can’t go back the way we came, so our only logical step is forward, eh?” Cora shrugged again, then pulled out the Savi PDA. The transfer was almost done, but didn’t guarantee anything. Her eyes studied it and the display on her tricorder while she ran a hand through the tangled mess of her hair – thinking.
“We know at least one Savi has seen us, yet heard no alarms and haven’t been pursued, not yet anyway,” Cora mused aloud while her fingers tapped out a series of decryption commands. “The lexicon is incomplete, but maybe I can pull up an internal layout…”
A few seconds later, a series of muffled thumps and shouts reverberated from the access tube that led back to the lab.
Specimen release authorized, blinked across the tricorder display.
Cora’s eyes widened as her brows shot up. “Well that doesn’t sound pleasant, does it.” Her head peeked up over the brim of the tunnel to look.
Against all reason, and against all notion of coincidence, the chromed portal only a few meters away decided to buckle at that exact moment. Cora’s jaw opened in disbelief as a fluffy, white-colored mammal waddled into view and sat just within the pulsing glow of the conduit, no larger than a rabbit. She wanted to reach out and squeeze its plushy, fat little body to death. “Well hello there little one,” she cooed, completely taken by it instantly; it was the cutest thing she’d ever seen. Black eyes, insanely innocent, swiveled towards the sound as it took a waddling step. Only then did Cora see the body on the floor behind the creature, oddly deformed; flattened somehow, as if crushed, but unmistakable: it was the Savi researcher, but how? What had happened? What did she do? Cora blinked in confusion, then alarm after the creature squeaked at her – it was a word – not a sound, but a word.
“Y-you heard that, right,” Cora asked Sylvain, with more than a note of concern coloring her voice.
“Moopsy!” The creature squeaked again, as it started off in a waddle straight at them.
“Right, uh, new plan then,” Cora backed away slowly. “Run.”
OOC - que the chase scene music