Star Trek: Theurgy

A few hours ago…

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Bridge | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: Everyone!

For some reason that Azrin had never quite understood, people always celebrated their birthdays at night on their birthday. Why, when celebrating the moment one came into the universe, did they choose to do it as the day was ending? It was a beginning, so celebrate at the beginning. That had become a sticking point for Azrin at quite a young age, leading to many extravagant birthday breakfasts over the years. Her parents had thought it funny, her aunt and uncle less so, and her Academy friends had been more than happy to party the night away until their sunrise celebration. This year though, she was really determined to pull out the stops, which was what brought Azrin to the bridge of a decommissioned Klingon bird of prey in the middle of the night, along with the overly patient diplomat she’d coerced into helping. The redheaded trill was practically vibrating with excitement, and for the first time all week, it had nothing to do with caffeine.

“This is going to be amazing!”

The Klingon grunted, still not sounding convinced, while the Andorian’s face might as well have been carved from stone. “Are we in agreement?” Nysari asked politely, drawing the man’s attention back to her amid Azrin’s excitement.

“I suppose.” He was short, for a Klingon, a shortcoming that seemed to have manifested into an intense national pride - and a bout of intense suspicion about nearly everything else. Azrin had contacted him herself a few days ago with her request, and had been shot down so thoroughly that it had sent her up multiple decks for some professional help. “Though I still don’t understand why you Federation types want to rent a bird of prey for a night. For a party.”

Yesterday morning…

[ Lt. JG Nysarisiza “Nysari” zh’Eziarath | Conference Room | Deck 8 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy ]

“You want to rent a decommissioned bird of prey for your birthday party?” For all that she’d heard the engineer’s request perfectly well, Nysari had felt compelled to repeat the idea back to her, because, quite frankly, it was ridiculous. Normally parties would be held in the lounge or a holodeck or an appropriate venue on the surface, not a grimy old metal monster. If it weren’t for the earnestness practically oozing off Azrin, Nysari would have considered the idea that this was a prank on the newbie. After all, she’d come in here looking for Enyd, a diplomat who allegedly had a mischievous flair. Upon failing to find the human, it hadn’t taken the trill long to switch her hopes over to Nysari.

“Yes! It’s perfect, I found it over the Klingon comnet yesterday. A pristine old bird of prey, parked in a big square in town, available for rent for various events. I’m not sure what they do on it,” Nysari had a few ideas, none of which seemed worth interrupting, “Reenactments maybe? Anyway, there’s a lot of odds and bobs in engineering to play with and a big shiny warp core for mood lighting! But when I contacted the Klingon who manages it he started talking about rites of ascension and how Starfleet must be up to something because I didn’t want any pain sticks?” Incredibly enthusiastic until that point, the redhead wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I want a fun birthday, not a painful one.”

“That’s understandable.” She was referring to not wanting pain sticks, though Nysari suspected that Azrin would take it as an affirmation of her whole plan. Instead of elaborating, she leaned forward to the PADD Ryn had offered, detailing her plan. A piece of white hair fell into her face and had to be pushed away. Every time she cut herself bangs, Nysari always ended the day regretting it. “Lieutenant Ryn, your request is for the middle of the night. Are you aware that the city of Kl'alath, where this bird of prey is located, is on the same timezone as the Theurgy?” As she spoke, Nysari ran a quick check on Azrin on the Theurgy’s own systems. As she expected, the assistant chief engineer was normally assigned to a day shift, and therefore not in the group of people who viewed midnight as an optimal party time. They were of a similar age as well, too far removed from the Academy for this sort of late start.

“Yep! I’m starting my birthday out with a bang.”

And now she was going to have to make sure that the Klingons weren’t renting out a ship with armaments, because that sounded exactly like something they would do.

Now…

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

“I was right, this is going to be perfect. And it's ready with a minute to spare!”

Azrin had spent the last hour decorating, and she was immensely pleased with herself. She’d never be allowed to do this in main engineering on the Theurgy, hence her outsourcing. Nor would she dare ask, because setting up a wild party in a working engine room was a catastrophe waiting to happen. This ship however, was sitting safely on the ground and the warp core was only keeping the lights on, powered up mainly for aesthetic purposes, as far as she could tell. She’d done a quick systems check upon entering - a hard to break habit, apparently - and it would have been less of a fuel drain to run this place on fusion generators.

“Good thing Klingons don’t use black holes like the Romulans do, or this would be an entirely different mood.” The place had cleaned up quite nicely. There was a big “Happy Birthday!” banner hanging on the wall, which had been nice back in the day, but was now absolutely covered in crossed out ages, since Azrin had had it for nearly a decade and habitually pulled it out for everyone’s birthdays. There was already a 32 on there, so she had simply replicated a big red marker to circle it with, before adding 392 in an empty space near the bottom corner for the symbiont. There must have been a record somewhere of Ryn’s exact birthday, but Azrin had never found it. Besides, it was easier to coincide the worm’s age up with her own. A few quick adjustments to the environmental settings had dimmed the lights, letting the variegated swirls of the warp core reflect across the room. A few brighter lights remained. On the situation table, which was serving as the buffet, hidden beneath a cake and various snacks. Another section of workstations were covered in every cool, broken, pieces of equipment she’d found while doing her first wander of the ship. Who knew what they could make out of those. She’d even downloaded some music to the computer and cued it up to play through the ship’s speakers.

Everything was ready. Now all she needed was for people to show up. Never one for subtlety, Azrin had invited… everyone. She’d started out by sending invitations to her friends, then expanded to everyone she’d had a passing acquaintance with, then the whole engineering staff, before finally posting an open invite to the entire crew. She wasn’t expecting everyone to come - the K’ratak wouldn’t fit the whole Theurgy crew anyway - and people were going to beg off because of time constraints, duty shifts, needing to sleep, etc. Admittedly, she would probably get a better turnout had she planned the party at a normal time, nineteen hours from now, give or take. But doing it now felt right. On that first day awake, faced with the fact that she’d missed six months of the journey, Azrin had felt a sudden, irrational fear that she’d missed her birthday. She wasn’t going to risk missing it now. There were already things planned for today. Continuing repairs, work on the slipstream drive, and Mia wanted to use her as some sort of lab rat. If something went wrong, at least she’d get to have her damn birthday party.

Her PADD dinged midnight. “Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…” Ah, she knew there’d been a song she’d forgotten to download.

---

OOC: This thread is open to everyone who wants to get up to some shenanigans in the middle of the night on a spooky old Klingon ship. (laugh) Doesn't matter if they've met before or not, Azrin would be equally delighted if her friends or people she's never met show up to her birthday party.

[ CWO1 Larrant | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

The request was an odd one. When Larrant had received the invitation communique he had no intentions to accept. It took the prodding of the many voices in his consciousness to explore the concept of a celebratory rite honoring the creation of a corporeal being. It was puzzling for the Medusan who never celebrated his creation. As incorporeal beings, Medusans reproduced by fission, with each "child" retaining the full memories of the "parent". Larrant wasn't born but came into existence with the knowledge of those before him.

One of his diads had reminded him of the custom of gift giving. Another odd corporeal custom. One that he could sort of relate to as he had begun collecting material items since joining Starfleet. His quarters were filled with bric-a-brac from all over the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Possession and property being a foreign concept as well, most of it was nicked innocently from its previous owner. Looking among the menagerie on his shelves, Larrant had chosen an item he felt he could part with and that Azrin would find equally enjoyable.

He entered the Engineering bay of the old Klingon vessel. "Salutations Azrin." The holographic avatar surrounding Larrant's pod spoke. A crooked almost inhuman smile appeared on the face that represented Larrant's corporeal form. "I understand it customary to present gifts to the one experiencing an advancement in age. Here I hope this will suffice." Reaching out the holographic hand of his avatar opened to reveal a nonfunctioning self-sealing stem bolt.

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @rae
[Show/Hide]She stood atop the hull of the old Klingon ship, yawning loudly, hands on her uniformed hips. The day had been long, and for the most part routine; insofar as duties were concerned. Kino had only just met Azrin; well, that wasn’t exactly true…she'd known Ryn in a past life…but that wasn’t Azrin, and she wasn’t Kino then. Did that count? Fuck, whatever, she sighed, too tired to try to figure it out. Regardless, she'd gotten the invite to the party, waking her up from a restless sleep. The non-com had laid in bed for awhile, thinking about what to get her.

The prankster in her mused on some sort of gag from Kaylon’s repertoire. Nah, means I’ll have to go digging through his shit in storage, her nose wrinkled. A miniature TD-37A voidship, a replica of the test fighter Dayak flew? Eh, maybe…but she already has Connie, and all kinds of crap in that room already. Custom holo program, perhaps? Not enough time…and I really don’t want to look at another screen – been looking at screens all day. She wrote off anything remotely linked to engineering – knowing Azrin, she’d get sucked into it and forget about celebrating her birthday altogether. Hm, so…the hell do I get her, she wracked her brain. Then a wild grin split across her face. Oh, hell yes.

Tapping her badge while rubbing some sleep from her eyes, Kino signaled her team aboard the Theurgy. “OK boys, send it,” she spoke through another yawn. Should have brought some coffee, she thought with a frown, then shook her head rapidly in the humid air. Three enormous boxes materialized before her, almost as tall as she was. Kino clapped her hands together, rubbing them with enthusiasm. “Let’s getcha set up, lovelies,” she grinned, popping the lid on the top container to reveal perfectly aligned, sealed canisters of pyrotechnics. The silver haired Trill paused to breathe in the rich smells of propellant chemicals, exhaling with a look of unadulterated pleasure. “If I had a dick it’d be so hard right now,” she laughed out loud, clasping her hands together.

Fatigue overcome with excitement, she got right to work. Whistling a song she’d never heard from memories that weren’t hers, utilizing the multi-spectrum settings of her cybernetic eye, Kino labored in the dark with no trouble at all. She set the bases up first – so as not to damage the hull – out on the wings, which was tricky given the angle they sat at. Good thing these things have auto-levelers and mag strips. Then came the canisters, packed with charges and the multi-colored stars. She couldn’t help but wonder at the advancement of technology over the centuries while she worked; a few hundred years ago, this setup would have taken days to rig up. Kino figured she’d have it knocked out and ready for Azrin in about thirty minutes or so.

[Lt. Rhys Williams | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] attn: @rae @Dumedion @jreeves1701

Rhys had been surprised to have received a party invite from a member of the crew he only had a passing knowledge of. He had seen her in various staff meetings of course and had often paid a little more attention to her as he was interested in engineering. He wasn’t an engineer himself but in what felt like a previous life had been an operations officer. Despite becoming a counsellor, he had retained a fascination with all things mechanical.

Still, he did not imagine that their passing acquaintance was enough to have gotten him invited to her Birthday party. It must have been a mistake. He had precious few friends onboard. 'Fewer now' was the thought on passing into his head. Stellan had been badly injured and put into stasis. A rare relationship that was deepening for him. Rhys had been apprehensively watching as they only grew closer to what Rhys hoped would be something more romantic. Then, his own incompetence had ruined that.

Rhys could sometimes be a bit tearful, but when he had seen Stellan lying their badly injured it was like he had gone beyond that. He had been stunned, lost, frozen which was worse. He had cried after of course and had only just be able to prevent himself from going to pieces at work. It was another heavy cross of guilt he had to bear.

When he had seen that invited his immediate reaction, had been to dismiss it. To punish himself. He did not deserve to let go even for a few hours. The nasty voices in his head emphasised that with cold relish. For the first time though there was a different voice. A warmer one from deep inside. He knew in no way that Stellan would want him to punish himself in such a way. He had to go. To try to make friends. Breach the veil of loneliness.

It was for this reason that Rhys found himself in the engine room of an obsolete Klingon Brid of Prey. He held tightly in his nervous hands the gift. It was a bottle of Gin from home. He hadn’t felt much like drinking lately anyway. It was wrapped up meticulously. The paper looked like it would be difficult to remove. He stood awkwardly waiting to greet the Birthday girl.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: @jreeves1701 @Juzzie @Dumedion

The first to arrive - aside from Lieutenant zh’Eziarath, who was hovering around the periphery to ensure that Azrin didn’t abscond with the ship or something - was Larrant. She beamed at the medusan as he entered. Or rather, her smile was directed at his holographic interface, as Larrant’s true self was hidden beneath photons and a specially designed containment unit. They had met a few days ago for a wild adventure, but hopefully this night on Qo’noS would be more fun - and less dangerous. “Hello!” she half sang the word, trying and failing to tune herself to the warp core. Whatever part of Elza still lived within her symbiont, surely the musician often cringed at Azrin’s less than stellar voice.

“You understand right,” she laughed at the formality of his greeting. Whoever had taught him about birthdays had discussed presents, but missed ‘Happy Birthday?’ Someone must have really wanted a present. “What do medusans do for birthda- hey, that’s awesome!” Her question had changed abruptly as she’d looked down at his hand, a damaged self-sealing stembolt resting in his palm. Azrin plucked it out of his hand, bringing it up close to her face to examine it more closely. “Thank you! Where’d you get it? Does it have a story? I have the perfect shelf for it!” If Kino had been down here, she would have understood and corroborated that statement, as she’d recently seen Azrin’s room. Though it was probably better that she wasn’t here yet, since she’d also be shaking her head at the idea of Azrin having even more things. Her quarters were stuffed full of trinkets, gathered from a lifetime in space.

Out of the corner of her eye, Azrin spotted someone else arriving. She didn’t recognize him on sight - not that it mattered, she’d invited everyone after all - and fully expected him to come on over and join the conversation, but he waited off to the side instead. “Hi! I’m Azrin, welcome to the party!” The engineer gestured the human over, slipping the stembolt into a safe pocket with a wink towards Larrant, before she leaned over to look at the package in her newest friend’s hands. “Wow, that looks like a puzzle. Is it? Did you have to do calculations to wrap it so neatly?” It looked so nice she’d almost feel bad for opening it. Almost.

She was reaching her hands out to have a look when the power flickered. Azrin paused to gaze upward instead, face scrunching up for a moment in a ‘how dare you’ look before the lights stabilized again. “My fault, I added a few things to the power grid. Thought I had it all evened out, but apparently not.”

[ Ureq, son of Odragh | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

“What’s going on up here?” He roared, upon finding one of the Starfleeters on the hull of his ship. She was an ugly thing, like the other two had been. Pale, forehead smoother than a baby’s rump, and the same spots as the redhead. At least this one had a few more curves for a mate to grab onto. Khaless help him, when he finally got home, Ureq was going to wake his wife up with a growl. D’osah was a real woman. He doubted any of these could give him a good fight. As he was a bit lacking in the height department, Ureq had worked hard to make up for it by fighting twice as hard - a fact that had served him well in the Klingon Defense Force. Until his ship had stopped at a Federation station, and some petaq of a Ferengi had cheated him, and Ureq hadn’t been ‘permitted’ to kill the slime in retaliation. ‘On a Federation station, they had to follow Federation rules,’ so his honor had gone unavenged. He’d never forgiven Starfleet for that, too frightened of a little blood to assist a wronged ally.

“Well?” he demanded, fishing out a palm light to get a look at what she was doing. Then the scowl morphed into a laugh. “Munitions! Maybe you people have some spirit after all. But if you hit my ship, you will pay for the damages.” He tapped a few of them, peered at the charges, and generally concerned himself with making sure the angles were all appropriate. He might have even tilted one a bit lower so it would give his neighbor a good scare. Then, still chuckling, Ureq left her to it, eager to get home for some fun of his own.

[ CWO1 Larrant | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
Attn: @rae @Juzzie  @Dumedion

Larrant's avatar cocked its head in response to the rapid fire queries that the Ryn being. It was a response to the swirling cloud of plasma within that made up the Medusan.

"I do not fully understand the concept of birth as my people come into existence fully aware of all that has come before. It is a more efficient way of educating offspring if the knowledge of the parent has already been transferred. Aging is not a condition my people are afflicted with." It was cold, without emotion. Larrant's experience linked to corporeal minds had exposed him to such concepts. He had shared the celebration of births and the mourning of deaths while linked with his Diads. It made him wonder if joined Trill experiences were similar between hosts.

"In regards to the bolt. Your pleasure is noted. It is a salvaged piece of the Odyssey. Very difficult to come by." Larrant didn't know if the woman before him was old enough to remember the Dominion War or the ship whose destruction ignited it. To him all corporeal races looked like younglings. Each aged uniquely. In his subconscious one of his Diad's voice echoed 'Never ask a woman their age.'

"I am correct that you are the female of your species?" Spoken with more confidence than inquiry.

'No!' was the response from his subconscious.

[(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/archive/f/fb/20160814014820%21W-o1.png) Ens. Via "DixeBee" Wix (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Via_Wix) | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] ] Attn: @Rae  @Juzzie  @Dumedion @ jreeves1701
[Show/Hide]

Via loved birthday parties. Well, she liked parties in general since she would take any opportunity to go to one but birthdays were something different. Growing up the only time she had ever celebrated was when she turned 5 and when she turned ten. Both times there weren't any of the traditions she came to now know with birthdays. When she was 5 she remembered being taken to her first gang meeting with her family by her older brother. When she was 10 she did her first job. Other than that the turning of age for her wasn't all that special to the ones around her. Fia occasionally gave her a piece of rare candy or took her to a cool spot to watch the spacecraft fly in and out of the spaceport but otherwise, Via never truly had one. This changed when she went to the academy where birthdays seemed to happen all the time. Just being with friends and celebrating the life out of them made Via feel something she hadn't really felt before, but she liked it.

The fact that the day was her friend Azrin's birthday changed things. The young pilot went on a shopping spree of sorts, buying clothes and other things with the latinum she saved up. Since the trill was the closest thing to family she had on the ship she felt that she owed a lot to her just for being there when she needed her. Plus it was an excuse to play dress up with someone since she came onboard the Theurgy.

When she arrived on the Bird of Prey Via couldn't believe how she managed to get an entire ship to herself. Having seen one in person only once before, walking on its decks outside of a holodeck program was invigorating, to say the least. The young pilot was wearing a white open-front long-sleeved tank top and sweatpants that Evening, in addition, while carrying 3 shopping bags and 2 bottles of Alcohol wrapped in a white bow tie. When she entered Engineering, a place she wasn't surprised that Azrin decided to host her party, Via immediately started searching for her. She was talking to someone but of course, the pilot didn't necessarily care at the time, all the wanted to do was wish happy birthday to her, which she did.

"Rin-Ryn Girrrrllll!!!" Via approached her smiling wide as can be, arms open for a hug, barging in between the Warrant officer and the Trill. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Like shit, how in the fuck you be affordin' a whole ass klingon ship- oh are we goin' on a joy ride?! Please! Actually, wait your ass up I got somethin' for you."

Via handed her the two bottles of drinks she had in her hands. Both looked like Romulan ale mixed in with Whiskey and Andorian Ale. "I got ya some shit to drink for the party, fuckin' I got you uh...fuck where is it." Via checked out her pockets and pulled out a data shard meant to contain replicator recipes. "I bought the new Raktajino flavor series containin' like a fuck ton of new flavors and 5 times the caffeine...and new clothes!!" She said joyfully. "Took my ass forever to be findin' some non-klingon shit like I mean...they look fine but I dunno if your ass wanted somethin' like that so I kinda just started guessin'." Via shrugged and then smiled. "You are gonna look fire as shi-"
 
Realizing that she was standing in between someone Via turned around and faced the Warrant officer. She didn't recognize him and he looked off. "Who the fuck are you?" The young pilot said accusatorially as if he was doing all the intruding and not her.

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] ]
Attn: @Rae  @Juzzie  @Dumedion @ jreeves1701 @ob2lander961

Mia had gotten the invitation to Azrin’s Birthday Party. She wanted to at least make an appearance and wish her new friend a happy birthday. She felt a little guilty that she would need to leave fairly early to get everything set for the tests she had planned for later in the day.  Mia had debated for quite a while over what to gift Azrin. She finally decided on two things. The first meant more as a joke to remind her of their meeting and the second the more serious.  Mia had managed to get one of the gowns from recovery and had rolled it up as small as she could before wrapping it with brightly colored wrap.  The second item had been a little harder to decide on, but she’d found a technical manual for an early Federation vessel named Cayuga in the Library Data base. She downloaded the file then took it back to her quarters and made an actual book from the file. It was pretty much outdated but Mia had a feeling that anything to do with ships and technical specifications would be interesting to Azrin. She had also wrapped that in the same way as the other, then made her way to the party’s location.  It felt odd stepping onto a Klingon Vessel, even if it was grounded. Azrin had a few people already surrounding her so Mia waited. The girl talking to Azrin at the moment was rather loud and extremely ... well she sounded like Mia expected most of the fighters jocks to speak. 

Mia held the gifts tightly, hoping that Azrin would like them. She looked around nervously, not really knowing anyone except Azrin. She moved closer to a bulkhead so she was out of the doorway, but still close enough to escape when and if she needed to.

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] ] attn: @rae @Dumedion @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @Eirual

Rhys was addressed by the birthday girl. An attractive red-haired Trill, who seemed friendly enough to him. Rhys should have expected that she might talk to him but being the shy fellow, he was her words made his heart beat faster. “Hi I am Rhys… and I er just take my time.” He said when she asked him if he did calculations to wrap up the parcel. “I might have gone a little overboard.” Rhys spoke in a soft voice, a voice calculated to try to hide as much beneath notice as possible. It did, however, have a nice breathy sing-song quality to it caused by his strong Welsh accent. The wrapping in and off itself was a work of art that would likely require a long time of careful tearing to remove.

However, soon they were interrupted by the flickering of the power. The lights dimmed then came back on again. The former Ops officer in Rhys started to emerge. He was about to break into discussions with Azrin about ways she could improve the old ships’ capacity to handle power loads when a voice broke through the chatter around them. A Klingon had come storming on the ship. Rhys was immediately on the backfoot. He remained close to his new friend in case the Klingon got violent, not that he thought he would be able to help much.

Soon the Klingon was gone and Rhys was left standing next to his host slightly stunned, as if a passing tornado had just breezed through the engineering section.

He took a moment o examine everyone else in the room. There was a holographic image that seemed to be transposed over a creature of Plasma. A young woman who seemed to be a pilot who was altogether very brash. At least based on first impressions, she reminded him a bit of Zark. He simply stood awkwardly as this additional hurricane swept through and proceeded to then swear at the unfamiliar entity. He really hoped he was not going to have to use his counselling skills to diffuse an argument. He found himself again edging towards the source of conflict in case something broke out.

Rhys noticed Mia by the doorway. He immediately detected a kindred spirit. The nervousness seemed to spill off her in waves.  He wished he was over there by her.

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @rae @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @Eirual @Juzzie
[Show/Hide]Despite the enjoyment of utilizing her skills in such a uniquely celebratory manner, rather than in combat – which, if anyone asked, was pretty fun in an of itself – Kino found herself struggling with a growing sense of paranoia; unable to shake the feeling that she wasn’t alone or that she was being watched. Every so often, her head would snap up, eyes narrowed as she slowly looked around. Her physical senses told the same tale, every time: she was alone, just her and the slight breeze – naught but the occasional insect buzz in her ear.

Her dark brows would furrow, and she’d snort to herself with a shake of her head and get back to work setting up Azrin’s fireworks; the odd sensation dismissed. Yet it lingered, slowly building presence in her gut, until once again it couldn’t be ignored and forced her to check her surroundings again. This cycle repeated, over and over, irritating her to the point of talking to herself.

“Anything that jumps out at me, be advised: I’m gonna rip you a new orifice,” Kino growled, not bothering to pause in her current task – nimble fingers deftly threading fuses into a det canister. “Then I’ll pack two of these beauties in sideways,” her face split into a shark-tooth grin, “aaand set ya off like a Roman candle,” her voice dropped an octave, adding a throaty harshness like a sports announcer caught up in the excitement of a final match between bitter rivals.

The security non-com was chuckling to herself when a gruff voice finally called out: “Whats going on up here?”

Kino froze, her eyes darting for the source of the unmistakably Klingon voice even as her body instinctively readied itself for combat. She slowly knelt, setting her work down on the hull, rotating herself in a full circle, searching. Her biological hand settled on the hilt of the combat blade sheathed at her shin beneath her pant leg, as her cybernetic eye switched spectrums. In a mix of infrared and UV, he stood out like a beacon against the hull, his footsteps glowing behind him. Hm. Hey there, short round, Kino smirked, noting a disruptor pistol strapped to one tree trunk of a thigh. She pulled the blade from its sheath anyway, switching to a reverse grip behind her back as she stood, head tilted at him. Her free hand rested on her cocked hip as she shot him her best what-the-fuck-does-it-look-like-I’m-doing face and waited for him figure it out.

Klingons, she sighed, resisting the urge to tell him to kick rocks. As he waddled off, Kino quietly returned her blade to its proper place, chalking the whole weird sensation of not being alone to the over-zealous patrolman. Well, whatever, she figured, turning back to her work. Let’s get you finished up and bid this weirdness adieu, shall we?

[A short time later…]

Kino trudged into the old dusty ship’s engineering with a stifled yawn, pausing to look the place over. I got a name for this heap, she thought with a smirk – fuckin’ Rusty. No way this’ll buff out.

Her ears caught the ruckus of the party as she rounded a corner, revealing the other party-goers. Mismatched eyes flicked between all of them, not recognizing anyone but Azrin, who looked to be involved with several people at once. One of whom was reading…odd…to her cybernetic eye. Is that a hologram, she wondered, tilting her head at him. The short, dark haired potty mouth made her grin though. Not too far away - leaning with her back to the bulkhead - a cute looking blonde looked around nervously as she tried to crush the presents she clung to into her chest. Kino chuckled, grinning at her. “You okay,” the Trill asked humorously, dark brows rising at the woman. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Kino looked around again, seeing nothing amiss. “Did I miss something? Ah, sorry,” she snorted, then introduced herself after tossing Azrin a two fingered salute, moving to join the blonde by the bulkhead.

“What’s gotcha all nervous in the service?” Kino asked her with a smirk. "Azrin doing Azrin things, or what," she shrugged, glancing to Red. Left to her own devices, who knew what kind of tomfoolery Ryn was up to - especially surrounded with old tech.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: @jreeves1701 @Dumedion @Juzzie @ob2lander961 @Eirual

“I am. At least I was the last time I checked,” Azrin responded to Larrant’s question off handedly, still engrossed by the beautiful present from Rhys. He might not have done math
In the wrapping, but Azrin was now, treating it like a puzzle so she could remove the paper without ripping it. She wasn’t the least bit insulted by the Medusan’s question. Ryn had had male hosts, so she remembered how it felt to be another gender. In the immediate aftermath of her joining, Azrin really had checked down under more than a few times, confused by the sheer weight of all the new memories swirling through her head.

“Unwrapping this is going to be just as much fun as whatever is inside!” She had a plan now, and started carefully removing the paper piece by piece. Unfortunately, Azrin didn’t get very far, as another newly arrived party-goer barged into the spotlight. Via Wix, the younger sister of Azrin’s friend Fia, never did anything small. As someone who also tended towards the exuberant, Azrin had always appreciated that attribute in the young pilot. “Via! Dixiebee! You’re here!” She’d been excited to hear that the younger Wix had come on board not long before V-Nine had pulled Azrin from stasis. The familiar face had done wonders for her mood. But there was a hint of guilt in there too, for being happy that Via was in this dangerous place too. Even more dangerous really, considering Via’s job.

She accepted the hug eagerly, one hand still wrapped tightly around Rhys’ present, which might have banged Via in the back. “What’s all this?” There was amusement in the Trill’s voice now as she looked at everything in her friend’s hands. Her face scrunched up a bit in confusion as Via asked how she’d afforded the ship, because Azrin had honestly never considered that. Her parents had tried to teach her finances as a kid, an integral part of keeping their cargo business running, but Azrin had never caught on. Since leaving her childhood home, she’d promptly forgotten all of it. A true Federation citizen, she’d never needed money, so she didn’t think about it.

Now however, she was starting to understand why she’d annoyed the Klingon who owned this ship in the first place. “Um, I don’t know how I afforded it? You’d have to ask Lieutenant zh’Eziarath. She helped me rent the ship.” Azrin looked around for the Andorian, but didn’t see the blue skinned diplomat anywhere. “She was here a few seconds ago, but I’m not sure where she went. And the owner says the ship doesn’t fly, but I’ve been poking around engineering all evening, and we can totally make this girl fly.” Her grin returned at full force then. “We’re not allowed to per the rental agreement, but it would be so much fun!”

“Hi Kino! Hi Mia!” She waved at the other two, spotting them off to the side as Via went through everything she’d brought. The mention of clothes reminded Azrin of her own, something she had entirely forgotten to consider in the preparation. A light t-shirt and loose pants, neutral colored - and wrinkled and dirty from her earlier explorations of the ship. Even someone knew nothing about fashion could recognize that she was far from ‘fire’ right now.

She was fully ready to dive into the offered bags for a change of clothes - except the power chose that exact moment to go out again. This time it didn’t come back on.

[ Lt. JG Nysarisiza “Nysari” zh’Eziarath | somewhere aboard the IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

She had stayed at the party mainly out of a sense of obligation. At first she’d thought Lieutenant Ryn had invited her as thanks for Nysari’s assistance, until she’d realized that the engineer had invited the entirety of the Theurgy’s crew. So why not stay, meet some new people… and ensure that this night didn’t end with a very angry Klingon proprietor. However, just as the party started, she had noticed a blinking light one on of the consoles, which appeared to be some sort of internal sensor system. Of all the ship’s systems, the Andorian approved of keeping that one operational. This place was a maze. It noted movement a few decks above them, well off the marked route from the ship’s entrance to engineering. Assuming that one of the party guests had gotten lost, Nysari had taken it upon herself to go up and lend a hand.

Which was how she’d ended up here, in a pitch black hallway, fingers trailing the wall as she tried to trace her way back to engineering. She’d found no one, and clearly someone downstairs had broken the power. “The next time someone asks for assistance, I’ll extol the virtues of the Below Decks Lounge as a party venue instead.” Nysari said dryly, letting her words, the cold metal against her hand, and the solid ground beneath her feet remind her that she wasn’t lost in some dark empty void, no matter what her eyes wanted to believe.

But fate had something different in store for her today, as two of those comforts were immediately taken from her. The floor vanished beneath her feet, and suddenly she was falling.

---

OOC: I'm making this up as a I go, so any chaos you guys want to add is welcome.  (laugh)

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

Mia smiled shyly to the platinum haired female, “No ghosts, at least I don’t think so. “ She shifted the gifts in her arms a little, “I .. well I am not good with a lot of people. And the only one I really know is Azrin, and I just don’t want to interrupt.” 

She awkwardly held out a hand in greeting after the female introduced herself, “Nice to meet you, Kino. I’m Mia Dunne.”

She looked back over towards Azrin’s little entourage and watched as Azrin began opening some of her gifts. Mia hugged her gifts close again, hoping that Azrin would approve. At the calling of her name she smiled and raied one hand a little in a small wave, “Happy Birthday, Azrin,” she replied from her place by the door. She was about to step forward to hand off the gifts to their recipient when everything went dark. She quickly stepped backwards, putting her back to the wall. “Oh my Stars! That can’t be good,” she mumbled to herself.

Mia really didn’t mind the dark so much as she didn’t like not seeing obstacles that, if she were to move, somehow had a habit of banging either her head or her shins. Neither of which were very pleasant to deal with.

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @rae @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @Eirual @Juzzie
[Show/Hide]“I get it,” the silver haired Trill offered Mia a lopsided smile as she nodded. “People are weird,” her nose scrunched up playfully, then she turned to grin at Azrin’s greeting, about to add her own birthday well-wishes when the lights suddenly flickered and died. “Well that’s unfortunate,” she muttered under her breath instead, arching a brow at Dunne; as her ocular implant compensated, shifting into infrared, the poor blonde glowed brighter as her heart-rate elevated.

“Hm. Sit tight, Mia. I’ll see whats up,” the Trill told her, almost reaching out to pat her shoulder on instinct but decided not to. In the silence that reigned for a few heartbeats as Kino started heading to Azrin, her ears caught an odd sound, almost a muffled cry reverberating through the old ship’s bones and empty decks. She froze instantly, straining to listen for a second, before the shock wore off and everyone started asking a million questions over each other.

The Trill loosed a loud whistle from her lips and fingers to get everyone’s attention. “Keep it together, people,” she waved for calm in the dark, even though most couldn’t see. “Just sit tight where you are. If you have any source of illumination, now’s the time,” Kino chuckled, walking up to Ryn and the others as she pulled the PADD out of the small of her back. It was programmed for Azrin’s fireworks display, and even though it was hardly a decent source of light, it was still light. “Where d’you need me Red? Want a hand fixing the grid, or can I go find out what made that noise first,” she asked, amused at the theatrics as her eyes jumped to Ryn’s associates. Guess the fireworks will have to wait, she smirked, listening.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Kino shrugged. “Probably just some local wildlife or something. I got my blade,” she grinned, then looked at the short, dark haired woman at Azrin’s side, then the hologram, and the nervous looking LT off to the side – sizing them all up. As a general rule, running solo was frowned upon. “Anyone wanna tag along? Could be fun!"

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @Eirual @Tae

It seemed that Rhys was in for his typical kind of night socialising. He frequently ended up stood around the outside of group of other people who were all talking. He just smiled awkwardly and for the most part stood in place not speaking unless spoken to.

Many introverts Rhys had encountered seemed happiest on their own. Their social batteries seemed to drain quickly. Rhys was an extrovert trapped in an introvert’s body. He wanted to be more socially active, be the one telling the funny stories and what ever else, but he was just too scared. He wasn’t completely clear on what he feared. Obviously, he was afraid of making a fool of himself of being socially humiliated, but there was more to it than that. Even with people he knew well, and the kinds of people who he was sure would not hurt him, he still acted as if they might.

That new disconcerting voice was back in his head, it was telling him to interact telling him to go and try and make friends. It was like it was doing the psychic equivalent of holding his hand. Perhaps when that was why, when the issues with the power became apparent, he volunteered to tag around with Kino. “I’ll come.” He said raising his hand like a kid trying to attract the teacher’s attention. He looked surprised at the fact that he had said the words himself. “I mean if you want… I used to be an Ops officer….” He said looking at his shoes. “Maybe I could be of some help?” He said finishing the sentence weakly.

[ CWO1 Larrant | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

The birthday Trill was being bombarded by well-wishers so Larrant felt this was an appropriate time to explore a Klingon Bird of Prey and examine its propulsion and navigation systems. The information was already available through his Starfleet sources, but to be able to physically examine the craft was more..... exhilarating was the emotion he was thinking of. Though he didn't exactly feel that, it was the best word to describe his curiosity.

As he was about to exit into the corridor everything went dark. In response to the request for illumination beams of light erupted from his holographic form. The holographic avatar of Lurrant pixilated and dissolved revealing the containment pod within. Indicator lights of the pod blinked as they functioned accordingly. From the viewport of the POD, the internal swirling mass of plasma that was Larrant illuminated the faces before it, casting them in a lava lamp-like glow.  The POD made a few clicking sounds as two dual-beam light emitters popped out of the top, approximately where humanoid shoulders would be.

Larrant turned, rotating to illuminate the faces of those present. "I seem to be able to provide the illumination you seek. Would you like for me to come along or stay to protect any guests from the dark?"

[(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/archive/f/fb/20160814014820%21W-o1.png) Ens. Via "DixeBee" Wix (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Via_Wix) | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] ] Attn: @Rae  @Juzzie  @Dumedion @ jreeves1701
[Show/Hide]

"Fuck them agreements". Via laughed "I'm tellin you, you gotta fix this broke ass ship! We can fly to Risa or some place and really have a party!"

The young pilot was practically jumping up and down gleefully as Azrin started looking through the gifts she gave her until suddenly and most annoyingly the lights went out.

"What in the fuck? Who's dumbass turned off the lights!" Via exclaimed as she pouted like a disappointed child in the darkness. The dark never scared Via. Maybe as a kid a few times but her upbringing in the lower levels of the residential block megabuilding on her home planet in addition to the terrible electrical infrastructure the lower levels were subjected to had beaten all of that fear out of her. Now she was just pissed off someone or something was ruining the party and that she couldn't see.

When people started pulling out their illumination devices they all gravitated towards Azrin so Via had no reason to move. Kino the white haired trill with the mechanical eye, which Via found especially cool, started to take charge of the situation. There was another guy there whom which reminded Via of Charles with his demeanor along with the other guy from earlier who seemed off. When the Warrant Officer started shining two bright lights lthe young pilot was taken aback.

"Oh shit, you bright as fuck! What the- how is your ass doin' that." Via said to Larrant. "You a hologram or somethin?" When Kino asked for volunteers to go figure out what was happening with the electrical system something clicked within Via. She was reminded of a horror holovid she watch. "Oh shit- Oh shit- Oh fuck...I-I remember this holovid. Them same guys were all at a party like this one. Then the lights went out and dudes started dyin' and shit. I mean gettin' killed and stabbed. When they started splitin' up they all got fuckin' shanked one by one until they figured out the crazy dude. It was funny as fuck" Via said playfully. "Er...I wanna go. All we gotta do is stab the dumbass first." Via chuckled. "Though...shit...ain't gonna be good for the person their asses murdered just now." Via looked around and then yelled "HEY IF YOU ASS IS STABBED SAY SOMETHIN'!" before shrugging. "Fuck, maybe they ain't in this room."

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
ATTN: @rae @Jreev @Ob @Dum @Juzz

Mia wasn’t happy that the power had failed, and she was now standing pitch black in an unfamiliar vessel with a lot of other people who had expected to celebrate. She still had the gifts tightly held to her chest and was not about to just drop them and run.   Mia was a bit surprised when Kino told her to sit tight and then walked off to investigate without having a light, of course the ocular implant might help in that regard. Mia merely nodded, not that Kino, or anyone else would see it in the dark.

Well, it wasn’t totally dark. The glow from the medusa’s life form sort of emitted a nice glow near him. She found her eyes slowly adjusting to the dark when all of the sudden she was blinded by bright lights from the orb and she gasped and slammed her eyes shut, “Geez, warn a girl next time,” she muttered as she slowly opened her eyes again.  Of course, the rather loud and foul-mouthed pilot was now screaming about some horror holo-vid and making no sense whatsoever.  She looked around at the other attendees, noticing that Kino and Rhys, neither of which she really knew, had both ventured off into the dark to find and fix the problem. It appeared that some others she had seen before had also left, but she wasn’t sure exactly when. One of them was one of the diplomats, what was her name... Niki.. Nora...  Nycian... Oh  .. Nysari, that’s it. She hadn’t been gone that long either. Mia briefly wondered where she had gone.

“Maybe we should just make sure everyone is off this rust heap and safe,” she said, more to herself than to anyone else.

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @Juzzie @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @rae @Eirual
[Show/Hide]Glancing at the man who spoke up, Kino appraised him quickly, then nodded. It didn’t really matter to her what particular skillet he had; two heads were always better than one. “Any help is help, LT. Thanks,” she told him, just as the cute but volatile brunette started rambling about a holovid. Kino arched a brow at her, barely keeping her amusement in check. When Via hollered out for the alleged victims to respond, Kino frowned but listened with everyone else.

In the dead silence, someone sneezed and farted, almost at the same time. Oof, bet that hurt, she thought, then cleared her throat to keep from laughing, folding her arms. “Imagine if that had worked? Shit, I’m gonna try that,” she smirked at Via, then turned her attention to Azrin and the hologram, which promptly morphed into a floating ball of extremely bright beams of light, effectively binding her organic eye. With a growled curse, the non-com covered the now useless sensory organ with her hand as she turned away from the orb.

“Outstanding, a talking spotlight. That one of yours, Red,” she growled at Azrin, assuming the tinkerer built the damn thing as she blinked rapidly. Her vision was fucked, consisting of smears of monochrome colors of infrared light from her implant and a bright, burning orb, for several painful seconds.

Huh, never met a Medusan, she huffed. “Well, nice to meet you too. Uhm…I don’t know? Maybe you can help Red figure out the power loss from here while me and the LT go check things out?” Kino muttered to him. It? I can figure that out later. There was a weird noise to investigate, and a rust bucket to explore. I love my job. Never a dull moment. Turning to Rhys, who looked rather unsure about just what the hell he’d gotten himself into, Kino couldn’t help but grin at him. “Let’s go see what all the hubbub’s about, shall we,” then threw a nod to Azrin. “We’ll be in touch, Red.”

[A few moments later…]

It didn’t take long for her to realize just how much she disliked wandering around the ship. It stank. Old stank, something that penetrated into the corroded bones of the vessel. It took a bit of willpower for the Trill not to wrinkle her nose up with every breath, which was irritating. Hearing and sensing the nervousness coming off of Rhys was irritating too, honestly. She’d managed along well enough in the dark, handing her PADD off to him to use as a makeshift torch. “Just…whatever you do…don’t tap the green button, okay,” Kino had warned him.

Cut him a break. Cut yourself one too, while you’re at it.

“So,” she breathed out a whispered sigh, scanning the corridors ahead. They stood at a T intersection, each one identical. Flat, blunt lines of Klingon architecture on metal grating. “Ops huh,” she continued to whisper, listening for several heartbeats. “What do you do now? And where are you from? Your accent is unfamiliar.”

Scared people needed to be distracted to operate sometimes, and everyone liked talking about themselves. So she listened, even as she tapped out a standard search and rescue code against the hull with the knuckles of her cybernetic hand, just in case some other fools were fumbling around in the dark.

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion @Eirual @jreeves1701 @rae @ob2lander961

He was impressed by the young security officer. In fact, Rhys respected NCOs greatly. NCOs were the backbone of Starfleet, and no ship would function well without them. She was intimidating that was for certain, it was like being on the edge of a very localised storm, she seemed to dominate the spaces she was in. She acted like she was in charge and Rhys did what he always felt most comfortable doing he followed her. He matched her smile and followed her out of the room without looking back.

[A few moments later]

Rhys held his nose as they stumbled along the corridor. “It smells like something has been living in here… or well maybe died.” He said spying what he thought looked like the fossilised remains of some kind of vermin species or another.

Kino had passed him her PADD to use as a makeshift torch with the instruction that he was not to press the green button. A mischievous voice in his head immediately insisted that he ought to push it. He was able to resist the urge, but it also meant that he was quite distracted when she leaned into whisper. He nearly dropped the PADD as he jumped and let out a small yelp.

“What… huh oh sorry. Wasn’t paying attention.” He looked at the T-section. Rhys had never really been on a Bird of Prey. “I was an OPS officer once.” He said then quickly moved the conversation on clearly indicating he was not going to give more details at this stage. He closed his eyes for a moment as if trying to remember something. “I think we should go left. It’s been a while but a vaguely remember seeing a schematic for one of these when I was building a scale model.” He said completing possibly the nerdiest sentence ever spoken by anyone.

He blushed at his won awkwardness, while she tapped out a message. Was that the standard search and rescue code? He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t think straight. “I er.. I come from Earth; a Country called Wales.” He said looking down the left corridor and taking a few steps down it shining the light of the PADD looking for clues. “I am Counsellor now.” He said trying to fill the awkward silence.

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @Juzzie @Eirual @jreeves1701 @rae @ob2lander961
[Show/Hide]Kino eyed the skeletal critter, scrunching and wiggling her nose around at the aroma. Yep, there’s the problem right there, she thought, waving a hand through the air in a useless attempt to clear the stench. At Rhys’ recommendation, the non-com shrugged slightly and peeked around the corner to the left, seeing nothing but more rust and cobwebs. Meh, why not, she thought, glad he was just nervous and not terrified. Lights and sensors would be a great help for this. Hope Red and Spotlight get the juice going before long, she sighed to herself. No sense worrying about shit beyond her control.
 
“Models are great – no wonder you and Ryn get along,” she whispered, then crouched slightly to lift her leg trouser and pulled the combat blade from its sheath at her shin. As he moved past her into the corridor, she used the tip of the blade to mark an arrow back the way they came, listening as he answered her earlier questions.

“Wales,” the Trill murmured after catching up, trying to pronounce it like he did, but failing. She left the blade out but switched to her left in a reverse grip, away from him. She assumed he was from Earth, as most humans were; wracking her brain for a second revealed nothing about this Wales place, however. Of course, she hadn’t done much travelling while she was there. It was always curiously odd, how so many people from the same place sounded so different speaking the same language. “Well, if everyone there talks like you, I’d love it. Accents. Are. Awesome. Wish I could change mine,” she paused after a few dozen steps to listen, then continued. “I mean, sometimes I do under stress or if I get wrapped up in memories but that doesn’t count,” she added quickly under her breath. Thanks, Jeen.

They walked in relative silence for awhile, while Kino listened and watched their surroundings intently, turning her head to glance behind them every so often. Situational awareness, a near unconscious habit that left her lagging behind him a few steps. She caught up again, far quieter than him, until she was right back beside him in the dark. He looked uncomfortable, to say the least, with only the dim light of the PADD. Kino couldn’t help but feel amused sympathy for the guy.

“Councilor, huh?” She whispered suddenly, grinning at his reaction, which he probably heard. “Bet you got some stories to tell, with this crew. Guess that’s against the rules though,” she chuckled quietly. “Must be rough sometimes, but I can certainly understand the challenge and reward from helping people. That’s what its all about, right?”

Well, on the security side that usually consisted of breaking up a fight or dragging people out of places they shouldn’t be in, doing things they should be doing elsewhere. Never a dull moment on the Theurgy, that’s for sure. Horny lunatics, the lot of us. Kino was certainly no exception; having faced her own struggles before being joined. The symbiote had brought new perspectives, and with them, change. Waking up one day feeling like you were four centuries old would do that. Besides, if I’d quit, I’d probably be on a beach right now instead of stalking around in this heap. This is way more fun, she thought, smirking at her own dry sarcasm.

Soon enough they came to a half opened lift door, which Kino shoved open with a grunt, grimacing at the squeal of metal on metal. “Oops,” she winced at Rhys as the noise echoed through the ship, then looked down and up the lift tunnel. “Clear. Up or down,” she breathed, arching a brow at him.

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion @Eirual @jreeves1701 @rae @ob2lander961

Rhys was as always fascinated by his own mental frailties. He was felling a little bit scared with the low light levels on an alien ship. Quite what he was meant to be afraid of he had no idea, it was a sort of background radiation of fear. He was glad he was with the young Trill, there was an air of toughness about her. She gave the impression that she would be useful in a fight, but again he wondered, fight what?

It was infuriating being a person of a nervous disposition. Rhys had never considered himself to be superstitious, but at home in the dark he had always moved a lot quicker for fear of who knew what. Kino suggested that Rhys and Ryn must get along if they both liked models. He wondered if he should be honest and say he barely knew her, but would that then make the conversation awkward? He decided that being honest was probably best. “I don’t really know her. She threw the invite net wide, and I was off duty.” He said shrugging awkwardly.

There was a faint hint of national pride as Kino praised his accent. It felt good to hear that. “Yes Wales, or Cymru in the Welsh Language.” He said smiling a little, all imaginary perils temporarily forgotten. “People tend to sound like this in the North of the Country where English is a second language.” He noted that she seemed down on her own accent, Rhys had not found it objectionable, she also made a cryptic comment. “I think your accent sounds nice.” He realised that it sounded a little weak as compliment, but small talk was not his speciality. “Unconsciously dropping into another accent is more common than you might think.” He said trying in his own little way to be reassuring. It was certainly true for him, when he went on leave back home his accent often got thicker. Also, there was that time he had gotten a concussion and temporarily could only really speak in Welsh.  The brain was a funny squidgy thing after all.

As they continued in silence for a while, he noted that she constantly stopped to listen and watch which slowed her down a little. Rhys tried to slow his nervous fast walking at times like that not wanting them to lose track of each other.  He wondered if she was nervous to and was better at hiding it or if it was a force of habit.

Her sudden whisper caused him to jump a little. He nodded when she suggested with the crew of the Theurgy he would have some tales to tell. It would have been unprofessional of him to have shared what he knew. Rhys had often wanted to write a paper on some of the issues that occurred in the crew’s unique position. IT would be tricky though, he’d have to anonymise it and put it before an Ethics Committee, there was no chance of that at the moment. When Kino said that the reward was helping people, Rhys gave a soft smile in the dark. “Oh definitely, I wanted to help people the way I had been helped its why I switched from Ops to Counselling.” He left the implication hanging in the air, he was trying to be more open and matter of fact about the problems that the had had in his career, but he still wasn’t going to be specific unless she asked a specific question. 

Once they approached a half open lift door, Rhys had been about to offer to help, but in the time it took him to set down the PADD she already had it open. Clearly, she was strong. It produced a god-awful noise though that set Rhys’s teeth on edge. Rhys looked over the edge into the darkness stretching below almost infinite in appearance. “Down.” He said quietly. For some reason down was scarier than up and he had no explanation for that. “As you have the most powerful light you’d probably better go first?” He suggested. He hoped that didn’t make him sound scared. He was scared of course, but he wasn’t going to duck out of something just because he was scared. If she asked him to go first and gave him her light he would.

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
ATTN: @rae  @jreeves1701  @ob2lander961  @Dumedion  @Juzzie 

Mia decided that she would rather not stay inside the old rust bucket. Who knew if they would ever get the lights back on. At least Larrant had provided some light in the immediate vicinity.  She quickly moved over the Azrin and gave her the presents, “Umm, Happy Birthday, Azrin, I hope you like these. Thank you for inviting me to your party.”  Mia smiled a little and hugged Azrin for a moment. “I’ll let you celebrate, I am sure you will enjoy getting this thing fixed, or at least playing with it. What better present could you ask for, Right?” She chuckled and backed away from Azrin’s little entourage, not comfortable with being in such a noisy crowd. Once Azrin’s attention was drawn away from her, she slipped out the door. She wasn’t exactly sure which way she needed to go, since she wasn’t really paying a lot of attention when she arrived as to the path she took. She really wished she had thought to bring a PADD or something that would at least shed a little light. In any event she knew she needed to get some rest and if she stayed too much longer and joined in whatever festivities Azrin had planned, she would be useless later.  Keeping one hand on the bulkhead she began walking, following the curve of the corridor. Funny,” She mused to herself, It's weird that it doesn’t feel like it’s going straight when you can’t see it. She shrugged her shoulders and kept walking, the tapping of her boots on the deck the only sound she could hear in the darkness.

A few minutes later Mia was worried, “It didn’t take me that long to get to the party. I should have found the hatch by now.” She stopped, stretching out her arm while stepping from the wall. She reached out her other hand, hoping to feel the other side of the corridor but came up empty. Figuring it was just wider than she though she took a few steps forward, then a few more, but still didn’t find what she was hoping for.  Taking another step forward she could hear the sound of metal groaning around her. She froze in place, afraid to move forward or back. She knew that she needed to lessen the stress load, so she got herself down to stretch out on the floor, spreading out her weight and praying the floor wasn’t about to buckle beneath her.  She began to inch her way back, hopefully the way she had come.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: @Eirual @Dumedion @Juzzie @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961

When the lights went off, her first reaction was to pout. After scoring this beautiful old relic for her party, and the engineer couldn’t even get it to work right! “The grid was perfectly capable of handling the additional power draws I added. I checked! I even read the spec sheet!” Admittedly, the spec sheets were really old and and meant for a brand new bird of prey, but they were still well within the margin of error. Beneath it really. This ship was meant to go into battle in space. Sitting on a planet and keeping the lights on should have been easy.

Then a strange sound reverberated through the room, and that was definitely not a mechanical problem. “Guys. I think this ship is haunted!” Sure, that was probably a problem, but Azrin sounded absolutely delighted about it. She was about to tell Kino to have fun ghosthunting, but the sentence turned into a strangled yelp when Larrant became a giant light. “Ow, ow, ow. Do you have a brightness control on that?” Once her eyes adjusted, she managed to squint for a better look at what he’d done. “Hey, is that you in there? I can see the POD!” At Kino’s question, Azrin shot the other trill a rather insulted look. He was a lifeform inside a cool piece of technology, not an AI. “No. This is Larrant. He’s a Medusan. I don’t know how to make Medusans.”

When Kino and Rhys went off to investigate, Azrin grabbed Larrant by a light emitter and pulled him towards a series of panels on the far wall, which she’d dug into to reroute power earlier in the evening. “This is the only area I touched. If there’s a problem, it’s probably coming from here. The ship had to be damaged already if it can’t handle this power load though! Maybe I was being overenthusiastic when I thought it could fly.” That thought was sadder than anything they’d encountered thus far.

Before she got to work, Azrin realized Mia had followed them over to the panel. She was about to let the scientist help, only for the blonde to offer a present and her apologies. It was impossible to see what they were without opening them. A moment’s consideration went to putting off repairs to open them, but wouldn’t it be more fun to see what was inside once the lights were on? “It will be fixed soon if you want to stay!” She assured during the hug, but her friend seemed set on leaving. “Watch out for ghosts!”

Azrin made sure to pile all of her presents carefully to the size, well away from the mess she was about to make. Then she pulled off the panel, pulled out a Starfleet issued tricorder, and began scanning the circuits to see which one she’d accidentally overloaded. “The party will be back on in a second!” She promised, filled up with enough confidence to light the room through sheer willpower.

[ Lt. JG Nysarisiza “Nysari” zh’Eziarath | somewhere aboard the IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

She was still lost. It was still dark. But now she was trapped as well, which had made everything all the worse. The floor had collapsed beneath her feet, leaving her in what appeared to be a small, empty room. One without an exit, as far as Nysari could tell when her only available sense was touch. She had abandoned her search for an escape a few minutes prior, and was running her fingers over her combadge instead. It didn't feel damaged, but wasn't working either. Her foot hurt terribly, a lasting gift from her fall and subsequent bad landing. She’d screamed — loudly — during the incident. Hopefully someone had heard it. If not, there was still the internal sensor system that had drawn her out here in the first place. The rest of the officers on this ship would find her before long.

As if on cue, a creaking sound hit her ears, accompanied by small thumps hitting the deck plating above her head. Footsteps? “Hello?” She called out, hopeful that someone was nearby, but only if they didn’t make the same mistake she had. “Is anyone up there? Watch out for the trap door!” Then she heard a familiar bang, just like the one that had proceeded her fall, and the Andorian scrambled to press herself against the wall to avoid being hit.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Lost in the bowels of the  IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
ATTN: @rae  @jreeves1701  @ob2lander961 @Dumedion  @Juzzie 

As Mia inched back she thought she heard something. A muffled voice from below her.  She shook her head thinking she was just imaging it.  She inched back just a little more and suddenly she felt the floor beneath her giving way. She gasped in surprise and let out a scream and her legs slid into the void. She started sliding backwards and somehow managed to hold onto the even edge of what was apparently an access hatch. “Oh SHIT! HELP!!” She yelled as she felt her grip slipping. She had no idea what was below her, nor how far the drop would be.  She felt the metal of the hatch hitting her back painfully as it swung to close. The impact made her flinch in pain, and she lost her tentative hold on the opening.  She felt herself falling as she cried out.  She hit the ground hard, landing mostly on her side and knocking the air out of her lungs.  When she was able to breathe a few seconds later she groaned out, “That is gonna leave a mark!”

She struggled to a sitting position and tried to assess the damage as the hatch clanged shut above her head.  She estimated the fall was about 4 or 5 meters.   Her left side was sore, most likely severely bruised as well. She figured that she had to have scraped a good amount of skin from her fingers as they burned like hell at the moment. And to top it off, she fell on her wrist oddly and that hurt the most.  “Too bad I didn’t land on my hard head,” She grumbled to herself, “I might not have been hurt at all!”

[(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/archive/f/fb/20160814014820%21W-o1.png) Ens. Via "DixeBee" Wix (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Via_Wix) | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] ] Attn: @Rae  @Juzzie  @Dumedion @ jreeves1701
[Show/Hide]

"Well, I didn't want to go with y'all anyway". Via said under her breath as she watched Rhys and Kino leave to investigate the mysterious noise they heard. There was no doubt in her mind they were going to die to some grand alien monster that would lay eggs in their mouths which would catch through their chests. At least as long as there was light from the floating hologram they had some chance of navigating their way off the ship if things got to harry. The young pilot walked over with the rest of the group to the electrical panel Azrin was attempting to fix. Not being able to do much Via just watched the greater room in its deep black shroud of darkness. 

"So our asses can't go on a joy ride. Fuck whoever broke it. Ruinin' the party.." Via pouted and crossed her arms like a disappointed child who was told no. "Wait, uh..." She looked back at Azrin briefly. "Can't we just turn on the engines or somethin' to provide power? Or like...find the aux gen...erter...somethin'...whatever I ain't an engineer."

When Mia left Via didn't even try to stop her. She just mentally resigned herself to her fate of death to the...Alienmorph, the name of the alien she came up with in her head. "Well, shes dead too. Damn, how many is that now. Uh..." She began counting the people apart of the party on her fingers. "Fuckin...badass girl...dead girl...dead dude. Shit ain't that like 3 whole people...well there asses won't be whole for long. The Alienmorph is gonna rip them apart and use their bodies as her nest...yup. Our asses are fucked...I thinkin' we should cut our losses while we can. Ain't nothin' we can do for them now. I ain't trying to get eggs laid inside me...shits gross. I would watch the holovid tho."

Then she heard a distance yell for help. "Yup...she dead. Hey, medusa" She said referring to Larrant. "Can your ass turn into a laser gun or somethin' or like...anythin' other than a floaty light blub?"

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn@ @Dumedion @rae @ob2lander961 @jreeves1701

Rhys looked over the edge of the lift shaft. It seemed to go on forever, it looked like a huge ominous black void. Or like the maw of some unspeakable horror from out of space and time. Rhys shook his head, he had to stop reading those Lovecraftian style stories.

Then out of no where heard a scream and a huge clang sound somewhere else in the ship. The way it echoed towards them it was not really clear where it was coming from. Though of more immediate concern to Rhys, was the fact that the large sound caused him to just about jump out of his skin.

Rhys felt himself fall forward, there was a tremendous lurch in his stomach as if it was trying to dive back into the corridor. In his panic his hand flew out and caught a rung of the ladder bolted to the side of the shaft. He hung on to it dearly positioning himself, so his arm was around a rung. He looked at his right hand amazed to discover the PADD was still in it. He closed his eyes breathing heavily. “Looks like I am going first huh?” He said giving a slightly hysterical chuckle.

He poked his head up over the entrance way like an absurd Meercat looking back along the corridor. “Where do you think that sound was coming from?” He said sucking his teeth as he tried to calm his rushing thoughts down. “Should we go back or press on?” He said panicking a little.

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @Juzzie @Eirual @jreeves1701 @rae @ob2lander961
[Show/Hide]“M’kay, down it is,” the Trill shrugged while she knelt next to the lift door, the tip of her knife marking another arrow. It didn’t really matter to her either way – the ship wasn’t that big – even with just the two of them searching, they’d find something eventually. Kino pivoted on her knee to face Rhys, a dark brow arched as the knife returned to the sheath on her shin. The LT sounded nervous, but she figured it was just the dark, or the hole they were about to start climbing down; reassurance wasn’t exactly her strong suit, but she felt inclined to try.

“Relax, LT. I’ll go -,” she started to say, but the sound of something or someone screaming interrupted, followed by an echoed clang of metal on metal. Almost immediately, she saw Rhys flinch and lose his balance, flailing for the ladder rungs. Kino reached out with one hand, but the LT managed to grab a handhold and steadied himself. She let out a breath of air, relived, as he chuckled nervously about going first. The non-com shook her head, then panned her silvered head about, trying to listen over his quickened breath and questions.

“No idea, but it couldn’t have been far,” Kino murmured, then arched a brow at him again. “Take a breath, LT,” she nodded to him, then gestured down into the shaft. “Between the two of us, you got the pips, remember,” she drawled sarcastically. “Look, we’re here, already committed – so I’ll go first. I can see a lot better in the dark. Just hang tight,” the dim glow of her cybernetic eye winked at him as her legs swung over the edge, then her body twisted to drop down onto the rungs below him as her hand gripped the rung by his chest. “Don’t get excited, just passing through,” she murmured, amused at the situation as she climbed down over him. As far as the noise? She really couldn’t tell what it was. Didn’t sound like a targ, that’s for sure. She vividly remembered the growling snarls of the beasts, and hoped they didn’t run across a den down here in the dark. That would be bad, even with lights. What the hell is Red doing anyway? Kino frowned at the thought, hoping that Ryn and the others were alright. At least there’s the Medusan – in the insane event that Wolf was even close to being right and there is a killer running around, she blinked, then chuckled at herself for even entertaining the notion. Ryn was probably just tinkering with the core and overtaxed the dusty-ass grid, quit worrying so much.

“C’mon LT, slow and steady. Take your time,” Kino whispered, then started her descent into the abyss, glancing up to keep an eye on Rhys as she went. Given her cybernetics, she figured that if he slipped, she might be able to grab him without killing them both. Maybe. Better than trying to reach for him from on top, her lips pulled to the side, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Kino peered around, below her and to the sides as she descended; they were coming up on the next deck down, the lift door properly sealed. “Hold up,” the Trill murmured, then tapped Rhys’ foot to stop him, stifling a chuckle at his reaction. “It’s me,” she hissed. “See if you can find the manual bypass, I think I passed it. It’s not down here like on our ships,” she nodded to the bottom of the door, even though he could barely see it. Reaching out, she tapped biosynthetic knuckles against the door in an ancient melody, then waited for the two-bit response.

---

OOC: Soorrry...I let this one slip by my reply que. I kno, I kno...shit list again. Dammit!  (laugh)

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion @Eirual @ob2lander961 @rae @jreeves1701

Rhys felt bubbling in amongst the fear and insecurity a guilt. It squirmed in his stomach like a worm. Kino was doing her best to be kind to him in a rough and ready kind of way. However, he felt he could detect some frustration with how he was conducting himself. Rather than being annoyed by that he was in agreement with her and that’s where the guilt was coming from. Not for the first time in his life he began to grow concerned about how he had ever achieved an officer rank in the first place. Rhys was not a voice of authority and he doubted he could be one even if he tried.

Rhys was shy, meek and absurdly self-conscious. None of these were good traits for a leader. When had been at the academy and later he had tried to do that. He had tried to be a tough but firm, perfectionist leader. He just did not have the knack for it and that hadn’t made him happy either. He had been baffled when he was made Chief Counsellor on the Cayuga. He had never understood the choice. Assistant made much more sense. On the Theurgy Hathev being the Vulcan was much firmer and leader like and Rhys could be the shoulder to cry on. That was a role he excelled at. His former Captain must have seen something in him however, Rhys couldn’t see it.

For the moment Kino was in charge and Rhys was more comfortable following her lead and just chipping in technical information. When she mentioned that between the two of them, he was the one with the pips, he said “Don’t remind me.” He had thought the tone was under his breath, but things tended to echo.

He watched as she swung down on to the ladder past him. Her wink and her comment about him not getting excited had him blushing a vibrant shade of red that he hoped was not visible in the dim lighting. While he was sure Kino, did not have much respect for him and he didn’t blame her. She at least so far did not seem to actively dislike him and seemed more amused by his behaviour. That would do.

Rhys was careful in how he hung on to the ladder in case there were other shocking events. His meekness was undercut by a degree of physical strength. When his hobbies were swimming and playing rugby that was to be expected, he would not be easily shook off and loose balance again. However, when he felt a tap on his foot he did jump a little, a sharp intake of breath followed until Kino indicated it was her. He blushed even more now that she was chuckling at him, it didn’t seem mean spirited though, so he accepted it. He held up the PADD is pathetic light seeming to only give definition to the shadows. Shaping them and allowing Rhys’ feverish imagination to do the rest. However, he did spot a leaver of some description above the door Kino had stopped in front of. It was tricky to pull on it with only one hand, but Rhys was loathed to let go of the PADD or the ladder. He tightly rapped a leg around a rung and pulled hard with his right hand. It took a little bit of effort and some grunting, Klingons were stronger than the average human after all, and the switch came down. There was a spark and a flash, Rhys quickly moved his hand away and the door in front of Kino opened a little way. “The motor has probably seized up.” He said unsure why he was whispering. “Can you get through or are we going to need to force it open a bit more?” He asked as she had the better view of the door.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Lost in the bowels of the  IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
ATTN: @rae  @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @Dumedion  @Juzzie

It felt even darker inside whatever dark hole she was trapped inside than it had when the lights had gone out, if that was even possible. Mia slowly got to her feet and looked up. “Ok so what genius puts a trap door in the deck of a ship,” she asked the darkness, not expecting an answer to come. 

She heard a rustling behind her and spun around, “Wha..  Is someone there? I hope you aren’t a hungry targ.” Mia almost laughed at her last remark. If it had been a hungry Targ she wouldn’t be standing anymore, she would have been the beasts meal. “Geez, Mia, get a grip,” She whispered, the sound echoed in the confines of the trap she found herself in. Mia looked up, not sure what she expected to see. It had been dark in the room above, so why would she see much of anything. She shook her head slightly and walked, one hand  waving back and forth in front of her so she wouldn’t face plant into beam or a wall or some other unidentifiable object.

 It was odd though, she could hear her breath echoing in the room. But it sounded just a bit off. Do echoes sound higher, or faster?? She stopped and turned around slowly, calling out in hopes of getting a reply, “Hey, I’m Mia. Are you here for Azrin’s party? Well not down here, but on this klunker?”

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: @Eirual @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961 @Dumedion @Juzzie

“Stop saying that!” Azrin complained to the tricorder, which was in the middle of telling her, once again, that none of the circuits had overloaded. “One of them has to be. I didn’t set this place up for a dark party. What would be the fun in that!” Some people might have an opinion on that, but Azrin, being a bright happy person herself, wanted a party that reflected that.

“It should have switched to auxiliary power and lighting on its own,” she explained absently to Via, fiddling with the settings on the tricorder. “That’s the point of the redundancy. Since it didn’t, we’d have to trace the command paths to find that error or look for a similar electrical problem in those systems. It will be easier to fix main power – or it would be!” The last bit was directed towards the tricorder.

“Everything is working fine. There are no overloads,” a few short bursts from the tricorder had linked it to the ship’s computer, information scrolling across the small screen as fast as she could process it. “The computer thinks the power is still on. But something has to be breaking the flow circuit somewhere.” As she spoke, Azrin was getting closer and closer to the panel, her head practically inside it now. It was counterintuitive, as her attempts to see better were only getting in the way of Larrant’s light, casting a deep shadow on all the components.

She pulled back, trying to find the sweet spot of keeping her fingers inside while still getting the most light possible. The engineer looked like a lunatic, her back and neck arched back while her arms stretched forward as far as possible. She was still working the tricorder, abandoning power flow scans for a broader search of anything out of the ordinary. “Beritium? Klingons don’t use beritium in starship design. Or in anything.” But she was detecting a small trace of it anyway. Reaching forward to that location, Azrin felt along the power conduit, quickly finding what didn’t belong. She pulled the small device out, disconnecting it from the ship.

The power came back on immediately, but Azrin was too interested in the new mystery to cheer. “Guys? Why is the ship booby trapped? Who would want a component that randomly turns the power on and off?”

[ Lt. JG Nysarisiza “Nysari” zh’Eziarath | somewhere aboard the IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

Following the bang was another familiar sound. Curled up against the wall as she was, Nysari managed to avoid being crushed by the new occupant of her sad little hole, but she still winced in sympathy at the smacking of skin and bone against unforgiving metal. For a moment, she thought it wisest not to speak, waiting to be certain that her new cellmate was of a friendly disposition. She had no idea what was going on here and she was far from a fighter. If the other person was hostile, the darkness was her best defense.

It quickly proved to be a ridiculous fear, though paranoia felt like a justifiable response to someone who had recently fallen victim to a trap door. “My name is Nysari,” she replied, leaving a sizable silence after her words in case she frightened the other woman by revealing herself. “Lieutenant Ryn asked for my assistance in renting this venue. In hindsight, I should not have agreed.” She tried to relax, her muscles aching from holding the tight curled up position against the wall. Her foot moved forward, hoping to find a position that made it hurt somewhat less, but she wasn’t able to straighten her leg before hitting something soft – presumably Mia, unless there was something else new down here. “Sorry.”

“To answer your first question, Klingons put trap doors on their ships. Apparently. It would be effective against a boarding party, as long as the ship’s crew know where they are and how to avoid them. This ship is quite old, maybe it’s forcefields weren’t reliable enough. I’m not sure how a culture that has such a marked preference for head on physical combat justifies them though.” Having someone to talk to was making all the difference in the world, as though the room was somehow brighter.

“Are you injured, Mia?”

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @Juzzie  @Eirual @jreeves1701 1 @rae  @ob2lander961
[Show/Hide]Once it was clear that no one was going to return her knock, Kino waited while Rhys fiddled with the manual release – keeping an eye on him just in case he lost his footing in the struggle. Success seemed evident at last, punctuated by a short lived light-show and the dawn of a smirk on her lips, but that was very short lived. Well ain’t this grand, she deadpanned to herself as the door seized; a dark brow arched down into the abyss as the LT above her whispered.

“Yeah, I'll try. Hang on,” she answered back, shifting her body to one side of the ladder to get a better leverage point. “Climb up a little so I can grab the middle,” she jerked a thumb up at him uselessly; he couldn’t see it if he tried. After Rhys had moved up a few rungs, Kino followed, then reached out with her cybernetic arm and gripped the edge of the door with the tips of her fingers. Ugh, this is gonna suck if I screw it up, she grunted, looking down again, but started pulling anyway. Nothing moved, so her effort increased gradually, until she was straining hard enough to hiss through a grimace. Everything started creaking and screeching then – the door, the ladder – loud enough to make her ears hurt as the racket echoed up and down the lift tube.

Ever so slowly, the damn thing opened; enough for them to squeeze through anyway. Kino released her hold and the air left in her lungs, panting from the exertion. "That was fun," she grumbled sarcastically, shaking her head at it all.

Suddenly, the power kicked on – startling them both. A blur of movement caught her eye as something fell. Kino reached for it instinctively, but missed. The PADD flipped end over end as it sailed down the tube; her eyes narrowed at it, then she looked up at Rhys in annoyance. The smart-assed remark for his case of butter-fingers died though, as she saw what was headed right at them: the lift. “Aw shit – let’s move LT!” Kino hissed, then threw herself out into the gap of the half opened door, scrambling to pull herself in and around to help him do the same. “C’mon,” she waved at him, peeking out and up. “C’mon Rhys, or you’re gonna be a lot skinnier in about ten seconds!”

Her eyes widened as she noticed how bent the ladder under him was; rusted with time, she couldn’t be sure if the damn thing would hold much longer – so Kino squeezed out the gap, artificial arm extended towards him. “C’mon, take it – now!” Kino barked, as the lift plummeted at his head.

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion @Eirual @jreeves1701 @rae @ob2lander961

Rhys decided that bowels was the perfect description for where they were in the ship. It was hot cramped, smelled bad, nothing was working and neither of them wanted to be there. The door was seized up not properly opening. After he had asked her if she needed it opening more, she answered affirmatively. Rhys had been intending to help her force it open but with her cybernetic arm she probably stood a better chance of getting the door to budge than he did. He climbed up a few rungs to allow her better access to the door.

It took some time and considerable effort on her part to force the doors to open more fully. He felt concern that her cybernetic arm would not be able to cope with the pressure, but it seemed to prevail in the end. It produced a godawful noise, and neither of them was in a position to cover up their ears. They both winced in the darkness.

It seemed suddenly as if their struggle had been pointless at that moment the power seemed to kick in. It was a loud noise in the otherwise quiet that saw Rhys’ heart feel like it had leapt into his mouth. There was a rumble and a vibration as well, this caused the PADD to slip from Rhys’ sweaty palm as he reached to hold himself on the ladder. Kino went for it but missed. Even in darkness before the emergency lights clicked on, Rhys felt he could see the irritation on her face. He had been about the apologise to her when she seemed to spot something above him. She threw herself through the now opened door. Rhys did not have as much time as she did as he was now above the door. He tried to climb down while the ladder made worrying noises. Once he was level with the doorway Kino reached out and he did not need to be told to make a grab for her cybernetic arm.

Rhys was many things. Shy, quiet, awkward utterly unconfident. However physically he was no slouch. Years of rugby, sailing, and swimming had produced an athletic and energetic young man. Using her arm for leverage, he was able to launch himself through the door almost bowling into Kino, as the ladder crumpled with the force of his jump. He felt a rush of a breeze ruffle the back of his head as the lift rushed behind him and he threw himself through the doorway. He looked back over his shoulder through the doorway. “Fucking hell.” Hearing Rhys swear was unusual, it was like hearing a Klingon complete a sentence without using the word Honour, a surreal circumstance. It was at this point he realised he was now on top of Kino. At which point Rhys’ shyness and awkwardness returned with a vengeance. He sprang to his feet, standing with his back almost ram rod straight, his face blushing so much it was nearly purple. “Sorry!” He barked out in slightly panicked tone, before offering her hand to help her back on to her feet.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Lost in the bowels of the  IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
ATTN: @rae  @jreeves1701  @ob2lander961 @Dumedion  @Juzzie 

The female's voice was quiet as it came from almost right next to her. Another one of the partygoers had happened to find the wrong path. Mia briefly wondered how close she had come to landing on top of the other woman. She had a feeling it would not have been pleasant for either of them.

 Mia chuckled, “Hindsight does tend to do that doesn’t it. I know how that is. Azrin can be a force unto herself.”  She shifted her position a little closer to the disembodied voice and to give her new ‘roommate’ more room to stretch out her legs, “Let me just scooch over a bit so you have room, not there is a lot of it down here.”

Mia listened to Nysari explain the room they found themselves in. “An actual trap, huh? Does not seem to be very honorable but who knows what Klingon's really think." She sighed a little and peered into the darkness, "Well at the moment it seems to be working, but if we had a phaser couldn’t we just cut our way out? Seems a waste of valuable space. I would have thought it was Gagh storage since they love it so fresh.” But even that thought made her a bit queasy. Either there were in a pit where the enemies had most likely wasted away or where thousands of squirming worms had spent their final days. She shook her head as she found the wall and turned to rest her back against it.

When Nysari asked if she was hurt Mia nodded, then mentally scolded herself because how was anyone going to see that in this dark pit. She took a small breath, “Not really. Sort of landed on my wrist a little funny. Nothing that seems broken. Were you injured? “

Before Nysari could relay her condition Mia had a thought, “How far up do you think that trap door is? Maybe if we work together we can get it open from this side.”

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @Juzzie @Eirual @rae @ob2lander961 @jreeves1701
[Show/Hide]She’d heaved Rhys right onto her, and the two fell back in a tangle of bodies just as the lift fell; Kino hit her back with a grunt and the back of her head cracked into the floor, hard enough to make her teeth click together. The LT’s landing was altogether gentler, cushioned mostly by her – his head landed square on her sternum, where he lay sprawled out for a few seconds while the Trill’s head swam with stars. She heard him mutter something, but was too busy grimacing and groaning at the pain in her head and chest to pay attention.

“Ow,” the non-com grumbled, mostly to herself, as she lifted her silvered head to peer down at the top of his head, face buried in her bust. Well...’least he’s okay, she grunted silently. She was just about to ask him to get off when he scrambled up, one knee slamming into her groin in his panicked struggle to right himself. “Fuck,” Kino hissed, curling up as her eyes twisted shut, shaking her head as she groaned in pain. Right in the fuckin’ moose-knuckle, her hands instinctively went to the injury as she rocked a bit at his feet.

“Fuck sake,” Kino growled up at his apology, brows knit in annoyance. If it was one of her guys, she’d probably slap the piss out of him in retribution, but self control held her in check. Easy...just...chill, she took a few deep breaths, then hauled herself up to her feet. “It’s fine. Let’s just...figure out where the hell we are,” the Trill winced, holding her head and her stomach. Bout had enough of this rust-bucket, she fumed, glancing around. They looked to be on some sort of storage area, or cargo hold, then she heard something.

“Wait,” Kino froze, glancing at Rhys as her head tilted. “You hear that,” she hissed. “Voices? Below,” her head nodded to the deck just ahead of them. How or why someone would end up below the deck, she didn't have a clue...but there was definitely someone down there. Kino arched a brow at Rhys, then nodded. "Careful were you step. Somethin feel's off," she warned him.

[(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/archive/f/fb/20160814014820%21W-o1.png) Ens. Via "DixeBee" Wix (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Via_Wix) | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] ] Attn: @Rae  @Juzzie  @Dumedion @ jreeves1701
[Show/Hide]

Via had absolutely no idea what Azrin was talking about. There were so many words that sounded like math that her brain automatically sorted them into gibberish and threw it in the trash. She did however didn't want her to feel like she wasn't listening so she just chimed in with something that sounded...important.

"Don't you like...have to find the cause of a parabolic destabilization in the fission singularity?" She said surprisingly like she knew what she was talking about. When Azrin just started going on a tangent Via just gave up and looked at the darkness behind her. This was probably the most interesting party she had ever attended and she was having fun. Then again anything was better than being locked on a medical deck 24 hours 7 days a week with nothing to do. Plus she was hanging out with Azrin again and boy she missed her and her...smartness.

Having tuned out all the background noise for a good minute she tuned back in right when the trill mentioned something about boobies which caused the young pilot to turn around with a confused expression on her face.

"Weird ass ship is trapped with boobies wha- oh booby trap. Shit, I dunno. Maybe ask whoever's ass sold it to you. Nysari? Sari?" Via shrugged then had an epiphany. "Oh OH shit, m-my as seen this shit before in a holovid. The ship is fuckin' haunted! We need to like...give its sprit a dead body or somethin cause its hungry...I think. Oh maybe quiet girl was the ghost all along...shit my ass is confused now." Via placed her hands on her hips and started pondering.

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion  @Eirual @jreeves1701  @rae  @ob2lander961

Rhys had the sense that he was not really making a friend on this little adventure. In fact quite the reverse. He felt that if things carried on like they were he would have made an implacable enemy. Or at the very least someone who would avoid interacting with him at all costs for the rest of their time on the USS Thuergy. He was amazed at Kino’s patience she did not strike him as the sort of person who would normally be this patient, but then maybe his rank had something to do with it.

She swore, not that he blamed her. He thought about apologising more but he quickly realised that would not do him any good.  She told him things were fine in a way that clearly indicating things were not fine. He felt this strange and pathetic urge to make himself useful to her before this was over but he didn’t see how that was going to happen.

The doorway had opened up into a cargo or storage area. Rhys could see some boxes most of which had been upended, their lids displaced clearly demonstrating that whatever they had held was long gone. He had been about to turn and speak to her when Kino had frozen and told him to wait, and now that he did he could definitely heard voices to. The voices were not loud enough to hear what was being said or make any determination as to who was saying it. He followed her being hypervigilant of where he was putting his feet. His eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom. He felt a sense of mounting unease, partly because of Kino’s behaviour he trusted her instincts more than his own. He kept quiet not trusting his voice to be empty of fear.

[ Lt. JG Nysarisiza “Nysari” zh’Eziarath | somewhere aboard the IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: @Eirual @Dumedion @Juzzie @ob2lander961 @jreeves1701

“I don’t have a phaser,” she admitted, because who would bring a phaser to a party? “Lieutenant Ryn is certainly enthusiastic, but she didn’t strike me as someone would plan a party that would require weaponry. Even on a Klingon ship.” Another assumption that hadn’t aged well in the light of hindsight. “Did you bring one?”

Though she couldn’t see it, Nysari could hear the other woman shifting, and tentatively spread out some in response. The space was still far from anything comfortable, but she certainly felt better than she had before. As Mia continued to speak, Nysari thought for a moment about the room possibly being gagh storage, but frankly, it didn’t smell foul enough. “I twisted my ankle when I landed. I don’t believe it’s broken, but it is painful to put weight on it. I haven’t given much effort to the trap door.” As she mentioned it, she looked upwards by instinct, though she couldn’t see the door in question. “I didn’t want to exacerbate the injury by standing for too long.”

Nysari paused as a new sound reached her ears, harsh thud as something fell onto the deck plating. It wasn’t a sound so much as vibrations reaching the wall behind her. “Do you hear that?” she asked her companion hopefully, before raising her voice in another warning attempt. “Hello? Is anyone out there? Watch out for the trapdoor in the floor!”

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Engineering | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]

“How does that mean the ship is haunted?” Azrin took the question seriously for all of three seconds, just long enough to tilt her head to the side and turn her attention to Via instead of the part in her hand. But the rationale fell apart quickly. “Via, ghosts are incorporeal. How could a ghost have gotten this part and installed it in the power grid?” Ok, so not a ghost. That meant they were back to who would want to booby trap an old Klingon ship? “And Nysari didn’t sell it to me. I asked her for help negotiating with the Klingon who was renting out the ship.”

Azrin looked back down, running her fingers over the small device and feeling for every nook and cranny of the computer chip. Then she gave it another thorough search with the tricorder, though it revealed nothing she hadn’t already figured out. It had been made to cut the power at randomly assigned intervals. No outside device had triggered it, it was just setting countdown clocks for itself. If Azrin hadn’t found it and disabled it, the lights would have returned on their own in a few more minutes. “Super weird,” she muttered.

“Hey, you didn’t see that Klingon around here did you?” She asked Via and Larrant hopefully. “He’ll definitely know what’s up! What was his name? U-Ural? No. Uraw? No, not that either. I know it started with a U! Or whatever letter in the Klingon alphabet sounds like a U. U… U… Ureq! That’s it! Computer, call Ureq.” To her complete surprise, the ship’s communications system dinged an affirmative.

A moment later, the Klingon’s gruff voice filled the air around them. “Greetings.” Then there was a pause. That went on for an awkwardly long amount of time.

“Oh no,” Azrin complained. “Don’t tell me this is prerecorded.”

“You have reached Ureq, son of Odragh, owner of Ureq’s Event Rentals!”

“I wanted to talk to the actual Ureq!” She groaned. “Computer, please.”

“The most honorable rental company in Kl’alath! If this communication is for future events, say bookings. For-“

“Why is there a booby trap in your ship?” she cut it off, not willing to wait for the entire address book.

“I’m sorry, I do not understand the request. If this communication is for future events, say-“

“IKS… ugh… what’s this ship called? K’ratak! IKS K’ratak!”

“The IKS K’ratak is a Bird of Prey commissioned in 2284. After it’s decommissioning in 2316, the K’ratak was refitted by Ureq’s Event Rentals as an Escape Room. Warriors of all ages can experience the thrill of battle and other harrowing experiences in a relic of the Klingon Defense Force! For those too weak and cowardly to finish, a safe word will be provided that will end the game. To schedule your experience, say bookings. For more information, say information. To leave a review of the IKS K’ratak, say review.”

Azrin had quit listening after escape room, looking rather sheepishly at the others. “Ok, I didn’t exactly read the whole advertisement. The idea of renting a Klingon ship was so exciting! But it will be fine. I mean, it’s a game. Games are fun!”

“Warriors, fight your way free with honor! Qapla’!”

[PO2 Kino Jeen | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS] Attn: @Juzzie  @Eirual  @rae  @ob2lander961  @jreeves1701
[Show/Hide]The overhead lights of the cargo hold were dimmed as if the power was struggling, but upon closer examination, Kino realized it was dust – dust and grime from years of sitting idle. Her nose wrinkled at the layers of it that covered everything. Cobwebs hung from corners and walls, making her skin crawl. Fuckin’ bugs, she shivered. Kino hated spiders. Oddly enough, it appeared someone had been through there recently, judging by the foot traffic on the floor and boxes that were disturbed. Even stranger still, her eyes narrowed at a truly odd track of displaced dust…it looked like someone or something had been dragged or crawled on the decking. Her head tilted with a frown. The hell is going on here, the Trill wondered, then glanced back at Rhys. The LT seemed more than a little cautious – like he expected she was going to break his face or something. Kino resisted the urge to sigh and simply nodded slowly, brows raised slightly in an ‘its okay’ look of reassurance.

Pips, she smirked and shook her head subtly after turning back to face the bay. A dusty old console stood off on one side of the wide room, next to what looked to be a boarding ramp. The odd tracks on the floor came from the door on the side entrance to her left, hugged the wall oddly, before wandering off into the middle of the room, then stopped. “This is damned peculiar,” Kino’s eyes narrowed at it all, whispering to Rhys. “See the tracks?” She pointed with two fingers as he came alongside. This is turning into one weird fuckin’ night.

She'd definitely heard somebody talking, but now all was quiet, save the distant rumble of the straining energy grid. The non-com looked around, trying to find anything to shed some light on the mystery, but wasn’t having much luck. She sighed. “I’ll take a closer look,” her head bobbed forwards, while a hand gestured to the console on the wall. “Can you see if there’s anything useful on there. A…layout, or something,” she asked him quietly, doubtful that he’d have much success, but it would give him something to do and hopefully keep him out of harms way. “Be careful. Thanks, LT,” she added with a pat on his shoulder before he could really think about it.

Kino took a few quiet steps forward, brows knitted at the scene on the floor. An odd seam on the deck ran a few meters long, splitting a section of the decking in a square. She stood on one side of the seam, head tilted at the tracks. Why would there be a seam here in the…floor, her mind chewed the mystery as she knelt down to get a closer look, spreading the dust away with a swipe of her hand. The fuck, her head shook, utterly confused. Suspicious eyes traced the tracks back to the wall and the door, following the weird drunken path in the dust. Somebody get smashed and pass out here? It seemed possible, but the tracks were small, the footprints oddly shallow, showing drag marks; as if the person shuffled their way in – afraid to pick their feet up.

Kino stood, hands on her hips as she chewed her lip, about to turn to Rhys to see if he’d found anything, when a clank shuddered through her feet. Suddenly, the deck below fell away, and the Trill had a split second to curse at the top of her lungs, arms pinwheeling as she dropped out of sight without any grace at all. Kino landed in a heap, crashing into something that wasn’t exactly hard or soft. Surprised shouts and grunts echoed, as Kino grimaced, lifting her face off the floor. She was laying perpendicular on a body – her eyes blinked at the feet and legs sticking out, then up at the blonde against one wall of the hole.

“Mia?” the non-com wheezed as she pushed herself up, utterly confused and sore, then looked at whoever had cushioned her fall. The Andorian looked less than pleased, making Kino wince as she tried to help her up. “Really sorry about that - you okay,” she asked, glancing between the two, before tilting her head up to holler at Rhys.

“Yo, LT! Need a little help down here,” Kino hollered, just before the trapdoor squealed shut. “Ah, fuck.”

OOC: sorry @rae - the dice chose poor Nysari as a mattress again.

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ]
ATTN: @rae @Jreev @Ob @Dum @Juzz

Mia almost laughed, but not because she found it funny, but more as a nervous reaction to the tense situation she found herself in. Ever since she woke up in recovery, she found that she did not like being in confined spaces. She could not remember her time in stasis; after all, she was unconscious before she was put into the stasis tube. But somehow her mind had been aware of it and didn’t like it one bit. She’d had to fight the urge to climb the walls since she fell in, even though there was nothing to hold onto and Nysari needed a calm headed companion right now. She forced herself to stay quiet as she too heard the footsteps above. “They stopped!” Mia took a deep breath and was about to shout when the small room suddenly filled with light and she closed her eyes and lifted her arm to block it. A small gasp escaped, “Oh Shit, look out!” She pulled her feet in as quick as she could.

Yep, it figured! Just when Mia thought they were saved the trap door opened above them and someone else dropped into the confined space missing Mia by inches but landing squarely on poor Nysari.  The scream that preceded the landing might have been enough to get someone’s attention. For the moment she could see who it was, Kino Jeen had joined them unwillingly.

Mia was surprised that the security officer even remembered her name. “Yes, glad you could drop in!” Mia said with a small grimace towards the ceiling that was now closed again. “Was someone with you up there?”  She turned towards Nysari, “Are you okay? How’s the ankle? “

Mia looked at Kino and up at the trap door, “If we can lift Nysari, maybe she can get to that door and pull it open from below. I mean there has to be a way to do that, right?”

While she imagined there to be some sort of lip on the door, she couldn’t see anything in the darkened hole they found themselves in. She pushed herself up and leaned against the wall to make more room for Kino. “If anyone else falls in...” She shook her head and mumbled to herself, “sardines in a can!”

Mia turned back towards Kino, “Some Birthday party, trap your guests so they can’t leave!”

[ Lt. Rhys Williams | Engineering | IKS K'ratak | Qo'noS] attn: @Dumedion @ob2lander961 @Eirual @jreeves1701 @rae

The Cargo bay smelt stale to Rhys, rather like house that had stood vacant and uncleaned for years. There was a lonely, unsettling feel to the place. Rhys found his ears alert to every sound. As they shuffled through the bay dust rose from the floor and made his eyes water a little. It did not help that he was not feeling paranoid about what Kino must be thinking of him. He wished he had the fortitude not to care about someone else’s view of him. He flet the embarrassing desire to show that he was not useless.

However, Rhys was snapped out of his distracted thoughts by the Trill pointing out tracks in the floor. “Yeah.” The tracks seemed to take an odd route around the wall before moving into the middle and stopping. Kino volunteered to look closer at the tracks and suggested Rhys examine a console in the far wall. “Good Idea.” He said finding himself whispering without meaning to. He moved past her towards the console, just before he was due to reach it he heard a loud clank and a curse. Turning round just in time to see her disappear through an aperture in the floor

He had been very lucky, had he stayed by her side he would likely have gone in to. He heard Kino call for help before the aperture clanged shut. He found his heart beating quickly. He had no idea how he could immediately fix this. Cautiously he approached the edge of the trap door. He brushed at the dust around the edge with his foot. While he had wondered if it was a trap, that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him. Rhys thought that without the poor lighting and dirt the door would have been quite visible. He saw two options it was either a malfunctioning device, or the hinge had become so weak that a little bit of weight would cause it to open.

Rhys decided to take Kino’s original suggestion of examining the console. Rhys was hardly an expert on Klingon computer systems, but he had to find some way to help her. The console itself looked like it had seen better days. Rhys crouched down to remove an access panel. Inside he saw some multicoloured chips similar the Isolinear chips on Federation vessel. Many of them looked melted. There was no way he could repair this. The door would probably require a more direct method.

Rhys took a few minutes to examine what remained of the containers in the Cargo bay. He found a long metal cylinder. It didn’t look particularly strong, but there were not many options. Some of the cargo boxes had been secured together by some heavy duty looking straps, though time had taken their toll and many of them looked decidedly rotten. Taking the best one he could find, and sweating profusely, Rhys tied the strap around the middle. He pushed the rod out over the trap door, it did not however seem heavy enough to trigger the door. The only other thing was some of the crates. He was scared that this would fall through and land on Kino below.

Unsure if his combadge would even be able to reach her he tried anyway. “Williams to Kino. I am going to do something that might open the door.” He banged the rod on the section of trap door nearest to himself. “Don’t stand here if you can move away.” He began to push the crate into position.

[ Lt. JG Nysarisiza “Nysari” zh’Eziarath | somewhere aboard the IKS K’ratak | Kl'alath | Qo’noS ] Attn: @Dumedion @Eirual @Juzzie @jreeves1701 @ob2lander961

She was never helping to plan a party on Qo’noS ever again.

There were three of them now, piled in a tiny room that hadn’t been made for more than one. Nysari hadn’t even had the option to avoid the newest occupant when she’d heard the now familiar sign of the trapdoor falling open. There had been nowhere for her to go to get out of the way, no time to try to squeeze in with the shouting Mia. “I’m fine,” she lied. In truth, she was sore everywhere, injured from her own fall and newly bruised from this woman falling on top of her. But there was no point in saying it aloud, it was not like the trill could have helped it. “I’m Nysari. This is Mia, who you seem to already know. Hopefully the next person who walks down this corridor will manage to avoid the trap, because this is getting embarrassing.”

Mia beat Nysari to the next question, inquiring whether or not Kino had been shouting at a companion above – hopefully one who had just seen the trapdoor in action and now knew to avoid it. Nysari looked hopefully at Kino for an answer, before wincing slightly as Mia mentioned her ankle. “It’s not any worse, thank you, but it’s not going to get any better without a week of rest or medical treatment.”

She tried to squish against the wall with the others, but there was really no way that someone wasn’t going to get hit if the door opened again. Her antennae twitched as she tried to listen, catching only light scraping and muffled shouting. There was definitely someone up there. “Do you know what your friend is doing?” Nysari asked, just as the trap door fell open again, revealing what looked like a giant crate, teetering precariously over the ledge and tipping to fall inside…

Fifteen minutes later…

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Transporter Room 3 | Deck 12 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy ]

“But it was a puzzle!” she complained, her tone a second away from whining. “It would have been awesome! What did you pull us out for?”

“Like I was saying Lieutenant, we received distress calls-“

“That was before, we had it handled!”

“And sensors picked up a dangerous energy buildup in the Klingon ship’s systems-“

“All part of the game!”

“Explosives on top of the hull!”

“That one is a bit weird. Not sure why they’d put those outside the escape room itself.”

“And those three just said they were about to be crushed!”

“Yeah, good timing on that, I’ll admit.” Azrin grinned over at Kino, Mia, and Nysari, throwing them a thumbs up before returning her attention to the transporter operator. “But we can go back now that no one is getting crushed!”

The transporter operator looked frazzled. This probably wasn’t how he’d expected his shift to go, pulling a bunch of the crew of a Klingon party ship in the middle of the night, only for the birthday girl to demand he send them all back. “I can’t send you back, even if I wanted to. There’s some sort of scattering field that sprung up around the ship, do you know how long it took us to figure out how to beam you back at all?”

“No,” Azrin replied immediately, “Well actually maybe. Because it probably went up the same time everything started going funky at the party- wait. Scattering field? Can I look at it? How did you modify the transporters? Can I see that too?” Faced with a new technological marvel at hand, Azrin’s ire disappeared in an instant, dashing behind the operator’s console to get a look at the screens.

Then she moved to start pulling panels off the transporter, passing Nysari, who was limping out of the room. The Andorian was shaking her head, looking both resigned and bemused as the transporter operator started loudly objecting again. “Happy Birthday Lieutenant.”

“Thanks! And the day’s still young, maybe I can have another better party later!”

Despite her injury, the diplomat managed to leave very quickly after that.

Fin.