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Day 05 [1430 hrs.] Sticky Progress

Day 05 [1430 hrs.] Sticky Progress

[Ens. Irnashall “Shall” ch’Xinya | Corridor | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] attn: @Auctor Lucan @AlyFox

For several minutes now, a lone Andorian had stood outside of a high-intensity forcefield that had been erected to seal off the corridor staring at the mess on the other side of it.  A nightmarish scene showed exactly why the next section had been cut off from the rest of the ship.  What wasn’t damaged from a firefight was covered in various bits of snake-like cabling connecting chunks of disable machinery that definitely didn’t fit the Starfleet decor.  The worst part of it all was that he could see where all that junk came from: the open doors to his Stellar Cartography lab.  For days Shall had been waiting patiently for the word that this section had been cleared so that he could rebuild his little sanctum (yet again), but his patience was just about spent now.

Boot treads sounded on the deck plates behind him and Shall sighed to release some of his frustration.  “It’s about time, I’ve been calling for nearly half an hour.” he growled over his shoulder before turning around to see who the Ops department finally sent to see him.  The comparatively diminutive woman that appeared caught him off guard for a moment, hers was a face he knew he’d never seen before.  The forehead ridges were too small to be the result of Savi genetic tampering so she wasn’t from the Endeavour, nor could she have been someone from Theurgy who had been altered either.  Grunting in resignation Shall just waved to the forcefield behind him.  “So when will I get access to my lab again?  Do you understand that I have days if not weeks worth of work waiting for me in there?”

Her answer didn’t satisfy the hot-blooded Andorian in the slightest.  Doing his best to keep from exploding he did the only thing he could think of: walk away.  She may be the same rank but he did not want to talk with security yet again.  He could hear her keeping step with him and he gritted his teeth.  The turbolift wasn’t very far and he stabbed the call button as hard as he could.  “Listen, Ensign, I know it’s not your fault, you’re doing the best you can, but you have to understand, that lab is my entire reason for being on board this ship.”  Staring into those beautiful hazel eyes Shall could admire her spunk.  Not a lot of people would be willing to go toe to toe with a pissed-off Andorian.

As they stood there arguing about it the doors finally opened and Shall blew right in without looking.  Taking up a spot by the back wall his antenna was still plastered against his skull despite K’Lara’s best efforts.  She followed him in as well.  “Deck 8” he almost yelled to Thea.  “I’m guessing you probably don’t know, but I’ve modified the equipment in that lab to turn it into a full tactical observation post, as well as one of the best astronomical scientific facilities available to us.  I need to be a higher priority!”  As that new outburst echoed off of the walls Shall could now feel a second set of eyes locked onto hi.  Head snapping around to the uniformed figure that he just now realized is in the turbolift with them he barked out a simple “What!?”

He regretted it immediately.  Lt. Ida zh’Wann had made it clear days earlier that she never wanted to see him again, and now he was less than a meter from her face.

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #1 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @ch'Xinya @AlyFox 
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And Ida's stare was like a cold fire, glaring at the chan whilst he behaved like he owned the ship, subjecting the Bellerophon crew member to his misplaced anger.

The Lieutenant stood there, with her arms folded underneath her chest at the back of the turbolift, and despite how her mind had been put at ease after the Head Nurse's unorthodox treatments, coming face to face with the very Andorian that had forced himself on her was decidedly not conductive to her recovery. "Stay you tongue, Ensign," she said in a voice so quiet that her next statement was like an ushaan-tor to the teeth, "or I will break the antenna you have left."

Satisfied that Shall was not saying anything immediately, the Deputy Chief of Security turned her blue eyes to the Klingon hybrid that shared the lift with them. "Was this insolent cur of a cartographer giving you any trouble?" she asked, her tone far more restrained, even though there was no smile to her stony countenance. "If so, I would be happy to have him spend the night in the brig so that he might learn some proper manners, as befitting a Starfleet officer instead of a mere animal."

The choice of words, of course, was aimed at Shall for his weakness in the Savi observation pen, where he had given in to his primal instincts - infatuated with the Sclergyn's apparent lies. Moved by falsehood, he's seized her hips in the darkness, and forced himself inside her.

And she would never forgive him for it.

OOC: Aly next, right?  :)

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #2 –
Ensign K’Lara Halliwell | Corridor | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @chXinya @Auctor Lucan
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K'Lara made her way down the halls of the the ship, she was still very much getting used to serving on. The young Ensign had been through a lot more than she admittedly had been prepared for lately, the Academy didn't really teach how to deal with...well this! Still it had taught her how to do her job, which was why she was here. She didn't know much, just that someone couldn't get past a force-field or something and needed either someone from Operations or Engineering to come down and take a look.

As she got close she could see an Andorian standing next to the forcefield in question and the huge mess just behind it. Before the young hybrid could say anything however, the taller man growled over his shoulder at her and looked down at her, not that was anything knew, she was rather short compared to a lot of people, her Human half had clearly beaten her Klingon half when it came to the height department.

"I uh..." she muttered, glancing from the taller man to the forcefield and the mess behind it and then down to her PADD, scanning for where exactly on the several pages list of things in need of repair on the beaten up ship. Not finding anything on pages one or two, sure enough though a little over half way down on page three, there was the area in question. The Andorian, clearly a member of the science department was already in a foul mood due to having to wait and now she had to deliever even more bad news. "Uh well according to the current work schedule this area should be clear in uh...three days." the hybrid said.

Sure enough he was not happy with her answer and if looks could kill, to coin an old Human expression K'Lara was pretty sure she'd be a dead woman. Her fellow ensign however didn't strike out at her however, instead opting to turn on his heel and walk away. Taking a quick glance around, she followed after him as they made the short trip back to the turbolift. Judging by the way the blue skinned man jabbed the button, that anger wasn't going away any time soon. Still he seemed to yell at her about how his work was waiting for him and it was taking all her willpower to keep her Klingon half and the temper that came with it from punching him square on the nose for the way he was talking to her.

She could certainly understand his frustration but there were other, far more pressing issues that the Engineering and Operations departments had to fix and even then what got fixed and when wasn't anything to do with her, it might not even have been Commander Stark's for all K'Lara knew and yet here was this apparently holier than thou scientist acting like he deserved special treatment. Everybody on board was waiting for something somewhere to be fixed, the Andorian was no different beyond the lack of patience he seemed to have compared to other people.

Despite the fact she was small in height, she could handle herself and her Klingon half certainly gave her a lot more confidence when it came to standing up to others regardless of her size, so she refused to back down and glared right back up at him. Which evidently seemed to work somewhat as he seemed to calm down enough and offer something of an apology to her. Taking a breath she nodded in understanding as they stepped onto the Turbolift "I understand your frustration but there are a lot of things on this ship that need fixing and while your lab might very well be important to you, it's not the most important thing on the ship that needs attention right now, you aren;t the only one waiting for something to be fixed around here." she growled back, being as diplomatic as possible considering her Klingon blood screamed at her to knock him on his ass for talking to her as such.

Truth be told, K'Lara didn't know about the modifications she had made, and while they certainly sounded important, evidently despite the Andorian's belief that he deserved to be a higher priority, the Chief Engineer and her own boss Commander Stark clearly didn't think so, otherwise the Andorian and his lab would have been a higher priority. Still before she could tell the smug blue skin that, he seemed to snap and turn his attention to someone else, someone that evidently neither he nor K'Lara herself had noticed before, both being wrapped up in their own arguing...well more his arguing than hers.

Still a quick glance told K'Lara that the other Andorian was wearing gold, which made her either an Engineer or a Security Officer since the hybrid at least knew of the other members of the Operations department and she was not one of them. The second thing she immediately spotted was that the female Andorian outranked both of them and the final thing that was not at all hard to spot was that she clearly did not like the other Andorian judging by that glare.

The curse of being a hybrid was that sometimes her Klingon half would step in and give her courage for a situation and other times her Human half would jump in and take over and vice versa and right now, it decided to jump back in, perhaps because a superior officer was in their company and she didn't want to go all Klingon on anybody, especially being so new to the ship. Something that went doubly so when the woman threatened to break the other Andorian's only antenna. Now K'Lara might not know everything there was to know about Andorian's, she knew that those antennae of theirs were really important to them and losing one was pretty bad. She wasn't sure what losing both would do to an Andorian but clearly this woman hated the man that much to even say such a thing.

Then the woman turned her attention from him over to herself. "Insolent cur?" yep she definitely does not like this guy the hybrid thought to herself, even though the tone of her voice wasn't actively hostile as it could have been, it wasn't exactly hard to know that it probably was in the female Andorian's head. Her next statement caused K'Lara's eyebrows to rise slightly. "I uh...I don't think that will be necessary." she managed to stutter out before giving a soft cough to clear her throat.

All semblance of her Klingon half gone as her Human half took the wheel and right now wanted nothing more than to shrink down even smaller than her 5'3 and 1/4 height already was so that she was not taking up any room in this turbolift to be remotely noticeable to the two Andorian's that clearly had issues with each other...well at least one of them did anyway. K'Lara didn't know, didn't particularly want to know and really wished she was anywhere else but in this turbolift right now.


Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #3 –
[Ens. Irnashall "Shall" ch'Xinya | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] attn: @Auctor Lucan @AlyFox

Plastered against his skull from the anger over getting shut out of his lab (on top of the discovery of what someone let happen to it, he swore that if he found out whose idea it was to let the Borg have their way with it in the first place he would strangle them with his own hands and throw them out an airlock), Shall’s antenna shot upright like an Academy cadet at Ida’s tone.  Instinctively stepping back and into the turbolift bulkhead, the chan’s face paled at her vitriol.  He wisely kept his mouth shut for the moment, letting the security officer check on the new Ensign.  It wasn’t lost on him that she volunteered to toss him into the Brig and his shock started to morph back into anger over the slight.

“Oh I see, the brig is functional but our long range sensor analysis needs three days just to get started.  I guess you have to lose a chief to be the favored child.” he spat without thinking.  “Deck 8.” he ordered quickly to get the turbolift moving again.

Staring down Lt. zh’Wann, Shall had all but forgotten about K’Lara already.  The ungrateful bitch, her pride shoved so far up her rear that she couldn’t bend over to put on her own boots.  For a moment he wondered if he should’ve sided with Sehl after all, maybe with an egg inside that lovely twat of hers she’d finally thaw out and be reasonable for once in her life.  She fired back of course, but not too far into the retort the turbolift shuddered accompanied with a flickering of the lights.

Glancing up at the ceiling a surprised question formed on Shall’s blue lips, but before it found the air the lift lurched to a sudden halt hard enough to make the Andorian stumble.  Everything was plunged into darkness so he didn’t see what he fell into, all he could tell is that it wasn’t nearly as hard as the bulkhead.  The red emergency lighting kicked in a few seconds later making him blink everything back into focus.  Glancing down he froze in shock.

The damned turbolift just threw him right into Ida’s arms.

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #4 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @ch'Xinya @AlyFox 
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Before the turbolift had come to an abrupt stop, Ida had heard the glib remark about Wenn Cinn, and it stirred her ire more than it ought to. She had unfolded her arms and slowly, menacingly, made fists at her sides, while her browridge lowered over her cold, fiery eyes. "You are a disgrace, Ensign. Not just to the Andorian people but to your uniform, and worse yet, you are a weak-minded rapi-"

Then, their foothold lurched with the sudden short-circuit of the lift, and they all stumbled. Ida still retained her footing, but a body collided with her. Once the emergency lighting came on, she saw that it was - of course - the cartographer, him taking every opportunity to be handsy. "By Lor'Vela get away from me, you puny pervert of a decrepit little chan," she hissed, equally mad over the fact that they appeared to be trapped together as the fact that he'd come close to her. Her open hand shot out, catching the Ensign below his throat and shoving him away from herself, making sure she didn't propel the other Andorian into the Bellerophon officer.

Seething with indignant anger, she slowly turned her eyes and antennae to the woman, taking a deep breath. "Could you please try to contact someone who can make the lift move again?" she said quietly, glancing towards the woman's combadge, and then she looked back at Irnashall, the vehemence returning to her glare.

"You're debaucherous molester, and if I regret anything experienced on the Savi dreadnought most, it is how you forced yourself on me at the promise of our abductors, eagerly leaping at the chance to shed your seed, like a rutting animal in heat. Shelat, we were supposed to remain strong and refrain in the proud, patriotic spirit of our people, showing them that Andorians were better than breeding stock, but no... You ruined it, for even though the lies of the xenobiologist were so apparent, your animal drive got the better of you. By Lor'Vela, how could you do that to me?"

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #5 –
Ensign K’Lara Halliwell | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @chXinya @Auctor Lucan
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K'Lara could do nothing but watch as the male Andorian wisely backed away from the female, seeming to turn a slightly lighter shade of blue as he did so until he bumped into the bulkhead. Still that wouldn't keep his quiet for long as he countered back with a verbal jab of his own. While it was pretty clear that he hadn't thought before he spoke, to speak ill of the dead was a lowly, honour-less thing to do and judging by the woman's clenched fists and glare it wasn't something the Security Officer appreciated.

Her haze shifting between the two Andorians, K'Lara arched an eyebrow at the words the female was saying. Disgrace to the Andorian people, the uniform and was she about to say rapist? He was a rapist? If so why was he still on the ship, serving and not in the brig or tossed out the airlock or something? She wondered, as her gaze shifted back to the male, now eyeing him with far more suspicion than she had previously.

Not that it lasted long when the lift shuddered, lurched and the lights went dead, judging by the sounds of it everybody, herself included had stumbled a little. Luckily she had been standing close enough to the wall that she didn't move too far, but she didn't know where the other two had been sent...which would evidently turn out to be into each other's arms as was revealed when the lights came up again. "Oh no..." the young hybrid muttered, more at the realisation that the Turbolift had died more than the situation the Andorians found themselves in, not that it lasted long considering the security officer immediately shoved him away, with a not so friendly open handed shot to his throat.

K'Lara's head immedately snapped over to the woman when she quielty asked her to contact someone to get the lift moving again and nodded "Oh yes I can do that." she said quickly and tapped her Combadge  =^="Halliwell to Bridge we've got a malfunctioning Turbolift here, could you please get it moving again..." she said, her eyes moving between the two Andorian's on either side of the confined space "...preferably sooner rather than later if possible, thank you."=^=

A few seconds passed in uncomfortable silence before a voice came back through her Combadge =^="Bridge to Halliwell, sorry about that Ensign, we've been having power failures off and on through various systems today that combined with issues to the ODN network and it's unfortunately hit the deck your Turbolift was passing through and took it out in the process. I'll dispatch the first repair crew I can to get to you but you might have to wait a little while while we get the power back up in your area,."=^= came the reply.

With those words, K'Lara was sure she felt the air itself tense up with the silent awkwardness in the very small space, so much so that she almost forgot to respond to whoever it was at Ops that had been talking to her. =^="Oh um th...thank you, Halliwell out."=^= she quickly blurted out before going silent again, her eyes quickly darting between the scientist and security officer and wished that she could be anywhere else in the galaxy right now than in here with these two people that clearly had an issue with the other.

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #6 –
[Ens. Irnashall "Shall" ch'Xinya | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] attn: @Auctor Lucan @AlyFox

The hits just kept coming to Shall, literally in the case of Lt. zh’Wann’s reaction.  He could almost swear that he heard the cartilage plate covering his sternum pop from the impact of her palm against it, she’d smacked him with enough force to effectively throw him across the car.  Even if she hadn’t hit his throat directly he still ended up gasping for air for several seconds, the blows knocking the wind out of him giving the righteous zhen an opening to unload on the hated chan.

“I didn’t…” Shall’s reply was little more than a croak at first, he had to work the throat muscles with his fingers for a moment before proper speech could happen.  “I didn’t start it.  What else were we supposed to do?  Kidnapped, pumped full of drugs, and threatened with a memory wipe if we didn’t comply?”  The chan’s voice steadily built in strength and volume, not to the point of shouting, but it was clear his limits were behind him now.  “Shall…” Syora’s voice echoed out of nowhere from somewhere in his mind, trying to caution him.  “Besides, I don’t recall you resisting once Shar got all over you.”

“Listen to her…” Jay now issued a warning, something she seldom did, but their ch’te wasn’t listening at this point.  Too worked up to stay against the bulkhead Shall started to pace a few steps, keeping his distance from Ida but prowling like a wary predator nonetheless.  Eyes locking onto Halliwell for a moment he adopted an evil, leering grin.  “You’re new on board, so you don’t know our illustrious deputy security chief’s history yet, do you?”  He gave his compatriot a sidelong glance, wondering what her reaction was.  “Don’t Shall…” Jay repeated.

“Ask around, anyone who was on board then can tell you all about how Lt. zh’Wann came back from an away mission and started grabbing every crewmember she could find to either seduce or force herself onto.”  His tone turned mocking for the next part.  “But it wasn’t her fault, it was the virus, making her do that.  And those she fucked, then those they did, on and on…”

“Is your pride worth your soul?” Tavin finally joined his mates in trying to reign Shall in.  “How can we be Whole if you throw yourself away into the abyss?”

Something changed in the Andorian’s face, the built up rage melting from his face as something unseen brought him back from the edge.  Having shot straight up earlier, his antenna drooped again in shame.  “Including me….” Deflated, Shall collapsed against the bulkhead, knees sagging though he was mostly upright still thanks to the friction on his back.  “The logs were deleted once the virus was eradicated.” he explained meekly.  “Memory loss was a side effect from the cure as well, so no one knows what exactly happened, but she’s right.”  Shall buried his face in his hands, tears started to leak from his eyes and he just couldn’t let either woman see that just yet.

After what seemed like an eternity to him but was just a few seconds for Ida and K’lara, Shall managed to regain some modicum of composure and his hands dropped to his sides.  “By Lor’vela what’s happened to me…”

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #7 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @ch'Xinya @AlyFox 
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While the two other occupants in the turbolift were talking at the same time, Ida couldn't pay much attention to the woman from the Bellerophon. Not when she'd managed to ruffle the cartographer's feathers and he was responding to her justified accusation...

...with accusations not very justified at all. She met his words with a stern glare, for while she might have caved in when Shar had assaulted her, unable to stop herself when the other female Andorian had come for her in the darkness, she never initiated anything there in the Savi observation pen. Aye, they had been pumped full by aphrodisiacs by the Savi, but it was a matter of pride that they wouldn't have given in, regardless whatever threats the xenobiologists may have made about wiping their memories. Since Sclergyn had lied about offering a solution for the Andorian infertility, there was no doubt in Ida's mind that the Savi would have wiped their memories before they's be released from captivity anyway. That was, unless the rumours were true, and all the people that those aliens abducted had been Recycled. According to the reports, her own included, it had been the Scions that misled the smaller Savi in thinking they released those they Corrected and experimented upon. Learning about the deception had incited some kind of civil war aboard the Versant, with all those 'Antecedents' misled their entire lives and made slaves to their Scion ruling caste.

To add insult to injury, however, the Ensign had the gall to mock her in front of the Bellerophon crewmember - bringing up the Niga Incident and the role she had inadvertently played in it. Mere days earlier, his words would have been a hard blow, and might have sparked a reaction she mightn't have been able to control. Right then, instead of striking him to his knees, she took a deep breath, and folded her arms underneath her chest, about to tear into the cartographer with her sharp tongue instead.

The reason she had come to terms with her role during the incident had little to do with the Captain's edict about what had happened, where none of the infected by the virus were to be held accountable for their actions, but something else entirely. Shall had just violated that edict, and she was going to report him for it. She'd let Commander Martin deal with his insubordination and his other violations. She might even report him for raping her in the observation pen, staining his record permanently with what he'd done. There was no edict about being a weak-minded failure of an officer and a sexual offender.

No, the reason why she didn't loose it was because of what had happened down on Aldea Prime just two days earlier.

Before she stripped the meat from his exoskeleton with her sharp tongue, however, Shall seemed to realise how far he'd strayed... remorse seemingly coming to him when speaking his mind out loud. Still, as much as he seemed to have fallen from his cloud of pride in his demeanour, he hadn't apologised. Not for the Versant, and certainly not for what he'd just said.

"The whole ship will know what you've done, Ensign. Commander Martin will have a detailed account, and there is even a witness to your breach of protocol and insubordination." She was referring to the woman next to them, of course. "I look forward to carry out any disciplinary actions made against you."

As if dismissing the decrepit chan from her mind, she turned to.... was it Halliwell? She believed that was the name she'd read in the personnel files from the Bellerophon. "What's the word? Do we need to open the emergency hatch and climb out? The emergency lighting should work in the turbolift shaft and the jefferies tubes. I can lift you up, in that case."

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #8 –
Ensign K’Lara Halliwell | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @ch'Xinya
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When K'Lara attended the Academy they taught her many things. How to reroute power through an ODN relay, how to diagnose various computer issues, admin duties, combat and survival training. What they never taught her how to do was deal with uncomfortable situations in enclosed spaces. She'd actually found herself more comfortable running for her life when all hell had broken lose on Starbase 84 than she was right now.

For her part K'Lara stayed where she was as the two Andorians continued their back and forth, sliently praying to her ancestors, the Bajorian Prophets and whatever othe Gods might be listening to get this lift moving. But no, it appeared that they were all busy or something as the lift stubbornly remained where it was. At least they two were keeping her out of it for the most part, that was nice...at least it was until the now pacing scientist turned his attention to her.

Oh no... the young hybrid thought as the man started telling her all about the Deputy Chief and some incident that she had only briefly read up on after she had come aboard. The man clearly had a chip on his shoulder but to air the woman's own suffering during that event was uncalled for in her opinion. If it was her, half-Klingon or not K'Lara was sure she would have knocked the Scientist out by now if she was in the Security Officer's place, which said something about the other Andorian, although K'Lara wasn't exactly sure how long that might last for if the Scientist kept going.

Before she could say anything, not that she particularly had anything to say, the man seemed to calm down and come to a realisation about himself too as he slumped to the ground, his face buried in his hands. Which left K'Lara wondering just what to do, evidently they had all been through a lot and he had apparently opted to let his anger drive him for a while only for it to now relinquish the wheel and let him see just what had been going on during the trip.

Perhaps now it would be over and there would be some peace in the small, confined space, but she doubted it. Something that was evidenced when the Deputy Chief said he would be reported and that there was a witness to his breach of protocol and insubordination, which of course meant her. She'd been on the ship a few weeks, had pretty much only just started her job and here she was embroiled in something that was way over her head at this point.

The Ensign was brought out of her thoughts about the whole situation when she was addressed by the aforementioned Security Officer, who asked her if they would have to climb out of the emergency hatch or not. "Uh...well that's an option Ma'am." K'Lara said "They are working on the issue though and it's possible that while we're climbing they'll get power rerouting done in which case there's the possibility that the lift will start moving again while we're climbing." she added before pausing to think for a second.

"It is possible that there's still enough charge left in the lift and the shaft for me to get the lift moving again on this end. It wouldn't get us very far, maybe to the next deck or at least closer to it so that we have less of a climb." the young Ops officer told her, giving the woman who outranked both herself and the scientist on the floor next to her options. "On the other hand there might not be any power left at all, in which case I'll just have removed a panel and tinkered with it for nothing. There's no way to know until I try unfortunately." 

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #9 –
[Ens. Irnashall "Shall" ch'Xinya | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] attn: @Auctor Lucan @AlyFox

Shall remained silent while zh’Wann and Halliwell discussed various options on how to escape their current predicament.  Their words reached his ears but to him they were a distant noise far in the background.  Lost to his new-found shame, his face remained hidden behind the chan’s blue hands, pained sobs muffled by the flesh.  Propped up against the bulkhead by his back, the muscles there were starting to ache from the pressure and his legs weren’t happy about how they were being used, but he paid them no mind.

“Well that certainly worked out for you.” Jay snarked in his mind.  “Care to guess which airlock she’ll reserve for you?”  She was always one to tease no matter the situation.  Tavin harrumphed instead, arms crossed in front of him like a stern teacher.  “Her pride is just as important as yours is ch’te.  Being victimized by others is always a huge blow, and it’s always our role to beg their forgiveness when we commit wrongs.  Wholeness requires that hurts be healed.”

“But I did nothing wrong!” Shall fired back.  Even though he’d lost himself to his internal chorus the chan’s words came out as a whisper.  “I was drugged by others, forced to mate at gunpoint.  Others forced themselves on me because of what she brought on board as well, am I supposed to forgive her for that?”

“Yes.”  Syora’s calm and quiet voice pierced through his turmoil.  “Tavin has read the scrolls to us all enough times.  Just as much as we have to seek forgiveness from others we have to forgive them.”  A soft hand rested on his shoulder, a small measure of strength returning to his frame.  “Let go of the bitterness ch’te.” she begged.

Finally stirring out of his reverie Shall’s face came out from behind his hands, antenna raising to a more normal height, the chan wiped the tears off of his face with his sleeve and collected himself off of the bulkhead.  “We should split our efforts.  I can climb through the top hatch while Lt. zh’Wann looks through the bottom hatch to determine which deck is closer.  At the same time, if you work on the internal power Ensign we may not have to wait for engineering in the end, or at least determine if it would be safe for us all to climb to the closer deck.”

He had their attention now, and Ida’s gaze burned into him like phasers, even if she didn’t know it.  “I…” his blue neck bobbed as he swallowed some of his nerves down.  “Go on….” Syora encouraged.  “I know that words will never absolve me of my sins, but I know now that I have to start somewhere.  Lieutenant, I realize now that I have done wrong by you, willingly or not.  And you Ensign, I’ve been nothing but an alneesh to you for no reason.  It means little at this point but I am sorry for what I’ve done, and I’ll do what is necessary to make reparations.”

All through his little impromptu speech Shall’s confidence and pride started to return, a weight he never realized he was carrying rising off of his soul, if only by a minimal margin.  Looking up to the emergency hatch he pushed his sleeves up and loosened the collar off of his neck.  “If this doesn’t work maybe we can ask for a climbing expert?”

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #10 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @ch'Xinya @AlyFox 
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While Halliwell had spoken of the available options, Ida could have sworn she'd heard Shall mumbling where he sat - as if whispering to himself - which had caused Ida to turn her head and frown at him for a moment. She didn't catch what he said, so she returned her attention to the woman.

What the Ensign before her was saying made sense, of course, the two options having their own 'pros and cons' as Humans liked to call it. She was just about to make the call when Shall decided to make himself useful, wishing to climb up on top of the lift car. She was about to comment when he - at last - made to apologise. She had never expected that he might, so hearing it made her unsure what to say. Like he claimed, anything he said at this point was moot. The deed was done, and Ida found it debatable whether or not he'd done it against his will. To her, it was a matter of resolve and determination to last through captivity. Torture and injections were matters to overcome.

Still, she realised that she might hold Shall - a scientist - to a standard of the Andorian Guard and a Security Officer in Starfleet. What he did to her... was worse because of all the other things she'd lived through, but on its own, his crime was that he had been gullible and believed in the Savi, and he'd been unable to control himself like she could. Was she unfair to hold his shortcomings against her? Perhaps, but his attitude had decidedly fuelled her hate for him.

If his attitude was a mere self-defence, or self-delusion, was it not better to forgive him - hard as she found it to be because of what he did? She wasn't sure. She'd need to think on it, and they had a tubolift to escape together first.

"Ensign Halliwell, contact those who you spoke with and tell them to keep the power routed away until we have climbed out and vacated the shaft," she said, and let the other Andorian climb up and see how far they had to climb the maintenance ladder to escape. The hatch at the top didn't seem to have any issues opening. "It's just four meters between each deck, so we should be able get out from the top of the lift. Worse case, we'll just crawl horizontally into a Jefferies tube and get out that way."

Once they'd be on their way, Ida would leave last - so that she could catch them if they'd fall. While she waited, she thought of Shall, and if she hadn't met Jovela a couple of days earlier, she didn't think she'd be able to forgive him. Now, she wasn't so sure.

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs.] Sticky Progress

Reply #11 –
Ensign K’Lara Halliwell | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @ch'Xinya
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While K'Lara wasn't opposed to climbing up the shaft, she would have much preferred to try using whatever power was left to move the lift first but both Andorian's seemed to want to take the climbing route, although the male at least was open to it, the Security Chief had evidently settled on climbing and K'Lara wasn't going to protest.

With a nod she turned her attention to the tubolift walls and knelt down in front of the panel she needed to access and pried it open, taking a moment to look over the panel and the readouts it was giving her. While she was doing this, she was only partially listening to the dialogue going on around her. The male Andorian was apologising for whatever it was that had happened between the her and the deputy chief, but that wasn't any of her business so K'Lara was tuning as much of it out as she could.

However she paused and turned to look at him when he addressed her. Admittedly her Andorian language was pretty much non-existent so she had no idea what alneesh meant but she assumed it meant the Andorian equivalent of  jackass, it certainly sounded like that at least. "It's okay, we all have rough days and take it out on those who don't deserve it. Hell I'm Half-Klingon, I've lashed out to others in the same way more than I would like to admit so I understand." she replied, giving him a warm smile.

While it had pissed off her Klingon half, it was clear that her fellow Ensign had been through a rough time and she was new to this ship, the last thing she needed was to hold a grudge. Better to let it go and move on. 

Returning her attention to her work, K'Lara hit a few buttons and felt the lift shudder slightly before moving a few meters before coming to a dead stop. "Well that's all the power we had left, guess we're climbing after all." she announced.

Not long after she had given made that announcement did the Lieutenant tell her to let whoever she had spoken to before to keep the power routed away until they had vacated the shaft. Hitting her Combadge she spoke the officer at Ops and after informing him of the request and that it was the Lieutenant who had made the request and not her, received the confirmation that the power would be kept off until he received the all clear from them did she inform the others.

"Ops has confirmed that the power will remain off until they hear from us, we've got the all clear to go whenever we're ready." she told them both, although her attention was on the Security officer as she was the highest ranking one of them all, before turning her attention back to the panel and making sure everything was properly set  and replaced the panel.

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs.] Sticky Progress

Reply #12 –
[Ens. Irnashall "Shall" ch'Xinya | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] attn: @Auctor Lucan @AlyFox

Glancing up to the emergency hatch above them, Shall could feel his resolve continue to build.  Four meters between decks, the car alone had to be two and a half to three meters, and if he remembered the schematics correctly there should be a ladder built into the turboshaft’s bulkhead for easy climbing.  Compared with some of the ice cliffs up in the Northern Wastes this should take no effort at all.  All they needed was to get up and out, and of course the ceiling was just out of reach.  Motioning to the hatch Shall got himself ready.  “I’ll need a slight boost.” he told his companions, leaving it up to them to decide who would hoist his boot.

As soon as he was able to reach Shall grabbed the handle and unlocked the hatch without issue, pushing it open with ease.  A breeze ruffled his hair as the air pressure equalized between car and shaft and his nose wrinkled at the industrial scent that wafted in.  Through the  opening the turbolift shaft ascended as far as he could see, light strips denoting the boundaries between decks.  Grasping each side of the hatch frame the Andorian chan pushed himself up and out, legs kicking a little bit out of reflex as he wormed his way out.

“It’s stable so far!” he called to the two women, resting on top of the car, feeling for any sign of motion.  If it fell now he was guaranteed to be dead, if it started to climb there wasn’t much he could hold on to.  “Best not to dawdle.” he muttered and got to his feet in a crouch.  Carefully stepping to the ladder he looked up again to see the next door about 2 meters above him.  “We stopped about halfway between decks 9 and 10.  Prying the doors open would’ve been useless here.  I’m starting the ascent now, if I can get the door open I’ll come back to help you both up.”

The ladder rungs were nice and solid under Shall’s blue hands and his boots hooked into them like they were designed for it.  Climbing rapidly, the exertion felt good.  It’d been a few days since he been able to properly exercise, his muscles were eager for the stretch.  Reaching the door for Deck 9 in short order he was surprised to find a bar built into the frame for him to hold himself steady with.  It seemed that Starfleet engineers really did think of everything.  The manual lever was behind an unlocked panel, begging to be pulled.  Wrapping his arm around the safety bar Shall pumped the release a few times but got no response from the door.

“Oh come on….” Yanking on the lever harder the door refused to budge.  “Damn….” Shall sagged in defeat and gave it one last hard pull.  With a pop and a hiss the door halves slid apart so fast that he nearly lost his footing in surprise.  "I've got it!" he yelled down to the others before grabbing one half and pulling them open more.  The wonderful bright lighting of the corridor beckoned!

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs] Sticky Progress

Reply #13 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @ch'Xinya @AlyFox 
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While the Klingon hybrid readily forgave Shall for his behaviour towards her, Ida was not entirely convinced what she thought of the Andorian that climbed up the hatch. Without comment, she had extended her clasped hands and hoisted Shall up, but she had no intention of remaining down there and waiting for the man to tell them to come up. Ida already knew that their only option - aside from waiting - was to climb up the maintenance ladder to the upper deck.

Therefore, she had already nodded towards Ensign Halliwell extending her clasped hands to her as well so that she could climb up on top as well. By this time, it appeared to Ida that Shall had already begun to climb up the ladder, so once it was her own turn, Ida simply jumped up to the edge of the hatch and pulled herself up on top as well. By Lor'Vela she was not about to allow the other Andorian the opportunity to pull her up from the turbolift. I can quite manage myself, thank you.

Once she was up, she straightened and raised her eyes and antennae. Light from the corridor above bathed her and Halliwell at that point, telling her that the Cartographer had managed to get the sliding doors open. Since he had no reason to climb down again, Ida gestured towards the ladder for Halliwell to begin to climb up, while she addressed Shall. "Step out, we're coming up."

Eventually, Ida had climbed up as well, and the three of them were back in the corridor. During the brief time that had passed since the climb began, Ida had considered what to say in parting with the scientist.

"I admit I may have been unfair, in how I held you to a higher standard than I should. You were not in the Andorian Guard, nor did you get the training I did in Starfleet. That being said, and as I might regret it, I will not report your actions on the Versant," she said, yet before the man might get the wrong idea, a scowl darkened her face in the overhead light, "I suggest you earn this mercy through your conduct henceforth, Ensign, and stay away from me."

Having dealt with that issue, she turned her blue eyes to the hybrid next to her. "Good luck with the turbolift... and welcome aboard the Theurgy. For whatever trials we suffer on this mission, we can at least promise you that there won't be an idle moment. Good day."

With her mind on the future instead of the past, Ida turned around and left - heading towards the turbolifts further down the corridors of the Theurgy.

OOC: One more from the two of you, chXinya posting the last post? :)

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs.] Sticky Progress

Reply #14 –
Ensign K’Lara Halliwell | Turbolift | Deck 15 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @ch'Xinya @Auctor Lucan
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While climbing up a jefferies tube wasn't exactly on her list of things to do today, evidently that was exactly what she was going to be doing. Then again she didn't exactly expect to be stuck in a malfunctioning Turbolift in the middle of some kind of dispute between another Ensign and the Deputy Chief of Security so
her expectations left a lot to be desired right now.

She remained silent as she watched the scientist offer to go first, getting a boost from the Deputy and wasn't at all surprised when the chief motioned for her to go next and did so without question, climbing up the ladder after her fellow ensign. She briefly wondered if the Andorian would be able to open the doors but almost as soon as she had the thought, he had called down that he had got it.

Climbing up the ladder she heard the chief call out that they were coming up, eventually she managed to pull herself up and out into the corridor, stepping to the side so that the chief had room to get out as well. Eventually all three of them were in the corridor.

As the Deputy and the Scientist started talking, K'Lara keyed in the code to close the doors and tapped her combadge =^=Halliwell to Ops, we've managed to climb out of the shaft onto the deck above us and I've sealed the doors, you can route the power back now and are free to get the lift moving again whenever it's fixed." =^=  she informed the officer, quickly receiving an acknowledgement.

By the time she was done updating Ops the Chief and the Scientist were almost done with their exchange, of which K'Lara had thankfully heard none of having been in her own conversation. Still she stood a little straighter when the Deputy turned to face her and wished her luck with the turbolift and welcoming her aboard the ship. "Thank you ma'am." she replied and chuckled slightly at her comment about there not being an idle moment "I'm starting to get that impression." she added with as smile before watching the Andorian turn and leave.

Letting out a breath she glanced over at her fellow Ensign "Well that was....something." she said with a small smile, standing their awkwardly unsure what else to say given the fact she had been a third wheel in whatever the hell that was between the two Andorians.
 

Re: Day 05 [1430 hrs.] Sticky Progress

Reply #15 –
[Ens. Irnashall "Shall" ch'Xinya | Corridor | Deck 09 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy] attn: @Auctor Lucan @AlyFox

Shall could only stand in the corridor in stunned silence as the miracle happened before his eyes: Lt. zh’Wann actually let him off the hook.  It may not have quite reached the classification of an apology for her own biases towards him, but for just the one moment he swore he saw something soften in her demeanor.  It was quickly buried behind the ever-lovable ice queen demeanor everyone knew and she made it clear that this was a one-time event.  He could only nod in agreement and relief while she addressed K’Lara immediately afterwards. Once done, he watched in silence as Ida turned and marched down the corridor.  Any other time the chan might have watched her go, admiring her perfect form like most breathing humanoids, but her final words echoed through his mind as clearly as his bondmates’.

Instead, the new Ensign pulled his focus back to the immediate area, her awkward stance a reminder of the poor situation he’d drawn her into, willing or not (or both).  “It’s always something around here Ensign Halliwell…” he agreed.  There was something in that smile of hers that helped ease his mood, the stiffness in his antenna softening to a more neutral bearing at last, allowing it to come out of hiding in his hair.  “I’m sorry you had to see that, that was unbecoming of me on every level, and trust me, it’s a long story.”  He meant to leave it there but before he knew it the next sentence just poured out of his mouth.  “Can I get you a drink as a makeup?”

Somewhere deep in his subconscious, Jay was laughing.

- FIN
 
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