On the Barricades

Posted on Tue Aug 16th, 2022 @ 1:02pm by Lieutenant JG Revana Nazar & Lieutenant JG Taina M'Tras & Lieutenant Christoph Ivers

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Engineering
Timeline: Mission Day 7 at 1430
2169 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Taina drew her knife out of her second Vidiian, wrinkling her nose in disgust. There was no pride in the kill. She didn't feel like the predator she was born to be. She felt like a slave assigned to clean the biomatter filters in the holodeck. Yes, these aliens were strong and they went down hard, but they were mindless. Besides that, they were just gross. It was so much rotting, diseased flesh. She hated filth. She hated uncleanliness of all kinds. But there was no time to waste on revulsion. Not now. She looked up to find her immediate area cleared. "Does anyone need medical attention?" A quick visual scan showed plenty of scrapes and bruises. No one was ready to call for a medical transport just yet.

Revana Nazar was on the second level of Engineering, working controls that would lock the doors to Engineering to unauthorized personnel. She furrowed her brow, her green fingers dancing around the console. Once the deed was done, however, she heard a terrible sound behind her. A scratchy and breathy voice. She turned around to find a rotting female Vidiian racing toward her, teeth bared. She yelped slightly and reached for her phaser, but it wasn’t on her somehow. She must have dropped it.

The Vidiian closed in, but when the Vidiian went high, she went low, dodging past her and turning around again. The Vidiian turned again to face her, displaying something approximating anger, and surged again. This time, Revana grabbed the creature by the armed and used some of the Orion Martial arts training her father had forced her to undergo. She tripped the creature and, in one swift motion, brought her heal down on her temple three times. When the Vidiian was motionless, Revana retreated downstairs to find the last one.

Taina saw the last male just as it was moving towards Revana. It was barely paying attention to her. So far, the damned things did seem mindless. She got a running jump to hit it from behind, the knife already coming already for the throat. This time, it was over before it began, the neck slit before it had much chance to use that formidable strength. "All right," Taina said, "Good work securing the entrances. We need to make sure engineering is secure and see if any of our shipmates are trying to get here based on the captain's orders to find a secure place. I'm not going to announce that shipwide with enemy boarders on the ship, even as dumb as these seem to be, but most will know it. This is one of three, maybe four, places on the ship we really, absolutely cannot abandon."

The main doors to engineering hissed open loudly and suddenly, revealing Ivers and six other security personnel with him. They didn’t dally and moved inside quickly so the door could close. “You three, upstairs. You three here with me.” Besides the bridge, engineering was the most valuable sanctum on the ship to defend. He noticed the dead Vidiians on the deck and looked to M’Tras as he walked toward her. “Good work, Lieutenant, Ensign.” His eyes moved briefly over to Revana then back to Taina. “Are systems secure?”

"I was about to check," Taina answered her. "You came almost the moment we finished the last of them." With that, she did walk over to the console, running a diagnostic on the systems as well as a scan for matching life-forms on the internal sensors.

"How many of these are there?" Revana asked, looking to Christoph. She didn't demure based on their history. He was not a man in her book, and she barely seemed to have any respect for him left in those eyes. "Is the rest of the crew safe?"

"Forty-one beamed onto the ship." Christoph supplied to Revana, looking at her and noticing the disdain in her eyes, but he also really just didn't care. She was nothing, but he would protect her either way. "Security and Marine teams are clearing them now."

“Doesn’t look to me like these stupid animals have the capacity to compromise our systems other than bumping into things. They’re made to kill.” Revana said, her tone critical.

Christoph just looked at Revana like the petulant child she was being. "It is standard procedure during crisis, Ensign. We also don't know if there's more coming and it is best to be prepared."

In the next instant, shimmering transporter beams brought nine new beings into the room. They were Vidiian Shock Troops with riot gear on. They took aim at the people in the room immediately.

“Surrender, Terran dogs!” Came the deep voice of the leader. “And your deaths will be quick and painless.”

"Woah there, let's talk about this!" Christoph said and lifted his hands immediately, though was still holding his pistol. He glanced upward just briefly as his officers took positions above. As soon as they fired down to create the opening, the officers on the first floor scattered to cover for the firefight. Christoph assumed M'Tras would react quick enough given her heritage and Revana was no slouch either. While loss of life would be unfortunate, loss of ship would be much more so, so they came as a secondary priority.

Taina did indeed leap to the side, sliding around the corner from the troopers. Accidental loss of life was obviously not the worst thing that could happen with a full-fledged phaser fight in engineering. Not even close. But going at that armor with blade or claw wasn't really an option either. She drew her own phaser and took careful aim at one of the shock troopers. Careful aim included noting what was directly behind him in the event he should move too suddenly. When she had the shot, she took it. Then she pulled back around the corner once more. Possibly more concealment than cover, depending on the power levels of the Viidian weapons.

Revana moved quickly into one of the alcoves reserved for officers doing specific research and ducked down behind a wall corner. Her green eyes peered out, taking not of everyone who was there. She took aim at the nearest trooper herself.

“Fire, all!” The leader of the troop of Vidiians called out, raising his voice and being the first to open fire in this very dangerous area.

Not wanting to shout anything important in front of the enemy, Taina hit her comm badge and spoke under her breath. "M'Tras to Ivers."

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Christoph replied quietly, ducking down as sparks flew over his head from the Vidiian weapons. He remained calm even during the firefight and looked to see if he could get an eye line on Taina.

"Think there's a way we could draw the firefight away from engineering? Safeguards have held well enough so far but, trust me, there's a thousand ways things could go very wrong with a full on phaser fight in this area," Taina said under her breath. She looked out, trying to make eye contact with him, and enemy fire hit centimeters from her head. She ducked back under and then took aim and returned it. Despite her concerns, there was nothing else for it while the Viidians were here.

“As much as I’d like to say yes, I doubt that very much. They are here to take the ship I guarantee, so won’t be pulled from their prize.” He paused in order to take a shot over the console, one of the armored Vidiians finally falling. He ducked back down. “If you have any tips for not blowing up the ship, now is the time.”

While the two of them talked, Revana made her way to a console as discreetly as possible. Over the next several seconds, before she was noticed, managed to raise a shield around the warp core, which sprang to life with a shimmer and a sound, and to reinforce it. Then, a beam impacted her right under her left arm. She flew back and to the ground, unconscious.

Christoph cursed under his breath as he saw Revana fall. As the bulk of the fire moved away from him in favor of the men still upstairs, he quickly crossed the room to her side and ducked out of the way of weapons fire as he did so. He slid his hand under her right arm and roughly pulled her back behind the console fully so she wasn’t exposed. There wasn’t time for being delicate. He crouched over her, one hand going to her neck and searching for a pulse while he took another shot at one of the Vidiians who’s armor was looking a little rough already.

"Ensign Nazar made a good start with the warp core but we can't shield the entire EPS grid without shutting down the system and leaving us dead in the water. It's too integrated. I might be able block the most dangerous vectors for stray fire." She crawled towards a console, mindful of the hit Revana had taken. She pulled herself up, keeping her head down, and entered commands on the console. Then a Viidian hit it from the other side and the console itself exploded in a shower of sparks. Taina felt the burns all over her body and wondered for a second if her commands would take effect. Several more strategically placed shields sprung to life. She sighed in relief and raised her phaser again only to have it fall from her burned, shaking hand.

Christoph had attempted to cover Taina as best he could, but having been given no warning that she was going to move it wasn't as effective as it could have been. He watched the console explode right next to the Caitian; he could see the patches of her fur missing but really had no way of assessing how injured she was. He saw the ferocity in her eyes remain, but inevitably the phaser fell and he cursed under his breath. The engineers had done their jobs to the best of their abilities and now he would do his.

He tapped his commbadge. "Ivers to Security Team Three, get down to engineering now." Despite the firefight going on around him, he kept his voice calm.

"Acknowledged."

The problem with fighting in engineering was the fact that one could really quite easily destroy the entire ship with one shot gone awry. The crew of the ship knew that and knew what to avoid, but the Vidiians did not. It was a strange dance of sorts. Draw their fire away from the important systems, try not to get oneself killed while doing so, and eliminate the threat. His body was now screaming at him, the adrenaline and is pounding heart seeming to just feed this disease faster than anything else. Another Vidiian fell followed by another. He angled himself to take a shot, landing it on a third of the attackers. Another fired their weapon toward him, hitting the console and causing a shower of sparks. Immediately and without thinking, he covered Revana's body with his own to protect her from it. He could feel them singe into part of his face and neck but his uniform mostly protected him.

Taking a breath, he peered back over the console and resumed firing, a few blasts hitting the forcefields the two women had put up, but mercifully they held. Finally, the last Vidiian fell just as team three walked in the door. He briefly glanced to the half-orion at his feet and then moved to Taina, a hand placed carefully on her shoulder as he looked over her.

Again, he tapped his commbadge. "Ivers to transporter room. Beam Ensign Nazar and Lieutenant M'Tras directly to sickbay." He stepped back from M'Tras and watched her dematerialize in front of him. He stood with a bit of effort and turned to his personnel. "Take up positions and lock down engineering." He was about to give another round of orders before a voice cut in over the shipwide comms.

"Crew of the Vengeance, this is the bridge, Second Officer Johnathan Anderson speaking. The Captain has been injured by the intruders. Until the current crisis is resolved, I have erected a level five containment field around the bridge. Do not allow these filth to claim any more Terran blood today! Kill them all! No reprieve, no surrender! The Terran Empire will overcome all who oppose her! Long live the Empire!"

"What the actual fuck." Christoph spat, anger rising in his chest. He whipped his head over to McKnight nearby. "Handle things here. I'm needed on the bridge, apparently." He didn't wait for acknowledgement as he left engineering.

"Ivers to Cassiel. I'm returning to the bridge. Coordinate the teams on deck, I will be able to help shortly."

"Aye, sir." Madeline's voice echoed from his commbadge.

What was that stupid little boy thinking making such a declaration?

END