Free Fall (Part 3 of 4)

Posted on 27 Jul 2014 @ 12:42pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Petty Officer 1st Class Oliver Morris & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Jameson & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm & M'Ressa

1,994 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Uridium Mine Access Shaft
Timeline: MD 07 - 0855 hrs

Previously, on Free Fall (Part 2)...

Allyndra got a hypospray and dialed in an analgesic that should help without making Jared drowsy. She had to move slightly which did not help things. Again, she had that impulse to use wings which were confined.

She pressed the hypospray home and then said to Jared, "There that should take the worst away. I would give you something stronger but we need everyone alert. If it flairs again, let me know."

Jared's shoulder was still tender and it felt like a constant pressure, but at least his pain had subsided.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

"Chief Quinn, Mr Kita - take a look at that cable - if it's strong enough for us to get this thing to the bottom then I want it done - no point hanging around."

The Captain called out with a joking tone - in all seriousness they were not exactly in the most comfortable position, and if things got any worse he would be calling the ship for an emergency beamout - not that he particularly wanted to go back to the Commodore to report a mission failure because of metal fatigue.

Excuse me sir, " Jared said, "What if this wasn't just a random accident?"

"At the moment we have no proof either way - a good officer goes on what they have available Mr Jared - evidence and facts. If we find either one of those to support this being something other than an engineering problem, we will act on it."

The Captain replied with a stern voice. He had gone through a similar thought process himself when the cable had first given way, but he simply didn't have the information to run on right now.

"Understood Sir,"Jared replied unaffected by the Captain's tone, but heeding his words, "Just raising the possibility and suggesting we act cautiously and appropriately."

"Thinking too much about what it could or couldn't be." Asahi had himself outside the lift itself once Holliday had made his orders, securely kept in place with the magnetized boots. "The thing'll get to the bottom, we just have to keep it moving downward." He gripped the cable itself, confident that it wasn't going to snap off on them, so long as everyone stayed put. "... Whaddya think, Chief? Think the safety on this thing kicked in? I'm not too familiar with lifts like this..."

"What makes you think a lift like this has safeties..." Hex shook her head to herself as she looked around, her hand holding the side of the cab.

"Well, if it didn't, the lift would have kept going, but because we were running on one line instead of two, it would have probably moved much much faster." Asahi winked in Siren's direction. "That's what I figure, anyway. Who knows with a thing like this. Something could have jammed up there and we won't know unless someone gets themselves up there."

Allyndra spoke, "Again, I am the lightest and I can do without the suit for longer since physiologically I can hold my breath the longest." She sighed looking upward, "If the shaft was wider and the air thicker I could fly up but I am still a decent climber."

Quinn looked up. "I think if someone can go up there and look at the pulley, we will have a better idea of what we are dealing with. I object to anyone going anywhere without their suit, Skipper. We can both climb up there."

Jared looked at Quinn like he had grown a second head. "Are you insane?'" he asked without really thinking, "you both want to climb up there? You could unbalance the lift? Wouldn't it make more sense to just have one person up there fooling around?"

"I'll do it, by myself I doubt any of you have the balance of a ballerina and I'm lighter than the majority than all of you. I can do it besides i have some know how on engineering since I'm still learning and deciding where I want to go this may be my calling!" she said not wanting to stay on the lift another second.

"To be perfectly honest, balance of a ballerina or not, someone needs to go up there." Asahi eyed the top of the lift, or as far as he could look. "Doesn't really matter who's what, but I'm with the Chief on this, there should be two people going up there. You could be light as a feather and dance your way up and down this thing, but if something happens to you up there, there's no way of us getting to you in time." He winked at Allyndra. "But I'm not gonna argue if you wanna go up there ma'am."

Allyndra nodded. She did not voice a counterpoint to ballerina, she water danced and that by far was more delicate. However, she was not an engineer. She could think in the abstract and understood much but as far as turning a wrench or two that was something she was not well versed in.

Screw this. Abbey thought as she began ascending she couldn't believe they couldn't come to a decision quickly when their life's were literately hanging on a thread.

Allyndra was surprised as the woman named Abby just started. No respect for Holiday's command. She looked to Holiday and pointed upward. "Permission to follow?"

Quinn looked at the crewman apprentice and clinched his jaw as his face turned instantly red from anger. He made a mental note to dress down the crewman as soon as he had a moment.

John looked at the face of his CoB, but knew the older man was respectful enough to not try and speak over his Captain. Abbey would certainly have to deal with the wrath of the Chief later on in her career, and John did not wish to deprive Mr Quinn of his fun.

"Very well Doctor. But be careful."

Abbey was sick and tired of people talking and sitting around with the thumb up their ass and she couldn't believe the incompetence and indecision coming from what was mean to be some of the ship's most senior staff. She continued her climb towards the top of the pulley system.

The situation inside the lift began to take a turn for the worse. Though the cab had previously stabilized itself on just one pulley when Kita had initially gone to inspect it, the addition of two extra persons crawling and climbing over its exterior was enough to destabilize the balance and put undue stress on the one remaining, functional wire. Another loud creak and groan echoed from the cable, then suddenly the lift lurched and dropped down several feet. Seconds later, the cable failed and snapped with a loud whip that cracked through the air, releasing the cab and sending it into a terminal free fall towards the bottom of the shaft. The weight of the lift combined with its occupants meant the away team only had a mere fifteen seconds before their one-kilometer drop ended in almost certain death for everyone.

Jared reacted immediately, hoping his actions would be in time. He tapped his com badge ^=^Emergency beam out!^=^ he shouted, ^=^NOW! We're in free fall!^=^

Abbey had made it to the top of the lift when it began it's free fall decent except only she hadn't fallen like she expected. The loose bit of cable which had originally supported the lift violently whipped across her chest ripping open her Eva suit and across her body, sending her into a spin against the shaft exterior wall she could already feel the burning sensation spread outward as the pain intensified signalling that it had cut through her skin. Watching in horror and pain as her limp less body remained tangled as the lift plummeted into darkness.

Jacob screamed out, "ABBEY!!!" as the lift and all plummeted groundward.

It was a split-second motion between the sound of the cable snapping and Asahi's other hand toggling his magnetized boots off that kept him on the cable and not glued to the top of the lift. His weight wasn't enough to stop the cable from whipping around, causing him to jerk back and forth in a motion that he hadn't intended to participate in without the safety of a net beneath him. Luckily, his iron grip kept him from letting go as he rattled around the shaft violently. "Stars and-" He heard the cry for an emergency beam out, causing him to look down and see the other occupant of the cable dangling helplessly, tangled up in the mess.

Asahi slid down to meet Abbey, careful not to cause the cable to untangle while they waved back and forth helplessly. "We are a lucky pair. The jam on the cable's the only thing keeping this bit here put-Holy love of the Denobulan-." And immediately, his eyes were scanning for Allyndra. Hopefully the doctor didn't fall with the others.

Allyndra moved cautiously. The stupid thing continued to shift and she was not so sure she had made the right decision. The suit and pulling with the magnetized boots were just awful. It felt like being in a Denovian tar pit. She had not taken more than a few steps when a sudden creak and loud pop and bang and the next moment it was like flying. The fact one foot was still on the cage she would be.

Instinctively she tried to spread her wings but confined as they were just caused a surge of panic. "EMERGENCY BEAM OUT!" she heard someplace.

Abbey could hear someone talking but the short air supply her suit was providing was slowly getting thinner. Trying to move the cable echoed as it strained to keep her body weight. In a moment of clarity she stifled and scream as she saw the figure of Asahi.

Desperately trying to hold on to something. His magnetized boots and the suit's own inertial dampeners where over taxing. Oliver could make out the shapes of the others in to car and in an instantly he felt consciousness trying to fade away with the sudden drop.


USS Galileo - Bridge

Sitting on Galileo's bridge in the center command seat, Lirha casually leaned back and let out a soft early-morning yawn, then retrieved her steaming mug of hot chocolate from its armrest cup holder and brought the frothy drink to her lips. She closed her eyes and indulged in the milk chocolatey flavors for a long moment, but her momentary pleasure was cut short when a garbled transmission sounded through the comm.

"Em.....cy.......mout," was all the commodore was able to decipher from the message.

Frowning and spending several seconds trying to piece together the fragmented syllables, Lirha sighed then thumbed the comm switch on her armrest's console. "Away team, this is Galileo. Repeat your last," she said obliviously, then once again casually leaned back in her chair while more seconds ticked away.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CA Abbey-Mae Wyatt
Scientist Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Wyatt]

Lt Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USSGalileo

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

PO2 Siren Hex
Intelligence
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

Asahi Kita
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Command Master Chief Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Master Warrant Officer Amon Mormont
Security
USS Galileo
[PNPC Markos]

M'Ressa
Biotechnologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Zhao]

PO3 Robert Jameson
Transporter Chief
USS Galileo
[PNPC Zhao]

LT Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

PO1 Oliver Morris
Senior Yeoman
USS Galileo

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