Cave Terrors (Part 7 of 8)

Posted on 07 Aug 2014 @ 3:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Petty Officer Lyras Ueda

1,947 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Uridium Mine, Central Matrix Station, Section LV881-LV900
Timeline: MD 07 - 1115 hrs

Previously, on Cave Terrors (Part 6)...

Stace had already secured a space behind a hip-heighted boulder and was darting back and forth from its cover to lay down fire at the approaching bodies. They reminded her of the Pah Wraits of Bajor. Non-corporal energy taking corporeal form. And it frightened her. Whomever (or whatever) she shot at barely winced. They just carried on gaining ground nonetheless. "This isn't helping us!" she bellowed over the din.

"Then bloody aim better!" Amynta shouted at Stace, shaking her head. "Unless someone has a great idea for headshots. I seem to remember things like that working in the old movies..." she took aim, breathing with her shots. Maybe there was a part of her that was messed up, but firing her weapon certainly made her feel like she was doing the universe a hell of a good turn. Or maybe that was because she was shooting at what looked like Cardassians.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Luke continued to fire at the mindless Cardassian soldiers still approaching the dirt around Luke's boots feeling heavy and sloppy as he continued to push back now feeling the hands and bodies of the other team members as his ten meter gap had closed to nothing "Blake we need to do something," Luke checked his battery pack and it was already draining drastically. The urge to go up and start hitting the two bells out of monsters increasing.

Blake's jaw was tight as she fired with her rifle...for all the good it was doing. She swore, shaking her head hard. "Fall back to the computer room! Now!" she shouted the order to the team before grabbing hold of Tratar's arm, pulling firmly. "You too!"

The burly Cardassian chief hesitated at first then looked around to survey their options. With the entire team unable to get past the ghost-shells of his dead men, there was no way for them to get back to the surface nor hide in a different area of the mine before the auto-destruct caved in the entire facility. He had just lost two more of his men and was the sole survivor of his team, a grim thought which caused him much personal grief.

Reluctantly, he followed the Starfleet commander's cue and began to quickly backtrack towards the control room while firing over his shoulder at the advancing creatures.

Far less, reluctantly, Kohl found the strength to sprint back towards the computer room.

Oren's science kit beeped, signaling the end of the scan when he heard Blake's orders. Gathering up the equipment, he hauled it once again over his shoulders and grabbed a hold of Lyras' wrist. "Come, let's go," he urged before letting go so they could run comfortably.

Lyras was definitely not going to protest. "I much prefer that plan over what we had previously." He gave the creatures an odd look, as if trying to ascertain what was inside the soldiers, before giving up and following after the others. "This will be quite a story when we finally get ourselves back to the ship."

"If they believe us," Oren said, running next to him as they followed the others. "To tell you the truth I'm having a hard time believing it myself, and I'm here!" he admitted, shaking his head.

"I would foresee trips to Counseling in our near future, but we have the psychiatrist with us, so at least we know we would not be completely insane." The odd attempt Lyras made for humor was masked by the near expressionless tone he used to deliver it.

Oren chuckled at the comment, shaking his head. He was glad at least he wasn't the only one who still had a sense of humor, despite the seriousness of the situation.

Dea was still firing when Blake's order came. Heading for the computer room as fast as she could go. She really didn't like the way this away mission was turning out. Staying quiet but alert during their retreat from the creatures.

Luke was one of the last people to start running, back peddling at first ensuring that his team had time to escape he continues to fire before turning and fleeing himself. "Come on pick up your feet" he said giving words of encouragement to the team to go further.

Seeing how little an impact phased weapons had on their enemies, Dr. Carlisle knew there was no point in pulling out her own phaser, now remembered in her panic, and adding to the melee. Instead, she dropped all pretense of a brisk walk and broke into a sprint she hadn't used since med school when responding to a code.

Tratar ran into the control room and was the last man in. He headed straight for the closest encrypted terminal while also yelling at the rest of the Starfleet crew. "Seal that door!" he shouted as he dropped to his knees and began to remove several access panels from beneath a nearby computer console. "We must cut the relays the detonators, we only have 90 seconds before the charges go off! I need three of you to assist...the connections must be severed at the exact same moment." The access panels had now been thrown aside and Tratar was in the process of removing several components in order to reach the proper circuitry boards.

With his eyes on his tricorder, Andreus Kohl spun in an 180-degree arc, until the thing he was looking for lit up on the display of his tricorder. "I'll take that one," Kohl announced, and he indicated one of the computer consoles by stumble-running straight for it. He fell to his knees, as he reached the desired console, and pulled out a similar access panel as Tratar had done. He darted his gaze between his tricorder and the guts of the computer, trying to make sense of what he was looking at.

Making a career change to Explosive Ordinance Disposal was not high on Dea's list but they were short on options. Quickly making her way over to one of the computer terminals. "I'll take this one." Opening the panel already searching for the correct board using her tricorder to assist with her search.

Luke ran to the last of the control consoles. Opening up the access and throwing the cover associate Luke searched for the desired set of wires and looked to the rest "I've got it, we ready?" He shouted a sense of urgency in his voice.

Dea had located what she needed. Responding to Wyatt, "I'm good to go here." She was more than ready to get out of the mine and back to Galileo. Not taking her focus off the task at hand.

Kohl was the last to pull out the components that were blocking the way between his hands and the relays he was targeting. He yanked out a lattice of isolinear circuitry, and as he tossed it aside, several rods clattered across the floor. Kohl reached his tricorder deep inside the console and aimed it at the relay for the detonator. "I'm ready," called out Kohl.

Stace shot quickly over to the door and started throwing her weight against it. Her tiny frame barely shifted the rusted metal but she tried again. It juddered a little and a grinding sound began to reverberate through her suit. She released it and gave it one last heave as it grated closed. Pulling out her phaser she traced the seal, welding it as steadfastly as she could.

Tratar looked up from his work just in time to see Stace closing the door and reinforcing it with a phaser weld. Hopefully it would hold...at least for a short while, he hoped. The walking Cardassian bodies on the other side of it attempted to break through resulting in several repeating bangs that echoed through the control room. Fortunately, the door didn't budge which was a slightly reassuring sign. There was, however, a more pressing issue at hand, and Tratar diverted his attention to the other three Starfleeters who appeared to be ready to deactivate the impending self-destruct sequence.

"Isolate the secondary connector module and remove the outer casing," he instructed, "then you should see five optical nodes with several secondary circuitry boards attached. We need to cut the seventh and eighth relays on those boards in correct ascending order." He suddenly paused and realized he was missing a critical tool to perform the task. "And we will need hyperspanners. Or something similar." He looked around at the Federation team and waited for someone to hand out the small micro-cutting instrument.

Dea located the secondary connector module and removed its outer casing as instructed. Extending her free hand to accept a hydrospanner or other microcutter. "Cutter," it was easier to have someone hand it to her than waste time searching for one.

Already doing most of what the cardassian said Luke searched along his belt kit with one hand whilst the other continued to hold the circuitry, finally locating his KA-Bar he turned to show kohl "Think this will do" he said waving it around.

Alexion was catching his breath, his hand planted against the sealed door as he looked to the deactivating team. He frowned, pushing a hand into his medical kit to pull out a delicate laser scalpel, throwing it across to Tratar in case it was of use. It was the best he had to offer. In the mean time, he looked around the group close to the door to check no one was injured.

Kneeling at his computer console, Kohl was catching up. He pulled the outer-casing away from the connector module and tossed it aside. He began wringing his hands, but it wasn't an expression of anxiety. Kohl twisted his gloves in succession and pulled them off. Without the oversized fingers to slow him down, Kohl yanked the laser scalpel from his medical kit, offered a wan smile to Luke, and used his tricorder to identify the relays Tratar had mentioned.

Amynta breathed hard as she narrowed her eyes, moving beside Alexion. She put her hand to the door as well, looking at him or a moment. She had to admit to herself, when she envisioned herself dying, it wasn't like this. And that pissed her off beyond belief.

All three of them, Stace, Alexion and Amynta, were now pressing their combined weight against the door. All three of them, with each clatter and bang from the other side, pushing that extra bit harder into the frame itself. As the banging began to intensify, the team of three began to held fast. As Stace looked up, a sprinkling of rusted dust rested on her visor, pluming out from the seals around the door in gusts of smoke and particles. "I'm not sure how much longer this will hold, Tratar," she called out across the comm.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

First Glinn Tratar
Chief of Security
CDS Aldara
[PNPC Saalm]

LTCMDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer/Second Officer
USS Galileo

LT(JG) Luke Wyatt
Acting Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

SWO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

PO 1rst Lyras Ueda
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC Kita]

Oren Idris, Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Counselor
USS Galileo

LT Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

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