Advena: Part 2

Posted on Tue Aug 25th, 2020 @ 11:02am by Petty Officer 3rd Class Sam Saghir & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Deck 8.
Timeline: MD-01. Concurrent with "Stowaway".
1052 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON: Deck 8. Jeffries' Tubes.


"Ahhhh crap" muttered Sam, as he realised that 'straight down' was a far more complicated task than it had originally seemed. There not being an hatch onto deck 8 aligned with the hatch on deck 7, he had gone crawling off in what seemed a logically deductive direction, looking for a way out onto deck 8. His realisation that he was totally lost, only compounded his sense of apprehension and dread that he felt.

Not that the Lieutenant had deigned to share what was so special about this Bolian officer, of course, but Sam got the impression it was something rather significant, and wondered further why she had entrusted him with the task of locating and observing the person of interest.

His hand passed over an object shaped differently to the other grips in the tube, looking a little closer he realised he had finally found a hatch and that his hand was placed on the pull handle. Giving it a tug, the handle levered towards him and the hatch opened outward into a dimly lit room. Carefully, he placed a foot into a dimly lit and decidedly cold room filled with all sorts of machinery, diagnostic panels, and darkened computers. His other foot found the floor as he stepped out of the tube, raising to full height he could see the bobbing head of someone else further into the room, their body hidden behind a console stack.

He pulled the tool from his belt that had remained since his journey into the ship's systems with Keating, he had absolutely zero idea what it did, but he nontheless turned it on and began waving it over a dark computer console in an effort to appear nonchalant, and that he was there with a purpose. "Hey" he said in a friendly voice, nodding as that same Bolian guy walked past, the latter ignoring the former. Hearing the main doors to the corridor open and close, Sam checked to see if he was alone; as far as he could tell, the Bolian was no longer in the room.

Pausing from his "work", the young Petty Officer stood again, moving to tap his comm badge to notify P'rel; but he noticed something. "That's not right..." he said under his breath, examining a gently pulsing object attached to what he guessed was some kind of phaser coil. He moved over quietly, not daring to touch the small semispherical object mounted on the bumpy circular surface of the machine. It appeared to be drawing power from the machine by way of several flexible hoses, all roughly connected in a crude looking adaptor; he supposed it made sense that the machine was a phaser coil, with the abundant tap to high level energy a small device probably wouldn't draw any kind of attention from power management systems - if they were even operational.

He tapped his comm badge, but this time not to P'rel. "Saghir to Keating" he said earnestly, not breaking his view of the strange pulsing device.

=/\= Keating here, go ahead =/\=

Relieved to hear her voice, Sam responded, "Lieutenant, I'm in phaser control on deck 8..." he shifted his feet a little lean in to look closer, "...there's something here, a device on what I think is a phaser coil....I don't know, it doesn't belong here - think someone could take a look"?

=/\= Sure thing, I'll be there in less than a minute =/\=

Sam was taken aback, a minute - "wait..." he quietly contemplated, that meant it was she who was on the way... "Uhhh, Lieutenant maybe I-" Sam was cut off by a sharp crack to his left shoulder, stumbling forward he put his hands out to steady himself. As his outstretched hand landed upon the suspicious apparatus, a micro forcefield sent a numbing twinge up his arm.

He gathered himself as a blue fist came barrelling at his face, making contact with Sam's nose and sending him staggering backwards again. He looked up, there he was, that damned commander with some kind of long hexagonal tool in his hand. No wonder Sam's shoulder and left arm hurt like hell. "What the hell?" Sam roared.

The Bolian man, sweating, placed the large tool on a surface nearby and picked up a plasma torch instead, he held it out like a pistol, his arms shaking; "I'm sorry" he whimpered, "I'm so sorry"...the Bolian lunged forward and Sam, dazed but alert enough, managed to deflect the lunge. The most unimaginably intense burning shot through his left thigh, up into his groin and down into his toes, like liquid fire itself had just blasted through his veins. The plasma torch, whilst missing his face and body, had been thrust full force into his leg.

The two men grappled with ignited weapon, a bright flame roaring forth in a tight light of heat; though this Bolian hardly seemed a fighting man, Sam was injured and gasping for breaths in the searing pain. They locked eyes and in that moment, both realised it was a matter of survival, one would live and one would die; Sam's grip weakened as his diminishing strength got the better of him. A swift upwards thrust from his fellow combatant landed the butt of the torch on Sam's chin, and he fell backwards. The blue man lunged at him, the primal survivalist rage about to send the plasma torch driving through Sam's skull, when the slim doors to the phaser control room opened.

As the Bolian grabbed Sam's hair and dragged him to his knees, the young human only recognised Keating. His leg in untold agonies, his nose bleeding, shoulder throbbing and head banging; he knew he was in real trouble. "I have no choice..." the Bolian said, more remorsefully than threateningly. The flame gone but the aperture still hot, Lieutenant Commander Brill held the plasma torch against Sam's right temple, his other hand tightly gripping the Petty Officer's hair.... From Sam's kneeling position in front of the Bolian, he could hear the man sniffing, like he was stifling a tear, "just no choice..." he repeated in an agonised whisper, as he continued to repeat "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." over again in Sam's ear...

OFF

Petty Officer Third Class Sam Saghir
Intelligence
USS Athena

and

Lieutenant JG Keating
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Athena.