Unexpected Company

Posted on Tue May 17th, 2022 @ 12:03am by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Commander N'Garzi Zora

Mission: Ares Ascending
Timeline: MD-02
717 words - 1.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Finn followed the readings on her tricorder through the jefferies tubes. Although power had been mostly restored, somehow the access tunnel seemed dim, cold, and uninviting. Fortunately, the one hundred meters passed fairly quickly and Finn popped open the hatch in question. A detailed look revealed some interesting findings.

“Keating to Zora, it looks like the processors are fried on the sensors, but specifically just the processor block,” she said, thinking that it seemed like more than a simple accident that such a specific piece of the system was down. “I can reroute the signals through a functioning block and get it working though, it’ll take about an hour.”

Back in the command centre, Zora pressed the badge on her chest. "I don't like the idea of you being there for an hour Lieutenant, is there anything you can do to speed up the job? Do you need more people?"

"Not that I can see, Commander. More people would just crowd the space and a system like this will just take time. I'll go as quickly as I can while maintaining the integrity of the repair, and I'll continue to check in every thirty minutes," Finn replied, hoping that Zora would go along with the plan.

Zora wasn't happy about it but knew that Keating wouldn't quote a time that took her a second longer than she needed. "Every fifteen minutes Lieutenant, anything out of the ordinary we're pulling you out, understood?"

"Understood," Finn replied with a smile, excited to get her hands dirty with some real work. She started to carefully move each wire connected to the non-functioning processor block, pausing on occasion to check in or look around. The jefferies tube space was small, yet she couldn't nix the feeling that another presence was here.

The ghosts of those Cardassians we found earlier perhaps? The internal narration in her mind spoke to the fear Finn was feeling, but she shrugged it off as an irrational thought. Forcing her mind to refocus on the task at hand, she looked at the new processor to which everything would be tied, but it only lasted a minute before she was interrupted by a clattering noise. Finn whipped around, her heart racing, as she looked for what had caused the disturbance yet nothing appeared.

Calm down, there's nothing in here. You're being ridiculous, Finn chided herself for being distracted. Then again, you don't want to be that stupid person in all of those horror movies you've seen where they just ignore what was happening and end up dead. Maybe we just go and check out the two intersections close by and make sure there isn't a rat roaming around or something? It seemed a reasonable thing to do, just a quick check to make sure.

Finn carefully set her tools aside and crawled towards the first intersection. She got most of the way there before it happened again. A clattering noise, but this time possibly from the other direction? Perhaps she'd have to explore that side too, Finn thought. She forged forward until the intersection was reached, but didn't cross the threshold. She paused, telling herself to chill out and that there would be nothing in the dimly lit perpendicular tubes. With a sigh, Finn pushed through the second guesses and peaked her head past the threshold to the left. She only caught a quick flash of metal from the side of her eye as something made contact with her skull and everything turned dark.

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"We got her!" Finn heard a faint voice as her movement stopped. What happened? She wondered as she tried to push past the curtains of unconsciousness.

"Get a sedative, quick," a shadow of a man stood over Finn and spoke with a deep gravelly voice. His brow was furrowed with concern, yet somehow Finn got the impression that the concern wasn't directed at her well-being.

I have to get out of here, now, Finn tried to move, but couldn't. Her hand came up to tap the combadge, but it wasn't there anymore. Get up! Her internal voice pleaded with her to move quickly yet her body remain sluggish. Then, the feeling of a hypospray touched her shoulder followed by darkness once more.