Lieutenant Whittaker: Flirting In The Face Of Danger (Tag: Anders)
Michael Meir-Wright
(( Torpedo Control Room | USS Albion ))
:: Without thinking, Theo threw himself against Anders and they both fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, engineer falling on top of mission specialist. The roar of the green flames was deafening and the rush of heat was almost oppressive. He had to shout over the noise to make himself heard ::
Whittaker: “We’re trapped!”
Anders: :: looking up at Theo :: “This is HOT, and normally I would mean you laying on top of me, but I mean the fire! It is going to take all the oxygen out of the room!”
:: Theo summoned the willpower to stop his eyes from rolling. Some people, it transpired, were with shame whatsoever. Then again, Anders was Risian. Shame was not a factor for him or his people from what he had experienced with Antero Flynn on Columbia. ::
Whittaker: “Are you really flirting with me in the face of danger?!” :: beat :: “Nevermind, don’t answer that. We need to get out of here and quickly!”
Anders: “We might be able to unbolt the load rails and crawl under the fire? There should just be enough room under there for us to belly crawl under the fire.”
:: Smoke was starting to fill the small compartment and Theo coughed, knowing that it was going to get rather toxic, rather quickly. He looked back down at Anders with a grimace ::
Whittaker: “I don’t have my tools with me!”
Anders: “I have a micro-spanner in my pocket, I think it might unbolt the taps.”
:: Theo rolled off the mission specialist and jumped to his feet, holding
out a hand
for him to get up with. ::
Whittaker: “You really have to stop with the flirting si-“ :: he stopped as Anders handed him the spanner from his back pocket, coughing as he did :: “Ah thankyou!”
Anders: “You’re the engineer, you may have better luck with this than me, all my tools are on the other side of the fire.”
:: Theo said nothing as he set to work furiously unbolting the taps. The Risian leaned over him as he did, helping the spanner to line up with the taps. He tried to ignore the fact that Anders was probably enjoying himself. ::
Anders: “We have to hurry because if the fire burns too much when we open this we will have a back draft!”
Whittaker: :: testily :: “I’m going as fast as I can.” :: he realised he was working on the last tap. He unbolted it triumphantly and the grate came away. :: “Come on!”
:: Theo threw himself down into the crawlspace followed by Anders. He shimmied along, the fire becoming unbearably hot now. He coughed harder and louder, his chest burned and his throat felt raw. He wanted to stop and rest but he knew that he couldn’t, lest he wanted to die among the green flames and take the Risian with him. Fighting the urge, he struggled on until they were clear.
He rolled onto his back and summoning energy he didn’t know he had, he punched the metal grate above him open. He forced himself upwards and into the Jeffries Tube, which was all but clear of smoke, save for the whisps that followed the two of them. He helped Anders clamber out of the crawlspace and then leaned back against the wall of the tube, which was mercifully cool. ::
Whittaker: “I never want to do that again.”
Anders: ?
:: Theo didn’t know whether it was the fact that he had just cheated death’s embrace twice within the space of five minutes or that he was used to do so with Risians, but he could not help but smirk salaciously at Anders’ comment. ::
Whittaker: “I’ll leave that your imagination Lieutenant Commander.” :: beat :: “Come on, we should probably head to the bridge.”
Anders: ?
:: With a grin that told Anders he didn’t mean it, Theo replied ::
Whittaker: “Oh shut up.”
TAG
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Chief Engineering Officer