Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Iko -- Pick your battles. If you can.
Rebecca Iko
They hadn’t turned the lights off yet. Bec decided that was a good thing.
She saw one of the vole things move around, scurrying away from the door and immediately shot at it, before looking over her shoulder at the other two.
Aitas: I can sense several more animals about; they seem uninterested in us. Perhaps they’re also seeking to flee the storm.
Bec nodded, bringing her phaser down, and double checking it was on one of the lowest settings.
Orrey: Response
Bec sighed, as she walked through the space, phaser low, searching for another.
Iko: We really don’t have time for this…
Aitas: Starfleet never offers as much time as you’d like, from my experience.
oO Probably why you’re in the FDC now… Oo
Orrey: Response
Iko: Once Engineering’s clear I want it sealed off until the storm’s over.
In fact, she was going to seal off all the important areas. They were going to do so anyway—radiaton and the stuff that’d fry the power grid and things like the DQ’s version of the Orion Syndicate would have a much harder time going through closed doors after all. The Voles were just making Bec want to do this earlier than she’d planned. And y’know, the bastards would chew through the bulkheads anyway but it was better than nothing.
Iko: =/\= Bec to ::slight smile:: Chief petty Officer Barberra. =/\=
It was after she'd called her girlfriend that she remembered Lieutenant Taelon’s name.
Barberra: =/\= Go ahead Commander. =/\=
The flustered Lieutenant commander thought she’d heard one of the creatures, but after looking around unsuccessfully, smoothly went back into the conversation at hand: locking down the station.
Iko: =/\= $%@#, uhm. What levels do you guys need, what levels can I seal off? There’s bloody Voles eating engineering. =/\=
The science team may have heard the phaser fire from Bec finding another rascal over the comms just as Bec finished speaking.
Taelon: =/\= We’re going to be heading to the Habitat shortly, so I think we can do without those levels. Um, maybe vent the engineering section? We’ve got - um, we have bigger issues, I think… =/\=
Barberra: =/\= Commander, there are potential object shaped micro subspace fractures heading our way. =/\=
Bec lowered her phaser and furrowed her brow. She didn’t have a very good idea of what that meant but it did not sound good…
Varati: =/\= We are still trying to find out what it is, but the storm's precursors are already damaging our measuring equipment and transmissions are also breaking down... =/\=
She gave a glance to Orrey and Aitas.
Galanis: =/\= Response =/\=
Iko: =/\= Good luck. And make sure there’s no Hirogen or anything hiding in there too. =/\=
She closed the comms.
Aitas: Taelon has dealt with these sorts of storms before. He’ll keep a good eye on things.
Bec nodded. She trusted Aitas’ judgement.
Orrey: Response
Iko: Is that all of them from in here?
That made Aitas pause, tilting her head.
Aitas: I can’t sense anything else nearby.
Orrey: Response
Bec nodded.
Iko: ‘right. Well. Do you need anything else from medical because that’s just upstairs and next on the list.
Orrey: Response
Aitas paused. Bec turned to see why she had paused. There were more voles, but these ones weren’t running anywhere. But she hadn’t been the one to cut the race short.
Aitas: Something else killed these voles. Are they more sensitive to the storm than we are?
Aitas took a step closer. Bec took a step closer, screwing up her face as she saw the way one of them was curled up on itself in a rather uncomfortable-looking way.
Iko: Whatever it is I don’t really wanna stick around and find out for too much longer…
Orrey: Response
Aitas: They’re further out than some of the others. Stragglers perhaps?
Iko: Is there anyone on scans?
She went to a console to she if she could access the internal sensors from there.
Orrey: Response
Aitas pulled her jacket off and knelt down next to one of the voles.
Aitas: I can carry it, if you want to run some tests while we’re at medical.
Bec looked at Orrey, letting him have the call. Though there was a small part of Bec that felt a pang of guilt at seeing Aitas’ pretty jacket get damaged.
Orrey: Response
Aitas: Is there anything else we have to do to shut things down here?
Bec looked around, and shook her head.
Iko: Just get out.
Orrey: Response
Aitas: Onward, then. Fureri has noticed a few spikes of energy usage in the Habitat Ring; hopefully there isn’t too much damage.
She still had her connection with the bot, and thus far it seemed like coms had remained functional as well. How long that would last...it seemed better not to test it.
Iko: The quicker we can get up there, the better. The storms coming in hot.
Orrey: Response
Aitas: I don’t think the storm is doing them any favors. I felt—
Aitas shook her head.
Iko: You ‘right?
Aitas/Orrey: Response
Bec nodded. She wasn’t sure she was convinced, but they needed to head off.
((Timeskip, Beijing District, Habitat Ring, En Route to Robin Hopper’s apartment))
After making a stop at the Medical centre, getting everything they needed from there and locking up that section, and then poking her head through the window of the cargo section, seeing all the voles having a dance party in zero-g and saying “nope, we’re out”, Bec and her group had arrived in the Habitat ring to have one final look around before they too headed to bunker down in Robin’s conversation Pit.
Iko: You’ve got Fureri looking up in Peace park, don’t you?
Aitas/Orrey: Response
Peace park, admittedly, was one of the few places on the station that was going to have the power still on, though minimised as much as possible. It was a fairly reasonable thing to request, after all, no-one wanted actual drop bears the moment grav plating came online, and all the science people would probably be annoyed if the climate of the park was messed with too much. But it was still somewhere they had to check, even if time was running low, and the storm was drawing nearer, and if all they could do was have Aitas’ bot give the park a once-over, then so be it.
Bec nodded to her companions, before she saw a figure ahead. And with everything in that report from Kaito, she recognised it, and visibly frowned, before she started marching forward.
Iko: You’re kidding me…
Aitas/Orrey: Response
Iko: What are you doing here?
Bobded: Response
Aitas/Orrey: Response
Iko: I’d shove you in the brig if it wasn’t powering down. And I don’t trust your repair work. But we’re on our way to Robin’s and I’ll at least agree that it’s probably just easier if we let you camp it out with us.
Aitas/Orrey/Bobded: Response
Bec looked around. There were a fair few more Voles around on the ring. But none of them were running around like the bastards they were. She looked to the Betazoid man, gestured to the creatures on the floor and asked:
Iko: Y’know what’s up with these things?
Aitas/Orrey/Bobded: Response
Tag/TBC