Lt. JG Natasha Cole - Too Close to Lose Ground
Natasha Schell
(( Karnack Engineering - Deck 4 - USS Karnack))
Jaran: We got trouble. Things are heating up downstairs, and They know.
Yet another thing for the list.
Multiple crew were injured.
Hull compromised.
Warp core Stable.
Hostiles on the move.
Main Engineering secure, mostly.
Vulnerable crew status unknown.
Crew Compromised.
K’Wara: ::quiet Cygnian curse:: Powering down impulse engines, resetting to prepped cold start. ::slight pause:: I’m venting excess heat through exhaust vents through Deck 3. Hopefully that’ll distract them enough to scatter their attention a little.
Cole: We could use the good fortune.
Imril: Number Two and Three distortion field relays have burned out. They’re not leaking energy, they’re damming it up. Not something we can fix from here.
Jaran: response
K'Wara: That’s our cue. Jaran, grab the engineering kit and get into that shaft. Imril, can you come up with anything to make sure the Things can’t take a whack at the core while we’re away?
Imril: Well, first, I can close the emergency bulkhead…
A keystroke later, a heavy wall came down between the core and the occupied section of Main engineering. Thick and strong as the ship’s exterior hull plating.
Imril: Second, I can lock the access to bulkhead controls down with an encrypted access code, double-randomized…
Imril: Third… ::Devious grin:: I can set Main Engineering’s Crew Comfort setting to Winter in The Yukon. Or even all the way down to Andorian Summer.
Another tap. The room’s life-support vents began belching cold air. Air that would get colder still as the system gave time for any occupants to adjust or put on coats. Hijacking the fire suppression system or venting some excess coolant could have accomplished the same task of making the room into a refrigerator, but those systems might yet be necessary.
Jaran: response
Natasha typed her clearance codes into the console, hesitating for a split second before hitting enter. Her hands felt delayed
Not now, no time.
Cole: My codes should help remove some obstacles.
K’Wara: Do it. ::to Cole:: Nat, you bring up the rear once Imril’s down. Make sure to shoot those things between the eyes if they poke their heads in before you close the hatch.
Natasha nodded and walked over between Imril and the door. She drew her phaser and held it to her side keeping her eyes focused on the door.
Another batch of Howls from down the corridor accompanied with the sounds of claws on the metal deck plating. She could feel the tension spread through her body.
Main Engineering under attack.
Need to evacuate NOW!
Cole: Time to go pardner!
Imril: This train doesn’t make stops.
(((OOC: Leaving K’Wara and Janan tags for pacing)))
Jaran: Response
K’Wara: I know. ::hisses:: Move quickly. The cold won’t follow us past the perimeter of Main Engineering.
Natasha lifted her phaser aiming at the door. Stepping backwards towards Imril ushering them towards the jeffries tube.
Cole: Move. Now.
Her voice came out steady.
Too steady.
Another howl.
The Darkling crossed into the doorway
Her pulse spikes hard enough to blur her vision.
The corridor beyond it narrowed.
Not physically.
Her vision tunneled.
Peripheral shadows swallowing details.
She adjusted her stance.
The deck felt like it was tilting.
It isn’t.
She keeped the phaser trained center-mass.
Breath in.
Breath out.
One more heartbeat.
Imril flipped a middle finger at the creature as they ducked into the shaft. That gave Nat the hint of a smirk. The creature had fully entered nto Main Engineering.
Cole: I’ve got the door.
She could hear Imril on the rungs of the ladder behind her.
=/\= chirp =/\=
MacKenzie: =/\= This is Captain MacKenzie - can anyone hear me? =/\=
Confirmation the Captain is alive.
K’Wara: Wha- ::taps combadge:: =/\= LT K’Wara here? =/\=
Jaran: Response
MacKenzie: =/\= What's your status, Lieutenant? We're pinned down in the armory and could use a distraction for the dark things... =/\=
Jaran: Response
K’Wara: They must be inside the shield bubble around Main Engineering... But this can’t be good for the power systems, coupled with the atmospheric adjustments Imril just made. ::taps combadge:: =/\= We’re working on shielding Decks 1 to 3 in a modified shield, and then we’ll move to the Shuttlecraft Control Room to work on the Deflector and forward thrusters. Main Engineering’s warded against the Things, for now. Imril’s turned the temperature down far enough the Things should be thinking thrice about going in there, but it won’t work forever. =/\=
Don’t spiral.
Coms likely had limited power.
Her hearing warps for half a second.
Everything sounds underwater.
Her fingers feel disconnected from the trigger.
Not now.
She squeezes the grip harder.
Pain brings clarity.
Claws scrap metal.
She fires.
Not wild.
Controlled.
Two precise bursts.
They both land.
One in the beasts shoulder the other clipping the side of head as it took the first impact.
Cole: GO!
She steps backward toward the Jeffries tube entrance.
The room flickers white at the edges.
Just for a second.
She doesn’t blink.
Not yet.
K’Wara: Welcome. We’re running out of time - the Captains’ team need that shield up, now.
Jumping into the access hatch, she started down the ladder. As she made her way down towards the rest of the team, she misjudged a rung and ended up sliding down the ladder the last few rungs, landing a bit harder than she intended too.
Cole: I heard, at least that's some spark of good news.
Jaran: Response
Imril: Glad you made it. ::Passing the Chief Engineer’s padd to Cole:: The access code to reopen the warpcore bulkhead is on this. You’re the only one of us who hasn’t gone through the transporter. You should be the only one who sees it. So the rest of us can’t be made to commit any sabotage.
She took the PADD from Imril, nodding slightly. She didn’t like it, but she understood. There were only a handful of officers who were not compromised, and they had been spread across the three teams.
Each outnumbered.
Any of the other officers could become an immediate threat.
Cole: I will not let that happen.
Meanwhile, Tamio and Jaran had arrived at the relay housing.
K’Wara: It’s these ones. ::hands a torque wrench to the Doctor:: Here, take this.
Jaran: Response
Imril led Nat towards the others, and indicated to all a pair of thin transparent aluminum cylinders set parallel to the floor. Within each, frayed-out power lines had been severed. But fresh ones lay behind them, also contained within the tubes. It was an efficient way of speeding up repairs.
Imril: ::Speaking while they disengage a manual lock with a torque wrench:: See those two junction tubes? We just have to rotate them to move the backup relays into place. ::Steps back, points:: Me and Jira on one, K’Wara and Cole on the other. ::Reaching out to a cylinder:: On three… One… Two… Three!
K’Wara: Pull!
Cole: ::through gritted teeth:: Move you stubborn piece of …
Jaran: Response
After a few moments of exertion, they were no longer bathed in darkness, but in the bright blue lighting of power coursing through transparent cables. The humming around them intensified as the shield emitter powered on. Tamio quickly rushed to the nearby console at the same time as Imril did.
Imril: ::Fist pump:: Yes! We have a shield! Wrapped around the whole warp core!
Warp Core stable, shielded and locked down.
She tapped the PADD she must have instinctively slipped into her pocket.
K’Wara: And- ::accesses console:: In two shakes, around Decks 1 to 3 too. ::clicks tongue:: We’re running out of power reserves. That stunt with the combadges drained a lot of it, and the atmospheric manipulations in Main Engineering isn’t cheap either.
Cole:With the physical barrier for the Warp Core in place, if it comes down to it, we might need to sacrifice the atmospheric barrier.
Imril/Jaran: Response
K’Wara: We may need to repurpose some other systems for extra power, but that should be doable from the Shuttlecraft Control Room. ::enters the final sequence and breathes out::
Cole:Try routeing non-essential systems into standby, lighting at minimum output, environmental cycling on staggered intervals. If anything spikes, we’ll feel it before it cascades.
Her words are crisp.
Too crisp.
She steadies herself against the console as the hum in the deck vibrates up through her boots.
Not electrical.
Internal.
Cole: What? Grandpa Dorian was an engineer.
Imril/Jaran: Response
K’Wara: Nothing like the feeling of humming bulkheads underneath your feet. Okay, it’s time to go.
Imril/Jaran: Response
Cole: I’ll cover the rear. We move as one. No one doubles back alone. If anyone feels that… pull… you call it out immediately.
There is the faintest hitch before the word “pull.”
She ignores it.
Cole: We’re too close to lose ground now.
K’Wara/Imril/Jaran: Response
Cole: Let’s move.
She steps forward …
The corridor shifts.
Not visibly.
But her equilibrium lags a half-second behind her body.
Her boot scrapes metal.
She corrects instantly.
Cole: I’m good.
No one asked.
She doesn’t realize that until after she says it.
K’Wara/Imril/Jaran: Response
Tags/TBC
----- ◌● -----
Lt. JG Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
Writer ID A240205NC4