MSNPC Legend O'Connor - So, how good are ya'll at platformers?
LT Gila Sadar
(( Maintenance Shaft - Secret Lunar Compound, Surface of Moric ))
Legend wasn’t sure what had happened - he for sure had some bad notions about what had caused the entire bloody complex to start groaning and tearing like a piece of paper - but it wasn’t one he wanted to entertain. As the metal surrounding them started quieting down, settling uneasily into its new all-bent-out-of-shape shape, Legend heard the voices of the Fleeters echoing out to him from inside the maintenance shaft.
Sadar: A-Are we... A-Alive?
Bergmen: ::suppressing cough:: Yea.. ::hoarse:: A-Alive. ::cough::
Legend leaned down slightly, calling into the warped tunnel.
O’Connor: Everyone all right in there!?
Vailani: I'll feel a lot better when I'm not stuck in a metal tube.
oO Valid point of view Oo
Silveira: Alive, kicking and ready to leave.
Sadar: We need to get out of here. There’s no guarantee that won’t happen again!
That wasn’t a welcome notion, and Legend almost wanted to call the strange blue alien - Sadar, he remembered the others calling her - out on her jinxing them, but he’d gathered that some of their number seemed quite protective of the gigantic woman, so he kept his mouth shut. Vailani, who’d been right behind him, started climbing out of the shaft, and while Legend’s initial instinct was to render her assistance - just in case she’d gotten hurt - she soon demonstrated that she was perfectly capable of extricating herself on her own.
As if to prove his prior point, her immediate action upon removing herself from the maintenance shaft was to turn around and lend a hand to the tall Doctor, guiding her out of the shaft in much the same manner as Legend’s instinct had been to offer her.
Gallantry wasn’t dead, he guessed, just slightly misplaced?
That was when the entire compound started rumbling again, and while Legend’s first instinct was to cover - just in case one of the numerous stacks of crates started toppling over - Vailani pulled even more fervently at her friend(?), just as the loud groaning of metal being torn apart like paper rang through the air, making Legend grit his teeth. The number one sound you didn’t want to hear on a starship.
Obviously, that wasn’t the entire reason why this particular sound was a problem.
Vailani: Bergmen! Silveira!
O'Connor: What happened?
Dumbest question ever, but he couldn’t stop himself, and he leaned down to look in where Sadar’s feet had been just previously. They could see into the vacuous space contained behind the wall, seeing the steep incline of the ventilation shaft that had been torn from the socket of the hatch, pointing downwards.
O’Connor: Yikes...
Vailani: :: cautious and hopeful :: Silveira will know what to do. Bergmen knows the way to the Keystone. We can meet them there.
Legend wasn’t sure whether Vailani was trying to assure herself, or assure Sadar. They both looked equally panicked at the notion of their two colleagues being lost to them. Regardless, he was certain that pointing out the two officers were likely to meet some of Vef-Lai’s goons before being able to rejoin them wouldn’t go over well, so instead, he just nodded without a word.
Sadar: Response
Somewhere in the distance, somewhere out of sight, numerous small explosions indicated that the base wasn’t entirely safe just yet, and given what Legend presumed was the cause of the damage, he wasn’t too keen on remaining in the area for much longer.
O’Connor: We ready to go?
Vailani: Lead the way Mister O'Connor.
He nodded before turning about. The inside of the base had been mangled beyond recognition, walls and large pieces of floor strewn about randomly like an oversized child had tossed a bunch of puzzle pieces into the air to see where they landed. If it wasn’t for Legend’s impeccable sense of direction - and his general good sense to go away from the explosions - he’d have had no clue where to go, but as it was they’d make do.
The trek wasn’t a straightforward one. Given the modular nature of the base, they had to head downwards a few times, because the floortiles hadn’t ‘slotted into’ each other the way they were supposed to, and Legend figured they’d probably gone down a story or two by the time they ran into any other sentient folks. Or well, remains of sentient folks. One of the Kydonians - the frog-looking ones - had been trapped underneath a piece of wall, squished, and green blood seeped out from what little was visible of it.
But it had a weapon still in its exposed hand. Legend watched as the Doctor crouched down, her fingers reaching for the Kobyar’s hand, though she ignored the weapon entirely.
Sadar: Response
O'Connor: Yeah, I could’a told you that. ::slight pause:: Sorry. But we might as well borrow its weapon. There may be still be live ones runnin’ about.
Sadar didn’t seem to like that notion, but Vailani seemed of a more practical sort, as she crouched down to take the weapon.
Vailani: :: to Gila :: I'll return it once we're free :: look to the Kobyar arm :: Just in case it's sentimental … such a waste.
Legend didn’t want to point out that they’d be stupid to come back there after they’d reached the Keystone, instead focusing on pressing onwards. They saw ever more evidence of the havoc that had wrecked the base, though thankfully whatever it was had passed - or at least been temporarily paused - and that suited Legend just fine. The looming threat of the cold vacuum of space waiting just beyond the base’s outer shell was enough to urge him on, and may have made him slightly overzealous in his haste.
Whatever was the cause, they soon came to an area where they could hear muffled shouts, evidence that there were still live soldiers about, and Legend felt decidedly underdressed without a weapon on him.
oO I could really do with another well-armed corpse right about now! Oo
O'Connor: Careful-
His word of warning was interrupted when another green-skinned Kydonian stepped out into the open, the barrel of his gun pointed in their direction.
Vailani: Wait!
Legend ducked, trying to make himself the smaller of the three targets, when a weird swooshing sound announced itself. For a split second, Legend thought it was the sound of whatever plug that was keeping the base sealed getting dragged into space, but the lack of a violent architectural reaction made him reconsider that just as a gold streak from above collided with the Kydonians head, knocking it out cold.
It was the oversized teenager.
O’Connor: Huh... ::looks up:: We must’ve come further down than I thought.
Vailani: Bergmen! :: frowned :: Where's Silveira?
Sadar/Bergmen: Response
Then, the loud - and with comically appropriate timing - voice preceded what Legend was sure would be a stunning entrance.
Silveira: CLEAR…
Legend clapped slowly.
O'Connor: Nice entrance, buddy. 8.5/10.
Sadar/Bergmen: Response
Silveira shook his head a bit, looking around at the gathered people. He reached up a hand, seemingly asking for assistance in standing. Sadar took a slight step forwards, but seemed to think the better of it and remained rooted in place. The moment was allowed to pass for slightly too long for it to not be awkward, before Legend grabbed ahold of Silveira’s hand and dragged him to his feet.
Silveira: It’s the last time I let Bergmen take a short cut. Are you all alright?
O'Connor: Just peachy. A jolly jaunt.
Vailani/Sadar/Bergmen: Response
Silveira: Something hit us. By accident, deliberately, we should leave and get back to the Artemis. ::He looked at Zoy.:: But we also should take care of the stocks in this facility.
‘Take care’ rang dangerously close to ‘explode all of Legend’s hard work’ for Legend to not take it personally, but he wasn’t going to argue with the four Starfleet types, one of which was about 100% more armed than Legend himself.
O'Connor: Well, you’ve got two options: either we go down, find all the stockpiled cargo and blow it to Kingdom Come - potentially risking blowing another hole in the base and venting us all into space ::whistled as he mimicked a floating corpse in space:: or we head upwards to find a way out of this death trap.
One guess which option Legend preferred.
Vailani/Sadar/Bergmen: Response
Silveira seemed to think on that for a moment, before making a decision.
Silveira: I say we get out of here. ::Turning to Legend:: Hey, Legend Harry, where’s your ship?
Legend nodded sagely, arms crossed over his broad chest.
O’Connor: Good choice. ::looks around:: Given that you two came down here, I’d say we’re at least three floors too far down, and we haven’t moved that far in any cardinal direction. We’ve got to find a way to get up again.
Vailani/Sadar/Bergmen/Silveria: Response
O’Connor: Well, preferably we find a staircase or another working computer console before the base gets shaken and stirred again.
Legend looked to the unconscious Kydonian on the floor, before looking back at the Fleeters in a tell-tale motion of ‘anyone gonna take that gun?’. If Silveira and Bergmen hadn’t rejoined them, Legend would’ve been tempted to take it for himself - Sadar seemed very opposed to grabbing it for herself, after all - but he wasn’t going to risk any controversial actions with those two back in the group.
Vailani/Sadar/Bergmen/Silveria: Response
Once the weapon had been appropriated, he led the charge again, heading in the rough direction he knew the Keystone would be.
oO I just really hope it’s not fallen down. Flying it out that way would be a pain Oo
The minor explosions in the background had calmed down again, likely because all the cargo and armaments rattled by the decompression had settled into whatever position they’d been left in, so the base was back to that familiar background hum of artificial gravity and life support running somewhere in the background. It was a wonder that was still functioning with all of this haphazard wires hanging everywhere, but Legend wasn’t going to question their good fortune.
Eventually, the group finally found a section of the base that had collapsed in quite a splendid fashion, essentially forming a sort of stairway leading upwards, with roof and wall tiles leaning on each other in a very haphazard and not at all structurally sound way. Legend felt quite certain that should they all decide to scale this at the same time, they’d just collapse the tiles and leave them stranded on the lower floor again.
O’Connor: Well, this seems perfectly safe and sturdy. ::shrugs:: We ought to be pretty close to the Keystone now though, so if we can just get up there...
Vailani/Sadar/Bergmen/Silveria: Response
TAG/TBC
Legend O’Connor
Smuggler
As written by
LT Gila Sadar
Assistant Chief of Medical
USS Artemis-A
A2400006GS1