Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie - Does Brute Force Work?
Addison MacKenzie
MacKenzie: I'm reading a massive spike in thalaron generation...
That was all Jira needed to hear. Thankfully, the last Nascaik had just been treated.
Jaran: Treatments are all administered. No excuse to hang around here, though.
Bancroft/Eos: Response
MacKenzie: We've got to hurry. You said we need to head through these doors?
Jaran returned their hypo to the medkit and pulled out their tricorder.
Jaran: The radiation seems to have its source somewhere below us. The corridor through there slants up, so it's the best option to get some distance.
Eos/Bancroft: Response
The commanding officer holstered her tricorder and removed her phaser from its holster. She had clocked Eos's warning not to discharge weapons - and, of course, she wouldn't if she didn't have to - but if they were facing imminent danger, the risk of igniting any of the radiation would probably be just as fatal as allowing Havun to carry out whatever was happening anyway.
MacKenzie: Let's go.
With a sense of urgency, both the Starfleet and Nasciak contingents started to move.
Cole: Sir, General order 15, I’m going to have to insist I go first.
Eos/Bancroft: Response
MacKenzie made a gesture that, in any other scenario, probably would have been read as obscene, but instead communicated that they all needed to get their asses moving and it wouldn't soon matter who went first if they were all irradiated.
Jaran: Ok, the three rules of scary radiation: time, distance, and shielding. We limit the time we're exposed, we put the most distance we can in between us and the source, and we put anything we can between us and the source.
Cole: Good reminder. And call out if you see anyone suffering from the more psychological side effects. ::to herself:: I don’t need to revisit that individual crisis anytime soon.
Eos/Bancroft: Response
Jaran: ::huffing slightly from the exertion:: Correct. Thalaron radiation isn't easily shielded against. The usual suspects don't do the trick.
Cole: I’ve heard stories, nasty stuff, not to be trifled with ::beat, inhale:: My father had a strange sense of what was appropriate bedtime stories.
MacKenzie: ::breathing steadily:: Rest assured, Lieutenant - whatever stories you were told, the reality is far worse...
Eos/Bancroft: Response
The corridor came to a split. To the left, a short walk and a staircase down. To the right, a gentle slope upward. They banked to the right.
Jaran: Well, not necessarily. Thalaron radiation also has a relatively short effective range. Assuming we don't get trapped anywhere, we should be able to outrun it.
As they turned the corner, they encountered a sealed door. The panel to the door's side was unresponsive.
Jaran: Umm as I was saying, if we don't get trapped, we'll probably be ok? Anyone have a key for this?
Cole approached the control panel, then ran her fingers along the edge. As she reached for her boot, MacKenzie could feel her lips pull slightly inward - she knew that the security officers had been warned about carrying blades, but if Silveira's warning hadn't been enough, MacKenzie would make sure the directive was carried out moving forward. Fortunately, it seemed that the movement was just a force of habit.
Cole: ::looking back to the group:: Anyone have a knife or a flat tool?
MacKenzie: ::flatly:: I left my bat'leth at home...
Eos/Bancroft/Jaran: Response
MacKenzie had moved forward to inspect the panel herself, and thus wasn't sure where Cole got the knife that was now in her hand. It wasn't typical for Nasciak officers to carry blades of any kind, and she didn't figure it would have come from one of the medical officers...
Cole: Thank you, Dota Bundara Eos.
MacKenzie pursed her lips as she moved to the side. She couldn't see what was in Cole's hand, but she watched from a distance as she ran the tool along the panel's casing, prying it up just enough until she could get her fingers behind it. After a strong pull, she revealed a nest of wires.
Cole: Thanks.
MacKenzie: Can you get it open?
Eos/Bancroft/Jaran: Response
Cole got to work pulling wires and connecting them together until eventually they heard the door's mechanism start to move. And move, it did ... all of about fifteen centimeters.
Cole: Here, can someone hold these wires together, and someone help me pull these doors apart further.
MacKenzie stepped forward and took the wires from Cole.
MacKenzie: ::muttering:: What do I have to lose? Radiation or electrocution...
Eos/Bancroft/Cole/Jaran: Response
From her spot at the side of the door, she watched as the group struggled with the heavy metal doors. Bored with the manual labor she was witnessing, she turned her attention back to the nest of wires behind the door. Studying the various colored wires, she looked at the two in her hand - a red and a yellow - and then looked to the others in the wall. There were wires in orange, green, and blue, plus more wires in red and yellow. Looking deeper, she saw two wires that looked frayed. Cocking her head slightly to the side giving, "well, what harm could it do," she reached inside and connected the two wires, at which point the metal doors opened swiftly, sending those trying to force them open suddenly spilling to the floor.
MacKenzie: I think I missed my calling.
Eos/Bancroft/Cole/Jaran: Response
MacKenzie pointed into the door.
MacKenzie: Lieutenant, I seem to recall you wanting to take point... Let's get a move on before we're all liquidated.
Eos/Bancroft/Cole/Jaran: Response
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A