Lt Alex Storm - Containment Breach
Karen Morris
((Unknown Monastery - Callis 1))
Alex set the pot back down on the shelf. If they were going to descend into the basement, they needed some light. Heading for the doorway, she called over her shoulder…
Storm: Would someone like to help me grab those leg bones and fabric?
It was only a moment before Alex and the Captain silently made their way to and from the other room, gathering the long leg bones and the tattered fabric from the broken-down cots. With one leg bone tucked under her right arm, she knotted the fabric around the top of the other one, repeating the process with the second leg bone as they re-entered the room where Brexis and Cole waited for them.
MacKenzie: It smells pretty pungent. If it's as flammable as I think it is, we shouldn't need much.
Brexis: Hopefully it doesn’t smell worse when it’s on fire.
Cole: If it was used for rituals, it might have an aroma to it
Storm: Hopefully it’ll smell more pleasant. In the cultures I’m familiar with, incense is supposed to smell pleasant.
The dampening of the fabric began quickly enough. The Captain nodded when she felt there was enough. MacKenzie went to ignite her two torches while oil was poured on the bones that Alex carried. Holding the dry end of both bones, she followed in the Captain’s footsteps. As she arrived at the fire, she caught sight of her Commanding Officer smiling at the sight of the two torches she held. Alex stepped up beside her and lit the two she carried as well.
MacKenzie: Behold! Torches!
Brexis: ::Smirking:: Leave it to a redhead to be so proud of her fire.
Cole: It’s because we appreciate things that are dangerous and beautiful. ::making a boom motion with her hands::
Alex chuckled and said under her breath…
Storm: And you wonder how you get the reputation as a pyromaniac.
Alex handed her second torch off to Brexis as the group made their way back to the room with the second door.
MacKenzie: Who's going first?
The insinuation was clear: it would not be her.
Brexis: I’ll lead. ::Turning to Alex:: You behind in case anything jumps out and grabs me?
Storm: Done.
Cole: ::already shifting position, looking at MacKenzie:: After you, Sir. I’ll cover our six.
((Monastery Basement - Callis 1))
Alex’s foot lowered onto the solid step, keeping pace with Brexis - knife in one hand and torch in the other. With each new step, another knot twisted in Alex’s stomach.
She reached out and touched the stairwell walls - stone, not metal. Continuing step by step, moments later, her foot hit the dirt floor. She raised her torch. No little ship hung from the ceiling. Her eyes strained forward through the darkness to see if there was a metal door at the other end of this horror movie scene. She couldn’t make one out - yet - and it was a good thing because there was no Bancroft to care for a burned hand - if she managed that again. She glanced over her shoulder at MacKenzie and turned her head forward again before rolling her eyes. There was no competition.
After a few steps, a musty smell overtook her, and she wrinkled her nose, but when Charlotte gestured them forward toward a large metal-barred door, she stopped, once again checking over her shoulder just to make sure that a small ship hadn't appeared from the middle of the corridor ceiling.
Brexis: It’s unlocked.
Cole: Of course it is.
Storm walked up beside Brexis, the knife in her dominant hand.
Storm: I’ve got ya.
MacKenzie: Response
The groan from the door reverberated throughout the area. Alex held up her torch and stepped in softly, her eyes sweeping from side to side. Cages. Small cages to large ones. Many were littered with bones. Alex’s grip tightened on the torch. This wasn’t a lair. This was infrastructure.
Brexis: I think this is the only room down here. I think those ::gesturing towards the cages:: are empty, but we should double check.
Storm: What do you think this room is?
Walking the perimeter, Alex shone her torch on anything she could, mentally clearing each spot with the hopes that none of these creatures had the lifespan of an El Aurian.
MacKenzie: Response
The light caught a large carcass that was thankfully all bone. It was enormous. The rib cage was larger than Tho’Bi, had he been standing there. The skull lay in the dirt with its claws stretched out.
Brexis: I have a strong suspicion that this is a friend of the ones who tried to bust down the door up there.
Cole: :: stepping closer but not touching the bars:: Yeah… that tracks. Same scale. Same teeth. ::beat:: And if this thing died in a cage, that means whatever lived here didn’t just encounter them.
Cole: They studied them. Or contained them. Maybe both.
Storm: Or bred them.
Her stomach turned as the pieces clicked together faster than she liked. Cages didn’t just hold mistakes. They prepared for them.
MacKenzie/Brexis: Response
Cole: ::quiet, thoughtful:: That thing didn’t come through the door upstairs. ::beat:: Not at that size. Which means there’s another entrance down here somewhere, one big enough to move it in… or let it out. We should spread out.
Storm: I had the same thought. There has to be a way.
Alex circled the room. The walls appeared intact, but when she reached the large cage, something looked different. She couldn’t see the torchlight reflecting off the wall behind the cage. Using her knife, Alex pried the lock off of the front of the cage. It popped open, and the Tactical Officer ventured inside.
MacKenzie/Brexis: Response
Walking right through the ribcage of the creature, she made her way to the rear of the enclosure.
Storm: Hey! There’s another hinged door back here. It’s partially broken open, bent open from the inside.
Reaching the back of the cage and examining it, Alex shook her head.
Storm: And behind it is another passageway.
MacKenzie/Brexis/Cole: Response
But something didn’t feel right to Alex, and she walked back into the cage, poking around in the dirt with the toe of her boot. Shortly thereafter, her toe hit something hard and metal. Crouching down, she slipped her knife back into her boot and pinched the article with which her toe collided.
Storm: Look at this! It’s a spearhead.
The piece of metal had to be six inches long and four inches wide. Alex swallowed. Whatever lived here had fought back.
MacKenzie/Brexis/Cole: Response
From her crouched position, Alex found two halves of a broken spear shaft buried in the dust. Her eyes flicked from her position to the broken cage door.
Storm: Maybe it tried to - and almost did - break out, and they killed it to keep it contained? But the passageway would explain how at least the large animals got it. They had the cage waiting and ready.
MacKenzie/Brexis/Cole: Response
~*~
Tags / TBC!
~*~
Lt Alex Storm
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis
O240103SK2