Ensign Roy Bancroft - This is Fine

[Carter Schimpff]

(( Holodeck 3, Deck 222, DS 224 ))

Storm: =/\= We’re going to take the Jefferies tube as quickly as we can. It’s hot, but we also need to be careful that we don’t tear our suits. Tho’Bi, you take the front and I will bring up the rear. Quickly, but cautiously. Everyone got it? =/\=

Meris: ::nodding:: =/\= Aye, Lieutenant. =/\=

Bancroft: =/\= Copy =/\=

The Jeffries Tube hatch sprang open with a thunk. Storm gave out positions like a conductor assigning instruments. Roy nodded at his cue.

Storm: =/\= Let’s go, Ensign. You lead the way. Bancroft, you next. Meris, you’re in front of me. =/\=

Tho'Bi: ::to Storm:: =/\= Aye, Aye.=/\=

Tho’Bi stashed his tricorder in its suit-mounted cradle and climbed in, bulk and all, with the kind of ease that suggested he’d grown up in crawlspaces. Which, to be fair, was probably true.

Roy followed, one arm, one knee, then the other. 

Then came the heat.

It hit like a punch straight to the nose – dense and disorienting, the kind that didn’t radiate so much as cling to your skin. His radiation suit whirred quietly, trying its best to compensate, but by the time he rounded the first corner, his helmet was already fogging.

Meris: =/\= Aye, Lieutenant. =/\=

Storm: =/\= How we doing up there? Everybody sound off. =/\= 

Meris: =/\= Meris. Still good. =/\=

Tho'Bi: =/\= Nine minutes =/\=

Bancroft: =/\= Bancroft is good. Team, any signs of dizziness or nausea, sound off. Heat stroke can creep up on you quickly. Catch it early and we can keep moving. Ignore it and we get stuck. =/\=

The tube groaned as the expanding metal met the limits of its patience. Relays behind the walls started to spit and crackle – not enough to set off alarms yet, but enough to raise the physician’s blood pressure.

Storm: ::to Tho’Bi:: =/\= Any idea how much further, Ensign? =/\= ::to everyone:: =/\= I can imagine it’s getting harder to see with all the sweat. Let’s keep focused. =/\=

Tho’Bi’s voice came back in staggered fragments.

Tho'Bi: ::to Storm:: =/\= There's a junction up ahead ::coms static:: -ake the ladder up one level to Eng- ::coms static:: -ation is affecting coms. Do y- ::coms static:: -nant? =/\=

Storm: Response 

Tho'Bi: ::to Storm:: Copy Lieu- ::coms static:: -ving on =/\=

Roy gave the side of his helmet two sharp taps with his palm. Still garbled. He followed it up with a quick thumbs-down gesture into the air, a nonverbal heads-up for Meris and Storm: Comms are shot. No clue if it’s just me or all of us. Assume the worst.

Meris: Response

Tho'Bi: =/\= Hold up =/\=

The Andorian engineer unlatched his tricorder and scanned the junction hatch. Roy could just make out the faint sound of diagnostics chirping over the rising hiss of steam and vapor.

Roy’s visor blurred with condensation. Below him, the metal was slick with droplets. Somewhere ahead, a power relay blew in a dramatic puff of sparks.

Tho'Bi: ::to Storm:: =/\= ::coms static:: -atch is fro- ::coms static:: -eat. The hatch is frozen. The coo- ::coms static:: leaked in- ::coms static:: -tion. Re- ::coms static:: coolant ::coms static:: into the junction. =/\=

Storm: Response 

Tho'Bi: =/\= Two meters back th- ::coms static:: vent system ::coms static:: -eat Emergency Coolant ::coms static:: access pan- ::coms static:: -lant chamber shou- ::coms static:: -ty. Repeat coolant cha- ::coms static:: empty. =/\=

Great. A chamber, a vent, a panel, and something empty. Half the instructions were missing, and – given the current state of affairs – the other half might as well be on fire.

Still, Tho’Bi pressed onward, and Roy followed. At this point the options were fairly limited: keep moving or die confused – and condemn those behind you to the same fate.

Tho'Bi: =/\= At the ::coms static:: chamber there is a sec- ::coms static:: Engineering. Repe- ::coms static:: top of th- ::coms static:: second access pan- ::coms static:: directly to Engin- ::coms static:: =/\=

A second later, a sharp snap of light cracked before Tho’Bi. Sparks rained down as another power relay failed. 

Tho'Bi: =/\= It’s a ti- ::coms static:: Meris could? Re- ::coms static:: -ight fit, but maybe Ensig- ::coms static:: Copy?

Roy reached forward and tapped the engineer’s leg, then repeated the helmet-slap/thumbs-down combo. No comms.

And no margin for error.

The crack that had formed on Tho’Bi’s visor worried him more than it probably should have. It was holding, but there’s something profoundly disconcerting about watching microfractures spider across the only thing between his face and a radioactive death sauna.

He braced his forearms on the metal deck plating.

Welcome to the simulation. Try not to die.

Storm/Meris/Tho’Bi: Response

(OOC: Thank you all for your patience as I got caught up. Everything's back in order and I will be able to participate more fully moving forward!)

TAG/TBC!

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Ensign Roy Bancroft

Medical Officer

USS Artemis-A

A240205RB1