MdJG Jovenan – A good day to whine
Jovenan
((Shuttlepod Don Pedro, Shint Cruiser Breach))
Pain. Horrible pain!
The shuttlepod had forced its way through the hull of the Shint cruiser with incredible violence. Having taken damage, it was now lying somewhere within the cruiser interior, filling with smoke and sparks. Jovenan opened the top of her previously pristine white uniform to verify her suspicions: parts of her upper body were blue and red of large bruises on her skin.
Jovenan: ::alarmed:: Medic, I’m injured! Look, I’m all on bruises! It hurst soooo baaad!
Sato: Seriously?
Chevalier: Your motoric functions are unimpaired. Your damage is superficial. There is no reason to You stop the function.
Thevn: Welcome to real life. I promise, there’s every chance you’re gonna be much worse off than bruises very soon.
Dakora: Mediator Jovenan. You are alright. You just got roughed up a bit. ::He let his voice take on a firm tone.:: Right now we need you to do your job, or we all die.
Lux: The atmospheric vents are processing the smoke.
Jovenan was dumbfounded by how little the others’ lack of reaction. The discoloration of her skin was an obvious sign of injury that would have been treated immediately back home, yet these offworlders ignored her. And not only that, but they also downplayed her pain. Her shock turned to contained anger as she zipped her uniform top back on and resumed work. “Total disregard of safety and suffering of citizens of friendly nations” would be a line she’d include to her report after they were done.
Jovenan: The shield generator survived the trip. Amazingly. Everyone, check your personal shields. ::to Lux:: Help me get the generator to portable mode.
The furry officer came to her help, and they lifted the device from its casing.
Lux: Remember we only have a limited charge on the portable generator.
She pointed at a set of light on the side, and Jovenan nodded. They’d need to use it sparingly, preferably only when needed and even then with limited power. That being said, she couldn’t deny how spectacular it would be to activate it in full power indoors, with a group of Shints just within the range multidimensional gravity alteration.
Chevalier: This unit is not capable of recharging this instrument. ::He made a sad face and turned to Jovenan :: All defense systems are nominal.
Sato: My personal shield is operational. Are we go to use scanners in here? I'd rather know when and how many of them are coming rather than get ambushed.
Dakora: Passive scans only. ::He worked the action on his weapon.:: Our odds of success increase the longer they think we were just a secondary explosion caused by the missile.
It would indeed be better if they weren’t discovered at all but given that they had made a hole to the Shint cruiser’s hull, it was a lot to ask. Even if the personal shields blocked their life signs, the Shints would eventually send in a damage control team. They needed to work discreet and fast.
Sato: Ok then. I don't hear any klaxons, so either their alert system is way quieter than ours or they don't want us knowing they know we're here. Either way, that doesn't change what we have to do next.
Lux: That all depends on how well the shields work. If they work, they likely have no clue what we're doing. If they don't, we'll likely have no clue we're being erased from reality.
Dakora: They’ll work. ::His tone betrayed a less-than-absolute confidence level on that assertion.:: Don’t worry. We just need to keep quiet for as long as we can.
Jovenan raised her eyebrow. She had been working with the shuttle shield generator and she had had doubts about its performance, due to the suboptimal, Commonwealth provided design and resources. The personal shields team didn’t have her superior input. There must have been something wrong with the strike team leader to say such a thing. She found his confidence bordering arrogance.
Chevalier: Understood, Lieutenant. I will set my servos to silent running.
Thevn: The alarm system also varies depending on where we crashed. They don’t have klaxon alerts in the areas of the ships where the slaves are the majority of the daily users. If the slaves panic because of the alerts, it only congests the corridors and delays the ‘important people’ getting to where they need to go.
Jovenan: So, they might have noticed us already and we can’t find out before they start shooting?
Any: Response
Lux: :: to Gila :: You ready to show us the way?
The weird-head alien nodded. Jovenan wondered how accurate they had been with the breach they had made to the cruiser’s hull. Did their former slave guide know which part of the ship they even were?
Savel: Three rifles remain. The rest will use the sidearms provided to us. ::looking to each member:: Who takes the first one?
The weapons were distributed to the group, with Jovenan having to rely on her sidearms alone. While she wouldn’t have objected to taking a rifle for her personal protection, she accepted that it was the duty of the burly guys to keep her safe.
Savel: ::to Ares:: Major, I recommend our best shooters at the front and rear. Should we—when we are discovered, the Shint will likely attempt to surround and overwhelm us.
Dakora:::Whispering:: Remember, we need at least two prismagons. Three if we can swing it. Lux, Harry, Savel you three head to the forward Reality Cannon control room. The rest of us will head to the Aft Prismagon reactor.
Sato/Savel/Lux: Response
Jovenan gazed through the members of the other team. She hadn’t yet worked with the Human shrink nor the elf ear alien, so her expectations of them were low, but she knew the furry alien wasn’t entirely dim. Maybe she’d know how to detach the prismagon from the weapon chassis without triggering it.
What came to her team…
Dakora: We’ll have exactly five minutes to reach the objective, grab the goods, and get back here. ::A serious expression played across his face.:: If we’re not back in time, and you have two prismagons in your possession, don’t wait. Dust off. The fate of the Commonwealth is quite literally in your hands.
Deciding to interpret the order to abandon the rest if successful in the objective as a gentle reminder to the other team to act fast, Jovenan nodded. Surely her team wouldn’t be left behind… Right?
Thevn: Remember, if you see a Mizarian not dressed to the nines ::indicates herself:: gun them down. ::stern and grave:: They will alert the nearest patrol of your presence. Don’t let them being slaves stall your hands.
Spare no witnesses. Got it.
Any: Response
The furry alien and the elf ear alien prepared to open the hatch while the others readied to combat in case their plan had failed already.
Lux: ::to Savel:: Here pull the lever, I'll force the hatch opened.
Chevalier: This unit awaits further orders.
Savel: ::to Lux:: Of course. ::then looking to Chevalier:: Be prepared for any threats on the other side of this hatch.
The hatch came crashing down and the officers within poured out. Having encounter no enemies yet, the two teams departed from one another to their respective targets. Jovenan followed the Major, weird head alien and the robo alien, relieved she’d get out of the horribly small pod. She was also pleased they’d run at least a part of the trip, finally abandoning the unnatural obsession with walking around the offworlders seemed to have.
Dakora: This way ::He gestured Aft.:: Unless you know a better route, Gila.
Thevn: ::glances up at the lighting:: The direction’s fine, but I suggest we take some of the maintenance corridors. It’s still shift-time, so there’ll be few slaves in there, and - if we’ve indeed remained undetected - no Shint patrols.
Jovenan: The fewer armed obstacles the better.
Chevalier: Response
They entered the maintenance tunnels, which seemed abandoned for now. Jovenan wondered how long it would take before they would encounter a slave repair team and be forced to mow them down. Before that happened, however, they reached the Control Room and they stopped.
Dakora: Damn. ::He stared at his handheld scanner.:: Looks like at least three Shint inside.
The weird head alien accessed a computer interface. A benefit of having been a slave, it seemed, although Jovenan worried about how exposed it made them; monitoring computer usage was trivial.
Thevn: What do we want to do? Going in guns blazing?
Jovenan: Firefight is likely to cause an alarm on the bridge. It would be much better we avoided detection until we’re ready to clear the third prismagon. Not yet.
Dakora/Chevalier: Response
While the junior officer studied something on the interface, Jovenan wondered how much time was needed to detach the prismagon from its cassis. She had never actually done it with a real thing, so the time was a dangerously unknown variable in their plan. If it took more than a minute, they were doomed. Even if they managed to pull it out fast, every second they spent by it increased the risk of being caught or shot at.
Thevn: ::sighs:: Anything too invasive and they’ll have me pinned down and locked out real quick... ::mutters:: Kill the lights, trigger fire suppression, shift change for the slaves… ::fingers zoom across the display::
Kill lights?
Jovenan: ::to Chevalier:: How’s your dark vision?
Chevalier: Response
Dakora: Response
Thevn: Hmm… I could make a phony warning signal go off a few sectors further away? We risk another patrol intercepting it, though, and then we’d just have more Shint on our asses. ::to Dakora:: Sir?
Dakora: Response
Jovenan nodded. The Major’s plan was of similar design as all their plans had been this far: unhinged, improbable, irresponsible, and moronic, but considering their options it was not the worst one. They had to accept it.
Jovenan: While you two are on it, I’ll sprint to the controls and cut the connection to the prismagon while the robo kid here shelters me. ::to Chevalier:: When I say so, you’ll take the prismagon and we run back here. ::to Dakora:: Right?
Chevalier/Dakora: Response
Thevn: Understood. Here’s hoping.
The team members moved to prepare for the attack. Waiting for the Major and the weird head alien to get to their positions, Jovenan turned to the robo alien.
Jovenan: ::smirks:: Ready to die for your beloved Commonwealth?
Chevalier: Response
Jovenan: ::snort:: It’s not even my Commonwealth. ::waits:: That’s our mark. Run!
Chevalier/Dakora/Thevn: Response
TAG/TBC
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Mediator JG Jovenan
Science officer (secondment)
CIC Desdemona
E239911J11