Lt JG Imril - Do Not Go Gentle
Chris Taylor
((Karnack Engineering - Deck 4 - USS Karnack))
K'Wara: We should be able to communicate via console. Hold on.
Cole: Since combadges are currently unreliable that beats the alternative of sending runners.
As K’Wara worked the console, Imril looked over the padd they had collected. The screen opened to a letter best kept private until it could be delivered to the Karnak’s Chief Engineer’s next of kin. Fortunately, it also contained a maintenance log for the ship. A collection of all the little quirks and modifications that made this Saber-class ship unique from all the others. Someone’s home. Their territory.
K’Wara: =/\= Main Engineering Online. Remaining facilities needed: Deflector Array, Impulse Engines, Shield Emitters, Lifesupport Systems and the Bridge. Can be rerouted through Sickbay or Shuttlecraft Control Room. Recommend dividing efforts. =/\=
Jaran moved towards a damage control panel. But the sight of them, of the console, was stolen away by other visions.
A warm hand on theirs. A narrow Jeffries tube. Flash.
Hands full of equipment. Blue light. Cool air. Flash.
A different pair of hands on a console, here in Engineering. Flash.
The images came fast, hard, and unwanted. An uppercut to the brain, and an all too familiar one. They endured the assault with instinctive, if unnatural ease. The very knowledge of how to weather their force had been literally downloaded into them on Frontier Day.
But the shock of the images -- the very same images, Imril somehow knew -- dropped Jaran to their knees. Fuzzball ran away from them to cower in its former spot.
Jaran: ::groans:: That ::pants:: was awful.
Nat held up a hand to the Lieutenant, to hold just a moment. Kneeling a half step away from Jaran, with one hand on her phaser at her hip and the other out towards them.
Cole: Jira?
Imril looked at the Doctor with an expression of sorrow charged with resentment. No one should have to go through what they just had. What they both had.
Imril had hoped, had maybe lied to themself, that there was time enough to get off the planet before the whispers they’d been hearing for four days finished their work. But this shared vision changed everything. Marked a new phase in the battle for their identity. Made them think differently about the territorial thoughts they’d been having on this day in particular. A pack-hunter’s mindset. The Dark Things had gotten into Imril’s head through a side door left unguarded.
Jaran rose to their feet, refocusing and pulling out their medical tricorder.
Jaran: These headaches can't be normal.
They were, and they weren’t. All part of the process.
As Jaran finished their scan, they checked the readout, then looked at Imril.
Jaran: Lieutenant, a word?
Imril stepped out of the control alcove, but walked no further. It was perfectly obvious what Jaran wanted to ask about. Too obvious, really. Because the paths that were being opened up between them and the enemy joined the two to each other as well.
They spoke loudly enough for all to hear, because everyone needed to know what was happening to their Medical Officer. And their Engineer.
Imril: You want to know what’s happening to you? To us? It’s called Assimilation. I’ve experienced it before. But they’re making a slow job of it, so we can put up roadblocks. Think of something about yourself that means ‘you’. That makes you who you are. Your pagh. Your healer’s oath. Your fondness for Fuzzball. Anything. Make it your lifeline. A buoy in stormy waters. ::Clutching a fist:: Hold on to it, with everything you have. You don’t let them have it. If they can’t get it, they can’t get you. Not yet. Not right now. Resistance is never futile.
Jaran: response
Nat kept an eye on the two as she walked over towards Lieutenant K’Wara.
Cole: How’s coordinating with the Captain’s team?
K’Wara: Good. ::looks over:: Imril, Jaran, you good to go?
Imril jammed a finger towards their combadge. The thing they’d kept wearing even when it no longer served any technological function. Would never have let go of, even if they’d stayed marooned long enough for their clothes to rot away and their other gear to rust away to dust.
It took the form of the Starfleet arrowhead. The living symbol of everything they’d struggled to achieve in their lifetime. It was the promise of adventure, of knowledge, of camaraderie. A reminder of the oaths they’d made to themself and their crewmates, all of them on all the ships and stations across so many sectors of space. That was the thing Imril would not let the Dark Things touch.
Imril: ::Forceful, defiant:: This is my pack! ::A breath, followed by calmer words:: But the enemy is beginning to see things through both of our eyes. So let's get this done before they absorb how to read an LCARS panel and catch onto what we’re doing and start attacking the systems we need to restore.
Jaran: Response
K’Wara: ... The Medkit works, right? Doctor, find a way to ensure you and Imril can keep it together until we get off of this planet - stimulants, transporter sickness tablets, try it all. We can’t risk you two becoming compromised before the power’s back on. Meanwhile, Imril and I will be working on fixing up the Impulse Engines and the Shield Emitters.
Cole: ::to Jaran and Imril:: If you feel like you're about to lose touch … ::beat:: Lets hope it doesn't come to that.
Imril said out loud what the Security Officer already suspected, if she had any sense. Something Imril knew she had plenty of.
Imril: We are compromised, so it very well may ‘come to that’. ::To K’Wara:: If this team needs to split up for whatever reason, Jira and I can’t go alone, or with each other. We cannot be trusted on our own.
Jaran: Response
K’Wara: No, the Captain’s team is handling the Sickbay systems. Which means powering the Impulse Engines and Shield Emitters from here is our primary task, and then we’ll move to the Shuttlecraft Control Room afterwards. ::to Cole:: Natasha, pull the shield modifications that Commander Munro programmed into the Computer Core and have those ready for the Ship shields. Once the shield emitters are online, it should eliminate basically all the power bleed.
Cole: Yes Sir.
She walked over to the other operational console and pulled the data packet with Commander Munro’s modifications. And started making the changes for when the shield emitters went back online.
K’Wara: If you can get it to cover a larger part of the Ship - at least these three middle decks - that’d be great. It would give the teams some ability to defend themselves if they run into those things outside of a shielded room, but don’t waste power we don’t have. Better keep some in the bank, in case we need it.
Cole took a breath.
Cole: Is there any chance power is trying to be sent to areas of the ship that aren't able to be secured? That might buy us some extra power for the shields.
It was possible, but the risks far outweighed the benefits.
Imril: We can’t afford the time or exposure to chase down every little leak. We need to seal them off from within the areas we absolutely need to access. Commander Jovenan’s team may end up plugging some up for us as they patch the hull anyway.
Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Natasha was just about done entering the shield modifications.
Cole: ::entering last keystrokes:: Shield … ::shakes her head:: Modifications are ready when shield emitters are back online.
Imril tapped the padd. At present, shielding the ship took priority over getting the impulse engines online.
Imril: The closest shield emitter to this position is one deck below us. Almost directly below us, actually. It’s part of the warp core ejection mechanism safeties. We should be able to extend this room’s quarantine field to it, now that we have the Warp Core up and charging. But we may have to make some physical adjustments to the emitter itself, if something goes wrong. The shortest way there is that maintenance shaft.
They pointed to a wall opposite one K’Wara had used to flee the electrified floor. A small panel near the floor. If nothing else, it would be a way to flee the enemy if it came back to another go at everyone.
Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Cole: I appreciate it, Lieutenant. I’m operational.
As was Imril. But that was subject to change. They looked to each person as they spoke their next words.
Imril ::Coldly serious:: If I turn, kill me.
Jaran/K’Wara/Cole: Response
Imril nodded and returned to their seat in the control nook. Readying to begin the work of claiming the warp-core ejection emitter for the good guys. And then on to a larger target.
Imril: A three-deck shield projected from the emitter below us, as Lt. K’Wara asked for, will be more than large enough to reach the primary shield emitter. Once we have that powered, we can piggyback all the rest.
Jaran/K’Wara/Cole: Response
Imril: Cole, stay on that quarantine field, ready to make corrections as needed. Jiran, you keep on that damage control panel. Let us know the instant something starts getting too hot downstairs. Last thing we want to do is draw the enemy there. Lieutenant K’Wara, unless you have a better idea, I suggest you man that stabilizer in case things get shaky.
Imril looked away from the console, typing from muscle memory as they tapped in the commands that would initialize power flow to the downstairs emitter once the quarantine field began expanding. Just in case someone else was watching. Imril would foil the Dark Things any way they could for as long as they could.
Imril: Ready on your mark, Lieutenant.
Jaran/K’Wara/Cole: Response
Tags/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12