MdJG Jovenan – Counting seconds
Jovenan
((Near Aft Prismagon Reactor, Shint Cruiser))
The better half of the team had found their way from the breach point to their first target. However, while walking along the abandoned service tunnels had required them little effort, what they now had ahead of them might prove to be something of a challenge.
Dakora: Do it, now. ::He readied his suppressed pistol.:: If we can get one or two to go for the fake alert, our odds go up. Then we breach the room and take out whoever is left.
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?
The Major nodded. The plan relied heavily on him and the weird-head alien to clear the room. Jovenan didn’t like it.
Dakora: Right. ::He flattened his back against the wall in a dark recess near the door.:: Once we have two Prismagons, we’re on our back to the ship. No matter what.
Chevalier: Response
Thevn: Understood. Here’s hoping.
Having reached a shared understanding, the team split up again, with Jovenan and the robot alien finding a spot where they could see almost a direct route to the prismagon controls. Meanwhile, the weird-head alien was triggering an alarm to the corridor outside the room, and the Major also took a position somewhere. While waiting for the action to begin, Jovenan whispered to the robot 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!
Moving swiftly but carefully, Jovenan sprinted into the room while also trying to keep her head down in case the Shints correctly determined she was the most valuable target. Taking cover behind a console, she kept her sights at the prismagon main controls. She heard a quiet gunshot noise from within the room, probably and hopefully her teammates cleaning out the trash and not the other way around. Taking no time to inspect it, she continued sprinting to the main controls, with the robot alien just behind her.
Jovenan ignored the sounds of struggle elsewhere in the room. Her heart was racing for the first time during the mission. She wasn’t exhausted, quite the opposite, she found herself still full of energy. Why was it then?
Shint Engineer#2: Attacker!
Thevn: No. Murderer.
Was she… afraid? Did she finally come to the realization that they were about to die in this futile attempt? That there was the stench of death floating in the room with them? Decidedly not turning her eyes to see the carnage in the other parts of the room, she read the figures on the prismagon controls she had just reached.
Jovenan: Holy…
Chevalier: Response?
The energy levels were far too high. In matter of fact, they were close to reaching the critical point, where the prismagons would trigger and obliterate their target. The prismic scanners were already running, and Jovenan could only watch as the quantum-level scan numbers run across the interface. Thirty, maybe twenty seconds more, and the Desdemona would be no more. Her first reaction was to let them fire; disconnecting the prismagons would be a lot easier after they were no longer as charged. But she needed the ship to hitch a ride back home after they reboarded the shuttle, so she needed to figure out how to slow down the firing sequence.
Her stand-down commands on the console were quickly countermanded, so she abandoned the tidy, time-consuming efforts with the software and moved over to the hardware. The large cylinders were glowing as they hummed menacingly. Jovenan knew that the amount of energy going through the manifolds was enough to kill them all if they were going to just try and separate the prismagons from the energy source.
Dakora: Thanks ::He panted.:: Gila. ::To the other group.:: They're charging the Reality canon, we've got to pull those prismagons now!
Jovenan: ::shouting:: I’m trying!
Chevalier: Response
Within the space of a few seconds the options flew across Jovenan’s anxious brain. Could she just tell the robot alien to rip off the wires even if it meant he would die of it? It would have been an appropriate sacrifice, but not a moral one. Shoot everything? No, that would release the energy buildup. Their personal shields wouldn’t be able to withstand it… but the shuttle’s one would.
Ignoring the two other officers for a while, she pulled the robot alien to the ground as she crouched and retrieved the portable shield generator. Planting it between them, she activated the shield generator process. Over the next few seconds, the shield generator began to hum louder and higher as it approached the required energy level. As it did, the hum suddenly ended and was replaced for a fraction of a second with a loud gasp as they were enveloped by a small, colourless but very thick bubble. During that time, Jovenan thought if they were on the right side of not getting zapped by the energy release as the bubble cut through the manifolds and absorbed the energy.
As Jovenan opened her eyes – she hadn’t even realised she had shut them – she quickly located the prismagon, noticing its glow having faded. The shield generator also showed one less light by its side, indicating that they had spent a part of its charge. The ground around them had a distinct, reddened circle around them where the bubble had cut its way through the plating.
Dakora: Response
Jovenan: That… seems to have worked. ::to Chevalier:: Uh, you can go get the prismagon now. It can be a bit hot, though.
Chevalier: Response
Thevn: The bridge is going to find out what’s happened very soon-
The weird-head alien was interrupted by a loud sound of alarms going off. Jovenan’s first suspicion was the Shints had finally noticed a hole in their hull and a random shuttlepod inside, but the junior officer rushed to read the reports on the console nearby.
Thevn: Explosions. The shrink’s team is having a grand old time, I think. ::to the others:: Time for discretion is out. Shift your shields to the disruption frequency. It’s going to be a mad dash back to the Pedro.
Rolling her eyes at the antics of the other team, Jovenan adjusted her personal shields. They had been successful so far, but every time she thought the difficult part was behind them, she had to stop and remind herself that the plan got more and more unhinged as they went on.
Dakora/Chevalier: Response
Jovenan: Then stop talking and run!
The team quickly returned to the maintenance corridors from which they had came from. Their time had mostly run out while in the control room, so they had little opportunities to slow down on the way back. Jovenan hoped the other team would be delayed so they wouldn’t leave her team behind. As much as they had to hurry, the group halted unexpectedly.
Dakora/Thevn/Chevalier: Response
Pulling her sidearms from the holster, Jovenan was breathing hard. Were they really going to engage in an open firefight? Against such a large group? In narrow passageways?
Jovenan: Are they Shint, or just some of the slaves?
Dakora/Thevn/Chevalier: Response
Breathing out of relief, Jovenan lowered her sidearms. The slave maintenance team was likely unarmed and not hostile, although she still remembered the weird-head alien’s warning. Still, the situation was now different. They had already been discovered.
Jovenan: We won’t kill them, right? It wouldn’t matter if they raised an alarm now, right?
Dakora/Thevn/Chevalier: Response
TAG/TBC
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Mediator JG Jovenan
Science officer (secondment)
CIC Desdemona
E239911J11