Lt Alex Storm - Duck!
Karen Morris
((Underground facility, Kurtûl III))
Alex moved quickly to the door, but as her hand settled on the latch, she felt a tickle at the base of her skull. Her fingers tightened around the grip on her phaser rifle.
Storm: Commander, I’m sensing a small group coming this direction. If we’re going to find Havun, we need to go now.
Breys: Yes. Sir.
She exited the door, waiting for the others. Once into the hallway, Alex let the butt of the rifle settle into the notch in her shoulder again. Her left hand supported the barrel, but her touch was light. Tension would make any movements sluggish. Once everyone was in the hallway, Alex pushed forward.
Jovenan: ::quietly:: Report.
Breys: We should be clear to keep moving now.
Storm: Quickly. The group is coming up somewhere behind us.
Jovenan: And what’s ahead of us?
Breys: I’m reading the edge of the scattering field up ahead. I should be able to give us a clearer bearing once we’re on the other side of it, but I can’t guarantee there aren’t any surprises waiting for us.
Alex tipped her chin to her shoulder, though her eyes never left the darkened corridor.
Storm: Clear scans would be a step in the right direction.
Her volume dropped, and her hand went up.
Storm: Junction.
Taking a moment to reach out, she couldn’t sense anyone in front of them, but she learned a long time ago never to put her complete trust in her 6th sense. She inched to the corner and spun around, sweeping across the corridor with the light attached to her barrel.
Storm: Clear.
As she stepped around the corner, Alex's black hair flipped over her shoulder fanned out behind her. Moving forward again, she heard Jovenan’s words about five paces behind her.
Jovenan: Crossing the scattering field would also prevent us from contacting the ship. I’m going to need all the information we can get before committing. Ensign?
Alex continued to move, but three paces in, she could hear the stationary quality of the Commander’s voice. With her eyes still cast down the corridor, she slowed momentarily.
Breys: If Havun is down here, he’s running the thalaron generator. I’ve never seen these kinds of energy spikes.
This time, Alex didn’t even bother to turn her head. Her phaser was trained straight ahead, but her eyes were moving in a continuing sweep left to right and then back again.
Storm: The sooner we find it, the sooner we take it offline.
Jovenan: We’ll have to cross the scattering field threshold. Onwards.
As she started forward again, she could feel that her movements weren’t as fluid as they were when they had first materialized. The further along they went, the more she felt it in her joints - not a pain, but an understated stiffness. The edges of her lips had grown crusty from the frozen water vapor she exhaled.
Suddenly, she felt it. First, only on her exposed skin, then immediately following, her entire body tingled as the dampening field seemed to seep through her garments, like the cold she had already been exposed to, but even more intense. She didn’t stop to consider if it were a physical sensation or simply a mental one. In Betazoids, one often affected the other.
Breys: I can get a clear lock on the source of the thalarons now, but I can’t make out exactly where the Da’al are. They’re getting lost in the shuffle of radiation.
Jovenan: ::to Storm:: Can you sense them?
Storm: I can tell that the team behind us has stopped. It’s possible that they are trying to cut off a retreat.
Alex paused for a moment. For anyone else, it would be akin to holding their breath so they could listen for faint sounds. It was easier for her to fully focus her mental acuity if she were still.
Storm: There are at least ::closing her eyes to focus:: two people ahead of us, in a room or off a hallway ahead on our right.
Alex’s eyes snapped back open. She quickly glanced back at the Commander, waiting for a decision or an order.
Jovenan: We need to prepare for casualties and for biological or radiological warfare. We’d have a better standing if we had a medical professional with us. Let’s go back across the threshold, call for reinforcements and move ahead after that.
oO Go back? Oo She exhaled a short, forced breath.
Storm: Understood.
She didn’t like the idea of heading back - even just a short way - knowing how close they were to the generator, but something in the Commander’s mannerisms disquieted her. Walking backward with her rifle still trained downrange, she followed along with the group.
Breys: Response
Jovenan: =/\= Jovenan to the Artemis, send in the medical reinforcement to my location. =/\=
Knowing that Roy had been deployed with another group, Alex allowed herself the split second of curiosity as to who would be coming down.
Storm: The group behind us is on the move again. We can’t safely stay in this location for very long.
Ikaixar/Breys: Response (if desired)
A cloud of transporter beam’s familiar blue mist appeared in the middle of the corridor, briefly illuminating the frosty surfaces before revealing the shape of a Betazoid officer.
Jovenan: Doctor? Have you received the mission specifications?
As soon as the woman materialized, Alex could feel a familiar reverberation of another telepath. oO That could come in handy if we need to coordinate movements. Oo Her gaze fell to the woman’s pips, then ascended to her eyes.
Storm: Doctor.
Alex nodded in acknowledgment before turning to Jovenan and awaiting orders.
Ikaixar/Breys: Response
Jovenan: We observed the, um, local fauna having suffered what might be the effect of the thalaron generator’s radiation. We’re just about to move towards the generator’s likely location, so we might suffer exposure or direct attacks by the enemy. ::friendly smile:: Sorry for the haste, but we should get going.
That was all Alex needed. She was on the move again. Despite her height and the heavy-duty boots, she made virtually no noise as she slipped down the hallway.
Storm: We’re not that far.
Alex could see another T junction coming up on the right. She could sense people in that direction
Ikaixar/Breys: Response
She was focused on what was ahead of them. As she slowed, coming to the corner, she abruptly stopped and turned around.
Storm: Duck!
A phaser blast just missed Jovenan’s head by centimeters.
Alex darted to the side, firing her phaser several times in quick succession.
Ikaixar/Breys/Jovenan: Response
Storm: Get around the corner. They are down that hallway.
Ikaixar/Breys/Jovenan: Response
She fired another set of controlled bursts down the corridor. The phaser fire struck one person and illuminated the two others with him.
Storm: There are two more. I’ll try to hold them off.
As much as she could, Alex wedged herself behind one of the girders that flanked the hallway at intervals. The intense cold from the metal and concrete sent a shiver throughout her whole body. Another phaser blast barely missed Breys.
Alex stepped out from her cover to send another volley of phaser fire down the corridor. The problem was that her light didn’t reach as far as the other group. She had to judge their position from the phaser fire they were sending their way.
Ikaixar/Breys/Jovenan: Response
~*~
Tags / TBC!
~*~
Lt Alex Storm
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis
O240103SK2