MSNPC LtCmdr. T'Dara: Say Cheese! (Part II)
Randal Shayne
((Deck 1, Bridge, USS Khitomer)) She was so consumed in her own head for an instant that the brilliant flash of light that scoured the screen of its definition for a moment took her by surprise.
And then the words “order of ten to the forty Joules” penetrated her corrupted Vulcan calm, and her pointed ears wilted like flowers within a sun.
By the four, what had they unleashed? Amelia turned to look at the distance they'd put between themselves and the origin of the blast....
Zerva: ::left hand twitching whispering to Semara:: This gonna hurt… ::tensing up, speaking louder now:: Awww, FRACK!
The anomaly was gone, but in its place was a parting gift- the shockwave would tear them into a new rectal orifice if she couldn’t shunt enough power to the aft shields to counteract-
Hobart: =/\= All hands, this is the Captain! BRACE! =/\=
T'Dara: Shunting power from engines to shields!
She didn’t know if it was right or wrong. She couldn’t tell if the blast was waning with distance, and she wasn’t sure that, even if the ship survived the initial contact, anyone would be alive to enjoy the benefits of her swift action. All she could pray was that Banks could somehow maintain attitude control, and that Hobart could control his attitude.
Graves: Response
The hit wasn’t fair- it struck in no particular direction, but enveloped them in an instant, like an implosion. The ship careened at a broken angle, wheeling against the azure night. Lights flickered and died. People flickered and died- or so she presumed. As T’Dara herself was hurled with immense energy into a bulkhead, she couldn’t help but feel an equally immense calm, even a thankfulness, overwhelm her. The pain once she came to rest was indescribable, and like a wounded animal, she bore her injuries, to whatever extent they entailed, silently. But tears she had held for years, rage she had withheld for decades, feeling she had drowned her entire life, seeped from her eyes like blood from a carcass in the rain.
Zerva: Amelia look out!
She couldn’t see, couldn’t speak. Her eyes were closed, and she sat, bucked and jerked by the continuing after shocks that rattled them all. Unsavory stabbing agony plucked at her chest with each breath, but for all her emerald-hued, exsanguinating self, she couldn’t help but feel such overwhelming… gratitude. Like a dam broken by a draught-stricken soul, the turmoil was a release, though of what, precisely, it was not easy to say.
Banks / Hobart / Graves: Response?
Zerva: ::blinding console lights and electrical sparks bursting in front of his eyes:: I can’t see!
Of course not. None of them could see. The ensign’s statement was illogical. But another pang in her chest tore her rapidly reknitting control asunder once more, and she understood the panicked horror that ensconced Ezra’s dismayed utterance.
Semara: Get down, and stay down!
T’Dara: oO Aye, ma’am. Oo
She would just sit and stay in her little corner of the universe for awhile. The blood felt warm and comfortable against the increasing cold.
Why was she always so cold?
Banks / Hobart / Graves: Response?
The ship tossed like a tantruming child, and thought stopped for T’Dara. It resumed only when she settled again, and realized that she couldn’t tell precisely what position her body was in by sensation alone. But she knew all of it hurt.
Zerva: :: As he’s struck in the head:: Ugh! ::voice fading:: Lera…
Michaels. That Vulcan-but-not-quite-Vulcan Vulcan. Had she survived? If this was what the plan had done to her…
Banks / Hobart / Graves: Response
Her focus glazed in and out of reality. Were they shaking? Difficult to tell. Were they dead? Unlikely. Was she? Possibly.
Semara: Graves! Check the anomaly. I got the Lieutenant.
Speech. It took a spell of seconds before T’Dara could parse the words into meaning, but if they were talking… yes, they must have come to a stop. Musnt’ they?
T’Dara: ::more to herself than anyone:: Shall I bother with a damage report?
Banks / Hobart / Graves / Zerva?: Response
The comm channel crackled and a staticky voice spread across the bridge.
C.Dewitt: =/\= Engineering to Bridge. Please tell me we don’t have to do this again. =/\=
Semara: :: To the Bridge :: Those sound like good readin's, but do an active sweep. Make sure it's just reverberations. :: To Zerva :: Don't move, Ezra…
Semara, and Graves, and the others… any who weren’t too injured to stand, to serve… they needed people… anyone they could get. The honor…
She shoved her hands beneath her, and tried her utmost to stand. Up, up. Against the wall she drove herself past the broken limits she’d pulverized just to stay awake. The darkness around her was delightful. Quiet and peace threatened to sink her. She slipped back down, a green smear imprinted on the bulkhead as far as she’d gotten.
Banks / Hobart / Graves / Zerva?: Response
Thoughts bled into one another. Ideas phased and fazed. Crossed boundaries and forgot themselves, and her, and surprised her with a return to form. Logic and feeling buckled and bristled.
T’Dara: Gravity plating… online. Life support online… Warp drive… minimal vibratory variation. Unlikely. Prognosis… very tired…
Semara: :: Checking Ezra's pulse at the neck. To Hobart. :: He needs immediate attention, cap'n. :: To Graves. :: Suggest Graves takes over. My console's shot, anyway. As am I any second...
T’Dara nodded, understanding. She was right, and reasonable. Ezra needed help faster. She’d be okay here. As long as the lights stayed off, and the pain grounded her to a limit she could accept, and as long as the pulsing behind her eyeballs stayed on the beat.
T'Dara: Love to help.
She wasn’t sure if she’d said that out loud or not. Did it matter?
Banks / Hobart / Graves / Zerva?: Response
Eyes flickered, and the world took hiatus. It returned some eternity later. Lights had been partially restored. This was determined with the help of her being on her back. The ceiling got closer. She was moving without moving. Someone was carrying her. The world. Voices. Eyes flickered.
They returned to their shut norm, and the world passed by quietly and slowly, and for the first time in memory, T’Dara smiled, wide and free.
((End of Scene for T’Dara))
Tag/TBC…
MSNPC Lieutenant Commander T’Dara
Starfleet Corps of Engineers Observer
As simmed by
Captain Randal Shayne
Commanding Officer
USS Khitomer
NCC 62400
G239202RS0