Megan Carter - "Control"
Amanda Nordstrom
((Hallways – SS Belladonna))
Reporters. They were all the same. Nosy. Overconfident. Constantly
looking for a story wherever they could find one, whether or not there
was one to be found. And if there wasn’t, they’d make up something as
long as it sounded interesting to people and garnered them some
attention. Then there were the questions - that went along with the
nosiness. Interrogations that were designed to invoke emotion, usually
that of annoyance on the part of those being questioned, or to try and
push some sort of agenda and manipulate the public’s viewpoint of a
situation. And, of course, he kept asking those questions.
Carter: You realise that you’re not really going to get any answers, right?
Those hands went wide and a stupid grin cut a swath across his face. Megan barely managed to refrain from rolling her eyes.
Maxwell: Reporter. It's my job tae keep asking questions.
Carter: Yeah yeah, keep going. We’re just passing through, though if you keep that up, one of us might be staying.
Megan flicked the phaser to indicate that he should keep going. He did
so, but then of course, decided to do his own thing and jerked a thumb
toward a set of doors and asked yet *another* question.
Maxwell: If there's nothing serious tae worry about, then why are these escape pods active?
That might have been his question, but Megan’s was more along the lines
of ‘why don’t I just shoot him and be done with it?’. It was a very
good question, especially since he hopped toward one of the pods and
scrambled inside. Growling, Megan moved forward to catch up to him.
Carter: Damnit, what are you doing?
Almost as soon as they were inside, something happened. What was it? A
collision? An explosion? Something else? Megan couldn’t say for
certain. All she knew was that one minute, she was standing, the other
she was on the ground, the phaser popping from her hand to lie next to
her. Immediately, she snatched it back up before the man could have a
chance to get the better of her. Then, the door hissed shut behind
them.
Maxwell: Well this just gets better.
Carter: Shut up.
Back and steady on her feet, she pointed the phaser at the man and
watched him carefully as he moved to the door panel and inspected it.
Maxwell: We're in an activated escape pod. And we're travelling at warp......
Carter: You say this with some sense of finality.
Megan inched over to the control panel, all the while keeping a close
eye upon the man. She didn’t trust him not to try anything stupid, and
if he did, he’d get a shut right in the gut. Her hand ran along the
edge of the console then paused, her eyes flashing.
Maxwell: ?
Carter: You seem to forget who has the phaser here. Not you. Me. I’m in control. Not you. Me.
She took only one eye off of him, just enough to look over the controls
and still be able to see him should he attempt anything. That was the
nice thing about the peripheral - it still allowed one to watch and take
care, as quickly if not more so than if dead in sights. She tapped a
button and the doors hissed open. Immediately, she faced him head on
and advanced .
Maxwell: ?
As they passed through the doorway, it shut once again, but that time,
they were not inside. There was a slight tremor, as if the ship were
trying to shake the last remnants of whatever had occurred earlier off.
Carter: Now you listen to me. You keep going. You don’t turn right or
left unless I give the order. You try anything else, you’ll find
yourself in one of these escape pods and ejecting out into space while
at warp. Now move.
She jerked the phaser in the direction they had been heading and once
more set off on a course to…somewhere. Somewhere through the ship.
They came out of the hallway of escape pods and into another as
utilitarian as before. As a reminder of who was dictating what was
done, Megan would prod the end of the phaser in Maxwell’s back from time
to time.
It didn’t take long to get where they were going. The doors opened and
they stepped inside what looked to be an OPs station. There, another
woman inhabited the area, and the dregs of some sort of conversation
were left to them.
Harris: =/\=them manually. =/\=
Carter: Brought you a gift.
Harris/Maxwell/Taybrim: ?
She paused as she realised that the woman was indeed on a call and her
fingers danced over the controls. Who was that voice? And why was
she…Megan frowned and moved forward toward Harris.
Carter: What are you doing?
Harris/Maxwell/Taybrim: ?