Lt JG Tess Evinrude - I'll Workshop the Name

[Tess Evinrude]

((Maintenance Tunnel, Outside Reactor Coolant Pump Room - Reactor Dome, Moon Sigma, Ross 580 System))

Evinrude: ::Quietly.:: It's clear. The hallway to the left curves back around towards the coolant pump room... ::He said, jerking his head in the direction of the Targ's Foot.:: We should be able to cut through the floor and drop down, bypassing the worst of the radiation.

Kessler: ::aiming at the upper level:: Go, I'll be right behind you.

Tucker: Mister Evinrude, I do believe that’s the best news I’ve heard today, right after a half off raktajino’s at the Brew Continuum.

Tess nodded at the two senior officers, and then slowly traversed the final few rungs of the ladder.

Down below, Tucker's combadge chirped. The ops officer was surprised anyone was able to get through the interference.

Shortrith: =/\= Shortrith to Tucker: We've been sent down to rejoin you guys. Where are you?

That would explain it - there was another team on-site. Less distance for the signal to travel.

oO Still, I'm not thrilled that there are even more of us down here near an unstable experimental reactor, endangering our lives. Oo

Kessler: ::turning to Tucker:: They could be walking right into the remaining three Tholians.

Tucker: We’re on the way to the reactor, got sidetracked and took the scenic route. Also, I would keep in mind that there are Tholians wandering about, worker class, but still dangerous.

Evinrude: ::Quietly, Tess chimed in from the ceiling access hatch, up above the other two officers.:: =/\= To be clear, we're heading to the coolant pump room. Look for maintenance tunnel access, several tunnels converge here. =/\=

Zh'taan/Esot:  =/\= Response =/\=

Shortrith: =/\= We'll try to find you. =/\=

It gave Tess some comfort to see that the other away team had kept their line open. Tess switched their suit-to-suit communication to the same cross-team channel.

oO Hopefully the radiation won't prevent our suit comms from reaching the other team... Oo

((OOC: From here on, I'm assuming that all of my team's dialogue can potentially be heard by the other team - feel free to monitor and jump in, or use the information we share as if you've heard it.))

Kessler: Tess, keep going, we need to get to the reactor. ::turning to Tucker:: We need the Tholians to think we are going to affect their work. That should draw them to us and not to Shortrith's team.

Tucker: Sure, why not? I love being bait. ::he rolled his eyes::

Evinrude: Aye sir. ::He said, starting to move again.:: I'll locate the pump room ceiling, below us.

He paced off in the direction of the pump room, noting on his tricorder the direction and distance of travel. He could see that, even through the thick floor plating, some radiation was bleeding through.

Shortrith/Zh'taan/Esot: =/\= Response optional, comms are open =/\=

Kessler: ::rubbing his head through the back of his helmet and looking around:: I know it's not ideal, but I am guessing Shortrith and team have never dealt with Tholians face to face like you and I have.

Tucker: Exactly, most of us who faced off with them last time are back aboard the ship. Which doesn’t do us a damn bit of good. Lieutenant Shortrith, be advised the AO is hot, I repeat the AO is hot. And you can park next to the Sojourn.

Tess passed through a wide section of hallway with racks for environmental suits lining either side. Airlock-style doors could be locked down in case of need, but they were all currently open. He noticed charging stations for Tholian-pattern suits, all empty. Two Romulan-pattern suits were available, and would probably fit most bipedal, two-armed creatures.

He moved through the storage corridor. His tricorder indicated his target, on the other side of the far airlock-style door leaving the storage area. A small observation chamber was directly above the coolant pump room, its viewing windows blocked by a blast shield that had been lowered. Tess assumed it provided a view of the reactor pit itself.

Evinrude: ::Quietly, to himself but on open comms.:: Okay, this looks like the spot...time to make a new Jefferies tube. An Evinrude tube? Hm, an Evintube...

He quickly shut his mouth to prevent any further rambling while he worked, remembering that the other team was listening in.

Shortrith/Zh'taan/Esot: =/\= Response, optional =/\=

Kessler: After you sir, I'll bring up the rear. ::looking up at the upper level:: =/\= Shortrith, this is Kessler. Be warned, if you encounter Tholians, they are carrying spears with explosive tips. Designed to go off on impact. =/\=

Tucker: Lieutenant Shortrith, try to track our comm badges for as long as you can, as interference will only get worse the closer you get. But you’ll get a good idea of where to find us. See you soon, kids. Tucker out.

Evinrude heard their conversation over comms as he worked, using his phaser on a narrow, focused-beam setting to cut through the floor of the observation room. His HDE suit automatically darkened a patch of his visor to eliminate any vision loss or afterimages from the cutting operation.

Kessler: ::holding up the spear:: Just in case we need a little diplomatic push back.

Tucker: Walk softly, carry a big stick. I like it.

Kessler: Response

His tricorder, linked to Tucker's showed him a few status alerts indicating Tholians in proximity, but on different levels. The floor was understandably tough, designed to shield from cross-contamination and exposure to all the nasty things the reactor was currently pumping out. Tess' hand phaser had less than half its charge left, and he was barely over halfway through the cut.

Tucker: ::under his breath:: Beware the king of the crossroads..

Kessler: reponse

Tucker: We should be far now, and once we get there, we’ll hopefully cut a hole in the floor and lower ourselves into the reactor room. If I’ve read this right, the reactor is in the middle of the room, and we’ll come out on the far side. That way, we won’t dive into radioactive Sencha goop.

Tess chimed in on the open channel, replying to Tucker.

Evinrude: No "hopefullies" about it sir, I'm making good progress here. We're going to drop down right into the coolant pump room, so we can reset the system and link up its power with the coolant processing of the auxiliary powerplants. I may, however, require an alternate weapon once I run this hand phaser out of power...

Kessler: Response

((Coolant Pump Room, Near the Reactor - Reactor Dome, Moon Sigma, Ross 580 System))

((OOC: Second away team, feel free to add comm tags and get in touch with us since the call is on open monitoring.))

Tucker and Kessler had met up with Evinrude without incident.

Just as he had finished connecting the circumference of the new Evintube, the ops officer's hand phaser gave out. He used the pry tool to finish the cut and peel back layers of floor plating, with some of the ceiling section below dropping into the pump room.

Shortrith/Zh'taan/Esot: =/\= Response, optional =/\=

Marty was the last one through the hole as they dropped from the ceiling, and his tricorder immediately chimed out a cautioning alert...but the levels were within what their suits could handle.

Tucker: Alright, so far so good. Let's hope that no Tholian warriors are about; worker drones could be handled. It was the warrior caste that gives me pause.

Kessler: Response

Evinrude: I hope the other team doesn't run into them... ::He replied, moving towards a bank of control panels.::

Tucker/Kessler: Response

Tess found what appeared to be the right system. It's monitor showed a clear fault, with an error log on screen...dated six years ago.

Evinrude: ::Dryly.:: Either they just let their sensitive equipment run with outdated system clocks, or this is the terminal that experienced a temporal glitch. ::He turned back to look at Tucker.:: I could use a hand, sir...not sure exactly how to restart this system so it can accept Esot's patch.

Tess dropped down to a knee and started to look for an access panel or interface port.

Tucker/Kessler: Response

[Tags/TBC]

--

Lieutenant J.G. Tess Evinrude

[he/him]

Operations Officer

USS Ronin

R240111TE1