Lt JG Tess Evinrude - Any Port in a Storm

[Tess Evinrude]

((Unity Cortex, Central Dorsal, Narhelion))

((Taking some spatial liberties here with my final mission sim, as our big scene split off into two and then Evinrude climbed into an Evin-tube to get the Obi-wan drop on some Sheliak. I won't be adding more tags, but I'd love to reconnect with Venn and T'Fearne this shoreleave.))

The lieutenant steadied himself, secured his weapon, and stepped off into the hole Narhelion had made. He floated quickly down from the tunnels above the corridor, falling into what felt like half of a Federation ship's standard gravity. This time, he stuck the landing.

Evinrude: Hello there!

Tess checked that no friendlies were in his line of fire and opened up at nearly point-blank range. Three Sheliak went motionless, their bulky frames sprawled out amongst the debris and melting adhesive gel.

Tucker: Nice shootn’ Tess, now get back here so I can raise this shield.

The lieutenant observed the Sheliak for a long moment, ready to increase power on the phaser rifle if they shook off the stun. There were a few other skirmishes in his career where he might have connected a phaser beam, but most of those were covering fire, intended to pin the enemy down. These were the first living targets he'd clearly hit, and though the weapon wasn't set for lethal fire, Narhelion's crippling local gravity well might have finished them off.

Shortrith: I'm holding where I can, but it's starting to wear down.

Raga: And you’re doing an excellent job at it counselor. We don’t have much longer to hold.

Shortrith: ::to Evinrude:: Please, Lieutenant, be quick.

Shortrith's voice finally shook Tess' attention away from the Sheliak that he'd dropped.

Raga: I’m sensing the other intruders have already left Narhelion. That Leviathan is firing!

Evinrude nodded and dashed back towards the others, hearing an unfamiliar voice come through Raga's chirping combadge.

Marsek: =/\= Marsek to Commander Raga. Sir, we've discovered Narhelion's maintenance bay and the source of the power drain. She's--she's diverting power to create a new cosmozoan. =/\=

Other cross-chatter came through. Evinrude only half paid attention, nervously checking and re-checking that the Lattice Alliance boarding parties were either incapacitated or leaving. He alternated between his security-style console and drawing a bead on either of the Cortex doors.

Raga: =/\= I know, Ensign. I’m mind linked with Narhelion and it makes sense. Since she did request materials from the Ronin to do that very thing. The fact she’s been able to do that while fighting like this is nothing short of incredible. =/\=

Something on Narhelion's power readout caught his eye.

Evinrude: ::To Tucker:: What's that power drain? Commander, are you seeing this?

Tucker: Sir, I’m reading an explosion in the cargo bay; there’s a hull breach that I’m attempting to put up a temporary shield to hold in the atmosphere. Or our people and runabouts will get sucked out the hole, which, as you can imagine, is not a good thing.

Raga: Seal it with a force field as best as you can. Narhelion is also helping to keep our people safe.

Evinrude: If I need to go secure a runabout, I can head that way.

They would need at least one working ship to evacuate everyone, ideally two.

Tucker: We’re seeing some cascade failures which aren’t allowing me to rig a force shield. Consolor, can you see if you can back door the command structure? If I can’t go through it, we’ll go around the roadblock.

Shortrith: Give me a minute.

Raga: We’ve got the Ronin and are heading for the fissure now. We shouldn’t be under threat much longer.

One of the exosuits of the last of the pinned, stunned intruders let out a sickening crunch as Narhelion pulverized it. The leviathan beamed them out before their exo suits could self-destruct.

Evinrude: ::Grimacing, he said quietly, mostly to himself:: I...suppose it's a small mercy that I stunned them.
 

With the gruesom sight across the room, Tess had quit paying attention to Raga's comm call. The XO's words caused him to whip his head around, relief showing on the lieutenant's face.

Raga: =/\= I’m glad Quentin and V’Len are safe. =/\=

Velis: ::sighs:: =/\= All right, Commander. Now what? =/\=

Raga: =/\= Stay put. You are in the most protected part of Narhelion. She’s just tractored the Ronin and we’re heading for the fissure. She should be diving into it in moments if we’re lucky. =/\=

Shortrith: ::smiling slightly:: I'm getting somewhere!

He turned his attention back to the goings on in the chamber he was in and smile at Renaie.

Raga: Excellent.

Evinrude: They found Beck?! He's alive!

Tucker: Only a few minutes now, it’s just that Juggernaut that’s in our way and that cannon is about five minutes from full power. I’m open to suggestions.

Raga: Something tells me Narhelion will be doing most of the work. I can feel how hard she’s pushing herself.

The relief that washed over Tess was distracting. He blinked several times, leaning against the console he was operating, and tried to steady himself. There was still a job to do here, emotion could come later.

Evinrude: I'm...going to try to optimize power flow from tactical systems, many are offline and the ones still operational need to recharge.

Shortrith: How much damage do the Alliance ships have?

Tucker: They’ve taken far more damage. They’ve had two ships to worry about and now they’ve called in a juggernaut back-up, which means they’re at their last resort.

Raga: Agreed. Aside from the Leviathan they don’t have enough to finish the job they started.

Evinrude: ::Quietly, pondering:: We just need to clear that thing's damn Sencha weapon...

Shortrith: Any chance we could launch a mass attack or something?

Raga: Not likely? Narhelion is exhausted, she’s out of quills and the Ronin is barely holding together.

Evinrude: There's still the runabout idea, maybe try to distract that monster?

Tucker: We could scrape together every unused system that Narhelion has and reroute power to armor and weapons, if need be. I think we should maybe start finding our way to the exit. And while yes, the Sencha weapon is in play, it takes a while to spin up…

The timing was tragically timed to Marty's words, as the giant vessel unleashed hell earlier than they had anticipated. None of the non-linked officers felt it at first, but Tess heard and watched the others suffer the effects of the pain-link before, mercifully, Narhelion seemed to soften the blow for her Caretakers.

Shortrith: Hold on… did anyone else catch that?

Tucker: ::puzzled:: Catch what?

Raga: Yes. Narhelion just entered the fissure.

There was nothing more Tess could do, Narhelion was navigating them through the fissure. So, he pulled out Beck's medical scanner, still linked to his own tricorder, and stepped towards the armored, recessed control area - a sort of clam-adjacent battle bridge, as it were - and called out to his comrades.

Evinrude: Venn? ::Then, more tensely, as if holding back a complicated emotion.:: T'Fearne?

Their vitals showed that they were alive, but perhaps they were still assisting Narhelion with navigation. He observed them both for a long moment, resisting the instinct to reach in and check T'Fearne's physical pulse.

oO That's what the equipment is for...relax. Everyone's fine. Oo

Shortrith: I… I think Narhelion took us home.

There were wonders to be seen, projected by Narhelion for those who weren't linked, but Tess was busy verifying the vitals of everyone - performing a sort of medical checksum, ensuring that those who were linked weren't experiencing any permanent changes.

Tucker: ::looking at Shortrith:: I do believe you’re correct, because our attackers are no longer in the vicinity. I’d say, we’d made it to the fissure.

Raga: We did. We survived. And so did Narhelion.

Evinrude: And it looks likes everyone's going to be alright...though I'd really like to get someone more qualified to look at this data.

There were some odd discrepancies, but he chalked them up to inexperience with this type of analysis. On the whole it seemed that - physiologically - the link with Narhelion hadn't meddled.

oO Perhaps it's time to take Beck up on that offer to cross-train in medical. Oo

He smiled again, remembering that his friend was alive.

Shortrith: ::significantly calmer than three minutes ago:: We're through the rift.

Tucker: That’s some of the best news yet.

Raga: Agreed. And they found Quentin. He’s in stasis next to the cosmozoan that Narhelion is growing, or building? Or whatever. The Ronin survived too.

Evinrude: ::To Raga:: Stasis? I wonder how badly he was hurt...

Tucker: I’ll tell you what, I really need out of this contraption. And then a nice long hot shower.

Finally, Tess allowed himself to see what Narhelion was showing them - a vast field of impossibly beautiful organisms, gathered around a structure larger than any he'd ever seen. It resembled Narhelion herself, and as he watched, a proverbial hand extended towards the Ronin.

They were hurt, but they were safe.

[End Mission for Evinrude]

--

Lieutenant J.G. Tess Evinrude

[he/him]

Operations Officer

USS Ronin

R240111TE1