PNPC 1LT Alene Torado — Compact Computing
Nolen Hobart
((Corridor outside Main Engineering, Deck 6, Main Module, Deep Space 33))
As they converged at the exit of Main Engineering, Alene stabilized herself by gripping Zenno’s arm. The doors parted, revealing an empty corridor, as they passed through the threshold, she felt gravity take hold again and heard tandem smacks as they unceremoniously hit the deck. After a deep breath, she pushed herself up and looked to Zenno.
Torado: Computer core, or docking ports, sir?
Zenno: We have our mission objective. It’s the self-destruct. If the higher-ups call for it, it has to work. Computer Core.
Torado: ::shrug:: You’re the boss.
Zenno: If we run across anyone, if they are Starfleet, awesome. If they are civilians, it’s OK. Any of the enemy? We liberate their molecules up to the universe for reuse. Around corners, it will be Hi-Lo. I’m taller, so that’s sorted. Questions?
Alene looked down the corridor and listened to the sound of distant weapons discharges and explosions. The boarding action had begun, and the defenders had their hands full. Torado knew that they were in a period of quiet, then, and that it would soon be over. She looked back to Lieutenant Zenno and half-smirked.
Torado: Yeah. For Bolians, is it, like, a burial at sea kind of deal?
A glint in the Lieutenant’s eyes suggested he appreciated the jab, though he successfully hid any such sentiment from his words.
Zenno: Let’s go.
She followed him down the corridor, Alene noted, in the wrong direction, if the plan was to use the turbolift. It was hard to tell in the echoes of the corridor whether they were moving towards or away from the fighting. Possibly both, given that the announcement had made clear the enemy was attempting to land forces at two docking ports, simultaneously. Alene’s head on a swivel, she followed Zenno with her pulse phaser rifle shouldered, its deadly tip following her gaze, alternating ahead and behind them. At each corner, they grouped up, and rounded it together, the Bolian drawing his phaser down and the marine bringing her rifle up in a synchronization that suggested they’d been working together longer than just the afternoon.
As they continued away from the direction of the turbolifts, Alene distinctly heard the distant sound of weapons fire peter out. Her grip on her rifle tightened and as they grew closer to another corner, a clattering could be heard echoing off the hard walls of the corridor. Torado and Zenno exchanged glances and a nod, and piled up at the corner, this time with a certain level of confidence that something ugly awaited them just out of sight. Zenno signaled, and Torado got ready to tackle the right-most target, if there was more than one.
The pair swung out, and phaser fire lashed out at a pair of Tholians in environmental suits who clearly hadn’t been expecting an ambush. Torado let off a series of bolts, the first two absorbed into the Tholian armor, while the third caused a geyser of steam to shoot toward the wall. A fourth brought the boarder down just as a stray blast from the enemy’s own weapon lashed out harmlessly past.
The way clear, the pair approached the downed Tholians with weapons still drawn on them. When neither of them moved, Alene reached out a held a hand over the foul-smelling steam that still poured (though now with significantly less pressure) from the suit. Her fingertips felt ready to burn before she got close to the plume.
Zenno: Most disagreeable creatures. Are you uninjured?
She rubbed her index and middle fingertips with her thumb.
Torado: I’m fine, but best to avoid close-quarters combat with these guys if we can.
Zenno: Very well. Excellent shooting, by the way.
Torado: Likewise.
Zenno: ::noticing something:: Ah, here we are. Jeffries tubes. Everyone’s favorite. This should lead us straight to the Core entrance. Shall we?
Torado looked down the corridor where the Tholians had come from. That way lied Docking Port 2. Clearly, the Starfleet forces had been wiped out or retreated to the point that they couldn’t prevent enemy forces from infiltrating the station further.
Torado: ::pointing toward Docking Port 2:: Only other thing would be to plug that leak.
Zenno: Doesn’t matter, really. Enemies are all around us. I will go second, since we know there are invaders on this level. I can keep watch behind.
Lieutenant Torado’s head cocked at his phrasing as she slung the rifle strap over her back, such that the weapon was hanging across her front, with the barrel pointed upward. It’d be awkward, but it’d be better than nothing if they ran into trouble inside. She gave him a sultry smile.
Torado: Yeah, I bet. ::wink::
She pressed the contact on the access panel and watched as the Jefferies Tube doors parted. She’d already done her share of climbing that day in Engineering, but after a deep breath and a popping of knuckles, Alene was ready to do somebody else’s share, too. She climbed in, and started climbing up.
((Brief Timeskip, Jefferies Tube, Deck 4 Access, Deep Space 33))
They made their way quietly up the ladder, ten meters or so up from where they entered. Alene approached the access hatch to some unseen corridor on Deck 4, two decks up from the scene of their firefight. The odds that the enemy had infiltrated that far from the Docking Ports were slim, but not zero. After a gesture for silence down below her, First Lieutenant Torado listened, holding her breath, and counting to ten. When there was no sign or sound of movement, she pressed the contact on the tube-side of the hatch, and poked her head out.
She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed by the sight that greeted her: a completely empty hallway. Slipping out of the Jefferies Tube and standing alone in the corridor, Alene adjusted the rifle slung across her chest. The lights around her flickered as she reached back in to offer Lieutenant Zenno a hand in getting out.
Torado: ::softly:: All clear, sir.
Zenno: Response
Niac: =/\= Ronin to All Federation Outposts and Installations in sector A113. We are coming. ::static:: We will not abandon you. For your tomorrows...we give our todays. Ronin Out. =/\=
Torado looked around to get her bearings as the message played. She looked down the hallway with some amount of confidence, but also dismay. It had been hot and stale inside the Jefferies Tube shaft, and the slow climb (on account of the periodic station-rocking weapons impacts) had been uncomfortable. Sweat beaded on her forehead and nose, and she was certain her uniform would go straight into reclamation if they got out of this alive. She'd been looking forward to the corridor, but found the stale air provided no relief. So she joked.
Torado: Well, that sounded dramatic. ::pointing:: Should be that way.
Zenno: Response
She checked her rifle’s charge and readied it once more, tucking its butt into the nook of her shoulder.. She expected no resistance on the way to the station’s main computer core, but stranger things had happened. Like flying through Engineering. And climbing around a station’s Jefferies Tubes with a strange Bolian.
Torado: Is it me or is the atmospheric recirculation down?
Zenno: Response
Together they approached the doors to DS33’s main computer core. Or where the doors should have been. Instead, Alene stood staring at twisted and crushed metal. Beyond, in a pitch black compartment, she could make out the contour of a crumpled and folded computer core, by the flashes of occasional sparks.
Torado: Well, there's a kink.
Zenno: Response
They carefully approached the threshold to the room, but Alene didn't dare get too close. There were creaks and groans of flexing metal. Whatever was happening in there wasn't done happening.
Torado: Looks like the grav plating again. Good thing we went to engineering first, or else we'd be meat pancakes.
Zenno: Response
With the primary computer core destroyed, the only way to fully implement Lieutenant Zenno’s self destruct protocols would be to find an auxiliary core. But without the primary computer core, Alene supposed, the Station had far bigger things to worry about.
Torado: Guess that's why life support is at minimum. System can't handle the full load.
Zenno: Response
Tags/TBC
———
1st Lieutenant Alene Torado
Marine Officer
As simmed by
Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3