Lt. Cmdr. Alieth - The Lighting Before The Thunder.
Alieth
[[Computer Core Tank’s Chamber, 50th level, Lattice Alliance Unknown Structure]]
Alieth: On my mark: one, two, three... NOW!
When the countdown was over, Alieth and Lorana began to cut into the wall panels using their phasers, a desperate and swift measure to create a chamber to carry the symbiote into a liquid environment and out of there. They worked in unison, despite the cumbersome design of their suits, and soon a pair of red lines signalled how they were coming apart. Alieth began pulling at the panelling as her Caitian minion and friend kept cutting into it.
Meanwhile, the young ensign prepared the symbiont with utmost caution, grasping it lightly with two hands, ready to be left in its new momentary enclosure as soon as posible.
The circuits on which the two senior officers were working seemed to run through, they sizzled and let off small purple flares as they were peeled off the wall. Halfway through the cutting process, the entire room lit up a dark purple colour and a low, grim alarm began to rumble through the room.
Lorana: :: yanked at the panelling :: Eugh … :: as it comes free :: … Let's hurry!
The work of welding the two curved pieces of panel together went much faster than the Vulcan would have expected, but the triggered alarm encouraged her to put her perfectionism aside for once and get on with it as quickly as possible. It was a swift and ugly-looking job, but soon they had a hemisphere cooling on the floor. Just then, both scientists looked up to the Trill who stood in wait.
Lorana: It’s your turn!
The rookie rushed, taking her medkit and tagging the tank with an Emergency Transport Unit as an identifier for the Symbiont’s portable tank.
Syrex =/\= The symbiont is ready for transport! Lock onto the emergency transport unit’s reciever =/\=
Alieth: Lieutenant Raedai, beam us up!
The blue and gold sparks and the usual sensation of lightness in the stomach came just in time, for one of the last images Alieth had of the structure was a tidal wave of Sencha holograms pouring into the core, weapons raised. And this time it seemed that the security protocols weren't in place...
[[Cockpit, USS Rhine, Outside the J-0922A System]]
The interior of the Rhine slowly materialized before her eyes, lit up like a Bajoran festival, with the Romulan occupying the centre of the cockpit, seemingly multitasking twelve things at once. The Vulcan had no time to admire this feat of organization, as the ship shook violently a second after they assumed a solid form. Neither wasted much time in abandoning their costumes, graciously in Lorana's case, methodically clumsy in Alieth's, and soon they were off to their stations, while the doctor on duty devoted herself to caring for their new guest.
Raedai: They shoot at us with disruptors. Who said this place was abandoned?
The Romulan returned fire as Luxa activated the thrusters and prepared for warp.
Alieth refrained from the sarcastic comment as it would be unbecoming of her, let alone her position, as she worked to divert power from the secondary systems to the shields and engines, while more disruptor fire ricocheted over the Rhine. On the main screen, the Gormanganders fled in disarray, offering the starfleeters a momentary cover as they broke out of the station's shadow. Still, the snow fluttered a couple of times when the impacts hit them, and things seemed to get even worse when the Trill's voice came from behind them.
Syrex: The Symbiont doesn’t like the change in environment, if I have my way, it’ll be stabilised in a few moments.
Once again, the Vulcan stifled words that were out of character for her. Not sarcastic in this instance, but words so coarse they'd make a Tellarite blush.
Alieth: Lieutenants, get us out of the system, jump to warp as soon as we are outside the orbit of the sixth planet.
Without another word, she leapt from her seat. She moved to the back of the craft and pulled out her tricorder to examine the symbiote. It wasn't a device as precise as the one Syrex was using, but she knew what she was looking for. Once again, she had to stifle a new swearing.
Raedai: Lieutenant Lorana, stay on this course. :: He pointed for a moment to some coordinates on the pilot's station screen.:: The probes are waiting for us, they will generate false signals from the runabout, we will become 7 ships, they can't chase them all. They will be activated as soon as we cross the cloaking field.
Lorana: :: smiled and nodded :: Raedai you are becoming one of my favourite persons.
That comment made Alieth frown, but she had too many things to think about at the moment. Setting the tricorder down, he moved to the nearest replicator to obtain a few litres of a saline and high-protein concoction akin to the one they'd scanned at the station, at a temperature suitable for the slug. Something to mitigate the thermal shock it was suffering.
The runabout swayed violently just as the slow replication process completed, spilling half of the liquid onto the bulkplates. Alieth stared at it for half a second, frowning, before she carefully picked up the bucket and walked towards where the doctor was tending to the symbiote.
Lorana: You might want to hold on!
Syrex: oO The symbiont won’t enjoy that Oo I’ll pass that along to my little friend here!
One corner of the Vulcan's lips tugged slightly, but the rest of her face remained stern as she pushed the bucket towards Syrex and then held the symbiote's makeshift container to prevent it from shaking again.
Alieth: The liquid is at the temperature that the symbiont should be at in the tank. Add fifteen millilitres every minute, it should warm slowly without adding more thermal shock or electrolyte imbalance.
She held the container as they took more hits, trying not to lose any more of the precious liquid before she had time to replicate more. She observed how the ensign acted, following her instructions and adding her own knowledge to keep the slug alive. Even so, the doctor's medical tricorder still beeped in alarm, and the creature looked haggard and apathetic. With one of the hits, the consoles flickered, and some system overloaded, causing sparks to fly and pieces of the ship to burn like rocks. The shields were holding for the moment, but not for long. The ensign covered the tank with her body, protecting it as a mother Sehlat would protect its offspring in a sandstorm.
Raedai: reaching the edge of the camouflage field.... Now. Activating probes 1 to 6... Warp core ready.
Lorana: Ready, Lieutenant. On your mark, Commander.
According to the sensors converging from their position, 6 Rhines appeared, each going in one direction.
Alieth: Lieutenants, get us out of here.
Raedai: Out of the other cloaking field come several ships, heading for... probe 2... probe 4, probe 1... and us. It's a Tholian ship.
At those words, Alieth looked up from the symbiote. A profile of one of the Alliance ships appeared on the main screen. Luckily, not one of the Leviathan class, but one large enough to annihilate the smaller, lighter Rhine as soon as it overrode its shields.
Soon the enemy vessel let off a volley of torpedoes, that flashed towards the runabout just as the ship tried to get into warp with a violent jolt and all the crew was thrown forwards and then backwards. A slight crack appeared in the slug tank. The materials from the structure may have been worn from the sudden change in temperature between there and the Rhine.
Lorana: Warp field destabilising … :: the ship rocked again, much more aggressively :: I can’t keep us in warp any longer, the ship might pull apart!
Syrex: ::Towards the Symbiont:: It’s ok Salix, we’ll get you through this, we have too.
As the ensign addressed the symbiont, she saw it sloshing around in the tank, the lights on the base glowing red and orange, not as much green as any of them wanted to be seeing.
Syrex: :: In a panicked tone:: Please keep us as steady as you can, the symbiont is struggling back here!
The Vulcan stood up,
and headed back toward the replicator, her mind racking over the
myriad of information she had received in her training at the VSA
and, later, at the academy, about chemicals that might help the
creature. However, she had never learned much about Trill symbiotes
and her memory was dense and tortuous, so she seemed paralysed for a
moment, her hand raised toward the replicator panel, but without
actually touching it.
Before she could do so, there was
another shock that shook the Rhine's hull. Alieth snapped out of her
apparent stupor and turned to the main screen. A new ship had
appeared on the scene, interposing its sleek whale-like figure
between the small runabout and its pursuers. A Vesta-class had been
one of the first ships Alieth had crewed, and the immediate relief he
felt when the powerful ship locked them with its tractor beam was
almost impossible to suppress.
Her dark eyes searched the
side of the ship, looking for something to identify it. Suddenly, she
saw it: NCC-41903-A, the elegant shape of a Celtic sword in a
wine-coloured circle.
Alieth: USS Excalibur has finally arrived.
They were saved. Or
at least safe enough to try to keep the symbiote alive... and bring
the valuable information they carried back to the Ronin and the
Khitomer, in case the two ships, and the station they were
protecting, could still be saved.
Hope was illogical, and
their chances were slim, but with the Vesta there they could still
make it in time. And Alieth was going to hold on to that tiny, tiny
chance while she could.
[[End Act 2 for Alieth]]
Lieutenant Commander Alieth
Chief Science Officer & 2O
E239702A10
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