[END MISSION] Lieutenant Wyatt Ral - Exploding Cakes
Jason Price
((Simulated War Room of the PSS T'Kuvma, Holosuite 3, Deck 5, USS Thor))
After the scene had switched yet again they were now on the T’Kuvma and being sweet talked by Geera. Unfortunately for Ay he had been the first target of Tars revenge. From the first punch he had felt the doctors pain and simultaneously felt powerless. As his first officer he should have been protecting him and if this had been real he could have gone some way to doing that but his telepathic abilities would have no impact on the holographic simulations. Tars moved on to Josh as he gave them a bit of truth.
Herrick: You’ve become just like them ::nodding his head towards where the feed had played:: Brutalists.
Nera: Hey! Leave him alone, I’m not done with you yet.
Ral: You’re so brave when we’re all tied up aren’t you.
It seemed that Geera had finally lost patience, not that she had much of it to begin with, and gave the order.
Geera: Practically nothing. Start filling the Thor with the gas from the shuttles.
Caras: How do you know this isn’t enough, how do you know you won’t damage your precious specimens?
Geera: Is this enough for you?
She retrieved a disruptor and aimed it at each of them one after the other. Wyatt felt a wave of panic. If she pulled that trigger and the softies were off, as the suspected, she could vaporise one or all of them.
Herrick: About the equivalent ::noddding to Tars:: though I think it’s time you understand that while we value lives, sparing one or more of us pales is immaterial when the scales are weighed.
Nera: When you sign up to Starfleet, there’s an understanding that you might need to sacrifice yourself for the greater good ::breaking into a coughing fit:: You imply you’re doing this for your people, but you wouldn’t put yourself at risk for them, would you?
Everything the doctor said was true but Wyatt doubted that it would sway Geera.
Ral: You’ve already shown your true colours when you said you would simply replace any of your crew that we killed.
Geera: :Laughing: I can’t tell if you love your captain or hate him.
Caras: Alright! Alright! I’ll tell you. That’s enough. No tricks. You get what you want. Then you let the ship go.
Wyatt looked round to Morro in surprise but this was a simulation and there was no need to sacrifice any one of them for a mere test.
Geera: I’m not exactly a woman of my word… but go on.
Nera: What!? What do you mean you’ll tell them? She’s just openly admitted she’s not a woman of her word, you can’t trust her.
Wyatt looked at Morro with a questioning look and the look he returned indicated that he had a plan in motion.
Ral: Doctor we can’t risk anyone being killed for a few biological samples. We can fight this another day.
Caras: In the back of my pocket there is a device. A subspace transponder uplink to a subspace transporter. The last two missions that the USS Thor has been on, there has been infractions with subspace. We’ve been working on transporting matter there in a safe manner. We think it might be key to a lot of threats we’re dealing with in our neck of the woods, and probably why they called upon The Thor for this mission into the badlands.
They hadn’t actually done any of that unless it was in the jumps, but then real Morro would be unaware of that. Obviously the lie was covering up something else that he was going to do.
Geera: Get to the point.
Caras: They are in a compartment safely in subspace. All you need is my transponder and you should be able to transport it in. Once you do, the specimens are yours.
Herrick: Captain, don’t do it.
Nera: We’ve spent all this time trying to keep the specimens out of their hands. We can’t just give in now.
Tars kicked the already injured doctor and Wyatt felt the sudden surge of pain once more. Geera pointed her disruptor directly at Josh.
oO I hope she doesn’t get trigger happy! Oo
Geera: You talk too much
Herrick: Wouldn’t it be better if we helped secure more of them for you? A handful will only get so far.
Wyatt very much doubted that stalling would change the outcome at this point. They had no advantage apart from the device Morro had secreted on himself.
Nera: ::nodding:: I’m a scientist, I can help your team preserve the samples and cultivate more.
Caras: Response
Geera: Enough! I’m tired of your delays and misdirection. I’m not interested in any of your offers or badly concealed attempts to play me. How stupid do you think I am?
Ral: Captain, I think it’s the only option now. We have no cards left to play.
oO Hmmm. I better not verbalise that one. She still has that disruptor and a twitchy finger. Oo
A gesture from Geera saw a guard pull out a knife and slash it across Josh’s face. The bright blood began to form small droplets before running down his cheek and dripping onto his chest. Wyatt could feel the anger rising in him.
Geera: :: sarcasticaly:: Thank you
Herrick: Short-sighted and short-tempered, a winning combination.
Nera: You’re every bit as bad as the people you’re trying to defend against ::beat:: And I’ve seen better ships in a scrapyard
Ral: If my abilities worked here I would burst that pea sized brain in your skull.
Caras: Response
She smiled but there was nothing behind it apart from gloating at how she had bested the Starfleet officers.
Geera: Once my specimens are safely aboard, I’m going to enjoy a glass of Maratekkan brandy while you’re evicted from my vessel. My crew will take you to the airlock. I’m sure you can get by without EV suits. I hear plasma exposure is all the rage.
With that, she activated the transponder and entered the codes once more. Alarms howled around the ship. Wyatt smiled as the visual feed showed multiple torpedoes heading directly towards them. Morro’s idea of tying the honeypot codes into the torpedoes was a master stroke that had now paid off. As long as they didn’t blow them all up too.
Geera stood in silence, her jaw going slack as the realisation hit her.
As the alarms howled and the T’Kuvma tore itself apart around them, Wyatt didn’t flinch as the rocking of the ship forced him down onto his knees.
Even as Ay drove the scalpel into Tars boot and chaos erupted, his focus remained fixed, not on the destruction, but on the sequence. The timing. The execution. Then… the scene was frozen and drifting sprinkles started to float down. Wyatt blinked once, slow and deliberate, recalibrating. He flexed his wrists, free now, and pushed himself upright with a controlled exhale.
Herrick: (opening his eyes) Are these… cake sprinkles?
Nera: ::nodding:: Definitely cake sprinkles ::starting to sing:: It’s Raining Cake! Hallelujah! It’s Raining Cake!
As Nera broke into song, Wyatt's gaze shifted toward the open holodeck doors, then back to the others, checking their condition, injuries, awareness. Even here and now, the old habits held.
Ral:::brushing a sprinkle from his shoulder:: Well. That’s… one way to terminate a scenario.
Caras: Response
Ral: It appears the program hit a cascade failure. Conflicting objectives. Too many unstable variables layered on top of each other. ::beat:: It couldn’t reconcile an outcome.
He crouched briefly, picking a sprinkle off the deck between his fingers, studying it like it might still betray some hidden mechanism.
Ral: ::looking at Morro:: Your transponder solution forced the break. For what it’s worth, you ended it without giving them what they wanted.
Caras: Response
Ral: I’ll get a team to review the instability with the program, Captain.
He nodded to Morro and walked out of the holodeck behind Josh and Ay as they made their way to sickbay.,
[END OF SCENE FOR RAL]
—
Lieutenant Wyatt Ral
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Thor NCC-85852
C239903WR3