The One-Way Elevator (part 2)
Posted on Thu Dec 17th, 2015 @ 4:31pm by Commander Rylie Cattmor & Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen & Chief Petty Officer Jack 'Crow' Addy
Edited on on Thu Dec 17th, 2015 @ 4:31pm
1,187 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: A Civil Act
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
As she suspected, all of the equipment was offline, and she had no way of making it online--the power was just non-existent, tested as such by pressing a few controls and buttons, it was all dead. Also as she suspected, there were also files and document cases strewn about the area as well as a long bank of filing drawers along one side of the large room, probably as some sort of backup or extra storage to the electronic means at their disposal. The drawers yielded nothing as they were locked, and she didn't want to force anything at this early juncture; there was still other files and papers laid out on the various desks and units. They didn't say much, not that anything was all that intelligible, just plans and schematics, analyses and forecasts of anything ranging from biodiversity, to air pollution, to waste reclamation and recycling. It didn't make a whole lot of sense.
[NEW]
She then started to get the oddest feeling, as if she were being drawn out of her current world and into another with less people in it. The population of the planet was essentially dead, or at the very least vanished, and it made the minute hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. She looked around, of course seeing no-one, but still sensing the rest of the away team in the adjacent area, even if their thoughts were a bit more chaotic. Then they did have marines, or ex-marines, with them, and so that was nothing new, so she got back to her reading; or at least what her tricorder would allow her to understand.
It was but a few moments later, when she received a call from Ranger though, and from the resultant conversation, her senses suddenly turned on fully, and she could no longer read any of the away team--T'mpest, Orin, Mayweather, others... they were all gone. "Stand-by." Rylie said sharply as she jumped up from her seat and practically ran full pelt back the way she'd came, coming face-to-face with the ominous elevator; no-one else in sight or in mind shot.
After taking a few wrong turns, Jack finally ended up where Rylie was and shook his head. He hated the needless walking around and, more so hated the idea of being separated from Orin, but he was still assigned a job. He may not do the job the way others wanted him to it, but he was still going to do it to the best of his ability.
"You know." Jack said as he approached Rylie, as her heart skipped a beat since she wasn't expecting anyone. "When one uses the argument that the Captain should be protected since she isn't supposed to be here, then wandering away from said Captain doesn't help your own argument, does it Ma'am?"
"She had you..." Cattmor stated matter-of-factly, as if it was some obvious answer for their current predicament. "What happened, where the hell are they?"
"They went into the Elevator or Doom. Dun dun DUN!" Jack said, deepening his voice slightly than pausing for a bit of dramatic effect. Quickly after that he smiled and cleared his throat. "Which reminds me, we should go. We're missing all the potential shenanigans."
Cattmor motioned pointedly at the elevator, and to Addy's non-vocal response, she approached it and lightly touched the doors. After tapping her com-badge calling the ship, she said, "Ranger, Mister Addy reports that the captain and the rest of the away team have entered an elevator. It can only go down I guess, but beyond that there's nothing more to go on unless we get down there ourselves. Just get and keep a signal lock, even just Addy and me, any way you can, because we're joining them. Cattmor out."
"=^= Commander Cattmor...=^= Keen hit the comm button. =^= Senors cannot pick up their signals and Sensors penetrate far better than a Comm Badge." Keen said almost loudly. "We cannot assure you will have signal, let us use a transporter booster with adapted to boost a comm signal give us a couple of minutes. send it down and maybe catch signals of the Captain?"
"I'd make it quick, commander, I'm pressing the button. Do whatever you have to, to get and maintain that signal lock. With any luck we'll get back to you shortly, otherwise... do what you can; I don't want to risk any more people down here than we already seemingly have."
Jack raised a brow, clearing his throat a bit. "I hate to be that guy. You know.. that guy that states the obvious. The Captain Obvious Guy, but." He paused again smirking slightly. "Wouldn't US going where THEY are lead to OUR signal lock going Kaput too?" He laughed slightly and than continued. "Like I said, I don't want to be that guy, but it seems to me a bit of a pointless move."
Cattmor looked round at the Chief Petty Officer sharply. Despite her entire Starfleet career being in engineering, before Starfleet especially, she'd had her fair share of experience dealing with Marines. While the Athera Marine Corps was an entirely different animal when compared to the Starfleet types, the thoughts she got from Mister Addy were very clear, and her demeanor changed tack. "Are you scared? Don't you want to join in the fun?"
Jack's expression shifted from fun to stern as he raised a brow at the question. "Am I..." He chuckled slight, than some more. Soon he was cackling, holding his stomach as he threw his head back in middle laugh. Suddenly, and abruptly, he stopped, locking eyes with Rylie again. His expression was back to being stern. "You have no idea what I am capable of, Chief. I'm a decorated Sharpshooter. Field Medic. Tactician. Not to mention, I'm batty as hell, or at least that's what the paperwork from Starfleet thats on my wall says. There aren't that many things I am afraid of in this world. My wife, she's scary. The Boss, he's scary. This mission is nothing. It's a walk in the park for this Roughneck, Ma'am. I've worked through the worst of the worst and survived places Starfleet Officers, and yourself, would leave you cringing in your boots. And the whole time, I've come out with a smile on my pretty little face. I am a Starfleet Marine, Ma'am. I fear nothing because I know, when I die, I'll be joining my fellow warriors on their coup of Hell itself. We Marines don't die, Commander, we regroup." He stopped and quickly lost the stern voice and face. Jack began smiling again as his whole tone and demeanor changed. "Now as far as joining the fun. All I am saying, Chief, is maybe we should go down armed and dangerous. More dangerous than anything else."
(To be continued...)
Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer
CPO Jack "Crow" Addy
Medic
Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen
Chief Counselor
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