Black Sun Rising
The group slowly approached a group of hills, sandy, and looking like no sentient being had ever walked there. The rusty broken stones and gravel gave way to a weathered pass, the ground dusty and the air seemed not to move in the heat, as they moved along - after about two dozen meters, a pair of eye-shaped metal plates seemed to appear one on
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Shan gives a small signal that Kinnara understands means "keep cover", and his men shuffle around the room looking what looks to anyone else like they're looking bored and standing around... but Kinnara recognizes it's actually one of Shan's "we're looking casual while actually we're prepared to lay the smackdown" deployments.
AJ steps forward with two ShanGoons and the medical tricorder. "Heh, elevated pulse," she says, "'Spected that. S'okay. Okay... no implants, nothin'. Clean. Let's go sleepy-bye."
She gives him a shot, and he sags in the ShanGoons' muscled arms. The ShanGoons lower him gently to the ground.
Connor and Shan nod to each other. "Cover her" Shan mouths to Kinnara, who then nods to Shan, and Diz's team.
Connor pulls an instrument from out of her cargo pants.
"Got a problem," Connor says. "We're not beaming anything out of here, boosters or no boosters. We're too far beneath layers of (OOC: name of some impenetrable material). We're going to have to get halfway up to the surface. I wouldn't risk the signal loss from here."
AJ and one of the ShanGoons proceed to *lift him up* and *carry* him.
With a look between Shan and Kinnara, and a few looks exchanged between them and their respective teams, your entire team is now escorted by a ring of muscle carrying big guns.
After you guys walk for a while... and enter a room filled with stalactites, a chamber of a cavern... Connor gives a hand-signal that Diz recognizes as "A-Okay".
The ShanGoon and AJ lower tr'Avrak to the ground gently.
Connor walks around the perimeter of the room, placing pattern enhancers. She throws a small object to AJ, who catches it.
"Gotcha," AJ says.
She unwraps it from the gauze... it's a communicator badge. She places it on the sleeping tr'Avrak, who has started to snore and drool.
Kinnara's commbadge beeps. "Singh here," says the familiar, slightly Punjabi-accented voice of the transporter chief. "Spiegel and Quinn are here. Safe and sound."
Connor looks over to Diziara, gives a small tight lipped grin, and a single "thumbs up".
Shan taps his commbadge. "Deploy Shan Alpha-Two."
"Aye."
Minute later.
Shan looks at Kinnara, then at Diz... Kinnara nods.
"Let's go home," he says.
The echoing cave fades away, to be replaced a moment later by the comforting familiarity of the Shingen's transporter room. You're brought up in groups of six, until finally all of you except tr'Avrak are here.
"We've got him. Bring him up?" Singh says.
Spiegel and Quinn are here. Spiegel catches Diziara's eye.
Connor says, "Told you he'd be just fine," laughs a little, and walks over, and hugs Spiegel.
Commander Sevel has entered the room. "Orders from Johnson are to transport him directly to the brig."
Singh nods. "Aye, sir."
Singh does his magic.
But his face looks horrified.
"Oh, no. Oh God no. Oh, God, no."
Commander Sevel pushes him out of the way...
Connor closes her eyes for a moment.
Sevel's Vulcan-quick fingers fly over the console...
"Trippett, stay. The rest... You might wish to leave," she says, softly. She hits her badge. "Medical team to Transporter Room One."
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Shan remained though with his team, with the guns cocked.
Sevel said: "You're dismissed, Mr. Shan. Them too."
Shan's antennae moved together in a curious expression, and he filed out with his team.
Whoever else remained included Kinnara if she chose to do so, Diziara and Spiegel if they chose to do so. Connor remained next to Singh, with her hand on his shoulder, and the other hand over her mouth.
The medical team ran in, and AJ joined them.
"We can leave him in transit," Singh said. "Would be more humane."
The Chief Engineer, Indra, came running in at that moment, a look of horror on his face. Indra nodded to Sevel.
"Energizing," Sevel said.
A muffled scream, choked, sounding like a scream through a guitar flanger. A body flailed, turned inside out.
The beam solidified...
What looked like a body that had been run through a blender a few times, is what materialized on the pad. The medical team looked at each other helplessly. Dr. Neera said, "Get a sample... it's procedure."
~~
Meanwhile, on the Bridge, the Captain announced that the Monitor would be doing reconnaissance and retrieving Shuttle Trafalgar.
OOC: Go ahead and post your reactions, et cetera; by tomorrow I'll post the next move.
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As Connor had hugged Spiegel, he was mildly surprised not only that she'd been with the group, but that she was hugging him. When the excitement over the transporter controls started, and Connor was drawn away, Diziara moved to Spiegel's side. The look exchanged between the two clearly said 'we're talking about this over alcohol, later'.
"Your quarters or mine?" she asked.
"I've always had the better alcohol," he muttered in response.
"2309," she shot back, referencing the blood wine she'd gotten from Ryan on Milliways.
"I got some treats from my flaming fat host while you were off saving the day," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the neck of a random bottle of booze filched from Kovalth. Diziara let out a low whistle as she recognized it, and Commander Sevel called for a med team.
Diziara and Spiegel elected to stay back out of the way as first Therav's goon squad left, then the med team came in. As Spiegel was taking a step to head towards the door, Indra ran right into the transporter room. Diziara grabbed Spiegel by the upper arm and pulled him out of the way, stopping him from making for the door.
As the command came to energize, the two turned their gaze to the transporter pad, and the color drained from Spiegel's face. Diziara held a mask of emotionless morbid curiosity as she watched, and tightened her grip on Spiegel's arm in an attempt to reassure him and keep him where he was to avoid getting in the way. By the time Dr. Neera called for a sample to be taken, Spiegel was sporting a blank look and leaning back against the wall behind him, half looking like he'd slump down if Diziara didn't have such a firm grip on his arm.
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At that moment, the door wooshed open. Lt Cdr Shan walked back into the room, his index finger poised in mid-air. "Commander-" he said to Cdr Sevel...
...then sneezed.
"Uzaveh."
All eyes however were on the blood-spattered walls and transporter pad, and the doctor and her medical team who were taking samples.
Commander Sevel said, "Yes, Mr. Shan?"
The Andorian's head whipped around and he looked at the transporter, his mouth suddenly open.
"What in-"
Then he sneezed again. He turned away, lifted his arm to his face, and kept sneezing.
Commander Sevel said: "Yes, Mr. Shan?"
"It isn't important," he grumbled. He stalked out of the room, wiping his nose.
"He has allergies," Connor said.
There was silence for a moment as everyone continued what they were doing.
Then Connor looked up at Spiegel, a lightbulb going off. "Oh my god. There must be dust on the pad."
Commander Sevel raised an eyebrow, then hit her commbadge. "Sevel to Sadik. Report to transporter room one."
A few moments later, the doors whooshed open, and a rather gawky looking Vulcan in science blue shuffled in.
"Here -"
He turned and saw the mess.
"Mr. Sadik," Sevel said, cooly. "Scan the pad and take samples of any foreign sample."
Sadik's facial expression almost said "Huh?" but then he closed his mouth and said, "Aye, sir," and scanned the pad, and got his samples.
Sevel turned to everyone else. "If you are not here to fix something or take a sample," she said: "You are dismissed, and relieved of duty for the remainder of the day. Report to Conference Room B at 0800 tomorrow to begin Critical Stress Debriefing."
She looked down at Connor and said... "You are relieved too."
Connor looked up, with her hyperspanner tightly gripped.
"There is nothing any longer that you can do, Lieutenant," Sevel said. "You are dismissed. And you will report to Conference Room B at 0800."
Connor said nothing.
She stood, and absent-mindedly tucked the bloodied hyperspanner into a pocket of her cargo pants. She stalked out of the room.
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Diziara started for the door right behind Connor, and gave Spiegel a tug on the arm to let him know they were leaving. She wasn't even sure if he'd heard the order to be dismissed or to report for the debriefing tomorrow, but once he realized she was leading the way he followed silently. Spiegel automatically turned to head towards his quarters, but Diziara guided him to follow Connor as she stalked down the corridor.
"Hey!" Diziara called after her. As she caught up with Connor, she dropped her voice. "You really couldn't have done anything," she pointed out.
"Given the conditions, as you said yourself in that note, we're lucky he's the only one we lost," Spiegel added, softly, but in such a manner that was clearly not just talking to himself.
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She shakes her head. "I... shit. I know. Just... Christ, I've never lost someone on my watch before."
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"It technically wasn't your watch, you were part of the team beaming back up," Diziara pointed out. As Spiegel came up next to Noelle on her other side, he shot Diziara a look.
"You'll have to excuse Diz, she seems incapable of having emotions other than lust and rage," he shot and she returned his sour look. "Look, I've got alcohol in enough flavors and qualities to keep any army happy for a fortnight. It'll take your mind off what happened long enough to let your subconscious process it..."
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She walked beside him for a little while, then finally said... "No, it's just going to be me, my quarters, freshening up and catching up on some cat time. I'll catch you later, okay?"
She wiped her hands on her cargo pants, and headed off to her quarters.
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